on beyond that of
the Old Testament models, just as Isaac Watts in the eighteenth century
turned from the tradition of psalmody to an original presentment of the
new revelation in Christ.

Are we to suppose that the Christians in the Mediterranean world of the
first three centuries, representing the average inhabitant of these
lands, had no hymns except those cited above? Or others like them? If
they had, we are unacquainted with them. It is fair to assume that
secular poetry and music eventually exerted an influence upon hymnody. At
least the beginning of such influence was apparent in the adoption of
popular meters by heretical poets, as well as by the orthodox.[86] Later,
Ambrose perpetuated aspects of popular verse and perhaps music as
well.[87] But there is no evidence at hand to support the assumption of a
popular hymnody enjoyed either in connection with worship or
independently of it.

The problem of music is outside the province of this paper but is
involved in any serious study of hymnology at any period of its
development. Here the student is almost totally at a loss for manuscript
evidence bearing musical notation from the primitive period. The
Oxyrhynchus hymn is a solitary example.[88] This does not mean that the
subject is altogether obscure. Many statements about Christian practice,
inspired by biblical precedent, are found in patristic literature. The
traditions both of Hebrew music and of the early Church are well known.
It seems clear that melody only was employed and that it was, for the
most part, unaccompanied. Instrumentation was opposed and forbidden in
public worship of a liturgical nature.[89]

No student can leave the consideration of early Christian hymnology
without a sense of defeat. The past cannot be forced to yield the hidden
knowledge of which it is the custodian. Sources are very scanty,
especially in proportion to other literary remains of early Christianity.
Specifically, there is no collection of hymns in existence which might
correspond to a modern hymnary. On the contrary, isolated examples or
groups appear from place to place and from time to time in varied forms.
But in one respect our evidence is sure, if not complete. Springing from
the culture and the vicissitudes of the age, Christian hymns of the early
Church, as in every other stage of its development, not only express the
spiritual aspiration of the time but also respond to the challenge of a
new day.

[1]H. LeCler