On the question of the use of hymns of human com- position in the Church, there were disputes at a very early period. The Council of Braga (Portugal), A.D. oCo, forbade the use of any form of song except psalms and passages of Scripture (Canon xii). On this subject, Bingham remarks that it was in ancient times " no ob- jection against the psalmody of the Church that she sometimes made use of psalms and hymns of human composition, besides those of the sacred and inspired writers. For though St. Austin reflects upon the Dona- tists for their psalms of human composition, yet it was not merely because they were human, but because they preferred them to the divine hymns of Scripture, and their indecent way of chanting them, to the grave and solier method of the Church. St. Austin himself made a psalm of many parts, in imitation of the 119th Psalm ; and this he did for the use of his people, to preserve them from the errors of Donatus. It would be absurd to think that he who made a psalm himself for the
people to sing should quarrel with other psalms merely because thej' were of human composition. It has been demonstrated that there always were such psalms, and hymns, and doxologies composed by pious men, and used in the Church from the first foundation of it ; nor did any but Paulus Samosatensis take exception to the use of them ; and he did so not because they were of human composition, but because they contained a doc- trine contrary to his own private opinions. St. Hilarj' and St. Ambrose made many such hymns, which, when some muttered against in the Spanish chiu-ches because they were of human composition, the fourth Council of Toledo made a decree to confirm the use of them, togeth- er with the doxologies 'Glory be to the Father,' etc., 'Glory be to God on high,' threatening excommunica- tion to any that should reject them. The only thing of weight to be urged against all this is a canon of the Council of Laodicea, which forbids all ISKoTiKovg ip^X- Hovg, all private psalms, and all uncanonical books to be read in the Church. For it might seem that by pri- vate psalms they mean all Inonns of human composi- tion. But it was intended rather to exclude apocryphal hymns, such as went under the name of Solomon, as lial- zamon and Zonaras understand it, or else such as were not approved by public authority in the Church. If it be extended further, it contradicts the current practice of the whole Church besides, and cannot, in reason, be construed as any more than a private order for the churches of that province, made upon some particular reasons unknown to us at this day. Notwithstanding, therefore, any argument to be drawn from this canon, it is evident the ancients made no scruple of usuig psalms or hymns of human composition, provided they were pious and orthodox for the substance, and composed by men of eminence, and received by just authority, and not brought in clandestuiely into the Church" {Orig. Eccles. bk. xiv, ch. i).
The Christian Church, in all periods, has been accus- tomed, as we have already stated, to use jisalms and hymm in public worship. The psalms are portions of the Psalms of David ; the hymns are human composi- tions. On the history bf singing in worship generally, see PsALJioDY, under which head will also be given an account of the s-tandard hymn-books in the several evan- gelical denominations.
I. A ncient Hymns. — A few hymns have come down to . us from very remote antiquity. " Basil cites an even- ing hymn from an unknown author, which he describes as in his time (4th century) very ancient, handed down from the fathers, and in use among the people. Dr. J. Pye Smith considers it the oldest hymn extant. The following is his translation of it: "Jesus Christ, Joyful light of the hoh' ! Glorj- of the Eternal, heavenly, holy, blessed Father ! Having now come to the setting of the sun, beholding the evening light, we praise the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit of God. Thou art worthy to be praised of sacred voices, at all seasons, O Son of God, who givest life. Wherefore the universe glorifieth thee !" {Col^mnw, Ancient Christianity, ch. xvi, § 5). From the letter of the elder Pliny to Trajan we know that as early as the beginning of the 2d centurj' the Christians praised Christ as their God in songs ; and from Eusebius {Eccles. Hist, v, 28) we learn that there existed a whole multitude of such songs. But the old- est hymn to Christ, remaining to us complete from the period of persecution, is that of Clemens Alexantlrinus (q. v.). It is given in full, Greek and Latin, in Cole- man {I. c.) : see also Piper, Ckimntis Hymnns in Salvato- rem (Gotting. 1835), and BuM, Defensio jidei Nicana, § lll,ch.ii, cited by Coleman. "Though regarded as a poetical production, it has little claim to consideration ; it shows the strain of the devotion of the early Chris- tians : we see in it the heart of primitive piety labor- ing to give utterance to its emotions of wonder, love, and gratitude, in view of the offices and character of the Redeemer. It is not found in the later offices of the Church, because, as is supposed, it was thought to re-