"Neither various style,
Nor holy rapture wanted they to praise
Their Maker in fit strains, pronounced or sung
Unmeditated, such prompt eloquence
Flowed from their lips, in prose or numerous verse,
More tuneable, than needed lute or harp
To add more sweetness."
But soon the voice of unalloyed thanksgiving was silenced. Sin brought
with it sorrow; and, ever since, the Hallelujahs of the saints have been
strangely intermingled with the moanings of self-reproach, and the cries
of judicial sufferings. The heart, now become the seat of a tremendous
conflict between sin and holiness, lost its elasticity, and needed some
outward excitement to call forth its song of praise. Hence the invention
of instrumental music, which is assigned by Scripture to Jubal.