'kist o' whistles'

We must not judge of the number of the rioters from the noise they make, especially when their sweet voices are assisted by barrel-organs and by trumpets of titanic dimensions. Even the opponents of the innovations in worship, notwithstanding their zeal, have arrived at a solution of the difficulty which is timid, and not likely to be pacific. Had they condemned the innovations, they might have crushed a perilous movement in the bud, for the champions of such things rarely have courage to defend them at much risk of purse or person. They have declared that a congregation may innovate to any extent within we know not what bounds, provided the presbytery do not interpose its veto. Have they not thus thrown the torch of discord into every presbytery and synod of the Church of Scotland? There is something exceedingly plausible in the policy of toleration, and it imposes on many persons not deficient in intelligence. If a congregation wishes to employ instrumental music in the worship of God, why should it not be permitted?' There is another question: Suppose that I am a weak brother; having somehow failed to be carried along with the progress of the age, I have a conscientious objection to the 'kist o' whistles,' like the benighted men from whom I trace my ecclesiastical pedigree; in short, that I consider the use of instrumental music in the worship of God to be a sin, because it is not commanded in His word? You must see, then, that although I may have neither the will nor the power to hinder the congregation of which I am a member from using an organ, I am by its introduction virtually expelled from the membership of the congregation, since I cannot join in its worship. Do the innovators mean this? Do they mean, for example, to drive out from the communion of the Church of Scotland all who are conscientiously opposed to the use of the organ?

The United Presbyterian Magazine, Vol IX, William Oliphant and Co., 1865, p. 334.

I found this quote because I've been searching for written instances of "I am a weak brother."

In short, this writer is objecting to the addition of the organ ('kist o' whistles' was a derogatory term for organ used during this controversy).

He "cannot join" in worship with the organ. He considers "the use of instrumental music in the worship of God to be sin."