|
|
"Perversion"
There is no gift of God which fallen man has not misused, and indeed diverted, or rather perverted from its original design. The great enemy uses it for the destruction of spiritual worship, under the guise of aiding it: and few discern the work of his marvelously cleaver snare.
“Music” and “singing” are clearly defined in these two passages (Ephesians 5:19
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord). The three verbs are speaking, teaching, and admonishing yourselves, not one another. The great requirement for this is the “Spirit,” and all “wisdom,” and “grace.”The words be filled with the “Spirit” are usually quoted as though they were followed by a full stop, and formed a complete sentence. This is not the case. How is anyone to know whether he is filled with the “Spirit?” The answer is thus given:
The word of Christ will dwell in him richly: i.e. the word “spoken” by Christ and the words “relating” to Christ: the word which has Christ for its “object” and Christ for its “subject,” or Christ “Himself” by the “Spirit.”
This indwelling of Christ will be the evidence of the “Holy Spirit`s” presence and operation. For the “Spirit” and the “Word” can never be separated. He gives it: and uses it, and operates through it. It is His work to take of the things of Christ and show them unto us, and thus to glorify Christ: never calling our attention to His work in us, but to Christ`s work for us.
When this “word” thus dwell in us, we shall be full of its wondrous “Psalms:” we shall be “speaking in ourselves to God,” by our hymns: and our songs will be spiritual, because they will be sung in our hearts. There will be the melody which ascends and reaches up to the presence of God: because it will be a singing by “grace” and with “grace” unto God.
It will be the singing of the “heart,” and not of the “throat”: and it will be to the praise and glory of God, as it use to be, and not to the praise and glory of the choir or of the performers. The heart which is indwelled by the “Spirit” can sing to God. It will need no soloist to do it by proxy. For we are not commanded to listen to the singing of another or others, however exquisite it maybe, but to sing ourselves as worshippers. This singing requires no ear for music, but it needs a heart for Christ. For this music comes from God and returns to God.
In the Word of God, prayer is always spoken, and never sung: Moses besought the Lord saying in (Deuteronomy 3:23
And I besought the LORD at that time, saying, Exodus 32:11 And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?). Manoah entreated the Lord and said (Judges 13:8 Then Manoah entreated the LORD, and said, O my Lord, let the man of God which thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born.). Hannah prayed and said (1 Samuel 2:1 And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, mine horn is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation.). Elisha prayed, and said (2 Kings 6:17 And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.). Indeed “prayer” is different than “praise:” for Solomon spread forth his hands towards heaven and said (1 Kings 8:22-23 And Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven: And he said, LORD God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart:). But when it is a question of praise then we read that it was made with “music” and “singing” (2 Chronicles 5:12-13 Also the Levites which were the singers, all of them of Asaph, of Heman, of 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:) It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, 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;).In the upper room the Lord and His apostles sang a hymn (Matthew 26:30
And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.). But when in Gethsemane He fell on His face and prayed saying (Matthew 26:39 And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.). In (James 5:13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.).This universal testimony of “Scripture” settles for us the question as to the distinction between prayers embodied in hymns and prayer sung instead of said. That testimony of “Scripture” is dead against the singing of prayers in any form of manner. It draws no distinction between intoning prayer and singing them. Intoning is singing, and nothing else: it is merely on one note instead of many. It is art and artificial: it is unnatural and unreal, neither pleasing to God nor edifying for men.
“Public worship” is that in which the “Word of God” should be read, “Prayers” prayed, and “Praise” sung. God`s “Word” we read, not our own, but His, for our instruction. In prayer and praise we say we and sing our own words, as our own. It is therefore no argument to urge that the “Psalms” were sung and they contain prayers: For
(1). We do not admit the first statement. Too little is known to justify the assertion that all the Psalms were song. Some were, undoubtedly: and these maybe sung by us today, if we can adopt the words as our own: but not otherwise.
(2). We cannot sing the words of all the Psalms as our own, but only so far as they are in harmony with the New Testament teaching as to our standing in Christ. The language of those which were under the Old Covenant of “Works” cannot be adopted as the language of those who are under the New Covenant of “Grace.”
Again we repeat, therefore, the New Testament rubric (James 5:13
Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.). And we conclude that prayer is to be said, and praise is to be sung. Praise may even be said: for three times are songs said to be spoken. The song of Moses (Deuteronomy 31:30 And Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song, until they were ended.).Instead, therefore, of flying in the face of the universal testimony of Scripture, simply because prayer is “embodied by human poets” in our hymns, we ought rather to question whether the prayer in hymns or praise sung. But habits once formed are too strong for us to entertain the hope of making so radical a reformation: though it would be better, if not easier, to alter a wrong habit than to alter the testimony of the “Word of God.”
____________________________________________________________________________________