Note 9 — VI. STRANGE INDIFFERENCE TO HYMNS

Over three-quarters of a century ago, this lament was made by a prominent New England minister: “Many a man, who carefully interrogates his own experience, will confess that, while the voice of public prayer readily engages his attention and carries with it his devout desires, it is not so with the act of praise; that he very seldom finds his affections rising upon its notes to heaven—very seldom can he say at its close that he has worshiped God. The song has been wafted near him as a vehicle for conveying upward the sweet odor of a spiritual service, but the offering has been withheld, and the song ascends as empty of divine honors as a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.” (Rev. Daniel L. Furber, in Hymns and Choirs.)