Curiosities of Christian History Prior to the Reformation

by James Paterson

SANCTITY OF BELLS.

In Spain all the church bells are marked with a crucifix; the devil, it is believed, cannot come within hearing of the consecrated peal. On the hearing of the Ave Maria bell, the Spaniards who happen to be in the theatre, and even the actors on the stage, fall down on their knees, and then rise again and carry on their diversion as before. A French gentleman who happened to be present on one of those occasions was so surprised and diverted that he somewhat irreverently called out, “Encore! encore!” The religious of Rome had great contests about ringing the Ave Maria bell. At length it was adjudged that “they who were first up should first knoll.”

CHIMES ON CHURCH BELLS.

Chimes or carillons were invented in the Low Countries, and were brought to the greatest perfection there. They are of two kinds: one is attached to a cylinder like the back of an organ, which always repeats the same tunes, and is moved by machinery; the other is of a superior kind, played by a musician with a set of keys. In all the great towns there are amateurs or a salaried professor, usually the organist of a church, who performs with great skill upon this gigantic instrument placed high in the church steeple. So fond are the Dutch and Belgians of this kind of music, that in some places the chimes appear scarcely to be at rest for ten minutes either by day or night. The tunes are usually changed once a year. Chimes were in existence at Bruges in 1300. The most eminent performer was Matthias van der Gheyn, who died in 1785. The finest chimes are at Antwerp, composed of sixty-five bells; Mechlin, forty-four bells; Bruges, forty bells; Tournay, forty bells; Ghent, thirty-nine bells; Louvain, forty bells.

THE SWISS HORNS PRAISING THE LORD.

It was a custom at one time among the Swiss shepherds to watch the setting sun. When he had already left the valleys, and was visible only on the tops of the snow-capped mountains, the inhabitants of the cottages which were in the most elevated situations would seize their horns, and, turning towards their next neighbours beneath them, sing out through the instruments the words, “Praise the Lord!” The sounds were then taken up in the same manner by those to whom they were addressed, and again by those lower down, and thus were repeated from Alp to Alp. And the name of the Lord was re-echoed and proclaimed in song, till the music reached the valleys below. A deep and solemn silence then ensued, until the last trace of the sun, when the herdsmen on the mountain tops sang out “Good-night,” which was repeated and re-echoed as the other words had been, till every one retired to rest.

EARLY CHURCH MUSIC.

Over and above the preaching of sermons, which were deemed an important part of the public Christian service, and which shorthand writers employed themselves in taking down for circulation, there was much care given to sacred music and singing of hymns. A choir was often formed. The Psalms, as well as hymns and doxologies, were chanted. Some spiritual songs were composed by Ambrose of Milan and Hilary of Poitiers. But there were always objectors to anything being used in Church music which was not taken from the Sacred Scriptures. In the fourth century the Egyptian abbot Pambo inveighed against the introduction of heathen melodies as too apparent, while the abbot Isidore of Pelusium complained of a style of singing too theatrical, especially among the women. Jerome, in his comments on St. Paul’s Epistles, said that Christians should not be like the comedians, who smoothed their throats with sweet drinks in order to render their theatrical melodies more impressive, but that it was the heart alone which could properly make melody to the Lord.

SINGING IN CHURCH.

It was said that St. Ambrose introduced the method of alternate singing in churches. The whole service in the primitive Church seems to have been of a very irregular kind till the time of Pope Gregory the Great, for the people sang each as his inclination led him, with hardly any other restriction than that what they sang should be to the praise of God. Indeed, some special offices, such as the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostles’ Creed, had been used in the Church service almost from the first establishment of Christianity; but these were too few to prevent the introduction of hymns and spiritual songs. The evil increased, and the Emperor Theodosius requested the then Pope, Damasus, to frame such a service as should be consistent with the solemnity and decency of Divine worship. The Pope readily assented, and employed for this purpose a presbyter named Hieronymus, a man of learning, gravity, and discretion, who formed a new ritual, into which he introduced the Epistles, Gospels, and the Psalms, with the Gloria Patri and Hallelujah. And these, together with certain hymns which he thought proper to retain, made up the whole of the service.