Show f A At y r l' l f 1 J rt r. r t f. f t t I God Gospel They Must Be Intellectual InA In In- I and nd Son A 1 Spiritual By CHARLES II GABRIEL Author of o the Now Glory Sont Sou 1 The requisites of oC a gO gospel pd song are First the tho th hymn nm must be constructed intellectually and spiritually 4 all ally second it must not be a mere rhyme o or of one one thought it should begin with a declaration of subject subject sub sub- which it should dissect segregate and present s' s intelligently consecutively and with continuity each ench and ever every cry thought incorporated from start to finish There are usually three stanzas of or four Cour or more lines each The corresponding lines in these stanzas must have hac the same number of or syllables syllable and the accent must be uniform and identical every word and line should be a n fact factor r and not a filler In th these c circumstances can you JOu not readily see and understand the difficulties of or keeping out superfluous and meaningless words words the the vital tal point of or attack b by the critics Even with their skill and learning Vesle Wesley Watts Koble Keble and other of oC our old writers made use of these and our most cherished church hymns are spotted with them Next to the hymn i if not on equal ground with it comes the music A gospel song will not succeed unless it has d distinctive melody Especially is this true of ol songs for children and young Joung people and the more melodious melodious melo melo- dious lious they are arc t the e more popular they become and consequently the more good the they accomplish 4 The music musie should be written to the words and not the words to the 1 I music I know a few would-be would writers who grind out melodies for which the they employ word tinkers to furnish rhymes of suitable meter at so much K per tinker yet Jet I never knew one such song to become popular If there is isa isa isa a dividing line between the sacred and secular I think these pieces hold that distinction The rhe distinctive note of sacred and secular music is r clearly defined and well understood How one fills the soul with with awe and ti reverence and the other fills the heart with fire and enthusiasm I 1 As an illustration of the first mentioned fact let me tell this incident In a aM M certain town a party of young people were waltzing when the orchestra modulated into The Glory Song Sons Presently one couple took their seats then another and another until not a dancer remained to keep step to the music and a solemn hush fell over o the assemblage This was reported to tome tome tome me by an witness eye and I can vouch for its truthfulness |