So "at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem" (think of _dedicating_ a city wall! how they must have believed Ps. 127) the dedication was kept "With gladness, both with thanksgiving, and with singing, with cymbals, psalteries, and harps." [6] And as the bands of people went up to Jerusalem to the three great feasts, they sang and chanted from time to time as they marched along, the Levites at their head beginning the song, and the rest joining in. "I was glad when they said unto me--" [7] "As the mountains are round about Jerusalem" [8]--and all the rest. Ah what music! You see the Bible is a great favourer of sweet sounds. But all this, you will say, was public and special,--not meant for recreation. Let us listen to the Bible music which is private and personal, and you will find it every bit as sweet. "Praise the Lord with harps. Sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings. Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise." [9] Are you not glad of that word "skilfully"? You see you may cultivate your talent to the last point, and may have any amount of new music. The Lord's people are not meant to be bunglers, in any line. And yet some seem to think it is no matter how they sing holy words! This "new song" may perhaps be what David speaks of in another place: "He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God." [10] For as "his mercies are new every morning," [11] so should also our praises be; new, fresh, vigorous; not always the same old words to the same old tune. "The songs of Zion," so sung, are wondrously sweet; even the poor captives in Babylon were called upon to sing them for the pleasure of their heathen captors. "The songs of Zion." Many of you imagine they are all pretty much alike; all solemn and tedious and slow. But listen. "I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me." [12] Can anything be gayer than that? Or anything sweeter than this: "My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise." [13] Or where will you find richer chords that this: "I will sing of thy power, yea, I will sing of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble." [14] New, skilful, and then comes in another requirement; songs should be sensible. "I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also." [15] Know what you sing. Does this keep out all _but_ sacred music? I should not think that. But it _does_ forbid singing you know not what in a foreign tongue, or mere dead nonsense in your own. I cannot see, for my part, why it is much better to sing "idle words" than to say them. How vapid, how senseless, is many a song one hears from a pretty mouth and a sweet voice. And in music as elsewhere, there is no middle ground: whatever does not edify--build up--pulls down. "It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools." [16]