Of (/Jurc/,.Tuner andMu(ick. 3· And thofc that arc by Gods Spirit fitted for our ufe in Prayer, Praife and Thankrgiving, and never forbidden fo to be ufed, may by us be fo ufed: But fuch are the Pfalms, &c. 1 will weary you with no more. QQeft. 12 6. ' Are our (hurcJ,,Tunes Lmvjt1l, being of mans in'JJention? Anfw. y Es: They are a lawful invemion, allowed us by God, and litred to the General Rules of Edijic~J,ion. Scripture is no particulJr Rule for fuch Modes and CiJcumftances. · Objecl;. They bmd a carHal plta[ure by tbt mtlody, which it not fit for fpiritual devotion. Anfw. It is a lJwful [tnjitiut plta[«rt, [anmfitd to a holy ufe, not hindering, but greatly helping the foal, in fpiritual worfhip. Either you ca11 it car~tal, bccaufc: it gratific:th the jinful corrupt inclinottions of man: er only becaufe it is finfitivt, or a pleafure in the imaginatioJt and lower f:~cuhcs. lr the former, I· There is nothing in it which is a mctfft~ry caufe of any finful plcafure , nor an imptdimtnt r ke 12 • 11 to fpiritut~l plcafurr. 2• But a Jufiful pntOn will turn all fenfitive pleafure in1o (i, : Our Meat, .~,19. & t't.. and Drink, and Clothes, and Houfcs, and Friends, and Health : The Bread and \Vine in the Sacn.– :<:o, 2r, ~2. ment may be thus abufcd. 2• But you mull know , that as our Boditl are here \fnited to our foulJ , fa they alt toge– ther, and while the fenfitive part is fubordinate to the rational, it is ferviccablc to it, and no£ a hindcrancc : When you come ro have fouls that are fepanted from the body, you Chall ufe no bo– dily inftruments : And yet even then it is uncertain to us, whether the:: fenfitive powers of the foul do not accompany it, and be not u[ed by it. But certainly in the mean time, he that will not u[t [tnfe, !hall not u[e rtafon. And he rhat acteth not [tnfibly, adeth not as • man : lt is not a fin to be a man : And therefore not to fee, to hear, to taftc, to fmcll, &c. Nor is it a. fin to tafie fweetnefs in our meat or drink, nor is it a finful plcafure for the eyes to behold rhc: Light, or the variery of rhe beauteous works of God, or to take pleafurc in them. RH workJ are great,[oHght. out of aD tbtm thAt have plea{Nre tbtrein, Pfal. 1 I 1. 2. Rom.s. 1 s, 31 . You know not what it is to be a m1n, if you know not that God hath made all fenfi:s, to be Titus r. 1~. the inlets of objel!b, and fo of holy pleafure into the foul. Would he have given tus eyes, and Rom. 1 -'~· 20. ears, and apperircs, and made his cteatures fwect and beauteous, that all might either be fin or :2or. 3· 1 ;· .... H[tlt{s to us? No: all things art, fantlificdl and purt to tht pure. T he flnfe is the natural way to or.... 1 ' the Imagination, and that to the Vndtrftanding; And he that will have no {eH[rblt and NatHral plea– fure, !hall have no fpiritHal pleafurc : And he that will have nont but fenlitive pleafure, were bet– ter have none 4t aD. It is therefore a fooliili pretence: of fpiritualiry,. to dream of acting without our fenfes, or avoiding thofe delights, which may and mult be fanCbficd to us. Harmony and Me– lody are fo high a plcalure of the fenfe, that th'Y are neard\ to Rational deiighu, if not plrticiparing of them, and exceedingly fitted to elevate the mmd and affed1ons unto God. And as ir is rhe verytnature of true HolineCs, to be fo fuited tu H9Jy thi!lls, as that they may be our Delight, and he is the ·genuine Saint, and the bell of Chrifiians, who moll . Dtlightttb in God and Holinefs: So that is the bell means to make us the bell Chrillians, which heipeth u• bell to thefc Delights : And ifany thing on Earth be like to Heaven, it is to have our Delight in God. And therefore if any thing.may make us Heavenly, iris that which raifeth us to fuch delights. And therefore a Chore of holy perfons, mdodioufiy finging the Praifes of Jthouab, are likeI\ to the Ar.· gelical Society. J'fol. I 50. Q2eft. 127. Is (/JurciJ•Muflck by Organs or fuel, Inftmmmts /a,vful? 1ft1:1, 14: ~, )· .Anfw. J Know that in the perfecutcd and poorer times of the Church, none fi.tch were ufed ( when The voJc~ of they had not Temples, nor alwaycs a fixed meeting place ). And that the Author of the r.~'\:i:h :h:;, {0eft. & RcfP. in Juftin Martyr fpeaketh again{\ it : ( which Ptrj,Jnt and others cite to rhat purpofe. ) Harps. is or- And I grant, . dinarily ex1. That as it is in the power ofweak difeafed Chrifiians, to make many things unlawful to their bre– po~n_cled~f thren lefi we be hurtful to them ,and to deprive us of much,not only ofour Libertiu but our Hclp1; fo ~ip~!Ck or- in abundance of Congregations, Church-Mufick is made unlawful by accident, through their rnifiake. for it is unlawful ( t.eteriJparibu1) by an unnecdT.ay thing to occafion divifions in the Churches: But where one part judgeth Church Muficl{ unlawjHI, for another part to ui( it, would occafi9n di– vilions
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