Musical Instruments in Divine Worship XI.
James Dodson
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CHAPTER XI.
INSTRUMENTATION NOT IN ACCORD WITH NEW TESTAMENT WORSHIP.
The forms of worship in the Levitical service were intended, primarily, to affect the senses, and hence the principle upon which they were devised by divine wisdom was that of the greatest possible display. That ministration instituted and delivered to Moses at Mt. Sinai with such terrible representations of divine majesty is called a “glory,” because of its magnificence. Yet it was a glory manifested wholly by the employment of material forms. Nothing could have made a more impressive contrast with the desolateness of the wilderness in which the tabernacle was first reared than that beautiful tabernacle decked with gold and silver—the twelve tribes of two millions of people—three of which were encamped on the east and three on the west—three on the north and three on the south—the priests and the Levites in the same order, close about the tabernacle, the cloud of glory rising up from it, and stretching its shining wings far up in the heavens, and over the vast tented fields—the trumpets sounding, the smoke of the perpetual incense, and the burning sacrifice mingling with the great pillar of the cloud. The scene of magnificence was heightened and solemnized in its grandeur when, arranged in order for worship with their offerings, the vast assembly stood before the Lord, and Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them; the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people; a fire came out of that glory and consumed the offerings, which were laid upon the altar, and when all the people saw it they shouted and fell on their faces. The external magnificence of that worship was greatly increased when, in the height of
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prosperity to which Israel had grown, under the great and good reign of David. The temple was built by Solomon as a memorial that God had fulfilled completely in his reign the promises made to Abraham.
It, with its psalmody and its musical instruments, was the embodiment of still grander external service, corresponding with the glory to which Israel had attained, and still more to its design as a symbol of the enlarged manifestation of divine glory in Israel. In one respect alone—the music of the temple—the external display must have been far beyond that of the highest effort of that art in modern experience. The spectacle of one hundred and twenty priests sounding their trumpets, four thousand Levites, skilled in the highest measure to which the art of music had attained in the use of voice and instruments, all united to make one sound, to be heard in thanking and praising the Lord, in connection with the glory of the Lord, in visible form, filling the house, was beyond anything the world has witnessed from that day to the present. That temple service was, indeed, a glorious service, intended to impress the senses. It all stood between Christ and the soul of the worshipper, and the true spiritual worship was that which faith carried by means of this visible medium beyond it to Christ. “The way into the holiest was not yet made manifest, while the first tabernacle was yet standing.” Heb. ix, 8.
Now, however glorious that service was, we are assured that it has all passed away, and that another glory has been introduced in its stead that is in contrast with it all. “For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect by reason of the glory that excelleth.” That glory foreshadowed the coming Savior, but now that He has come and visibly manifested himself, there is no longer the need of a shadow to represent him. He is himself the glory as the “minister of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and
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not man.” That He might be this glory He has so instituted New Testament ordinances that, in themselves they should have no glory. The vessels that contain the gospel are earthen, and the mode of its administration, however attractive men might desire to make it, is yet to be in their eyes “foolishness.” Everything that is made by the ingenuity of man attractive in the mode detracts from the wisdom and power of God in the Gospel—turns away the eye and the ear from Christ. Hence the very observance of these ordinances in their simplicity is the reproach of the cross of Christ. They are intended to be as much as possible nothing, that Christ may be “all in all.” They never were intended any more than the gospel itself in its unchanging principles, to be accommodated to the refined tastes of an advanced age. The voice of the whole history of the present dispensation testifies in the clearest manner, that every effort to accommodate the mode of worship to the tastes of men is accompanied proportionately with the loss of spirituality in the church. The principle may be taken as an axiom that everything that is introduced as a mere attraction in the mode of administering the Gospel is destructive of its power. Hence the simplest external exercise that can be devised is the best suited to bring the soul into the presence of Christ and under the power of His truth. Hence prayer is simple asking. It needs not the aid of incense to lift up our minds to the throne of grace. Praise no more needs the aid of a material thing than does prayer. Preaching is simply teaching truth revealed. Baptism is the simple application of water to the body in the name of the Trinity, and it is a strong and reasonable objection to immersion that it is a hindrance to spiritual exercise and so far hides Christ. The Lord’s Supper is a simple application of bread and wine to the taste in the use of only so much of these
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elements as is necessary to make their application a reality. It is evidently the design of the whole appointment of New Testament worship, that the simple ceremonial necessary for this dispensation shall in the least measure possible engage the attention of the worshiper. There is not in the ritual that which will turn away the eye or the ear from Christ. The devout worshiper closes his eyes in prayer, that he may see nothing that will prevent the concentration of his desires upon the Savior. It is no less the object of praise to lift up the soul to God in admiration of all that is presented of him in the matter of the song. The true hearing of the word is the hearing only of the voice of Christ as He speaks to the heart. To receive baptism aright is to see nothing but Christ’s blood sprinkled upon the heart by the Holy Spirit. To celebrate the Lord’s Supper worthily is to see Him by faith upon the cross as He gives out His life for us. Thus spiritual power is developed in spiritual worship, and thus it becomes a visible felt power, not only upon the worshiper himself, but upon beholders. The rebuke that the apostle administered to the Corinthians was because of the uncomely effort to display their gifts. But if all pray with the spirit and with the understanding, if all sing with the spirit and with the understanding, and “there come among you one that believeth not or, one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all, and thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest, and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God, and report that God is among you of a truth.” It is only thus that in the service of praise the kingdom of God shall be known in its power.
Now let us apply these principles to the use of instruments in the worship of God. They do not teach, they utter nothing but sound. They are wholly material things. (1) They attract the eye; not that there can be seen in them
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any representation of a truth, of a spiritual idea, as under the typical dispensation; but, so far as circumstances will admit, the skill of the architect. In this respect they occupy the mind, and turn it away from God, just as architectural and artistic skill in gaudy churches do. (2) The skillful performers occupy the eye of the worshipers. It is impossible not to be attracted with the grace of one who plays finely on a musical instrument. The admiration of a whole assembly is often excited and carried away with the graceful movement and skillful manipulation of an organist. (3) It furnishes attraction to the ear. The music of the instrument is attractive in itself. It is out of the question for a lover of music to be in the presence of a great, deep-toned, melodious organ, skillfully played, and not be occupied with its melody, independently altogether of any sentiment that may be contained in the accompanied song. But the attention thus absorbed is carried away from Christ and His truth. (4) The instrument necessarily leads the singing. We do not forget that the advocates of instruments only plead for them as an aid to the singing. They would have the instruments occupy a very modest place indeed. They would place them under special restrictions, that they might not overstep the position assigned them as aids to the singing—no preludes, no interludes; or, if tolerated at all, only so far as they are an aid to the singing. Were ever instruments, in worship, placed under such restrictions by the law of any church? Have the brethren, in seeking the repeal of our present law, proposed a restrictive one to be substituted in its place? We shall have more to say on this point. But for the present, it is enough to say it looks like turning loose a lion, and charging him to be meek as a lamb! or, at least, proposing to place him under restrictions after he is allowed to go at large. We affirm that, whatever brethren propose in the way of restrictions upon the use of instruments, the whole history of their use is proof sufficient that
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as a rule they lead the singing—that the service of praise is under their control as an army is under that of its commander. What is the general experience of instrumentation in the church will be the experience of the United Presbyterian Church, if she ever admits them.
The question occurs, however, whether instruments leading or accompanying in the worship of God do aid the singing? It is claimed that we should worship in the use of the best music we are capable of rendering—that we are commanded to praise Him skillfully, and that proper skill can only be attained by the use of instruments.
With regard to the first claim, that we should praise with the best music we are capable of rendering, it is a fact that musical science furnishes no standard for determining what is the best music to be employed in the worship of God. The only rule by which to judge upon this question is the capacity of the mass of the worshipers, and their reasonable opportunities for cultivating that capacity.
The command to praise God skillfully was applicable originally to the temple musicians, and has its application mainly in the spiritual exercise in which we are to praise God. With regard to the third claim, that proper skill can only be attained by the use of instruments, it is not denied that we may cultivate our musical powers by such use. But if God has not warranted the use of instruments in His worship, the claim has no force. It never was intended that the rendering of praise in New Testament worship should be dependent on the artistic skill of the professional musician. The singing of God’s praise is not required, in the strict sense of the term, to be artistic. Whilst we would not underrate the value of harmony and melody in the singing of the church, it is simply true that, in the nature of things, all the people cannot offer their sacrifices of praise with skilfully trained voices. The effect of the introduction of music that requires a great degree of culture is to stifle the voice of the masses. The multitude and the
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children, in company with the disciples, chanted together when the Savior entered Jerusalem in His humble triumph. “Hosanna; Blessed is the kingdom of our father, David, that cometh in the name of the Lord;” and when called upon to rebuke His followers, He refers them to the prediction of the 8th Psalm as applicable, not only to that scene, but foreshadowing the simplicity of the New Testament worship, in contrast with that of the ceremonial. “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast Thou perfected praise.”
The scene excited the indignation of the Scribes and Pharisees, and no doubt would have excited their merriment, but for their indignation. It was not the display usually attendant upon the triumph of kings and heroes. It was significant of the humility of the service of the new dispensation, both in its form and in the worshipers themselves. It was wholly discordant with the cultivated tastes of the rulers of the Jews, as with the spirit of the world, and may we not say largely with the spirit of the church to-day, which has so much of the worldly in her pale. Any measure of art in the praise of God that places its expression beyond the capacity of the masses of the people, is forbidden in the very nature of the institution of praise.
These masses can never be educated to that standard of musical attainment that is required by the science of music. With all that advancement in the knowledge of music, both secular and sacred, which has become the object of so much admiration and such extensive cultivation, the masses are not reached, and never can be, because of the difficulty of its attainment. The utmost that can be promised for the church at large is the development of that effort of voice that will give a hearty and earnest expression of the doctrines of the word of God in the system of psalmody which he has furnished. The impression of these doctrines upon the heart is the true object of the ordinance of praise. The people are all to learn them, and to give to them that ex-
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pression which accords with the simplicity of the gospel itself.
Now lovers of music as an art are not pleased with the ordinary singing of a congregation. It grates upon their ears, notwithstanding it may be the strong, earnest singing of men, women and children, who, by means of the precious truth of Christ, are making melody in their hearts to the Lord. It is very far from being the design of the ordinance of praise that the music be accommodated to artistic ears. The impression greatly prevails that all our music in the worship of God should be the expression only of the strong emotional feelings. The greater portion of the songs of the Bible are simple declarations of divine truth that are to be taught “line upon line and precept upon precept.” The Book of Psalms is a summary of divine instruction—a system of doctrines to be impressed upon the heart, as by other means, so by the inartistic singing of those in whose organism “all the daughters of music are brought low.” The power of praise is not in refined outward expression, but in its manifestation of simple spirituality. It is that which pleases God, and becomes a channel of blessing to the soul, and subdues it to Christ. With wonderful skill a Handel selects the interesting incidents in the life and death of the Savior, and weaves them together in the construction of a grand oratorio—a music bearer whose rendering with a thousand voices, commingled with the most skillful instrumentation, excites vast audiences to the highest raptures of emotional enjoyment. But it is yet to be learned that the execution of the marvelous achievement of genius has ever left behind it a single monument of the power of the truth uttered in the song. In the midst of the world of admirers the Savior is still “despised and rejected of men.” There is in the fact an illustration of the utter fallacy of the sentiment that the songs of inspi-
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ration “can be sung into popular favor” by the mere excellence of the music with which they are expressed. The finest compositions of sacred music and song come infinitely short of wielding the power of an inspired Psalm, sung by a few crude worshipers with the spirit and the understanding. Divine worship is attractive only in its spirituality, and should only be administered upon the principle that it is in itself an unattractive channel of spiritual power. Its exterior is decent, reverent and humble. In all its ingredients, it should be so administered. The church is never to forget that “God hath chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, to be the heirs of the kingdom”—that the feature of the administration of the Gospel which most distinguishes it, and which gives clearest proof of its inspiration, is the fact that it “is preached to the poor,” that “God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, and base things of the world and things which are despised hath God chosen, and things which are not to bring to naught things that are.” Secular music is being cultivated in this age with immense enthusiasm. Whatever be the motive, the Church has caught the spirit, and is, at least in some measure, seeking to keep pace with the world. The theory is, that if we can introduce into the ritual of the church that which in itself is innocent, as an attraction, it will be a means of saving our children to the Church, and bringing sinners within the sound of the Gospel; and when we set out upon this theory, there is no limit to those resources upon which we may lay our hands—innocent in themselves, and capable of being made immensely attractive in the Church. This theory is one great element of the system by which the Romish Church holds her sway over the masses of her followers. But it is the very opposite of the principle which Christ has engraved upon the humble worship of His Church. The principle has received high
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sanction in our own branch of the Church that “the Psalms can be made as attractive by proper music as any other style of songs used in worship.”* There is in this declaration an indication that in our Psalmody we are rivals for popular favor, at least to the extent to which other churches, using other styles of songs, enjoy it.
It is remarkable that this principle is made the basis of a selection from the Psalms for the Sabbath schools, in which what is considered as the unattractive and the unpopular is studiously omitted. The Psalms can no more be sung into popular favor, as such, than the gospel can be preached into popular favor. They must be buried out of sight by popular music. But as long as they are permitted to press upon men in all the force of the directness and power of divine teaching, the consideration of their depraved hearts and wicked deeds, and the judgments of God denounced against them—as long as they are permitted to enforce in simple preceptive form the great duties of self-denying consecration to Christ, they will no more be the object of popular favor than is the cross itself, which every humble follower of the Savior must bear. If the music of the church is to be placed upon basis of an attractive service, it matters little whether the matter of the song be inspired or uninspired. But while we maintain a simple mode of worship, accommodated by Christ himself to the “babes and sucklings,” and use the Psalmody as the service of the Spirit in the faith of its Spiritual power, though we fail to receive our meed of popular applause, we shall receive the approval of the Master.
Now, it cannot be successfully denied that in the general experience of the church in the use of instruments, the voice of the multitude is greatly suppressed. The reason is patent. The instrumentation is a feature of the music in itself, separate and distinct from that which constitutes the praise. The player performs under the consciousness
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* See Min. Gen. Assem., 1878; page 590, and 1879, page 82 and 83.
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of this fact. There will naturally be a corresponding effort to make instrumentation prominent. It grows inevitably to be the leading feature of the music. The singing is modulated by it, and it easily becomes the controlling power, and the effort is to bring the singing up to the strict accuracy of the instrument. The attainment of such accuracy is beyond the ability of an ordinary congregation. They feel the consciousness of it at once, and it is utterly impossible to sing heartily and spontaneously with such a feeling. The common result is that their voices are either hushed into utter silence or so subdued that there is neither volume nor heart in it. There becomes a cautious and subdued following that gradually, in the experience of a congregation, subsides into comparative silence. There are exceptions to this rule it is admitted; but they are just sufficient to show what is the general result of the use of instruments in their influence upon congregational singing. The position, therefore, that musical instruments aid the singing of a congregation, so as to render the praise more acceptable to God, is a delusion.
Instrumentation does not furnish a motive to the people to sing. It may assist a trained choir in the more artful rendering of the music. It does not add volume to the voice of the congregation, but suppresses it, and furnishes a ready excuse for the diffident and the indifferent to omit altogether the effort to sing as is realized by those churches accustomed to the instrument. It is not a good indication of spirituality in the church of to-day that so many of her members not only neglect the ordinance of praise in their families, but entirely refrain from any part in the praise service of the congregation. Finely rendered music by a choir seems to relieve their consciences from the sense of obligation to praise God in the public assembly.