+I. The singing of psalms is here enjoined as a sacred branch of
social worship.+--We are to glorify God in our bodies and in our
spirits. To Him we are to consecrate the use of all our powers. And
there is the same reason why the musical as any other faculty should
be employed in His service. Praise is the most excellent part of
Divine worship.
+II. The matter or subject of our singing.+--In psalms, hymns, and
spiritual songs. By psalms is intended that collection of sacred
poems which passes under this name and is one of the canonical books
of Scripture. By hymns may be designed other poetical compositions of
Scripture as the songs of Moses, Hannah, Zechariah, Simeon, and
others. By spiritual songs may be meant those pious and devout songs
which in that age were composed by prophets and holy men in the
Church under the immediate influence of the Spirit. The matter we
sing should be accommodated to the occasion of the worship. If in the
days of David it was thought necessary that on extraordinary
occasions a new song should be sung, surely now we may sing some new
songs on the glorious occasion of the Gospel.
+III. We are to sing, making melody.+--The use of music in social
worship is to assist and enliven the devotion of the heart. When
music is performed with melody of sound, exactness of time, and
harmony of voices, it greatly contributes to this end. Singing cannot
be performed to edification and comfort without skill. The singers in
the Jewish Temple were carefully instructed, and this branch of
worship conducted with great order and solemnity.
+IV. In singing we must make melody in our hearts to the
Lord.+--Singing as part of religious worship must be directed to God.
We sing in obedience to His command, with a sense of His presence,
with hearts disposed for His service, with affections corresponding
to the matter of the psalm. The man who can hear holy anthems sung to
the universal Parent, with voices sweetly mingling and harmonising
together, and not feel himself softened into benevolence and love and
moulded into condescension and peace, must have a soul rugged as the
rocks and stubborn as an oak.
+Lessons.+--1. _If singing is an instituted part of Divine worship,
all should take a share in it._ 2. _Every one according to his
ability is bound to promote the psalmody of the Church._ 3. _Psalmody
as a branch of Divine worship should be regarded, not as a theatrical
exhibition, but as a religious solemnity.--Lathrop._