Nathan Mortier
1 May 2006
18th Century Theology
Professor Don Westblade
Toward a Theology of Proper Worship:
Jonathan Edwards on Congregational Song
Puritan worship practices in New England changed in many significant
ways during the early Eighteenth Century. Not the least of these was a shift in
the way New England congregations worshipped in song. In the Seventeenth Century,
church music consisted of a cappella psalms sung in unison to common tunes and
meter. This type of congregational singing suffered during AmericaÕs colonial
years as musicianship was gradually lost and singing became chaotic and
dissonant.[1] ÒEach male worshipper sang without reference to the time and pitch of
all the othersÓ while the women remained silent.[2] To bring back a more orderly and beautiful worship, in the
1720Õs many pastors began instructing their congregations in singing by part,
or Òregular singing.Ó
This regular singing incorporated standard melodies and harmonies to
create a more orderly worship. ÒBy the New Way, or Singing by
Rule, the entire congregation arrived at the same point in the hymn at
approximately the same time and in approximately the same key.Ó[3] This innovation, however, was not met with universal acclaim or
support as some welcomed the new worship form and others staunchly defended the
Old Way.[4] New Englanders hotly debated the Òsinging controversyÓ as it came
to be called, but by the 1730s and 40s most churches had transitioned to
regular singing. By the time Jonathan Edwards settled
in Northampton in 1726, his grandfather and predecessor Solomon Stoddard had
already guided the shift in his Northampton congregation to regular singing
with little controversy.[5] Edwards himself was an
enthusiast for the beauties of regular singing and introduced many of WattÕs
hymns for use outside worship services.[6]
Though
already a part of worship services in Northampton under Edwards, the regular
singing was still relatively new and Edwards took great care to delineate the
doctrine on the public singing of praises. This also required him to answer the
objections of the Old Way that were apparently still alive in his congregation
concerning singing in worship.[7] In order to avoid discord and promote harmony in
the church through a unified understanding of worship and singing in
particular, Edwards set out on a number of occasions to explain the doctrine of
singing and exhort his congregation on their duty in worship.[8]
This study will focus on the three main points of EdwardÕs teaching
on singing in worship. First, EdwardsÕ doctrine of singing shaped his view of
worship as a duty toward God incumbent upon all mankind. Secondly, Edwards
argued that singing was an ordinance instituted by Christ for worship of God
and edification of others and ought to be observed by the church. In addition,
Edwards answered objections to ordered congregational singing. Thirdly, Edwards
admonished his church to worship with the proper reverence and solemnity of
heart. Out of these three main points Edwards developed
a comprehensive doctrine for singing in worship and exhorted his congregation
in the proper way it should be carried out.
Edwards
believed that it is not only the duty of Christians to worship God, but that it
is Òthat for which we were made.Ó[9] Worship must be based on God as the Sovereign
Lord of all creation who alone receives glory. For Edwards, worship consists of
Òknowing GodÕs excellency, loving God for it, and rejoicing in it.Ó[10] The
exercise and expression of this rejoicing consists in giving God honor and
praise.[11] This
worship of God is further grounded in the excellency of Christ.[12] Being
both God and man, Christ is due equal honor with the father. Edwards
demonstrated this command with John 5:23: "That all men
should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father." According to the
Scriptures, Edwards preached, there is the Òsame respect and divine worship
paid to [Christ] by the Angels in heaven, as to God the Father through the
command to ÒLet all the angels of God worship him."[13] True Christian worship is a duty Òincumbent on all mankind, in all
ages alike.Ó[14]
From
this doctrine of worship Edwards reasoned that Òcertain fixed parts of time should be set apart, to be spent by the
church wholly in religious exercises, and in the duties of divine worship.Ó[15] In
order to worship with the Ògreatest devotion and engagedness of mind,Ó Edwards
held that Christians should put themselves into the proper circumstances where
their minds could be Òentirely devoted to this work, without being diverted or
interrupted by other things.Ó[16] To Edwards
it is crucial to true, undistracted worship that certain times be set apart
when men could throw off all other concerns in order to more Òfreely and
entirely engage in spiritual exercises, in the duties of religion, and in the
immediate worship of God.Ó[17] For
this reason Edwards placed a tremendous emphasis on the importance of the
Sabbath. Sabbath worship for Edwards was one of the most precious times and of
Ògreat advantage for our everlasting welfare.Ó[18] Because
of this he exhorted his congregation to improve their Sabbaths by not losing
any of it in Òundue sleep, carelessness, inattention, or wandering
imaginations.Ó[19]
Edwards
argued that singing is one of these holy ordinances of Sabbath worship. He
found it necessary to preach the doctrine of singing at least twice to his
congregation and in his 17 June 1736 sermon Edwards exhorted his congregation that, Òa public singing of God's praises is an ordinance instituted
by Christ to be observed in the Christian church."[20] Edwards preached on Colossians 3:16:
ÒLet
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.Ó In this sermon Edwards answered
the objections of the non-singing Quakers, explained the duty of singing
specifically as an ordinance of worship, and explained the purpose (ÒendsÓ) of
congregational singing for the edification of the body.
To
Edwards, congregational singing is not a matter of preference, but an ordinance
instituted by Christ during his ministry on earth and a commandment given to
the early church. For example, Edwards allowed no room for the Quaker position
that denied the public singing of praises. The Quakers, Edwards explained,
believed that singing was only instituted as part of the Old Testament
dispensation and that all praise after ChristÕs return to heaven should be as a
meditation of the heart.[21]
Edwards emphatically denied this position, and answered objections to singing
with a four-part argument from Scripture. First, Christ Himself led his
disciples in Òsinging a hymnÓ after his Last Supper before His death (Matthew
30:266). Secondly, in the New Testament the Apostles, such as Paul and Silas, sang
praises out loud (Acts 16:25). Moreover, this practice of singing was continued
in the early church as believers gathered in singing (1 Corinthians 14:26).
Lastly, singing was evidently a precept of Christ as commanded by his apostles
(Ephesians 5:16, James 5:13). These scriptures commanded singing with the
voice, for Òit would be a difficult thing to teach and admonish each other by
their singing if it were only in the secret meditations of their own Hearts.Ó[22]
Edwards believed that Christ had specifically ordained singing as a mandatory
part of corporate worship and that the apostles had commanded it for all
believers.
Edwards
next set out to explain the specific reasons for the ordinance of singing.
Unlike worship in prayer or meditation, singing is a distinctly corporate
ordinance of worship. Singing is the means by which fellow believers teach and
admonish each other. As such it has a unique place in the fellow instruction
among believers as the Òone means whereby the word of God
Ð particularly that part of the word that consists in Psalms and hymns and
Spiritual songs Ð is to dwell in us richly in all wisdom.Ó[23] In this
way singing has an ability to help believers gain a greater spiritual
understanding of the Psalms. Edwards believed that the Psalms reflected in a
certain sense the Òmind of the Holy GhostÓ and that the singing of the Psalms
would somehow impress that mind of the Spirit on our own minds. In this way
public worship is a means of edification among the believers as they gain a
better spiritual understanding of the Psalms.
Edwards argued that singing praises
is a moral duty to express gratitude for mercies received from God. Singing is
a proper and suitable expression of admiration of God and joy in Him. Through
the special medium of music, singing is an important means to both excite and manifest religious affections. These two parts Ð exciting religious
affections and manifesting religious affection Ð are distinct yet inseparable
in true worship.
First, worship in singing has the
ability to give a due sense of the Òholiness of God and his perfections,Ó
Christ and the grace and love of God through him, and heavenly enjoyments. He
likened this to exciting religious
affections. Edwards believed that the Harmony in singing gives Òsome shadowÓ
and resemblance to that excellent and glorious harmony in divine things. By
helping the mind to better conceive of the sweet harmony of divine things, it
gives the mind an idea of the joyfulness and happiness that there is to be had
in God. This in turn gives Òsweet inward pleasureÓ to the soul by casting it
into the proper frame to Òraise suitable ideasÓ and a suitable sense of divine
things.[24] Thus,
for Edwards, Music in singing plays a special role in exciting religious
affection by raising devout affections and frames of mind.
Secondly, singing in worship is a
means by which to manifest religious
affection. Here Edwards was especially careful. Holy affections ought to be
expressed before God and men, but not in a hypocritical and Pharisaical and
ostentatious manner. Just as public prayer is appointed that men may express
their adoration and dependence, singing is able to display the same things.
Similarly, singing is a means of public expression of faith. For Edwards,
public profession of faith was one of the Òduties of Religion.Ó[25]
Corporate worship is a means to display oneÕs faith and express religious
affections.
Edwards also had to answer a number
of objections to his teaching and give guidance in the manner of following the
ordinance of congressional singing. The role of women singing in church was one
important question. Prior to the introduction of Òregular singingÓ in New
England, most churches only allowed men to sing while the women remained quiet.
However, if singing was a duty for a congregation as a part of the biblical
ordinances of worship, Edwards allowed no room for exclusion of women. Singing
for him is as much an appointment of ChristÕs as attending meeting or
preaching, Òand therefore ought to be attended by
every one that is capable of it as much as they are no more excused from it. It
is a duty as much incumbent on women as men and they are not all more excused
from it.Ó[26]
Edwards believed so strongly that everyone in his congregation should be
involved in singing that he felt compelled to explain his own silence during
hymns in order to rest his voice for the sermon.
In
addition, Edwards answered a puritan stigma against teaching singing by rule.
Scholar Patricia Tracy noted that the widespread controversy over teaching
singing had ended by 1730, but seemed to be alive in Northampton several years
later. The old objection compared learning to sing by rule to taking one more
step to praying by rule and Òthen comes popery.Ó[27]
EdwardsÕ argument was simple. If singing was a duty, then all had the duty to
Òput ourselves under a capacity to do it.Ó Since no one is capable of having a
capacity to sing without first learning something of the art of singing.Ó
Instead of leading to empty forms, Edwards believed that bringing order to
singing would lead to more beautiful and harmonious worship. This coincided
with an earlier sermon when Edwards preached that Òparents ought to be careful
that their children are instructed in singing, that they may be capable of
performing that part of divine worship. This we should do, as we would have our
children trained up for heaven, for we all of us would have our children go to
heaven.Ó[28]
Praise, for Edwards, has a heavenly element. Learning to sing praises is merely
a foretaste of the glorious singing in heaven to be continued for all eternity.
In his
famous sermon Sinners in the Hands of an
Angry God, Edwards rebuked those who had neglected true worship: ÒThere is
no other reason to be given why you have not gone to hell, since you have sat
here in the house of God, provoking his pure eyes by your sinful wicked manner
of attending his solemn worshipÓ[29] In
another sermon he chastised his congregation for Ògratifying your lusts in your
imaginationsÓ during the holy time of ÒGodÕs public worship.Ó[30]
Moreover Edwards warned that, Òif you are negligent of his Praises how Justly
might God be negligent of bestowing mercy on you.Ó[31] Having
his congregation worship with proper hearts was a passionate duty for Edwards
and apparently it was still an issue in 1748 when Edwards left Northampton. In
his farewell sermon, Edwards warned his congregation to have the proper heart
during public worship. Exhorting them to be prepared for the last day, he
reminded them that on that day, the meeting of ministers and people who have
been under their care Òwill not be attended by anyone with a careless, heedless
heart.Ó[32] This
was an important issue, because:
With such a heart are their meetings often
attended in this world by many persons, having little regard to him whom they
pretend unitedly to adore in the solemn duties of his public worship, taking
little heed to their own thoughts or frame of their minds, not attending to the
business they are engaged in, or considering the end for which they are come
together.[33]
Edwards desired that public
worship, including singing, would be done in the proper manner, and offered
explanations of the proper attitude to have while singing praises to God.
Edwards
reminded his congregation that God is not as concerned with the actual singing
in worship as He is concerned with the attitude of their hearts. ÒThe external
melody is not the thing which God looks at or is pleased with but tis the
internal melody and the external is good for nothing but as the means of or
expression of the internal.Ó[34] Edwards
explained that acts of divine worship ought to be attended with all Òreverence
and solemnityÓ for the Creator.[35] There
is a danger, he argued, that if singing praises is done only as a common song
for amusement and diversion, it may lead to a great violation of the third
commandment. Exhorting his congregation to Òabound in the holy, heavenly
exerciseÓ of singing Òin GodÕs house and in their own houses,Ó Edwards reminded
them that praising God was a Òholy act.Ó He went on to teach them, ÒWhen any
social open act of devotion or solemn worship of God is performed, God should
be reverenced as present.Ó[36]
Believers should worship God as if he were in the very room with them. Edwards
analogized this to the presence of God in the Old Testament Ark, ÒAs we would
not have the ark of God depart from us, nor provoke God to make a breach upon
us, we should take heed that we handle the ark with reverence.Ó[37] Public
worship in singing is a solemn, holy act of devotion to God that should be
carried out in all reverence and attention to the proper attitude of the heart.
Edwards
viewed worship as humble praise of an Almighty God for his attributes and
mercy. As created beings, Edwards reminded his hearers that every person has a
duty to praise God. Edwards held that congregational singing is an ordinance of
worship instituted by Christ and continued in the early church by which a
congregation could praise God together and edify each other. Because of its
power in stirring the affections, singing is able both to excite and to manifest
religious affections. Edwards was careful, however, to warn his congregation
against singing to God without the proper attitude of the heart. Congregational
worship must be attended with a proper humility, reverence, and solemnity.
Bibliography
Edwards, Jonathan. "That a public singing of
God's praises is an ordinance instituted by Christ
to be observed in the Christian
church." June 17, 1736. For a singing meeting. Repreached Dec. 1755. Yale
Archives.
Edwards, Jonathan. "The Perpetuity and Change of the
Sabbath," In The Works of Jonathan
Edwards, Peabody. MA: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1998.
II:94.
Edwards, Jonathan. ÒFarewell Sermon.Ó In Works, I:ccxiiv.
Edwards, Jonathan. ÒPraise, one of the chief employments
of heaven.Ó Preached November 7,
1734. Available at: http://www.biblebb.com/files/Edwards/praise.htm.
Edwards, Jonathan. ÒA Treatise Concerning Religious
Affections.Ó Available at:
http://www.ccel.org/e/edwards/affections/religious_affections.html.
Edwards, Jonathan. ÒSinners in the Hands of an Angry
God.Ó In Works II:10.
Edwards, Jonathan. ÒThe End for which God Created the
WorldÓ In Works I:119.
Edwards, Jonathan. ÒThe Excellency of ChristÓ Available
at:
http://www.ccel.org/e/edwards/sermons/excellency.html.
Edwards, Jonathan. ÒThe Justice of God in the Damnation
of sinners.Ó Available at:
http://www.jonathanedwards.com/sermons/Warnings/justice.htm.
Edwards, Jonathan. ÒThe Preciousness Of
Time And The Importance Of Redeeming ItÓ
December, 1734. In Works II:236.
Edwards, Jonathan. ÒThoughts on the present revival in
New EnglandÓ In Works, I:419.
Marsden, George. Jonathan
Edwards: A Life, (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003.
Starkey, Marion L. The Congregational Way, Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company,
Inc., 1966.
Tracy, Patricia J. Jonathan
Edwards: Religion and Society in Eighteenth-Century Northampton. New York:
Hill and Wang, 1980.
Winslow, Ola Elizabeth. Jonathan Edwards: A Biography. New York: Macmillan Company, 1940.
[1] George Marsden, Jonathan Edwards: A Life, (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press,
2003), 143.
[4] Marion L. Starkey, The Congregational Way, (Garden City,
NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1966), 125.
[5] Ibid.
[7] Patricia J. Tracy Jonathan Edwards: Religion and Society in Eighteenth-Century
Northampton. (New York: Hill and Wang, 1980), 112.
[9] Jonathan Edwards, "The Perpetuity and Change
of the Sabbath," In The Works of Jonathan Edwards, (Peabody,
Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1998), II:94.
[15] Ibid.
[20] "That a public singing of
God's praises is an ordinance instituted by Christ to be observed in the
Christian church." June 17, 1736. For a singing meeting. Repreached Dec.
1755. Yale Archives.
[21] Ibid.
[23] Ibid.
[24] Ibid.
[27] Tracy, 112.
[28] ÒPraise, one of the chief employments of heaven.Ó Preached November 7, 1734. Available
at: http://www.biblebb.com/files/Edwards/praise.htm.
[30] ÒThe Justice of God in the Damnation of sinners.Ó
Available at: http://www.jonathanedwards.com/sermons/Warnings/justice.htm.
[35] ÒThoughts on the present revival in New EnglandÓ
(Works, I:419).
[36] Ibid.