Some contend that the call to worship God, in Rev. 14:7 implies the singing of hymns of worship only, couched in direct address to God the Creator, and involves conversely the discarding of evangelistic songs, which are simply exhortations, testifyings, appeals, or warnings to our fellow men. Is this argument sound and valid? 2. The psalms are cited as examples of the direct worship of God. Do the facts sustain such a position? 3. The idea is also put forth that only the tried and tested hymns that have survived the centuries, or at least the decades, provide the true and proper music for our churches. What about that? 4. And what about the beauty and appeal of Latin chorales of the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries that are becoming increasingly popular today ? What should be our relationship to this concept of the only proper form of religious music? Please answer with some fullness.
These are important and far-reaching questions. They involve an issue that touches the very heart of this movement and bears upon its place and mission in the world today. The issue raised is more than a musician's problem ; it is primarily a ministerial matter. We shall note the four related questions in sequence.
I. THE INTENT OF WORSHIP!—Unfortunately, the concept that the worship of Revelation 14:7 has primary reference to music is based on a misconception, a misinterpretation, and upon an unwarranted restriction of the thought and intent of the text. In this fourteenth chapter the worship of God the Creator in the first message, and the worship of the "beast," the perverter in the third message, are thrown into direct contrast and fundamental opposition. What is implied by worship in the one must be involved conversely in the other. The identical original Greek word proskuneo is eniployed in both instances. In fact, this same Greek word runs all through the Apocalypse, appearing in Revelation 3:9; 4:10; 9 :20; 13:8, 12, 15; 14 :7, 9, 11;15 :4 ; 19:10 ; and 22:8, 9—always with the same intent.
The three messages of Revelation 14 follow in the wake of the dread course of events prophesied in Revelation 13, in which mankind worshiped the papal power (verse 8) throughout the middle and later ages. Finally, as portrayed by the second prophetic symbol, apostate Protestantism in the United States will cause a revival of this worldwide "worship" of the papal power in the last days, after the beast's wound is healed (verses 12-15) ; that is, subsequent to the events of 1798. It is in this setting that the summons, "Fear God, and give glory to Him ; for the hour of His judgment is come," appears, and the call, "Worship Him that made heaven, and earth," is issued.
This specific message began to be proclaimed in the early decades of the nineteenth century in the Old World as well as the New, and reached its climax in the preaching of William Miller and his associates between 1840 and 1844. We are expressly told:
"Our faith in reference to the messages of the first, second, and third angels was correct. The great way-marks we have passed are immovable. Although the hosts of hell may try to tear them from their foundation, and triumph in the thought that they have succeeded, yet they do not succeed. These pillars of truth stand firm as the eternal hills, unmoved by all the efforts of men combined with those of Satan and his host." E. G. WHITE in Review and Herald, Nov. 27, 1883.
Whatever the nature of the worship that was called for, it was obviously responded to under, the call of the first angel's message. The repeated declarations to this effect in Early Writings, Great Controversy, and in many printed articles and special testimonies are clear and emphatic. Yet the bulk of the hymns and spiritual songs of the early advent believers were of admonition, appeal, testimony, and warning to their fellow men. And they were designed to encourage and sustain one another in their great but unpopular mission to the world.
The second of the three messages was heralded to nominal Protestantism in 3843-44 by these same advent leaders. The precise words, "Babylon is fallen," were used. And they preached and published, "Come out of her, My people." The nominal Protestant churches rejected the advent message and the solemn announcement of the judgment-hour ending of the 2300 years of that great tittle prophecy. For this cause God rejected tfiem as ecclesiastical organizations, and called out a separate remntant church to represent Him and to proclaim His final reformatory message to men, known to us as the third angel's message. This third message involves the enunciation of God's specific warning against the worship of the beast (verses 9, 10), and against receiving its counterfeit sabbath mark.
It must therefore be evident that the emphasis on the worship of God, continued in the second and third messages, involves the principle of fundamental acknowledgment, obedience, allegiance, honor, and reverence. The second message involves separation from Babylon—its organizations, creeds, doctrines, forms, and spirit—and naturally the Babylonish elements of its music, for all of these together constitute Babylon and its worship. Whatever the meaning of worship in the one instance, the converse is involved in the other. And it is not simply or primarily a matter of hymnology in either case. It is basically a question of relationship and allegiance. Music is a part of the picture, but only a part.
Anyone who has examined the music employed in the 1843-44 movement will concede that a large percentage of the songs of the early advent movement were not direct ascriptions of praise but simply the musical expression of the distinctive first angel's message in exposition, exhortation, testimony, warning, and appeal. These are found scattered through the Millerite journals—Signs of the Times, Midnight Cry, Second Advent of Christ —as well as in their second advent standard hymnals, such as the Millennial Harp, Advent Harp, and Christian Lyre.
The evidence is clear and conclusive. The titles alone are sufficient evidence. Note them : "Our Journey Home," "I'm a Traveler," "Star of Our Rope," "Armageddon," "Remember Lot's Wife," "When the Harvest Is Past," "Awake Ye, Awake," "The Fields Are White," "Convert's Song," "Hymn for 1843," "Millennial Glory," "Have You Faith?" "Heavenly Rest," "Invitation," "Advent Triumph," "New Jerusalem." The hymn, "Fall of Babylon," sung during the second angel's message, 'exemplifies the thought. These hymns conveyed and enforced the message preached.
'Under the message of the third angel, which began to be given following 1844, the worship of the beast, in contrast to the worship of God the Creator, becomes the supreme issue. Would anyone contend that the worship of the beast implies direct ascriptions of praise and power sung to the beast? Or that it centers primarily around, or involves, a certain form of hymnody ? No, it is basically the act of obedience and the rendering of subservient allegiance—without primary relation to the form of church music. That is purely a corollary. The result of this threefold message is the production of a company of those who are obedient to God's commandments. And "obedience," we are told, "is the highest form of worship."
We must therefore conclude that the "worship" of Revelation 14:7 has neither primary nor necessary reference to hymns of worship in direct address, versus evangelistic message songs, but reference to something vastly broader—obedience of heart and life to God's requirements. Any attempt to narrow it to a form of music is an arbitrary and unwarranted restriction that misses the primary intent of the message of God to men, and diverts us to a side issue. We would, of course, agree that evangelistic music that does not lead people to the worship of God is "basically wide of the mark." An example of such a distortion would be the song, "Free From the Law, 0 Happy Condition," which gives an antinomian turn to counter the Sabbath of the law.
2. PSALMS EXEMPLIFY BALANCED BLEND.—An examination of the inspired songs we call psalms, to see whether direct address of praise to God is the sole or predominant characteristic, is equally revealing. Along with direct ascription to God, there is a perfect blending of almost as many songs of testimony, exhortation, appeal, and solemn warning. The very last psalm begins with an admonition addressed to men : "Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in His sanctuary : praise Him in the firmament of His power."
All through the psalms we find indirect testimony before men of what God had done for David—as in Psalms 3:4: "I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and He heard me out of His holy hill." Or Psalms i8:6: "In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: and He heard my voice." A surprisingly large number are couched in the third person. Psalm 19 discourses on God's wonders in the heavens. Psalm 23 gives assurance that "He maketh me" and "He leadeth me." In Psalms 34:6 David says, "This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles." The same principle holds in a dozen psalms that follow.
In Psalm 91, David declares, "I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress : my God; in Him will I trust"—a witness and a testimony. Thus also in Psalms 96, 97, 99, too, 103, and in to7—"0 give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good: for His mercy endureth forever." We could go on with fifteen other psalms having indirect address of testimony and witness before we come to their close. Is the worship of Revelation 14:7, then, the allegiance of the enlightened soul to God and His truth, or simply adherence to a particular form of hymnody ? The answer is obvious.
3. PRE-REFORMATION CONCEPTS INSUFFICIENT.— As to confining our church and evangelistic music to that "developed through the centuries," we would ask : Are we to turn back to the days of Wycliffe, Huss, Savonarola, Luther, or even the Wesleys for the purest concepts of truth and the involvements of obedience to God called for in these last days when the Sabbath is a test? Those were God's men of the time, struggling to throw off the worship of the beast—subservience to the papal church—and to find their way back to the lost .faith of the early church. Whatever gleams of light and truth they had were dimmed by the persistence of errors which were still retained.
Should we, for example, turn to the doctrinal and prophetic writings of these men, just changing over from the worship of the beast to the worship of the true God, and exalt their hymns and songs above the second advent, message-filled hymns and songs designed to reflect the fuller light of these last days? Surely the answer is No.
4. LATIN CHORALES ALIEN TO ADVENTISM.—Is the introduction of Latin chorales, in the official language of mystical Babylon, a part of the true worship music that we are to espouse ? The present-day daughter-churches of Protestant Babylon are seeking to bridge the gulf and are attempting to bring back the lost beauties of the liturgical worship of the mother church. Middle Age, pre-Protestant music is growing in favor. The move is definitely on to bridge the gulf between Catholicism and Protestantism, and to clasp hands across that gulf. Is pro-Catholic hymnody destined to play its part? Unquestionably. But woe to those who help to bring that about ! Even chorales sung in Latin have sought entrance—Latin being the only lawful and accepted form of worship in Roman Babylon. But Latin is a dead language and forms part of the essence of Catholicism. Never should it be heard in an Adventist church.
The Catholic Counter Reformation of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries projected counter systems of prophetic interpretation that have by now been accepted by most Protestants—the praeterist theory by modernists and the futurist theory by fundamentalists. The witness of Protestantism has been neutralized by accepting the subtle positions of Romanism. So, Protestantism at large has lost its vision, its bearings, and its evangelistic message. Are we to go to Catholicism and apostate Protestantism for our norm in evangelistic and church music? If we do we shall lose our way, and shall be headed straight into the perversions of Babylon.
The term "worship" clearly connotes obedience, praise, honor, and allegiance. Whatever music does not minister to that end is spurious and foreign to the spirit of this message. But any attempt to narrow the "worship of Revelation 14:7 —involving the vital, all-comprehensive issue of loyal and obedient relationship to God—down to an arbitrary form of music is just as spurious and foreign to our message.
Many of the noted popular churches of the day exemplify the very type of music being urged upon us by some. They employ only hymns of praise. No evangelistic songs of testimony or appeal obtrude into their aesthetic services. Everything is coldly cultured and classic. Their worship music is couched in direct address. Trained, vested choirs of professional singers, supported by majestic organ strains, adorn the erudite sermons of these churches' D.D.'s. The atmosphere seems harmonious and heavenly, and yet these very churches are designated "Babylon" by the inerrant .fiat of Heaven. They are but hollow form without the life-giving Spirit. Like the Jews of old, their "worship" is "in vain."
Over their stately services God has written the fateful epithet, "Ichabod" (the glory is departed). They hate and fight God's message for today. They seek to crowd it off the air, out of favorable auditoriums, out of the mission field, and out of access to materials in the reconstruction program. To His children still within her communions, God sends the imperative summons, "Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins." Shall we come out of, or shall we enter into, the classic forms of Babylon, and share her dismal fate? We need spiritual musicians and spiritual music.
L. E. F.
