The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-11-07 00:00:00

local anb Blstrir

THE OLDSWINFORD ASSOCIATION OF

CHURCH CHOIRS,

The first annual festival in connection with the
Oldswinford Association of Church Choirs took
place in St. James's Church, Wollaston, on Wed-
nesday evening. This association, which was
only formed this year, was started for the purpose
of improving the music in the churches in the
ancient wish of Oldswinford, and for promoting
good feeling amongst the choirmasters, organists,
and choristers of the different choirs. 'lbis year,
however, all the choirs, from some cause or other
have not joined the association, but it is hoped that
next year the choirs from the parishes of St. John's,
St. Thomas's, Christ Church, Lye, and St. Mark's,
Stambermill, may prevailed upon to join.—The
choirs who took part in the service on Wednesday
were St. Mary's, Oldswinford, St. James's, 'Wollas-
ton, and Holy Trinity, Amblecote. The ministers
present were the Revs. G. Gilbanks, vicar of St.
James's, Rev. C, S. Wordsworth, vicar of St.
Mary's, Rev. J. S. Bolder°, vicar of Holy Trinity,
Rev E W. Isaac, vicar of Hanley Castle, Rev. A.
B. Timbrell, curate of St. Mary's, Rev. B. W. Allen,
curate of Holy Trinity, and the Rev. Rice, curate
of St. Marks. The service was commenced with
singing the hymn "All people that on. earth do
dwell, as a processional hymn. The prayers were
read and the service intoned by he Rev. A. 13.
ITimbrell, The psalms sung were the XLVI and
' the CL. The 'first lesson was taken from the 7th
verse and the 16th chap. of the first book of
Chronicles, and was read by the Rev. C. S. Words-
worth. For the second lesson the 19th chap. of the
book of Revelations was read by the Rev. J. S.
Bolder.. The Magnificat and Nune Dimittis by
Tours, in F, was rendered in a splendid manner. The
anthems "As the hart pants," and the "Hallelujah
Chorus" were also well given, but a slight hitch oc-
curred in one of the difficult parts cf chorus. The
sermon was preached by the Rev. E. W. Isaac, who
took his text from the 6th chap. and 19th verse of
St. Paul's epistle to the Ephesians, "Speaking to
your psalms and hymns and spiritual sings, Singing,
and making melody in your hearts to the Lord."
He said St. Paul was giving to the members of the
Ephesians the directions for public worship. He
was instructing theta how the service of Go I was
to be conducted. In the verses preceding the text
he had been warning the members of hie church
against several of the sensual sins' to which his
brethren were prone and into which they them-
selves were in danger of falling. St. Paul warned
them to be very careful to avoid those sins and he
shows how all these sensual pleasures, in which
when near them, they were all accustomed to in-
dulge, should be represented by the rites of per-
forming service to God in psalms, hymn-, and
spiritual songs songe
indulging;
that
inth theseel r delight a
lsiso ritesul
of
f heathen,b
e now,
,
but in the divine worship, made up in good p at of
singing and making melody to the Lord. He tells
them that instead of all the sins and drunkenness
in whieh as brethren they of old celebrate these
rites, that now they should be filled w:th the lleseed
spirit Of God, and ,in order to be filled they should
engage their Leatt in divine worship, which was to
be conducted by speaking to one another in psalm
and hymn and spiritual song, singing and n eking
melody in their hearts to the Lord. St. Penis argu-
ment seemed to be this "You now as followers of
Christ should be filled with the spirit, and not set
your hearts to over flowing with the wants of the
world, and if you are filled with the spirit thiat your
heart will overflood with the promises of God in his
house of erayer. Your tongues then will be exer-
cised in speaking God's praise and in dried :Ile and
revelling. And St. Paul in so advising tiuctly
sets down the public worship of God as conducted
by singing to each of them in psalm and hs mu and
spiritual song and making melody as a habit and
occupation which witnesses against and tends to
prevent a man from falling into sensual vices. A
christian, who has with his whole soul and mind
been taking part in the joyous psalmody of God's
church, can hardly go away into the haunts of vice
and the cempany of evil. No; rather the; who
have joined earnestly in the real worship would
leave the court of Goa with the bhased spirit sanc-
tifying and enlivening the soul and raising it for the
time from earth to heaven. Having we slipped
iu the home of God, their souls weuld be inwardly
blessed by the spirit within, and he (the minister)
would have his hearers especially mark Low' St.
Paul joins the gift of the spirit with choral orsbip.
Now he writes the practise of singing God's praise
together as a congregation with their beine filled
with the Holy Spirit. St. Paul speaks as 'f there
was some veryiintimate connection between choral
praise and the indwelling of the spirit in the heart.
He joins both together in close connection and that
there may be no mistake he 13 particular in d scrib-
ing the various kinds of harmony and song which
together make up choral worship of churches which
he formed and organized, and over which he had
ruled as Christ's Pastor. Speaking to you, selves,
or rather each of them, he Faye, in psalms, which
either referred to the psalter or t ) those parts of the
church's praise which were accompanied by the
harp or some instrument and specking also in
hymns and spiritual songs, by all which, he evi-
dently wished to emphasise the importsnce of
choral worship as being our great instrum nt of
bringing the Holy Spirit into the heart of man
and if devoutly offered, of checking souls free fall-
ing into sensual and riotous ways of life. The
words of the text then as regards public worship
are of great importance. 'alley wieless, Lot only
to the antiquity, but also to the edifying of chossl
service. To its antiquity because we find it is the
internal mode of conducting public worship, n Lich
St. Paul, wholwas the founder of that church, ap-
pointed for its use. To its use and dignity be, ause
he actually connects the soul f man as being filled
with the spirit with choral ersise. He says "Be
filled with the spirit" and then adds in cownc ion
with that the various modes of choral I raise in
public worsaip to God. The seared songs we sing,
our services of prase and songs, he t lie ua if de.
voutedly offered, if offered but with the lips only
but with the soul and mind are a great assis ance in
fitting the mil with the grace of the ever blessed
of God. And if we look inas, this question o choral
praise, if we examine God's mind about it we can
understand haw beneficient to the soul the use of
choral I raise can be made to it. Public worship is,
hout doubt, an imp. rtant means of grace—one
of those acts of religious obssrvanee an d devotion
to God which result in distinct spiritual bleseing to
the soul, allowing this how near God even deemed
that his worship should be conducted. Win out
doubt vs a rule by a worship of melody that seems
the m de of worship that Heloves to be heard in
Hi, house of pr yen Song has always hauled a
prominent element in the public worship of G ) To
such worship He has ever given Ills delibera e
fanction and approval. Yea, so 'true is this thet I
could distinctly say that it is only not wrene' to
employ music freely in our services, but Vett we
are not Acting up to the principles laid dowr by
God for our guidance in this important element of
our devotional life when we do not do so. 1 wo ild
remind you all hew esser Cully the old Jewish hurch
was a singing church, and how by God's direction
their services were services of song. How Da‘ id,
ehe man after God's own heart, appointed certain
of the Jews to minister before the ark of the Lord,
and to record and to thank and praise the Lord God
of Israel, some with eymbals, besides the pies t with
trumpets, continually before the ark of the covenant
of God, I have not time to linger on that wonder-
ful scene, the magnificent ceremonies of the temple
dedication with its beautiful services of song, I.nt I
would remark that it is not for nothing that the
Holy Ghost has thought ,fit to hand down to us
the description of that splendid service. Not simply
as a mere historical fact has tat soul stir, log de-
scription been us, but truly it has been given for our
instrektion. And this serliee of song, WM,
we know, continued in the temple worship, not
simply as sensational, brat carried on under the
direct command of God by His express appoint-
ment and so continued until after the destruction
of Jerusalem after our Lord's ascension when not
one stone of the then temple was left standing up.
on another. With that destruction for over ended,
the old covenant sacrifices, the old typical rites and
ceremonies, not in God's word we can find no hint
that He has altered His will on the sub-
ject of a public worship of song. Rather the
contrary. It was one of our blessed Lord's chef
earthly delights to take part in the temple worship
of song. And we see Him, by so doing, expressing
in deed that which of old He expressed in word by
the mouth of the inspired psalmist "Lord I have
loved the habitation of Thy house. My soul hath a
desire and longing to enter into the courts of the
Lord." We may be assured of this thet our blessed
Lord did not come to diminish, but to increase the
glory of worship in His Father's house and to
breathe into its dead form a divine and life giving
energy so that the true worshipper can by taking
his part in the service of song, by, that men, as St.
Paul tells us, be filled with the spirit of God. Scrip-
ture has told us where the first christian service
tor k place. It was in that laree upper room, which
es to he come the first church et the new dispen-
sation. Though outwardly without pomp as bear-
ing on it the shawdow of Christ's death, yet it was
&service of surpassing dignity, sacredness, and
significance. It was the meeting point of the two
dispensations; the old paschal solemnity being ab-
sorbed into the new encharist frat, ict to te re-
garded
l so much as an utter abolition as a truer for-
mation. The I ole communien e as taken out of th
paschal solemnity, tee tread broke and bless d
was the paschal breed, the cup blessed was th •
plaaeai cup e•I jell lad focused pit of .he p.acten
cerernoey ; and clustering round that service was to
be found all the essentials of worship introduced and.

blessed by our Lord himeeif—suptlication, inter-
c ssion, exhort ation, benedict;on, and holy psalmody-
for after they made song they neut out to the
Mount of Olives. Here was the fe lemn eucharistic
anthem led by the divine celebrant, Jesus Christ
himself. the Incarnate Son of God, Himself the
source of that ever flowing stream of psalm, hymn,
and spiritual song, which from that time was to
make glad the city of God. Yes, in that first chris-
tian service (taken I would have you especially
mark, from the old paschal feast) was to be found
all the essentials of christian worship, which it
would afterwards devolve upon the church, under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to embody and
express in her service. Do we find St. Paul exhort-
ing the inemhers of the Ephesian church in their
services to speak to themselves in psalm and hymns
and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in
their hearts to the Lord? By speaking to them-
selves in psalms, doubtless referring to the respon-
sing chant in psalms sung in alternate verse by the
worshippers on either side of the church. I have
tried to shew you that a service of song—choral ser-
vice—is the services after God's own heart, and the
whole teaching of the bible on the subject shows
that it is God's wish that our service should be carried
cut in the most perfect way and that it is no small
matter the mode in which they are conducted. Your
choral society is formed for the express purpose of
1 perfecting as far as you can services of glory in
your various churches. It is by our various choirs
(they whose holy and important officeit:is tograd our
hymns of praise) meeting together as you have to-
day, after due preparation, and joining with our
hearts and our voices in the beautiful service of our
church. It is by that means to try, through God,
. to help you to make more pelfect your various ser-
vices. May God's bl‘.ssings rest on the effort, may
1 this service be blessed to His honour and glory. I
I have to remind you that our society cannot be kept
up without considerable expense and it is my duty
to ask for your gifts in order to cover the nace-eary
expens3s. gifts truly given to the honour and glory or
God's service. If time had permitted I would have
addressed some words to you, dearly beloved, whose
holy offise it is to lead the service of song in God's
house. Let me intreat you to feel that the white
garb you wear (emblem of purity) should ever re-
mind you of what devolves upon you as undertak-
ing this holy office, come to it as feeling that you
are giving your services not to man, but to the Lord
God of heaven and earth. Lot it be a work of love
on your part, not as a matter of form, but let your
services be the willing offering of a willing and de-
vout heart. May we do what we can in our poor
earthly way to encourage that kind of joyous ser-
vice musical as it must be here with our confession,
our prayers of penitence, our requests for pardon
and help. May we ever go to our house of prayer
with humble and contrite, yet joyful hearts, lifting
up our united voices to the throne of grace, receiv-
ing in return God's blessing, yet preparing ou:-
selves to take our part in the glorious thiong of
worshippers who in the vales of heaven nia ever
proclaim Gcd's glory and sing His praise.—A. collec-
tion was made and the sum of £6 is was collected.
The recessional hymn was "There is a blessed
home." The festival was a decided su-cess,
especially the musical part, and great en dit and
praise is due to Mr. Hedley Sitchel, who acted
most ably as conductor. The choir was well ac-
companied by Mr. H. M. Jackson, who presided at
the organ. At the close of the sersiee a ,hort
organ recital was given in a brilliant manner by M:.
Stevens, of Birmingham.