The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1874-04-18
Morning Services at the Elkton N. E..
Church.


nounced to be delivered by Rev. E. Miller,
in the NJ. E. Church of this town, was
preached last Sabbath morning. A partial
change in the service of that church has
recently been made. The choir, which was
formerly located in the gallery, has been
from that perch among the rafters
into the audience room, and the organ now
occupies position in a corner of the room
to the left of the pulpit, and the band of
singers which formerly constituted the gal
lery choir have distributed themselves
through the congregation. The change,
we think, has been a decided improvement
The rich tones of the organ from the pres
ent position Of the instrument, fill the
church with a full volume of harmony
which was not the case when played away
up in the gable among the rafters. And
the singing being exclusively that of the
congregation, the effect is much better than
when divided with a number of the best
above and behind the audience. The gal
lery is locked up to be kept for particular
occasions when the auditorium everflows
and more room is required to accommodate
the congregation, the prospect for which
does not seem cheering from the amount of
spare room in the church last Sabbath.
The closing of the gallery created good
deal of excitement in the congregation,
and a strong party was found opposing the
movement, as an uncalled- for innovation
on well established custom. But another
party, an austere, puritanicle party, rigid in
discipline and stern in morals, charged that
the gallery had become shrine dedicated
to the worship of beauty, and could no
longer be tolerated within the purlieus of
the temple of the living God. This harsh
decree was carried into effect, and the gal
lery was locked. But we have depressed
from our purpose, which is to speak of the
first sermon of the interesting series above
cited.
The text of the sermon was from Mark,
9th chapter, IL verse: And they went
out and preached that men should repent"
The preacher said repentance was of three
fundamental, legal and evangelical. The
first was mere change of mind or pur-
pose, often the result of circumstances
you may resolve to-day that you will go to
Philadelphia tomorrow, but on the NOR
row you change your mind and resolve not
to 90. God is often represented in the
Scriptures as repenting, that is changing
his purpose toward his people, the change
being induced by contrition or some other
event on their part. Legal repentance was
repentance through fear of punishment for
crimes, or transgressons of law. A case
in point was the negro servant caught pill
fering from his master. When asked by
his master if he was sorry, he replied, 81
is sorry because is catched." Evangeli-
cal repentance was the true christian re-
pentance; on this head the preacher dwelt
at length, and the sermon was devoted
to Analysing true Bible repentance. He
remarked in the opening passages of
his discourse, that in the series of SER
mons, he proposed to preach to the con
gregatien, but not at individuals, as he had
an antipathy to personal reflections, or
personalities. Nathan's interview with
David was referred to in the course of the
sermon as proper mode of reaching a
large class of protesting christian sinners.
The prophet, by an ingenious discourse
IL. ~. I l.
the transgressons of an imaginary person
age, and is told by Nathan, "Thou art the
man." There are good many Davids in
our churches, not guilty, perhaps, of the
Jewish monarch's particular sin or sins,
but of others scarcely less abhorrent to
christian life, and little more of Nathan S
plain speaking at them would perhaps
have sometimes as beneficial results as his
short pithy sermon to the King, "Thou
art the man." The Methodist congrega-
ton numbers two hundred members, and
the church membership of the town four
hundred and upward, and yet there were
months together that not a single member
was added to the churches. Why was it ?
and the minister went on to explain that
there was not enough of individual effort
on the part of the members. This is true,
probably, as far as it goes, but much
more potent reason may be found in the
numbers of unrebuked Davids that swell
the congregations. None may long fol
Uriah's wife, but Uriah' pocket book, bus
mess, good name, and variety of other
things Urah may have a deep interest in,
are coveted by the Davids whom the non.
church membership see standing in the
high places of the synagogue. There are
large numbers of church christians whom
the worldly wont trust, or whom they have
trusted to their sorrow. If we had the old
prophet Nathan to point out their sins il
an ingenious way, till they. like David,
were condemned out of their own mouths,
and then say to them, "Thou art the
man" who prevents the membership OF
the churches from increasing, there might
he fewer church members for while, but