{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_26279/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_26279","id":"gutenberg_26279","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/26279","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christianity","Society of Friends -- Discipline"],"text":"Produced by Bryan Ness, Jana Srna and the Online Distributed\nProofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was\nproduced from scanned images of public domain material\nfrom the Google Print project.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n                                   ON\n\n                           SINGING AND MUSIC.\n\n\n\n\n                   TO BE HAD AT FRIENDS' BOOK STORE,\n\n                   No. 304 Arch Street, Philadelphia.\n\n                                 1885.\n\n\n\n\n    At a Yearly Meeting of Friends held in Philadelphia from the 20th of\n    the Fourth Month to the 24th of the same, inclusive, 1885.\n\n    An Essay on Singing and Music contained in the Minutes of the\n    Meeting for Sufferings was now read, setting forth the spiritual\n    nature of true worship, the danger of depending on outward forms in\n    religious meetings, and the disadvantages connected with the\n    practice of singing and music as an amusement. Much unity was\n    expressed with the essay, and it was concluded that it should be\n    published and distributed for information and warning to our own\n    members and others. Desires were felt that in thus issuing a renewed\n    testimony to the principles of our Society, we may be individually\n    aroused to the necessity of so living in communion with the Father\n    of Spirits, and in subjection to the revelations of his Light in our\n    hearts, that our meetings may truly be held under the overshadowing\n    of the Divine Power.\n\n    Taken from the Minutes.\n\n                                                 JOSEPH WALTON, _Clerk_.\n\n\n\n\nOn Singing and Music.\n\n\nWe have been brought under a feeling of religious concern that the\nancient testimony of the Society of Friends to the true nature of\nspiritual worship may be fully maintained by all who claim that name;\nand that they may be watchful against the introduction of practices\nwhich will undermine the support of this testimony, and thus lead\nthose who profess to be the children of the Light, back into a\ndependence upon forms, out of which their forefathers in the Truth\nwere brought by that remarkable outpouring of grace and spiritual\npower which marked the rise of Friends as a distinct people.\n\nThe fundamental doctrine declared by our Saviour, when He said, \"It is\nthe Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing,\" was steadily\nkept in view by George Fox and his fellow laborers. They clearly saw\nthat Christ had ended the Jewish law, with its outward and ceremonial\nobservances, and had introduced a spiritual dispensation, under which\nHe, by his heavenly and eternal Light or Spirit, was to be the Leader,\nGuide and Helper of his people; that all was now to be done in and by\nHim; and that this was especially true of religious worship, which\ndepends upon the enlightening, quickening power of his Holy Spirit.\n\nAll confidence in the flesh,--in the natural abilities of man,--was\nremoved; and they were taught to distinguish between that which is of\nman and that which is of God,--between that stirring up of the natural\nfeelings which can be produced by the skilful use of outward means,\nsuch as music, pictorial representations and architectural grace and\ngrandeur; and that solemn covering of the heart which is a fruit and\nan evidence of the extension of Divine help and power.\n\nHence these divinely enlightened men and women laid aside the forms in\nwhich they had been educated, and which many of them had sincerely and\nzealously practised, and, in their private retirements before the\nLord, and when they assembled for the performance of public worship,\nthey sat in silence before Him, seeking to draw near in spirit, in\nliving exercise of mind, that they might feel the arising of his\npower, and be enabled to offer acceptable worship.\n\nAs that power arose in any, and under its influence, they were led to\nutter words of prayer or praise to the Almighty, or exhortation to\ntheir fellow believers; they were comforted or edified in proportion\nas they could feel the Spirit bearing witness to the life that\naccompanied the vocal expressions. Thus their dependence was not\nplaced on man, but on the Spirit that quickeneth.\n\nThere was no desire to limit the operation of the Spirit, or to lay\ndown any rule which would prohibit in times of worship any act which\ntruly proceeded from its motions; but there was a jealous care that\nnone of these outward things should be done as formal matters; that\npeople should not look upon them as essential to the holding of\nmeetings for worship, and that they should not in any manner be led\naway from their dependence on the fresh extension of Divine life and\nlight to their souls, as the very foundation of true worship. The\nwritings of the early members of our Society abound in evidences of\ntheir watchful care in this respect.\n\nAmong them, one of the most earnest and effective laborers for the\nspread of the Gospel, was Edward Burrough, whose efforts in London\nwere blessed to a large number. Over the converts in that city he\nwatched with anxious love; and, when absent in the service of his\nMaster in other parts, frequently visited them by epistles, in which\nhe gave much sound and practical advice. From these epistles are taken\nthe following passages, referring to the manner in which these\nmeetings for worship were to be held.\n\n    \"We charge and command you in the presence of the Lord, whose power\n    is dreadful, that you meet together in silence, and wait, and none\n    to speak a word but what he is moved to speak, a word from the\n    Lord.\"--_E. Burrough's Works, Ed. 1672, p. 70._\n\n    \"We charge by the Lord that none speak without eternal [Divine]\n    motion; for if you do, the false prophet speaks, and his words eat\n    as a canker, and darken and vail them that hearken to it.\"--_Id.,\n    p. 71._\n\nThe nature of this spiritual worship is clearly portrayed by Robert\nBarclay; see the 11th Proposition of his Apology, particularly in\nSections 6 and 7, to which we desire the reader to refer.\n\n                   *       *       *       *       *\n\nWe have viewed with much concern the gradual creeping into the\nmeetings of Friends, in some parts of the country, of latter years, of\nreading the Scriptures, and of singing, practices which, until within\na few years, were almost unknown amongst us.\n\nWe believe that these changes are an evidence of a departure from that\ndependence on the Lord for ability to worship Him aright, which was\nso conspicuous a testimony of this Society; and that they are\nconnected with a shrinking from patient waiting upon the Lord, and\nfrom the humbling exercise of mind which is often felt in endeavoring\nto draw near in spirit to Him.\n\nFriends do not assemble in their meetings for Divine worship for the\nsake of listening to any outward performances. If this principle is\nonce departed from, there is no tenable ground to prevent a gradual\nlapse into a full adoption of those forms out of which our Society was\nbrought in the beginning. If the Scriptures are to be read in our\nmeetings, how easy is it to conclude that a careful selection, such as\nis provided in the liturgies of some religious bodies, would be\npreferable to the choice likely to be made by persons of less\neducation, or who have given less time and thought to the subject. If\nsinging by tune is to be practised, why should not the highest style\nof art, aided by musical instruments, be made use of, so as more\neffectively to stimulate the emotions of the listeners? If preaching\nis essential to the proper holding of a meeting, it may be asked,\nwould it not be better to employ persons of marked ability, who have\nbeen regularly trained to such an employment, and who may reasonably\nbe supposed to be better prepared than others to interest and instruct\nan audience? If vocal prayer is always in place, without regard to the\nimmediate promptings of Him who only knows the conditions and needs of\nthose assembled, it might be asked, why not use some of those\nbeautiful and comprehensive forms which are found in the prayer-books\nof other societies?\n\nThus, there is reason to fear, the language of the prophet might\nbecome applicable to our Society. \"I had planted thee a noble vine,\nwholly a right seed; how then art thou turned into the degenerate\nplant of a strange vine unto me?\"\n\n                   *       *       *       *       *\n\nWe think the danger we have endeavored to point out is peculiarly\ngreat as respects music and singing, owing to the power over the\nnatural sensibilities, which sweet sounds possess; and it is easy to\nmistake the emotions thus produced for the tenderness of mind and the\nsoftening influence of \"the Spirit that quickeneth.\"\n\nThe distinction between these is very clearly pointed out by the late\nThomas Chalmers, a distinguished clergyman of the Presbyterian Church\nof Scotland, a man eminent for his abilities, and whose position gave\nhim abundant opportunities for observing that of which he speaks. He\nsays:\n\n    \"You easily understand how a taste for music is one thing, and a\n    real submission to the influence of religion is another; how the ear\n    may be regaled by the melody of sound, and the heart may utterly\n    refuse the proper impression of the sense that is conveyed by it;\n    how the sons and daughters of the world may, with their every\n    affection devoted to its perishable vanities, inhale all the\n    delights of enthusiasm, as they sit in crowded assemblage, around\n    the deep and solemn oratorio.\" \"It is a very possible thing, that\n    the moral and the rational and the active man, may have given no\n    entrance into his bosom for any of the sentiments, and yet so\n    overpowered may he be by the charm of vocal conveyance through which\n    they are addressed to him, that he may be made to feel with such an\n    emotion, and to weep with such a tenderness, and to kindle with such\n    a transport, and to glow with such an elevation, as may one and all\n    carry upon them the semblance of sacredness.\"--_Chalmers' Works,\n    Phila., 1830, p. 107-8._\n\n    In speaking of the connection between music and worship, another\n    person, not a member of the Society of Friends, observes: \"I firmly\n    believe\" \"that if we seek to affect the mind by the aid of\n    architecture, painting or music, the impression produced by these\n    adjuncts is just so much subtracted from the worship of the unseen\n    Jehovah. If the outward eye is taken up with material splendor, or\n    forms of external beauty, the mind sees but little of Him who is\n    invisible; the ear that is entranced with the melody of sweet\n    sounds, listens not to the still small voice by which the Lord makes\n    his presence known.\"\n\n    \"True spiritual access unto God,\" says another writer, \"is not at\n    all furthered by the excitement of the animal or intellectual frame.\n    It is most commonly known, where in abstraction from outward things,\n    the mind, in awful quietude, finds itself gathered into a sense of\n    the presence of Infinite Purity.\"\n\n    \"By the power of imagination; by the influence of eloquent words; by\n    a stirring swell of elevated music, the mind may be excited; the\n    feelings may be tendered, and we may pour forth verbal supplication,\n    whilst the heart is unchanged.\"\n\nEdward Burrough thus instructively describes the changes which\nfollowed the declension of the primitive church from its original\nstate of life and purity.\n\n    \"When the gift of the ministry through the Holy Ghost was lost and\n    no more received, men began to make ministers by learning arts and\n    languages and human policy. They began to study from books and\n    writings what to preach, not having the Holy Ghost, without which\n    none are the ministers of Christ.\" \"Having lost the sense of God's\n    true worship, which is in spirit and in truth, they began to worship\n    in outward observances, which is not the worship of God, but\n    superstitious and idolatrous.\" \"When singing in the spirit and with\n    the understanding ceased, then people began to introduce the form of\n    singing David's experiences, in rhyme and metre; and thus, in the\n    apostacy, the form grew as a substitute for that which the saints\n    had enjoyed in power; shadows were set up instead of the substance,\n    and death instead of life.\"\n\nThe same writer in an appeal to the professors of his day to test\ntheir religious profession by the Scriptures, says:\n\n    \"Likewise you sing and give to sing David's psalms in rhyme and\n    metre, professing it is to the glory and honor of God. Ye practise\n    this as an ordinance of God, as a part of his worship, and as a part\n    of your religion; but this practice and profession also are manifest\n    not to be according to the Scriptures; because it was never\n    commanded; neither is there any precedent for this practice in the\n    Scriptures in gospel times.\"\n\nRobert Barclay says, \"We confess this [singing of Psalms] to be a part\nof God's worship, and very sweet and refreshing when it proceeds from\na true sense of God's love in the heart, and arises from the Divine\ninfluence of the spirit.\" But he condemns \"the formal, customary way\nof singing,\" which was practised by professors in his day, and has\nbeen continued down to the present time, as having \"no foundation in\nScripture, nor any ground in true Christianity.\" He concludes his\nremarks on this subject in the following words: \"As to their\nartificial music, either by organs or other instruments, or voice, we\nhave neither example nor precept for it in the New Testament.\"\n\n                   *       *       *       *       *\n\nIndependently of that harmony of sound which is the result of musical\nskill, there is a modulation of the voice which is an index of the\nfeelings of the mind. Where the heart is melted under a sense of\nDivine goodness and love, and thanksgiving to the Author of all our\nblessings flows from it, true melody is often shown in the tones of\nthe voice; and this is sometimes apparent even when no words are\ndistinctly uttered. It is to such a state of mind we understand the\nApostle Paul to refer when he speaks to the Ephesians, of \"making\nmelody in your heart to the Lord.\" When an outward harmony, depending\nupon \"invented tunes, such as please the carnal mind,\" and upon words\nwhich have been committed to memory in order to be sung therewith,\ntakes the place of that expression which comes from the heart and is\nuttered under a sense of the Divine requiring, then those who take\npart therein fall into that \"formal,\" \"customary,\" \"artificial\" way of\nsinging, against which the Society of Friends has borne a steady\ntestimony from its rise.\n\n                   *       *       *       *       *\n\nThese observations apply to vocal religious exercises in the family as\nwell as in more public gatherings.\n\n                   *       *       *       *       *\n\nWe believe the tendency of this artificial music on the mind, even\nwhen attuned to the expression of religious sentiment, and accompanied\nby the language of Divine worship, is to \"lead the soul almost\ninsensibly to substitute a pleasing emotion which ends in self, for\nthose spiritual sacrifices which are acceptable to God by Jesus\nChrist, even a broken and contrite heart, and that communion with the\nFather and the Son which results from loving God and keeping his\ncommandments.\"\n\n                   *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn congregational singing, there is an added inconsistency. For, it is\nin the highest degree improbable that those assembled on such\noccasions will be in such a frame of mind as will fit them properly\nand truthfully to join in the offering of the prayers or praises\nexpressed in the hymns which may be given out to be sung. This\nobjection is pointed out by Barclay in his Apology, where, after\nstating that \"the formal customary way of singing hath no foundation\nin Scripture, nor any ground in true Christianity,\" he adds, \"all\nmanner of wicked, profane persons take upon them to personate the\nexperiences and conditions of blessed David; which are not only false\nas to them, but also to some of more sobriety, who utter them forth.\"\n\"Such singing doth more please the carnal ears of men, than the pure\nears of the Lord, who abhors all lying and hypocrisy.\" (_Prop. XI,\nsect. 26._)\n\nThis difficulty has been felt by many sincere persons who were not\nmembers of our Society, and has prevented some of them from joining in\nsuch performances. John Spalding, while still a member of the\nestablished Church of England, was so convinced of its inconsistency,\nthat he addressed a letter to those who met at the place of worship\nwhich he was accustomed to attend, in which he says:\n\n    \"I appeal to the witness of God in every heart, considering the\n    variety of conditions, the different subjects of praise, adoration,\n    confession, petitioning, &c., contained in every collection of\n    hymns, whether in the fear of the Lord any one, in whatever state or\n    condition he may be at the time, can with propriety be ready to sing\n    whatever may be given out.\"\n\n    John Spalding further testifies as to the effect of formal singing\n    in worship. \"From my own experience I can say it has a tendency to\n    divert the mind from solemn, serious reflections. I am now speaking\n    more particularly concerning those, who have attained to a measure\n    of the grace of God. Ask yourselves, is outward singing intended or\n    calculated to please the carnal ears of men, or a holy God? Why such\n    anxiety about tunes, voices, and music? Is the Lord to be pleased\n    with such poor things? Oh, no, you cannot suppose it. Consider from\n    what root it springs; from the old man or the new; and remember the\n    axe is laid to the root to destroy all that is of the earth, of our\n    fleshly nature. I have considered those passages in the New\n    Testament where the subject is mentioned, and am confirmed by them\n    in my opinion of the inconsistency of public singing. The apostle\n    speaks of singing with grace in the heart; of making melody in the\n    heart to the Lord, not making a noise with the tongue, unless that\n    proceeds from the heart.\"\n\nIn a Memorial concerning Edward Cobb of Maine, issued by Falmouth\nMonthly Meeting, there is preserved some account of his religious\nexperience before he became a member of the Society of Friends, which\ntook place in 1797. In this he states:\n\n    \"When quite young, I learned the rules and was very fond of what is\n    called sacred music, sparing no pains to attend schools for that\n    purpose; and the prayer of my heart to be directed aright regarding\n    worship, seemed to receive the first intelligible answer by the way\n    of reproof in this exercise; and when, at the head of a choir of\n    singers, words have occurred that, through the enlightening\n    influence of heavenly goodness, (which had long been operating on my\n    mind), appeared evidently inconsistent with my own state, I have\n    often, to be unobserved by the company, kept the tune along; while I\n    feared that taking the words into my mouth, and uttering them as\n    worship to Him who requires worship of his creature man in spirit\n    and in truth, could be nothing short of solemn mockery from that\n    mind which had been so far enlightened as to believe that nothing\n    could be acceptable worship to Almighty God but what came from Him,\n    and, through the medium of his own Spirit, was breathed out to Him\n    again as that Spirit should dictate, whether in prayer or in praises\n    to his great name.\"\n\nIn confirmation of the fact that those who were convinced of the\nprinciples of Friends, when they joined in membership, were\nconstrained to lay aside their former practices of reading and singing\nin meetings for Divine worship, it may be mentioned, that although the\nwritings of those who were mainly instrumental in gathering the\nSociety at the time of its rise, contain many advices, cautions and\nencouragements to its members, as to the exercise of the ministry, and\nas to worship, yet they are almost totally silent as to these\npractices.\n\n                   *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn expressing these views, our object is to guard our own members from\nsliding into the adoption of views and practices which are\ninconsistent with, and lead away from the standard of spiritual\nreligion and worship believed in by us, and thus cause us to lose that\npost in his militant church which was assigned us by its Holy Head.\n\n                   *       *       *       *       *\n\nWe have been concerned also at the increase of instruments of music\nand the practice of singing in the families of our members, as a means\nof amusement. Even under the Jewish dispensation a woe was pronounced\nupon those who in a wanton and unconcerned state of mind invented unto\nthemselves instruments of music like David, but who were not grieved\nfor the afflictions of Joseph--that is, for the exercises and\nsufferings of the righteous seed.\n\nGeorge Fox declares that he was led to cry out against all sorts of\nmusic; and the advices of our Society down to modern times have been\nuniformly in the same direction. It has been felt that the time\nrequired to become a proficient in its practice was improperly taken\nfrom more important uses; that the emotions it produces have no\ntendency to strengthen the intellectual or moral character; that the\nmost melodious sounds that human instruments can make have no power to\nimplant principles, give strength to resist temptation or eradicate\nselfishness; that the love of music often leads into associations\nwhich are corrupting in their character, as is shown by its use in\npromoting the frivolity of the ball-room, and the dissipation of the\ndrinking-saloon, and especially in exciting the passions and drowning\nthe sensibilities of those engaged in the awful conflicts of the\nbattle-field; and that it is often resorted to to dispel the feelings\nof sadness and inquietude which are spread over the mind at times by\nthe Holy Spirit, and are the merciful visitations of our compassionate\nRedeemer, designed to draw the thoughts away from earthly things, and\nto fix them upon the alone Source of never ending happiness. Instead\nof quietly and patiently abiding under these dispensations, with the\nmind stayed on the Lord, in order to experience their full benefit, if\nany of these visited ones should resort to instruments of music and\nother means of dissipating the impressions on their minds, it will be\nlikely to mar the blessing designed by this extension of the mercy of\nGod to their souls.\n\nThe same kind of reasoning, which would defend the use of music and\nsinging as amusements, may also be urged in support of dancing,\nattending theatrical exhibitions, and other indulgences, which, in the\naggregate, distinguish the man of the world from the self-denying\nfollower of Christ.\n\nWe desire, therefore, renewedly to call the attention of Friends to\nthis subject; and to caution them against indulging themselves or\ntheir families in any practice, however pleasing to the natural taste,\nwhich will weaken their hands in supporting in its purity our ancient\ntestimony to the nature of spiritual worship; or which will have the\neffect of retarding their own progress in the self-denying path that\nleads to the kingdom of heaven.","title":"On Singing and Music","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":3886}