{"id":354,"date":"2017-02-19T14:34:23","date_gmt":"2017-02-19T14:34:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/readingthechurchfathers.wordpress.com\/?p=354"},"modified":"2022-12-14T05:46:24","modified_gmt":"2022-12-14T05:46:24","slug":"clement-of-alexandria-the-music-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/clement-of-alexandria-the-music-of-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Clement Of Alexandria: The Music of God"},"content":{"rendered":"

Universe and Man as Musical Instruments<\/strong><\/p>\n

Behold the might of the new song! It has made men out of stones, men out of beasts. Those, moreover, that were as dead, not being partakers of the true life, have come to life again, simply by becoming listeners to this song. It also composed the universe into melodious order, and tuned the discord of the elements to harmonious arrangement, so that the whole world might become harmony.<\/p>\n

And He who is of David, and yet before him, the Word of God, despising the lyre and harp, which are but lifeless instruments, and having tuned by the Holy Spirit the universe, and especially man,\u2014who, composed of body and soul, is a universe in miniature,\u2014makes melody to God on this instrument of many tones; and to this instrument\u2014I mean man\u2014he sings accordant: \u201cFor thou art my harp, and pipe, and temple”…And David the king, the harper whom we mentioned a little above, who exhorted to the truth and dissuaded from idols, was so far from celebrating demons in song, that in reality they were driven away by his music. Thus, when Saul was plagued with a demon, he cured him by merely playing.<\/p>\n

A beautiful breathing instrument of music the Lord made man, after His own image. And He Himself also, surely, who is the supramundane Wisdom, the celestial Word, is the all-harmonious, melodious, holy instrument of God<\/strong>. What, then, does this instrument\u2014the Word of God, the Lord, the New Song\u2014desire? To open the eyes of the blind, and unstop the ears of the deaf, and to lead the lame or the erring to righteousness, to exhibit God to the foolish, to put a stop to corruption, to conquer death, to reconcile disobedient children to their father. The instrument of God loves mankind.
\n–Exhortation to the Heathens I<\/p>\n

Worship<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cPraise Him with the sound of trumpet;\u201d for with sound of trumpet He shall raise the dead. \u201cPraise Him on the psaltery;\u201d for the tongue is the psaltery of the Lord. \u201cAnd praise Him on the lyre.\u201d By the lyre is meant the mouth struck by the Spirit, as it were by a plectrum. \u201cPraise with the timbrel and the dance,\u201d refers to the Church meditating on the resurrection of the dead in the resounding skin. \u201cPraise Him on the chords and organ.\u201d Our body He calls an organ, and its nerves are the strings, by which it has received harmonious tension, and when struck by the Spirit, it gives forth human voices. \u201cPraise Him on the clashing cymbals.\u201d He calls the tongue the cymbal of the mouth, which resounds with the pulsation of the lips. Therefore He cried to humanity, \u201cLet every breath praise the Lord,\u201d because He cares for every breathing thing which He hath made. For man is truly a pacific instrument;<\/p>\n

For the apostle adds again, \u201cTeaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to God.\u201d And again, \u201cWhatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and His Father.\u201d This is our thankful revelry. And even if you wish to sing and play to the harp or lyre, there is no blame. Thou shalt imitate the righteous Hebrew king in his thanksgiving to God. \u201cRejoice in the Lord, ye righteous; praise is comely to the upright,\u201d says the prophecy. \u201cConfess to the Lord on the harp; play to Him on the psaltery of ten strings. Sing to Him a new song.\u201d And does not the ten-stringed psaltery indicate the Word Jesus, who is manifested by the element of the decad?
\n–The Instructor II.IV<\/p>\n

The Lord as the Lyre<\/h4>\n

The harmony of the Barbarian psaltery, which exhibited gravity of strain, being the most ancient, most certainly became a model for Terpander, for the Dorian harmony, who sings the praise of Zeus thus:\u2014
\n\u201cO Zeus, of all things the Beginning, Ruler of all;
\nO Zeus, I send thee this beginning of hymns.\u201d
\nThe lyre, according to its primary signification, may by the psalmist be used figuratively for the Lord; according to its secondary, for those who continually strike the chords of their souls under the direction of the Choir-master, the Lord. And if the people saved be called the lyre, it will be understood to be in consequence of their giving glory musically, through the inspiration of the Word and the knowledge of God, being struck by the Word so as to produce faith. You may take music in another way, as the ecclesiastical symphony at once of the law and the prophets, and the apostles along with the Gospel, and the harmony which obtained in each prophet, in the transitions of the persons.
\n— The Stromata VI.XI<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Universe and Man as Musical Instruments Behold the might of the new song! It has made men out of stones, men out of beasts. Those, moreover, that were as dead, not being partakers of the true life, have come to life again, simply by becoming listeners to this song. It also composed the universe into melodious order, and tuned the discord of the elements to harmonious arrangement, so that the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[105,140],"class_list":["post-354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-clement-of-alexandria","tag-music-of-god","tag-worship"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":744,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/clement-of-alexandria-the-stromata-book-vii\/","url_meta":{"origin":354,"position":0},"title":"Clement of Alexandria: The Stromata Book VII","author":"Nemo","date":"January 7, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Harvest of the Gnostic The Gnostic himself ministers to God, and exhibits to men the scheme of improvement, in the way in which he has been appointed to discipline men for their amendment. For he is alone pious that serves God rightly and unblameably in human affairs. For as that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Clement of Alexandria"","block_context":{"text":"Clement of Alexandria","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/clement-of-alexandria\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":357,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/clement-of-alexandria-trinity\/","url_meta":{"origin":354,"position":1},"title":"Clement Of Alexandria: Trinity","author":"Nemo","date":"January 9, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The Word and the Immortality of the Soul Before the foundation of the world were we, who, because destined to be in Him, pre-existed in the eye of God before,\u2014we the rational creatures of the Word of God, on whose account we date from the beginning; for \u201cin the beginning\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Clement of Alexandria"","block_context":{"text":"Clement of Alexandria","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/clement-of-alexandria\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":674,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/clement-of-alexandria-the-stromata-book-v\/","url_meta":{"origin":354,"position":2},"title":"Clement of Alexandria: The Stromata, Book V","author":"Nemo","date":"January 2, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The Priestly Robe And they say that the robe prophesied the ministry in the flesh, by which He was seen in closer relation to the world. So the high priest, putting off his consecrated robe (the universe, and the creation in the universe, were consecrated by Him assenting that, what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Clement of Alexandria"","block_context":{"text":"Clement of Alexandria","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/clement-of-alexandria\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":389,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/clement-of-alexandria-christ-the-true-king\/","url_meta":{"origin":354,"position":3},"title":"Clement Of Alexandria: Christ The True King","author":"Nemo","date":"March 4, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Now among the Greeks, Minos the king of nine years\u2019 reign, and familiar friend of Zeus, is celebrated in song; they having heard how once God conversed with Moses, \u201cas one speaking with his friend.\u201d Moses, then, was a sage, king, legislator. But our Saviour surpasses all human nature. He\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Clement of Alexandria"","block_context":{"text":"Clement of Alexandria","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/clement-of-alexandria\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":538,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/clement-of-alexandria-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":354,"position":4},"title":"Clement Of Alexandria: Faith","author":"Nemo","date":"March 18, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Faith and Knowledge In order to believe truly in the Son, we must believe that He is the Son, and that He came, and how, and for what, and respecting His passion; and we must know who is the Son of God. Now neither is knowledge without faith, nor faith\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Clement of Alexandria"","block_context":{"text":"Clement of Alexandria","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/clement-of-alexandria\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1390,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/the-recognitions-of-clement\/","url_meta":{"origin":354,"position":5},"title":"The Recognitions of Clement","author":"Nemo","date":"October 2, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The Anointed When God had made the world, as Lord of the universe, He appointed chiefs over the several creatures, over the trees even, and the mountains, and the fountains, and the rivers, and all things which He had made, as we have told you; for it were too long\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Church Fathers"","block_context":{"text":"Church Fathers","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/church-fathers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peqR9l-5I","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1451,"href":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354\/revisions\/1451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}