Sabbath the Prophet gives this as a reason of that joyfull solemnity ver. 4. For thou Lord hast made me glad through thy work I will triumph in the works of thy hands The great work and business of the Sabbath is to magnifie God in regard of his great works viz. Creation and Providence but especially the great work of reconciling the world and Redeeming sinners from death and hell by Jesus Christ This great Work was compleated on the day of Christs resurrection which was the beginning of his exaltation and then it becomes us to rejoyce in the Kingdome Power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ singing to the Lord because he hath done marvellous things and saying This is the day which the Lord hath made let us rejoyce and be glad in it I say 't is suteable and seasonable â—…o rejoyce and be merry on the Lords day and therefore to sing and so express our joy in the Lord who hath made us to rejoyce in his salvation God loves not to see us lumpish and melancholy but chearfull and joyfull in his service Let us therefore sing and say The Lord reigneth One gives this as one end and use of our singing of Psalmes viz. That the Spirit dwelling in us may be as it were excited and stirred up to put forth his power more effectually and plentifully and grounds it upon my Text which saith he imports two things First that singing is an effect of the Spirit And secondly That the Spirit is stirred up in us by singing That which he saith to my thinking hath much reason in it For why may not singing excite and stirr up the spirit and the graces of it in Christians as well as the performance of other duties They that have grace therefore do duty that by exercising their graces they may improve them Now let such as have any grace of God in them consider how in doing this duty as it ought to be done the graces of God specially faith and hope may be set on work whilst we seriously meditate on the promises and other passages of David's Psalmes Once more a Psalm is good sometimes to comfort our hearts when we are under affliction as I hinted before how Paul and Silas sang when they were under extream sufferings and Luther would encourage himself and others when he heard any bad news of any attempts against the Gospell and such as profest it saying Let us sing the 46th Psalm and let them do their worst Indeed that 's a Psalm will chear a mans spirits if he can sing it with understanding and grace in his heart So did the Primitive Christians comfort themselves in prison by singing of Psalmes Lastly singing of Psalmes is an excellent way to praise God and speak good of his Name Many Psalmes you know are full of Gods praises and set forth the wondrous works that he hath done so as he may have the glory of them To praise God and bless his Name is the highest and most excellent service we can do on earth it comes nearest to the exercise of the Saints in heaven who are alwayes praising God in the admiration of his infinite and incomprehensible Glory Now singing of Psalmes is an excellent way of praising God One saith that in singing there is a more copious and ample profession of piety Not as if God who is a Spirit were delighted with any sensible thing as Musick or melodious tunes But yet God is as I may say more delighted when we are more ample and patheticall in pouring out our soules to him in praise 2 Sam. 6. David it is said danced before the Lord with all his might and then Michol scorned and flouted him as some do us now adayes for our singing of Psalmes which yet is but a praising the Lord with all our might And indeed to speak as the thing is the glory of God is held forth more illustriously in singing of Psalmes as one observes because the praises of God are celebrated with greater attention and affection than if they were barely recited with a lower voice Wherefore the Levites upon all occasions sung the praises of the Lord and so did all Gods people also No Prince as he saith or great Commander but thinks himself more honoured if the great things they have done be commemorated and set forth in a Song 1 Sam. 18. 6 7. So the women went out to meet Saul with singing and with Instruments of Musick Now our great Champion and Captain Generall hath conquered sin and Satan and all our spiritual enemies we give him not the glory due unto his name unless we celebrate the victory with Songs of deliverance That none of old sung but such as had an extraordinary spirit is false as I shewed formerly Exod. 15. All the children of Israel had not such a spirit though Moses and Miriam had In Hezekiah's time the Levites sung praises to the Lord with the words of David and Asaph the Seer and so no question they did in Jehoshaphat's time also As for the gift of Psalmes in the Primitive Churches it went with the gift of tongues and both are long since ceased so as we may argue as well that we must not say because we have not the gift of Tongues as that we must not sing because we have not the gift of Psalmes Besides we finde no mention in Scripture of any Church-Officer for compiling of Psalmes as for the Ministry of the Word and prayer Nor hath God inspired any with a gift of Psalmistry to sute the occasions of the Churches from Sabbath to Sabbath We finde neither Ordinance appointing nor Providence granting it nor any reason to silence David's Psalmes that others may be attended We know who indited them and we know too which I wish may be duely considered that some of them are proper to Gospell times If any question it let them read the 98th Psalm and see whether it be not more proper for Gods people now than in the times of the old Testament Quaest. But how may we sing David's Psalmes so as to attain those ends Sol. First We must have grace in our hearts or a gracious frame of spirit such as David had Singing praise to God is an exercise becoming Saints who alone can do it so as to please God and profit themselves in it as was shewed before 2. Secondly Sing none but spirituall Songs such as David's Psalmes are and others composed by holy men of God who spake as they were inspired by the Holy Ghost These are altogether spirituall for the Authour for the Matter and for the End and Use of them Quest May we not sing any other Song composed by a common gift so long as it is spirituall for the Matter Ans. It may be of ill consequence many wayes to shut out David's Psalmes and take in our own as First We may mistake even in the Matter whereas we are sure there is no such mistake in David's Psalmes Secondly Some
the fruits of them belong unto thee then thou maist well sing the 22d Psalm Hast thou experience of Gods support supply protection direction then thou mayest sing the 23d Psalm with many others Doth it not concern us to admire the Power wisdome and goodness of God in the works of Creation and Providence If it do why should not we sing the first part of the 19 Psalme and the 104 Psalm throughout Hast thou any affection to the Word of God out of the experience thou hadst of the power of it on thy soul why shouldst thou not sing the latter part of the 19 Psalm and any part of the 119 Psalm Hast thou any sence of sin and wrath due to it why mayest thou not sing the sixth and 38 Psalmes Psal. 3. Lord how are they increased that trouble me c. So may all Gods people for the most part say If thou art one of them then there 's thy condition David when he was straitened by his enemies goes to God and so takes courage Go thou and do likewise and then there 's thy affection to the same as his was Obj. But how can we sing such passages as are imprecations against wicked men Solut. Even these may be sung to good purpose if our hearts be in a good tune 1. We may meditate on them with fear and trembling at the wrath of God that hangs over the heads of all impenitent sinners 2. We may work our hearts to patience and contentation notwithstanding the present prosperity of wicked men in assured confidence that God will destroy them and their foot shall slide in due time 3. We may use them as prayers not against our particular enemies but against all the implacable and incurable enemies of Christ and his kingdome Now I cannot enough wonder that any Christians should be so much wanting to themselves in that heavenly exercise of singing Psalmes which gives them so much advantage of acquainting themselves more and more with God in sweet meditations on his infinite and most glorious Excellencies Indeed I do not wonder if some men care not for singing of Psalmes when I consider the course of their conversations David's Psalmes were many of them penned for the use of Gods people when they are persecuted how shall they that are more like David's enemies violent deceitfull threatning vexing persecuting and mocking sing those Psalmes They may well forbear to sing them seing there are such testimonies and evidences against their ungodly practices in them We have some now adayes that will have no repentance no humiliation or sorrow for sin others that slight the Scriptures or written Word and 't is no wonder these men should not care to sing David's Psalmes being not able to abide the test of them whilest their affections actions and opinions are so contrary to them David in the 84 Psalm laments the want of publick Ordinances I marvel not that they who slight all Ordinances under a pretence of living above them care not to sing that or other Psalmes Whatever some men may dream I make no question but others have found God graciously revealing himself unto their soules in this Exercise yea I believe that godly men who are such indeed have scarcely seen more of God in any Exercise than in this To my thinking there is not a more lively resemblance of heaven upon earth than a company of godly Christians singing a Psalm together But that which is most strange and 't is a hard case indeed is this that never a passage can be found in all the Psalmes which will sute with some mens affections or occasions If some do not yet methinks others might and yet they that except against some if I mistake not refuse all so that it seems there is nothing in them that will serve their turn or suit with their conditions Obj. Yes it will be said there are some Psalmes or parts of Psalmes that suit well enough with our conditions affections and occasions but that which fits us well enough is nothing so fit for others Sol. 1. There are severall uses of the Psalmes as there are of other Scriptures why may we not in singing as well as in hearing apply to our selves that which is most pertinent to our proper cases and so those that are not in the same condition may yet profitably sing the same Psalm even as they may hear the same Sermon Besides all the Psalmes and every part of them are fitted to the occasions of all Gods people so as there is nothing but ministers matter of sweet meditation and praising God by a holy rejoycing in him I know not how well some Psalmes will sute with some mens affections or conditions Once I am sure that Gods people from the beginning of the world to this day have had cause as to complain and pray so to bless and praise the Lord in the very same manner and upon the very same grounds as David did Wherefore I beseech all those that fear God to do what becomes them viz. now and then to comfort and chear and incourage themselves and one another in Psalmes Seek the Lord and his strength seek his face continually seek him in prayer and seek him too in singing of Psalmes say as Luther was wont upon occasion Come Sirs le ts sing the 46 Psalm and fear nothing There are that would deal by us as he that first made his enemy blaspheme God and then presently stabb'd him at the heart that so he might kill both body and soul at once and so take a brave revenge as he call'd it So do these in a sort they vex us sufficiently with seeing and hearing their ungodly and Atheisticall opinions and practises and they would deprive us of our comfort in God by singing Psalmes to his praise Le ts sing the 119 Psalm however and say It is time for thee Lord to work for men have destroyed thy law And so le ts sing the 12 Psalm and others that thereby our hearts may be cheared and we may be confirmed in faith to wait with patience upon our God saying as in Psal. 48. 14. This God is our God for ever and ever he will be our guide even unto death I shall conclude this with what Perkins saith on the eleventh of the Hebrews he asks the question why we sing those Psâ—…lmes now which were appointed for the use of the Church in former times and answer thus That the Church in all ages consisted of a company of believers and their faith is alwayes one and the same and this makes all that apprehend Gods promises to be like to one another in graces meditations dispositions affections desires spiritual wants in the feeling and use of afflictions in â—…urse of life and conversation and in performance of duâ—…ies to God and man and therefore the same Psalmes Prayers and Meditations are now as fit for the Church in these dayes and are said and sung with the same use and profit to the Church in
these dayes as when they were made Sure if it be a sufficient ground to reject singing of David's Psalmes that they were penned for the use of Gods people in former ages I know no reason but that we may for the same reason take no notice of the other Scriptures and say What do they concern us but I rather think that there is no estate or condition wherein the people of God either are or can be but the holy Ghost foreseeing the same hath prepared and recorded some Scripture-Psalmes suteable thereunto And those Psalmes being chosen out according to the new occasions of Gods people sung by them with new hearts will ever be found new Songs Words of eternall truth as one faith are ever new and never old Dayly and hourly mercies are new mercies to renewed hearts Lament 3. 23. His mercies are new every morning and when they praise the Lord for those mercies there 's a new song of praise put into their mouthes And when God hath furnisht us with Psalmes and Songs fram'd by his own Spirit to the purpose nothing for ought I know but wretched ignorance and prophaneness will neglect to use them The objection of singing Psalmes composed by our selves and others I have already answered and shewed the absurdity of such a practice unless we had any of an extraordinary spirit which if there be let us once sec it and I make no question but we shall willingly acknowledg the gift of God in them A third use of singing Davids Psalmes is a joyfull praising of God or expressing our joy in the Lord when a man is merry naturally and of course as we say he will laugh leap sing and dance as when a man is sorry contrariwise he is sullen sits still hangs the head and saith nothing Psal. 126. 2. Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing Exod. 15. 1. Then sang Moses and the children of Israel So Mary and Zachary and Simon Luke 1. 2. brake forth into Songs upon the apprehension of Gods wonderfull goodness Obj. That was because the Spirit of God came upon them in an extraordinary manner Sol. We deny not but the Spirit of God was upon some of them in a more than ordinary manner but yet it was not so upon them all all the children of Israel that sang with Moses had not an extraordinary spirit onely they were for the time much affected with the Work of God in their deliverance and the destruction of the Egyptians 2 Chro. 20. 27 28. So Jehoshaphat and the men of Judah came to Jerusalem with Psalteries and Harps and Trumpets unto the house of the Lord no question but there was singing also when the Lord had made them to rejoice over there enemies and yet no more extraordinary spirit on them than on Gods people now upon the like occasion Their practice was a precedent for Gods people in all ages to do the like when ever their hearts are inlarged in the apprehension of Gods goodness to break forth into singing and an holy rejoycing before the Lord How do we answer the goodness of God unto us if there be not affections and expressions suteable to his dispensations We all allow shooting off great gunns ringing of bells c. and why not as well singing of Psalmes When we come to the Congregation one end of our singing is to express our joy in the Lord for such mercies as his Word and Sacraments and means of Grace and that God hath given us his Sabbath and such solemn times and therefore we come before him with singing that so we may praise the Lord with gladness of heart The 100 Psalm is called a Psalm of praise and the 95 Psalm begins thus O come let us sing unto the Lord c. If you read the 96 97 and 98. you will finde many expressions to the same purpose Whatever were the occasion of penning those Psalmes it is clear that the holy Ghost in them had respect to the Gospell-times when all the ends of the earth should see the salvation of God Psal. 98. 3. Heb. 4. The Apostle shews it plainly of the 95th Psalm that the Holy Ghost in it speaks of the times after Christ was come in the flesh Now if the promise and their exspectation of those glorious Gospel-dayes did so rejoyce their hearts how much more should we be affected so as to sing and rejoyce at a higher rate than they did How comely and pleasant a thing is it to sing a Psalm as Christ and his disciples did after our receiving the Sacrament when God hath honoured us so much as to admit us unto his Table and given in the tokens and pledges of his love to our soules And after Sermon too why should we not sing and rejoyce when we have understood the good word of God declared to us by his messengers Nehem. 8. 12. Nehemiah and Ezra and the Levites willed the people to rejoyce upon such an occasion and good reason since the Word of God is sweet to every soul that savours it and so our Sabbaths are speciall times of rejoycing in God because the opportunities of publick Ordinances are renewed upon us Object But you sing all dayes alike fasting and feasting dayes without any difference Sol. For answer to this question which some think unanswerable I acknowledge that singing is a most proper expression of joy Jam. 5. 13. Is any merry let him sing But it will never follow from that place that we must not sing when we are sorry for then it will as well follow that when we are not afflicted we must not pray That place I say will infer the one as well as the other I do not say that all Psalmes are fit for all occasions but there must be a choice made and to make that choice there is some understanding more than ordinary required in him that appoints the Psalmes to be sung 3. As singing is proper in times of mirth so it is not altogether improper in times of mourning and though this may seem strange yet it is most true and I prove it thus Because Gods people were wont to lament themselves and others in Songs so Jeremy lamented the sad estate of Judah David's Psalmes were penned in times of great distress and danger as appears by the many dolefull complaints in them The 102d Psalm is entituled A prayer of the afflicted when he is overwhelmed c. and 130 Psalm begins Out of the depths have I cried unto thee O Lord To clear it yet further give me leave a little to discourse the nature of Musick which is somewhat strange in this respect That it will sute with different yea contrary affections Some Philosophers conceited the soul to be an Harmony once the soul of the world is a symmetry of all the parts made in number weight and measure Certainly of all sensible things there is none so much affects the soul as melodious sounds I say nothing
affects the soul so much be a man merry or sorry If he be merry it will provoke him to more mirth raise rouze his spirits more than they were before Therefore singing is very proper when we are joyed would praise the Lord with gladness of heart If a man be sad musick will set it on and make him more Melancholique than he was before so some understand Prov. 25. 20. As he that taketh away a garment in cold weather and as vinegar upon nitre so is he that singeth songs to an heavy heart I conceive the meaning to be this If when a man is in heaviness one should come to him in a lightsome gamesome manner as if Job's friends had brought minstrells and Musick with them he would vex and distemper and increase his grief the more Certainly Musick as it may be ordered will provoke mourning hence the custome grew of solemnizing Funeralls with Musick So when the Rulers daughter was dead there were Minstrells among others and if any say That was to allay and not to increase their grief I desire them to look Jer. 9. 17 18. and there they may see that there were cunning women who profest an art of mournfull Ditties and were hired on purpose to enhance affections of that kinde in others So 2 Chron. 35. 25. The singing-men and women spoke of Josiah in their lamentations For certain a dolefull sad Ditty sadly sung will never make any laugh unless it be an errant fool So a fit Psalm a penitentiall Psalm you may call it if you please sung to a sad tune is as apt to melt and move our hearts upon a day of humiliation as any exercise we can use and an apt expression also of such affections as should be in us upon such an occasion Some have sung for sorrow as David penn'd and sang many Psalmes when his heart was as full of grief and anguish as it could hold and so he eas'd and breath'd his heart by pouring it out before the Lord in a dolefull Song lamenting his sad condition And why may not we as well lament our own and others sad conditions in singing of David's Psalmes some of which you know are sad complaints of his miseries and sufferings mixt with earnest prayers for deliverance Sure David was not very merry when he sang many of his Psalmes whence I gather we may sing even when we are sorry and so lament and bemoan our selves before the Lord Besides if our hearts be very sad indeed singing may revive them since all utterance is an ease to any grief So some conceive that Christ chose to sing a Psalm after supper thereby to chear up his own heart and his Disciples also Musick certainly will allay passions 1 Sam. 16. v. 14. An evil spirit from the Lord troubled Saul ver. 20. And when David plaid on his harp the evil spirit departed from him Not that there is any efficacy in Musick to drive away devils but because in a naturall way it disposed and settled Saul for ease by raising up his heart and spirit out of his melancholy dumps tempering his rage and moderating his griefs and discontents by which the Devil took advantage to drive him into frenzy fits and furies If by spirit in that place we understand as some onely that which is called Motus animorum as a spirit of fear a spirit of jealousie c. then questionless the Musick had a naturall efficacy to recover Saul out of his melancholy moods 2 King 3. 15. The Prophet Elisha finding some distemper in his spirit occasioned by the presence of an idolatrous King and the present distress of Gods people called for a musician to chear and compose his spirits that he might be the better fitted for prophesie Some have conceived and said that the spirit of prophesie never came upon a sad soul How true that is I leave others to judge Nor shall I contend if any say there was somewhat extraordinary and supernaturall in those cases However this I think may be gathered from them That musick hath a vertue in it to compose and quiet and refresh and chear the spirit of a man when he is overgone with melancholy So Gods people in times of distress and danger when they feel themselves too much dejected and sadded may chear themselves up by singing a Psalm together As for our singing on fasting dayes which some are offended at we say as before 't is not so much to make our selves merry as to move and melt our hearts 'T is no absurdity nor impossibility neither for Christians to sing with tears in their eyes When a day of thanksgiving comes we sing to another tune in way of rejoicing exalting and triumphing in God our Saviour On Sabbath and Lecture dayes we sing partly to express our joy in God for giving us such opportunities and seasons of spirituall edification by the use of his Ordinances and partly to compose our spirits and so fit them for hearing the Word preached And this I conceive to be the reason why commonly we sing a Psalm before Sermon SERMON V. Ephes. 5. 19. Speaking to your selves in Psalmes and Hymnes and spirituall Songs Singing c. ONe end among others of our singing of Psalmes is as I shewed formerly a joyfull praising of God or expressing of our joy in the Lord as Gods servants were wont to do when God in his Providence gave them occasion and matter of rejoycing by deliverances victories or any other mercies I shall now adde to what hath been said That it becomes Gods people when they come before him in publick to serve the Lord with joy and an holy rejoycing and for this end they must sing Psalmes there being no exercise more proper to express our joy in the Lord God calls his people to rejoyce evermore 1 Thessalon 5. 16. and Phil. 4. 4. to rejoyce alway but more especially when they come before him in the use of his Ordinances Psal. 105. 3. Glory ye in his holy Name let the heart of them rejoyce that seek the Lord Deut. 12. 12. Ye shall rejoyce before the Lord c. Deut. 14. 26. Thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God and thou shalt rejoyce Deut. 16. 10 11. Thou shalt keep the feast of weeks i. e. Pentecost with a tribute of a sree-will offering of thine hands and thou shalt rejoyce before the Lord thy God c. And Deut. 28. 47. there is a threatning of judgement for this that they served not the Lord with joyfulness and gladness of heart c. Not a filthy on fleshly rejoycing according to the â—…ourse of this world but an holy and heaâ—…enly such as when the very heart and soul is ravisht with a sense of Gods goodness And this as it doth very much help us in the duties we have to do so it is expresly required Psal. 100. 2. Serve the Lord with gladness come before his preseâ—…ce with singing Psa. 92. which is as the Title shews a Psalm for the