CONGEEG ATIONAL SINGING : 
 
 A REPORT 
 
 PRESENTED TO THE 
 
 ^kn. f ulj. liirasttOTm of % ^kk of ^tb f orli, 
 
 AT THEIR 
 
 SIXTY-SECOND SYNODICAL SESSION, 
 
 Vtlea, N. Y., Sept. 8, 185T, 
 
 BY REV. HENRY I. SCHMIDT, D. D. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2014 
 
 https://archive.org/details/congregationalsiOOsmit 
 
REPORT 
 
 Dear brethren: 
 
 A variety of statements that have been made to us, relative 
 either to the defectiveness or entire discontinuance of congrega- 
 tional singing in many of our congregations, or to sundry se- 
 rious abuses introduced inio this important part of public wor- 
 ship, and the serious consideration of the remedies demanded by 
 this growing evil, have led our minds to the conclusion, that we 
 can not better discharge our duty in the premises, than by ad- 
 dressing ourselves directly, upon the subject in general, to the 
 congregations connected with our body. What we have to say 
 will, undoubtedly, be more applicable to some congregations 
 than to others, or one part of our address adapted to the circum- 
 stances of one place, another part to those in another; and there 
 may be congregations in which our exhortations are entirely 
 uncalled for; yet, as it would be obviously improper for us to 
 discriminate, we address our remarks to all alike, in the hope 
 that even in congregations which have faithfully adhered to the 
 ancient practice of the church, it may be productive of good to 
 direct the attention of church "members to the true nature and 
 importance of sacred psalmody. 
 
 We would begin with urging upon your most serious consi- 
 deration, the great and solemn importance of this part of public 
 worship. Since the beginning of time, vocal music has served 
 for the expression of praise and thanksgiving to God, of those 
 deep devotional feelings which the contemplation of his won- 
 drous character and his glorious works, of his righteous judg- 
 ments and his gracious dealings with his creatures, is so highly 
 fitted to inspire. The inspired volume informs us, that, when 
 Omnipotence laid the foundations of the earth, " the morning 
 stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." 
 By the morning stars and the sons of God we are here to un- 
 derstand the holy angels, and by the singing and shouting 
 ascribed to them, are denoted those songs of praise and rejoic- 
 
4 
 
 ing in which the emotions that filled them upon beholding the 
 wondrous beauties of the new creation found the most appro- 
 priate expression. We have reason to believe, that this mode 
 of praising and worshiping God, in which the morning of crea- 
 tion was solemnized, has been ever since employed by all true 
 and devout children of God in giving utterance to their devo- 
 tional feelings, their gratitude and love to God. We read of 
 Moses and Miriam, the leaders of God's people from the house 
 of bondage; of David, the man after God's own heart, and of 
 many other worthies of the old covenant church, that they wor- 
 shiped the God of their fathers, and offered him praise and 
 thanksgiving for signal deliverances and blessings, by lifting up 
 their hearts and voices in sacred song. Our blessed Savior 
 himself was wont to join his disciples in singing hymns of 
 praise to the Almighty Father above, and from her earliest days, 
 the Church of the Redeemer has followed up, with more or less 
 consistency, the practice inaugurated at the morning of creation, 
 continued by the Old Testament saints, and sanctioned and com- 
 mended by the example of the Great Head of the Church and 
 his immediate disciples. Although this sacred exercise was 
 long distorted and perverted in the gorgeous ritual of the Romish 
 communion, it was fully and effectually restored, by our own 
 Luther, at the glorious reformation, as an element of social or 
 public worship, in which, more than in any other, entire wor- 
 shiping assemblies are to unite their hearts and voices. When, 
 therefore, we engage in this sacred act, we not only perform a 
 religious duty, enjoy a religious privilege, and give an impulse 
 to our own and each others devotion, but we place ourselves in 
 sweet and blessed communion with God's people of every age 
 and clime, and with the whole church of the present; and not 
 only so, but we attune our stammering tongues to the golden 
 harps and glorious strains of angels around the throne, and pre- 
 pare ourselves to join in that song of Moses and the Lamb, 
 which now resounds from the lips of countless ransomed and 
 perfected spirits through the mansions of heaven. 
 
 Important and rich in blessing as this duty, this privilege, 
 thus obviously is, it is its neglect and frequent abuse, which 
 have induced us to invite our churches, at this present time, to 
 its serious consideration. In our church, as well as in others, it 
 has long been a subject of complaint, that the good old practice 
 of congregational singing, joined in by entire worshiping assem- 
 blies, has, in a great measure fallen into disuse, having been, in 
 some congregations partially, in others entirely, abandoned to 
 choirs. This evil has doubtless been, to a great extent, the re- 
 sult of the arrogant proceedings of choirs or their leaders, in 
 appropriating to themselves the entire control and direction of 
 the sacred psalmody of the church, regardless, or in defiance of 
 
5 
 
 the views and feelings of pastor and people, introducing, ad 
 libitum, new collections, consulting only their own taste or 
 artistic proficiency in the selection of tunes, managing every 
 thing in their own way, and leaving the congregation no altern- 
 ative but to succumb to the infliction in mute amazement or 
 disgust. Thus it came, in the course of time, to be regarded 
 as an established rule, that this most essential element of public 
 worship belonged exclusively to choirs, whether well or ill 
 qualified for the discharge of the sacred duty. While some 
 congregations have only in so far yielded to this domination as 
 to follow implicitly the guidance of the choir, the innovation 
 has, in others, established itself in absolute possession of the 
 field. Now we feel bound to say to you, dear brethren, that 
 such a state of things is utterly irreconcilable with duty and 
 with the ends of public worship. For to unite our voices in 
 hymns of adoration and praise to God, is an exercise which is 
 not only commended to us by the example of God's people in 
 all past ages of the church, and constitutes the most delightful 
 occupation of saints and angels round the throne, but is enjoined 
 upon us, as a duty, by direct precept and command. Among 
 the many exhortations given in the psalms to praise the Lord, a 
 great number are, doubtless, to be understood as referring to 
 this peculiar mode of magnifying his name, as is quite evident 
 from a number of other passages, which define the one term by 
 the other, such are the following: " Praise the Lord with harp, 
 sing unto him with psaltery; " " Sing unto him a new song." 
 " Sing forth the honor of his name; make his praise glorious." 
 "All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they 
 shall sing to thy name." " 0 give thanks unto the Lord; make 
 known his deeds among the people. Sing unto him, sing psalms 
 unto him;" and many others of like import. In like manner 
 the Apostle Paul exhorts the Ephesians: " Be filled with the 
 spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spirit- 
 ual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the 
 Lord." And also to the Colossians: " Let the word of Chi ist 
 dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing 
 one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing 
 with grace in your hearts to the Lord." Thus, then, as a duty 
 enjoined by scripture, as an established institution of the 
 church, as an essential element of social and public wor- 
 ship, in which we are to praise the name of our Maker and 
 Redeemer, to lift up and enliven our own hearts, and to ad- 
 monish, encourage and edify each other, this act of devotion and 
 worship should be unspeakably precious to our souls; we should 
 hold ourselves under solemn obligations to engage in it statedly 
 and on all suitable occasions — to engage in it with an obedient 
 spirit, with hearts full of gratitude and love. 
 
6 
 
 We can not but deeply lament, that this important and most 
 edifying part of public worship has been, by many of our con- 
 gregations measurably, by others entirely abandoned to choirs, 
 which, whatever may be the character of those choirs, is utterly 
 wrong. It is so in every point of view. To abandon the sa- 
 cred psalmody of the church to choirs, often, perhaps generally, 
 quite unfit for the trust, is wrong, because it is to delegate to 
 proxies what is the sacred duty and privilege of the entire con- 
 gregation and each of its members; because it is an act of wor- 
 ship and devotion w^hich it is impossible to perform by proxy; 
 quite as impossible as it is to offer our supplications and the 
 service of a holy life to God, by proxy. On special occasions 
 it may be proper and desirable that a choir should contribute to 
 the solemnity of the exercises by performing some appropriate 
 piece of music. But if, in the stated and regular services of 
 the sanctuary, the congregation permits the choir wholly, or 
 nearly so, to monopolize the songs of adoration and praise, 
 which ought to be raised by every heart and every tongue, this 
 beautiful and edifying exercise degenerates into an unmeaning 
 performance, and is gradually degraded, by the self-complacent 
 folly of the performers, into a mere, theatrical exhibition. It 
 will still more fully appear how inconsistent and wrong it is, 
 thus to neglect this duty and to forego this privilege, when it 
 is considered that, according to the practice of our church in 
 America, the singing of sacred hymns is the only mode in which 
 assembled congregations are enabled to take an active part in 
 the public worship of God. Surely we do not assemble in the 
 courts of the Lord, only to hear our ministers pray and preach, and 
 to have our ears delighted or tortured, as the case may be, by the 
 musical performances of a choir, but to join, with heart and 
 voice, in the manner prescribed by scripture and appointed by 
 the church, in worshiping our God and in singing his praises. 
 It is our decided opinion that, if we can not have congrega- 
 tional singing in our churches, singing conducted in such a 
 manner as to admit of its being joined in by all, it would be 
 better to dispense with this exercise entirely. And with this 
 view of the subject, we deem it our duty to exhort our brethren 
 to exert themselves and to take the necessary measures for the 
 revival of this edifying practice, where it has measurably fallen 
 into disuse, and for its complete restoration, where it has been 
 utterly abandoned. We exhort and beseecli the members of our 
 churches to return at once to this scriptural usage, commended 
 to us by the praiseworthy example of our great reformer and of 
 our forefathers, by putting a stop to all usurped dictation or 
 control, by themselves heartily resuming the strains of sacred 
 song, and devoutly uniting tlieir voices in singing hymns of 
 adoration and praise to God, their Maker, their Father and Re- 
 
7 
 
 deemer. To do this fitly and worthily, all that is necessary is, 
 that besides the organist, each congregation should be provided 
 with a serious and competent leader. While we consider this 
 sufficient, we see no reason to object to a good choir, animated 
 by a proper spirit, and content to serve the church by simply 
 leading the congregation in the singing of tunes every way 
 adapted to the purposes of public worship. But we earnestly 
 entreat you, dear brethren, no longer to commit this important, 
 solemn and edifying part of the public worship of God to a small 
 number of trained singers, but to regard it as your sacred duty 
 and blessed privilege yourselves to worship and praise your God 
 by singing with your own voices, and w^ith heartfelt devotior^, 
 the sweet hymns, the beautiful songs of Zion. 
 
 There are two points upon which we desire here to add a few 
 words. In the first place, we consider it very important, that it 
 should not be left entirely to the taste of the leader of the choir 
 to select collections of church tunes, or to his caprice to intro- 
 duce new ones. The injudicious selection and the frequent 
 change of such collections have contributed, as much as any 
 other cause, to the present neglect or discontinuance of congre- 
 gational singing. These are things in reference to which, as 
 they are essentially connected with the dignity and solemnity of 
 public divine worship, the pastor and elders of the church should 
 be consulted. As these are the persons whose office it is to 
 take care that the services of the sanctuary are conducted in 
 the proper manner, there can not be a single good reason alleged, 
 why an element of public worship so important as the psalmody 
 of the church should be exempt from their supervision, or why 
 choristers should be emancipated from their control. And in 
 the second place, we hold, that it is utterly incompatible with 
 the fitness of things and the solemnity of the Lord's day and 
 house and worship, to adapt secular or profane tunes to the sa- 
 cred hymns of the church. We know that the practice prevails 
 extensively, of singing hymns to worn out worldly tunes, which, 
 having gone out of fashion in social circles, are deemed good 
 enough for the worship of God. Many of these tunes are fitted 
 only to call up unhallowed or even disgusting associations; but, 
 whatever their character may be, when we consider the inex- 
 haustable wealth of the church in sacred music, the awfulness 
 of the place where the Lord's honor dwelleth, and the solemnity 
 of his worship, we can not but earnestly exhort our brethren to 
 cast or keep out of the precincts consecrated to the worship and 
 praise of God, whatsoever is worldly or profane, and fitted to 
 lure the spirit from the contemplation of things sacred and 
 divine. 
 
 In conclusion we repeat, that it is not to choirs themselves 
 that we object, but to the usurpations practiced and the abuses 
 
8 
 
 introduced by them in most of our churches, for many years 
 past. We cheerfully concede the usefulness of choirs, not too 
 large, animated by a devout spirit, content to lead the choral 
 singing of the church, and willing to submit to proper authority 
 and wholesome control. With such a choir, congregations will 
 be able to join heartily in singing our hymns of adoration and 
 praise. And it is this result which we most anxiously desire to 
 effect; it is with this object in view, that we now affectionately 
 address the congregations connected with this body. We ar- 
 dently desire that our churches may again resound, as they once 
 did, and as those of our German brethren still do, with the me- 
 lodious strains of sacred psalmody, with the sweet songs of 
 Zion, with hallelujahs to our God and Savior, heartily and fer- 
 vently joined in by all the members of our worshiping assem- 
 blies. We exhort and beseech you, brethren, to let no consider- 
 ations of expediency, no conventional notions, no obstacles, 
 prevent your return to the good old practice of our evangelical 
 church, of uniting all hearts and voices in songs of adoration 
 and praise to Him who reigns on high, to Him who came on 
 earth and lived and died for our salvation. To do this is your 
 sacred duty and your blessed privilege. And may the great 
 Master of assemblies dispose and enable you thus to glorify him 
 on earth, until he shall call you to your home beyond the skies, 
 there to join in the song of Moses and the Lamb.