1. In that those that are real, material prayers, and praises, and thanksgivings, and were penned for that very use, as the titles show, and those that were so used by the Jewish synagogues where Christ was ordinarily present, may be so used by us: but such are the psalms both as said and sung.
2. And those that we are commanded to sing as psalms, and have Christ's example so to use, (who sung a hymn or psalm of praise at his last supper,) we also may so use: but, &c.
3. And those that are by God's Spirit fitted for use in prayer, praise, and thanksgiving, and never forbidden so to be used, may by us be so used: but such are the psalms, &c. I will weary you with no more.
[372] Psal. lxxii. 20; xc. title; lxxxvi. title; xvii. title; &c.
Quest. CXXVI. Are our church tunes lawful, being of man's invention?
Answ. Yes: they are a lawful invention, allowed us by God, and fitted to the general rules of edification. Scripture is no particular rule for such modes and circumstances.
Object. They breed a carnal pleasure by the melody, which is not fit for spiritual devotion.
Answ. 1. It is a lawful sensitive pleasure, sanctified to a holy use, not hindering, but greatly helping the soul in spiritual worship.
Either you call it carnal, because it gratifieth the sinful, corrupt inclinations of man; or only because it is sensitive, or a pleasure in the imagination and lower faculties. If the former, 1. There is nothing in it which is a necessary cause of any sinful pleasure, nor any impediment to spiritual pleasure. 2. But a lustful person will turn all sensitive pleasure into sin; our meat, and drink, and clothes, and houses, and friends, and health: the bread and wine in the sacrament may be thus abused.[373]
2. But you must know, that as our bodies are here united to our souls, so they act together, and while the sensitive part is subordinate to the rational, it is serviceable to it, and not a hinderance: when you come to have souls that are separated from the body, you shall use no bodily instruments; and yet even then it is uncertain to us, whether the sensitive powers of the soul do not accompany it, and be not used by it. But certainly in the meantime, he that will not use sense, shall not use reason. And he that acteth not sensibly, acteth not as a man: it is not a sin to be a man; and therefore not to see, to hear, to taste, to smell, &c. Nor is it a sin to taste sweetness in our meat or drink; nor is it a sinful pleasure for the eyes to behold the light, or the variety of the beauteous works of God, or to take pleasure in them. "His works are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein," Psal. cxi. 2.