5. Scottish Presbyterians

The Presbyterian Churches in Scotland from the time of the Reformation through the seventeenth-century Covenanting period and up to the latter part of the nineteenth century were basically Psalm singing Churches. The Scottish Psalmody produced in 1650 took a significant place and wielded an important influence in the life and culture of the nation throughout that period. The Psalter was the only authorised manual of praise, in that metrical form, right down to the late nineteenth century. In the previous century there had been a move to adopt in addition some Scripture Paraphrases, and many Psalters were produced with these Paraphrases, and five other "hymns", bound in with the Psalms. This gave the impression of ecclesiastical sanction which did not actually exist. It is true that in 1781 the Scottish Paraphrases were given an approval for experimental use by the Church of Scotland. Legislation was never passed, however, giving explicit authorisation for these songs.(17)

It was not until 1861 that the Church of Scotland first formally authorised hymns of merely human composition. The Free Church of Scotland followed Suit in 1872, but not without controversy. James Macgregor, the Professor of Systematic Theology at New College Edinburgh, for one, was unhappy with this movement. He expressed his reservations in no uncertain terms in a "Memorial" to the Free Church Assembly of 1869. Among other things he was to say this: "Our Church, for many generations, has not, in her congregational praise, made use of any materials of merely human inspiration, and that, with reference even to materials of divine inspiration, the ambiguous quasi-sanction attained by the 'paraphrases' dates only from a very recent period of her history, derives its origin from the deepest darkness of her 'dark age' of moderatism."(18)

As to the five "hymns" often printed in the back of the Psalters, it was Macgregor's judgment that these were "partly Socinian, mainly deistical, wholly unevangelical at heart", and had been "dragged in from the fly-leaf for the purpose of giving to the impression some colour of foundation in fact", namely, that they had some ecclesiastical sanction, which in fact they did not possess. But this was a common approach of those who wished to introduce non-inspired materials for praise, thus cloaking a shift in attitude both as to the nature of revelation and the sufficiency of Scripture in matters of faith and practice.

Predictably there has been a gradual displacement of the Psalms from Presbyterian worship and along with this a growing discontent about the content of praise on the grounds that it apparently always needs to be contemporary. On reflection it may be observed that Jesus did not sing the hymns of the modern era; the Apostles in the New Testament times did not sing the songs of the modern era; and neither did the Reformers and Puritans. Were they inferior Christians? Does that not demonstrate that it is not necessary to sing hymns or songs of merely human composition to have real, authentic, spiritual Christian worship? This is not to say that the Church need be tied to a metrical translation of a previous age, however much it may be venerated. It is often used against Metrical Psalms that they are themselves paraphrases, after a fashion. A primary consideration must be to have Psalms for singing which reflect accurately the underlying Hebrew, with help from the Septuagint and New Testament quotations in Greek. At the same time it is important that the translation is suited to congregational singing and easy to understand. This was certainly the concern of the Reformers, and those involved in the development of Psalmody in the Scottish Reformed Churches.

6. Revivals

It would probably be considered unimaginable today that there could be revival in a Church which uses only Bible Psalms. However, from all that has already been outlined in this section the influence of the Psalms in the development and spread of Christianity in the world may be well appreciated.(19) The fact is that the Psalms have been significant at times of revival in Church history. This should not surprise us as the Psalms, in John Calvin's words, are "an anatomy of all parts of the soul".

In a book entitled The True Psalmody, first produced in 1861, the observation is made that, "The Waldenses sang the Psalms and nothing else in their Alpine valleys; . . . The French Church, and the Churches of Switzerland, used nothing else in song, during the palmiest days of their religious life; while these sacred songs contributed not a little to the spread of the gospel. These Psalms constituted the only psalmody of the Scottish Church in her first and second Reformations. . . . These Psalms were the sacred songs of the revived church in Ireland . . . ."(20)

Of the effect of the metrical Psalter in connection with the eighteenth-century revivals in Scotland, Arthur Fawcett has suggested that: "It is not possible to evaluate the tremendous significance of the metrical psalter; almost all the subjects of the revival — at least those whose stories we have — quoted from it. Again and again, it is from the remembered lines of its pages that light flashed into gloomy darkness."(21)

When one thinks that the piety of a people is in no small measure moulded by the praise they sing, the importance and significance of the Psalms becomes evident.

That in Thee may Thy people joy,
Wilt Thou not us revive?
Shew us Thy mercy, Lord, to us
Do Thy salvation give.
(Metrical Psalm 85, verses 6 and 7)

Notes
(17) Cf. J. W. Keddie, "The Paraphrases — An Historical Perspective," The Monthly Record of the Free Church of Scotland, September 1983, pp. 198-99.
(18) See Free Church of Scotland Assembly Papers, May 1869, pp. 152-61. The post-1900 Free Church reverted to the purity of worship affirmed by the Disruption Church, adopting only inspired materials of praise, sung without the accompaniment of instrumental music. From the practice of a few congregations in the Free Church after 1900 in occasionally using some of the Scottish Paraphrases, some maintain that there is an ambiguity in the Church on that question. It is true that Paraphrases had occasionally been used in some congregations before and after the Disruption of 1843. On the other hand there was no clear sanction for them. The Formula subscribed by all Office-bearers of the Church includes an affirmation that the subscriber owns "the purity of worship presently authorised and practiced in the Free Church of Scotland". As the Church has never formally authorised the Paraphrases and has only ever since 1900 produced copies of the Metrical Psalms, "by authority of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland", the conclusion seems inescapable that no authorisation exists for any material other than the Psalms.
(19) See Rowland E. Prothero, The Psalms in Human Life (London: 1903), for a fine description of the influence of the Psalms in the history of the post-Apostolic Church up to the end of the nineteenth century.
(20)The True Psalmody (Edinburgh: 1888), pp. 177-78. This was the work of a committee comprising ministers and elders from the Reformed and United Presbyterian Churches of Philadelphia.
(21) A. Fawcett, The Cambuslang Revival (London: 1971), p. 83.

IV. Sing the Lord's Song — Conclusions

No Christian can possibly deny that the worship of God is an extremely important matter. How are we to worship the Lord? Sings David, the "sweet psalmist of Israel" (II Samuel 23:1):

Give unto the LORD,
O you mighty ones,
Give unto the LORD
glory and strength.
Give unto the LORD
the glory due to His name;
Worship the LORD
in the beauty of holiness.
(Psalm 29:1-2)

The Old Testament Church asked the question: "With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams or ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" What was the answer? "He has shown you, O man, what is good . . ." (Micah 6:7-8). Yes, the Lord has shown us! But are we content with that? With what He has appointed in His word? Or will we need to add something; to put in what He has left out?

It has been the burden of this booklet to suggest that in the matter of worship, the Lord has shown us what is good; that He has provided materials in the Psalms sufficient for worship; and that the adoption of merely human compositions, however nice their sentiments or spirituality and however well-intentioned, is basically an act of human presumption. We believe the arguments in this connection are both sound and scriptural. They are summarised here.

(1) The Psalms are the fruit of divine inspiration. The Psalms are both intended and provided for singing in the Church. The fact is that only the Book of Psalms can be used with the certainty that these songs have been divinely appointed for the purpose. Even the best of Hymn books do not have that assurance. The adoption of other, non-inspired materials of praise carries with it the implication that somehow something is "missing" from the Biblical provision in the matter of New Testament praise. William Romaine's words are challenging, as they are forthright: "I want a name for a man who should pretend that he could make better hymns than the Holy Ghost . . . why . . . would any man in the world take it into his head to sit down and write hymns for the use of the Church? It is lust the same as if he were to write a new Bible."(1)

(2) The Psalms are sufficient for New Testament praise. Someone might say: "Isn't the Book of Psalms unnecessarily restrictive? Surely we should use the name of Jesus in song?" This is a fair point. But Christ is in the Psalms. As O. Palmer Robertson, formerly Professor of Old Testament at Westminster Seminary, has reminded us: "In some ways, all the psalms refer to Christ, for each relates to the redemption he has accomplished for his people. . . . All the psalms relate to Jesus Christ and his redeeming work."(2)

Besides this, think of the impact of the Psalms themselves in the New Testament. There are at least 150 Psalm citations in the New Testament. The argument of the Letter to the Hebrews is to a considerable degree tied in with the Psalms. Jesus Himself stated that the Psalms spoke of Him (Luke 24:44~47). They speak of His person, as a prophet (Psalm 2:7), as a priest (110:4; cf. Hebrews 5:6) and as a king (2:6; 45:6). They speak of His eternal sonship (2:7; cf. Hebrews 5:5); His advent (96:11-13) and His humanity (22, passim). They speak of His work (118:22; cf. Acts 4:11), in His sufferings and death (40:6-8; 21 passim; 22:1; 69:9; cf. Matthew 27:46), in His resurrection (16:8-11; cf. Acts 2:25-31), in His ascension (68:18; cf. Hebrews 10:12-13) and in His Second Coming (50:1-6; cf. I Thessalonians 4:16; II Peter 3:10). He is the shepherd of His people (23; 80:1; cf. John 10:11), the Son of David (78:68-72; cf. Matthew 22:41-46; Psalm 132:11; cf. Matthew 1:1), the Son of Man (8:4; cf. Hebrews 2:6; Matthew 8:20) and the redeemer of God's elect (25:22; 26:11; 130:7-8).

The Rev. William Balfour, of Holyrood Free Church, Edinburgh, speaking in 1880, was surely correct when he said, with reference to Christian truths in the Psalms: "The question is, Are they there? If we are sure of that, as we certainly are, then it must be our own fault if we do not find them. We must have failed to get into the spirit of the Psalm; and if so, the remedy is not to be found in providing a hymn or hymns in which mention is made of these truths, in so many words, but rather in seeking the Spirit of adoption, without whom the most evangelical hymns ever written will not enable us to praise God aright, and with whom, the Psalms will furnish the richest and most inexhaustible material for praising God."(3)

All this could be enlarged.(4) The fact is, however, that there is no evidence that references to song in the New Testament refer to anything but to the Psalms of Scripture. No warrant can possibly be taken from these for the adoption of non-inspired compositions. As Professor Macgregor put it so effectively: "There is no visible case in which with the sanction of God any congregation ever sang a song of merely human inspiration."(5)

Notes
(1) Romaine, Essay on Psalmody.
(2) O. Palmer Robertson, "The Messiah Foretold," Evangelical Times, May 1994, p. 8.
(3) W. Balfour, The Psalms versus Hymns in the Service of the Sanctuary (Edinburgh: 1881), p. 20.
(4) See, for example, Appendices "C" and "D" in the Symposium, The Biblical Doctrine of Worship (1973), pp. 374ff., produced by the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America.
(5) James Macgregor, "Memorial", Free Church of Scotland Assembly Papers, May 1869, pp. 152-61. Cf. Murray and Young, "Minority Report of the Committee on Song in the Public Worship of God", p. 19.

Go to the next installment:
Sing the Lord's Song: Part VIII