"The Lord Jesus has not only commanded us to sing, but He has exalted this ordinance to a most noble place in the worship of His church. We are under the highest obligations to give Him the singing He so earnestly desires. True singing is a labor that involves the exertion of spiritual energy on the part of every member of the congregation. Indolence and carelessness is unacceptable, and we should spare no pain to insure that Christ is honored in His ordinance."
John Price Old Light on New Worship
"Singing is not something we can do in our own strength. We must see our complete dependence upon the Spirit. No ordinance of worship has life in itself without the power of the Spirit. Jesus said, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing" (John 6:63). We expect the preaching and prayers of the church to be done in the power of the Spirit. We should expect nothing less with singing. We often pray for the presence of the Spirit in the preaching of the word. We should pray for the presence of the Spirit in the singing as well. Without the aid of the Holy Spirit, singing will never accomplish the exalted purposes Christ intends. This places the highest demands upon every member, and this involves the labor of prayer. Every member must earnestly pray for the presence of the Holy Spirit before worship. And every member must come "filled with the Spirit" with a melody in his heart rising upward to the Lord. Only then will singing be what Christ desires. It is when we gather with other believers who are also filled with the Spirit that there is a mutual stirring up of one another in the singing of praise. Each believer brings the coals of his own heart and builds the spiritual fire of the church. So pleasant was the corporate singing of the church to the Puritans that Thomas Manton wrote,
All the pleasures of the carnal life are not comparable to it. Surely, if there be anything pleasant in the world to a gracious heart, it is the praises of God that flow from a believing and loving soul. . . The unanimous conjunction of such souls in praising God in their assemblies is the heaven that we have upon earth."
John Price Old Light on New Worship
"It is in singing that our worship on earth comes closest to that of heaven. We enter into the work of angels. John Wells expressed the Puritan view of singing when he wrote, "There is not a great resemblance of heaven upon earth than a company of God's people singing a psalm together."; "In singing of psalms the gracious heart takes wings and mounts up to God to join with the celestial choir." Singing is the only ordinance of the church that shall continue for eternity in heaven. When we see Him lace to face, preaching, prayer, and the sacraments shall all be done away with. But singing is an eternal ordinance and shall continue forever. Our singing now is just the tuning of our hearts and the beginning of our singing the everlasting songs of heaven."
John Price Old Light on New Worship
"By Making Singing a Teaching Ministry. We see both the high demands placed upon us and the benefits of singing in Paul's words in Col. 3:16, "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God." The first thing the apostle commands is that the Word of Christ must richly dwell within us, ruling over our minds and hearts. Apart from this duty, singing cannot be what it ought to be. Singing must rise from the Word of Christ, and the solid theological content of that Word must be reflected in the psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs that we sing. When this takes place, our singing actually becomes a "teaching and admonishing" ministry of the church. In Col. 1:28, the apostle speaks of his own "teaching and admonishing" ministry. Here he uses the same words to describe the "teaching and admonishing" ministry of the entire church through its singing. Just as there is teaching and admonishing in the preaching, so there is teaching and admonishing in the singing."
John Price Old Light on New Worship
"Singing is not a secondary or inconsequential ordinance of worship that carries no edifying benefit in itself. Christ has given singing a most vital role in the instruction of His church. It is a ministry that He has entrusted to the entire congregation. Whenever we stand to sing, we must be conscious that we are fulfilling a teaching ministry of the Lord Jesus to His church. We are teaching and admonishing ourselves and our brethren by the Word of Christ that we sing."
John Price Old Light on New Worship
