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MUSIC, EMOTION AND MORALS.

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is a-mouldering in the ground, but and when their hearts were heavy, his soul goes marching on.

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EXPRESSED IN MUSIC.

The feeling and action of a country somehow pass into music. It is the power of emotion through music upon politics and patriotism. I remember when Wagner, as a very young man, came over to England and studied our national anthems. He said that the whole of the British character lay in the first two bars of "Rule Britannia." It is John Bull elbowing through the crowd. And so with you your "Star Spangled Banner" has kindled so much unity and patriotism. The profoundly religious nature of the Germans comes forth in their patriotic hymn, "God Save the Emperor." Our "God Save the Queen" strikes the same note as "Rule Britannia," "Confound her enemies, frustrate their knavish tricks."

That is in the same spirit as "get out of the way;" and it is enshrined in the British National anthem. This

shows the connection between emo

tion and politics and patriotism. It throws a strong light upon the wisdom of that statesman who said, "Let who will make the laws of a peo; ple, let me make their national songs."

IN RELIGION.

I see anther gentleman is in charge of the topic "Religion and Music," but it is quite impossible for me to entirely exclude all religion from my lecture to-day on the power of emotion through music upon religion, and through religion upon morals for religion is that thing which kindles and makes operative and irresisttible the sway of the moral nature. It is impossible, with this motto, "Music, Emotion and Religion" for my text to exclude the consideration of the effect of music upon religion. read that our Lord and his deciples at a time when all words failed them,

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when all had been said and all had been done at that last supper, I read that after they had sung a hymn our Lord and the disciples went out into the Mount of Olives. After Paul and Silas had been beaten and thrust into a noisome dungeon, they forgot their pain and humiliation, and sung songs and spiritual psalms in the night, "and the prisoners heard them. read that in the history of the Christian church, when the great creative and adaptive genius of Rome took possession of that mighty spiritual movement and proceeded to evangelize the Roman empire, that St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan, in the third century collected the Greek modes and adapted certain of them for the Christain churches, and that these scales were afterwards revised by the great Pope Gregory, who gave the Christian church, the Gregorian chants, the first element of emotion interpreted by music which appeared in the Christian church. It is difficult for us to over-estimate the power of those crude scales although they

seem harsh to our ears. It is difficult

to realize the effect produced by Augustine and his monks when they landed in Great Britian, chanting the ancient Gregorian chants. When the king gave his partial adherence to the mission of Augustine the saint turned from the king and directed his course toward Canterbury, where he was to be the first Christian arch

bishop. And still as he went along with his monks they chanted one of the Gregorian chants. That was Augustine's divine war cry: "Turn away, Oh Lord, thy wrath from this city, and thine anger from its sin."

SOLACE IN HYMNS.

That is a true Gregorian, and those are the very words of Augustine. And later on I might remind you of

both the passive and active functions of music in the Christian churchpassive when the people sat still and heard sweet anthems, active when they broke out into hymns of praise. Shall I speak of the great comfort which hymn singing was to Luther, who stood up in his carriage as he approached the city of Worms and sung his hymn, "Ein Feste Burg ist Unser Gott?" Shall I tell you of others who solaced hours of solitude by singing hymns, spiritual psalms, and how at times hymn singing in the church was almost all the religion that the people had? The poor Lollards, when afraid of preaching their doctrine, still sung, and throughout the country the poor and uneducated people, if they could not understand the subtleties of theological doctrine, still could sing praise and make melody in their hearts. I remember how much I was affected in passing through a little Welsh mountain village some time ago. At night in the solitude of the Welsh hills I saw a little light in a cottage, and as I came near I heard the voices of the children singing, "Jesus lover of my soul, let me to thy bosom fly."

And I thought of how those little ones had gone to school and had learned this hymn and had come home to evangelize their little remote -cottage and lift up the hearts of their parents with the song of Jesus.

CONGREGATIONAL SINGING.

Why, the effects of a good hymn are incalculable. Wesley and Whitfield and the great hymn-writers of the last century, and the sacred laureate of the high church party, Keble, have all known and exerted the power of religious song. "Sun of My Soul," from "The Christain Year," is about the best known of all our hymns. Do make your service congregational, and do not let the organ

ist cheat the people out of the hymns. Don't let him gallop them through with his trained choir. Remind him that he has his time with the anthems and voluntaries, and that when the hymns come that is the people's inning and fair play is a jewel. [Laughter and applause.] Hymns have an enormous power in knitting together the religious elements of character. I never was so much struck as in entering Exeter hall one time when Messrs. Moody and Sankey were ruling the roost there. What did Mr. Moody do? He knew his business. He sent an unobstructive looking lady to the harmonium and she began a hymn. There were only a few people in the hall but others kept dropping in and they joined in the hymn, and by the time they had got through the twenty-fifth or thirtieth verse the whole of the hall was in full cry. They were warmed up and enthusiastic, and then in comes Mr. Moody and he could play upon the vast crowd like an old fiddle. Believe me, emotion through music is a great power in vitalizing and cementing and unifying the religious aspirations of a large mixed congregation.

I now approach the last clause of my discourse. We have discovered the elements of music. Modern music has been three or four hundred years in existence, and that is about the time that every art has taken to be thoroughly explored. After that all its elements have been discovered; there is no more to be discovered properly speaking, and all that remains is to apply it to the use, consolation, and elevation of mankind. Well, as I said, we have reached that era in music, we are living in the "golden age." It is difficult to imagine anything more complicated than Wagner's score of Parsival," or the score of the trilogy. We have all these wonderous resources of the sound art

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HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW.

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kind of open vision. We have seen "white presences among the hills.”

'Hence to in a se.son of calm weather, Though inland far we be,

Our souls have sight of that immortal sea,
Which brought us hither;

placed at the disposal of humanity for the first time. But there is a boundless future in store for music. We have not half explored its powers for good. I say let the people have bands. Cultivate music at home; harmonize crowds with music. Let it be more and more the solace and burdenlifter of humanity, and above all let us learn that music is not only a consolation, it not only has the power of HENRY WADSWORTH LONG

expressing emotion, but also the power of diciplining, controlling, and purifying emotion. When you listen to a great symphony of Beethoven you undergo a process of divine restraint. Music is an immortal benefactor because it illustrates the law of emotional restraint. There is a grand future for music. Let it be noble, and it will also be restrained. When you listen to a symphony by Beeth oven you place yourself in the hands of a great master. You hold your breath in one place and let it out in another; you have not to give way at random, but you expand only as the master wills; he drives his audience as a charioteer drives his team. Musical sound provides a diagram for the discipline, control, and purification of the emotions. Indeed it seems to me that music, the most spiritual and latest born of the arts, has been given us in this most material and skeptical age, not only as a consolation, a sovereign art medium of emotion, but to restore in us the sublime consciousness of our own immortality. For it is in listening to sweet and noble strains of music that we feel lifted up and raised above ourselves. We move about in worids not realized; it is as the footfalls on the threshold of another world. We breathe a higher air. We stretch forth the spiritual antennæ of our being and touch the invisibles, and in still moments we have heard the songs of the angels, and at chosen seasons there comes a

Can in a moment toward thither, And see the children sport upon the shore, And hear the mighty water a rolling ever

more.

FELLOW.

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Among the names of the poets of our own country there is none more familiar than that of Longfellow. Young men in college sing his verses in the midst of their fun and frolic; young girls find no poem more pathetic and absorbing than the story of Evangeline, seeking through many years for her lover, only to find him. dying on a hospital-cot; we all enjoy the Courtship of Miles Standish" and Priscilla's picture hangs on the walls of many homes, while the face of the author is familiar to all of us.

Why is the name of Longfellow so beloved? Because of his beautiful life and of the helpful character of his writings. One of his pupils has said of him, "The natural instinct of his great heart was to be helpful-to lift up the lowly, to strengthen the weak, to bring out the best in every person, to dry every tear and make every pathway smooth. "

In the city of Portland, Maine, in the year 1807, the poet was born. His father brought up his family to be respectful, obedient, unselfish, with a dread of debt and a determination to be faithful to every duty. When three years of age, little Henry was sent to school, and made such pro

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gress that three years later his teacher sent a note to his father, saying, "He spells and reads very well. He also can multiply numbers. His first poem was written at the age of thirteen, and the next year he went to college' where we hear from him as "free from envy and every corroding passion and vice," while his sister says "he had never a mean thought or act, " When only sixteen years of age, he came interested in the Indians, and wrote with indignation at the treatment they had received; this interest was afterward expressed by him in the poem so well known as "Hiawatha.

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As the time drew near for Longfellow to leave college it became a serious question what occupation he should pursue, In writing to his father he said, "I most eagerly aspire after future eminence in literature; my whole soul burns most ardently for it, and every earthly thought centres in it;" "Whatever I do study ought to be engaged in with all my soul, for I will be eminent in something," "You must acknowledge the usefulness of aiming high, at something which it is impossible to overshoot-perhaps to reach. The fact is, I have a most voracious appetite for knowledge. To its acquisition I will sacrifice everything," Here is the secret of the poet's success-the determination to excel and the habit of doing with his might whatever he undertook to do.

A professorship having been offered to Longfellow, he went to Europe to prepare himself by the study of modern languages. At the age of twenty-two he entered upon his duties at Bowdoin College with a yearly salary of eight hundred dollars. He was always popular with the students, and one of them says, "We always left him not only with admiration, but guided, helped and inspir

ed." His next step upward was to a professorship at Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. His arduous labors did not keep him from literary work, and soon after, in 1838, he wrote his "Psalm of Life." It met with a remarkable reception, and was published far and wide. Young men read it with delight; their hearts were stirred by it as by a bugle summons. It roused them to high resolve and awakened them to a new sense of the meaning and worth of life. " Its influence has been without bounds. Charles Sumner tells of a friend of his who was saved from suicide by reading it. During the Franco-Prussian war an old French general came to General Read in great distress because his son had been ar rested by the Germans and was in danger of losing his life. The father felt that his own mind would give way, and begged to have something which he could translate into French, and so keep his thoughts from his trouble. In a few days he returned, his face bright with hope and his voice clear and strong, saying, "I have been translating Longfellow's Psalm of Life, ' and I am a new man; I feel that my mind is saved, and that faith and hope have taken the place of despair. I owe it all to Longfel low.

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The familiar verses of "Excelsior" were written in 1841, and were suggested by the seal of the State of New York. Under the symbol of a youth scaling an Alpine pass with his banner in hand, Longfellow sets forth the self-sacrifice and aspiration of a noble soul who. refusing to be hindered by any arguments, ever presses on to a higher goal.

As time passed the poet's reputa tion grew until it was world wide. The queen of England received him cordially at Windsor Castle; he was entertained by celebrated people and

THE VOICE OF THE PAST.

visited by them in his own home; but what he valued far more was the warm reception he found in the hearts of his fellow-countrymen. He was always thoughtful, tender and considerate to ambitious young men and women who went to him for council and criticism. His love for children was well known, and the exquisite poem of "The Children's Hour gives a little glimpse of the poet's happy home. On his seventy-second birthday the children attending the public schools of Cambridge presented him with a chair made from the horse chestnut tree under which stood the "village smithy." Over seven hundred pupils contributed their dimes, and each was rewarded with a copy of the poem, which was written in acknowledgement of the gift. In 1880 his birthday was celebrated by the public schools of Cincinnati, when about fifteen thousand children took part in biographical shetches, addresses, recitation of poems and singing of songs. Through the superintendent of the schools Mr. Longfellow sent a message to the children, closing with the words, "Tell them... to live up to the best that is in them, to live noble lives as they all may, in whatever condition they may find themselves so that their epitaph may be that of Euripides: This monument does not make thee famous, O Euripides, but thou makest the monument famous.'"

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One of the last acts of Longfellow was to entertain four schoolboys who came to him with their autograph albums, During his last sickness even the children hushed their voices as they passed his door, for they knew that their poet-friend was dying. On the 24 of March, 1882, he peacefully passed away.

In what way does the life of Long. fellow teach us "how to make our lives sublime"? He was truly great

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He that dies shall not die lonely, many a one hath gone before;

He that lives shall bear no burden heavier

than the life they bore.

Mourn not, therefore, nor lament it, that the Voice and vision yet they give us, making world outlives their life,

strong our hands for strife. Some have name, and fame, and honour,

learn'd they were, and wise, and strong. Some were nameless, poor, unlettered, weak in all but grief and wrong. Named and nameless, all live in us; one and all they lead us yet,

Every pain to count for nothing, every sorJow to forget.

WILLIAM MORRIS.

A HYMN OF PRAISE.

BY MR. R. W. MATHEWS, COVINGTON, KY.
Come let every voice as one unite,
To praise the God who gave us life,
His works declare His skill and power.
His wonders let every note inspire,

He speeds the sun on caseless rounds,
And myriad worlds their courses bound,
Our wants His care and thought announce
Let every one record the debt he owes,
New impu'se, noble deeds inspire.
Ho unbounding love each hour proclaims,
The Lord, its source, eternal worth.

He fills the world with life and thought;

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