Reformed Liturgys and EP

[NaphtaliPress]

From the link RJS posted above:
...

2. Did not the first Scottish, English and Dutch Psalters include uninspired hymns? Yes.

I cannot speak to the Dutch or English but on the Scottish practice if one hasn't interacted with the work of David Hay Fleming from 120 years ago where he disputes Bonar's contentions along the same lines, they have not done their homework.

[FONT=&quot]David Hay Fleming, “The Hymnology of the Reformation,” Original Secession Magazine (January-June and September 1884); repr.in An Anthology of Presbyterian & Reformed Literature 4 (1991) 223–246. [/FONT]
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[JM]

I cannot speak to the Dutch or English but on the Scottish practice if one hasn't interacted with the work of David Hay Fleming from 120 years ago where he disputes Bonar's contentions along the same lines, they have not done their homework.

[FONT=&quot]David Hay Fleming, “The Hymnology of the Reformation,” Original Secession Magazine (January-June and September 1884); repr.in An Anthology of Presbyterian & Reformed Literature 4 (1991) 223–246. [/FONT]
​

Thank you, I guess for now we'll have to deal with what we have access to.

Peace.

 

[MW]

Well noted Chris. It should be pointed out that the reformation Bibles contained the Apocrypha, but such an inclusion does not entail the Apocrypha was accepted as divine Scripture and read as such in public worship. Clearly the mere inclusion of uninspired hymns in a Psalter requires additional information as to how such compositions were to be used.

 

[NaphtaliPress]

Well noted Chris. It should be pointed out that the reformation Bibles contained the Apocrypha, but such an inclusion does not entail the Apocrypha was accepted as divine Scripture and read as such in public worship. Clearly the mere inclusion of uninspired hymns in a Psalter requires additional information as to how such compositions were to be used.

Great point Matthew.

Thank you, I guess for now we'll have to deal with what we have access to.

Peace.

Well, I guess I need to reprint some David Hay Fleming. He demonstrates in my opinion that it was mainly the printers who took it upon themselves to add the occasional hymn to their psalters and that it was not the practice to use this material in public worship. He also adduces a Scottish theologian who died in 1627, Robert Boyd, to support the contention the Scottish practice at the time did not include singing uninspired compositions, for which he argued. This was at the height of the time Scotland lay under the burden of the Articles of Perth, so if even at that time they were not sung, it is pretty clear uninspired song did not come into the public worship of Scotland until the mid to late 18th century, and was not common or pervasive till almost a century later (for some dates for various introduction points, see articles under "Hymnology, Scottish," "Paraphrases," "Psalms, Psalter," etc. in the Dictionary of Scottish Church History and Theology; see also David Lachman's entry on "Fleming, David Hay," where he writes, "His early literary endeavours, which included contributions to the Watchword and the Original Secession Magazine, exhibited much of the precision which characterized his work as a whole. ... Andrew Lang described Fleming's scholarship as 'remarkable for accuracy, judicious treatment, and research,' a judgment endorsed by the University of St Andrews, which conferred an LLD on him in 1898.").