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" unspeakable words " (I Cor. xii. 4) of the revels,

tion disclosed to the human soul in the divine word,

and the "groanings which can not

3. The be uttered" (Rom. viii. 26) which

Protestant accompany the prayer of faith. But

Conception. only to the extent that it serves to

attune the proclaiming of the Gospel

to its utmost impressiveness, and to harmonize

the congregation's prayer by melodiously defi

ning and rhythmically modulating the same, in

accord with the fundamental principle that " all

things be done decently and in order" (I Cor.

xiv. 40)-that is, only as a means, and not for

its own sake-has music its rightful place in

divine service. It is the " tongue " of art,

which edifies only where it utters " words easy

to be understood " (I Cor. xiv. 9), and is

made immediately intelligible by virtue of the

divine word, which it aids to expound, or unto

which it contributes a freely uplifting power. For

in divine service, the question is not one of artistic

edification; that is, of that intellectual stimulation

of life which contact with the beautiful evokes,

but of edification in the religious sense, or the

strengthening and enhancement of the life of faith,

as this is vouchsafed by the living realization of

the divine means of salvation in the Gospel, and

immediate contact with the same in prayer. Re

ligious edification can be promoted only by music

which strengthens the impression made by the

Gospel, and fosters prayer; hence by music which

directs attention steadfastly not upon itself, but

upon the Gospel and prayer. Accordingly the

commonplace, frivolous, and sentimental are ex

cluded, because these contradict the dignity, the

earnestness, and the sublimity of the object and

the sacredness of the end; and likewise there is

excluded whatever is technical and too refined

artistically or professionally, because this appeals

to musical interest exclusively, thus withdrawing

attention from the word of God, even depreciating

the same as a mere means of artistic exercise.

Moreover church music must speak to the congre

gation; accordingly, as touching its content and

style, that quality which presupposes, in order to

be intelligently understood, a strictly technical

education is excluded. Church music does not

make its appeal to the professional musician or to

the concert public. The requirement of close con

centration upon the aim in view becomes restricted

on the one hand to the requirement of musical

self-discipline and self-limitation, divesting itself

of every extraneous purpose; on the other hand,

to the requirement of noble simplicity and luminous

clearness in the form of composition. These funda

mental requirements premised, no musical style

or species of music is in itself excluded which an

swers to these requirements. If in many circles

there is a disposition to restrict the conception of

church music to the productions and style of the

sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the reason

is that this was in fact a period of productiveness in

classical church music, a time of concentrating the

creation upon church requisitions. But the works

of a Johann Sebastian Bach (q.v.) likewise bear

the impress of perfect devotion to the object and

end of Evangelical divine service; and the motets of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are not to be preferred simply because their style has become strange (see below, II., 1, b).

If, furthermore, rigid practise would exclude instrumental music from church music (the organ excepted), and limit the conception of what is

ecclesiastical to the vocal choir, this in4. The Use heres in the fact that the use of instru-

a mood in harmony with the Church, because the very ideal roundness and detachment of the choral sound gives an impression of pureness above the prose of everyday routine. The sound of orchestral instruments easily rouses in the hearer the thought of secular occasions wherein they are employed, and for this reason orchestral music has for many people a somewhat mundane tone. But, after all, this is merely a matter of convention, and principally subjective. It is only necessary to recall Bach's employment of the orchestra-his passion music and his cantatas-to make clear that the matter turns only upon the manner of the employment. Bach knew how to devote this mighty giant of instrumentation, commanding, as it does, every harmonic effect and shade of tone, every variety of expression, and every gradation of tonic power, to the service of edification. It is not abstract principles and theories, but only practical difficulties, which oppose themselves to the employment of the orchestra for church music, and persuade most congregations to restrict themselves to the vocal choir and the organ. For the latter instrument in Evangelical church music, see ORGAN.

Many people would exclude solo singing from church music for the reason that it tends to empha-

size the individual, to divert the hear s. Solo er'a interest from divine worship, and

while this may easily happen, it does not necessarily and always follow. The right use is not abrogated by misuse. Solo song has its good title in church music, provided it be not thrust forward for its own sake, but is called for by the subject matter and the musical composition, and accords with the general design, helping to enrich and deepen the total impression. On account of human infinity, not on abstract grounds, it is advisable, as a rule, to keep solo song somewhat subordinated. But to renounce a musical composition as unfitted for church use merely because it requires solo voices, is not Evangelical. The text holds good of the forms and kinds of Evangelical church music, " all things are yours, but ye are Christ's." All things are to be admitted provided they consecrate themselves to the sacred service. For the Church of the Gospel, congregational singing, strictly regarded, is not a constituent integral element of divine service. That is to say, the constituent elements of the Evangelical worship are, as explained above the proclaiming of the word of God, the Gospel, and the prayer of the congregation. Whether the word of God reaches the congrega-