Features of Its Use in Connection with the Work of God Since Bible Times.
THERE can be no doubt that with the apostasy and corruption which marked the history of the church during the centuries leading to the Dark Ages, the character of music as a means of worship degenerated in proportion to the departure from the simplicity of the gospel. Testimony is not wanting, however, to its special use among the Christians and martyrs of the first centuries. The spirit of praise and song is noticeable in the records remaining of those times and experiences. They encouraged their own hearts and those of their fellows by the singing of hymns of praise and hope under the most trying circumstances. The same is true of those who were faithful to the light which began to shine out of the darkness in the twelfth century.
We read of the persecuted Waldenses at a later date that, when driven from their homes, "they sang canticles as they climbed the steeps, which served at once to smooth their rugged path, and to dispel their terrors." And, again, of the martyr Geofroi Varaile, "He walked to the place where he was about to die, with a firm step and a serene countenance; he addressed the vast multitude around his pile in a way that drew tears from many eyes; after this he began to sing with a loud voice, and so continued until he sank amid the flames."
But it was not until the period of the Reformation, which was to give the word of God, containing the complete knowledge of the plan of redemption, to the world in a manner in which it had never before been given, that the science of music was so thoroughly understood, or its religious use so fully appreciated, as has been the case since that time. Much testimony might be cited concerning this decline in music during the earlier centuries, and its later revival and development; but the intended brevity of these articles forbids anything but a short extract. Under the heading "Hymns," in the Encyclopedia Britannica, concerning the early centuries may be found this: "The poets of this primitive epoch, which closed with the sixth century, wrote in the old classical meters, and made use of a considerable variety of them." Then, after referring to a transition which "progressed from the sixth century downwards," it adds: "This process, while it promoted the development of a medieval as distinct from a primitive style, led also to much deterioration in the quality of hymns."6
This deterioration, however, both in music and hymnody, was recovered in connection with the Reformation. The same authority says:—
"Luther was a proficient in, and a lover of, music," and he was so just in proportion to his proficiency in the word and work of God. He says in the preface to his hymn book (1545) that he desired that "this beautiful ornament might in a manner serve the great Creator and his Christian people." One of his hymns alone is said to have made many conversions, and that "preëminently above all is the celebrated paraphrase of the forty-sixth psalm, the production of the moment in which Luther, engaged in a conflict with a world of foes, sought strength in the consciousness that he was defending a divine cause which could never perish." Luther was not only the author of many hymns, but a composer and teacher of music. He spent several years at Wittenberg teaching his people to sing his hymns, which soon spread over all Germany. Coleridge says of him that he did as much for the Reformation in this manner as by his translation of the Bible.
The Encyclopedia Britannica, in the article "Music," says:—
Yet another prominent feature in musical history dates from the sixteenth century. . . . Luther is said to have been the first to write metrical verses on sacred subjects in the language of the people, and his verses were sometimes adapted to ancient church melodies, sometimes to tunes of secular songs, and sometimes had music composed for them by himself and others. . . . It was he who put the words of praise and prayer into the popular mouth, associated with rythmical music which aided to imprint the words upon the memory and enforce their enunciation. . . . The placing of the choral song of the church within the lips of the people had great religious and moral influence; it had also its great effect upon art, shown in the productions of the North German musicians ever since the first days of the Reformation.
English and French versions of the psalms by various authors were later published for the same purpose of fitting sacred minstrelsy to the voice of the multitude.
In this connection the fact that the home of the Reformation is also (and beginning with the same period) the home of the greatest masters of music the world has ever produced, can but be regarded as strikingly significant. It is said of Handel and Bach that they "wrote every combination of musical notes that down to our own latest times has ever been employed with good effect; and the more the works of these masters are studied, the more are they found to foreshadow the supposed novelties in harmony employed by subsequent artists." Another interesting fact, and worthy of consideration here, is that, while Germany is at once the home of the Reformation in Bible religion and sacred song, Italy, which is the home of the Papacy—the antichrist—becomes the field for the production and establishment of the opera, and a class of light secular music which took readily there and in France, but which gained favor in Germany very slowly. Of the fore part of the seventeenth century it is said:—
The opera now became a fixed institution in Italy; its performance was no longer restricted to the palaces of the princes and nobles, and it became the best esteemed entertainment in the public theaters.
In Germany the seed of opera fell upon stony ground. . . . Only importations of Italian works, with Italian singers, came before the public until nearly the end of the century.
Following the period of the Reformation of the sixteenth century there seems to have been a decline in religion, music, and hymnody until the time of the Wesleys and the Methodist movement, which revived again the true spirit of devotion and musical worship. The sacred music of this period is proverbial for its spirit and power. Many examples might be given, but two facts,—that Charles Wesley was the most noted hymn writer of all modern times, and that his son Samuel was the most brilliant organist of his day—will sufficiently illustrate, in this instance, the point designed to be given prominence, viz., that, in proportion to the manifestation of the Spirit and power of God in the preaching of the gospel, is the same Spirit and power witnessed in the production and use of sacred verse and song. Charles Wesley is said to have written over six thousand hymns.
Perhaps no more marked exemplification of this truth has been witnessed than in connection with the Adventist movement of 1840-44. William Miller was himself a hymn writer and singer, and the entire movement was characterized by the same intensity and fervor of its hymns and music which distinguished it in all its features as one of the most remarkable awakenings of the present century.
We may learn from this brief survey of the subject that, as the purposes of God become more and more fully understood, and the nature of his work appreciated, the spirit of praise and song, together with a knowledge and development of the science of music, have proportionally increased.
But as God’s ways and works are infinite, we should not conclude that all has been realized in either direction that God designs. Fields of rich blessing and knowledge lie still unexplored, and the Lord is pleased to have everyone, as expressed by another, "acquire everything possible both in science and revelation." "The theme of redemption is one that angels desire to look into; it will be the science and song of the redeemed throughout ceaseless ages of eternity. Is it not worthy of careful and thoughtful study now? Should we not praise God with heart and soul and voice for his wonderful works to the children of men?"