a wished that the compilers had aimed at procuring some specimens from the highest order of composition. As we before remarked, this would not necessarily involve any difficulty in their execution. It seems common impression, that the better the music the harder is it to sing; but by those who are acquainted with the higher class of musical works this impression is known to be an erroneous one. The Dona Nobis from Mozart's Twelfth Mass is a most beautiful composition, but it is the very acme of simplicity; and there are other strains from the same mass, and from others of Mozart and Haydn, which might easily be adapted to metrical hymns. But while regretting that in place of some of the new music inserted, and a few of the old traditionals (Wells, for instance) which might well have been spared, the composers did not think it right to aim higher, and procure the very best music that was to be had under the conditions which they had themselves laid down, we cheerfully admit that they have done. their work remarkably well, and have produced a book containing very few meaningless and unperformable tunes (we mean in the sense of their not being likely to be performed); and this, though only a negative advantage, is a positive blessing, compared with what we find in most of the collections now current. The character of the music generally is good; the psalm tunes comprise many of the old favourites, and some new ones above the average; and while the anthems and chants are unequal in their character, some of the former may be ranked very high as musical compositions, while of the latter there are so many good ones that there need be no excuse for any congregation which adopts the series ever being obliged to listen to a bad one. And now, in referring to the manner in which the music can best be sung, we shall start with the remark that a great deal must depend upon the leader. Whether he be a precentor or an organist, much of the responsibility of the success or failure of the service of song, rests upon his shoulders. his shoulders. He has the choice of the tune; with him lies to drawl it through, or tear along with it; he must indicate the loudness or softness of the tone in any particular verse; and, if he be a precentor, his peculiarities of voice or expression, especially if they happen to be bad ones, are sure to be caught up and imitated by the bulk of the congregation. No man ought to lead the praises of any people who is not an educated musician; one who understands music, and who is not, in addition, able to express with his voice what he knows in his mind. We think this matter has not had sufficient attention in our dissenting places of worship. Anybody who can bawl out a tune loud enough to be heard at the other end, and will be content with a limited number of pounds per annum, has been thought good enough to take upon himself the office of chief musician, and lead the praises of the sanctuary. And, as it is an established principle that no idolator ever rises above the ideal of the god he worships, so is it true that no congregation rises above the level of the precentor they appoint; and the result is, what we witness now occasionally even in this great metropolis, and what, a few years ago, was more often witnessed still, the song of praise converted, or perverted, into a succession of discordant noises and unmusical sounds, exercising a repellant influence on any chance comer who may stroll into the House of God out of curiosity, and disgraceful to the church in which they are heard. Why cannot the authorities in our dissenting places of worship understand that noise is not music, and be induced to search out for this most important office of leader some one who comprehends its duties, and can discharge them efficiently. If it be replied, that it is very difficult to find such men, we answer that the supply would certainly follow the demand; and we believe that the great reason why we have had so many years to put up with such an indifferent body of precentors is because the great mass of our congregations, as represented by their ministers or deacons, have been willing to put up with mediocrity, or worse, when, by a little exertion, they might have secured the services of a superior body of men. Sometimes. a man is continued in the position simply because he is in it, and nobody likes to be the first to move in turning him out; at others, some worthy deacon notoriously unfit for the post, has offered to take it, and nobody would think of saying no, and so offend his deaconship, because he is such a nice man, and a good Christian. People forget that a man may be a very good Christian, and a very wretched singer; in fact, we may state as a result of our experience, that the two characters are generally joined in one man. A little moral courage and firmness in the executive, and a resolute determination to appoint (except temporarily), none to the office who were not properly qualified both by nature and education for it, would soon cause a revolution in the fitness of our leaders. They would do in this department of science, what they have to do in every other department, viz., fit themselves for the discharge of the duties belonging to it, by the expenditure of a little time, attention, and labour. The advantages of an organ in church music, are many and ob vious. In the first place, it supposes the possession of some considerable amount of musical knowledge for a man to be an organist at all, and you have, therefore, a guarantee that he has the necessary qualifications for a leader, which you do not possess in the case of a precentor. Then, of course, that dropping of the voice is avoided, which produces such a dismal effect in our worship of praise, so noticeable when there is no instrument to sustain the sound. Further, it adds that to the melody which would otherwise often be omitted altogether, viz., its proper corresponding harmony. And the last thing in its favour we would mention is, that it is much easier for a man playing an organ to keep the right time and tune in opposition to all the mistakes and perversities common to congregations, than when he has nothing but his voice to trust to. And it is to these advantages among others, we must attribute much of the superiority of the singing in the churches of the Establishment over that of our Dissenting congregations. There can be no doubt that, as a rule, this superiority does exist; and we really think it is time the Nonconformists as a body turned their attention to the matter. Many people are attracted to and retained in a place of worship by the excellence of the music performed in it; and, although this is not the great object of praising God in His temple, yet, when we reflect upon the known difficulty of inducing the great mass of our population to attend regularly a place of worship at all, it must be admitted to be an object worth making an effort to secure. Many have been drawn to God's house to listen to the music, who have ended by joining heart and soul in singing His praises themselves. It must be more Christianlike, more wise, too, to make the worship of our King attractive rather than repelling to the stranger who comes within our gates. prove, that although he had been able to conquer the music, all his mind and soul had gone into that, and there was none of them left to join in the praise. We think it of great importance to practise out of the church all the music we are likely to sing in it. It is worth, spiritually considered, all the time, and trouble, and study, any of our readers may give to it; and if there be any too long fixed in their old habits to conquer them, or to learn, after having for so many years had their own way, at the suggestion, but have you no children, or younger friend, whom you can exhort to be more industrious than you have been, whom you can induce to begin the study and practice of sacred music? Train up your children in the way they should musically go, and when they are old, they will not depart from it. Much of the beauty and accuracy of the performance must rest with the congregations themselves. We wish we could impress upon all who attend a church or chapel the vast importance of doing this good thing well. They will take pains to make themselves proficient in their business, or in the management of their household; they may be adepts in all sorts of cunning work in embroidery or fine linen; they will toil to make their children as wise as them--well, good friend, don't be offended selves in all that is necessary to bring them on or push them forward in the world. Why cannot they devote a little time and attention to make themselves proficient, and bring their children forward, in things which concern their interests and God's interests in the church. Almost the only part of the service (in Dissenting congregations at least) in which the people can join, is the psalm, or anther, or chant, and this single thing they take little or no pains to do properly or well. Is it not a melancholy fact that many of our Christian brethren and sisters never see their music score, except when they want to use it in their places of worship. And there is an injury done to themselves by this neglect. Every person ought to know his part so well before he attempts to sing it in the House of God, that he will be able to join in the praise without making an effort in reading it. If he does not, he is very apt to miss the spirit of the language while he is struggling with the difficulty of the music. We have ourselves heard most painful mistakes made by one Christian friend, in his vigorous attempts to sing his part at sight mistakes we mean in the words,such as substituting "sin" for "peace," and "woe" for "joy "in such a manner as plainly to But perhaps the greatest improvements to be looked for in connection with congregational singing, must be expected in connection with the Sunday School. "The poor ye have always with you," must be true (in this dispensation at least), to the end of the history of the Church, as of that of the body politic. And who is to instruct the poor in music, while this accomplishment, even among the middle classes is looked upon not as an essential part of every child's education, not included in the daily round of duty, but regarded as one of the articles described as extras," that is, an extra demand upon the pupil's time and the parents' purse. How are the poorer classes in our churches to learn to sing? We can but suggest the Sunday School as affording the best field for this most desirable consummation to be effected. It is well known that the great majority of church and chapel worshippers is composed of those who received their first impressions in " religious things in the Sabbath School; and it is probable that if the organists and precentors would make it a point of duty to give an hour or so every week to the scientific instruction of the children in music, they would be doing more to effect an improvement in the future of congregational singing than by any other means, ready to their hands, they could possibly achieve. It would even be worth while for the authorities to pay a small sum weekly to some competent person, where the usual leader could not spare the time, to attend and give these lessons; and younger members of the musical profession might, if they could induce a few schools to adopt the practice, make this a very acceptable addition to their income. Children, as a rule, learn music easily; and, when once learned, it is a science they rarely forget. From what has been said, we must not be supposed to assert that things are as bad as they were twenty years ago. No doubt there is great cause to rejoice over the fact, that a considerable improvement has taken place of late in the matter of public praise. But neither is there room for question that much more is to be done, especially in our dissenting places of worship, before congregational singing can be regarded as what it ought to be. We do long to see the day when in all our churches all shall feel alive to the vast importance of this portion of our worship; when all shall be able to take their several parts in the music effectively and well; when none shall mar, by discordant noises or unseemly silence, the soul-elevating effect of the hymn of praise, but the churches on earth shall emulate the glorious example of the church in heaven; and with one heart, and one soul, and one voice, sing the praises of God and of the Lamb. OUR FATHERS. BY B. EVANS, D.D. THE period over which this notice. will extend was one of protracted struggle and conflict. Society had risen from a depth it is difficult for us fully to realize. Liberty had gained many hard-fought battles first from Fudalism, then from Imperial despotism. Commerce had enlarged her boundaries, and met the growing wants of the nations by exploring other lands, and returning laden with their wealth. Literature and the Arts were refining the taste, and purifying the various sources of enjoyment; whilst Religion was emancipating herself from the gravecloths in which she had been bound for centuries. The Tudor dynasty, though wielding the most despotic power, could by no means check the rising spirit of liberty. The seeds were sown during the reign of the last of these, which, not only germinated, but grew with some rapidity under the first of the Stuart line, and the harvest of which was so disastrous to his successors. A succession of able men had filled all the departments of the State-Wolsey, Cromwell, Burghley, Walsingham, and others-who, however hateful their diplomacy and despotic their authority, were still men of no ordinary character. Later still there was a higher and nobler class, the contemporaries of the early founders of our body. The statesmen of the Civil War and of the Commonwealth were men to whom Englishmen may point with the purest and loftiest satisfaction as the founders of England's liberties, and as shedding a lustre on our national history. Their principles, their actions, their noble sacrifices, their perils in resisting royal hypocrisy, and the tyranny of a heartless monarch, laid the foundations of that structure of civil freedom, in which we can now repose without the slightest feeling of alarm. But our business is mainly with the domain of mind and morals. Vast as the importance of political liberty may be, this is not the place, however tempting the topic may be, for its discussion. Contemporary with "Our Fathers," in the middle and latter part of the period over which this sketch has led the reader, were men of the very highest mental power and moral worth. With these they had to mingle. In the academic hall they were trained together-in the field of controversy and in the various walks of literature and social life they often met. Not merely one, rising like some mighty mass of granite in the midst of a vast plain, alone in its solitary majesty-but in all the departments of thought there were many. It was an age of true greatness. For a moment we detain the reader with a sentence or two before we enter on the staple of this paper. In mental science, Bacon, Boyle, Locke, and others, had opened new fields of precious and abundant wealth in the world of Mind, and smoothed the way to its possessions. In the regions of poetry, the master-minds of English verse had shed the splendour of their genius. Shakspeare had written; "the old man eloquent" had sung the woes of "Paradise Lost" and the grace and glory of "Paradise Re gained;" whilst Ben Jonson and others had produced those wondrous specimens of poetic power which lose no interest by age, and which will challenge, and easily secure, the admiration of future generations. Walton and Lightfoot, Castello and Pococke, Usher, Selden, Poole, and others, had greatly enlarged the circle of Biblical Science by their rabbinical and linguistic studies. Barrow, Taylor, Hall, Sibbs, and a host of devout men in the Anglican community; and Owen, Howe, Baxter, Bates, Charnock, and a long list of illustrious men in the Nonconformist bodies, had invested the pulpit with sanctified power, and by their many and varied works had enlightened the nation on all the vital questions which can touch the interests of both worlds. Our obligations to these men can never be over-estimated. Over a wider and still wider circle their influence is extending. Their works are an imperishable monument of sanctified learning. Their failings were those of the age. We can overlook them in the massive grandeur of their thought, and the moral beauty of their teaching. Being dead, they yet speak. Indeed, the spirit of the truly great never dies. It is ever re-acting on us, moulding our characters and regulating our lives. None were more ready than "Our Fathers" to recog nize their claim, whilst they cheerfully paid no niggard tribute to their greatness and moral worth. would the tone of modern theology be deteriorated, nor the power of the modern pulpit be impaired, if the rising ministry would hold more frequent and intimate converse with these "old Masters" in the Church of Christ. Nor In all the elements of moral greatness, the Fathers of our body would bear a comparison with the noblest and best of the men of this remarkable era. Not a few of them |
