CHURCH MUSIC OF THE FUTURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume VI, Issue 1706, 11 May 1869, Page 7

CHURCH MUSIC OF THE FUTURE.

(From the Orchestra.) As a rule, it is a bishop's carriage stops the way. The cry of the Episcopal Doctor is " iVo thoroughfare." Be at rest, is the suggestion, and so will you find rest for your soul. Our . bishops begin upon these principles, they go on upon them, and die with them. The new Bishop of Chester has just been charging upon the duty of standing upon (his) old ways, and of returning to the psaimodic ballads of Sternhold and Hopkins, of late and Brady. Dr. Wilberforce, the Bishop of Oxford, has been denjing the right of a parochial hymnal to the laity, and insisting on the episcopal right to the authorisation of a hymnal; and the late Bishop of Peterborough took his last sacrament prefaced by a voluntary abjuration of vestments, lights, inceDse, and music. ... It is a hard,and perhapsnot a pleasant lenson for bishops, deans, and canons to learn— that of being assured that there is and can be no service nowadays without nr'sic being the first and necessary consideration—but learntit must be, sooner or later, by these distinguished gentlemen. Perhaps the sale to the amount of four millions of one modern hymnal may tend in some degree to open their eyes and direct their judgments. During the past week, thousands and thousands of hymn-loving folk have been crushed , together at _the opening of : the new-church of St Mary Magdalene, in the Harrow-road. The great interest-has bepn the new hymns, although we do not altogether fall >into-.e(-tasies with the lyrics of the Hev. Dr. and- twelve stanzas sre . l ? ' on £ £° S°°d, but Londoners in | " the d a Y*'of Queen Elizabeth trolled out with all jj A psalms of greater length—and the of the Rev. Mr. "West in jf ; ae Harrow-road do not 'complain. His church is trnly one of the future—for it has no endowment —is one of rare beauty and high cost, and its daily services are Communion at 7, at 8, Matins at 10, Communion at 11, Evening at 5, and Compline at 8. Withont music such things could not be, and with music such things are not likely to die. There has been an attempt made to check all ttijs outburst of song. Archdeacon Wordsworth is, as our readers know, a poet, and ha» made a hymn-book of his own. composing. Following the examples of an Archbishop of York, of the past Bishops of London, of Lichfield, of Salisbury, of Chester, and other, dignitaries, the Archdeacon has also made a collection of liymna for the use of parish churches. In this he has been followed by the Dean of Canterbury, and wo have all heard of the New York hymnal and the forthcoming S&rum. The Archdeacon's hook enjoys high patronage, the late Archbishop of Canterbury approved of it.and the Bishops of London and Winchester approve of it. But the people do not; they use other hymn-books, Harland'i, Mercer's, Windle's, the 3. P. C. K.'s, and "Hymns Ancient and Modem." The Archdeacon confers with the Bishop of Oxford, and Dr. Wilbe-force consults Sir Robert Phillimore, his chancellor. >ir Robert Phillimore not long ago decided that no hymn could be suig before the Commur ion, no " Kyrie Eleison" sung after a commandment, and, in fact, had denuded the great office of the Church of nearly all its music. Of course the chancellor declared that all new hymn-books were illegal, and that no parish priest could lawfully bring any such collection into usein a parish church. In ruling this Dr. Phillimore flies in the face of ■ all Catholic usage and all fact since ihe day of the Reformation. The hymns never left the Chapels Royal, and they exist in MS. lo this day. Archbishop Cranmer tried to arrange the Latin hymns ; and when regretting his failure, says he leaves it to. other hands, and never once hints at their disuse He says he only left off that others might do better. A Church withont hymns is no Church at all, and a church pretending to bo Catholic without hymns is a perfect satire upon the term. Better is a Church with all possible medissval corruptions and all imaginable innovations than a Church shorn of hymnody. Queen Elizabeth enjoined the singing of hymns, and her successors have never contradicted or ignored her injunctions. Tt was in virtue of these Koyal injunctions that the stiff old Jacobite parson sang the Act of Parliament as a ballad: he could not conscientiously read it as an edict from authority; but he toned down its acerbity by means of the clerk and choristers. Dr- Phillimore when judging of the rights of the congregation is hard and stiff. He reads the law against the rights and privileges of every Catholic church in < hristendom, if we may be Ulowed the use of such a term. But when asked what is the power of a bishop in such a state of things, he turns round, eats his words, Bwallows his opinion, and says, Where a bishop IS concerned the law is not the point; a bishop may make laws in this case, lie may direct the use of one hymn-booW, he may pick and choose one tor hn diocese and thrust it upon all congregations, or he may (what is worse) inflict it upon any separate parish. Whether Dr. llberforce believes this or not, we cannot say ; del™ / It' S A tra ,"? e direction to the ArchdßMon, and the Archdeacon publishes it as a r m C rr f ? C , hurcb ■ In all this fuss and • C , ont^ ol OTer the people's churchthe ttkT 8 ' C T 1 for K° tten - la one sense Soie« E maJ < °- a Control over the of ijmns, for it ib averred that he caa