THE INSPIRED PSALMS
The inspired Psalms alone are adapted to be vehicles of grace in the heart, and of praise to the Lord. “Singing with grace in your hearts unto the Lord.” Here we have the end to be reached. It is twofold: (1) The awakening of gracious affections in the heart, and (2) the uplifting of the soul to God. Two characteristics of the inspired Psalms mark their adaptation to this two-fold purpose: (a) their objective nature, and then (b) their devotional spirit. Hymns are subjective. Men sing about themselves, their states and experiences, their high resolves. They are self-centered.
The Psalms are objective. They are God-centered. The soul looks outward and upward. They lead the soul reverently to adore God in the beauty of holiness, as the object of praise, and devoutly to bow before Him on His throne, as the hearer of prayer. This is true devotion. “Worship God.”
The devotional character of the book is manifest to all. This is in a pre-eminent sense the devotional book of the Bible. It is sometimes asserted that the Psalms are not adapted to be vehicles of grace to the heart, and, therefore, they cannot be successfully employed in religious revivals! Such a view is utterly mistaken.
Think for a moment of the contents of the book: Its views of God, its views of man, its views of law, its views of sin; its views of Christ, its views of repentance, its views of pardon, its views of covenant-relationship, its views of heaven, its views of hell. What is there that is needed for revival that it does not contain? And what book is more likely to be honoured by the Holy Spirit than His own book? As Dr. J. W. Bain has said, “The Psalms will be found suitable for any revival that comes down; those revivals that are ‘gotten up’ may need something less divine.”
The fact is that the greatest revivals of religion the world has ever seen have been connected with the exclusive use of the Psalms. They were used exclusively in the great revivals in the days of Hezekiah, Josiah, Ezra, Nehemiah. The same was true in the revival at Pentecost when 3,000 were converted in one day. The period of the Reformation was a grand revival period, and it was a glorious revival of Psalm-singing. The Calvinist Reformers used the Psalms exclusively. All France was thrilled with their music in the days of the Huguenots. They alone were used in the Scottish Church on that wonderful day at the Kirk of Shotts, when under Livingstone 500 were converted by one sermon. In the times of Robert McCheyne, when the disciples of Christ continued their meetings until near midnight, they made the seasons of the night glad singing the songs of Zion.
President Jonathan Edwards bears testimony of their use in the great Northampton revivals in New England in his days. “One of the most observable features of the work was the singular delight which all the awakened appeared to take in singing Psalms. In houses, in the fields, in the woods, alone and together, they spoke forth the praises of their King; and even little children and aged persons who had never before learned to sing, came to sing praises with solemnity and sweetness.” It thus ap pears that the Psalms of the Bible are eminently adapted to be the vehicles of grace to the heart and of praise to the Lord. “Singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”
We conclude, therefore, that this passage, which has always been relied upon by the advocates of hymn-singing as containing a warrant for their practices, has no such meaning. The titles, “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,” belong to the inspired Psalms, and as qualified by the word “spiritual” and not true of any other. The Psalms are “the word of Christ”; uninspired songs are not His word; the Psalms are a true standard for “teaching and administering”; uninspired songs are not: the Psalms are adapted to be the vehicles of grace to the heart and of praise to the Lord; uninspired songs are not.
The passage furnishes no warrant for using uninspired songs in worship, but is an explicit apostollic injunction that in the praise service of the New Testament Church the divinely authorized Psalmody should be continued.
We cannot close without an earnest appeal to the Christian heart in behalf of two things: —
1. The restoration of God’s own Psalter to a place in the Hymnals of all the Churches. The present movement in this direction should have the hearty-co-operation of every Christian. Its rejection has been in disregard of the divine appointment, and of the authority contained in this passage. It should be restored to its place by the united voice of all Christendom and the joyous acclaim of all Christians. It would be the bringing back of the ark of God.
2. When the Psalter is restored to its place in the hymnals of the Churches it should be used exclusively in the worship of God. A place may be found for the use of uninspired songs, but not in worship. God must be served with His own. “But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen.” (Mal. 1:14).
(Extract from “Is the use of Uninspired Songs in the Worship of God Authorised?” by Rev. Professor R. J. George, D.D.)
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Bekijk de hele uitgave van maandag 1 februari 1965
The Banner of Truth | 16 Pagina's
Bekijk de hele uitgave van maandag 1 februari 1965
The Banner of Truth | 16 Pagina's