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A59892
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A sermon preach'd at St. Paul's Cathedral, November 22, 1699 being the anniversary meeting of the Lovers of Musick / by W. Sherlock ...
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Sherlock, William, 1641?-1707.
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1699
(1699)
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Wing S3363; ESTC R4275
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10,370
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31
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Soul and Spirit but a Compound Creature consisting of Soul and Body And while our Souls are Vitally united to Bodies they receive most of their Passions from them at least feel the most Strong and Vigorous Motions from those Impressions which our Senses make And Sight it self does not more variously affect our Minds than Hearing does Words and Sounds have very powerful Charms and give as quick a turn to our Thoughts and Passions as Sight it self and not only Words but even a Diversity of Sounds are fitted by Nature to Express and to Excite very different Passions Love Joy Admiration Desire Fear Sorrow Indignation Revenge give some distinguishing Notes and Accents to the very Voice which no Art but Nature Teaches and which betrays the Passion without speaking a Word And such different Notes will also as forcibly imprint such Passions on our Minds as they naturally represent and that many times whether we will or no which is a great secret in Nature and shows an unaccountable Sympathy between Sounds and Passions which are by turns the Natural Effects and Causes of each other and there needs no other Proof what the Natural Power of Musick must be to Raise and to Calm our Passions And the Experience of all Mankind tells us that thus it is When the Composer knows how to fit Notes to Passions which the Knowledge of Human Nature not the meer proportion of Sounds must teach him Without this a Fine Piece of Musick is like a Company of Fine Words put together without any great Sense or Meaning they make a Fine Sound and that is all Now if there be a Natural Sympathy and Mutual Causality between Sounds and Passions there is no doubt but True Devotional Musick will Excite or Heighten our Devotional Passions as we daily see and complain that Wanton and Amorous Aires are apt to kindle Wanton Fires For Nature will act like it self whether you apply it to Good or to Bad Purposes If there be no force in Musick to give a Good or Bad Tincture to the Mind Why do any men complain of Wanton Songs They may then blame the Poet but neither the Composer nor Singer For the Musick it seems does no hurt if there be Why do they Condemn Church-Musick which will have as good an influence upon a Devout Mind as the other has a Bad One Why then should any Man think Musick improper for the Worship of God It is a Natural Power though improved by Art as most other Natural Powers are and all Natural Powers are made for the Worship and Service of God as far as they are capable of serving him which Musick is in a very high Degree if it have such a Natural Power over our Passions as to Increase and Actuate though it can't Create Devotion Both Poetry and Musick were Originally used to Celebrate the Praises of God lost their Glory when they descended to meaner Subjects but were Prophaned by a Prostitution to mens Lusts and Vices The first Account we have of Singing is the Song of Moses Exod. 15. when God had made the Children of Israel to pass through the Red-Sea on dry Ground and had Drowned the AEgyptians and we can't have a more Ancient Account than this which is the most Ancient History in the World And throughout the Old Testament both Vocal and Instrumental Musick was not only used in the Worship of God but this was the Chief if not the only Use of it This is acknowledged by all but some will not allow it to be a Pattern for Christian Worship They reckon Musick among the Ceremonies of the Iewish Law sitted to the Carnal State of that People and Abrogated with the other Legal Ceremonies by the more perfect Dispensation of the Gospel which requires a more Spiritual Worship But a few Words will shew how unreasonable this Pretence is The Song of Moses and Miriam was before the giving of the Law and therefore no part of it and though this is the first time we Read of Singing there is no Reason to think That this was the first beginning of it We Read of no Institution of Singing though we do of Singers that Singing seems as Ancient and Natural as Publick Worship But suppose Singing had been part of the Mosaical Law the Gospel of our Saviour Abrogates nothing of that Law but such Types as receive their Accomplishment in Christ or such Appendant Ceremonies as were meer Signs and Figures of an Evangelical Righteousness But what is Singing a Type of any more than Speaking For it is only a more Harmonious and Emphatical way of Speaking and I see no Reason Why men may not reject Vocal Prayer as well as Vocal Musick because they were both used by the Iews Whatever Objections are now made against Church-Musick which I have not now Time particularly to Examine were as good Objections in David's Time as they are now and yet then Prophets Composed Hymns and Prophets set the Tunes for so the Chief Musicians to whom David directs his Psalms as the Titles of some of them Express were Prophets as well as Musicians and methinks Men should speak more favourably of such Practices as were under the Direction and Government of Inspired men In the Vision of the Prophet Isaiah 6 Ch. 1 2 3 v. The Scraphims are represented crying one to another Holy holy holy is the Lord of Hosts Heaven and Earth are full of his Glory This is acknowledged to be a great Example of Antiphonal Singing in which One Answers another But then they say this plainly refers to the Ancient Temple-Worship and must not be admitted a Precedent for Christian Practice But if the Temple-Worship be a fit Precedent for the Worship of Angels Why may it not be a Precedent for the Worship of Christians Whose Worship as Pure and Spiritual as it is falls vastly short of Angelical Worship But do not the Angels then thus Worship God in Heaven This would be a New Objection against our Liturgy never thought of before which in the Te Deum teaches us to Sing To Thee all Angels cry aloud the heavens and all the powers therein To Thee Cherubin and Seraphin continually do cry Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabbaoth Heaven and Earth are full of the Majesty of thy Glory And if the Angels thus Sing in Heaven surely the Precedent is not unworthy of the Christian Church on Earth The like Representation we meet with of the Four Beasts and Twenty four Elders Rev. 4. And the same Answer is given to it That the Images in the Apocalyptick Visions are fetched from the Law and not from the Gospel But whence soever these Images were Originally taken this Book was Directed to the Christian Churches and therefore was a Rule and Precedent for them It all along describes the State of the Christian not of the Iewish Church and therefore their Worship too And if we look into the Fifth Chapter we shall find these Four Beasts and Twenty Four Elders were
A SERMON Preach'd at St. PAUL's Cathedral NOVEMBER 22. 1699. BEING The ANNIVERSARY Meeting OF THE Lovers of MUSICK By W. SHERLOCK D.D. Dean of St. Paul's Master of the Temple and Chaplain in Ordinary to His MAJESTY Published at the Request of the Stewards LONDON Printed for W. Rogers at the Sun against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet MDCXCIX PSALM LXXXI 1 2. Sing aloud unto God our strength make a joyful noise unto the God of Iacob Take a Psalm and bring hither the Timbrel the pleasant Harp with the Psaltery TO Praise God is acknowledged by all men to be the most Excellent part of Divine Worship it is the Religion of happy Creatures and the Natural Homage due to Infinite Goodness which is the most Glorious Perfection of the Deity It exercises the best Passions of our Souls in the most perfect manner Love Ioy Reverence Admiration which are the proper Passions of Devotion made for God who is their last Object and made for the Praise of God which is their most perfect Exercise We cannot well conceive What other Acts of Religion can be proper for Heaven when we shall be advanced to the utmost perfection of our Natures when we shall have put off Mortality and Corruption and all other Wants with them When a Complete and Consummate Happiness shall leave no more place for Desire When we shall have nothing more to ask of God nothing more to expect but the secure Possession and Enjoyment of those Pleasures which fill but never satiate which are Eternally repeated and are Eternally New and Fresh I say in such a State as this as Faith will be turned into Sight and Hope into Enjoyment so Prayer also which is so great a part of the Worship of Sinners and indigent Creatures will be all turned into Thanksgiving and Praise Now as for this reason St. Paul prefers Charity before Faith and Hope because though they are admirable Graces for the State of Christians in this World and absolutely necessary to carry us to Heaven yet they cannot enter into Heaven themselves where Charity attains its greatest Glory and Perfection so by the same reason it appears That Praise and Thanksgiving is the most excellent part of Worship because this is the Religion of Heaven and therefore ought to be the chief Delight and Entertainment of those who hope to go to Heaven But what is it to praise God Is it only to sing aloud and to make a joyful noise to God Does it consist merely in the Harmonious Melody of Voices and Musical Instruments Does he praise God best who composes the best Anthems or Sings them best Or do we think that we then praise God best when we feel our selves the most Transported and Ravished with Excellent Musick performed by the best Voices the choicest Instruments and the greatest Masters This is a very easy and a pleasant way of praising God if this would carry us to Heaven but this is only to praise the Musick the Composition or the Performance when we think of nothing else come for no other End and mean no more by it I would not have you mistake me I do not appear in this place at this time to decry or disparage the use of Musick in the Worship of God which would neither become this Presence nor my own Character but to persuade and direct you to turn the Delights and Charms of Musick into the Raptures of Devotion which would the most effectually silence all the Enemies of Church-Musick and Cathedral-Worship while as a Divine Poet of our own Sings This would visibly turn Delight into a Sacrifice Now since Musick whatever it be and how well soever performed is of no Use or Value in Religion but as it serves the true Ends of Devotion we must Enquire What that Harmony and Melody is which is so acceptable to God How fit External and Sensible Melody is to promote this And how it may and ought to be improved to that purpose 1. As for the first I need not tell any Man who understands the Nature of Christian Worship That it is only the Melody of the Heart as St. Paul speaks that pleases God All True Christian Worship whatever the Externals of it are is the Worship of the Mind and Spirit This alone is that Worship which it becomes a reasonable Creature to pay to his Maker his Sovereign Lord and Saviour as the Blessed Virgin Sang My Soul doth magnify the Lord and my Spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour For it is the Mind only that can praise God though the Tongue must Sing his Praises The Best Composed Hymns the Most Musical Instruments the most Charming Voices are but Lifeless Mechanical Sounds till they are Animated and Inspired by the Devotion of the Heart And God takes no more pleasure in the Best Voices than in Bodily Strength or Beauty Now the Melody of the Heart is the Consent and Harmony of all the Powers and Passions of our Souls in the Praises of God When Love and Joy and Admiration and the profoundest Reverence bear their several Parts and offer up our whole Souls as a Living Vocal Hymn of Praise Then we Sing aloud in our Hearts to God when we feel the greatest Transports and Extasies of these Divine Passions which Swallow us up in God and Unite us to the Heavenly Quire Then we Sing with True Melody in our Hearts to God when these Divine Passions which are Essential to Praise and Thanksgiving Charm all our Earthly Passions into a Calm Quiet all their Storms and Tumults Leave no jarring Discords no Discontents no Solicitous Cares no Jealousies no Envyings to discompose the Harmony of our Souls which must be all Peace all Love all Joy to Sing with a True Divine Melody the Praises of God This and nothing else is the true Praise of God when our Minds are filled with such bright Ideas of his Glory and Perfections with such a lively Sense of His Majesty Wisdom Goodness Power discover'd in his Great and Wonderful Works of Creation Providence and the Redemption of the World by our Lord Jesus Christ as Transport us with Love Admiration and Joy A Heart thus full of God will break forth into Songs of Praise When the Fire is kindled within as the Psalmist observes from his own Experience we shall then speak with our Tongues Here our Praises ought to Begin to be sure here they must always End in the Heat and Fervour of our Affections and an inward feeling of the Divine Praises if we would have them an acceptable Worship of God As far as the Harmony of Voices or Musical Instruments serve this End they are Excellent Helps to Devotion but it is only their Subserviency to the Devotion of the Mind which gives them any Value or allows them any Place in Religious Worship 2 dly Let us then consider of what Use Musick is to Excite and Quicken our Affections and to give a New Life and Spirit to Devotion Man is not all