at present to follow this Argument as far as it would lead me It suffices now to observe that this Hypothesis seems generally alluded to in the Sacred Writers especially of the New Testament and therefore cannot indeed be thought so precarious as our Adversaries might otherwise conceive if they will suffer themselves to be led away with popular Prejudices without examining it The New Testament plainly enough distinguishes the Gift of Healing which Cured Diseases not caus'd by Devils directly from the Curing Infirmities caus'd by Devils which were sufficiently Cured by casting out the Devils that caus'd them And I think also that they mention no Aylings of the latter sort which may not be accounted for by their Power allow'd them by God on the Parts now mention'd However this Difference between Divine Prophecy and Diabolical Enthusiasm seems to have been generally agreed on that Prophecy requir'd Imagination but perfected and duly subordinated to the Nobler Faculties but Enthusiasm went no farther than the Imagination and therefore disorder'd and hindred the Understanding and the immaterial Faculties depending on it And our Adversaries must be very difficult indeed in their Concessions if they can doubt whether Instrumental Musick can affect the Imagination so as to Compose or Disorder it Yet this alone is sufficient for disabling Devils to Influence it if their Power be confined by Providence to disposed Matter and Musick may indispose the Imagination for their Influences and it be not withal in their Power to make or hinder Dispositions BUT our Adversaries have a strange XIII Such a Notion of the Spiritualness of our Religion as makes uncapable of Sensible Assistances is fundamentally inconsistent with the Doctrine of the Apostolical Age. Notion of the Spiritualness of our Christian Religion as if all Bodily and External Assistances were now perfectly useless and inconsistent with the Nature of our present Dispensation On this account they are averse to all Assistances of our Senses as well as this of Instrumental Musick But why should God have Instituted Sacraments for Assisting our Senses if the whole kind of such Assistances had been so derogatory to the Nature of his new Establishment Why should he have allow'd even Vocal Musick if even our Senses could contribute nothing to the raising of the Devotion of our Spirits I know our Adversaries are more willing to impute this Usefulness of Instrumental Musick rather to the extraordinary Interposition of God seconding his own Institution But why should they think it derogatory to the Providence of God that he should make use of the Power himself has given to the Natures of Things Or why should they deny the Experience of so many Heathens who tho' they regarded not the Institutions of the God of the Jews yet receiv'd the same Practice of Instrumental Musick on account of the Devotion they pretended to feel rais'd in themselves by it in their several false Religions This could be imputable to nothing but the Natures of the things themselves But where have they learned such a Notion of the Spiritualness of the Christian Religion that should exclude the Use or even the Necessity of Corporeal Assistances The Scripture is not more express in requiring a Spiritual Worship than it is in requiring that also of the Body Our Bodies are Temples of the Holy Ghost and we are accordingly requir'd to Glorifie God in our Bodies as well as our Spirits which are his 1 Cor. vi 19 20. The unmarried Woman is so to care for the things of the Lord that she may be Holy both in Body and in Spirit vii 34. We are to present our Bodies a living Sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is our reasonable Service Rom. xii 1. And our whole Spirit and Soul and Body are to be preserved Blameless unto the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Thes. v. 23. If Service be expected from the Body as well as the Spirit How can it be disagreeable to the Nature of our Spiritual Religion that such Parts of Bodily Worship may be retain'd or introduc'd as may in their own Nature contribute to the Worship of the Spirit There was indeed near the Apostles times an Opinion introduc'd among the Philosophers Numenius perhaps may be the first that brought it in from whom Porphyry owns Plotinus to have borrowed what he has to this purpose That the Soul alone was the Man and that the Body was no part of the Man but a Prison to the Soul and therefore preternatural to it and to be avoided by it that it might be qualified for a perfect State And these did indeed so insist on the Spiritual Nature of Religion as to discharge the Body from any share in it The Good Man with them was the only Priest the Soul it self the only acceptable Temple the Devotion of the Mind the pleasing Sacrifice And the the way to union with God was to alienate themselves as much as was possible from the Body and from the external Societies of Men and to enure themselves to abstracted Operations of the Mind in order to the Cultivating of the Spirit which was the only Power that they thought capable of an Union with the Supreme Being This is that Philosophical Religion so much Celebrated by Plotinus Porphyry himself and Hierocles and several other of the later Philosophers Porphyry particularly was very much pleas'd with it as appears from his Sentences and his Books de Abstinentiâ but especially from his Epistle to Anebo where he does by these Principles undermine all Obligation to the Externals of the Heathen as well Ap. Jambli de myst Egypt Porphy vit Plotin as the Christian Religion This put him on Starving himself in his Lilybaean Retirement if his Master Plotinus whom he follow'd in these Opinions had not reclaim'd him This seems to be the Original of all that Enthusiasm that has decry'd the external Ordinances and Sacraments even of Christ himself upon Pretences to greater Perfection and several Fancies of the old Monks relating this way in Anastasius Sinaita of the Popish Mystical Divinity and Quietism of the Familists and Quakers of the Bourignonists and Philadelphians c. It is strange our Presóyterian Adversaries who dislike these Consequences in others so destructive of their own Discipline are notwithstanding insensible of the advantage they have given to others of justifying Separation from themselves by these Pretences of the Spiritual Nature of the Evangelical Worship by which themselves defended their own Separation from their own Superiours This might at least have warned them to a more accurate Examination of the Principle when they found they could not justifie the Consequences which followed from it For us it is abundantly sufficient that this Doctrine tho' taught by the Adversaries of the Apostles Age was notwithstanding perfectly different from the Sense of the Apostolical Church it self The Hereticks by this means evaded the Resurrection of the Body pretending the Resurrection promis'd was already past in their mystical Resurrection
judge the Expence Burdensome in Sacred ones Whensoever or by whomsoever this Advantage was at first Introduced into the Christian Church and made use of inter Sacra it was certainly done out of a great deal of Wisdom Zeal and Devotion And they did therein but that for which they had so good a President as David who did the like in the Jewish Church and what greatly tends to Edification For Musick may be such and of that Efficacy as to carry the Mind as it were into Extasies filling it with heavenly Joy for the Time and in a manner severing it from the Body as says our judicious Mr. Hooker the Harmony of Sounds if we Ecol Pol. c. 5. p. 37. lay aside the Consideration of Ditty and Matter framed in due sort and carried from the Ear to the Spiritual Faculties of our Souls is by a native Puissance and Efficacy greatly available to bring to a perfect Temper whatsoever is there troubled apt as well to quicken the Spirits as to allay that which is too eager sovereign against Melancholy and Despair forcible to draw out Tears of Devotion The Prophet David having therefore singular Knowledge not in Poetry alone but in Musick also judged them both to be most necessary for the House of God and left behind him to that purpose a number of Divinely Indited Poems and farther added Melody both Vocal and Instrumental for the raising up Mens Hearts and sweetning their Affections towards God c. And why may it not be still an Ornament to Gods Service and an help to our Devotion while it makes our Church an Emblem of the Heavenly Quire which is represented as praising God after this manner compare Rev. 14. 2 3. with 1 Chron. 16. 5 42. It cannot be presumed we should have read in Holy Writ of Citharists and Harpers in Heaven if such Instruments of Musick were offensive to God on Earth or say there is no Musick in Heaven Yet as one well observes thereis a kind of Heaven in Musick and such as raiseth the Soul to Angelical Exaltations If the Temple Worship says the Serm. Nov. 22. 1699. p. 12. Is. 6. 1 2 3. Reverend Dean of St. Pauls speaking of Isaiahs Vision just before be a fit precedent for the Worship of Angels why may it not be a precedent for the Worship of Christians whose Worship as pure and as Spiritual as it is falls vastly short of Angelical Worship c. But yet observe what he said before Musick whatever it be or how well soever performed is of no use or value in Religion but as it serves the true ends of Devotion And again All true Christian Worship whatever the externals of it are is the Worship of the Mind and Spirit It is the Mind only that can praise God tho' the Tongue must Sing his Praises The best composed Hymns the most musical Instruments the most charming Voices are but lifeless mechanical Sounds till they are animated and inspired by the Devotion of the Heart As far as the Harmony of Voices or Musical Instruments serve this end of moving the Affections of the Mind towards God they are excellent helps to Devotion and 't is only their subserviency to the Devotion of the Mind which gives them any value or allows them any place in Religious Worship So that we may speak against Vocal as well as Instrumental Musick in the Service of God if it does not help us in Devotion And 't is but a foolish Fancy to think that Organical Musick is a part of Popery for it is no more such than Singing is And notwithstanding the Scofts and Reflections are made on the Men of that Imployment by the Enemies of Church Musick we are told that * Dr. Burnet's Hist. of the Refor mation Pt. 1. p. 526. Fox's Acts and Monuments p. 1104 2. 60. p. 1107. 2. 70. Robert Testwood and John Marbeck two Singing-Men at Windsor were as early Protestants as any and as constant and hearty in the Reformation the one suffered Martyrdom for it and the other was Condemned to be Burnt but obtained his Pardon for his great Industry and Ingeniousness in being the first who Composed an English Concordance Having now given some account of the early use of Instrumental Musick in the Christian Churches and shewn That it can neither be Popish nor Jewish tho used in the Jewish and Popish Worship It was used in the Christian Church before Popery had currupted it and before the Reformation and since in almost all Nations and Countries It came first into the Temple Worship by Divine Institution and into the Christian Church upon just and reasonable Grounds as being a proper Help to Devotion and a great Ornament to Christian Worship It was no part of the Mosaical Law to be abrogated by the coming of our Saviour It is very advantageous for the stirring up the Affections and raising in the People a more Heavenly Temper of Mind when they are about the sacred Offices of Prayer and Praise to Almighty God It will strike a Reverence and Awe upon their Spirits and keep their Minds in a grave and serious Temper It will both raise and calm our Passions as occasion requires * Dr. Sherlock's Serm. p. 7. True Devotional Musick will excite or heighten our Devotional Passions Why then should any Man think it improper for the Worship of God c. * Homily in Ps. 150. St. Crysostom is of Opinion That Organs or Instruments of Musick were to stir up mens Minds to perform their external Worship with some Delight In the Old Testament it served to stir up the Spirit of Prophecy as in the Case of Saul When the Prophets came 1 Sam. 10. v. 5. down from the high place with a Psaltery and a Tabret and a Pipe and an Harp before them and they Prophesyed i. e. Their Minds says the Bishop of Cork being hereby quickened and their Intentions raised towards God the inspired Principle in them began to move in the Divine Praise It is remarkable That Instrumental Musick alone is there made use of as a means to awaken their inspired Souls c. Where you find that Learned Man makes use of the same Expression in a manner which is so much Carped at by the Answerer when also to raise the greater p. 59. Cavil he makes a notable Remark of false Grammar of these instead of this But 't is to be observed he first leaves out the remote Antecedent viz. Instruments of Musick to which these in the Sentence plainly refers So also to shew his Criticisms he finds fault p. 50. with this Expression In the use of Instrumental Musick that it will regulate untuneable Voices For the same Reason he may excuse the unprofitable Servant in the Gospel But this is trisling with a Word Notwithstanding there may be many other uses of Instrumental Musick which it might be proper to mention here for it singly and without Voice or Psalms joyned thereto served
for raising the Soul towards God for quieting tumultuous Passions and begetting a sedate serious Temper fit to receive Divine Impressions as in the Case of Elisha â—â—n 3. 13. being Consulted by the wicked King Jehoram who being discomposed thereat and afterwards importuned by him and Jehoshaphat together he changed his Mind and for the composing it when disturbed with Passion said But now bring me a Minstrel and it came to pass 16. when the Minstrel plaid that the Hand of the Lord came upon him i. e. the Spirit of Prophecy or the inspired Principle of his Soul was stirred up in him Josephus says being Inspired at the Voice of the Musick He directs a miraculous Course for their Relief on which Words the Learned Munster thus speaks * Assertemihi Psalten qui Sc. Instrumenti Melodi i auferat perturbationem animi tumultuarios in me sedat Cogitationes quae Prophetiae non a imittunt Speritum Bring me a Musician who by the sweetness of his Instrument may remove this perturbation of Mind and appease these tumultuous Thoughts of mine which suffer not the Spirit of Prophecy to move in me This is directly contrary to what the Answerer has thought sit to deliver as his Opinion p. 59. where he flatly denys that Instrumental Musick in the alleged Case was made use of to stir up the Spirit of Prophecy in the Person mentioned At other times it generally served for the raising of mens Aflections in the Service of God for the quickening of Devotion and preparing their Minds for it as now it is used in the Christian Churches Protestant and Popish Foreign and Domestick 'T is much abused in the Popish Churches but regulated by the Reformation in the Protestant and if we will be but consistent with our selves the regulating this and other Abuses is the proper end of Reformation and not quite to abolish the use of it because it has been abused if so I wonder what we should retain Luther's Opinion was doubtless for Instrumental Musick but he did not expresly declare for it at that very juncture when he began to separate from the Church of Rome and wrote his Formula miss commun pro Ecclesia Wittenberg because he was not then clear what in such outward Decencies he would have settled But he then professes He never designed to abolish the whole Order of Worship then in use in the Roman Church but to Purge it from the vile Additions with which it was corrupted and to shew its Godly use 'T is very plain in that Treatise he never design'd to Condemn Church Musick and Organs but as they were abused by the Papists for he allows much more of Musick in the Communion Service than we do tho' not so much as the Papists use Aud whereas the Answerer says He is inclined to believe that he never approved Ans. p. 33. but disliked it The Reason of which is from his Quoting H. Eckard who was one of his Followers and Superintendent of the Church of Schwattzburg for saying * In his Fasciculus Controvers Theol. That Luther numbers Instrumental Musick amongst the Badges of Baal which looks as if he was no Friend to this sort of Musick But had he Quoted this Disciple of Luthers more fairly in this matter and not left out what follows I am inclined to believe he might have been of another Opinion For Luther having reckoned up a large Catalogue of Abuses in the Communion Service c. calls Churches and Altars and Fonts and Chalices and Organs c. The Ensigns of Baal but upon what account He does not call them simply so Sed si singularis aliquis Cultus illis affingatur But if there be any singular Worship ascribed to them this quite alters the Case and for the same Reason he may speak against Churches Altars Fonts c. as well as against Organs and so would any one should they be made Idols of and not as we say only Utensils for the more orderly comely and devout Worshiping of God To which I will add what Sethus Calvisius Quotes him for in Epist. ad Senselium Musicum Plané judico nec pudet asserere post Theologiam Bp. of Cork p. 434. esse nullam Artem quae possit Musicae aequari So for Calvin's inconsistency in this matter 'T is apparent that he sometimes speaks favourably for it when he says * Com. in 1 Cor. 14. He doubted not at all but the Christians from the very beginning Imitated the Jewish Custom in Singing Psalms Now that we know was with Instruments And in his Comment on Col. 3. he says * Psalmus est in quo Concinendo adhibetur Musicum aliquod Instrumentum praeter Linguam That it is the Nature of a Psalm that in the Singing thereof some Musical Instruments be joyned with the Voice At other times he speaks against it and reckons Instrumental Musick among the number of the legal Ceremonies introduc'd into the Christian Church through inconsiderate Zeal c. This certainly is an inconsistency with himself And from his Temper and Practice it may without contempt be truly Comment in Ps. 33. 2. said That he was a Man of an intemperate Heat and Passion however great he was as to his Learning and Zeal in carrying on the Work of the Reformation And notwithstanding his Opinion the primitive Christians in the main were of another and did not think Instrumental Musick peculiar to the Jewish Oeconomy and so might well be revived under Christianity Now the Followers of Luther and Calvin who in all probability may be supposed to understand their Master's meaning best have the general use of Instrumental Musick in their established Churches as in Germany Poland Swedeland Denmark Switzerland Holland and others of the Helvetick Confession as well as in England And tho' it cannot be supposed that every Parish Church in those Countries should be able to have so great an Advantage in the Worship of God yet their Approbation and Desire of it is sufficiently shewn by their union with the chief Towns and Cities where in their respective Countries their Abilities are great enough to procure it * View of the Government c. p. 39. Mr. Durel says The Reformed Hungarian and Transilvanian Churches have them and likewise Trumpets sounding at the Church-doors If they have not in those in Piedmont and France the Reason of it is This is flatly denyed by the Ans. p. 43. their unhappiness being suppressed and kept under by the Papal Power Than that it was not in Scotland is no more to be wondered at now than it was not in England in the long Rebellion none I suppose will take a President from them in Devotion who have now a third time since the Reformation cast of almost all Decencies in Divine Worship and for about ten Years last past have changed their Glory from being an uniform Christian Church according to the Primitive and Apostolical Pattern into
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
to Confine them to these Aërial Regions and to make them need the Nidour of Bloody Sacrifices for their Nourishment and Delight and that inclin'd them to that Malignity of Nature that made the Devils that ungovernable Pride that Envy at the Prosperity of others that Relish of Cruelty and doing ill Offices to their fellow Creatures which are the Characteristicks of those wicked Beings This being suppos'd must make them uncapable of Acting the reasonable but only the inferiour material Faculties Their Power therefore was conceiv'd to be only in the Imagination and the material Faculties depending on it These being suited to their degenerated Nature they can therefore Act upon them as far as the Rules of Providence shall give them leave for the tryal of free Agents in order to Rewards or Punishments Their way of Tempting therefore is to awaken those Ideas which lie Dormant in the Imagination and sensitive Memory as the effects of vicious Inclinations confirm'd by frequently repeated vicious Acts. I mean to awaken them at the Presence of vicious Objects and suitable Opportunities This may be allow'd them if they be permitted to Act upon the Brain the Seat of the Imagination and the other material Faculties and Ideas which raise the Passions and make them Head-strong and consequently affect the whole Body in the Disturbances following upon them Accordingly Madnesses which arise from Disorders of the Brain were usually ascrib'd to Devils in those Times The Excellent Mr. Mead has long since made this Observation on those Words of the Evangelist He hath a Devil and is Mad why hear ye him Joh. x. 20. So having a Devil is the same with being Mad in the Language of that Age. Thou hast a Devil Who goeth about to kill thee Joh. vii 20. And when the Jews charge our Saviour with Inconsistency in his Discourse they tell him that he had a Devil Joh. viii 48. but more plainly v. 52. Now we know that thou hast a Devil Abraham is dead and the Prophets and thou sayest If a Man keep my saying he shall never taste of Death So St. John x. 21. These are not the Words of one that hath a Devil From the Coherence of our Saviour's Discourse they infer that he had no Devil The same Opinion is represented by St. Justin Martyr as the Sense of the Christians of his Age that Mad Persons Apology were believed to be Daemoniacks As therefore King Saul was Punished by having an evil Spirit sent him from the Lord so also frequently in the Poets the ancientest Writers of the Greeks and the Personators of the eldest Antiquities they knew of it is mentioned as the Punishment of piacular Persons that they were delivered over to Furies and by them alienated from their Senses and driven into Madness So in the Case of Athamas of Hercules of Alcmaeon of Orestes c. And their Cure was usually by Expiations and Offices of Religion rather than Physick which proved the Aylings to be caus'd immediately by Spirits Yet sometimes also by Physick which proved withal that the Disposition of the matter was removeable by Natural Expedients and that when it was so the Evil Spirits had no longer Power to molest those who were so Cur'd by the Rules prescrib'd to them by Providence This Hippocrates proves particularly in the Case of the Morbus Sacer. Besides these de Morb. Sac. Distractions of Mind there were also other Aylings and Diseases inflicted by way of Punishment on Criminals by the Sentence of God and the Intervention of Evil Spirits Such were the Falling-Sickness such were Aylings returning with the Changes of the Moon such were Leprosies such several sorts of Fevers and Agues such all those Molestations which were removable by Charms and the like suspected means of Covenants and Intercourse with Evil Spirits For it was the receiv'd Opinion as Tertullian shews that the Devils could Cure no Maladies but such as had been caus'd by them by ceasing to use the Means that had caus'd them when they were adress'd to in the ways appointed by themselves and permitted by Providence for the Punishment of those who rely'd on them and maintained such unlawful Intercourse with the Spirits that had appointed them They did not so much as pretend to Cure all sorts of Diseases by Charms and Expiations I believe all those Diseases which were so Cured may be reduc'd to the Brain that part which I have shewn was thought liable to the Devils Influences I mean including the Spinal Marrow which is of the same Nature with the Brain This also is included in the Part allowed to the Devils to Act by the Romancer under the Name of St. Clemens in the third Century and therefore a good Witness of the Opinions receiv'd among the Christians of that Age. This is express'd less clearly in the Recognitions whereof we have only the Translation by Rufinus in these Words Ante omnia ergo intelligere debetis Recog l. v. c. 17. deceptionem Serpentis antiqui callidas ejus suggestiones qui quasi per prudentiam decipit vos velut ratione quâdam serpit per sensus vestros atque ab ipso vertice incipiens per interiores dilabitur medullas lucrum magnum computans deceptionem vestram But more clearly in the Greek perhaps more Faithfully preserved in the Clementines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Hom. x. c. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is no great matter whether the Tradition be true that is mentioned by the Ancients that the Spinal Marrow of a Man when corrupted turns into a Serpent Such as it is we have it from Authors ancient and not contemptible Ovid Pliny Plutarch and AElian However we Ovid. Met. xv v. 389. Plin. N. H. x. 66. Plut. Cleomen AEli de animal l. 1. c. 51. know even pretended Physiology is taken by the Mystical Interpreters of the Old Testament as a Rule of Mystical Interpretation and doth really serve the end of God for recommending Mystical Senses to the observation of the Reader better than truer Physiology that had not been so well understood by the Readers of those Times Besides we know what a Subject the Fall of Man and the Devils concern in it under the Allegory of a Serpent the Old Serpent as he is called in the Revelations afforded of Mystical Interpretations We know withal that even among the Heathens a lower sort of Daemons especially those called Heroes were usually represented under the Symbols of Serpents possibly in memory of this Scripture History as has been observ'd by the late Learned Bishop of Worcester in his Origin Sacr. Why might not then this Natural History be adapted to signifie the Seat of the Devils Influence There is a not-unlike Experiment pretended by the Pythagoreans for Explaining their Symbol for Abstaining from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the rather apposite to this purpose because they as well as our Sacred Writers design'd mystical Senses especially in their Symbols But I cannot allow my self
from Sin For the rising of the Body could not be thought a Reward if the being in the Body was preternatural and a State of Punishment Thence also it proceeded that so many of those first Hereticks defiled the Flesh as not belonging to them and condemn'd Marriage as contributing to confine Souls to Bodies upon this very Pretence of being themselves Spiritual and being therefore for a more Spiritual way of Worship But it is as certain that this Doctrine was different from the Doctrine of the Apostles as it is certain the Apostles were for the Holy Treatment and Resurrection of the Body and that they Condemn'd those for Hereticks who Reason'd from this Principle insisted on by our Adversaries of which they had otherwise no better means of Information How therefore can our Adversaries Reason loosly for the Reformation of Christianity from that same Principle which we see was contrary to the very Foundations of truly Primitive Apostolical Christianity Which was the Foundation of most of those Heresies which were then Condemn'd by that Unquestionable Authority FOR my part I can see no Difference XIV The same Reasons that prov'd Bodily worship useful in the Mosaick Discipline prove it so still in this particular between the Old and the New Peculium We have Bodies as well as they and of the same frail Make and Constitution as theirs were Our Souls are also of the same Kind as dependent on our Bodies as theirs and as apt to be Influenc'd by them Providence has impos'd no new Rules that we know of for the Influences of Good and Evil Spirits from what were impos'd then What then should hinder but that still our Minds should be Influenc'd by the Good and Evil Dispositions of our Bodies as much as formerly And that in order to the receiving the Influences of both sorts of Spirits And certainly they cannot think that Musick has lost any of that Influence on our Bodies that it had formerly How can they therefore doubt but that it might still have the same effect on the like Bodies alike Influencing the same kind of Souls The Church is still as much a Body as it was then and as much oblig'd to Worship God in Assemblies tho' not confin'd to one particular Nation as it was then And the Apostle requires that all Acts of the Worship in Assemblies were to be perform'd with a design of Edifying the whole Assemblies He permits no Exercise of Gifts even of the Divine Spirit there but such as were for common Edification But the Edification of Assemblies is not otherwise performable than by Sensible and Corporeal Significations These are the only means by which the whole Body can Communicate in the Devotion of every particular by which they can mutually give and receive Edification It is therefore still as impossible to signifie a great Honour for the Deity Ador'd in such Assemblies but by Signs greatly affecting the very Senses And what is done in the Name of the whole Body ought to be suited to the Dignity of the Body represented That must be by Signs by which Bodies usually signifie their great Respect by the Customs of such Bodies But Bodies do not usually signifie their great Respect in their Worldly intercourse otherwise than by Pomp and Magnificence They cannot therefore signifie it in Affairs of Religion by Signs mean and ordinary Especially if their Design be to signifie it to the Senses and for the Edification of others For certainly Signs which signifie a mean or no Respect on other occasions cannot be thought to signifie a great one in the Affairs of Religion It is on the contrary taken as an Affront to Honour excellent Persons in a way unsuitable to their Character tho' the same Significations might justly be reputed Honourable if perform'd to an inferiour Person to whom they had been proportionable This Consideration must make all Significations short of the utmost that can be done dishonourable when paid to an Infinitely Perfect Being The Magnificence therefore of the Worship of God ought to be such as it us'd to signifie the greatest Respect to the Senses of the Spectators if the Respect be to be signified Sensibly I know not how our Adversaries can deny any part of this Reasoning on the Principles now mentioned BUT I know they do pretend Authority XV. The VVorship of God in Spirit not oppos'd to that which is Sensible Corporeal but to the Literal Sense of the Law of Moses for this way of Arguing God is a Spirit says our Saviour and they that Worship him must Worship him in Spirit and in Truth St. Joh. iv 24. This is spoken with relation to the Worship of the Jews at Jerusalem and the Samaritans on Mount Gerizim and therefore must signifie something Spiritual in the Christian Religion which was not so in the Worship of the Jews and the Samaritans But this might very well be true without making external Worship inconsistent with the spiritual Nature of the Christian Religion The true Account of this Matter I take to be this That in what was common to the Jews and the Samaritans there were two Parts the Sensible and the External Part which was proper to themselves and which the Christians were not concern'd in and the Mystical and Spiritual which was principally design'd by God which was thenceforward to obtain as the peculiar Glory of the Christian Religion So the New Testament is oppos'd to the Old that it is not of the Letter as the Old was but of the Spirit 2 Cor. iii. 6. that is that the New Testament is really the same with the Old the same thing in the Spiritual Sense which was prefigur'd by the Literal Sense of what was enjoyn'd on the Jews then Thus the Letter and Circumcision are taken for Circumcision in the Literal Sense Rom. ii 27. by a known Hendiadis and Circumcision of the Heart is said to be in the Spirit not in the Letter v. 29. So the Service in newness of the Spirit is oppos'd to that which had been in the oldness of the Letter Rom. vii 6. And when the Jews understood our Saviour's Discourse concerning Eating his Flesh and Drinking his Blood in a Carnal Sense he Corrects their Mistake by telling them That the Words he had spoken to them were Spirit and Life St. Joh. vi 63. that is by warning them that his Words were to be understood not Literally but Mystically Life is join'd with Spirit in our Saviour's Words exactly as it is by the Apostle when he also tells us that the Letter killeth but the Spirit giveth Life 2 Cor. iii. 6. intimating that the Life promis'd by Moses when he set Life and Death before the Israelites was not to be expected from the Observation of the Literal Sense of the Mosaical Law but the Mystical which was a strong Obligation to the New Peculium Because the Mystical Sense even of the old Law which was the principal Sense design'd by God was suppos'd to be the