ever ravish from us The Passion of Joy though for the most part arising from a present Good yet arising no less from such a one as is present to us by Faith provided that that Faith be firm and stedfast and we find that in us which may as certainly entitle us to the object of it The former whereof he cannot want who hath a due sense of Gods Truth as well as Goodness no more than he can be without the latter who finds in himself an ardent Love for God because the whole both of the Law and the Gospel 3. That therefore being the due sense and meaning of being filled with the Spirit and the Passion of Joy the end for which we are exhorted to get our selves so fill'd Enquire we in the Third place by what means we may come to be filled with it which as it is a much more important enquiry so may seem also of more difficult resolution Because that no doubt depends more upon the good pleasure of the filler than it doth upon any thing that we can do toward the attaining of it But as if we be well assured of the good Will of him that is to fill us as well as of his calling upon us to get our selves filled with it we cannot doubt of his chalking out wayes whereby we may come to be filled with it so we shall find if we consult the Scripture or our own Reason what those wayes and means are because directed to either by the one or the other Of which 1. The first and no doubt most especial one is to invite that Spirit into us by Prayer and beg of God to fill us with the Graces of it because expresly recommended to us as a means to attain it yea assured of obtaining it from him For after our Saviour had set before his Disciples the general efficacy of Prayer and confirm'd it from the disposition of Earthly Parents to gratifie their Children in all those good things which they may be supposed to ask of them He not only infers from it the greater likelyhood of Gods gratifying the Requests of his Children in all their Reasonable Demands and particularly as to what they make of his Holy Spirit but represents it as a thing inconceivable how God should deny that Spirit to them For if ye saith he * Luk. 11.13 being evil are not yet so evil as to deny good Gifts to your Children how much less shall your Heavenly Father deny the Holy Spirit to them that ask him 2. I look upon as no less sure a mean though not so particularly directed your cherishing that Spirit when you have it in any measure as to be sure all Believers have by attending to the Motions of it and readily complying with them in all those things to which they shall incline you Such an attention and complyance naturally disposing a Benign Being not only to continue his Graces to you but to give you more and more instances thereof as knowing that what he shall farther vouchsafe you shall be as kindly received and comply'd with as what he hath already afforded to you Which supposed it will not be difficult to shew which is all that will be farther necessary on this Head how you may come to be filled with those particular Graces which I have said St. Paul to refer more especially to when he exhorts to be filled with the Spirit For then may you expect to be filled with a grateful sense of Gods Goodness a firm belief of his Promises and as ardent a love for himself when you not only endeavour to cherish them by a due consideration of the excellency thereof but set your selves to the doing of all those things which such a sense and belief and love will prompt you to the performance of because that is all beside Prayer which can be supposed to be requir'd of you to invite God to fill you with them 4. The Fourth and last thing comes now to be spoken to even of what use our being filled with the Spirit is and particularly as to that Joy for which I have said it to be design'd Which we shall find upon examination to be to direct our Joy in an especial manner to Spiritual Objects to moderate it as to Earthly and Sensual ones and both keep it up and express it if not by means purely Spiritual yet by such as are principally and especially such For whereas he that is inspir'd with Wine will by that very Wine of his be prompted to place his Joy on Sensual Objects if not also on forbidden ones He who is filled with the Spirit of God and particularly with those Graces of it which I before described will by that very Spirit be directed especially to fix his Joy upon God and the things of God to delight in his Commands and to aspire after his Favours In fine to set as high a value upon them as the Men of the World do upon their most pleasing Enjoyments yea to suffer the want of all Sensual Enjoyments rather than run the hazard of more Spiritual and refined ones Whereas again he who is inspir'd with Wine will by that very Wine of his be tempted to an immoderate Joy in Earthly and Sensual Things and such a one as shall not only prompt him to forget that God who is the giver of them but abuse them also to his dishonour He who is filled with the Spirit of God will by that very Spirit of his be prompted to enjoy them with Moderation because no way comparable to those Spiritual Enjoyments which he himself suggests and much less to those Blessed and Heavenly ones which he assures us of in another World Whereas lastly he who is inspir'd with Wine will by that very Wine of his be prompted to keep up and express his Joy by Extravagant Actions or Lewd Songs and such as tend rather to corrupt his own and other Mens Minds than either to refresh or improve them He who is filled with the Spirit of God and particularly with a grateful sense of his immense Goodness a stedfast belief of his Heavenly Promises and a no less ardent love and affection for him will be thereby prompted to keep up and express his Joy by Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs by such as will put new Life into his Devotion as well as shew it forth and put new Life into other Mens Devotions as well as into his own The Second General to be spoken to and equally enjoyned with the former He who as you have heard exhorts Men to be filled with the Spirit exhorting them in like manner to speak to themselves or rather to one another in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs singing and making melody in their Heart to the Lord. II. In the handling of which Second Exhortation I will proceed in this Method 1. I will enquire what the Apostle meant by Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs 2. What he meant by speaking to themselves as our
A SERMON CONCERNING VOCAL and INSTRUMENTAL MUSICK In the CHURCH As it was Delivered in the Parish Church of St. Andrew Vndershaft UPON The 31th of May 1696 being Whit-Sunday and the Day wherein the ORGAN there Erected was First made Use of By GABRIEL TOWERSON D.D. LONDON Printed for B. Aymer at the Three Pigeons in Cornhill MDCXCVI A SERMON CONCERNING VOCAL and INSTRUMENTAL MUSICK In the CHURCH EPH. 5. part of the 18th and 19th Verse But be filled with the Spirit Speaking to your selves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. The whole Period runs thus And be not drunk with wine wherein is excess but be filled with the Spirit Speaking to your selves in psalms and hymns c. THE Purpose of the ensuing Discourse is to satisfie the double business of this day That which prompts you to reflect upon the Graces of that Spirit which did as this day descend upon the Church And that which prompts you to commemorate that and all other the Blessings of God to it with Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs Whether they be such as mount up to Heaven on the alone wings of their own breath Or whether they be such as are also advantag'd in their ascent thither by the breath of Musical Instruments and both conducted and pushed on by it And may that Spirit by which these and all other Religious Actions ought to be directed so assist me in the handling of the Exhortations that are now before me that I may both my self apprehend and set before you the due importance of each of them and approve them both to your Reason and Affections In order whereunto I. I will begin with that which suggests our being filled with the Spirit and accordingly enquire 1. What St. Paul means by being filled with the Spirit 2. For what end we are to endeavour after it 3. By what means we may come to be filled with it 4. Of what use our being so filled is 1. What St. Paul means in the general by being filled with the Spirit will not be difficult for him to learn who shall consider what that Spirit is which he and indeed all Christian Writers commend to our desires and endeavours or who they are whom St. Paul invites to get themselves replenished with it Because it is certain on the one hand that the only Spirit which either he or they commend to us is that Spirit of God which did as this day descend upon the Church or rather the Gifts and Graces of it And no less certain on the other because St. Paul directs this Exhortation of his to the Community of the Ephesians that he meant such Gifts or Graces of that Spirit as are common to all Believers or at least intended by God to be so 2. But because it is certain that even those Gifts or Graces of the Spirit are many and various and no necessity lies upon us to understand St. Paul of all alike but rather the contrary as will appear by and by from what precedes and follows his Exhortation to be filled with them Therefore it will be necessary for me to go on to enquire for what end he exhorts us to endeavour after such a filling as which alone will give us to understand what Gifts and Graces he especially intended Now that I shall not doubt to affirm to be the either exciting or maintaining in us the Passion of Joy A Passion which Religion doth not only not forbid but enjoyn upon us and commend to us As without which Religion it self would be very uneasie to us but however we should not be able to bear up under those many evils which either Religion it self or the present Dispensations of the Divine Providence will be sure to bring upon us Now as for that Reason it is that Religion it self doth so often endeavour to stir up this Passion of Joy in us and indeed never professeth any the least enmity to it save where it is either misplac'd or immoderate so we shall find if we look into the Context that it is St. Pauls great design in this place to stir up and keep alive in us this Passion of Joy and make it acceptable to God as well as beneficial to our selves For wherefore else should St. Paul exhort that Men should rather be filled with the Spirit than drunk with Wine as that too in order to their Singing and making Melody But that he meant to direct them to a proper means for the exciting of their Joy and such as should give them a much more innocent as well as more excellent one than the Wine of the Drunkard doth to him Or wherefore insist as he doth upon their speaking to one another in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs Singing and making Melody in their Heart to the Lord These as they are the Natural Expressions of Joy and accordingly directed to by St. James * Jam. 5.13 when a Man is under the sensation of it so the fomenters and maintainers of it that I say not also of the well-being of him in whom it is St Paul saw how necessary the Passion of Joy was to support the Spirits even of Christian Men But especially when they are also taken off from the common incentives to it in Mankind from the indulging of Lustful Practices †Eph. 5.3 4. or as loose Discourses He alike saw how necessary it sometime was even where there wanted not proper incentives to that Passion to make use of other means to raise the dull spirits of Men and put them into a condition even to enjoy their own Happiness Those who live more at ease than the Christian doth making use of brisk Wine to raise their Spirits and furnish them with that pleasing emotion which all their other acquisitions cannot give them That therefore those with whom he had to do and who by means of their own sense of Sin or Calamity had much more need of it might not want such an excitation He exhorts them instead of filling themselves with Wine which would give them but a fading as well as superficial Joy to fill themselves with Gods Spirit and particularly with such Graces of it as might be thought most to minister to it as well as afterwards to keep it alive and increase it with Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs Which supposed the Graces wherewith St. Paul exhorts that we should especially fill our selves will be found to be a grateful sense of Gods goodness and beneficence a stedfast belief of his promises but especially of those which relate to the Happinesses and Glories of the other World and what will not fail to follow from the former if they be well improv'd in our Thoughts and Meditations an ardent love and affection for himself For if our Souls be filled with these they cannot want a Joy as great as they themselves are able to contain and such as no present Evils how great soever can
the disorderly Passions of the Mind and bringing it to a serene and sedate Temper 2. Secondly It s stirring up and improving and directing its more regular ones 3. Thirdly It s prompting the Mind to reflect with so much the more pleasure on that which is the subject matter of it The Learned Authour of the Questions and Answers ad Orthodoxos (l) Apud Justin Martyr q. 107. hath this Question among many others Why when Songs were invented by Infidels to deceive and were brought in upon those that were under the Law by means of the weakness of their Minds they who have receiv'd the perfect discipline of Grace and such as is far remov'd from the manners of the other should yet make use of the same Songs in the Church I meddle not at present with that part of his Answer to it which concerns Instrumental Musick because I shall by and by have a fairer Occasion to consider it But I cannot forbear to take Notice of that which concerns Vocal because it gives such an Advantageous Character of it For not only doth he deny that sort of Musick to be a thing adapted only to weak and tender Minds but affirms moreover That it draws the Mind not without some pleasure to the desire of that which is the Argument thereof That it layes asleep such of the Passions as rise up against us from our own Fleshly Nature and repels those Evil Thoughts that are injected into us by our invisible Enemies That it prepares our Soul as by a kind of watering for the bringing forth of Divine Fruits That it makes the Champions of Piety to bear up stoutly under their several pressures and is a cure of all those afflictive Evils that may happen to them in the present Life In fine That it is a driver away of Devils and perfects the Soul in all those Vertues which true Piety suggests Which several Properties of it I shall take Notice of as they shall fall in with those Uses of which I but now said this Singing and making Melody to be 1. To begin with that which is first in order even its composing the disorderly Passions of the Mind and bringing it to a serene and sedate Temper A thing not to be doubted of by those who shall consider that it doth by the I leasure and even Surprize which it gives to the Mind of him that hears it fix his Spirits and stops them from running out into those extravagant courses which a disorderly Passion puts them in But how much less to be doubted when we find by the Scriptures that it was also the effect of Instrumental Musick and which because wanting that sweet and engaging Sense which belongs to Songs must be supposed to be farther removed from it For thus it appears from the 16th Chapter of the First Book of Samuel that when an Evil Spirit from the Lord came upon Saul which the Jewish Writers and not without cause interpret of a disorder of the Mind whether raised in him or fomented by the Devil the Servants of Saul agreeably to his own Injunctions did in order to his Cure provide him of that great Musician David who no sooner took his Harp and played with his Hand but Saul was refreshed and was well and the Evil Spirit departed from him v. 23. of that Chapter Agreeable hereto is what we learn from Profane Authours as Grotius hath pertinently observed on the First of Samuel the tenth and the fifth Verse He there telling us that Pythagoras did by Musical Sounds soften fierce Minds Asclepiades put a stop to Seditions Damon reduce Drunken and Petulant Men to a Sober and Modest Behaviour and Xenocrates by the same means bring Madmen to themselves 2. But beside that the Musick we speak of doth compose the disorderly Passions of the Mind which is in it self of no small service to Religion beside the disposition it produceth in us to farther impressions of it We shall find if we look a little farther that it doth equally stir up and improve and direct its more regular ones Of the first of which we have a famous instance in the great St. Augustine which is so much the more worthy of our belief because it hath a place in the Confessions which he made to God and in which Holy Men at least are not wont to speak lightly or unadvisedly For how much saith he (m) Conf. lib. 9. cap. 6. did I weep at thy Hymns and Songs being not a little stir'd up by the Voices of thy sweet-singing Church Those Voices of theirs flow'd in at my Ears and together with them thy Truth was melted into my Heart from whence boil'd up an affection of Piety which again issued forth in Tears and then it was well with me because of them And tho' in the next Book (n) Conf. lib. 10. cap. 33. of the same Confessions he seems to be afraid lest the Musick of the Church should more affect his Ears than that which was sung did his Heart and was thereupon inclin'd to think that it would be much better if such a Singing were used as departed little from a simple pronunciation Not well considering I suppose at that time this Exhortation of St. Paul concerning speaking to one another in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Odes or Songs which undoubtedly signifie somewhat more than Words deliver'd with a light flexion of the Voice Yet again when he considered the Tears which he himself shed in the very beginnings of his Conversion and how much he was even then mov'd not with the Singing but with the things that were sung when they were chanted forth with a clear and agreeable Voice he was led again to acknowledge the great profit of that Institution and of the Custom of the Church in it So great force there is in Songs to stir up a regular Passion as well as to compose an irregular one And if so there will be less doubt of their being able to improve as well as stir it and least of all of their directing it aright Because the matter of the Song where it is Holy and Pious will draw the Passion after it and where it hath to do with Sorrow improve it into a Penitential one as in like manner where it hath to do with Joy into a Holy and Pious one and such as shall even in Temporal Blessings consider rather the goodness of God in them than the sweetness of the Blessings themselves 3. The Third and last Advantage of Vocal Musick or as my Text expresseth it of Singing and making Melody is its prompting the Mind with so much the more Pleasure to reflect upon that which is the subject matter of it and possess it with the thing sung as well as with the Singing it self A thing which you see St. Augustine was brought to acknowledge as to himself even when he was most afraid of being carried away by the Musick And will not be so hard to attain where the Man
did not Or because Men had an unreasonable scruple against it as a thing only suited to the Infant-state of the Synagogue Or because where it was received it was not managed with that Gravity wherewith all Ecclesiastical Offices ought to be attended For against the thing in it self considered there can be no scruple at all neither have there been more devout Men upon Earth than those who have delighted in it and practised it with signal advantage to themselves if the Prophet David and our Divine Herbert may pass for such What remains then but that having in the first place endeavour'd to get our selves replenished with the Spirit and particularly with those Graces of it which serve more immediately to the exciting of a Spiritual and Heavenly Joy we endeavour to keep it up and improve and express it by Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs Singing indeed and making Melody in our Heart to the Lord because without that it can be no Melody in the Ears of the Divine Majesty but withal Singing and making Melody with our Voices and Instruments as well as in our Hearts because these do in their way express our grateful resentment of his Benefits and do moreover excite and improve that Melody of the Heart which we have said to be so acceptable to him After which the following Hymn was sung The HYMN COme Holy Ghost and with thy Light and Fire Dispel our Mists and kindle our Desire That we at once thy saving Truths may know And with thy gracious Fruits enamour'd grow The greater and the lesser World to thee Doth owe its Light and Life and Purity By thee the Patriarchal Age was taught By thee the Christian was to Knowledge brought By thee each came to love as well as know What their Great Lord had ordered them to do Thou didst to each their Light and Heat impart For thou the Teacher of their Teachers wer 't O may'st thou still the same kind Beams display Direct us to and chear us in our way Prompt us to love as well as to fulfil The harshest parts of our Creatours Will. The fear of Ill may drive Men to his Law But thou alone to it can'st sweetly draw And may we also when w' are thus inspir'd And with a calm but ardent Zeal are fir'd Make liveless Organs joyn with us in Praise And to thy Grace a grateful Trophy raise For 't is not they but we those Accents frame Which our Devotion and thy Praise proclaim FINIS Some Books Printed for B. Aylmer at the Three Pigeons in Cornhill THE Works of the Most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury containing Fifty Four Sermons and Discourses on Several Occasions Together with the Rule of Faith Being all that were Published by his Grace himself and now collected into one Volume To which is added an Alphabetical Table of the Principal Matters Price 20 s. The Works of the Learned Isaac Barrow D. D. late Master of Trinity-College in Cambridge The Third Volume Containing Forty Five Sermons upon Several Occasions In Folio Practical Discourses upon the Consideration of our Latter End and the Danger and Mischief of Delaying Repentance By Dr. Isaac Barrow in Octavo Price 18 d. The Four Last Things viz. Death Judgment Heaven and Hell Practically Considered and Applied By W. Bates D. D. in 120. Price 2 s. The Great Duty of Resignation to the Divine Will in Afflictions Also by Dr. Bates In 8 vo Price 18 d. Sermons of the Forgiveness of Sins On Psal 130. v. 4. Also by Dr. Bates Price 18 d. The Cure of Distractions in Attending upon God In several Sermons By Nath. Vincent M. A. In 8 vo Price 2 s. Also several Sermons against the Love of the World By N Vincent In 120. Price 12 d. Also his Sermon at the Funeral of Mr. Lawrence 6 d. The Tryal and Condemnation of Sir John Friend and Sir William Parkins Knights for the Horrid and Execrable Conspiracy c. who upon full Evidence was found guilty of High-Treason at the Sessions-house in the Old Baily Together with a true Copy of the Papers delivered to the Sheriffs of London and Middlesex by them at the place of Execution owning their Crimes To be sold at 12 d. each Tryal By B. Aylmer The Bishop of Gloucesters Thanksgiving Sermon preached before the House of Lords April 16. Mr. Stephens of Sutton in Surrey his Thanksgiving Sermon preached before the Lord Mayor and Aldermen at Bow Church the same day Mr. John Showers his Thanksgiving Sermon the same day Mr. Strype of Low-Layton in Essex his Thanksgiving Sermon the same day Mr. Gardiner of London his Thanksgiving Sermon the same day The Christian Merchant described in a Sermon Humbly Dedicated to all the Merchants of the City By W. Gostwyke Rector of Purley in Berks. The Advice of a Father Or Counsel to a Child Directing him how to demean himself in the most important passages of this Life By E. C. Gent. In 120. Price 12 d. A Conference with an Anabaptist By Dr. Asheton of Beckenham in Kent Price 12 d.
Translation here renders it 3. What he meant by singing and making melody in their Heart to the Lord. 4. Of what use such a Singing and making Melody is and particularly in the present case 5. What is to be thought of that Singing and making Melody which is attended with Musical Instruments 1. That which is first to be enquir'd into with respect to the present Exhortation is what St. Paul meant by Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs That is to say whether he meant so many different sorts of Songs and if he did so what those sorts of Songs are I must needs say that I cannot think St. Paul made use of so many words to express one and the same thing And I think as little that he was so curious as other Men think he was in distinguishing them For which last cause I must alike say that Beza's (a) Annot. in Col. 3.16 distinction of them seems to me to be more nice than well grounded when he makes St. Paul to understand by Psalms all sorts of Songs whatsoever their Argument be as it is certain those of David were of many By Hymns Songs of Praise and by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Spiritual Songs such as were of a more Artificial Composition For beside that it is plain from the Argument that I am now upon that our Apostle is here entreating of the matter of Joy and no other Songs therefore to be here understood but Songs of Praise or such as have an affinity with them I do not see why Hymns as well as Odes may not pass for Songs of an Artificial Composition and Odes therefore no more than Hymns to appropriate that Notion to themselves I rather think that when St. Paul exhorted these Men to speak to themselves in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Odes or Songs his meaning was that they should speak to one another and to God either in such Songs as were taken out of the Scripture and particularly out of the Book of Psalms or in such Songs as were of their own or other Private Mens Composition by what Names soever known or distinguished and particularly by those of Hymns and Odes According to that known distinction of Tertullian (b) Apolog. cap. 39. where he speaks of the usual Singing in the Antient Church To wit that as any Man was able to sing either out of the Holy Scriptures or of his own Composition he was invited into the midst of their Assembly to do it to entertain the rest or rather to be their Praecontor unto God And indeed than this sort of Singing there is nothing more known in the Church even from the very beginning of it For there is mention in that so well known Epistle of Pliny (c) Lib. 10. ep 97. to Trajan of their Singing upon the day of their Assemblies a Song or Hymn to Christ as God As in like manner elsewhere (d) Euseb Eccl. Hist lib. 5. cap. 28. of other the like Hymns which were fram'd by the Brethren from the beginning and from which Paulus Samosatenus (e) Euseb ibid. lib. 7. c. 30. took occasion to introduce others of his own Composition but which were more in honour of himself than of Christ 2. But to go on to that which is next in order even what St. Paul meant by speaking to themselves in them according as our Translation hath rendred it but which ought rather to have been rendred among themselves or to one another That being not only the signification of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in several other places of Scripture and particularly Eph. 4.31 but more agreeable too to the design of all Publick Devotions which though not without an eye to the Private Benefit of every one that useth them yet are more especially intended for a mutual stirring up one another to that Spirit wherewith the whole ought to be attended According to that parallel place of St. Paul to the Colossians (f) Col. 3.16 and where though the same Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used yet it is rendred even by our selves teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs singing with Grace in their Hearts to the Lord. And stands farther confirmed by that as known place of the Authour to the Hebrews (g) Heb. 10.25 where he dehorts from the forsaking of their common Assemblies because opposing to it on the one hand their considering one another and provoking unto Love and to good Works as on the other the Exhorting of one another Both the one and the other of which shew what is the principal end of Christian Assemblies or rather that Mens inciting one another to a kind of Contention in Devotion is 3. Which supposed we may proceed to enquire what is in like manner meant by Singing and making Melody in the Heart to the Lord. A thing not difficult for those to guess at who shall but remember that St. Paul doth not only invite Men upon this occasion to Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs both here and in the forequoted place to the Colossians but in this place to speak among themselves or rather to one another in them and in the other to teach and admonish one another by them For that is enough to shew that by Singing and making Melody in the Heart cannot be meant a meer internal praising of God because that is a sort of Melody which can be heard by none but God and cannot therefore be supposed to have an influence upon any other But either as Chrysostome (h) In locum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath well glossed it causing the attention of the Mind to go along with the Voice or both that and the Affection to accompany it As without which Men will have no more share in the Praises of God than those Musical Instruments which attend their Singing or at best sing rather to themselves than unto God And indeed were it not for a certain peevishness of Mind or rather a resolution in some Persons to go cross to all that went before them such Expressions as Singing and making Melody in the Heart could not ever be look'd upon as in the least excluding the Melody of the Voice but rather as supposing or connoting it I say not only because that is the known and usual sense of the words that are made use of to express it But because we learn from St. James (i) James 3.9 that the Tongue was made to bless God as well as the Heart and from St. Paul (k) Rom. 10.10 that as with the heart men believe unto righteousness so with the mouth confession is made unto salvation And how much it may contribute both to the one and the other will appear if we consider 4. Of what use such a Singing and making Melody may be and particularly a to the matter of Joy the next thing to be enquir'd into Now that we shall find to be 1. First It s composing