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A59892 A sermon preach'd at St. Paul's Cathedral, November 22, 1699 being the anniversary meeting of the Lovers of Musick / by W. Sherlock ... Sherlock, William, 1641?-1707. 1699 (1699) Wing S3363; ESTC R4275 10,370 31

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or like Ringing the Changes which how Entertaining soever it be when we have nothing to do but to attend to Sounds is yet very Nauseous and Offensive to Devout Minds in Religious Worship I thank God the Ordinary Service of our Church is very Grave and Solemn and well fitted to Devotion And as for more Modern Compositions the Governors of Churches ought to take care to receive nothing into the Worship of God but what is fitted to serve Devotion and this would Effectually Answer the greatest Objections against Church-Musick Secondly As for those who are Employed in Singing the Church-Service and Anthems to assist the Devotions of the Congregation it certainly becomes them to behave themselves very Devoutly in it Musical Instruments which have no Life and Sense may Minister to our Devotions though they are capable of none themselves but it gives great Offence and Scandal to see those who are daily Employed in the Singing Praises to God to shew no Signs of Devotion in themselves much more by an irreverent Behaviour to betray great Symptoms of want of Devotion I thank God we have no great reason to make this Complaint in this Church and I hope shall every day have less but this is a good occasion to mind all such Persons how Devout they ought to be if Musick be a help to Devotion who have this Advantage from Art and Nature first to Excite their own Devotions and then to Assist the Devotions of others which last must be a very tasteless uneasy Employment if they have no Devotion of their own And a great Reproach also to their Art when they themselves are Witnesses how little Devotion it Teaches But there is one thing which I believe is not so well considered which yet is just matter of Scandal for those who Sing Divine Hymns and Anthems at Church and whose Profession it is to do so to Sing Wanton and Amorous Lewd Atheistical Songs out of it Men who have enter'd themselves into the Service of the Church have Consecrated their Voices to God not so as never to Sing any thing else but Hymns and Anthems but yet so as never to Sing any thing to the Reproach of God Religion or Virtue This unbecomes any Man who calls himself a Christian much more those whose peculiar Employment it is to Sing the Praises of God Thirdly As for Hearers they ought also to consider That their business at Church is not meerly to be Entertained with Musick but to Exercise their Devotions which is the true End of Church-Musick to Praise God with the more fervent Passions It is a Contempt of Religion and of the House of God to come only to please our Ears to hear Better Voices and more Curious Compositions and more Artful Singing than we can meet with in other places This I have reason to fear is the Case of very many who Resort hither who especially on the Lord's-Day Crowd into the Church to hear the Anthem and when that is over to the great Disturbance of the Worship of God and the Scandal of all good Christians Crowd as fast out again Though there is this good in it that they make Room for Devouter People who immediately fill up their Places to attend the Instructions of God's Word But I hope this will not be charged upon the Service of our Church that Men who have no Devotion come only for Musick For Church-Musick can't Create Devotion tho' it may improve it where it is But indeed we ought all to be aware that the Musick does not Emply our Thoughts more than our Devotions which it can never do if as Common Sense Teaches us it ought to be our Minds be in the first place fixt and intent upon the Praises of God which are Express'd in the Hymn or Anthem which when conveyed unto us in Musical Sounds will give Life and Quickness to our Devotions not first fixed on the Musick which most probably will leave the Devotion of the Anthem behind it Those who find that Musick does not Assist but Stifle their Devotion and many such there may be had much better keep to their Parish-Churches and prefer Devotion before Musick For to come to Church without any intention to Worship God in his own House or to pretend to Worship him without Devotion are great Affronts to the Divine Majesty In a word Those who profess themselves Lovers of Musick ought to consider What the true End of Musick is and to improve it to the Noblest purposes The meer Harmony of Sounds is a very pleasant and innocent Entertainment Of all the Delights of Sense this is in it self the least sensual when it is not abused to recommend Vice and to convey impure Images to our Minds But yet meerly to be delighted with Charming and Musical Aires does not Answer the true Character of a Lover of Musick For it is the least thing in Musick to please the Ear its proper natural Use and the great Advantage and Pleasure of it relates to our Passions To Compose Soften to Inflame them and the Diviner Passions it inspires us with the more it is to be admired and valued and then Musick must attain its greatest Glory and Perfection in true Devotion That the Lovers of Musick ought to be very Devout Men if they love Musick for that which is most valuable in it and its last and noblest End To Conclude It concerns the Lovers of Musick to vindicate it from all Prophane Abuses not to suffer so Divine a thing to be prostituted to Mens Lusts To discountenance all Lewd Prophane Atheistical Songs how admirable soever the Composition be To preserve Musick in its Virgin Modesty and without confining her always to the Temple make the Praises of God her Chief Employment as it is her greatest Glory Thus I have spoke my mind very freely showed you the Use and the Abuses of Musick which was one great Inducement to me to comply with the desires of those Honourable and Worthy Persons who imposed this Office on me that I might have an Opportunity of saying that which I thought fit should be said at one time or other and for saying of which there could not be a more proper Occasion than this And I hope this may plead my Excuse with all good Christians if it have drawn my Sermon out to too great a Length and given too long an Interruption to the Entertainment of those the least part of whose business it was to hear a Sermon To God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost be Honour Glory and Power Now and Ever Amen FINIS Books Published by the Reverend Dr. Sherlock Dean of St. Paul ' s Master of the Temple and Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty Printed for W. Rogers AN Answer to a Discourse entituled Papists protesting ●gainst Protestant Popery 2d Edit Quarto An Answer to the Amic●ble Accommodation of the Differences between the Representer and the Answerer Quarto Thirteen Sermons preach'd on several Occasions Quarto A Vindication of some Protestant Principles of Church Unity and Catholick Communion from the Charge of Agreement with the Church of Rome Quarto A Preservative against Popery in Two Parts with the Vindication in Answer to the Cavils of Lewis Sabran Jesuit Quarto A Discourse of the Nature Unity and Communion of the Catholick Church First Part. Quarto Case of Allegi●nce due to Sovereign Powers Stated and Resolved according to Scripture and Reason and the Principles of the Church of England Quarto A Vindication of the Case of Allegiance due to Sovereign Powers 4 to A Discourse concerning the Divine Providence Quarto Second Edition Price 5 s. A Vindication of the Doctrine of the Trinity 3d Edit 4 to A Modest Examination of the Authority and Reasons of the late Decree of the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford and some Heads of Colleges and Halls concerning the Heresy of Three Distinct Infinite Minds in the Holy and Ever Blessed Trinity Apology for Writing against Socinians Quarto A Vindication of the Sermon of the Danger of corrupting the Faith by Philosophy in Answer to some Socinian Remarks Quarto A Defence of Dr. Sherlock's Notion of the Trinity Quarto The Distinction between the Real and Nominal Trinitarians examined in Answer to a Socinian Pamphlet Quarto A Practical Discourse concerning Death In Octavo Tenth Edition Price 3 s. A Practical Discourse concerning a Future Judgment The Fifth Edition Octavo Price 3 s. 6 d. The Present State of the Socinian Controversy and the Doctrine of the Catholick Fathers concerning a Trinity in Unity 4 to Price 5 s. An Answer to the Animadversions on the Dean of St. Paul's Vindication of the Trinity By I. B. A. M. Quarto A Defence of the Dean of St. Paul's Apology for Writing against Socinians Quarto
Christians who were Redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb and Sung the Song of the Lamb Thou art worthy to take the Book and to open the Seals thereof for thou wast Slain and hast Redeemed us to God out of every Kindred and Tongue and People and Nation and hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests and we shall Reign upon the Earth Ver. 9 10. This I take to be a Christian Hymn and therefore a Pattern for Christian Worship And as much as some Smile at the Conceit I can't but think That the General Exhortations in the New Testament to Sing to God To admonish one another in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs Singing and Making Melody in our Hearts to the Lord Though they are not an Apostolical Institution of a Quire nor do prescribe the particular Forms of Cathedral Worship yet they justify it all as far as it is fitted to the True Ends of Devotion for the Apostles knew after what manner they Sung in the Iewish Church and had this been so unfit as is pretended for Christian Worship they would not have Exhorted Christians to Sing without giving them a Caution against Iewish Singing And now it does not seem to me much to the purpose to Enquire whether this Practice was for any time intermitted in the Christian Church and When and upon What Occasion it was Restored For if what I have now Discoursed hold good it justifies the Use of Musick in Religious Worship whenever it can be had though there may be some Times and Circumstances which will not allow it Though it could be certainly proved That this was disused for the First Three Centuries in the Christian Church while they were under a State of Persecution This would be no greater Argument to me against Cathedral-Worship than it is against Cathedral-Churches The Poverty and Afflicted State of the Church at that Time would allow neither but Prosperity by Degrees restored them to both We may as well Argue against the Use of Musick in the Iewish Church because under the Babylonish Captivity they hung their Harps upon the Willows and refused to Sing the Songs of Sion in a Strange Land to those who carried them away Captives The Primitive Christians in those Days never declared their dislike of this way of Worship but their Condition would not bear it No Christian will deny That Singing the Praises of God and their Saviour was always a Principal part of Christian Worship and therefore was the Worship of the Primitive Christians unless they were Defective in a Principal Part of Worship so that the only Dispute can be about the manner of Singing and the Chief thing Objected is the Antiphonal way of Singing which is acknowledged to have been used in the Iewish Church and therefore has the same Authority that Singing has But yet I will yield the Cause if any Man can give me a good reason Why it should be very Lawful and an Excellent Part of Religion for a hundred Men suppose to Sing a whole Psalm together but very Unlawful and a Corruption of Religion to Sing it Alternately Fifty to Sing One Verse and Fifty the Next when by their Answering each other they mutually Excite each other's Devotion and signify the Consent and Union of their Prayers and Praises in the Whole But setting aside the Afflicted State of the Christian Church the Profess'd Enemies of Cathedral-Worship allow us as Great and Early Authorities as we desire St. Basil St. Ambrose and St. Chrysostom always will be Venerable Names The Church was restored to Peace but in the Fourth Century and then this Worship revived and that by the Authority and Example of as Great and Good Men as any the Church had That Erasmus himself and many Reformers were great Enemies to this way of Worship as it was then Practised in the Church of Rome is no great Wonder when their Hymns as well as their Prayers being performed in an unknown Tongue all their Singing was meer Noise which could contribute nothing to Devotion But this is no greater Argument against our English Hymns and Anthems than against our English Prayers If they meant any thing more we must demand their Reasons For as for Authority our own Reformers and Reformation have and that deservedly a much greater Authority in the World But I must hasten to a Conclusion Which brings me to the Third Thing I proposed How Musick may and ought to be improved to the Purposes of Devotion And here I must beg leave to speak something briefly to Three Sorts of Men Composers Singers and Hearers which will serve for the Application of the Whole First As for Composers Those who set our Hymns and Anthems to Musical Notes I do not pretend to Skill in Musick much less to be able to Teach such great Masters as this Age hath Bred but I hope in some Measure I do and may be allowed to Understand and Teach Devotion which is all I intend in This for that which according to all the Rules of Art must be allowed for Excellent Musick may not always be proper for Devotion It is a great Mistake in Composing Hymns and Anthems to consider only what Notes are Musical and will Delight and Entertain the Hearers The true Rule is What Notes are most proper to Excite or Quicken such Passions of Devotion as the Words of the Hymn or Anthem Express This indeed can't be done without Skill in Musick but true Devotion is the best Directer of that Skill for a Devout Mind will judge of the Devotion as a Skilful Ear does of the Musick of Sounds That the most certain way for the greatest Masters to Compose such Hymns and Anthems as are fit for the Worship of God and may best serve the Devotions of Christians is to work their own Minds first into all those Heights and Flames of Devotion which they are to Express in Sounds which they will find a double Advantage in it will make them Good Christians and Admirable Composers of Church-Musick A Devout Ear without any great Skill in Musick soon finds the want of this A Grave Serious Mind which is the true Temper of Devotion is disturbed by Light and Airy Compositions which disperse the Thoughts and give a Gay and Frisking Motion to the Spirits and call the Mind off from the Praises of God to attend meerly to the agreeable Variety of Sounds which is all that can be expected from such Sounds as have nothing of Devotion in them Which is so much the worse still when as is now grown very common in such Compositions they are clogged with Needless and Endless Repetitions A Repetition serves only to give an Emphasis and it requires a great Judgment to place it Right and is very Absurd when it is placed Wrong but we often see that there is too little Regard had to this The Skill of Altering Notes is the whole Design which when there is not very great occasion for it is like School-Boys Varying Phrases