VirginiaHuguenot
Puritanboard Librarian
More quotes for consideration:
"The Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament, the better to accomplish the blessed Reformation so happily begun, and to remove all offences and things illegal in the worship of God, do Ordain, That all representations, of any of the persons of the Trinity, or any Angel, or of Saint in or about any Cathedral, Collegiate, or Parish Church, or Chapel, or in any open place within this Kingdom, shall be taken away, defaced, and utterly demolished; And that no such shall hereafter be set up, And that the chancel-ground of every such Church or Chapel raised for any Altar, or Communion-table to stand upon, shall be laid down and leveled; And that no Copes, Surplices, superstitious Vestments, Roods, or Roodlofts, or holy water fonts, shall be, or be any more used in any Church, or Chapel within this Realm; And that no cross, crucifix, picture, or Representation of any of the persons of the Trinity, or of any Angel or Saint, shall be or continue upon any place or other thing used, or to be used in or about the worship of God; And that all Organs, and the frames or cases wherein they stand in all Churches and Chapels aforesaid, shall be taken away, and utterly defaced, and none other hereafter set up in their places; And that all Copes, Surplices, superstitious Vestments, Roods, and fonts aforesaid be likewise utterly defaced: whereunto all persons within this Kingdom whom it may concern, are hereby required at their peril, to yield due obedience." Ordinance of British Parliament for the removal of Superstition and Idolatry from Britain. May 9, 1644.
"...we cannot but admire the good hand of GOD in the great things done here already, particularly; That the Covenant (the Foundation of the whole Work) is taken; Prelacie and the whole train thereof, extirpated; The Service-Book in many places forsaken, plain and powerful preaching set up; Many Colledges in Cambridge provided with such Ministers, as are most zealous of the best Reformation; Altars removed; The Communion in some places given at the Table sitting; The great Organs at Pauls and of Peters in Westminster taken down; Images and many other monuments of Idolatry defaced and abolished." John Maitland, Alexander Henderson, Samuel Rutherfurd, Robert Baillie and George Gillespie. The Letter from the Commissioners at London to the General Assembly. 1644.
"We were greatly refreshed to hear by Letters from our Commissioners there with you... of the great good things the Lord hath wrought among you and for you... many corruptions, as Altars, Images, and other Monuments of Idolatry and Superstition removed...the great Organs at Pauls and Peters taken down." General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. The General Assemblies Answer to the right Reverend the Assembly of Divines in the Kirk of England. 1644.
"It would be nothing but mimicry if we followed David today in singing with cymbals, flutes, tambourines and psalteries. In fact, the papists were seriously deceived in their desire to worship God with their pompous inclusion of organs, trumpets, oboes and similar instruments. That has only served to amuse the people in their vanity, and to turn them away from the true institution which God has ordained.... In a word, the musical instruments were in the same class as sacrifices, candelabra, lamps and similar things.... Those who take this approach are reverting to a sort of Jewishness, as if they wanted to mingle the Law and the Gospel, and thus bury our Lord Jesus Christ." John Calvin. Sermons on Second Samuel. 1562.
"The eleventh fault they finde, is, for that wee use no Organs in our Churches.... commonly we doe therefore not use them: whilest we finde more hindrance to proceed thereof then profit, by the worship of God: and also in this case we desire to remaine by the simplicity of the Apostolicall Churches, which neither had nor used any such things in their congregations." A Full Declaration of the Faith and Ceremonies Professed in the Dominions of the Most Illustrious and Noble Prince Fredericke, V. Prince Elector, Palatine (1614).
"The Rejoynder after some words spent about singing, (about which he bringeth not the least resemblance of that in question, untill the fourth age after Christ) excepteth first, that Organall musicke was gods ordinance in the old Testament, and that not significant, or typicall; and therefore is sinfully called Idol-service. 2. That all men whose hearts are not averse, by distraction, stupidity, or prejudice, feele such musicke to worke much upon their affections. To this I say 1. That his denying of Organall musicke to have beene significant or typicall, is without reason, and against the current of our Divines; taken (as it may seeme) out of Bellarmine (de missa. Lib. 2. Cap. 15.) who useth this evasion against those words of P. Martyr: Musicall organs perteyne to the Jewish Ceremonie, and agree no more to us, than Circumcision. So that we may neglect it, and take him as saying, that nothing which was ordained in the old Testament (no not sacrificing beasts) is now an Idol-service. 2. For that, and the other, both together, it is fit the Rejoynder should be put in minde how many, and what kinde of men, he accuseth of distraction, stupidity or prejudice!" William Ames. A Fresh Suit Against Human Ceremonies in God's Worship. 1633.
"though' instrumental musick were admitted and appointed in the worship of God under the Old Testament, yet we do not find it practised in the synagogue of the Jews, but only in the temple. It thence appears to have been a part of the ceremonial pedagogy, which is now abolished; nor can any say it was a part of moral worship. And whereas the common usage hath now confined instrumental musick to cathedrals, it seems therein too much to Judaize; which to do is a part of the Anti-Christian apostacy, as well as to Paganize." Cotton Mather. Magnalia Christiana Americana. 1702.
"Besides, though we read of the use of music in the temple-service, yet it does not sufficiently appear that it was ever used in the Jewish synagogues; the mode of worship observed in which more resembled that which is at present performed by us in our public assemblies. But what may sufficiently determine this matter, is that we have no precept nor precedent for it in the New Testament, either from the practice of Christ, or his apostles." Thomas Ridgeley. A Body of Divinity: Wherein the Doctrines of the Christian Religion are Explained and Defended, Being the Substance of Several Lectures Upon the Assembly's Larger Catechism. 1732.
"Q. May we not use harps, organs, and other musical instruments in praising God? A. No, for these, though used in the temple services, were not used in the Jewish synagogues, nor in the New-Testament worship..." -John Brown, of Haddington. A Help for the Ignorant; or An Essay, Towards an Easy, Plain, Practical, and Extensive Explication of the Assembly's Shorter Catechism. 1758.
"The Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament, the better to accomplish the blessed Reformation so happily begun, and to remove all offences and things illegal in the worship of God, do Ordain, That all representations, of any of the persons of the Trinity, or any Angel, or of Saint in or about any Cathedral, Collegiate, or Parish Church, or Chapel, or in any open place within this Kingdom, shall be taken away, defaced, and utterly demolished; And that no such shall hereafter be set up, And that the chancel-ground of every such Church or Chapel raised for any Altar, or Communion-table to stand upon, shall be laid down and leveled; And that no Copes, Surplices, superstitious Vestments, Roods, or Roodlofts, or holy water fonts, shall be, or be any more used in any Church, or Chapel within this Realm; And that no cross, crucifix, picture, or Representation of any of the persons of the Trinity, or of any Angel or Saint, shall be or continue upon any place or other thing used, or to be used in or about the worship of God; And that all Organs, and the frames or cases wherein they stand in all Churches and Chapels aforesaid, shall be taken away, and utterly defaced, and none other hereafter set up in their places; And that all Copes, Surplices, superstitious Vestments, Roods, and fonts aforesaid be likewise utterly defaced: whereunto all persons within this Kingdom whom it may concern, are hereby required at their peril, to yield due obedience." Ordinance of British Parliament for the removal of Superstition and Idolatry from Britain. May 9, 1644.
"...we cannot but admire the good hand of GOD in the great things done here already, particularly; That the Covenant (the Foundation of the whole Work) is taken; Prelacie and the whole train thereof, extirpated; The Service-Book in many places forsaken, plain and powerful preaching set up; Many Colledges in Cambridge provided with such Ministers, as are most zealous of the best Reformation; Altars removed; The Communion in some places given at the Table sitting; The great Organs at Pauls and of Peters in Westminster taken down; Images and many other monuments of Idolatry defaced and abolished." John Maitland, Alexander Henderson, Samuel Rutherfurd, Robert Baillie and George Gillespie. The Letter from the Commissioners at London to the General Assembly. 1644.
"We were greatly refreshed to hear by Letters from our Commissioners there with you... of the great good things the Lord hath wrought among you and for you... many corruptions, as Altars, Images, and other Monuments of Idolatry and Superstition removed...the great Organs at Pauls and Peters taken down." General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. The General Assemblies Answer to the right Reverend the Assembly of Divines in the Kirk of England. 1644.
"It would be nothing but mimicry if we followed David today in singing with cymbals, flutes, tambourines and psalteries. In fact, the papists were seriously deceived in their desire to worship God with their pompous inclusion of organs, trumpets, oboes and similar instruments. That has only served to amuse the people in their vanity, and to turn them away from the true institution which God has ordained.... In a word, the musical instruments were in the same class as sacrifices, candelabra, lamps and similar things.... Those who take this approach are reverting to a sort of Jewishness, as if they wanted to mingle the Law and the Gospel, and thus bury our Lord Jesus Christ." John Calvin. Sermons on Second Samuel. 1562.
"The eleventh fault they finde, is, for that wee use no Organs in our Churches.... commonly we doe therefore not use them: whilest we finde more hindrance to proceed thereof then profit, by the worship of God: and also in this case we desire to remaine by the simplicity of the Apostolicall Churches, which neither had nor used any such things in their congregations." A Full Declaration of the Faith and Ceremonies Professed in the Dominions of the Most Illustrious and Noble Prince Fredericke, V. Prince Elector, Palatine (1614).
"The Rejoynder after some words spent about singing, (about which he bringeth not the least resemblance of that in question, untill the fourth age after Christ) excepteth first, that Organall musicke was gods ordinance in the old Testament, and that not significant, or typicall; and therefore is sinfully called Idol-service. 2. That all men whose hearts are not averse, by distraction, stupidity, or prejudice, feele such musicke to worke much upon their affections. To this I say 1. That his denying of Organall musicke to have beene significant or typicall, is without reason, and against the current of our Divines; taken (as it may seeme) out of Bellarmine (de missa. Lib. 2. Cap. 15.) who useth this evasion against those words of P. Martyr: Musicall organs perteyne to the Jewish Ceremonie, and agree no more to us, than Circumcision. So that we may neglect it, and take him as saying, that nothing which was ordained in the old Testament (no not sacrificing beasts) is now an Idol-service. 2. For that, and the other, both together, it is fit the Rejoynder should be put in minde how many, and what kinde of men, he accuseth of distraction, stupidity or prejudice!" William Ames. A Fresh Suit Against Human Ceremonies in God's Worship. 1633.
"though' instrumental musick were admitted and appointed in the worship of God under the Old Testament, yet we do not find it practised in the synagogue of the Jews, but only in the temple. It thence appears to have been a part of the ceremonial pedagogy, which is now abolished; nor can any say it was a part of moral worship. And whereas the common usage hath now confined instrumental musick to cathedrals, it seems therein too much to Judaize; which to do is a part of the Anti-Christian apostacy, as well as to Paganize." Cotton Mather. Magnalia Christiana Americana. 1702.
"Besides, though we read of the use of music in the temple-service, yet it does not sufficiently appear that it was ever used in the Jewish synagogues; the mode of worship observed in which more resembled that which is at present performed by us in our public assemblies. But what may sufficiently determine this matter, is that we have no precept nor precedent for it in the New Testament, either from the practice of Christ, or his apostles." Thomas Ridgeley. A Body of Divinity: Wherein the Doctrines of the Christian Religion are Explained and Defended, Being the Substance of Several Lectures Upon the Assembly's Larger Catechism. 1732.
"Q. May we not use harps, organs, and other musical instruments in praising God? A. No, for these, though used in the temple services, were not used in the Jewish synagogues, nor in the New-Testament worship..." -John Brown, of Haddington. A Help for the Ignorant; or An Essay, Towards an Easy, Plain, Practical, and Extensive Explication of the Assembly's Shorter Catechism. 1758.
This is where I think instruments can become a problem (but not against their use either)
But I love ya nonetheless....
