* The above article is taken from the Rev. William Romaine’s excellent “Essay on Psalmody.” Mr Romaine was one of the outstanding evangelical ministers in the Church of England in the latter half of the 18th century (he died in 1795). His best known work is “The Life, Walk, and Triumph of Faith,” though in Bishop Ryle’s opinion his “Twelve Sermons on the Law and the Gospel” were the “best and most valuable work he ever sent to the press.”—Editor.
BY THE REV. WILLIAM ROMAINE.
WE are the creatures of God, dependent on Him for being and for well-being. He gives us all our faculties, both of mind and body, and He requires us to use them in His service and to His glory. This is our bounden duty. It is the peculiar dignity of man, who never acts more nobly than when he employs the powers bestowed upon him to the praise of the Giver. None of them should be useless, but each should be exerted, whenever an opportunity offers of glorifying God.
In the common actions of life, this may, and should be done: the rule is, “Whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God,” but it is far more needful in spiritual matters, which have an immediate relation to God and His worship. These He has appointed to be the means of showing forth His praise. Among them singing of Psalms is not the least. It is frequently commanded, and with a promise—faithful is He who hath promised—He will render the means effectual to answer the end. When believers employ the faculties of soul and body in singing of His goodness and greatness, He does accept the service, and testifies His acceptance. He does indeed communicate to them by His Spirit joy and peace, and He renders singing, to the Lord, with melody in the heart, the means of increasing the melody and joy.
But where is such singing? In what church? Among what people? There are some. May their number increase! It is worth while to try to increase them, especially as this ordinance is so much neglected. The holy affections, which should be stirred up by so heavenly an exercise, are generally damped by it. When it is performed with coldness and indifference, how can it produce sensations suitable to such exalted means of grace? Or when contempt is put upon it, how can it convey any of the promised blessings?
Many things have contributed to the present neglect and abuse of this ordinance, and I have been led to the following reflections, in order to try to bring it again into repute. Happy, indeed, shall I think myself if the Lord should be pleased to make use of them, as any way conducive to the singing of His praises with the understanding. I shall pray and labour for it: may He give His abundant blessing.
One of the first and great causes of neglecting the singing of Psalms seems to have arisen from not attending to the subject of the Book of Psalms. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy: for to Him give all the prophets witness. With one voice they speak of His wonderful person, of His divine undertakings, and of His complete and eternal salvation. It is the spirit of their writings to reveal and to teach the good knowledge of the Lord. Whoever understands them perfectly will find the prophets treating of the coming of Immanuel in the flesh as clearly as the evangelists. When this most blessed event was to be accomplished in the fulness of a time, a New Testament witness, filled with the Holy Ghost, prophesied, saying, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He hath according to His promise visited and redeemed His people, and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David, as He spake by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world began.” The Lord never left Himself without witness. Ever since the world began He had prophets, who foretold what Christ was to be and to do, who testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
This is the subject of the Book of Psalms. It treats of Christ, and contains the praises of the Father’s love, and of the Spirit’s grace, as they were manifested in the Person and work of Jesus Christ. The salvation of sinners through Him is the greatest display of the covenant mercies of the eternal Three; therefore the Psalms celebrate His wonderful Person, and His divine undertakings—they describe His obedience and sufferings—His conflicts with, and victories over, all His enemies—His resurrection and ascension—His sitting upon the throne, the great King of all worlds, visible and invisible—His gathering together, and perfecting the number of His elect—His coming at the last day to judge men and angels—and the glory which He will bestow upon His redeemed, when they shall be with Him, and like Him, kings and priests unto God and His father and shall reign with Him forever.
What subject can be more noble in itself than this? here are the greatest transactions of the greatest personages that possibly can be—the ever blessed Trinity, purposing and covenanting to bring many souls unto glory—displaying their wisdom, and love, and power, in an infinite degree, through the incarnation, obedience, and sufferings of the God-man, Jehovah Jesus, and through the effectual grace of the Holy Spirit, calling and bringing the elect to experience the Father’s love to them by faith in the Son’s perfect salvation, and then guiding them safe by His counsel and might unto the glory provided for them. This wonderful theme is treated of in the Book of Psalms in a manner suitable to its dignity—it is not only spoken of, but also celebrated—not merely described, but also praised. The language, therefore, is exalted. The sentiments are sublime. The poetry is divine. And no wonder: the author is equal to the subject. He is capable of the mercies of that covenant, which reaches from eternity to eternity, and of extolling them according to their true greatness. The Psalms are the composition of the all-wise Spirit; for the Holy Ghost spake by the mouth of David, and of the other inspired penmen. He guided both their hearts and their hands. The sentiments and the words are His: for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake, as they were moved by the Holy Ghost—they spake as He moved them—they indited the Psalms under His inspiration. The praises therein given of the Person and work of the ever blessed Immanuel are not human, but truly divine. What may not be expected from such an author, who is by essential union one in the Godhead with the Father and the Son, and who is by His office to testify of Jesus, and to glorify Jesus? If the Psalms be read under His influence they will be found equal to the subject, in every view suited to exalt the incarnate God, and, if they be sung with grace in the heart, they will increase the faith and hope of every devout worshipper. There are several Psalms which are applicable to none but Jesus Christ, and many expressions which could not be truly spoken by any one but by Him who was God and man in one Christ. Many will receive new lustre and emphasis when viewed in the same light. The proper Psalms, which are appointed to be read on the festivals, do certainly treat of the birth, death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. and of the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, in consequence of Christ’s ascension: for, says He, “If I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I go away I will send Him unto you.” Our Reformers certainly understood those proper Psalms to be descriptive of Christ, and took them in the same sense our Lord and His Apostles did; who have quoted the Book of Psalms eighty-two times. Their manner of quoting it demonstrates that they took it for granted it was written concerning Christ. . . . The glory is His. No offering, no righteousness, but His, can save: the praises, therefore, of the great salvation of our God, which run through the Book of Psalms, are the peculiar prerogatives of the King of Saints. They are His crown and quadem. The honours are solely His, and He will wear them with unrivalled fame. His name is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, and the armies of heaven follow Him with one mind and one heart, ascribing unto Him honour and glory, and blessing and praise, for ever and ever. Amen.
But although the work was altogether His from first to last, none being capable of any part, but He who is God as well as man, yet eternal blessings on Him, He did it for us and for our salvation. His people have an interest in what He is—God in our nature—they have their share in what He did and suffered for them, and they have an unspeakable benefit in what He is now doing for them in the presence of the Father. By believing they have pardon and peace through His offering on the tree. By believing they put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and find acceptance in His righteousness. By believing they commit their persons and concerns into His hands, and He ever liveth their prevailing intercessor to obtain for them every needful blessing. Thus they learn to trust Him, and in trusting, to experience His faithfulness. He gives them cause to love Him, and to rejoice in Him. For having received a new birth and life in Him, they can sing the Psalms of His nativity, and join angels and men in ascribing glory in the highest to the incarnate God. They read of His dying love in several Psalms, and they worship Him for bearing their sins, and shame, and curse, in His body and soul upon the cross: the Lamb that was slain and redeemed them to God by His blood is the constant theme of their grateful songs. When they read or sing the Psalms of His resurrection, they look upon Him as the first fruits of the dead, the earnest of the whole harvest, and with grateful hearts they bless Him for making and for keeping them alive to God. They share in all His victories and triumphs, being His happy subjects: for He has a kingdom which is celebrated in many of the Psalms. These treat of His almighty power to rule all beings and things, and of the sweet sceptre of His love, by which He governs His willing people. He manifests to them the greatness and majesty of His kingdom, so that under His royal protection they find deliverance from the temptations to sin, and from the miseries of sin, and through His special love He gives them here in the kingdom of His grace a happiness, which all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, cannot possibly give. They live happy indeed: for He makes them sing of the good of His chosen: they do rejoice in the gladness of His nation, and they glory in His inheritance. These are high privileges; but they are only the earnests of that kingdom which endureth for ever. O what glorious things are spoken of Thee, thou city of God, in which the great King delighteth to dwell, and to manifest His glory. Wonderful things are written of this everlasting kingdom in the Book of Psalms with which His happy subjects mix faith, and can then sing them with a hope full of glory and immortality. The Psalms throughout so describe the King of Saints, that they who partake of His grace may find in them continual exercise of their faith, and continual improvement of it: for they have an interest in all He was, and in all He is. Was His trust in God unshaken? They hope He will make theirs steadfast. Was His walk holy, harmless, and undefiled? They depend on Him for strength to tread in His steps. Were His tempers perfectly holy? They admire His example, and through His Spirit they daily put off the old man and put on the new. Was He carried through the greatest sufferings with entire resignation? They look up under all their trials for His promised support. Has He all His enemies under His feet? They are waiting in joyful hope for the fruit of His conquest. Is He now in our nature in the highest glory? It is promised them, their eyes shall see the King in His beauty. O blessed prospect! They shall soon be with Him, and like Him, too, when they shall see Him as He is. The Psalms are so written of Christ that every believer may find comfort in what he reads or sings. Christ being the head of the body, the church, all the members do share with their head in what He is and has, in His incarnation, life and death, resurrection and intercession, yea, they shall live and reign with Him for ever and ever. That my meaning may be better understood, I will give an instance in the first Psalms. Let us consider, how it is to be understood of Christ, and in what manner it is useful to those who through faith are one with Christ.
As it treats of Christ, it is a proper preface to the whole book. It gives an account of the subject, and is an abridgement of it, containing in substance what is largely handled in the other parts. For Christ is here described under the character of that perfect Person, who was to retrieve for His people all the losses of the fall. He was in their nature, and yet He was by nature and practice, in heart and life, separate from sinners; negatively He had not the least communion with them, being without one spot of sin, positively He was perfectly holy. He fulfilled all the righteousness of the law in its highest requirements, both in obedience to its precepts, and also in suffering its penalties. Thus He became to His people the tree of life, having life in Himself, as God self-existent, and having life communicatively, as God-man, to bestow upon every branch in Him—I am the vine, says He, ye are the branches, by Him they are quickened, in Him they live, through Him they become faithful, and by His influence they prosper and bring forth much fruit to the glory of God. Herein they are directly contrary to the wicked, who are never quickened by Him, but left to perish in their sins.