Christianity
is a singing religion. The coming of Jesus was
ushered in with the joyful chants of the
heavenly throng. Singing has ever been a
prominent part of the worship of God. When the
soul has a vision of the God revealed in the New
Testament it is uplifted, illuminated, inspired,
exalted. This exaltation naturally bursts forth
into heavenly songs—songs of joy and true
happiness.
The vast
wealth of song written by Christians and used in
their religious devotions is in a strange and
almost startling contrast to the lack of song in
the other religions of the world. Music has
little part in the worship of other systems of
religion. The American Indian may sing his war
song, song of the chase, or other similar songs
in his religious festivals. The votaries of
other religions may also sing songs, but these
are generally not songs of worship but songs to
placate their gods, rather than attempts to
express their own joyfulness in the service of
their gods. It is true that Buddhism in some
countries is borrowing the Christian custom of
song in worship and adapting Christian hymns to
their worship. It should be noted, however, that
this is a mere adaptation in the face of
Christian competition rather than something that
originated in Buddhism. So Christianity may be
said to be the only singing religion including,
of course, the worship of Israel, from which it
has in a great measure been derived.
Religion has
a powerful influence upon happiness. It adds
much to or takes much from natural happiness,
according to the kind of religion in which we
believe. Christians do not all believe in the
same sort of religion. True, they all believe in
one God, and in one Bible, and in a general way
in many of the same things. When we come to the
practical side of religion, however, there are
about five kinds of the Christian religion. Four
of these produce little happiness, in fact may
hinder happiness. They may stifle the song that
would naturally arise from the free heart. The
reader will do well to pause and consider as we
notice these five kinds of religion—which, if
any, he has, or if he has a mixture of them.
First, there
is the don't religion. It is the religion of
self-denial. It is hedged in with numerous
restrictions. It is a religion in which the
worshiper is kept in a straight jacket. It is
largely a negative religion. Those having this
religion may be very strict, very sincere, very
earnest, but they never can be truly happy.
Happiness never comes from the purely negative
aspect of life. When we deny ourselves anything
in religion the purpose should not be merely
that we be without it, but that we may put in
its place something greater, something that will
contribute more to our happiness and well-being.
Religion is intended to make people free, with
the highest type of freedom. "If the Son
therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free
indeed," is the slogan of the New Testament. A
don't religion is conducive to bondage. There is
a sort of satisfaction in this don't religion.
It may gratify the sense of duty, but we must
get a different sort of religion in order to
know the secret of the singing heart.
The second
kind of religion is the do religion. It consists
of merely following forms and ceremonies, or
obeying rules and regulations, or doing works of
merit. Its followers may find considerable
satisfaction in reading prayers, bowing down and
arising, in making the sign of the cross, in
keeping holy days, making pilgrimages in closely
following outlined ceremonials and going through
forms. Some of the forms of religion have a
certain value in giving soul uplift, but they
are a poor substitute for the realities of true
religion. With this formalism there may be
stately singing by trained choirs, there may be
grand organs pealing forth, there may be
intellectual discoursing, with the heart of
genuine religion absent. The esthetic sense is
gratified while the soul is left unfed or
perhaps impoverished. This do religion trusts in
works. It draws much satisfaction from what it
has done. There was much of this sort of
religion among the old Pharisees. But who ever
saw a Pharisee who was truly happy, whose heart
sang with joy? No, a religion of mere works, of
forms and ceremonies, can bring little true
happiness.
Another form
of religion is the Sinai religion. It hedges in
lives with "thou shalt" and "thou shalt not." It
is the mere keeping of commandments. It is a
worshiper of authority. It is doing because one
must. It is refraining from doing for fear of
punishment. The God of Sinai still thunders
forth in this religion. He is a great and awful
God, crowned with majesty and glory, but far
removed from the worshiper. He is worshiped in
fear and trembling at the foot of the mountains
whose summit is hidden in angry clouds. Out of
these clouds flash the lightnings of divine
vengeance. It is a stiff and rigorous religion.
There is little of grace or mercy in it. It is
walking by rule. There is little in it to start
the songs that come from a peaceful and happy
heart.
Then there
is what may be called the slippery religion. It
is one that people must hold fast with all their
might lest it should slip away from them. People
who have this type of religion are constantly in
fear of losing it. If they do this, or that, or
the other thing, they wonder, "Now, have I lost
my religion?" They are always examining
themselves. They are always questioning and
wondering. They cannot for long settle down to
certainty. They are often overwhelmed with
doubts and fears. They are constantly observing
their emotions to see whether or not these
emotions indicate whether they still have
religion or have lost it.
Perhaps they
pray and earnestly try to draw near to God. Then
if joy and happiness come they are satisfied and
sure they have their religion. But presently a
dark day comes. Their emotions subside. Then
they wonder again whether they still have their
religion. In reality their struggle is not to
keep their religion, but to keep their emotions
and to satisfy their own questionings and
doubts. This religion carries them alter nately
to the mountain top, then to the depths of the
valley of humiliation. It is truly an "up and
down" religion. This slippery sort of religion
can never be the source of true and lasting
happiness.
The fifth
and true type of religion, the religion that
corresponds with the teachings of the New
Testament and with the experiences of those who
have learned the inner and fuller realities of
religion, is that religion which is of the
heart. It is not a religion of restriction,
neither of formalism. It is neither Sinai
religion, nor a slippery religion. It is a
religion in which the heart is in its natural
element. It is a religion of peace and
contentment, a religion of joyful service. It is
the natural expression of the soul. It is a
peaceful and harmonious relation with God. It is
the relation of a child and its father. Its
elements are simplicity, sincerity, purity,
faith, love, and all the fruits of the Spirit.
It is a Spirit-filled life. All these things
just mentioned are the deep sources that feed
the bubbling springs of joy that flow forth in
the waters of rejoicing and song.
In this sort
of religion God is not a great and terrible
monarch, a stern judge, a task-master; nor his
laws a set of hard decrees. No, the Christian
religion as seen in its true light is "good
tidings of great joy to all people." It is
written, "Happy is that people whose God is the
Lord." With such a religion we not only can read
of the joys of salvation in the Scriptures but
have the experience of them in our own souls. In
this sort of Christian life we do not fear God
in the sense of being afraid of him. We do not
tremble before him.
Godly fear
becomes the equivalent of reverential love and
out of divine and spiritual love flow greater
joys than flow out of natural love.
Real
religion has two sides—first, the inside, the
relations of the soul with God. The Scripture
says, "Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at
peace." That means to get acquainted with God,
get on good terms with him. know his good
qualities. Come into close contact and
association with him. To know him thus is to be
at peace with him. We must have the real inner
experience of divine life in the soul and union
with Christ. This is open to everyone who will
seek it in God's way.
The other
side of religion is the outside. There can be a
true outside of religion only when there is a
true inside religion. James defines the outside
of religion by saying, "Pure religion and
undefiled before God and the father is this, to
visit the fatherless and widows in their
affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from
the world" (James 1: 27)—a pure and holy inner
life, a pure and blameless outer life, devoted
to service and helpfulness. This is the religion
that is a well-watered land, full of springs and
fruitfulness. It is a land of song and cheer and
of true blessedness.
This
Christian life is the life of the "new song."
When the Psalmist looked back upon the "horrible
pit" and the "miry clay" out of which the Lord
had delivered him he cried, "He hath put a new
song in my mouth" (Ps. 40: 3). The Revelator saw
the great host of redeemed souls gathered before
the throne of God and he said, "I heard the
voice of harpers harping with their harps: and
they sung as it were a new song before E the
throne" (Rev. 14:2-3). In chapter 15:3 we are
told the nature of this song, "And they sing the
song i of Moses, the servant of God, and the
song of the Lamb." The song of Moses was the
song of Israel's deliverance from Egypt and
their enemies after the crossing of the Red Sea.
The song of the Lamb is the song of salvation.
So the song we sing is a song of deliverance and
of salvation. No wonder it is a joyful song'
The song has
a special characteristic. "No man could learn
that song but the hundred and forty and four
thousand, which were redeemed from the earth"
(Rev. 14: 3). This company of people,
represented in symbol by the "hundred and forty
and four thousand," are all the redeemed of God.
The song that could not be learned by others was
the song that is learned only by experience, the
experience of redemption and salvation through
Jesus Christ. It cannot be sung by mere
professors of religion, nor by formalists, nor
by legalists. It breaks forth only from the
hearts of those who are happy and free in
Christ.
Isaiah, foreseeing this
glorious age of salvation, cried, "The ransomed
of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with
songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they
shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and
sighing shall flee away" (Isa. 35 :10). This is
the experience of those who have learned the
secret of the singing
heart.
