"Let
all things be done unto edifying," is the great law of worship laid
down repeatedly in the New Testament. How much latitude is left to
the human mind in worship? Prayer and the singing of "spiritual
songs" are universally recognized by us as parts of Christian
worship, and preaching as a Christian work.
God might have prescribed certain prayers to be
repeated by man, but he has not done this. In this most solemn
service, in which the worshiper comes face to face with God and talks
to him as a child to a father, no words are put into his mouth, no
one external form adhered to, no prescribed tone of voice required.
The details as to prayer, praise and thanksgiving are left to the
mind and heart of the individual worshiper, that his spiritual powers
may be exercised and developed thereby;
It may be asked, is there not danger here? Yes.
Many foolish prayers are offered, many petitions are made which, if
answered, would prove to be a curse instead of a blessing. The danger
in leaving the individual soul free in this matter is as nothing
compared to that which would grow out of the detailed prescription of
word, tone and action, whereby the human being would be converted
into a mere machine, capable only of plodding through certain
prescribed forms.
It is not to inform God of our needs that we
pray, for our heavenly Father knoweth what things we have need of
before we ask, him, but it is for the good of the human soul to pray,
although it is certain that it will often make mistakes while
praying. Man grows spiritually by the full exercise of this privilege
under the general direction of the Word of God.
The great duty of the minister of the gospel is
to preach Christ. In doing this, however, no two of the thousands of
preachers among us ever proceed in detail alike, and the same
preacher in different communities adapts his sermons to their
different wants The minister of the gospel does not feel himself
restricted to the language of the New Testament in presenting Christ
to the world. He feels under obligation to tax to the utmost his
reason and his imagination in order to induce men to obey the gospel,
and that the church may be edified. Among us he is expected to speak
extemporaneously, thus giving the greatest freedom to the exercise of
his powers. He does not confine himself to the figures of the New
Testament, but gathers from his own imagination such figures and
scenes as he thinks will edify his hearers, and he brings from his
own experience the things that throb with life, that he may stir up
the pure minds of his Christian auditors. Is it not dangerous for man
to exercise these powers in the pulpit? Exceedingly dangerous. The
foolish things that have been said in the pulpit by authorized
preachers are beyond the power of man to number. Would it not
therefore be much better for man to confine himself in preaching to
the language of the New Testament? To require this would be to put
the seal of death upon his noblest powers. Better is it to use the
powers we have, make mistakes, and grow thereby, than to sit like
parrots, forever repeating certain prescribed forms of words.
The infant learns to walk only after many
efforts and many hard falls. The soul of man walking toward God will
often .stumble and sometimes fall, but, if honest, it will arise with
renewed strength and continue its upward march. Our mistakes, as well
as our successes, become our teachers. The minister of the gospel in
the exercise the highest calling known to man, traverses heaven and
earth and ocean's depths that he may gather treasures to lay at the
feet of the Master. This is done at the expense of many mistakes, yet
as a whole, the results are most fruitful in edifying the
church.
A thousand details upon which the successful
preaching of the gospel largely depends are left to be determined by
the wisdom of man, and this, with the certainty that in so doing he
will make many mistakes.
"Speaking to yourselves in psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and maing melody in your heart
to the Lord" Eph. (v. 19).
The spiritual
songs here spoken of are
not to be
found in the Bible.
Psalms, hymns and
spiritual songs have always been knowledged to be the written
inspired Word or a song which Paul hypothetically allowed in Corinth.
If anyone thought themselves to be able to sing or preach some
inspired revelation it had to be done "one at a time, women were
forbidden to participate, and a second inspired witness would have to
confirm the first." In Corinth this would prove that there were no
inspired song writers among them. Paul's test of spirituality
was:
If any man think
himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the
things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. 1
Co.14:37
This is why Paul commanded
"speaking the Word of Christ to teach and admonish."
"Since being filled
with the Spirit and letting the Word of Christ dwell within both
produce the same results, a spirit-filled Christian is one in whom
the Word of Christ dwells. A Spirit-filled Christian is a
Christ-conscious Christian. A Spirit-filled Christian is consumed
with learning everything he or she can about Jesus and obeying
everything that Jesus said. That is what it means to 'let the word of
Christ richly dwell within you.' To be filled with the Spirit is to
be totally and richly involved in all there is to know about Jesus
Christ." (MacArthur, John, Charismatic Chaos, p. 259,
Zondervan).
The "spirit" in Ephesians is
the Word of Christ in Colossians:
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. Colossians 3:16
What comes out to "teach and
admonish" one another must come from the Word of Christ which
incluede everything which is inspired because it is said of the
prophets:
Searching what, or
what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified
beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should
follow. 1 Peter 1:11
In Isaiah 11 Messiah would not
be filled with a "little person" other than Himself. He was and is
full Deity. Rather, Isaiah predicted that the Spirit which rested
upon Him would be the mental disposition of God:
And the
spirit of the Lord
shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel
and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; Isaiah 11:2 and spirituality or "quick understanding" in the next verse.
He left that Spirit in His
Words. Later, Isaiah defines a process much like that defined by Paul
in his "singing" passages.
As for me, this is my covenant
with them, saith the Lord; My spirit that is upon thee, and
my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall
not
depart out of thy
mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the
mouth of thy seeds
seed, saith the Lord,
from henceforth and for ever. Isaiah 59:21
We, as a people, believe that modern poets have written many spiritual
songs, for we have gathered them
together and bound them in the form of hymn books, and we have used
them from week to week in our worship.
As absurd as this
may seem to us today, it was nevertheless a common belief in
Protestant churches a hundred years ago that the organist was
divinely
inspired to lead and
guide the congregation through the aesthetic worship
experience into the
presence of God, and
that his feelings and taste were superior to those of the congregation.
When the American
Guild of Organists was established in 1896, their declared object was
not to improve standards of playing and
professional conduct,
but to impress upon their
members that organists
had a divine function
to perform. Quoted from
The prevailing doctrine of
ethos, as explained by ancient Greek
philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle,
was based on the
belief that music has a
direct effect upon the soul and actions of mankind.
As a result, the Greek
political and social systems were intertwined with music, which had a primary role in the dramas of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and
Aristophanes.
And the
Grecian educational
system was focused upon
musica and gymnastica,
the former referring to all cultural and intellectual studies, as
distinguished from those related to physical training.
In about 1400
As one manifestation of
their cultivation of
elegant living,
the aristocracy of both church and state
vied with one another in maintaining
resident
musicians who could
serve both chapel and banqueting hall.
The frequent interchange of these musicians accounts for the rapid
dissemination of new musical techniques and tastes. Partly because of
economic
advantages, Burgundy
and its capital, Dijon,
became the centre of European activity in music as well as the
intellectual and artistic focus of northern Europe during the first
half of the 15th century (Britannica Members)
The makers of these books have gathered songs
from saints and sometimes from sinners, and from people
of the most diverse religious views, from whom we, as a people,
differ in very important doctrines. Yet we sing these songs, the
products of a multitude of diversified minds and hearts,
........ sing them unto the edification of the
church,
........ and ask no questions as to the soundness of the faith of
their authors.
Don't you see how
one fatal error of rejecting the Word of Christ as the Spirit of a
'one another' teaching leads to instrumental music, which in the Old
Testament, was the terminal sign that people had rejected God's
word.
To us they are truly spiritual songs, wrought
out of the truest and deepest experience
of. their authors' hearts, full of the
life with which they have inspired them.
It has been said that the writers
of a nation's songs do most to form a nation's character.
So the writers of songs for the church do most
for the life of the church. The very words of these songs, to old and
young alike, become common household property They enter into that
branch of worship. which, more than any other, leaves a definite and
ineffaceable impression upon the mind and heart.
Plato warned that if you wanted "to change
the government of a nation you must change its music." And he
therefore warned that when people wanted to institute a new form of
music it had nothing to do with music but was a warning sign that the
innovators intended to change the government.
We travel up and down the ages, and through all
nations, to obtain the songs for the Church of Christ. Wherever
a true poet has sung something pure and good and holy, we marshal his
song under the banner of Christ and label it "a spiritual song.'' We,
as a church, have used these songs almost exclusively, leaving out
for the most part the singing of psalms and hymns, if by hymns is
meant something found in the Bible. Thus, in laying the foundation
for our church music, in selecting the very body and soul of which
music itself is to be but the garment, we have exercised the widest
possible liberty. We have not confined ourselves to the Bible, nor to
any one nation, nor creed, and much less to poets of like faith with
us. We have gladly accepted the songs written under every creed, and
of unknown authors by the score, whose lives and characters we can
never know, and all this to the edification of the saints. If there
is one place where, more than another, we have been liberal in our
interpretation of Scripture, it is in the selection of spiritual
songs.
The mind of the church has been left free to
determine for itself what songs are spiritual and what songs will
edify.
Is this not a dangerous power for men to
exercise, and would it not be better, especially in these latter
days, when men are no longer inspired, if the church would confine
herself to the singing of psalms? We must acknowledge that very often
a poor song is found in our hymn-books, and frequently a song is sung
that is far from edifying. Who can record the mistakes that the
people of God have made in these respects? In what manner can the
spiritual songs be presented so as to make the best impression upon the minds
of the hearers? "Let all things be done to edifying." The song is not
presented for its own
sake, nor to edify God, but to edify
the hearers. The essential thing in music is to impress, as much as
possible, the sentiments of the song upon the mind and heart of the
worshiper.
To present the gospel of Christ so as to
convert the sinner and edify the saint, is the work of the preacher,
yet in doing this his elocution (the sounds of his voice) may be a
most important element.
Paul denied this
totally. The preachers trained in the Greek theater claimed a
"salary" by saying that Paul didn't charge for his sermons because
they were not worth a price. Furthermore, Paul did not have the looks
or eloquence to be a preacher. That is specificially why Lord Jesus
Christ picked him:
But I am afraid
that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds
may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to
Christ. 2 Corinthians 11:3
For if someone comes to you and
preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive
a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel
from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. 2
Corinthians 11:4
But I do not think I am in the
least inferior to those "super-apostles." 2 Corinthians 11:5
I may not be a trained speaker,
but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in
every way. 2 Corinthians 11:6
Fairhurst might be attracted
to Fairhurst but God couldn't use him.
Give the same discourse to two men. From the
lips of the one with a magnificent voice, well cultivated, it will
fall like magic; while from the lips of him who stammers and is slow of
speech it will fall like lead. The difference is simply in the
sounds
they make.
This is true and
this is the way God separates the "super apostles" or trained speakers from the "earthen vessels" or
"old clay pots."
In the one case it is most edifying; while in
the other it is wearisome. Yet God has ordained no particular style
of elocution. The rule is, "let all things be done unto edifying." If
there should be a congregation some place which would prefer to hear
the one who stammers and is slow of speech, then his speech will be
edifying to that congregation and it ought to select him. There are
certain regions where it is demanded of the preacher that he shall
use the so-called "holy tones" in delivering his discourses. To these
congregations such tones are edifying, and, consequently,
scriptural.
God has ordained no particular tunes nor styles
of singing. Singing which edifies one congregation may be repulsive
to another. To the first it is scriptural, but to the second the same
music is unscriptural. Edification is the scriptural end to be
gained. Here is a spiritual song. In what garb shall it be clothed in
presenting it to the ears of the hearers so as to make it most
edifying?
Edification
means education!
Oikodome (g3619) oy-kod-om-ay'; fem. (abstr.) of a comp. of
3624 and the base of 1430; architecture, i.e. (concr.) a structure;
fig. confirmation: - building, edify (-ication, -ing).
The "house" of the Jews was
built on animal sacrifices and the addition of instrumental noise
purely for the sacrificial system inside the "house" while the people
or congregation was excluded and worshiped God "outside the camp." Of
this "house" which was not for edification:
And Jesus answering
said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be
left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
Mk.13:2
Christian edification is
through teaching or prophesying in the "forth-telling" sense:
But he that
prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. 1Co.14:3
Paul compared musical
instruments to speaking in tongues: instruments speak in tongues
unless someone interprets the "noise"--
I would that ye all
spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that
speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may
receive edifying. 1Co.14:5
Our edification or
'housebuilding' cannot be done with the work of human hands:
FOR we know that,
if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a
building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens. 2Co.5:1
We have seen that in praying, preaching and in
the selection of spiritual songs we, as a people, have allowed the
widest and freest use of the human faculties.
Too bad Jesus
didn't know about this before He died.
Matters of the highest interest have been left
to be determined solely by human
wisdom. God has trusted man in the
amplest way, has required him to exercise his highest faculties to
the utmost in matters that pertain to his soul's highest interests.
If he can trust man in the above things, can he not also trust him in
the less important matter of presenting the songs so as to make them
most edifying? Here is the song.
This is what we
speak, not in
words taught us by human
wisdom but in words
taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.
1Co.2:13
Uttered with certain sounds it will edify,
uttered with others it will not edify. The only question is, What
sounds shall be used to accomplish the end?
Does God care more for one sound than for
another? I insist upon it that edification is the end to be gained by
preaching and music, and by all worship. The matter of the sermon and
the spiritual song are the materials for edification, while the
elocution of the minister and the music are the means by which the
sermon and the song are impressed upon the minds of the worshiper.
If
it is safe for the church to create and select the songs that she
sings,
........ it is also safe for her to select the music by which
these songs shall be made effective in worship.
If it is safe for her to create the song, the
very soul of that which is to be clothed by music,
........ it is also safe for her to select the music which is to
clothe the song.
The objector to the organ may take either of
several positions:
First, he may
say that the use of the organ is not
edifying, and it is therefore
unscriptural.
We have noted that
edification means instruction: it does not have anything to do with
manufactured feelings.
Edification literally means to
build a house.
as a methaphor "in
the sense of edifying, promoting the spiritual growth and development
of character of believers, by teaching or by example, suggesting such
spiritual progress as the result of patient labor." (Vine)
Edify: "1. To instruct; esp., to instruct or improve morally or
spiritually; enlighten. Webster
Second, that
it is unscriptural, and therefore it is not
edifying.
To be scriptural in
the most common sense would be a "command, example or inference" from
God that the church must worship with instruments which Paul called
"lifeless instruments" or "carnal weapons."
If the Scriptures are silent
about instruments in Christian worship then by definition it is
unscriptural or non-scriptural.
Third, that it
is edifying, but at the same time it is unscriptural, and
therefore ought not to be used in worship.
The first objection is well taken, if it can be
sustained. How shall a congregation determine whether the organ
aids the
vocal music unto edification or not? "Let all things be done unto
edifying."
I would
that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for
greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues,
except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying. 1 Co.14:5
By definition instruments are
not articulate and that is why God's "instrument" is the human voice.
Therefore, organ music cannot "interpret" and cannot edify.
Paul equated speaking in
tongues to instruments
Even so ye,
forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may
excel to the edifying of the church. 1Co.14:12
If God didn't give
instrumental music then it is not a gift of God and is not
edifying.
How is it then,
brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath
a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation.
Let all things be done unto edifying. 1Co.14:26
Paul had ridiculed tongues by
comparing them to a trumpet which couldn't speak and at most could be
a signal or sign of a previous arranged communication. Therefore,
Paul didn't say "let all things be done" but all things "be done unto
edification."
Again, think ye
that we excuse ourselves unto you? we speak before God in Christ: but
we do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying. 2
Co.12:19
Paul never tried to edify with
tongues or instruments. Did you know that Paul's inspired word
edified without organs or a trained voice?
The writer's False
Premise:
This rule throws upon the worshiper himself the
responsibility of determining
........ whether the different branches of the worship are
edifying or not.
........ God does not tell us that brother A preaches
good
sermons, nor that brother B sings well..
We must determine
these things for ourselves as
individuals.
........ If some members say that the organ is edifying to them,
then we must accept their decision so far as they are concerned.
If others say that the organ is not
edifying
to them, then we must accept their decision as to themselves.
The writer
understand's edifying to mean the same thing as listening to a
'trained speaker.' That is, it makes him feel good and perhaps can
even stampede him into action. However, only that whiich istructs
edifies and most carnal people don't want to be taught.
There is no other method whereby it is possible
to tell what is most edifying.
Well, Paul just
said that it needed to be inspired to be edifying.
With regard to the votes cast in favor of the organ in worship, it will generally be found, I think, that the great
majority of those who understand music are in favor of the organ.
This fact goes to show that the organ will
improve the quality of the
music, for it must be admitted that
those who understand music can best judge of its quality.
Isn't it strange that dancers
believe that they are so inspired that God "uses us as a platform
upon which he lands during the performance." Theatrical performers
believe that God is best worshiped by others when the audience is
watching them perform.
The objection stated above is doubtless valid
as to some congregations, but invalid as to others. Since each
congregation must judge for itself as to what particular. kind of
music is edifying, and since some congregations decide that the organ
is edifying while others decide that it is not edifying; to the first
its use its scriptural, but to the second it would be
unscriptural.
The second objection is that the use of the organ in worship is
unscriptural, and therefore it can not edify. God might have
selected certain tunes to be used in the church, but he did not,
although tunes are of the greatest importance. He has left man to make spiritual songs and to make tunes adapted to these songs. The general
plan of all worship seems to be to give man as much to do as
possible, to give his faculties the widest possible range in creating
the worship.
This is an assumed
premise: God has not left mankind to himself to compose his own songs
any more than He allowed him to compose his own Scripture or forgive
his own sins.
Why is it that this matter of determining the
quality of sounds by which a song of human origin, and a tune of human
origin, shall be brought to the ears of the worshipers
should be made an exception his general rule, and that we should
believe that man has no authority to decide the question?
AND there shall
come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow
out of his roots: Isaiah 11:1
And the spirit of
the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the
fear of the Lord; Isaiah 11:2
And shall make him
of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and
he shall not judge after the sight
of his eyes,
neither reprove after the hearing
of his ears: Isaiah 11:3
Is it because sound is more sacred than the
song itself, or than the tune by which it is to be rendered, that man
has no right to choose the sounds that he thinks will best edify? Is
it because the human ear is more likely to err in this it is in
deciding what style of delivery it prefers in a sermon? Or is it
because God would be especially arbitrary in this matter and lay down
a rule without reference to the highest wants of man?
I can not believe that God in this
subordinate matter makes an exception to his general rule. His idea
ever seems to be to develop through exercise to the utmost every good
faculty which man possesses.
Open every avenue of the soul and
let God come in. Let him come through the reason, the
imagination, the memory, the conscience,
the eye
and the ear. Let the human ear, so often greeted by discordant
sounds in daily strife, when it comes into the house of God, be
greeted by the grandest and sweetest harmonies that human genius can
produce, that the soul may be lifted
up in anticipation of the celestial
harmonies of the heavenly hosts around the throne.
"And I heard a voice from heaven
as the
voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great
thunder, and I heard the voice of the harpers harping with their
harps, and they sang as it
were a new song before the throne"
(Rev. xiv. 2, 3)
See
our comments on instruments for the dead.
If instrumental music in worship is a sin on
earth, is it not a sin in
heaven. John, the beloved, in his old
age, when his spiritual vision, free from all earthly dross, could
pierce through the pearly gates, saw repeatedly the harpers harping
upon their harps, and with an ear that could catch the spiritual
sounds of heaven, he heard the music around the throne of God.
Johannes Quasten,
in Music and Worship in Pagan and Christian
Antiquity, p. 155
observes of musical instruments in the hands of the mourners and
offered to the dead:
"It is often said
that in these portrayals the relatives of the deceased are depicted
coming to the grave to entertain him with music. But we must first
distinguish between the portrayals in which the dead person has a musical instrument in his hand and those in
which the persons visiting the deceased are carrying musical
instruments.
Among the
Dead: "In the first case the musical
instrument in the dead person's hand -- usually a lyre or tambourine
-- is meant to signify that the deceased no longer leads an earthly
life but is already taken up with the affairs of the other world."
(Note: Job 21; Isaish 5; Amos 5,6,8 and Ezekiel 33 all show that the
instruments show a disregard for the Words of God)
However, of those still on
Earth (That's us): "The
fact remains that the persons depicted as approaching the deceased on
Greek oinment jars are never playing their instruments... the person
bearing the cithara is stretching out his hands toward the gravestone
on which the dead man is sitting as if he wished to offer the latter
the instrument."
Why? "In antiquity,
singing and instrumental music, playing and dancing were considered
to be the chief occupation and pastime of the blessed... The popular
religions of the time, especially Orphism and the mystery cults,
portrayed the life of the blessed as a continual banquet." (ibid. p.
156)
What John heard was a voice
(speech) like
that of harpers harping with their harps. He could have said: "I
heard harps" but he didn't. He heard speech.
This word is used of artificial sounds only in connection with
tongues and instruments in 1 Corinthians 14 and only to condemn the
artificial or mechanical sounds as having any teaching value.
In Heaven: In Revelation 6:9 John saw the souls of victorious
saints. Souls don't need literal harps made by the hands of men out
of material. They need "harps from God" or the ability to sing and
speak.
Meanwhile Back on the
Earth (where I
live)--Christ wants us to be busy teaching the gospel to everyone in
every nation. That doesn't leave much time for worshipping ourselves
in songs with instruments and dance teams to call God down to the big
meeting:
And I saw another
angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting
gospel to preach unto them that
dwell on the
earth, and to every
nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Revelation 14:6<
Saying with a loud
voice, Fear God, and give glory to him;
for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made
heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
Revelation 14:7
How do you know. that this language is
figurative? May there not be spiritual harps in heaven?
Are spirits deaf and dumb, and are there no divine sounds above? Is
heaven an asylum for the deaf and dumb? God is not deaf. He who made
the ear, can he not hear? But if it is a figure, would not the
apostle have been very careful in that connection to have used a pure
and appropriate figure? If it on]y edifies man, God is glorified
thereby. It is man's salvation that God seeks. Repress not the human
facilities in their growth, for this is not edification, but let
every power of both body and mind in its most perfect form be made to
praise God.
I repeat that the great idea with God, so far
as worship is concerned, is to develop man, to edify him, which means
to save him In doing this he compels man to do all that it is
possible for him to do. The very language which he uses in worship is
a human invention, and when God speaks to man he speaks to him in
human language. The most of the prayers that are offered are not
"thus saith the Lord," are not quotations of Scripture, but they are
formed by the mind of the worshiper. So far as their form is
concerned, they are human, and the best that can be said of them is
that they are scriptural only by inference.
Modern sermons are not in details scriptural
either by precept or example. They are preached in languages which
have originated since Christ and his apostles were on the earth. As a
rule, they contain but few quotations of Scripture. There is so large
a human element in sermons, that we can safely say that if they are
scriptural at all, they are only so by inference. As to the spiritual
songs which Christians sing, they are of human origin Not a single
one of them is found in the Scriptures. If they are scriptural at
all, it is not by precept or example, but only by inference.
The tunes which Christians use are purely
human, and have been invented by musicians of
the most diversified views and characters. If they are scriptural,
they are so only by inference. We are not familiar with a single tune
that the early Christians used, nor do we know that they sang any
tune correctly.
According to all
scholarly evidence to support Paul, they sang "psalms, hymns and
spiritual songs" and these are still recorded in the book of Psalms.
A.D.
360
"But considerable prominence
was given to the hymns by the Gnostic, Bardesans, who composed a
psalter of 150 psalms. However, the 59th canon of the Synod of
Laodicea, 360 A. D., enjoined that 'No psalm composed by private
individuals nor any
uncanonical books may be read in the Church, but only... the
Canonical Books of the OT and NT." Int Std Ency., p. 2494
"In competition with pagan musical
art, congregational
singing began to wane. Basil states that he had 'the Psalms rendered
by skillful presentors after the manner of the triumphal Odes of
Pindar, the congregation joining at the closing verse, with the
accompaniment of lyres." Int Std Bible Ency., p. 2494A
"This urge to use professional art to compete with others quite naturally
led to the use of professional presenters. It is important to note the earlier statement that
the use of music was often in the professionals.
Psalmody thus came to be
increasingly the monoply of trained singers, and the 15th canon of
the Council of Laodicea, 360 AD, proscribed that 'no others shall
sing in the church save only the canonical singers...who go up into
the ambo and sing with a book." (Int Std Bible Ency, Psalms, p.
2494a)
"The Reformation
unsealed the
Psalter, so that
Christ's people might once more drink freely of this fountain of
salvation...The Lutheran Reformation restored congregational singing.
By 1524 Luther had versified Pss 12, 67, and 130. (Int Std Bible
Ency., Psalms, p. 2494A).
In preaching and praying, we see how great is
the human element, while spiritual songs and tunes are wholly human.
Yet we believe that God adopts these purely human songs and tunes as
his own, and they constitute one of the most, if not actually the
most efficient part of worship. May we not be in danger of
underestimating the value of the human element in matters of worship?
God has formulated for the human race neither prayer, nor sermon, nor
song, nor tune. The reasons for this are apparent. God adapts himself
to human nature. While man's general wants in all ages and in all
places are the same, yet in detail they are most varied, and in
nothing is this more strikingly seen than in music. The music which
edified those early Christians may not have been the music which will
best edify Christians to-day. The music which edifies one
congregation to-day may not edify another.
God has ever trusted each succeeding generation
in every land to frame its own prayers as dictated by the general
spirit of the Scriptures; to prepare and deliver its own sermons by
human wisdom, in the light of the gospel; and to compose its own
songs and the tunes by which they are to be rendered.
If he has thus trusted man in these large and
most important things, may he not also trust that man will be able to
render these songs and tunes by the aid of sounds that will make them
edifying to himself? It is for man's edification that all these
things are intended. It seems evident to me that the general spirit
of the Scriptures according to the method of our interpretation as a
people justifies the use of the organ as an aid to the human voice in
worship.
It should be borne in mind that it is the
general opinion of those who understand music that an instrument
aids the
voice in singing. We all know that it is the habit of singers, both
in public and in private, to use musical instruments for this
purpose. We are sometimes told that the organ is a human invention.
This is strictly true.
So were the last sermon and prayer
which you heard largely human inventions, and the song and the tune
wholly human inventions.
If we drop the human invention element out of
worship, then music of any kind becomes totally impossible, and
prayer and preaching will be confined to repeating certain passages
of Scripture.
Sounded good to Thomas Campbell
and sounds good to me.
We are told that it is a dangerous thing to use
the organ in worship. This is strictly
true, but it is no more dangerous than for
men to pray and preach and compose songs and tunes.
Mistakes are frequent in all of these matters.
But God requires us to act in those things in spite of the certainty
that we will make mistakes. I know of no redemption for us unless his
mercy and love are sufficient. He who can make the wrath of man to
praise him can also enable us to rise on our mistakes as "stepping
stones . . . to higher things." They are a necessary element in the
education of a finite creature.
A third position which the objector might take is, that the organ may
make the music more edifying, but it is unscriptural, and therefore
ought not to be used. This position is so out of harmony with God's
usual method of dealing with man, that it hardly seems probable that
any person would assume it. That God would prohibit that which
edifies seems incredible. To cast the good out of the kingdom would
be to divide the kingdom of truth against itself. That this would be
done where every good influence is so much needed in redeeming the
world, I can not believe.
It will be noticed that I have viewed this
subject in its relation to edification. He who simply asserts that
the use of the organ is unscriptural, and stops short with this
assertion, without considering its relation to edification, is in
grave error. God in all of his dealings with man, acts not
arbitrarily, but acts strictly with regard to man's highest needs. He
would lift man up and redeem him through the exercise of every good
faculty with which he has endowed him.
The deepest human reason, the loftiest flights
of the imagination, the eloquence of the minister, the genius of the
poet, the divine
instinct of the composer of music, the
voices of God's people and of
the musical instrument which
helps to cement the music into
grander harmony,
are all God's means of redeeming the
human soul.
The meaning of paganism:
Josephus notes that
Nimrod "sought to regenerate souls through external means." This
writer seems to believe that God needs human help in composing
"inspired scripture" and now needs help in redeeming mankind.
AUGUSTINE: on the Morals of the Manichaeans
riducules them for believing that the gods came out of brass and
other things by rubbing or abrading (making melody with them).
Augustin uses figurative language much like Paul's warning that our
melody must never be external but in the heart:
"Make melody unto
the Lord upon the harp: on the harp and with the voice of a Psalm"
(ver. 5). Praise Him not with the voice only; take up works, that ye may not only sing, but
work
also. He who singeth
and
worketh, maketh melody
with psaltery and upon the harp. Now see what sort of instruments are
next spoken of, in figure: "With ductile
trumpets also, and the sound of the pipe of horn" (ver. 6). What are
ductile trumpets, and pipes of horn?
Ductile trumpets
are of brass:
they are drawn out by
hammering; if by
hammering, by being
beaten, ye shall be
ductile trumpets, drawn
out unto the praise of God, if ye improve when in tribulation: tribulation is hammering
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the
law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every
one that hangeth on a tree: Ga.3:13
In whom we have redemption
through his
blood, the forgiveness
of sins, according to the riches of his grace; Ep.1:7
Forasmuch as ye know that ye
were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver
and gold, from your vain conversation received
by tradition from your fathers; 1Pe.1:18
Let us cast out no good thing from the kingdom
of God. Whatever will help to redeem
man is God's, and wherever it will best
accomplish its purpose of helping to redeem man,
there it belongs. God has given to his people great and glorious
libertynot liberty in name simply, but liberty in fact. He has, by
failing to formulate the different acts
of worship, thrown man as much as
possible upon his own resources, thus calling into exercise all of
his highest powers, and lifting him up to a higher and closer
communion with himself.
Jesus failed to
formulate modern "acts of worship" but He went further: He commanded
and exampled praying in private places. He declared that alms be
given in private. He stood up to read but then sat down to explain
the Scripture in synagogue. He personally paid the 'temple tax' and
had Paul say, "This is not a command." He ordained the Lord's Supper
but nothing else. What we call "worship" Paul called edification but
never worship. Therefore, by God's "failing" He did not give mankind
the authority to make up for His failure. Rather, Jesus came to give
mankind "rest" from the clergy-laded burden. This burden is defined
as "spiritual anxiety created by religious ceremony." Therefore,
God's silence was God's command against rituals which produce
spiritual anxiety which the 'inspired' preacher, song writer or
organist can peddle as helping God redeem mankind.
We, as a people, have taken liberal views with regard
to worship. As to details, we recognize no formulated methods of
worship. Each congregation is free to determine these matters for
itself. The great danger which lies before us as a people is
........ not that we will abuse our
liberty in the matter of church
music,
........ but that we may fail to avail ourselves of the means
which God has provided and is ever providing for the spread of the
gospel.
The Scriptures ought not to be so interpreted
as to prevent us from laying hold of and using any good thing that
will help to advance the kingdom of God. "But go ye and learn what
this meaneth, I desire mercy and not sacrifice" is a text that needs
to he pondered long and well.
God's word ought not to be interpreted so as to
prevent us from doing good. Infidelity, the great foe of Christianity
in the present age, thirsty for the blood of souls, stands knocking
at the gates of Zion. They who are within the gates do greatly err
if, in the presence of this gigantic enemy, they waste their energies
in civil strife.
It may not be inappropriate to add a word as to
what I think is to be the future of the organ among us in worship.
That it has been steadily
growing in favor with us as a people
is, I think, beyond question. I can see no reason why it should cease
to become more and more popular in worship.
The root of this matter lies not in the church,
but In Christian homes where sons and daughters,
........ through long years of toil,
........ are taught instrumental music,
........ and the value of an instrument as an aid in singing.
Yes. Music is the
most works-intensive thing a church could engage in short of
slaughtering and burning a bull on the Lord's Table.
We noted above that Augustine
noted that literal music provides the "work" God wants the human to
be the trumpet:
" What are ductile trumpets,
and pipes of horn?
Ductile trumpets
are of brass:
they are drawn out by
hammering; if by
hammering, by being
beaten,
ye shall be ductile trumpets,
drawn out unto the
praise of God, if ye
improve when in tribulation: tribulation is hammering
The consequences of this are inevitable. Better
music at home means better music in the church.
Music is not an arbitrary thing,
but it has a definite mathematical
basis, which those who do not
understand, fail fully to appreciate.
Many ears are so constructed that to them a
certain amount of discord may not be unpleasant, while
to the more sensitive and cultivated ear the same discord is very
disagreeable.
Jesus spoke of "spiritual
anxiety" which is that feeling you get when the faucet drips or the
dog barks all night. Complex harmony -- especially with instruments
-- creates this anxiety but it fools people because the "water drips"
or "dog barks" as the discord helps blend from one note to the next.
Nevertheless, the "pain" is still there. This pain actually damages
the mind and soul. As self-protection, the body produces endorphins
or a morphine-line drug. This softens the pain and the left over drug
produces a "high." This is what Fairhurst admits. See the terrible truth on the drug high produced by "religious
music" which the preachers claim will help redeem you or "lead you
into the presence of God."
The difficulty of creating
good church music is very
great, and if a large majority of those
who best understand music, and upon whom rests the responsibility of
creating it, desire an organ as an aid to the voice, it seems to me that
their desire should have great weight in determining the matter.
"Let all things be done unto edifying."
Those "trained in
music" tend to believe that God gave them the gift and therefore
demands that they perform in public. However, this keeps the
"audience" from seeing and hearing Jesus as surely as the performance
preachers self-composed "scripture." However, true Musicologists and
Rock Musicians, understand that you can "worship" a skinny, AIDs
infected, long-greasy-haired, ugly boy when he begins to "redeem" you
with music.
For hundreds of men, women and children, all
differing from each other in intelligence, taste and education, to
live together in a congregation so that the highest spiritual interests of each
individual shall be advanced and the
desires of each properly respected, is a great problem.
In every human organization it
becomes necessary to sacrifice, to a certain extent, individual
desires to the general good. Without concession of individual
preference in some measure, organized effort of every kind becomes
impossible. "Bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of
Christ." "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers
shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father
seeketh such to worship him."
With 2000 years of
history to back up the Bible a good way to have done this would be
for the "trained musicians" to go get an honest performing joby and
not create sectarianism by imposing mechanical instruments as the
works of human hands and talent to aid God.
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Cunter added 12.18.04 3:36p 606
