these dayes as when they were made Sure if it be a sufficient ground to reject singing of David's Psalmes that they were penned for the use of Gods people in former ages I know no reason but that we may for the same reason take no notice of the other Scriptures and say What do they concern us but I rather think that there is no estate or condition wherein the people of God either are or can be but the holy Ghost foreseeing the same hath prepared and recorded some Scripture-Psalmes suteable thereunto And those Psalmes being chosen out according to the new occasions of Gods people sung by them with new hearts will ever be found new Songs Words of eternall truth as one faith are ever new and never old Dayly and hourly mercies are new mercies to renewed hearts Lament 3. 23. His mercies are new every morning and when they praise the Lord for those mercies there 's a new song of praise put into their mouthes And when God hath furnisht us with Psalmes and Songs fram'd by his own Spirit to the purpose nothing for ought I know but wretched ignorance and prophaneness will neglect to use them The objection of singing Psalmes composed by our selves and others I have already answered and shewed the absurdity of such a practice unless we had any of an extraordinary spirit which if there be let us once sec it and I make no question but we shall willingly acknowledg the gift of God in them A third use of singing Davids Psalmes is a joyfull praising of God or expressing our joy in the Lord when a man is merry naturally and of course as we say he will laugh leap sing and dance as when a man is sorry contrariwise he is sullen sits still hangs the head and saith nothing Psal. 126. 2. Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing Exod. 15. 1. Then sang Moses and the children of Israel So Mary and Zachary and Simon Luke 1. 2. brake forth into Songs upon the apprehension of Gods wonderfull goodness Obj. That was because the Spirit of God came upon them in an extraordinary manner Sol. We deny not but the Spirit of God was upon some of them in a more than ordinary manner but yet it was not so upon them all all the children of Israel that sang with Moses had not an extraordinary spirit onely they were for the time much affected with the Work of God in their deliverance and the destruction of the Egyptians 2 Chro. 20. 27 28. So Jehoshaphat and the men of Judah came to Jerusalem with Psalteries and Harps and Trumpets unto the house of the Lord no question but there was singing also when the Lord had made them to rejoice over there enemies and yet no more extraordinary spirit on them than on Gods people now upon the like occasion Their practice was a precedent for Gods people in all ages to do the like when ever their hearts are inlarged in the apprehension of Gods goodness to break forth into singing and an holy rejoycing before the Lord How do we answer the goodness of God unto us if there be not affections and expressions suteable to his dispensations We all allow shooting off great gunns ringing of bells c. and why not as well singing of Psalmes When we come to the Congregation one end of our singing is to express our joy in the Lord for such mercies as his Word and Sacraments and means of Grace and that God hath given us his Sabbath and such solemn times and therefore we come before him with singing that so we may praise the Lord with gladness of heart The 100 Psalm is called a Psalm of praise and the 95 Psalm begins thus O come let us sing unto the Lord c. If you read the 96 97 and 98. you will finde many expressions to the same purpose Whatever were the occasion of penning those Psalmes it is clear that the holy Ghost in them had respect to the Gospell-times when all the ends of the earth should see the salvation of God Psal. 98. 3. Heb. 4. The Apostle shews it plainly of the 95th Psalm that the Holy Ghost in it speaks of the times after Christ was come in the flesh Now if the promise and their exspectation of those glorious Gospel-dayes did so rejoyce their hearts how much more should we be affected so as to sing and rejoyce at a higher rate than they did How comely and pleasant a thing is it to sing a Psalm as Christ and his disciples did after our receiving the Sacrament when God hath honoured us so much as to admit us unto his Table and given in the tokens and pledges of his love to our soules And after Sermon too why should we not sing and rejoyce when we have understood the good word of God declared to us by his messengers Nehem. 8. 12. Nehemiah and Ezra and the Levites willed the people to rejoyce upon such an occasion and good reason since the Word of God is sweet to every soul that savours it and so our Sabbaths are speciall times of rejoycing in God because the opportunities of publick Ordinances are renewed upon us Object But you sing all dayes alike fasting and feasting dayes without any difference Sol. For answer to this question which some think unanswerable I acknowledge that singing is a most proper expression of joy Jam. 5. 13. Is any merry let him sing But it will never follow from that place that we must not sing when we are sorry for then it will as well follow that when we are not afflicted we must not pray That place I say will infer the one as well as the other I do not say that all Psalmes are fit for all occasions but there must be a choice made and to make that choice there is some understanding more than ordinary required in him that appoints the Psalmes to be sung 3. As singing is proper in times of mirth so it is not altogether improper in times of mourning and though this may seem strange yet it is most true and I prove it thus Because Gods people were wont to lament themselves and others in Songs so Jeremy lamented the sad estate of Judah David's Psalmes were penned in times of great distress and danger as appears by the many dolefull complaints in them The 102d Psalm is entituled A prayer of the afflicted when he is overwhelmed c. and 130 Psalm begins Out of the depths have I cried unto thee O Lord To clear it yet further give me leave a little to discourse the nature of Musick which is somewhat strange in this respect That it will sute with different yea contrary affections Some Philosophers conceited the soul to be an Harmony once the soul of the world is a symmetry of all the parts made in number weight and measure Certainly of all sensible things there is none so much affects the soul as melodious sounds I say nothing
little strength in the Argument yet since it is that which swayes with so many I shall be the larger in clearing it They say many profane wretches sing Psalmes and sing lies and therefore they do not they cannot sing Sol. I wish that some of these who make this Objection do not say lies for that many who do not sing Psalmes and give this for a reason do lie I shall make it appear thus They say they do not sing because of the mixt multitude with whom they cannot joyn Then how comes it to pass That Psalmes are forborn not onely in the Congregation but in their own houses also Therefore there is some deceit in this argument I do heartily wish such as these before they charge lying upon others in singing to forbear lying themselves for they do not sing in their families nor in their closets neither alone nor with others Therefore this is not the thing there is somewhat else in their hearts But I will answer the Argument otherwise though I do premise this in the first place That if they will not sing in the Congregation because of the mixt multitude yet let them sing in their own families If they say There is a mixt company in their families also I ask Whose fault is that I should be loth to keep them in my family with whom I cannot pray and praise God But if so yet why do they not sing by themselves for a man may as well sing alone as pray alone if none other be good enough to sing with them let them sing by themselves But it seems they do not think themselves good enough to sing withall 1. To gratifie them in what we can I grant that there are too many such who cannot sing with grace in their hearts and this we acknowledg to be both their sin and misery But yet withall we think though there be thousands that cannot sing a Psalme as they ought to do with grace in their hearts to the Lord yet it is the duty of those men to do it and because they cannot do it as they should it will never follow that therefore they are not bound to do it or that they do not sin if they do neglect it It is certain a profane spirit is no more able to pray than he is able to sing praises to God But I hope you will not say that therefore a profane person ought not to pray or that it is not his duty to pray or that he doth not sin if he neglect to pray Act. 8. 22. Peter exhorts Simon Magus to pray though he were a wicked man Obj. But he bids him first to repent Sol. True he doth so and there was a good reason for it Peter would have him to pray so as his prayer might be heard and accepted with God which he knew could not be without repentance For God heareth not sinners John 9. 31. If I regard wickednesse in my heart saith David Psa 66. 18. the Lord will not hear my prayer But if a wicked man will humble himself and pray he hath Gods promise to be accepted If he repent not God hath no regard either to his prayer or his person yet still it is his duty to pray and his sin that he doth it not and therefore I may perswade and exhort him to do it I would have men sing with the heart so as to please God in it But if they cannot do it and do it they cannot so long as they hold fast deceit yet it is their duty to do it Else wicked men have a fair excuse for not doing that duty which lieth upon them by vertue of Gods commandment To pray without faith is a great sin and I think not to pray at all is in some sense a greater sin He that prayes without faith and grace is an hypocrite and he that prayes not at all is an Atheist So to sing without grace in the heart is hypocrisie and I think not to sing at all not to performe that duty and worship we owe unto the living God is a kinde of Atheisme A wicked man after a sort profanes and pollutes every Ordinance he takes in hand but it will not hence follow therefore it is not his duty to wait upon God in Ordinances Secondly It is true a wicked man is not worthy to take the name of God in his mouth and when he doth he doth in some sort blaspheme God in abusing his word But though he be not worthy yet as one saith Gods Word is worthy to come into his minde and into his mouth too to convince him of his wickedness And here is a very great mistake of these men that thus urge and argue and they bewray a great deal of ignorance about the nature end and use of this duty for one great and main end of singing Psalmes is Instruction A Psalm of David for Instruction is the Title of many of the Psalmes that is one end of singing of Psalmes Therefore I say though they be not worthy to take the Name of God into their mouthes yet the Word of God is worthy to come into their mouths and mindes for their instruction and admonition Deut. 32. Moses penned a Psalme and Deut. 31. 19. there is a command of God that it should be penned and for what end was it namely to convince the wicked Israelies of their apostacy from and rebellion against the Lord And certainly when ever a Psalm is sung be they never so bad that sing it there is a Word of God in it to reprove and condemn their sin And doth not the Apostle say Col. 3 16. Teaching and admonishing one another in Psalmes In every Psalm of Instruction I say there is a word to convince the ungodly of their ungodlinesse As for example Psal. I. I. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsell of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners nor sitteth in the seat of the scornefull But his delight is in the Law of the Lord and in his Law doth he meditate day and night he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water his leaf shall not wither and what soever he doth shall prosper The ungodly are not so but are like the chaff which the winde driveth away Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgement nor sinners in the Congregation of the righteous The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous But the way of the ungodly shall perish When this is said there is a conviction and when this is sung there is a greater conviction because there is more time and space to meditate on those holy truths of God Doth not God here as it were judge him out of his own mouth and he himself pronounce the sentence That he is one of those ungodly ones of whom the Psalmist speaks by the spirit in that Psalm So Psal. 2. there is an admonition to those that do not kiss the Son and submit to the scepter of
bewail their sinnes and to beg pardoning and purging grace as David did of God in the One and fiftieth Psalm and although every ones case be not the same in every respect as David's was yet he is very much a stranger to his own heart and spirituall estate that doth not see cause enough to apply unto himself every passage of that Psalme For the Two and fiftieth Psalme although it were penned upon occasion of Doeg's malicious and murderous practices yet it ministers matter for our faith to work upon so as we may take comfort in God when we are in any trouble and perill upon the same grounds as David there doth viz. because the goodness of God endureth for ever and all the people of God shall flourish and grow fresh again when all the ungodly shall perish The Fifty fourth Psalme penned upon occasion of some danger that David was in as the Title of it shews teacheth us whether to fly for help in time of need and what an happy issue we may exspect whilest we can live by faith in God as David did even in the midst of troubles The Fifty fifth Psalme shews the necessities and distresses that Gods servants are many times brought into patrly by the falsehood of seeming friends and partly by the cruelty of enraged enemies and how notwithstanding the one and the other they may by the prayer of faith prevail with God both for their enemies destruction and their own deliverance None therefore need to scruple the singing of this Psalme but such as fear not God because they have not changes ver. 19. Sure the matter of it will sute with the necessities and occasions of Gods people for the most part of them and at most times I should quite tire the Readers patience to run through every particular Psalme I have instanced in so many as by them whoever is willing and hath any understanding may judge of all the rest how properly and pertinently any of them may be sung specially if there be as there ought a wise accommodation of them unto the severall respective occasions and conditions of the Church and people of God I shall adde this one word more That singing of Psalmes is in order to our edification and furtherance in grace and gracious practice as all other duties of Gods worship are That we may know more of the minde of God be more inclined to do his will and act faith and all other graces with more vigor and life and faithfulness fervency of spirit Now if hearing reading praying communicating at the Lords Table be usefull for those ends why not also singing of Psalmes specially since in that duty done as it ought to be there is so great an advantage by serious meditation on those precious truths to act our graces to admonish our selves of our duties to encourage our selves against all dangers and difficulties and to express those high thoughts we are to have of God according to his infinite excellencies Surely then if ever are the high praises of God in the mouths of his Saints when their tongues are singing and sounding out those great and glorious things which God hath both spoken and done in order to their salvation Wherefore I am bold to conclude that the duty is most usefull and excellent and no Christ an hath any cause to complain except of his own unaptness and inability to do it as it ought to be done And now I do again most earnestly and heartily beseech and exhort all sober and godly Christians to consider seriously and sadly of the Premisses Is it nothing to neglect a duty so plainly and so particularly injoyned and prescribed as this is Yea to persist in that neglect and justifie it Consider I beseech you who they were that first began to question and decrie this Christian exercise Consider too how far many of them are since fallen not onely from this but from all other duties of Religious Worship Had they ended where they began you might haply have had some more probable pretence for the neglect of this duty whilest their constancy in other duties of Gods worship and service had pleaded for them that they intended and desired to lay aside onely what was at least more questionable But they have proceeded you know to lay down all hearing and praying and all outward acts of worship as well as singing of Psalmes I say not that all and every one have done so already but many 't is sad to think how many have renounced all Ordinances and wayes of Worship wherein Gods people were wont to wait upon God and pretend to no way of knowing Gods minde but that of immediate and extraordinary Revelation And not so content they labour what in them lieth to perswade others to the same course with themselves I shewed formerly why they began here Now I intreat you to consider that they who began here knew not where to end till they came to a professed rejection of all Ordinances By this you may see if there were nothing else what manner of men they were that first perswaded to a neglect of this duty Surely they that set them on work were such as liked not the wayes of worship wherein we had walked with God since he was pleased to take off from our necks the yoke of Romish Superstition and Idolatry Need we question it when so many printed Pamphlets have flown abroad to possess the people that our Churches Ministers are all false yea that our Worship used in our assemblies is all false What is the meaning think you of this Can it be any other than to insinuate that we have been a long while out of the right way and that now and not before for these many yeares is brought to light the onely true way of worshipping God And what must this more excellent way be but that which Gods people formerly departed from when they made a separation from Rome I commend their wit they play their game very handsomely But I hope such as have grace will be wiser than to hearken to such charmers which have already enchanted so many unlearned and unstable soules to an utter forsaking of our Assemblies and casting off all Duties and Ordinances though as I said they began at first with slighting that most excellent duty of singing David's Psalmes And now Christian Reader thou art desired to trouble thy thoughts no more whether thou shalt sing But rather to set thy self to a serious and sincere performance of this duty And that for this reason because there is ground enough of fear least as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty so thy minde should by little and little be corrupted to cast away all the Ordinances which Jesus Christ hath instituted for this end that by the use of them thou mayest be edified in grace and gracious practice And what if God should so farre leave thee as he hath left some Know that men who dwell in fleshly Tabernacles cannot hold