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A47407 The breach repaired in God's worship, or, Singing of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, proved to be an holy ordinance of Jesus Christ with an answer to all objections : as also, an examination of Mr. Isaac Marlow's two papers, one called, A discourse against singing, &c., the other, An appendix : wherein his arguments and cavils are detected and refuted / by Benjamin Keach ... Keach, Benjamin, 1640-1704. 1641 (1641) Wing K50; ESTC R21273 133,739 273

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all she must not in the Church give an account of her Conversion or declare how the Lord was pleased to work upon her Heart for I have shewed in that Act there is much instruction nay 't is so full of teaching to others that what some pious Women have spoke in the Church upon this account God hath blessed to the Conversion of Sinners as well as it has refreshed and sweetly comforted divers Believers and therefore herein you abuse the sense of the Holy Ghost and indeed are not I fear fit to be a Teacher of others but to learn in silence your self 2. The way therefore to understand this as well as other Scriptures is to have recourse to the main drift or purport of the Spirit of God therein And evident it is the main thing the Apostle drives at in both these places or doth intend is this viz. That Women ought not to be allowed to take part in the ordinary Ministration of preaching the Gospel or ministerially or authoritatively to preach the Word because he that has received a just Call so to do may and ought to exhort and command in the Name of our Lord Jesus with all Authority Tit. 2. 15. and this Work therefore Women should not take upon them because they must be in Subjection and not usurp Authority over the Man To take the bare letter of the Text without shewing the scope and drift of the Spirit of God in it would make sad work as I might shew from many Scriptures and has occasioned many abominable Errors nay Heresies to abound in the World 3. As to that teaching which is in Singing it doth not lie in a Ministerial way and therefore not intended by the Spirit of God here Preaching or Teaching is not Singing nor Singing Preaching or Teaching though there is a Teaching in it You must learn better to distinguish between different Duties and Ordinances before you take upon you to teach others Read what I have before said and also what Mr. Cotton Sidenham c. have said as you will find it repeated in this Treatise in respect of the Nature of Teaching and Admonition that is in the Ordinance of Singing and you may further see how you miss and abuse these Scriptures for he or she that reads the Scripture may be said in some sense to teach there is much teaching in it yet sure a Woman may be suffered to do this as a case may present it self both in the Church or at home either in her Husbands presence and not be deemed to usurp Authority over him for the Usurpation the Apostle speaks of respects a Womans own Husband if not chiefly as well as others and therefore if she must not sing in the Church so by your Argument she must not sing nor read the Scripture at home in the presence of her Husband because there is a kind of teaching in both those Duties and if she should as you intimate she would not only break Silence but usurp Authority over the Man i. e. her Head and Husband which is forbid The Lord deliver poor Women and Men too from such kind of Doctrine as this 4. 'T is evident the Apostle lays no other restraint upon Women than what the Law laid them under they are to be silent or 't is not saith he permitted unto them to speak but they are commanded to be under Obedience as also saith the Law 1 Cor. 14. 34. And 't is as clear they were always under the Law suffered to sing in the Congregation as well as the Men therefore it was not such a Speaking or Teaching as is in Singing that Paul intends in those Scriptures 5. Whereas you affirm that Women were not admitted to pray nor prophesy in the Church neither in the Old nor New Testament is doubless false as our late Annotators well observed on 1 Cor. 14. 34. which is the very Text you mention take their words This Rule must not say they be restrained to ordinary prophesying for certainly if the Spirit of Prophesy came upon a Woman in the Church she might speak Anna who was a Prophetess in the Temple gave Thanks to the Lord and spake of him to all them that looked for the Redemption of Israel and I cannot tell how Philip's Daughters prophesied if they did not speak in the presence of many The reason given why Women should be silent is because they are commanded to be in Obedience A Woman say they might say Amen to the publick Prayers and also sing with the Congregation to the Honour and Glory of God but for her to speak in an ordinary course of Prophesy to instruct People c. she is forbidden The Apostle saith a Friend in a Manuscript doth not prohibit all manner of speaking for that is directly contrary to 1 Cor. 11. 5 6. where Women are admitted to pray and prophesy for Prayer they may say Amen to the publick Prayers of the Church and for Prophesy they may sing Psalms the Apostle using the Expression according to the Ideum of the Jews 1 Sam. 19. 20 21. 1 Sam. 10. 5. they shall prophesy and for they shall prophesy the ●ald Paraphras reads they shall sing● and thou shalt praise with them Vid. Wilson's Dict. Dr. Hammond's Annotat. on 1 Cor. 11. 5. and so it 's used 1 Chron. 25. 1 2 3. The Prohibition saith he is not restrained only to Church-Assemblies but holds good in all places and at all times and intends a Subjection of Women to their Husbands as plainly appears by comparing 1 Cor. 14. 35. with 1 Tim. 2. 12 13. with the occasion and scope of the Text and is of no greater Restraint now than lay on them under the Law 1 Cor. 14. 34. where they were permitted to sing Object But say you If we should say such a vocal Singing together is for a Teaching then where are the Hearers if all be Teachers c. Appendix p. 35. Answ We have shewed you Singing is a distinct thing from that which is called Teaching or Preaching tho in Singing there is a Teaching but chiefly we speak to our own selves as the Apostle exhorts in Psalms c. and the matter of the Psalm or Hymn is full of Teaching and Admonition yet 't is the Matter ●ung which teaches rather than the Singers may ●e said to do it nor is it any Contradiction to say when I teach others yet I am thereby taught and admonished my self So that if it were admitted to be a common or ordinary Teaching which must not be allowed and all might be said to teach c. yet nevertheless all are Hearers also and are in a sweet manner taught admonished and instructed in singing the Word of Christ in Psalms Hymns and spiritual Songs as elsewhere I have shewed Nor is it any Contradiction to say according to the sense of the Apostle Women must keep silence in the Church and yet suffer them to sing c. no more than 〈◊〉 contradicts their Silence when they
because we have not those Gifts must we not be found in this Ordinance viz. to sing which is required in the New Testament we by the same Argument must lay all others aside likewise as the None-Churches have done from such a way of arguing as you use here the Lord deliver us But what you speak on this occasion doth not concern them that sing David's Psalms therefore if composed Hymns were not justified by God's Word as comprehended in Hymns and spiritual Songs Col. ● 16. then the Book of Psalms as our Brethren say are wholly intended and then they must be sung and them only but we see no reason so to believe Eusebiw speaks of the Christians singing of Hymns to Christ as to God in the first Century which shews it was the Practice of the Church in the Primitive Times to sing other Hymns besides those in the Book of Psalms As to Forms of Prayer the Lord hath left us a Form by which we are directed how to pray and so he has left us his Word and the Psalms of David that we may know how to compile our Hymns as well as our Sermons by the help and assistance of his Spirit there is no more a Form of Preaching left than there is a Form of Hymns and what tho Christians differ in their singing they also differ in their method or form of Preaching as much and your Argument say you what you will 〈◊〉 alike against the one as against the other But is it unlawful to premeditate what we design to ask of God in Prayer Have not some in Prayer and Fasting-days in Churches drawn 〈◊〉 several things as a Form of those Cases 〈◊〉 they agreed together to spread before the Lord and is this Form sinful think you But 〈◊〉 of this hereafter IV. Of Womens Singing Object You say Women ought not to sing in the Church because not suffered to speak in the Church and also because singing is teaching By the way then it appears the bare Melody in the Heart where you say is the Essence of Singing that is not Singing by your own Assertion Thus you destroy what you would build Answ But if Women may not speak nor ●●ach in no sense in the Church they must not be admitted to give an account of their Conversion in the Church or how God was pleased to work upon their Souls for that Practice is full of Teaching and Instruction and has been blessed to the Conversion of some other Persons that have been by But I will be at the pains to transcribe what worthy Mr. Cotton hath said to this Objection it appears others have brought it before you The second scruple about Singers is saith he whether Women may sing as well as Men for in this Point there be some deal with us as Pharaoh dealt with the Isr●●lites● who tho he was at first utterly unwilling that any of them should go to sacrifice 〈◊〉 the Lord in the Wilderness yet being 〈◊〉 length convinced that they must go then 〈◊〉 was content the Men should go but not 〈◊〉 Women Exod. 10. 11. So here some that were altogether against singing of Psalm●● at all with lively Voices yet being convinced that it is a Moral Worship of God warranted in Scripture then if there must be a singing one alone must sing not all 〈◊〉 if all the Men only and not the Women He then mentions your Objection to which he replies 1. One Answer saith he may at once remove both Scruples and withal clear the Truth it is apparent by the Scope and Context of both these Scriptures that a Woman is not permitted to speak in the Church 1. By way of teaching whether in expounding or applying Scripture for this the Apostle accounteth an Act of Authority which is unlawful for a Woman to usurp over the Man 1 Tim. 2. 13. And besides the Woman is more subject to Error than the Man ver 14. and therefore might sooner prove a Seducer if she became a Teacher 2. Yet nevertheless in two cases it is clear a Woman may speak in the Church ● In way of Subjection when she is to give account of her Offence thus Peter questioned Sapphira before the Church touching the price of Land sold by her and her Husband c. and she accordingly spake in the Church to give her Answer to the Question Acts 5. 8. 2. In way of singing forth the Praises of God together with the rest of the Congregation for 't is evident the Apostle layeth no greater restraint upon Women for silence in the Church than the Law put upon them before for so himself speaketh in the place alledged 1 Cor. 14. 34. it is not permited to a Woman to speak but to be under Subjection 〈◊〉 also saith the Law 2. The Apostle then requireth the same Subjection in the Woman which the Law put upon them Now it is certain the Law yea the Law-giver Moses did permit Miriam and the Women in the Song of Thansgiving to sing the Praises of God Sing ye to the Lord for he hath triumphed gloriously the Horse and his Rider hath he thrown into the Sea which may be a ground sufficient to justify the lawfulness of Womens singing together with the Men the Praises of the Lord and accordingly in the Primitive Churches it was the ancient Practice of Women to sing the publick Praises of the Lord we read recorded in the Ecclesiastical History Socrates Chap. 18 Greek Copy and Chap. 16. of the Latin Theodoret's third Book Chap. 17. Obj. But say you there is no Institution for Womens Singing Answ No need 't is a Moral Duty You may ask whether they are to praise God as well and demand a word of Institution for their Breaking of Bread with the Church for you know some demand a Proof for that V. Of the Order of Singing What need you talk of Order about Singing or of Womens Singing when the Essence of it being in the Heart is sufficient though the Act or Thing it self be never done But to proceed This you say we have plainly and clearly delivered to us 1 Cor. 14. 20 to 34. How is it then Brethren when ye come together every one of you hath a Psalm hath a Doctrine hath a Tongue hath an Interpretation let all things be done to edifying That which you infer from hence is that this is the Rule for our Practice viz. one by one or one after another must speak and exercise their Gifts and not all together and so he that has the Gift of a Psalm he is singly or alone by himself to sing as in Prayer and Preaching Answ The Apostle directs that Church in the exercise of extraordinary Gifts There was 't is clear confusion about the exercises of those Gifts in the Church of Corinth it seems this was their practice some times viz. Every one of them who had a Doctrine and that had a Psalm and so of the rest would come forth with them together May be many
For if he brought out a Psalm of David in an unknown Tongue who could sing with him But if he had been to sing alone the Melody might have refreshed those who sung not 〈◊〉 as some say they have been in hearing the French Protestants sing who understand not their Language But to prevent this the Apostle Paul resolved when he sung he would sing with the Spirit and with the Understanding also because 't is the Matter sung that is fruitful to the Understanding and what is the Melody without that Your third Reason or Argument is taken from that in Ephes 5. 18. Be ye filled with the Spirit speaking to your selves c. Answ Doth not the Apostle pray that God would ●ill all the Saints with Joy and Peace Rom. 15. 13. And pray that they might be filled with the Fruits of Righteousness Now singing flows from that Joy that all the Saints ought to labour after and also from the Fruits of Righteousness we have an equal need to be filled with the Spirit to pray to meditate to praise God and to preach and hear the Word as well as to sing Psalms and Hymns c. But you say pag. 18. That the Gifts of the Holy Spirit were not given alike to every Member of the Church Answ 'T is granted But doth it follow because some had the extraordinary Gift of the Spirit to pray must not the others who had not those Gifts no more than we have them now not pray at all Brother I am grieved to see how you are deceived and would ●eceive others But as they who had not the extraordinary Gift of the Spirit to pray were notwithstanding to pray so they who had not the extraordinary or special Gift to sing were nevertheless to sing the Praises of God What you speak pag. 18. about the diversity of Gifts but the same Spirit from 1 Cor. 12. is rather more against the performance of those other D●ties and Ordinances than Singing because Singing is not there mentioned But all that you say there has been answered already so is what you infer from Col. 3. 16. Ephes 5. 19. For to think the Apostle refers to the special Gift of Singing in those places is of a pernicious tendency for you may as well say the same of all other Precepts enjoined on the Churches and so free us from all Gospel-Obedience for want of such Gifts Why must not Spiritual Songs be allowed as well as Psalms and Hymns What do you mean in pag. 23 Brother you were better be silent till you can distinguish better between Psalms Hymns and Spiritual Songs and the manner of the bringing of them forth by a special Gift A Doctrine may be as Spiritual that is precomposed as that which was brought forth by a special Gift so may an Hymn or Spiritual Song though 't is by the ordinary Gifts or Help of the Spirit precomposed there cannot be an Hymn nor Spiritual Song without its Form but if it be a Spiritual Song it has a Spiritual Form The very word may convince yo● of your Error if the Song be taken out of Christ's Spiritual and Sacred Word the Form is Spiritual and if it be sung with a gracious Heart and Tongue 't is doubtless Spiritual Worship and acceptable to God I shall conclude this Section of yours with one honest and plain Argument That Assertion or Notion against Singing the Praises of God that hath a natural tendency in it to overthrow the practice of all Gospel-Ordinances as well as singing the Praises of God is a vile and pernicious Assertion or Notion But for a Man to assert the Saints and People of God now in these days ought not to sing Psalms Hymns and Spiritual Songs because we have not that special or extraordinary Gift of the Spirit to do it hath a natural tendency in it to overthrow the practice of all Gospel-Ordinances in these days Ergo. That Assertion is vile and pernicious The Major cannot be denyed the Minor I have abundantly proved in this Treatise In Sect. 4. You seem to Answer what we say about Singing being a moral Duty Which you say Is the refuge of some who cannot maintain their practice of formal Singing by Gospel-Institution Append. pag. 27. Answ You mistake we need no Gospel-Institution 't is as clear a Precept in these Scriptures Ephes 5. 19. Col. 3. 16. as any we have in the New-Testament But we say Singing the Praises of God is more than a mere positive Duty What you further say under this Head doth but betrary your own Ignorance about moral Precepts and needs no Answer I having fully explained it in this Tre●●●e Is it absurd and irrational for us to make the Moral Law or Light of Nature a Rule to exert the Worship of God see Append. p. 28. 'T is not so much the matter of Moral Duties as the manner of the performance of them that renders them Spiritual and for the more orderly and spiritual performance of such Duties that are in their own nature Moral they are brought under Gospel-institution as Prayer Preaching and Singing the Praises of God are and therefore all Moral Duties must be discharged by the help of the Spirit and with Grace in the Heart if accepted of God In pag. 33. of your Appendix you repeat your former Objection against Womens Singing in the Church because the Apostle saith he suffered not a Woman to teach nor usurp Authority over the Man but to be in silence So that Christ say you makes it an usurpation of Authority for a Woman to teach or to speak or any ways to break her Silence in the Church But then say you 't is objected These Scriptures that forbid Womens teaching and speaking in the Church do intend only that they should not be the Mouth of the Church as in Prayer and Doctrine c. To this Objection against your Exposition of these Scriptures you give your Answers 1. That such a sense as this we speak of is against the Letter of these Texts 2. By asserting that in Singing together there is Teaching Instruction and Admonition pag. 34. Answ This kind of arguing against Womens Singing we have all ready fully refuted but for the sake of our good Women and to detect this falsity I shall add a word or two further in way of Reply 'T is a hard case that Women should be debarred to speak in any sense or any ways to Break Silence in the Church as you affirm through a mistake of the Text. 1. For then they must not ask a Friend how he or she doth when in the Congregation 2. She must not be suffered to be an Evidence in the Church against any Offender in the case of Discipline 3. Then she must not ask where the Text is if she comes too late for that is in some sense a speaking and breaking Silence 4. Nor must she then say Amen at the close of Prayer for that 's a breaking Silence 5. Which is worst of
to Mr. Marlow's Appendix OTher ways to praise God than by singing of his Praises yet that is one way notwithstanding pag. 16. Dr. Owen is cited by Mr. Marlow to no purpose for his Cause p. 17. The direct and primary signification of Hymnos is to sing or they sung p. 18 19 20. Obj. Singing in the Primitive Days was by a special Gift Answered again pag. 21 25 26 27. Mr. Marlow has a bad Cause to plead appears by the Mediums he uses shewed in five things p. 22 23 24. Inward Joy Peace c. not the Fruit of the special Gifts but of the Graces of the Spirit p. 25 26. Fillings of the Spirit necessary for Saints in discharge of all Duties p. 29. Mr. Marlow's Arguing dangerous proved by one Argument p. 31. Obj. Women must not sing in the Church because they must not speak in the Church again answered p. 32 33 34 35. Women may speak several ways in the Church and sing too p. 33. Not for women to speak in the Church it is not to usurp Authority over the Man Singing not Teaching tho a Teaching in it p. 34. Women allowed to prophess in the Church p. 35. What Teaching is in Singing How all may be said to teach and yet all Hearers too p. 37 38. Mr. Marlow confounds Singing and Preaching together one while and Prayer and Singing at another p. 38. Mr. Marlow's Singing in the 1000 Years Reign examined And what Precepts the Saints shall have to sing then that do not impower us to sing now p. 38 39. Every word of a Sermon may be premeditated by the Spirit and yet be Spiritual and so may Hymns too p. 40. What Mr. Marlow says may lay Men under Temptation not to pray at all for want of a Gift p. 41 42. If we must not sing who have not a full assurance of God's Love we must not also rejoyce in God p. 42 43. We are come to such a Perfection of Divine Worship as to know what God's Ordinances are p. 45. One Note more worth observing on Eph. 5. 19. Col. 3. 16. p. 44. Obj. How shall we sing the Lord's Song in a strange Land answered p. 45 46. Singing a Moral Duty and more acceptable to God than Sacrifice or Mosaical Rites p. 44 45. The genuine and proper Signification of the word Hymnos and Mr. M's Citation of Dr. Owen examined by another Hand p. 48. Other Authors upon that Greek word examined and his Mistakes about it detected p. 49 50. to the end Reader before you read you are desired to correct these Faults that have escaped the Press PAge 27. last line blot out as the Hebrew word signifies P. 33. l. 22. for in r. to P. 64. l. 19. for with Miracles Gifts r. miraculous Gifts Appendix Pag. 19. lin 32. r. Is the Greek word there he hymned The Introduction IT cannot but be lamented to see what Temptations many Men have been laid under by the great Enemy of Truth in every Age of the World in their fierce opposition against one or another blessed Ordinance and Institution of Jesus Christ and this not only by bad Men but also by Men fearing God All which no doubt arises either from their Ignorance or else from that Prejudice there is in their Hearts against it from a fond Conceit that it can't be a Truth of Christ because they never looked upon it so to be nor some wiser than they nor are they willing to believe it to be a Truth since some who have not such Light and Knowledg in other blessed Truths do practise it as if because some Men who hold and maintain some gross Errors and Falsities can hold and practise no Truths at all whereas 't is evident the Church of Rome which is Mystical Babylon are sound in the Doctrine of the Trinity as far as I can gather and possibly in some other Points also For they believe the Resurrection of the Body and the Eternal Judgment and that Christ died without the Gate of Jerusalem but I am afraid some Men have a Fancy they know all the whole Mind of Christ and that they need not be taught any other Truths than those which they have received notwithstanding can't but know the Church is but newly come out of the Wilderness or Popish Darkness and not so fully neither as to be as clear as the Sun as in due time she shall Reformation 't is evident is a hard and ●●●ficult Work and ever was 't is no easy th●●g to restore lost Ordinances I mean such as have for many Years been neglected and strangely corrupted through that Antichristian Darkness that hath for so many Ages and Generations overspread the Earth which is manifest 〈◊〉 respect of Baptism and Imposition of Hands upon Baptized Believers as such One would even stand and wonder to see how many godly learned and good Men should be so dark as to maintain and that resolutely too that corrupt Practice of Pedo-Baptism or rather Rantism considering it hath not the least footing in the Word of God but is so directly contrary to the Nature and Constitution of a Gospel-Church and Administration of New-Testament-Ordinances But let not those of our own Perswasion much longer wonder at this since some of them seem as blind and dark in another Blessed Truth and Sacred Ordinance of the ever glorious God that hardly was ever opposed as by them but hath been generally owned in every Age of the Church and that by the most godly and enlightned Christians from the beginning of the World till of late days and not now neither but by some People of the Baptized Way and others who are against all Ordinances I must confess no Man through the Grace of God can be better satisfied touching the Truth of Baptism as practised by my Brethren than I am and of the true Order and Constitution of our Churches and soundness of their Faith in all the Fundamentals of Religion yet do I not think we have arrived to such a perfection of Knowledg of all practical Truths that we need not enquire after any thing which we may not yet have understan●ing in I must confess as one observes that the great Design of Satan is and always was to put a Cheat upon God's People as well as to hold the World in Blindness and Wickedness by the one saith he Satan holds Men in a state of Impenitency and by the other he deludes Christians to neglect their Duties and to obstruct their own Comfort and Priviledg He acts as well in the shape of an Angel of Light as of a Prince of Darkness stirring up vain Scruples and Objections especially in the Minds of weak Christians and filthy Imaginations in those who have not yet turned to God I must confess I my self when first God enlightned me into his Truth was an opposer of this Sacred Ordinance but it was not for want of Ignorance and partly through Prejudice perhaps to such who I esteem and even looked upon