shortly see the light The Imputation of Popery may be clearly laid at the Dissenters Door and we have no reason to account any thing Popery in the Kingdom nor to fear any Danger of it but from those few who are professed Papists themselves or such as too near agree with them in Principles and Practices * Another MSS written in the time of Q. Eliz called a dutiful Advertisement to beware of the Puritans by the Papists and of the Papists by the Puritans discovering the great Coherence and agreement between both the Sects in manifold and divers regardable both erroneous and perillous Positions c. See this at large proved in the Compendious History of all the Popish and Fantical Plots and Conspiracies against the established Government in Church and State in England Scotland and Ireland from the First of Queen Elizabeth to 1684. By the Reverend Mr. Tho. Long of Exon. and who are and always have been their prime Agents and Instruments I mean the several Sects among us which dissent from the Church of England Which Church is by far the greatest if not the only Support of the Protestant Religion and Interest and consequently the greatest Enemy the Church of Rome has in the World 'T is look'd upon to be so by those of that Communion and therefore is it become the Object of its greatest Fury and Envy to destroy which is its greatest aim and if by any means it can be effected they may truly think they have done the business of the Reformation This Church had beyond others of the Protestant Profession a great advantage in the Reformation for when Luther who first began to reform the Errors and Corruptions of the Church of Rome and to separate from it had made a great step that way he notwithstanding left a great many things unreformed which were offensive and could not be justified by Primitive Anquity such as the two great number of Ceremonies and almost all the external Worship in the Church of Rome Auricular Confession the use of Crucifixes The use of the Crucifix allowed by Mr. Baxter and called Causa Motiva c. in Devotion but without Adoration the absurd Pictures of the Trinity and the Doctrine of Consubstantiation determining the Mode of the real Presence instead of the absurder Popish Doctrine of Transubstantiation Afterwards Calvin carried on the Reformation Care of Ch. Div. at Geneva to which Place he was invited by the Citizens A. D. 1536. when they had expelled their Popish Bishop who was also their Temporal Lord and refused to re-admit him unless he would disclaim Popery upon whose refusal they took the Government of Church and State into their own Hands which soon occasioned great Disorders and Confusions And upon this to gratifie the Magistrates See Mr. Longs Calv. Redivivus p. 10 c. and yet to keep the Authority of the Church he suits his Model of Government to the exigence of the Times and upon this account was in a manner necessarily obliged to make a direct opposition to Popery the great Measure of his Reformation for which Reason he laid aside the Hierarchy notwithstanding its being Primitive and Apostolical because he must not come near the Popish Government But yet he plainly approves of it and Calvinus in Libro de necess Reform Ecclesiae very sharply rebuked those English Men who did dissent from it If any says he be found that do not reverence such an Hierarchy i. e. such as is in England and subject themselves to the same with the lowest Obedience I confess there is no Anathema whereof he is not worthy However his Model was never received in the Church of England nor suited to it and his assistance was not accepted by Arch-bishop Cranmer who with Bishop Latimer Bishop Ridly Dr. Taylor and our other worthy Reformers had the Honour of Martyrdom for the sake of that transcendent Part of the Reformation which they had established among us This was so admirably well contriv'd as to be in the moderate way between that of Luther and the other of Calvin They did not carry matters so high as this latter by running from one extreme to the other That because the Church of Rome was over-run with Abuses from the Hierarchy and its Service burdened with a vast number of Ceremonies and the outward Ornaments of the Church being so extravagant had almost destroyed the inward Beauty of it and turned its Worship into Shew and Appearance and made to affect more the outward Senses of the People than their Hearts and Minds therefore he did not seek to reform those Abuses so much as to destroy the Ancient Government of the Church and utterly to abolish all its Rites and Ornaments Which says the Learned Puffendorf In his Introduction to History p. 406. proved a main Obstacle to the increase of the Protestant Religion and caused an aversion and Animosity in the common People against that sort of Reformers and increased their Zeal for that Religion which they had received from their Ancestors Neither did our Reformers fall so low in their establishing the Reformation as Luther at first did by retaining too much of the Popish Service and making very little Alterations in outward Matters But they kept an excellent Mean and a regular Disposition of the whole Constitution according to Primitive usage before Popery had Corrupted it Their Business was to Reform the Christian Church from Popish Superstition and Error and not to fashion it according to their own Humour and Fancies or for the pleasing of others to make a direct Opposition to Popery the measure of the Reformation But the Method they took was by Examining into what was most agreeable to the Sense of the Scriptures and the Opinion of the Primitive Church concerning those Rules for Deceny Order and Edification which these only recommended in general to the Governours of the Church But the particular appointment of such things was left to their Prudence and Care so as to fit particular People and Nations only they were to be careful so to manage the Affairs of the Church as not to do any thing in contradiction to those general Rules of the Apostle Let all things be done unto edifying And Let all things be 1 Cor. xiv 26. 40. done Decently and in Order Agreeable to which those excellent Men our English Reformers settling the Doctrine Discipline and Worship of our Church did not fly so high as not to allow the Papists to be right in any thing nor go so low as to comply with them in any one Superstition and Corruption which two Extremes the other Reformers fell into but ours keeping the middle way between them did by their moderate and discreet Proceeding produce our incomparable Establishment which we are now blessed withal beyond any other Protestant Church For which Reason ours is look'd upon as the Center of Union and Harmony of all the Protestant Churches in the World And so accounted
rather which they would seem to be offended at more out of a pretence to keep up a Separation than that any Offence can be justly taken at the things themselves And that this is no uncharitable or groundless surmise is evident from their Aversion to Alterations in the time of the Sessions of the last Convocation as they were before in that of 1660. And the Conference at the Savoy when they might have been satisfied in any thing could they have agreed in what would have satisfied them besides a total Subversion of the English Constitution which is at this time in an especial manner and always has been since the Reformation the greatest Bullwark of the Protestant Religion against Popery of any in the whole Christian World And 't was sadly apparent what great advances Popery made in the late times of Anarchy and Confusion when this excellent Constitution was subverted and thro' the Policy of the Church of Rome her most Zealous and Religious Defenders were traduc'd as Popishly affected and by their Instigation cut off because in truth they were the most irreconcilable Enemies to the Tyranny and Corruption of that Church as any People whatsoever Witness besides the Royal Martyr himself the incomparable Arch-Bishop Laud * Called by Mr. Long the Papists Scourge and Horrour who if Times would have favour'd him had Zeal and Courage and Learning and Interest enough to have driven Popery out of any Kingdom in Christendom And for certain the return of it in this Kingdom will for ever be prevented whatever is pretended by ill designing Men if the Doctrine and Discipline of our Church be but maintain'd with a like Resolution and Christian Bravery as he maintained them when he adorned the See of Canterbury The sticking close to which is the readiest Course that can be taken to keep out Popery and nothing else will be able to do it For notwithstanding the Out-cry of Popery be at every turn made against our Church Service which is one of the grossest and foulest Slanders that ever was invented or credited and could proceed from nothing so much as an ill Design against her * Nothing can make an honest Man suspect our Church of Popery but his Ignorance what Popery is London Cases p. 493. or from great Ignorance of what Popery is were this excellent Constitution destroy'd Popery in all probability would soon destroy the Protestant Religion quite and we should be clearly over-run with the Tyranny as well as Superstition of that corrupt Church which at present domineers over so great a part of Christendom and threatens Ruin and Desolation to all the rest We see too much what would be our own Case by the barbarous Persecution of the Protestants in France Savoy c. notwithstanding the Edicts and Oaths and Declarations of those Princes to the contrary if we should through the subtilty of the Court of Rome be perswaded by any of our Dissenters to alter our English Constitution or so much as admit of the desired Comprehension under the plausible pretence of Union but in truth it would be a means of dividing and weakning us the more among our selves than we could hope to win from abroad 'T is plain we might gratifie our Enemies thereby but we should never oblige our Friends nor strengthen our Interest nor one jot the less be calumniated as Popish But that the Church of England is free from any such Imputation of Popery is so clearly and candidly evinc'd by the learned Dr. Hooper the present Dean of Canterbury in his excellent Treatise on that Subject at the end of the London Cases that it will be needless for any one to say more to it for those that will not be convinced of the contrary by his Reasons do but expose their Ignorance to the World or what is worse their Prejudice or ill Design Among other things which some of those who dissent from us dislike and against all Honesty and Reason make to be a part of Popery is the Practice of Instrumental Musick in our Church Service But 't is a very ridiculous Argument to say so because the Church of Rome uses it and very uncharitable and unjust while the generality of Protestant Churches abroad as well as ours at home which are any where established have the use of it as well as that and have had so ever since the Reformation Our first Reformers were certainly wiser than to account that for Popish and to be quite abolished which was as useful then in the Christian Church as before and which they did Reform where they found it grosly abused but did never think fit to abolish the use of it or account it a piece of Popery to be cast off Those excellent Men were not possessed with such a Spirit of Opposition as against all Sense and Reason to run away from every thing in Divine Worship which the Papists did use or allow this would be bad indeed and a much greater Errour than that which they pretend to avoid for then they must disown God and his Son our Saviour Jesus Christ because the Papists believe them then they must lay aside the Hierarchy because the Papists maintain it and have no Places nor Times set a part for divine Worship nor set Forms of Prayer to address themselves by to the great God of Heaven and Earth because the Papists have them nor indeed have any Decency or Comliness in the House of God because such are to be seen in the Church of Rome No 't is the Corruptions and Superstitions of the Church of Rome we are Reform'd from and 't is not requisite we should be still a Reforming what is thought Decent Regular Primitive and Edifying in our Church And I Challenge any even the most Bigotted Dissenters from the Church of England to shew any one Superstitious Rite or corrupt Doctrine of the Church of Rome which is allowed or maintained in our establish'd Church They may accuse the Surplice for being such but with what shew of Reason to satisfie an unprejudiced Man Why they may as well account a Black Gown to be Popish or a Judges Scarlet being the Grab of the Whore of Babylon or Rev. 17. 4. a grey Cloak because it is worn by some of the Friars And so for the * This Sign both Tertullian and St. Cyprian allow was used from the time of the Apostles continued in use in the time of Constantine the Great and therefore could not be an Invention of the Papists Opus p. 326. Mr. Long 's Calv. Redivivus p. 72. Cross after Baptism for there is no such in it the Ministers making that Sign as a significant Ceremony that in Token hereafter the Child which is Baptized shall not be ashamed to confess the Faith of Christ crucified c. is no more Popish than the speaking those Words is Popish nor those decent and significant Rites and Ceremonies which our Church Governors have thought fit to appoint for the more
orderly and solemn Performing the Service of God in his Church are no more Popish than the Time and Place of Prayer nor the kneeling at it nor that very Form of Prayer which our Saviour taught his Disciples And the use of Instrumental Musick is no more Popish than the use of Vocal is since they are both made use of in the Protestant as well as Popish Churches and both for the same excellent Ends namely for the more lively and affectionate Praising of the Goodness of God and the more effectual raising their Minds in Devotion towards him as well as to regulate the Voices of the People and to make them the more Harmonious And nothing is more evident than that the generality of Protestant Churches abroad as well as ours at home do use Instrumental as well as Vocal Musick in the Worship of God I give Instances in Serm. p. 13. the Lutheran as most of the Foreign are which are planted in Germany such as the Dominions of the Elector of Saxony the Duke of Brandenburg the House of Lunenburg and many imperial Cities in the large Territories of Denmark Sweden Poland Russia c. Also in the few Churches which were Reformed according to Calvin's Model in part of Switzerland and Holland The Reformed in France I do not mention because they have been all along so kept under as not to be able to obtain an Establishment according to Primitive usage and their own Desire otherwise they would have had the Hierarchy and I Question not a like Decency in their Church Service as other Reformed have This they Zealously Petitioned for in the time of Cardinal Richlieus Administration * The judgment of the Foreign Reformed c p. 47. But that great Minister was too Politick to admit of their Petition for an Hierarchy foreseeing that such an Apostolical Institution and those Decencies in Divine Worship would make their Church too Beautiful and Regular and soon draw many from the Romish Establishment to their Communion Now this use of Instrumental Musick so universally obtaining in most if not all National Protestant Churches being a proper help to excite and enliven Mens Minds in Devotion as well as to regulate their Voices as most unprejudic'd People find it is no great matter if some few of singular Humours and unreasonable * Scrupulus est formido Temeraria sine fundamento atque adeo nou petest obligare Amesius de Consc. l. 1. 1. 6. Scruples are dissatisfied about it and dislike such a Practice For 't is impossible to please every Body in any one established Church whatsoever The Rules for Decency however Innocent and Instructive will not meet with such an universal Approbation but some will be prejudic'd against them and then 't is much if through the Craft of others they be not easily brought to dissent from them There is scarce any one part of our Church Service though never so excellent and edifying but some or other dislike it and some dislike all shall we therefore lay aside our Book of Common Prayer 'T is very unreasonable surely unless there were a better substituted in its room and such a one I believe neither this Age nor the next will be able to produce But to please whom shall we be perswaded to lay aside or alter our Church Service Why some few who will not otherwise join with us therein I am well satisfied could that heal or remove the Schism that is among us it would have been done a long while since But our Church Governours know too well that the Spirit and Genius of the dissent is of such a Nature that nothing will satisfie that Medly of People and the different Parties concerned in it otherwise their Charity is so great that they would have condescended to the Satisfaction of the meanest Party But then again their Prudence does direct them to consider there is a far greater number of People which make a more considerable Body of the Catholick Church which would be offended if that Service and this excellent Constitution were laid aside and who then should be rather satisfied Those who are for a regular and decent Church Service according to the Primitive Pattern as that of the Church of England is or those who being Biassed by some unreasonable Scruples oppose the same and are really for no such thing And what does it matter if some few inharmonious Souls do dislike the Organs in our Church as some others through Prejudice dislike our Church Service and both through extreme Ignorance or an ill Design account them Popery Will it be reasonable to expect our Governours should so far neglect their Duty to the Church and their regard to the most considerable Body of Protestants to gratify these few by altering the one and laying aside of the other When at the same time by such a silly Objection of Popery which is given by many as a common Term of Reproach to any thing which they do not like in the Church they must also accuse all Foreign Churches of the same Guilt while all of them well approve of our Church Service and of Instrumental Musick too And it is very little to the purpose to Object against the universality of this Approbation as the Answerer does Because some very considerable Ans. p. 37. Dutch Churches have no Organs in them as that at Leyden for Instance and some others though they may be supposed to be of Ability to procure them But I am credibly inform'd that there are Eight Churches in that City and only one without Organs Why there are none in the Popes Chappel at Rome and yet this is no Argument that they are not approved of by the Pope in the Romish Church All this Out-cry of Popery is nothing else but Artifice and Design against our Church without any tolerable Reason or justifiable Grounds to support the Imputation chiefly raised and fomented and encouraged by the Papists themselves that they may by means of that Slander Distract and Divide us and make us become an easier Prey to them This is so very evident that in that little Tract called Foxes and Firebrands set forth by Dr. Nalson it is undeniably so Anno 1680. It being a Specimen of the Danger and Harmony of Popery and Separation wherein is proved from undeniable matter of Fact and Reason that Separation from the Church of England is in the judgment of Papists and by sad Experience found the most Compendious way to introduce Popery and to ruin the Protestant Religion By this means Popery does by degrees continually get Ground and our Protestants not uniting among themselves for want of joining in our excellent Church Service will not be able to hinder the Progress of it for the future And to speak freely an ungrateful but certain Truth I concur with some worthy Men in believing * I have seen a MSS bearing that Title which fully proves the matter of Fact and it is hoped will
by the most eminent Foreign Divines whose Judgment and Opinion of it I should here set down but lest I be too tedious I will mostly Refer to them in the Margin Casaubon a very learned French Man His Letter to King James the First says The Church of England comes nearer the Form of the flourishing Christian Church of old than any other It hath taken a middle way betwixt those Churches which are amiss either through Excess or Defect If my Judgment doth not deceive me the most sound part of the whole Reformation is in England And by its being in Epist. 40. ad Clem. Salin England he means plainly that part of the Reformation which is Established by Law in the Church of England This I quoted in the Sermon but Serm. p. 14. Ans. p. 39. 't is strangely wrested by the Answerer to a contrary meaning His learned Country-man the famous Bochart who was the Glory of the French Reformed speaks very great things in the Praise of the Church of England not Epist. to Bp. Morley only as his own Opinion but of all the Pastors of the Reformed Religion in France To the same effect speaks Peter du In the Preface to his Fathers Answer to Perrâ—n Moulin See also what Characters of Commendation are given of it in those three Letters written to the Bishop of London by Monsieur le Moyne Monsieur l'Angle and Mr. Claude concerning the Nature of our present Differences and the unlawfulness of Separation from the Church of England Published by Dr. Stilling fleet in the latter end of his History of Separation Monsieur le Moyne in his Letter to In his View of the Government and publick Worship of God in the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas and shewing their Agreement and Conformity with the established Church of England p. 91 92. Dr. Brevint and Published by Dr. Durel and Dr. Durel himself To which I will add what Monsieur Ronee a French Ambassador in England once told King James I. when he saw our solemn Rites and Services That if the Reformed Church of France had kept the same Order among them which we have be was assured that there would have been many Thousands of Protestants more than now there are If we look farther abroad and take the Opinions of the Learned from Geneva In the first place Calvin gives a very ample Testimony in Commendation of the Doctrine Discipline and Worship in the Church of England * At large set forth by Mr. Long in his Calvinus Redivivus Next to him Beza in his Letter to Arch-bishop Whitgift Spanhemius Professor at Geneva in his Letter to Arch-Bishop Usher A. D. 1638. And his Successor John Diodate in his Answer to the Assembly of Divines at Westminster when they desired his Opinion about their Proceedings If we look into Holland we have the two famous Vossius's the two Junius's Grotius and other excellent Men giving the like Testimony And these are the Men of the greatest Note who have been of Calvin's Reformation Then for the Lutheran Churches they See the Letter to a Member of the House of Commons shewing the judgment of Foreign Reformed Churches concerning the Rites and Offices of the Church of England 1690. are all for us we have their Approbation and Agreement in Discipline and Worship as Denmark Norway Sweedland c. So that we may well say with Arch-Bishop P. 494 of his VVorks Bramhal All Protestants both Lutherans and Calvinists did give unto the English Church the Right-hand of Fellowship But yet no Luther no Calvin Sir Edwin Sandys was the square of our Faith c. And is it not now very strange That this excellent Church so great an Ornament to the Reformation and so much applauded and commended by all Foreign Divines whose Articles and Canons and Homilies and Rubricks so plainly directing its being truly Orthodox in Doctrine Government and Worship and so expresly declaring against the Superstitions and Corruptions of the Church of Rome from which it is so well Reformed should by the Artifice and Design and Perswasions of that corrupt Church be notwithstanding represented as Popish and by some Ignorant and other Hypocritical designing Men be look'd upon as such This is strange indeed and what amazes all sincere Protestants both at home and abroad to consider of it * London Cases p. 493. Folio So much I have thought fit to say in a general Vindication of our Churches Rites and Service and the use of Instrumental Musick from the Imputation of Popery because these things are many times hinted as suspected of it in the Answer But I shall now attend to what it says more particularly Several Pages are taken up with Remarks and Observations upon the Argument for this Practice from the Light Serm. p. 6. of Nature or the natural fitness of the thing And for saying The early and general use of Instrumental Musick seems to argue such a way of Worship to proceed from the Dictates of natural Religion But methinks this obvious distinction will be able to Vindicate that Particular from so great a Clamour and shew Ans. p. 11. the Instance is brought by the Answerer out of Dr. Taylors Ductor Dub. to be little to the purpose That by the Light of Nature or the Dictates of a natural Religion I do not mean such a Primary and Necessitous Preceptive Dictate as is perpetually Obligatory upon all People and upon all Occasions Necessitate Precepti as the Phrase is but that it is Secondarily so and directive to all Nations The natural fitness of Musick prompting them to the use of it at least to a general Assent and Approbation as the effect abundantly shews that it does And to this agree the Writers which I have met with upon this Subject Dr. Hammond mentions how early it was used by Moses Miriam and the Prophets Annot. in Ps. 150. upon a Religious account And as to the Heathen Practice he quotes Homer giving an account of the Greeks usage of Musick in the Praise of their Gods c. And just before he has these Words The universal usage of Instrumental Musick among all Nations that we read of gives Cause much rather to assign it a Place in the natural Religion which the common Light of Reason directed all Civilized Nations to in attributing Honour to God than to number it among the Ceremonies of the Mosaical Law Dr. Wetennal Bishop of Cork speaks much to the same effect To these I Duty of singing Ch. 2d 3d and 4th add two others Mr. Baxter calls it an Help partly Natural and partly Artificial And Dr. Hickman in his Sermon at the Anniversary Feast of the Lovers of Musick On St. Caecilias Day 1695. in Ps. 100. 1. p. 11 12. says That God is to be Worshiped with solemn Musick is so ancient and so universal an Opinion that it may well be looked upon as one of the Prime Notions of a rational Soul
one of the fundamental Laws of Nature which like the Worship of God it self we receive not by Imitation but by Instinct It was not inculcated into us by Education but we sucked it in at our very Birth or rather it was infused into us at our Creation And as the Opinion so the Practice of it is universal too and therefore the Psalmist directs his Precept not to the peculiar Church of God but to All Lands to serve the Lord with gladness and to come before his Presence with a Song To which I will add the Words of a very eminently Learned Man who speaking of Instrumental Musick says It has the Advantages of being Recommended by Natural Religion and of having See Origen Sacr. p. 159. been required by Divine positive Institution c I suppose I need not seek for better Authorities to justifie the drawing an Argument from the Light of Nature for this Practice in the Christian Church However I can by no means allow the Case of Sacrifices Dancing and Circumcision Ans. p. â— to be of a like validity in point of Argument as he pretends For to his first Instance in the Case of Sacrifices I Reply That tho' Sacrifices be discontinued in the Times of the Gospel because the use of them is abolished and the reason of their being abolish'd is because of the great Sacrifice of our Saviour on the Cross of which they were but so many Types and Figures This Substance being come into the World leaves no Reason for those things which were but the Shadows of him to continue The same Reason cannot hold as to Instrumental Musick which is granted by our Adversary to have been established in the Worship of God under the Law But we cannot find either any Reason for its discontiuance in the Times of the Gospel or where the use of it is Abolish'd or spoken against by our Saviour or his Apostles to warrant its being unlawful now They all Communicated in the Jewish Church where that was used And as long as the use and expediency of it holds good as it will do in all Ages being an allowed proper Help to raise the Spirits in Devotion it is altogether as reasonable it should be continued in the Times of the Gospel as well as it was under the Law * Dr. Sherlocks Sermon at St. Pauls Novem. 22. 1699. There being such a Sympathy between Sounds and Passions as are by Turns the Natural Effects and Causes of each other And if so then true Devotional Musick will excite or heighten our Devotional Passions and for that Reason is to be continued still while Sacrifices losing their proper use are Abolished His 2d Argument to invalidate the use of Instrumental Musick is by making it as lawful to justifie Dancing in the Ans. p. 9. Worship of God as that And the Reason he draws from the Antiquity of the one as well as the other because Miriam Ex. xv 20. and the Women Danced as well as plaid with Timbrels in the Service of God And David Danced before the Ark and 9 Sam. 6 14 Psal. 149. 3. 150. 4. devout Men among Gods own People did Praise him in the Dance c. They did so in their Processions when they welcomed the Ark which did signifie Gods Presence among them at its being removed from one Place to another And as they went to meet Saul when they had the additional Honour of being admitted among the Prophets And since the Modes and Circumstances of Reverence in Devotion are alterable so as they may serve particular Occasions Where would the Absurdity lie if now on some Solemnities a Grave Sober and Religious Dance was instituted and allowed by good Authority Truly I do not see neither does the Answerer advance any thing to prove it absurd but by styling it a Capering Devotion as among the Corybantes of old And altho' he adds a Confidence of saying That no Man of Thought will allow such a Conclusion to pass for Warrantable He may find the Author of the following Treatise who perhaps has as close and consistent Thoughts as any Man in the Kingdom is of another Opinion and gives such a Reason for it as I presume he will not be able to Confute His 3d Argument is by making Circumcision as allowable now as Instrumental Musick because of its Antiquity and the general Consent of Nations for it To which I reply That tho' all or most Nations did use the Rite of Circumcision heretofore and the Jews most particularly having an express Command from God for it As before Abraham Levit. xii 3. Gen. xvii the Father of the Faithful was enjoyned in it in token of the Covenant between God and his Seed yet this was painful to the Flesh far from being adapted to their Natural Tempers as Musick was only to be observed by a Temporary Command and to last no longer than the Jewish State was to last The Institution of which was to give Admission to the Jewish Proselytes and to distinguish them from other Nations in imitation of which the Egyptians Phaenicians Syrians Arabians AEthiopians and other Gentiles might take up the same Practice and yet be no Argument for its continuance still neither does any one say that I know That consent of Nations is an Argument of validity when it is nothing else but Imitation and therefore the refutation of Mr. N. from Dr. Taylors Duct Dub. lib. Ans. p. 11. 2. p. 371. is very needless For the Instituted Rite of Circumcision among the Jews which might be imitated by the Gentiles was to cease of course in the times of the Gospel when another initiating Rite viz. that of Baptism was appointed to succeed in its Place But Instrumental Musick was not to cease nor to have any other Rite to succeed it neither was it made use of at that time in the Jewish State or Heathen nor since in the Christian meerly because of the consent of Nations for it But because it had the Institution of God at first the prescriptions of all Ages since no where forbidden and by Experience found to be a great help to Devotion being adapted to the Tempers of Men and to which they have a natural Inclination wherefore it may be as useful and fit for the times of the Gospel as before and being plainly practised by the generality of all Nations Christian and Heathen may without any false Logick be admitted as an Argument for an universal Practice and for better Reasons to be observed than Circumcision The 2d Argument made use of in Defence of the Organ needs no Vindication from the Exceptions of the Answerer neither do I see an Absurdity in saying That the inspired Prophets introduc'd into the Church among the Jews the use of such Instruments as were thought fit by them being so Divinely Inspired Serm. p. 9. to raise the Spirit of Devotion among the People c. Being so Divinely Inspired shews sufficiently it was a
up their Harps upon the Willows and Psalm 137. refused to Sing the Songs of Sion in a strange Land to those who carried them away Captives And 't is no wonder that in the Primitive Times of Christianity there should be a discontinuance of it For we know the outward Modes and Circumstances of Divine Worship must give way to the exigencies of the Times and have been ever Modelled and altered according to the outward State of the Church And this is the Reason why Instrumental Duty of singing p. 464. Musick so slowly came into the Church both Jewish and Christian. At first the State of neither would admit it when the Jewish Church arrived at a settled Estate it came in thereto by Gods appointment The Christian Church remained longer under Persecution and in an unsettled Condition and hence it comes to pass that as the Primitive Christians took up only the most simple way of Singing such as their Condition would admit so the advances to Art were more leisarely and came on by such gradations as Providence has given way and occasion for And therefore I said To the Bene esse and Flourishing State of the Church the Serm. p. 15. use of the Organ with respect to the suitableness of the Times and usefulness of the Thing does abundantly conduce The latter part of the Sentence the Answerer Ans. p. 41. leaves out and then he takes occasion most notably to descant upon his own Fancy I shall not speak of the Fathers Allegorical Expositions of Ps. 150. without the Literal meaning sometimes which the Answerer mentions in three Pages because their Sentiments and p. 20 21 22. Mistakes in this Matter are Discoursed in the Treatise following Clem. Alexandrinus particularly is observed somewhere to have spoken against Church Musick but he does it not in pursuance of the Principles of the Christian but of a Philosophical Religion then in Vogue somewhat like that of the Quietists or of our Philadelphians who are for a mental Religion abstracted from all that is external or sensible I come now to the next thing to be taken notice of which is The Antiquity of Instrumental Musick in the Christian Church To say when or by whom it was introduced therein at first is not certainly known and for that Reason it is thought to be the more Ancient and more Early received for it being generally used in Divine Worship by Jew and Gentile it passed insensibly into the Practice of Christians as many other innocent Customs in which they were bred up ordinarily did But to make it savour of Popery the Answerer likes those Authors who alledge it was introduced into the Christian Church by Pope Vitalian about the Year 656 or rather that it may not want the Mark of the Beast in the Revelations it was say the Magdeburg Centuriators A. C. 666. He is well pleased if it can be thought to be of Popish Extraction therefore he mentions it twice but yet confesses Some think that this sort of Musick was Ans. p. 17. and p. 32 not of so early an use in the Christian Church 'T is no great matter who is of this Opinion but there be Authors of good Credit who make it to be of a much ancienter use by several Centuries of Years The present Subdean of the Chappel Royal hath these Words We Dr. Battel in his Serm. of the Lawfulness and Expediency of Church musick p. 9. may and ought to look upon it as the necessity of the first Christians rather than their choice and that they had not wherewithal to be at the Charge of those Aids and Ornaments to their Religious Worship rather than that they witheld the Expence because they thought it unlawful or unbecoming their Assemblies For no sooner did the Church begin to Flourish but they grew into Use and Esteem And we read of St. Ambrose who lived about the latter end of the Fourth Century soon after Constantines Time that he A. C. 373. joined Instruments of Musick with the publick Service in the Cathedral Church of Millan where he was then Bishop which Example of his was so well approv'd of that by degrees it became the general Practice of other Churches thereabout and has since obtained in almost all the Christian World besides Others have referred this to another Cause namely that as Inspiration in singing Psalms which was doubtless an extraordinary Gift common to the primitive Christians began to cease Instruments and Skill were brought in its Room even as Learning and ordinary Means took place instead of those extraordinary Gifts The Bishop of Cork says St. Ambrose Chap. 2. p. 298. took up a more Artificial and Melodious way of Singing from the Easterlings And Dan. 3. 5. will inform us that the Eastern Practice had the Sound of the Cornet Flute Harp Sackbut Psaltery Dulcimer and all kinds of Musiick in the Worship of their Idol Gods In the time of St. Ambrose flourish'd St. Basil and St. Chrysostom who both mention the use of Instrumental Musick as Advantages to the Weak in Devotion regarding humane Infirmity And St. Augustine being a Contemporary of St. * Lib. Conf. 9. c. 6. Ambrose and who as some say joined with him in Composing the Te Deum which at this day is sung in ourChurches might in all probability be so much moved as he says he was with the melodious Hymns in the Church of St. Ambroses * 'T is said he Composed 37 or more And St. Hilary St. Gregory and St. Bernard did Compose many others for the Service of the Church Composing and Improvement Justin Martyr or whoever was the Author of the famous Questions and Answers Bound up with his Works Quoted by * De emend Temp. l. 7. p. 684. Scaliger and †Hist. Eccles l. 2. c. 7. H. Isid. Pelus l. 1. c. 90. Eusebius mentions the use of Instrumental Musick in the Church for the same Reason which St. Chrysostom and St. Basil did before which Book is Confessed by all to be very Antient and to be Writ some say in the Fourth Century the Bishop of Cork says in the beginning of the Third These Authorities must needs shew that Instrumental Musick was much earlier in the Churches Service than Pope Vitalianes Time and so could not be introduc'd by him However 't is not to be expected we should find this Religious use in the very Primitive Times But that can be no Objection against such an use of them now for Christianity was not got then to that Height and Grandeur as to admit of such an Ornament and we need not stand much upon the early Use of it since its sober use is of so great an Advantage in Christian Assemblies now the Art is brought to a greater Perfection than formerly And since some Men of great Estates are at a vast Charge to adorn their Houses and to have the helps of Musick for civil Purposes it is somewhat unreasonable they should
to make a goodly outward Shew c. which it rightly accounts a Mocking and Blaspheming of Gods holy Ordinance It comes at length to blame those who refused to frequent the parish-Parish-Churches because they were scoured of such Gay gazing Sights as their gross Fantasie was delighted with because they see the false Religion abandoned and the true restored This it does under the Representation of a Woman thus Discoursing her Neighbour on that occasion Alas Gossip what shall we now do at Church since all the Saints are taken away since all the goodly Sights we were wont to have are gone since we cannot hear the like Piping Singing Chaunting and Playing upon the Organs that we could before To which the Reply is But dearly beloved we ought greatly to Rejoyce and give God thanks that our Churches are delivered out of all those things which displeased God so sore and filthily defiled his holy House and his Place of Prayer Where observe the Complaint of the Person who refused to come to the Parish-Church was not among other things that there simply was no Playing upon the Organs there as the Answerer Ans. p. 82. would insinuate but expresly that there was not the Like Playing upon the Organs The Words are Sence we cannot hear the like Piping Singing Chanting and Playing upon the Organs that we could before Where the Word Like being Craftily left out the Sense and Meaning of the Homily is quite inverted For the Like use of Singing and Playing upon the Organs most apparently refers to the superstitious Use and abominable Abuse of these things which by the Reformation was clearly taken away but the Discreet and Sober use of these in God's Service was never absolutely Abolished or ever accounted justly so to be neither was it ever the Opinion of the Church of England in the Days of Queen Elizabeth or since That Organs in Churches are displeasing to God and filthily defiling his House as 't is untruly mentioned by the Answerer in two Places For 1st In the Days of Queen Elizabeth when these Homilies were Composed Ans. p. 82. 83. and ordered to be read in Churches it is to be Noted that the use of the Organ was allowed and approved of every where and was in most Parish Churches in England not only in the greater Towns but in abundance of lesser ones in some very small Parish-Churches where either pious Benefactors or Peoples Abilities did reach to Maintain them and this continued so throughout her long and happy Reign and afterwards in the Reigns of King James I. and King Charles I. which Practice is so manifest that it cannot be denyed with any degree of Truth which certainly no body could suppose would have been if it were the meaning of the Homily to Condemn them and to account them as Displeasing to God and filthily defiling his House II. It is also to be considered That if we allow this Reasoning of the Answerer from the Homily against the use of Organs by the same we must argue against Singing too for that is expresly mentioned with it Since we cannot hear the like Piping Singing Chaunting and Playing upon the Organs that we could before Where the superstitious and corrupt Use of either Singing or Playing upon the Organs is only adjudged by the Church to be taken away and not the use of either or both of them to be Abolished And indeed I think not only from thence but well nigh as much may be Objected on other accounts against Vocal as against Instrumental-Musick in the Church since both are equally capable of Abuse But yet both of them may be of excellent use if Grave Discreet and Regular and of singular advantage for the promoting the Praise of God and the Edification of his People when skilfully joyned together And then III. The Opinion of the Church of England is the same as to this matter with what I have said above as will appear by consulting the subsequent Words of the Homily which are these This ought we greatly to Praise God for That such Superstitious and Idolatrous manners as were utterly nought and defaced God's Glory are utterly Abolished as they most justly deserved And yet those things that either God was Honoured with or his People Edified are decently retained and in our Churches comely Practised Among which things our Church does reckon the use of the Organ wherewith God is honoured and his People edified and for those Reasons was it decently retained and in our Churches comely Practised both at the Reformation and in Queen Elizabeths time when it Flourished as much as ever and ever since when it did 'T is very strange now that the Church Practice which is so clear in this matter should be so strangely misconstrued and misrepresented as if it spake against the same thing which it so decently retains and allows and finds so great Benefit by But to shew farther That it cannot be the profest Judgment of our Church to Condemn the use of Organs in it as the Answerer positively avers it is from the Homily altho the obsolete expression of its being delivered from Superstition and abuse in the Place of Prayer seems repugnant to its constant Practice Take this short Story The Lord Chief Justice Cook was made a Sheriff by King James 1st with a design of Displeasure and upon account of his being of the Republican Party He to excuse himself insisted on a particular of the Sheriff's Oath not then repealed and perhaps not yet whereby he was obliged to Prosecute the Lollards for Heresy Will the Adversary therefore conclude that he was obliged to Prosecute the Protestants under a Protestant Govenment and after so many Laws made in favour of Protestancy only because this particular had escaped their observation and was not actually repealed Could he think his not Prosecuting the Protestants prevaricating with the design of the Legislators who had signified their sense by so many more and clearer Laws than were to the contrary or could he think that the sense of the Legislators of the past Age were to over-rule the sense of the Legislators of the present Age in a case of Contradiction His 2d Objection is That if the Obj. II. Praising of God with Organs be thus Lawful in the Worship of God then will it for the same Reason be Lawful to introduce other Musical Instruments in the Worship of God as Harps Trumpets c. The consequence of which is very true and at present in some Organs there are such Stops as represent Drums Trumpets and divers other sorts of Musick And where is the Fault that so useful an Art is now much improved beyond what it has been * In his View of the Government public worship of God c. p. 39. Dr. Durel informs us That at Hessen they Sing Anthems not only with Organs but with loud Instruments and Violins too At Bern they have Cornets and Sacbuts which Play in the Churches when they Sing the
this Practice of Instrumental Musick might have been reserved to the Apostolical Church till that Church was utterly extinguished by the Death of the last Apostles After the last residence of the Apostolical Body at Ephesus in Trajan's time all the Churches in the World were equal to that Church where the Apostles had made their last residence and equal withal among themselves Then they might if they pleased have taken up that same Custom universally But were very unlikely to do so having never till that time used it And for any one single Church to have done so when the rest did not so would have been thought invidious and assuming It might have been Interpreted as a Challenge of the Catholick Jurisdiction to have alone exercis'd the Prerogative of that Church which before had a Right to a Catholick Jurisdiction So Solomon Interpreted it in his Brother Adonijah that de desired one of the Royal Concubines For they also followed the right of the Crown as appears from the 2 Sam. xii 8. This was far from the Humility of those Times and gives a clear Account why it might have been universally disus'd how lawful soever it might have been thought otherwise But this could be no hindrance why it might not have been resumed afterwards by any particular Church that pleased when there was no danger of that Consequence When the memory of the Apostolical prerogative was lost and when no Title could be pretended for any particular Church in the World why it should succeed to the Apostolical prerogative The pretence of the Church of Rmeisfar later than these earliest itmes of Christianity of which I am now speaking However it was very natural for their earliest Successors when they sound this Practice discontinued in Fact to impute the discontinuance of it to some disapprobation it had receiv'd from the Christian Religion and to bethink themselves of some such Reasons as these produc'd by them why it might have been disliked by them who discontinued it as unsuitable to the Dignity of the new Peculium But I have shewn that this Reasoning of theirs in this particular could not possibly be the Reasoning of the Apostolical Age who both actually Communicated with Instrumental Musick and who allowed it a place in Heaven which was not accounted the Place of Rudiments and Children according to the Hypothesis of mystical Reasoning This is abundantly sufficient to discharge us from any Obligation to be concluded by the Reasonings of these Fathers in this particular how great a Veneration soever we may profess for their Authority in attesting Traditions either of their own Age or the Apostles Indeed the whole design of this Topick of Reasoning from the State of Nonage and Rudiments was not to prove the observation even of the externals of the Mosaic Law unlawful but the stopping at them so as not to admit the farther Discoveries of the Gospel The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is opposed to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. iv 13. And to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was when God sent his son made of a woman made under the Law Gal. iv 4. This was to stop at the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so the Law is called Gal. iii. 24. whose Office was to bring us to Christ if then they refused to be taught by Christ but chose rather still to continue under the Discipline of the Paedagogue That was indeeed a keeping themselves back from enjoying the Benefit of that fullness of Age which as we have seen commenced with our Saviour's Dispensation And it was a listing themselves with Children to keep still to the Paedagogue who by the Discipline of that Age was a perpetual Companion and Guardian of the Morals of unadult Persons till they reached those Years of Discretion that might make it safe to trust them to themselves This did not therefore in the least make the practice of the Law Childish whilst they used it as the Apostles themselves did in subordination to the new Discoveries of the Gospel that is whilest they observed only those particulars of the Law which were consistent with the Gospel Which will neither save the ends of those Fathers nor our Adversaries The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 plainly allude to the things wherein those Youths which were under the Discipline of Paedagogues were usually Instructed Especially during the former part of that Discipline That was Grammatical Learning wherein they were Instructed by their Grammarians and Literators the Letters themselves being properly call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But as this Word is used here it plainly denotes the Ectypal resemblances of the Law in opposition to the Evangelical Heavenly Archetypes which were supposed to answer them under the Gospel So Mount Sinai is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. iv 25. Here we have the true Notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is used by St. Paul Mount Sinai in Arabia the portion of Hagar the Handmaid is supposed to be a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is in opposition to Mount Sion the Mountain of the true Peculium which answered is as the portion of Sarah the Free-woman the Mother of the true Peculium So the very antient Author teaches de Montibus Sinai Sion by some ascribed to St. Cyprian Agreeably enough to the Notions of the new Testament where we frequently find Mount Sion mentioned as that wherein the Archetypal Mystical Peculium was alone concerned Rom. ix 33. xi 26. Heb. xii 22. 1 Pet. ii 6. Rev. xiv 1. This being indeed the Title by which the Peculium is designed in the old Testament wherein it is so frequently called the Daughter and the Virgin Daughter of Sion never of Sinai tho' thence it was that Moses received his Law Accordingly the Jerusalem that is now is said also to be a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is another Fellow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the same Sense wherein the Word had been used of Mount Sinai in opposition to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the Mother of us all Gal. iv 26. In both Cases the Worldly Figures are so called in opposition to the Heavenly Archetypes of the Gospel They are therefore called the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. iv 3. Col. ii 8 20. As 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is opposed to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. vi 12 in opposition to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is always ascribed to the Messias So the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. ix 1 is opposed to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 24. And as I have shewn that the Church here on Earth is called Heaven so the deserting the Church is called the loving this present World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. iv 10. opposed as I said to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Messias These 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. iv 9. They are first called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉