One of the most thrilling portrayals of the gospel ministry in all of the world of music has to be Felix Mendelssohn's dramatization of the call to it in his famous oratorio, St. Paul.

In the words of Scripture, interspersed with some of the grand old chorales, the composer recalls the martyrdom of Stephen and the emergence of Saul as bitterest opponent and persecutor of the Christian faith, and then sets to music the dramatic Biblical account of his conversion on the road to Damascus. (Undoubtedly Mendelssohn's own Jewish back­ground helped him to enter the more sympathet­ically into these events.) After the recitative of Saul's encounter with the Lord in the way, the com­poser introduces a chorus singing the words of Isaiah 60:1, 2,

Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For be­hold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.

And he immediately follows this with the chorale which is the theme song of the whole oratorio, familiar to us in the English words, "Wake, Awake, for Night is Flying."

Returning to the Biblical narrative, the composi­tion follows Saul to Damascus and his encounter with Ananias, completing his conversion from a persecutor into a confessor and preacher of Christ. Then in a remarkable turn (that may suggest to us a characteristically "Calvinistic" understanding of Scripture) the composer has us reflect on the mean­ing to this tremendous event in a chorus that ex­egetes, word by word, more carefully than many a preacher, the lines of Paul's great doxology in Romans 11:33, 36,

O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearch­able are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! ... to whom be the glory for ever. Amen.

The reiterated Biblical words are sung in a musical climax that is indescribable and unforgettable!

Part II begins at this point reminding us in another chorus that,

The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ ... for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.Revelation 11:15, 15:4

In the framework of this an­nouncement Paul and Barnabas are then in the words of Acts 13:2, 3 ordered and sent out on their mission. The composer follows this commission with Barnabas and Paul singing as a melodic duet,

Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead ...2 Corinthians 5:20

By repetition the music drives home the astounding fact that we are to speak in the "stead" of CHRIST — that GOD ad­monishes through us! The chorus comes in to ac­claim with the words of Romans 10:15, 18 the incom­parable vocation of the messengers,

How lovely are the messengers that preach us the gospel of peace! Their sound is gone out to all the lands and their words to all the world.

After this what more could be added? The com­position takes another fascinating turn. After informing us that the missionaries went out joyfully bringing their message the soprano soloist invites each hearer, "Let us sing of the grace of God and de­clare His truth for ever!" A fitting way to conclude this remarkable musical reminder of the glory of the gospel calling.

If this splendid piece of gospel music is not familiar you ought to get acquainted with it. When so much music, even religious music, seems thin and transient, we ought to learn, as notably Martin Luther and some of his great musician followers did, how the gospel themes of God's grace and glory may be sung as well as spoken in some of the greatest of classical music.

Note: Mendelssohn's sensitivity to gospel themes, so profoundly expressed in the middle section of the St. Paul, regrettably seems to falter when later in the oratorio he has the apostles address the idolatrous pagans in Lystra (Acts 14:8ff.) with the words borrowed from the letter to the Corinthian church (1 Corinthians 3:16, 17),

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

Great musicians can fumble just as well as theologians. And we have to learn to discriminate in our appreciation of great Christian classics, helped by their Biblical insights, but avoiding their errors.