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B04474
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Prelimited forms of praising God, vocally sung by all the church together, proved to be no gospel ordinance. In a sober discourse concerning singing. With a large appendix thereunto added, containing several things not treated of before; and wherein the case of singing is more fully opened and discussed in divers principal branches of it: greatly tending to the clearing and confirmation of the truth discoursed of in the former part. / By Isaac Marlow.
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Marlow, Isaac.
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1691
(1691)
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Wing M693A; ESTC R233424
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61,658
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128
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Secondly That no humane prescribed or precomposed Forms are to be used in Gospel-Prayer or Singing appears from the Ministration and Conveyance of the Spirit and Power by the Gospel First The Gospel conveys the Spirit as Paul saith Who also hath made us able Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit for the Letter killeth but the Spirit giveth Life or quickneth Here the Law is called the Letter and the Gospel Spirit not because the Law was not spiritual and the Gospel was not transcribed in the Letter but 1st Because the Law required perfect Obedience to the Letter on Pain of Eternal Death and the Gospel sincere Obedience through the Spirit 2dly Because the Legal Worship was more formal in the Letter than the Gospel-Ministration which is in Spirit For we are the Circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and have no Confidence in the Flesh viz. in the formal and carnal Ordinances of the Law and much less in the humane precomposed forms of Men. 3dly Because the Law did not minister nor convey the Spirit to us it commanded in the Letter but gave no spiritual Power to perform Obedience to it which the Gospel did by giving the Spirit with the Word Therefore the Apostle calls the Gospel the Law of the Spirit of Life Rom. 8.2 And it is not through the Works of the Law that we receive the Spirit nor minister the Spirit but through the hearing of Faith Gal. 3.2 5 14. And this agrees with that great Commission which Christ himself gave to his Disciples Go ye therefore and teach all Nations Lo Math. 28.19 20. I am with you always even to the End of the World Not only by his outward Providence which is over others as well as they but by his Spirit which shall abide with us for ever John 14.16 And the Prophet saith As for me this is my Covenant with them saith the Lord My Spirit that is upon thee and my Words which I have put in thy Mouth shall not depart out of thy Mouth nor out of the Mouth of thy Seed nor out of the Mouth of thy Seeds Seed saith the Lord from henceforth and for ever Here the Word and the Holy Spirit are conveyed throughout all Generations to the end of the World by the Covenant or Gospel of Jesus Christ And as none can say that the Words which the Lord had put in his Mouth were a humane prescribed form but as Christ himself saith John 6.63 The Words that I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are Life So the same Words proceeding from us by the same Spirit are Spirit in opposition to humane and legal forms which reject and deny the sufficient successive Gifts of the Spirit So that it is clearly manifest that the sufficient Gifts of the Holy Spirit do still remain and shall remain for the Service and Worship of God to the end of the World Secondly The Gospel doth minister and convey Power For where the Spirit is there will be Power The Apostle saith Ye have not received the Spirit of Bondage viz. of the Law again to fear Rom. 8.15 16. but ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father The Spirit gave a sufficient Power not only to the Apostles as such or to the Saints in Rome as partaking of the extraordinary Gifts of the Holy Spirit in that present Day but Gal. 4.6 Because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your Hearts crying Abba Father Here is the Reason of their Power because ye are Sons therefore all that are Sons according to the measure of the Spirit of Adoption which beareth Witness with our Spirits that we are the Children of God have Power to pray to God as to their Father 2 Tim. 1.7 For God hath not given us the Spirit of Fear but of Power and of Love and of a sound Mind 1 Cor. 4.19 20. And the Kingdom of God is not in Word but in Power There were some in the Church of Corinth that were puffed up in their Minds whose Speech the Apostle would not know or regard but the Power of Religion was that which he looked for and did expect to find amongst them because the Kingdom of God viz. his Gospel-Church is not in Word but in Power A humane prescribed Form is no Power and therefore is none of this Gospel-Kingdom Jude 19. These are they that separate themselves sensual having not the Spirit And the Apostle Paul prophesied of such a professing People that should arise in the last Days Having a form of Godliness 2 Tim. 3.5 but denying the Power thereof and from such we must turn away They had an outward Form of Godliness but not the inward Power contrary to true Godliness which hath its Form from the inward Power and Workings of the Holy Spirit with the Word Now it is no Wonder that this formal People deny the Power of Godliness for an invented Form and the Power are Opposites and are inconsistent with each other for if there be a spiritual Power it refuses and denies the invented Form for then there is no need of a prescribed nor pre-composed humane Form and if we use such a Form we deny the Power and reject the sufficient successive Gifts of the Holy Spirit by relying on that Form And so the Apostle argues that as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses so do these resist the Truth 2 Tim. 3.8 Men of corrupt Minds Reprobate concerning the Faith Thirdly Seeing that those Persons with whom I am chiefly concerned do not only oppose deny and refuse the Use of a humane prescribed and precomposed Form of Prayer but also of that Prayer which our Lord taught his Disciples of which they rightly say that it was but an Epitome of all Prayer and was never intended to confine Prayer to the Compass and Form of those Words For we find that none of those many Prayers in the New Testament were so limited but according to the State and Circumstances of Persons and things they made Supplication by the Holy Spirit and so must Singing also be left to the Liberty of the Holy Spirit of God And one might think that I need not use farther Arguments for their own Practice confutes their Error in Singing prescribed Forms and testifies the Truth I am pleading for for what Reason can be given for Forms of Singing when they deny all Forms of Prayer and how can they reject a Form of Prayer or the Form of Prayer which Christ hath left us in the New Testament while they maintain the use of a humane Form of Singing which is no where found in the Holy Scriptures IV. Of Womens Singing That Women ought neither to teach nor pray vocally in the Church of Christ is generally believed by all Orthodox Christians and is asserted from 1 Cor. 14.34 35. Let your Women keep silence in the Churches for it
the bringing in of a Form of Prayer for the same Arguments used for the one will serve to promote the other with this Advantage that we have a form of Prayer prescribed by Christ himself in the New Testament but none of Singing except what relates to those mysterious Prophecies in the Book of the Revelations which are no Rule for constant Singing But lest any weak Christians should from hence imagine that there is some ground for a vocal Praying together as the manner of some is I shall say something farther to demonstrate that this Prayer was not made by all the Church vocally together but by the Minister only as their Voice to God For the proper Signification of the words cannot be otherwise understood It is said they in the plural Number because not only the Minister but the whole Church did with one Accord and Agreement of Spirit lift up their Voice Gr. the Voice to God not Voices in the plural Number for then all did vocally pray together but Voice in the singular Number so that though many were of one Accord in Spirit yet they all had but one single Voice viz. of their Minister which they by Agreement of Spirit with him lifted up as their Mouth to God in Prayer And after this manner the Apostle proveth that the Promises made to Abraham's Seed Gal. 3.16 29. were made to Christ because they were made to Abraham and to his Seed in the singular Number And therefore if the Apostle proveth that the Promises were made to Christ from the Word Seed as of one in the singular Number there is as much Reason to assert that the Word Voice was put in the singular Number properly to explain that by one voice they expressed themselves to God in unanimous Prayer And we find that the Spirit of God useth the singular and plural Number not so much to follow the Grammatical Rules of humane Learning as to express and demonstrate the Truth to us as Gen. 1.1 See William Street in his dividing of the Hoof. Elohim Bara the Almighties he created which is significantly expressed for our learning that a Plurality of Divine Persons the Trinity in the Unity of Essence were concerned and wrought together in the Works of Creation So that these seeming Difficulties do not arise from any real Absurdities or Errors in the Holy Sriptures but from our Iguorance and want of Light to understand the Mysteries of God contained in them Sixth Objection is from Acts 16.25 And at Midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang Praises unto God and the Prisoners heard them Here also the word sang is not found in the Greek Tongue and the Word hymnos is to praise they prayed and praised God in Prayer so loud that the Prisoners heard them And as this could not be by a prescribed form for then we should deny them to have a sufficient Gift of the Holy Spirit so there is no Evidence that they prayed and praised vocally both together but while the one prayed and praised the other might only joyn in Spirit and so each of them might vocally pray and praise the Lord by turns Seventh Objection is from Eph. 5.19 See Ainsworths Annot on Psa 3. Speaking to Gr. in your selves in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs c. which three Words are three several sorts of Titles of Psalms taken out of the Book of Psalms viz. 1st in Heb. Mizmore Gr. Psalmos Hymns or Praise Psa 145. Songs Psa 30. Psalm 45. Psal 48.120 c. to Ps 134. Psalms on many other Psalms Engl. Psalm 2dly in Heb. Tehilla Gr. Hymnos Engl. Hymn or Praise 3dly Heb. Shir Gr. Ode Engl. Song or Lays which three Words are found in the Titles of these Psalms And some do say they signify three things or kinds of Songs viz. 1st Psalms the Psalms of David others all sorts of spiritual Songs to be sung with Musick 2dly Hymns for humane pre-composed Songs of Praise And 3dly Spiritual Songs from the immediate Inspiration of the Holy Spirit and as others say are Songs composed wherein are contained all sorts of spiritual Teachings And from hence they assert the Singing of David's Psalms and precomposed Hymns as well as spiritual Songs Answ 1. I think it is clear from the Scriptures that however the Words may differ the one to the other as to the Extent of their Significations yet they are used but for one manner of compounded Worship 1st For though the matter of a Song is so confined that it cannot be externally expressed without a humane Voice of Words yet the Tone or Tune may be expressed either by Voice though never used in the Worship of God without the matter or by musical Instruments both of which as they were used according to the Institution in the Old Testament-Worship were Praises or praising God sometimes both in matter and manner but at other times the matter not properly being Praises it consisted only in the manner of Delivery as Psalm 17 is call'd a Prayer of David and Psalm 50 was a mournful Prayer when Nathan came to David after he had gone in to Bathsheba but yet it was delivered to the chief Musician And so are Songs sometimes Praises and sometimes Prayers and Complainings Psalm 48 120 123 130. And the whole Book of Psalms though the matter of it is not all Praises but Prophecies mournful Prayers and Lamentations yet it is titled Tehillim Hymns or Praises because as all of it whether called Psalms Hymns or Songs were after the same manner composed by the infallible Inspiration of the Holy Spirit 1 Chron. 16.19 2 Chron. 29.27 28. 1 Chron. 16.5 6. ch 15.16 to 25. so they were many of them if not all alike delivered to the chief Musician and sung by melodious Voices and Instruments of Musick together which outward Glory and Grandeur suitable to that Temple-State was to the external Honour and Praise of the most high God 2 Chron. 29.25 26 30. Psal 4. Psalm 6. Psalm 48. Psal 120. Psal 123. Psal 130. Psal 145. whatever the matter of those Songs were And as the matter of those Songs differ not from the Titles of them but yet were alike composed and delivered for Temple-Worship So what spiritual Songs hath been or hereafter may appear in the Gospel-Church by the special Gift of the Holy Spirit though the matter may somewhat differ not from the Titles of them nor as those in Mourning and Lamentation yet they were and shall be composed and delivered alike by the Holy Spirit according to Gospel-Order 2. Those three Words Psalms Hymns and spiritual Songs cannot be understood of three different things in the New Testament from the different Extent of their Significations 1st Because no Old-Testament-Names do prove the Nature of New-Testament-Things as Circumcision Censer Incense Alter Sacrifice Passover City Jerusalem Temple are all things of a different Nature in the Old-Testament to what they are sometimes used for in the New So that