Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	church_n	know_v	pillar_n	2,997	5	10.3098	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43706	A sermon preached at St. Bride's Church, on St. Cæcilia's Day, Nov. 22, 1685 being the anniversary feast of the lovers of musick / by Charles Hickman ...	Hickman, Charles, 1648-1713.	1696 (1696)	Wing H1903; ESTC R18559	10,144	30

the Earth or else they are sluggish and unactive and cannot mount towards Heaven It is our Infirmity but we must strive against it It is the Earthiness of our Constitution that checks our Flight and clogs our Devotion But since Nature is two weak to discharge its Office we must try to help it out by Art and the only Art to help it by is that which is prescrib'd in the Third part of my text If we would serve the Lord with gladness as we ought we must Come before his presence with a Song And here I am to prove the Decency and Usefulness of Musick in the Solemnities of our Religious Worship Only by the way we must needs complain of the Hardship which the Perversness of this Age has put upon us in requiring us to prove a thing so manifest that there is nothing in nature more manifest to prove it by That God is to be worship'd with solemn Musick is so ancient and so universal an Opinion that it may well be look'd upon as one of the prime Notions of a Rational Soul one of the fundamental Laws of Nature which like the Worship of God itself we receive not by Institution but by Instinct it was not inculcated into us by Education but we Suck'd it in at our very Birth or rather it was Infus'd into us at our Creation And as the Opinion so the Practice of it is Universal too And therefore the Psalmist directs his Precept in my Text not to the peculiar Church of God but to all lands to serve the Lord with gladness and come before his presence with a song Indeed there never was any Land so barbarous or any People so polite except some few Pretenders in these last and worst of times but have always approach'd their Gods with the Solemnity of Musick and exprest their Devotion with a Song and wherever Musick goes out of fashion there we may boldly pronounce that Devotion also is growing out of date Nay the wise ancient Heathens declar'd that Musick was an Invention of the Gods and bestow'd on Men for this very purpose to adorn their Religious Worship and inspire them with pious exalted devout Affections not to gratifie their itching Ears but to refine their Notions abstract their Thoughts and prepare their Souls for Heavenly Contemplations Amongst the rest I cannot but observe that the Athenians the wisest of them all Men of the most refin'd Wit and the severest Judgment held Musick in the greatest Veneration and religiously recommended it to their People though they were so strict so nice Observers of the Rules of Reason that they banished Orators out of their City for fear the Affections of Men should be wrought upon to overpoise their Judgment in temporal Affairs yet Musicians were always encourag'd and had in Honour to shew that in Divine Offices their Affections could never be rais'd too high And if we have not the same relish with them in point of Devotion I fear it is not a sign that our Reason is more refin'd than theirs but rather that our affections Are more Gross As for the Jews the Practice of their Church is too well known to be contested There the Honour of Religious Musick stands like the Law and the Testimony upon the Pillars of Truth itself supported by Divine Authority and attested by infallible Records There we find Songs of Gods one appointment and Musick after Gods own heart and the Praises of our Maker always celebrated in harmonious Measures and melodious Sounds There we meet with Musitians inspir'd from Heaven such Consorts as the Holy Ghost vouchsafes to teach and Angels themselves delight to hear What Raptures of Divine Eloquence what glorious Patterns of Devotion did that Golden Age of Musick produce How has the Holy Church throughout all the World liv'd upon that Treasure of Anthems wherewith the glorious Company of Apostles and the the goodly Fellowship of Prophets praised the Lord and to this day we all refresh our Devotion with those very Airs which breath upon us from these illuminated Compositions By their Inspirations we also are inspir'd and as long as there is any Devotion remaining in the World so long the Songs of Moses and the Harp of David will be of blessed Memory to fill the Mouths and rejoyce the Hearts of Men. 'T is true the Harp and the Organ were an Invention of one of the Sons of Cain an unsanctified ungodly Race but yet God consecrated them to a Religious Use and made them Instruments of much Honour to his Church and much Devotion in his People and if we are not affected with those lofty Strains of Harmony which they produce it is not a sign that our Religion is too high to stand in need of such Helps but that our Affections are too low to be capable of such Improvements Doubtless if our Souls were as pious as David's they would be as melodious too We talk much of a rational way of Worship and 't is fit indeed that Reason should direct the Way but the Worship itself is an Act not of our Reason but our Affections 'T is the workings of an exalted Love the out-goings of an inflam'd Desire the breathings of a pious Soul in the extasies of his Joy and Admiration These are the noble Springs of our Devotion the lively Elements that compose our Worship and these are Tendernesses of our Nature that lie not in the Head but the Heart of Man and there lie too deep to be reached and too fine to be wrought upon by so gross a Faculty as Reason is But there is a Power in Musick that can reach them all and touch them to the very quick There is such a Charm in well compos'd well animated Sounds as musters up all our Passions and commands all our Affections to pay Homage to it and no sensible Soul can withstand the Summons The Philosopher with his Gravity may talk of our Passions but never Move them the Orator with his Address may Move but never Please them and the Poet with his Accuracy may please but yet not Command them all these Artists operate upon our Hearts but at a Distance only the Musician gets within us and manages our passions with an Arbitrary Power When the Lute and Harp are touch'd with a skilful hand it strikes upon the very Soul of Man and by an immediate Sympathy I had almost said by an immediate Contact makes his Heart-strings leap for joy Nay this is a Charm that Works not only upon our Affections but upon our Understanding too enlivens the Head as well as the Heart of Man and opens our Ears and our Eyes at at once When our Thoughts are involv'd in the dreggs of Matter and our Minds are obscur'd with the drowsiness and heaviness of Sense Musick rouses up our Soul and puts our Thoughts in motion our very Reason awakens with the lute and harp and the Song like some Divine Inspiration calls up all our brighter Faculties to discharge their