Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	apostle_n	baptism_n	infant_n	2,706	5	8.6906	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A92933	A Serious answer to a late book stiled, A reply to Mr. Robert Steed's epistle concerning singing wherein the chief scriptures and arguments are examined, and the weakness thereof shewed : together with an answer to the several reflections, and false charges, against both churches and persons, recommended to the elders, ministers, and members of baptized churches.	Kiffin, William, 1616-1701.; Steed, Robert, of Dartmouth.; Barrett, George.; E. M. (Edward Man)	1692 (1692)	Wing S2607; ESTC R42860	36,728	64

A SERIOUS ANSWER TO A Late BOOK STILED A REPLY to Mr. Robert Steed's EPISTLE concerning SINGING WHEREIN The chief Scriptures and Arguments are examined and the Weakness thereof shewed TOGETHER With an ANSWER to the several Reflections and false Charges against both Churches and Persons Recommended to the Elders Ministers and Members of the Baptized Churches Joh. 4.24 God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and Truth Jer. 20.10 I heard the defaming of many Report say they and we will report London Printed in the Year 1692. To the Elders Ministers and Members of the Baptized Churches throughout England and Wales Beloved in our Lord IT is a great Truth that as we are not to omit any thing in the Solemn Worship of God that is of his Appointment so we are not to admit any thing that is not of his Institution under any pretence whatsoever to be intruded upon us But it is greatly to be lamented that there is a proneness in Professors except by Grace prevented to turn aside from this Holy Rule either through the Infirmity of the Flesh or the Deception or Infection which through Temptation they meet withal in the World whereof there hath been and still is continually sad Experience An Instance whereof we have in the matter we have now to present to your serious Consideration When it pleased the Lord in Times past to inlighten some gracious Holy Persons in that great Ordinance of Baptism as it was commanded by our Lord and Saviour and practised by Him and his Apostles and the Primitive Churches And therefore to cast off Infants Sprinkling which was set up in the room of it as a Humane Invention They were then also on Scripture-Grounds well weighed and seriously considered convinced that the common way of praying to God or praising of God in what manner soever it were performed by a composed Form as usually then was and still is the Custom of many Protestants was not of Divine Institution and therefore to be rejected And accordingly it was in those Days laid aside by the Baptized Churches whom the Lord then graciously and eminently owned by many signal Tokens of his Presence among them But now to our great Grief some whose Duty and Place it was to have setled and further to have established the Churches in that Work of Reformation are declined from it asserting with Heat and Confidence that to sing by a composed Form with a whole Multitude lifting up their Voices together the Ignorant and Profane the Unbelievers or Unconverted with the Church-Members is an Ordinance of our Lord Jesus which they practise and with vehement Earnestness are contending for whereby the Peace and Edification of the Churches is hindred and the Minds and Consciences of many gracious Souls perplexed and intangled By this they are not only building again what hath been destroyed but thereby also there is plain Introduction unto a farther declining in Prayer and others of the Holy Ordinances of our Blessed Lord and Law-giver This common or popular way of Singing they also 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 oppose whatever is presented by any from the Holy Scriptures to deliver them or others from that Humane Invention which hath been so long rejected by the Churches aforesaid but they also take a licentious Liberty to reflect upon them that would hinder their design in this matter not only most falsly aspersing them but also uttering a most false Accusation and Slander against the Baptized Churches in their first gathering laying that to their Charge as a received Principle owned by them which they had openly declared against to the whole World in their Confession of Faith which was in those Days Printed and Published whereby they stigmatize or brand them with the deepest Hypocrisy that depraved Mortals can be guilty of These Things which are matter of great Lamentation are either evidently insinuated or plainly declared in a late printed Tract concerning Singing in answer to a small Sheet published by Mr. R. Steed which was intended chiefly for and therefore written by way of Epistle to that Church to which he is related which by some Friends that had perused it was given also into the Hands of the Members of other Churches wherein he only gives his understanding of what the Holy Scriptures speak concerning that Subject without mentioning or reflecting on any others that are of a contrary Mind But Mr. Keach who is the chief Promoter of this Controversy so as to heighten it to a Contention said It must be answered and that he would answer it And we do not question on good grounds but that he and Mr. Whinnel by his Instigation joined together to contrive that Answer which they have printed Tho Mr. Keach as we are informed did say to some that Mr. Wh. was not the Author of it It 's very probable that he was not the principal but Mr. K. expects to have the greatest Honour in due time of that Enterprize as being the chiefest Contriver of it But that their Book might pass with the greater Applause and Credit it is in the beginning of it recommended by an Epistle as a very sober Answer subscribed with several Names at the Conclusion of it Some of those Persons whose Names are there subscribed are such as we have no Communion with being such as are called Free-willers or Arminians holding a falling away from true Grace And some others whose Names are set down have professed that they did not subscribe it And some that did give their consent say they had not done it had it not been for Mr. Keach's Importunity And one of the chief of them saith that he never saw the Epistle till after it was printed to which his Hand was subscribed So that it 's ushered in with a gross Forgery in the beginning of it as it is carried on with unchristian Reflections and false Accusations which certainly cannot consist with Christian Sobriety or common Honesty whatever may be pretended But Mr. Keach who knows how to take Refined Gold out of another Man's Mine or Lines made ready to his Hand and present it as his own finding tho to the great prejudice of him whose indeed it was may know also how to take the Liberty to subscribe other Persons Names tho without their Consent The serious Consideration of these Things as they have been matter of Trouble and Sorrow to us so they have engaged some of us who have hitherto been silent as to these things now to appear for the Truth of our Lord against such Innovations And therefore to endeavour that the Churches may not be abused nor their Members deceived by such Artifices as these are We do not intend to answer every seeming Argument and carping Cavil or to take notice of every unseeming Reflection contained in

of what he hath commanded Mat. 28.19 2. In the great Gospel-Duties of Prayer and Praising God he hath graciously promised the assistance of the Holy Spirit both what to pray for as well as how we are to pray Rom. 8.26 For we know not what to pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh Intercession for us Where we observe that which respects the manner and frame of Heart in Prayer respects also the matter of Prayer Indeed we are poor Worms and know not how to order our Cause before him unless we are assisted both in Matter in the time of Worship as well as Manner And as it is in Prayer so is it in Praises which Duty ought certainly to be as spiritually performed as Prayer and we need as great assistance of the Holy Spirit to Praise as to Pray But if Gospel-singing the Praise of God be with a Musical Voice and the Form before composed in Verse then we know what to praise God for The Minister or some one brings that Matter composed 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 3. But if it be objected that we ought before-hand to consider the Mercies we have received We readily grant it and do affirm that also in Prayer we ought to consider our Wants to beg Supplies and our Sins to beg Pardon But also in presenting them before the Lord we need the Assistance of the Spirit to order our very Requests before him And that it 's the Experience of every Servant of God that in Prayer to God and in Praises of God their Hearts are inlarged in matter far beyond the Preparations of matter in either of those Holy Exercises This is one of the most pregnant Arguments used against stinted Forms of Prayer by those Ministers that so do even that it is a stinting the Spirit of God in that Duty as also contrary to the blessed Design of the Lord Christ in his Ascension mentioned Eph. 4.8 And therefore we cannot see but it must necessarily follow but that if a set-Form of Praises composed and brought into the Church in the publick Worship of God is lawful or as an Institution appointed by him then certainly a set-Form of Prayer ought to be provided also as a part of the publick Worship of God for the Peoples Prayers And tertainly would they but seriously consider their own Arguments that perswade them to be against set-form Prayer the same would consute their Notions against set-form Singing if indeed they be against set-form Prayer For they that can so vehemently plead in that Book for reading Songs of Praise and for reading Sermons and call it Preaching in the Church why should they not be for reading Prayers there also especially when their Arguments for both are for the most part the very same that others urge for set-form Prayer As for what they most impertinently alledg for their Vindication in this Matter from the Song of Moses and the Hymn mentioned Mat. 26.30 with Col. 3.16 they will be considered in their due place Secondly We shall enquire whether for a mixed Multitude Professors and Prosane Believers and Unbelievers to sing in Consort in the Church be an Ordinance of our Lord Jesus according to his New-Testament-Institution 1. We desire it may be seriously considered that there is not the least mention of it in the New Testament by any Precept or Example wherein we are directed in the Worship of God Certainly if our Lord Jesus was most faithful in the House of God and if his Apostles did faithfully declare the whole Counsel of God to the Churches then they would not have failed to have declared this also So that it is purely a Humane Invention without any shadow of ground for it in the Scriptures before mentioned which are the only Rule to guide us in the solemn instituted Worship of God in his Church If this Arguments hold good against the common Practice of Infants Sprinkling called Baptism as undoubtedly it doth then it doth also as evidently prove that this way of common Singing is a Tradition of Men and not an Ordinance of our Lord Jesus 2. As there is not the least mention of it as aforesaid so it is directly contrary to what our Lord Jesus hath plainly declared both as to the Qualification of the Worshippers as well as to the manner of Worship in Gospel-Times Joh. 4.23 The true Worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and i● Truth c. Can the Unbelievers the Ignorant and the Profane thus worship the Father are they thus qualified or are they capable so 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 Worship which therefore ought to be rejected by all the upright in Heart 3. Hereby there is an Opportunity given them to make or to speak a Lie before the Lord to take his Name in vain while they speak that which they do not understand 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 Estate because they are spiritually discerned Now to be accessary unto or to promote such a Transgression in the solemn Worship of God which they unavoidably do who set up this common way of Singing is a Practice that cannot be justified There is more to be added to shew the great Irregularity of this common Practice which must be referred to its proper place Object But they object That we admit them to be present and to join with their Hearts in our publick Prayers which is as much or more than lifting up their Voices in singing in the Church Answ To which we reply That it is true we do admit them at the time of Prayer and Preaching to be present and so we can and do to the Spectators 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 Assertion They do not so join with us because they cannot For the Holy Spirit who knows the Hearts of all Men plainly tells us that Persons while Unbelievers and Unconverted cannot so do as is most evident from that Scripture Rom. 10.14 How can they call on him on whom they have not believed Object But they say Some have been converted by their Singing for Psalms are full of Instruction c. Answ 1. We grant that Psalms are full of Admonition and Instruction but we deny that the Musical Tunes do instruct but the Matter it self that is sung And if it be Matter it self that doth only instruct as you would seem to acknowledg then it is not Musick but the Matter 2. Tho some should be