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The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Third-day, October 29, 1867

SINGING—OLD PSALM TUNES.

To forward the favorable reception of such tunes, two facts as to their original intention must be practically borne in mind. They were sung faster than we usually sing them, and, what is better, by a far greater number of voices. It is a great mistake to suppose that old tunes should be sung in a heavy, drawling style. Our forefathers in the church were cheerful Christians. A psalm of a dozen verses was but short to them. Hence, as well as from other circumstances, it is clear that they sang in a quicker and livelier manner than is commonly conjectured. The tune “Old Hundred” is made a dirge in our days, but in theirs it was a joyous and animating canticle. In like manner “York” tune, which is shelved among the dull and obsolete, was, little more than a century ago, the liveliest and most popular tune in the entire kingdom. But to hear old tunes to advantage, they must be sung in old style; not only must they be sung with decent gravity and cheerful sanctity, but by masses of people, by a multitude of voices, “by all the people together,” as the original directions state. Six thousand voices were wont to be heard at St. Paul’s Cross. “Three or four thousand singing at a time in a church in this city is but a trifle,” said the excellent Roger Ascham, in a letter from Augsburg, dated the 14th of May, 1551.

A correspondent of the New York Observer, describing the worship at All Saints’ Church, Margaret street, London, says:

“I must express my delight with the singing of the hymns at this service. The words were evangelical and very sweet. The tunes were familiar, and the time was so rapid and inspiring that I was fascinated. They sang six or eight verses, and I wished there had been twenty-six. There were no interludes. The organ was heard only as an accompaniment. I think we have much to learn about sacred song. We kill all the elasticity of our songs by a drawling style of singing.

“In many of our churches the hymn is an infliction, whereas it should be a refreshment and a joy. The organist must show off his skill, and the slow movement of the song sometimes makes one yawn. A capital reform will be accomplished when we suppress the interludes, or limit them to ten seconds, and then rouse ourselves to rapid, cheerful songs of praise. Mr. Spurgeon’s congregation did not sing fast enough to satisfy him the Sabbath I was there, and he begged them to sing faster, a request which secured a great improvement in the next hymn. It is an interesting fact that the idea of more rapid singing is everywhere prevalent and growing in England, and that a few years promise to secure the greatest improvement in the spirit and pleasure of public praise.”