The earliest authentic record on this subject is the celebrated letter from Pliny to Trajan, just at the close of the apostolic age (A.D. 108, 104). In the investiga- tions which he instituted against the Christians of his period, he discovered, among other things, that they were accustomed to meet before day to offer praise to Christ {Epist. x, 97). The expression used is some- what equivocal, and might refer to the ascription of praise in prayer or in song. But it appears that these Christians rehearsed their '-carmen invicem" alternately, as if in responsive songs, according to the ancient custom of singing in the Jewish worship. TertuUian, only a century later, evidently understood the passage to be descriptive of this mode of worshipping God and Christ, for he says that Pliny intended to express noth- ing else than assemblies before the dawn of the morn- ing for singing praise to Christ and to God {Apolog. c.
2). Eusebius also gives the passage a similar inter- pretation, saj'ing that Pliny could find nothing against them save that, arising at the dawn of the morning, they sang hymns to Christ as God {Hist. Ecdesiast. iii, 32). Viewed in this light, in which it is now gen- erally viewed, it becomes evidence of the use of song in Christian worship immediately subsequent to the age of the apostles (comp. Miinter, Metrisch. Offenhar. p. 25). TertuUian himself also distinctly testifies to the use of songs to the praise of God by the primitive Christians. Every one, he says, was invited in their public worship to sing unto God, according to his abil- ity, either from the Scriptures or de propria ingenio, " one indited by himself,''' according to the interpretation of Munter. AVhatever may be the meaning of this phrase, the passage clearly asserts the use of Christian psalmody in their religious v>'orship. Again, he speaks of singing in connection with the reading of the Script- ures, exhortations^ and prayer (i^e A ninia, c. 9). Justin Martyr also, who lived within half a century of the apostles, and is himself credited with being the author of a work on Christian Psalmody, mentions the songs and hymns of the Ephesian Christians: "We manifest our gratitude to him by worshipping him in spiritual songs and hymns, praising him for our birth, for our health, for the vicissitudes of the seasons, and for the hopes of immortality" (^Apol. v, 28). Eusebius, more- over, furnishes this important testimony of an ancient historian at the close of the 2d centurj' : " Who knows not the writings of Irenoeus, Melito, and others, whicli exhibit Christ as God and man ? And koto many songs and odes of the brethren there are, written from the be- ginning (oTr' apx^c) by believers, which offer praise to Christ as the Word of God, ascribing divinity to him !" {Eccles. Hist. V, 28). Here we have not only tes- timony to the use of spiritual songs in the Christian Church from the remotest antiquity, but also that there were hymn writers in the apostolic Church, and that their songs were collected for use at a very early date of the Christian Church (comp. Fabricius, Biblioth. Grceca [ed. Harl.], vii, 67). These spiritual songs of the primitive Christians were almost exclusive!}' of a doctrinal character. " In fact," says Augusti, " almost all the prayers, doxologies, and hymns of the ancient Church are nothing else than prayers and supplications to the triune God or to Jesus Christ. They were gener- ally altogether doctrinal. The prayers and psalms, of merel}"- a moral character, which the modern Church has in great abundance, in the ancient were altogether unknown" {Denkwiirdigkiten, v, 417; comp. Neander, A llgem. Kirchengesch. i, 523 ; Engl. ed. i, 304).
One such composition of the primitive Church — a hymn — has come down to us entire. It is found in the Pcedagogue of Clement of Alexandria, a work bearing date about one hundred and fifty years from the time of the apostles ; but it is ascribed to another, and as- signed to an earlier origin. It is wanting in some of the manuscripts of Clement. It contains figurative language and forms of expression which were familiar to the Church at an earlier date; and, for various rea- sons, is regarded bj^ Mtlnter {Metrische Offenbar. p. 32) and Bull {Defensio jidei Niccenm, § iii, ch. 2, p. 316) as a venerable relic of the early Church, which has escaped the ravages of time, and still remains a solitary remnant of the Christian psalmodj-^ of that early age. It is cer- tainly very ancient, and the earliest that has been trans- mitted to us (see Hyjinology, in vol. iv, p. 434, col. 2). A translation of it is furnished in Coleman's Ancient Christianity, p. 334-35.
Sacred music must, in the primitive Church, have consisted only of a few simple airs which could easily be learned, and which, by frequent repetition, became familiar to all. An ornate and complicated style of music would have been alike incompatible with the circumstances of these Christian worshippers and un- congenial with the simplicity of their primitive forms (comp. Augusti, JDenkwiirdigkeiien, v, 288). In theii
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songs of Zion, both old and young, men and women, bore a part. Their psalmody was the joint act of the wliole assembly in unison. Such is the testimony of Hilary, A.D. 3o5 {Comment, in Psa. xxv, p. 174). Am- brose remarks that the injunction of the apostle, for- bidding women to speak in i)ublic, relates not to sing- ing, "for this is delightful in every age and suited to every sex" (in I'sd. i, J'raif. p. 741 ; comp. llexameron, lib. iii, 0. 0, p. 42j. The authority of Chrysostom is also to the same effect, " It was the ancient custom, as it is still with us, for all to come together, and unit- edly to join in singing. The young and the old, rich and ])oor, male and female, bond and free, all join in one song. . . . All worhlly distinctions here cease, and the whole congregation form one general chorus" {Horn. xi, vol. xii, p. 349 ; ]lom. xxxvi, in 1 Cor. vol. x, p. 340 ; comp. Gerbert, Musica Sacra, lib. i, § 11, for other au- thorities). Each member was invited, at pleasure and according to his ability, to lead their devotions in a sacred song indited by himself. Such was the custom in tlie Corinthian Clmrch. Such was still the custom in the age of TertuUian, to which reference has already been made. Augustine also refers to the same usage, and ascribes to divine inspiration the talent which was manifested in this extemporaneous psalmody.