It is, however, gratifying to know that in colonial America there was at least one veritable garden spot in the matter of church music. This was at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the episcopal seat of the Moravians. These people, with so many of the features of the primitive church, were at the same time leaders in musical culture. Without the slightest hesitation, they used in their services, besides the organ, brass and stringed instruments, such as the trumpet, trombone, clarionet, harp, violin, and bass viol. Conservatives in some of the other churches were shocked beyond measure, but the Moravians continued on their way with a happy conscience.

In colonial days American Methodists were a feeble folk. When organized in 1766 they were only a handful. For many years their lack of means, if nothing else, would have made. impossible the purchase of organs for their churches. But in fact the hostility, on both sides of the sea, to anything of the kind among the followers of Wesley, was so pronounced that the nineteenth century was far advanced before a more progressive spirit dared to show itself. In commenting on the woe pronounced by Amos on those who "chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of music," Dr. Adam Clarke said: "Music, as a science, I esteem and admire; but instruments of music in the house of

God I abominate and abhor. This is the abuse of music; and I here register my protest against all such corruptions in the worship of the Author of Christianity." And he quoted John Wesley as having said, "I have no objection to instruments of music in our chapels, provided they are neither heard nor seen." It should be said, however, for Wesley that his general attitude on this subject was more liberal than that of Dr. Clarke. Organs in churches of the Established Communion seemed to receive his cordial approval; it was to the introduction of instrumental music into the less formal meeting places of his own people that he objected.

But the early Methodists made up for the lack of instruments with their voices. They knew how to sing, and they sang with a fervency, a soulful sincerity, that impressed all who heard them. John Adams attended the Continental Congress which was held in Philadelphia in the fall of 1774. In his diary, under date of Sunday, October 23, we find this entry: "In the evening, I went to the Methodist meeting" (which must have been at the old Saint George's Church) "and heard Mr. Webb, the old soldier. The singing here is very sweet and soft indeed; the first [finest] music I have heard in any society, except the Moravian, and once at church with the organ."

Doubtless there were many in all the communions, who in secret if not openly, sympathized with the attitude of the venerable Bishop White of the Protestant Episcopal Church. He sturdily championed good music, and at the same time. issued a warning against prevalent dangers, especially condemning "the licentiousness-conspicuous in some places, in those light airs, which are calculated to send people dancing out of church."

CHAPTER VII

SOME EARLY HYMN BOOKS

REFERENCE has already been made to several early collections, and still others merit our attention. As we have said in a previous chapter, very often a hymn book reflects in a remarkable way not only the thought and feeling of the compiler, but the state of religious sentiment and belief at the time it was prepared. We have spoken of the book edited by President Dwight and published in 1801. In addition to the new version of the Psalms, there was an appendix of two hundred and sixty-three hymns. If Dr. Dwight had been left perfectly free the number would have been still larger. But the fact that so many were included, and that the book was received with great favor, shows what an advance had been made since the days when an attempt to introduce into public worship a hymn of "human composure" would have been angrily denounced. The time had come, whether anyone dared to confess it or not, when Psalm-singing palled on the taste of many good people, and when everybody was ready to admit that David was not the only person whom God had inspired to write hymns suitable for public praise. It is indicative,

however, of the cautious spirit which prevailed, that in Dwight's book the emphasis is laid on the Psalms, and the hymns are merely "annexed."

Of the two hundred and sixty-three hymns mentioned, it is not surprising that one hundred and sixty-eight are from Watts; the significant fact being that ninety-five are by other writers. The almost exclusive hold which Watts had maintained on the churches was being relaxed. It is also noticeable that only one of Charles Wesley's hymns is used, and this is credited to "Rippon," the English collection from which it was taken. It may have been due in part to theological differences, which would lead a Calvinistic compiler to hesitate to draw from an Arminian source, that the Wesleys were passed by. But even more it may be accounted for by a strange and persistent ignorance on the part of highly intelligent people, especially in America, of the riches of Wesleyan hymnody.

Most of Dwight's selections, aside from Watts, were from a very small group, Samuel Stennett, Doddridge, Newton, Cowper, Beddome, Fawcett, and Anne Steele. And more than once a writer's best hymns were passed over. Toplady's collection was drawn upon, but "Rock of Ages" was not chosen. Very scanty musical variety was provided. With the exception of four six-line hymns, to which no meters were as