"SO YOU LIKE THEM SWEETS," SAYS THE GIPSY, AS HE CARRIES THE LITTLE MAN OFF ON HIS SHOULDER. See "A THREE-YEAR-OLD TRUANT." THE Central Literary Magazine. No. 7. It must be borne in mind that this Magazine is neutral in Politics and Religion; its pages are open to a free expression of all shades of opinion without leaning to any. An enquiry into its uses and the principles by which it should be criticised. A LMOST every church-goer feels himself competent to criticise the music presented in the Church; and when we hear injudicious and irrelevant remarks on that subject, we ask ourselves, would it not be possible to lay down some simple and clear principles of judgment, so that non-musical hearers might be enabled to criticise, and to appreciate Church music more wisely? In the belief that this is possible, and in the humble effort to impart some knowledge of these simple principles, we offer this essay. In an orderly discussion of our subject, the very first question to be answered relates to the use of music in our religious services. Has it any real use? if so, let it be defined. *A lecture delivered by Mr John Bragg, at the Midland Institute, on Friday, March 28th, 1884. For public opinion on this question varies between two extremes—on the one hand, to sing everything; and on the other, nothing. The Roman Catholic and Greek Churches sing almost their whole service; and some sections of Protestants, with great musical warmth and zeal, imitate these examples as far as possible, while other sections follow at distances varying by degrees down to a zero of total disuse, if not of abhorrence. To answer our first question, we must take for granted the admission of some brief postulates respecting worship itself. We say, then, that Divine worship is an effort by man towards communion with his Creator ; that this effort should involve the fulness of his being, body as well as soul; and that as religion is intended to control both inward and outward life, so our worship should gather up and bring into exercise as fully as possible such responsive powers as are suited to publicly express the thoughts and affections of worship. But it is necessary to state that our remarks refer only to English Protestant worship, where the whole service is in the vulgar tongue, and is intended to be understood and joined in by the whole congregation. And lastly, by way of preamble, we remark that this question of the use of Church music is only one part of a much larger topic, namely, the ministry of all art to religion. But leaving out of consideration at present the subjects of architecture, sculpture, painting, incense, and vestments—relegating them to other times and other people-we will now answer for music. What, then, in our Protestant congregational services are the real uses of the music, and what solid justification exists for its introduction at all ? We will not go back into history, nor will we ask for sacred authorities and sanctions; we simply look at things as we find them to-day, and ask, Cui bono? If our own experience and our own judgment cannot supply a satisfactory answer, we care but little for what either antiquity or authority might say. We reply briefly : 1.-Good music renders worship more attractive to the general public. 2.-Good music increases the delight of the devout attendant at the service. 3.-Good music has a direct tendency to produce and maintain a devotional feeling. 4.- Good music intensifies the effect produced by the sentiment of the words sung. 5.--Good music helps to fix those words upon the memory. It will be seen that I do not mention specifically among the uses of Church music "The praise and glory of God." For this omission I offer the apology that I know only one way in which "the praise and glory of God" can be practically understood, and that is in seeking the happiness and the good of God's creatures; and all this is involved in the various uses just named. To these, therefore, we will now give a little fuller consideration. We remark, firstly, that music adds to the common delight of public worship, rendering it more attractive to the outside public, especially to |