The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1874-01-21
MISCELLANY.
GOSPEL vs.. CHOIR.
ny REV. GEO. II. mnrwonrn.


In some churches the service of song is to
the praise of God, and in others it costs five
thousand dollars per year. To say that YOU
have right to an expensive choir, provided
you pay the bid, is to say what is partly true
and partly false. 1t does not follow, certain.
ly, that because you have the money to pay
for the given thing it is therefore right and
proper to have it. There is fitness of things
which is omnipotent and entirely Independent
of dollars and cents. It is eternally upright
for man to 60 to dress party in a corduroy
suit even though the tailor's bill, receipted,
be sewed into the lining and it is equally un-
right to 60 on a hunting expedition in white
satin vest and dancing pumps. Money has
nothing to do with the matter. Ability or in
ability to pay is great thing but fitness is
still greater I take it that the object of the
church is to teach people to praise God, and
the object which people ought to have in 60
ing to church is deeper communion with
spiritual things. The more personal the SER
vice is made and the more it tends to make
the hearers forget everything but their rela-
tions to God, the better it is and the more
valuable. To introduce any foreign element
which will remind the people Of secular pleas
ures and bring the hour of worship into a
sort of competition with those pleasures is to
lower the tone of the service and to do dis
honor to the day. To so inextricably mix
Monday and Sunday, that at one moment in
penitent mood, you are following the minister
to prayer and getting into a spiritual condit-
ion to receive the benedictions of the HOLY
Spirit, and the next moment, in critical mood.
are watching the progress of a solo exhibition
of 1.-THE Last Rose Of Summer" with all the
proper accompaniment of trills and musical
impossibilities, is, to say the least, somewhat
confusing to the ordinary North American
mind. The attempt to mingle the perfor-
mances of the concert hall with the services
OF the church has not been, SO far, an emil
nent success, in a relgious point Of view
That we want cool singing there can
be no doubt; that the very best singing is
not too good for the house of God we ali
agree but our present habit of engaging a
choir simply because they have excellent voic.
Sos 81" "aAV"aAS cnChn w duhpt ING airs OF the
opera to the words of the hymn-book is ones.
tionable. A choir that sings simply and only
for pay, that will strike for higher wages when
the chance offers, that has no interest in the
church except that which its treasury excites
has no more right to occupy the gallery and
lead the congregation in praise than a minis
ter who knows nothing beyond his popularity
and big salary has to lead the people to prav.
or.
Choirs, as general thing are nuisance.
They are the bane of the ministers life. In.
stead Of occupying subordinate place, thew
insist upon undue prominence. l once told
my choir-it was in the days of my youth.
before | had learned to bow before the
authority of soprano-tliat after the PRAYER a
simple strain was enough. The first SUNDAY
they sang single verse but the second Sun
day they gave me the whole of " Home, Sweet
Home" in five stanzas with solos and chorus.
i was reminded Of a friend Of mine, who &C.
cupying strange pulpit, asked the sexton in
a whisper If the choir did anything after
prayer. Eyes," said the illiterate but
truthful man; they sing little, just enough.
you know, to do way the effect of the prayer. ),
When our new church was built, took the
precautiou to have the pulpit end 20 eon.
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