FOUNDATIONS BIBLE COLLEGE
BOOKSTORE

From the Foreword

The composer of all of these sacred song forms was born in Virginia in a Christian home and reared in his majority years in Washington, D.C. His father was an ordained minister of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Music was a major part of this ministerial family because of the many avenues of worship which prevailed. However, it was the utter simplicity of song that was the major manner of expression. The main thing in all of those early days was that music was for The Message of the Holy Bible.

The composer of this book of songs, The Message, commenced while he was in the second grade, the age of seven, with his first lyric-form which was finalized into a most simple theme on nature entitled "The River of James."

After the composer of this book of songs was twenty years old, he became a Christian, having continued a modest relationship with music in a number of secular ballads. One of them became popular after the war. But after the composer s conversion to Christianity in his freshman year at Bob Jones University, while majoring in musical studies, the secular gave way to the sacred. About 300 hymn-songs and 18 cantatas and oratorios would follow, of which 181 were selected for the present volume.

After World War II, in the Bible churches in the United States, the four most familiar sacred song forms were: (1) the Youth Chorus, (2) the Testimony Song, (3) the Hymn, and (4) the Anthem. These forms came during the Rodeheaver period and the early "Youth for Christ" in its best days of evangelism. None of these forms involved the present, contemporary "beat" and "structure" of this "Rock and Roll" generation. The present "Youth for Christ" is dedicated to neo-evangelicalism.

The first song form, the Youth Chorus, was dedicated to some genuine emotional response in the Christian witness of the Christian youth. The lyrics spoke of victory, joy, love, sin, forgiveness, or praise. The Chorus was the assurance song of salvation for Christian young people. This stirred a youthful claim of Christ in worship and refreshed the older saints as well. There were regular youth services in the monthly calendar of the church, often an earlier Sunday evening service. Sometimes a children s rendition in song or that of an older teenage group was set forth at the chancel area of the sanctuary. It brought life and youthfulness to worship—from The Message.

The second song form, the Testimony Song, was dedicated to a narrative of the believer coming to the Lord Jesus and saving grace. Solos, duets, trios, and quartets were just beginning in the order of the American worship services as far as a "special" was called. This song form should not be understood as one and the same with the "Gospel Song" of the charismatics. Their songs are experiential and subjective and are often without doctrine and scriptural integrity. The earlier Testimony Song was usually presented before The Message was preached in the worship service. Sometimes it would follow The Message, too. This brought a full Bible testimony to worship—from The Message.

The third song form, the Hymn, was dedicated exclusively to some great doctrine of the Bible such as creation, nature, providence, redemption, the Blood of Jesus, the Trinity, the Cross, the atonement, or some other major theme of The Message of the believer s faith. This was presented in a strong, stately tempo which stirred reverence in the congregation. Biblical doctrine would be preserved in the people s heart and mind. This brought faith and dignity to the worship—from The Message.

The fourth song form was the Anthem; this was most special in worship. This song form brought forth a passage directly quoted from the Bible, always out of the Authorized King James English Version. This would be a time when a portion of the congregation would meet to "practice" (as it was called) this special song form for a forthcoming worship service. There were simple music schools in churches in those days which finally included small instrumental sacred ensembles, too. This became the highlight to The Message. Later in the week, in other functions of the local church you could hear a child endeavoring to sing this "special" song—either humming, or whistling, or actually singing the words, stumbling somewhat through the beautiful melodic theme. This brought a classical, musical growth to worship—from The Message.

In the last 25 years the pastor and the worshipping congregation have been reduced more and more away from the spiritual guardianship of music in the local churches. In fact, in many, many places the congregation is hardly the emphasis of participation at all. It was Martin Luther, in the sixteenth-century Reformation, who brought congregational music and singing back into the church. After centuries of professional and paid choirs and musicians throughout the Dark Ages, music returned to the congregation. However, now after five hundred years the pastors and congregations are giving way to the paid performers as congregations lose the legacy of the sacred song forms. This has come about as ecumenical evangelism has been supported by a movement leading many pastors and congregations back to Roman Catholicism.

Formerly, the composer was read with care; but now the performer is almost lost in the flair for the ornate extensions of embellishment which have risen above the original composition itself. There is the dominance of a new chordality which has made the accompanist the main attraction. The new arrangements have swallowed up the historical song forms. Worship has changed away the emphasis of The Message to the method, the manner, the mission, the man, the money, and the means. Instead of worship, pragmatism has greatly changed the powerful authority of The Message. Contemporary Christian music is exactly what it claims: it is for the contemporary time not the conscience and The Message. Even where the memory of the past includes the old song form, yet it has been reinterpreted for the contemporary fashion and beat.

This volume is not perfect. The composer continues to monitor his own music; he has destroyed a number of compositions in the past. However, he seeks only The Message. I beseech you not to cheat the structure when you sing from this songbook; do not impose the modernity of the contemporary beat to its measures and lyrics. A bad singer, spiritually, could hurt the best song. A poor congregation, spiritually, could accept something else. The composer of this book of songs has set forth this volume of 24 sections from his own unpretentious musical compositions and lyrics. In the anthems the lyrics are taken from the Holy Scriptures.

May the music return to the congregation of God’s saints who stand and sit and pray and sing before the pulpits of the preaching of the inerrant, infallible, and inspired Word of God—The Message.

O. Talmadge Spence
Foundations Bible College
August 26, 1998

Music and Page Samples

Click on the images for a larger view.
To hear samples of songs from the book, click on the titles. These samples have been arranged for quartet or trio and are on the Forwarding the Faith music CD.   The Battle Is the Lord's   Three Crosses   It Is Time to Stand Other musical samples of songs from The Message of Sacred Song are below. These were also arranged for quartet and translated into Spanish. The samples come from a CD released by Foundations Bible College, Himnos Sagrados de la Fe.   That Old Bible We Love   Going Home