THE ANGLICAN BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER:
ITS VIRTUES & VICES
OR
THE ALTERNATIVE WESTMINSTER DIRECTORY OF PUBLIC
WORSHIP (1645) CONSIDERED
Being the substance of a paper first presented to the
1989 Westminster Conference in London
by Dr Alan C. Clifford
However, one wonders if Bushell has not overstated his case. It is simply not that obvious that the Apostle excludes the possibility of post-apostolic hymns in Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16. Without denying that the 'word of Christ' is found in the psalms, surely New Testament Christians are expected to sing the 'word of Christ' in the language of fulfillment as well as prophecy. It seems strange that our understanding, preaching, and praying may be expressed in NT language when our praise should remain in OT language. This may be illustrated from Calvin who was no exclusive psalm singer69 even if he did not write that beautiful hymn attributed to him.70 The Reformer says 'As for public prayers, there are two kinds: the one consists simply of speech, the other of song'.71 Now if spoken prayers may use NT language, why should sung prayers be confined to OT language? Is the praise of Christians to be no different from the Jews? And is the issue to be settled by a tune? Bushell argues that 'uninspired praises', i.e. hymns not found in the Bible, have no place in Christian worship. But this could imply the most rigid kind of liturgical worship, with all our prayers and sermons taken verbatim from the Bible, for what Christian could be content with uninspired worship at any point in the service? It is surely sufficient to ensure that every part of worship is consistent with scripture truth rather than a verbatim copy of it. If the psalms, unlike our sermons, are 'untouched by human hands', where does that leave the Anglo-Scottish Psalter which, in the words of Sir Richard Terry, 'groans under the weight of the monotonous 'Ballad Metre', i.e. 8.6.8.6.72 Did the Holy Spirit reveal them to David and Asaph in such a straitjacket, sometimes producing embarrassing if not amusing results? The regulative principle could overthrow the entire Presbyterian tradition of metrical psalms in favour of the Anglican chant! The answer is, of course, that literary form is a thing indifferent, and that it is the divinely-inspired truth-content that makes them acceptable. Quite! And is it not an insult to the Holy Spirit to describe a hymn which is orthodox and full of Christ 'uninspired'?
ITS VIRTUES & VICES
OR
THE ALTERNATIVE WESTMINSTER DIRECTORY OF PUBLIC
WORSHIP (1645) CONSIDERED
Being the substance of a paper first presented to the
1989 Westminster Conference in London
by Dr Alan C. Clifford
PART 12
The Privilege of Praise
To the Westminster reformers, public worship consisted of proclamation, prayer, and praise. Thus the Directory concludes: 'And because singing of psalms is of all other the most proper ordinance for expressing joy and thanksgiving, ... It is the duty of Christians to praise God publickly, by singing of psalms together in the congregation, and also privately in the family.' Time and propriety forbid a lengthy discussion of the exclusive psalmody versus hymns debate. This was simply not an issue for the Westminster Assembly, and the era of English hymnody had hardly dawned. However, the hymns of Watts and Wesley made their impact on exclusive psalm-singers during the following century throughout the English-speaking world. In the United States, the 1788 Presbyterian Directory enjoined the singing of 'psalms and hymns'. Forty years earlier, Jonathan Edwards had reacted to the new fashion with moderation. After preaching away from home, he found that his Northampton congregation had been using Watts' hymns to the exclusion of the Psalter. He 'disliked not their making some use of the hymns; but did not like their setting aside the Psalms.'67 However, this moderation is not enough for Michael Bushell whose reactionary tour de force in favour of exclusive psalmody nonetheless deserves the attention of chorus and hymn singers alike!68
To the Westminster reformers, public worship consisted of proclamation, prayer, and praise. Thus the Directory concludes: 'And because singing of psalms is of all other the most proper ordinance for expressing joy and thanksgiving, ... It is the duty of Christians to praise God publickly, by singing of psalms together in the congregation, and also privately in the family.' Time and propriety forbid a lengthy discussion of the exclusive psalmody versus hymns debate. This was simply not an issue for the Westminster Assembly, and the era of English hymnody had hardly dawned. However, the hymns of Watts and Wesley made their impact on exclusive psalm-singers during the following century throughout the English-speaking world. In the United States, the 1788 Presbyterian Directory enjoined the singing of 'psalms and hymns'. Forty years earlier, Jonathan Edwards had reacted to the new fashion with moderation. After preaching away from home, he found that his Northampton congregation had been using Watts' hymns to the exclusion of the Psalter. He 'disliked not their making some use of the hymns; but did not like their setting aside the Psalms.'67 However, this moderation is not enough for Michael Bushell whose reactionary tour de force in favour of exclusive psalmody nonetheless deserves the attention of chorus and hymn singers alike!68
Certainly psalm singing deserves a much higher profile in modern worship. After all, are the psalms not the heritage of New Testament children of the covenant?
However, one wonders if Bushell has not overstated his case. It is simply not that obvious that the Apostle excludes the possibility of post-apostolic hymns in Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16. Without denying that the 'word of Christ' is found in the psalms, surely New Testament Christians are expected to sing the 'word of Christ' in the language of fulfillment as well as prophecy. It seems strange that our understanding, preaching, and praying may be expressed in NT language when our praise should remain in OT language. This may be illustrated from Calvin who was no exclusive psalm singer69 even if he did not write that beautiful hymn attributed to him.70 The Reformer says 'As for public prayers, there are two kinds: the one consists simply of speech, the other of song'.71 Now if spoken prayers may use NT language, why should sung prayers be confined to OT language? Is the praise of Christians to be no different from the Jews? And is the issue to be settled by a tune? Bushell argues that 'uninspired praises', i.e. hymns not found in the Bible, have no place in Christian worship. But this could imply the most rigid kind of liturgical worship, with all our prayers and sermons taken verbatim from the Bible, for what Christian could be content with uninspired worship at any point in the service? It is surely sufficient to ensure that every part of worship is consistent with scripture truth rather than a verbatim copy of it. If the psalms, unlike our sermons, are 'untouched by human hands', where does that leave the Anglo-Scottish Psalter which, in the words of Sir Richard Terry, 'groans under the weight of the monotonous 'Ballad Metre', i.e. 8.6.8.6.72 Did the Holy Spirit reveal them to David and Asaph in such a straitjacket, sometimes producing embarrassing if not amusing results? The regulative principle could overthrow the entire Presbyterian tradition of metrical psalms in favour of the Anglican chant! The answer is, of course, that literary form is a thing indifferent, and that it is the divinely-inspired truth-content that makes them acceptable. Quite! And is it not an insult to the Holy Spirit to describe a hymn which is orthodox and full of Christ 'uninspired'?
This is not to supplement scripture, but to acknowledge that a hymn may reflect revelation as in a or. Just as the Westminster Directory was concerned that preaching and praying should faithfully reflect the Word of God, so hymns fulfilling the same requirement may surely be admitted. Consistent with Calvin's actual position, later Presbyterians like Charles Hodge73 and Albert Barnes74 endorse the use-of post-apostolic hymns. As for modern choruses, our forefathers would probably say that some of them are useful teaching aids for very young children. But for adults, they can only be the effusions of immature Christians reared on superficial preaching. Where there is a healthy appetite for the Reformed Faith, nothing less than the psalms and hymns of the Reformed Faith will be suitable vehicles of praise.
It is unfortunate that English-speaking psalm-singers usually end up pleading for one rather unpoetic, seventeenth-century version of the Psalms. This is not to forget some glorious and justly famous individual psalms, nor do I wish to appear ungracious in my remarks. But there are other versions which could convince those brought up on the eloquence and energy of Watts and Wesley that psalms should not be so neglected. The Anglo-Genevan Psalter,75 with its tasteful translations of Marot's and Beza's paraphrases, employing varied metres and set to the majestic and glorious tunes of Greiter and Bourgeois, meets this requirement. Here are the psalms which inspired the heroic-Huguenots in their sufferings for Christ. There was nothing drab about Reformed worship at the beginning, judging by the experience of a student passing through Strasbourg in 1545 where Calvin had published his first psalter just six years before:
You would never believe what a happy thing it is and what peace of conscience one experiences in being where the Word of God is purely proclaimed and the sacraments purely administered. Also when one hears the fine Psalms sung and the marvellous works of the Lord... At the beginning when I heard the singing I could scarcely keep myself from weeping with joy. You would not hear one voice drowning another. Everybody holds a book of music in his hand. Every man and woman alike praises the Lord.76
You would never believe what a happy thing it is and what peace of conscience one experiences in being where the Word of God is purely proclaimed and the sacraments purely administered. Also when one hears the fine Psalms sung and the marvellous works of the Lord... At the beginning when I heard the singing I could scarcely keep myself from weeping with joy. You would not hear one voice drowning another. Everybody holds a book of music in his hand. Every man and woman alike praises the Lord.76
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