Week of Meetings 06 Three Symphonies — Benard Fell

There are three scriptures I'd like to read together tonight. The first is in 2 Chronicles, Chapter 29, 2 Chronicles 29, Verse 27. Hesychiah commanded to offer the burnt offerings upon the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the thunder of the Lord began also, with a trumpet, and with the instruments ordained by David king of Israel.

And all the congregations worshipped, and the fingers sang, and the trumpets resounded, and all this continued until the burnt offering was finished. If we go to the New Testament, Matthew, Chapter 18, Verse 19.

Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

The Three Symphonies: Songs, Supplication, and Service

Now, please go over to Mark, Maxwell, Chapter 2. And again he entered into Capernaum after some days, and it was noise that he was in the house. And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door.

And he preached the word unto them. And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the falsey, which was born of poor. And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was.

And when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the falsey lay. When Jesus saw their face, he said unto the sick of the falsey, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. But there were seven of the stars sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts.

Why doth this man trust in nothing? Who can forgive him but God only? The Lord hath his blessing for these three portions of his precious word. My message tonight has a mythical ring to it. I think it was Martin Luther who once said that next to theology, that's how he put it, he put music on the list of important things.

Well, he certainly was very fond of music, and I think he must have been a musician because he not only wrote that hymn, A Mighty Portrait Is Our God, but he also composed a tune to it. And you know it's a very stirring hymn, isn't it, with an appropriate, stirring tune.

Now, in these three chapters, I want to speak of three symphonies. First of all, a symphony of songs, then a symphony of supplication, and a symphony of service. First of all, with regard to the symphony of songs, we know with regard to a symphony that there is a theme that runs right through it.

I think Beethoven, if I remember right, composed about nine of them, and to an ear, a tune for music, one can detect a theme running right through from beginning to end. Now, with regard to the symphony of songs, which we enjoy and we have been taking part in tonight, there is a theme running right through it.

It begins with Christ, and it ends with Christ, and it is Christ right through. There is a name I love to hear, I love to sound it worse. It sounds like music in my ear, the sweetest name on earth. You remember that in the day that Pesachiah was recorded, that when the burnt offerings began, the song of the Lord began.

It continued with all the instruments of music until the burnt offerings were finished. One cannot help but think of the Lord Jesus in that burnt offering, one who was exclusively, wholly, and solely for the eye of his God.

He was the one who offered himself with that touch of God to the eternal spirit. And isn't it true that when the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord began also? For surely the burnt offering began when he came into this world with his language upon his lips.

Christ’s Obedience and the Song of Redemption

No, I count in the volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will, O my God. And that omniscient one knew full well what the doing of that will would involve. All the horny pathways of the cross, and all the anguish and the sorrows and the shame of the tree.

And yet he was willing to go all the way to Calvary in order that we might have a song in our hearts tonight, the theme for the everlasting praise and glory of our God. So I would suggest that that was when the burnt offering began.

And when did the burnt offering finish? There upon the cross, dear friends, as we listen to that word, that mighty word of triumph, it is finished. Lifted up by Peter Dye, it is finished once it's tried.

Now in heaven it goes in high. Hallelujah! What a Savior. All the properties of God were then worked out in grace. The majesty of the law was upheld. The work which God gave him to do was finished, and eternal redemption obtained for all who would believe in him.

So because of the fact of the burnt offering, we have a song within our hearts tonight. The song of the Lord began. And mark you, it was the new song. And it's a song that has begun on earth, and it will be a song that will continue throughout eternity, and it will be a song that will never, never end.

It will be the Hallelujah Chorus. When I think of the grand background choir that will be singing in that day, worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and wisdom and riches and strength and glory and honor and blessing.

Our souls are filled to the utmost. The thing that we are going to join in that Hallelujah Chorus, and ascribe all worship and praise unto the Lamb that sits upon the throne. The song begun on earth will continue without end, because its height it will have no end.

I'll tell you, if Her Majesty Queen Victoria could stand on her feet during the rendering of Handel's Messiah, a very unusual thing for a sovereign to do, when that masterpiece of melody birthed out the King of kings and Lord of lords.

When we see Him in all of the royal splendor of His person, we too shall rise, and we'll rise with hearts assuring and doubting worship throughout the ages to come. Wonder, friends, the singing's good in this chapel tonight.

You know why it's good? Because the Lord hath implanted into our own heart that wonderful song that's never going to end. And our hearts are filled and enthused as we think of the glorious passing of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Singing Through Suffering and Spiritual Noise

But as we think of the symphony of song, and we're all part of it, let us speak to it in our practical experience that the song does not go out of our life, unless it does so often. You know, Beethoven was really afraid, day after day and month after month, that he would gradually get deaf, which would indeed be a great blow to his musical career, because everything depended on his good hearing.

He went to ear specialist after ear specialist, but all to no avail. Gradually, the great master of melody became tone deaf. And yet it's an amazing fact, musical critics will tell you, that the sweetest melodies that came from that master musician were those composed during that period of tone deafness.

And it would seem that when he was shut out, shall I say, from the noises of the world, or the noises of the world were shut out of his experience, then those wonderful melodies burst out of his emotional.

And we're living in a day of noise, a day of din, the passion war, the infernal smear. We hear so many jarring notes a day, and if we're not careful we will find it will begin to affect our spiritual state.

How wonderful to be shut in with him far, far above the restless world that wards below. And I'm going to say this, friends, that the more we're shut in with himself, and the more we're taken up with his glorious person, so the more will the noises of this life less affect us.

And we'll enjoy the song that fills our heart to its fullest capacity. But alas, alas, so often the things of life and things of time come into our experience, and then we begin to feel ourselves getting depressed and discouraged, and sometimes it doesn't just occur to us to begin to sing.

But I'll tell you this, friends, that if we can sing in the dark, we'll certainly triumph over our circumstances. It's not easy to do so, but it can be done. It can be done. Why? Because he'd give us songs in the night.

We were just singing about that. A brother was telling another one the other day that he was very sleepless. The brother said to him, did you count a hundred sheep? No, he said, I didn't. He said, but I sang to the shepherd.

And dear friends, that's what it's done, isn't it? And I think it wouldn't be out, shall I say, of reckoning, if we sang to the shepherd, too. He'd give us songs in the night. And very often, if we will, shall I say, change our care to prayer, he'll turn the midnight into music.

Paul and Silas Singing in Prison

And this was certainly true with regard to the Apostle Paul and Pilate. Just think of them in that prison. Their backs were bleeding, their feet were aching in the touch, but their heart was singing, and the earth was trembling, and the Philippian jailer was crying.

What must I do to be saved? And then the Pilate, he too is singing, and he and his household are being baptized, and they are rejoicing. Why? We hear of songs in the night. It was Paul and Pilate, not Haines and Pilate.

I don't know whether Paul was singing in the bass, or Pilate was singing in the tenor, I don't know. But I know this, that they were in unison. And their hearts beat alike, and were in tune with God. And consequently, although suffering terribly, physically, and no doubt mentally too, because of the chains, they could rise above their circumstances.

And the pilgrims heard that burst of songs, the Hallelujah Chorus, no doubt, and blessing followed. I read some time ago about a shipload of songbirds being transported to a certain country, and during the first three days, it was a beautiful voyage, the first three days, because the sea was calm and tranquil, and the thumpers seemed to be strangely quiet.

Most of them, by the way, were canaries. But after the third day, they ran into a terrible storm. So much so, that the passengers on board that ship were greatly distressed. Then a strange thing happened.

A few of the birds began to sing, and then they were joined by others. Until all the birds on that ship, and I understand there were thousands of them, were singing together in the height of the storm.

Well, it was recorded that they had gotten to the harbour quite late. But the passengers, in their testimony concerning that experience, said what a great feeling it was in the hour of danger, in the darkness of the country, to hear the birds singing at the height of the storm.

My friends, that's the reason why God sometimes is pleased in His property both to bring us into a storm, and some of us have passed through some very severe ones. Perhaps storms of sickness, or storms of sorrow, storms of trials, storms of adversities.

But He's right, it's true. And in the midst of the storm, as is true every hurricane, we have enjoyed the centre. In that very central calm, we have been conscious of the stillness, as we mentioned last night, the stillness of our God.

For there is a strange central calm in the heart of Carinthia. It's so calm that even a child can slumber undisturbed without the rattle of one fair curl. In that strange central calm, it is a mighty whirlpool, and so it is, too, with the Christians.

Although the winds may be howling round about, and the billows might seem to be mounting and howling in their foaming heads, we can enjoy the presence of the Lord in the midst of the storm, and He gives us songs during the night, in order that we may be able to comfort others with the comforts with which we ourselves have been comforted of God.

And it's said of the Genesis of Mervyn and 2 Corinthians, Let us seek the grace to rise above our circumstances, and then we'll not only encourage others, but we'll lead them, perhaps, into a deeper experience with our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

So we are to be found singing and making melodies in our hearts unto the Lord, and that continually. The symphony of songs. And we all have a part to play with them. Let us play our part well. Now we come to the symphony of complications.

Agreement in Prayer as a Symphony of Supplication

You notice in this passage in Matthew 18, verse 19, we have a word here that's really a musical term. Again I say unto you that if two of you shall agree on earth, especially in anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.

And that word, agree, is a musical word, really, which means to symphonize. If two of you shall symphonize on earth, especially in anything they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.

It means to strike the right note. Why, it's so easy, isn't it? To strike the wrong note. And when the wrong note is struck, then there's discord. Now, before I was ever introduced to an assembly, I longed to address them.

Now, I hope you won't be horrified when I tell you that. Of course, some of my assembly friends who were just watching over my spiritual state, they often said to me, come ye out from among them and be separate.

So the time came when I left the realm of sounding brass and teaching cymbals for the quieter atmosphere of assembly life. But I'll tell you this, that during my experience in this assembly, there were many lessons which I was able to apply to my own heart and conscience in the spiritual realm.

Keeping the Lord at the Center of the Assembly

Lessons that I learned when I was in the brass band. And one of the lessons I learned, and one of the first lessons I had to learn, was this. To keep my eye fixed on the man in the centre, we would be about thirty instrumentalists in a circle.

There would be the conductor with his baton standing right in the centre of the circle. And while we were playing, of course, our instruments, we'd have to keep one eye on the music and one eye on the man in the centre.

Now supposing, as players, we were looking at one another, or interested in what the other members were doing, what would happen? By taking our eyes off the man in the centre, we would get off the beat, and consequently we'd be out of tune, and there would be a dischord.

That's one lesson I learned, friends, and it's a big lesson to my own soul in assembly capacity. I remember, dear friends, how that truth grips me, that the Lord is in the midst of his people. Yes, in the midst of the church, he himself said, I will sing praise unto thee.

So he is in the midst of his people, leading the praises and the worshiping of his people, and it's well for us to recognize that. No wonder he goes on to say here, for where two or three are gathered together in my name, Jeremiah, in the midst of them, not where two or three are met together in my name, where two or three are gathered together in my name.

Well, what is the difference? There is a difference. To be gathered unto the name of the Lord Jesus suggests a gatherer. The world might meet together, but they're not gathered together usually. But when the Lord's people come together in a collective way, they are gathered together by the gatherer, who is the sovereign spirit himself.

And they gather together in order that we might worship the Lord in a beauty of holiness, and serve the Lord in dutiful testimony, recognizing that there is one and only one who is in the midst of his own.

Alas, alas, I'm afraid many Christians forget this. They turn their eyes longer from the Lord, and begin to look at one another. And all how true it is that when you get occupied with one another, instead of being occupied with the Lord, then you cross the wrong road, and the deep road.

It is most important that we see in this sense no man prays Jesus only. And when we are doing that, then we are working harmoniously together. We'll be charting the right note. We will symphonize, and the three chords of ascending prayer will go to God, and he will hear that prayer and come down in blessing.

And we are told to be encouraged. There was once a young composer, and there were thousands of people gathered together in a certain place to listen to the performance of his works. But as were the applause rang through that building over and over again, the young composer was looking at the crowd.

He was looking at one man in that audience, and that was his teacher. No, he cared not for the applause of the crowd as long as they had the smile of approval of his teacher. But it is with us. When we come together in the name of the Lord Jesus, let us see to be occupied with him alone, that our eyes might be upon him, beholding his beauty, and altogether loveliness, and prophetic excellency.

And in so doing, we will have his smile of approval, which will indeed cheer our hearts and strengthen our souls. This reminds me of his late majesty, King George VI, of fragrant memory. We well remember, with the abdication of King Edward VIII, how that the kingship was thrust upon him suddenly.

And unfortunately for him, he had an impediment in his speech, which of course for a man of his tradition was really a tremendous drawback. And he knew it. So they sent for a young man who lived in this country, I don't know just where he came from, but he was an expert in these things.

And he went to Buckingham Palace, and he gave the king a series of lessons, and the king did very well. Then came the safe opening of Parliament, and the king was to give a very important address. There he stood, and before him a glittering array of the nobility.

The dukes, the marquises, the earls, the barons, and so on. But he had looked beyond those men, and he had his eyes fixed while he delivered his address on one man who was not among the nobility, but among the commoners.

It was the face of that young man, his teacher. And as the king gave his address on that memorable occasion, he was looking all the time at that young man, and he saw the smile of his approval, as must be said.

So on. You're doing well, you're doing well. And the king was encouraged. And understand he never made one single slip. So note the praises of a man. If we keep our eyes fixed on the Lord, friends, if we seek his approval and we enjoy the smile of it, we have no need to fear and will be found striking the right note.

And when we strike the right note, we are in a position and a condition for God to come down and answer our prayers, if they be according to his will, according to his will. That's one of those lessons I learned to keep my eyes fixed on the man in the picture.

Harmony, Unity, and Christian Character

You know, there was a dear sister the other day, and she complained about a brother in the assembly, and she's only so much to say that an old brother who was standing by, he said, Oh, how delighted our Heavenly Father must be with such a variety of characters in his family.

And he went on to say, My dear sister, he can get music out of them all. So why don't you listen to the tune, listen to the melody, and don't court it by being a victim yourself? Well, that was the desire, wasn't it?

I kind of think the Apostle Paul had this in mind when he was writing to the Philistines. You know, there were a couple of sisters who were having quite a problem. The Odious and St. Pippin, and he was beseeching them that they might be of one mind in the Lord.

You've probably heard of the colored brother who read that scripture, not being a very good reader. He said, I beseech Odious, and I beseech soon touching. Well, probably that might have been the reason for the trouble.

Soon touching, as you know, is an odious complaint, isn't it? And the Apostle is appealing to these two sisters. Now, you may be in sentiment, and you may be different in disposition, but enough to lay the flesh alight, the Lord has a variety of characters.

And if you can't agree as to disposition, then there's one thing you can do. You can be of one mind in the Lord. So he goes on to say, let your yieldingness, that's the word, be known unto all. In other words, let us be very, very pliable when it comes to non-essentials, but let us be firm and rigid when it comes to fundamentals, and let's move one eye open.

This is how I speak on the man. Look enough unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

For consider him who endures such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest he be really in pain in your minds. In another lesson I learned, dear friends, in this wonderful symphony was, that the instruments must be in tune.

Now, before we gave any performance in public, what a noise! What a jangle! What a discord! What was happening? Why, the instruments were tuning up, and we all had to blend with a little sway. It would be no good performing in public unless we were in tune.

The little sway, I say it very reverently, we think of Christ, and we must be in tune with him, dear friends. If we're in tune with him, we're in tune with one another. If we're out of tune with him, we're out of tune with one another.

Now, I doubt about that. You take the violin, for instance. Sometimes the violin's a little bit on the flat side. They're too loose, so they have to be flattened up a bit. And then sometimes they're a little bit over-tuned.

They're too soft, so they need to be flattened up a little bit. But if they were too loose or too tight, they'll both have a tune. That's the point. And how many Christians, dear friends, are too loose in practice, and they're too tight.

They're too wrinkled in doctrine. And I'm going to say they'll both have a tune. They'll both have a tune. Oh, how wonderful it is to have the person of the Lord Jesus Christ before us, and that we might regard our bodies as an instrument.

An instrument which must be in his hands in perfect tune with himself, and in accord and harmony with his blessed book, because we have to appear in public. And our testimony, shall I say, is symphonic in its witness.

In other words, it's symphonic in public. And how careful we should be, as the Lord's people, in all our talk and in our walk and in our very deportment, because we appear in the public eye. And as somebody has well said, the world generally speaking isn't reading the Bible, but the world is reading the Scriptures.

You remember in Genesis 30, in our Englishes, it is recorded that the Tadizites and the Canaanites were in the land. Now, it's very significant that Abraham, following that placement, says to Lot, Let there be no strife between me and thee, between my husband and my husband, for we are brethren.

And because of the fact that we are brethren, remember that the Canaanites and the Tadizites are in the land, and they, the enemies of the Lord, are looking on. And because of the fact that they are looking on, how important it should be that we as the Lord's people should be pulling together and striving together and praying together, because we're going to be caught up together one day, to keep the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

For I look back the years, oh, the wise young years, and how successful Satan has been in order to divide the ranks of the Lord's people, in order that he might weaken their testimony. And while it may not apply to us here tonight, in this sense, it's a challenge for us all to maintain the unity of the Spirit of God, because we belong to one family, and we go to one place, and we don't just spend eternity together.

Therefore, let us see that our instruments are in tune with the Christ, and with his work. And then, of course, with regard to my band experience, you see the number of lessons I learned, practice has to come into its own.

Practice and the Public Testimony of Believers

That's all true. We're all true business, and just from the beginning, practice must begin its own. You remember that when that man said to the Lord Jesus, out of whom was capped the legion of devils, I want to follow thee with us however thou goest, the Lord said in any text, your witness begins to turn you.

The light that shines afar, this shines the brightest nearest home. Go home and tell how great things the Lord has done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee. And that's just what he did. And the impact that he cast on me was so powerful, he was well known in that district, that all men did marvel, because his testimony began that hope.

Which reminds me, you know, speaking about a brass band, Surgeon didn't like brass bands at all. He said the use of it disturbs his study when the bands march up and down the streets of London. Somebody once said to him, Mr. Surgeon, can a man be a Christian and belong to a brass band?

Well, he was very actionary in his remarks. He said, well, we see no impediment in the way, but if the young man is a corner player, and he's given the practice he left home, we consider it much harder for a man next door to be a Christian at a present day.

Well, now, that rather tickled me for the fact, because I was a young man practicing the poem on the corner, and the man next door happened to be a dentist, and I wondered if it was causing his patients the most pain, his toggles with a foot, or my toggles with a shoe.

Well, anyway, after a little bit of practice in poems, I became a little bit more efficient, and I'm going to suggest this, that the template of testimony, if it's a clear one, ought to make it easier for the man next door to become a Christian.

If it is clear in reading, and has a clarion note, I say it will make it easier for that man next door to be a Christian. I must tell you this before I get up the subject of the template. When I returned home on furlough, I went to the dentist, and I had my teeth removed, and of course, before I went back to the Bahamas, I had a set that was not my own.

So, one of the first things I did was to fetch out my posse template, to just try and see whether I'd have an opulence on the instrument. And lo and behold, I didn't get a clear note. So, I said, I don't know what's happened to this.

I put it under the tap, and I let the water run through it. Perhaps the cockroaches got into this during my absence. And I tried again. Oh, if you'd have heard of the noise things. And my wife was there.

Oh, she said, don't give up, don't give up. She thought I was losing my talent. I said, if I don't give up, the neighbors will give up. I could give all the noise. No, dear friend, not to this day was I able to get a clear note out of that template.

I suppose my teeth had altered the formation of my lips, and the formation of my lips on the mouthpiece had made all the difference. I couldn't get a clear note at all. But I've used that as an illustration.

If there's anything false about the preacher, the template will make an uncertain sound. And, dear friend, if there's anything false about the Christian, mark it well, the template will make an uncertain sound.

And no wonder that unconverted people are not impressed when they see a sad contradiction between the lip and mouth of professing Christians. Francis must begin a poem. Ye shall be my witnesses. The beginning of Jerusalem, a poem is this.

Then it's standing in ever-widening circles to Judea, Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. A very famous pianist said this once. He said, if I only practice the poem, I notice it. For one day, I notice it.

For two days, he said, my friends notice it. And for three days, he said, the public will notice it. Oh, how important it is, then, friend, that if we don't have quite the right note, we'll have to practice a poem.

And how wonderful it is, the promise is here, that if two of you shall symphonize, if we gather in our own homes and have these quiet times, and kick the throne of grace so that to those ascending towards the prayer will reach the magical unheard, it shall be done is a promise, it shall be done, for those pains will reach the throne of grace, and share this simplest form of speech that infant lips can try, and share this sublimest pain that which the magic sees.

I'm fine. The symphony of prostration. For the time is done, and I haven't reached the last point. But I'm just going to mention what it is before I close. The symphony of service. Well, sort of four men striking the right note.

Four Friends and the Symphony of Service

What a happy quartet. Not a quartet of singers, but a quartet of workers. We don't know their names, but I think you could put over the heads of each one L-O-V-E love. They were striking the right note.

They were symphonizing together. They had this harmonic desire that this poor man should be laid at the feet of Jesus for his blessings, and the sweet love of music and oneness touched and reached the heart of the Christ.

What it was when he saw their face. I love that. His great heart of love was cheered with the unity and the oneness that existed among those four men when he saw their face. He said unto the sick of the halls, he sung, Thy sins be forgiven thee.

And the sweet note of pardon hollowed. Let us recognize, friends, that in this wonderful symphony, everybody has a part to play. I played a solo part in playing the trumpet. What about that man who was just keeping the triangle?

He didn't have very much gift and talent to do that. Just a projectile triangle with a steel rod. But he had a part to play, and it was necessary for the whole. And let me tell you this as a practice, if that man wasn't playing his triangle, and he was just sticking by and thought, well I haven't got a prominent part to play, I haven't even got him here, the conductor would have brought this up to an immediate halt looking at his core.

He'd say, now, where was the triangle there? You see, it doesn't matter how small our part may be in this symphony of service, Lord, if you see it. So friends, it is needed. It is needed. It may be a very small part to play, but let us play it well to the glory of our God.

Some people, if they one time play the first fiddle, they won't fiddle at all. But it takes all the grace that one can tell to learn to play the second fiddle well. And after all, in this symphony, there are all kinds of scripts and all kinds of columns to be told.

And there's one little column called a shelf. Well it doesn't want very much intellectuality, it doesn't want very much education, but it is a shelf, that is, in the service of the Lord. Don't doubt that there might always be a shelf, another hindrance.

It doesn't matter how small our part may be, we've got a part to play. Let us play it well to the best of our ability, because it is essential to the whole, and if it isn't in the symphony, the part will be missed by the heavenly conductor.

He has the score before him. He knows what part we have to play, and he's listening for us to play that part, and to play it effectively, and to play it well. Two tourists were looking at Cologne Cathedral, and they were admiring it.

It's one of the most wonderful buildings in the world. And there was a poor workman standing by, and he said, I tell you, he took this many years to finish that. And they looked at him. Why you? What did you do?

Well he said, I mixed the mortar. He wasn't an architect, he wasn't even a builder. But his part was very essential, just as much as the architect or the builder. Without the mixing of the mortar there would be no cement, and without the cement there would be no cathedral.

It doesn't matter how small the part may be, friends. Let us play it well, and let us remember that the day is coming when we'll have to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. And in this symphony of service, shall we hear him say, I missed your part when needed most, or shall we hear him say, you played it well.

Closing Poem: Every Part in Harmony

I wonder if you'll give me permission to read a poem that I wrote in closing. It won't take very long. The jarring sounds of this hour day are caroled a soul with constant din. The clang of strife, the skeptic's gear, the tack of war, the cry of sin.

Still there is music in the air, gladly the well-tuned ear perceives. The feel of bells, the sound of birds, the murmuring brooks, the rustling leaves. Sweeter the song no bird can thrill, its silver notes no bells can shine.

Christ in redemption is its theme, nor shall it end with course of time. Rising above the babbling strife, from paths of love attuned by grace, majestic in symbolic praise from every kindred, tongue and race.