Tradition has it that the Reformation in Heidelberg, Germany began with the singing of a hymn. On a Sunday near Christmas, 1545, the Holy Spirit Church was filled close to capacity. As the priest prepared for the mass, a strong, youthful voice from the back of the sanctuary broke the silence, singing a well-known hymn of the Reformation. The priest stopped his preparations, and there was complete silence. Then the entire congregation began to sing the hymn. The priest exited the church as the Reformation entered the hearts of the Christians of Heidelberg (Landmarks 11). The power of the Reformation can still be felt whenever the church sings the "Doxology" of Louis Bourgeois or Luther's great hymn based on Psalm 46, "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God."

Reformation Worship⤒🔗

Two questions emerged from the Reformation: How should we regulate worship? What should we sing? The Reformation was not unified in its answers. While the Lutheran and Anglican churches were content with a severe pruning of the tree of Roman Catholic liturgy, the Reformed churches cut it down altogether, planting in its place what was claimed to be a strictly biblical pattern of worship.

Luther retained as much of the Roman ritual as he thought was not directly prohibited by Scripture, as expressed in the Augsburg Confession (XV):

With regard to church usages that have been established by men, it is taught among us that those usages are to be observed which may be observed without sin and which contribute to peace and good order in the church, among them being certain holy days, festivals and the like.Tappert 36

Calvin summarizes his own view in his Confession of Faith:

… If we would render a well regulated and acceptable sacrifice, we hold that it is not for us to invent what to us seems good, or to follow what may have been devised in the brain of other men, but to confine ourselves simply to the purity of Scripture. Wherefore we believe that anything which is not derived from it, but has only been commanded by the authority of men, ought not to be regarded as the service of God … and that at the very least his will as a bridle should regulate our devotions.Selected Works 11.147-148

Calvin offers reasons for this rule:

There is a two-fold reason why the Lord, in condemning and prohibiting all fictitious worship, requires us to give obedience only to his own voice. First, it tends greatly to establish his authority that we do not follow our own pleasure, but depend entirely on his sovereignty; and, secondly, such is our folly, that when we are left at liberty, all we are able to do is to go astray …Selected Works 1.28

It is this "regulative principle" that produces the simplicity of the Reformed worship service. In God's providence, it allowed the Reformed churches to survive their turbulent years. They did not enjoy the favor of kings and princes that the Lutheran and Anglican state churches had, which permitted an elaborate ritual to exist. For the often persecuted Reformed believers … the need was not for a beautiful ritual but a worship sustaining, strengthening, making men dauntless in danger and triumphant in martyrdom. The worship of these Reformed churches did not have much beauty, but, oh, what strength it had! And strength they needed. Its very simplicity gave it opportunity and power. (Byington 86)

The regulative principle was given creeds! Authority for Presbyterian churches in the Westminster Confession. (XXI. 1.) As the OPC sought to apply this, in reports to the 13th and 14th General Assemblies, differing applications were expressed, which leads us to the discussion of hymns and psalms.

Only Psalms?←⤒🔗

Calvin stated in his prefaces to the 1542 and 1545 editions of the French Psalter that singing has power to enter the heart like wine poured into a vessel, with good or evil effect. [It] has great force and vigor to move and inflame the hearts of men to invoke and praise God with a more vehement and ardent zeal.Nichols 34

Calvin's metrical Psalter, Some Psalms and Canticles with Notes (1539), included: 17 psalms in French meter, 1 in prose, the Apostles' Creed and the Ten Commandments. The 1545 Geneva edition of the Psalter included a poem written by Calvin as an expression of personal faith in Christ's redemption. Ultimately, Calvin urged Clement Marot, a gifted poet, to translate the Psalms into French. Following his death, the work of translating the entire Psalter into French was completed by Calvin's associate, Theodore Beza. The Huguenot Synod of Montpellier (1598) authorized the singing of some hymns composed by Beza, but the emphasis continued to fall upon the Psalms. (Nichols 148-149)

The metrical version of the English psalms dates from the reign of Edward VI. Thomas Sternhold, who died in 1549, produced the first partial book of metrical psalms (Beveridge 99-100). With the development of John Knox's love for the worship of the Calvinist Genevan Church, the Scottish Psalter appeared (Stalker 134,218). The Scottish liturgy was first printed at Geneva in 1556 with 51 psalms. By 1565, all of the psalms were included.

The English Puritans were committed to the regulative principle of worship and the singing of the Psalms in public worship. The Westminster Assembly's Directory for the Public Worship of God stated:

It is the duty of Christians to praise God publicly, by singing of psalms together in the congregation, and also privately in the family.Davies 165

The practice of exclusive psalmody was a part of the immigrant church in America. However, in 1765, Synod stated,

The synod judge it best, in present circumstances, only to declare that they look on the inspired Psalms in Scripture to be proper matter to be sung in divine worship, according to their original design, and the practice of the Christian churches; yet will not forbid those to use the imitation of them, whose judgment and inclination lead them so to do.Engles 92

In 1787, the synod adopted the following resolution: The synod did allow, and do hereby allow, that Dr. Watt’s imitation of David's psalms, as revised by Mr. Barlow, be used in the churches and families under their care.Engles 430

Thus with the advent of the hymn writing of Isaac Watts, American Presbyterian exclusive psalmody gave way to singing both psalms and hymns.

On this eve of the appearance of a newly revised Trinity Hymnal, we may remember with gratitude the great Reformed heritage of song in worship and the principles of how God is to be worshiped, and the particular place psalms have had in that tradition.