Faith & Reason Nexus

• Dr. Curt Sachs (Columbia University, Eminent Musicologist)
  “All ancient Christian music was vocal.”
• Joseph Bingham (Antiquities of the Church)
  “Music in the church is as ancient as the Apostles; but instrumental music is not.”
• John Wesley
  “I have no objection to the organ in our chapel, provided it is neither seen nor heard.”
• John Calvin (Calvin’s Commentary on the Twenty-Third Psalm)
  “Musical instruments in celebrating the praises of God would be no more suitable than the burning of incense, the lighting of lamps, and the restoration of the other shadows of the law.”
• Adam Clarke (Clarke’s Commentary, Vol. IV, p. 686)
  “I am an old man, and an old minister; and here I declare that I never knew them (musical instruments) productive of any good in the worship of God; and have had a reason to believe that they were productive of much evil. Music, as a science, I esteem and admire; but instruments of music in the house of God, I abominate and abhor.”

These historical perspectives reflect the view that instrumental music was not a part of early Christian worship, and in some cases, was actively discouraged by key figures in Christian history.