On the Good of Psalmody

Let us speak of the good of psalmody, as God deigns to grant us. We, then, dearest ones, who have all been instructed by the teachings of the prophets as well as of the gospels and the apostles, let us set before our eyes their words and deeds, through whom we are all that we are; and, going back to the beginning, let us show from these same authors how pleasing and acceptable to God spiritual songs are. If we ask who first of all introduced this kind, we find no other than Moses, who brought to God a notable song when, Egypt having been struck with ten plagues and Pharaoh drowned, the people went out rejoicing by the unaccustomed paths of the sea to the desert, saying: “Let us sing to the Lord, for he has been gloriously honoured.” Moses, then, the leader of the tribes of Israel, first established choirs, and taught both sexes in separate groups, himself and his sister leading, to sing to the Lord a song of triumph. Afterwards Deborah, a noble woman, is found in the book of Judges performing this ministry. Moses himself, about to depart from the body, repeated a terrifying song in Deuteronomy; which he left written to the people in place of a testament, so that they might know what punishment and what tribulations would follow them if they departed from the Lord. Wretched and pitiable are all who, neglecting so plain a warning, would not guard themselves against sins and unlawful superstitions.

Afterwards you will find many, not only men but also women, filled with the divine Spirit, who sang the mysteries of God, even before David, who, specially chosen by the Lord for this office from boyhood, deserved to be the prince of singers and a treasury of songs. While still a boy, singing sweetly and strongly on the lyre, he restrained the evil spirit that was working in Saul: not that his lyre had such power, but because the figure of the cross of Christ, which was mystically borne in the wood and the stretching of the strings, was already then crushing the spirit of the demon.

What will you not find in these Psalms that makes for the benefit and edification, for the consolation, of the human race, of every condition, sex and age? In the Psalms the infant has something to suck, the boy something to praise, the adolescent something to correct his way, the young man something to follow, the old man something to pray. A woman learns modesty, orphans find a father, widows a judge, the poor a protector, strangers a guardian; kings and judges hear what they should fear. A psalm consoles the sad, moderates the glad, calms the angry, refreshes the poor, admonishes the rich to know themselves, and rebukes them lest they be proud; the psalm gives a fitting medicine to absolutely all who take it up; nor does it despise sinners, but salutarily applies a remedy to them through tearful repentance. So the Lord our God, through his servant David, prepared a drink that would be sweet to the taste through song, and effective by its power to heal the wounds of sins. For a psalm is heard sweetly while it is sung; it penetrates the soul while it delights; psalms are easily held in memory if they are sung often; and what the severity of the law could not wring from human minds, these exclude through the sweetness of song. For whatever the prophets, whatever the gospels themselves command, is contained in these songs with the sweetness of those who meditate on them.

God is shown that he may be feared, idols are mocked, righteousness is urged, iniquity is forbidden, mercy is praised, unbelief is renounced, truth is sought, lies are condemned, deceit is accused, innocence is praised, pride is cast down, humility is exalted, repentance is preached, peace is set forth to be pursued. Protection is asked against enemies, vengeance is promised, sure hope is nourished; and, what is more excellent than all these, in the Psalms the mysteries of Christ are sung. For his generation is expressed, and the rejection of the impious people, and the inheritance of the nations is named; the mighty works of the Lord are sung, his venerable passion is depicted, his glorious resurrection is shown, his session at the right hand is also wonderfully depicted. Then the fiery coming of the Lord is made manifest, the terrible judgment of the living and the dead is laid open. What more? The sending forth of the creating Spirit and the renewal of the earth are also revealed: after which there will be the everlasting kingdom of the righteous in the glory of the Lord, and the perpetual punishment of sinners.

These are the songs of God which the catholic church of God sings. These are what this assembly of ours practises with the sound of the voice too: these do not loosen the singer, but rather bind him. These songs please God, where everything that is done looks to the glory of the Creator. Rightly the same prophet exhorts all and everything to the praise of God who governs all things, saying: “Let every spirit praise the Lord.” Promising himself too as a praiser, he said: “I will praise the name of the Lord with a song, and magnify him with praise.” Praise the Lord in your life, offer to God a sacrifice of praise for your soul and life, and through it is shown to you in your soul [the way] by which you may come to his salvation.

Praise sent forth from a pure conscience delights our Lord, as the same hymn-writer urges, saying: “Praise the Lord, for a psalm is good; to our God let praise be pleasant and seemly.” Bearing this knowledge, knowing this office to be pleasing to God, the same Psalmist testifies: “Seven times a day I have spoken praise to you.” And he promises something still more: “And my tongue,” he says, “will meditate on your righteousness, your praise all the day.” For he undoubtedly felt the benefit of such work, as he himself recalls, saying: “Praising, I will call on the Lord, and I shall be saved from my enemies.” Armed with such a defence and such a shield, he both struck down that mightiest giant Goliath and often brought back victory over foreigners.

It would be long, dearest ones, to tell each thing that the history of the saints contains, especially since the matter requires that something from the New Testament be brought forward to confirm the old and for your instruction. So you will find first that Zechariah, father of the great John, after that long silence prophesied in the form of a hymn. Nor did Elizabeth, long barren, when a son had been born from the promise, cease to magnify God from her very soul. When Christ was born on earth the army of angels sounded praise: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will.” The children in the temple cried out, proclaiming: “Hosanna to the Son of David”; and when the Pharisees made a noise in envy, the Lord did not close the mouths of the innocent but rather opened them, saying to them: “Have you not read what is written: Out of the mouth of infants and sucklings you have perfected praise? And if these keep silent, the stones will cry out.” The Lord himself, a teacher in words and a fulfiller in deeds, to approve the most pleasing ministry of hymns, went out to the Mount of Olives with his disciples after a hymn had been sung. Who now, with such a proof, will doubt the religion of psalms and hymns, when he who is adored and sung by all the heavenly ones is said to have sung a hymn himself with his disciples?

And John in the Apocalypse relates that, the Spirit revealing it, he saw and heard a voice of many waters and of mighty thunders saying “Alleluia”; from which no one ought to doubt that this ministry of holy vigils, if it is celebrated with worthy faith and true devotion, is joined with the angels, who, it is known, without sleep and without occupation unceasingly praise God in heaven and bless the Saviour. Since this is so, brothers, let us now fulfil faithfully the mystery of hymns with fuller confidence, believing that we have obtained great grace from God, to whom it has been granted, with saints so many and so great, the prophets, I mean, and the martyrs, [to sing] the wonders of the eternal God …. Here with David we confess to the Lord that he is good; with Moses we sound forth the power of the Lord in those great songs; with Anna, who bears the figure of the church, once barren, now fruitful, we are strengthened in heart in the praise of God; with Isaiah we sing keeping watch by night; with Habakkuk, with Jeremiah, with Jonah, most holy prophets, we sing in prayer: with the three young men likewise, as though placed in the furnace, calling together every creature, we sing blessing the Creator of all.

What is more profitable than this usefulness, what more pleasant than this delight, that we are delighted by the Psalms, watered by prayers, and fed by the readings placed between? And truly, as good guests are delighted by a variety of dishes, so our souls are fattened by many readings and by the performance of hymns.

Only, dearest ones, leaving off needless talk, let us sing with attentive sense and wakeful mind, so as not to displease God. For thus the psalm exhorts us, saying: “For God is king of all the earth; sing wisely,” that is, with understanding, so that we sing not only with the spirit, that is, with the sound of the voice, but also with the mind, and think about what we sing, lest the mind, captivated by talk and stray thoughts, have fruitless labour. Let the sound or melody too be sung in keeping with holy religion: not one that cries out tragic difficulties, but one that shows true Christianity in you; not one that smells of anything theatrical, but one that produces compunction for sins. And the voice of all of you ought not to be discordant but harmonious. Let not one draw out the sound foolishly, or one lower it while another raises his voice; but let each strive humbly to keep his voice within the sound of the choir singing together, not raising it outside or drawing it out to carry it improperly as if for foolish display, nor wishing to please men. For we ought to celebrate everything as in the sight of God, not with the aim of pleasing men. For we have a model or example set for this harmony of voice too: those three most blessed young men, of whom the prophet Daniel relates: “Then,” he says, “these three, as with one mouth, sang a hymn and glorified God in the furnace, saying: Blessed are you, Lord God of our fathers.” You see that it is set down as instruction that the three young men praised God together with one mouth, humbly and holily. And let us all, as with one mouth, bring forth equally the same sound of the psalms and the same modulation of voice: but he who cannot keep in tune with the others had better be silent, or sing with a soft voice, than make a din over everyone with a loud voice; for so he will both fulfil the duty of the ministry and not cause offence to the brotherhood singing humbly. If, then, the voice of us all is without offence, and in harmony like well-sounding cymbals of the lips, it will both delight us and edify the hearers, and the whole praise will be sweet to our God, who, as we read, makes those of one mind dwell in his house. When a psalm is sung, let it be sung by all; when a reading is read, let silence be made and let it be heard equally by all, so that while the reader reads no one makes a din with noisy voices. And before the reading begins, all come together: if anyone arrives while the reading is being held, let him only adore God and, having signed his forehead, give his ear attentively to the law of God.

There is a time for praying when we all pray; there is a time, when you wish and as often as you wish, to pray privately; so that you may not grieve at having lost the reading under the pretext of prayer, since not everyone can always have it at hand: for a long time for prayer is always available: nor think that small benefit comes to you from hearing the sacred reading; for prayer itself becomes richer when the mind is fattened by a fresh reading and runs through the images of the divine things it has just heard. For Mary too, the sister of Martha, who, sitting at Jesus’ feet and leaving her sister aside, listened more attentively to the word of the Lord, is confirmed by the Lord’s voice to have chosen the good part. For this is why the deacon too, in a clear voice, admonishes all in the house of God as a holy herald, that whether in praying, or in bending the knees, or in singing psalms, or in listening carefully to the readings, unity be kept by all; because God loves men of one mind and makes them dwell in his house; and those who dwell in that house are pronounced blessed in the psalm, because they will praise the Lord for ever and ever. Amen.