"...hymns have been a powerful instrument of God to draw people closer to His Word and the saving riches therein."
-- Billy Graham
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The difference between the old
songs and some of the new ones that are being
sung in our churches today is like comparing
the King James Version of the Bible with the
New International Version. Somehow, the
poetry is just not there.-- Rebekah Branham Smith
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"What a way to learn great theology! That's what comes to mind whenever I sing one of those old hymns. "And Can It Be" is like putting the doctrine of salvation to music. "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" is a melodic lesson in grace. No wonder good hymns make for strong faith!
-- Joni Eareckson Tada
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CS Spurgeon said, "When your heart is full of Christ, you will want to sing!"
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I don't know anything about music. In my line you don't have to.
"One student came to me and told me that God was obligated to accept all worship given to Him. I asked him what he thought of Cain." -- David Ledgerwood
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"Sometimes I need to reject the music proposed for my songs because the musicians misunderstand that the Fanny Crosby who once wrote for the people in the saloons has merely changed the lyrics. Oh my no. The church must never sing it's songs to the melodies of the world." - Fanny Crosby
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"We might as well pray by machinery as sing by it" and "Israel was at school, and used childish things to help her learn; but in these days when Jesus gives us spiritual food, one can make melody without strings and pipes... we do not need them. That would hinder rather than help our praise. Sing unto Him. This is the sweetest and best music. No instrument like the human voice."Charles Spurgeon, Commentary on Psalm 42
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"The organ in the worship service is a sign of Baal." - Martin Luther
"Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God. It is the quickening of the conscience by his holiness; the nourishment of mind with his truth; the purifying of imagination by his beauty; the opening of the heart to his love; the surrender of will to his purpose—all this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable." - William Temple
> F A C T E X P A N S I O N <
The idea of a church hymn began in the Renaissance, and many of them were composed by Martin Luther.
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AMAZING GRACE these words are engraved on John Newtons tombstone: John Newton, a clerk, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa, was by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had long labored to destroy.
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The speed with which Handel completed Messiah (24 days) has led some to believe that he was truly divinely inspired. It's his most famous piece... It does not have a linear plotline. It is a disconnected series of meditations on Christ and recitations of biblical prophecies. It premiered in Dublin in 1742.
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Charles Wesley wrote over eight thousand hymns!
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Mozart teamed with Lorenzo Da Ponte for Don Giovanni. While writing the libretto for Don Giovanni, Da Ponte holed up by himself in a room in his patron's house. In the next room there was a constantly stocked table of food and wine; and in a third room, a prostitute who was available for inspiration at the ring of a bell!
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King Solomon - better known for other achievements - composed 1,005 songs!
"And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations round about. And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five." (1 Kings 4:29-32)