the praise of God in Psalms and Hymns and Spir- The Voice of Ages Against itaal Songs, their melody was the fruit of their Instrumental Music in Worship lips. For many centuries after this period, the use of Instrumental Music was unknown in Our Lord Jesus Christ dld not me, or the Church . . . In the Churches, as well 83 the use of instrumental music, at ieat in any in the Slmagogue, the whole congregation ordinance of worship that distinctively per- joined in the singing; but Instrumental hlusic tained to the New Teatament dispensation. was never brought into requisition. There is no evidence that His disciples used Justln Martyr-A. D. 150 instrumental rnuslc In any act of New Testa- Plain singing is not childish, but only the ment worship, or that they enjoined its use singing with lifeless organs, wlth dancing nnd upon others. cymbals, etc. Whence the use of such instru- The evidence is conclusive that the Chris- ments and other thlngs flt for children are tian Church after the days of the apostles did laid aside, and plain singing only retained. not use instrumental muslc in worship for sev- Clemcne of Alexandrla-A. D. 190 eral hundred years. We (Chrlstians) make use only of one organ In all ages since the days of the apostles the or instrument, even the peaceful Word, wlth most pioua men have opposed the use of in- which we honor God; no longer with the old struments In worship. Few, if any, among thoso psaltry, trumpet, drum, cymbal, or plpe. who have been regarded as the most godly I among men have voluntarily made use of in- 1 struments, and it Is believed that no church Such organa, or instruments, were then per court has ever enjoined, or even recommended, mltted them (the Old Testament Church) for their use in the worship of God. Ii this cause, even for the sake of their weakness, , to stlr up their mInda to perform thelr extern~l From Professor Killen's "Anclent Church" I worship with aome delight. I The worship of the Synagogue was more simple. Its otflcers did not introduce Instru- mental Music into the congregational services. It (Instrnmental Music) waa perrnltted to The early Christians followed the example of the Jews, as aacriflce was, for the heavlnees the Synagogue; and when they celebrated the i and grossness of thelr aouls. God condescended I to their weakness, because they were lately 2 I I drawn off from idols; but now instead of in- men. Under the Old Testanlent such insrru- strumenls we may use our bodies to praise ments were used, partly because the people him withal. Again, let no man deceive you, were harder and more carnal, and partly be- these, (instruments) appertain not to Chris- cause these bodily instruments were typical of tians; these are alien to tlle Catholic Church; sonlething. all these things do the nations of the world seek after. We have brought a cunlbersome and theatri- caI music into our churches. Men run to church If the Divine Being, by reason of the child- as to a theatre to have their ears tickled. And ishness in which they then were, did allow for this end, organmakers are hired with great them to offer sacrifice, Why do you wonder salaries, and a company of boys who waste all that He also aIIowed them that music which their rime in learning these tones. Pray, ilow is performed by the harp and psaltry? compute how many people, in great extremity, introduction of Instruments-666 might be maintained by Ihe salaries of these singers. At last, in the pear 666, when the number of the beast (Rev. siii.) was now full, the Cardinal Cajetan-1518 Churches received Latin singing with organs The Church did not use organs in Thomas from Pope Vitalian, and from thence begail Aquinas' time, and even to this day the Churcli to say Latin mass and to set up altars with of Rome does not use them in the presence of idolatrous images.-The Magdeburg Centuri- the Pope. ators. Calvin-I 545 Thomas Aqulnas-A. D. 1225 - 1274 Instrumental Music is not fltter to be adopted In the old law, God mas praised both with into the public worship of the Christian Church musical instrulllents and human voices. But than the incense, the candlestlck, and the shad- the Church does not use musical instrun~enrs ows of rhe Mosaic faw . . . In popery. a ridicu- lest she shouId secrn to Judaize. Nor ought a lous and unsuitable imitatlon of the Jews, they pipe, nor any other artiflcia1 instruments, such employed organs and such other ludlcrous as organ, or harp, or the like be brousht into things, by which tlie word and worshlp of God use in the Christian Church, but only those are exceedingly profaned, the people being things which shall malie the hearers better much more attached to these rites than to the 4 piping, singing, chanting, and playing upon ths understanding of the Divine \Vord . . We know . organ, that we could before?" To whom the that our Lord Jesus Christ has appeared, and Church replies: "Dearly beloved, we ought by His advent, has abolished these legal shad- greatly to rejoice and glve God thanks [hat our ows . . . For instruments of music in Gospel churches are delivered out of all those thlngs times, we must not have recourse to these, un- which displeased God so sore, and filthily de- less we wlsh to destroy the evangelical perfec- filed His holy house nnd place of praver." tio~i,and to obscul.e the meridian light whic'n we enjoy in Christ our Lord. I John Knox-1560 Beza-A.D. 1560 I Alluding to the principle that nothing is to be introduced into the worship of God that is If the Apostle justly prohibited the use ol ? not prescribed in the Word of God, John Knox urikiiown tongues in the Church, much less writes: "This principle not only purified the ~vouldhe have tolerated those artlflclal, musi- Church of human inventions and Popish cor- tnl performances, whlch are addressed to the ruptions, but restored plain singlng of Psnlms. ear only, nnd seldom strike the understanding lsnaccompanied by Instrumental hfuslc." rven of the performers themselves. Reformed Church of Scotland-1644 Synod of Holland and Zealand-1554 In a letter to the Assembly at Westminster, In 1554 the Synod of Holland and Zealand 4th June, 1644, the General Assembly of the resolved "th:~t the ministers should endeavor Church of Scotland wrote-"We were greatly lo ~lre\'nil~rith the magistrates (it was a State refreshed to hear, by letter of our Commission- ('httrcl~)to banlsh organs and Instrumental Mn- ers there with you, of your praiseworthy pro- sic.k out ol thelr churches." ceedings, and of the great good thlngs the Lord Reformed Church of England-1558 hath wrought among you and for you. Shall it seem a small thing in our eyes that the Cova- of 111 one the Homilies, ratlfled by Act of nant, the foundation of the whole world, is I'n~.llnnlont and ordered to be read in tho taken? That anti-Christian Prelacy. with all the ~.I~t~r~~llrsI)y Queen Ellznbeth, a woman 1s in- I train thereof, is extirpated? That the door of trt~tluvcd romplnining of the relorms erected t a right entry unto faithful shepherds is opened; irt thv Cltt~rrh: "Alas. gosslp. xhat shall we many corruptions, as altars, images, and other 11~3~- nl c.hurrli since all the saints are taken monuments of idolatry and superstition, re- ;I:V:I?'. sin1.c all the ~oodlyslghts we were wont moved, defaced, and abolished; the Servico :o Il;lvc arcx sone. since we cannot hear the llke Eook in many places forsaken, and plain and Professor Dunlo~1717 poweriul preaching set up; the seat organs at We are sensible that it is a necessary con- Paul's and Peter's taken down; that the royal sequence of the nature of our Reformation, chapel is purged and reformed, sacraments sin- that there Is nothlng In our worship which Is cerely administered, and according to the pat- proper to captivate the senses of manklnd or iern in the mount?" amuse their imaginations. We have no mag- James Renwick-1687 nificence or splendor of devotion to dazzle the eye, nor harniony of instrumentxl music to I testlfy and bear witness against the vast enlive~lour worship and soothe the ears of the arid sinful toleration of all error and sectarizs assembly. The devotions of Christians stand iu in the Belgian Church; also against their sinful no need of the outward helps afforded to the formalities, such as they use in the adrnin- Jews. The Dowers and glorles of an immortal istraiion of the sacraments; and such as their life, as represented under the Gospel, are no- formal prayers, which their Professors and DOC- bler springs of devotio~lthan the meaner helps Lors use in their public and prlvate colleges: afforded uuder the law, the costliness of Ponti- and also against all their superstitious custonls, fical garmeuts, the ceremony of worship, and such as their observing of holy fast days, as the power of music. they call them, the organs in their churches, and the like; all of x7hich the)' have as the re- Neale-(Commentary on the Psalms) liques of idolatry, and against every other thing amongst them contrary to sound doctrine and Here we have tlie flrst mention of musical the power of "godliness.-Renwick's Testimony. instruments in the Psalms (Ps. xsxlii: 3). It 1s to bc observed that the early Fathers, almost Joseph Bingham-1668-1723 with one accord, protest against their use iu I should here have put an end to this chal>ter, churches, as they are forbidden in the Eastern but that some readers would be apt to reclioll Church to this day, where yet by the consent of it an omission, that I have taken no notice of all, the singing is infinitely superior to anptlling organs and bells among the utensiles of the that can be heard in the West. church. But the true reason is that there were John Wesley-1703-1791 110 sucll things in use in the ancient churches for many ages. Music in churches is as ancient I have no objectlon to instruments being in as the apostles, but instrumental music not so. our chapels, ~rovidedthey are neither heard -The Antiquities of the Christian Church. nor seen. 8 Adam Clarke-176LF1832 Cyclopedia of Methodism, 1878 Is it ever found that these Churches and Instrurnents of music were not used in rhc Christian Societies which have and use instru- Methodist Churches until within Lhe last fiity ments of music in divine worsip, are more years; (1S2S) nud but seldom until within tlid holy, or as holy, as those Societies which do last twenty-flve. not use them? And is it always found that the ministers who recommend them to be used in Free Methodlst Church-1930 the worship of God, are the most spiritual men, At the close of a book on "Instrumeutal Music and the most useful preachers? Can mere in Public Worship" ordered publislled by the sounds, no matter how melodious, where no Seventeenth General Conference of the Freo word of sentiment is or can be uttered, be COII- hlethodist Church the following "Couclusions" sidered as giving praise to God? Can God be are found among others: pleased by sounds which are emftted by no 5. "It (instrumental music) was escluded sentient being, and hare in themselves no mean- from the early church for many ages, and did ing? If these questions cannot be answered in not become common until thirteen or fourteen the alflrmative, then is not the introduction of hundred years after Christ. such instruments into the worship of God anti- Chri~tian?And ahould not all who wish well to 6. It does not have the endorsement, either the spread and establishment of pure and unde- by precept or example, of Cl~ristor bls apos- filed religion, lift up their hand, their influence, tles. and their, voice against them?-Christian The- 7. Its use is not supported by a single pas- ology, p. 246. sage of Scrlpture in the New Testzment. 8. Practically all the older orthodox denoml. Methodist Episcopal Church nations excluded its use for approximately the first century of their existence in thelr primi. The General Conference of the hFethodist , tlve simplicity and sl~i~.itualprosperity." Episcopal Cliurch in 1836 passed a resolution In which they solemnly enjoined upon all their Alexander Campbel I-178&1866 ministers to discourage the introduction of In- I So to those who have no real devotion or struments into the churches, and in the same spirituality In them, end whose animal nature resolution declared "the practice to be at vari- flags under the oppression of church services ance with vital godllness." 1 think, with Mr. G.. that instrumental music 10 11 would be not only a desideratum, but an essen- rect errors-it simply drowns them; it is a poor tial prerequisite to fire up heir souls to even alYnir- in the hands of most organists; it is no animal devotion. help to expression; it is more a fashion than allything else; it is not to be preferred to other Daniel Sommer instruments, none of which aro desirable in The Rev. Daniel Sommer, a minister of the public worship. Christian Church, offers to take the affirmatibTe of the Pollowing proposition in debate with any Principal R. S. Candlish, 1806-1872 representative man nmoilg the professed disci- I believe that it is a quostion which touches ples of Christ: some of the highest and deepest points of Chris- "The use oP instrumental music in the wo:- tian theology. Is the temple destroyed? Is the ship of God through Christ is contrary to the temple worship wholly superseded? Have we, Ietler and spirit of the gospel of Christ, is like- or have me not, priests and sncriEces among us wise an appeal to physical sensations, and is now? Is the temple or synagogue tho model on a deception to all that think it is of spiritual which the Church of the New Testament is advantage to worshipers. has been a cause of formed? Does the Old Testament itself point to divisiori among disciples of Christ and is a anything but the fruit of the lips, as the peace onering or thank offering of Gospel times? Is heresy." there a trace in the New Testament of ally 0th- Henry Cooke, 178B-1868 er mode of praise? For my part, I am persuaded ~t was an brganic, a fundamental law of this that, if the organ be admitted, there is no bar- church (the Presbyterian Church of Ireland), rier in principle against the sacerdotal syste~n in all its fulness-against the substitution in that the praises of the Lord should be sung I our whole religion of the formal for the spirlt- without the accompaniment of instrumental ual, the symbolical for the real. music, and it could not be allered.

Precentor, Regent Square Church, London Principal Pirle The organ is not necessary to the harmony As long as the Church retains a high spiritual in modern psalmody, It 18 musically wrong ns a I tone, tlie desire for them (musical instruments) leader of praise; it does not prevent flattening. will not be felt. I have never yet known n and Is not a proper cure for that fault; It tends church fixedly spiritual in character begin grad- to discourage general slnging; it does not cor- ually to have a tendency to sentimentalism and R~V.Robert Navln-1873 sensualism in forms; that was not diminishing at the same time in spiritual-mindedness- The eBort should be to get the people to sing universally and heartll~and no paltry economy should be allowed to stand in the myof such C. H. Spurgeon a desirable consummat[on. There may be some reason to complain in Quarters of the We should like to see all the pipes of the numbers who are dumb when W's praise is organs in our Nonconformist places of worship being sung. The remedy is not lo be found in either ripped open or compactly filled with con- the introduction of instruments-that will only crete. The human voice is so transcendently have the effect of muIt1p~~ingth3 number of superior to all that wind or strings can accom- mute listeners-but in having the people in- plish that it is a shame to degrade its har- structed in the art of sin@ng. It 1s right and monies by associatlon with blowing and scrap- proper and much to be desired, not only that all ing. It is not better music which we get from should sing., but that they should do it skilfully; organs and viols, but inferior sounds, which un- although there is a danger to be guarded sophisticated ears judge to be harsh and mean- against of being so absorbed in the outward ingless when compared with a melodious hu- and artlstlc effort, the merely bodily service, as man volce. That the great Lard cares to be to fall in rendering real worshlp in splrlt and in praised by bellows we very gravely questLon; truth. God judges not as man judges. He looks re cannot see any connection between ths glory of God and sounds produced by machin- upon the heart. ery. One broken note from a grateful heart John L. Glrardeau-1888 must ha?e more real acceptable praise in it than all the wind which sweeps through whist- Those of us who protest agalnst this revolu- IIng pipes. InstrumentaI music with Its flute, tion (the introduction of musical instruments harp, sackbut, psaltery. dulcimer, and all kinde into the worship of God) in Presbyterian wor- or noise-makers, was no doubt well-suited to the ship are by some pitied, by others ridiculed, and worship of the golden image that Nebuchad- by others still denounced as fanatics. If we nazzar, the khg, had set up, and harps and are, we share the conlpany of an innumerable trumpets served we11 the infant estate of the host of fanatics extending: from the day of Pen- Church under the law. but in the Gospel's splr- tecost to the middle of the nineteenth century. ltual domain these may well be let go with a11 We refuse not to be classed, although con- the other beggarly elements. sclously unworthy of the honor, wlth apostles,