For centuries mankind has delighted in and gained inspiration from song.
We read in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark that Christ Jesus and his disciples concluded their Last Supper with a hymn before leaving for the Mount of Olives, where the Master was taken into custody by the soldiers of the high priest. What uplift and healing must have accompanied this singing. What comfort, too, may have remained with Jesus to help him meet and master the anguish he suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane!
Paul and Silas were unjustly beaten and imprisoned by the authorities of Philippi. Instead of feeling sorry for themselves, we are told, "at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them." Healing and inspiration must have been expressed in these songs, too, for the account continues, "And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed." Acts 16:25, 26; The next day the magistrates decided to let Paul and Silas go.
