A Collection of Historical
Quotes Related to the Use and Timing of Musical
Instruments in the Worship Service
Note: The following quotes are from uninspired
writers throughout history. They tell the story as
to why, in addition to the words given in the New
Testament, that musical instruments were not used
for the first 600 or more years after the church of
our Lord began (the church began in approximately 30
A.D. - see Acts chapter 2).
The following information also adds insight as to
the problems, division, etc. that the musical
instrument caused as different groups introduced
them into the worship service in the 7th century
A.D. and later.
These lists have been taken from various sources
(this is not the result of this web site's work)
and, again, are not scripture or from the inspired
writers of the New Testament.
The collection of quotes is in three sections,
each in alphabetical order:
- Early Church Leaders
- Various Religious Scholars and Historians
- Restoration Movement Leaders
EARLY CHURCH LEADERS:
- AQUINAS "Our church does not use musical
instruments, as harps and psalteries, to praise
God withal, that she may not seem to Judaize."
(Thomas Aquinas, Bingham's Antiquities, Vol. 3,
page 137)
- AUGUSTINE "musical instruments were not
used. The pipe, tabret, and harp here associate
so intimately with the sensual heathen cults, as
well as with the wild revelries and shameless
performances of the degenerate theater and
circus, it is easy to understand the prejudices
against their use in the worship." (Augustine
354 A.D., describing the singing at Alexandria
under Athanasius)
- CHRYSOSTOM "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." (Chrysostom,
347-407, Exposition of Psalms 41, (381-398 A.D.)
Source Readings in Music History, ed. O. Strunk,
W. W. Norton and Co.: New York, 1950, pg. 70.)
- CLEMENT "Leave the pipe to the shepherd, the
flute to the men who are in fear of gods and
intent on their idol worshipping. Such musical
instruments must be excluded from our wingless
feasts, for they are more suited for beasts and
for the class of men that is least capable of
reason than for men. The Spirit, to purify the
divine liturgy from any such unrestrained
revelry chants: 'Praise Him with sound of
trumpet," for, in fact, at the sound of the
trumpet the dead will rise again; praise Him
with harp,' for the tongue is a harp of the
Lord; 'and with the lute, praise Him.'
understanding the mouth as a lute moved by the
Spirit as the lute is by the plectrum; 'praise
Him with timbal and choir,' that is, the Church
awaiting the resurrection of the body in the
flesh which is its echo; 'praise Him with
strings and organ,' calling our bodies an organ
and its sinews strings, for front them the body
derives its co-ordinated movement, and when
touched by the Spirit, gives forth human sounds;
'praise Him on high-sounding cymbals,' which
mean the tongue of the mouth which with the
movement of the lips, produces words. Then to
all mankind He calls out, 'Let every spirit
praise the Lord,' because He rules over every
spirit He has made. In reality, man is an
instrument arc for peace, but these other
things, if anyone concerns himself overmuch with
them, become instruments of conflict, for they
either enkindle desires or inflame the passions. The Etruscans, for
example, use the trumpet for war; the Arcadians,
the horn; the Sicels, the flute; the Cretans,
the lyre; the Lacedemonians, the pipe; the
Thracians, the bugle; the Egyptians, the drum;
and the Arabs, the cymbal. But as for us, we
make use of one instrument alone: only the Word
of peace by whom we pay homage to God, no longer
with ancient harp or trumpet or drum or flute
which those trained for war employ." (Clement of
Alexandria, 190AD The instructor, Fathers of the
church, p. 130)
- CLEMENT "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 image 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 instrument 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,
185AD, Readings p. 62)
- ERASMUS "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, Commentary on I Cor.
14:19)
- EUSEBIUS "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... 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."
(commentary on Psalms 91:2-3)
- MARTYR "Simply singing is not agreeable to
children (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." (Justin Martyr,
139 AD) MARTYR The use of music was not received
in the Christian churches, as it was among the
Jew, in their infant state, but only the use of
plain song." (Justin Martyr, 139 AD)
VARIOUS SCHOLARS AND HISTORIANS
- ALZOG "St. Ambrose and St. Gregory rendered
great service to church music by the
introduction of what are known as the Ambrosian
and Gregorian chants.... Ecclesiastical chant,
departing in some instances from the simple
majesty of its original character, became more
artistic, and, on this account, less heavenly
and more profane; and the Fathers of the Church
were not slow to censure this corruption of the
old and honored church song. Finally, the organ,
which seemed an earthly echo of the angelic
choirs in heaven, added its full, rich, and
inspiring notes to the beautiful simplicity of
the Gregorian chant" (Alzog, Catholic Scholar,
Church Historian of the University of Freiburg
and champion of instrumental music in worship,
was faithful to his scholarship when he wrote,
Universal Church History, Vol. 1, pp. 696, 697).
- AMERICAN ENCYLOPEDIA "Pope Vitalian is
related to have first introduced organs into
some of the churches of Western Europe about 670
but the earliest trustworthy account is that of
one sent as a present by the Greek emperor
Constantine Copronymus to Pepin, king of Franks
in 755" (American Encyclopedia, Volume 12, p.
688). BARCLAY "If God is spirit, a man's
gifts to God must be gifts of the spirit. Animal sacrifices
and all manmade things become inadequate. The
only gifts that befit the nature of God are the
gifts of the spirit - love, loyalty, obedience,
devotion" (W. Barclay, The Gospel of John, Vol.
1, p. 161). BARNES "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 Presbyterian, Notes on
The Testament, comment on Eph. 5:19).
- BENEDICT "In my earliest intercourse among
this people, congregational singing generally
prevailed among them. . . . The Introduction Of
The Organ Among The Baptist. This instrument,
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
(1840) ... 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." (Benedict, Baptist
historian, Fifty Years Among Baptist, page
204-207)
- BEZA "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,
scholar of Geneva, Girardeau's Instrumental
Music, p. 166) BINGHAM "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. 11,
p. 482-484)
- BINGHAM "Music in churches is as ancient as
the apostles, but instrumental music not so."
(Joseph Bingham, Church of England, Works, vol.
3, page 137) BURNEY "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, 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)
- CALVIN "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, Commentary on Psalms 33)
- CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA "Although Josephus
tells of the wonderful effects produced in the
Temple by the use of instruments, the first
Christians were of too spiritual a fiber to
substitute lifeless instruments for or to use
them to accompany the human voice. Clement of
Alexandria severely condemns the use of
instruments even at Christian banquets. St.
Chrysostum sharply contrasts the customs of the
Christians when they had full freedom with those
of the Jews of the Old Testament." (Catholic
Encyclopedia, Vol. 10, pg. 648-652.)
- CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA "For almost a thousand
years Gregorian chant, without any instrumental
or harmonic addition was the only music used in
connection with the liturgy. The organ, in its
primitive and rude form, was the first, and for
a long time the sole, instrument used to
accompany the chant…. The church has never
encouraged and at most only tolerated the use of
instruments. She enjoins in the 'Caeremonials
Episcoporum', - that permission for their use
should first be obtained from the ordinary. She
holds up as her ideal the unaccompanied chant,
and polyphonic, a-capella style. The Sistene
Chapel has not even an organ."" (Catholic
Encyclopedia, Vol. 10, pg. 657-688.)
- CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA "We need not shrink
from admitting that candles, like incense and
lustral water, were commonly employed in pagan
worship and the rites paid to the dead. But the
Church, from a very early period, took them into
her service, just as she adopted many other
things indifferent in themselves, which seemed
proper to enhance the splendor of religious
ceremony. We must not forget that most of these
adjuncts to worship, like music, lights,
perfumes, ablutions, floral decorations,
canopies, fans, screens, bells, vestments, etc.
were not identified with any idolatrous cult in
particular but they were common to almost all
cults." (Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. III, pg.
246.)
- CHAMBERS "The organ is said to have been
first introduced into church music by Pope Vitalian in 666. In 757, a great organ was sent
as a present to Pepin by the Byzantine Emperor,
Constantine, and placed in the church St.
Corneille as Compiegne." (Chambers Encyclopedia,
Vol. 7, p. 112)
- CLARKE "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 (Methodist), Clarke's Commentary,
Methodist, Vol. II, pp. 690-691.)
- CLARKE "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, Methodist,
Clarke's Commentary, Vol. IV., p. 686)
- COLEMAN "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, a Presbyterian, Primitive Church, p.
376-377)
- CONYBEARE "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 from Vol. II.
p. 408).
- DICKINSON "While the Greek and Roman songs
were metrical, the Christian psalms were
antiphons, prayers, responses, etc., were
unmetrical; and while the pagan melodies were
always sung to an instrumental accompaniment,
the church chant was exclusively vocal" (Edward
Dickinson, History of Music, p. 54)
- DICKINSON "In view of the controversies over
the use of instrumental music in worship, which
have been so violent in the British and American
Protestant churches, it is an interesting
question whether instruments were employed by
the primitive Christians. We know that
instruments performed an important function in
the Hebrew temple service and in the ceremonies
of the Greeks. At this point, however, a break
was made with all previous practice, and
although the lyre and flute were sometimes
employed by the Greek converts, as a general
rule the use of instruments in worship was
condemned." … "Many of the fathers, speaking of
religious songs, made no mention of instruments;
others, like Clement of Alexandria and St.
Chrysostom, refer to them only to denounce them.
Clement says, "Only one instrument do we use,
viz. the cord of peace wherewith we honor God,
no longer the old psaltery, trumpet, drum, and
flute." Chrysostom exclaims: "David formerly
sang in psalms, also we sing today with him; 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 with a more accordant piety." St.
Ambrose expresses his scorn for those who would
play the lyre and psaltery instead of singing
hymns and psalms; and St. Augustine adjures
believers not to turn their hearts to theatrical
instruments. 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)
- FESSENDEN "This species. which is the most
natural, is to be considered to have existed
before any other... Instrumental music is also
of very ancient date, its invention being
ascribed to Tubal, the sixth descendant from
Cain. The instrumental music was not practiced
by the primitive Christians, but was an aid to
devotion of later times, is evident from church
history. (Fessenden's Encyclopedia of Art and
Music, p. 852)
- FINNEY "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)
- FISHER "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, Yale Professor, History of the
Christian Church, p. 65, 121)
- FULLER "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, Baptist, Complete works of Andre Fuller,
Vol. 3, P. 520, 1843)
- GARRISON "There is no command in the New
Testament, Greek or English, commanding the use
of the instrument. Such a command would be
entirely out of harmony with the New Testament."
(J.H. Garrison, Christian Church) GIRADEAU "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 Giradeau, Presbyterian professor in
Columbia Theological Seminary, Instrumental
Music, p. 179)
- HASTING If instrumental music was not part
of early Christian worship, when did it become
acceptable? Several reference works will help us
see the progression of this practice among
churches: "Pope Vitalian introduced an organ in
the church in the seventh century to aid the
singing but it was opposed and was removed."
(James Hasting, Encyclopedia of Religion and
Ethics.)
- HUMPHREYS "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 Christians 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)
- KILLEN "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).
- KNOX "a kist (chest) of whistles." (John
Knox, Presbyterian, in reference to the organ -
McClintock & Strong's Encyclopedia, Music, Vol.
VI., p. 762) KURTZ "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, Lutheran
Scholar, Church History, Vol. 1, p. 376)
- LANG "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)
- LEICHTENTRITT "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)
- LONDON ENCYCLOPEDIA (London Encyclopedia
says the organ is said to have been first
introduced into church music in about 658AD.)
- LORENZ "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)
- LUTHER "The organ in the worship is the
ensign of Baal… The Roman Catholic borrowed it
from the Jews." (Martin Luther, McClintock &
Strong's Encyclopedia Volume VI, page 762)
- MCCLINTOCK "The general introduction of
instrumental music can certainly not be assigned
to a date earlier than the 5th and 6th
centuries; yea, even Gregory the Great, who
towards the end of the 6th century added greatly
to the existing church music, absolutely
prohibited the use of instruments. Several
centuries later the introduction of the organ in
sacred service gave the place to instruments as
accompaniments for Christian song, and from that
time to this they have been freely used with few
exceptions. The first organ is believed to have
been used in the Church service in the 13th
century. Organs were however, in use before this
in the theater. They were never regarded with
favor in the Eastern Church, and were vehemently
opposed in some of the Western churches."
(McClintock and Strong, Cyclopaedia of Biblical
Literature, Vol 6, p. 759)
- MCCLINTOCK Sir John Hawkins, following the
Romanish writers in his erudite work on the
history of music, made Pope Vitalian, in A.D.
660, the first who introduced organs into the
churches. But students of ecclesiastical
archaeology are generally agreed that
instrumental music was not used in churches till
a much later date; for Thomas Aquinas [Catholic
Scholar in 1250 A.D.] has these remarkable
words, 'Our church does not use musical
instruments, as harps and psalteries, to praise
God withal, that she may seem not to Judaize.'"
(McClintock and Strong, Encyclopedia of Biblical
Literature, Vol. 6, Harper and Brothers, New
York, 1894, pg. 762.)
- MCCLINTOCK "The Greek word 'psallo' is
applied among the Greeks of modern times
exclusively to sacred music, which in the
Eastern Church has never been any other than
vocal, instrumental music being unknown in that
church, as it was in the primitive church."
(McClintock & Strong, Vol. 8, p. 739).
- NAUMAN "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)
- NEITHENINGTON (Exclusion of instrumental
music from the church of England passed by only
one vote in 1562, according to Neithenington's:
History Of The Westminster Assembly Of Divines,
p. 20)
- NEWMAN "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)
- NICETA "It is time to turn to the New
Testament to confirm what is said in the Old,
and, particularly, to point out that the office
of psalmody is not to be considered abolished
merely because many other observances of the Old
Law have fallen into disuse. Only the corporal
institutions have been rejected, like
circumcision, the Sabbath, sacrifices,
discrimination of foods. So, too, the trumpets,
harps, cymbals, and timbrels. For the sound of
these we now have a better substitute in the
music from the mouths of men. The daily
ablutions, the new-moon observances, the careful
inspection of leprosy are completely past and
gone, along with whatever else was necessary
only for a time - as it were, for children." (Niceta,
a bishop of Remesian or Yugoslavia)
- PAHLEN "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)
- PAPADOPOULOS "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).
- POSEY "For years the Baptists fought the
introduction of instrumental music into the
churches...Installation of the organ brought
serious difficulties in many churches" (Wm. B.
Posey, Baptist, The Baptist Church In The Lower
Mississippi Valley).
- PRESBYTERIAN "Question 6. 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, published by the
Presbyterian Board of Publications,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1842, pg. 55.)
- PRATT "The, First Christian Songs. - Singing
in public and private worship was a matter of
course for the early Christians. For Jewish
converts this was a continuance of synagogue
customs, but since the Church grew mostly among
non-Jews, the technical forms employed were more
Greek than Hebrew. The use of instruments was
long resisted, because of their association with
pagan sensuality." (Waldo Selden Pratt, The
History of Music, 1935, p. 64)
- RIDDLE "In the first ages of the Christian
church the psalms of David were always chanted
or sung. In the Apostolic Constitutions (Book
II, P. 57), we find it laid down as a rule that
one of those officiating ministers should chant
or sing psalms of David, and that the people
should join by repeating the ends of the verses.
The instruments of music were introduced into
the Christian church in the ninth century. They were unknown alike to the early church and
to all ancients. The large wind organ was known,
however, long before it was introduced into the
churches of the west. The first organ used in
worship was one which was received by
Charlemagne in France as a present from the
Emperor Constantine.' (J.E. Riddle, Christian
Antiquities, p. 384)
- RITTER "We have no real knowledge of the
exact character of the music which formed a part
of the religious devotion of the first Christian
congregations. It was, however purely vocal."
(Frederic Louis Ritter, History of Music from
the Christian Era to the Present Time, p. 28)
- ROBERTSON "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, Baptist Greek scholar,
Baptist Studies in the Nestle James, comment on
James 5:13)
- SCHAFF "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, History of the Christian
Church, Vol. 4, pg. 439.)
- SHAFF "The first organ certainly known to
exist and be used in a church was put in the
cathedral at Aix-la-chapel by the German
emperor, Charlemange, who came to the throne in
768AD. It met with great opposition among the
Romanists, especially among the monks, and it made its way but slowly into common use. So
great was the opposition even as late as the
16th century that it would have been abolished
by the council of Trent but for the influence of
the Emperor Ferdinand…. In the Greek church the
organ never came into use... The Reform church
discarded it; and though the church of Basel
very early introduced it, it was in other places
admitted only sparingly and after long
hesitation." (Shaff-Herzog Encyclopedia, Vol. 2,
p. 1702)
- SCHAFF "It is questionable whether, as used
in the New Testament, 'psallo' means more than
to sing . . . The absence of instrumental music
from the church for some centuries after the
apostles and the sentiment regarding it which
pervades the writing, the fathers are
unaccountable, if in the apostolic church such
music was used" (Schaff-Herzog, Vol. 3, p. 961).
- SCHAFF "In the Greek church the organ never
came into use. But after the 8th century it
became more and more common in the Latin church;
not without opposition from the side of the
monks." (Schaff-Herzogg Encyclopedia, Vol 10, p.
657-658) SHAFF (new) "The custom of organ
accompaniment did not become general among
Protestants until the eighteenth century." (The
New Shaff-Herzogg Encyclopedia, 1953, Vol 10, p.
257)
- SPURGEON "Praise the Lord with the 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. They would hinder rather than help our
praise. Sing unto him. This is the sweetest and
best music. No instrument like the human voice."
(Commentary on Psalms 42:4) "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." (Spurgeon preached to 20,000 people every
Sunday for 20 years in the Metropolitan Baptist
Tabernacle and never were mechanical instruments
of music used in his services. When asked why,
he quoted 1st Corinthians 14:15. "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." He
then declared: "I would as soon pray to God with
machinery as to sing to God with machinery."
(Charles H. Spurgeon, Baptist)
- SPURGEON "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 (Baptist), Commentary on Psalm 42.)
Note: Charles H. Spurgeon, recognized as one of
the greatest Baptist preachers that ever lived,
preached for 20 years to thousands of people
weekly in the Metropolitan Baptist Tabernacle,
London, England, did not have musical
instruments in worship. -- M.C. Kurfees,
Instrumental Music in the Worship, p. 196.
- TAPPER "Both sexes joined in singing, but
instruments of every kind were prohibited for
a long time" (Thomas Tapper, Essentials of Music
History, p. 34)
- THEODORET "107. 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, a
bishop of Cyrhus in Syria, Questions and Answers
for the Orthodox)
- WELIESZ "So far as we can tell the music of
the early Church was almost entirely vocal,
Christian usage following in this particular the
practice of the Synagogue, in part for the same
reasons." (New Oxford History of Music, Vol. 1,
Egon Weliesz, 1957, p. 30)
- WESLEY 'I have no objection to instruments
of music in our worship, provided they are
neither seen nor heard." (John Wesley, founder
of Methodism, quoted in Adam Clarke's
Commentary, Vol. IV, p. 685-686)
RESTORATION LEADERS AND RELATED WRITINGS:
- CAMPBELL "[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, recorded in Robert Richardson's
biography, Memoirs of Alexander Campbell, Vol.
2., p366)
- FRANKLIN "If any one had told us, 40 years
ago, that we would live to see the day where
those professing to be Christians who claim the
Holy Scriptures as their only rule of faith and
practice, those under the command, and who
profess to appreciate the meaning of the command
to 'observe whatsoever I have commanded you'
would bring instruments of music into a
worshipping assembly and use it there in
worship, we should have repelled the idea as an
idle dream. But this only shows how little we
knew of what men would do; or how little we saw
of the power of the adversary to subvert the
purest principles, to deceive the hearts of the
simple, to undermine the very foundation of all
piety, and turn the very worship of God itself
into an attraction for the people of the world
and entertainment, or amusement." (Benjamin
Franklin, Gospel Preacher, Vol. 2, p. 411,
419-429. Note: This Ben Franklin is a distant
cousin to the famous statesman and patriot
Benjamin Franklin.)
- FRANKLIN "Instrumental music is permissible
for a church under the following conditions: 1.
When a church never had or has lost the Spirit
of Christ. 2. If a church has a preacher who
never had or has lost the Spirit of Christ, who
has become a dry, prosing and lifeless preacher.
3. If a church only intends being a fashionable
society, a mere place of amusements and secular
entertainment and abandoning the idea of
religion and worship. 4. If a church has within
it a large number of dishonest and corrupt men.
5. If a church has given up all idea of trying
to convert the world." (Ben Franklin, editor of
American Christian Review, 1860. Note: This Ben
Franklin is a distant cousin to the famous
statesman and patriot Benjamin Franklin).
- LIPSCOMB "Neither he [Paul] nor any other
apostle, nor the Lord Jesus, nor any of the
disciples for five hundred years, used
instruments. This too, in the face of the fact
that the Jews had used instruments in the days
of their prosperity and that the Greeks and
heathen nations all used them in their worship.
They were dropped out with such emphasis that
they were not taken up till the middle of the
Dark Ages, and came in as part of the order of
the Roman Catholic Church. It seems there cannot
be doubt but that the use of instrumental music
in connection with the worship of God, whether
used as a part of the worship or as an
attraction accompaniment, is unauthorized by God
and violates the oft-repeated prohibition to add
nothing to, take nothing from, the commandments
of the Lord. It destroys the difference between
the clean and the unclean, the holy and unholy,
counts the blood of the Son of God unclean, and
tramples under foot the authority of the Son of
God. They have not been authorized by God or
sanctified with the blood of his Son." (David
Lipscomb, Queries and Answers by David Lipscomb
p. 226-227, and Gospel Advocate, 1899, p.
376-377)
- MCGARVEY "And if any man who is a preacher
believes that the apostle teaches the use of
instrumental music in the church by enjoining
the singing of psalms, he is one of those
smatters in Greek who can believe anything that
he wishes to believe. When the wish is father to
the thought, correct exegesis is like water on a
duck's back" (J. W. McGarvey, Biblical
Criticism, p. 116).
- MCGARVEY "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.)
- MCGARVEY "It is manifest that we cannot
adopt the practice with out abandoning the
obvious and only ground On Which a restoration
of Primitive Christianity can be accomplished,
or on which the plea for it can be maintained.
Such is my profound conviction, and
consequently, the question with me is not one
concerning the choice or rejection of an
expedient, but the maintenance or abandonment of
a fundamental and necessary principle." (J. W.
McGarvey, Apostolic Timer 1881, and What Shall
We Do About the Organ? p. 4, 10)
- MILLIGAN "The tendency of instrumental music
is to divert the minds of many from the
sentiment of the song to the mere sound of the
organ, and in this way it often serves to
promote formalism in Churches" (Robert Milligan,
Scheme of Redemption, p. 386).
- PINKERTON "So far as known to me, or I
presume to you, I am the only 'preacher' in
Kentucky of our brotherhood who has publicly
advocated the propriety of employing
instrumental music in some churches, and that
the church of God in Midway is the only church
that has yet made a decided effort to introduce
it" (L. L. Pinkerton, American Christian Review,
1860, as quoted by Cecil Willis in W. W. Otey:
Contender for the Faith).
- STONE "We have just received an
extraordinary account of about 30,000 Methodists
in England, withdrawing from that church and
connexion, because the Conference disapproved of
the introduction of instrumental music to the
churches. The full account shall appear in our
next... To us, backwoods Americans, this conduct
of those seceders appears be the extreme of
folly, and it argues that they have a greater
taste for music, than they have for religion.
Editor." (Barton Stone, Christian Messenger,
vol. 3, No. 2, Dec. 1828, p. 48 in bound volume)
- WEST "Apostasy in music among 19th century
churches that had endeavored to restore New
Testament authority in worship and work began,
in the main, following the Civil War' In 1868,
Ben Franklin guessed that there were ten
thousand congregations and not over fifty had
used an instrument in worship." (Earl West,
Search for the Ancient Order, Vol. 2, pp. 80,
81)
Click on "Question 33" below to continue... |