IF public prayer is offered on behalf of the congregation, all present should desire to join. Public prayer is not something to listen to merely, it is something to take part in. I would not expect concert in prayer, except by those who are led by the one Spirit of prayer. Any concert by others can only be in attitude and words. But it should be matter of anxiety to all to have fellowship in prayer with those who are praying ‘in the Spirit.’ And those who are not adding a heart’s ‘amen’ to the petitions presented before the throne of grace are by their very dumbness asking God to withhold the blessing which is asked in their behalf. How much conflict—instead of concert—there may be in the place of prayer—the prayerless asking for judgment while others are crying for mercy.
And God is to be worshipped in the service of praise. This, the most unselfish and the most spiritual, of all parts of worship, is that about which there is least wise care on the part of worshippers. True there is, nowadays, much pains taken to make the service of praise pleasing to those who take part in it. It is treated as if it was intended for men’s ears, instead of being an offering from the heart to the Lord. Good singing is not always good praise. Yea, it generally happens that care to make the singing good is substituted for anxiety to have an offering which may be accepted of the Lord. It cannot, however, improve the praise that the singing should be bad. Yet it is always a dangerous thing to meddle much with the art of singing in the house of God. The tendency is always to an extreme—the extreme of converting the house of God into a concert-room. Better far than the finest melodies, sung with the rarest skill, in order to give sensational pleasure, the most uncultivated noises which express true spiritual feeling. The heart’s song may be melody to the Lord, while the sounds which express it may be harsh and offensive to men.