Selected quad for the lemma: prayer_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
prayer_n	church_n	tongue_n	unknown_a	2,125	5	9.4258	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

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

Christians who were Redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb and Sung the Song of the Lamb Thou art worthy to take the Book and to open the Seals thereof for thou wast Slain and hast Redeemed us to God out of every Kindred and Tongue and People and Nation and hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests and we shall Reign upon the Earth Ver. 9 10. This I take to be a Christian Hymn and therefore a Pattern for Christian Worship And as much as some Smile at the Conceit I can't but think That the General Exhortations in the New Testament to Sing to God To admonish one another in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs Singing and Making Melody in our Hearts to the Lord Though they are not an Apostolical Institution of a Quire nor do prescribe the particular Forms of Cathedral Worship yet they justify it all as far as it is fitted to the True Ends of Devotion for the Apostles knew after what manner they Sung in the Iewish Church and had this been so unfit as is pretended for Christian Worship they would not have Exhorted Christians to Sing without giving them a Caution against Iewish Singing And now it does not seem to me much to the purpose to Enquire whether this Practice was for any time intermitted in the Christian Church and When and upon What Occasion it was Restored For if what I have now Discoursed hold good it justifies the Use of Musick in Religious Worship whenever it can be had though there may be some Times and Circumstances which will not allow it Though it could be certainly proved That this was disused for the First Three Centuries in the Christian Church while they were under a State of Persecution This would be no greater Argument to me against Cathedral-Worship than it is against Cathedral-Churches The Poverty and Afflicted State of the Church at that Time would allow neither but Prosperity by Degrees restored them to both We may as well Argue against the Use of Musick in the Iewish Church because under the Babylonish Captivity they hung their Harps upon the Willows and refused to Sing the Songs of Sion in a Strange Land to those who carried them away Captives The Primitive Christians in those Days never declared their dislike of this way of Worship but their Condition would not bear it No Christian will deny That Singing the Praises of God and their Saviour was always a Principal part of Christian Worship and therefore was the Worship of the Primitive Christians unless they were Defective in a Principal Part of Worship so that the only Dispute can be about the manner of Singing and the Chief thing Objected is the Antiphonal way of Singing which is acknowledged to have been used in the Iewish Church and therefore has the same Authority that Singing has But yet I will yield the Cause if any Man can give me a good reason Why it should be very Lawful and an Excellent Part of Religion for a hundred Men suppose to Sing a whole Psalm together but very Unlawful and a Corruption of Religion to Sing it Alternately Fifty to Sing One Verse and Fifty the Next when by their Answering each other they mutually Excite each other's Devotion and signify the Consent and Union of their Prayers and Praises in the Whole But setting aside the Afflicted State of the Christian Church the Profess'd Enemies of Cathedral-Worship allow us as Great and Early Authorities as we desire St. Basil St. Ambrose and St. Chrysostom always will be Venerable Names The Church was restored to Peace but in the Fourth Century and then this Worship revived and that by the Authority and Example of as Great and Good Men as any the Church had That Erasmus himself and many Reformers were great Enemies to this way of Worship as it was then Practised in the Church of Rome is no great Wonder when their Hymns as well as their Prayers being performed in an unknown Tongue all their Singing was meer Noise which could contribute nothing to Devotion But this is no greater Argument against our English Hymns and Anthems than against our English Prayers If they meant any thing more we must demand their Reasons For as for Authority our own Reformers and Reformation have and that deservedly a much greater Authority in the World But I must hasten to a Conclusion Which brings me to the Third Thing I proposed How Musick may and ought to be improved to the Purposes of Devotion And here I must beg leave to speak something briefly to Three Sorts of Men Composers Singers and Hearers which will serve for the Application of the Whole First As for Composers Those who set our Hymns and Anthems to Musical Notes I do not pretend to Skill in Musick much less to be able to Teach such great Masters as this Age hath Bred but I hope in some Measure I do and may be allowed to Understand and Teach Devotion which is all I intend in This for that which according to all the Rules of Art must be allowed for Excellent Musick may not always be proper for Devotion It is a great Mistake in Composing Hymns and Anthems to consider only what Notes are Musical and will Delight and Entertain the Hearers The true Rule is What Notes are most proper to Excite or Quicken such Passions of Devotion as the Words of the Hymn or Anthem Express This indeed can't be done without Skill in Musick but true Devotion is the best Directer of that Skill for a Devout Mind will judge of the Devotion as a Skilful Ear does of the Musick of Sounds That the most certain way for the greatest Masters to Compose such Hymns and Anthems as are fit for the Worship of God and may best serve the Devotions of Christians is to work their own Minds first into all those Heights and Flames of Devotion which they are to Express in Sounds which they will find a double Advantage in it will make them Good Christians and Admirable Composers of Church-Musick A Devout Ear without any great Skill in Musick soon finds the want of this A Grave Serious Mind which is the true Temper of Devotion is disturbed by Light and Airy Compositions which disperse the Thoughts and give a Gay and Frisking Motion to the Spirits and call the Mind off from the Praises of God to attend meerly to the agreeable Variety of Sounds which is all that can be expected from such Sounds as have nothing of Devotion in them Which is so much the worse still when as is now grown very common in such Compositions they are clogged with Needless and Endless Repetitions A Repetition serves only to give an Emphasis and it requires a great Judgment to place it Right and is very Absurd when it is placed Wrong but we often see that there is too little Regard had to this The Skill of Altering Notes is the whole Design which when there is not very great occasion for it is like School-Boys Varying Phrases