1 Samuel 10:5 – “After that you shall come to the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines: and it shall happen, when you have come there to the city, that you shall meet a band of prophets coming down from the high place **with a psaltery, and a tambourine, and a pipe (αυλος), and a harp,** before them; and they will be prophesying:”
2 Samuel 6:5 – And David and the sons of Israel were playing before the Lord on well‑tuned instruments, with strength, **and with songs, and with lyres, and with harps, and with tambourines, and with cymbals, and with pipes.**
1 Esdras 5:2 – Darius sent with them one thousand cavalry to bring them back to Jerusalem with peace, **with musical instruments, drums, and flutes.**
1 Maccabees 3:45 – Jerusalem was without inhabitant like a wilderness. There was none of her offspring who went in or went out. The sanctuary was trampled down. Children of foreigners were in the citadel. The Gentiles lived there. **Joy was taken away from Jacob, and the pipe and the harp ceased.**
Sirach 32:1-6 – If they make you master of the feast, do not exalt yourself; be among them as one of them; take good care of them and then be seated; when you have fulfilled your duties, take your place, that you may be merry on their account and receive a wreath for your excellent leadership. Speak, you who are older, for it is fitting that you should, but with accurate knowledge, and do not interrupt the music. Where there is entertainment, do not pour out talk; do not display your cleverness out of season. **A ruby seal in a setting of gold is a concert of music at a banquet of wine. A seal of emerald in a rich setting of gold is the melody of music with good wine.**
Sirach 40:20-21 – Wine and music gladden the heart, but the love of wisdom is better than both. **The flute and the harp make pleasant melody, but a pleasant voice is better than both.**
Isaiah 5:11-12 – Woe to them that rise up in the morning, and follow strong drink; who wait at it till evening: for the wine shall inflame them. **For they drink wine with harp, and psaltery, and drums, and pipes: but they regard not the works of the Lord, and consider not the works of his hands.**
Colossians 3:16 – Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
Hence it is proper for you to act in agreement with the mind of the bishop; and this you do. Certain it is that your presbytery, which is a credit to its name, is a credit to God; for it harmonizes with the bishop as completely as the strings with a harp. This is why in the symphony of your concord and love the praises of Jesus Christ are sung. But you, the rank and file, should also form a choir, so that, joining the symphony by your concord, and by your unity taking your key note from God, you may with one voice through Jesus Christ sing a song to the Father. Thus He will both listen to you and by reason of your good life recognize in you the melodies of His Son. It profits you, therefore, to continue in your flawless unity, that you may at all times have a share in God. Ignatius (A.D 110), Letter to the Ephesians, Chapter 4
And your public assemblies I have come to hate. For there are excessive banqueting, and subtle flutes which provoke to lustful movements, and useless and luxurious anointings, and crowning with garlands. With such a mass of evils do you banish shame; and you fill your minds with them, and are carried away by intemperance, and indulge as a common practice in wicked and insane fornication. Justin Martyr (A.D. 160), The Discourse to the Greeks, Chapter 4
Of such persons, too, the Spirit has spoken by Isaiah: “They drink wine with [the accompaniment of] harps, and tablets, and psalteries, and flutes; but they regard not the works of God, neither do they consider the work of His hands.” Irenaeus (A.D. 180) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.1 pg.464
Let revelry keep away from our rational entertainments, and foolish vigils, too, that revel in intemperance. For revelry is an inebriating pipe, the chain of an amatory bridge, that is, of sorrow. And let love, and intoxication, and senseless passions, be removed from our choir. Burlesque singing is the boon companion of drunkenness. A night spent over drink invites drunkenness, rouses lust, and is audacious in deeds of shame. For if people occupy their time with pipes, and psalteries, and choirs, and dances, and Egyptian clapping of hands, and such disorderly frivolities, they become quite immodest and intractable, beat on cymbals and drums, and make a noise on instruments of delusion; for plainly such a banquet, as seems to me, is a theatre of drunkenness. For the apostle decrees that, “putting off the works of darkness, we should put on the armour of light, walking honestly as in the day, not spending our time in rioting and drunkenness, in chambering and wantonness.” Let the pipe be resigned to the shepherds, and the flute to the superstitious who are engrossed in idolatry. For, in truth, such instruments are to be banished from the temperate banquet, being more suitable to beasts than men, and the more irrational portion of mankind. For we have heard of stags being charmed by the pipe, and seduced by music into the toils, when hunted by the huntsmen. And when mares are being covered, a tune is played on the flute–a nuptial song, as it were. And every improper sight and sound, to speak in a word, and every shameful sensation of licentiousness–which, in truth, is privation of sensation–must by all means be excluded; and we must be on our guard against whatever pleasure titillates eye and ear, and effeminates. For the various spells of the broken strains and plaintive numbers of the Carian muse corrupt men’s morals, drawing to perturbation of mind, by the licentious and mischievous art of music.
The Spirit, distinguishing from such revelry the divine service, sings, “Praise Him with the sound of trumpet;” for with sound of trumpet He shall raise the dead. “Praise Him on the psaltery;” for the tongue is the psaltery of the Lord. “And praise Him on the lyre.” By the lyre is meant the mouth struck by the Spirit, as it were by a plectrum. “Praise with the timbrel and the dance,” refers to the Church meditating on the resurrection of the dead in the resounding skin. “Praise Him on the chords and organ.” Our body He calls an organ, and its nerves are the strings, by which it has received harmonious tension, and when struck by the Spirit, it gives forth human voices. “Praise Him on the clashing cymbals.” He calls the tongue the cymbal of the mouth, which resounds with the pulsation of the lips. Therefore He cried to humanity, “Let every breath praise the Lord,” because He cares for every breathing thing which He hath made. For man is truly a pacific instrument; while other instruments, if you investigate, you will find to be warlike, inflaming to lusts, or kindling up amours, or rousing wrath.
In their wars, therefore, the Etruscans use the trumpet, the Arcadians the pipe, the Sicilians the pectides, the Cretans the lyre, the Lacedaemonians the flute, the Thracians the horn, the Egyptians the drum, and the Arabians the cymbal. The one instrument of peace, the Word alone by which we honour God, is what we employ. We no longer employ the ancient psaltery, and trumpet, and timbrel, and flute, which those expert in war and contemners of the fear of God were wont to make use of also in the choruses at their festive assemblies; that by such strains they might raise their dejected minds. But let our genial feeling in drinking be twofold, in accordance with the law. For “if thou shalt love the Lord thy God,” and then “thy neighbour,” let its first manifestation be towards God in thanksgiving and psalmody, and the second toward our neighbour in decorous fellowship. For says the apostle, “Let the Word of the Lord dwell in you richly.” And this Word suits and conforms Himself to seasons, to persons, to places.
In the present instance He is a guest with us. For the apostle adds again, “Teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to God.” And again, “Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and His Father.” This is our thankful revelry. And even if you wish to sing and play to the harp or lyre, there is no blame. Thou shalt imitate the righteous Hebrew king in his thanksgiving to God. “Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous; praise is comely to the upright,” says the prophecy. “Confess to the Lord on the harp; play to Him on the psaltery of ten strings. Sing to Him a new song.” And does not the ten-stringed psaltery indicate the Word Jesus, who is manifested by the element of the decad? And as it is befitting, before partaking of food, that we should bless the Creator of all; so also in drinking it is suitable to praise Him on partaking of His creatures. For the psalm is a melodious and sober blessing. The apostle calls the psalm “a spiritual song.”
Finally, before partaking of sleep, it is a sacred duty to give thanks to God, having enjoyed His grace and love, and so go straight to sleep. “And confess to Him in songs of the lips,” he says, “because in His command all His good pleasure is done, and there is no deficiency in His salvation.”
Further, among the ancient Greeks, in their banquets over the brimming cups, a song was sung called a skolion, after the manner of the Hebrew psalms, all together raising the paean with the voice, and sometimes also taking turns in the song while they drank healths round; while those that were more musical than the rest sang to the lyre. But let amatory songs be banished far away, and let our songs be hymns to God. “Let them praise,” it is said, “His name in the dance, and let them play to Him on the timbrel and psaltery.” And what is the choir which plays? The Spirit will show thee: “Let His praise be in the congregation (church) of the saints; let them be joyful in their King.” And again he adds, “The LORD will take pleasure in His people.” For temperate harmonies are to be admitted; but we are to banish as far as possible from our robust mind those liquid harmonies, which, through pernicious arts in the modulations of tones, train to effeminacy and scurrility. But grave and modest strains say farewell to the turbulence of drunkenness. Chromatic harmonies are therefore to be abandoned to immodest revels, and to florid and meretricious music. Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 195) The Instructor Book 2 Chapter 4
Music is then to be handled for the sake of the embellishment and composure of manners. For instance, at a banquet we pledge each other while the music is playing; soothing by song the eagerness of our desires, and glorifying God for the copious gift of human enjoyments, for His perpetual supply of the food necessary for the growth of the body and of the soul. But we must reject superfluous music, which enervates men’s souls, and leads to variety, — now mournful, and then licentious and voluptuous, and then frenzied and frantic. Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 195) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.2 pg.500-501
[Christians] having paid reverence to the discussion about God, they leave within [the church] what they have heard, and outside they foolishly amuse themselves with impious playing, and amatory quavering, occupied with flute-playing, and dancing, and intoxication, and all kinds of trash. Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 195) The Instructor Book 3
Moreover, King David the harpist, whom we mentioned just above, urged us toward the truth and away from idols. So far was he from singing the praises of daemons that they were put to flight by him with the true music; and when Saul was Possessed, David healed him merely by playing the harp. The Lord fashioned man a beautiful, breathing instrument, after His own imaged and assuredly He Himself is an all-harmonious instrument of God, melodious and holy, the wisdom that is above this world, the heavenly Word.” “¦ “He who sprang from David and yet was before him, the Word of God, scorned those lifeless instruments of lyre and cithara. By the power of the Holy Spirit He arranged in harmonious order this great world, yes, and the little world of man too, body and soul together; and on this many-voiced instruments of the universe He makes music to God, and sings to the human instrument. “For thou art my harp and my pipe and my temple.” Clement of Alexandria
If people spend their time with auloi, psalteria, dancing and leaping, clapping hands like Egyptians, and in other similar dissolute activities, they become altogether immodest and unrestrained, senselessly beating on cymbals and drums, and making noise on all the instruments of deception. Obviously, it seems to me, such a banquet has become a theater of drunkenness. Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 195), PG 8:440
(In the theater) they resemble each other also in their pomp, having the same procession to the scene of their display from temples and altars, and that mournful profusion of incense and blood, with music of pipes and trumpets. Tertullian (A.D. 198) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.3 pg.84
This prohibition from drink was given also to the high priest Aaron and his sons, “when they went into the holy place.” The command, to “sing to the Lord with psalms and hymns,” comes suitably from him who knew that those who “drank wine with drums and psalteries” were blamed by God. Tertullian (A.D. 198)
Nay, if he also first strung the chord to give forth melody, I will not deny, when listening to David, that this invention has been in use with the saints, and has ministered to God. Tertullian (A.D. 198) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.3 pg.97
What trumpet of God is now heard unless it be in the entertainments of the heretics? Tertullian (A.D.198) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.3 pg.562
That immodesty of movement and dress which especially characterizes the theater is consecrated to Venus and Bacchus, both of whom are wanton, the one by her sex, the other by his robes. What is taking place in voice and song, and by instruments and lyres, is at the service of Apollos and Muses and Minervas and Mercuries. You who are Christians, hate and abhor these things whose very authors themselves must be the object of loathing and aversion. Tertullian (A.D. 198), PL 1:717
But of the whole number of the limbs one body is made up, so that the arrangement is rather a concretion than a division. Look at that very wonderful piece of organic mechanism by Archimedes,—I mean his hydraulic organ, with its many limbs, parts, bands, passages for the notes, outlets for their sounds, combinations for their harmony, and the array of its pipes; but yet the whole of these details constitute only one instrument. In like manner the wind, which breathes throughout this organ at the impulse of the hydraulic engine, is not divided into separate portions from the fact of its dispersion through the instrument to make it play: it is whole and entire in its substance, although divided in its operation. This example is not remote from (the illustration) of Strato, and Ænesidemus, and Heraclitus: for these philosophers maintain the unity of the soul, as diffused over the entire body, and yet in every part the same. Precisely like the wind blown in the pipes throughout the organ, the soul displays its energies in various ways by means of the senses, being not indeed divided, but rather distributed in natural order.Tertullian (A.D. 198), A Treatise on the Soul
If you seek to live, being a believing man, as do the Gentiles, the joys of the world remove you from the grace of Christ. With an undisciplined mind you seek what you presume to be easily lawful, both your dear actors and their musical strains; nor do you care that the offspring of such an one should babble follies. While you think that you are enjoying life, you are improvidently erring. The Highest commands, and you shun His righteous precepts. Commodianus (A.D. 200) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.4 pg.214
We think, then, that the ‘psalms’ are those which are simply played to an instrument, without the accompaniment of the voice, and (which are composed) for the musical melody of the instrument; and that those are called ‘songs’ which are rendered by the voice in concert with the music; and that they are called ‘psalms of song’ when the voice takes the lead, while the appropriate sound is also made to accompany it, rendered harmoniously by the instruments; and ‘songs of psalmody,’ when the instrument takes the lead, while the voice has the second place, and accompanies the music of the strings. And thus much as to the letter of what is signified by these terms. Hippolytus (A.D. 236), Fragments from Commentaries on Various Books of Scripture
For God gave man also a voice; and yet love-songs and indecent things are not on that account to be sung. Cyprian (A.D. 250) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.5 pg. 433
“Be sober, and watch; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking any one to devour.” He goes about every one of us; and even as an enemy besieging those who are shut up (in a city), he examines the walls, and tries whether there is any part of the walls less firm and less trustworthy, by entrance through which he may penetrate to the inside. He presents to the eyes seductive forms and easy pleasures, that he may destroy chastity by the sight. He tempts the ears with harmonious music, that by the hearing of sweet sounds he may relax and enervate Christian vigor. Cyprian (A.D. 250) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.5 pg.491
The musical instruments of the Old Testament are not unsuitable for us if understood spiritually. Origen, (A.D. 254) on Psalm 33:2, Patrologia Graeca 12:1304 B-C
Since the evils of the present day do not suffice to glut the sensuality of our times, recourse has to be had to the theatre where the aberrations of a past age are again presented. It is not permissible, I repeat, for faithful Christians to be present. It is absolutely unlawful even for these whom—to charm their ears—Greece sends everywhere to all who are instructed in her vain arts. One person tries to imitate the harsh war cry of the trumpet. A second person by blowing with his breath into pipes modulates their lugubrious sounds. A third, accompanied with dancing and a man’s melodious voice, strains with his breath—laboriously drawn from the viscera to the upper parts of his body—to play upon the small openings of pipes. At times he represses the breath and bottles it up inside; and at other times he releases and forces it into the air by means of fixed apertures. He even labors actually to speak with his fingers by breaking down the sound into definite rhythmic patterns. He is ungrateful to his Maker who gave him a tongue. Why should I even mention the wasted efforts of comedy and those senseless ravings of the tragic voice? Why mention the din made by the vibrating strings of instruments? Even if such things were not consecrated to idols, faithful Christians should not go there and look at them. Even if they were not sinful, their distinguishing characteristic is unspeakable vanity, unbefitting the faithful. Novatian (A.D. 258), De Spectaculis, Chapter 7
I greet the holy elders. I greet the sacred deacons… I greet the sub-deacons, the readers, the musicians (ψάλτας – harp players), the porters, the laborers, the exorcists and the confessors. I greet the keepers of the sacred gateways and the deaconesses in Christ. Psuedo-Ignatius (Late Third Century), The Epistle of Ignatius to the Antiochians, Chapter 12
Was it for this He sent souls, that beings of a sacred and august race should here practice singing and piping; that they should swell out their cheeks in blowing the flute; that they should take the lead in singing impure songs, and raising the loud din of the castanets, by which another crowd of souls should be led in their wantonness to abandon themselves to clumsy motions, to dance and sing, form rings of dancers, and finally, raising their haunches and hips, float along with a tremulous motion of the loins? Arnobius (A.D. 330), Adversus nationes II:42
Whoever becomes director of a theatre, or a wrestler, or a runner, or teaches music, or plays before the processions, or teaches the art of the gladiator, or a hunter, or a hairdresser, or fights with savage beasts, or a priest of idols, all these, one is not to reveal to them any of the holy word, until they are purified first from these impure occupations. Then, duringforty days they are to near the word, and if they are worthy they are to be baptized’. The teacher of the Church is the one who judges this matter. Canons of Hippolytus (A.D. 336), Canon 12
Of old at the time those of the circumcision were worshipping with symbols and types it was not inappropriate to send up hymns to God with the psalterion and cithara and to do this on Sabbath days… But we in an inward manner keep the part of the Jew, according to the saying of the apostle… (Rom. 2:28f.) We render our hymn with a living psalterion and a living cithara with spiritual songs. The unison voices of Christians would be more acceptable to God than any musical instrument. Accordingly in all the churches of God, united in soul and attitude, with one mind and in agreement of faith and piety we send up a unison melody in the words of the Psalms. Eusebius of Caesarea (A.D. 339), Commentary on Psalm 91
As soon as the signal of the trumpet that calls them to the collecta sounds, he immediately comes out of his cell, meditating on some passage of Scripture [de scripturis aliquid meditans] until he reaches the door of the meeting room. Pachomius (A.D. 348),
Now, the varieties of function and kind in the art of music are as follows. There is a ‘psalm’ when the voice rests and only the playing of the instrument is heard. There is a ‘song’ (canticum) when the chorus of singers, using its freedom, is not bound in musical deference to the instrument and enjoys a hymn with sonorous voice above. There is a ‘psalm of a song’ when, after the chorus has sung, the art of the musical instrument is adapted to the hymn of human singing and the psaltery plays with equal sweetness to the measures of the singing voice. Hilary of Poitiers (A.D. 367),
Secondly, because as harmony creates a single concord in joining together the two pipes of the aulos, so … reason wills that a man be not disharmonious with himself, nor at variance with himself… Athanasius (A.D. 373), Epistula ad Marcellinuum de interpretation psalmorum 27; PG xxvii, 37-40
Just as when one hears from afar a lyre, made up of many different strings, and wonders at their harmonious symphony, that not only the low one produces a sound, not only the high one, and not only the middle one, but all sound together in balanced tension; and one concludes from all this that the lyre neither operates by itself nor is played by many, but rather that there is one musician who by his art blends the sound of each string into a harmonious symphony – even though one fails to see him – so too, since there is an entirely harmonious order in the world as a whole, without things above being at odds with those below, and those below with those above, but one completed order of all; it follows that we know there is one leader and king of all reaction, not many, who illuminates and moves everything with his own light. Athanasius (A.D. 373), Oratio contra gentes 38; PG xxv, 76-77
They [demons] are crafty and quick to change and to transform themselves into anything. Frequently, without appearing, they pretend to play harps with songs (ψάλλειν μετ´ωδης), and they repeat passages from lections. Often, after we have read, they straightaway, like an echo, say precisely what has been read; and they arouse us to prayer when we are asleep, doing so continuously, hardly allowing us to sleep at all. Athanasius (A.D. 373), The Life of Anthony the Great, Chapter 25
Blessed He Who by our tongue interpreted His secret things. Let us praise that Voice whose glory is hymned with our lute, and His virtue with our harp. The Gentiles have assembled and have come to hear His strains. Ephraim the Syrian (A.D. 373), Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, eds., Gregory the Great (II); Ephraim Syrus; Araphat (NPNF-2 XIII
Today, to all appearances, they sing psalms as God has ordained, and tomorrow they will eagerly dance as taught by Satan. . .Let it be far from you that today you listen attentively to the reading of the divine Scripture as one loving Christ, and that tomorrow you listen to lyre‑playing as a criminal and a hater of Christ. Ephraim the Syrian (A.D. 373), Quoted by Quasten 1930:140
For when the Holy Spirit saw that mankind was ill-inclined toward virtue and that we were heedless of the righteous life because of our inclination to pleasure, what did he do? He blended the delight of melody with doctrine in order that, through the pleasantness and softness of the sound, we might unawares receive what was useful in the words according to the practice of wise physicians who, when they give the more bitter drafts to the sick, often smear the rim of the cup with honey. For this purpose, these harmonious melodies of the psalms have been designed for us, that those who are of boyish age or wholly youthful in their character, while in appearance they sing, may in reality be educating their souls. Basil the Great (A.D. 379),
Of useless arts there is harp playing, dancing, flute playing, of which, when the operation ceases, the result disappears with it. And, indeed, according to the word of the apostle, the result of these is destruction. Basil the Great (A.D. 379), Commentary on Isaiah 5
It is a canticle not a psalm: because it is sung with harmonious modulation by the unaccompanied voice and with no instrument sounding in accord with it. Basil the Great (A.D. 379), Exegetic Homilies
If a cantor learns to play the harp, he shall confess this. If he does not return to it, his punishment shall be for seven weeks’ duration. If he persists, he shall be dismissed and excluded from the church. Basil the Great, 74th Canon of Basil
If anyone is a chorus dancer he shall either give up his profession or be excommunicated and banned from the mysteries … [a woman who] allures people by her beautiful singing and her deceitful melody … shall, if she renounces her profession, wait forty days before she communicates. Canons of Basil
Let us take up hymns instead of timbrels, psalmody instead of lewd dances and songs, thankful acclamation instead of theatrical clapping. Gregory of Nazianzus (A.D. 390), Patrologia Graeca 35:709B
Having said above that it is necessary for them to hymn God, he adds then that they must do this with instruments. Diodore of Tarsus (A.D 390), Commentary on Psalm xxxii, 1-2
A psalm is the tune produced by a musical instrument. Gregory of Nyssa (A.D. 395), Treatise on the Inscription of the Psalms
The meaning is most certainly not recognized when the tune is played on musical instruments alone. Gregory of Nyssa (A.D. 395), Treatise on the Inscriptions of the psalms
If any, belonging to the theater, come to the mystery of godliness, being a player upon a pipe, a lute, or an harp, let him leave it off, or be rejected. Apostolic Constitutions (A.D. 390), Book 8.32
A psalm is a hymn which is sung to the instrument called psaltery or else cithara. Didymus of Alexandria (A.D. 394), Eis Psalmous, 4: 1
And so it is justly said, ‘Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning and follow strong drink,’ when they ought to be rendering praises to God; for this they should rise before the dawn and run to meet the Sun of righteousness, who visits his own and arises upon us if we have bestirred ourselves for the sake of Christ and not of wine and luxury. They are singing hymns—will you cling to your harp? They are singing psalms; what business have you with a psaltery and a drum? Woe indeed to you for abandoning your salvation and choosing death. Ambrose of Milan (A.D. 397), Patrologia Latina 14:717
The use of [instrumental] music was not received in the Christian churches, as it was among the Jews, in their infant state, but only the use of plain song…. Simply singing is not agreeable to children [the aforementioned Jews], but singing with lifeless instruments and with dancing and clapping is. On this account the use of this kind of instruments and of others agreeable to children is removed from the songs of the churches, and there is left remaining simply singing. Unknown Author (A.D. 400)
The flute itself is a copy of the serpent through which the evil one spoke and deceived Eve… And see what the flute-player himself represents; he throws his head back as he plays and bends it forward, he leans right and left like the serpent. Epiphanius of Salamis (A.D. 403), Panarion XXV
In the Orthodox Church, we do not use musical instruments in worship. Every believer is a musical instrument made by God, and at the same time a musician. If the musician (the soul) keeps the instrument (the body) pure and uses it properly, the two together raise to the Creator a hymn of praise that is pleasing to God. For the hymn that is sacred ‘is born of the soul’s piety, nourished by a good conscience, and accepted in heaven by God. John Chrysostom, Homily on being ordained Priest, 1, PG 48.694
Nothing in fact, nothing so uplifts the soul, give it wings, liberates it from the earth, looses the shackles of the body, promotes its values and its scorn for everything of this world as does harmonious music and a divine song rhythmically composed. John Chrysostom
Let them make melody on drum and harp. Some commentators also take the mention of these instruments in a spiritual sense and say that the drum implies the mortification of our flesh, while the harp has reference to heaven, this instrument being played on high, not here below, like the lyre. I say this, on the other hand, that in ancient times they were led by these instruments owing to the dullness of their thinking and their recent conversion from idols. So, just as he permitted them sacrifices, in like manner he also let them have these things, out of considerateness for their limitations. John Chrysostom (A.D. 407), Commentary on Psalm 149
I dare say you consider me offensive. For this too is a property of extreme pervertedness, that even one that rebukes you incurs your ridicule as one that is austere. Hear ye not Paul, saying, Whatsoever you do, whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do everything to the glory of God? 1 Corinthians 10:31 But you do everything to ill report and dishonor. Hear ye not the Prophet, saying, Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice unto Him with trembling? Psalm 2:11 But you are wholly without restraint. Is it not possible both to enjoy pleasure, and to do so with safety? Are you desirous of hearing beautiful songs? Best of all indeed, you ought not; nevertheless, I condescend if you will have it so: do not hear those Satanic ones, but the spiritual. Are you desirous of seeing choirs of dancers? Behold the choir of Angels. And how is it possible, says one, to see them? If you drive away all these things, even Christ will come to such a marriage, and Christ being present, the choir of Angels is present also. If you will, He will even now work miracles as He did then; He will make even now the water, wine John 2; and what is much more wonderful, He will convert this unstable and dissolving pleasure, this cold desire, and change it into the spiritual. This is to make of water, wine. Where pipers are, by no means is Christ there; but even if He should have entered, He first casts these forth, and then He works His wonders. What can be more disagreeable than this Satanic pomp? Where everything is inarticulate, everything without significancy; and if there be anything articulate, again all is shameful, all is noisome. John Chrysostom (A.D. 407), Patrologiae Cursus Completus: Series Graeca, Paris, 161 vols., 1857-66, 62:389, Homily 12 on Colossians
For dancing, and cymbals, and flutes, and shameful words, and songs, and drunkenness, and revellings, and all the Devil’s great heap (πολὺς ὁ τοῦ διαβόλου φορυτός) of garbage is then introduced. John Chrysostom talking about weddings (A.D. 407), Patrologiae Cursus Completus: Series Graeca, Paris. 161 vols., 1857- 66, 61:103
David formerly sang songs, also today we sing hymns. He had a lyre with lifeless strings, the church has a lyre with living strings. Our tongues are the strings of the lyre with a different tone indeed but much more in accordance with piety. Here there is no need for the cithara, or for stretched strings, or for the plectrum, or for art, or for any instrument; but, if you like, you may yourself become a cithara, mortifying the members of the flesh and making a full harmony of mind and body. For when the flesh no longer lusts against the Spirit, but has submitted to its orders and has been led at length into the best and most admirable path, then will you create a spiritual melody. John Chrysostom (A.D. 407), Exposition of Psalms 41
There indeed are auloi and kitharas and syrinxes, but here there is no dissonant music:. but what is here? hymns and psalms. There the demons are hymned, here the Lord God of all. John Chrysostom (A.D. 407), PG 62:306
Auloi, syrinxes and cymbals, and drunken leaping, and the other contemporary disgraces were entirely absent then [at the wedding of Jacob and Rebecca]. But now among us they dance and sing this hymn to Aphrodite. . .and hymns full of obscenity on the very wedding day. John Chrysostom (A.D. 407), PG 51:210
Many people take the mention of these instruments allegorically and say that the timbrel required the putting to death of our flesh, and that the psaltery requires us to look up to heaven (for this instrument resounds from above, not from below like the lyre). But I would say this, that in olden times they were thus led by these instruments because of the dullness of their understanding and their recent deliverance from idols. Just as God allowed animal sacrifices, so also he let them have these instruments, condescending to help their weakness. John Chrysostom (A.D. 407), on Psalm 150; Patrologia Graeca 55:494
It is possible to sing praises to the Lord without ceasing. The soul is a consummate musician, an instrumentalist. The instrument is the body, which serves as lute, harp and lyre… Desiring to teach you that you should sing praise to Him and glorify Him always. God joined together instrument and player [that is, the body and the soul] in a permanent union. John Chrysostom, Homily on Holy Week and on Psalm 145, 3, PG 55.522.
If one enters the sacred chorus of God, there is no need of a musical instrument. John Chrysostom (A.D. 407), Exposition on the Psalms, 42.2-3; Patrologia Graeca 55:158-159
Does God hate their festivals and do you share in them? He did not say this or that festival, but all of them together. Do you wish to see that God hates the worship paid with kettledrums, with lyres, with harps, and other instruments? God said: “Take away from me the sound of your songs and I will not hear the canticle of your harps”. If God said: “Take them away from me”, do you run to listen to the trumpets? John Chrysostom (A.D. 407), Homily 1 Against the Jews
Noble tokens, surely, these, of the rulers of synagogues; in the moment of her death pipes and cymbals raising a dirge! What then does Christ? All the rest He cast out, but the parents He brought in; to leave no room for saying that He healed her in any other way. And before her resurrection too, He raises her in His word; saying, The maid is not dead, but sleeps. And in many instances besides He does this. As then on the sea He expels tumult from the mind of the by-standers, at the same time both signifying that it is easy for Him to raise the dead (which same thing He did with respect to Lazarus also, saying, Our friend Lazarus sleeps John 11:11; and also teaching us not to fear death; for that it is not death, but is henceforth become a sleep. Thus, since He Himself was to die, He does in the persons of others prepare His disciples beforehand to be of good courage, and to bear the end meekly. Since in truth, when He had come, death was from that time forward a sleep.
But yet they laughed Him to scorn: He however was not indignant at being disbelieved by those for whom He was a little afterwards to work miracles; neither did He rebuke their laughter, in order that both it and the pipes, and the cymbals, and all the other things, might be a sure proof of her death. For since for the most part, after the miracles are done, men disbelieve, He takes them beforehand by their own answers; which was done in the case both of Lazarus and of Moses. For to Moses first He says, What is that in your hand? Exodus 4:2 in order that when he saw it become a serpent, He should not forget that it was a rod before, but being reminded of his own saying, might be amazed at what was done. And with regard to Lazarus He says, Where have ye laid him? John 11:34, 39 that they who had said, Come and see, and he stinks, for he has been dead four days, might no longer be able to disbelieve His having raised a dead man.
Seeing then the cymbals and the multitude, He put them all out, and in the presence of the parents works the miracle; not introducing another soul, but recalling the same that had gone out, and awakening her as it were out of a sleep. John Chrysostom (A.D. 407), Homily 31 on Matthew
Play your instruments and mount the paths to heaven with your dances. Victricius (A.D. 407), De laude sanctorum 5 (PL 20. 447)
Let the heights of heaven sing, all you angels, sing, Let all powers everywhere sing in praise of God, Let no tongue be silent, let every voice ring in harmony. Him alone may my muse sing of, Him alone may my lyre praise. Prudentius (A.D. 410), Cathemerinon 9, 22-24 and 2
Where the lyre and the tibia sounds, where every type of musician makes noise along with the cymbals of the dancers, those houses are unblessed and in no way different from the theaters. Gaudentius of Brescia (A.D. 410), PL 20:89
I was the first to invent this meter. For thee, blessed, immortal, Illustrious offspring of the virgin, Jesus of Solyma, And with newly-devised harmonies. To strike the cithara’s strings. Synesius of Cyrene (A.D. 414)
On the Lord’s Day, let all instruments of music be silenced. Council of Carthage (A.D 419)
Oh! that you could see your sister and that it might be yours to hear the eloquence of her holy lips and to behold the mighty spirit which animates her diminutive frame. You might hear the whole contents of the old and new testaments come bubbling up out of her heart. Fasting is her sport, and prayer she makes her pastime. Like Miriam after the drowning Pharaoh she takes up her timbrel and sings to the virgin choir, “Let us sing to the Lord for He hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.” She teaches her companions to be music girls but music girls for Christ, to be luteplayers but luteplayers for the Saviour. In this occupation she passes both day and night and with oil ready to put in the lamps she waits the coming of the Bridegroom. Do you therefore imitate your kinswoman. Let Rome have in you what a grander city than Rome, I mean Bethlehem, has in her. Jerome (A.D. 420), Select Works and Letters (NPNF-2 VI)
Praise the Lord with harp; sing unto Him with the psaltery of ten strings,” For this even now we sang, this expressing with one mouth, we instructed your hearts. Hath not the institution of these Vigils in the name of Christ brought it to pass that harps should be banished out of this place? And lo, the same are bid to sound, ‘Praise the Lord,’ saith he, ‘with harp; sing unto him with the psaltery of ten strings.’ Let none turn his heart to instruments of the theater. Augustine (A.D. 430), Exposition on the Book of Psalms (Psalms 1-36)
Yea, upon the harp will I praise Thee, O God my God.” What is the meaning of “praising on the harp,” and praising on the psaltery? … These two instruments of the musicians have each a distinct meaning of their own, worthy of our consideration and notice. They are both borne in the hands, … Both are good, if one knows how to play the psaltery, or to play the harp. … both however are acceptable to God, and grateful to His ear. Augustine (A.D. 430), Commentary on Psalms, John, and 1 John
“But play ye to His name” (ver. 2). What hath he said? By you “playing” let His name be blessed. But what is it to “play”? To play is also to take up an instrument which is called a psaltery, and by the striking and action of the hands to accompany voices. If therefore ye jubilate so that God may hear; play also something that men may both see and hear: but not to your own name. …For if for the sake of yourselves being glorified ye do good works, we make the same reply as He made to certain of such men, “Verily I say unto you, they have received their reward. Augustine (A.D. 430), Commentary on Psalm 66:3
For I will confess to Thee in the vessels of a Psalm Thy truth” (ver. 22). The vessels of a Psalm are a Psaltery. But what is a Psaltery? An instrument of wood and strings. What doth it signify? There is some difference between it and a harp: …there seemeth to be signified by the Psaltery the Spirit, by the harp the flesh. Augustine (A.D. 430), On Psalm 71:28
For a “Psalm” is a song, not any kind of song, but a song to a psaltery. A psaltery is a kind of instrument of music, like the lyre and the harp, and such kinds of instruments, which were invented for music. He therefore who singeth Psalms, not only singeth with his voice, but with a certain instrument besides, which is called a psaltery, he accompanieth his voice… Augustine (A.D. 430), On Psalm 147:2
Nor do I think that I should pass over what musicians say, that there are three kinds of sounds, by voice, by breath, by striking: by voice, uttered by throat and windpipe, when man singeth without any instrument; by breath, as by pipe, or anything of that sort: by striking, as by harp, or anything of that kind. None then of these kinds is omitted here: for there is voice in the choir, breath in the trumpet, striking in the harp… Augustine (A.D. 430), On Psalm 150
Only what is material [from the Old Testament] has been rejected, such as circumcision, the sabbath, sacrifices, discrimination in foods; and also trumpets, kitharas, cymbals, and tympana, which now understood as the limbs of a man resound with a more perfect music. Daily ablutions, new moon observances, the meticulous inspection of leprosy, along with anything else which was temporarily necessary for the immature are past and over with. But whatever is spiritual [from the Old Testament), such as faith, devotion, prayer, fasting, patience, chastity, and psalm-singing has been increased rather than diminished. Nicetas of Remesiana (A.D. 414), De utilitate hymnorum
I know that there are some, not only in our area but in the regions of the east, who consider the singing of psalms and hymns to be superfluous and little appropriate to divine religion. They think it enough if a psalm is spoken in the heart and frivolous if it is produced with the sound of one’s lips, and they appropriate to this opinion of theirs the verse of the Apostle which he wrote to the Ephesians: ‘Be filled with the Spirit, seeking in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts.’ Look, they say, the Apostle specifies that one must make melody in the heart, and not babble in the theatrical manner with sung melody, for it is sufficient to God ‘who searches the hearts’ (Rom. 8:27) that one sings in the secrecy of his heart. Nicetas of Remesiana (A.D. 414),
A Psalm (psalmos) is a musical sound caused when the instrument is struck rhythmically according to the musical notes. Cyril of Alexandria (A.D. 444),
That is a carousal, my dear friend, where intoxicating aulos and prolonged drinking arouse passion and change the symposium into the obscene theater, as cymbals and other instruments work a magical fraud upon the guests. Isidore of Pelusium interpreting Galatians (A.D. 449), PG 78:433
If God bore with bloody sacrifices, because of men’s childishness at that time, why should you wonder he bore with the music of a harp and a psaltery? Isidore of Pelusium (A.D. 449), Epistles II.176; Patrologia Graeca 78:628C
At this time the see of Alexandria was held by Cyril, brother’s son to Theophilus whom he succeeded… The bishop gathered all the faithful together, both clergy and laity, and marched with them to the assembly. The procession was accompanied by musicians (ψάλλοντας); one hymn was sung by all in harmony, and thus he and his company went in procession from the western postern to the great church, filling the whole forum with people, and constituting a stream of thinking living beings like the Orontes in its course. Theodoret of Cyprus (A.D. 457), Theodoret, Jerome, Gennadius & Rufinus: Historical Writings (NPNF-2 III
Question: If songs were invented by unbelievers to seduce men, but were allowed to those under the law on account of their childish state, why do those who have received the perfect teaching of grace in their churches still use songs, just like the children under the law? Answer: It is not simple singing that belongs to the childish state, but singing with lifeless instruments, with dancing, and with clappers. Hence the use of such instruments and the others that belong to the childish state is excluded from the singing in the churches, and simple singing is left. Theodoret of Cyprus (A.D. 457), Quaestiones et Responsiones ad Orthodoxos 107; Patrologia Graeca 6.1353
‘Praise him with psaltery and harp…’ These instruments the Levites formerly used when praising God in the temple. It was not because God enjoyed their sound, but because he accepted the purpose of their worship. For to show that God does not find pleasure in songs nor in the notes of instruments we hear him saying to the Jews: ‘Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs, for I will not hear the melody of thy instruments’ (Amos 5:23). He allowed these things to be done for the reason that he wished to free them from the deception of idols. For since some of them were fond of play and laughter, and all these things were done in the temples of idols, he allowed these things in order to entice them. He used the lesser evil in order to forbid the greater, and used what was imperfect to teach what was perfect. Theodoret of Cyprus (A.D. 457), on Psalm 150:4; Patrologia Graeca 80:1996
So it was not in any need of victims or craving odors that God commanded them to sacrifice, but that he might heal the sufferings of those who were sick. So he also allowed the use of instrumental music, not that he was delighted by the harmony, but that he might little by little end the deception of idols. For if he had offered them perfect laws immediately after their deliverance from Egypt, they would have been rebellious and thrust away from the bridle, and would have hastened back to their former ruin. Theodoret of Cyprus (A.D. 457), On the Healing of Greek Afflictions 7.16; Patrologia Graeca 83:997B
What a marvelous beauty flows from them [the psalms] into our singing. They rival the sweet-sounding organ with human voices, they render the sound of the trumpet with mighty shouts, they construct a vocal kithara by combining living strings, and whatever instruments seemed to do formerly, now can be witnessed and demonstrated in rational beings. Cassiodorus (A.D. 585), Expositio Psalmorum
After a prelude on an instrument, the sound of a singing voice is heard, following and keeping time with the instrument, imitating the strains of the psaltery with the tones of the voice. Bede the Venerable (A.D. 735), Commentary on Psalm 97
Our own cantors grasp neither cymbals, nor lyre, nor kithara nor any other kind of musical instrument in their hands, but rather in their hearts. For in so far as the heart is superior to the body, to that extent does what takes place in the heart better manifest devotion to God, than what is done by the body. These very cantors are the trumpet, they are the psalterium, they the kithara, they the tympana, they the chorus, they the strings and the body of the instrument, they the cymbals. Wherefore Augustine said of the last psalm in his book on the psalms. . . Amalarius (A.D. 850), De Ecclesiasticis Officiis, Libri IV
Our church does not use musical instruments, as harps and psalteries, to praise God withal, that she may not seem to Judaize. Thomas Aquinas (A.D. 1274), Summa Theologica, STh., II-II q.91 a.2 obj. 4
Instruments of this sort more move the mind to delight, than form internally a good disposition. Under the Old Testament, however, there was some utility in such instruments, both because the people were more hard and carnal, and needed to be stirred up by instruments of this kind as by promises of earthly good, and also because material instruments of this sort figured something. Thomas Aquinas (A.D. 1274), Summa Theologica II.ii.2, xci., A. ii., 4 et conclusio
We have brought into our churches certain operatic and theatrical music; such a confused, disorderly chattering of some words as I hardly think was ever in any of the Grecian or Roman theatres. The church rings with the noise of trumpets, pipes, and dulcimers; and human voices strive to bear their part with them. Men run to church as to a theatre, to have their ears tickled. And for this end organ makers are hired with great salaries, and a company of boys, who waste all their time learning these whining tones. Erasmus (A.D. 1536), Commentary on I Cor. 14:19)
I make no question but all that kind of music was a part of the legal pedagogy. In the solemn worship of God, I do not judge it more suitable than if we should recall the incense, tapers, and other shadows of the law into use. I say again, to go beyond what we are taught is most wicked perversity. (William Ames quoting Erasmus, A Fresh Suit Against Human Ceremonies in God’s Worship, pp. 405-6).
Greek Philosophers
[Where there were] men of worth and culture, you will find no girls piping or dancing or harping. Plato (347 B.C.), Protagoras, 347c
From these principles we may also infer what instruments should be used. The flute, or any other instrument which requires great skill, as for example the harp, ought not to be admitted into education, but only such as will make intelligent students of music or of the other parts of education. Besides, the flute is not an instrument which is expressive of moral character; it is too exciting. The proper time for using it is when the performance aims not at instruction, but at the relief of the passions. And there is a further objection; the impediment which the flute presents to the use of the voice detracts from its educational value. The ancients therefore were right in forbidding the flute to youths and freemen, although they had once allowed it. For when their wealth gave them a greater inclination to leisure, and they had loftier notions of excellence, being also elated with their success, both before and after the Persian War, with more zeal than discernment they pursued every kind of knowledge, and so they introduced the flute into education. At Lacedaemon there was a choragus who led the chorus with a flute, and at Athens the instrument became so popular that most freemen could play upon it. The popularity is shown by the tablet which Thrasippus dedicated when he furnished the chorus to Ecphantides. Later experience enabled men to judge what was or was not really conducive to virtue, and they rejected both the flute and several other old-fashioned instruments, such as the Lydian harp, the many-stringed lyre, the ‘heptagon,’ ‘triangle,’ ‘sambuca,’ the like- which are intended only to give pleasure to the hearer, and require extraordinary skill of hand. There is a meaning also in the myth of the ancients, which tells how Athene invented the flute and then threw it away. It was not a bad idea of theirs, that the Goddess disliked the instrument because it made the face ugly; but with still more reason may we say that she rejected it because the acquirement of flute-playing contributes nothing to the mind, since to Athene we ascribe both knowledge and art.
Thus then we reject the professional instruments and also the professional mode of education in music (and by professional we mean that which is adopted in contests), for in this the performer practices the art, not for the sake of his own improvement, but in order to give pleasure, and that of a vulgar sort, to his hearers. For this reason the execution of such music is not the part of a freeman but of a paid performer, and the result is that the performers are vulgarized, for the end at which they aim is bad. The vulgarity of the spectator tends to lower the character of the music and therefore of the performers; they look to him- he makes them what they are, and fashions even their bodies by the movements which he expects them to exhibit.
Book Eight, Part Seven
We have also to consider rhythms and modes, and their use in education. Shall we use them all or make a distinction? and shall the same distinction be made for those who practice music with a view to education, or shall it be some other? Now we see that music is produced by melody and rhythm, and we ought to know what influence these have respectively on education, and whether we should prefer excellence in melody or excellence in rhythm. But as the subject has been very well treated by many musicians of the present day, and also by philosophers who have had considerable experience of musical education, to these we would refer the more exact student of the subject; we shall only speak of it now after the manner of the legislator, stating the general principles.
We accept the division of melodies proposed by certain philosophers into ethical melodies, melodies of action, and passionate or inspiring melodies, each having, as they say, a mode corresponding to it. But we maintain further that music should be studied, not for the sake of one, but of many benefits, that is to say, with a view to (1) education, (2) purgation (the word ‘purgation’ we use at present without explanation, but when hereafter we speak of poetry, we will treat the subject with more precision); music may also serve (3) for for enjoyment, for relaxation, and for recreation after exertion. It is clear, therefore, that all the modes must be employed by us, but not all of them in the same manner. In education the most ethical modes are to be preferred, but in listening to the performances of others we may admit the modes of action and passion also. For feelings such as pity and fear, or, again, enthusiasm, exist very strongly in some souls, and have more or less influence over all. Some persons fall into a religious frenzy, whom we see as a result of the sacred melodies- when they have used the melodies that excite the soul to mystic frenzy- restored as though they had found healing and purgation. Those who are influenced by pity or fear, and every emotional nature, must have a like experience, and others in so far as each is susceptible to such emotions, and all are in a manner purged and their souls lightened and delighted. The purgative melodies likewise give an innocent pleasure to mankind. Such are the modes and the melodies in which those who perform music at the theater should be invited to compete. But since the spectators are of two kinds- the one free and educated, and the other a vulgar crowd composed of mechanics, laborers, and the like- there ought to be contests and exhibitions instituted for the relaxation of the second class also. And the music will correspond to their minds; for as their minds are perverted from the natural state, so there are perverted modes and highly strung and unnaturally colored melodies. A man receives pleasure from what is natural to him, and therefore professional musicians may be allowed to practice this lower sort of music before an audience of a lower type. But, for the purposes of education, as I have already said, those modes and melodies should be employed which are ethical, such as the Dorian, as we said before; though we may include any others which are approved by philosophers who have had a musical education. The Socrates of the Republic is wrong in retaining only the Phrygian mode along with the Dorian, and the more so because he rejects the flute; for the Phrygian is to the modes what the flute is to musical instruments- both of them are exciting and emotional. Poetry proves this, for Bacchic frenzy and all similar emotions are most suitably expressed by the flute, and are better set to the Phrygian than to any other mode. The dithyramb, for example, is acknowledged to be Phrygian, a fact of which the connoisseurs of music offer many proofs, saying, among other things, that Philoxenus, having attempted to compose his Mysians as a dithyramb in the Dorian mode, found it impossible, and fell back by the very nature of things into the more appropriate Phrygian. All men agree that the Dorian music is the gravest and manliest. And whereas we say that the extremes should be avoided and the mean followed, and whereas the Dorian is a mean between the other modes, it is evident that our youth should be taught the Dorian music.
Two principles have to be kept in view, what is possible, what is becoming: at these every man ought to aim. But even these are relative to age; the old, who have lost their powers, cannot very well sing the high-strung modes, and nature herself seems to suggest that their songs should be of the more relaxed kind. Wherefore the musicians likewise blame Socrates, and with justice, for rejecting the relaxed modes in education under the idea that they are intoxicating, not in the ordinary sense of intoxication (for wine rather tends to excite men), but because they have no strength in them. And so, with a view also to the time of life when men begin to grow old, they ought to practice the gentler modes and melodies as well as the others, and, further, any mode, such as the Lydian above all others appears to be, which is suited to children of tender age, and possesses the elements both of order and of education. Thus it is clear that education should be based upon three principles- the mean, the possible, the becoming, these three. Aristotle (323 B.C.), The Politics, Book 8, Chapter 6-7
Protestants
Since they also are not in accord with the apostle’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 14, the organs in the great cathedral of Zurich were demolished on the 9th of December in this year of 1527. Heinrich Bullinger (A.D. 1527), Reformationsgechichte, vol. 1, p. 418
The organ in worship is the insignia of Baal… The Roman Catholics borrowed it from the Jews. Martin Luther
Nor am I at all of the opinion that all the arts are to be overthrown and cast aside by the Gospel, as some superspiritual people protest; but I would gladly see all the arts, especially music, in the service of Him who has given and created them. Martin Luther
I, Doctor Martin Luther, wish all lovers of the unshackled art of music grace and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ! I truly desire that all Christians would love and regard as worthy the lovely gift of music, which is a precious, worthy, and costly treasure given to mankind by God. The riches of music are so excellent and so precious that words fail me whenever I attempt to discuss and describe them…. In summa, next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world. It controls our thoughts, minds, hearts, and spirits…. Our dear fathers and prophets did not desire without reason that music be always used in the churches. Hence, we have so many songs and psalms. This precious gift has been given to man alone that he might thereby remind himself that God has created man for the express purpose of praising and extolling God. However, when man’s natural musical ability is whetted and polished to the extent that it becomes an art, then do we note with great surprise the great and perfect wisdom of God in music, which is, after all, His product and His gift; we marvel when we hear music in which one voice sings a simple melody, while three, four, or five other voices play and trip lustily around the voice that sings its simple melody and adorn this simple melody wonderfully with artistic musical effects, thus reminding us of a heavenly dance, where all meet in a spirit of friendliness, caress and embrace. A person who gives this some thought and yet does not regard music as a marvelous creation of God, must be a clodhopper indeed and does not deserve to be called a human being; he should be permitted to hear nothing but the braying of asses and the grunting of hogs. Martin Luther (A.D. 1538), Forward to Georg Rhau’s Symphoniae
…under these three terms [songs, hymns, spiritual songs] he includes all kinds of songs. They are commonly distinguished in this way – that a psalm is that, in the singing of which some musical instrument besides the tongue is made use of; a hymn is properly a song of praise, whether it be sung simply with the voice or otherwise; while an ode contains not merely praises, but exhortations and other matters. He would have the songs of Christians, however, to be spiritual, not made up of frivolities and worthless trifles. John Calvin (A.D. 1564), Commentaries on the Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians
Musical instruments in celebrating the praises of God would be no more suitable than the burning of incense, the lighting of lamps, and the restoration of the other shadows of the law. The Papists therefore, have foolishly borrowed, this, as well as many other things, from the Jews. Men who are fond of outward pomp may delight in that noise; but the simplicity which God recommends to us by the apostles is far more pleasing to him. Paul allows us to bless God in the public assembly of the saints, only in a known tongue (I Cor. 14:16). What shall we then say of chanting, which fills the ears with nothing but an empty sound? John Calvin (A.D. 1564), Commentary on Psalm 33
To sing the praises of God upon the harp and psaltery unquestionably formed a part of the training of the law, and of the service of God under that dispensation of shadows and figures; but they are not now to be used in public thanksgiving. We are not, indeed, forbidden to use, in private, musical instruments, but they are banished out of the churches by the plain command of the Holy Spirit, when Paul, in 1 Corinthians 14:13, lays it down as an invariable rule, that we must praise God, and pray to him only in a known tongue. John Calvin (A.D. 1557), The Psalms, Psalm 71:22
With respect to the tabret, harp, and psaltery, we have formerly observed, and will find it necessary afterwards to repeat the same remark, that the Levites, under the law, were justified in making use of instrumental music in the worship of God; it having been his will to train his people, while they were as yet tender and like children, by such rudiments, until the coming of Christ. But now when the clear light of the gospel has dissipated the shadows of the law, and taught us that God is to be served in a simpler form, it would be to act a foolish and mistaken part to imitate that which the prophet enjoined only upon those of his own time. From this, it is apparent that the Papists have shown themselves to be very apes in transferring this to themselves. John Calvin (A.D. 1564), on Psalm 81:2
In the fourth verse, he more immediately addresses the Levites, who were appointed to the office of singers, and calls upon them to employ their instruments of music — not as if this were in itself necessary, only it was useful as an elementary aid to the people of God in these ancient times. We are not to conceive that God enjoined the harp as feeling a delight like ourselves in mere melody of sounds; but the Jews, who were yet under age, were astricted to the use of such childish elements. The intention of them was to stimulate the worshippers, and stir them up more actively to the celebration of the praise of God with the heart. We are to remember that the worship of God was never understood to consist in such outward services, which were only necessary to help forward a people, as yet weak and rude in knowledge, in the spiritual worship of God. A difference is to be observed in this respect between his people under the Old and under the New Testament; for now that Christ has appeared, and the Church has reached full age, it were only to bury the light of the Gospel, should we introduce the shadows of a departed dispensation. From this, it appears that the Papists, as I shall have occasion to show elsewhere, in employing instrumental music, cannot be said so much to imitate the practice of God’s ancient people, as to ape it in a senseless and absurd manner, exhibiting a silly delight in that worship of the Old Testament which was figurative, and terminated with the Gospel. John Calvin (A.D. 1564), On Psalm 92:4
Respecting the use of musical instruments, I confess it to be customary in the Church even by God’s command. John Calvin (A.D. 1561), Daniel, 3:6-7
Now, although the invention of the harp, and of similar instruments of music, may minister to our pleasure, rather than to our necessity, still it is not to be thought altogether superfluous; much less does it deserve, in itself, to be condemned. Pleasure is indeed to be condemned, unless it be combined with the fear of God, and with the common benefit of human society. But such is the nature of music, that it can be adapted to the offices of religion, and made profitable to men; if only it be free from vicious attractions, and from that foolish delight, by which it seduces men from better employments, and occupies them in vanity. John Calvin (A.D. 1563), Genesis, 4:20
Musical instruments were among the legal ceremonies which Christ at His coming abolished. John Calvin (A.D. 1564), Lecture on Exodus 15:20
Exhorting the people only to rejoice in praising God, he maketh mention of those instruments which by God’s commandment were appointed in the old Law, but under Christ the use thereof is abolished. Geneva Bible (1599), note on Ps. 150:3
To these [‘popish superstitions’] may be added consort in music in divine service, feeding the ears, not edifying the mind. (1 Corinthians 14:15) ‘What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the understanding also.‘ Justin Martyr in his book of Christian Questions and Answers 107, ‘It is not the custom of the Churches, to sing their meters with any such kind of instruments, etc. but their manner is to use plain song.‘ William Perkins, A Golden Chain (1597), p. 69
God’s kingdom is the place of joy (Rom. 14:17). Rejoicing belongs to the people of God (Pss. 68:3; 106:5). The music of the temple was typical, and figured the joy of the catholic church, where is the assurance of remission of sins and life eternal. William Perkins, Commentary on Galatians (1617), Works II, p. 312
If the apostle justly prohibits the use of unknown tongues in the church, much less would he have tolerated these artificial musical performances which are addressed to the ear alone, and seldom strike the understanding even of the performers themselves. Theodore Beza (A.D. 1605), quoted in Girardeau’s Instrumental Music, p. 166
In the Christian church the mind must be incited to spiritual joy, not by pipes and trumpets and timbrels, with which God formerly indulged his ancient people on account of the hardness of their hearts, but by psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. David Pareus (1548-1622), com. 1 Cor. 14:7
The Pastor loveth no music in the house of God but such as edifieth, and stoppeth his ears at instrumental music, as serving for the pedagogy of the untoward Jews under the law, and being figurative of that spiritual joy whereunto our hearts should be opened under the gospel. The Prelate loveth carnal and curious singing to the ear, more than the spiritual melody of the gospel, and therefore would have antiphony and organs in the cathedral kirks, upon no greater reason than other shadows of the law of Moses; or lesser instruments, as lutes, citherus and pipes might be [to be] used in other kirks. David Calderwood, The Pastor and the Prelate (1628), p. 9
It would be too tedious if I should reckon up all that have assented to these [i.e. Reformers who agreed with those he quoted rejecting musical instrumentation]. I will add only the two and thirty grave learned men, which were chosen in King Edwards days, to reform Ecclesiastical laws, and observances they judged this law fitting, ‘It likes us well to have this tedious kind of musicke taken away.’ William Ames (A.D. 1633), A Fresh Suit Against Human Ceremonies in God’s Worship, p. 405
Instrumental music found in the ancient Jewish Temple is merely a type or shadow of the edifying and untheatrical singing with the heart and voice approved and practiced in the New Testament. John Cotton (A.D. 1652), Singing of Psalms a Gospel Ordinance
The manner of singing, is to be holy, reverent, grace, orderly, with understanding, feeling, and comfort, to the edification of the church…Instruments of music were so annexed to the songs in the Temple, as incense to the prayers (2 Chron. 29). Such shadows are ceased, but the substance remaineth. Henry Ainsworth, Orthodox Foundation of Religion (1653), pp. 405-406
There is no exercise whereunto we have more need to be stirred up, than to praise; such is our dullness, and such is the excellency and necessity of the work, as the ceremonial use of musical instruments in the pedagogy of Moses, did signify and import; the religious use whereof, albeit it be taken away with the rest of the Ceremonial Law (the natural or civil use thereof remaining still the same, both before the Ceremonial Law and after it), yet the thing signified, which is the bending all the powers of our soul and body to praise God, is not taken away. David Dickson (A.D. 1663), commentary on Psalm 33:2-3
The Jewish way under the law of praising the Lord was upon the timbrel, the harp, psaltery, and ten-stringed instruments, and other instruments of music that belonged to ceremonial worship that is now abolished. Christ, who is the end of the law, has torn or taken away the ceremonies of the law, and there is no warrant now to make use of the organs, as they do in the Popish Church, and in the Prelatical Church of England, and even among them that are more reformed, those over in Holland. Oh, but we have a great advantage in being free of these! But there are some in the other extreme, that are for no music at all, but we are to sing and praise vocally, and with the heart too. This reproves Quakers, who make a mock at singing of psalms. But we will let them see a fine ancient warrant for vocal music. “And be not drunk with wine… speaking to yourselves in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, making melody in your hearts to the Lord.” Richard Cameron (A.D. 1680), Sermons and Lectures, Lecture 2
These songs were sung with harps, psalteries, cymbals, and trumpets; a type of our singing with spiritual joy, from grace in our hearts (1 Chron. 25:6; 2 Chron. 29:26-28; Col. 3:16). John Bunyan (A.D. 1688), Works vol. 3, p. 496
Let God be praised in the dance with timbrel and harp, according to the usage of the Old Testament church very early (Exod. 15:20), where we find God praised with timbrels and dances. Those who from this urge the use of music in religious worship must by the same rule introduce dancing, for they went together, as in David’s dancing before the ark, and Judges 21:21. But, whereas many scriptures in the New Testament keep up singing as a gospel-ordinance, none provide for the keeping up of music and dancing; the gospel-canon for psalmody is to sing with the spirit and with the understanding. Matthew Henry (A.D. 1714), comment on Psalm 149:3
It is observed, that David’s psalms were sung formerly with musical instruments, as the harp, timbrel, and cymbal, and organs; and why not with these now? If these are to be disused, why not singing itself? I answer, these are not essential to singing, and so may be laid aside, and that continue; it was usual to burn incense at the time of prayer, typical of Christ’s mediation, and of the acceptance of prayer through it; that is now disused; but prayer being a moral duty, still remains: the above instruments were used only when the church was in its infant-state, and what is showy, gaudy, and pompous, are pleasing to children; and as an ancient writer observes, ‘these were fit for babes, but in the churches (under the gospel-dispensation, which is more manly) the use of these, fit for babes, is taken away, and bare or plain singing is left.’ As for organs…were first introduced by a pope of Rome, Vitalianus, and that in the seventh century, and not before. John Gill, A Complete Body of Doctrinal and Practical Divinity, Vol. 3, ‘Of Singing Psalms As A Part of Public Worship’ (1796), p. 384
…these [instruments] were used in the times of the Old Testament, and were typical of the spiritual joy and melody in the heart, expressed by vocal singing under the New Testament. John Gill (A.D. 1771), commentary Psalm 81:2
The history of the church during the first three centuries affords many instances of primitive Christians engaging in singing, but no mention, (that I recollect) is made of instruments. (If my memory does not deceive me) it originated in the dark ages of popery, when almost every other superstition was introduced. At present, it is most used and where the least regard is paid to primitive simplicity. Andrew Fuller, Complete works of Andrew Fuller, Vol 3, P. 520, 1843
But were it even evident, which it is not, either from this or any other place in the sacred writings, that instruments of music were prescribed by divine authority under the law, could this be adduced with any semblance of reason, that they ought to be used in Christian worship? No; the whole spirit, soul, and genius of the Christian religion are against this; and those who know the Church of God best, and what constitutes its genuine spiritual state, know that these things have been introduced as a substitute for the life and power of religion; and that where they prevail most, there is least of the power of Christianity. Away with such portentous baubles from the worship of that infinite Spirit who requires His followers to worship Him in spirit and truth, for to no such worship are these instruments friendly. Adam Clarke (A.D. 1832), Commentary, Vol. 2, pages 690-691
I am an old man, and I here declare that I never knew them to be productive of any good in the worship of God, and have reason to believe that they are productive of much evil. Music as a science I esteem and admire, but instrumental music in the house of God I abominate and abhor. This is the abuse of music, and I here register my protest against all such corruption of the worship of the author of Christianity. The late and venerable and most eminent divine, the Rev. John Wesley, who was a lover of music, and an elegant poet, when asked his opinion of instruments of music being introduced into the chapels of the Methodists, said in his terse and powerful manner, ‘I have no objections to instruments of music in our chapels, provided they are neither heard nor seen.’ I say the same. Adam Clark (A.D. 1832), Commentary, Vol. 4, page 684
Is there any authority for instrumental music in the worship of God under the present dispensation? Answer. Not the least, only the singing of psalms and hymns and spiritual songs was appointed by the apostles; not a syllable is said in the New Testament in favor of instrumental music nor was it ever introduced into the Church until after the eighth century, after the Catholics had corrupted the simplicity of the gospel by their carnal inventions. It was not allowed in the Synagogues, the parish churches of the Jews, but was confined to the Temple service and was abolished with the rites of that dispensation. Questions on the Confession of Faith and Form of Government of The Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, Presbyterian Board of Publications, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1842, page 55
In my earliest intercourse among this people [Baptists], congregational singing generally prevailed among them. . . . This instrument [organ], which from time immemorial has been associated with cathedral pomp and prelatical power, and has always been the peculiar favorite of great national churches, at length found its way into Baptist sanctuaries, and the first one ever employed by the denomination in this country, and probably in any other, might have been standing in the singing gallery of the Old Baptist meeting house in Pawtucket, about forty years ago, where I then officiated as pastor… Staunch old Baptists in former times would as soon tolerated the Pope of Rome in their pulpits as an organ in their galleries, and yet the instrument has gradually found its way among them…. How far this modern organ fever will extend among our people, and whether it will on the whole work a RE-formation or DE-formation in their singing service, time will more fully develop. David Benedict D.D., Fifty Years Among the Baptists, 1860, page 204-207
We cannot, therefore, by any possibility, know that a certain element of worship is acceptable to God in the Christian dispensation, when the Scriptures which speak of that dispensation are silent in reference to it. To introduce any such element is unscriptural and presumptuous. It is will worship, if any such thing as will worship can exist. On this ground we condemn the burning of incense, the lighting of candles, the wearing of priestly robes, and the reading of printed prayers. On the same ground we condemn instrumental music. J.W. McGarvey, The Millennial Harbinger, 1864, pp. 511-513
[Instrumental music in worship] was well adapted to churches founded on the Jewish pattern of things and practicing infant sprinkling. That all persons singing who have no spiritual discernment, taste or relish for spiritual meditation, consolations and sympathies of renewed hearts should call for such an aid is but natural. So to those who have no real devotion and spirituality in them, and whose animal nature flags under the opposition or the oppression of church service I think that instrumental music would… be an essential prerequisite to fire up their souls to even animal devotion. But I presume, that to all spiritually-minded Christians, such aid would be as a cow bell in a concert. Alexander Campbell (A.D. 1866), in Robert Richardson, Memoirs of Alexander Campbell, Vol. 2., p366
Psallo … is used, in the New Testament, only in Rom. 15:9 and 1 Cor. 14:15, where it is translated sing; in James 5:13, where it is rendered sing psalms, and in the place before us. The idea here is that of singing in the heart, or praising God from the heart. Albert Barnes (A.D. 1870), Notes on The Testament, comment on Eph. 5:19
David appears to have had a peculiarly tender remembrance of the singing of the pilgrims, and assuredly it is the most delightful part of worship and that which comes nearest to the adoration of heaven. What a degradation to supplant the intelligent song of the whole congregation by the theatrical prettiness of a quartet, bellows, and pipes. We might as well pray by machinery as praise by it… ‘Praise the Lord with harp.’ Israel was at school, and used childish things to help her to learn; but in these days when Jesus gives us spiritual food, one can make melody without strings and pipes… We do not need them. That would hinder rather than help our praise. Sing unto him. This is the sweetest and best music. No instrument is like the human voice. Charles Spurgeon (A.D. 1892), Commentary on Psalm 42
[Musical instruments were] rejected and condemned by the whole army of Protestant divines. Charles Spurgeon (A.D. 1892), Works vol. 2, pt. 1, p. 223
The use of organs in churches is ascribed to Pope Vitalian (657-672). Constantine Copronymos sent an organ with other presents to King Pepin of France in 767. Charlemagne received one as a present from the Caliph Haroun al Rashid, and had it put up in the cathedral of Aixia-Chapelle… The attitude of the churches toward the organ varies. It shared, to some extent, the fate of images, except that it never was an object of worship… The Greek church disapproved the use of organs. The Latin church introduced it pretty generally, but not without the protest of eminent men, so that even in the Council of Trent a motion was made, though not carried, to prohibit the organ at least in the mass. Philip Schaff (A.D. 1893), History of the Christian Church, Vol. 4, pg. 439
The word (psalleto) originally meant to play on a stringed instrument (Sir. 9:4), but it comes to be used also for singing with the voice and heart (Eph. 5:19; 1 Cor. 14:15), making melody with the heart also to the Lord. A. T. Robertson (A.D. 1934), comment on James 5:13
Nothing is needed more urgently than an analysis of the innovations in the realm of religious worship in the nineteenth century—to me in this respect a devastating century. The sooner we forget the nineteenth century and go back to the eighteenth, and even further to the seventeenth and sixteenth, the better. The nineteenth century and its mentality and outlook is responsible for most of our troubles and problems today. It was then that a fatal turn took place in so many respects, as we have been seeing, and very prominent among the changes introduced was the place given to music in various forms. Quite frequently, and especially in the non-episcopal churches, they did not even have an organ before that time. Many of the leaders were actively opposed to organs and tried to justify their attitude from Scripture; in the same way many of them were opposed to the singing of anything but psalms. I am not concerned to evaluate the rival interpretations of the relevant scriptures, or to argue as to the antiquity of hymn singing; my point is that while hymn singing became popular at the end of the seventeenth and particularly in the eighteenth century, that the entirely new emphasis on music which came in about the middle of the last century was a part of that respectability, and pseudo-intellectualism which I have already described. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers (1971), pp. 265-6
Modern Scholars
Music in churches is as ancient as the apostles, but instrumental music not so… In the Western parts, the instrument, was not so much as known till the eighth century; for the first organ that was ever seen in France was one sent as a present to King Pepin by Constantinus Copronymus, the Greek emperor…But, now, it was only, used in princes courts, and not yet brought into churches; nor was it ever received into the Greek churches, there being no mention of an organ in all their liturgies ancient or modern. Joseph Bingham, The Antiquities of the Christian Church and Other Works (London: William Straker, 1834), Book VIII, 492-493
Music in churches is as ancient as the apostles, but instrumental music not so . . . The use of the instrumental, indeed, is much ancienter, but not in church service. . . In the Western parts, the instrument, as not so much as known till the eighth century; for the first organ that was ever seen in France was one sent as a present to King Pepin by Constantinus Copronymus, the Greek emperor. . . . But, now, it was only, used in princes courts, and not yet brought into churches; nor was it ever received into the Greek churches, there being no mention of an organ in all their liturgies ancient or modern. Joseph Bingham, Works, London Edition. Vol. 3, page 137, Vol. 11, p. 482-484
After the most diligent inquire concerning the time when instrumental music had admission into the ecclesiastical service, there is reason to conclude, that, before the reign of Constantine, as the converts to the Christian religion were subject to frequent persecution and disturbance in their devotion, the rise of instruments could hardly have been allowed: and by all that can be collected from the writings of the primitive Christians, they seem never to have been admitted. Charles Burney, A General History of Music, 1957, p. 426
Gradually, over the course of the thousand years before the Reformation, the medieval church reinstituted progressively aspects of the Mosaic ceremonial cultus including the introduction of musical instruments which had been suppressed in churches until the tenth century. Their reintroduction was highly controversial…the introduction of instruments in worship accompanied the rise of sacerdotalism in medieval worship. The Reformation saw itself as recovering not only the biblical pattern of worship, but the praxis of the early post-apostolic church. The reformation of worship happened in stages. The first stage of the reformation of worship established the formal principle of the Reformation: sola scriptura. The Reformed churches applied the Scripture principle most thoroughly to the practice of worship. R. Scott Clark, Recovering the Reformed Confession., pp. 246-7
The tendency of this (instrumental music) was to secularize the music of the church, and to encourage singing by a choir. Such musical accompaniments were gradually introduced; but they can hardly be assigned to a period earlier than the fifth and sixth centuries. Organs were unknown in church until the eighth or ninth centuries. Previous to this, they had their place in the theater, rather than in the church. they were never regarded with favor in the Eastern church, and were vehemently opposed in many places in the West. Lyman Coleman, Primitive Church, p. 376-377
Throughout the whole passage there is a contrast implied between the Heathen and the Christian practice… When you meet, let your enjoyment consist not in fullness of wine, but fullness of the spirit; let your songs be, not the drinking songs of heathen feasts, but psalms and hymns; and their accompaniment, not the music of the lyre, but the melody of the heart; while you sing them to the praise, not of Bacchus or Venus, but of the Lord Jesus Christ. Conybeare and Howson, Life and Times of the Apostle Paul, comment on Eph. 5:19
While the Greek and Roman songs were metrical, the Christian psalms were anitphons, prayers, responses, etc., were unmetrical; and while the pagan melodies were always sung to an instrumental accompaniment, the church chant was exclusively vocal… The religious guides of the early Christian felt that there would be an incongruity, and even profanity, in the use of the sensuous nerve-exciting effects of instrumental sound in their mystical, spiritual worship. Their high religious and moral enthusiasm needed no aid from external strings; the pure vocal utterance as the more proper expression of their faith. Edward Dickinson, Music in the History of the Western Church, p. 54, 55
The early Christians refused to have anything to do with the instrumental music which they might have inherited from the ancient world. Theodore Finney, A History of Music, 1947, p. 43
Church music, which at the outset consisted mainly of the singing of psalms, flourished especially in Syria and at Alexandria. The music was very simple in its character. There was some sort of alternate singing in the worship of Christians, as is described by Pliny. The introduction of antiphonal singing at Antioch is ascribed by tradition to Ignatius … The primitive church music was choral and congregational. George Park Fisher, History of the Christian Church, p. 65, 121
Although musical instruments are mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures (harp, trumpet, and cymbals among others), the music of the early Christian Church was sung rather than accompanied by instruments. For centuries, Christians associated instruments with secular life and felt they did not serve religion. The organ, an invention of the Greeks, was the first instrument to be widely accepted for use in Christian worship. Forney, Dell-Antonio, The Enjoyment of Music, 13th ed., p. 72
The church, although lapsing more and more into deflection from the truth and into a corrupting of apostolic practice, had not instrumental music for 1200 years (that is, it was not in general use before this time); The Calvinistic Reform Church ejected it from its service as an element of popery, even the church of England having come very nigh its extrusion from her worship. It is heresy in the sphere of worship. John Girardeau, Instrumental Music in the Public Worship of the Church, p. 179
In the beginning of the year 1562 a meeting of the Convocation [of the Anglican Church] was held, in which the subject of further reformation was vigorously discussed on both sides. [It was proposed] that the use of organs be laid aside. When the vote came to be taken, on these propositions, forty-three voted for them and thirty-five against; but when the proxies were counted, the balance was turned, the final state of the vote being fifty-eight for and fifty-nine against. Thus, it was determined by a single vote, and that the proxy of an absent person who did not hear the reasoning that the Prayer-Book should remain unimproved, that there should he no further reformation, that there should be no relief granted to those whose consciences felt aggrieved by the admixture of human inventions in the worship of God. H.A. Hetherington, History of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, 1923, page 30
One of the features which distinguishes the Christian religion from almost all others is its quietness; it aims to repress the outward signs of inward feeling. Savage instinct, and the religion of Greece also, had employed the rhythmic dance and all kinds of gesticulatory notions to express the inner feelings . . . The early Chrisitians discouraged all outward signs of excitement, and from the very beginning, in the music they used, reproduced the spirit of their religion-an inward quietude. All the music employed in their early services was vocal. Frank Landon Humphreys, Evolution of Church Music, p. 42
It is not, therefore, strange that instrumental music was not, heard in their congregational services….. In the early church the whole congregation joined in the singing, but instrumental music did not accompany the praise. W. D. Killen, The Ancient Church, pp. 193, 423
At first the church music was simple, artless, recitative. But rivalry of heretics forced the orthodox church to pay greater attention to the requirements of art. Chrysostom had to declaim against the secularization of church music. More lasting was the opposition to the introduction of instrumental music. John Kurtz, Church History, Vol 1, p. 376
All our sources deal amply with vocal music of the church, but they are chary with mention of any other manifestations of musical art . . . The development of Western music was decisively influenced by the exclusion of musical instruments from the early Christian Church. Paul Henry Lang, Music in Western Civilization, p. 53-54
The Biblical precept to “sing” the psalms, not merely recite, them, was obeyed literally, as is testified by many statements in the writings of the saints. Pope Leo I, who lived about 450, expressly related that “the Psalms of David arc piously sung everywhere in the Church.” Only singing however, and no playing of instruments, was permitted in the early Christian Church. In this respect the Jewish tradition was not continued. In the earlier Jewish temple service many instruments mentioned in-the Bible had been used. But instrumental music had been thoroughly discredited in the meantime by the lascivious Greek and Roman virtuoso music of the later ages, and it appeared unfit for the divine service. The aulos was held in especial abhorrence, whereas some indulgence was granted to the lyre and cithara, permitted by some saints at least for private worship, though not in church services. It is interesting to note that the later Jewish temple service has conformed to the early Christian practice and, contrary to Biblical tradition, has banned all instruments. Orthodox Jewish synagogues now object even to the use of the organ. Hugo Leichtentritt, Music, History and Ideas, Howard University Press: Cambridge, 1958, p 34
Yet there was little temptation to undue elaboration of hymnody or music. The very spirituality of the new faith made ritual or liturgy superfluous and music almost unnecessary. Singing (there was no instrumental accompaniment) was little more than a means of expressing in a practicable, social way, the common faith and experience. . . . The music was purely vocal. There was no instrumental accompaniment of any kind. . . . It fell under the ban of the Christian church, as did all other instruments, because of its pagan association. E. S. Lorenz, Church Music, pp. 217, 250, 404
There can be no doubt that originally the music of the divine service was every where entirely of a vocal nature. Emil Nauman, The History of Music, Vol. I, p. 177
In 1699 the Baptists received an invitation from Thomas Clayton, rector of Christ Church, to unite with the Church of England. They replied in a dignified manner, declining to do so unless he could prove, “that the Church of Christ under the New Testament may consist or . . . a mixed multitude and their seed, even all the members of a nation, . . . whether they are godly or ungodly,” that “lords, archbishops, etc., . . . are of divine institution and appointment,” and that their vestments, liturgical services, use of mechanical instruments, infant baptism, sprinkling, “signing with the cross in baptism,” etc., are warranted by Scripture.” … “It may be interesting to note that this church (First Baptist Church of Newport, organized in 1644 cf. p. 88) was one of the first to introduce instrumental music. The instrument was a bass viol and caused considerable commotion. This occurred early in the nineteenth century. Albert Henry Newman, A History of the Baptist Churches in the United States, American Baptist Publication Society 1915, p. 207, 255
These chants – and the word chant (and not music) is used advisedly, for many centuries were to pass before instruments accompanied the sung melodies. Kurt Pahlen, Music of the World, p. 27
“The execution of Byzantine church music by instruments, or even the accompaniment of sacred chanting by instruments, was ruled out by the Eastern Fathers as being incompatible with the pure, solemn, spiritual character of the religion of Christ. The Fathers of the church, in accordance with the example of psalmodizing of our Savior and the holy Apostles, established that only vocal music be used in the churches and severely forbade instrumental music as being secular and hedonic, and in general as evoking pleasure without spiritual value.” G. I. Papadopoulos, A Historical Survey of Byzantine Ecclesiastical Music (in Greek), Athens, 1904, pp. 10, II
Organs seem to have been in common use in the Spanish churches of A.D. 450, according to Julianus, a Spanish bishop. James Hastings, John Alexander Selbie (eds.), Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics: Munas-Phrygians, (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1917), 32.