good tidings of great joy unto all people; their song was Glory be to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill

towards men.'

Following these holy and faithful precedents, the Church Catholic, from that day to this, continued hymns and psalms, and spiritual songs, as an essential and leading portion of congregational worship. Of this we have proof, not only in the unvarying practice of the Church itself, but also in the early and impartial report of Pliny, the heathen philosopher. He was expressly commissioned by the Roman Emperor Trajan to enquire into the distinctive practices and principles of the Christians of that time. His report, written about seventy years after the death of Christ, states, as a distinguishing part of Christian worship, that they sang hymns to Christ as their God. They both worshipped Jesus and as part of their worship sung their creed and belief in Him as their God. This, the practice of the Church in Trajan's time, is the practice of the Church

now.

In all churches and at all times has prevailed the principle of making hymns or sacred songs an essential part of public worship; though the words, the forms, and the order of such songs may have differed according to different requirements and circumstances.

It is with a view of promoting reverence towards God, decency and order in our public services, love and piety in our congregations, that I have endeavoured, in the exercise of my office, to arrange the choral services of this church.

My aim has been to avoid all extremes; and, pitying the mistakes of the ignorant, and despising the perversions of the factious, to render these services decent, orderly, and edifying. And I exhort all concerned in these services to act with loving and pious hearts as well as accordant voices ; to act and feel the unity of members called in one body under Jesus Christ. As far as I am personally concerned (though prepared to do my duty without fear or favour) I feel, and thankfully acknowledge, the affectionate sympathy and support afforded to me by nearly the whole body of the sober, the sane, and the consistent worshippers.

Their loving, reverent and decorous conduct, their full attendances at church, their heartiness in joining in all portions of the service, their increased and increasing

partaking of the Lord's Supper-these, and other voluntary and unpremeditated tokens, assure me, better than any words, that this congregation appreciates our long tried arrangements, and is impressed with the decency, the beauty, and the simple dignity of our choral services.

Moreover it appears to me on this occasion an act of common justice that I should bear my public testimony to the manner and spirit in which the members of our choir have generally performed their parts in these services.

I am convinced that they all, from the oldest to the youngest, clearly understand and value the distinction between merely singing, and being appointed to officiate in the choral service.

I further believe that independently of their usefulness in the decent and orderly conduct of the choral part of our public worship, they are in that very service receiving personal benefits and blessing.

I believe that all, and especially the younger members, will, by God's grace, have reason to look back with holy self-congratulation upon their connection with the parish church choir. And I appeal to you whether their decorous conduct, and their reverent reception of the Lord's Supper especially, may not present reasonable hopes that the seed sown in their choral services and associations and friendship may result in the fruits of holy living and dying.

INDEX