_Solo_:—But the white man will make us glad, He is going home! For he is going home, And he will make us glad! Sh, sh, sh. _Chorus_:—The white man will make us glad! Sh, sh, sh. Sh——sh-h-h——, sh-h-h-h-h-h Um-m—mu——um-m-m—sh!’”[228] Mr. Stanley says that the rhythm and melody were beautiful, and the general effect fine. It is curious to contrast this quiet and pathetic farewell with the bombastic “Where are you going to battle now?” previously given; and it is also noticeable, that the power of improvisation which is so well developed in the African Negro, is fully sustained by his descendents in America. It will be an interesting task to the student to compare the slave-music, especially the camp-meeting songs of the American Negroes, with the various descriptions of songs given above. The same fervor of expression, and gradually growing excitement, and the same exaggeration of feeling will be perceived at once. It is not too much to say, that the Negro race may be, when refined and toned down, the most universally and thoroughly musical race on the face of the globe. CHAPTER XX MUSIC OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH. We now resume the chronological chain of musical history, from the termination of “Ancient Greek music;” for the music of the Christian church took its rise, from the melodies of Ancient Greece. Yet it is probable that the earliest Christian melodies were not according to the classical Grecian type, but rather conformed to the popular in style. This has always been the case in the rise of a new sect with sagacious leaders. The Jews on leaving Egypt, yet sang the popular melodies dear to their hearts, by association of childhood and youth; only at a later period, only when these songs were no longer so endeared to them did David introduce such reforms, as gave to the Hebrew music a distinctive style. So, also, it was with the Christian church in its earliest days; it would have been positively injudicious, at first, to have attempted a reform; and therefore, the old popular melodies of Greece and Rome, were set to new words and exerted a new influence. Music has been, with every religion, the most powerful accessory of the Faith; but with none more than with Christianity. It had the additional advantage, of being in an advancing state (under the charge of able directors, who fully saw the power of the art when made popular) while the music of the Pagan church was greatly declining. The great emperor Julian, foresaw the result, and used great efforts to secure a better class of music for the Roman sacrifices, but without avail. With regard to the Christian music of the time of the apostles, we have only tradition, but these traditions have so much probability, that they acquire some degree of authority.