“Hold fast the form of sound words”… No man was left to invent a religion for his own use, and after his own mind. God alone knows that with which God can be pleased. If God did not give a revelation of himself, the inventions of man, in religious things, would be endless error, involving itself in contortions of unlimited confusion. God gives, in his mercy to man, a form of sound words or doctrines; a perfect plan and sketch of the original building; fair and well defined outlines of every thing which concerns the present and eternal welfare of man, and his own glory” (Clarke’s Commentary Volume 6, p. 627).
A Commentator’s Question’s On The Use of Mechanical Instrumental Music In Worship
“And with them Heman and Jeduthun, to sound aloud with trumpets and cymbals and the musical instruments of God. Now the sons of Jeduthun were gatekeepers” (1 Chronicles 16:42).
• Did God ever ordain instruments of music to be used in his worship?
• Can they be used in Christian assemblies according to the spirit of Christianity?
• Has Jesus Christ, or his apostles, ever commended or sanctioned the use of them?
• Were they ever used any where in the apostolic church?
• Does the use of them at present, in Christian congregations, ever increase the spirit of devotion?
• Does it ever appear that bands of musicians, either in their collective or individual capacity, are more spiritual, or as spiritual, as the other parts of the church of Christ?
• Is there less pride, self-will, stubbornness, insubordination, lightness, and frivolity among such persons than among the other professors of Christianity found in the same religious society?
• Is it ever remarked or known that musicians in the house of God have attained to any depth of piety, or superior soundness of understanding, in the things of God?
• Is it ever found that those churches and Christian societies which have and use instruments of music in divine worship are more holy, or as holy, as those societies which do not use them?
• And is it always found that the ministers which affect and recommend them to be used in the worship of Almighty God, are the most spiritual men, and the most spiritual and useful preachers?
• Can mere sounds, no matter how melodious, where no word nor sentiment is or can be uttered, be considered as giving praise to God?
• Is it possible that pipes or strings of any kind can give God praise?
• Can God be pleased with sounds which are emitted by no sentient being, and have in themselves no meaning?
• If these questions cannot be answered in the affirmative; then, query, Is not the introduction of such instruments into the worship of God antichristian, and calculated to debase and ultimately ruin the spirit and influence of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
• And should not all who wish well to the spread and establishment of pure and undefiled religion, lift up their hand, their influence and their voice against them? The argument from their use in the Jewish service is futile in the extreme when applied to Christianity.
–Clarke’s Commentary, Volume II, pp. 610-611
The following observation is certainly applicable today… (SM)
• “My brethren, we ought to be ashamed to allow a Methodist commentator to lift up his hand more strongly, and use his influence more determinedly,and lift up his voice more loudly than we do against the introduction of things foreign to the simple worship of God” (Fred E. Dennis, Fifty Short Sermons II, p. 75)
A Christian Minister In The School of Christ
From what the apostle says here concerning the qualifications of a Christian minister, we may well exclaim: Who is capable of these things? Is it such a person as has not intellect sufficient for a common trade or calling? No. A preacher of the Gospel should be a man of the soundest sense, the most cultivated mind, the most extensive experience, one who is deeply taught of God, and who has deeply studied man; one who has prayed much, read much, and studied much; one who takes up his work as from God, does it as before God, and refers all to the glory of God; one who abides under the inspiration of the Almighty, and who has hidden the word of God in his heart, that he might not sin against him. No minister formed by man can ever be such as is required here. The school of Christ, and that alone, can ever form such a preacher.
—Adam Clarke, comments at the end of 2 Timothy chapter 3 in his commentary on the Bible.
Definition of God by Adam Clarke
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1, ESV).
A general definition of this great First Cause, as far as human words dare attempt one, may be thus given: The eternal, independent, and self-existent Being: the Being whose purposes and actions spring from himself, without foreign motive or influence: he who is absolute in dominion; the most pure, the most simple, and most spiritual of all essences; infinitely benevolent, beneficent, true, and holy: the cause of all being, the upholder of all things; infinitely happy, because infinitely perfect; and eternally self-sufficient, needing nothing that he has made: illimitable in his immensity, inconceivable in his mode of existence, and indescribable in his essence; known fully only to himself, because an infinite mind can be fully apprehended only by itself. In a word, a Being who, from his infinite wisdom, cannot err or be deceived; and who from his infinite goodness, can do nothing but what is eternally just, right, and kind. Reader, such is the God of the Bible; but how widely different from the God of most human creeds and apprehensions!
- Clarke’s Commentary, Volume 1, p. 27
