It is usually written to-day as follows:

There is no question that the present form is an improvement upon the past. But Dr. Curwen suggests that it may yet be written thus:

9

14

ddddd

9:

"This," he says, "is the reductio ad absurdum of the extreme chromatic style. The piece is intended as a caricature and the contrast of the harmonies with the old melody is ridiculous; but passages may be found in recent hymn-tunes every bit as bad." There is a world of suggestion in these illustrations for him who would determine the best tunes. arbitrary rules can be given. After all, a sanctified taste is the only arbiter-a taste which sets the spirit of pure worship above all else; a sanctification in which the sense of the truly beautiful is normally developed.

No

CHAPTER XX

GOSPEL SONGS AND SINGERS

The term "Gospel Songs" is applied to a certain class of sacred lyrics, chiefly of an evangelistic character, composed for use in popular gatherings of a heterogeneous character. The term is distinctly associated with the work of Mr. Moody, but is not confined to the music which he and his associates were chief in promoting. There has always been more or less music of this character, though in its modern form it was the distinct outgrowth and concomitant of that lay evangelism which came in with Mr. Moody. It must therefore be understood and interpreted in this connection. What lay evangelism was to the ordained ministry, the Gospel Song is to regular church music. If the right relations of the former be determined, so also will the right relations of the latter. If lay evangelism is a proper, permanent system, so also is the Gospel Song. If it is exceptional and temporary, so also is all that which necessarily goes with it as part and parcel of the same general movement.

*

The Gospel Song was born in Newcastle, England, in 1873, during the Moody and Sankey campaign. The evangelists had been using Philip Phillips' book, "Hallowed Songs," supplemented by such * See W. R. Moody's Life of his father.

original compositions as Mr. Sankey supplied. Before long a demand was created for the publication of these original pieces and on the personal guarantee of Mr. Moody, Morgan & Scott published a pamphlet of sixteen pages, entitled "Sacred Songs and Solos," September 18, 1873. From time to time

additions were made to the volume until the pamphlets were discontinued and their combined contents printed in a single book.

Meanwhile Mr. Moody's friend and lieutenant, Major D. W. Whittle, was conducting evangelistic meetings in America. Following Mr. Moody's example he, too, had associated with himself a musician much beloved by all who knew him-the lamented P. P. Bliss. These evangelists, still copying their leader, issued for Americans a book similar to that which Mr. Moody had prepared for the English, entitled "Gospel Songs'-the name by which such compositions were thereafter to be known. When Moody and Sankey returned in 1875 the double set of partners decided to combine their compositions in one book, which was accordingly published. Its title-page reads, "Gospel Hymns and Sacred Songs, by P. P. Bliss and Ira D. Sankey, as used by them in Gospel Meetings." This title has been maintained ever since. The book became immensely popular; many writers and composers joined together to extend its circulation, edition followed edition, and addition followed addition, until a No. 6 was finally reached. It was a series of hymn and tune books whose extent and popularity was unparalleled in the history of

sacred song, and with a circulation surpassed only by "Hymns Ancient and Modern."

There has been much debate concerning the char

acter and place of these Gospel Songs.

Some hold that they have done great mischief in vitiating the taste and corrupting the manners of worshiping congregations. Others insist as strenuously that they have been mightily influential in promoting true praise and positive devotion. The best judges seem to take a middle ground. Humphreys, in his Evolution of Church Music, says: "The character of piety they cultivate is somewhat superficial, not to say hysterical; but it cannot be denied that they stir the heart of the common throng. The refrains which are generally attached to them are readily caught by the ear; and that wave of emotional sympathy, easily started in large audiences, soon sweeps over the meeting, and choir and congregation are at once drawn into close accord. . . . No doubt the participants are moved by profound and genuine feeling, yet we are unable to approve of the introduction of such melodies into church services. Curwen says, in his Studies in Worship Music (second series): "After the musician has vented his spleen upon this degenerate psalmody, an important fact remains: music in worship is a means, not an end, and we are bound to consider how far these tunes serve their end in mission work, which, after all, has not musical training for its object, so much as the kindling of the divine spark in the hearts of the worshipers. Without doubt these songs touch the common throng; they