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 BERMON 
 
 
 PREACHED IX WESTMIN&TER CHURCH, 
 
 S^mclav Mornino-, Febrnarv 20, 1^9 
 
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 SERMON 
 
 CHURCH MUSIC; 
 
 PREACHED IN WESTMINSTER CHURCH, 
 
 SLinday Morning, Febriiarv 20, 1859. 
 
 BY THE PASTOR, 
 
 FREDERICK T. BROWN. 
 
 CLEVELAND: 
 
 FAIRBANKS, BENEDICT A CO., PRINTERS, HERALD OFFICK. 
 
 1859. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 I preached this sermon, because the choir of my church having 
 just been re-organized and enlarged, and an organ having been 
 procured, I wished to guard against the choir evils t had seen in 
 some other churches in the land : and, in the outset, establish the 
 principles that should, as it seems to me, govern church music. — 
 As the reader will see, I expressly exculpated the Choir of my 
 own church from censure ; and it is but just and truthful to my- 
 self to say, that I was not hitting at the choirs of other churches 
 in particular. 
 
 I publish this seraion, because, in the congregation to which I 
 minister, it has been much talked about since it was preached ; and 
 because I hope the truths it teaches may do good to others, not 
 members of my church or congregation. The sermon as published 
 is verbatim as it was preached. I dedicate it to all who believe 
 it to be the duty of the people to praise God, the duty of all the 
 people to praise God and the duty of the choir to help the people 
 to praise God. 
 
 FREDERICK T. BROWN. 
 
 WEBIMnrBTBB PAKSOITAGB, 
 
 Feb. 24th, 1859. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2013 
 
 http://archive.org/details/serhmuOObrow 
 
SERMON 
 
 Ephesians, v:19. — Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns, and 
 spiritual soogs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. 
 
 Psalms, lxvii:3. — Let the people praise thee, God ; let all the people 
 praise thee. 
 
 Psalm cl. — Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary : praise 
 him in the firmament of his power. — Praise him for his mighty acts : 
 praise him according to his excellent greatness. — Praise him with the 
 sound of the trumpet : praise him with the psaltery and harp. — Praise 
 him with the timbrel and dance : praise him with stringed instruments 
 and organs. — Praise him upon the loud cymbals : praise him upon the 
 high-sounding cymbals. — Let every thing that hath breath praise the 
 Lord. — Praise ye the Lord. 
 
 All these exhortations for praise, are for praise in 
 connection with, or rather as part of, the public worship 
 of the sanctuary. They are exhortations to praise God by 
 a church choir, in singing, and with instruments of music 
 of many kinds. They are exhortations to praise God by 
 the congregation, in singing |)sahTL3, and hymns, and 
 spiritual Eongs. • They are exhortations to praise God with 
 instruments and in singing, by the choir, and the whole 
 congregation, conjointly playing and singing. These seem 
 to me to be the leading principles of the several passages 
 of Scripture I have taken for my text ; and from which 
 I wish to preach a sermon on Church Jfusic, as part of 
 the public worship and service of the sanctuary. 
 
1 have before tliis, in the Old Round Church, preached 
 ou the subject of churcli music, though not from this text. 
 nor in the form of presentation 1 shall use to-da3\ It 
 ha3 seemed to me that it might be to ediiication to 
 preach ou the subject again, in this house, in view of 
 the high importance of the subject, and of the interest 
 that is felt in it among all classes of the people. 
 
 (3f the three portions of Scripture composing my text, 
 two are from the Old Testament, and refer to and are des- 
 criptive of a part of the temple service: — of course, I am 
 aware of the diflSculty and danger of reasoning from what 
 was customary and enjoined as part of the temple service 
 under the old ceremonial dispensation, to what should 
 be part of the church service under the new Christian 
 dispensation. The other portion of the text is from the 
 New Testament, and may be supposed to refer to the 
 customary mode of praising God in the primitive Apos- 
 tolical Cluirches : — of course, I do not suppose that the 
 singing of psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, in the 
 primitive places of worship of the primitive Christians, 
 should 1)0 hi'l 1 to be the only proper mode of praising 
 God in the Christian Church. In both cases, however, 
 the danger of making some serious mistake, is greater 
 in seeming than in fact — tlie exercise of a little plain 
 common sense readily bringing order out of confusion, 
 and separating the truth from the falsehood. How any 
 Christian, taking the whole Scriptures for his guide, 
 can draw the conclusion from them that choirs are for- 
 bidden In the Christian Church, and that instruments of 
 music of all kinds art' especially forbidden, I cannot 
 sec. 1 know that it Is not likely there were choirs 
 in the Christian Churches when they were lirst planted 
 by the AjHistles ; and more unlikely still, that there 
 were instrumenlti of juusic: l)ut there were not, as 1 
 
conceive, lor other reasons than because choirs and 
 instruments of music were sinful and forbidden thinn^s. 
 And, on the other hand, how any Christian, taking the 
 whole Scriptures for his guide, can draw the conclusion 
 from them, that, in the public worship of God in the 
 Christian Church, choirs of singers with all manner of 
 musical instruments, should take into their hands the 
 whole duty of praising God, making silent auditors of 
 the congregation, I cannot see. I know, that in 
 the Temple service the choir, of singers with all man- 
 ner of musical instruments, chosen of God and set apart 
 to this very duty, had in charge ch'efly the public 
 praises of the sanctuary, the people making only respon- 
 ses, and sino^ino- in the choruses. But there was a rea- 
 son for this then and there that does not exist here and 
 now. The Temple and the temple-service have passed 
 away forever : and it were every whit as unnatural to 
 seek to introduce that feature of the temple service into 
 our churches, as to seek to introduce the burning of 
 incense, or the offering of the morning and evening 
 sacrifices. 
 
 The three leading truths taught me by the three pas- 
 sages of Scripture composing my text, and that I pro- 
 pose to teach you, are First, the duty of praising God, 
 as part of the public worship of the Church. Second, 
 the duty of all the people engaging in praising God. 
 Third, the duty, if need be, of having choirs of singers, 
 wdth musical instruments, to lead and assist the people, 
 that the praises of the sanctuary may be as nearly perfect 
 as can be. 
 
 First, the duty of pralslnrj God in Go(Ts Jtoiise. Of 
 course, by " praising God," I mean, singing God's praises. 
 And of course, by " singing God's praises," I mean all 
 that is included in singing Psalms, Hymns and spiritual 
 
8 
 
 dougri, tu tliL' praise vt' God, and to Christian edilicatiun. 
 Many of the Psalms, Hymns, and sacred songs, sung in 
 our churches, and most approved by the people, do not 
 offer ascriptions of praise to Gud directly : some are 
 didactic, some are descriptive, some are historical, some 
 are doctrinal, some hortatory, etc., etc. But nevertheless, 
 they all do, directly or indirectly, offer ascriptions of 
 praise to God. And it is refemng to these things when 
 I say, that it is a duty to praise God in God's house, 
 bv sincrino:. 
 
 How or why God is praised by singing over his 
 praises, rather than by speaking of them s imply, or by 
 silently meditating upon them, is one of those (questions 
 we are not required to trouble ourselves to answer. The 
 fact is that he is: and that settles the question, and at 
 the same time determines our duty respecting it. One 
 of the principal things in the temple service was offering 
 praises to God by the choir and by the congregation of 
 the people : and the praises that were so sung there, 
 under the golden ceilings, and before the Holy of holies, 
 were of the same miscellaneous character as the Psalms, 
 Hymns and Spiritual Songs, we sing in our liumbler 
 churches. And that that stands cmt prominently chiefest 
 in the earliest account we have of the worship of the 
 Cliristians in the age succeeding the apostolic, is their 
 praises sung to (Jod in Christ. It is (^od's will that in 
 His House the* people should call to mind lIiniseJj\ His 
 character. His attributes, love, mercy, truth, justice, com- 
 passion, j)o\ver. wisdom, — and sing them over t«> His 
 praise: tliat they should call t«» mind His doings, — His 
 dealings with them, with theirs, with others, with His 
 church, with His enemies, with nati.»ns. and sing them 
 over to His ]>raise : that they should call to mind His 
 O'ospel, — its doctrines, its bh'ssings, its contlicts, its tri- 
 
9 
 
 umphs, — and sing of it to His praise : that they should 
 call to mind His churcli^ — its planting, its growth, its 
 strength, its beauty, its glory, — and sing of it to His 
 praise : that they should call to mind His people^ — their 
 faith, their love, their zeal, their patience, their prayers, 
 their good works, their trials and temptations, their joys 
 and doubts and fears, — and sing of them to His praise. 
 It pleases God and glorifies Him to have these his praises 
 sung in tlie pjiblic congregation: and therefore it is the 
 duty of the people to sing them. And there is a reflex 
 influence for good on the j^eople : the very act of prais- 
 ing God by singing, in these various ways, opens the 
 heart of him who sings these praises, mellows it, draws 
 it, and prepares it by the grace of God accompanying 
 every duty done, to do still further of God's good plea- 
 sure. And this, in fact, may be the reason why it is 
 God's will that His praises should be suiig — not spoken, 
 nor meditated upon, but sung in the congregation : the 
 very act of singing them — according to the constitution 
 of our nature to be more or less moved by the melo- 
 dies we sin^: and hear suns; — brino-ino; us to the state 
 of mind in sympathy with what we sing: and therefore 
 most pleasing to God that we should have. But this 
 anticipates what I shall have to say under another 
 head. Without further remark therefore, I leave here 
 the duty of singing God's praise in God's house, to 
 speak, 
 
 Second, of the duty of all the people to praise God. 
 *' Let all the people praise thee, O God : let all the 
 people praise thee." This is emphatic ; and expresses, 
 no doubt, the very mind of God in the matter. If it 
 is — as it was shown to be — the duty of the people to 
 praise God in the sanctuary, then it is the duty of all 
 the people to praise him, unless some can show good 
 
10 
 
 and sufficient cause wliy they, in particular, should not. 
 I will not say that there may nut be exceptions : but I 
 will say tliat they should be held as *' exceptions/' not 
 as the rule : and I will say also this, that the rule 
 properly applied, the exceptions will be found to be few. 
 For the full performance of this duty, there are two or 
 three prerequisites, which I will noticej One of these 
 prerequisites, is the ablUiy of the people to praise God. 
 And here there will be irreat diversity of opinion as tu 
 what constitutes ability. I may think I have the ability 
 to praise God in sinLrinir : and my brother, whose ear 
 is more finely attuned than mine, and better culti- 
 vated, may think I have not. Or I may think I have 
 not the abilitv to ]>raise God bv sinixiuir: and mv bro- 
 ther, whose sense of the divine harmonies of music is 
 less perfect than mine, may tliink that I have. How 
 shall we decide cuncernini^ this thing? As to this, the 
 standard of ability not being given by divine authority, 
 I can only say as Paul said of a certain thing, I have 
 no commandment of the Lord: yet I give \w< jud<jments 
 as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faitli- 
 ful. My "judgment'' is, that the standard of ability to 
 praise God by singing may he a rcry low one : so low, 
 as to include, even now, ninety-nine hundredths of every 
 promiscuous congregation of worshippers. Xot that it 
 would nut be better if there were no necessity for bring- 
 ing the standard down so low : and not that it is nut 
 the duty of the people to raise the standard as high 
 and as fast as they can ; but that, taking the people as 
 they are, the standard (»f ability to sing God's ]»ralses, 
 may be very low, and nearly all-com})ri'hendItig. 
 
 This may very pussibly seem, to some of the nnisically 
 gifted and higly cultivated of my audience, as a vulgar, 
 if not indeed a profane judgment, concerning as it does 
 
a 
 
 the public worship of Almighty God. Be that as it 
 may, it is the judgment deliberately and solemnly formed, 
 of one whose ear for music is not as that of the " deaf 
 adder " : who is passionately fond of music : who has 
 had many opportunities of hearing the best music, in 
 the Xew and in the Old World, sacred and profane. 
 If the judgment be a sin against good taste, and a sin 
 against the reverence due to the majesty of God, it is, 
 in both cases, a sin of peculiar aggravation, being com- 
 mitted deliberately in the broad daylight. And I am 
 prepared to add to it the further sin of this declara- 
 tion, many times made in private, and now made in 
 public, that, if need be — if the congregation have the 
 will to sino\ and are sino-ins: to the best of their ability, 
 and one or the other must be foregone — I had rather, 
 in the house of God, have congregational singing, even 
 of the most ^' boisterous Methodist character," than a 
 dumb congregation and the finest choir performance that 
 was ever heard within the walls of a church. Of course 
 I am speaking of the habitual church service. I am 
 prepared to admit every thing to the advocates of exclu- 
 sive choir singing as to the ariistiG superiority of the 
 music of the choir: but, in my judgment, nothing of the 
 kind does or can compensate for the absence of congre- 
 gational singing : — an ounce of gold is, in the market, a 
 hundred times more valuable than a pound of bread ; but 
 on the table, for eating, to them who are famishing with 
 hunger, the pound of bread is a thousand times more 
 valuable than the ounce of gold. The cpiestion between 
 exclusive choir, and congregational singing, is not one 
 of " artistic merit," but of fitness : tried by this rule, 
 the rudest singing by the wdiole congregation, must bear 
 off the palm from the most perfect musical perlbrmance 
 of an exclusive choir. 
 
12 
 
 I need say no more to convince you, that, in my 
 judgment, the standard of ability of the congregation "to 
 praise God by singing, may be a very low one : so low- 
 as to include, even now, ninety-nine hundredths of eveiy 
 promiscuous assembly of worshippers.-' But I would 
 not that you should infer from this, that congregations 
 of worshippers should not increase their abilit}' to sing 
 God's praises more worthily than they can sing them 
 now. All I mean by what was said is this, that even 
 now, they have ability sufficient to make it their duty 
 to praise God by singing in the public congregation. 
 Then to this, I ^vill add, that it is the duty of all, as 
 far as it can be done, to increase their ability to praise 
 God: by studying music, those who can, by practicing 
 singing, by learning new tunes, and in all other ways 
 that occur to them. So that the standard of cougro- 
 tcational sinorinic, thoni^h as widelv inclusive as before, 
 mav not necessarih' be a *' low '' one. 
 
 Another prerequisite to the performance of the duty 
 of praising God by all the people, is a willijig mind. 
 Many more people are unwilling to sing than arj unable 
 to sing. Some have got out of the habit of singing ; 
 some do not feel like singing; some will not sing, 
 because others are singing; some are afraid to sing ; some 
 are ashamed to sing ; some are too proud to sing ; 
 some do not sing because a mock modesty tells them 
 they sing better than most, and that if they sing every- 
 body will be listening to them ; and some do not sing 
 because they wish U) enjoy the harmonies and skillful 
 executions <>f the choir, or to criticise their discords 
 arid failures. In looking over a congregation during 
 singing, I have seen before me musical ability enough, 
 and more than enougli, to fill the house with nieloiiv; 
 but tlu' willing mind was wanting; an-l, though God 
 
13 
 
 was bending his ear to catch their praises, there was 
 silence nearly the same as in an assembly of the dumb. 
 Ah yes, there must be willingness to sing ; the heart;^' 
 wilKngness of each man, woman and child to do what 
 they can, denying self, and putting ofi" the fear or 
 man, or the duty of praising God by all the people 
 will not be done. 
 
 And one other prerequisite to the duty of praising God 
 by all the people, is tlie joer-miasion of the choir. The 
 choir in some churches is the first estate of the realm ; 
 supreme, in majestic dignity and authorit}^, over the 
 pulpit and the congregation. That the congi'egation are 
 silent as the grave from praising God, is a thing of 
 no moment; that the pulpit "plays second fiddle to 
 their fij-st," is a matter of small moment; but that 
 the choir make a magnificent performance, is a matter 
 of the highest moment ! ^'' Fiat choeus ; ruat coelum!''' 
 is their motto ; and, it must be confessed, they are 
 consistent in living up to it. There are many churches 
 in which the command of God to all the people to 
 praise Him, cannot be obeyed, because the choirs have 
 the congregations by the throat, and say to them, '• You 
 shall not sing a note, under penalty of our grand dis- 
 pleasure ! " condescendingly adding, '"Little people 
 shonld be seen, not heard." When preaching in some of 
 these churches, I have also had the kindness done me 
 bv the choirs to have mv hvmns selected for me, and 
 sent into the pulpit, without even troubling me to ask 
 my per.Lission I Of course, under such a regime, neith- 
 er pastor nor people can praise God except by jper- 
 mission. How this permission is to be obtained, where 
 it is denied, by a petition for a restc>ration of rights, or 
 by a coup d? etat^ as in France, followed by the guillo- 
 tine, or a decree of banishment against the tyrants, the 
 
14 
 
 people must deteniiine. And, to my thinkiDg, when 
 mild remonstrances are scorned, any measm-e, not in 
 itself sinful, may be used by a people against a choir 
 that has gagged them into silence, to get back their 
 right to praise God. I have seen congregations assem- 
 ble in the spirit of true devotion, having it in their 
 hearts, an<l almost bubbling from their lips to praise 
 God as with one voice ; and whose wish was when 
 the hymn was given out, '*0 that it was permitted 
 us here to sins:!" or, '' O that the choir would sine; 
 some thing we know, and in which we cuuld join ! " 
 But the law of that church was that the choir alone 
 shall sing ; or, the choir sing something the people do 
 not know, are not expected to know, are not even de- 
 sired to know ; and there tlie congi*egation sit or stand 
 voiceless^ staring at their bouks like silent fools, tlie 
 spirit of praise dying out in tlieir hearts, and in the 
 hearts of not a few a spirit of malediction rising that 
 utters curses, not loud but deep, against the wrong. Tlie 
 blindness c»f choirs to the prolaue injustice of not })cr- 
 mitting the people to praise God ; and to the exceeding 
 folly of making men and women angry prejudiced 
 critics before performing before them, is most anuizing. 
 With this, however, here, I have notliing to do ; only 
 with the fact, that, where it exists, the prerequisite i»f 
 permission from the choir must be obtained before the 
 command of God to all the peo])le to praise him can be 
 obeyed. 
 
 The three prerequisites are, '• ability," '' willingness,-' 
 '' permission ; '' a congregation possessing all these, is 
 in a condition to receive the coniniand: Lvt aU the 
 people praise thee, () God; let all ilic people praise 
 thee! 
 
15 
 
 The Third truth from the text, is the duty, if need 
 be, of having choirs of singers with players on instru- 
 ments, to lead and assist the people, that the praises 
 ol the sanctuary may be as nearly perfect as can be. 
 To this truth too objections are made. 
 
 One of the objections is made by those who are 
 opposed to choirs, and are especially opposed to instru- 
 ments of music in choirs, on the ground that God's 
 praises cannot thereby be played or sung; and, w^hat 
 is singular, this objection comes most frequently from 
 those who sing only David's Psalms, that, in the an- 
 cient church, were always sung by a clwir^ accompanied 
 by all manner of musical instruments. To me the 
 objection has no force, in fact no meaning. I know 
 that God's praises have been played and sung by 
 choirs ; I know that it w^as done by God's own ex- 
 press command ; and I cannot understand why what 
 was praise then, should be profanity now. Further- 
 more, I see God's blessing resting, and resting largely, 
 and lovingly, on those churches in which there are 
 choirs of singers with instruments of music, and I 
 cannot believe that this would be if choirs and their 
 adjuncts were profan'e. 
 
 The other objection to choirs is, that they are open 
 to abuse. This objection I understand. But when will 
 the time come when it need no longer be said, that the 
 abuse of a thing is no valid objection to its use ? 
 Where is the good thing that has not been abused ? 
 That there is a tendency in choirs, in good choirs es- 
 pecially, to a concentration of power, and to an abuse of 
 their privileges, all the world knows ; but it does not 
 therefore follow, that choirs should be abated as nuisan- 
 ces. I understand a choir to be to a church very much 
 what a wife is to a man, ^' a helpmeet ; " something for 
 
16 
 
 everv wortliv man to have ; Bomethinir for everv srood 
 church to have ; and the better the wife, and the choir, 
 the more fortunate the man and the church. Xow that 
 wives do sometimes abuse tlieir privileges, and k>rd it 
 over their husbands, there is no doubt ; but this wouhi 
 be no sutHcient reason to those who have good wives 
 to seek to be rid of tlicm ; nor to those unhappy men 
 who have no wives, but might get good ones, to refuse 
 to nuirrv. I have no sympathy with the (.ibjection to 
 choirs, that they nuiy, aye, that there is even a tend- 
 ency in them to abuse their privileges and lord it over 
 the congregations. If it could be shown that choirs 
 cannot l)e controlled, will not keep their place, and, 
 that, even under judicious management, the resulting 
 evils are greater tlian the gool, then 1 would join in 
 the hue and cry to hunt choirs out of every church in 
 the land ; l)ut this has not and cannot be shown. The 
 objection is clearly one that has two sides ; and the 
 better side is just as clearly on tlie side of choirs. They 
 are open to abuses, to abuses thiit may make them 
 curses to the chm*ches, but these abuses need not continue 
 to exist ; choirs without the abuses, are not only a 
 possibility, l)ut an actuality. Great i)ractical difficulties 
 are also in tlie way of their perfection, and of the per- 
 fection of their working ; difficulties that have seemed 
 insurmountable to some ; but these difficidties have been 
 overcome by some choirs in some churches, and their 
 practical working proved to the satisfaction of all. In 
 the settling of all these cpiestions, very much depends 
 on a right appreliension of the {position of the clioir 
 in the church, ainl of its duties. 
 
 Jf the choir were an independent ])ower in the clinrcli, 
 elected to i)erform the music of the church to the best 
 of its ability, then it were not dilhcult to know both 
 
17 
 
 its position and duties. But the choir is no such "in- 
 dependent power," and is not elected to make any such 
 "performance." The "position" of the choir is at the 
 musical head of the congregation; its "duties" are to 
 lead and assist the people, to the end that the praises 
 of the house of God may be as nearly perfect as can be . 
 I have spoken of the choir as a " helpmeet " to 
 the congregation in singing, just as the wife is the 
 helpmeet of the husband in the duties of life. I will 
 now use another illustration. So far as congregational 
 singing to any good purpose is concerned, the choir is 
 to the church what the locomotive is to the train of 
 cars ; the locomotive is nothing of itself, it is every- 
 thing to draw the train swiftly and safely to its place 
 of destination ; the choir is nothing of itself, it is every- 
 thing to lead and assist the congregation to praise God 
 worthily. To be sure, the locomotive is a master piece 
 of ingenuity and skill, the mechanical wonder and glory 
 of the age ; but to what end was it made ? Certainly 
 not for itself. Certainly not to go snorting up and down 
 the rails, now fast, now slow, to show off its action 
 and speed. Certainly George Stephenson did not in- 
 vent the locomotive for such fantastic displays as these. 
 But there was ^vork to be done, a great work to be 
 done, work that only the locomotive could do ; tTierefore 
 it was invented. And the locomotive''s place is at the head 
 of a train of cars ; and its glory is to draw that heavily 
 ladened train swiftly and safely over the rails to its 
 destination. And, to be sure a choir, of gifted and 
 trained singers, with instruments of music, is something 
 most admirable, a joy, a pride, a power, to any church ; 
 but to what end ? Certainly not for itself. Certainly 
 not to make splendid performances to gapiog audiences 
 in church. Certainlv God did not desie^n the choir for 
 such foolish displays as these. But there was a work 
 
18 
 
 to be clone in the church — a crreat work to bo done — 
 a work that only the choir could do ; therefore the 
 choir is. Its place is at the musical head of the con- 
 gregation ; and its work and glory are to lead and 
 assist the people to praise God worthily. The locomo- 
 tiye that would disdain to be coupled to its train, and 
 draw its load, would be above its business, would be 
 unworthy of its place, and should be taken from the 
 road. The choir that disdains to bo coupled to its con- 
 gregation, and help the people praise God, is above its 
 business, is unworthy of its place, and should be taken 
 from the church. Lord Palmerston defined dirt to be 
 "Anything out of place ; " a capital definition; accord- 
 ing to which the choir galleries of not a few churches 
 are badly in need of sweeping. I am happy to know, 
 that, by the same definition, the gallery of this church 
 is clean. God grant that it may remain so. 
 
 It is quite a common thing to de nounce choirs, and 
 to throw the blame of poor singing in church on the 
 choirs. Tliis is both unjust and unkind, in many instan- 
 ces. There are few positions so thankless as that of 
 chorister in a choir that wishes to })erform its duty for 
 a congregation tliat i.s indifierent to its duty ; sing as 
 that choir may, and sing what it may, there will still 
 bo some to find fiiidt. I know of nothing, tlien, to 
 meet all tlio difiicnlties in the case — difiiculties in the 
 congregation and dilHculties in the clioir — but to go 
 back and get down to the three great truths taught in 
 the text, viz: Ol* ^- ihc duty to praise Go 1 ;" of ^^ the 
 duty of all the pooi)le to praise Go 1 :" of '' the duty of 
 choirs to help the pooi)le to jjraise God," Tliese three 
 duties faithfully anl lovingly attended to, all dilliculties 
 will vanish ; congregations will not hang as dead 
 weights on choirs ; clioirs will not cut tlieniselves oflf 
 from congregations ; and, uniting together as true yoko- 
 
19 
 
 fellows, God's praises will bo sung by choir aud con- 
 gregation so as not unfitly to typify the praises of the 
 redeemed in heaven. 
 
 Permit me now, in conclusion, to say a few words 
 concerning the importance of this part of the public 
 worship of God. 
 
 Of the power of music, I need say nothing ; we 
 have all felt it — we all know what it is. 
 
 But have we duly considered the effects of musio 
 before preaGhing^ on the preaoher and on the hearers f 
 I speak but simple truth when I say, that so constitu- 
 ted are some preachers, that they cannot preach with 
 any satisfaction after bad or inappropriate singing ; and 
 that so constituted are some hearers, that they cannot 
 hear to advantage after such singing. To all such, good 
 and appropriate singing acts as a charm, bringing their 
 minds and hearts into the happiest sympathetic relations 
 with the subjeot under consideration, and the people with 
 the preacher anl the preacher with the people, and 
 lifting preacher and people out of themselves and above 
 themselves. Surely, this is worth considering by all. 
 And, Tvhen the sermon is ended, the impression it shall 
 leave on the hearers depends much on the singing of 
 the last hymn. Surely this, too, is worth considering 
 by all. Many a good sermon has been killed by the 
 singing of the last hymn. Many a ]^oor sermon has 
 been made living by the singing of the last hymn. — 
 And, independent of the preaching, whether that be good 
 or bad, the singing may be, and in innumerable instan- 
 ces has been, a means of gi-ace. Many sinners, who 
 stood out boldly against the preaching of the cross, have 
 been won to Jesus by the singing of the cross. Con- 
 viction, teaching, penitence, faith, love, — God has again 
 and again given all these through the psalms, hymns 
 
20 
 
 and spiritual soDgs, sung by the congregations in liis 
 house. I need not tell vou that the sino-inn: of these 
 psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, are as the bread and 
 water of life to God's own people, strengthening them, 
 encouraging them, gladdening them, drawing them close 
 together round their common Lord, and drawing out their 
 hearts in unspeakable love to Jesus their glorious Saviour. 
 Surely, by all this is also worth considering. The power, 
 for good or for evil, there is in church music, is one no 
 thoughtful man — no thoughtful Christian man, especially 
 — can lightly disregard. I counsel, then : 
 
 1. A thoughtful consideration of the whole subject, 
 by the whole congregation, and by the choir. 
 
 2. An earnest purpose^ on the part of all, to do the 
 thing that is for the best common good. 
 
 3. The charity that thinketh no evil, and is ready to 
 make concessions, including the cordial working together 
 of those who lead in singing and Ox^ those who are led. 
 And 
 
 4. In and with all these things, a devout reverence 
 for God, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, making 
 Ilis will the supreme law, and seeking His glory first 
 and chiefest in every song of praise we sing. 
 
 We need, in all our churches, better church music. — 
 The taste of the community demands better church music. 
 Tlie glory of God demands better church music. And if, 
 in the right spirit, we of this church go to work to secure 
 it — pastor, peo[)le and choir, working together with a 
 liearty good will — God's blessing will surely crown our 
 work. I wi.^li to have a choir, of singers and i)layers 
 on instninicnts, second to none. And I wish to heiu* 
 every man, woman and child, in (he congregation, singing 
 with the choir, and making melody in their hearts to 
 the Lord. 
 
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