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CHANGE IN CHURCH WORSHIP. TAYLOR WATERFIELD, THE SINGING MASTER;
THE ISLAND AN EARTHLY PARADISE; THE AMEN CORNER.
During the last thirty years great changes in the mode of worship
have taken place in the churches; these radical changes are still
progressing, and old people can see them more plainly than others.
In former days, as has been herein set out, those seeking religion
were told to get on their knees and pray earnestly until
"converted," and to be "converted" consisted of an instantaneous
radical change accompanied by the proper demonstrations.
Now, if they kneel at all it is erect from the knee up; and the
later usual way is to set on the seat in a cool, indifferent way;
easier still, shake the preacher's hand, confess, make some
acknowledgments and promises, join the church, the thing is done.
Has this mode reached Knott's Island? If so, it is a tremendous
stride from the former way. It may be touched in this direction,
for, perhaps in the amen corner there is less religious fervor and
demonstration than of yore.
In days long ago at the commencement of a protracted meeting,
when the preacher would close up and round off each encouraging
sentence, in exhortation or in prayer, numerous and hearty
responses would resound from the amen corner; and generally the
success of that big meeting could be foreshadowed by the warmth of
these amens. Has Knotts Island lost any ground in this direction?
I hope not.
I suspect-that there are many now-a-days who sit in the amen
corners crying "Lord, Lord," who are not saints.
This late mode may be all right, for the world now runs on newer
and swifter lines, and this evolution in religious worship is only
one evidence of it.
The people of this Island can carry on church work unexcelled by
any elsewhere, and as to Sunday Schools it is hard to find their
equal. Taylor Waterfield is a creditable and inspiring leader in
conducting the Sunday School singing, and has for years past led
the ruddy-faced swain and rosy cheecked lassies of this Island in
"do, ra, me, fa, sol, la, ti, do;" he has trained their voices to
an octave above the medium, producing the sweet lofty notes of the
singing-bird, and, down again, to the profound depths of the
base-drum or the gurggling bullfrog. The Island would do well in
its duty to reward this singing master with a good living, in
order that, until his death, he should do little else than keep
the young folks in singing motion.
This Island cut off from the outer world--the "lost Eden
reclaimed"--where moral goodness and contentment should reside as
in one perennial summer. On this Island will be found no
monopolistic palaces, but scores of humble cottages, surrounded by
their own vines and fig-trees, breathing "home, sweet home."
The meeting house is the place where the people are instructed by
competent teachers, in moral and religious duties; therefore, the
inhabitants of this Island are in an ideal situation not
vouchsafed to many other places, and should (and I am sure they
do) get more happiness and contentment out of life, than the
richest shylocks of this material world.
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