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in his supposed hymn of Adam and Eve in Paradise ; which will naturally occur to the memory of those who are acquainted with it. Sounds from inanimate bodies, such as musical instruments, are, therefore, undoubtedly to be used in divine worship; and all ages and nations of the world have admitted them. On occasion of the overthrow of Pharaoh and his host, Miriam the prophetess took a timbrel in her hand to celebrate the glorious triumph of the Lord. In the service of the tabernacle and temple, all kinds of instruments were used, and bands of singers and musicians were appointed in so great a multitude, that their sound must have produced an astonishing effect. A father of the church informs us, that the music of the temple, on great occasions, from the multitude of performers, and the elevation of the place, was heard to the distance of ten miles. That the songs of Sion were usually accompanied by the harp, according to the exhortation in the text, appears from the 137th Psalm. Even the Heathens, in their sacred festivals, retained the use of instrumental music. When the golden image was set up in the plain of Dura, the signal was given for the act of adoration by the sound of all kinds of instruments.

In the lowest state of the church, when the sufferings of our bleffed Saviour were at hand, himself and the company of his disciples still followed the custom of adding music to their devotions; they sung an hymn. Pliny, the minister of the emperor Trajan, tells his master how the first Christians made it their practice to sing hymns to Jesus Christ, as to God. We are surely not to wonder, if instruments were not used while the church was in an afflicted and persecuted state it could have no organs when it had no public edifices to put them in, supposing them to have

been then in use: but when the church was supported and established by the kingdoms of the world, it assumed a like form of worship with that which prevailed in the prosperous days of David and Solomon.

We find organs in the church as early as the seventh century, near 1200 years ago. And here let all the admirers of the musical art stop a while to reflect with gratitude and devotion, that the invention of choral harmony in parts arose from the Trinitarian worship of the Christian church. It is certain, we have no music of that form extant in the world, but such as is Christian; nor do we read of any and had it not been for the schools of music, established and maintained by the church, I will venture to say, there had, at this day, been none of that excellent music with which all of us are now charmed, and I hope, many of us edified. Look out of Christendom into the kingdoms of China, Tartary, Turkey, and the regions of the southern world, and you will discover no music but what is beggarly and barbarous, fit only to amuse the ears of children or savages. Every thing that is great and excellent in this way, hath come down to us from the Christian church. O holy and blessed society, which hath thus introduced us to all that we can know and feel of heaven itself! How shall we celebrate thee, how shall we cultivate and adorn thee, according to what we have derived from thee!. Let others be cold and indifferent, if they will, to our forms of worship; but upon musicians, if they know themselves, religion hath a particular demand; for they would never have been what they are, if God in his infinite goodness, had not brought us to the improvements of the Gospel.

If we proceed now to enquire, what are the subjects to which music may be applied, we shall find the chief

of them set down for us in the 33d Psalm; where the righteous are directed to praise the Lord with instruments of music, because his word is true, and all his works are faithful. The wisdom of his word, and the wonders of his works, are, therefore, to be celebrated in our sacred songs; he is to be praised as the defender of his people, giving victory to their arms against their heathen enemies; feeding, healing, and delivering out of all danger those who trust in him, as their help and their shield. To all these subjects music may be applied; and this is the use we make of it in the Te Deum, and all the hymns of the morning and evening service; to the words of which, such strains of harmony are adapted in this our Church of England, that the world cannot shew the like.

But as the mind has another language of sighs and tears, very different from that of praise and triumph, so the scale of music affords us a melancholy key with the lesser third, and a mournful sort of harmony proceeding by semi-tones, which is exceedingly fine and solemn, and reaches to the bottom of the soul, as the lighter sort of music plays upon the top of it. That musical sounds are applicable to prayer and supplication and penitential sorrow, none will doubt, who hears the Anthem, I call and cry; or that other, Call to remembrance, O Lord; by two of our most ancient and excellent composers*: or that versicle of the Burial Office, Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts, by the greatest of modern masters t. much for the subjects of music.

Thus

The form of the Anthem derives itself naturally from the structure of some of the Psalms, in which we so frequently find the soliloquy, the dialogue, and the

chorus. Thus, for example:-The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble, is the voice of a company encouraging a priest in his intercession; who also answers for himself, and expresses his confidence; Now know I that the Lord helpeth his anointed: then all join together in supplication; Save, Lord, and hear us when we call upon thee. The solo, the verse, and the chorus, in our church music, express all these turns in the sacred poetry, when they are properly applied. The responsory form of our chanting by alternate singing in the choir is agreeable to the heavenly worship of the seraphim, in the vision of the prophet Isaiah, where they are represented as crying one to another with alternate voices*, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts. The version of the Psalms into poetical metre leads to a sort of Psalmody so plainly measured, as to be easily comprehended and performed by the generality of the people in a congregation; and simple as this music may appear, the greatest masters have thought it worthy of their cultivation, and we have some divine pieces of harmony in this kind. The old hundredth Psalm, which is ascribed to Martin Luther, is deservedly admired; the 113th is excellent; so is the old 81st, the 148th, and many others, which are judiciously retained in our congregations.

Such is the state, and such the excellence of our music, in the Church of England; and long may the sound of our cathedrals and churches go up to heaven, and reach the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.

To what hath here been said on the nature, and use, and state of music, I wish it were in my power to add something effectual toward the reformation of some abuses; for such will find admission into all societies,

Alternis dicetis, amant alterna Camæne. VIRG.

through negligence in some, and want of judgment in others.

As God is the greatest and best of beings, and it is the highest honour of man in this life to serve him, every thing relating to his worship should be ordered with decency, propriety, reverence, and affection. I will sing with the understanding, saith the Apostle: so should we sing, and so should we perform, in all our approaches to the throne of Grace; our music should be the music of wise men and of Christians. No lame, or maimed, or defective sacrifice was permitted to be offered in the temple of God; who, being the first proprietor of all things, hath a claim to the best of every thing, and consequently to the best music, performed in the best manner we are able.

Church music has a proper character of its own, which is more excellent than that of secular, or profane music, and should always be preserved. Without the restraints of discretion, wisdom, and authority, the art of man is apt to run out into excess and impropriety; and while it affects to be too fine, and too powerful, becomes ridiculous. What is it but vanity that betrays the poet into bombast, the orator into buffoonery, the composer of music into useless curiosity, the performer into ineffectual rapidity and flourish? Thus do men always fail of their end, when they think more about themselves than about their subject. Queen Elizabeth, therefore, took what care she could by her injunctions, that affectation, which spoils all other things, should not be permitted to spoil the music of the Church and it hath been rightly observed, that the music from the Reformation to the Restoration was more plain and solemn in its style than than that which succeeded; though it still preserved great excellence.