To the Chief Choir Director and the Sunday School Superintendent

upon Himmelfaudach. A Psalm of the HBB.

 

Behold, how pleasant it is to have church standards,

for it maketh us to feel righteous, and causeth us to appear holy. Selah.

 

It causeth the church to look conservative,

yea, the world is dismayed,

for they looketh upon the rules thereof,

and behold, they are many and the requirements of them are steep. Selah.

 

Behold the wisdom of them all,

For they provide us with an guideline

and present us with an ideal;

Yea, all the demands thereof are exceeding stringent;

Who can abide them? Selah.

 

Yet we need not fear nor be dismayed,

for we need not to obey them, neither to observe them.

For behold, the church doth not enforce them,

nor causeth its members to heed them. Selah.

 

For though the book of the standards should be of surpassing thickness;

Though its width should surmount the Martyr’s Mirror,

Yet shall we rejoice in it,

and give praise to its contents.

For they are but rules of thumb,

and they are only ideals. Selah.

 

For verily, we know that to obey is not necessary,

nor to keep them required,

For are they not ideals and not laws?

And are they not guidelines and not rules? Selah.

 

Yea, all the precepts of them are good,

(at least in appearance)

and all the laws thereof are pleasant,

(to the speech)

Yet we keep them not, for behold, they are but guidelines

and not rules. Selah.

 

Blessed be the standards of the church,

and may they be established in our tongues,

and in our speech from henceforth and forevermore,

And may they endure unto a thousand generations,

That we may do like as Grandpa did in the days of his youth.

Amen.