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    doubt , that in the Alexandrian church , young women sang in public worship , accompanying their voices wiih instrumental music . But Clemens has spoken of musical instruments as being fitter for beasts than men . * I he passage mu ^ t be considered somewhat at large * It is in his Paedagogus , lib- ii . c . 4 , where he treats of [ he

    conduct proper at social meetings . After reprehending the dissolute manners of the profligate at their banquctings , and their riotous music and ^ dancing , and quoting the apostle ' s words , Rom . xiii . 12 ,

    13 , he goes on , " Let the pipe then be given to the shepherd , and the flute to the superstitious idolater ; for truly these instruments , more fit for beasts than men , ought to be banished from the sober entertainment . "t He

    then goes on to mention some singular uses * to which these particular instruments had been applied , and which had probably contributed to his dislike of them ; and censures that kind of music which excites to intemperance and

    disworil did take place before the time of Hesychius , ( See p . 45 of this volume . ) It had not however in the time of Au-Iu 8 Gellius . * Pierce ' s Vindication of the

    Dissenters , Part III . Ch . 3 . This great and good man has not always treated his antagonist with perfect candour . In the chapter just referred to , which I believe constitutes his Tractate odu

    Church Music , he quotes Clem . Alex , as against instrumental music in toto , ^ ben in the same chapter that Father Expresses himself at least without censure of instrumental music with the hymns of devotion

    t The 'Athenians in the time of Plato prohibited all kinds of wind instruments , because they changed the liner aments of the countenance , and were also injurious to the organs © f respiration .

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    order . He next proceeds to explain the instrumental music mentioned in the Psalms , of the organs of the body , and the body itself ; but I do not perceive that he means to intimate that those instruments were not employed ; but simply that the spirit of the directions given respecting them may be fulfilled without them .

    " Man ( he goes on ) is a peaceful instrument : but if a person exa . mine attentivel y , he will find other instruments to be warlike , inflaming the mind to eager desires , or inkindling love , or rendering the

    passions furious . " He then speaks of the various instruments

    eraployed in war by different nations , and says , " We employ then one

    instrument , ihe peaceful Word alone , with which we honour God ; and no longer use the anJ cient psaltery , and trumpet , and timbrels , and flute , employed among warlike peopl e &c . He

    soon after adduces the apostle ' s words in Col . iii . 16 , 17 , and adds , " This is our grateful festivity ; and if you choose losing and play upon the harp or the lyrey

    you will incur no censure ; % you will imitate the pious Hebrew king , who was well . pleasing to God . '' After quoting Ps . xxxiii . 1 , 2 , ( the decachord mentioned in which he seems to consider as

    a type of Christ ) he says , " we ought to praise the Maker of all before we partake of food , so when drinking we ought to make harmony (^ socWeiv ) in his praise . " He recommends thanksgiving

    before sleep overtakes us ; and again makes a reference to the Psalms .

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    On the Use of Vocal and Instrumental Music in Public fVorship . 465

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    VOL * VIII . 3 p

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1813, page 465, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2430/page/41/