ference in Mainz
(1884).[28] And it is indeed a far cry from this demand to the very
evident deification of music that exists in many of our modern city
churches, with their expensive soloists and their utter failure to
cause music to minister as "the handmaid of religion." The problem is
not a new one, and in a book written about a century ago the author
says:[29]

The guiding rule which ought always to be present to the
mind of a clergyman should also be held in mind by all good
musicians who would help the church's object, and not employ
the sacred building merely as a place where all kind of
sounds that tickle the ear can be heard. All kinds of music
are suitable for sacred use that do not raise secular
associations. A _Largo_, an _Adagio_, a _Grave_, an
_Andante_, an _Allegro_, a fugal or a non-fugal composition
can all be performed in the Church but should one and all be
of a staid and dignified character throughout, elevated and
sober, and of such a nature that any preacher of note could
say: "This splendid music is a fitting introduction to my
discourse"; or "After such singing my lips had better be
closed, and the spirit left to its own silent worship."

[Footnote 28: Quoted by Curwen on the title page of _Studies in
Worship Music_ (second series).]

[Footnote 29: Thibaut, _Purity in Music_, translated by Broadhouse, p.
24.]

A distinguished modern writer voices the same thought in the following
words:[30]

The singing of the choir must be contrived and felt as part
of the office of prayer. The spirit and direction of the
whole service for the day must be unified; the music must be
a vital and organic element in this unit.

[Footnote 30: Dickinson, _Music in the History of the Western Church_,
p. 401.]

But in most churches music does not function in this ideal way and in
many cases (especially in non-liturgical churches) there is no unity
whatever in the service, and the music is evidently both performed and
listened to from a purely art standpoint; or else it is so crude and
inartistic as to be actually painful to the worshiper with refined
sensibilities.

[Sidenote: THE REMEDY]

What is to be the remedy for this state of affairs? Or is there no
remedy, and must we go on, either enduring tortures artistically, or
suffering spiritually? We are not omniscient, but we venture to assert
that conditions might b