Selected quad for the lemma: word_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
word_n	hymn_n	psalm_n	song_n	3,209	5	9.5347	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A63010	A sermon concerning vocal and instrumental musick in the church as it was delivered in the parish church of St. Andrew Undershaft, 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.	Towerson, Gabriel, 1635?-1697.	1696 (1696)	Wing T1974; ESTC R18086	14,209	32

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

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