The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1886-06-18

has been united with your own in COM
munity of pure and joyful emotions. Man
is in some way made better and the
heart is purified when impregnated by
by the sublime harmonies Of a chorus. AS
Luther said: "Music is, no doubt, a
Heavenly gift" 1t has been given TO us,
so that by the proper use of it. we may
make ourselves better; but above all, as
glorious means of praise to God 1t draws
the church nearer to Heaven; it is part
Of Heaven, and is The only thing we know
of in which they engage there 1t is the
means employed by the shining throngs
to praise Him who stitch upon the throne.
AS we come into the sanctuary on the Sab
bath morning, the music Gf it is what it
should be) takes our minds away from the
cares and trials of the world and brings
us nearer to Him whom we have met to
worship. There is man, who enters the
house of worship on the Sabbath, bringing
with him all the cares of his every day
business life; his mind is fully occupied
with the outside world, and although the
words of the preacher fall upon his ear,
their import is arrested on the surface and
do not reach his heart but let the organ,
and choir peal forth in grand harmony
and Immediately his whole being is moved
the music peneurates to that interior sense
and his mind becoming disengaged from
material things, scars upward to the sub.
In al, ,11-.
the position that the service of song is
more essential to the church than prayer
for song may be both praise and prayer
Prayer is essential, yet, for once that the
Bible tells US to pray, it commands
us twenty times 10 sing. Song is more
essential in the church than any.
where else. The music of the church is
more important than that of the opera hall
or coucert room. In the church we should
find this divine art in its highest and purest
state of cultivation. The Lord has given
us this gift and he has also given us powers
and faculties which lie expects us TO cultI-
vate and develop TO his honor and glory.
But is it not true that we have music
today on the stage in almost its highest
state of cultivation, while in the church,
generally, it is in its lowest state? "But
ah" says some one, "hold on, you must
remember that in some of our churches we
have fine choirs, made up of professional
singers, who are paid for doing the work ,and
their music is as highly cultivated as you
can find it anywhere" That reminds me of
an old fellow down in Ohio, who was
leading member of h little country church.
Some of the members of the church took it
into their heads that they would hold week
ly prayer meetings; but when it was men
toned to the aforesaid member, he very
Indignantly exclaimed that he would have
nothing to do with prayer meeting, as he
paid the preacher for doing his praying
A well known christian lady was one
time visiting at Il certain city in Pennsyl.
vania, and on the Sabbath she attended a
fashionable church where they had fine
choir. While the choir was singing the
first hymn (Which was Il familiar one to herr
she sang also; however, she soon became
aware that she was attracting attention.
Just then an officer of the church came and
told her that none but the choir sang in
that church. The lady's reply was: "I
thought the Bible said, Let au the people
praise the Lord ;" Would it not have
been as reasonable had the congregation
engaged another quartette to do their pray
ing exclusively? l do not wish it to be
understood that am opposed to choirs, or
choir singing. 1t is my belief that every
church should have either a choir or a
musical director to lead the singing; but il
is of the utmost importance that such per.
sons should be sincere earnest christians,
who are able to enter fully into the spirit
of that which they slug.
Choirs however, are often detrimental TO
congregation singing. Sometimes they are
selfish and want all the good things them
selves. The fact is they want to be heard,
and if they allow the congregation to sing.
this is out of the question. They will not
use the same tune often enough to allow
the congregation to learn it, because if they
dld happen to learn 1t they would be sure to
join in when the choir were singing aud
spoil the music Some choirs have been
known to condescend to sing an old tune
occasionally in order to give the congre-
cation chance; but this has been found
to be bad policy; because if the congrega-
tion are permitted once to get taste, they
| will be wanting more and will ever be
watching for an opportunity to break
into the forbidden pastures, to the
great annoyance of the choir. However,
choir singers have said to me: "We
do sing old tunes and invite the congrega.
tion to sing, but they won't do it,. That
may be true; but the probabilities are that
the congregation has been kept down so
long that they have forgotten how TO sing.
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