8/12/2019 1996 Issue 2 - Worship, Hymns, And Theology - Counsel of Chalcedon

1/2

What we sing and what we

believe are closely

connected.

In

other words, there is a

relationship between what a

church or a people

sing

when

they worship (jod, and their

view of the (jod whom they

worship.

Patrick

Cowley has

expressed this point well, "

It

is

theology that makes worship,

and worship

is

always the

expression

of

theology

.

t

is only

in theology that worship

has its

legitimate origin and sanction,

and so the

faith

of the

church

is

revealed in

the

worship of the

church,

as also in its daily

work.

Worship

is

the

dramatization of

theology, and

is its

living T echnicolor

:film. As emphases in

theology alter,

so one

finds changes in,

or

additions'

to,

worship.

(Cited by Jack Martin

Maxwell: Worship

and.Reformed Theology: The

Liturgical

Lessons of

Mersersburg. Pittsburgh

Theological Monograph Series.

no. 10. The Pickwick Press.

1976. p.379.)

The important point

is

in the

last sentence: "As emphases in

theology alter, so one

finds

.

changes-in,

or

additions to,

worship." This important

principle has been

explored

by

Sandra

S.

Sizer

in

her excellent

study of 19th century revivalist

hymnody, (jospel Hymns and

Social Religion: The

Rhetoric

of

Nineteenth-Century

Revivalism

IT

emple Vniversity Press.

1978.)

In

this perceptive study

Sizer,

while nof wnting

from

a

Christian perspective, compares

the new hymns and songs that

appeared with the revival

movements

of

D.L Moody and

Ira Sankey, with older reformed

hymns

of

Isaac Watts. Sizer

incisively

draws

out

the "shift"

visible from Watts versions of

the Psalms

to

Sankey's Sacred

Songs

and

Solos. We shall

observe

the " hift" in a

number

of key areas of doctrine:

From rebel to victim

Isaac

Watts

in

his hymns

and

versions of the

Psalms

compares man to a "worm",

one

who

as fallen

and sinful

is

a

"

rebel", "guilty"

and "

vile". Sizer

adds, 'The 'worm'

is

alUhe

more

despicable because

he tries

to avert

his

will against (jod,

the ruler of

all,

that he is a

'rebel ' worm, a blasphemer, a

criminal, a backslider, an upstart

challenging (jod's rightful

government; and such a worm

deserves only

to

be

damned,"

(pg,

27)

Sizer

notes that this kind

of

language has disappeared by the

time we

arrive

at the 19th

century hymnody

of Sankey,

Bliss

and Crosby. Thus she

observes,

"In

Bliss's

portrayal,

it .

is not that people willfully

disobeyed the law

or

sinned

of

6

tTl l l COUNSEL

of

Chalcedon t March,

996

their own accord, but rather,

they

were

"cursed

by

the law",

"bruised

by

the fali", as if they

are not

active agents

in the

matter at

all.

" (pg. 28) In other

words the

sinner

has

become

a

victim

as opposed to a criminal

Sizer concludes, " ..human

beings are essentially

victims

of

evil, impersonal fortes. They are

not worms but wanderers -

exiles or pilgrims, accidentally

cast out on

foreign

shores - as in

Sankey's famous solo, 'Where

is

my

wandering

boy

tonight?'"

(pg.

30)

From redemption

to "rest'l

The

consequence

of

the theological

shift regarding the

doctrine of man and

sin

is observable in

the

doctrine

of

salvation. The 19th

century terminology

for

salvationired,emption

emphasizes

salvation

as

"rest".

.

Salvation is

not so much

justification

before tlie Law of

(jod, and regeneration of heart,

as "rest in some safe place"

(pg.

31)

. Concerning the view

of

Christ that this hails, Sizer

adds,

"

..

he is no longer the active

King-conqueror or

the

lawyer

advocate ofWatls", and we

would add

of Scripture.

Now

Christ has become the

"Shepherd" and

the

"Friend".

The problem s obviously not

that this is untrue in

itself,

rather what we '

see is

an

alteration in emphasis, a

shift

in

perspective.

8/12/2019 1996 Issue 2 - Worship, Hymns, And Theology - Counsel of Chalcedon

2/2

From conquest to defense

With Watts and the

Refonners and Puritans

of

whom he was an heir, Christ

was the victorious Saviour

King, th e Lord

of

all creation.

However, by the time we look

at the

Sankey-Bliss-Crosby

hymns Christ has become a

"passive" Saviour, the Jesus of

Holman Hunt's "Christ the

Light

of

the World"

helplessly

standing outside

our

lives,

just

waiting

to be

let in A

further

consequence

of

this outlook, is

that

the

faith

has ceased to be

offensive and conquest-oriented,

and has tumed defensive and

passive, for example,

Hold

fast the

fort,

for

am .

coming

,

. Jesus

signills

still,

Wave the answer

back

to heaven,

"

By

Thy grace we will '

Salvatiori has become

a

life

boat, rather than

the

conquest of

the world by the Lord Jesus

Christ

(Col.

1

15ff).

From objective to

subjective

Sizer observes aloss

of

praise

and worship before the

Almighty Clod of Heaven and

earth

in

19th century

compositions

of

Sankey et al.

Sizer

compares

the tone

of

this

hymn

by

Watts,

Now

to

a

tune of lolly praise,

To

greatJehovah's

equal Son

Awake

my voice in heavenly

lays

'

Tell loud

the

wonder

He has

done .

with it's granduer and

objectivity, with the

following

.

by Fanny

Crosby,

Pass me not, 0 gentle Saviour,

Hear my humble cry,

While on

others

Thou art

smiling

Do

not

pass

me

by.

(pg.

45)

A number of changes in

emphasis and"

direction"

are

present here: Firstly, the focus

is

less

upon

Clod

and what He

is

and He has done, than

upon

the individual and his/her

personal experience/situation.

There

has

been a shill from

objective

truth about

Clod, to

subjective feelings about "me'.

Secondly, the note

of

praise and

adoration

is

less defined , and

the

accent

now falls upon

prayer in place of praise and

thanksgiving.

Clod

is

there

for

me, rather than

me

for Clod.

Thirdly, other hymns and

songs

of the

new strain

are more

'

about the individual worshiper

his/her emotional state and

feelings,

as opposed

to

addressing to Clod directly.

These hymns

are about

man,

rather than to

Clod

The 19th

century hymn writers

of

the

Moody-Sankey revival

movement had withdrawn

inwards, rather than outwards

to Clod. This

is

an important

change in

perspective.

Summary.

Sizer summarizes all of this

as follows, ' ... the move

from

wonn to wanderer, from gUilt

to

tunnoil,

from

Christ

..

of

the

heaven to

Jesus

our secret

confident,

from imperial

mission to rescue mission

, from

praise

to prayer and testimony

(pg.

49).

The upshot

of

all this

is

that

we need to carefully re-examine

the hymns and praises that we

address

to Clod.

For

in our times

the "shift has moved a step

further with the tidal flood

of

new choruses and hymns

mainly from the charismatic

churches.

James B. Jordan has

described these

pieces

well:

"The 'Jesus Mantras' of

charismatic hymnody

are

- there

is no nice

way to say this -

infantile when compared with

the Psalter"

(Rite

Reasons. No.

2 2

August 1992..). What many

have failed to see

is

that these

songs are also products of a

particular theology.

Too

many

"refonned" churches have

adopted the new songs/

choruses

without giving

sufficient

attention as to their

roots and tendencies.

Even where the better

hymns are sung, there has

nevertheless been a demise

in

psalm-singing, in spite of the

clear command in Scripture

(Eph.

5:19,

Jas.

5:13

etc.)

.

At

the

same

time, many

of

the

churches prefer the "gospel"-type

hymns

of

the Moody-Sankey

era . The only

real

solution

is

a

return to psalm-singing, and

thus return to the worship

theology

of

the psa

Ims

themselves . This means a return

to Clod's agenda and emphasis

for worship and praise. The

strength

of

Watts was that he

consciously modeled his hymns

upon the psalms. We must

return

to

that strength and

develop in

our

own

time,

thus

we will begin to re-build the

edifice of true,

biblical worship.

March

,

996

THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon f 17