Ellen Gould White
What does Ellen White write about...
Ellen Gould White über: "Brother Stockings has good musical knowledge, but his musical training was of a character that was more suited to the stage than to the solemn worship service. Singing in a religious gathering is as much worship of God as speaking, and any cultivated peculiarity or distinctiveness draws people's attention and destroys the serious, solemn impression that the result of holy music should be. All foreign and eccentric elements in singing distract from the seriousness and holiness of the worship service. – Ellen Gould White Ms 5, 1874 LtMs, Ms 5, 1874, para. 3 3603.9"
Answer
The statement you quoted from Ellen G. White is correct and comes from Manuscript 5 of 1874. In this document White criticizes Brother Stockings' musical style, which, through stage-like behavior and eccentric performances, impaired the serious character of the worship service. She emphasizes that singing is as much worship as speaking and that any foreign element draws God's attention to the performer.
The manuscript contains further elaborations on this topic, deepening the problem of self‑presentation in worship.
Music as worship, not as stage performance
»Brother Stockings has good musical knowledge, but his musical training was of a character that was more suited to the stage than to the solemn worship service. Singing in a religious gathering is as much worship of God as speaking, and any cultivated peculiarity or distinctiveness draws people's attention and destroys the serious, solemn impression that the result of holy music should be. All foreign and eccentric elements in singing distract from the seriousness and holiness of the worship service.«
The effect of eccentric singing performances
»Brother Stockings is unaware of how many are amused and disgusted. Some cannot suppress unholy thoughts and feelings of frivolity when they see the coarse movements while singing. Brother Stockings puts on a show. His singing does not have the influence to subdue the heart and touch the emotions. Many have attended the meetings and listened to the words of truth from the pulpit, which have convinced and solemnized their thoughts; but often the way the singing was performed did not deepen the impression made. The demonstrations and bodily contortions, the unpleasant appearance of strained, forced effort seemed so inappropriate for the house of God, so comical, that the serious impressions on the spirit were eliminated.«
The heavenly standard for holy music
»You take undignified postures. You use all the power and volume of the voice that you can. You drown out the finer tones and notes of more musical voices than your own. This physical exercise and the rough, loud voice make no melody for those who hear on earth, nor for those who listen in heaven. This singing is deficient and not as acceptable to God as perfect, gentle, sweet sounds of music. There are no such performances among the angels, as I have sometimes seen in our meetings. Such harsh notes and gesticulations are not shown in the angelic choir. The singing does not scratch the ear. It is soft and melodic and comes without the great effort that I have witnessed.«
Singing to the honor of God, not for self‑presentation
»Your voice was in the church so loud, so rough, accompanied or emphasized by your less graceful gesticulations, that the softer and more silvery tones, more like angelic music, could not be heard. You sang more for people than for God. While your voice was raised in loud tones over the entire congregation, you thought of the admiration you provoked.«
- Ellen White music worship guidelines
- Heavenly angel music as a model for church music
- Worship through singing in worship service
Original Sources (English)
Stephan Krol
Founder of EGW Vision
Why I built EGW Vision
Hello, I am Stephan Krol. I started this Ellen White website to make the writings of Ellen G. White and the Adventist pioneers easier to access for everyone.
EGW Vision helps you find topics, statements, and quotes faster, especially when many original sources are not yet fully available in your language. The tool searches semantically, groups relevant content by topic, and presents matching results as clearly as possible in your language.
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