FROM THE LIBRARY OF REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON, D. D. BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO THE LIBRARY OF PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY LECTURES ON THE PUBLIC PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. WILLIAM LINDSAY ALEXANDER, D.D. THE SCOTTISH CONGREGATIONAL MAGAZINE. APRIL, 1848. GLASGOW: JAMES MACLEHOSE, 83, BUCHANAN-STREET. A. & C. BLACK, EDINBURGH. JOHN ROBERTSON, DOBLIN. • BENJAMIN LEPARD GREEN, 62 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. Price Fourpence.] [bell asd bain, printers. CONTENTS. LECTURES ON THE PUBLIC PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH, LECTURE 1 97 THE SPIRIT OF THE TRUE SCHOLAR 106 AN EVENING IN ARRAN, 107 SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF THE LATE FRANCIS DICK. — NO. IV 1 1 1 DR. WARDLAW ON CONGREGATIONAL INDEPENDENCY, 115 EDITORIAL, 123 CORRESPONDENCE — ELLIOT'S HOR.ffi APOCALYPTIC^, 125 CHRONICLE — DENOMINATIONAL — ABERDEEN CONGREGATIONAL SABBATH SCHOOL UNION, 127 — INNERLEITHEN — OPENING OF NEW CHAPEL, 1 28 — EDUCATION, (INDIA,) 128 THE FIRESIDE, 128 WASTED, TO ACT AS A CITY MISSIONARY, In connection with the Church Meeting in Argyle Square Chapel, Edinburgh, an indi- vidual who has been for some time member of a Congregational church ; who possesses good natural abilities ; who has an adaptation for domiciliary visitation and for com- municating suitable religious counsel to the ignorant, the sceptical, or the afflicted ; and who has already shown fitness as well as fondness for such work. Salary not less than £ 60 per annum. Applications (stating age, previous occupation, literary attain- ments, &c.) and testimonials to piety, ability, and experience, to be lodged on or before 1st May next, with Mr. George Johnstone, 5 Nicholson- Street, Edinburgh. DR. ALEXANDER ON SWITZERLAND. SWITZERLAND AND THE SWISS CHURCHES; Being Notes of a Tour, and Notices of the Principal Religious Bodies in that Country. By the Rev. William Lindsay Alexander, D. D. F.S.A.S. Sm. 8vo, price 5s. " The tone of the work is essentially robust and healthy." — London Examiner. " The sprightliness of the narrative— the eloquent description of scenery— and thejust observa- tions on men and manners, render this a most attractive volume." — Dumfries Courier. " We tender to the gifted writer our warmest thanks for the charming volume; we have read it with intense interest. It may suffice to say that no work has yet been published which admits of comparison with this volume of our honoured friend. We know no question connected with the religious movement in Switzerland which an intelligent reader would be likely to propose to which he will not find, in the pages of this volume, a sufficient and satisfactory reply."— Universe. James MacLehose, 83 Buchanan- Street, Glasgow. Just Published, price Sixpence, ROBERTSON'S SCOTTISH CHURCH BOOK, for training youthful hearers to habits of attention. 1 Take heed how tje hear."— Luke viii. 18. " The plan is useful, and will commend itself to Parents and Teachers who are desirous of training their youthful charge to habits of attention in Church. —Scottish Guardian. " To parents interested in the religious instruction of their Children, should prove a highly useful and acceptable Book."— United Presbyterian Magazine. David Robertson, Glasgow: Oliver & Boyd, and Oliphant & Sons, Edinburgh. May be had of all Booksellers. DEC 10 1932 I SE11 ?\ THE SCOTTISH CONGREGATIONAL MAGAZINE. APRIL, 1848. LECTURES ON THE PUBLIC PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. Lecture I. — Psalmody op the Hebrews. I have announced my intention of delivering a short course of Lectures on that part of public worship winch consists in " praising the name of the Lord in a song." Now there are two aspects under which such a subject might be treated. The one of these may be styled scientific; and under it the object of the expositor must be to investigate those principles, and lay down those rules of poetical and musical composition by which excellence in this department is determined. The subject under this aspect, however, lies wholly out of my province, and beyond my power. I make no pretensions to any acquaintance with music as a science, and if I possessed such knowledge to the full, I should still deem it unbe- coming the place in which I now stand, to make either this or the principles of poetical criticism, the theme of my address. The other aspect under which this subject may be viewed, I would style the practical. Here the object of the expositor is to show how this part of public service has been conducted in the church of God in former times ; — what are the uses and advantages of it to the church in that great work to which she is called ; — and what are the conditions under which this exercise ought to be conducted, so as to secure the benefits it is designed to convey. The field here spread out, is plainly one on which the christian pastor, as such, may legitimately enter — nay, which he is bound, as part of his proper province, to occupy and explore. As the party on whom it devolves to conduct the devotions of the congregation, the subject is one with which he ought to be acquainted ; and as in these devotions he asks and ought to receive the concurrence of the whole congregation, it is one on which he is bound to give such instruction as may guide his people to an intelligent and acceptable service. It is to this theme, therefore, that I propose to call your atten- tion in these Lectures ; and the first branch of it on which I enter, is the Historical. I pass by, as of little value and satisfactoriness, all inquiries into the New Series. — Vol. VIII. h 98 Lectures on the Public Psalmody of the Church. April, original of sacred song ; nor will I dwell upon those brief notices of the use of this which occur in the scriptural narrative of the patriarchal ages — interesting as, in many respects, these are.* I advance at once to the point where the subject opens upon us clearly and fully in the history of the Jewish State. Here we shall find abundant material for profitable research and meditation. The Hebrews appear from the earliest period of their history, as a nation, to have been a highly musical people. Even during the cruel and crushing bondage of Egypt, they found time to cultivate the musical art, and probably they borrowed from their taskmasters, some of those instruments, in the use of which they afterwards excelled. We have the testimony of the author of the wisdom of Solomon, to the fact, that whilst the Israelites were suffering in Egypt, " the righteous children of good men did sacrifice secretly," and that " the fathers already sung forth praises." f It is true that this is the testimony of an apocryphal writer, but in it we have the tradition of his nation, and there can be little doubt that, in such a case, tradition would be a faithful chronicler. Besides, we have the corroborative fact, that when the Israelites fled from Egypt, they not only carried musical instruments with them, but were able to take part in that magnificent song, in which, upon the banks of the Red Sea, they celebrated their own escape and the destruction of their tyrannous oppressors — a song in which the men followed Moses with the voice, while Miriam and the women, with timbrels in their hands, struck in, ever and anon, with the triumphant response, " Sing ye to the Lord for he hath triumphed gloriously, The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea." We read also of the frequent use of music, by the Hebrews, in the times immediately succeeding this ; such as, when they erected the golden calf as the symbol of Jehovah, and surrounded it with singing; % when Deborah and Barak united in their song of victory over the enemies of Israel; § when the congregation of Israel was assembled by the sound of the silver trumpets ; and on various other occasions, both of a festive and a warlike kind. We have evidence also of the use of music by them, for the purpose of producing effects of a soothing or elevating nature on the mind ; as in the case of Saul, whose melancholy mental disorder found no relief except from the strains of David's harp ; || and in the case of the prophet, who demanded a minstrel, that by the melody of his strains he might be excited into a fit state for receiving a message from the Lord. % Music was also much used by the Jews on occasious of sorrow. When Josiah, king of Judah, died, we are told that " Jeremiah lamented for him ; and all the singing men aud the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel ; and, behold, they are written in the Lamentations ;" * * from which it may be inferred, that in the book of * The reader who is curious on this suhject, will find much to gratify him in Mr. Binney's exquisite Treatise, entitled " The Service of Song in the House of the Lord." London: 1848. t Ch. xviii. 9. J Exo. xxxii. 18. § Judg. v. || 1 Sam. xvi. 14 — 23. 1 - Kings Hi. 15. * * 2 Chron. xxxv. 25. 1848. Lectures on the Public Psalmody of the Church. 99 Lamentations we have the words of those funeral chants, which Jere- miah composed, to be performed with the aid of music, by professional musicians, as we should call them, at the obsequies of king Josiah, and that from that time forward, this mode of bewailing the dead became habitual and statutory in Israel. In the prophecies of Jeremiah, and in those of others of the ancient prophets, there are allusions to this prac- tice. For instance, in speaking of the overthrow of Moab, Jeremiah says, " My heart shall sound for Moab like pipes, and mine heart shall sound like pipes for the men of Kir-heres," * where the pipe is referred to, because it was the instrument used at funerals, and upon mournful occasions. So in the days of our Lord, when he went to the house of Jairus, whose daughter was supposed to be dead, he found it full of " minstrels," as our version calls them, but more properly players on the pipe, (dv^nrxg,) who were employed, doubtless, to aid the people in their lamentations for the dead, f In the writings of Amos, we find another instance of this : " they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing ;" % on which Dr. Henderson has the following note: " The persons here spoken of as 'skilled in wailing,' were mourners by profession, who were hired for the occasion, and sung doleful tunes around the corpse of a deceased person, which they preceded when it was carried to the grave." § It is to them Solomon alludes when he speaks of the "mourners that go about the streets, "|| and it is of them that Jeremiah speaks when he says, " call for the mourning women that they may come, and send for cunning {i.e. skilful) women that they may come, and let them make haste and take up a wailing for us,"lf &c. It is probable from this that the persons chiefly employed on such occasions were females, and there is every reason to believe that the Jewish women, from the days of Miriam downward, especially excelled in this art. Inspiration has preserved the triumphal song of Deborah ; the graceful and matronly chant of Hannah ; the touching incident of the daughter of Jephtha coming forth with joyful step to greet her father on his return from battle with timbrel and dances, little dreaming of the agony which the sight of her caused to him ; and the jubilant anthem of the maids and mothers of Israel who, to meet David and Saul returning from the overthrow of the Philistines and the destruction of Goliath, came out of all the cities of Israel with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of music, and, as they played, answered one another with the voice of song, saying, " Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands." ** And when Saul had fallen ingloriously upon the mountains of Gilboa, and David, forgetful of all former injuries, and superior to every feeling of retaliation, employed that gift which had once charmed the monarch's misery, to bewail in fitting terms his untimely loss, it was " to the daughters of Israel" he appealed especially to join him in mourning the departed " beauty of Israel slain upon the high places." On festive occasions, also, women were wont to put forth their musical talents for the amusement or exhilaration of the guests; and hence Solomon, in his mad quest after * Jer. xlviii. 36. t Matt. ix. 23. X Amos v. 1C. § Minor Prophets, p, 157. || Eccles. xii. 5. * * 1 Sam. xviii. 6, 7. If ix. 16. 100 Lectures on the Public Psalmody of the Church. April. the chief good in carnal pleasure, failed not to surround himself with " singing women" as well as " singing men, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts."* Indeed, music seems to have been a regular attendant upon the festive meetings of the Jews. Isaiah refers to the prevalence of it in his days, when he says, " and the harp and the viol, and the tabret and pipes, and wine, are in their feasts;"f and when he would describe circumstances of great public calamity, he does so by saying that " the mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the joy of the harp ceaseth ■"% these were instruments for seasons of gladness and mirth: but when disaster, grief, and darkness came, then the shrill wail of the pipe, and the sorrowful chant of the daughters of mourning were alone proper to be heard. On such occasions of public festivity as the desig- nation or coronation of a king, music was largely employed. Thus at Solomon's designation to his office as the successor of David, when Zadok had anointed him, and due proclamation of his dignity had been made, " all the people came up after him ; and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth rent with the sound of them;"§ and when Joash was crowned king, "all the people of the land rejoiced, and sounded with trumpets; and also the singers with instruments of music, and such as taught to sing praise. "|| Thus with this remarkable people, the voice of mirth and the voice of sadness was alike the voice of song. In the resources of poetry and music, they sought an utterance for the one and an assuagement of the other. Amid the exultation of triumph, and the sorrows of defeat, in the quietude of domestic felicity, or amid the festivities of social intercourse, in the season when hope looked joyfully along the vista of the future, or when grief hung its pall upon the fading splendours of the past, when kings ascended the throne, when the bride entered the house of her husband on the day of her espousals, when warriors returned from victory, or when the mighty fell on the high places, and the weapons of war perished — alike in shade and in sunshine, in quiet and in tumult, in joy and in sorrow, in life and in death, it was to music — alone or " wedded with immortal verse" — that they turned as the fitting vehicle by which to express their emotions. So famed were they and their songs, that, when they were carried into exile, their captors required of them mirth, saying, " sing one of the songs of Zion." But this was more than they could do. When their holy and beautiful house was in ruins, when the city of their father's sepulchres was lying in heaps, when the ways of Zion were mourning because none went up with pipe to her solemn feasts, " when their sanctuary was laid waste, their altar broken, their temple destroyed, their psaltery laid on the ground, and their song put to silence;" how could they sing the songs of the Lord in that strange and cruel land? No; they hanged their harps upon the willows, and wept by the rivers of Babylon when they remembered Zion. Yet even then the spirit of song did not desert them. It mingled its plaintive notes with the murmur of the streams by which they sat. Its harp- tones sounded softly and soothingly from amidst the whispering willows. And when at length the hour of their emancipation arrived, and they set their faces once more towards the land of their fathers, it burst forth * Eccles. ii. 8 f v- 12. J xxiv. 8. § 1 Kings i. 4. || 1 Chron. xxiii. 13. 1848. Lectures on the Public Psalmody of the Church. 101 in a full and buoyant tide, till the air rung again with the jubilant melody, and the enemies who had oppressed them stood aside with fear. No voice was silent, no skilled hand was idle then. " The virgin rejoiced in the dance, yea, young men and old together, for their mourn- ing was turned into joy, and sorrow was exchanged for songs." Again they sang as in the days of their youth, with voice and instrument. " The singers went before and the players on instruments followed after ; among them were the damsels playing with timbrels." They "came to Zion with songs and with joy upon their heads." It was a season of boundless jubilee and ceaseless music : — a type and foreshadowing of that still more glorious season, when the true Jsrael, gathered from all the lands into which it has been scattered, shall come in numbers such as no man can number to the heavenly Zion, there to stand on the holy mount with the Lamb, and " amid the voice of harpers harping with their harps," to sing the new song which only they can sing before the throne. Such being the taste and talent of the Jews for song and music, it is natural to expect that they would largely employ the aid of these in their religious services. How far they did so, however, anterior to the time of David, we have no means of accurately determining. Some of the instances already adduced, such as the song of Moses, the song of Hannah, &c, come under the head of sacred song, inasmuch as they were intended to express grateful and pious feeling towards God; and from the use of singing in the worship which the Israelites were rendering to Jehovah under the image of the golden calf when Moses descended from the mount, we may perhaps infer that singing formed a regular part of that worship which they had been accustomed to render to God as an invisible object of adoration. We find, also, that in the days of Samuel sacred music and song formed part of the studies pursued in the prophetic colleges, and that in this the prophets were often aided by especial Divine inspiration. Thus Samuel told Saul, when giving him directions for his journey, after he had anointed him to be king over Israel, that when he came to the city of Bethel, he should " meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place, with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp before them," and that they should prophesy. It happened as the prophet foretold ; " Saul came to the hill, and, behold, a company of the prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied with them," i.e., joined in their sacred and inspired music* At a somewhat later period, when David brought up the ark of the Lord from Kirjath-jearim to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite, the ceremony was accompanied with a pomp of music : " All Israel played before God with all their might, and with singing, and with harp, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets."! And again when the ark was removed * 1 Samuel x. 5—10 ; comp. also xix. 20, 24. Ill the Targum, the word rendered in our version "prophesied," («a:rv) is explained by a word which signifies "praised," (natf), which shows the sense in which the ancient Jews understood the expression. Comp. 1 Chrou. xxv. 3. See, for further information about the musical studies of the prophets, Lowth, Pndectiones de Sac. Poesi Heb. Pr. xviii. ; Knobel's Prophetis- mus der Hebraer, i. 62, &c. t 1 Chron. xiii. 8. 102 Lectures on the Public Psalmody of the Church. April, from the house of Obed-edora to Jerusalem, a still more magnificent and formal service of music attended the ceremony. David assembled of the children of Aaron and of the Levites 862, and required their chiefs to divide them into classes for the purpose of conducting the music, and to assign to each class a particular instrument, selecting the most skilful to sing with the voice. This was accordingly done, and " thus all Israel brought up the ark with the sound of the cornet, and with trumpets, and with cymbals, making a noise with psalteries and harps."* The use of music on this occasion is the more deserving of being noted, as it seems to authorize the conclusion, that already music formed part of services peculiarly religious and solemn. None could be more so than the removing of the ark — the place of Jehovah's dwelling in the midst of his people; and of this David and his attendants had an awful admonition in the death of Uzzah, when, with unauthorized hand, he attempted to steady the ark upon the cart. Had the use of song and music been equally unauthorized, we may rest assured it would have been as emphatically repudiated by God, who, for purposes of the most important kind, fenced off, by the most pointed denunciations, all merely human devices from his service. But not only was no such token of the divine disapprobation given, but it is expressly stated that the arrangements made by David for the second removal of the ark, and in which, as we have seen, music occupied a still more important part than in the first, were made after he had spent some time in the most careful inquiries as to the authorized mode of doing such an act; so that there can be little doubt but that from the first institution of the Levitical service music formed a part of it. What confirms this is, that at this time David found no difficulty in procuring a choir of no fewer than 862 performers among the sons of Levi, and these seem to have been all trained men, at any rate men under regular leaders, with a master of the song, or general conductor, at their head. It is interesting to observe, also, that David signalised this event, by making it the occasion of delivering a psalm into the hands of Asaph and his brethren, whom he now, for the first time, appointed to conduct this part of the public worship of God.f Whether, as some have supposed, this was the first psalm David ever composed, for the service of the sanctuary, is very doubtful ; certain it is that many of his psalms which were actually used in the public worship of God, were composed before this period. But of this there can be no doubt, that on that memorable day on which the ark was brought to Jerusalem, amidst peals of music, and the shouts of the rejoicing hosts of Israel, David, for the first time, committed the charge of the songs of the Lord into the hand of that distinguished poet and musician, whose name is embalmed with his own in the grateful recollection of the people of God in all subsequent ages of the church. Himself a poet and musician of the very highest order, it was natural for David to turn his thoughts and efforts to the arrangement and completion of the sacred music of his nation. It was not, however, by the mere impulse of his own taste and genius that he was led to under- take those large arrangements in this matter which we find he accom- plished. The thousands who were then appointed to conduct the public * 1 Chron. xv. 28. t 1 Chron. xvi. 7. 1848. Lectures on the Public Psalmody of the Church. 103 psalmody of the Jewish Church, with all the divisions and subdivisions under which they were placed, as well as the whole of that splendid ceremonial of whicli they formed a part, were of divine appointment. After the lesson he had received in the matter of Uzzah, David would not have dared to appoint a single singer or song or instrument for the service of God, except what he knew was accordant with God's will. And hence it is expressly stated by the historian, that the Levites who were set in the house of the Lord, with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, were so placed, not only according to the commandment of David, but also " according to that of Gad, the king's seer, and Nathan, the prophet : for so was the commandment of the Lord by his prophets."* The arrangement which thus, in obedience to the divine command, David carried into effect, was upon the highest scale of magnificence. Not fewer than 4000 persons, some of whom were females, were selected to perform by voice and instrument; over these were placed 288 princi- pal singers, divided into 24 courses of 12 in each; to each of these its competent leader was appointed ; and over the whole presided the great masters of song, Asaph, Hemau, and Jeduthun. All these according to stated order, and at their appointed times, ministered before the dwelling place of the tabernacle of the congregation with singing. This continued " until Solomon had built the house of the Lord in Jerusalem." After that the scheme, so magnificently planned by David, was suitably carried out by his son, in that splendid temple, which he was privileged to build for the worship of Jehovah. At the dedication of this building, a noble opportunity occurred for a display of the powers of sacred music, and it was not neglected by the wise monarch. On that auspicious day, the whole musical force of the nation was assembled, to the number, we are told by Josephus, of 200,000. It is probable that this is an exaggeration, but when we consider the immense preparations that were made for this ceremony, we may readily admit that the number of musicians collected, would be unusually great. From the sacred historian we learn, that the august services of the day commenced with music. No sooner was the ark conducted to its place, than " the Levites who were singers, all of them of Asaph, of Heman, and Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, being arrayed in white linen, having cymbals, and psalteries, and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them an hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets.'' And as the sweet and pealing tide of their music rose up and filled the house, God himself gave response to their song. " It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one," (wh^n they had reached the full swell and harmony of their blended notes,) " to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets, and cymbals, and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying, For he is good ; for his mercy endureth for ever : that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord ; so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud : FOR THE GLORY OP THE LORD HAD FILLED THE HOUSE OF GoD." Here was the true triumph of Music — a triumph wb'jh casts iuto the shade all that fiction has ever conceived, or poetry ever sung. We have * 2 Chioti. xxix. 25. 104 Lectures on the Public Psalmody of tlie Church. April, read of music moving the beasts of the field, the trees of the forest, and the fishes of the deep ; and we have heard of it raising men to the honours of Deity, and recalling spirits from the realms of death ; but how poor in conception, as well as faint in impressiveness, are these fables of antiquity when placed before the fact so simply and briefly detailed in the passage I have read ? To think of God himself descend- ing in the emblems of his visible majesty, to hallow the song which mortals were raising to his praise ! To think of mere human music drawing down the Deity to earth, till those who uttered it were wrapt in the cloud of his glory, and their voices were hushed to silence amid its awful folds ! The erection of the temple afforded ample scope for the most extensive arrangements in regard to the musical part of the Jewish worship. Here all that David had planned for " the service of song in the house of the Lord," was fully and fitly carried out. Here as the smoke of each morning and evening sacrifice ascended to heaven, it was borne upward amid the loud hallelujahs of the multitude, and the thrilling music of psaltery and harp. Here when the day of Rest came round, and all sounds of human labour were stilled, and the quiet of a holy expectation hung over the sacred city, the notes of joyful and grateful adoration would ever and anon break forth, sweeping over the silent dwellings of Israel like a sudden gush of sun-light, awaking a congenial emotion in every pious bosom, and calling forth a joyful response from every pious household. And when the great feast-days came, — when Israel remembered how the Lord had wounded Rahab, broken the chains of their bondage, and delivered them out of Egypt, or when they gathered to offer thanks for the fruits of the earth in the time of harvest, or when they commemorated their passing through the wilderness when they dwelt in tents, and Jehovah fed them with bread from heaven — with what full and jubilant tone did the choirs of the temple resound to the hymns and hallelujahs of the people ! At all times the piety of the nation, and the psalmody of the nation, went together. As the one declined or rose, the other fell or flourished. When wicked or idolatrous princes ascended the throne, the sweet music of the temple was silenced by the shouts of revelry, or the senseless repetitions and discordant cries of heathen superstition. On the other hand, when pious monarchs set about the reformation of the national religion, they were especially careful to restore to the musical service of the temple its due order and importance.* At the time also of the restoration of the temple-service by Ezra after the captivity, every care was taken that the psalmody should be placed in its original perfection; the singers were exempted from all tolls and taxes; a certain daily portion was allotted to them levied from all Israel ; and when the temple was rebuilt and dedicated, their services were put in requisition as at the consecration of the former temple by Solomon.f These facts are worth noticing were it for nothing else than the evidence they afford of the close connection between superior psalmody and elevated devotion. * See 2 Oliron. xxix. 25, 31 ; xxx. 21 ; xxxv. 15. t Ezra vii. 24; Neh. xi. 23; xii. 47; Ezra xii. 27, 28. 1848. Lectures on the Public Psalmody of the Church. 105 Of the materials of the Jewish psalmody much might be said, but as these have been preserved to us in the book of Psalms, it is unnecessary to dwell upon this point. I content myself with the following eloquent and just tribute to their excellence, extracted from a work to which I . have been much indebted in preparing this lecture : — " As to their form, they include all varieties of lyric composition ; they are of every character as to the nature of their subjects; and of all shades and colours of poetic feeling : but as to their essence, they are as a light from heaven, or an oracle from the sanctuary : — they discover secrets, Divine and human ; they lay open the Holy of Holies of both God and man, for they reveal the hidden things belonging to both, as the life of the One is devel- oped in the other. The Psalms are the depositories of the mysteries, the record of the struggles, the wailing when worsted, the poeans when triumphant, of that life. They are the thousand-voiced heart of the church, uttering from within, from the secret depths and chambers of her being, her spiritual consciousness — all that she remembers, experiences, believes ; suffers from sin and the flesh, fears from earth or hell, achieves by heavenly succour, and hopes from God and His Christ. They are for all time. They never can be outgrown. No dispensation, while the world stands and continues what it is, can ever raise us above the reach or the need of them. They describe every spiritual vicissitude, they speak to all classes of minds, they command every natural emotion. They are penitential, jubilant, adorative, deprecatory; they are tender, mournful, joyous, majestic ; — soft as the descent of dew ; low as the whisper of love; loud as the voice of thunder; terrible as the Almightiness of God ! The effect of some of them, in the temple service, must have been immense. Sung by numbers carefully 'instructed,'* and accompanied by those who could play ' skilfully ;' t arranged in parts, for 'courses 'J and individuals, who answered each other § in alternate verse ; — various voices, single or combined, ' being lifted up,' sometimes in specific and personal expression, as the high service deep- ened and advanced, — priests, levites, the monarch, the multitude, || — there would be every variety of 'pleasant' movement, and all the forms and forces of sound, — personal recitative ; individual song ; dual and semi-choral antiphonal response ; burst and swell of voice and instruments ; attenuated cadences ; apostrophe and repeat ; united, full, harmonious combinations ! With such a service, and such psalms, it was natural that the Hebrews should love with enthusiasm, and learn with delight, their national anthems, songs, and melodies ; nor is it surprising that they were known among the heathen as a people possessed of these treasures of verse, and devoted to their recitation by tongue and harp. Hence it was that their enemies required of them (whether in seriousness or derision it matters not,) ' the words of a song,' and said, ' Sing us one of the songs of Zion.' " IT ** * 2 Chron. xxv. 7. f Ps. xxxiii. 3. I Ezra iii. 11. § Isaiah vi. 3. || Ps. cxviii. thi-oughout, and many others. 1 Ps. cxxxvii. 3, (margin.) ** Binney's Service of Song in the House of the Lord. pp. 27, 28. 106 The Spirit of the True Scholar. April, THE SPIRIT OF THE TRUE SCHOLAR. In a discourse on Female Education, delivered by Rev. Professor Tappan before the Pittsfield Young Ladies' Seminary, there is a presentation of the true spirit in which Education — particularly that noblest kind of it, self-education — should be pursued. It strikes us as full of important truth finely expressed, and we commend it especially to parents and the young : — The right spirit of education shows itself in the high and noble resolution to become educated — a resolution built upon the conviction that education is the birthright of the mind ; a resolution, therefore, to be awed by no opposition, nor quelled by any difficulties which less than superhuman strength can meet. " What sustained my courage," says Heyne, " was neither ambition nor presumption, nor even the hope of one day taking my place among the learned. The stimulus that incessantly spurred me on, was the feeling of the humiliation of my condition, the shame with which I shrunk from the thought of that degradation which the want of a good education would impose upon me; above all the determination of battling courageously with fortune. I was resolved to try whether, although she had thrown me among the dust, I should be able to rise by my own efforts." His ardour only increased with his difficulties. For six weeks, he allowed himself only two nights' sleep in the week. Here was a mind, conscious that its capabilities were not given only to throw shame upon them by grovelling with the filth of the world : Heyne felt that to rise was the birthright of his mind, and could not be prevented. Though fame should never make mention of his name, and he might for ever remain in obscurity, yet he would satisfy the longings of his mind, and enjoy the consciousness that he was an educated man. In the next place, it is a spirit which leads us to a comprehension of the attributes, capacities, and hopes of our intellectual, our spiritual being. We have already seen what inadequate results men are prone to forecast. He only can forecast the true result, the development of our whole being, who so far comprehends this being, as to look upon it with the awe and love which belong to its incalculable worth and dignity. The man who, practically, at least, regards himself as " dust and earth," and becomes a mere pander to his own passions, or the submissive instrument and victim of the thoughtless world — a world of names, and modes, and pretensions, hollow and shadowy — can never educate himself, for he can never know or value his real being, nor can he submit to the self-denial, and the patient toil involved in the discipline. The next element we mention, and a cardinal element of this self- education, is the love of perfection. This is a generic designation, and includes the love of all that is beautiful, great, and good ; it of course includes the great ends of our being, our duties and responsibilities. Meditations upon what the mind is, and upon what it may become in relation to the present, and still more in relation to the future, awaken this love. It is a feeling which, once awakened, can never die. It grows stronger with the growth of the mind, with increase of knowledge, THE SCOTTISH CONGREGATIONAL MAGAZINE. JUNE, 1848. LECTURES ON THE PUBLIC PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. Lecture II. — Psalmody in the Christian Church. In the Jewish Church, sacred song was, as we have seen, closely associated with the gift of inspiration. It formed, in fact, one of the various departments of the prophetic office among the Jews ; it was cul- tivated, in connection with the service of God, chiefly by those who, either as inspired men or as priests, had special intercourse with the Almighty ; and as respects both its materials and the music by which it was accompanied, there is every reason to believe that in all cases it derived its origin from above. We need not be surprised, therefore, to find that with the cessation of the prophetic office in Judea, and the interruption of direct intercourse between God and man, came the gra- dual decay of the musical department of the Jewish worship. It is true that they still continued to be a musical people ; it is true that they still preserved a veneration for the great masters of song, whose poetry or whose music had enriched their national treasures, placing " such as found out musical tunes, and recited verses in writing," in their cata- logues of famous men, as worthy of a place among their great rulers, warriors, sages, and teachers ;* it is true, they still dwelt lovingly on the recollection of David, " with his whole heart, singing songs to Him that made him," and setting "singers before the altar, that by their voices they might make sweet melody, and that daily the temple might sound from morning," and would boast of Solomon that " his name went far into the islands, and the countries marvelled at him for his songs ;"t it is true that, upon occasions of peculiar interest, they testified their joy and their gratitude by solemn musical ceremonies, celebrating the downfal of a cruel oppressor, by singing unto the Lord with cymbals ;J or the purify- ing of their temple from the pollution of heathen intruders, by the utter- ance of praises, with great variety of sound, making sweet melody ;§ or the return of some valiant deliverer from the field of conquest, with thanksgiving and branches of palm trees, and with viols, and hymns, * Ecclus. xliv. 3, 5. f Ecclus. xlvii. 8, 9, 16, 17. t Judith xv. 13 ; xvi. 1, 2, 7. § Ecclus. 1. 18; 1 Mac. iv. 54, 56. New Series.— Vol. VIII. o 186 Lectures on the Public Psalmody of the Church. June, and songs ;* it is true that the lovers of festivity still had music in their feasts, and that it was held the part of a wise man not to " hinder music,'' nor to " pour out words where there is a musician, or show forth wisdom out of time"t : — but notwithstanding all this, the glory of their nation had passed away, as well for music as for the higher endowments by which they had been so singularly distinguished. When the harp of prophecy was silent, the lyre of the Psalmist uttered but tremblingly its notes. In that long and deep night which had fallen over the favoured land, the voice of song was heard but in transient gushes, like the fitful wailing of an iEolian harp. All original genius seemed to have fled from the nation. The relics of their poetry, during this dark interval, which have come down to us, bear all the marks of impotent imitation. The melody that still dwelt among them was but the lingering echo of those grand strains which, once uttered, could not altogether die. At length, this long and weary night passed away, and the dawn appeared. The set season to favour Zion arrived. The fulness of time was announced. God again visited his people. His voice was once more heard in Israel. His coming was as the morning, and his voice as the morning song. With this " time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord," the re- vival of sacred melody in the church was coetaneous. Once more strains of heaven-inspired poetry were heard on earth. The virgin mother sung her " Magnificat" — the grandest burst of poetry that ever fell from woman's lips — fitly spoken by her whom all generations shall call Blessed. An aged priest, restored to second youth by the unex- pected birth of a son — the long-desired prophet of the Lord — chanted his " Benedictus"' — which seems like the sparkling flow of a stream that has long been bound by winter frosts, but leaps into sudden life and joy- ousness under the favouring breath of spring. And then, as if the melody of earth was all too poor for such an occasion, when that favoured mother gave birth to her mysterious child, the hosts of heaven gathered over the consecrated spot, and when the herald angel announced the advent of the church's Saviour and the world's Lord, a sudden burst of music filled the air, and the choirs of heaven sung their " Gloria in excelsis" on the verge of earth, and mortal ears were permitted for once to hear such strains as seraphs utter before the throne. The spirit of sacred song was again evoked. An inspiration higher than that of genius had once more descended upon men. The fire which had almost been extinguished upon the altar once more flashed forth, and filled the temple with its brightness. And when old Simeon took the divine babe into his arms, and sung over him his " Nunc Dimittis," and when aged Anna, coming in at that instant, was seized with the spirit of prophecy, and prolonged by her thanksgiving his song of faith and joy, — it must have been evident to " all them that looked for redemption in Jerusa- lem," that "the day-spring from on high" had indeed visited them, and the acceptable year of the Lord had come. He whose birth was thus signalised and celebrated by song had come to be a man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs. We are not, there- fore, warranted to expect, in the narrative of his life on earth, any fre- * 1 Mac. xiii. 51 ; 2 Mac. x. 1, 7. t Ecclns. xxxii. 3, 4. 1848. Lectures on the Public Psalmody of tlie Church. 187 quent indications of his enjoying that mirth which excites to music, or even that solace which may be sought in song. Burdened with the sins of man, he was consumed by a deep and wasting sorrow ; and though he was no enemy to happiness in others — though he could minister to the festivity of a marriage feast, or stand in the market-place and mark with an interested e_ye how little children imitated the customs, and exemplified the caprices of their seniors, and chode with each other, saying, " we have piped unto you, and ye have not danced ; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented;"* or teach in his par- ables that there are times in a man's life when it is lawful and good to be merry; and though we never read of his frowning upon any occasion of innocent festivity, or casting a gloom, by unseasonable discourse, upon any scene of gladness through which he passed ; yet, for himself, there were but few gleams of sunshine thrown across the path of his life, and a sigh, rather than a song, was the natural utterance of the emotions which occupied his bosom. And yet that strain of exulting praise which ushered in his advent was not suffered utterly to expire amid the gloom of his humiliation. Once again, at least, it broke forth in a full swell of triumph, when, before his decease, he entered in royal state into Jeru- salem. On that occasion we read, that " the multitude took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried Hosannah ! blessed is the King of Israel, that cometh in the name of the Lord." At length the procession reached the summit of Mount Olivet, and the holy city in all its glory lay before their view. As he began to descend, the shout of exultation swelled louder, and now the voice of song was heard : — the multitude began to rejoice, and to praise God with a loud voice, saying — " Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord : peace in heaven, and glory in the highest."f Through the streets of Jerusalem, and on to the temple they advanced, adding to their numbers at every step. Iu vain the polluters of the sacred edifice withstood his entrance ; with resistless authority he cast them out, and indignantly denounced their iniquitous intrusion. In vain the enraged chief priests and scribes sought to arrest the triumph of him they had resolved to crush ; the acclamations and the songs rose but the louder, from their attempt to rebuke them into silence. The very children set them at defiance, for they stood in the temple and cried, " Hosannah to the son of David/' It was a sudden and a strange outburst of irrepressible gladness ; for which we can account satisfactorily only on the supposi- tion that it was called forth by special divine influence, as a symbol of the spiritual triumph of Christ in his spiritual kingdom. God by this means fulfilled his own prophecy and promise. The daughter of Zion was summoned to welcome her King, and out of the mouths of babes and of sucklings God perfected praise. That our Lord, during his life on earth, frequently joined in the songs of praise which were offered to God in the stated public worship of the temple, as well as in the more private exercises of social devotion, which were practised by pious Jews, we have no reason to doubt. The only instance, however, which the evangelists have recorded of this kind is in the narrative of the last evening he spent with his disciples before * Luke vii. 32. \ Luke xix. 37, 38. 188 Lectures on tlie Public Psalmody of the Church. Jdne, his crucifixion. His public ministry was now finished, and the hour of his deepest agony and shame was drawing nigh. The first day of the feast of unleavened bread was hastening to its close, and soon the appointed time would come, when he, the Paschal lamb, was to be offered. The shepherd was about to be smitten, and the sheep to be scattered ; yet ere that event arrived, he had gathered them around him, and, retired from all intrusion, he was feeding them with the choicest of his stores. Long, and full, and elevating was the discourse which on that occasion Jesus addressed to his disciples. On no other occasion, so far as we know, did he so copiously unfold to them his mind and heart. He felt that their intercourse on earth was soon to terminate, and he sought to make the most of the precious opportunity. He foresaw the dismay and grief with which his approaching trial and death would strike them, and he kindly sought to prepare them for the stroke, by filling their minds with those elevating thoughts which alone could sustain them under so severe a sorrow. At length the mo- ment of parting came. The betrayer had already left the company, and his infamous bargain with his Master's enemies was made. The sacred rite by which the memorable scenes of that night and the follow- ing day are to be kept in perpetual remembrance had been instituted. The prince of darkness was already in the arena, and the champion of our salvation had to descend to encounter the foe. What remained to be done ? But one thing. Ere that sweet fellowship was to be severed, ere that dreadful trial was to be endured, ere that fierce conflict was to be fought, the voice of song must rise, that their last united act might be one of thanksgiving, and that music might lend its aid in preparing for the approaching crisis. And so, " when they had sung an hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives." A much-to-be-remembered song! Amidst the plaintive notes of that hymn, chanted in an humble cham- ber, perhaps in some obscure street of the city of Jerusalem, the knell of the former dispensation was struck, and the trumpet sounded for a new and better economy to begin. Of this economy, the leading characteristics are, simplicity and spirituality. Whatever, therefore, was merely ceremonial, typical, or carnal, in the ancient dispensation, has been abolished, and nothing outward remains but what is inseparable from the worship of creatures surrounded with a corporeal frame, or what is helpful of the devotion and piety of such. Among other things retained under the New Testa- ment economy is the use of song and music in the service of God. Brief and imperfect as are the notices in the writings of the apostles concern- ing the order of public worship in the primitive churches, there is no doubt or uncertainty as to the fact, that singing formed an important part of it. The command of the apostle to the Ephesians, that they should " speak to themselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, siDging and making melody in their heart to the Lord,"* and that of the same apostle to the Colossians, that they should :< teach and admonish one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in their hearts to the Lord,''§ are sufficient to show what was the practice and the rule of the apostolic churches in this matter. In pri- * Eph. v. 18, 19. t Col. iii. 16. 1848. Lectures on the Public Psalmody of the Church. 189 vate life also, the early Christians resorted to sacred music both as a relief iu sorrow, and as an utterance of mirth. "Is any merry?" says the apostle, "let him sing psalms."* And when Paul and Silas were imprisoned, and their feet made fast in the stocks, they cheered the gloomy hours of midnight by their eucharistic song : " At midnight they sang praises to God, and the prisoners heard them." Ay, and they were heard elsewhere than within the prison walls. God heard them, and gave quick and startling response. " And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken : and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed." f How striking to find again, and that under the Christian dispensation, the divine Majesty sensibly manifested in answer to the invocation of song ! For the materials of their sacred songs, the primitive Christians would, doubtless, be indebted, in the first instance, to the psalms and hymns of the Old Testament. Of these by far the greater part utter truths and express feelings common to the Church of God in all ages, and may therefore be used, with equal propriety, in the Christian church as in the Jewish. It is evident, however, that the early believers were not confined to these. Iu the passage already quoted, Paul speaks not only of psalms and hymns, but also of spiritual songs or odes. That these terms desiguate different species of sacred compositions, there seems no reason to doubt ; but what were the characteristic peculiarities of each of the species thus designated, it is not so easy to determine. Some think that by " psalms" the apostle intended to describe such as were invariably accompanied by the psaltery or harp, by hymns, such as were sung without such accompaniment, and by spiritual odes, such as were rather recited than sung. Others regard the term " psalms," as simply describing the collection under that name in the Old Testament, the term " hymns," as designating compositions* specially devoted to the celebration of the praises of God, and the phrase, "spiritual odes," as referring to any composition of a poetical character calculated to edify or comfort the church, whether said or sung. To this latter opinion I incline, but with some modifications. I regard the " psalms" of which the apostle speaks, as being the collection under that name in the Old Testament, and which was commonly cited under this title, by our Lord and the apostles ; but I by no means admit that this interpretation excludes that which infers from this expression, that instrumental music was used in the primitive churches, for if there be one point more certain than another in reference to the ancient psalmody, it is that the use of instrumental music entered essentially into the very idea of a psalm ; without this there might be a sacred song, but that song was not a psalm.J By " hymns" we shall best understand sacred poems, made to * James v. 18. t Acts xvi. 25, 26. J On this point we appeal to the testimony of the Greek fathers, who, it may be presumed, are the best authorities for the meaning attached by the Greek Christians, to the terms used by them in their religious services. " A psalm," says Gregory of Nyssa, " is a melody by means of a musical instrument." Tract II. in Psalmos, cap. 3. "The psalm," says Basil, "is a musical composition, where, in good rythm, and according to harmonical principles, there is a striking upon the instrument." In Psal 29. 190 Lectures on the Public Psalmody of the Church. June, be sung, and devoted exclusively to the direct praise of God.* And by " spiritual odes," we are to understand, I apprehend, compositions of a poetical character, which were chanted in a sort of recitative, by a single individual, who was specially inspired by the Spirit for that purpose. That ability to compose odes for the edification of the church, was one of the supernatural endowments conferred upon individuals iu the apostolic churches, is indubitable. The endowment was claimed by Paul himself, when he says, " I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also;"f where the context clearly shows that the apostle's meaning is, that a true and just use of this divine endowment of singing for the edification of the church, was so to sing, as that the church might understand and profit thereby. The " singing with the spirit," is placed by the apostle on the same footing with the speaking with tongues, and the other miraculous gifts of the early church, and as all these were given, not for personal display, but for the good of the church, he instances, in his own case, the proper use of them; and rebukes, in the Corinthians, the sinful employment of them for purposes of vaiu glory. Nor does the divine aid seem to have been limited to any one of the three species above considered, though, probably, more especially manifested iu the case of the last ; for Paul, in describing the abuse of spiritual gifts in the Corinthian church, says, amongst other evils, that when they came together, every one had a psalm, had a doctrine, had a tongue, &c, \ which shows that psalms were composed and performed in the early churches, by Divine assist- ance ; that which Paul reprehends here, being not the bringing of the psalm, but the bringing of it for mere individual display, without any regard to the benefit of the church. In the passage from the Epistle to the Ephesians, already considered, it has been supposed, from the language of Paul, that what he had in his eye, were compositions dic- tated by the Divine Sprrit, for his injunction runs thus : — " Be filled with the Spirit : speaking to yourselves in psalms," &c ; but such an interpretation, we fear, can hardly be defended from the charge of overstraining the apostles words, especially as the whole context seems to show that it is rather of those influences of the Spirit which are opposed to the sensual lusts of men, and which lead to praise God and be of gentle spirit towards our brethren, than of those which conferred miraculous powers, that the apostle here speaks. Even without this passage, however, the evidence seems conclusive, that for much, at least, of the materials of their worship, the early churches were indebted to the direct inspiration of God. Have any of these inspired songs come down to us ? The question is an interesting one, but it can receive only a conjectural answer. Paul, we have seen, had the gift of inspired singing in the church, and it has been supposed that as several parts of his epistles are in a rythmical form, we have, in these, specimens, so to speak, of what he used to sing * By the Greeks the word, S/trts, was used strictly of a song of praise addressed to the Deity. Phavorinus explains it as "an ode to God." Ammonius, in his Treatise of the Differences of Words, says, " A hymn differs from an encomium ; for the hymn is appropriated to the gods, the encomium belongs to men." Other instances are given by Schleusner in his Lexicon. t 1 Cor. xiv. 15. J 1 Cor. xiv. 26. 1848. Lectures on the Public Psalmody of the Church. 191 in the cburch. Sucb, for instance, is the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians, the closing verses (51 — 58) of 1 Cor. iv.; Col. i. 15 — 17, and especially 1 Tim. iii. 15, 16, and 2 Tim. ii. 11 — 13. All these possess a ryth- mical character, and when we compare them in the original with the hymns used by the early Christians of a later age, still extant, we can easily see that if they sung the one, they could also sing the other. Even in our Euglish version most of the passages above referred to might be chanted as readily as the Magnificat or the Nunc Dimittis. But it is to the book of Revelation we must turn if we would find what may, with the greatest amount of probability, be regarded as remains of the inspired songs of the primitive church. That book was written for the comfort of the harassed and afflicted Christians of the latter part of the first century, and though its costume is Jewish, and its language sym- bolical, the very purpose for which it was written would seem to show that its lessons and its facts had an actual basis in the condition of the churches at the time. It is not improbable, therefore, that the chants which it contains were actually borrowed from the christian assemblies of the time, the more especially as we find some of them — the Hallelu- jah, for instance, (Rev. xix. 2,) — in use from a very early period in the post-apostolic churches. All this, I repeat, is purely conjectural as respects the origin of these portions of the inspired volume, but it is conjecture which in the absence of any evidence to the contrary there seems nothing in the nature of the case to forbid our embracing. Of the hymns which have come down to us through other channels than the inspired volume, there are two which, with some degree of probability, are supposed to belong to the apostolic age. The one of these is the Doxology, commonly known as the Gloria Patri, and the other is the Morning Hymn, both of which are still used in the liturgy of the Church of England. The latter has been preserved in its original Greek; and in the very ancient MS. of the Septuagint, called the Alexandrian, it is appended to the book of Psalms along with a number of hymns from various parts of Scripture, which seem to have been used in the devotions of the early believers. Another which is called the Evening Hymn has also been preserved ; and is acknowledged to be very ancient. In all of these an elevated strain of devotion is preserved, and the doctrine of the Trinity is prominently recognised.* Of the music used in the primitive churches, little can be said with certainty. That it was of a simple, inartificial, and unrestrained character, may be inferred from the fact, that what are now considered the essentials of musical composition, viz. : counterpoint, notation, and admeasurement of time were the discoveries of a later age. It is probable that, for the most part, it consisted of little more than a measured recitative, and that at the highest it never went beyond a plain chant ; its chief art consisting in a skilful application of accent and tone to the words. Perhaps a few marks were used to regulate the length of the notes, or to guide the singers in their intonations, otherwise it is difficult to see how several persons could sing in unison. Of harmony, in the modern sense of the term, they seem to have known nothing; and, perhaps, the greatest effects were produced by simply * For a translation of this Evening Hymn, see Scottish Cong. Mag. for Septem- ber, 1837, p. 276. 192 Sketch of the Life and Character of the late Francis Dick. June, dwelling upon some favourite idea, and uttering it in a tone, and with an emphasis which bespoke the deep feeling it awakened simultaneously in their bosoms. Whatever disadvantages of a musical kind belonged to this species of singing, it possessed this all-important excellence, that it made the sense the first thing in the hymn, and subordinated the sound to the due and forcible expression of the sense. It had thus a strength and vitality which our modern church music wants ; the tunes of which have, for the most part, been made for themselves and not for any particular words, and are, consequently, to be sung to hymn after hymn, and verse after verse, however different in subject, if they be but all of the same metre. In both the Jewish and the early christian worship, responsive or antiphonal singing was frequently practised. This consisted in one part of the congregation singing one part of the piece, and a response or chorus, or corresponding part being sung by another. It is to this antiphonic singing that Paul refers, when he enjoins upon the Ephesians the speaking to themselves, i.e. to one another, alternately, in psalms and hymns and spiritual odes, and upon the Colossians, the teaching and admonishing of one another by the same means. It is to this kind of singing, also, that Pliny alludes in his famous letter to Trajan, when he says that the Christians were accustomed " to sing a song to Christ as God by turns." When the language and ideas of the hymn were suitable, it is easy to see how much this kind of singing must have added to the effect. On this point, however, we shall have more to say in next Lecture. SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF THE LATE FRANCIS DICK. PART IV. RESIDENCE AT HAMBURGH. {Journal continued.) Jan. 1st. Had public worship to-day, when about fifty attended, and appeared to join with much seriousness in the exercises. I gave them a few words from 1 Chron. xxix. 15. Have much cause to bless the Lord for his continued goodness, in being permitted to enter upon another year in such circumstances of peace, com- fort, and health. 7th. To-day preached as usual. Had good meetings both parts of the day, though the weather was unfavourable, it having rained and snowed to-day. 18th. Went to Altona and Flotbeck. Had some agreeable conversation with Mr. V. senior. 20th. On my way home from Flotbeck called on a German, who appeared dying, and by means of an interpreter had some talk with him. He said he was willing to die, — thought he was ready, — hoped that God would reward him after death for the good he had done, — owned at last that he was a sinner, but had not done any thing very bad, — expected God would forgive him because he prayed to him,— he had*read"the Bible, could repeat a good deal of it, — knew little about the Saviour, and did not speak of him till asked what he thought about him. Heard with^fixed attention the 5th of the Romans read, and a few things said from it,— -said that one of his pastors had been there the day before, but he told him nothing about these things, only said to him that he had nothing to do but pray for death, as he might be sure of going to heaven so soon as he died, having suffered so much in this world he was perfectly safe. The poor man added, I do not wish to see him again. When I talked to him about the love of God and the death of Christ, he shed tears, and said he would wish to see me again. THE SCOTTISH CONGREGATIONAL MAGAZINE. JULY, 1848. LECTURES ON THE PUBLIC PSALMODY OF THE CHURCH. Lecture III. — Psalmody in the Christian Church since the Apostolic Age. Having brought our notices of the Psalmody of the Church down to the close of the apostolic age, we have now to trace its progress in subsequent times. Here, however, the field opened before us is so vast and so crowded with materials, that it is impossible in such a course as the present, to make any attempt fully to survey it. I^hall, therefore, content myself with briefly adverting to the more prominent and interesting facts connected with sacred music in the church, from the commencement of the second century to the time of the Reformation, and shall then dwell for a little upon the history of the art in our own country. There is no doubt that in the early or Ante-Nicene church, the use of psalmody was carefully attended to, and formed a principal part of the public services of the Christians. For this we have not only the testi- mony of christian writers, but so well known does the usage seem to have been, that Pliny, in his letter to Trajan, formerly referred to, adduces sacred singing as one of the characteristic customs of the Christians. " They are accustomed," says he, " on a stated day, to meet before the dawn, and to sing to Christ as God a responsive song." From this it might be conjectured, that on the Lord's day they usually com- menced their public services by singing ; and this the testimony of the christian writers establishes. Jerome, describing the usages of a portion of the Egyptian Christians, says, " they meet at nine o'clock, and then the psalms are sung and the Scriptures are read," &c. So also Cassian says, " first the psalms were sung, and then followed two readings, one out of the Old Testament and the other out of the New." From this practice there seem to have been occasional departures, some churches commencing public service by the reading of the Scriptures, and some by a short prayer ; but in most cases the services seem to have begun with psalmody.* The compositions used by the Christians in those acts of devotion, were for the most part such as have been already mentioned — the psalms and hymns of Scripture. After the apostolic age, the gift of * Bingham's Antiquities of the Christian Church. B. 14, c. 8, § 5. New Series — Yol. VIII. q 218 Lectures on the Public Psalmody of the Church. July, singing an inspired song in the church, ceased with the rest of the spiritual gifts of a miraculous kind, which distinguished the primitive church ; and it was not for some considerable time that mere human compositions of a poetical kind seem to have been employed, unless we consider the three hymns mentioned in last lecture, as coming under this head. They were thus thrown upon the stores of sacred poetry which the Scriptures supply, and especially upon the exhaustless treasury of the book of Psalms. These they appear to have sung in course right through, excepting that for special occasions there seem to have been special psalms appointed. Thus ps. lxiii. beginning, " O God, my God, early will I seek thee," was styled the " moruiug psalm," and was regularly used in the morning service ; ps. cxli., which begins, "Lord, I cry unto thee, make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice when I call unto thee ; let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense ; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice," was in like manner styled " the evening psalm," and was always used in the evening service ; certain other psalms were appropriated to the communion service and to funerals, and in some cases particular psalms were sung on days set apart to commemorate the events of our Saviour's personal history on earth, such as the 22d ps., which even the Donatists as well as their less scrupulous opponents the Catholics, used on the day devoted to the remembrance of our Saviour's passion. [Bingham, bk. xiv., ch. 1, § 5.] Other portions of Scripture also were appointed to be sung on special occasions : thus the Trisagion, or the song of the seraphim, from Isa. vi. 3, " Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts : the whole earth is full of his glory," with the addition of the words, " blessed be he for ever, Amen," was appropriated to the Missa Fidelium, or meeting of the believers for the observance of the Lord's supper, as were also the song of the Virgin, (Luke i. 45,) and the Apocryphal song of the three youths in the furnace at Babylon.* At the end of each psalm, the Gloria Patri was usually sung, though in some churches this was done only at the close of each section of the psalms. The morning and evening hymn, men- tioned in the preceding lecture, were also regularly used. At what time hymns of purely and avowedly human composition came into use we cannot now exactly ascertain. A passage in Eusebius, the church historian, asserts, that " from the beginning, psalms and odes, written by believing brethren, praise Christ, the word of God ascribing to him Deity.'t and in the middle of the third century, Paul of Samosata, an opponent of our Lord's deity, found it necessary, in furtherance of his heretical notions, to forbid among his followers the use of any hymns of human composition, and to restrict their psalmody to the psalms of the Old Testament ; his object in this being, doubtless, to get rid of the influence which the early hymns in honour of Christ would have in imbuing the minds of the people with reverence for his divine majesty. % * Part of this Song is still retained iu the service of the Episcopal church as it always has been in the Komish Breviary. It stands in the morning service as a substitute, if required, for the Te Deum. f Hist. Eccl. Lib. v., c. 28, sub init. % This, indeed, is expressly imputed to him by an ancient document. " He abolished the use of psalms to our Lord Jesus Christ, on the plea that they were recent and the composition of recent men." Epist. Synod, ad Diomjs. ap. Mansi I. 1093. See also Neander's Church Hist, vol. II. p. 366. Tony's Trans!., Ed. 1847. 1848. Lectures on the Public Psalmody of the Church. 219 In the extant writings of Clement of Alexandria, who died in the early part of the third century, we have a hymn to Christ which is ascribed to Clement as its author, but which, unhappily, is of so turgid and mystical a character, that one would fain believe it not genuine. Some have claimed for Ignatius, the Bishop of Antioch, in the beginning of the second century, the honour of being the earliest uninspired hymno- logist of the Christian Church,* but this is unsubstantiated by the evidence adduced, which only ascribes to Ignatius the introduction into the church of the antiphonal mode of singing, and that, we think, errone- ously, f The earliest writers of hymns, regarding whom our information may be relied on, were connected with the Syrian Gnostics, but of their compositions nothing remains. In the writings of Ephraem the Syrian, a distinguished member of the church at Edessa, a number of hymns are extant in the Syrian language; most of which, however, are rather dis- courses in verse, intended to expose the errors of the Gnostics and pro- pagate the orthodox truths, than hymns properly so called ; and their chief excellence lies in the ardent announcement of the great funda- mental doctrines of Christianity which they contain. At a later period, the number of hymns, both in the Greek and Latin languages, became considerable. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, Hilary of Poictiers, Pruden- tius, Paulinus, and some others of less name in the Western Church, and John of Damascus, Theophanes and Cosmos of Jerusalem,