of , commonly known as Georg< Psalmanazar, a re*
jmiiil nativi "/' Formosa, written by himself, was some year- alter given to the world. See the an. in Alli- bone, Diet. <;/' Brit, and Amer. Auth. s. v.. and the ref< r- ences there given; Chambers's Cyclop. 8. v. ; National Repository . April. 1878),p.376. (J. II. W.)
Psalmister i Lai. Psalmista) or Psaltes one of the interior orders in l he early Church, mentioned first by the Council of Laodicea. The form used in their
designation was. according to the fourth Council of Car- 1 1 ag( . " S< e that thou believes! in thine heart what thou singest with thy mouth, and approve in works what thou believes! in thy heart." See Precentor. The psaltes went up into the ambo, or reading-desk, and sang out of a hook. That such a mode of conducting public wor- ship was only intended to be for a time is evident from the circumstance that several of the fathers of the Church mention this practice as existing in their time of the people singing all together. The order of psaltes, on their appointment to office, required no imposition of hands or solemn consecration, hut simply received their office from a presbyter, who used the form of words as laid down hy the Council of Carthage anil given above.
Psalmody, Am ll \ r. By this term we mean the singing of sacred songs a- an acf of worship; and in this article we shall speak only of its use in public wor- ship, and we shall use the term in it- mos! inclusive sense. In doing so, we substantially adopt the art. in Kitto's Cyclopcedia.
The simple idea of psalmody is the expression of re- ligious feeling in lyrical poetry and in musical cadence. Rhythmical song seems to he the instinctive utterance of all stmng emotion. Savage nations express them- selves in language of natural poetry, uttered in the ca- dence of a rude chant or musical recitative. In wor- ship, the use of poetry and music i- coeval with society (Plato, />> Leaib. lib. iii. c. 15; Lowth, lhl>. Poetry, lect. I). Honfer wrote hymns to the gods; < trpheus was a priest-musician, the tamer and sanctifier by his 1\ n of whatever was rude and godless. The muse- were chief- ly employed in the service of the gods (Phumutus, De Natura Deorum, p. 157, ed. Gale), from which some of them — e. g. Melpomene. Terpsichore. Polymnia — de- rived their name-. ( '}• mens Alexandrinus tells us that a chief pan of tin- worship of the Egyptians consisted in singing hymns to their gods: ''First, a sir before, bringing forth some one thing of the symbols of music: and they say that he ought to take two books out of those of Hermes, the one containing the hymns of the gods, the other the method of a royal life. . . . There are ten things which are suitable to the honor of their gods, and comprise the Egyptian religion, viz, sacrifices, first-fruits, hymns, prayers, shows, feasts, and ' such-like things" (Stiomaia, vi. 633, ed. Paris . Por- phyry confirms this. The Egyptians, he say-, devote "the day to the worship of their gods, in which, three or four times— viz. morning and evening, noon and Bun- setting — they sing hymns unto them" ( />• Abstinent. iv, Si. Concerning the Indians.he says, "they spend the
greatest pari of the day and nigh! in prayers and bj mns to the god-" (ibid. 12, 1^: sic also Vita Pythog. p. 200, ed. < lantab.). A remarkable passage occurs in the writ- ings "f Arrianus. the Stoic philosopher. " If." says he. ••we are intelligent creatures, what else should we do. both in public and private, than to sing a hymn to the Deity, to speak will of him. and give thanks unto him V Should we not. whether digging or ploughing or eating, sing a hymn to God?" etc. | Arrian. Epictet. i. 16; also iii. -Ji'. i. Herodotus tells us that Homer g credit for composing hymns to the gods i /-■ Vita Ho- meri.c.9). I.Vwards were given in the Pythian games to those who Bang the bes! hymns to the gods (1'ausa- nias iii Phocicis, lib. x). The apostate Julian recom- mends that many of the excellent hymns I" the gods
he committed to memory, most of which, he says, were composed by the gods, some lew by men inspired by a divine spirit (Opera, p. 5frl, ed. Paris)-. Saered song,
therefore, is no peculiarity of revealed religion. It rests upon deep instincts of human nature, perhaps of all intelligent moral nature: for at the creation "the morning stars Bang together for joy," at the nativity angelic song was heard by the shepherds of Bethle- hem, and in the final heaven both angels and redeemed men an represented a- singing rapturous songs before
the throne.
In defining sacred song as the utterance of strong
PSALMODY
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PSALMODY
emotion, we do not restrict it to praise, although praise is the most natural and prominent form of it. Deep sorrow and earnest prayer may also find their fitting expression in musical song. Augustine thus defines the more technical and Christian conception of a hymn : "Hymnus est cantus cum laude Dei; si cantos est el non laudas Deum, non dicis hymnum ; si laudas aliquid quod non pertinet ad laudem Dei. non dicis hymnum" {Psa.cxlviii). Church song is restricted to lyrical poe- try, for this alone can express the consentaneous emo- tion of a congregation. It excludes, therefore, didactic poetry, which expounds doctrines or analyzes feelings or inculcates duties; and it excludes dramatic poetry, which expresses passion by action. It is also more than mere lyrical poetry: it is lyrical poetry which as- sumes the pure truth of God, and gives expression to the deep religious feeling which it excites. A hymn is an outburst of religious life.