← Back to the beginning of V.39. Of singing or saying Psalms, and other parts of Common Prayer wherein the people and the minister answer one another by course

Whether Ignatius did at any time hear the angels praising God after that sort or no, what matter is it? If Ignatius did not, yet one which must be with us of greater authority did. “I saw the Lord (saith the Prophet Esay) on an high throne; the Seraphims stood upon it; one cried to another saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts, the whole world is full of his glory13.”

But whosoever were the author, whatsoever the time, whencesoever the example of beginning this custom in the Church of Christ; sith we are wont to suspect things only before trial, and afterwards either to approve them as good, or if we find them evil, accordingly to judge of them; their counsel must needs seem very unseasonable, who advise men now to suspect that wherewith the world hath had by their own account twelve hundred years’ acquaintance and upwards, enough to take away suspicion and jealousy. Men know by this time, if ever they will know, whether it be good or evil which hath been so long retained.

As for the Devil, which way it should greatly benefit him to have this manner of singing psalms accounted an invention of Ignatius, or an imitation of the angels of heaven, we do not well understand. But we very well see in them who thus plead a wonderful celerity of discourse. For perceiving at the first but only some cause of suspicion and fear lest it should be evil, they are presently in one and the selfsame breath resolved, that “what beginning soever it had, there is no possibility it should be good14.” The potent arguments which did thus suddenly break in upon them and overcome them are first, that it is not unlawful for the people all jointly to praise God in singing of psalms; secondly, that they are not any where forbidden by the law of God to sing every verse of the whole psalm both with heart and voice quite and clean throughout; thirdly, that it cannot be understood what is sung after our manner. Of which three, forasmuch as lawfulness to sing one way proveth not another way inconvenient, the former two are true allegations, but they lack strength to accomplish their desire; the third so strong that it might persuade, if the truth thereof were not doubtful.

And shall this enforce us to banish a thing which all Christian churches in the world have received; a thing which so many ages have held; a thing which the most approved councils and laws have so oftentime ratified; a thing which was never found to have any inconvenience in it; a thing which always heretofore the best men and wisest governors of God’s people did think they could never commend enough; a thing, which as Basil was persuaded, did both strengthen the meditation of those holy words which were uttered in that sort, and serve also to make attentive, and to raise up the hearts of men15; a thing whereunto God’s people of old did resort, with hope and thirst that thereby especially their souls might be edified; a thing which filleth the mind with comfort and heavenly delight, stirreth up flagrant desires and affections correspondent unto that which the words contain, allayeth all kind of base and earthly cogitations, banisheth and driveth away those evil secret suggestions which our invisible enemy is always apt to minister, watereth the heart to the end it may fructify, maketh the virtuous in trouble full of magnanimity and courage, serveth as a most approved remedy against all doleful and heavy accidents which befall men in this present life, to conclude, so fitly accordeth with the Apostle’s own exhortation16, “Speak to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody, and singing to the Lord in your hearts,” that surely there is more cause to fear lest the want thereof be a maim, than the use a blemish to the service of God.

It is not our meaning, that what we attribute unto the Psalms should be thought to depend altogether on that only form of singing or reading them by course as with us the manner is; but the end of our speech is to shew that because the Fathers of the Church, with whom the selfsame custom was so many ages ago in use, have uttered all these things concerning the fruit which the Church of God did then reap, observing that and no other form, it may be justly avouched that we ourselves retaining it and besides it also the other more newly and not unfruitfully devised, do neither want that good which the later invention can afford, nor lose any thing of that for which the ancient so oft and so highly commend the former. Let novelty therefore in this give over endless contradictions, and let ancient custom prevail17

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Footnotes

  1. Exod. xix. 8; xxiv. 3; Deut. v. 27; xxvi. 17; Josh. xxiv. 16. ↩

  2. [As used in Christian families, it seems to be mentioned by Tertullian: Ad Uxor. ii. 9. “Sonant inter duos Psalmi et Hymni, et mutuo provocant quis melius Deo suo canet. Talia Christus videns et audiens gaudet. His pacem suam mittit.”] ↩

  3. Socrat. Hist. Eccl. lib. vi. c. 8. [Λεκτέον δὲ καὶ ὅθεν τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔλαβεν ή κατὰ τοὺς ἀντιϕώνους ὕμνους ἐν τῃ̑ ἐκκλησίᾳ συνήθεια· Ἰγνάτιος Ἀντιοχείας τη̑ς Συρίας τρίτος ἀπὸ του̑ Ἀποστόλου Πέτρου ἐπίσκοπος, ὃς καὶ τοι̑ς Ἀποστόλοις αὐτοι̑ς συνδιέτριψεν, ὀπτασίαν εἰ̑δεν ἀγγέλων διὰ τω̑ν ἀντιϕώνων ὕμνων τὴν ἁγίαν Τριάδα ὑμνούντων, καὶ τὸν τρόπον του̑ ὁράματος τῃ̑ ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ ἐκκλησίᾳ παρέδωκεν· ὅθεν καὶ ἐν πάσαις ται̑ς ἐκκλησίαις αὕτη ἡ παράδοσις διεδόθη· οὑ̑τος μὲν οὐ̑ν ὁ περὶ τω̑ν ἀντιϕώνων ὕμνων λόγος ἐστίν.] ↩

  4. Theod. lib. ii. cap. 24. [Ἡ δὲ ἀξιάγαστος ξυνωρὶς, Φλαβιανὸς καὶ Διόδωρος, ἱερατικη̑ς μὲν λειτουργίας μηδὲπω τετυχηκότες, τῳ̑ δὲ λαῳ̑ συντεταγμένοι, νύκτωρ καὶ μεθ’ ἡμέραν εἰς τὸν ὑπὲρ τη̑ς εὐσεβείας ζη̑λον διήγειρον ἅπαντας· οὑ̑τοι πρω̑τοι διχη̑ διελόντες τοὺς τω̑ν ψαλλόντων χοροὺς ἐκ διαδοχη̑ς ᾄδειν τὴν Δαυϊτικὴν ἐδίδαξαν μελῳδίαν· καὶ του̑το ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ πρω̑τον ἀρξάμενον, πάντοσε διέδραμε, καὶ κατέλαβε τη̑ς οἰκουμένης τὰ τέρματα· οὑ̑τοι τω̑ν θείων τοὺς ἐραστὰς εἰς τοὺς τω̑ν μαρτύρων σηκοὺς συναγείροντες, πάννυχοι διετέλουν σὺν ἐκείνοις τὸν Θεὸν ἀνυμνου̑ντες.] ↩

  5. Plat. in Vita Damasi. [“Ut Psalmi quoque alternis vicibus in ecclesia canerentur, in fineque eorum verba hæc ponerentur, Gloria Patri, &c. instituit.”] ↩

  6. “Bene mari plerumque comparatur ecclesia, quæ primo ingredientis populi agmine totis vestibulis undas vomit: deinde in oratione totius plebis tanquam undis refluentibus stridet; tum responsoriis psalmorum, cantu virorum, mulierum, virginum, parvulorum, consonus undarum fragor resultat.” Hexam. lib. ii. cap. 5. ↩

  7. Basil. Epist. 63. [al. 207. t. iii. 310, 311.] ↩

  8. [Not Sabellius (who flourished a century before) nor Marcellus, personally; but partisans of their heresy who were then disturbing the Church of Neocæsarea. Σαβέλλιος ό Λίβυς, καὶ Μἀρκελλος ὁ Γαλάτης μόνοι ἐκ πάντων ἐτόλμησαν καὶ διδάξαι ταυ̑τα καὶ γράψαι, ἅπερ νυ̑ν παρ’ ὑμι̑ν ὡς ἴδια ἑαυτω̑ν εὐρέματα ἐπιχειρου̑σι προϕέρειν οἱ καθηγούμενοι του̑ λαου̑ . . οὑ̑τοι ῥητὰ καὶ ἄρρητα καθ’ ἡμω̑ν δημηγορου̑σι … . κᾂν τὴν αἰτίαν ἐρωτηθω̑σι του̑ ἀκηρύκτου τούτου καὶ ἀσπόνδου πολέμου, ψαλμοὺς λέγουσι καὶ τρόπον μελῳδίας τη̑ς παρ’ ὑμι̑ν κεκρατηκυίας συνηθείας παρηλλαγμένον. p. 310.] ↩

  9. [Ibid. p. 311. Πρὸς δὲ τὸ ἐπὶ ται̑ς ψαλμῳδίαις ἔγκλημα, ᾠ̑ μάλιστα τοὺς ἁπλουστέρους ϕοβου̑σιν οἱ διαβάλλοντες ἡμα̑ς, ἐκει̑νο εἰπει̑ν ἔχω· ὅτι τὰ νυ̑ν κεκρατηκότα ἔθη πάσαις ται̑ς του̑ Θεου̑ ἐκκλησίαις σύνῳδά ἐστι καὶ σύμϕωνα· ἐκ νυκτὸς γὰρ ὀρθρίζει παρ’ ἡμι̑ν ὁ λαὸς ἐπὶ τὸν οἰ̑κον τη̑ς προσευχη̑ς, καὶ ἐν πόνῳ καὶ θλίψει καὶ συνοχῃ̑ δακρύων ἐξομολογούμενοι τῳ̑ Θεῳ̑, τελευται̑ον ἐξαναστάντες τω̑ν προσευχω̑ν, εἰς τὴν ψαλμῳδίαν καθίστανται. καὶ νυ̑ν μὲν διχη̑ διανεμηθέντες, ἀντιψάλλουσιν ἀλλήλοις, ὁμου̑ μὲν τὴν μελέτην τω̑ν λογίων ἐντευ̑θεν κρατύνοντες, ὁμου̑ δὲ καὶ τὴν προσοχὴν καὶ τὸ ἀμετεώριστον τω̑ν καρδιω̑ν ἑαυτοι̑ς διοικούμενοι. ἔπειτα πάλιν ἐπιτρέψαντες ἑνὶ κατάρχειν του̑ μέλους οἱ λοιποὶ ὑπηχου̑σι· καὶ οὕτως ἐν τῃ̑ ποικιλίᾳ τη̑ς ψαλμῳδίας, τὴν νύκτα διενεγκόντες μεταξὺ προσευχόμενοι, ἡμέρας ἤδη ὑπολαμπούσης, πάντες κοινῃ̑, ὡς ἐξ ἑνὸς στόματος καὶ μια̑ς καρδίας, τὸν τη̑ς ἐξομολογήσεως ψαλμὸν ἀναϕέρουσι τῳ̑ Κυρίῳ, ἴδια ἑαυτω̑ν ἕκαστος τὰ ῥήματα τη̑ς μετανοίας ποιούμενοι. ἐπὶ τούτοις λοιπὸν εἰ ἡμα̑ς ἀποϕεύγετε, ϕεύξεσθε μὲν Αἰγυπτίους, ϕεύξεσθε δὲ καὶ Λίβυας ἀμϕοτέρους, Θηβαίους, Παλαιστίνους, Ἄραβας, Φοινίκας, Σύρους, καὶ τοὺς πρὸς τῳ̑ Εὐϕράτῃ κατῳκισμένους· καὶ πάντας ἁπαξαπλω̑ς, παρ’ οἷς ἀγρυπνίαι καὶ προσευχαὶ καὶ αἱ κοιναὶ ψαλμῳδίαι τετίμηνται.] ↩

  10. Plin. Secund. Epist. lib. x. [Ep. 101.] ↩

  11. Exod. xv. 1. 21. ↩

  12. [De Vita Contemplativa, p. 902. Ἄιδουσι πεποιημένους εἰς τὸν Θεὸν ὕμνους πολλοι̑ς μέτροις καὶ μέλεσι, τῃ̑ μὲν συνηχου̑ντες τῃ̑ δὲ καὶ ἀντιϕώνοις ἁρμονίαις ἐπιχειρονομου̑ντες καὶ ἐπορχούμενοι, καὶ ἐπιθειάζοντες τότε μὲν τὰ προσόδια, τότε δὲ τὰ στάσιμα, στροϕάς τε τὰς ἐν χρείᾳ καὶ ἀντιστρόϕους ποιούμενοι· … . μίμημα του̑ πάλαι συστάντος (χορου̑) κατὰ τὴν Ἐρυθρὰν θάλασσαν, ἕνεκα τω̑ν θαυματουργηθέντων ἐκει̑· … ἐνθουσιω̑ντες ἄνδρες ὁμου̑ καὶ γυναι̑κες, εἷς γενόμενοι χορὸς, τοὺς εὐχαριστηρίους ὕμνους εἰς τὸν σωτη̑ρα Θεὸν ᾐ̑δον· ἐξάρχοντος τοι̑ς μὲν ἀνδράσι Μωσέως του̑ προϕήτου, ται̑ς δὲ γυναιξὶ Μαριὰμ τη̑ς προϕήτιδος.] ↩

  13. Isa. vi. 1-3. ↩

  14. T. C. lib. i. p. 203. [al. 163.] “From whencesoever it came it cannot be good, considering that when it is granted that all the people may praise God (as it is in singing of psalms) then this ought not to be restrained unto a few; and where it is lawful both with heart and voice to sing the whole psalm, there it is not meet that they should sing but the one half with their heart and voice, and the other with their heart only. For where they may both with heart and voice sing, there the heart is not enough. Therefore besides the incommodity which cometh this way, in that being tossed after this sort, men cannot understand what is sung, those other two inconveniences come of this form of singing, and therefore it is banished in all reformed churches.” [Whitgift’s Defence, 741. “How you forget yourself! before you found fault with the book because the people repeated their prayers after the minister, and that because ‘the minister is the only mouth of the people unto the Lord;’ now, as though you were not the same man, but played some other part, you find fault with the order of service because they be not their own mouths to the Lord: then to pray with heart was sufficient; now it is not enough: whence this contrariety should spring I cannot imagine, except I should ascribe it to a froward and preposterous desire that you have to deface this Church.”] ↩

  15. [Vid. supr. N°. 2. note 3, p. 165.] ↩

  16. Eph. v. 19. ↩

  17. (Τὰ ἀρχαι̑α ἔθη κρατείτω. Can. Nic. vi.) ↩

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