Musical Offerings ⦁ 2024 ⦁ Volume 15 ⦁ Number 1 15 become consumed by the love of the music and, being unable to control their sinful natures, start worshiping the song, instead of the God who made the song. Augustine’s resulting opinion of music was that, when correctly understood, it had the capacity to glorify God. However, music could become dangerous and an earthly pleasure if the senses were allowed to have control. From this philosophy of music, Augustine decided that the church should use music to facilitate worship, although he was still wary of its dangers saying, “Thus I vacillate between the danger of sensuality and the undeniable benefits. . . .I am more inclined to approve the custom of singing in church, to the end that through the pleasures of the ear a weaker mind may rise up to loving devotion.”4 While Augustine recognized the risks of luring congregants to sin, he accepted them because of the benefits offered through using music in the church saying, But if the objection is so slight that greater benefits are to be expected for those who are earnest than damage to be feared from slanderers, then the practice ought without hesitation to be maintained especially when it can be defended from the Scriptures, as can the singing of hymns and psalms, since we have the example and precepts of the Lord himself and of the Apostles.5 Augustine not only defended the idea of singing in church but went so far as to explain that “there are various ways of realizing this practice,”6 meaning that specific regulations pertaining to the use of instruments and liturgy could be freely decided. Augustine’s opinions about the use of church music in the corporate worship setting were positive, but they came with a caution. He believed that music could help point Christians towards God, “stirring the soul with piety and kindling the sentiment of divine love,”7 but if used incorrectly, it could lead to worshipping the creation, instead of the Creator. Regarding the mode of use in music, Augustine promoted instrumental and conservative worship, with few guidelines apart from stipulating that it should remain holy. He reasoned that the Bible instructed believers to worship whenever they came together, writing, “When, then, is it not the proper time for the brethren gathered in church 4 Augustine, Confessions, 270. 5 Augustine, Epistle LV, in McKinnon, 163. 6 Augustine, Epistle LV, in McKinnon, 163. 7 Augustine, Epistle LV, in McKinnon, 163.
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