Traits of a good hymn

“A hymn ought to be as regular in its structure as any other poem; it should have a distinct subject, and that subject should be simple, not complicated, so that whatever skill or labour might be required in the author to develope his plan, there should be little or none required on the part of the reader to understand it. Consequently, a hymn should have a beginning, middle, and end.”

...

“A line is no more metre because it contains a certain concatenation of syllables, than so many crotchets and quavers, pricked at random, would constitute a bar of music.”

James Montgomery in his “Introductory Essay” to The Christian Psalmist; or, Hymns, Selected and Original, pp. xiv, xvi.

Exhibit 3, Organ Stashed

To accompany previous exhibits (drowned and burned), a brief mention of the organ controversy at the First Baptist Church in Tyler, Smith County, Texas.

One of the deacons had objected so strongly to an instrument of music in the house of the Lord that an organ acquired for the church was put in the baptistry, where it remained for some time. The two sons of the deacon, both good musicians, influenced their father after their conversions to give his consent to bring the organ out of the baptistry for church use.

The incident apparently occurred in the 1850s, as the telling of the incident is placed in the story of the pastorate of J. T. Bledsoe, 1856-1859. This baptistry was not in the church house, as many today, but was in a separate building apart from the church house. “In a large yard surrounded by trees, a brick building, forty by sixty feet, containing a baptistry was erected. Since there was no public water system in the town, the baptistry was never used for its original purpose; the ever-flowing spring continued to be used.” The First One Hundred Years: Centennial Story, the First Baptist Church, Tyler, Texas.

There is a later mention of a reed organ donated in 1878 by Mssrs. Beaird and Hamilton.

Seven aspects of church music

We might say that Colossians 3:16 expands the aspects of Christian singing to bring out seven things.

Colossians 3:16 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.

1. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom” The “devotional” aspect of Christian singing.
2. “teaching and …” The “educational” aspect of Christian singing. 
3. “… and admonishing” The “motivational” aspect of Christian singing.
4. “one another” The “congregational” aspect of Christian singing.
5. “in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” The “biblical” aspect of Christian singing.
6. “singing with grace in your hearts” The “internal” aspect of Christian singing.
7. “singing with grace … to the Lord” The “vertical” aspect of Christian singing.

Four aspects of church music

Ephesians 5:19 speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

1. “speaking to yourselves” The “congregational” aspect of Christian singing.
2. “in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” The “biblical” aspect of Christian singing.
3. “singing and making melody in your heart” The “internal” aspect of Christian singing.
4. “singing and making melody … to the Lord” The “vertical” aspect of Christian singing.

Worship in Hymns

WORSHIP IN HYMNS 
By Robert Inman Johnson

This essay first appeared in The Tie, a monthly publication of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky, circa 1948. The Seminary’s professor of Music, R. Inman Johnson, wrote “Worship In Hymns.”. I have not seen the original, but have taken this digested version from The Word and Work, April 1948, Volume XLII, pp. 88-90. Posting this is not an endorsement of everything Johnson writes in the essay. Nevertheless, he makes some good points, and I think you will find it an interesting representation of music and hymnology taught by Southern Baptists in the mid-20th century. Everything below is by R. Inman Johnson.

Hymns have been said to be directed toward God, toward the Christian (including ourselves), or toward the sinner. To God we sing our praise and thanksgiving and pour out our songs of aspiration, petition, and promise of faithfulness. For the Christian we sing songs of encouragement and lift each other in prayerful tones to God. To the sinner we show our love for God, His love for the sinner, and plead for the sinner’s acceptance of this love. These are high and holy ideals. Hence, we should give attention to the singing part of the service. 

We do not undertake to define “worship service” beyond saying it should result in an awareness of our relationship to God and His purpose for our lives. True it is that God may be met anywhere, in the sanctuary, in the street, or in the field. We may worship alone or as a component part of a congregation. To be a member of a congregation which gives itself to intense worship is a thrilling experience. We go away saying that God has been with us. 

Corporate worship must be directed through man by the Holy Spirit. There must be both preparation and correct performance. A real worship period does not just happen. We need to know how to prepare a service and the people need instruction in their responsibilities. The fact is, the preachers have not taught the people how to worship. Surely it is worthwhile, for only true worship promotes real spiritual growth. 

In choosing hymns for a service, we need to know the contents of the hymnal as related to the needs of the people. And, they should be chosen for a definite purpose, with some relationship of ideas. This idea may correspond with the ideas in the sermon or it may not. Certainly it should not be foreign or antagonistic to the sermon. Seldom do I know the sermon subject beforehand and I am often amazed at the fitness of my selections. If you ask, the Holy Spirit will help you choose the hymns. In evangelistic meetings, I usually wait to choose the invitation hymn until I see where the sermon is headed. 

In preparing ourselves to sing we need to remember that most good hymns represent a spiritual experience in the life of the writer. By our singing we make this experience our own. We should thrill with the idea that thousands of saints before us have sung the text and thousands will sing it after us. Thus we are members of one great choir which one day shall be gathered before the throne of God to sing eternal hallelujahs. What a privilege to join that choir of heavenly witnesses. 

If, then, in corporate singing we share the spiritual life of others, we should see to it that we grow in grace through a wide variety of experience. Often we fail here because we want good singing; hence, we choose over and over a few hymns the people sing well. New hymns and tunes should be introduced to deepen our Christian experience. 

For instance, in 58 chapel services and broadcasts we have sung 157 different hymns. This is a large number when compared with the average church repertoire. I have a typewritten copy of the index of the hymnal. When a hymn is selected, the date is written after it on this copy. Thus, too frequent repetition is prevented. In the limited church program, a hymn should not appear more than once per month. 

Many ideas may be followed in selecting hymns. Usually, when three hymns are used before the sermon, the first is a strong hymn of praise. The second spot may be used to introduce new or less familiar texts and tunes. Also, I like here the short hymns of definite worship value set to such tunes as Manoah, Bera, Belmont, St. Agnes, etc. They have both beauty and strength. The third hymn may be more subjective with a sense of individual devotion, consecration or aspiration. It should be thoroughly familiar. The fine gospel hymns are well placed here. 

Remember also that these three hymns should vary in key signature, mood and pace. It is tiring to sing consecutive songs in the same key and at the same rate of speed. Start with a good tempo, the next may be slower. The mood may change from objective praise to subjective examination of our own hearts. For instance, using the idea of serving Christ: 1. We praise Him with “Crown Him with Many Crowns.” 2. In a slower tempo and quite different quality of tone, we consider our relation to Him in “Must Jesus Bear the Cross Alone.” 3. In a stronger rhythm we make our promise in “O Jesus, I have promised to serve thee to the end.” 

The manner of our singing has much to do with its effectiveness for ourselves and for others. Ineffective singing is by no means confined to the small rural church but is to be found in all classes of churches. It most often is the result of a lack of understanding on the part of the people of the worship value of hymns. God desires our hearts and minds, not merely the sacrifice of attendance on His services. Many of us go to church merely to hear the sermon, having no interest in the praise service. Many are too tired physically and mentally to sing, not realizing that a thrilling spiritual experience by means of a great hymn will completely remove this burden of fatigue. Our poor singing may be due sometimes to the hymns themselves, which may depict experiences quite foreign to our own and which, furthermore, give a situation in which we cannot conceive ourselves. Hence, congregational hymns should contain universal experiences, those to which we are all subject. This is true of the hymns which survive the test of years. A song which is local or limited in subject matter to a small group may be popular for a time but not for long. 

Again, poor singing may result from a poor fit of hymn and tune. A joyful hymn set to a doleful tune loses much of its worth for us. Likewise, a superficial tune may destroy the value of a noble hymn. 

…Many other things may enter to cause poor singing, such as acoustics, temperature, stuffy atmosphere, etc. I am convinced that the most intelligent congregational singing requires a director or precentor. By this I mean a person who can direct the people in their worship in song… 

Effective singing, solo or group, takes cognizance of the fact that music rises in intensity to a climax somewhere in the composition. All good hymn tunes progress in some way from the first chord to a climax. The hymn itself also reaches a point where emotion is most intense. Ideally these points in text and tune should coincide. This climax may result in more volume or in more intensity at the same level of volume. Certainly it should keenly intensify the meaning of the text in our consciousness. For after all, the text is the hymn. The tune makes easier and more emphatic the entry of its meaning into our hearts. 

It is the director’s problem to interpret text and tune for the congregation. One chief method is a change in dynamics from loud to soft or vice versa. Frequently we hear a leader say, “Sing the second verse softly.” Few stanzas call for quiet singing throughout at the same level. They demand a change of dynamics within themselves. This calls for controlled directing, not just “time-beating.” 

A good example may be found in the hymn, “Jesus, Lover of My Soul,” to the tune, Martyn. Beginning from the first stanza, quietly increase the volume and intensity until the words, “Guide me, O my Savior hide,” are poured out with all of our being. Diminish from “Safe into the haven, guide” to the end. The tune is well-suited to the stanzas. … There is no place here for lifeless singing. Let us by no means, though, confuse loud singing with intensified singing. Quiet singing with awareness of our purpose can be beautiful and thrilling. 

The goal of congregational singing is the participation of every individual present, suitable hymns varied in mood and tempo, a variation inside the hymn itself, and often a variation inside the stanzas. This demands a competent director and a responsive audience. 

Good “church music” may not always be good music, for the purpose of church music is spiritual growth. This then, which may also be said of preaching, is my answer: “Good church music is that music which in a given situation intensifies and promotes spiritual growth.” 

“In the midst of the congregation will I sing thy praise.”— Heb. 2:12.

A Church’s Music

It seems to a large degree I have lost or failed to keep up with a part of the original focus of this blog – “Music.” Below is an interesting exposition of the church music at Refuge Reformed Church of Ogden, Utah. Pastor Brian Sauvé explains the church’s Sunday music program. I do not know this church or its pastors. (Therefore, this is not intended as a personal recommendation. It is a topic of interest.)

[Q.] “How do you do music at your church on Sundays?”

[A.] Here’s the breakdown:

We sing almost exclusively from the Cantus Christi 2020 hymnal, accompanied by a piano. Most of the settings are in four-part harmony.

We don’t amplify anything. I conduct the congregation from the front, but don’t sing into a microphone. Sometimes I sing the melody, but often I sing the Tenor part.

We sing 10 songs per service. Three of them stay the same each week (David Erb’s setting of Psalm 134, The Lord’s Prayer, and the Doxology).

The other seven usually consist of about five Psalms and two hymns. These are scattered at different points of the service, including two that we sing seated during the distribution of the bread and wine for Communion.

Why we sing in four parts:

1. It allows men to sing like men, women to sing like women, children to sing like children.

2. It takes effort. We don’t want to offer to the Lord that which costs nothing.

3. It is objectively beautiful, far more so than the best contemporary worship band I’ve ever heard—and we’re not even particularly gifted or anything.

4. Much of the great musical inheritance of the Church is in parts. Lose this skill and you lose access to the richness of that blessing.

How we learn to sing songs in parts:

Every Tuesday evening, barring the last Tuesday of the month, we have a potluck followed by a Psalm-singing workshop. I use the “Sing Your Part” app to teach each group their parts, then we practice. The actual practice is only 45 minutes, so the whole thing only takes 90 minutes each week.

We typically have about 50% of our Sunday attendance at Psalm sing on Tuesdays. This lets us learn, on average, one new song per month.

I couldn’t even read music when we started learning this stuff. Any church [can] do this if they decide to.

[Originally written in an X post on July 24, 2023, by Brian Sauvé.]

Allison’s Sacred Harp Singers, and other music & worship links

The posting of links does not constitute an endorsement of the sites linked, and not necessarily even agreement with the specific posts linked.

• Allison’s Sacred Harp Singers: Heaven’s My Home -- “The 1927-1928 recordings by J.T. Allison's ensemble are rare instances of the convergence of two important cultural movements of the southeastern U.S.-the emerging country music recording industry and the tradition of singing religious folk music from shape-note tunebooks.”
• Book Review: Baptist Hymnal (2008), in Evangelical Forum Newsletter, Vol. 5, No. 3 -- “What will strike the reader of this hymnal is not its inclusion of traditional hymns, however, but the presence of a large number of contemporary hymns and choruses.”
• David G. Jensen Research -- “Makes available (in text only) three of the early English metrical psalters: Matthew Parker, Sternhold & Hopkins (‘Old Version’) and Tate & Brady (‘New Version’).”
• Children of the Heavenly King - John Cennick -- “John Cennick was one of the most laborious and successful promoters of the ‘Great Revival’ of the Eighteenth Century.”
• How 16th c. Scottish Hymns Teach the Doctrine of Scripture -- “The following are excerpts of a Scottish Hymn published in 1567 as part of a compendium entitled ‘Followings of the Great Loving and Blessedness of God’s Word.’”
• Impactful Songs -- “The songs we sing have a way of forming us in ways we can never imagine.”
• O! What Mysterious Grace Is This? - Thomas Nichols -- “Let us not be carried away with the spirit of our age. Let us raise our voices in purer, sweeter melodies in praise to the most high.”
• Paul Gerhardt as a Hymn Writer and his Influence on English Hymnody -- “The history of hymnody in Germany up to the time of Gerhardt falls naturally into two periods which might be called the Mediaeval Period, extending from the beginning of the eighth century to the end of the fifteenth century, and the Reformation Period...”
• Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs -- “Each selection is identified as a psalm, a hymn, or a spiritual song (perhaps a bit arbitrarily). The tune name and meter are found under the title. Above the top staff, the authors and sources of lyrics are on the left while the composers and sources of tunes are on the right.”
• Review: The Makers of the Sacred Harp -- “Steel presents data on text and music sources, their meters, and their history in the Sacred Harp. This proves to be an indispensable source for those studying the music of the South.”
• Shape, rattle and roll: The amazing survival of shape-note singing -- “Shape-note singing is America's most ancient form of choral music. It reached its apotheosis in the years before the civil war...”
• Substance is Worth It: Creating A Set List that is Above Reproach -- “If I have to choose between a song rich with truth and a weak song that could lead to theological confusion, I’ll choose truth every time.”
• The Psalms in Meter by Isaac Watts -- “We now have a limited number of Singing the Psalms with Isaac Watts. Its 270 pages contain...”
• Welcome to PDHymns.com -- “A collection of Public Domain Hymns.”
• What Are Shape Notes? -- “Preservation of hymns begins with burning a love for these sacred lines within generations to come. Teaching them to love and sing these indelible songs is our goal.”

A cappella singing, bits of history

Singing in the churches is “as ancient as the apostles,” as proper as preaching, and as sure as the scriptures. Instrumental music in churches, however, is a more recent and tentative innovation. Below are random comments regarding singing and musical instruments that I have run across and collected.

Novatian (circa AD 200–258) did not countenance musical instruments (perhaps not even outside worship): “Even if these things were not consecrated to idols, faithful Christians ought not to frequent and observe them, for even if there were nothing criminal about them, they have in themselves an utter worthlessness hardly suitable from believers.” (Novatian, “De Spectaculis,” as quoted in various writings online) 

“Plain singing is not childish, but only the singing with lifeless organs, with dancing and cymbals, etc. Whence the use of such instruments and other things fit for children is laid aside, and plain singing only retained.” (Pseudo-Justin, Answers to the Orthodox)

Clement of Alexandria (circa AD 150–215) appears to spiritualize the Old Testament musical instruments for New Testament purposes. “‘Praise Him on the chords and organ.’ Our body He calls an organ, and its nerves are the strings, by which it has received harmonious tension, and when struck by the Spirit, it gives forth human voices. ‘Praise Him on the clashing cymbals.’ He calls the tongue the cymbal of the mouth, which resounds with the pulsation of the lips. Therefore He cried to humanity, ‘Let every breath praise the Lord,’ because He cares for every breathing thing which He hath made. For man is truly a pacific instrument; while other instruments, if you investigate, you will find to be warlike, inflaming to lusts, or kindling up amours, or rousing wrath.” (Clement, Paedagogus, or The Instructor, Book II, Chapter 4)

Eusebius of Caesarea (AD 269–339) from his commentary on Psalm 91:4, writes: “When formerly the people of the circumcision worshipped through symbols and types, it was not unreasonable that they raised hymns to God on psalteries and cithara, and that they did this on the days of the Sabbath, thus clearly violating the required rest and transgressing the law of the Sabbath. We, however, maintain the Jewish law inwardly, according to the saying of the Apostle: ‘For he is not a real Jew who is one outwardly,’...and it is upon a living psaltery and an animate cithara and in spiritual songs that we render the hymn. And so more sweetly pleasing to God than any musical instrument would be the symphony of the people of God, by which, in every church of God, with kindred spirit and single disposition, with one mind and unanimity of faith and piety, we raise melody in unison in our psalmody.” (as quoted in Music in Early Christian Literature, edited by James McKinnon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987, pp. 97-98)

“Sing praise to the Lord on a lyre, with the voice of a psalm ([Psalm 98] v. 5). You can see this law constantly fulfilled in the churches: we strike up the divine music on the spiritual lyre. We turn our bodies into rational lyres, and use our teeth for strings and our lips for an instrument, while our tongues moves more keenly than any plectrum and produces the harmonious sound of the plucking, the mind moving the tongue like a musician skillfully observing the intervals. Such a lyre is more acceptable to God than a lifeless one; he himself bears testimony [to this] in crying out to Jews through the prophet, ‘Take away from me the sound of your songs, I shall not listen to the sound of your instruments.’” (Theodoret of Cyrus: Commentary on the Psalms, 73-150, Theodoret of Cyrus (circa AD 393-458/466), translated by Robert C. Hill. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2001, pp. 137-138)

Mosheim describes certain “mystics” in England (circa AD 1060) who “declared the use of instrumental music in the churches, and other religious assemblies, superstitious and unlawful.” (An Ecclesiastical History, Antient and Modern, Volume II, John Lawrence Mosheim, translated by Archibald MacLaine, London: T. Cadell, p. 584)

Thomas Aquinas, circa 1270, answering the objection that under the law God was praised with musical instruments, but in his church they did not, agreed that they did not use them. He thought instruments move the soul to pleasure, were carnal, and ultimately figures of something else. (“Question 91,” The Summa Theologiæ, Thomas Aquinas, translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province, Second and Revised Edition, 1920)

“And if these knackeris [musicians?] excuse themselves by the song in the old law; then see that Christ, who best kept the old law as it should be afterward, taught not nor charged us with such bodily [carnal] song nor any of his apostles, but with devotion in heart and holy life and true preaching, and that is enough and the best. But who should then charge us with more, over the freedom and lightness of Christ’s law?” (John Wycliffe (circa AD 1330-1384) in “Of Feigned Contemplative Life” in The English Works of Wyclif Hitherto Unprinted, edited by F. D. Matthew, London: Trübner & Son, 1880; spelling modernized, rlv)

Adam Blair cites a book against the Waldenses (dated 1395) which claimed “the Waldenses reprobate the songs, the chanting, organs, and musical instruments of the churches, and quote Ephesians v. 19.” Blair further notes that the author answered the Waldenses with verses from the Old Testament, but that “the Waldenses only objected to the use of the instruments under the New Testament.” (History of the Waldenses, Volume I, Adam Blair, Edinburgh: Adam Black, 1832, p. 441)

“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 (1519-1605), as quoted in John Girardeau’s Instrumental Music in the Worship of the Church, Chapter 5, Richmond, VA: Whittet and Shepperson, 1888). Girardeau gives as the source “In Colloq. Mompelg.,” that is, The Mompelgard Colloquium)

John Bunyan (1628-1688) saw the old instrumental worship under the law as a type of the singing done in the churches, with spirit and understanding. “These songs were sung with harps, psalteries, cymbals, and trumpets; a type of our singing with spiritual joy, from grace in our hearts. 1 Ch. xxv. 6; 2 Ch. xxix. 26-28; Col. iii. 16.” (The Works of John Bunyan, Volume 3, George Offor, editor. Glasgow: Blackie & Son, p. 496)

“make use of all these musical instruments in singing, and so make an agreeable melody: these were used in the times of the Old Testament, and were typical of the spiritual joy and melody in the heart, expressed by vocal singing, under the New Testament” (John Gill, in his commentary on Psalm 81:2; see also “Of Singing Psalms, As A Part of Public Worship” in A Complete Body of Doctrinal and Practical Divinity, Volume 3, pp. 714-715, 1796)

“In my earliest intercourse among this people [Baptists, rlv] congregational singing generally prevailed among them...The Introduction of the Organ among the Baptists. 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 seen standing in the singing gallery of the old Baptist meeting house in Pawtucket, about forty years ago, where I then officiated as pastor; and in process of time, this dernier resort * in church music was adopted by many of our societies which had formerly been distinguished for their primitive and conventicle plainness. The changes which have been experienced in the feelings of a large portion of our people has often surprised me. Staunch old Baptists in former times would as soon have 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, and their successors in church management, with nothing like the jars and difficulties which arose of old concerning the bass viol and smaller instruments of music.” (Fifty Years among the Baptists, David Benedict, Boston, MA: Gould & Lincoln, 1860, Chapter XXII, pp. 281-283)

* dernier resort means a last resort or expedient.

Congregational Singing

Congregational singing versus music that excludes the congregation

“The people in the pews have become spectators enjoying a show rather than worshipers entering into the spiritual activity of praising God and admonishing brethren.” – Ken Green in “Balancing Faith and Tradition: Congregational Singing”[i]

Command, principle, and example all favor congregational singing as the normal way churches should sing in gathered worship. This should be a three-fold cord not easily broken.

Command
The command to sing in Ephesians 5:18-19 and Colossians 3:16 is addressed to churches (congregations). In the immediate context of both texts, a plurality of individuals is commanded to be filled and let dwell. The participles further address this plurality (the congregation) – speaking, singing, making melody, teaching, admonishing. Taken together this indicates the participation of the whole church.

The terms to yourselves and one another (heautou) are reciprocal, reflexive pronouns. According to Dana and Mantey’s Grammar (in which they give Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16 as examples), this is “When a plural subject is represented as affected by an interchange of action signified by the verb...”[ii]  If an individual or select group of singers are active and the rest of the church is passively listening, then there is no interchange of action as Dana and Mantey suggest – and the “speaking one to another” is not happening as Paul intended.

Example
Besides the Bible command for the churches to sing, we have an example of the disciples singing together. This is found in Matthew 26:30 (Cf. Mark 14:26). The apostles sang an hymn with Jesus after the institution of the Lord’s Supper before going out to the Mount of Olives. The context and construction of the sentence leave no doubt that they sang together. They sang. They went out. The participle humnasantes (translated “they had sung an hymn”) is plural as well as the 3rd person plural verb exelthon (translated they went out). The people who went out to the Mount of Olives are the same ones who had sung an hymn. This incident is alluded to in Hebrews 2:12.

Principle
In addition to both command and example, congregational singing is supported by a New Testament worship principle – New Covenant believers are an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:5). The spiritual sacrifices include the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips (Hebrews 13:15). Our worship is a personal spiritual sacrifice to God offered up by a priesthood of believers – not a few believers who offer up worship for others.

The New Testament holds forth the ideal of congregational singing. Perhaps we can never ideally achieve it, but that does not mean we should not try.[iii]

Sing praises to God, sing praises: sing praises unto our King, sing praises. (Psalm 47:6)

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[i] From Biblical Insights, June 2004; not available online as far as I can tell.

[ii] Dana, H. E. and Julius R. Mantey, A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament, Toronto, ONT: The Macmillan Co., 1955, pp. 131-132.

[iii] For example, a few people may not be physically able to sing, and some people choose not to sing.

A Cappella Singing

A cappella versus Instrumental Accompaniment

One approach promoting the singing in church accompanied by musical instruments is an argument from the Greek verb psallo (and the related noun psalmos).

“Furthermore, in Eph 5:19, the phrase ‘making melody’ is the Greek word, psallo which means, ‘1) to pluck off, pull out, 2) to cause to vibrate by touching, to twang, 2a) to touch or strike the chord, to twang the strings of a musical instrument so that they gently vibrate, 2b) to play on a stringed instrument, to play, the harp, etc. 2c) to sing to the music of the harp 2d) in the NT to sing a hymn, to celebrate the praises of God in song.’ We can see that the making melody to the Lord involves the use of musical instruments.”[i]

Psallo is used 5 times in 4 verses in the New Testament, translated “sing” in Romans 15:9 and 1 Corinthians 14:15, “sing psalms” in James 5:13, and “making melody” in Ephesians 5:19.[ii]  Pointing to the etymology of the word (to pluck a string), advocates say the command to psallo means to sing with the accompaniment of musical instruments. This etymological fallacy attaches a word’s etymology to its usage and meaning. For example, the etymology of the word “goodbye” tells us it means “God be with you.” Nevertheless, most people who utter the word “goodbye” simply mean to express courtesy upon a departure, without connection to whatever they believe about God. So with psallo. A look at a couple of New Testament scriptures will expose the fallacy to what should be a sudden and final death. No need to mine the depths of the Greek language; a little logic will go a long way. 

If a musical instrument inheres in psallo – if it always means to sing with musical accompaniment – then the command to psallo demands a mandatory obedience of singing with musical accompaniment. A cappella singing would be ruled out when the command is “to psallo.” So the merry one of James 5:13 must hold her peace if she does not have or does not know how to play an instrument. The spirit-filled believer of 1 Corinthians 14:26 who “hath a psalm” must remain silent if he left his accompaniment at home! Who can believe it?

In addition to the psallo argument, the next often cited argument probably derives from the normative principle:

“The fact that the New Testament nowhere condemns musical instruments indicates that the Old Testament practice was continued in the New Testament church.”[iii]

This is an application of the normative principle – “whatever is not forbidden is acceptable.”[iv] Further, it is a misreading and misapplication of the Scriptures. We cannot exclude things because Scripture does not specifically address (forbid) them! This approach opens the door to the inventions and imaginations of men regardless of whether Scripture supports them.

This argument should remind us, though, that musical instruments are not inherently sinful, and that God has accepted worship by and with them in the past. Therefore, it is not a matter of moral right or wrong, but rather a matter of what is commanded. However much we might enjoy musical instruments, however much God may be worshipped with them in the past or in the future, there is no command, precept or example – neither necessary inference – for it in the New Testament. If one will argue from the Bible that musical instruments should be used in church worship, sometimes other than these two arguments should be posited.

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[i] From Can we use musical instruments in the church? by Matt Slick.
[ii] Sing in Ephesians 5:19 is ado.
[iii] From Are we supposed to use musical instruments in church? at GotQuestions.Org
[iv] For normative principle, see Principles of Worship. The regulative principle more closely follows the intent of Scripture. Interestingly, exclusive psalmodists who forbid musical instruments place themselves in the peculiar position to sing the commands to use of musical instruments in public worship, but cannot use them because the New Testament church is not commanded to use musical instruments.

Primitive News

W. Clark Lee and David I. Lee of Hoboken, Georgia have recently purchased the rights to publish The Primitive Hymns, by Benjamin Lloyd. First produced by Benjamin Lloyd in 1841, this hymn-book has remained in print all these years through the efforts of family and concerned friends. In my opinion, it is a “national treasure.” I have written about it in Two Important Southern Hymn Books: Mercer’s and Lloyd’s and Two Important Southern Hymn Books; Comparing Mercer and Lloyd.

The Primitive Hymns, LLC website is being built but has not yet been published to the Web. Correspondence may be directed to company’s principal address:

The Primitive Hymns, LLC 

5497 Raybon Road West

Hoboken, GA 31542

Once the web site in published online, e-correspondence will also be available. See letter below for more details.

On Taxonomies of Music/Worship Philosophies

In a blog post at Religious Affections Ministries Scott Aniol, Chair of the Worship Ministry Department at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, digs into the topic of “Taxonomies of Music” or “Worship Philosophies” – that is, how to categorize different approaches to church music. In it he first notes three taxonomies that ranged from “quite unhelpful” to “most accurate and helpful.” Following this, Aniol attempts to resolve problems with existing categories, and I think he is on to something. He points out that “various positions on worship/music” cannot accurately “be put on a sliding scale…because text choice, motivation, and musical styles are all quite mixed among positions.”

Because of this, Aniol seeks to classify with “descriptive terms that can be mixed and matched to most correctly describe one’s position on music and worship.” 

“Each person’s philosophy has a governing motivation, text characteristic, and music characteristic.”

Motivation

• Evangelism

• Revivalism

• Engaging Worship

• Modest Worship

Texts

• Doctrinally weighty

• Doctrinally simple

Music

• Progressive

• Cautious Progressive

• Traditional

• Conservative

“Most of the terms in this classification system are probably self-explanatory, but some may require explanation, mostly under the music category.”

Please read On Taxonomies of Music/Worship Philosophies for the rest of the story.

[Note that Aniol calls this a work in progress.]

Congregational Singing, Reprise

“The people in the pews have become spectators enjoying a show rather than worshipers entering into the spiritual activity of praising God and admonishing brethren.” – Ken Green in “Balancing Faith and Tradition: Congregational Singing” (In Biblical Insights, June 2004; not available online as far as I know)

Command, principle and example favor congregational singing as the normal way churches should sing in gathered worship. We in America, to a large degree, are far afield from what is normal singing according to the New Testament.

Command
The commands to sing in Ephesians 5:18-19 and Colossians 3:16 are addressed to congregations. In the immediate context of both texts, a plurality of individuals is commanded to “be filled” and “let dwell.” The participles further address this plurality (the congregation) – “speaking,” “singing,” “making melody,” “teaching,” “admonishing”. Taken together this indicates the participation of the whole church.

The terms “to yourselves” and “one another” (heautou) are reciprocal, reflexive pronouns. In their Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament, Dana and Mantey give Eph. 5:19 and Col. 3:16 as examples of these kinds of pronouns (Toronto, ONT: The Macmillan Co., 1955, pp. 131-132). A reciprocal, reflexive pronoun is used “When a plural subject is represented as affected by an interchange of action signified by the verb...” If only one individual or a select group of singers are active and the rest of the church is passively listening, then there is no “interchange of action” as Dana and Mantey suggest, and the “speaking one to another” is not happening as Paul intended.

Example
There is an example of the disciples singing together that provides information about what they did. This is found in Matthew 26:30 (Cf. Mark 14:26). The apostles sang an hymn with Jesus after the institution of the Lord's Supper before going out to the Mount of Olives. The context and construction of the sentence leave no doubt that they sang together. They sang. They went out. The participle humnasantes (translated “they had sung an hymn”) is plural, as well as the 3rd person plural verb exelthon (translated “they went out”). The people who went out to the Mount of Olives are the same ones who had sung an hymn. This incident is alluded to in Hebrews 2:12.

Principle
In addition to both command and example, congregational singing is supported by a New Testament worship principle – New Covenant believers are “an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:5).” The spiritual sacrifices include “the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips (Hebrews 13:15).” Our worship is a personal spiritual sacrifice to God offered up by a priesthood of believers – not just a few believers who offer up worship for others!

Congregational singing is the ideal that the New Testament holds forth. It is an important biblical concept that shouldn’t be overlooked or hooted at.

What Ann Hears

Let us take Ann, our blind friend, to two churches on two consecutive Sundays.  On one Sunday, we take her to the local RPCNA church, and the congregation sings Psalm 100, in four-part harmony, without instrumental accompaniment.  The next Sunday, we take Ann to a NAPARC church that has a Praise Team and it sings the 100th Psalm.  We ask her the same question about each:  “Ann, what did you hear?”  Here are her answers:

Week One:  “I heard a congregation of voices united together singing Psalm 100.”

Week Two:  “I heard a small number of voices, greatly amplified, singing Psalm 100, and I think I heard other voices, greater in number but lesser in volume, singing along with them.”

Excerpt from The Problem with Praise Teams by T. David Gordon (Click the link to read the entire article)

Alabamians share favorite Easter hymns, and other music links

The posting of links does not constitute an endorsement of the sites linked, and not necessarily even agreement with the specific posts linked.

• Alabamians share favorite Easter hymns -- "...in a recent informal sampling of church music directors and choir members around the state, “Low in the Grave He Lay,” also commonly known as “Christ Arose,” was tops on the list of favorites."
• Baptist Monophonic and Heterophonic Hymnody in Southern Appalachia -- "As early as the 1730's, folk-hymnody appears to have flourished, prospering under the impetus of the 'Great Awakening'..."
• Before Churches Had Songbooks, There Was 'Lined-Out' Gospel -- "It's been a part of my life from the beginning, and it's a joyful sound. It's a sound that touches your heart."
• Christian churches and Latter-day Saints share many hymns -- "Recently I searched our current 1985 edition of "Hymns of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" to determine how many of these hymns are common to our older Baptist hymnal."
• Controversy underscores importance of theology in hymns -- "Worship leaders seldom welcome controversy."
• Don’t forsake the old hymns -- "It’s amazing how those grand theological truths woven through each stanza of a hymn took up permanent residence in my heart and mind."
• Four Tones of Traditional Song: Early America Lives in the Sounds of Sacred Harp Music -- "Seated on oak benches arranged in a hollow square, they are singing at the top of their lungs in four-part harmony, without musical accompaniment or an audience."
• North Shelby Baptist Church makes braille hymnals available to churches, individuals -- "...putting together a braille hymnal is a huge undertaking."
• Pastor’s collection of songbooks continues to grow -- "The books are part of Braun’s collection of more than 200 hymnals and songbooks he has amassed since his early days in college."
• Sacred Harp -- "I love going to Sacred Harp singings."
• The Hymn Book- Relic or Treasure? -- "...let's not throw out the hymnal just yet."
• The Sacred Harp: American Shape Note Hymns Cross the Atlantic -- "Shape Note singing is non-denominational, unaccompanied and participatory."
• Three Hymnals That Shaped Today's Worship -- "John Rippon’s 1787 Hymnal...sold 300,000 copies in just 40 years."
• Watch an Impromptu Medieval Icelandic Hymn Sung in a Modern Train Station -- "Despite the fact that this song, "Heyr himna smiður," dates to around 1208 and the Wuppertal Hauptbahnhof station was built in the mid-19th century, the sound and the space seem perfectly suited to one another."

Your Church Music Service

I'm interested in church musical practices, especially in various kinds of Baptist, baptistic and free churches. Here's an informal question and answer survey. Anyone willing to share?

1. Scope -- How many songs are sung/played in your typical worship service (if your order of service is a certain number of songs type of format), or how much time is devoted to singing in your typical worship service (if your format is a basic amount of time given over to singing/music)? In what order of service is the singing portion included?

2. Proportion -- What percentage of the songs sung are congregational and what percentage are "specials"/not congregational (solos, choir numbers, duets, trios, etc.)?

3. Agency -- Do you use instruments? If you do, what instruments, and do you ever sing without them? Are any "instrumental only" selections used? If you do not use instruments, is it a doctrinal or practical consideration?

4. Authority or Responsibility -- Who selects the songs that are sung? (e.g. Song leader, Pastor, etc.)

5. Source -- What hymnal or other sources do you use for your songs/music? (If you use a hymnal, is it shape note or round note?)

6. Style -- Does your church music fit a particular "style" or "genre", for example, traditional hymn singing or contemporary praise music?

7. Extra -- Add anything else you think is interesting about the music/singing in your church (for example, are Sunday morning and night services, and weekday services conducted differently? Are there any special music events? etc.). Also add what kind of church, such as Missionary Baptist, Primitive Baptist, Southern Baptist, United Baptist, Brethren, Mennonite, and so forth.

Thanks!

December 29 in music history

On December 29, 1876, gospel composer and singer Philip Paul Bliss died in the Ashtabula (Ohio) Bridge Disaster when the river bridge collapsed as the train he was riding was crossing it. Bliss escaped the train alive, but died in the flames trying to get his wife out of one of the cars. The lyrics for "I will sing of my redeemer" were found in their surviving trunk, and James McGranahan later set it to music.

I don't remember reading of the death of Bliss, though I may have just forgotten it. I noticed it on Today in Christian History. Among my favorite songs are two by P. P. Bliss -- the music to Horatio Spafford's "It is Well with My Soul" and the words & music to "Hallelujah, What a Saviour."

“Man of Sorrows!” what a name

For the Son of God, who came

Ruined sinners to reclaim.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Online metrical indices

Following is a list of some online metrical indices for hymns and tunes. Some are more useful and/or user-friendly than others. Some are more useful for finding texts, while others are more useful for finding tunes. Providing these links as resources does not constitute an endorsement of the sites or their contents.

* A Metrical Index to Gadsby's Hymns
* Chalice Hymnal Metrical Index
* Christian Classics Ethereal Library Hymn Tune metrical index
* Fasola Modality -- (Two sets of indices, including METER, of The 1991 edition Sacred Harp and seven 19th Century Shape-Note Hymnals.)
* Harmonia Sacra Metrical Index
* Hope Publishing Company Index of Hymn Tunes (Metrical Index begins on page 4)
* Hymn Time's Cyber Hymnal Meter Index
* Index of Meters for Spiritual Songs Hymn Book (There is also a metrical index for the Little Flock 1881 hymn book, but it is not easy to navigate -- for example _1metric.htm is 'long meter', _2metric.htm is 'short meter', etc.)
* Metrical Index of the tunes from the UK Methodist hymn book, Hymns and Psalms
* Metric List of Hymn Tunes of the 1982 Episcopal Church Hymnal (listed by meter, but only gives the first line of the hymn)
* OCP Master Index 2015 (The Metrical Index of Hymn Tunes starts on page 27.)
* Open Hymnal Metrical Index of Tunes
* Psalms and Hymns Metrical Index
* Southern Harmony
* The Free Lutheran Chorale Book Metrical Index of Tunes (links will go to a melody and associated hymn text)
* The Mystery Telling Vol 1 Metrical Index (each link takes you to a music score and hymn text)
* The Sacred Harp, 1991 Denson Edition
* The Sacred Harp, 2012 Cooper Edition
* Timeless Truths (From "all titles" choose to sort by meter.)
* Wesley Hymn Collection Metrical Index

Other resources
These are nice online resources with lots of information, but not indexed by hymn meter.

* Hymnary.org (you can enter a meter in their search tool, or you can find a tune or text with the meter you want and click the linked meter from the tune or text's page)
* Oremus Hymnal (you have to look at each individual song to find the meter)
* Psalters (8 different Psalters, but you have to look through the Psalms for the right meter.)
* The Psalms of David in Metre (though these Psalms are in meter, the meter is not listed; they appear to be all, or mostly, in common meter)

Links on church music

The posting of links does not constitute an endorsement of the sites linked, and not necessarily even agreement with the specific posts linked.

* 15 Reasons Why We Should Still Be Using Hymnals -- 15 reasons, from "Hymnals allow people to take possession of the music" to "Hymnals involve tactile action" to "Hymnals give congregational singing back to the people."
* One Generation...Making the Case for Classical Christian Hymnody -- "What has happened in some sections of the Church is that THIS generation has told all the other generations to shut up and keep silent."
* Evaluating Contemporary Worship -- "Most who ask about music today seek a "traditional" service. Christian Contemporary Music is no longer the exception in evangelical churches; it is the norm."
* Misplacing Charisma: Where Contemporary Worship Lost Its Way -- "Particularly in mainline congregations influenced by the Church Growth Movement, “contemporary worship” was a technique for reaching out—the concept of “praise and worship” as sacramental/encounter was diluted at best."
* My position on “God bless america” being sung in corporate worship services -- "The fact that it has the word “God” in it doesn’t consecrate it for any holy use, in my mind."
* My position on patriotic celebrations in Christian worship -- "When our services focus on country and patriotism, there are conflicting messages sent as to what being a Christ-follower is all about."
* New harmonies: Music and identity at four congregations -- "There's either the densely theological hymn by Wesley or Luther (gobs of words sung over gobs of chords) or the vapid pop-rock song by some cool young person (maybe five words over three chords)."
* Not Just Any Song Will Do: Three basics for choosing church music -- "Why sing songs written by fallen mortals when Almighty God has inspired 150 of his own hymns?"
* The line connecting Gaelic psalm singing & American Music -- "The Massachusetts Bay Colony Psalm Book from 1640, which Ruff found in Yale's Beinecke Library, indicated that the unusual form, with one church member calling out the first line of a Psalm and the rest of the congregation continuing to chant the text in unison, had been a common worship service in Colonial America."
*

More church singing

Steve Cackley called attention to the following song by posting a link to it on Facebook. It is Stream of Death from The New Harmonia Sacra, or A Compilation of Genuine Church by Joseph Funk. It is on page 276 in the 1923 19th edition. Listen. It's good. (Only has the last 3 stanzas.)

1 There is a stream whose narrow tide
The known and unknown worlds divide 
Where all must go.
Its wavelces waters, dark and deep,
'Mid sullen silence downward sweep,
With moanless flow.

2 I saw when at the dreary flood, 
A smiling infant prattling stood
Whose hour had come.
Untaught of ill, he near'd the tide
Sunk, as to cradled rest, and died,
Like going home. 

3 Followed, with languid eye, anon, 
A youth diseased, and pale, and wan,
And there alone.
He gazed upon the leaden stream, 
And feared to plunge—I heard a scream,
And he was gone. 

4 And then a form, in manhood's strength, 
Came bustling on, till then at length, 
He saw life's bound. 
He shrunk and raised the bitter pray'r,
Too late—His shriek of wild despair,
The waters drowned. 

5 Next stood upon that surgeless shore
A being bowed by many a score
Of toilsome years. 
Earth-bound and sad he left the bank, 
Back turned his dimming eye, and sank,
Ah, full of fears. 

6 How bitter must thy waters be, 
O death! How hard a thing, ah me,
It is to die!
I mused, when to that stream again,
Another form of mortal man,
With smiles drew nigh.

7. "'Tis the last pang," he calmly said,
"To me, O death, thou hast no dread;
Savior, I come! 
Spread but thine arms on yonder shore
I see, ye waters, bear me o'er,
There is my home."

[Miscellaneous Selections, Published as Supplement to the Connecticut Courant, Volume 5, 1838 credits this poem to "E. W. B. C." and the Cambridge Chronicle, Volume IV, Number 22, 31 May 1849 credits it to E. W. Channing.]