Other evidence of the use of hymns in the 2nd century is contained in a
fragment of Caius, preserved by Eusebius, which refers to "all the
psalms and odes written by faithful brethren from the beginning," as
"hymning Christ, the Word of God, as God." Tertullian also, in his
description of the "Agapae," or love-feasts, of his day, says that,
after washing hands and bringing in lights, each man was invited to come
forward and sing to God's praise something either taken from the
Scriptures or of his own composition ("ut quisque de Sacris Scripturis
vel proprio ingenio potest"). George Bull, bishop of St David's,
believed one of those primitive compositions to be the hymn appended by
Clement of Alexandria to his _Paedagogus_; and Archbishop Ussher
considered the ancient morning and evening hymns, of which the use was
enjoined by the _Apostolical Constitutions_, and which are also
mentioned in the "Tract on Virginity" printed with the works of St
Athanasius, and in St Basil's treatise upon the Holy Spirit, to belong
to the same family. Clement's hymn, in a short anapaestic metre,
beginning [Greek: stomion pôlôn adaôn] (or, according to some editions,
[Greek: basileu hagiôn, loge pandamatôr]--translated by the Rev. A.
Chatfield, "O Thou, the King of Saints, all-conquering Word"), is rapid,
spirited and well-adapted for singing. The Greek "Morning Hymn" (which,
as divided into verses by Archbishop Ussher in his treatise _De
Symbolis_, has a majestic rhythm, resembling a choric or dithyrambic
strophe) is the original form of "Gloria in Excelsis," still said or
sung, with some variations, in all branches of the church which have not
relinquished the use of liturgies. The Latin form of this hymn (of which
that in the English communion office is an exact translation) is said,
by Bede and other ancient writers, to have been brought into use at Rome
by Pope Telesphorus, as early as the time of the emperor Hadrian. A
third, the Vesper or "Lamp-lighting" hymn ("[Greek: phôs hilaron hagias
doxês]"--translated by Canon Bright "Light of Gladness, Beam Divine"),
holds its place to this day in the services of the Greek rite. In the
3rd century Origen seems to have had in his mind the words of some other
hymns or hymn of like character, when he says (in his treatise _Against
Celsus_): "We glorify in hymns God and His only begotten Son; as do also
the Sun, the Moon, the Stars and all the host of heaven. All these, in
one Divine chorus, with the just among men, glorify in hymns God who is
over all, and His only begotten Son." So highly were these compositions
esteemed in the Syrian churches that the council which deposed Paul of
Samosata from the see of Antioch in the time of Aurelian justified that
act, in its synodical letter to the bishops of Rome and Alexandria, on
this ground (among others) that he had prohibited the use of hymns of
that kind, by uninspired writers, addressed to Christ.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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