CORRESPONDENCE.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 153, 9 February 1872, Page 5

CORRESPONDENCE.

CHURCH PSALMODY.

(To the Editor of tlie Mount Ida. Chboniclb.)

Sir, —Tn jour issue of last; week appeared a letter signed " Presbyterian,'| animadverting upon the very unsatisfactory nature of the psalmody of that Church, and instituting an invidious and at the same time a very absurd comparison between the singing in the Presbyterian Church and that in the l T nion Church. The tenor and tone of " Presbyterian's " statements are so utterly base and at variance with facts that 1 would advise him for the future to devote himself to the study of consistency and truth rather than to the declamation of the Government of a Church to which he obviously does not belong, and of which, by his own letter, he exhibits nothing but his own ignorance. No one with a knowledge of the facts of the case will for a moment subscribe to the dictum of " Presbyterian " that " for some time past the singing has been, to say the least of it, of an uninteresting character, and instead of manifesting signs of improvement is positivelv growing worse." To use a mild term I venture to assert that this is ffZ/o-gether incorrect, but bis object at the same time stf»ii-apparent

and palpable and base attempt to a%i quire self hiuviattou the expense others. Were the torn from the face of " Presbyterian," and he made thereby to appear in his proper colors and propei*-character,- be wouldpresent, but a very sorry appearance—that"c>f a sheep in wolf's clothing. Your readers cannot fail to agreiv with me - that " Presbyterian " i« attempting to sail under false colors, and to vvear ; .tlie plumes of those whom in his letter he exhibited the bad taste and want of truth to abuse. To " Presbyterian's" commendation of the singing in the tnion Church may be applied the same remarks as I lately made with reference to his comments on the psnlmpdy in "our" ! Church, namely, that they are incor- ! rect, and the object smr.'pparent, while soap ran O (soprano) so much throughout the entire effusion. ;

.Before leaving, rian" and his letter to the judgment of the public, I cannot refrain'from-re-marking: upon the utter ijn France displayed by this self vaunter with regard to. the introduction of instrumental music into the Presbyterian Churches. I do not myself object to the organ or harmonium, but I am aware, as would " Presbyterian" be, if he were really a member of the Church to which his signature is intended to induce the public to b lieve he belongs, that the introduction of one or the other could not be effected without the consent of the Synod, and that, up to the present time, though the custom .ha* to some extent obtained in many of the Home Churches, no single instance of the kind has occurred in any one of the Colonies. Under such circumstances, to agitate in a small place like Naseby the introduction of instrumental music would not only be useless but ridiculous.

One question to " Presbyterian," and for the present 1 have done with him. Will he attempt to throw dust in the eyes of the public by disguising the fact that the singing and singers in the Presbterian Church, which and whom he so unceremoniously condemns, and the singers and singing in the Union Church, whom and which he praises ia such an adulatory key y are. in: every respect one and the same. I need hardly tell " Presbyterian " that he has himself disclosea the Icey to his note and that in his attempt to play his own little game by abusing others ;he has made; instead of keeping pace (Paice) with the times, a dreadful mess, 0! (. ezzo). —I am, &c., Old Hundred. [ln our last appeared a letter from a St. Bathans correspondent, under, the. nom de plume of " Tailrace." Into this letter an error (which we confess our own) inadvertently crept. We cannot, we think, make the amende honorable better than by publishing our correspondent's remarks upon our mistake* and would gladly, as he requests, reproduce the original letter in full did our space permit. Our correspondent's remarks will, however, we think, suffice to rectify our innocent 'error. —Ed. M. I.C.] . (To th e Editor of the Mount Ida Chronicle.) Sir,—ln your paper of the 2nd, in which you kindly published my letter, you have made a serious mistake in printing " fifty " instead oH-thirty. By running your eye over the original manuscript you will plainly see that the letter loses all its point, and in fact its sense. Might I trouble you to republish it, with a note from the Editor pointing out the previous error.—lam, &e., Tailrace.