Dr. Begg, Section 3
James Dodson
SECTION III.
Inquiry into the period of the Christian Church when Organs began to be used in the Worship of God.
It having been ascertained that musical instruments were not employed nor recommended by Christ, or his apostles, nor used by Christians in the first ages of the Church in the praises of
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God, it may be proper to inquire when organs were introduced into the Christian Church. Upon this matter the learned are not agreed, and it is very probable that their introduction was gradual, and happened in different countries at different times.
According to Bellarmine, the organ began to be used in the service of the Church about the year 660,* and that when Pope Vitalian reformed the singing of the Roman Church he added to it organs in order to support and embellish it.† The first organ said to have been seen in France was sent from Constantinople, in the year 757, as a present to King Pepin, from the Emperor Constantine, Copronymus VI.‡ It is said, however, that this instrument was not understood in France till the time of Louis the Debonair, A.D. 815, when an Italian priest taught the use and construction of it, which he himself had learned at Constantinople.§ Ammonius thinks that this happened
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* “Altare Damascenum,” by Calderwood, Cap. viii.
† “Enc. Brit.” on the word Organ.
‡ “Enc. Brit.” on the word Music.
§ “Enc. Brit.” on the word Organ.
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after the year 820, in the time of Louis the Pious.*
According to Bishop Stillingfleet, music was first employed in the service of the Church of England by St Augustine, and afterward much improved by St Dunstan, who was himself an eminent musician, and first furnished the English churches and convents with the organ.† It is very generally believed that, in Italy, Germany, and England, this instrument became frequent during the tenth century.† From the testimony of Gervas, the monk of Canterbury, who flourished about the year 1200, it appears that organs had been used in churches upwards of one hundred years before that time, for in his description of Lafranc’s church, as it was before the fire in 1174, he mentions the position of the organs in these words, “Crux australis supra fornicem organa gestare solebat.”‡ Mr Wharton has observed that Marinus Sanatus, who flourished about the year 1290, first intro-
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* “Altare Damascenum,” by Calderwood, Cap. viii.
† “Enc. Brit.” on the word Music.
‡ “Enc. Brit.” on the word Organ.
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duced wind organs into churches, and that from this circumstance he derived the name Torcellus, the name for organ in the Italian language.* About this time Durandus, in his “Rationale,” speaks of them as generally received in the Church, and he, in Mr Gregory’s opinion, is the first author who takes notice of it. So much at variance are the opinions of learned men upon this subject, that organs are said by some to have been introduced into churches about the middle of the seventh, by others not till the eleventh, or twelfth, or thirteenth century.† From this last period to the time of the Reformation, the use of the organ was common in the service of the Church.
Amidst such various and opposite statements and opinions, it will be difficult to ascertain exactly the period when organs began to be used in the service of the Church. But from every different authority it is evident that they
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* “Enc. Brit.” on the word Organ.
† Bingham’s “Church Antiquities,” B. viii. Ch. vii. Sec. 14; and Bishop Horne’s “Sermon at opening a new Organ in the Cathedral at Canterbury, July 8, 1784.”
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began to be used in the times of Popish darkness and superstition, and that in proportion as ignorance and idolatry prevailed, the use of them became more frequent in churches. They were, however, by no means general so late as the middle of the thirteenth century; for Thomas Aquinas, who flourished about the year 1250, expressly says in his Sums, “Our Church does not use musical instruments, as harps and psalteries, to praise God withal, that she may not seem to judaize.”* From which it must be concluded, that if organs were used in churches at all in his time, they must have been very rare, and that they were considered a Jewish corruption. Thomas Aquinas expressly says that musical instruments “were connected with the carnal and figurative state of the Jewish church, and that they are more calculated to afford pleasure, than to form good dispositions.”* Cardinal Cajetan, who was sent as a legate into Germany in the year 1518, to quiet the commotions raised by Luther against indulgences, wrote a commentary upon Thomas
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* “Altare Damascenum,” by Calderwood, Cap. viii.
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Aquinas’ “Theology,” and observes upon the above first quoted passage—“The Church did not use organs in Thomas Aquinas’ time, and even to this day the Church of Rome does not use them in the presence of the Pope.”* From which it appears, that in the days of Cajetan organs were esteemed a corrupt innovation, the use of which could not be allowed at Rome in the presence of the Pope, who was considered the supreme bishop and infallible head of the Church.
In Scotland organs were not introduced into the churches until the reign of James I., in the fifteenth century. He ascended the throne of Scotland in the year 1423,† was one of the most learned men of the age in which he lived, and had a great genius for poetry and music. Under his patronage the national music was much improved, and organs were by him introduced into the cathedrals and abbeys of Scotland, and choir service brought to such a degree of perfection, as to fall little
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* “Altare Damascenum,” by Calderwood, Cap. viii.
† Buchanan’s “History of Scotland.”
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short of that established in any country in Europe.*
From this statement it appears that organs were brought into churches during the ages of Popish superstition and idolatry, and that in proportion as the corrupt principles and usages of Popery prevailed, these instruments became more frequent in the service of the church. This is a circumstance very unfavourable to the use of organs in the worship of God in gospel times. They must be reckoned as among the innovations of those ages of barbarity and superstition. In vain shall we look into the history of those ages for the pure and unadulterated institutions of the Lord Jesus Christ. “Darkness then covered the earth, and gross darkness the people.” Corruption and will-worship everywhere prevailed, and the worship of God was degraded and polluted by the superstitious and idolatrous practices of the Romish church. The innovations of these ages, therefore, should have no relish with those who
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* “Enc. Brit.” on the word Music.
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desire entire submission to the authority of Christ, and to be found walking in the commandments and ordinances of God their Saviour. Some of the Reformed churches of Europe, it is true, still retain organs in the worship of God. This, however, is no proof of their propriety, or Divine authority under the gospel; but only a proof that these churches, in reforming from Popish idolatry and will-worship, have not entirely relinquished all the unauthorised practices of the Church of Rome.