sik bet den Hebraern, § 61. Harmonius. who is said to have invented new metres.
Thus, while the destruction of the Temple and the Ephraem Syrus flourished in the 4th century. For an
dispersion of the Jews suspended Jewish worship, the account of his contributions, see Burgess, Metrical
singing of the psalms and the traditions of their melo- Hymns, and Introduction. The Benedictine preface to
dies would be preserved in the Christian Church. If. the works of Ephraem Syrus. vol. v. says: -While the
therefore, we possess any vestiges of Jewish music at Greeks reduced their sacred hymnology to about eiirht
all, they are to be found in the Ambrosian or Gregorian times, and to this day confine themselves to these lim-
tones. The Rev. J. W. Blakesley (Four Months in At- its. the Syrians expatiate on 275. which their eeelesias-
geria, p. 36) visited a synagogue in Algiers, and was tieal books exhibit here and there, inscribing the proper
surprised to find that " the air to which the psalms were tunes at the beginning of individual hymns." The
chanted coincided almost exactly with one of the Gre- Syrians are said to have possessed a hymnology of
gorian tones." Hardly can we suppose that the early twelve or fourteen thousand hymns.
Christians either originated a new music or adopted | Great use was made of hymnody by the early her-
heathen music. eties: by the Gnostic Bardesanes. who endeavored to
We have no record of the introduction into the Chris- supersede the Hebrew Psalter by one of his own. eon-
tian Church of uninspired hymnody. It would be only raining also 150 psalms ^Theodoret. B
very gradually that Greek hymns, with corresponding by Paul of Samosata. who largely beguiled the faithful
music, would come into use. At first, probably. Chris- by his captivating hymns and music i Eusebius. //. E.
tian hymns would be little more than centos of the He- vii. So | : by the Donatists in Africa, who adapted their
brew psalms, or evangelical imitations of them, or com- | hvmus to common airs of a wild and passionate eharae- VIII.— A A A
PSALMODY
r38
PSALMODY
ter, thereby inflaming the enthusiasm of the people as with a trumpet (Augustine, Confess.); and by Alius, who made ili<' streets of Constantinople resound with ballads written to well-known and seductive melodies, Bung in torchlight processions.
Patristic notices of early Christian hymnology are very numerous; our limits forbid more than mere ref- erence to a few, in addition to those already given. Justin .Martyr. Apql. ii : Tertullian. ApoL contra Gent. a 39; De Anima, c. •'>: Ji< Jejunio; Cyprian, Epist. ad Donat.; Origen, Contra Cels. lib. \iii. c. 67; Eusebius. //. /•:. lib. iij c. 17: lib.v, c.28; lib.vii, c 24; lib.viiij c. 9; Apost. Const, lib. xx, c. 57; Athanasius, Ep. 7. ad l.<it.: Basil In Psalmos; Gregory of Nyssa, Psa. ii; Jerome, Comm. Eph. lib. iii. c. 5; Epist. 17. ad Mar- cell.; Epist. ad Uxorem, lib. ii. c.8; Ambrose, Hexam. lib. iii. c. 5; Augustine, Confess, lib. ix, see. 1-1. 15, ">1 ; lib. x, sec. 49, 50; Chrysostom, On th Wsi Psalm ; Hil- ary, quoted by Bingham, bk. xiii, ch. v, i 7. See also
Meander. Knrlz, and other Church histories; MUman, Hist, oft 'hristiamty, voL iii. bk. ii. ch. iii. iv. See also Devling, Hymni a Christianis decantandi, Obss. Sac. iii. 430; Walch, De Hymnis Eccl ApostoL I 1737); Hilliger, />, i:<,il. Hymn. atom Odar. Sac. Discrimim (Viteb. L720); Gerbert, DeCaniuetMusica a Prima Eccl Statu ii.<r/m ml Prasens Tempus | Bamb. et Frib. 1771. ■_' vols. !i»: : Bingham, Antiquities, bk. xiv, eh. ii; Works, iv. ■117 sq.; Rheinwald, Christl. Archaologie, p. 262. For collections and specimens of ancient hymns, see Poetce Graci <'!iri.<ti<tui, mm rum I '/mm rids Centonibus ex Sanctor. Pair. <>/</'. collecti in usum Gymnas. Soc. Jesu
(Paris, 1609); Maggi. Snrii llinini rlii si /ti/t/mii' intuitu
annonella Santa Chiesa (Venet. 1567); Hymni Ecclesice ( Breoiarw Parisiensi (Oxon. 1838) ; [Faber] Hymns translated from tin Parisian Breviary (Lond. 1839); Daniel. Thesaurus Hymnologicus | Hal. et Lips. 1841-55, 3 vols.); Burgess. Select Metrical Hymns and Homilies of Ephraem Syrus (Lond. 1853); Trench, Sacred Latin Poetry (ibid. 1849); Mrs. P.arrett Browning, The Greek Christian Poets (ibid.1863). See Hymnology.
PSALMt >DY, Christian. Those who refuse to ac- cept the use of hymns in public worship interpret as sa- - only the Psalms of David, and restrict the term to the singing of metrical versions of the Psalms to short, simple airs. They do this on the ground that
psalm-singing alone was practiced in Jewish worship, and that anion- the earliest Christians the only sacred songs were tin- Psalms. Psalmody, thus interpreted. means the singing of metrical versions of the Psalms to short, simple airs.
The service of the primitive Christian Church usu- alh began with reading, or with the singing of psalms. Th. charge of Pliny the Younger against the Chris- tians was that they sang psalms to Christ "quasi Deo." Xo authentic record, however, exists of the kind of mi Indies sung to the psalms by those ancient Chris- tians, nor are we to understand that their psalmody was performed in one course at the opening of the service, but rather that they afforded a most agreeable and de- lightful introduction to the service, through which they wen- interspersed, probably very much as hymns are in modern Christian service. Nor were the Psalms the only sacred songs employed in (he service of the early Church. See Hymnology; Music; Poetry. Psalmodj was always esteemed a considerable part of devotion in