Praise Him upon the loud cymbals:
Praise Him upon the high-sounding cymbals.
Yet all this pomp and circumstance of worship are but sounding brass and clanging cymbal unless there be the accompaniment of ‘grace in the heart.’
Praise Him every tuneful string;
All the reach of heavenly art,
All the powers of music bring,
The music of the heart.[20]
Praise needs ‘a thousand tongues,’ and even so would find ‘eternity too short’ for its service.
Though St. Paul associates praise—thanksgiving—with singing in both the passages referred to, it is instructive to note how clearly he asserts the teaching function of the songs of the Church: ‘Speaking one to another,’ ‘teaching and admonishing one another.’ Bishop Christopher Wordsworth said, as I think, truly:
Christian poetry ought to be a medium for the conveyance of Christian doctrine.... A Church which forgoes the use of hymns in her office of teaching neglects one of the most efficacious instruments for correcting error, and for disseminating truth, as well as for ministering comfort and edification.[21]