It inflames
the courage of an army of soldiers marching on to defend their
country, their homes and families. It exalts the religious feelings of
church-goers, and makes them more susceptible to the minister's moral
counsels. Is it not absurd to say that such an art has no moral value?
One of the most eloquent of modern preachers, the late Henry Ward
Beecher, went so far as to admit that "In singing, you come into
sympathy with the Truth as you perhaps never do under the preaching of
a discourse."
The Rev. Dr. Haweis also bears testimony to the moral value of music,
in the following words: "I have known the Oratorio of the Messiah draw
the lowest dregs of Whitechapel into a church to hear it, and during
the performance sobs have broken forth from the silent and attentive
throng. Will anyone say that for these people to have their feelings
for once put through such a noble and long-sustained exercise as that,
could be otherwise than beneficial? If such performances of both
sacred and secular music were more frequent, we should have less
drunkenness, less wife-beating, less spending of summer gains, less
winter pauperism.
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