The sick, the lame, the blind, the lepers that came to our LORD for healing, wanted no book to teach them how to express their wants. Though some were only poor beggars, and others, as the self-righteous Scribes and Pharisees superciliously chose to term them, “_Gentile_ dogs,” yet, conscious of their wants, and having a heart-felt sense of their distress, “out of the abundance of their hearts their mouths spake;” and the compassionate _Emmanuel_, who came to heal our sicknesses and bear our infirmities, sent them away with a “Go in peace, thy faith hath made thee whole: be it unto thee even as thou wilt.”
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.