"It is interesting to find that outside of the New Testament, the earliest response to singing among the Christians comes not from one of their own number, but from a Roman official. In the year 109 A.D., during the reign of the Emperor Trajan, and not long after the death of the Apostle John, Pliny the Younger was appointed governor of the province of Bithynia in Asia Minor. In one of his first reports he told the emperor of his contact with the curious sect of the Christians, and of how he had been solemnly assured that their worst offense was in gathering before dawn on an appointed day--no doubt Sunday--to sing in responsive fashion hymns to Christ as God."
by Edward S. Ninde, D.D. in Nineteen Centuries of Christian Song (MCMXXXVIII)
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