Harper II.14
James Dodson
CHAPTER XIV.
THE PRECEPTIVE THEORY EXAMINED—ARGUMENT AGAINST IT FROM THE SILENCE OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
The ceremonial character of the instrumental music of the Jewish ritual is further indicated by the fact, as I take it to be, that the New Testament affords
Page 50
no countenance to the opinion that such music is to form a feature of New Testament worship. I do not press the point that for every part of lawful New Testament worship, there must be New Testament authority. That is a view of the question which will probably be presented before the close of this discussion. At present, it is proposed merely to show that the New Testament lends no support to the opinion that instrumental music belongs to the worship of the New Testament church, and to use this consideration as a proof in part that instrumental music as practised in the Old Testament worship belonged to the fleeting ceremonial system.
When we ask for any New Testament evidence that instrumental music belongs to the worship of the present dispensation, we are told in reply that for a time after the death of Christ, and even after the eventful day of Pentecost, the disciples attended the temple service which embraced instrumental music; that, moreover, in the Book of Revelation, John relates that in vision he saw the redeemed, or certain companies of them, equipped with harps while in the act of rendering praise to God; and, furthermore, that in certain texts describing or enjoining the service of formal praise a word, psallo, is used, which carries in it a suggestion of instrumental music.
These items of evidence must be noticed in detail.
In relation to the first of them, which alleges that, for a time, the professed friends of Christ, after his death, frequented the temple in which instrumental music in worship was practised, it is conceded to be correct; for we read in Acts 2:46, of their “continuing with one accord in the temple;” and are informed in Acts 3:1, 8, that Peter and John on a certain day “went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour,” and that in their company, the lame man whom Peter healed on that occasion, entered into the temple, “walking and leaping and praising God.” It would seem that at first the temple was resorted to for the purpose, chiefly perhaps, of rendering praise to God, but manifestly, also, with the view on the part of the christians, of meeting and conferring with each other in the spacious courts of that edifice; while soon the prominent aim in repairing to the temple seems to have been either to impart or to receive instruction in the gospel. That this last supposition is correct may be argued from Acts 5:12, 20, 21, 25, 42.
It is also to be borne in mind that for a season, many of the Jewish converts considered themselves even bound to observe circumcision and other rites of the Old Testament service, and felt strongly disposed to demand that all who should join them from the Gentile world must come under the same yoke, Acts. 21:20, 21, 26. For a time after the death of Christ, the separation between the temple and the church was not very complete, and even so long as the temple stood there may have been a measure of forbearance exercised toward those, who though followers of Christ, still fondly looked toward the long established services there maintained. The transition from the ancient service was made gradually in consideration of human weakness, so that the old saying is not an unapt description of the light in which the ceremonial law in its terminating stages may be viewed, “The law for a season was dying, then it was dead, and then deadly.”
Page 51
Hence, it would be unwise to argue that the temple service, which, for a time, may have had an attraction and been, in a measure, allowable for the members of the New Testament church was meant to be perpetuated in that church. If the argument under consideration would prove aught in favor of instrumental music, it would prove equally favorable to the retention of sacrifice and incense; that is to say, the argument would prove too much for those who advance it, and, therefore, it proves nothing to their purpose.
A question has been asked which may as well be answered at this point as at any other. It is this:—“Accustomed, as the Jews were, to instrumental music in the worship of the temple, how could they, on embracing Christ, have abandoned such music so quietly that no record comes to us of a struggle in its behalf?” The answer which this question, as put by the advocates of instruments, is deemed sufficient to elicit is, “Preposterous! Had they been required to surrender the music of instruments, they would have offered resistance so vigorous that a report of it would surely have reached us. Hence they, doubtless, retained the music when they relinquished the temple.”
Not to insist at present on the evidence which the history of the early church supplies in support of the view, that from apostolic days the worship of Christians was unmingled with music of instruments, it may be said that being accustomed to instrumental music as an element of worship in the temple only, the Jewish converts to Christ would no more expect its transfer to their meetings than they would expect the transfer of the practice of offering sacrifice and incense. And here it may be remarked that the entire silence of the New Testament and of the records which come down to us from the early church, as to any dispute about instrumental music, is a formidable fact in the way of those who desire to persuade us that in the time of the apostles, the christian church used in its services instruments of music. For if such music had been in the temple only, and not in the synagogue also, how could it have been brought into the New Testament Church without a struggle? And if it had been in both synagogue and temple, how could it have been excluded from the christian assemblies without our hearing of a struggle in the case? The only view which comports with the facts of history, is that instrumental music was regarded as an element of temple worship; no more to be transferred to the services of the New Testament church, than sacrifice itself. On this supposition all is plain. On any other all is mystery, or contradiction.
Turning to the second item of evidence put forward to prove that the New Testament sanctions the use of instruments in the worship of New Testament times, namely, that John in vision, as recorded in Rev. 5:8, 9; 14:1–3; 15:2, 3, saw certain companies of the redeemed having harps, while engaged in praising God, to this, I would say in general that it appears far from forcible. It is a matter of dispute whether those particular visions relate to the redeemed in heaven, or to the saints on earth. If to the former, the instances adduced are aside from the question, which pertains to the worship of the church on earth. If to the latter, the question arises, How far are the visions to be regarded as exhibiting New
Page 52
Testament worshippers in imagery drawn from the Old Testament? It is to be remembered that the book of Revelation is thoroughly pervaded by allusions to Old Testament institutions and customs. For we read in it of a temple, of censers, of incense, of a Lamb slain, of priestly robes, and of palms in the hands. Is it any wonder then that we should read in it of harps in connection with worship? If the representations of John touching the worship of the redeemed must be taken literally, we must suppose that worshippers now should be clad in white vestments, and have palms as well as harps in their hands. Nay, if exact conformity must be secured, each worshipper must have a harp, or, at least, an instrument of music; for in chapter 5:8, the four living creatures and the four and twenty elders, are expressly described as having each of them, a harp in his hand; while in chapter 15:2, those who stood on the sea of glass, victors over the beast, had harps of God, each of them seemingly being furnished with that instrument. Moreover, in the former of the two passages, just referred to, those spoken of as having harps, are described also as having golden vials, full of odors, which vials with their contents, we are distinctly informed, were, that is symbolized, “the prayers of saints.” Does it not seem entirely natural then to understand the harps as symbolizing the energetic praises of the saints? And to the cavil, that the singing of the new song must, on the same principle, be taken as symbolical, it may be answered that the whole scene, depicted in those visions, is symbolical in a general way of all the homage in thought, word, and deed accruing to God from his redeemed people, without being meant to set forth the precise forms in which this homage should be rendered. The apostle, familiar with the Old Testament order and stately service, has the future revealed to him under Old Testament forms.
It is, at the same time, not a little singular that in none of these apocalyptic passages is it stated, that any music was produced upon the harps, which John saw. The worshippers held harps in their hands, but are not said to have played on them, although they engaged in singing. Even in chapter 14:2, according to the most approved reading, it is not stated, that any instrumental music mingled with the song of the redeemed. The Revised version is here, I have no doubt, correct, in which the words, “And the voice which I heard was as the voice of harpers harping with their harps,” are substituted for these words of the authorized version, “And I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps.” Just as the sound which John heard is said to have been as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder, although not actually produced by a rush of waters, or a flash of lightning, so it might be as the voice of harps, without being actually the product of the harp. May not the harps which in two of the passages under consideration, John says he saw in the hands of worshippers, have been simply, though unused, symbols signifying that the singers were all like the priests, or the Levites of the former dispensation, permitted to come near to God, and abide in his courts giving him praise?