Ambrose on the Power of Unity in Worshipping Together

What a labor it is to achieve silence in church while the lessons are being read. When one man would speak, the congregation makes a disturbance. But when the Psalm is recited, it makes its own "silence," since all are speaking and there is no disturbance. . . The singing of praise is the very bond of unity, when the whole people join in song a single act of song.   Ambrose, On Psalm 1, Exposition 9