Old-Testament-Names given to New-Testament-Singing do no more prove either the matter or manner to be the same nor establish Old-Testament-Singing in the Gospel-Church than the other Old-Testament Names do those Old-Testament-Things in Gospel-Times 2dly As those three Words are before proved to be indifferently applied to one and the same thing in the Old Testament so there is less Reason that they should have different Significations in the New for you may find that several Old-Testament Names are given to one Gospel-Thing 1 Pet. 2.5 Eph. 2.21 22. Rom. 2.29 Heb. 4.14 ch 9.26 ch 13.10 1 Cor. 5.7 as the Saints are called a spiritual House and Temple an Holy Priesthood and Jews and Christ is called an High Priest a Sacrifice an Altar and Temple and therefore it being usual to call Gospel-Things by divers Names of different Natures in the Old Testament there is no Reason that those three Names Psalms Hymns and spiritual Songs John 2.19 21. See Pool 's Annot on Col. 3.16 which as Pool confesseth were promiscuously used and which are here demonstrated to intend but one thing in the Old Testament should be understood of any more than of one thing or sort of Gospel-spiritual-Singing respecting its Composure and Delivery Eighth Objection It is a moral Duty for wicked Men to pray and sing Praises to God which they are not able to do without a Form and therefore Forms are lawful Answ 1. Prov. 21.4 27. ch 15.8 The Scriptures say that the plowing of the Wicked is Sin and that the Sacrifice of the Wicked is an Abomination to the Lord and wherefore but because whatsoever Good he doth or desireth it is not for good Ends to serve and glorify God but to consume his Mercies upon his Lusts he turneth all into Sin Jam. 4.3 and therefore all he doth is but Sin if he prays for Grace he doth but play the Hypocrite with God for as he knoweth not what it is so he doth not desire it for he loves his own Sins and Lusts more than Grace and therefore his Prayers cannot be pleasing to the Lord whilst he remaineth a hardned Sinner 2. All Men ought not only to pray and praise God as their Creator but to keep the whole Law in the perfect State of Innocency in which they were created in Adam but now they have no power in themselves to perform the inward spiritual Works of the Law to love the Lord their God with all their Hearts c. and to pray and sing Praises to him they can do neither of these sincerely in their Hearts Rom. 7.14 for the Law is spiritual and requires spiritual Obedience but they are carnal sold under Sin and blinded in their Minds And as they have not a true sense of their Sins nor see their need of Christ so they know not that they have cause to sing his Praise for their Being And therefore for such to use a Form of Prayer or Singing when they have no Sense nor Understanding of what they pray for or that they have cause to sing is to mock God with their Lips with that which they have not in their Hearts Besides the putting of Persons on formal Worship is not the way to get the Spirit but to rest on formal Duties which hinder their coming to Jesus Christ 3. As Forms are many ways sinful and hurtful to the Souls of Men so there is no need of them as Crutches for Lame Men to bring them to Jesus Christ for where there is a true Conviction and sense of Sins that Soul can cry against them and if it be but with Lord be merciful to me a Sinner he shall as Christ saith be rather justified than with a formal Prayer without Convictions And when they are Sons God sendeth forth the Spirit of Adoption into their Hearts Gal. 4.6 Rom. 8.15 that crieth and teacheth them whereby they cry Abba Father without the help of humane Forms Ninth Objection All true Believers and sincere Christians have continual cause to rejoice in the Lord and magnify God in the highest Celebration of his Praise and therefore it is their Duty in his constant Worship to sing his Praise Answ Whatever Cause we have to rejoice in the Lord and to glorify God in the highest Celebration of his Praise for Redemption-Grace and those sure and everlasting Mercies confirmed to us in the Blood of Jesus Christ yet it doth not from thence follow that we should constantly sing to God in his publick Worship 1. Because that in this Life the Joys and Consolations of our Redemption-Grace is mixed with Sorrows for Sins Temptations Troubles and Afflictions which deprive us of the constant exercise of the Grace of Joy in our Souls And as Solomon saith To every thing there is a Season Eccles 3.1 4. and a Time to every Purpose under the Heaven A Time to weep and a Time to laugh a Time to mourn and a Time to dance And the Times of the Church of Christ are differently set forth Cant. 2.11 and compared by the Holy Spirit to Winter and Summer when the Flowers appear on the Earth and the Time of the singing of Birds is come And as I shewed before that the Jewish Church through Sin and Unbelief had her Wilderness and Tabernacle-State and Time of Trouble which called for Mourning and Humiliation more than Singing so the Gospel-Church hath her Wilderness and Sackcloth-State in which she must prophesy 1260 Days Now as Sackcloth Isa 22.12 which betokens Mourning and Singing are inconsistent with each other so we should not imagine that God requireth such Opposites in Nature both together For he hath appointed unto them that mourn in Zion to give unto them Beauty for Ashes Isa 61.3 the Oil of Joy for Mourning the Garment of Praise for the Spirit of Heaviness And as the Apostle saith Jam. 5.13 Is any among you afflicted let him pray Is any merry let him sing Psalms From which it is manifest that Affliction and Prayer and Rejoicing and Singing have their different Seasons and that until the one be taken away the other is not given But some may think that the two Sackcloth-Witnesses in Rev. 11. are not the Church of Christ but two particular Persons and eminent Witnesses that should arise But to me it is plain that they must be understood of the visible Church of Christ for if the three Days and an half of their lying dead as is generally owned and cannot be otherwise understood be the space of three Years and an half of Time then also by the same Rule the 1260 Days of their prophesying in Sackcloth must be taken for 1260 Years which is too long a time for one Age or two particular Persons to continue And therefore the two Sackcloth-Witnesses are the visible Church of Christ Rev. 13.7 which the Beast shall make War upon and overcome Ch. 12.14 And so also must the Woman in the Wilderness be understood of the Church of
glorified and thanked I can see no reason to confine his Praises to Songs of Praise only which the Learned Dr. Owen strongly opposes in his Exposition of Heb. 2.12 notwithstanding the word in the Greek that is there put for Praise is Hymneso se I will hymn thee viz. I will praise thee his Words are these It is declared farther 1. What Christ will moreover do He will sing Praises unto God and 2. where he will do it in the midst of the Congregation The Expression of both these is accommodated unto the Declaration of God's Name and praising of him in the Temple The Singing of Hymns of Praise unto God in the great Congregation was then a principal Part of his Worship And in the first Expression two Things are observable 1. What Christ undertakes to do and that is to praise God Now this is only Exegetical of what went before He would praise God by declaring his Name There is no way whereby the Praise of God may be celebrated like that of declaring his Grace Goodness and Love unto Men whereby they may be won to believe and trust in him whence Glory redounds unto him 2. The Chearfulness and Alacrity of the Spirit of Christ in this Work he would do it as with Joy and Singing with such a frame of Heart as was required in them who were to sing the Praises of God in the great Assembly in the Temple 3. Where would he do this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the midst of the Congregation the great Congregation as he calls it ver 25. that is the great Assemblies of the People in the Temple And this was a Type of the whole Church of the Elect under the New-Testament The Lord Christ in his own Person by his Spirit in his Apostles and his Word by all his Messengers unto the end of the World setting forth the Love Grace Goodness and Mercy of God in him the Mediator sets forth the Praise of God in the midst of the Congregation I shall only add saith he that whereas Singing of Hymns unto God was an essential Part of the instituted Worship under the Old Testament to whose use these Expressions are accommodated it is evident that the Lord Christ hath eminently set forth this Praise of God in his Institution of Worship under the New-Testament wherein God will ever be glorified and praised And he farther saith That he viz. Christ no sooner was delivered from his Sufferings but as he lands upon the Shore from that Tempest wherein he was tossed in his Passion he cries out I will declare thy Name unto my Brethren in the midst of the Congregation will I sing praise unto thee And thus we find that upon his Resurrection he did not immediately ascend into Glory but first declared the Name of God unto his Apostles and Disciples and then took order that by them it should be declared and published to all the World This was upon his Spirit and he entred not into his glorious Rest until he had performed it The Words themselves also do evidence it in that Expression of celebrating God's Name with Hymns with Singing It was a Joy of heart unto him to be engaged in this work Singing is the frame 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 James 5.13 of them that are in a glad free rejoycing Condition So was the Lord Christ in this Work Moreover Psal 258. the Lord Christ by declaring that he will set forth the Praise of God in the Church manifests what is the duty of the Church it self namely to praise God This is indeed the very end of gathering the Church and of all the Duties that are performed therein and thereby This is the end of the Institution of all Ordinances of Worship in the Church Eph. 3.8 9 10. and in them do they set forth the Praises of God unto Men and Angels This is the tendency of Prayer the word of Faith the fruit of Obedience It is a fond Imagination which some have fallen upon that God is not praised in the Church for the work of Redemption unless it be done by Words and Hymns particularly expressing it All Praying all Preaching all Administration of Ordinances all our Faith all our Obedience if ordered aright are nothing but giving Glory to God for his Love and Grace in Christ Jesus in a due and acceptable manner So that it is manifested from the aforesaid Premises that praising of God is not limited to Songs of Praise SECT II. Of the word Hymnos a Hymn THat the word Hymnos signifieth Praise and is of such a general Signification as that it is not to be confined only to Songs of Praise is shewed briefly in my former Discourse Par. 1. p. 29 33. wherein I cited Ainsworth on Psalm 3. who translates it Praise and the Dutch Annotations which do not limit it to Songs but do also admit of it to signify saying Thanks to God to which former Testimony I shall add some farther Evidence for the confirmation thereof And first in Constantine's Greek Lexicon though it tells us that Hymenaeus is a Nuptial Song and Hymnos Hymnus Laus Deorum the Praise of the Gods c. Yet he also confesseth hymneo dico hymnum I say an Hymn as well as hymnos canto I sing Hymns cano vel dico laudes I sing or say Praises Neque solum de Diis ut quidam tradunt dicitur sed etiam de hominibus aliis rebus Neither is it spoken only of the Gods as some say but also of Men and other Things Hymno etiam Kateuphemismon pro conqueror that is Hymno also Kateuphemismon is put for conqueror to complain convicior to accuse or reproach Hymnein for lamentari to lament So in the English Greek and Latin Lexicon by Andrew Symson Minister it is Hymnus Ephes 5.19 Coloss 3.16 a Song containing Praises to God yet he also saith Hymnum cano Hymnum dicto to sing an Hymn to say an Hymn Mat. 26.30 Mar. 14.26 to praise to give Thanks unto God This word viz. Hymnus saith he signifieth also to complain which is a more foreign Signification And though these Lexicon-Writers do apply the use of the word to Songs of Praise and Nuptial Songs yet we see they do also admit of its simple signification to praise without Songs But that which chiefly concerns us is to consider the use that is made of it in the Holy Scriptures And 1. The LXXII learned Translators of the Old Testament out of the Hebrew into the Greek Tongue were not so well acquainted with it as such a proper limited word to signify Marriage-Praise or Songs of Praise for if they had then surely they would have used the word Hymnos in Psal 78.63 And their Maidens were not given to Marriage in the margent it is Heb. praised lo hullalu shall not be praised which the Septuagint translate Epenthesan and use not the word Hymnos for Marriage-Praise 2. In Mr. Leigh's Critica Sacra on Matth. 26.30 Mark
may also be of the same Nature and intend the same thing as it did in the Legal Worship Answer It is true that private Prayer is a Duty of the same Nature under the Gospel as it was under the Law both with respect to the like Occasions Wants and Necessities of the Saints and to the same Spirit by which all true Believers do offer up spiritual and effectual Prayers to God But as to the Conveyance and Delivery of Prayer as an Ordinance in and for the publick ministerial and ordinary instituted Service of God in his Church there is a Difference in Gospel-Times to what it was under the Law for such publick Prayers were conveyed and delivered formerly with dark Shadows and carnal Ordinances by which means the Spirituality of spiritual Persons as David of whom it is said that he praised God by the Ministry of the Priests and Levites in the publick Worship of God was greatly vailed to what it now is 2 Chron. 7 6. 2 Cor. 3.13 14 15. 2 Chron. 29.25 to 31. Nehem. 11.17 22. since all those Forms Ceremonial Shadows and carnal Ordinances are removed for while the Priests were offering the Sacrifices the Priests and Levites in Songs with Instruments of Musick delivered such Psalms of Prayers and Praises as were appointed for the publick Service of God So that publick Prayers in the ordinary and constant Worship of God in the Old-Testament-Church was ministred in a different manner to what it now is and ought to be under the Gospel and therefore whatsoever Singing hath been or still may be in Gospel-Times may as well differ from the Old-Testament-Temple-Singing But having before shewed that Temple-Singing was no Type of Singing in the Gospel-Tabernacle-Church-State there is the less need of any Reply to this Objection Twelfth Objection Since the extraordinary Gifts of the Holy Spirit are ceased we must now pray and preach by its ordinary Gifts and if we are allowed to use precomposed Forms of Preaching why not of they might say Prayer and Singing also Answ 1. I do acknowledg and assert that we should not neglect Prayer till we have an extraordinary Gift or Impulse of Spirit unto Prayer but we should constantly go to God as we can not only for Continuance of those Mercies we have but for further Supplies of our inward and outward Wants which are the chiefest part of Prayer But Singing proceeds from a Fulness of Injoyment and is called a Breaking forth Isa 52.9 and therefore requires a greater Measure of the Holy Spirit For we can pray for what we have not but we should break forth into Singing from what we have otherwise we mock God and draw nigh unto him with our Mouths Isa 29.13 and honour him with our Lips when our Hearts are far from him and our Fear towards him is taught by the Precepts of Men and therefore when I consider the present State and Frame of the Churches of Jesus Christ I much wonder that so many should be for Singing when their Hearts are so much below Prayer for if we should go from Saint to Saint we should find that this is the general Cry I have a dead and stony Heart saith one and another mourneth under the Strength and Power of Sins and Temptations and a third for the Light of God's Countenance and the great Complaint is I am dull and heavy and cannot profit in Ordinances and that which is worst of all I am shut up in my Spirit that I cannot pray I want the Spirit of Prayer and Supplications Now if thus it be then where is the Spirit of Singing Will you lie and express that with your Lips to God which you have not in your Hearts But some of these will say Singing will raise my Spirit I find Refreshment by it and therefore I am for Singing To this I answer That there may be a natural sensual Joy in the Heart when it is not from the Light and Influence of the Holy Spirit and therefore we must beware that we make not our Spirits a Standard for the Worship of God but that we try our Spirits by the Scriptures 2dly As to Forms of Prayer and Singing I have sufficiently treated of them before and that the sufficient Gifts of the Holy Spirit shall continue for the Worship of God in the Gospel-Church to the end of the World and therefore my Business here is only to shew that the using a Form of Preaching is no Example for a Form of Singing if it be why not of Prayer also which you deny because there is Reason for a Form of Preaching from the Word of God and Example of Christ himself who read a Text and then preached from it though as he was not so others are not limited to that or any other particular Forms yet it is lawful for them and required of them to compare spiritual things with spiritual to attend on Reading and Meditations 1 Cor. 2.13 1 Tim. 4.13 15. 2 Tim. 1.13 ch 2.15 1 Cor. 4.6 and to hold fast the Form of sound Words rightly dividing the Word of Truth as a Workman that needs not to be ashamed of his Work as Paul who saith These things Brethren I have in a Figure transferred to my self and to Apollos for your sakes So that where the Scriptures do give us Liberty we may use it but it is our Sin to take it where it is forbidden as I have shewed it is to use a Form of Prayer or Singing I could say more of the different Nature of Preaching to that of Prayer and Singing but I think it is needless here and therefore I shall conclude with my humble Request to all those that are for Singing of David's Psalms or any prescribed Forms of Singing as the Custom is that they would be pleased seriously to consider of these several things following 1. That the vocal Singing together either of David's Psalms or any humane precomposed Forms is a corrupting of the pure Worship of Jesus Christ in mingling of Law and Gospel or humane and divine things together 2. It will lead us to Apostacy to return from whence we came as a Dog to his Vomit and as a Sow that is washed to her wallowing in the Mire 3. Consider seriously you that are Leaders of the Lord's People and are for such formal Singing Whether the same Arguments you now urge to your Fellow-Brethren will be pleadable for your Practice at the Bar of Jesus Christ you may plead them here to us but will you not be ashamed to own them there The Lord give you a true Sight and Sense of the evil Consequences of this your Error that you may not cause his People to sin but may yet with sound Doctrine strengthen the weak Hands and confirm the feeble Knees and make straight Paths for your Feet Heb. 12.12 13. lest that which is lame be turned out of the way but let it rather be healed 4thly Consider that if you err from the Rule