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<DATE>2009-11-28</DATE>
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<NAME>Alexis Jakobson</NAME>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>A SERIOUS ANSWER TO A Late BOOK, STILED, A REPLY to Mr. <HI>Robert Steed</HI>'s EPISTLE concerning SINGING.</P>
<P>WHEREIN The chief Scriptures and Arguments are examined, and the Weakne&s;s thereof &s;hewed.</P>
<P>TOGETHER With an ANSWER to the &s;everal Re|flections, and fal&s;e Charges, again&s;t both Churches and Per&s;ons.</P>
<P>Recommended to the Elders, Mini&s;ters, and Members of the Baptized Churches.</P>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Joh. 4.24.</HI></BIBL> God is a Spirit, and they that wor&s;hip him, mu&s;t wor&s;hip him in Spirit and Truth.</Q>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Jer. 20.10.</HI></BIBL> I heard the defaming of many; Report, &s;ay they, and we will report.</Q>
<P><HI>London,</HI> Printed in the Year, 1692.</P>
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<PB REF="2">
<PB N="3" REF="2">
<HEAD>To the Elders, Mini&s;ters and Mem|bers of the Baptized Churches throughout <HI>England</HI> and <HI>Wales.</HI></HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Beloved in our Lord;</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>IT is a great Truth, that as we are not to omit any thing in the Solemn Wor&s;hip of God that is of his Appointment; &s;o we are not to admit any thing that is not of his In&s;ti|tution, under any pretence what&s;oever to be intru|ded upon us. But it is greatly to be lamented that there is a pronene&s;s in Profe&s;&s;ors (except by Grace prevented) to turn a&s;ide from this Holy Rule, ei|ther through the Infirmity of the Fle&s;h, or the De|ception or Infection, which through Temptation they meet withal in the World, whereof there hath been and &s;till is continually &s;ad Experience. An In&s;tance whereof we have in the matter we have now to pre&s;ent to your &s;erious Con&s;ideration.</P>
<P>When it plea&s;ed the Lord in Times pa&s;t to in|lighten &s;ome gracious Holy Per&s;ons in that great Ordinance of Bapti&s;m, as it was commanded by our Lord and Saviour, and practi&s;ed by Him and his Apo&s;tles, and the Primitive Churches. And therefore to ca&s;t off Infants Sprinkling, which was &s;et up in the room of it as a Humane Invention. They were then al&s;o, on Scripture-Grounds, well weighed and &s;eriou&s;ly con&s;idered, convinced that
<PB N="4" REF="3">the common way of praying to God, or prai&s;ing of God (in what manner &s;oever it were performed) by a compo&s;ed Form (as u&s;ually then was, and &s;till is the Cu&s;tom of many Prote&s;tants) was not of Divine In&s;titution, and therefore to be rejected. And accordingly it was in tho&s;e Days laid a&s;ide by the Baptized Churches, whom the Lord then gra|ciou&s;ly and eminently owned by many &s;ignal To|kens of his Pre&s;ence among them. But now to our great Grief, &s;ome who&s;e Duty and Place it was to have &s;etled, and further to have e&s;tabli&s;hed the Churches in that Work of Reformation, are de|clined from it, a&s;&s;erting (with Heat and Confidence) that to &s;ing by a compo&s;ed Form, with a whole Multitude lifting up their Voices together, the Ig|norant and Profane, the Unbelievers or Unconver|ted with the Church-Members, is an Ordinance of our Lord Je&s;us; which they practi&s;e, and with vehe|ment Earne&s;tne&s;s are contending for: whereby the Peace and Edification of the Churches is hindred, and the Minds and Con&s;ciences of many gracious Souls perplexed and intangled. By this they are not only building again what hath been de&s;troyed, but thereby al&s;o there is plain Introduction unto a far|ther declining in Prayer, and others of the Holy Ordinances of our Ble&s;&s;ed Lord and Law-giver. This common or popular way of Singing they al&s;o with great endeavour are labouring to promote in all the Churches, by their publick pleading for it; by Preaching and Printing in the defence of it. And therein they not only vehemently contradict and oppo&s;e whatever is pre&s;ented by any from the Holy Scriptures, to deliver them or others from that Humane Invention which hath been &s;o long re|jected
<PB N="5" REF="3">by the Churches afore&s;aid; but they al&s;o take a licentious Liberty to reflect upon them that would hinder their de&s;ign in this matter; not only mo&s;t fal&s;ly a&s;per&s;ing them, but al&s;o uttering a mo&s;t fal&s;e Accu&s;ation and Slander again&s;t the Baptized Churches in their fir&s;t gathering, laying that to their Charge as a received Principle owned by them, which they had openly declared again&s;t to the whole World in their Confe&s;&s;ion of Faith, which was in tho&s;e Days Printed and Publi&s;hed; where|by they &s;tigmatize or brand them with the deepe&s;t Hypocri&s;y that depraved Mortals can be guilty of. The&s;e Things (which are matter of great Lamen|tation) are either evidently in&s;inuated, or plainly declared, in a late printed Tract concerning Sing|ing, in an&s;wer to a &s;mall Sheet publi&s;hed by Mr. <HI>R. Steed,</HI> which was intended chiefly for, and there|fore written by way of Epi&s;tle to that Church to which he is related; which by &s;ome Friends that had peru&s;ed it, was given al&s;o into the Hands of the Members of other Churches: wherein he only gives his under&s;tanding of what the Holy Scriptures &s;peak concerning that Subject, without mentioning or reflecting on any others that are of a contrary Mind. But Mr. <HI>Keach,</HI> who is the chief Promoter of this Controver&s;y, &s;o as to heighten it to a Con|tention, &s;aid, <HI>It mu&s;t be an&s;wered, and that he would an&s;wer it.</HI> And we do not que&s;tion on good grounds, but that he and Mr. <HI>Whinnel</HI> (by his In&s;tigation) joined together to contrive that An&s;wer which they have printed: Tho Mr. <HI>Keach,</HI> as we are informed, did &s;ay to &s;ome, that Mr. <HI>Wh.</HI> was not the Author of it. It's very probable that he was not the prin|cipal, but Mr. <HI>K.</HI> expects to have the greate&s;t Ho|nour
<PB N="6" REF="4">in due time of that Enterprize, as being the chiefe&s;t Contriver of it. But that their Book might pa&s;s with the greater Applau&s;e and Credit, it is in the beginning of it recommended by an Epi&s;tle as a very &s;ober An&s;wer, &s;ub&s;cribed with &s;everal Names at the Conclu&s;ion of it: Some of tho&s;e Per&s;ons, who&s;e Names are there &s;ub&s;cribed, are &s;uch as we have no Communion with, being &s;uch as are called Free-willers (or <HI>Arminians</HI>) holding a falling away from true Grace: And &s;ome others who&s;e Names are &s;et down, have profe&s;&s;ed that they did not &s;ub|&s;cribe it. And &s;ome that did give their con&s;ent, &s;ay, they had not done it, had it not been for Mr. <HI>Keach</HI>'s Importunity: And one of the chief of them &s;aith, that he never &s;aw the Epi&s;tle till after it was printed, to which his Hand was &s;ub&s;cribed. So that it's u&s;hered in with a gro&s;s Forgery in the beginning of it, as it is carried on with unchri&s;tian Reflections and fal&s;e Accu&s;ations, which certainly cannot con&s;i&s;t with Chri&s;tian Sobriety or common Hone&s;ty, whatever may be pretended. But Mr. <HI>Keach</HI> who knows how to take <HI>Refined Gold</HI> out of ano|ther Man's Mine or Lines, made ready to his Hand, and pre&s;ent it as his own finding, tho to the great prejudice of him who&s;e indeed it was, may know al&s;o how to take the Liberty to &s;ub&s;cribe o|ther Per&s;ons Names, tho without their Con&s;ent. The &s;erious Con&s;ideration of the&s;e Things, as they have been matter of Trouble and Sorrow to us, &s;o they have engaged &s;ome of us, who have hitherto been &s;ilent as to the&s;e things, now to appear for the Truth of our Lord again&s;t &s;uch Innovations. And therefore to endeavour that the Churches may not be abu&s;ed, nor their Members deceived by &s;uch
<PB N="7" REF="4">Artifices as the&s;e are. We do not intend to an|&s;wer every &s;eeming Argument and carping Cavil, or to take notice of every un&s;eeming Reflection contained in that printed Book of theirs: But &s;hall chiefly in&s;i&s;t on the main Pillars of their pretended Rea&s;ons, for that &s;ort of Singing which they would per&s;wade the Churches to entertain as an Ordi|nance of our Lord and Saviour: For if the Foun|dation fail, the Building cannot &s;tand. And we &s;hall return a Reply to &s;ome of the mo&s;t gro&s;s, mo&s;t fal&s;e and grievous Accu&s;ations and Reflections that are therein &s;o boldly vented; and &s;hall leave it with you in the fear of the Lord diligently and &s;e|riou&s;ly to con&s;ider, and to &s;earch the Scriptures, waiting for the Spirit of Truth to lead you into this as well as into all other Truths, that either concern your mo&s;t Holy Faith or Practice, whereby you may be pre&s;erved from turning a&s;ide to tho&s;e Hu|mane Traditions, from which you have been delive|red, which we de&s;ire and pray that the Lord may ble&s;s unto you for the&s;e gracious Ends before-mentioned.</P>
<P>That which we &s;hall endeavour (with as much plainne&s;s and brevity as the matter will bear) to lay before you, are the&s;e following Particulars.</P>
<P><HI>Fir&s;t,</HI> We &s;hall detect and an&s;wer to &s;ome of tho&s;e fal&s;e Reflections and Accu&s;ations ca&s;t upon us and the Baptized Churches, which are contain'd in Mr. <HI>Whinnel</HI>'s Epi&s;tle, and in the Book it &s;elf.</P>
<P><HI>Secondly,</HI> We &s;hall manife&s;t the weakne&s;s of the Foundation on which they build their Practice of common or popular Singing, which will be appa|rent by an Impartial Examination of the&s;e follow|ing Enquiries.</P>
<P N="1"><PB N="8" REF="5">1. Whether Singing to the Prai&s;e of God, accor|ding to the Phra&s;e or Expre&s;&s;ion of it in the Holy Scriptures, be to be re&s;trained, or only is to be un|der&s;tood of uttering the Prai&s;e due to the mo&s;t High God by a Mu&s;ical melodious Modulation, or tuning of the Voice, as they are plea&s;ed to de&s;cribe it.</P>
<P N="2">2. Whether Singing to the Prai&s;e of God, (ac|cording to the direction given us by our Lord in the New Te&s;tament) is to be performed by a compo&s;ed &s;tinted Form, by a whole mixt Multitude, with the Church-Members in the &s;olemn A&s;&s;embly of the Church, lifting up their Voices together in Con&s;ort.</P>
<P N="3">3. Whether tho&s;e Scriptures, <HI>Col.</HI> 3.16. <HI>Eph.</HI> 5.19. do command or ju&s;tify &s;uch a &s;ort of popular Sing|ing in or by the Church as afore&s;aid, which they &s;o earne&s;tly contend for.</P>
<P N="4">4. Whether that Hymn &s;poken of, <HI>Mat.</HI> 26.30. and <HI>Mark</HI> 14.26. or the Hymning, or (as it is tran&s;lated) the Singing the Prai&s;e of God by <HI>Paul</HI> and <HI>Silas, Acts</HI> 16.25. do further ju&s;tify that Practice which they plead for. And,</P>
<P><HI>Fir&s;t,</HI> Concerning their Reflections on us, or Ac|cu&s;ations again&s;t us; we find Mr. <HI>Whinnel</HI> in&s;inua|ting in the beginning of his Epi&s;tle, as if Cu&s;tom, not Con&s;cience, did hinder us from joining with them in their way of Singing.</P>
<P>To which we an&s;wer; <HI>Fir&s;t,</HI> That it is a very unbecoming Cen&s;ure, in which there is not the lea&s;t Grain of Truth or Charity exerci&s;ed by him: The &s;ame ra&s;h and unju&s;t Judgment may as well be gi|ven again&s;t him and others, for not conforming to the Common Prayer or the Liturgy of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> by tho&s;e that are zealous for it: which we &s;uppo&s;e he would reckon to be a very fal&s;e and a very uncharitable Cen&s;ure.</P>
<P><PB N="9" REF="5"><HI>Secondly,</HI> We do declare to him and to all Men&punc; That the Lord knows it is not Cu&s;tom, or a long di&s;u&s;e or neglect of it, that makes us aver&s;e to that Practice of theirs; But Judgment and Con&s;ci|ence, knowing on a deliberate and &s;erious Con&s;ide|ration, that it hath no more Foundation from any Precept or Example of our Lord Je&s;us or his Apo|&s;tles to warrant it, than common &s;et Form of Prayer hath. In which we are the more confirmed by the weakne&s;s of the Arguments, which by them and o|thers are produced for the Ju&s;tification of it.</P>
<P>But <HI>Secondly,</HI> He doth po&s;itively affirm in that Epi&s;tle, <Q>That they had no mind to have pub|li&s;hed their Thoughts to the World, or to have troubled the Churches with any Di&s;&s;ertations a|bout it; but endeavoured to have a Friendly Debate with their Brethren who were conven'd to con&s;ult the Churches Welfare: But that their endeavours therein were ob&s;tructed by the Op|po&s;ers <HI>(viz. of that common way of Singing.)</HI> And that &s;oon after &s;ome of them from an im|prudent Zeal, not only openly oppo&s;ed it, but took to them&s;elves a lawle&s;s Liberty to calumni|ate tho&s;e who endeavoured the re&s;toration of it, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></Q></P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> To all this bold Calumny we an&s;wer, that we believe he cannot prove any part of it to be true: It is a very fal&s;e Suggection, which is ut|tered either from a fal&s;e Information or great For|getfulne&s;s, or from a &s;inful Contrivance.</P>
<P>For fir&s;t; Whereas he &s;aith, they had no mind to have publi&s;h'd their Thoughts about it, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> but that they were ob&s;tructed in their De&s;ires and Attempts to have a friendly Debate, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> We
<PB N="10" REF="6">reply; What was the rea&s;on that before any Per|&s;on, that was contrary-minded to that Practice of theirs, had &s;aid or printed any thing publickly a|gain&s;t it, that this Opinion of theirs concerning Singing, was preach'd up, and frequently and vehe|mently pre&s;t by &s;everal of them in variety of A&s;&s;em|blies; and a&s;&s;erted in Print, to the view of all Men, by Mr. <HI>Keach,</HI> in his Treati&s;e call'd <HI>Gold Refin'd,</HI> and in his great Book of Scripture Tropes and Me|taphors; and by Mr. <HI>H. C.</HI> in a &s;elect Treati&s;e on that Subject, though with more Sobriety than any we have &s;een &s;ince, that hath been publi&s;hed on that Controver&s;y by any of them? Had they no mind to publi&s;h their Di&s;&s;ertations about it? Was their publick Preaching and publick Printing for it, again&s;t their Minds; which was done by them before any Per&s;on did openly contradict them in it? Who can believe it? And all this before there was any motion or mention of a friendly Debate about it that we know of; neither as yet, do we know of any &s;uch Motion &s;eriou&s;ly made, except it were for a Liberty to introduce it by a major Vote in a Church of Chri&s;t, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> which was long after they had endeavoured to promote it by their Endeavours afore&s;aid. If we were blame-worthy in this matter, it was in being &s;o long &s;ilent, wher<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"> by they took the opportunity to leaven &s;o many hone&s;t Souls, and to beguile &s;o many Churches (i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"> their Number be &s;o many as they boa&s;t of) with this irregular Doctrine and Practice; hereby it was that to &s;uch a heigth of Confidence Mr. <HI>Keach</HI> was come, (who makes Breaches more than he repairs any) that when one did but once preach on that Subject of Singing in the Church to which he be|longs
<PB N="11" REF="6">on a Lord's Day, far enough off from Mr. <HI>Keach</HI>'s Congregation; becau&s;e he did it not ac|cording to his Sentiments, he coming the next day or &s;hortly after, in much affection to vi&s;it him, Mr. <HI>Keach</HI> (having heard of his Preaching, as be|fore mention'd) immediately falls upon him, as &s;oon as ever he came into Mr. <HI>Keach</HI>'s Hou&s;e, with a mo&s;t &s;evere and very uncivil pa&s;&s;ionate Reprimand, for daring to preach after that manner, contrary to his Judgment; as if he had the preheminence o|ver all. But when Mr. <HI>Marlow</HI> did but endeavour to manife&s;t the Weakne&s;s of Mr. <HI>Keach</HI>'s Argu|ments for common Singing, which he publickly de|livered in his Meeting-hou&s;e, not on a Lord's Day, but on a &s;elect lei&s;ure-Time when he was like to have the Company of many Per&s;ons of &s;everal Churches, a Time &s;et apart yearly by him to preach up that with other Doctrines, on purpo&s;e contriv'd to influence all the Churches (e&s;pecially in the City) with that Will-wor&s;hip or Practice, O what a Clamour and Exclamation is there made again&s;t Mr. <HI>M.</HI> for it, by him and others of the &s;ame Per&s;wa&s;ion with him! So that it plainly appears they had not a mind to be &s;ilent, as Mr. <HI>Wh.</HI> fal&s;ly &s;ugge&s;ts they had, but to publi&s;h all they could, by all manner of ways, for the propagating of this Opinion; and to controul all with a high imperious Hand, that &s;hould &s;tand in their way, or offer any contradiction to their De&s;ign. They had no mind to have their Arguments examined; they would indeed have none to &s;peak but them|&s;elves.</P>
<P>Secondly; Whereas he &s;aith they de&s;ired a friendly Debate with their Brethren, but were
<PB N="12" REF="7">ob&s;tructed by the Oppo&s;ers, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> In this al&s;o we mu&s;t charitably reckon, that he is very forgetful. For he was pre&s;ent at the General-Meeting of the Me&s;&s;engers, when he with others of them, were proffer'd a time for a friendly Conference on that Subject whenever they would de&s;ire it. Only it was by the unanimous Con&s;ent of the whole A&s;|&s;embly agreed, that it was not expedient to have the Controver&s;y argued among them at that time, becau&s;e it would unavoidably ob&s;truct them in the Bu&s;ine&s;s they came about, which was for the general Good of all the Churches. Indeed at the la&s;t General Meeting, Mr. <HI>Whinnel</HI> did craftily and &s;urreptitiou&s;ly, in Combination with others, on the la&s;t Day of that A&s;&s;embly, when the mo&s;t part of the Country-Me&s;&s;engers were gone home, and ma|ny of the Me&s;&s;engers of the Churches in the City ab&s;ent, a Time intended only for them that re|mained, to put in order what had been agreed on in the former days of their A&s;&s;embling, that it might be pre&s;ented to the Churches; then did he pre&s;ent &s;omething to be debated concerning Per|&s;ons retaining their Communion with a Church; whereof they were Members, though the Practice of common Singing were, contrary to their de|clared Judgments and Con&s;ciences, &s;et up in it. Which being then &s;o un&s;ea&s;onably pre&s;ented in the Ab&s;ence of the greater part of the A&s;&s;embly, it was witne&s;&s;ed again&s;t by many then pre&s;ent, as that which was not fit to be debated at that time; it &s;avouring more of a politick Contrivance than of Hone&s;ty and Candor. So that we are confident he cannot produce any time wherein a Debate of the Matter in difference, was ob&s;tructed or op|po&s;ed,
<PB N="13" REF="7">when there was a convenient opportunity for it.</P>
<P>La&s;tly; Whereas he accu&s;eth tho&s;e that differ from him in this matter, for taking a lawle&s;s Li|berty to calumniate Per&s;ons with their Way of Singing. We an&s;wer; We know not, nor ever heard of any that did take &s;uch a &s;inful Liberty to calumniate any on that account: it mu&s;t lie at their own doors. For when Mr. <HI>Marlow</HI> printed his fir&s;t little Tract about Singing, in an&s;wer to what Mr. <HI>Keach</HI> had publickly preach'd for the proof of it, at the time afore&s;aid, forthwith four or five of them appear in Print again&s;t him with great Vehemency and Zeal, though with very weak Arguments; and &s;ome of them with many bitter and untoward Reflections. Mr. <HI>Keach</HI> falls upon him in a publick Hou&s;e with great Pa&s;&s;ion, with|out any Provocation given him by Mr. <HI>Marlow,</HI> except his an&s;wering his Arguments for common Singing. One Sheet among the re&s;t was printed and publi&s;hed by Per&s;ons that would not, or were a&s;hamed, to write their Names at length, which was a piece, as we may call it, of Raillery, where there was little el&s;e but the uncivil Abu&s;ing of Mr. <HI>M.</HI> which to render him the more infamous, was publickly tendered to Per&s;ons in &s;ome of the Baptized Churches in the City of <HI>London.</HI></P>
<P>Which if Mr. <HI>K.</HI> was not the In&s;tigator and Contriver, yet it is well known that he did pro|mote the Publi&s;hing of it. But we need go no fur|ther than the peru&s;al of this Book, printed in an|&s;wer to Mr. <HI>Steed.</HI> Surely it laid upon them no nece&s;&s;ity to an&s;wer it, as Mr. <HI>Wh.</HI> would &s;ugge&s;t. For he writ it for the Church to which he belongs:
<PB N="14" REF="8">They cannot &s;ay he calumniated or reflected up|on any of them, or medled with any of their Books. And the le&s;s need had they to write, if it be true, or that they believe what they &s;ay (<HI>pag.</HI> 3.) of their Reply, That all his Arguments were fully an&s;wered in their former Books before that Epi&s;tle was printed. Why then if it were &s;o, they needed but to refer him and others to tho&s;e Books, and &s;et down the Pages where tho&s;e An&s;wers were to be found, and never have troubled them&s;elves to write, or others to read their needle&s;s and tedious Repetitions. But what, was it a Crime in their Eyes, that the Members of other Churches had the &s;ight of it? Mu&s;t nothing be &s;een or read by others but what they will allow of, without &s;u&s;taining the penalty of their Contradiction, Reflection and Ca|lumny? He gave no publick notice of it in an Ob|&s;ervator for the whole Nation to know it? But if they did think in con&s;cience they mu&s;t an&s;wer his Arguments, could it not be done without &s;uch untoward Reflections and Accu&s;ations? There's &s;carce a Leaf wherein there be not &s;ome unto|ward Slurs or other in&s;erted. Sometimes he is rendred by them a Promoter of Enthu&s;ia&s;m and the Notions of the <HI>Seekers,</HI> or an Upholder of the Way of the <HI>Quakers,</HI> with other &s;uch like Inve|ctives. Some of their Expre&s;&s;ions &s;eem more lik<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"> un&s;avoury Jears and Scoffs than a &s;ober Reply<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"> though interlarded with the Titles of <HI>Honour'd and Dear Brother,</HI> which may be in&s;erted as a covering for their uncivil treating of him, or as Oil upon the Sacrifice to make the Fire of their In|dignation to pierce the deeper. But what do &s;uch cau&s;le&s;s Reflections, or &s;uch groundle&s;s Accu&s;ati|ons
<PB N="15" REF="8">&s;erve for? certainly, for nothing but Exa&s;pe|ration, or to manife&s;t unmortifi'd Pride and Pa&s;|&s;ion. The Lord grant that if Mr. <HI>Th. Wh.</HI> or Mr. <HI>K.</HI> print any more Epi&s;tles or Books, they may put on more Sobriety, Truth and Candor, than they have in this: Which we mention, be|cau&s;e he and Mr. <HI>Keach</HI> in that Book, do threaten and boa&s;t that they will examine or an&s;wer every Treati&s;e that &s;hall come out to hinder their De&s;ign in this matter. Which Threatning of theirs we tru&s;t, by the Grace of God, will quicken us to be &s;o much the more diligent to defend the Truth of Chri&s;t in this matter; and not to give the lea&s;t place to them in this Controver&s;y by &s;ilence, as we have formerly done. For as we are bold to &s;ay, that Mr. <HI>Whinnel</HI> hath mo&s;t fal&s;ly accu&s;ed us, to &s;ay that any of us have taken a lawle&s;s Liberty to ca|lumniate Per&s;ons that would endeavour to &s;et up this &s;ort of Singing in the Churches: So we do as boldly, in the fear of the Lord, declare that the Way of common Singing, which they contend for, is after the Rudiments of the World, after the Traditions of Men, but not after Chri&s;t. It is their lawle&s;s Liberty they take thus to accu&s;e and repre&s;ent us without cau&s;e, in this Epi&s;tle and the like, that hath nece&s;&s;itated us for Truth's &s;ake, that <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word"> may not &s;uffer by &s;uch fal&s;e Reports, to declare <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">uch things concerning &s;ome of them, which other|wi&s;e we &s;hould have buried in oblivion.</P>
<P>But it was not enough, it &s;eems, that we &s;hould be thus &s;candalou&s;ly repre&s;ented by Mr. <HI>Wh.</HI> in the E|pi&s;tle, that did not give a &s;ufficient vent to their Indignation, when we look into the Book, where we might expect nothing but An&s;wers to his Argu|ments,
<PB N="16" REF="9">there al&s;o (as we &s;aid before) we mu&s;t be exerci&s;ed with the reading their needle&s;s, cau&s;e|le&s;s Reflections on Mr. <HI>Steed;</HI> and with their mo&s;t fal&s;e &s;landering of the Baptized Churches in their fir&s;t gathering. We &s;hall &s;ay little to their taunt|ing Reflections again&s;t him, or their imperious treating of him, in their An&s;wer to him: Only whereas they impertinently &s;ay, that Mr. <HI>Knowles</HI> preach'd up the Singing they, plead for in the Forenoon, and that he preach'd again&s;t it in the Afternoon: We, upon enquiry of the Members of that Church (that were pre&s;ent at that time in the A&s;&s;embly) find it to be utterly fal&s;e, a meer In|vention put into the Head of &s;ome unwary Per&s;on to vent, which Mr. <HI>Wh.</HI> and Mr. <HI>Keach</HI> greedily take up to proclaim without Mode&s;ty, Sobriety or Verity; on which we may with great cau&s;e u&s;e their own exclaiming Expre&s;&s;ion, <HI>Sad Ca&s;e!</HI></P>
<P>But it is not with Mr. <HI>Steed</HI> only that they thus deal; but they exhibit a very grievous and a very fal&s;e Charge again&s;t tho&s;e of the &s;ame Profe&s;&s;ion, that were more ancient in it than the Authors of this Reply, who vent this Scandal, or any of tho&s;e that by their Epi&s;tle have commended the &s;ame. When tho&s;e ancient Brethren were convinced of their duty, That Believers, upon Confe&s;&s;ion of their Faith, were the only Subjects of Bapti&s;m, and ac|cordingly, &s;ate down together in Communion as a Congregation or Church of Chri&s;t; and many in the Nation began to enquire into the truth thereof, they met with many har&s;h Cen&s;ures and fal&s;e Charges ca&s;t upon them to make the Truth of Chri&s;t contemptible, (<HI>viz.</HI>) That they were corrupt in the Doctrines of the Go&s;pel; That
<PB N="17" REF="9">they denied Subjection to Magi&s;tates; that they held, that to maintain Mini&s;ters was Antichri&s;ti|an, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> They to clear them&s;elves, and to take off tho&s;e fal&s;e Charges, did think it their duty to pub|li&s;h to the Nation a Confe&s;&s;ion of their Faith; which when drawn up, was read in the Churches, being then &s;even in number; and con&s;ented to by all the Members, not one di&s;&s;enting, and &s;ub|&s;cribed by two of each Church in the name of the re&s;t. Which Confe&s;&s;ion of Faith was five times printed in that year 1644, and from that, to the year 1651, without the lea&s;t alteration of any one Article of what was fir&s;t printed: which Confe&s;&s;i|on gave &s;uch general Satisfaction to mo&s;t Chri&s;ti|ans of all &s;orts of differing Per&s;wa&s;ions from us, that it took off from many that Prejudice and Of|fence that was formerly taken by them again&s;t our Profe&s;&s;ion. What the Judgment of tho&s;e Churches <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word"> their fir&s;t Con&s;titution, was, concerning the Maintenance of Mini&s;ters, may be &s;een in the 38th Article, in the&s;e words, <HI>We do believe that the du<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"> Maintenance of Mini&s;ters &s;hould be the free and voluntary Communication of the Church: That ac|cording to Chri&s;t's Ordinance, they that preach the Go&s;pel, &s;hould live on the Go&s;pel,</HI> &amp;c. And accord|ly they did then, and we have ever &s;ince made it our Practice, as a Duty required of all the Mem|bers of the Church that are able to give. True it <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">s, that our Churches &s;ince the fir&s;t, have not been filled with many of them that have the Riches of this World, (<HI>the Poor receive the Go&s;pel.</HI>) But this we can &s;ay with comfort, and appeal to the Lord herein, That according to our Abilities, we have given to the Maintenance of our Mini&s;ters; nor have any had any ju&s;t cau&s;e to complain to
<PB N="18" REF="10">the contrary (that we know of); although it hath been, and is our trouble, that we have not been able to make &s;o great a Provi&s;ion for them as we de&s;ire. Herein we would be under&s;tood in this, that we now a&s;&s;ert concerning the Churches, that we mean principally as they were in the beginning: And we do find, to our great Grief, that which was then fal&s;ly charg'd upon us by tho&s;e that did not know us, is now as fal&s;ly (with a far greater Aggravation of their Sin) charg'd upon us by &s;ome of us, who might have &s;atisfied them&s;elves, had they peru&s;ed our Confe&s;&s;ion of Faith. But either they were willingly ignorant, or negligent in enquiring, but re&s;olv'd to calumniate; and therefore in the 9th <HI>Page</HI> of the &s;aid Book, they charge us with the &s;ame things, in the&s;e words, <Q>It is a Que&s;tion whether the &s;aid Baptized Churches in tho&s;e times, did not as unanimou&s;ly conclude and declare too, that for a Go&s;pel-Mi|ni&s;try to have a yearly Allowance, or a compe|tent Maintenance, was a humane Invention or Anti-chri&s;tian. We &s;peak (&s;ay they) in part upon our own Knowledg, and by good Infor|mation we have had from others.</Q></P>
<P>To this Charge we an&s;wer, That nothing can be more fal&s;ly a&s;&s;erted, or more &s;landerou&s;ly utte|red: For if this their Charge have the lea&s;t &s;ha|dow of Truth again&s;t the Baptized Churches in their fir&s;t beginning here in <HI>England;</HI> they mu&s;t needs be the gro&s;&s;e&s;t fort of Hypocrites, in pro|fe&s;&s;ing the contrary by their Profe&s;&s;ion of Faith, and yet believing and practi&s;ing quite otherwi&s;e to what they &s;olemnly profe&s;&s;ed as their Faith in that matter. And we believe they cannot give one true In&s;tance that any Church of the Bap|ti&s;ts,
<PB N="19" REF="10">that are &s;ound in the Faith, ever did in the lea&s;t conclude or declare again&s;t a competent Maintenance for a Go&s;pel-Mini&s;try, as a humane Invention or Anti-chri&s;tian, &s;ince tho&s;e times. To conclude, as to this matter concerning their unworthy Reflections and fal&s;e Accu&s;ations, (tho we might in&s;tance in mo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word"> one &s;ort or other in that Book) we mu&s;t declare that we do won|der that any Per&s;ons, profe&s;&s;ing Piety, would com|mend that Book as a &s;ober Di&s;cour&s;e, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="4 letters">out any Limitation or Exception, again&s;t <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word"> gro&s;s and ful&s;om Slanders, which with &s;o much Confidence are delivered, whatever their Judgments be con|cerning the Controver&s;y about Singing. Moreo|ver, We hope the Baptized Churches, their El|ders, Mini&s;ters and Members, do hereby, at lea&s;t, &s;ee great cau&s;e to &s;u&s;pect, and to be very cautious in believing that Spirit that would per&s;wade them to the way of common or popular Singing, which would make way for its Entertainment, by &s;uch notorious Fal&s;hoods and abominable Slanders, which were certainly devi&s;ed by the Father of Lies, thereby to offend or &s;tumble the Weak, tho otherwi&s;e hone&s;t and well-meaning.</P>
<P>Having now an&s;wered to &s;ome of their unrigh|teous and &s;candalous Reflections, we &s;hall endea|vour (as the Lord &s;hall enable us) to manife&s;t the Weakne&s;s of the main Pillars of their A&s;&s;ertion con|cerning the Singing before mention'd: For we &s;hall not &s;pend our time to an&s;wer every Particu|lar in that Treati&s;e, (the Weakne&s;s whereof is mo&s;t evident to any that will but take any &s;erious notice of it) it would be very tire&s;om and altoge|ther needle&s;s.</P>
<P><PB N="20" REF="11" MS="y">Fir&s;t then, we &s;hall enquire whether Singing to the Prai&s;e of God, according to the Expre&s;&s;ion of it in the Holy Scriptures, be to be re&s;trained, or is only meant of declaring tho&s;e Prai&s;es by a Mu&s;ical Melodious tunable Voice.</P>
<P>To which we an&s;wer, That Singing or Uttering the Prai&s;e of God, are convertible Terms, ac|cording to the Language of the Holy Scriptures: As for in&s;tance, <HI>Cant.</HI> 2.12. <HI>The time of the &s;inging of Birds is come,</HI> &amp;c. that, as able Interpreters tell us, is meant, that a Rejoicing or Prai&s;ing-time is come. Deut. 32.44. <HI>And</HI> Mo&s;es <HI>&s;pake all the words of that Song unto the People;</HI> and in <HI>v.</HI> 43. it's &s;aid, <HI>Rejoice, O ye Nations, with his People:</HI> which is el&s;e|where called Singing, and &s;ometimes Shouting. Doubtle&s;s there was never a greater Song of Prai&s;e uttered to the Honour of Chri&s;t, than that <HI>Luk.</HI> 19.37, 38. when the Di&s;ciples rejoiced and prai|&s;ed God for all the mighty Works which they had &s;een; Saying, not Singing, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed be he that cometh in the Name of the Lord: Peace in Heaven, and Glory in the Highe&s;t.</HI> That Mu&s;ick uttered by them with their Voices, made more Melody than any compo|&s;ed Songs that can be &s;ung in Metre. And as Mr. <HI>Caryl</HI> tells us upon that Scripture, It was Mu&s;ick the <HI>Phari&s;ees</HI> did not like, but would have them rebu|ked for &s;o doing.</P>
<P><HI>Obj.</HI> It is indeed frequently and earne&s;tly pleaded by the Authors of that Book, That Singing or Song bears that Acceptation of a Mu&s;ical Melody with the Voice among&s;t all Mankind.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> To which we an&s;wer, That if it hath plea&s;ed the Spirit of the Lord in the Holy Scrip|tures, to make u&s;e of tho&s;e words in another &s;en&s;e, what have we to &s;ay to it, or dare any that are
<PB N="21" REF="11">truly pious to contradict it? That Singing is in the Old Te&s;tament as well as in the New, u&s;ed in a Metaphorical Sen&s;e, is apparent: As where Singing to the Prai&s;e of God is a&s;cribed to ina|nimate Creatures as well as to others. See <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 65.13. <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 49.13. <HI>Jer.</HI> 12. So <HI>Job</HI> 38.7. if we take the Morning-Stars for the Angels, as &s;ome do, they need not the faculty of Speech; or, as others, take the words for the whole Creation in their re&s;pective Kinds; then the word <HI>Sing</HI> mu&s;t be ta|ken figuratively, even for their Prai&s;ing their Great Creator by ways &s;utable to their &s;everal Natures; however, a Suppo&s;ition to the contrary would be highly ridiculous. So in like manner in the New Te&s;tament; as for in&s;tance, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 14.15. where it appears, that Singing and giving of Thanks be convertible Terms. But e&s;pecially we de&s;ire it may be con&s;idered &s;eriou&s;ly what may be the meaning of the Mind of God in that Scripture, <HI>Heb.</HI> 2.12. <HI>I will declare thy Name unto my Bre|thren; in the mid&s;t of the Congregation will I &s;ing Prai&s;e to thee.</HI> This Text was a Prophecy of Chri&s;t our Saviour, quoted from <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 22.22. For the o|pening of which, we &s;hall repeat the Expo&s;ition that the excellent Per&s;on Dr. <HI>Owen</HI> gives of it, as followeth;</P>
<Q><P>Fir&s;t, <HI>What</HI> Chri&s;t will moreover do; <HI>He will &s;ing Prai&s;es unto God.</HI> And,</P>
<P>Secondly, <HI>Where</HI> he will do it; In <HI>the mid&s;t of the Congregation.</HI></P></Q>
<P><Q>The Expre&s;&s;ion of both the&s;e is accommo|dated to the Declaration of <HI>God's Name,</HI> and and <HI>Prai&s;ing of him in the Temple.</HI> The <HI>&s;inging of Hymns</HI> of Prai&s;e unto God in the great Congre|gation, was <HI>then</HI> a principal part of his Wor&s;hip.
<PB N="22" REF="12">And in the fir&s;t Expre&s;&s;ion, two Things are ob&s;ervable; (1.) What Chri&s;t undertakes to do, that is, to <HI>prai&s;e God.</HI> Now this is only Exegetical of what went before. He would <HI>prai&s;e God</HI> by <HI>declaring his Name.</HI> There is no way whereby the Prai&s;e of God may be celebrated, like that of <HI>declaring his Grace,</HI> Goodne&s;s, and Love unto Men, <HI>&amp;c.</HI>&mdash; (2.) The <HI>Chearful|ne&s;s and Alacrity</HI> of the Spirit of Chri&s;t in this Work, he would do it as with <HI>Joy and Singing;</HI> with &s;uch a frame of Heart, as was required in them, who were to <HI>&s;ing the Prai&s;es of God</HI> in the great A&s;&s;emblies in the Temple. (3.) Where would he do this, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>in the mid&s;t of the Congregation;</HI> the great Congregation, as he calls it, <HI>v.</HI> 25. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word"> is, the great A&s;&s;embly of the People in the Temple. And this was a Type of the whole Church of the Elect under the <HI>New Te&s;ta|ment.</HI> The Lord Chri&s;t in his <HI>own Per&s;on,</HI> by <HI>his Spirit, in his Apo&s;tles,</HI> and his Word, by all his Me&s;&s;engers unto the end of the World, &s;etting forth the Love, Grace, Goodne&s;s and Mercy of God in him the Mediator, &s;ets forth <HI>the Prai&s;e of God in the mid&s;t of the Congregation.</HI> I &s;hall only add, that whereas <HI>&s;inging of Hymns unto God</HI> was an e&s;pecial part of the in&s;tituted Wor&s;hip un|der the Old Te&s;tament, to who&s;e U&s;e the&s;e Ex|pre&s;&s;ions are accommodated; it is evident that the Lord Chri&s;t hath eminently &s;et forth <HI>this Prai&s;e of God</HI> in his In&s;titution of Wor&s;hip un|der the New Te&s;tament, wherein God will ever be glorified and prai&s;ed. This was that which the Lord Chri&s;t engaged to do upon the I&s;&s;ue of his Sufferings; and we may propo&s;e it unto our Example and In&s;truction.</Q> Thus Dr. <HI>Owen</HI> on
<PB N="23" REF="12">that Text, <HI>Pag.</HI> 256. And again on the &s;ame Text, <HI>Pag.</HI> 258. <Q>Moreover, the Lord Chri&s;t by declaring, that he will <HI>&s;et forth the Prai&s;e of God</HI> in the Church, manife&s;ts what is the <HI>Duty</HI> of the Church it &s;elf; namely, to <HI>prai&s;e God</HI> for the Work of his Love and Grace, in our Re|demption by Chri&s;t Je&s;us. This he promi&s;eth to go before them in; and what he leads them unto, is by them to be per&s;i&s;ted in. This is in|deed the very end of <HI>gathering the Church,</HI> and of all the Duties that are performed therein, and thereby. The Church is called unto the <HI>Glory of the Grace of God, Eph.</HI> 1.6. that it may be &s;et forth in them, and by them. This is the end of the In&s;titution of all Ordinances of Wor|&s;hip in the Church, <HI>Eph.</HI> 3.8, 9, 10. and in them they &s;et forth the <HI>Prai&s;es of God</HI> unto Men and Angels; this is the Tendency of <HI>Prayer,</HI> the Work of <HI>Faith,</HI> and the Fruit of <HI>Obedience.</HI> It is a fond Imagination which &s;ome have fallen upon, that God is not <HI>prai&s;ed</HI> in the Church for the Work of Redemption, unle&s;s it be done by Words and <HI>Hymns</HI> particularly expre&s;&s;ing it. All <HI>Praying,</HI> all <HI>Preaching,</HI> all Admini&s;tration of Ordinances, all our Faith, all our Obedience if ordered aright, are nothing but giving Glory to God, for his Love and Grace in Chri&s;t Je&s;us in a due and acceptable manner. And this is that which ought to be in our De&s;ign in all our Wor&s;hip of God; e&s;pecially in what we per|form in the Church. To <HI>&s;et forth his Prai&s;e,</HI> to <HI>declare his Name,</HI> to give Glory to him by be|lieving, and the Profe&s;&s;ion of our Faith, is the end of all we do.</Q> Thus we have the Te&s;timo|ny of that worthy Per&s;on, that Singing to the
<PB N="24" REF="13">Prai&s;e of God, is not to be re&s;trained, according to the Scripture, to a Mu&s;ical, Melodious, Tunable Voice.</P>
<P>But further, we judg it worthy to be ob&s;erved, and &s;eriou&s;ly con&s;idered, the Mind of God con|cerning that Singing mention'd, <HI>Rev.</HI> 14.2, 3. <HI>I heard a Voice from Heaven, as a Voice of many Waters,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>and they &s;ung as it were a new Song be|fore the Throne,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P><HI>Note;</HI> Fir&s;t, it could not be a Song prepar'd in Meeter, or any of the Songs mention'd in the Old Te&s;tament. Becau&s;e,</P>
<P>Secondly, It was a Song they only could learn that were redeemed from the Earth.</P>
<P>Thirdly, This they did with Harpers harping: The Meaning of which, as Learned <HI>Forbes</HI> tells us, was the Hearts of the Redeemed Ones.</P>
<P>Fourthly, The Matter and Sub&s;tance is ther<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"> expre&s;&s;ed: And Learned <HI>Mede,</HI> by this Song, tells us, the whole My&s;tery of Evangelical Wor&s;hip is in it contained. And <HI>Brightman</HI> on <HI>Rev.</HI> 15.2. tells us, that <HI>Dru&s;ius</HI> on that Place &s;aith, they are called the Harps of God, becau&s;e God &s;endeth the Joy of his Spirit into their Hearts, wherewith they may be able to give God his due Prai&s;e. And by this Song of the Lamb, &s;aith <HI>Brightman,</HI> is meant that whereof mention was made, <HI>Rev.</HI> 14.3. where|in they do magnify God the Father for the Grace of their Adoption in Chri&s;t. The Joy of their Heart is called a Song by a Metonymy, the effect ari&s;eth out of Faith in the Righteou&s;ne&s;s of Chri&s;t, whereby we feel the fatherly Love wherewith God doth imbrace us; which Song hath been al|ways &s;ung by the Saints in all Ages.</P>
<P><PB N="25" REF="13">So that whereas they tell us, where-ever Singing is mention'd in Scripture, it mu&s;t be under&s;tood with a tunable Voice; it appears they did not con|&s;ider the&s;e and &s;uch like Scriptures. We &s;hall on|ly mention one more, <HI>Job</HI> 29.13. <HI>I cau&s;ed the Wi|dow's Heart to &s;ing for joy;</HI> whereby it appears there is Heart-&s;inging as well as by Expre&s;&s;ion in Meeter with the Tongue. In which Text, it appears that Joy and Singing are convertible Terms.</P>
<P>From all which, and many other Scriptures that might be quoted or alledged, it evidently appears, that Singing to the Prai&s;e of God is not to be re|&s;trained to a melodious tunable Voice, in the direct &s;tated &s;olemn Prai&s;ing of God in his Church: And that there are Prai&s;es &s;ung to God (in the Language of the Scripture) in Praying and Prai|&s;ing, and in all the Admini&s;tration of Holy Ordi|nances, when there is no tunable or mu&s;ical Voice heard among them; as appears from what hath been mention'd from <HI>Heb.</HI> 2.12. Which we &s;hall further make evident by the&s;e following Con&s;i|derations.</P>
<P><HI>Fir&s;t,</HI> We may conclude it to be a certain Truth, that no &s;ober Per&s;on will deny that the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, wherewith our Ble&s;&s;ed Lord fur|ni&s;h'd his Church upon his A&s;cen&s;ion, to be com|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">leat and &s;ufficient for the fitting of his People <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">nto every good Word and Work, for every part of his Wor&s;hip; <HI>Eph.</HI> 4.8, 11, 12, 13. yet there we find no Singing-Ma&s;ters appointed; which would have been ab&s;olutely nece&s;&s;ary, if mu&s;ical or tunable Singing with the Voice, was a Go&s;pel-Ordinance. The Old-Te&s;tament-Church had &s;uch as taught to &s;ing Prai&s;e, 1 <HI>Chr.</HI> 25.7. 2 <HI>Chr.</HI> 25.13. which if the New-Te&s;tament-Church had
<PB N="26" REF="14">needed, we may rea&s;onably judg or conclude &s;he &s;hould have had them to a higher Degree than the former. For the Wor&s;hip pre&s;cribed in the Go&s;pel, ought to exceed that under the Law; therefore if Mu&s;ical Singing be that which is now required, then the be&s;t Voices in Singing do mo&s;t acceptably perform that Duty to God, at lea&s;t in the outward part of it: and therefore it would be ab&s;olutely nece&s;&s;ary that all Chri&s;tians, both Men and Women, &s;hould learn from &s;uch as can teach them, to elevate their Voices and Tunes in the highe&s;t Strain: Seeing they call this an Ordi|nance of the New Te&s;tament, and that no other can be called Singing, though Per&s;ons with never &s;o great a Sen&s;e of the Maje&s;ty of God, and of their Mercies received, with the greate&s;t &s;piritual Melody and Inlargement of Heart utter his Prai&s;e; but no &s;uch Gifts being given, nor any &s;uch Art required, we may &s;afely conclude, it is not a Go|&s;pel-Ordinance.</P>
<P><HI>Secondly,</HI> If Mu&s;ical &s;inging with the Voice be a Go&s;pel-Ordinance, as they a&s;&s;ert, then a&s;&s;uredly the Songs of Prai&s;e recorded in the New Te&s;tament, would have been written in Greek Ver&s;e, as an ex|ample for others to have followed them in their Language: But that it is otherwi&s;e, is manife&s;t to all that can read the Greek Te&s;tament. Moreove<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">&punc; It is not &s;aid that tho&s;e that uttered tho&s;e Songs, d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters"> it with a Mu&s;ical tunable Voice; but only that they &s;pake after a &s;olemn and audible manner tho&s;e Prai&s;es: As may be &s;een from the Song of the ble&s;|&s;ed Virgin <HI>Mary,</HI> to tho&s;e mention'd in the <HI>Revela|tions.</HI></P>
<P><HI>La&s;tly,</HI> Whereas they frequently &s;ay, that we admit or allow of no &s;inging Prai&s;e to, or prai&s;ing
<PB N="27" REF="14">of God in the Church, but what is in Prayer.</P>
<P>We an&s;wer; We are indeed for prai&s;ing of God with our Supplications to him for Mercy: But if the Holy Spirit fills any that are qualified for the Ad|mini&s;trations of his Hou&s;e, with the Joy of the Lord, and &s;o with the matter of Prai&s;e; &s;uch may expre&s;s it (without mentioning any Petitions) with a &s;o|lemn, chearful, audible Voice, as the Spirit of the Lord may give Utterance, either with or without a tunable Voice, to the Glory of God, and Refre&s;h|ing of others: Which is &s;inging Prai&s;e in the New-Te&s;tament Language, whereunto they have not, nor can they prove, that according to the Scripture-Dialect afore&s;aid, a mu&s;ical tunable Voice is e&s;&s;en|tial. We &s;hall now come to the &s;econd Enquiry, which is as followeth.</P>
<P><HI>Quer.</HI> 2. Whether &s;inging the Prai&s;e of God in the Church of Chri&s;t, ought to be by a compo&s;ed Form, by the whole Multitude a&s;&s;embled, Profe&s;|&s;ors with the Profane or Ignorant; or the Church-Members of all &s;orts lifting up their Voices toge|ther in Con&s;ort?</P>
<P>In an&s;wer to this Que&s;tion, that we may the more di&s;tinctly re&s;olve it, we &s;hall divide it into &s;everal Branches or Particulars, and &s;peak to them &s;everally. Namely,</P>
<P><HI>Fir&s;t,</HI> We &s;hall con&s;ider whether &s;inging the Prai&s;e of God in the Church of Chri&s;t, may be performed by a compo&s;ed &s;tinted Form?</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> 1. In an&s;wer to which, we de&s;ire it may be remembred, that the In&s;titutions left by our Lord Je&s;us in the Go&s;pel, as they are very plain, &s;o they are more Spiritual, and require more of the Spirit than under the Law; therefore we have a more plentiful effu&s;ion of the Spirit promi&s;ed: It
<PB N="28" REF="15">being a State of more Grace, as well as of more Truth. Therefore our ble&s;&s;ed Lord and Saviour, as he procured by his Death, &s;o by his Re&s;urrecti|on and A&s;cen&s;ion, he &s;ent his Holy Spirit unto us, to fit us for the Wor&s;hip of God, that we might have more intimate Conver&s;e with him, in the Ob|&s;ervation of what he hath commanded, <HI>Mat.</HI> 28.19.</P>
<P N="2">2. In the great Go&s;pel-Duties of Prayer and Prai&s;ing God, he hath graciou&s;ly promi&s;ed the a&s;&s;i|&s;tance of the Holy Spirit, both what to pray for, as well as how we are to pray; Rom. 8.26. <HI>For we know not what to pray for as we ought; but the Spirit it &s;elf maketh Interce&s;&s;ion for us.</HI> Where we ob&s;erve, that which re&s;pects the manner and frame of Heart in Prayer, re&s;pects al&s;o the matter of Prayer. In|deed we are poor Worms, and know not how to order our Cau&s;e before him, unle&s;s we are a&s;&s;i&s;ted both in Matter (in the time of Wor&s;hip) as well as Manner. And as it is in Prayer, &s;o is it in Prai&s;es, which Duty ought certainly to be as &s;piritually per|formed as Prayer; and we need as great a&s;&s;i&s;tance of the Holy Spirit to Prai&s;e, as to Pray. But if Go&s;pel-&s;inging the Prai&s;e of God, be with a Mu&s;i|cal Voice, and the Form before compo&s;ed in Ver&s;e, then we know what to prai&s;e God for: The Mini|&s;ter, or &s;ome one, brings that Matter compo&s;ed in writing, or in print, in his Pocket; and then what need will there be of the Spirit of God to help us what to pray for?</P>
<P N="3">3. But if it be objected, that we ought before|hand to con&s;ider the Mercies we have received.</P>
<P>We readily grant it; and do affirm, that al&s;o in Prayer we ought to con&s;ider our Wants, to beg Supplies; and our Sins, to beg Pardon: But al&s;o in pre&s;enting them before the Lord, we need the A&s;&s;i|&s;tance
<PB N="29" REF="15">of the Spirit to order our very Reque&s;ts be|fore him. And that it's the Experience of every Servant of God, that in Prayer to God, and in Prai&s;es of God, their Hearts are inlarged in matter far beyond the Preparations of matter in either of tho&s;e Holy Exerci&s;es. This is one of the mo&s;t pregnant Arguments u&s;ed again&s;t &s;tinted Forms of Prayer, by tho&s;e Mini&s;ters that &s;o do; even that it is a &s;tinting the Spirit of God in that Duty; as al&s;o contrary to the ble&s;&s;ed De&s;ign of the Lord Chri&s;t in his A&s;cen&s;ion, mentioned <HI>Eph.</HI> 4.8. And therefore we cannot &s;ee but it mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily fol|low, but that if a &s;et-Form of Prai&s;es, compo&s;ed and brought into the Church in the publick Wor|&s;hip of God, is lawful, or as an In&s;titution appoin|ted by him; then certainly a &s;et-Form of Prayer ought to be provided al&s;o, as a part of the publick Wor&s;hip of God, for the Peoples Prayers. And tertainly, would they but &s;eriou&s;ly con&s;ider their own Arguments that per&s;wade them to be again&s;t &s;et-form Prayer, the &s;ame would con&s;ute their No|tions again&s;t &s;et-form Singing, if indeed they be again&s;t &s;et-form Prayer. For they that can &s;o ve|hemently plead in that Book for reading Songs of Prai&s;e, and for reading Sermons, and call it Preach|ing in the Church; why &s;hould they not be for reading Prayers there al&s;o? e&s;pecially when their Arguments for both are for the mo&s;t part the very &s;ame that others urge for &s;et-form Prayer. As for what they mo&s;t impertinently alledg for their Vin|dication in this Matter, from the Song of <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> and the Hymn mentioned <HI>Mat.</HI> 26.30. with <HI>Col.</HI> 3.16. they will be con&s;idered in their due place.</P>
<P><HI>Secondly,</HI> We &s;hall enquire, whether for a mixed Multitude, Profe&s;&s;ors and Pro&s;ane, Believers and
<PB N="30" REF="16">Unbelievers, to &s;ing in Con&s;ort in the Church, be an Ordinance of our Lord Je&s;us, according to his New-Te&s;tament-In&s;titution.</P>
<P N="1">1. We de&s;ire it may be &s;eriou&s;ly con&s;idered that there is not the lea&s;t mention of it in the New Te|&s;tament, by any Precept or Example, wherein we are directed in the Wor&s;hip of God. Certainly if our Lord Je&s;us was mo&s;t faithful in the Hou&s;e of God, and if his Apo&s;tles did faithfully declare the whole Coun&s;el of God to the Churches, then they would not have failed to have declared this al&s;o: So that it is purely a Humane Invention, without any &s;hadow of ground for it in the Scriptures before mentioned, which are the only Rule to guide us in the &s;olemn in&s;tituted Wor&s;hip of God in his Church. If this Arguments hold good again&s;t the common Practice of Infants Sprinkling (called Bap|ti&s;m) as undoubtedly it doth; then it doth al&s;o as evidently prove that this way of common Singing is a Tradition of Men, and not an Ordinance of our Lord Je&s;us.</P>
<P N="2">2. As there is not the lea&s;t mention of it, as afore|&s;aid, &s;o it is directly contrary to what our Lord Je&s;us hath plainly declared, both as to the Qualifi|cation of the Wor&s;hippers, as well as to the manner of Wor&s;hip in Go&s;pel-Times; Joh. 4.23. <HI>The true Wor&s;hippers &s;hall wor&s;hip the Father in Spirit and i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"> Truth, &amp;c.</HI> Can the Unbelievers, the Ignorant&punc; and the Profane, thus wor&s;hip the Father? are they thus qualified? or are they capable &s;o to do? So that this Practice of theirs is a plain Contradiction to the Will of our Lord and Law-giver, in that Affair of Solemn Wor&s;hip, which therefore ought to be rejected by all the upright in Heart.</P>
<P N="3"><PB N="31" REF="16">3. Hereby there is an Opportunity given them to make, or to &s;peak a Lie before the Lord, to take his Name in vain, while they &s;peak that which they do not under&s;tand, and utter that as the frame of their Hearts which they do not receive in their Minds, nor can they know them, or truly affect them, while they remain in an unconverted E&s;tate, becau&s;e they are &s;piritually di&s;cerned. Now to be acce&s;&s;ary unto, or to promote &s;uch a Tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion in the &s;olemn Wor&s;hip of God, which they una|voidably do who &s;et up this common way of Sing|ing, is a Practice that cannot be ju&s;tified. There is more to be added to &s;hew the great Irregularity of this common Practice, which mu&s;t be referred to its proper place.</P>
<P><HI>Object.</HI> But they object, That we admit them to be pre&s;ent, and to join with their Hearts in our publick Prayers, which is as much, or more than lifting up their Voices in &s;inging in the Church.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> To which we reply; That it is true we do admit them at the time of Prayer and Preaching to be pre&s;ent, and &s;o we can and do to the Specta|tors and Hearers, when we partake of the Lord's Supper: not knowing by what means the Lord may work upon them, or give them Repentance unto Life. But that which is affirmed, that they join with us with their Hearts in Prayer, is no true A&s;|&s;ertion: They do not &s;o join with us, becau&s;e they cannot. For the Holy Spirit, who knows the Hearts of all Men, plainly tells us, that Per&s;ons while Unbelievers and Unconverted cannot &s;o do, as is mo&s;t evident from that Scripture, <HI>Rom.</HI> 10.14. <HI>How can they call on him, on whom they have not belie|ved?</HI></P>
<P><PB N="32" REF="17"><HI>Object.</HI> But they &s;ay, Some have been converted by their Singing; for P&s;alms are full of In&s;tructi|on, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> 1. We grant that P&s;alms are full of Admo|nition and In&s;truction: but we deny that the Mu&s;i|cal Tunes do in&s;truct, but the Matter it &s;elf that is &s;ung. And if it be Matter it &s;elf that doth only in|&s;truct, as you would &s;eem to acknowledg, then it is not Mu&s;ick, but the Matter.</P>
<P N="2">2. Tho &s;ome &s;hould be converted by their Mu&s;i|cal Singing, yet it cannot be a Rule to judg that way of Singing to be an in&s;tituted Ordinance of Chri&s;t in the Church. Some we know have decla|red they have been converted by the hearing of Common Prayer; yet we &s;uppo&s;e they will not therefore acknowledg that Common Prayer is an in&s;tituted Ordinance of Chri&s;t. Al&s;o &s;ome have profe&s;&s;ed that they have been converted by parta|king of the Sacrament in the way of the Nation : And thereupon, it is not many Years &s;ince &s;everal Learned Men imployed their Wits in writing large Treati&s;es to prove it to be a converting Ordinanc<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters"> And therefore, that all without Exception ought to be admitted to it. But we do &s;uppo&s;e it is not their Judgment,</P>
<P><HI>Object.</HI> They again pretend they do not join w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="3 letters"> Unbelievers, but Unbelievers with them, in th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters"> Work.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> 1. Then by this poor Excu&s;e, if Unbelie|vers will come and partake with them at the Lord's Supper, of the Bread and the Wine, they may permit them &s;o to do, and pretend that they do not join with Unbelievers in that Ordinance, but they with them: And &s;o quickly bring the World and the Church into One; that is, Chri&s;t and <HI>Be|lial</HI>
<PB N="33" REF="17">to have Communion together, unto which this Practice and the Rea&s;on for it have a direct Ten|dency.</P>
<P N="2">2. If they plead for this Practice as lawful, as that which is a converting Ordinance, as that which is warranted by the Word of God: Cer|tainly they do more than permit, they do admit and call them to it.</P>
<P><HI>Object.</HI> But it is further and earne&s;tly urgeds that it is a natural Duty that all without exception are enjoined to do.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> 1. We grant that Wor&s;hip was due to God by the Light of Nature: And &s;ay further, that Spiritual Wor&s;hip was due from Man as his Creature, ina&s;much as God is a Spirit; but the outward Means of that Wor&s;hip, what would be acceptable unto God, was not known by the Light of Nature. This was only known by po&s;itive In&s;ti|tution, and depended not on the Law of Creation. <HI>Adam</HI> in Innocency knew that God was to be wor|&s;hipped, yet by Nature he did not know by what outward Acts he was to pay this to his Creator: This depended on the Direction of God, as the Sovereign Lawgiver &s;hould pre&s;cribe. And there|fore we find the po&s;itive In&s;titution of the Tree of Knowledg of Good and Evil, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> The Pillars upon which the Wor&s;hip of God &s;tands, cannot be known but by Revelation.</P>
<P N="2">2. We &s;ay, that as God alone knows how, and by what means him&s;elf will be wor&s;hipped; &s;o it is not in the Power of Men or Angels to pre&s;cribe Wor&s;hip to his Creature; and that it is an in|trenchment upon his Soveraignty for any &s;o to do: Man being to ob&s;erve what&s;oever he, and he only, hath commanded.</P>
<P N="3"><PB N="34" REF="18">3. It is evident that in all the in&s;tituted Wor&s;hip that God hath pre&s;cribed, it is with all Plainne&s;s both in Matter and Manner. And that God hath always done, even in the fir&s;t In&s;titution God gave to <HI>Adam,</HI> not to eat of the forbidden Fruit: It was with that plainne&s;s and clearne&s;s, that no Objecti|on could be made by him in his di&s;obeying the Command of God. Al&s;o in all the Tabernacle and Temple-Wor&s;hip, every particular direction thereunto, to the very Pin in the Tabernacle, was given to them, that they might not vary from, without Sin. And therefore the lea&s;t Addition or Detraction from it, was &s;everely puni&s;hed by God. And now it is much more plain under the Go&s;pel-Admini&s;tration, tho more Spiritual. And the Wor|&s;hippers that are admitted to perform or celebrate it in his Church, are required even in the outward part, both as to their Qualifications and Exerci&s;e, to be more Spiritual than under the Law.</P>
<P N="4">4. Therefore tho the Obligation to wor&s;hip is natural, and that it is to be performed with the highe&s;t Reverence and Affection concreated with Man: yet the whole of external Wor&s;hip is po&s;itive, and depends upon In&s;titution. Nature is &s;ilent therein, otherwi&s;e than as it regulates, with re&s;pect to Conveniency and Decency, in common with o|ther actions, in matters of le&s;s moment than Wor|&s;hip, to wit, Marriage and Meats. Man was cre|ated with an In&s;tinct for Nutrition and Procreati|on, but was directed unto the means and manner of both by In&s;titution. So in the pre&s;ent Ca&s;e, that God is to be honoured and prai&s;ed, is an in|nate Principle; but the means how, or which way, or by whom it is to be manag'd in his Church, depends only on his Soveraign Will and Plea&s;ure
<PB N="35" REF="18">declared in his Word: Which that he will be thus wor&s;hipped by a mix'd Multitude lifting up their Voices together in Mu&s;ical Singing, he hath no where declared in his New Te&s;tament: and therefore, the pretence of proving it from its be|ing a natural Wor&s;hip, falls to the ground, having not the lea&s;t weight in it to ju&s;tify &s;uch a Practice.</P>
<P><HI>Obj.</HI> It is further argued by them, That <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and the Children of <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> that were a mix'd Multitude, &s;ung by a compo&s;ed Form; therefore we ought to do &s;o now.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> 1. We de&s;ire it may be &s;eriou&s;ly con|&s;idered that this alledged of the Song of <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> belongs to the Old-Te&s;tament-Di&s;pen&s;ation; un|to which we now in Go&s;pel-times are not to have recour&s;e to direct us in the po&s;itive Part of Wor|&s;hip; we mu&s;t therein hearken to the Son, and not to the Servant. We may as well argue (as many do) from the Children of <HI>I&s;rael</HI>'s, with their Off|&s;pring, being, as the Apo&s;tle &s;aith, all baptized unto <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> in the Cloud and in the Sea, for the Bapti&s;m of Infants now; and &s;o in like manner from Circumci&s;ion: as to conclude from their manner of Singing to &s;uch a manner now.</P>
<P N="2">2. It is plain that it was an extraordinary Song on an extraordinary Occa&s;ion, that we do not find was enjoined to be &s;ung afterwards in their Ta|bernacle or Temple-Wor&s;hip: Nor do we find that ever the whole Congregation were afterwards to &s;ing in Con&s;ort, or with all their Voices together; which they cannot deny. Therefore if it were not admitted for a con&s;tant Practice then, nor any &s;uch thing commanded by our Lord Je&s;us &s;ince to his Go&s;pel-Churches, we may wonder with
<PB N="36" REF="19">what &s;hadow of pretence they &s;hould alledg it to ju&s;tify &s;uch a kind of Singing now. They have only this poor &s;orry Eva&s;ion concerning their not Singing afterwards &s;o in con&s;ort together, That the <HI>Levites,</HI> the Singers, &s;ung together; and there|fore all may now &s;ing together: which is a &s;trange way of fallacious Arguing, ea&s;ily to be &s;een and exploded by all. But con&s;ider, tho&s;e <HI>Levites,</HI> or Singers, had a po&s;itive Direction from the Lord &s;o to do. Let them produce &s;uch a Command from the Lord Je&s;us, our Lord and Law-giver, for his Churches now, and the Controver&s;y will be ended.</P>
<P N="3">3. If the manner of &s;inging the Song of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> be a Pattern for us now, then mu&s;t the Women &s;ing by them&s;elves with Mu&s;ick and Dancing, a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"> they did then, <HI>Exod.</HI> 15.20. There cannot be t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters"> lea&s;t rea&s;on given, but if one be admitted, &s;o m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="3 letters"> the other, if it be a directing Example for <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word"> Go&s;pel-times.</P>
<P N="4">4. Though it be &s;aid <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;ung, and the Chil|dren of <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> yet it doth not nece&s;&s;arily follow that they all lifted up their Voices together: It is very improbable, if not impo&s;&s;ible, for 600000 to &s;ing together; nor could Copies of it be &s;udden|ly di&s;per&s;ed among them all to learn it: but ra|ther that there was &s;ome other way where <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word"> through the direction of the Lord, the Song <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word"> manag'd, wherein they might all join, though <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word"> all lift up their Voices at one time. But however, &s;uppo&s;ing they did &s;o, yet it &s;ignifies nothing in the lea&s;t to prove it a New-Te&s;tament-In&s;titution. And it is an Argument &s;o manife&s;tly weak and impertinent, that we may wonder it &s;hould be mention'd as a Proof to warrant their Practice;
<PB N="37" REF="19">but any Pretence &s;hall &s;erve the turn when Per&s;on are re&s;olv'd for a human Tradition.</P>
<P><HI>Thirdly;</HI> The next and la&s;t Branch of this gene|ral Enquiry to be con&s;idered, is, Whether it be en|joined by our Lord Je&s;us as a Go&s;pel-Ordinance, for all the Members of a Church, both Men and Women, to &s;ing a compo&s;ed Form read to them, by li&s;ting up their Voices together?</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> 1. To this we &s;ay, That having already manife&s;ted that a compo&s;ed Form of praying to, or prai&s;ing of God, doth not comport with that A&s;&s;i&s;tance of the Holy Spirit promi&s;ed not only to a&s;&s;i&s;t us in our Preparation for &s;uch &s;olemn Exer|ci&s;es, but al&s;o to help us both as to Matter and Manner in the very time of that &s;acred Work; and therefore, to be rely'd upon and expected by all that de&s;ire &s;piritually to wor&s;hip him, accor|ding to the New-Te&s;tament-Direction and Di&s;|pen&s;ation; and therefore not &s;utable, but contrary to the De&s;ign of our Lord in his A&s;cen&s;ion, &s;poken of <HI>Eph.</HI> 4.8. Therefore we &s;hall &s;ay no more to it now, but refer the Reader to what was before de|clared; neither can there be any true &s;olid Rea&s;on given, why if the Members of a Church of Chri&s;t may have a compo&s;ed Form of Prai&s;es written and read to them to &s;ing, why may they not have a compo&s;ed Form of Prayer read to them al&s;o, for them audibly to repeat over, as the manner of &s;ome is?</P>
<P N="2">2. All the Members may not lift up their Voi|ces together, becau&s;e the Women are expre&s;ly forbidden to teach, or &s;o to &s;peak in the Church: Singing being for Teaching, as hereafter will be declared. Neither doth the Holy Spirit except this exerci&s;e of Singing with their Voices, as if they
<PB N="38" REF="20">were therein allowed: Had this Liberty been granted, or this as a Duty enjoyned them, there's no que&s;tion but the Apo&s;tles, who faithfully de|liver'd the whole Coun&s;el of God, would have de|clared it; and for any to make Exceptions where the Lord hath made none, is to be adding to his Word, or to be partial in his Law.</P>
<P><HI>Obj.</HI> But they alledg, to ju&s;tify this Practice, that <HI>Miriam</HI> and <HI>Deborah</HI> &s;ung in the Congrega|tion.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> 1. We de&s;ire it may be remark'd how they are &s;till con&s;trained to fly to Old-Te&s;tament-In&s;tances, to ju&s;tify their popular Way of Singing; they having not the lea&s;t ground for it in the New Te&s;tament. But herein, how manife&s;tly do they &s;trengthen the Hands of them that are for Infants Bapti&s;m, who fetch their &s;tronge&s;t Arguments from the Old-Te&s;tament-In&s;tances and Practices to prove it. Which way of Arguing, if it be al|lowed of, how &s;oon will the Wor&s;hip of God, ac|cording to the Go&s;pel, be perverted or changed from its Primitive Purity in all re&s;pects.</P>
<P N="2">2. It is plain, as hath been declared, <HI>Exod.</HI> 15.20. that <HI>Miriam</HI> and the Women did not &s;ing with the Men: they &s;ung by them&s;elves with Timbrels and Dancing. If that Example be authentick to ju&s;tify Womens Singing now, then it mu&s;t be by them|&s;elves with Mu&s;ick and Dancing; which as yet they dare not plead for now to be practi&s;ed. As for <HI>Deborah,</HI> her Song was by an extraordinary In|&s;piration; and it appears by the manner of her expre&s;&s;ing it, that &s;he &s;pake it or &s;ung it alone; though <HI>Baruch</HI> might join with her in Spirit: nei|ther is there the lea&s;t Intimation in the Scripture that &s;he &s;ang in the Congregation. But what a
<PB N="39" REF="20">pitiful irrational Argument is this; becau&s;e a Wo|man, extraordinarily call'd and in&s;pir'd, uttered or &s;ung a Song by that extraordinary In&s;piration, on an extraordinary occa&s;ion; therefore all the Women in a Church may ordinarily, though un|der no &s;uch In&s;piration, &s;ing a compo&s;ed Song of another's making, though they have no direction for it in the Word of the Lord, but are rather commanded and enjoined to be &s;ilent there. Surely it is a bad Cau&s;e that cannot be &s;upported or pleaded for, but by &s;uch incoherent groundle&s;s Inferences as the&s;e, which they might be a&s;hamed to publi&s;h.</P>
<P N="3">3. We find, according to the Direction and Commandment of our Lord and Lawgiver, a P&s;alm is to be manag'd after another manner in the Church of Chri&s;t. For in 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 14.26. where it is mentioned plainly, with reference to the pub|lick Wor&s;hip of God in the Church; it is mo&s;t e|vident, by the Context from <HI>ver.</HI> 24, to 31. that there it is under the general Regulation of the Gift of Prophecy, and the Exerci&s;e thereof li|mited unto one, as farther appears from the 16th and 17th <HI>Ver&s;es,</HI> without the lea&s;t intimation of its being confined or re&s;trained to any thing Mu|&s;ical or in Meeter, in the Delivery of it. More|over, it may be certainly concluded, that if &s;ing|ing or uttering the P&s;alm was to be by lifting up of their Voices in Con&s;ort, when the Apo&s;tle had by the command of the Lord, limited them to one at a time in their Exerci&s;es in the Chu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="3 letters">, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word"> would not have failed to have plainly told them, that the P&s;alm was otherwi&s;e to be manag'd.</P>
<P><HI>Obj.</HI> But to this plain and undeniable Te&s;timony they earne&s;tly plead that the Apo&s;tle &s;peaks there of Prophe&s;ying, not of Singing.</P>
<P><PB N="40" REF="21"><HI>An&s;w.</HI> To which we an&s;wer; The P&s;alm is there plainly and evidently manife&s;ted, to belong to the Gift of Prophecy as much as the Doctrine or In|terpretation, and is included in it. He prophe&s;y'd that uttered a <HI>P&s;alm,</HI> as much as he that declared the Doctrine or the Exhortation: Therefore it appears that &s;inging or uttering the P&s;alm, is plainly included in the Limitation of one at a time, as well as the re&s;t of tho&s;e &s;olemn Exerci&s;es; which P&s;alm was from a &s;pecial &s;piritual Gift, as much as any other there mention'd. For if the P&s;alm (afore&s;aid) might be one taken out of a Book, or out of the Old Te&s;tament; why &s;o might the Doctrine or Exhortation be nothing el&s;e but a reading &s;omething out of a Book, or out of the Scripture, there being plainly as much ground for the one as for the other; which would be a ground|le&s;s Imagination: Therefore Mr. <HI>Burroughs</HI> with others of the Godly Learned, do own that the P&s;alm there &s;poken of, was by &s;pecial Gift; and therefore, for any to imagine it to be any of <HI>Da|vid</HI>'s P&s;alms, is to give up them&s;elves to any Fancy or Suppo&s;ition, &s;o they may contradict the Truth which is &s;o apparently manife&s;ted in that Portion of the Scripture, becau&s;e they are re&s;olv'd not to entertain it.</P>
<P><HI>Obj.</HI> But they again cavilingly object, Can this be proved by any other place of Scripture? if not, &s;ay they, it mu&s;t be rejected.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> To which we reply; That the Lord is here plea&s;ed to give a mo&s;t plain Direction how a P&s;alm is to be brought forth or &s;ung in a Go&s;pel-Church, not by a compo&s;ed Form, but by &s;pecial Gift, and not by the whole A&s;&s;embly lifting up their Voices in con&s;ort, but by one who hath re|ceived
<PB N="41" REF="21" MS="y">&s;uch a Gift. And this being &s;o evidently declared, &s;hould we not re&s;t &s;atisfied with it? Shall we que&s;tion the Truth of a Divine Oracle, becau&s;e but once mention'd, though it be never &s;o plainly delivered? Our Lord Je&s;us is but once called a Surety: Shall we therefore que&s;tion or deny the Truth of it, as the <HI>Socinians</HI> do? <HI>Heb.</HI> 7.22. Surely on this Ground, the <HI>Hebrews</HI> might have rejected the Apo&s;tle's Proof of the Being and Excellency of the Prie&s;tly Office of our Lord and Saviour, that he was a High-Prie&s;t after the Order of <HI>Melchizedeck,</HI> becau&s;e it was but once mention'd in the Old Te&s;tament, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 110.4.</P>
<P>Thus having (we hope) evidently proved that the mu&s;ical tunable Singing of a compo&s;ed Form by a whole A&s;&s;embly, with Voices in con&s;ort, is no Ordinance of our Lord Je&s;us; We &s;hall now examine the Scriptures they earne&s;tly urge to ju&s;ti|fy their Practice.</P>
<P><HI>Q.</HI> 3. Whether tho&s;e Scriptures, <HI>Eph.</HI> 5.19. <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">ol.</HI> 3.16. do command or ju&s;tify that kind of Singing in the Church of Chri&s;t which they plead for?</P>
<P>In an&s;wer to this Enquiry, it being that on which Mr. <HI>Keach</HI> and Mr. <HI>Whinnel</HI> do bottom their A&s;&s;ertion for the introducing the common and popular Way of Singing into the Baptized Chur|ches; We &s;hall fir&s;t premi&s;e &s;ome Con&s;iderations, which we de&s;ire may be &s;eriou&s;ly pondered.</P>
<P><HI>Fir&s;t;</HI> That tho&s;e Scriptures (&s;uppo&s;ing they intend a Direction for publick Wor&s;hip in the Church, which we do not grant, on the Rea&s;on hereafter to be mention'd) do plainly te&s;tify a|gain&s;t the admitting of the Profane, the Ignorant, and the Unconverted to &s;ing in the &s;olemn A&s;|&s;embly
<PB N="42" REF="22">of the Church of Chri&s;t; fora&s;much as they are to be &s;ung for the Teaching and Admo|nition of others. Did the Lord Je&s;us ever appoint the Ignorant, Profane, or Unbelievers, to be Tea|chers in, or Admoni&s;hers of his Church, according to his New-Te&s;tament-Di&s;pen&s;ation? Can there be the lea&s;t &s;hadow of Proof produced for it? Certainly, as it was then told them in that Epi&s;tle of Mr. <HI>Steed</HI>'s, (which they pretend to an&s;wer) that he never appointed any to admini&s;ter Teach|ing and Admonition to his Church, but &s;uch as are orderly added to it, and are qualified by the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, being &s;olemnly allowed or orderly called to &s;uch an holy Exerci&s;e: this being &s;uch a Truth which they could not, nor did they dare directly to gain&s;ay. How gro&s;ly do they endeavour to evade it, by &s;aying that they are allowed to wor&s;hip God (which is as much as to &s;ay, to attend on the Wor&s;hip of God) in the Church? Now we appeal to their own Con&s;cien|ces, whether there be not a great difference be|tween being at, or attending on it as them that do wor&s;hip God, and admini&s;tring Teaching and Admonition to the Church? Which if the &s;inging of the P&s;alms and Hymns, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> here mention'd, are for that end and u&s;e, as it's evident from the&s;e Scriptures they are; then &s;uch Per&s;ons are plain|ly excluded from any &s;uch &s;olemn Exerci&s;e in the Church, if the meaning of it be for a Direction<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"> for the publick Wor&s;hip of God in the Church, as they would in&s;inuate.</P>
<P>Moreover, that it plainly excludes &s;uch from that kind of Singing in the Church, is mo&s;t evi|dent; ina&s;much as it is expre&s;ly declared, that the Singing there &s;poken of, is to be brought forth
<PB N="43" REF="22">from the Word dwelling richly in them, <HI>Col.</HI> 3.16. and from being fill'd with the Spirit, <HI>Eph.</HI> 5.19. Now are Unbelievers, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> capable of being &s;o qualifi'd in any degree? Indeed in their Way of Singing by a compos'd Form, there needs no more than the reading or hearing a P&s;alm or Song read to them; and then they are &s;ufficiently fur|ni&s;h'd for it, be they never &s;o ignorant, profane or unbelieving. In an&s;wer to which, they &s;ay they dete&s;t &s;uch a Singing: But why then do they plead for the Singing of &s;uch, before mention'd, who can &s;ing no otherwi&s;e, but in a carnal formal Manner? Can they in truth &s;ay, they dete&s;t that they allow and openly practi&s;e, and vehemently contend for?</P>
<P><HI>Secondly;</HI> The&s;e Scriptures, if they be as they &s;ay, to direct the Church in its publick Wor&s;hip, do al&s;o plainly exclude the Women from &s;inging in the Church: They are expre&s;ly forbidden to teach or admoni&s;h in the Church, but are com|manded to be in &s;ilence; without any exception that they may teach by Singing, but not by an ordinary Speaking, as we have before declared.</P>
<P><HI>Thirdly;</HI> In like manner (if it be meant as a|fore&s;aid) tho&s;e P&s;alms and Hymns, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> there mention'd, are not intended to direct the Chur|ches to &s;ing <HI>David</HI>'s P&s;alms, or any other P&s;alms recorded in the Scriptures; for then certainly our Lord Je&s;us would have cau&s;ed them to have been tran&s;lated into Greek Ver&s;e, or Meeter, for the u&s;e of the Churches in tho&s;e times, and as a Pat|tern for time to come. But none ever did or can a&s;&s;ert any &s;uch thing; neither is that Saying of theirs of any weight, whereby they would &s;eem to prove that, becau&s;e the word <HI>P&s;alm,</HI> &amp;c. is there mention'd, that it mu&s;t needs be meant of tho&s;e
<PB N="44" REF="23">called the <HI>P&s;alms of</HI> David, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> becau&s;e (&s;ay they) God hath given us a P&s;alm-Book but not a Prayer-Book (an Expre&s;&s;ion which they have borrowed from others) in the Scriptures: For in that &s;a|cred Book there be abundance of the Prayers of holy Men recorded, as well as their Songs; and e&s;pecially, that our Lord Je&s;us hath left as a Plat|form in the manner of a Form of Prayer, u&s;ually called by the name of the Lord's Prayer: There|fore if we may take their Songs, and read and &s;ing them in the Church, why may we not al&s;o take tho&s;e Prayers, (at lea&s;t &s;uch as we may think mo&s;t &s;utable to our pre&s;ent occa&s;ion) and read them there for our Prayers in the Church? Let them &s;hew, if they can, why there is not as much rea&s;on for the one as for the other. Moreover; The Book of <HI>P&s;alms,</HI> as they were &s;ung in the Old-Te&s;tament-time, (for which &s;ea&s;on they were or|dained) were a part of the Temple-Wor&s;hip. Now if that be our Rule for Mu&s;ical &s;inging of them now, as it mu&s;t be if they be tho&s;e P&s;alms that be here commanded to be &s;ung Mu&s;ically, as a part of the New-Te&s;tament-Church's publick Wor&s;hip, then it mu&s;t be our Rule in all parts; (which mu&s;t be nece&s;&s;arily included in this Coun|&s;el, if the Meaning of it be as they affirm) and &s;o there mu&s;t be In&s;truments of Mu&s;ick with Singers or Quiri&s;ters in the performance of it, except they can prove that one part is aboli&s;hed, and the other remains: <HI>For what God hath joined together, no Man may put a&s;under.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Fourthly;</HI> If it be for the publick Wor&s;hip of the Church that this Direction is given; then as it was a&s;&s;erted by Mr. <HI>St.</HI> in his Epi&s;tle, it mu&s;t not be by lifting up of Voices in Con&s;ort, becau&s;e tho&s;e
<PB N="45" REF="23">P&s;alms, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> mu&s;t be for teaching and admonition: therefore &s;ome are to teach, and &s;ome to be taught by them that &s;ing tho&s;e P&s;alms. But if all &s;ing, they are all Teachers, and all Admoni&s;hers at one Time. Which is Confu&s;ion in the Judgment of our Lord, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 14.33. Now what do they an|&s;wer to this, which is &s;o plainly declared in that Direction given for the &s;inging or uttering a P&s;alm in the Publick Wor&s;hip of the Church, as well as the bringing forth of the Doctrine? Verily no|thing, but either a plain Contradiction of the Judg|ment our Lord hath given us in this matter, &s;aying, tho it would be Confu&s;ion in Preaching or Praying, yet it is not &s;o in Singing: which is &s;till confidently to beg the Que&s;tion, to dictate and not to prove, to &s;et their Judgment, or the Opinion of Men, a|gain&s;t the Judgment of the All-wi&s;e God: Or el&s;e they fly to that In&s;tance of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> his Song, <HI>Exod.</HI> 15.1. which how impertinently it is alledged, to guide us now in the Times of the Go&s;pel, hath been already declared.</P>
<P>Secondly; Having premi&s;ed the&s;e Things: We an&s;wer po&s;itively (and we de&s;ire it may be &s;eriou&s;ly con&s;idered) that it appears plainly, that tho&s;e Scriptures, <HI>Eph.</HI> 5.19. <HI>Col.</HI> 3.16. tho they are written as a part of the Epi&s;tles that were directed to particular Churches, yet they do not &s;eem in any re&s;pect to refer to their Publick Church-Wor|&s;hip, but to regulate their ordinary Chri&s;tian Con|ver&s;ation, either &s;olitary by them&s;elves, or in pri|vate one with another, as is manife&s;t by comparing or con&s;idering their &s;everal Contexts in tho&s;e Chapters, whereof the&s;e Ver&s;es are a part, both as to what goes before and follows after. That in the Epi&s;tle to the <HI>Ephe&s;ians</HI> &s;tands directly op|po&s;ed to Corporal Drunkenne&s;s.</P>
<P><PB N="46" REF="24">We do not oppo&s;e, or deny, but that it may be lawful for a Chri&s;tian, or for &s;everal Chri&s;tians in their private or civil Society, if their Hearts be chearful, and that they have skill in Singing, and take plea&s;ure therein, to &s;olace them&s;elves there|with; provided it be done decently, and that the Matter of their Song be &s;uch as tends to Edifica|tion, according to that of <HI>James</HI> 5.13. So that from the whole it's mo&s;t evident that tho&s;e Scrip|tures, in what Sen&s;e &s;oever they are taken, do not in the lea&s;t ju&s;tify that manner of Singing as a Go|&s;pel-Ordinance, to be u&s;ed in the publick Wor&s;hip of the Church, which they do &s;o earne&s;tly contend for. But it is mo&s;t evident, that in 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 14.26. (before &s;poken to) doth clearly relate to the gui|ding of them in Publick Wor&s;hip, in the &s;olemn A&s;&s;embly of the Church, which we &s;hall not again in&s;i&s;t on.</P>
<P><HI>Obj.</HI> But if any &s;hall be &s;o weak as to object, and &s;ay, If any &s;uch kind of melodious Teaching or Ad|moni&s;hing may be lawfully u&s;ed by Church-Mem|bers in their private Conver&s;ation, why may it no<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"> al&s;o be u&s;ed in the publick Wor&s;hip of the Church.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> We an&s;wer; Tho it be u&s;ed in a civil o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"> private Conver&s;e, yet it ought not to be admitted in the Wor&s;hip of God in the Church, without a Command from the Lord Je&s;us enjoining it to be a &s;tanding Ordinance in his Church: For it is well known, that there be Ways of Teaching that are lawful, and ought to be practi&s;ed in private, which would be very di&s;orderly &amp; unlawful to be introdu|ced into the publick Wor&s;hip of God in the Church.</P>
<P>As for in&s;tance, <HI>Pri&s;cilla</HI> a Woman, may in&s;truct <HI>Apollo</HI> a Preacher, more perfectly in the way of God privately, which &s;he ought not attempt to do
<PB N="47" REF="24">in the Church, <HI>Act.</HI> 18.26. So the aged Women ought to in&s;truct the younger Women, <HI>Tit.</HI> 2.4. but not in the Church. Moreover, Men and Wo|men may and ought to exhort and teach, to admo|ni&s;h or comfort one another in private (as there is occa&s;ion and opportunity) by way of mutual Con|ference, di&s;cour&s;ing or talking one with ano|ther. But this Way of Teaching (in the Judg|ment of all &s;erious Per&s;ons) is not to be admitted in the Church of Chri&s;t; becau&s;e it is, no in&s;tituted Ordinance of our Lord Je&s;us for &s;uch an A&s;&s;embly, we having no Direction or Command from him then to practi&s;e it; and therefore cannot expect a Ble&s;&s;ing in &s;o doing at &s;uch a time.</P>
<P>Even &s;o in the ca&s;e of Singing, whatever may be lawful or allowed of in private, to be practi&s;ed as afore&s;aid; yet if it be brought into the Church, without a Warrant from our Lord Je&s;us, to be u&s;ed in &s;uch an A&s;&s;embly in &s;uch a manner, it is unlawful, and not accepted by the Lord. Which Warrant is not contained in tho&s;e Scriptures, nor in any other that they have alledged for the Ju&s;ti|fication of their common Way of Singing, as we have already declared, and &s;hall further (God a&s;&s;i&s;t|ing) make manife&s;t.</P>
<P>Thus having examined tho&s;e Texts of Scripture, they chiefly plead as perceptive or commanding their manner of Singing; we &s;hall now con&s;ider tho&s;e Scriptures that are urged by them as Prece|dents to confirm it, which we &s;hall propound in this following Enquiry.</P>
<P><HI>Quer.</HI> 4. Whether our Saviour Hymning with his Di&s;ciples, <HI>Mat.</HI> 26.30, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> or that, <HI>Act.</HI> 16.25. where it's &s;aid <HI>Paul</HI> and <HI>Sylas,</HI> at Midnight, prayed and &s;ung Prai&s;es to God, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> be Precedents or Ex|amples
<PB N="48" REF="25">to confirm that common way of Singing to be an Ordinance of our Lord Je&s;us, which they &s;trive to &s;et up in the Churches?</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> In an&s;wer to this Enquiry, we &s;hall begin with that Hymning of the Lord Chri&s;t with his Di&s;ciples, <HI>Mat.</HI> 26.30. upon which they lay great &s;tre&s;s for their introducing of common &s;et-form Singing into the Churches.</P>
<P N="1">1. We &s;ay to it, as it hath been a&s;&s;erted, That the Hymn, before mentioned, in the Judgment of many learned Men did belong to the Pa&s;&s;over, and not to the Lord's Supper; it being the manner of the Jews to conclude the Pa&s;&s;over with a P&s;alm or Hymn. Now if they would know who tho&s;e Learned Men are; we an&s;wer, all the Learned Rab|bies of the Jews do a&s;&s;ert it. See al&s;o <HI>Ain&s;worth</HI>'s Notes, on <HI>Exod.</HI> 12.11. The Dutch al&s;o in their Expo&s;ition, on <HI>Mat.</HI> 26.30. &s;ay the Hymn was at or did belong to the Pa&s;&s;over: and that it was the 113th <HI>P&s;alm,</HI> and &s;o forward: This may be &s;een in their Expo&s;ition of the Bible. But to put it out of doubt that there was Singing appointed and u&s;ed at the Pa&s;&s;over; it is recorded in the Scripture, by what is mentioned was practi&s;ed in <HI>Hezekiah</HI>'s Time, 2 <HI>Chron.</HI> 30.21. It is al&s;o plain that the Lord Je&s;us and his Di&s;ciples hymned but once. Now if it was their Practice, by a Divine Ap|pointment, to &s;ing at the Pa&s;&s;over, as by the Scrip|ture before-mentioned is evident it was: And if it be al&s;o a Duty to &s;ing at the Lord's Supper, then our Saviour would have &s;ung twice, once at the Pa&s;&s;over, and once at the Supper. But they hymn|ing but once, (if it were by Mu&s;ical Voices in Con|&s;ort) &s;eems plainly to belong to the Pa&s;&s;over: And &s;o it was done away with it. They with more &s;hew
<PB N="49" REF="25">of Rea&s;on might argue for wa&s;hing the Saints Feet as a &s;tanding Duty, &s;eeing it was practi&s;ed at that time, <HI>Joh.</HI> 13.5. with a more plain Injunction to it, which &s;ome of their Per&s;ua&s;ion have practi&s;ed.</P>
<P N="2">2. Suppo&s;ing it did belong to the Supper; it is a que&s;tion, whether they Hymned melodiou&s;ly with a mu&s;ical Voice or no: For it is manife&s;t, that the Greek word there u&s;ed, is not in its Signi|fication re&s;trained to &s;ing with a melodious Voice, but may be rendred to prai&s;e indefinitely, whether with, or without, a tunable Voice; as it is to be &s;een in tho&s;e Authors that interpret Greek words: but they boa&s;tingly &s;ay, they can bring three&s;core to three, that &s;ay it &s;ignifies to &s;ing with a tunable Voice. To which we an&s;wer, that we believe they can &s;carce produce any authentick Authors that &s;ay it <HI>only</HI> &s;ignifies to Sing or Prai&s;e with external Me|lody. And &s;o evident it was to Learned Mr. <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">nowles,</HI> (who we believe under&s;tood the Greek tongue as well as <HI>Beza</HI> and others) that he doth grant it to Mr. <HI>Marlow</HI> in his printed Letter to him; yea, &s;o manife&s;t it was to tho&s;e Learned Per|&s;ons that formerly tran&s;lated the Bible into the Engli&s;h Tongue, that they rendred it to be <HI>giving Thanks,</HI> or &s;aying Grace; as it is extent in their Tran&s;lations, which are to be &s;een in the Library in <HI>Sion-Colledge;</HI> who, for ought Mr. <HI>B. K.</HI> or Mr. <HI>Wh.</HI> knows (tho they &s;peak undervaluingly of them) were as wi&s;e and as faithful as our la&s;t Tran&s;lators; tho they are plea&s;ed to revile their Tran&s;lation with the Epithets of <HI>Old</HI> and <HI>Corrupt.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. Neither is it manife&s;t, if the Hymn were &s;ung with a mu&s;ical Voice, whether it were in Con|&s;ort, by lifting up their Voices together, or only by attention on their Lord mini&s;tring to them?
<PB N="50" REF="26">As in <HI>Acts</HI> 4.24. where it's &s;aid, <HI>They lifted up thei Voice with one accord, and &s;aid,</HI> &amp;c. though none can or do &s;uppo&s;e that they all &s;poke together, but one as the Mouth of the re&s;t.</P>
<P>To which they &s;ay, that many may be &s;aid to pray together, when one is their Mouth; but not &s;o in hymning or &s;inging Prai&s;e to God: But what Rea|&s;on do, or can they alledg for this their A&s;&s;ertion? Why, nothing but a common or general Cu&s;tom with many. Surely they do but beg the Que&s;tion, while they only a&s;&s;ert the contrary, and bring a Cu&s;tom for their proof. It is well known, that it is the Cu&s;tom of many Prote&s;tants, to pray by lifting up their Voices together: And they may with as good ground &s;ay, there is no Praying, by a Company to|gether, without it; and bring their Cu&s;tom as a Proof of their A&s;&s;ertion; and &s;ay, they do abomi|nate any other way of Praying to God together&punc; as the&s;e &s;ay, they do abominate any other way o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;inging Prai&s;e to God, as afore&s;aid. What they further &s;ay about what &s;ome affirm, not without great probability, (as they are plea&s;ed to expre&s;s it) That they then &s;ung together the 2d <HI>P&s;alm;</HI> is &s;o &s;en&s;le&s;s an Affirmation, not having the lea&s;t &s;hadow of Ground for it in that Scripture, nor in its Context, that it is but wa&s;te time to in&s;i&s;t upon it: but any Pretence &s;hall be taken up, tho never &s;o weak, (becau&s;e Proof is wanting) to ju&s;tify <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"> human Invention.</P>
<P>Further; Whereas they u&s;ually make great u&s;e of that Expre&s;&s;ion, That he gave thanks, but they hymned, or (as our la&s;t Tran&s;lators render it) &s;ang an Hymn, to ju&s;tify their Opinion, that it was done by lifting up their Voices together. To that In&s;tance, it was an&s;wered, That it is mo&s;t likely
<PB N="51" REF="26">that our Lord Je&s;us at that time, did give Thanks, as &s;peaking by him&s;elf, in the fir&s;t In&s;titution of that Ordinance; as he u&s;ually did before others, on &s;everal Occa&s;ions, <HI>Matth.</HI> 11.25. <HI>Joh.</HI> 11.41. <HI>Joh.</HI> 17. throughout. But at the Conclu&s;ion, the Prai&s;e or Thanks might be &s;poken or expre&s;t in the plural Number, to te&s;tify the Refre&s;hment his Di&s;ciples had with him at that &s;piritual Banquet, tho but one might be the Mouth of them all, to declare it.</P>
<P>Now that it was u&s;ual with our Lord Je&s;us &s;o to do, they could not deny; but O how do they with Indignation cavil at it.</P>
<P><HI>Fir&s;t,</HI> They &s;ay it doth intimate as if the Di&s;ci|ples did not, or were not admitted to join with our Lord in his giving of Thanks when he ble&s;&s;ed the Bread: but what rea&s;on is there for that Inference, or affrighting Conclu&s;ion that doth attend it? Might not the Di&s;ciples join in their Hearts &s;o, as to &s;ay as <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 20.4. which is a prophetick <HI>P&s;alm</HI> of the <HI>Me&s;&s;iah?</HI></P>
<P><HI>Secondly,</HI> They cavil, that from hence it may be a Que&s;tion, Whether the Mini&s;ter may be allowed to give Thanks over the Bread, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> or whether the Members of the Church may join with him?</P>
<P>To which we an&s;wer, That from hence they may as well rai&s;e a cavilling Que&s;tion, Whether, becau&s;e our Lord Je&s;us expre&s;t his Prayer in the &s;ingular Number, when with Company, and e&s;pe|cially after his comforting Sermon to his Di&s;ci|ples in their Pre&s;ence, <HI>Joh.</HI> 17. it be allowed to the Mini&s;ter when with the Church to pray, or for the Members to reckon they are allowed to join with him? Which certainly, would be accounted a groundle&s;s fained Scruple, a meer contentious Ca|vil as theirs is.</P>
<P><PB N="52" REF="27">Our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour pray'd and gave Thanks, as the great repre&s;enting Per&s;on and Head of his Church, and &s;o included all his Body in him&s;elf; being al&s;o the only prevailing Advocate with the Father. But we that are Members, are taught to pray otherwi&s;e, when together, in the plural Num|ber; as e&s;pecially appears by that holy Platform or Direction of Prayer he hath left with us.</P>
<P><HI>Thirdly,</HI> They ask, what rea&s;on can be given why the Hymn might at the conclu&s;ion be expre&s;t in the plural Number, and not &s;o in the beginning at the Ble&s;&s;ing of the Bread? <HI>&amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>We an&s;wer, The rea&s;on was plainly expre&s;t, becau&s;e it was the only Prerogative of our Lord to ble&s;s his own In&s;titution, e&s;pecially at the begin|ning and fir&s;t appointing of it: But at the con|clu&s;ion, his Di&s;ciples more fully under&s;tanding the Grace and Love, exhibited and confirmed to them by it, might be in a ble&s;&s;ed Capacity to join in the Hymn, or giving of Thanks, as expre&s;t in the plural Number. So that it &s;till remains du|bious, whether it were uttered with a mu&s;ical Voice, or whether, if &s;o &s;ung, it were by lifting up their Voices together; or whether by one, as the Voice of the re&s;t; or whether it did belong to the Pa&s;&s;over, or to the Lord's Supper. Therefore we cannot but reckon it a very ra&s;h Attempt to lay the Ba&s;is or Foundation of a new In&s;titution, up|on the Sands of &s;uch palpable or apparent Uncer|tainties. Had our Lord Je&s;us &s;aid, Do thus in imi|tation of me; as he &s;aid, Do this in remembrance of me, in the In&s;titution of the Lord's Supper, its being an Ordinance, would not be que&s;tioned: and then without doubt, it would have been atten|ded with as plain Directions, both as to the matter and manner of its Exerci&s;e.</P>
<P><PB N="53" REF="27"><HI>Obj. La&s;tly,</HI> Whereas they &s;ay that it is incon|gruous to &s;ay the Hymn may intend a general Rule for giving of Thanks, yet to que&s;tion, whether the Hymn be binding to us.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> To which we &s;ay, it can be no Incongru|ity to affirm, that if by the Hymn be meant a com|po&s;ed Song, read and &s;ung by all the Company, it is not binding to us; it then plainly appears, to our Apprehen&s;ion, on the Grounds formerly men|tion'd, to belong to the Pa&s;&s;over, and not to the Supper: But if it mean only a giving of Thanks, wherein one is the Mouth of the re&s;t, it may be only a general Rule for a Direction for the Chur|ches to follow in all &s;uch Ca&s;es.</P>
<P>Finally, It appears to be a conclu&s;ive Argument to us, that the Hymn did not appertain to, or that it was no Adjunct to the Lord's Supper; becau&s;e that the Apo&s;tle <HI>Paul,</HI> 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 11.23, to the 26th, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">hen he there declares, that what he received of the Lord, touching that Admini&s;tration, he deli|vered to them, but makes no mention of the Hymn.</P>
<P><HI>Obj.</HI> To this clear In&s;tance, they have this Eva|&s;ion, or rather utter this mo&s;t fal&s;e A&s;&s;ertion again&s;t the expre&s;s Word of that Scripture; which is, that the Apo&s;tle leaves out another part of the Solem|nity; he does not mention, (&s;ay they) that our Saviour, when he took the Cup, gave Thanks, as well as he doth not mention the Hymn.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> To which we an&s;wer, That it is mo&s;t e|vident and plain, that the Apo&s;tle doth mention that Solemnity about the Cup, as well as the other. It is a wonder to us, that they &s;hould be &s;o bold as to &s;ay he did not: For the&s;e are the words of that Scripture, <HI>v.</HI> 24. <HI>He took the Bread, and when he had given Thanks, he brake it.</HI> V. 25. <HI>After the &s;ame man|ner
<PB N="54" REF="28">al&s;o he took the Cup.</HI> Now is not this a plain mentioning of giving of Thanks at the taking of the Cup as well as of the Bread, in the under&s;tan|ding of the meane&s;t or weake&s;t among&s;t Men? How el&s;e could he &s;ay in truth, After the &s;ame manner al&s;o he took the Cup? That they &s;hould dare to a&s;&s;ert the contrary, notwith&s;tanding &s;uch clear Evidence, delivered with &s;uch Plainne&s;s, is Matter of great lamentation.</P>
<P><HI>Obj.</HI> And whereas it may be objected, That prai|&s;ing of God is not mention'd in that place no more than &s;inging; therefore neither is prai&s;ing of God there required at the Conclu&s;ion of that Ordinance.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> We an&s;wer, That every Mercy received by us from God, implyeth a Thankfulne&s;s to him, as our Duty we owe to him from whom we have received it. Therefore the Apo&s;tle <HI>Paul</HI> tells us, 1 <HI>Tim.</HI> 4.4. That <HI>every Creature of God is good, if it be received with Thank&s;giving.</HI> And we are com|manded in every thing to give Thanks: Therefor<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">&punc; the greater the Mercy is that we receive from God&punc; the more inlarged ought our Hearts to be in Prai&s;e and Thank&s;giving to God from whom we do re|ceive it. Neither doth this imply, as they cavil, that then it is left to our Wi&s;dom to teach us in that matter, &s;ince we are directed by the Wi&s;dom of God, what to do in all &s;uch ca&s;es; e&s;pecially, when he is plea&s;ed to afford to us, or to priviledg us with &s;uch choice and &s;ingular Mercies.</P>
<P>Having thus (we hope plainly) made manife&s;t how little that Hymning of our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour with his Di&s;ciples, either affirms or confirms their popular way of Singing, we &s;hall now (as the Lord &s;hall enable us) examine that other Text of Scripture which is quoted as a Precedent for their
<PB N="55" REF="28">Practice, which is <HI>Acts</HI> 16.25. The Text &s;aith, Paul <HI>and</HI> Silas <HI>at Midnight pray'd, and &s;ung Prai&s;es to God; and the Pri&s;oners heard them.</HI></P>
<P>To which we &s;ay, 1. That we may take their Praying and Prai&s;ing to be one intire &s;olemn Act, though two parts of it be &s;everally noted; neither is there any Inconvenience in &s;o under&s;tanding it; which &s;eems the more likely for the Rea&s;ons men|tion'd in the fir&s;t Enquiry: Nor doth the Greek word tran&s;lated <HI>(&s;ung Prai&s;es)</HI> re&s;train us from &s;uch an Apprehen&s;ion, but rather confirm it.</P>
<P N="2">2. Suppo&s;e their &s;inging of Prai&s;es were with a melodious Voice; how doth it appear, that they &s;ung in Con&s;ort, lifting up their Voices together? We may as well from the Text, &s;uppo&s;e they pray'd in Con&s;ort with their Voices: For the Scripture implies that the Pri&s;oners heard both their Pray|ers and Prai&s;es. What they an&s;wer to this, is, that it is the common Voice of Mankind, that many be &s;aid to pray together when one is their Mouth: but they cannot be &s;aid to &s;ing Prai&s;es together, unle&s;s they lift up their Voices in Con&s;ort; which is &s;till to beg the Que&s;tion, and to bring nothing for proof but the common Vogue or Cu&s;tom; which is mo&s;t commonly greatly differing from the Language and Cu&s;tom of the holy Spirit, declared in the New Te&s;tament.</P>
<P N="3">3. But &s;uppo&s;e they did then expre&s;s the Joy of their Hearts, by a melodious &s;inging in Con&s;ort together, what is that to the purpo&s;e to prove a &s;tated Go&s;pel-Ordinance, a &s;tanding In&s;titution of &s;olemn Wor&s;hip in the New-Te&s;tament-Church? The u&s;e of civil or devout Singing is not denied, either &s;ingle or in con&s;ort, to Per&s;ons in their pri|vate Conver&s;ation, as we &s;aid before, either to re|fre&s;h
<PB N="56" REF="29">the tired Spirits of tho&s;e, who think them|&s;elves refre&s;h'd thereby; or to expre&s;s their in|ward Joy, who think it a proper Expedient: And the more religiou&s;ly it is performed, the better it is. But if any Per&s;on &s;hall from thence pre&s;ume to bring it into the Church, without a Divine War|rant, they may be found intruding Tran&s;gre&s;|&s;ors in the Day of the Lord.</P>
<P>Thus having (we hope) evidently di&s;covered the Weakne&s;s of the Foundation, upon which they build their Practice of common and popular Sing|ing, and an&s;wered their chief Objections which they have made again&s;t what was pre&s;ented in that Epi&s;tle, which they pretend &s;oberly to an&s;wer, we &s;hall only add &s;ome few Remarks upon &s;ome Pa&s;&s;ages in that Book of theirs.</P>
<P><HI>Pag.</HI> 42. They ask this Que&s;tion, Why we do not an&s;wer what renowned Mr. <HI>Cotton,</HI> Dr. <HI>Roberts,</HI> Mr. <HI>Sydenham,</HI> Mr. <HI>Caryl,</HI> Mr. <HI>Wells,</HI> Mr. <HI>Je&s;&s;e,</HI> M<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">. <HI>Knowles,</HI> Mr. <HI>Keach,</HI> Dr. <HI>Wright,</HI> Mr. <HI>Whinnel,</HI> a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters"> Mr. <HI>Ford</HI> have &s;aid on this Subject?</P>
<P>To which we an&s;wer; That we de&s;ire to &s;ati&s;|fy our &s;elves in the di&s;charge of our Con&s;ciences in what we are convinced to be our Duty; and altho we own mo&s;t of them in their Catalogue, to be Men of renown, both for Parts and Godline&s;s, yet what they write upon that Subject, doth no more &s;atisfy us, than what they write for the proof <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word"> Infant-Bapti&s;m, doth &s;atisfy them that ask th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters"> Que&s;tion of us? And what they have writ in an&s;wer to them, doth as little &s;atisfy them, as if they had not writ at all.</P>
<P>Further, We do not que&s;tion but in an&s;wering Mr. <HI>Keach</HI> in this Treati&s;e, we have &s;poken to the chief of their Arguments on this Subject; he being
<PB N="57" REF="29">very dextrous to take Gold or Dro&s;s out of other Mens Writings, and pre&s;ent them as his own: Neither have they any more &s;pecious Pillars to up|hold this common way of Singing than tho&s;e that are pleaded for in this Treati&s;e of theirs, which we have now an&s;wered.</P>
<P>But La&s;tly, We do much wonder that Mr. <HI>Keach</HI> and Mr. <HI>Whinnel,</HI> &s;hould give them&s;elves the Stile of being renowned; they being the Authors of that Book, in which they give this <HI>Encomium</HI> of their being <HI>Men of Renown:</HI> It is but their own O|pinion of them&s;elves, not (it may be) of others that know them. However Mode&s;ty would have cau&s;ed them (if they had exerci&s;ed any) to have forborn to have &s;pread their own Prai&s;e. But &s;urely Mr. <HI>Whinnel</HI> and Mr. <HI>K.</HI> forgot the Wi&s;e Man's Sayings, Prov. 25.27. <HI>For Men to &s;earch their own Glory, is not Glory.</HI> And Prov. 27.2 <HI>Let another Man prai&s;e thee, and not thine own Mouth.</HI> And el&s;ewhere that &s;ame Wi&s;e Man tells us, <HI>Some Men are wi&s;er in their own conceit, than &s;even Men that <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">n render a Rea&s;on.</HI></P>
<P>They again enquire, how we dare &s;ay that Sing|ing of P&s;alms with Voices is not of Divine In&s;ti|tution?</P>
<P>In an&s;wer to which, we ask them again, How they dare to &s;ay, that Singing of P&s;alms in Meeter, with a tunable Voice, by the whole Church, and a mixt Multitude, is of Divine In&s;titution, when not one Word of all they have written doth prove it? It hath been already granted, that Singing of P&s;alms in the Temple-Wor&s;hip was of Divine In|&s;titution. And we acknowledg that all the Songs and P&s;alms in the Old Te&s;tament, are the undoub|ted unerring Word of God, and of excellent u&s;e to
<PB N="58" REF="30">all the Servants of God, profitable for Doctrine and Con&s;olation; wherein are contained many excellent Experiences of God's gracious dealing with his People, and many ble&s;&s;ed Promi&s;es and Prophecies for the e&s;tabli&s;hment of the Church and Servants of God. But we &s;ay the Singing of tho&s;e P&s;alms, as they had re&s;pect to the Temple-Wor|&s;hip, with their Mu&s;ical Singing and In&s;truments, with the Per&s;ons a&s;&s;igned for that kind of Exerci&s;e, are all at an end. You will find 55 of them directed to the Ma&s;ter of Mu&s;ick, and 15 of them called each a Song of Degrees, and mo&s;t of them directed to the Sons of <HI>Korah.</HI> And by the mo&s;t Learned and Renowned Men of our Age, it is a&s;&s;erted that tho&s;e Ordinances being ended by the Coming of Chri&s;t, who was to de&s;troy the City and the Sanctuary, and to cau&s;e the Sacrifice and Oblation to cea&s;e: It re|mains now that the Word of Chri&s;t dwell richly in us, in all Wi&s;dom; and that we be filled with the Spirit, &s;peaking to our &s;elves, teaching and ad|moni&s;hing one another in P&s;alms, and Hymns and Spiritual Songs, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> And if that manner of Wor|&s;hip, under the Law, is cea&s;ed, as is affirmed by the Learned and Pious that it is, then can it not be in the manner of that Admini&s;tration in any re|&s;pect, unle&s;s you will &s;ay that the Type and the Anti-Type are all one. But if the Go&s;pel be the Anti-Type of tho&s;e Types, then we mu&s;t conclude, that as they were outward in their Melody and Mu|&s;ick, &s;o the Melody now under the Go&s;pel mu&s;t be inward or &s;piritual: That is, the joyful Voice, &s;ignifying the Melody and Joy of our Hearts to God, expre&s;&s;ed in Prai&s;ing and Thank&s;giving to God, who hath revealed more of his Grace by Je&s;us Chri&s;t, <HI>That he who is a Spirit, may be wor&s;hipp'd in
<PB N="59" REF="30">Spirit and in Truth.</HI> As Learned Dr. <HI>Owen</HI> &s;aith, in his Expo&s;ition on <HI>Heb.</HI> 2.13. before cited.</P>
<P>And whereas they &s;ay, that they utterly deny that Prayer is a lower &s;ort of Wor&s;hip than Sing|ing. We an&s;wer, That if they mean Singing in their Sen&s;e, we agree with them; but if in the Sen&s;e of the Scripture, we do affirm, that Prai&s;es, which are the matter of a Song, is a Duty of a higher Nature than Prayer. For, (1.) The prai|&s;ing of God is that Duty which Saints and Angels will be employed in for ever; but Prayer cea&s;eth. On this account it is, that the Apo&s;tle tells us that Charity is the greate&s;t, becau&s;e it always abideth, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 13. (2.) Prai&s;e is giving to God the Glory of his Mercy received; but Prayer is the begging from God the Mercies he hath promi&s;ed, and which we &s;tand in need of: But we &s;hall not follow them in all their Mi&s;takes and Impertinencies.</P>
<P>They al&s;o tell us they are again&s;t the compo&s;ing, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">&s;ing and impo&s;ing &s;et-Forms of Prayer. But would they but make known the Rea&s;ons, why they are again&s;t &s;et-Forms of Prayer, no doubt but they would have an&s;wered them&s;elves, in all they could &s;ub&s;tantially alledg for their &s;et-Form Sing|ing, and have &s;aved us the labour. But it is a Que&s;tion whether it be &s;o or no? For this we find, that tho&s;e very Arguments, tho&s;e very &s;cornful Reflections that tho&s;e that are for &s;et-Form Prayer do u&s;e again&s;t them that are oppo&s;ite to that for|mal Will-Wor&s;hip, do the&s;e u&s;e to them that are again&s;t their &s;et-Form Singing, or Prai&s;ing of God. As for in&s;tance, Do the one call in Scorn, Praying by a Spiritual Gift, <HI>ex tempore</HI> Praying, in a con|fu&s;ed Manner? &s;o do the&s;e to the like purpo&s;e, &s;penk of prai&s;ing or &s;inging Prai&s;e to God without
<PB N="60" REF="31">a &s;et-Form, <HI>Pag.</HI> 39. In the like manner, as the one &s;ay, If you pray by the Spirit, your Prayer would be of equal Authority to Canonical Scrip|ture; &s;o do the&s;e concerning &s;inging Prai&s;e with|out a &s;et-Form, <HI>Pag.</HI> 36. Do the one &s;ay in deri|&s;ion, that tho&s;e that are again&s;t &s;et-Form Prayer, are Enthu&s;ia&s;ts, or &s;etters up of Enthu&s;ia&s;m; &s;o do the&s;e in their pretended &s;ober Reply &s;ay again&s;t tho&s;e that deny their &s;et-Form Singing, <HI>Pag.</HI> 57, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> We hear that one who&s;e Heart and Mind (we be|lieve) as well as Name, is to that Book of theirs, hath a&s;&s;erted, that Enthu&s;ia&s;m came in with the Do|ctrine of Believers Bapti&s;m, whereby he would make our Lord Je&s;us the Author and Promoter of it, that Doctrine of Bapti&s;m afore&s;aid being origi|nally from his Command and Practice. It were ea&s;y to an&s;wer to all the&s;e Cavils and Scorns ca&s;t upon us; but we &s;hall forbear at pre&s;ent, becau&s;e we would fir&s;t know from them (&s;eeing they &s;ay they are re&s;olved to an&s;wer, and &s;o to hold on this Controver&s;y) what they have to &s;ay to wipe off the&s;e Slurs ca&s;t upon their manner of Praying, and yet that they may be de&s;ervedly ca&s;t upon tho&s;e that are for prai&s;ing or &s;inging Prai&s;e by the &s;ame Spirit, a&s;&s;i&s;ting in the &s;ame manner as he doth in Prayer. But by the&s;e things, the Baptized Churches may behold what that Spirit is that would intro|duce this common Singing among them that hath been &s;o long rejected by them; even the &s;ame that hath brought in, and maintain'd all that carnal Wor&s;hip, which by the Anti-chri&s;tian Apo&s;tacy, hath fill'd the World to this Day. And hereby they may &s;ee whereto it would lead them, even back to lick up the old Vomit; which will be the more pernicious to them than others, becau&s;e
<PB N="61" REF="31">they have been (through Grace) farther delivered from it than many others: and therefore their turning back, will be the more grievous and provo|king to the Spirit of the Lord: though our graci|ous Lord is plea&s;ed to deal very gently with his People in all their Weakne&s;&s;es or Mi&s;takes, while a perver&s;e Spirit is not found among them. Where|fore we declare, We have no di&s;gu&s;t again&s;t, nor would we maintain any Di&s;tance or Difference with tho&s;e Brethren, who&s;e Apprehen&s;ions may not be the &s;ame with ours in this matter about Singing; who carry it not only piou&s;ly, but peace|ably in their Stations, and among the Churches. Some of who&s;e Names are &s;et to the Recommen|dation of this Book (which we in the Sub&s;tance of it, have endeavoured to an&s;wer) tho without their Knowledg or Con&s;ent. For we believe they are &s;o &s;ober and righteous, that whatever their Opi|nion might be of the Argument, they would never have &s;et their Names to &s;uch a univer&s;al Appro|pation, without a faithful Witne&s;s again&s;t tho&s;e abominable and lamentable extravagant fal&s;e Ac|cu&s;ations, Reflections and Slanders, contain'd in it.</P>
<P>As for Mr. <HI>Whinnel,</HI> who&s;e mi&s;guided Zeal may have mi&s;led him with &s;ome Mi&s;informings, to re|flect upon us without cau&s;e, as he hath: He being a Per&s;on of a very courteous and obliging Conver|&s;ation, we hope he will for time to come, if not better, con&s;ider his Arguments for that common &s;et-form Singing, which he doth endeavour to promote; yet, at lea&s;t, forbear &s;uch cau&s;le&s;s Re|flections again&s;t tho&s;e that do in Judgment and Con&s;cience di&s;&s;ent from him in that matter.</P>
<P>As for Mr. <HI>Keach,</HI> who hath been the chief In|&s;trument to rai&s;e up this Controver&s;y, which may
<PB N="62" REF="32">occa&s;ion more Contention than Edification in the Baptized Churches, we heartily de&s;ire he may for time to come labour after the things which make for Peace. We know, and he him&s;elf al&s;o, how long he hath maintained a Wall of Partition be|tween him and the re&s;t of the Baptized Churches, allowing no Church-Communion but &s;uch as can agree with him in his Opinion and Practice of Laying on of Hands upon the Members of the Church, both Men and Women, which Practice we find no where commanded by our Lord Je&s;us, nor his Apo&s;tles; yet we have not made it a Bone of Contention between him and us, neither concerned our &s;elves for many Years, to make any publick Conte&s;t about it; but to &s;ay no more of that mat|ter, only what relates to the Book it &s;elf.</P>
<P N="1">1. Whereas in the Title of it, it's recommended by divers Elders and Mini&s;ters of Baptized Churches, mentioning the Names of &s;everal; &s;ome of them affirm they never &s;et their Hands to it, &s;aying, they know not how their Hands came there; and that the Epi&s;tle it &s;elf, to which their Names are &s;et, they never &s;aw until they &s;aw it printed. And where<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters"> in the Title it's farther &s;aid, it is recommended by divers Elders and Mini&s;ters of the Baptized Chur|ches, we know that &s;ome of them are not Mini&s;ters, nor Elders, nor &s;o much as Members in Communion with any Baptized Church as we know of.</P>
<P N="2">2. He hath very unju&s;tly charged the Churches which were fir&s;t gathered, that they were of Opi|nion, and did unanimou&s;ly declare, that for a Go|&s;pel-Mini&s;ter to have a Yearly Allowance, was an Human Invention, and Antichri&s;tian: whereas the contrary to which they have declared in their Confe&s;&s;ion of Faith, printed by them &s;oon after
<PB N="63" REF="32">they came together, as may more at large be &s;een in the former part of our An&s;wer: and it may farther appear what their Practice was in tho&s;e Times, by a late Printed Book, entituled, The Life and Death of Mr. <HI>Han&s;erd Knowlls,</HI> written in his Life-time with his own Hand: wherein he hath left this Te|&s;timony, <HI>pag.</HI> 23, 24. that he was Pa&s;tor to a Church in the Year 1645, and he received from the Church always according to their Ability, mo&s;t of the Members being poor. What Man fearing God, and de&s;iring to pre&s;erve the Truth he him&s;elf pro|fe&s;&s;eth dur&s;t affirm &s;o fal&s;e a thing? And what u&s;e may be made of it, by &s;uch as are glad of any Op|portunity to &s;peak Evil of the Ways of God, we leave to the Con&s;ideration of all Men.</P>
<P>Finally; We earne&s;tly intreat the Baptized Churches, their Elders, Mini&s;ters and Members, to con&s;ider what hath been &s;aid concerning this Que&s;tion about Singing; and that they would not any of them ra&s;hly or ha&s;tily, upon any plau&s;ible Pretences, be per&s;waded to &s;et up that Way of &s;et-form Singing; which tho&s;e Churches, in times pa&s;t, did on matur<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"> Deliberation, from the Light afforded, reject together with &s;et-form Prayer. But the Lord grant that we all may be pre&s;&s;ing af|ter more Purity b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">th in the Form and Spirit of Holy-Wor&s;hip; n<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">t declining to any thing that is not of Divine In&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">tution. In the mean time, bearing one with another in Love, wherein we may be of differing Ap<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">rehen&s;ions in tho&s;e or other Matters that are of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"> lower Concernment, not be|ing de&s;irous of vain <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">lory, provoking one another; &s;tudying and earne<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="3 letters">y labouring every one of us, to maintain Peace a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters"> Holine&s;s in our Souls, in our Families, and in th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"> Churches of our Lord Je&s;us,
<PB N="64" REF="33">that the God of Love and Peace may be with us. We &s;hall conclude with that Word, <HI>Heb.</HI> 1<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">.20. <HI>Now the God of Peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Je&s;us, that great Shepherd of the Sheep, through the Blood of the everla&s;ting Covenant, make you perfect in every good Work to do his Will, working in you that which is well-plea&s;ing in his &s;ight, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">hrough Je&s;us Chri&s;t: to whom be Glory for ever and e|ver.</HI> Amen.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>We &s;ub&s;cribe our &s;elves, Your Brethren in the Faith and Fellow&s;hip of the Go&s;pel,
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>William Kiffin,</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>George Barrett,</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Robert Steed,</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Edward Man.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></SIGNED></CLOSER>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
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<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="errata">
<P><HI>Errata.</HI> Pag. 16. l. 11. for <HI>we</HI> r. <HI>&s;ome.</HI> P. 23. l. 16. r. <HI>in them do they.</HI></P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="publisher's advertisement">
<HEAD>ADVERTISEMENT.</HEAD>
<P>THere is now coming forth a Book, entituled, <HI>Truth Soberly Defended,</HI> in a Serious Reply to Mr. <HI>B. Keach</HI>'s Book, called, <HI>The Breach Repaired in God's Wor&s;hip, or Singing of P&s;alms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, proved to be an Holy Ordinance of Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</HI> As al&s;o a Vindication of a Book, entituled, <HI>Prelimited Forms of Prai+&s;ing God, vocally &s;ung by all the Church together, proved to be no Go&s;pel Ordinance.</HI> With a Po&s;t&s;cript in An&s;wer farther to a Book, en|titled, <HI>Folly Detected,</HI> Publi&s;hed by M. <HI>Jo&s;eph Wright.</HI> And <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word"> a Paper called <HI>an Appendix,</HI> or a brief An&s;wer to Mr. <HI>Marlow Notion of the E&s;&s;ence of Singing,</HI> by <HI>T.W.</HI> And to a Paper called an <HI>An&s;wer to a brief Di&s;cour&s;e concerning <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">nging,</HI> by <HI>H. K.</HI> Where|unto is added a brief Narative of the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">i&s;e, Occa&s;ion and Manage|ment of the pre&s;ent Controver&s;y of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">nging, between <HI>I. M.</HI> and Mr. <HI>B. K.</HI> with &s;ome Reflections on Book, called <HI>Truth Vindica|ted,</HI> or Mr. <HI>Keach</HI>'s <HI>Sober Appeal an&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">red.</HI> Wherein al&s;o his A|bu&s;es, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> are detected, under the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">nds of &s;everal worthy Pa|&s;tors of Churches. By <HI>I&s;aac Marlow</HI> Price Bound together 1 <HI>s.</HI></P>
<P>There is al&s;o publi&s;hed a Book, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">itled, <HI>A Treati&s;e of the Holy Yrin-unity;</HI> in two Parts. The fir&s;t <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">&s;erteth the Deity of Je&s;us Chri&s;t and the Holy Spirit, in the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">ty of E&s;&s;ence with God the Father. The &s;econd, in defence the former, an&s;wereth the chiefe&s;t Objections made again&s;t <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word"> Doctrine. By <HI>I&s;aac Marlow</HI> Price Bound 10 <HI>d.</HI></P>
</DIV1>
</BACK>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
