Gospel Music, Part 3
3. The ancientneſſe of the uſe of Singing.
Quo antiquius eo melius.To make good what I ſay, that ſinging of Pſalmes hath been in practice among all reformed Churches up to the time of Chriſt and his Apoſtles; and to begin at theſe times, and ſo aſcend: for the ancienter the practice, the more authority is in the example.
1. At this time the Churches in England,1643. Scotland, Holland, Geneva, New England, practiſe it.
2. In Luthers time,1540. above an hundred yeares ſince, it was in much eſteeme with him and godly perſons. He would ſay to his Chriſtian company when he heard of the threats of Princes, and Popes, and Biſhops againſt him, Come, come, ſaid he, let us ſing the 46. Pſalm, and let them all doe what they can.
Rabanus Maurus, 847.a Commentator on the Bible, who flouriſhed about An.. Dom. 847. commends the honeſt plain ſong, the plain ſinging of Churches in ages preceding him.
Gregory the great flouriſhing An. 590.An. Ch. 590. diſlikes not ſinging, but that men ſhould be choſen to doe that onelyonly, who attended ſo to ſinging, as to neglect holineſſe of life, juſt as our Cathedrall men, who ſing the Scriptures, prayers, &c.
For Hieron and Auguſtine it makes no matter which we put firſt, though in age (we know) Hieron was ancienter then Auguſtine, we look to the order of times when men likely might write thoſe things we quote; yet that men may not miſtakingly think we miſtook, we put Auguſtine firſt, as younger in age.
Auguſtine, 385.who was made Profeſſor of Rhetorick, and heard Ambroſe (as Bucholcerus ſaith) about 385. after writing divers bookes,Aug. lib. de Catechizandis rudibus Retractat. lib. 2. cap. 11. commends the Churches in Egypt for their ſweet ejaculatory ſingings, ſaying, that not voyces, but devotions aſcend up to Gods eares. Adding that he would have their publick ſingings to be ſuch as that all the people might underſtandingly ſay Amen. He wrote alſo a booke (as we have ſaid) againſt Hilarius in the behalfe of ſinging.
Hieronymus made a Presbyter (at 20 years of age) about A.D. 353.353. (ſo Helvicus) and wrote his Catalogue of Illuſtrious men, about An. Dom. 392.Canon. Non mediocr. diſtinct. 5. (ſo Bucholcerus) finds fault that in his time they ſang no more reverently. And he is cited to ſay, Better it is to ſing, five Pſalmes with purity, ſerenity, and ſpirituall cheerfulneſſe of heart, then all the Pſalter with diſtractions of heart.
Ambroſe made Epiſc. Mediol. 369.about 369. yeares after Chriſt, (as Bucholc. affirms,Lib. 9. Confeſſionum.) is ſaid by Auguſtine to have zealouſly put on the Weſterne Churches in ſinging of Hymnes and Pſalms. Among whom the Roman Church was then eminent.
Baſil the great,365. a learned pious man, mightily commends the ſinging of Pſalmes (as we ſhall heare afterwards in the uſefulneſſe of it) and therefore no doubt it was the cuſtome of the Greek Churches in his time, who flouriſhed about 365. yeares365. after Chriſt. So he in his Com. in Gr. upon the Pſalms.
Athanaſius advanced ſinging in the Greeke Church of Alexandria, who flouriſhed about the yeare 325. viz. then made Epiſcop. eo loci, which Auguſtine commends, and Gregory in imitats 325.in the Latin Church.
Tertullian, who flouriſhed neerer the Apoſtles times, ſaith,194. that the Chriſtians after their Love-feaſts, as Jude calls them,Apologet. cap. 19. Jude 12.98. (Tertullian uſeth the ſame word) were wont to ſing out of the holy Scriptures.
Euſebius tells us, that Plinie the ſecond (about Anno 98.) wrote an Epiſtle to Trajan the Emperour,In the time of the Apoſtles. This Epiſt. of Plin. is extant in Euſeb. in hiſt. Eccleſ. lib. 3. cap. 33. Euſeb. Hiſt. Eccleſ. lib. 2. cap. 17. that the Chriſtians being gathered together before day, were wont to ſing together Hymnes and praiſes to Chriſt as to a God. And the ſame Euſebius teſtifies, that Philo Judaeus did teſtifie the ſame of the Chriſtians ſinging, which Philo Judaeus did, (as Euſebius affirmeth) live in the time of ſome of the Apoſtles. And aſſures us alſo, that the ſaid Plinie and Trajan lived in the time of the Apoſtle John, who died not till about 100. yeares after Chriſt.
And thus I have brought the practice of the Churches in ſinging of Pſalmes, up to the Apoſtles times, by the writings of the moſt godly and learned men of former ages, whoſe judgments you have heard approving the goodneſſe of the practice, as well as their Hiſtories affirming the truth of the fact.
Upon which Zanchie boldly affirmes, that ſinging was an Apoſtolicall inſtitution. And no wonder he ſhould be bold in this, when the text of Scriptures we laid down at firſt, are ſo evident, from which no doubt the Churches took their warrant.