Eyes than his own and the third in a little time saw cause to repent his forwardness in that for which they commend him and in effect retracted it Thus I have given you a brief View of the first Rise of Antiphonal Singing at Antioch at Caesarea and Constantinople in the East and at Milan in the West whence by degrees it was spread to other places You may perhaps wonder I have not in all this time brought it to Rome where there was from the first Rise of Christianity a great fondness of Pomp and Magnificence observable and a forwardness to outdo all other Churches But the truth of it is I am for dealing impartially Rome hath enough in all reason to answer for it need not be charg'd falsly Other Cities were before it in the time of admitting the Cathedral Service but when once it was receiv'd there it was quickly so improv'd that no time seem'd lost while it remain'd unknown If we 'll believe the Pontifical 't was Pope Damasus who first ordain'd that Psalms should be sung both Day and Night by the Clergy There is in St. Jerom's Works a Letter of this Pope wherein he desires him to send him an Account of the Grecian manner of Singing and he gives this Reason because it was not as yet us'd amongst them neither was the Grace of an Hymn known in their Mouth Baronius calls the truth of this Epistle into question but the Pontifical asserts and gives Credit to it In his time therefore that is about the Year of Christ 380 Antiphonal Singing was brought in at Rome also And there it was so cultivated that it made mighty advances under the conduct of several Popes successively till at length it became as hard a matter for any one to manage a Part in the Quire as on the Stage nay requir'd more time and pains for a Person to learn to sing the Praises of God in the Church than to sing in a Theatre Should I pretend to give you an Account of the several Emendations Augmentations and gradual Alterations of the Cathedral Service in the Roman hands I should soon expatiate beyond the bounds of a Letter and therefore I 'll forbear and only observe that in the time of Gregory the Great that is about the Year of Christ 620 it was brought to Perfection and thence-forward call'd Cantus Gregorianus in English the Gregorian Cant. He sent it into our Nation by his Trusty Emissary Austin the Monk who found such a stiffness among the British Clergy that he was quite at a loss they were not to be perswaded to forsake their own Rites of Worship and receive the Romish Trumpery and among others things their new model'd and much admir'd Cathedral Service whereupon he was the Occasion of the slaughter of twelve hundred of them at once being resolv'd they should pay dear for their unmusical Disposition One would think this should be but a ☞ poor encouragement to the Survivors to dance after his Pipe And that the Remembrance of it should damp our present Clergy in their most pompous Service and abate their fondness of the Quire which was in this Island founded in so much Blood Our old Brittans however for a good while after kept their ground tho Austin had got the better of them they would not yield they would not conform to the Roman Custom so much as in the time of celebrating the Paschal Solemnity much less would they comply in changing that plain and simple manner of Divine Worship which prevail'd among them for a Gaudy Pompous and Theatrical sort of Worship which was all made up of Art and Shew But about the year of Christ 670 Pope Vitalian sent Theodore a Grecian into England to fill up the Vacant See of Canterbury who by his Subtilty and Artifice outwitted the poor Brittans to the full satisfaction of those who employ'd him He held a Synod at Hartford wherein the Easter Controversy was settled to the Pope's Mind and the way pav'd for the introduction of the Cathedral Service with all its Pomp. To this Pope Vitalian to whom our Nation is oblig'd for this Archbishop Theodore must we pay our Acknowledgments also for Organs in Divine Worship of which if Platina be to be credited he was the first introducer Some time after when Agatho was in the Pontifical Chair Benedict who had built a Monastery here in Britain went to Rome to be confirm'd in the honour of his Abbacy He was kindly receiv'd and the Pope sent one John who was chief Singer at St. Peters in Rome and Abbot of the Monastery of St. Martin back along with him who introduc'd into his new built Monastery the whole Service that was us'd at St. Peter's and taught his Singers the art of Chanting in conformity to the Roman Method This was about the year of Christ 679 which is the earliest certain date of the Cathedral Service in this our Land Our Brittans had for some Ages worship'd God acceptably enough without it and might have continued so to do had they never known it But Rome had then set up for the Mother-Church and with great zeal spread an Uniformity of Service among all her reputed Daughters till in process of time she had made them all as bad as her self But France was not even yet conformable Pope Hadrian therefore took the Advantage of the Obligation he had laid on Charles the Great by making him Emperor of the West in order to the engaging him to introduce the Gregorian Cant into the Gallick Church About which Baronius gives us this memorable Passage In the Year 787 the Emperor kept his Easter with Pope Hadrian at Rome and in those days of Festivity there arose a great Contention between the Singers of the French and Roman sort The French pretended to sing more gravely and decently the Romans more melodiously and artificially and each mightily undervalu'd the other The Emperor yielded to the Pope and made his own Servants truckle and thereupon carry'd back with him Theodore and Benedict two expert Roman Singers to instruct his Countrymen The Pope also gave him the Roman Antiphonary which he promis'd should be generally us'd in his Dominions And upon his return into France he plac'd one of these Artists in the City of Metz ordering that the Singers should from all the Cities of France repair thither to him to learn his Art of Singing and playing on the Organs And thus you see in part how the Cathedral Service spread in these Western Parts by means of the Pope of Rome who had then set up for Administrator General of the Kingdom of Christ I 'll forbear troubling you with the various Constitutions of several National Councils about this sort of Service lest I trespass upon your Patience tho if they were consulted I find by sundry instances they would discover a sense even among the Clergy as bad as 't was of the Corruptions which prevail'd in it But in lieu of
with any convenience answer the demands of Christian Discipline nor forbear exposing Divine things to contempt nor avoid either the being infected with some idolatrous Leaven or at least being diverted from those Sacred Engagements that became Christians Among these he reckons singing the Praises of God which is most undoubtedly a necessary Duty and very advantageous whether it be perform'd in Publick or Private Now says Tertullian how can a Man and Wife of such opposite Principles as are those of Heathens and Christians which run as wide as Heaven and Earth join together in that Divine Employment Let the Man set himself to sing and he 'll presently vent what the Wife abhors and would not join with him in for all the World Let the Wife on the other side attempt to sing the Christian Psalms and Hymns and the Husband will storm because he 'll find contempt pour'd on the Objects of his Veneration How can there be any compliance with the foremention'd Charge of St. Paul of Teaching and Admonishing one another in Psalms and Hymns c. which as it should be extended to all that are join'd in any thing of a Religious Society so comes with a special force on such as are join'd together in so near a Relation as that of Husband and Wife But alas so far are they from being capable of any Harmony in such an Engagement that any attempts towards it would be likely to issue in Strife and Variance and wretched Confusion This Passage of Tertullian thus taken runs smooth and even is free from Difficulties and needs no force and is very apposite and much to the purpose But on the other side it must be strain'd and forc'd before it can be pretended to do the Quire any Service and after all is not very pertinent In order to the making way for any other Gloss it must be suppos'd that 't is either publick or private Singing between Husband and Wife that is here intended and either supposition hath its difficulties If publick Singing be here referr'd to and that in the alternate manner then must it be suppos'd that there was a particular Address of the Husband to the Wife and Wife to the Husband during the Service in Christian Assemblies which so unsutable a Conjunction as he was speaking of would prevent But this were to assert what could not be prov'd what we have no where any hint of and that little to the service of the Cause to be befriended by reason it would bring in a set of Women-Singers into the Quire which would not be much for its Reputation On the other hand if it were private Singing that Tertullian meant which seems much the most likely then if their not being able to sing together or to sing to each other upon occasion for Excitation or Exhilaration won't satisfy as the sense but an Argument must hence be drawn for the publick Use of the Cathedral way in those days in order to its having any force it must be suppos'd that every Man kept a Quire in his House to train up his Children and Servants for Choristers for the Benefit of the Publick and so divided them at the time of Worship into two opposite sides himself heading one and his Wife the other which is so large and wild a Supposition that by virtue of the same Figure I dare undertake any where almost to fetch Arguments for Proof in whatsoever Cause I espouse These are the principal Authorities to prove the Use of the Cathedral way in the three first Centuries that are produc'd by its most sensible Patrons But were I concern'd with them I must declare I should be asham'd to claim so great Antiquity if I could not better prove my Title However there are others who are no small Friends to the Cause who run yet lower and urge the Apostolical Constitutions wherein under the prescrib'd Order of Divine Worship 't is requir'd that after the two Lessons one should sing David 's Hymns or Psalms and the People should fall in with the extremes or ends of the Verses And this would be to the purpose indeed were those Constitutions Authentick but that they are so is yet to be prov'd Du Pin tho a Romanist is by evidence of Fact forc'd to declare the Author of them an Impostor For that tho he attempts to pass for Clement the Disciple of the Apostles he yet ascribes to them all in common and each in particular sundry regulations no way agreeing to the Apostles as concerning Churches built in the Form of Temples Liturgies the Ordination of Deacons and Deaconesses the Benediction of Oil and Water and the like which he declares he 's satisfi'd were unknown in those early days And afterwards he charges them with being infected with the Arian and sundry other Errors gives it as his Judgment that they did not appear till the 4th Century and that they were often reform'd chang'd and augmented afterwards according to the different Customs of Times and Countries Cottelerius also declares he 's far from thinking them Apostolical and that he looks upon them as wretchedly interpolated since they became first extant Nay even Dr. Beveridge owns the same and tho he discovers a much greater value for those supposititious Writings than any unprejudic'd Person could think they deserve yet freely declares they are so sadly mangled that they are quite different from what they were when they first appear'd in the World But I have oft wondred in my own Mind why the Doctor thinks L' Arroque unworthy of a Reply who in his Remarks upon him hath sufficiently evidenc'd his antedating them when he so vehemently contends for their being extant before the Council of Nice He that at this time of the day lays any stress upon these spurious Constitutions is not to be argued with the like I say as to Dionysius the Areopagite of the Hierarchy of the Church and other such Authors out of whom Passages of the like nature are often cited they are so generally esteem'd spurious by all that have any gust of Antiquity and are so far from deserving regard that they are not worth the mentioning And now Sir let 's consider how far we have advanc'd It 's requir'd by all the Rules of Reasoning that he that affirms any thing dubious should give good Proof of it before he can expect to gain credit to his Assertion Those therefore who so positively affirm the Use of the Cathedral way of Worship in the three first Centuries must produce good Evidence and if their proof be not cogent there are good Grounds for a denial The strongest Evidences that usually are produc'd have bin consider'd and weigh'd and I think I may without Vanity say prov'd weak and insufficient Till therefore they either bring better or better strengthen and support these they can't reasonably refuse to allow us to withhold our Assent The Negative is not in any Case equally capable of Proof with the Affirmative
Rise of that way of Worship which our Cathedralists so much extol and in comparison whereof they reckon the Worship of those who statedly wait on God like honest Christians in their Parish Churches to be poor mean and beggarly I 'll omit no material Circumstances I have met with in the narrow compass of my Reading which may either seem to make for their Cause or help to afford any Light and make a few Reflections as I go along that I mayn't seem heavy flat and tedious After all the stir that hath bin made the first certain hint that can be fix'd on in Ecclesiastical Antiquity of Cathedral Chanting is in the Church of Antioch during the Administration of Leontius who was advanc'd to that See A. C. 347. and continued in it till the Year 356. in which interval of time Flavianus who was afterwards himself advanc'd to this See and Diodorus afterwards Bishop of Tarsus divided the Quire into two Parts and made them sing the Psalms of David alternately which Custom saith Theodoret began first at Antioch and thence spread it self to other places and reach'd even to the ends of the World Leontius the Bishop was an Arian and subtilly undermin'd the Nicene Faith of which Flavianus and Diodorus set up for zealous Defenders They were both engag'd in a Monastick Life and in great repute for Piety and therefore altho as the Historian observes they were as yet mere Laymen and not in Orders yet they had a great many Followers and their way of Antiphonal Singing which they set up in separate Assemblies was generally so taking that they drew all the People from Leontius their Bishop who thereupon desir'd them to bring their new fashion Service into the Church So that this so much admir'd Service was first set on foot in order ☞ to the enticing People from the Arians to please the Mob and keep them from running after those by whom they 'd be seduc'd But for my part I must declare I am rather for leaving those Arts and Shifts to persons of Sectarian Principles Let Truth make its own way I can't apprehend it any great Service to it to gain it Proselytes by any such enticing Methods And I very much question whether those who are attracted merely by the pompousness of Worship are like to prove any great Credit to the party they fall in with However thus stands Fact At Antioch where Persons were first call'd Christians were Christians first taught to turn the Church into a Stage There was that way of Singing first introduc'd which hath turn'd the Worship of God into an artificial contrivance and which should it universally prevail would transform Religion into mere Mechanism Of this Flavianus was the great occasion A Man who stands branded in Ecclesiastick History for the breach of a most solemn Oath whereby for the preventing a perpetual Schism in the Church of Antioch he and five more stood bound not to covet the Bishoprick of that See and not to accept it altho elected while Paulinus and Meletius were alive Notwithstanding which Oath he after the Death of Meletius in opposition to Paulinus who yet surviv'd readily accepted the Bishoprick when 't was offer'd him for which notorious Perjury he was deservedly detested by all the Western Bishops I know 't is pleaded on his behalf that he herein acted with the Advice and Approbation of a Synod of the Bishops of the East who unanimously elected him when they were met together in Council at Constantinople But that only proves that those who possest the chief Dignities of the Church began betimes to act more out of Interest than a Principle of Conscience of which there are alas but too many instances but proves not the lawfulness of the Fact Our Cathedralists have no great Cause to be proud of their Founder who in so scandalous a manner mounted the Episcopal Throne However tho he was loose in his Morals yet he was very fond of Ceremonials an unhappy Conjunction too oft to be met with in every Age He seems to have reckon'd his Anthems a sort of Magical Charms proper to appease both God and Man We meet with a remarkable instance of his reliance upon their Virtue when he was sent as a publick Agent to the Emperor Theodosius The Case was this The City of Antioch had by a popular Sedition incurr'd the Emperor's Displeasure and was afraid of the consequences Whereupon Flavianus was by common Consent deputed as their Mediator with him to pacify his Anger and implore their Pardon He undertakes the Business and thinking nothing could be more softning than his belov'd Church-Musick ordered the usual Service to be sung before the Emperor at his Table and for once makes a Quire of the Imperial Dining-room The Design succeeded the Emperor took Pity he wept most tenderly and the City was receiv'd into Favour Behold here an instance of the charming Power of the Cathedral Service How could the Antiochians forbear having a mighty Esteem and Reverence for their late Invention which they found had such a melting Virtue How easily were they perswaded that it was likely to be as moving to God as they found it had bin to Man What wonder then that this City was so fond of Alternate Singing No where do we hear so much of it as there In the days of the Emperor Julian they convey'd the Corps of St. Babylas the Martyr from Daphne where the Daemon could not bear his Neighbourhood and carri'd it through their City in Triumph singing all the way they went with great Joy after the manner of the Quire the whole Company joining in this response at every Period Confounded be all they that worship Graven Images The same sort of Reception they gave also in the Reign of Theodosius to the Corps of their Bishop Meletius which was deposited near that of St. Babylas And many other ways did they show their fondness of it The prevalence of Antiphonal Singing in such a City as Antioch which was the Metropolis of Syria a place of great resort and of a mighty Influence much further'd its spreading in other Parts Between the year of Christ 360 and 370 there was a Council held in the City of Laodicea upon what Occasion is not now certainly known Among other things 't was then determin'd that there should be Canonical Singers and that they should sing out of Written Books and that none else should sing in the Church Who had the framing of these Canons and what Bishops met in this Council I cannot find out but meet with this Reason assign'd by Baronius for this particular Canon about Singers because saith he when the People and Clergy sang promiscuously through the unskilfulness of the Singers it oft fell out that by the disorderly sound of Voices the diversity marr'd that harmonious Singing which was congruous to the Churches Dignity therefore it was prohibited the People in the Church and ordered that none should sing but
Gravity Simplicity and Piety than his Depth and Solidity he was too great an admirer of the Greeks whom he follow'd blindfold It hath long since bin observ'd of him by St. Jerom that he often transcribes the Greek Fathers in his Writings no wonder therefore if he follow'd them in Ritual matters He had particularly a great Veneration for St. Basil in imitation of whom he introduc'd the Service of the Quire at Milan of which we have this Account When he was persecuted by the Empress Justina the People watch'd all Night in the Church and then he appointed that Psalms and Hymns should be sung after the manner of the Oriental Countries lest the People should pine away with the tediousness of Sorrow and from that time forward the Custom was retain'd and spread to all the Western Parts But I must be excus'd if I can't lay so great a stress on this honest Father's Judgment and Practice as some others may do for a Visionary Inclination is with me wherever I meet with it a great mark of weakness Of this we have in him a notorious Instance in one of the most remarkable Passages of his Life which relates to his management of the Relicks of St. Gervasius and St. Protasius of which he himself gives this Account Having built a Church in the City of Milan he was desir'd to Consecrate it in the same manner as he had done the Roman Church i. e. another Church that was near the Roman Gate He promis'd it provided he found any Relicks and thereupon got some Officers to dig about the Rails that encompass'd the Tombs of St. Felix and St. Nabor the Martyrs Digging they found the Bodies of two proper Persons besprinkled with Blood which with great Solemnity were carried and interr'd in the new-built Church after having wrought a great many miraculous Cures In his two Sermons which he preach'd upon this Occasion which I 'd commend to the perusal of all those who reckon Things and Sentiments must if Antient be good of course he tells his Hearers that these were the Bodies of St. Gervasius and Protasius And tho he did not think it necessary to acquaint them how he came to know so much yet St. Austin who was at that time at Milan tells us he had his Intelligence in a Vision For my part I 'm clearly for plain ground for I find Precipices dangerous Once admit Visions in the Case of Relicks and I see no reason why they should be refus'd on the behalf of Transubstantiation or any other Dotage If we have a sure Word of Prophecy let us stick to it Should a Man bring his Visions into the Pulpit in our times either in the Court City or University he 'd at once forfeit whatever Reputation he was master of And why we should give a Letter of Licence to an Antient and deny it to a Modern Preacher I can't imagine In a word I honour the Piety of St Ambrose yet cannot but be loth to admit him a Precedent where any thing dubious is under Consideration for I am satisfi'd we have many an honest Country Parson that is able to see as far as he The third admir'd Patron is the great St. Chrysostom concerning whom 't is to be observ'd that he was born and bred at Antioch where we have found the Cathedral Chanting was first introduc'd He was made a Deacon there by Meletius and afterwards a Presbyter by Flavianus the Founder of the Service of whom he is said to have bin a great admirer So that he imbib'd the love of Antiphonal Singing almost with his Mother's Milk and was all along bred up in the Use of it and he must be altogether unacquainted with humane Nature who knows not the Force and Power of Education When he was once advanc'd to the See of Constantinople he soon found occasion to introduce the Antiochian Custom Historians relate it thus The Arians in that City were grown very insolent They kept their Conventicles out of Town but were wont upon Saturdays and Sundays which were constant times for the Publick Assemblies to come within the City and dividing themselves into Companies they walk'd about the Publick Portico's singing as they went along Hymns compos'd in defence of their own Principles one part responding to the other adding petulant Reflections on the Catholicks Thus they did the greatest part of the Night and early the next Morning they march'd through the heart of the City singing their Antiphonal Hymns and so went out to their own Meeting-house St. Chrysostom in opposition to them deliver'd Hymns to some of his People to be sung in the Night in the same manner and that the business might be manag'd with the greater Pomp and Solemnity procur'd Crosses of Silver to be made at the Empresses Charge and order'd that they should have lighted Torches born before them and got Briso the Empresses own Eunuch as Praecentor to walk before the Company which was the occasion of a great Scuffle and Sedition in the City that issu'd in the utter Expulsion of the Arians But this way of Singing thus introduc'd was as Sozomen observes us'd at Constantinople from that day forward Which is to me a plain Argument that it was not introduc'd there before for otherwise he 'd hardly have taken such particular notice of it However it had not bin long there before it was manag'd in so unseemly a manner as made the good Man who first brought it in perfectly asham'd For the Singers affected such mimical Gestures and boisterous Clamors as turn'd the Church into a mere Stage Whereupon he with great Vehemence Warmth and Gravity reproves them Telling them that their rude Voices which gave an uncertain sound rather became Theatres than the Church of God because they were borrow'd from thence and were unseemly for the Church in which all things are to be done with Reverence because of his tremendous Presence who observes the Motion of every one there yea he declares he reckons those rude Voices in Singing for tokens of an uncomposed Mind which declare that Men are rather mad than humbly confessing their Sins to God and with a becoming lowliness begging his Pardon for them Which was a sort of a retractation of his former Fact when he saw the Profaneness to which it gave occasion and intimates an abatement of his fondness for the Cathedral Service when he found how much Religion and the Worship of God was like to suffer by it We may very well conclude that the same fervent Piety and Zeal for God could he have known the Mischief it occasion'd in succeeding Ages would have made him as forward to throw it out as ever he was to bring it in Upon the whole there 's no great room for boasting of these three Patrons for the first was reputed an Innovator in that very respect wherein our Cathedralists urge his Authority The second in things of this nature made more use of other Mens