How unlike, yea how very unlike such a blessed dismission, is the treatment these young students have lately met with at Edmund-Hall? who, amongst other crimes of a like nature, were expelled for using extempore prayer. A crime not so much as mentioned in any of our law-books; a crime, for which, in this last century at least, no one hath ever been called to the bar of any public court of judicature; and a crime, for which, it is to be hoped, no student will ever hereafter be summoned to appear and hear himself expelled, at the bar of any of the reverend Doctors of divinity, or heads of houses in the university of Oxford. But should any be so infatuated as to determine, Jehu-like, to drive on thus furiously; as judgment hath unhappily begun, as it were, at the very house of God, it is to be hoped, that as some have been expelled for extempore praying, we shall hear of some few others of a contrary stamp, being expelled for extempore swearing, which by all impartial judges must undoubtedly be acknowledged to be the greater crime of the two.
Singing, composing, or reading hymns composed by others, and doing this in company, seems to be as little criminal, as praying extempore. When the last words of David are about to be recorded, he is not only stiled, “the son of Jesse, the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob,” but the grand title of being “the sweet Psalmist of Israel,” brings up the rear. And “to teach and admonish one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs,” is as truly a scriptural command, as “thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and thy neighbour as thyself.”
When Elisha the Prophet was about to prophesy before two kings, he called for a minstrel, on which he played, to sooth his ruffled passions, and prepare his heart the better for the reception of the Holy Spirit. And were the sons of the Prophets more frequently to entertain themselves thus, I believe it would be as suitable to the ministerial character, and recommend them as much, perhaps more, to all serious christians, than their tripping up their heels, skipping and dancing at the music of a ball-room, or playing even a first fiddle at a concert. And was the voice of spiritual melody more frequently heard by those who come occasionally to visit our colleges, it might be as much to the honour of the university, as the more common and too, too frequent noise of box and dice, at the unlawful games of hazard and back-gammon.
Popish countries, popish seminaries, think it no shame, no disgrace to be heard singing the high praises of their God in their convents, their houses, or even in their streets; and why protestants in general, and protestant students in particular, should be any more ashamed of, or restrained from the free exercise of such acts of devotion, either alone, or in private societies, no good reason can be given; unless it be proved to be good reasoning to assert, that “Protestants ought to be less devout than Papists.” We must confess, that Papists, though they take this liberty of singing and chanting privately and publicly themselves, yet deny this liberty of conscience to our protestant assemblies; those attending divine worship at our ambassadors chapels not excepted. But for Protestants to disuse it themselves, and at the same time lay as it were a spiritual embargo upon their fellow Protestants, nay punish and expel them for so doing, is very unaccountable.
What spirit then must those be of, Reverend Sir, who have lately joined in pronouncing the sentence of expulsion against six religious students, not only for having been of trades, and praying extempore, but for reading and singing hymns also? His Royal Highness the late Duke of Cumberland, was of a very different disposition, for when abroad in Germany, in one of our late wars, (as I was informed by a person then on guard) hearing one evening, as he was passing by, a company of soldiers singing at some little distance in a cave, he asked the centinel what noise that was; and being answered, that some devout soldiers were singing hymns; instead of citing them to appear before their officers, ordering them to the whipping post, or commanding them to be drummed out of the regiment; acting like himself, he only pleasingly replied, “Are they so? Let them go on then, and be as merry [♦]as they can.” In this he acted wisely; for he knew, and found by repeated experience, as did other commanding officers, that singing, nay, and praying extempore too, in these private societies, did not hinder, but rather fitted and animated these devout soldiers to engage, and to fight their country’s battles in the field. And it may be presumed, that if these students had not been expelled for singing hymns, and praying extempore, they certainly would not have been less, but in all probability much better prepared for handling the sword of the Spirit, the word of God, and fighting therewith, either from the press or the pulpit, the battles of the Lord of hosts.
[♦] removed duplicate word “as”
To see or hear such divine exercises treated with reproach, and spoken of with contempt by common and open blasphemers, is bad; but that any who came on purpose to be trained up for the sacred work of the ministry, should be looked on as criminal, and expelled [♦]at university for being sometimes employed in them, is too sad a proof, not only that “our gold is become dim, and our fine gold changed, but that our very foundations are out of course.” What then must the righteous do?
[♦] “an” replaced with “at”
What indeed, but weep and lament! And weep and lament indeed they must, especially when they hear further, that meeting in a religious society, giving a word of exhortation, or expounding and commenting a little now and then upon some portion of scripture, are not the least of the accusations for which some of these young worthies had the sentence of expulsion pronounced against them.
It is recorded in the Old Testament, that in a degenerate age, “those that feared the Lord spake often one to another; that the Lord hearkened and heard, and that a book of remembrance was written before him for those that feared the Lord, and thought on his name: and they shall be mine in that day, saith the Lord, when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.” Thus it was in the Old Testament times. Nor are such meetings mentioned with less approbation in the new: for therein, in order that we may hold the profession of our faith without wavering, we are commanded to “consider one another, to provoke unto love and to good works; not forsaking the assembling ourselves together, but exhorting one another, and so much the more, as we see the day approaching.” Nay, one immediate consequence of that grand effusion of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, we are told, was this, that “they who gladly received the word, and were baptized, continued stedfast in the Apostles doctrine, in fellowship, in breaking of bread, and in prayer.” This is a short, but withal a full and blessed account of the first truly apostolic primitive church; and we may venture to affirm, that as we are more or less partakers of a true apostolic primitive spirit, such kind of religious, fellowship-meetings, will in proportion increase or decrease among us. To talk therefore, or write, or preach against, or by private persuasion or open violence to oppose, or endeavour to suppress, and discountenance such kind of religious societies, is flying, as it were, in the very face of the scriptures of truth, and of the Holy Ghost himself.