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Untitled Article
active exertions are as necessary in the cause of truth , a& they have been to the cause of error . It will be no disgrace to the cause of truth , if we profit from her adversaries , and take the same methods to allure mankind to her standard , which have been used to obscure her beauty , provided they are such a& derogate nothing' from her sacred character .
I beg leave , Mr . Editor , to call your attention for a page or two to a part of our public worship which appears to me verjf much neglected , and in which almost every denomination of Chr istians have an advantage over us . I mean psalmody . I have frequently , Sir , in a pretty numerous congregation , feea ' rd the clerk singing this , and similar verses , very nearly albne ; - *—
* f We'll crowd thy gates with thankful songs * High as the Heavens our voices raise , And Earth , with her ten thousand tongues , , Shall fill thy courts with sounding praised Would it not be much better to have the singing teff altogether out of out worship , than thus to have it burlesqued ? I know
many instances of people who attend Unitarian places of worship , who have good voices and understand music , who a * home can both sing and play , and yet in- a congregation never sing a note . ~ But , in congregational singiog , neither a good voice nor a scientific knowledge of music is necessary . The first and chief thing wanting i& a disposition to join in this part
of the devotion , and then there are very few persons , indeed , but have voice and ear sufficient to join in a plain psalm tune . To me , Sir , it has ever been a most delightful part of public worship ; and when I pass by a place of worshi p * and hear hundreds of rational beings attempting the praise of their bountiful Creator , I feel more pleasure than attending the most sublime
concert or oratorio , where every thing is done for hire . Whea this part of worship is left almost solely to the clerk , it become ? most insufferably dull ; you are rebuked for your inattention in almost every verse , and reminded that that part of the service should be joined in by every person who has a heart to feel devotion and a voice to utter
it-I am not an advocate for select societies of singers exhibited in a front gallery , or crammed in a table pew , to astound you with their / or tes , or captivate you with their pianos ; nor do I delight in hearing the skill of an organist between every verse of the psalm I am singing , , but I do love to hear a congregation
unite as one man tx > sing the praise of their Creator , and without any false shame or distinguished aim at excellence , elevate themselves to devotional harmony . Among many denominations in our day 5 there are very few persons but what join tQ
Untitled Article
570 State of Psalmody in Unitarian Congregations .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1806, page 570, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1730/page/10/
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