II. FOUR FEATURES DY WIIIVH IT SHOULD BE CHARACTERIZED. 1. Order. The whole chapter is an argument for this; the division into choirs, with their respective leaders, and the arrangement as to their turn of service, speak of careful orderliness. The beau Ly of holiness in which we should worship requires that there be no confusion, embarrass- ment, disorder (1 Cor. iv. 33, 40). 2. Excellency. They were duly "instructed in the songs of the Lord" (ver. 7). No doubt they were taught to take their parts well "uuder the hands of their father," or of some competent teacher. Jn everything we do in God's house we should. aim at excellency, Whether it be in offering prayer, or in reading, or in preaching, or in singing, every one should do his very best. There is no place where men and women should be so desirous of putting forth their utmost talents as in the house of him from whom all faculty and all opportunity have been received. 3. Variety. The instruments of music used were various-" cymrols, psalteries, and harps." Doubtless others would have been used if they had been known and found fitting. We may do better to use one instrument of music only, but we do not well to make God's service monotonous. We should make it as attractive with variety of engage- ments, freshness of thought and newness of method as is consistent with reverence and propriety. 4. Amity. "They cast lots .•. as well the small as the great, the teacher as the scholar." The arrangement was 'ma.de so that there should be no partiality in the appointment made, and, if possible, no dissatisfaction with the place ta.ken. ,ve should shun ii:iving offence, and also taking it. Happy the Church where there i8 concord from the choir and no discord within it.-C. Vers. 1, 3.-Prophesying with a harp. "Prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals;" "Who prophesied with a. harp." The point suggested is that music, which is skill of hand, may help song, which is skill ofvoicc. The term" prophesying" is variously employed in the Scriptures, Sometimes it seems to stand, in a. very genera.I way, for sharing in religious worship. At other times the idea. of instructing people in the will of God, as it had been immediately revealed to the speaker, is promi- nent. And at yet other times there is reference to the fore-announcing of coming events. Here, in the passages before us, the element of instruction is the prominent thing, or the exerting of a gracious influence on others by music, which should benr direct relation to the culture of their spiritual life. And this is the proper and the high function of religious music. Consider- !. INSTRUCTION AS THE EQUIV A LENT 01" CULTURE, This involves a large view of instC~tion, as bee.ring relation to the whole man-heart and feeling as well as mind. For the purpose of a man's instruction-edification, soul-culture-there need not be a direct appeal to his intelligence, because his receptive faculties e.ra not limited to his intellect; a mnn receives even more through feeling tho.n through brain nnd mind. But in o.n age when there is e.n extravagant worship of knowledge, this point needs con- sideration nnd prominence, in order that better attention may be paid to the means for reaching the religious sensibility. John Howe has e. sentence which may bear on this possibility of culture otherwise than through a man's mind. He says, in one of his most serious moods, " Nor do I believe it can ever be proved that God never doth immediately testify his own specie.I love to holy souls without the intervention of some po.rt of his eternal Word, ma.de use of e.s e. present instrument to thnt purpose; or that he always doth it in the we.y of methodical reasoning therejrom." lt is plain that in our general education a thousand other influences than the intellectual reach us e.nd a.id us, and other men than those who can be ea.lied intellectual influence us; and we may be sure that the same is true of the education of our soul's spiritual life. Let our idea of instruction pass into the larger, broader thought of c·ulture, edification, and then we see that- II. MusIO MAY BECOME AN IMPORTANT AGENCY IN SOUL-CULTURE. By many nnd various illustrations the refining, ennobling. educative influence of music mny be shown. 1. Childhood songs implant tho first seeds of good, 2. Rhyme bears direct relation to memory, e.nd materially aids the retention of good sentiments e.nd thoughts. 3. Music has e. soothing power, as seen in King Saul; and often becomes a morn! pre- paration for the due reception of instruction in the milder aspects of truth anti the «ontler forms of duty. 4. Music often finds relieving expression for emot'ons, either ~f joy or of sorrow, which nrc too interosc for language. 400 THE FIRST BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [oH, xxv1. 1-32,
• Music I Oh how fe.int, how weak- Language fades before thy spell I Why should feeling ever speak, When thou canst breathe her soul so well P• Illustrate by Mendelssohn's • Songs without Words.' 6. Music bears direct relation to religious feeling. Sounds of music bear a twin influence with the sights of nature: both bring home to human hearts some sense of the eternal harmonies and beauties of the worlds unseen, and of the glorious God who is above and in them all. Then the gift of music, as well as song, must lie on God's altar. Of the earth-temple, as well as of the heavenly, it must be true, "As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there."-R. T.