Whether you will assert that meerly natural Worship without Gospel-Institutions and Qualifications for that which is Legal and Ceremonial is done away will please God and ought to be exercised in his Gospel-Church Or 3. Do you say that the acceptable manner of praising God in his Gospel-Church for that is the chiefest Point in question is discovered and warranted to us both from the Light of Nature and Divine Revelations and Gospel-Institutions and so because you have no Warrant from either of them for your Practice of formal Singing together do you shuffle between them both If you say that your Practice of singing Praises to God in his Church is a constant Ordinance by Divine Revelation and Institution only then you cannot pretend to the Practice of it from the Law or Instinct of Nature and if you found it on the Law of Nature only then you bring it into the Gospel-Church without regard being had to the Tenor of the Gospel which is that as God is a Spirit so they that worship him must worship in Spirit and in Truth as Christ saith The Hour cometh and now is Joh. 4.23 24. when the true Worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him Which is not to be understood of worshipping in our natural Spirits only For the Apostle saith Rom. 8.8 26 27. that they that are in the Flesh cannot please God But ye are not in the Flesh but in the Spirit if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you Now if any Man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his And that the Spirit also helpeth our Infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh intercession for us with Groanings which cannot be uttered And we are commanded to pray always with all Prayer and Supplication in the Spirit Ephes 6.18 And to pray in the Holy Ghost and to be filled with the Spirit Chap. 5.18 19. speaking to your selves in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs And I will pray with the Spirit 1 Cor. 14.15 and I will sing with the Spirit And the Apostle saith in his Epistles to the Romans and Galatians Rom. 8.15 Because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your Hearts crying Abba Father And ye have received the Spirit of Adoption Gal. 4.6 whereby we cry Abba Father So that Gospel-Prayer and Singing is in with and by the help of the Holy Spirit And therefore if no regard be had to Gospel-Institutions and Qualifications for Prayer Singing but that they are to be practised from the Law Light or Instinct of Nature only then such Prayer and Singing so perform'd can't be part of Gospel-Worship nor should they be knowingly suffered in any Gospel-Church For the design of God in erecting the Gospel-Church was that he might have a Spiritual House 1 Pet. 2.5 9. an Holy Priesthood to offer up spiritual not natural Sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ Moreover if Singing and Prayer are put together and performed by you as spiritual Duties why do you not follow the spiritual Rule and plain Gospel-Order for Singing as well as Prayer And if you put them together as natural Duties from the Law or Instinct of Nature only without regard being had to Divine Institutions and Qualifications it is the ready way to bring the World by Shoals into the Gospel-Church and so to turn it by major Votes which is no argument of Truth into a natural Church-state And it also opens a wide door for Forms of Prayer as well as for Forms of Singing for if the Practice of both are alike from the Law of Nature and Singing be performed in stinted precomposed Forms what reason can you render why such Forms of Prayer should not be used as well as such Forms of Singing But if Singing and Prayer are not put together by you as founded alike on the Law of Nature how can you demonstrate their Essences to be from the different Principles of Nature and Grace when true Gospel spiritual Singing is from the Fountain of the Holy Spirit as well as Prayer and preserve the Gospel-Church from the Confusion of apparently-known natural and spiritual Persons in having full Communion together if natural Worship meerly as such should be allowed therein Farthermore what Scripture-Grounds and Reasons can you render when you perform Prayer according to Gospel-Order in the Church with a single Voice by one at once in subjection to the Rule of Christ 1 Cor. 14.26 to 34. though Prayer is not expresly mentioned therein wherefore you do reject the Psalm expresly named and annexed with other Gifts unto the Rule from coming under the Order of it And what can you say to the Practice of Womens vocal Singing in the Church when it is so directly against the plain and positive Command of Christ To conclude this Epistle to you it highly concerns you to consider whether your practice of Singing or what I have herein asserted in this Treatise 1 Cor. 3.12 13 14 15. Rom. 2.16 can stand our Trial at the Day of Jesus Christ when both you and I shall appear before him and receive our Loss or Gain according to the Gospel And therefore that the Lord would graciously awaken you and convince you of your Error which I am perswaded that one day or other you will be made ashamed of and pardon your Sin and Injury to the Church of Christ therein and prevent your building of Hay and Stubble on the true Foundation and make you an Instrument of his Glory and his Peoples Comfort as it hath been my earnest Prayers to God for you so I desire in Love and Faithfulness to continue I. M. The CONTENTS of the Brief DISCOURSE or the First Part. 1. A Brief Exposition of Ephes 5.18 19. Col. 3.16 1 Cor. 14.26 Page 5 2. Of the Essence or Being of Singing Page 5 3. Of David's Psalms Page 9 4. Of Precomposed Songs and Hymns Page 15 5. Of Womens Singing Page 21 6. Of the Order of Singing Page 22 7. Objections answered 1. Of Moses Deborah and Barak's Singing Page 24 2. Of Musick used by the Prophets in Saul's Time Page 25 3. That Musick and Singing was an Institution to continue till Temple-Worship was made void is no Argument to prove that Gospel-Singing should continue in constant use from the Primitive Church till the second Coming of Christ Page 26 4. To Isa 52.8 9. Page 28 5. To Matth. 26.30 Page 29 6. To Acts 16.25 Page 32 7. To Ephes 5.19 Page 33 8. Of Wicked Mens praying and singing Praises Page 36 9. That true Believers having cause to praise God is no proof that they must constantly sing his Praise in his Worship Page 38 10. That Formal Prayer and Singing under the Law is no Argument for such under the Gospel Page 43 11. That Prayer and consequently Singing are of the same Nature under the Gospel as
of Christ in offering your Praises to God contrary to his own appointed Way therein you do worship God in vain and I fear it will be said of you as it was to him that offered the Thank-offering under the Law Levit. 7.11 to 19. which was to be eaten on the first and second Days and if any of the Flesh of the Sacrifice of his Peace or Thank-offering were eaten at all on the third Day that it shall not be accepted neither shall it be imputed unto him that offereth it it shall be an Abomination and that Soul shall bear his Iniquity 5thly and lastly It is the Duty of all and of every individual Christian studiously to judg of the Doctrine delivered to them whether it be of Man or of God and to conform to the Authority of the Holy Scripture as the noble Bereans did Acts 17.10 11. who searched the Scriptures daily whether those things preached by Paul and Silas were so or no. And I am perswaded that it is for want of Zeal and Love to the Truths of Christ and through that slothful and idle Spirit attending so many Christians that the Errors of Men do so prevail But to leave what I have said I do beseech you courteous Reader christianly to overlook that Weakness you may espy in my Delivery and seriously to take notice not so much of that as of the main of this Subject without straining my Words beyond the drift and design of the body of my Discourse and to consider that the Authority of the Holy Scriptures is repugnant to such formal and customary Singing herein mentioned and treated of not with any Design to move Controversies or trouble others but to prevent the Divisions that possibly may arise amongst our selves through the Endeavours of some Persons to promote this Error in our Churches And as I hope the Lord hath engaged my Heart herein so he will bless my poor Endeavours to settle the Minds of my wavering Brethren and to prevent any farther Incroachments of this Error which hath been so generally rejected by us for many Years FINIS ERRATA Page 45. line 8. for formerly read formally P. 47. near the end in Margent add the Text Luke 4.17 c. ADVERTISEMENT There is now coming forth a Book intitled A Treatise of the Holy Trinunity in two Parts The First asserteth the Deity of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit in the Vnity of Essence with God the Father The Second in Defence of the former answereth the chiefest Objections made against this Doctrine By J. M. Chap. I. THE Case is briefly stated Chap. II. Sheweth that there is but one God the Creator and Former of all things Chap. III. Asserteth a Plurality of Divine Subsistences Chap. IV. Of the Father Chap. V. Proveth the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ 1. By his Names 2. That God in the Old Testament in divers Places is Christ in the New 3. By seven particular Texts of Holy Scriptures 4. That Christ pre-existed his Incarnation in his Divine Nature and is no Angel incarnate but is Coeternal with the Father 5. His Deity is proved by his Works And 6. By Divine Worship given to him Chap. VI. Proveth the Deity of the Holy Ghost 1. That he is a Person 2. His Deity is asserted from several Texts of Scripture 3. By his Works 4. By Divine Worship given to him Chap. VII Proveth the Unity of the Holy Trinity Chap. VIII Containeth some Explications of the Holy Trinunity 1. Of the essential Being of God 2. Of the Divine Persons the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit 3. Of the Distinctions of the Divine Nature and the Persons and some Shadows by way of Comparison of the incomparable and inconceivable Being of God and of the Union of Christ's two Natures PART II. Chap. I. Answereth Objections against the Scriptural Proofs of Christ's Deity Chap. II. Answers to Objections drawn from several Texts of Scriptures Chap. III. Answers to several Arguments against the Deity of Christ Chap. IV. Answers to several Objections against the Scriptures that prove the Deity of the Holy Ghost Chap. V. Answers to some Objections drawn from divers Scriptures to disprove the Deity of the Holy Spirit Chap. VI. Answers to some Scriptures from whence our Adversaries assert that the Father only is the true God With a general Answer and Conclusion Price bound one Shilling AN APPENDIX TO THE FORMER DISCOURSE Concerning SINGING in the Worship of GOD in the Gospel-Church IN the former Part of my Discourse on this Subject I laid a Foundation according to the proportion of Faith which I received from the Light of the holy Scriptures and have asserted something of the nature manner and order of Singing agreeable to the Dispensations of the Mind and Will of God unto his People both under the Old and New Testaments And finding my self concerned in the defence of the Truth of Christ which some have erred from in their practice of formal Singing I shall farther treat on this Subject for the better clearing of it from divers things that lie in the way of some Christians establishment in the Truth SECT I. 1. I Shall premise That to praise God or praising of God is not confined to Songs of Praise but that there are other ways and manners of praising God than with such melodious Singing as in Psal 145.10 All thy Works shall praise thee O Lord and thy Saints shall bless thee and in Psal 148. throughout the whole Creation is required to praise God for he commanded and they were created Their very Being and Subsistence and the order of Nature is a Praise to the glorious Wisdom and Power of God And David saith Psal 50.23 Whoso offereth Praise glorifieth me viz. God And as praising God is glorifying honouring and magnifying of him so also is glorifying God often put for the same as praising of him which in the following Scriptures do also differ from that of Singing as in Mat. 21.16 where the Children crying Hosanna to the Son of David that is Save now is by Christ called Praise and Luke 19.37 The whole Multitude of the Disciples began to rejoyce and praise God saying Blessed be the King that cometh in the Name of the Lord Peace in Heaven and Glory in the Highest And this praising God and Glory in the Highest is in Matthew and Mark said to be crying Hosanna to the Son of David Hosanna in the highest And Luke 18.43 And immediately he received his Sight and followed him glorifying God and all the People when they saw it gave Praise unto God And Acts 3.8 9. The lame Man walking and leaping praised God And also Thanking 2 Cor. 4.15 chap. 9.11 to end Phil. 4.16 chap. 1.3 4. 1 Thes 1.2 Phil. 1.4 is glorifying or praising God which is by the ordinary Gift of the Spirit always to be mixt with Prayer as Paul did making mention of the Saints with Thanksgiving always in every Prayer and therefore as God is thus praised
Worship whereby the Gifts of the Holy Spirit were to be appointed otherwise to be exercised in his Church so we should rather conclude that because Christ did sing if it could be proved as it cannot who had the Spirit without measure and because the primitive Gospel-Churches had the special Gift of Singing that therefore we might also sing in the publick Worship of God or at the Supper after the same Order with a single Voice if we had the sufficient Gift of the holy Spirit for it But to affirm that because Christ did sing at that Ordinance if it were so as it is not to be proved that he did and because that Singing was used in the primitive Church therefore it is binding on us now as a constant Ordinance is to bind us to the constant use of that Gift of the Holy Spirit we never had SECT III. I Come now to discourse of that which I find is made the greatest Plea for such vocal Singing together and that is say they It is commanded by Christ in the New Testament and therefore we must practise it in the constant Worship of God And that I may the better remove this grand Obstacle of the Truth as they make it in not understanding the true Nature and Intentment of Christ's Command concerning Singing I shall premise two things 1. That such Spiritual Singing as was used in the Primitive Apostolical Church was from a special Gift of the Holy Spirit 2. That the Gifts of the Holy Spirit were not given alike to every particular Member of the Church of Christ for publick Worship First It is evident that such Spiritual Singing as was used in the Primitive Apostolical Church was from a special Gift of the Holy Spirit Gal. 5.22 1 Joh. 2.27 Isa 61.3 Eph. 1.14 Rom. 5.2 For as the Grace of Joy is a Fruit of the Spirit and as God had promised the Oil viz. the Spirit of Joy for Mourning so the primitive Church had some Earnests of it and did rejoice in hope of the Glory of God and through the abundance of the Spirit wherewith she was baptized her Ministers delivered the Word of God in extraordinary ways and manners viz. by Prophesy Tongues and melodious Singing which I shall here demonstrate was also a special Gift of the Holy Spirit for after the Apostle had exhorted the Corinthians to covet earnestly the best Gifts and to desire Spiritual Gifts 1 Cor. 12.31 chap. 14 1 13 14 15 16 17. and to seek that they might excel to the edifying of the Church and that he that spake in an unknown Tongue should pray that he might interpret for if saith he I pray in an unknown Tongue my Spirit prayeth but my Vnderstanding is unfruitful He mentions Prayer and Singing saying What is it then I will pray with the Spirit and I will pray with the Vnderstanding also I will sing with the Spirit and I will sing with the Vnderstanding also Else when thou shalt bless with the Spirit how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of Thanks seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest From whence I observe that as the Saints of Corinth were moved by the Apostle to covet after the best Gifts so it is evident that both the Prayer and Singing here mentioned were from the special and excellent Gifts of the Holy Spirit for as the strange Tongues and the Interpretations of them which were then given to the Gospel-Church were from the extraordinary Gifts of the Spirit so this Prayer and Singing with the Spirit and with the Understanding also being with the Inspiration of strange Tongues and from the extraordinary Gift of Interpretations of them delivered in a known Tongue for the edifying of the Church must needs be granted to be an extraordinary Gift of Prayer and Singing For though Prayer in some other places may be taken as a more common Gift of Grace from the holy Spirit and so might occasion some scruple if it were to be found joyned with Singing without any adjunct to demonstrate Singing to be a Gift of an higher attainment than Prayer is that Singing also was a more common Gift than is here asserted yet seeing that it is no where in the New Testament so expressed and joyned with Prayer but with a sufficient adjunct to shew that it is an higher Gift than ordinarily Prayer is as James 5.13 where Affliction exerts Prayer but spiritual Mirth in a sufficient fulness of Joy from the Holy Ghost puts forth Singing and that it is here joined with a more than ordinary Gift of Prayer there is no reason for such a doubt but to conclude that Singing is an extraordinary Gift of the holy Spirit Moreover common Reason tells us so far as it is elevated to discern spiritual Things that spiritual Singing is an excellent Gift of the Holy Spirit from its different manner of delivering the Word of God for as the excellent Gifts of the Spirit that were for the ministring of the Word consisted in an extraordinary Inspiration of Light and Understanding together with a sufficient Power and Capacity to open and declare the wonderful Counsels and Works of God so they were sometimes farther evidenced to be such excellent Gifts in that the same sort of Worship that was performed by a more ordinary gift and way of Delivery viz. Prayer giving Thanks and Teaching and Admonishing were delivered with Interpretations of Tongues and some of them with melodious Singing which were both a Witness of and suitable to the extraordinary Gifts and Inspirations of the holy Spirit but not of the common Gifts Nor doth the Blessing and Thanksgiving mentioned in the following Verses afford an Argument to make Singing a common Gift for as the Dutch Annotations on the word Bless allow that it is to be understood with respect to this Gift viz. of Singing of the holy Spirit being given to make publick Thanksgiving in the Church so to me it is plain that this Singing Blessing and Thanksgiving are meant of but one and the same Gift which the Apostle is here speaking of under these several Names the Nature of the two latter as having relation to the Gift of Singing as the immediate preceeding and annexed subject Matter treated of are Denotives of the nature of the Song before-mentioned For though we do allow and maintain that Blessing and Thanksgiving have relation to Prayer also yet seeing that Singing is here last mentioned and that the Apostle speaks of giving Thanks not so as any ways to intimate to us that it is to be understood of ordinary Thanksgiving mixt with Prayer but treating of the extraordinary Gifts of the holy Spirit and of Thanksgiving as such a Gift saying For thou verily givest thanks and Amen at thy giving of Thanks by which words relating to the Gift of Singing and both of them as appears in the Text being accompanied with the extraordinary Gift of an unknown Tongue or Tongues See Samuel
Secondly That no humane prescribed or precomposed Forms are to be used in Gospel-Prayer or Singing appears from the Ministration and Conveyance of the Spirit and Power by the Gospel First The Gospel conveys the Spirit as Paul saith Who also hath made us able Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit for the Letter killeth but the Spirit giveth Life or quickneth Here the Law is called the Letter and the Gospel Spirit not because the Law was not spiritual and the Gospel was not transcribed in the Letter but 1st Because the Law required perfect Obedience to the Letter on Pain of Eternal Death and the Gospel sincere Obedience through the Spirit 2dly Because the Legal Worship was more formal in the Letter than the Gospel-Ministration which is in Spirit For we are the Circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and have no Confidence in the Flesh viz. in the formal and carnal Ordinances of the Law and much less in the humane precomposed forms of Men. 3dly Because the Law did not minister nor convey the Spirit to us it commanded in the Letter but gave no spiritual Power to perform Obedience to it which the Gospel did by giving the Spirit with the Word Therefore the Apostle calls the Gospel the Law of the Spirit of Life Rom. 8.2 And it is not through the Works of the Law that we receive the Spirit nor minister the Spirit but through the hearing of Faith Gal. 3.2 5 14. And this agrees with that great Commission which Christ himself gave to his Disciples Go ye therefore and teach all Nations Lo Math. 28.19 20. I am with you always even to the End of the World Not only by his outward Providence which is over others as well as they but by his Spirit which shall abide with us for ever John 14.16 And the Prophet saith As for me this is my Covenant with them saith the Lord My Spirit that is upon thee and my Words which I have put in thy Mouth shall not depart out of thy Mouth nor out of the Mouth of thy Seed nor out of the Mouth of thy Seeds Seed saith the Lord from henceforth and for ever Here the Word and the Holy Spirit are conveyed throughout all Generations to the end of the World by the Covenant or Gospel of Jesus Christ And as none can say that the Words which the Lord had put in his Mouth were a humane prescribed form but as Christ himself saith John 6.63 The Words that I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are Life So the same Words proceeding from us by the same Spirit are Spirit in opposition to humane and legal forms which reject and deny the sufficient successive Gifts of the Spirit So that it is clearly manifest that the sufficient Gifts of the Holy Spirit do still remain and shall remain for the Service and Worship of God to the end of the World Secondly The Gospel doth minister and convey Power For where the Spirit is there will be Power The Apostle saith Ye have not received the Spirit of Bondage viz. of the Law again to fear Rom. 8.15 16. but ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father The Spirit gave a sufficient Power not only to the Apostles as such or to the Saints in Rome as partaking of the extraordinary Gifts of the Holy Spirit in that present Day but Gal. 4.6 Because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your Hearts crying Abba Father Here is the Reason of their Power because ye are Sons therefore all that are Sons according to the measure of the Spirit of Adoption which beareth Witness with our Spirits that we are the Children of God have Power to pray to God as to their Father 2 Tim. 1.7 For God hath not given us the Spirit of Fear but of Power and of Love and of a sound Mind 1 Cor. 4.19 20. And the Kingdom of God is not in Word but in Power There were some in the Church of Corinth that were puffed up in their Minds whose Speech the Apostle would not know or regard but the Power of Religion was that which he looked for and did expect to find amongst them because the Kingdom of God viz. his Gospel-Church is not in Word but in Power A humane prescribed Form is no Power and therefore is none of this Gospel-Kingdom Jude 19. These are they that separate themselves sensual having not the Spirit And the Apostle Paul prophesied of such a professing People that should arise in the last Days Having a form of Godliness 2 Tim. 3.5 but denying the Power thereof and from such we must turn away They had an outward Form of Godliness but not the inward Power contrary to true Godliness which hath its Form from the inward Power and Workings of the Holy Spirit with the Word Now it is no Wonder that this formal People deny the Power of Godliness for an invented Form and the Power are Opposites and are inconsistent with each other for if there be a spiritual Power it refuses and denies the invented Form for then there is no need of a prescribed nor pre-composed humane Form and if we use such a Form we deny the Power and reject the sufficient successive Gifts of the Holy Spirit by relying on that Form And so the Apostle argues that as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses so do these resist the Truth 2 Tim. 3.8 Men of corrupt Minds Reprobate concerning the Faith Thirdly Seeing that those Persons with whom I am chiefly concerned do not only oppose deny and refuse the Use of a humane prescribed and precomposed Form of Prayer but also of that Prayer which our Lord taught his Disciples of which they rightly say that it was but an Epitome of all Prayer and was never intended to confine Prayer to the Compass and Form of those Words For we find that none of those many Prayers in the New Testament were so limited but according to the State and Circumstances of Persons and things they made Supplication by the Holy Spirit and so must Singing also be left to the Liberty of the Holy Spirit of God And one might think that I need not use farther Arguments for their own Practice confutes their Error in Singing prescribed Forms and testifies the Truth I am pleading for for what Reason can be given for Forms of Singing when they deny all Forms of Prayer and how can they reject a Form of Prayer or the Form of Prayer which Christ hath left us in the New Testament while they maintain the use of a humane Form of Singing which is no where found in the Holy Scriptures IV. Of Womens Singing That Women ought neither to teach nor pray vocally in the Church of Christ is generally believed by all Orthodox Christians and is asserted from 1 Cor. 14.34 35. Let your Women keep silence in the Churches for it
Old-Testament-Names given to New-Testament-Singing do no more prove either the matter or manner to be the same nor establish Old-Testament-Singing in the Gospel-Church than the other Old-Testament Names do those Old-Testament-Things in Gospel-Times 2dly As those three Words are before proved to be indifferently applied to one and the same thing in the Old Testament so there is less Reason that they should have different Significations in the New for you may find that several Old-Testament Names are given to one Gospel-Thing 1 Pet. 2.5 Eph. 2.21 22. Rom. 2.29 Heb. 4.14 ch 9.26 ch 13.10 1 Cor. 5.7 as the Saints are called a spiritual House and Temple an Holy Priesthood and Jews and Christ is called an High Priest a Sacrifice an Altar and Temple and therefore it being usual to call Gospel-Things by divers Names of different Natures in the Old Testament there is no Reason that those three Names Psalms Hymns and spiritual Songs John 2.19 21. See Pool 's Annot on Col. 3.16 which as Pool confesseth were promiscuously used and which are here demonstrated to intend but one thing in the Old Testament should be understood of any more than of one thing or sort of Gospel-spiritual-Singing respecting its Composure and Delivery Eighth Objection It is a moral Duty for wicked Men to pray and sing Praises to God which they are not able to do without a Form and therefore Forms are lawful Answ 1. Prov. 21.4 27. ch 15.8 The Scriptures say that the plowing of the Wicked is Sin and that the Sacrifice of the Wicked is an Abomination to the Lord and wherefore but because whatsoever Good he doth or desireth it is not for good Ends to serve and glorify God but to consume his Mercies upon his Lusts he turneth all into Sin Jam. 4.3 and therefore all he doth is but Sin if he prays for Grace he doth but play the Hypocrite with God for as he knoweth not what it is so he doth not desire it for he loves his own Sins and Lusts more than Grace and therefore his Prayers cannot be pleasing to the Lord whilst he remaineth a hardned Sinner 2. All Men ought not only to pray and praise God as their Creator but to keep the whole Law in the perfect State of Innocency in which they were created in Adam but now they have no power in themselves to perform the inward spiritual Works of the Law to love the Lord their God with all their Hearts c. and to pray and sing Praises to him they can do neither of these sincerely in their Hearts Rom. 7.14 for the Law is spiritual and requires spiritual Obedience but they are carnal sold under Sin and blinded in their Minds And as they have not a true sense of their Sins nor see their need of Christ so they know not that they have cause to sing his Praise for their Being And therefore for such to use a Form of Prayer or Singing when they have no Sense nor Understanding of what they pray for or that they have cause to sing is to mock God with their Lips with that which they have not in their Hearts Besides the putting of Persons on formal Worship is not the way to get the Spirit but to rest on formal Duties which hinder their coming to Jesus Christ 3. As Forms are many ways sinful and hurtful to the Souls of Men so there is no need of them as Crutches for Lame Men to bring them to Jesus Christ for where there is a true Conviction and sense of Sins that Soul can cry against them and if it be but with Lord be merciful to me a Sinner he shall as Christ saith be rather justified than with a formal Prayer without Convictions And when they are Sons God sendeth forth the Spirit of Adoption into their Hearts Gal. 4.6 Rom. 8.15 that crieth and teacheth them whereby they cry Abba Father without the help of humane Forms Ninth Objection All true Believers and sincere Christians have continual cause to rejoice in the Lord and magnify God in the highest Celebration of his Praise and therefore it is their Duty in his constant Worship to sing his Praise Answ Whatever Cause we have to rejoice in the Lord and to glorify God in the highest Celebration of his Praise for Redemption-Grace and those sure and everlasting Mercies confirmed to us in the Blood of Jesus Christ yet it doth not from thence follow that we should constantly sing to God in his publick Worship 1. Because that in this Life the Joys and Consolations of our Redemption-Grace is mixed with Sorrows for Sins Temptations Troubles and Afflictions which deprive us of the constant exercise of the Grace of Joy in our Souls And as Solomon saith To every thing there is a Season Eccles 3.1 4. and a Time to every Purpose under the Heaven A Time to weep and a Time to laugh a Time to mourn and a Time to dance And the Times of the Church of Christ are differently set forth Cant. 2.11 and compared by the Holy Spirit to Winter and Summer when the Flowers appear on the Earth and the Time of the singing of Birds is come And as I shewed before that the Jewish Church through Sin and Unbelief had her Wilderness and Tabernacle-State and Time of Trouble which called for Mourning and Humiliation more than Singing so the Gospel-Church hath her Wilderness and Sackcloth-State in which she must prophesy 1260 Days Now as Sackcloth Isa 22.12 which betokens Mourning and Singing are inconsistent with each other so we should not imagine that God requireth such Opposites in Nature both together For he hath appointed unto them that mourn in Zion to give unto them Beauty for Ashes Isa 61.3 the Oil of Joy for Mourning the Garment of Praise for the Spirit of Heaviness And as the Apostle saith Jam. 5.13 Is any among you afflicted let him pray Is any merry let him sing Psalms From which it is manifest that Affliction and Prayer and Rejoicing and Singing have their different Seasons and that until the one be taken away the other is not given But some may think that the two Sackcloth-Witnesses in Rev. 11. are not the Church of Christ but two particular Persons and eminent Witnesses that should arise But to me it is plain that they must be understood of the visible Church of Christ for if the three Days and an half of their lying dead as is generally owned and cannot be otherwise understood be the space of three Years and an half of Time then also by the same Rule the 1260 Days of their prophesying in Sackcloth must be taken for 1260 Years which is too long a time for one Age or two particular Persons to continue And therefore the two Sackcloth-Witnesses are the visible Church of Christ Rev. 13.7 which the Beast shall make War upon and overcome Ch. 12.14 And so also must the Woman in the Wilderness be understood of the Church of
pag. 31. like as in Acts 4.24 which is fully opened before Object There hath been Women Prophetesses who have prophesied in the Church and it is said that their Sons and their Daughters shall prophesy and accordingly we have mention made of Womens praying and prophesying and wherefore may they not vocally sing as well as pray and prophesy Answ First It is doubtless lawful and the duty of Women to improve the several Graces of the holy Spirit and that if their Hearts are raised by such a Gift of the Spirit in the joy of the holy Ghost they may sing as well as pray and prophesy but none of these must be done by them in the assembly of the Church for part of the instituted vocal Worship of God therein For I see no ground to believe that any of those Women Prophetesses sent of God and mentioned under the Old Testament did ever deliver their Prophecies to the People in a Church-ministerial way and order but as they were inspired by the holy Ghost and as occasion offered so they delivered the Word of God 2 Chron. 34.22 as the Prophetess Huldâ—â— did to Hilkiah and other Messengers which Josiah the King sent unto her And as Anna did who though she delivered her Prophecy to the People in the Temple yet it was not as part of the instituted constant legal Temple-Worship for that was appropriated only to the Priests and Levites but she accidentally coming in at the same instant while Simeon was testifying of Christ she also spake of him unto all them that waited for Redemption in Jerusalem Luke 2.27 28. 2. Though there is mention made of Women's praying and prophesying in 1 Cor. 11.5 yet this cannot be meant of Prayer and Prophesy in the publick Worship and Service of God in the Gospel-Church for that is not lawful as hath been shewed for though they have the benefit and may partake and put themselves under all the Ordinances and Priviledges excepting those that relate to Government in the Church yet Women must not administer any publick vocal Worship therein and therefore it is spoken of more private Prayer and Prophesy out of the Church in their Families or otherwise as they were spirited and occasion presented as Aquila and Priscilla expounded the Way of God more perfectly to Apollos Acts 18.26 or as Elizabeth by the holy Ghost blessed Mary or as Philip's four Daughters who did prophesy as it is most probable in their Father's House Acts 21.8 or as those Prophetesses before cited under the Old Testament And therefore if Womens praying and prophesying expresly mentioned in the Scriptures cannot be understood of their vocal exercise in the constant Worship of God instituted in his Church then surely there can be no reason given for their vocal Singing in the constant Service of God when there is no such mention made of it as there is of their praying and prophesying in the New Testament SECT VI. AS to those prophetical places in the Psalms Psal 96.1 2. and 100.1 2. c. of all the Earth's Singing unto the Lord it is not worth my labour to answer unto them in particular seeing there is so much in the former part of this Treatise to reconcile them to the Truth in hand and therefore I shall only say That inasmuch as the Apostles sound went into all the Earth Rom. 10.18 and their Words unto the Ends of the World viz. of the known World and that there was then the Spiritual Gift of vocall Singing those Scriptures may be applied to that primitive Gospel-time but their more compleat fulfilling shall be in the great Sabbath which I believe will be the seventh 1000 years of the World which is that Rest that remains to the People of God Heb. 4.9 Isa 52.9 Psal 96 97 98. so much prophesied of throughout the Scriptures when the whole Earth shall be at rest and quiet and shall break forth into Singing SECT VII IF it be lawful to premeditate on the matter of Prayer we may also as well premeditate on the matter of Singing and if such premeditated matter of Prayer and Singing may be delivered in the Worship of God and limited to those premeditated Words wherefore is it not lawful to use prescribed Forms Answ First This Argument takes that for granted which is no wise to be granted viz. that vocal Prayers and consequently Singing may be limited to premeditated Words True it is lawful to premeditate on the matter of Prayer for if we deny this we cannot go to God in that Duty with a sense of our wants upon our Hearts and that the same wants which we are sensible of before we pray may and ought to be spread at the Throne of Grace in Prayer but yet we are not to limit our selves in Prayer to any premeditated matter nor words before Prayer For though our wants or the matter of Prayer be thought on before Prayer yea and it may be sent up to Heaven by inward Prayer before we come to our vocal Duty as we should always strive to maintain the Workings of Grace in our Hearts either in Prayer or Praises to God or otherwise for the improving of our selves in the Knowledg of spiritual things yet we should not form that premeditated matter to tye our selves in those very words to express our Minds no God in the Duty of vocal Prayer for tho such premeditated words may express our present Requests as fitly as any others yet to limit our selves to them is a quenching of the holy Spirit in that our Hearts are ingaged and limited to the matter of those words only otherwise our Hearts are either idle or differing from our Lips which is Confusion whereby we are barred from any farther Inlargings on the same or other new matter that may be presented to us by the various Workings and Leadings of the Spirit of Christ in us while we are praying and therefore as we experience and own such a thing as the various Workings and Leadings of the holy Spirit sometimes in Prayer we must then deny the use of limited Forms of Words to be lawful for in Prayer we are sometimes broken in Spirit under a sense of our Sins and have our Hearts chiefly ingaged in humble Supplications for the Pardon of them and at other times our Faith is most active to lay hold on the precious Promises and to plead with God and when the Spirit raises our Souls in a sense of the Mercies and Grace of God to us in Christ Jesus and sheddeth the Love of God abroad in our Hearts then our Mourning is turned into Thansgivings and Praises by the Spirit Now such various Workings as these might not all be on the Heart in Premeditations Rom. 9.1 2. Chap. 10.1 and Chap. 5.2 3. Ephes 1.15 16 17 18. Chap. 3.14 16. Phil. 1.3 4. as they may pass on the Soul in one single Duty of Prayer as may be collected from these Scriptures From whence we