The same writer in an appeal to the professors of his day to test their religious profession by the Scriptures, says:
“Likewise you sing and give to sing David's psalms in rhyme and metre, professing it is to the glory and honor of God. Ye practise this as an ordinance of God, as a part of his worship, and as a part of your religion; but this practice and profession also are manifest not to be according to the Scriptures; because it was never commanded; neither is there any precedent for this practice in the Scriptures in gospel times.”
Robert Barclay says, “We confess this [singing of Psalms] to be a part of God's worship, and very sweet and refreshing when it proceeds from a true sense of God's love in the heart, and arises from the Divine influence of the spirit.” But he condemns “the formal, customary way of singing,” which was practised by professors in his day, and has been continued down to the present time, as having “no foundation in Scripture, nor any ground in true Christianity.” He concludes his remarks on this subject in the following words: “As to their artificial music, either by organs or other instruments, or voice, we have neither example nor precept for it in the New Testament.”
Independently of that harmony of sound which is the result of musical skill, there is a modulation of the voice which is an index of the feelings of the mind. Where the heart is melted under a sense of Divine goodness and love, and thanksgiving to the Author of all our blessings flows from it, true melody is often shown in the tones of the voice; and this is sometimes apparent even when no words are distinctly uttered. It is to such a state of mind we understand the Apostle Paul to refer when he speaks to the Ephesians, of “making melody in your heart to the Lord.” When an outward harmony, depending upon “invented tunes, such as please the carnal mind,” and upon words which have been committed to memory in order to be sung therewith, takes the place of that expression which comes from the heart and is uttered under a sense of the Divine requiring, then those who take part therein fall into that “formal,” “customary,” “artificial” way of singing, against which the Society of Friends has borne a steady testimony from its rise.
These observations apply to vocal religious exercises in the family as well as in more public gatherings.
We believe the tendency of this artificial music on the mind, even when attuned to the expression of religious sentiment, and accompanied by the language of Divine worship, is to “lead the soul almost insensibly to substitute a pleasing emotion which ends in self, for those spiritual sacrifices which are acceptable to God by Jesus Christ, even a broken and contrite heart, and that communion with the Father and the Son which results from loving God and keeping his commandments.”