foul them is likewise threatned Am. iv 6. Teeth as well as Mills are called the Grinders Eccle. xii 3 4. It also describes the Disconsolateness of their Condition when they should want the common comfort of Light Exactly parallel to the Passage in Jer. xxv 10. where it is threatned that the sound of the Mill-stone and the light of the Candle should be taken away Next it is added And the Voice of the Bridegroom and of the Bride sholl be heard no more at all in thee The Adversary himself will not I believe conclude that the rejoycings in Marriage are therefore unlawful This is also another way of signifying a very dejected State in the Prophetical Poetick Stile So Jer. vii 34. xvi 9. xxv 10. Thus it was counted to have no share in those few Solemnities of Joy which were allowed in States not utterly ruin'd at least at Nuptial Festialties So clear it is that tho' we should grant that these things were to be understood of Antichrist yet they would not prove the Sinfulness of the things of which he was to be deprived but the Calamity of the Deprivation BUT our Author has an Observation XXIV Dr. Lightfoots Observation that the Temple Worship was wholly Ceremonious and the Synagogue VVorship wholly Moral is not true from the very learned Dr. Lightfoot which if it had been true would I confess weaken what I have said for Instrumental Musick Christ says that excellent Person abolish'd the Worship of the Temple as purely Ceremonious but he perpetuated the Worship of the Synagogue reading the Scriptures Praying Preaching and Singing of Psalms and Transplanted it into the Christian Church as purely Moral For I have already granted that Instrumental Musick was used not in the Worship of the Synagogues but of the Temple But there are no Words of Christ that I know of that could be so much as pretended for shewing what he designed concerning these two Worships in General and much less to shew that this was Christ's design concerning them We have seen withal that the Apostles did separate from the Synagogue worship tho' they never did so from that of the Temple This would rather imply the contrary to what that great Man has advanc'd if Arguments were allow'd to proceed universally on either side But as there is no Text so neither is there any Reason to pass this Judgment concerning both these kinds universally I know not why singing of Psalms should be counted Moral Especially according to our Adversaries Opinion which ascribes its efficacy for promoting Devotion not to its own Nature but to its divine Institution This must needs take away the antecedent Reason of its Institution So far it is from allowing it an Antecedent Reason that it must necessarily and universally oblige without any positive Sanction This is usually thought necessary according to the commonly received notion of a Law of Nature And on the contrary the use of Lots were taken by the Apostles from the use of the Temple Worship where it was usually made use of for determining which particular Priests of the whole 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were to perform the duty of the Week This could be used by the Jews no where but at Jerusalem because there was no other place where Priests could lawfully Officiate But by the Apostles it was made use of not only for choosing a new Apostle of their own order as in the Case of St. Mathias but also for determining the Persons that were to be invested with Ecclesiastical Sacerdotal Power And that very consequently because the exercise of the Evangelical Priesthood was not confin'd to one place as that of the Jewish Priesthood was to Jerusalem This was used so generally that from thence the name of Clerus came to be appropriated to the sacred Order in opposition to the Laity as I have often shewn elsewhere It is therefore a plain instance Diss. Cyp. 1. that the general way of Reasoning will not hold that any thing must be unlawful now on that alone account that it had been used in the Worship of the Temple I know no ground the Doctor could have for this Distinction but that he seems to have believed that the Temple worship was universally settled by a positive Law of God as having no antecedent reason why it should have obliged without such a positive Sanction and that the Synagogue worship having no positive Sanction in the Scriptures without which our Adversaries allow no proof of a positive Devine Sanction must therefore have received the Sanction it pretended to from the nature of the things themselves and therefore as immutable as those natures of things from which they thought it was deriv'd This is indeed so far suitable to our Adversaries Principles granted on popular receiv'd Prejudices that in things of this nature they allowed no humane Sanction to be of any force This precarious Supposition did naturaly put them upon finding a Divine original for all the old Establishment of the Worship of the Synagogue which because they could not pretend to find in the Scriptures they were oblig'd to derive from the Moral Law which was indeed suppos'd to derive its Authority from a divine Legislation But the Moral Law being founded as they thought on the Nature of the things they must therefore believe its Obligation as Eternal and Immutable as those Natures were supos'd to be So on the contrary because the written Law was written with a prospect on one fixed Place for their solemn Assemblies which fixation was made by a positive divine Sanction which was designedly to cease upon the Destruction of the Jewish Temple and the Dispersion of the Jewish Nation therefore they think the whole written Law relating to the Temple was to have an end with the Temple for the use of which it was contrived But neither way does the Argument proceed as our Adversaries are concerned for it The Synagogue Worship not being a thing expressly provided for in the old Testament where there is no mention of Synagogues in the latter Sense of the Word I should rather have taken for an Argument against the Reasonings of the Nonconformists from the Testimonies of the old Testament for the necessity of an express divine Command for every indifferent Circumstance of Divine-Worship when the whole kind of Synagogue-Worship cannot pretend to a divine Command in the Scriptures And without the Scriptures there can be no divine Command pretended by their Principles but what is Moral which must therefore be grounded on Eternal and Immutable Reasons which will not be so easily found for every particular of the Worship of the Synagogue as our Adversaries may fancy before they consider it Every atnecedent Reason will not do For inded no Law however positive can be thought prudent that has not an antecedent Reason that might move the Legislator to add his Sanction to it But if that had been alone sufficient to oblige the Subject there could have been no necessity of
those that are Eucharistical and such all ours are now but were not so in the Days of the Apostles And the use of Hymns neither is nor can be denied by our Adversaries as well in the private Synaxes of the Apostolical Christians as in the Worship of the Temple The Hymn to Christ as a God in Pliny appeal'd to in the latter end of the second Pli. l. x. Ep. 97. Century as a very early evidence of the belief of his Deity seems to have been joined with the Eucharist For Pliny tells us on the same occasion of the Covenant the Christians entred into against all the liberties us'd by wicked Persons And the publick Singers are mention'd in the earliest distinct Accounts we have of their Offices not as newly introduc'd but as actually obtaining without any memory of a late Original Had the reasons of the things been all that had been requisite for raising of the Affections I cannot conceive any need our Adversaries can pretend for Singing That does no otherwise contribute to the raising of the Affections than as the assistance and Improvement of the Imagination may be supposed to contribute to it The Singing does not add a new Reason nor improve the old ones why the Affections should be raised But however they do dispose the Affections to follow Reason more readily and more vigorously than they would if they had not the assistance of a favourable Imagination and that by the Nature of the things themselves and in that regard Musick Instrumental also was acknowledged to have the same influence that Singing had by the Imagination over the Affections and to add to the advantages of Singing Vocally So it was that David's playing on the Harp cured Saul of the evil Spirit by curing that Melancholy which disposed him to receive the Influences of the evil Spirit So it was that the like use of Instrumental Musick dispos'd Elisha for the Influences of the good Spirit by composing that Passion which his Zeal against the Idolatry of the King of Israel had put the Prophet into it made him capable of being acted by the Spirit of Prophesy For chearfulness of Temper is one of the Dispositions required by the Rabinical Jews themselves for fitting Men for Prophesie That may possibly be the Reason why the Scriptures mention Instrumental Musick as receiv'd in the Schools of the Prophets especially when they were actually Prophesying as it should seem 1 Sam. x. 5. 1 Chr. xxv 1. to dispose them for the freer Influences of the Divine Spirit The Singing Hymns to such Instruments is call'd Prophesying in the places now mention'd So far the nature of the Spiritual Worship of the Gospel is from superseding this assistance of Instrumental Musick as our Adversaries would have us believe that on the contrary it contributed to it if we would rather believe the Scriptures and the actual Opinions of the sacred Writers So Miriam Prophesied with a Timbrel the Instrument most us'd by Women So Samuel's Disciples the Sons of the Prophets the Candidate expectants of that sacred Gift They also Prophesie with a Psaltery a Tabret and a Harp and a Pipe So the ordinary Officers in the Jewish Liturgicks were to Prophesie with Harps and Psalteries and Cymbals according to the order of King David 1 Chr. xxv 1 2. And Jeduthun is said to Prophecy with a Harp to give Thanks and to Praise the Lord v. 3. Why should we therefore think it strange that the Church of Jerusalem in the Revelations should be represented Rev. v. 8. xiv 2. xv 2. Harping with the Harps of God We see it was the proper Employment of Prophets according to the sense of the sacred Writers that is of those wherein that Church of Jerusalem did so much abound How could those Sacred Writers judge Instrumental Musick improper for a Spiritual Dispensation when they thought it so useful in an ordinary way to dispose Men for the receiving the Spirit of Prophecy IF our Adversaries would learn from XI The Benefit of Musick in Holy Offices thought natural and not ascrib'd to any extraordinary Providence the Scriptures they should reason from the Opinions received in the Ages of the Sacred Writers rather than from prejudices imbib'd from Modern Systems That would be the way to reason as they did then and the best expedient for finding the Sense of them who were us'd to that way of Reasoning They pretend that all the efficacy of Instrumental Musick then was due to a particular Interposition of God seconding his own Institution Had the Institution been singular and different from the Customs of other Religions or the event other than what would have been expected according to the opinions then receiv'd among those who had no regard to the Mosaical Institution there had been indeed some pretence for ascribing the Benefit rather to the extraordinary Interposition of God than to the Natures of the things themselves The jealous God who will not give his Glory to another makes choice of the most unlikely means in the opinions of those with whom he has to deal when he designs to challenge the Glory of the event entirely to himself So it was when he was pleas'd to restore the Sight of him that was born Blind by anointing his Eyes with Clay So when Naaman was to be Cured of his Leaprode by Washing in Jordan rather than in Abana and Pharpar the Rivers of his own Country So when he reduc'd the Numbers of Gideon's Army from many Thousands to 300. Here on the contrary those very means are us'd which even the Heathens themselves had agreed on as most naturally conducive to the same end and which least needed an extraordinary Interposition of Providence in the Opinions of those who were to use them It was easy to foresee that they would ascribe the event to the natural Course of second Causes themselves and that in the way of reasoning suited to their Capacities they would also think they had reason to do so and that Gd intended they should do so whilst he signified nothing to the contrary And therefore God must have indeed intended they should think so if he did at all intend they should understand him rightly And who can think Sauls Servants particularly inspired when they recommended a Musician to their Master as an expedient against the Ailings caused by the evil Spirit The reason in all likelihood why they recommended it was because they knew it a likely Cure of Melancholy and they believed withal that when the Melancholy was cured the evil Spirit who was confin'd to Rules could not exercise his Malignity on a subject indisposed to receive his Influences This is a plain Account how the thing might be done in their Opinions by Instrumental Musick as an ordinary means without any pretence to Revelation which they neither did nor had any reason to pretend to The like Account seems most probable of the Case of Elisha when he also made use of Instrumental Musick
shortly see the light The Imputation of Popery may be clearly laid at the Dissenters Door and we have no reason to account any thing Popery in the Kingdom nor to fear any Danger of it but from those few who are professed Papists themselves or such as too near agree with them in Principles and Practices * Another MSS written in the time of Q. Eliz called a dutiful Advertisement to beware of the Puritans by the Papists and of the Papists by the Puritans discovering the great Coherence and agreement between both the Sects in manifold and divers regardable both erroneous and perillous Positions c. See this at large proved in the Compendious History of all the Popish and Fantical Plots and Conspiracies against the established Government in Church and State in England Scotland and Ireland from the First of Queen Elizabeth to 1684. By the Reverend Mr. Tho. Long of Exon. and who are and always have been their prime Agents and Instruments I mean the several Sects among us which dissent from the Church of England Which Church is by far the greatest if not the only Support of the Protestant Religion and Interest and consequently the greatest Enemy the Church of Rome has in the World 'T is look'd upon to be so by those of that Communion and therefore is it become the Object of its greatest Fury and Envy to destroy which is its greatest aim and if by any means it can be effected they may truly think they have done the business of the Reformation This Church had beyond others of the Protestant Profession a great advantage in the Reformation for when Luther who first began to reform the Errors and Corruptions of the Church of Rome and to separate from it had made a great step that way he notwithstanding left a great many things unreformed which were offensive and could not be justified by Primitive Anquity such as the two great number of Ceremonies and almost all the external Worship in the Church of Rome Auricular Confession the use of Crucifixes The use of the Crucifix allowed by Mr. Baxter and called Causa Motiva c. in Devotion but without Adoration the absurd Pictures of the Trinity and the Doctrine of Consubstantiation determining the Mode of the real Presence instead of the absurder Popish Doctrine of Transubstantiation Afterwards Calvin carried on the Reformation Care of Ch. Div. at Geneva to which Place he was invited by the Citizens A. D. 1536. when they had expelled their Popish Bishop who was also their Temporal Lord and refused to re-admit him unless he would disclaim Popery upon whose refusal they took the Government of Church and State into their own Hands which soon occasioned great Disorders and Confusions And upon this to gratifie the Magistrates See Mr. Longs Calv. Redivivus p. 10 c. and yet to keep the Authority of the Church he suits his Model of Government to the exigence of the Times and upon this account was in a manner necessarily obliged to make a direct opposition to Popery the great Measure of his Reformation for which Reason he laid aside the Hierarchy notwithstanding its being Primitive and Apostolical because he must not come near the Popish Government But yet he plainly approves of it and Calvinus in Libro de necess Reform Ecclesiae very sharply rebuked those English Men who did dissent from it If any says he be found that do not reverence such an Hierarchy i. e. such as is in England and subject themselves to the same with the lowest Obedience I confess there is no Anathema whereof he is not worthy However his Model was never received in the Church of England nor suited to it and his assistance was not accepted by Arch-bishop Cranmer who with Bishop Latimer Bishop Ridly Dr. Taylor and our other worthy Reformers had the Honour of Martyrdom for the sake of that transcendent Part of the Reformation which they had established among us This was so admirably well contriv'd as to be in the moderate way between that of Luther and the other of Calvin They did not carry matters so high as this latter by running from one extreme to the other That because the Church of Rome was over-run with Abuses from the Hierarchy and its Service burdened with a vast number of Ceremonies and the outward Ornaments of the Church being so extravagant had almost destroyed the inward Beauty of it and turned its Worship into Shew and Appearance and made to affect more the outward Senses of the People than their Hearts and Minds therefore he did not seek to reform those Abuses so much as to destroy the Ancient Government of the Church and utterly to abolish all its Rites and Ornaments Which says the Learned Puffendorf In his Introduction to History p. 406. proved a main Obstacle to the increase of the Protestant Religion and caused an aversion and Animosity in the common People against that sort of Reformers and increased their Zeal for that Religion which they had received from their Ancestors Neither did our Reformers fall so low in their establishing the Reformation as Luther at first did by retaining too much of the Popish Service and making very little Alterations in outward Matters But they kept an excellent Mean and a regular Disposition of the whole Constitution according to Primitive usage before Popery had Corrupted it Their Business was to Reform the Christian Church from Popish Superstition and Error and not to fashion it according to their own Humour and Fancies or for the pleasing of others to make a direct Opposition to Popery the measure of the Reformation But the Method they took was by Examining into what was most agreeable to the Sense of the Scriptures and the Opinion of the Primitive Church concerning those Rules for Deceny Order and Edification which these only recommended in general to the Governours of the Church But the particular appointment of such things was left to their Prudence and Care so as to fit particular People and Nations only they were to be careful so to manage the Affairs of the Church as not to do any thing in contradiction to those general Rules of the Apostle Let all things be done unto edifying And Let all things be 1 Cor. xiv 26. 40. done Decently and in Order Agreeable to which those excellent Men our English Reformers settling the Doctrine Discipline and Worship of our Church did not fly so high as not to allow the Papists to be right in any thing nor go so low as to comply with them in any one Superstition and Corruption which two Extremes the other Reformers fell into but ours keeping the middle way between them did by their moderate and discreet Proceeding produce our incomparable Establishment which we are now blessed withal beyond any other Protestant Church For which Reason ours is look'd upon as the Center of Union and Harmony of all the Protestant Churches in the World And so accounted
one of the fundamental Laws of Nature which like the Worship of God it self we receive not by Imitation but by Instinct It was not inculcated into us by Education but we sucked it in at our very Birth or rather it was infused into us at our Creation And as the Opinion so the Practice of it is universal too and therefore the Psalmist directs his Precept not to the peculiar Church of God but to All Lands to serve the Lord with gladness and to come before his Presence with a Song To which I will add the Words of a very eminently Learned Man who speaking of Instrumental Musick says It has the Advantages of being Recommended by Natural Religion and of having See Origen Sacr. p. 159. been required by Divine positive Institution c I suppose I need not seek for better Authorities to justifie the drawing an Argument from the Light of Nature for this Practice in the Christian Church However I can by no means allow the Case of Sacrifices Dancing and Circumcision Ans. p. â— to be of a like validity in point of Argument as he pretends For to his first Instance in the Case of Sacrifices I Reply That tho' Sacrifices be discontinued in the Times of the Gospel because the use of them is abolished and the reason of their being abolish'd is because of the great Sacrifice of our Saviour on the Cross of which they were but so many Types and Figures This Substance being come into the World leaves no Reason for those things which were but the Shadows of him to continue The same Reason cannot hold as to Instrumental Musick which is granted by our Adversary to have been established in the Worship of God under the Law But we cannot find either any Reason for its discontiuance in the Times of the Gospel or where the use of it is Abolish'd or spoken against by our Saviour or his Apostles to warrant its being unlawful now They all Communicated in the Jewish Church where that was used And as long as the use and expediency of it holds good as it will do in all Ages being an allowed proper Help to raise the Spirits in Devotion it is altogether as reasonable it should be continued in the Times of the Gospel as well as it was under the Law * Dr. Sherlocks Sermon at St. Pauls Novem. 22. 1699. There being such a Sympathy between Sounds and Passions as are by Turns the Natural Effects and Causes of each other And if so then true Devotional Musick will excite or heighten our Devotional Passions and for that Reason is to be continued still while Sacrifices losing their proper use are Abolished His 2d Argument to invalidate the use of Instrumental Musick is by making it as lawful to justifie Dancing in the Ans. p. 9. Worship of God as that And the Reason he draws from the Antiquity of the one as well as the other because Miriam Ex. xv 20. and the Women Danced as well as plaid with Timbrels in the Service of God And David Danced before the Ark and 9 Sam. 6 14 Psal. 149. 3. 150. 4. devout Men among Gods own People did Praise him in the Dance c. They did so in their Processions when they welcomed the Ark which did signifie Gods Presence among them at its being removed from one Place to another And as they went to meet Saul when they had the additional Honour of being admitted among the Prophets And since the Modes and Circumstances of Reverence in Devotion are alterable so as they may serve particular Occasions Where would the Absurdity lie if now on some Solemnities a Grave Sober and Religious Dance was instituted and allowed by good Authority Truly I do not see neither does the Answerer advance any thing to prove it absurd but by styling it a Capering Devotion as among the Corybantes of old And altho' he adds a Confidence of saying That no Man of Thought will allow such a Conclusion to pass for Warrantable He may find the Author of the following Treatise who perhaps has as close and consistent Thoughts as any Man in the Kingdom is of another Opinion and gives such a Reason for it as I presume he will not be able to Confute His 3d Argument is by making Circumcision as allowable now as Instrumental Musick because of its Antiquity and the general Consent of Nations for it To which I reply That tho' all or most Nations did use the Rite of Circumcision heretofore and the Jews most particularly having an express Command from God for it As before Abraham Levit. xii 3. Gen. xvii the Father of the Faithful was enjoyned in it in token of the Covenant between God and his Seed yet this was painful to the Flesh far from being adapted to their Natural Tempers as Musick was only to be observed by a Temporary Command and to last no longer than the Jewish State was to last The Institution of which was to give Admission to the Jewish Proselytes and to distinguish them from other Nations in imitation of which the Egyptians Phaenicians Syrians Arabians AEthiopians and other Gentiles might take up the same Practice and yet be no Argument for its continuance still neither does any one say that I know That consent of Nations is an Argument of validity when it is nothing else but Imitation and therefore the refutation of Mr. N. from Dr. Taylors Duct Dub. lib. Ans. p. 11. 2. p. 371. is very needless For the Instituted Rite of Circumcision among the Jews which might be imitated by the Gentiles was to cease of course in the times of the Gospel when another initiating Rite viz. that of Baptism was appointed to succeed in its Place But Instrumental Musick was not to cease nor to have any other Rite to succeed it neither was it made use of at that time in the Jewish State or Heathen nor since in the Christian meerly because of the consent of Nations for it But because it had the Institution of God at first the prescriptions of all Ages since no where forbidden and by Experience found to be a great help to Devotion being adapted to the Tempers of Men and to which they have a natural Inclination wherefore it may be as useful and fit for the times of the Gospel as before and being plainly practised by the generality of all Nations Christian and Heathen may without any false Logick be admitted as an Argument for an universal Practice and for better Reasons to be observed than Circumcision The 2d Argument made use of in Defence of the Organ needs no Vindication from the Exceptions of the Answerer neither do I see an Absurdity in saying That the inspired Prophets introduc'd into the Church among the Jews the use of such Instruments as were thought fit by them being so Divinely Inspired Serm. p. 9. to raise the Spirit of Devotion among the People c. Being so Divinely Inspired shews sufficiently it was a
oblig'd to Communicate with the Apostles must also have Communicated with the Sacrifices and other Solemnities of the Temple in order to the obtaining those Mystical Benefits of which the Jews were made partakers by those Solemnities among others by their Hymns seconded with Musick not only Vocal but Instrumental How so if that Instrumental Musick had been unlawful even to the Gentiles A Doctrine in it self so incredible III. The Apostles reasoned from the Law to the Gospel otherwise than our Adversaries do now ought in Reason to have very evident Proof before it be receiv'd And what Proof can our Adversaries pretend to that can be thought so evident Have they any express Testimonies of the N. T. that Musical Instruments in the Service of God are unlawful sufficient to countervail that notoriety of Fact avowedly practic'd to the contrary If this cannot be pretended have they at least any evident Prohibition of it that might make it unlawful for the future when this dependence of the Christian Church on the Jewish Establishment was to expire I know no Evidence of either kind that themselves pretend to Well then will they pretend to any evident Proof of any other Proposition from whence this must necessarily follow They tell us indeed that all the Jewish Law that was not Moral or Judicial was in course not only to cease to be obliging but also to begin to be unlawful from the Promulgation of the Gospel But what Proof can they produce for this Proposition so crudely and so generally express'd No plain Testimony of the N. T. that I know of Can they therefore say that it is at least supposed in the Reasonings of the N. T Where do they find that the Apostles argue that any thing was to be antiquated under the New Testament for no other Reason but because it was prescribed under the Old So far from that that we have many Examples of the Apostles and Apostolical Writers Reasoning from the Old Testament to the New The Adversaries of Tythes pretend that Tythes are not to be paid to the Ministers of the Gospel now because they were imposed as a Duty to the Levitical Priesthood St. Paul argues directly contrary that 1 Cor. ix 13. 14. because the Levitical Priests lived by the Altar then therefore they who Preach the Gospel now should also live by the Gospel He reasons the same way when 1 Cor. ix 9. 10. 1 Tim. v. 17. 18. he proves that because the Law required that the Ox's Mouth should not be muzled when he trod out their Corn that was the ancientest way of Threshing in imitation as it should seem of their Treading out their Vintage therefore the Clergy shoul partake of the Contributions of the Church which themselves laid out for the use of the Poor who were maintained by those Contributions So he allows the Reasoning against Christians Marrying Persons of another Communion from the Jews Obligation not to Marry Persons of another Nation in order to their Propogating a holy Seed So he also Reasons himself that as the Jews 1 Cor. vii 14. did allow that the holiness of one Parent was sufficient to entitle their common Off-spring to the Foederal holiness of Circumcision so the holiness of one Parent by the Rules of Christianity was also sufficient to entitle the Children of such Marriages to the Foederal holiness of Christianity by Baptism This he supposes when he thence infers that the Believer was under no Obligation of breaking such a Matrimonial Contract on account of that Objection insisted on for doing so that is of the holiness of the Seed with which such Marriages were conceived inconsistent For himself had Circumcis'd Acts xvi 1. St. Timothy on account of his Mother who was a Jewess tho' his Father was a Heathen No doubt on account of the receiv'd allow'd practice of the Jews whom he design'd to gratify by doing so On the same Topick his Fellow-labourer Clem. Rom. ep ad Corin. St. Clement concludes the Sacredness of the Gospel Ministry from all the ways God had used for asserting the inviolable Sanctity of the Levitical Priesthood against Laical encroachments How contrary is this whole way of Reasoning to that used by our Adversaries on many others as well as this Occasion And yet it was indeed no other than IV. And indeed were to be presumed most likely to do so considering their Education what was to be expected in their Circumstances considering the History of those Times Our Adversaries may be pleased to remember that when those Scriptures were Written on which they ground their contrary way of Reasoning the whole Church was Govern'd by the Apostles whose place of Residence as of a Body was at Jerusalem They may remember farther that the Apostles themselves as Jews were possess'd with the same prejudices of Education as the rest of their Nation in favour of their present Establishment and against unnecessary Innovations St. Paul had Persecuted the Church on account of his Zeal And St. Simeon for the same Reason had got the Sirname of Zealot And St. Peter's concern for the Law he had been bred in appeared on all occasions His Hunger could not make him eat what his Education had oblig'd him to believe common and unclean And he avoided eating with the Gentiles that he might avoid offence of the Jews which came from Jerusalem It also thence appear'd how cautious the Apostles themselves were oblig'd to be in admitting Innovations if they would maintain the good Opinion they were possess'd of with their own Charge of Jerusalem who were also as St. James assures us Zealous of the Law We have therefore reason to believe that they would not admit of any Revelation that was not very clear against the then received Opinions Whatever their own private Opinions might have been yet we have reason to believe that they would not have ventured to publish and practice Opinions in favour of Innovation without such Evidence as as might satisfie others as well as themselves if they would preserve the good Opinion of the Zealots mentioned by St. James and keep them with their Zeal from Apostatizing from the Christian Religion notwithstanding Innovations so contrary to the Opinions they had been bred in But where can our Adversaries find any Testimony so express in the Writings of the N. T. that all the Ritual and Ceremonial Precepts of the Law were to be abrogated upon the promulgation of the Gospel that even the Jews by extraction should be discharg'd from the Obligation under which they had been formerly of observing them Whence can they prove that thenceforward it must have been unlawful by the Law of Christianity for them to observe them tho' with no regard to the former divine Legislation which had impos'd those ceremonial Precepts on the whole Peculium but on account of the humane Authority whereby particular Churches may provide for their Bodies without imposing on other Churches of equal Authority with themselves
Whence can they prove that even Gentile Churches who never were oblig'd by the ceremonial Law whilst they continu'd Gentiles might not by the Authority of their particular Bodies resume any of those Rights if they should judge them edifying in their own Circumstances without any regard to the Legislative Power by which they had been formerly imposed I know very well our Adversaries of the Separation are possess'd of Opinions very contrary to what I have now discours'd But if they will be pleased to examine them impartially they will find no better Authority for them than the modern Systems since and the School-men before the Reformation and the Reasonings of some Fathers not near to nor acquainted with the Originals of Christianity But these are Authorities by which they are unwilling to be concluded in other Cases If therefore they will be true to their Principles they will do well to lay aside these Prejudices and see what they can find for those Opinions in the Scriptures themselves which are the only Authorities they pretend to follow But when these Prejudices are laid aside they will not find those things so clearly decided there as they have been used to believe No nor in the Writings of the first and purest Originals of the Christian Religion AND yet I do not deny but that several V. The chief new Revelation made to the Apostles was that the Gentiles might be admitted into the new Peculium immediately without Circumcision of the Mosaical Precepts were indeed abrogated by the Gospel and so abrogated as that it is now unlawful to insist on them as they were then imposed What I design is only to shew that the general way of Reasoning us'd by our Adversaries neither has nor can have the least Countenance in the Writings of the New Testament This alone will suffice to shew that before they can make Application to our Case of Instrumental Musick they should first shew upon what Consequence it comes to pass that any of the Mosaick Rites are made unlawful by the Establishments of the Gospel and then that this particular of Instrumental Musick is concern'd in that Consequence This has not been that I know attempted by them tho' absolutely necessary if they will reason acurately For this purpose I shall desire them to remember that the great dispute of the Apostolical Age was concerning the Coalition of the Jews and the uncircumcis'd Gentiles into one Society and Communion of Gods peculiar People in order to the partaking of the same publick Worship on Earth and their being thereby entitl'd to the Spiritual benefits promis'd by God as his part of the Covenant to that peculiar People which he was pleas'd to own as his and to receive into his Covenant For the Principal thing design'd in those new Revelations made to the Apostles in the Acts was to shew that the Gentiles were to be admitted into the new Peculium without any Obligation to observe the Law of Moses as it had been particularly impos'd on the Jewish Nation That is without any Obligation to incorporate themselves into the particular Nation of the Jews This God shew'd by his effusion Acts x. 44. of his Holy Spirit on Cornelius and his Companions tho' uncircumcis'd purposely to let St. Peter know that they were not to be reputed as common and unclean and uncapable of joyning in Holy Offices on the Terms of the new Peculium on that account alone of their not being Circumcis'd as St. Peter hath thought before when he saw the Vision of the unclean Beasts and Reptiles The design of this was not to assert their actual Holiness or being actually of the new Peculium without Baptism as many of our separating Adversaries have understood it That was no Dispute at that time but it was only to let St. Peter know that they were capable of being admitted into the new Peculium immediately by Baptism without being Circumcis'd So St. Peter understood it who took care they should be Baptized tho' he did not insist upon their being Circumcis'd which he would never have done if he had thought them as much excus'd thereby from Baptism as from Circumcision This Revelation to St. Peter was that which satisfied the rest of the Apostles when they Expostulated with him concerning his freer Conversation with Cornelius than was allowable Acts xi 18. by their former Opinions Afterwards they were farther Confirm'd by the miraculous effusions of the Spirit on the Gentiles Converted by St. Paul and St. Acts xiv 2â— xv 4. 12. Barnabas without any Circumcision that might qualify them for it But most of all by those ordinary Manifestations of the Spirit then accompanying their Baptisms even of Persons uncircumcis'd nay which Circumcis'd Persons could not pretend to till they were also Baptized It being the peculiar Prerogative of our blessed Saviour's Baptism that it was not only of Water but also of the Spirit Thence St. Paul argues to the Gal. iii. 2. Galatians as a thing very notorious that they had not receiv'd the Spirit by any ritual Observances of the Law but by the Obedience of Faith And very solidly even according to the Notions of those times For the Holy Spirit being own'd for the Principle of Consecration of the holy People I mean of the Mystical which was also own'd for the only true Consecration it thence appear'd that Baptism alone without Circumcision was sufficient for admitting a Person into the Holy People which was one of the proper Titles of the peculiar People which were in immediate Covenant with the Supreme Being NOW this Constitution of the new Peculium VI. This was consequently a repeal of the Mosaical dispensation so far as it was inconsistent with it was perfectly inconsistent with the Old one The Old one admitted none to their Sacrifices by which Gods Covenant with them was transacted but only Circumcis'd Persons No Gentiles therefore could be admitted into it till they were first Circumcis'd that is Incorporated into the Jewish Nation and thereby made liable to all the Impositions on that Nation And that by the express Command of God who had excluded all uncircumcis'd Persons from partaking of those Sacrifices of the Jewish Temple and consequently from the Archetypal Heavenly Sacrifices represented by them and from all the Mystical Benefits of the Archetypal Sacrifices which were apply'd to the Communicants in the external Sacrifices as well as represented by them By the new Covenant grounded on these new Revelations the Gentiles were admitted into the new Peculium by Baptism immediately without any Obligation to Circumcision or to Incorporation into the Jewish Nation Both of them therefore being confessedly divine establishments were to be receiv'd as far as they were consistent with each other The first was to take Place confessedly till the second was introduced because so long it had no Rival that might pretend equal Authority with its self Afterwards it was to give way on account of that general Authority every
Legislative Power has to repeal its own Sanctions and on the general account that where the repeal is not express the latter Sanction is to take Place in Case of inconsistency as being the Sense of the Legislative Power at least from that time forwards This could not have been Disputed if the Jews had granted that their own Establishment was design'd only for a time But observing in the Old Testament frequent mention of an everlasting Covenant it was very natural for them to apply it to that of which they were already possess'd and of which their Education had given them so great an Opinion And when this Opinion had obtained it was then very natural for them to gather farther that God had thereby declared that their present Constitution should last for ever and that therefore whosoever should pretend to repeal it either wholly or in any part was for that reason to be presum'd not to be from God because it was in their Opinion so contrary to his former express Declarations against any future Innovation This Mistake therefore the Christians of that Apostolical Age Dispute against They observe in those Writings of the Old Testament express mention not of one alone as the Jews conceiv'd but of two Covenants an old one which then obtained and a new one which was to succeed Gal. iv 24. Heb. viii 6 8. xii 24. upon the abrogation of the first Then they prove that it was only the latter of these that could be intended to be everlasting That the former could not be so because Heb. viii 7. if it had been so there could have been no Place for the latter There could have been no second if the first had lasted for ever Besides because the first Covenant is called Old and that which is Old is ready to vanish away Heb. viii 13. And because the Tabernacle of Moses was made in imitation of another Pattern which had been shew'd him in the Mount This was observ'd as well by Philo as St. Paul Understanding therefore by the Tabernacle the whole Mosaical Dispensation they thence inferr'd that all the efficacy of that was derived from this other latter Dispensation as from that which was Principal in Gods Design tho' latter in Execution and in order of time Hence it followed in this Mystical way of Reasoning which was indeed the properest way of Reasoning in explaining Prophecies that the latter Covenant was to take place of the former and to be taken so far as a Repeal of it as a practice of both of them were mutually inconsistent And this way of Reasoning will suffice for abrogating all that part of the Mosaical Establishment which is supposed to be abrogated in the Reasonings of the N. T. and of the Apostolical Age. I mean with reference to the Design of those Reasonings that is as Impositions on the new Peculium THENCE it appear'd that Circumcision VII Those Particulars were indeed inconsistent which are supposed unlawful in the N. T as a Condition of being reckon'd of the new Peculium that is as impos'd on Gentiles by extraction must necessarily be taken away before it was possible that Gentiles not yet Incorporated into the Jewish Nation could be counted as Foederally Holy according to those new Revelations of the Gospel of which I have already spoken So also it was necessary that the Peculium must no longer depend on the Temple Sacrifices For those were not in the Power of the Apostles nor could they admit whom they pleas'd to them They were perfectly at the disposal of the Jewish Sanhedrin who were profess'd Enemies to our Saviour and would admit no uncircumcis'd Person to partake in them nor could do otherwise whilst they disown'd the new Revelations of the Gospel by the Apostle So also that Ceremonial Holiness of abstaining from certain sorts of Meats could no longer be required in order to the Holiness of the Peculium For those had never been required from any Nation besides that of the Jews and therefore could not be expected from the Gentiles when they were no longer obliged to an Incorporation into the Jewish Nation in order to their being entit'led to the highest Benefits of the Peculium Nor could the Jews insist on these things as requisite for their communicating with the uncircumcised Gentiles in Holy Offices if themselves would partake of the mystical Benefits of the new Peculium on its own Terms Their doing so made the Wall of Partition mention'd by the Apostle and made it impossible for them to coalesce into one Body with the uncircumcis'd as the new Revelation of the Gospel requires It were easy by this Reasoning to account for all the particulars of the old Mosaical Institution that are suppos'd unlawful in the Gospel IF this which I have given be the VIII This inconsistency cannot be pretended in the Case of Instrumental Musick true Original how it came to pass that some Mosaick Rites have been abrogated by the Gospel there will thence follow no pretence for condemning them as universally unlawful now for no other reason but because they were Duties then upon positive as well as upon Moral and universally obliging Reasons All that will follow from this Topick will be That only those Particulars of the Mosaick Institution will be thus affected that are inconsistent with the Gentiles free admission to the highest Priviledges of the new Peculium immediately without Circumcision or Proselytism of Justice and which being admitted would have made that breach of Communion which was principally disputed against by the Apostles and Writers of the Apostolical Age. Those could not be things wherein the uncircumcis'd Gentiles were already agreed as they were in the use of Instrumental Musick in their Sacrifical Hymns and in their publick Solemnities How could that have made a breach between them wherein they did not differ How could that have excluded Gentiles from the new Peculium without submitting to the whole Law of Moses which was already practis'd by the Gentiles before they concerned themselves to know what had been requir'd by Moses How could that have been taken for an Imposition which they had freely taken upon themselves without any regard to the practice of the Jews Then all that Dispute was concerning what might be lawfully impos'd on the Gentiles not concerning what may be lawfully practis'd by the Jews by Nation This is so certain that even the most indisputably abrogated instance of Circumcision and the Temple Sacrifices were used by the Apostles themselves as being Jews by Extraction by St. Paul himself the most zealous Acts xxi 26 Opposer of those very same Rites as impos'd on the Gentiles and that after he had said and done so many things against their Imposition If therefore even these Particulars neither were nor could be thought unlawful How can our Adversaries gather it concerning those many other things against which they can pretend no other Exception but their originally Mosaick Imposition The Apostle himself rather implys
for disposing himself to receive the Spirit of Prophecy He pretends no Revelation for it nor indeed could he do so if he was yet indispos'd for it till he had us'd the remedy of Musick For if he had been capable of Inspiration without the use of Musick he might as easily have answered the principal Question demanded of him as have used one Revelation for an expedient to qualify him for a second But it has appeared that the practice was already received in the Schools of the Prophets which might easily put Elisha in mind of it when he found his case required it And for its being receiv'd in those Schools no divine Revelation is that I know so much as pretended The most likely original therefore is its natural conduciveness to dispose the Mind for being acted by Prophetick Inspirations The Heathens used it for that end purely on account of its natural usefulness for that purpose The Priests of Cybele the Galli advanc'd their Enthusiasm by the use of Cymbals So did the Bacchae in the Rites of Bacchus who for the time were transported besides themselves and knew not what they did so absolutely they were under the power of that emotion of Mind which they believed Prophetick They brought themselves to that Condition among other means by this also of Instrumental Musick The Passage of Nero ridicul'd by Persius is famous to this purpose Torva Mimalloneis implerunt cornua bombis To the same purpose I conceive may be referr'd those Passages of the New Testament that require our rejoicing always that forbid our grieving as well as quenching of the Holy Spirit that require perfect Concord between married Persons that their Prayers might not be hindred By all these things it appears that in the received Opinions of those Ages Cheerfulness of Temper was thought to dispose for the Influences of the good Spirit and Melancholy for the Influences of the evil one and that Musick Instrumental as well as Vocal contributed to promote that Cheerfulness and to remove that Melancholy These Opinions being supposed and alluded to in the Scriptures ought therefore to be taken for the measures of Interpreting them And what is there in this Hypothesis that can in Reason be suppos'd Temporary Can we suppose God to have made new Rules for the Influences of the two Spirits now that were not in the Age of the Apostles Or supposing the Rules the same Can we suppose any Change in the Nature of Instrumental Musick that may now make it unuseful for those very same ends for which it was then believ'd so very Advantageous OUR Adversaries who have been always XII The Influences of Good and Evil Spirits upon Man such as may be promoted or obstructed by Instrumental Musick more intent on the Words than the Reasonings of the Scriptures have not I think so well consider'd the Rules of Providence by which both Spirits are confin'd in Acting upon Mankind The rather because they are rather supposed than delivered in express Terms But God does not deal with Mankind Arbitrarily nor suffer Spirits to Influence him otherwise than may be consistent with that Free will that he has given him in order to the making him capable of Rewards and Punishments and of Political Government That the good Spirit suggests good Thoughts and that the evil Spirit tempts by injecting evil ones is undoubtedly supposed in the Scriptures But the manner how this is done is not so clearly Explain'd Yet it is certain that neither of them do it to the uttermost of their Natural Power The Holy Spirit being Omnipotent could do more Good and the Evil Spirit tho' Finite yet being so much Superiour to Man could do more Mischief than we see is done by them They might assume Bodily Shapes and propose their Arguments as visibly to us as we do to one another But this is not the way of Conversation observ'd They might impress Ideas immediately upon our Imagination if God had been pleased it should have been so But that had been too great an Imposition upon our Humane Liberty As for that immediate Conversation with them which separated Spirits have with each other of that we are incapable whilst we our selves are in Bodies Even our superiour Soul uses the Imagination and is incapable of framing any distinct Ideas of things that are not Material The way therefore remaining how Spirits may Influence us without violence to our Liberties is by their Exciting or Compounding Ideas already in us on fit Occasions when external Objects are before us that may Invite us to what is Good or Insnare us to what is Evil. So the Inspiration of the Good Spirit is call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a putting us in Mind of what we knew before on the Season wherein we are to Practice For the adapting Thoughts to the Seasons of Practice is that upon which the Event does principally depend This therefore the Good Spirit may do undoubtedly as well in Ideas of the Understanding as of the Material Faculties And there was no sort of Prophecy wherein both sorts of Faculties were not concern'd Prophetick Dreams had their principal Scene in the Imagination Prophetick Visions not only there but also perhaps in the External Senses The Bath Col. was to the Sense of Hearing Even the Mosaick Degree of Prophecy was a Conversation with the Deity under a sensible Representation tho' not of any particular living Creature that might have been Represented by an Image The Jews therefore do reasonably require in him who would be dispos'd for the Spirit of Prophecy a lively Imagination as well as a good Understanding So that no good Man who wants either of them is by his Goodness alone dispos'd as is requsite for receiving the Gift of Prophecy But the Imagination requisite for the Influences of the Good Spirit was such as was Calm and Sedate free from tumultuous Passions and ungovernable Fancies and consistent with the most accurate use of Reasoning This therefore was the Reason why the first Christians imputed the Heathen Divinations of the Pythiae the Sibyls the Bacchae c. rather to Enthusiasm and malignant Spirits than to a Gift of truly Divine Prophecy because of the Brutish Transports and indecent undisciplin'd Behaviour into which those Persons were driven when they surrendred themselves to the Conduct of those pretended Deities And what difficulty is there why grave and grateful Tunes of Instrumental as well as Vocal Musick might not contribute to the allaying the Passions and to invigorate the Imagination to such a degree as would still be consistent with Decorum and perfect Subjection to the Nobler Faculties which this Divine Principle kept in possession of their Native Right of Government On the other side the Evil Spirits were not believed in the Apostles Days so pure from Matter as they have been since the modern Aristotelean Philosophy received at Second-hand from the Spanish Arabians has prevail'd It was rather the Grossness of their Aërial Cloathing that was then thought