Heart and Soul of the Huguenot Faith

It has been testified to by many that psalmody was at the heart and soul of the French Huguenot faith. The singing of French psalms was outlawed by the Sorbonne in 1543, but to be a Huguenot was to be a psalm-singer, and vice-versa. They were sung while working around the house, walking through the street, in battle as well as in the sacred assembly, and at all times the words of David were upon the lips of the French faithful. It was a mark, a badge, of identity as a Protestant, and it was a reflection of one's covenant relationship to God and his people. If it is true as Andrew Fletcher said, that "if a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who should make the laws of a nation," then the French Huguenot "état dans l'état" ("state within a state"), built as it was upon the foundation of God's Word, was a little Zoar, where l'Eternel (Pierre Robert Olivétan's term for the Tetragrammaton) was praised at all times, whether amidst hard providences or sweet.

Matthew Henry wrote in his Essay on Psalmody that:

And, to come nearer in our own day, that is worthy our notice which Mr. Quick, in the Introduction to his Synodicon, tells us, Vol. I. p. 5. That the singing of Psalms in families, even those of the best rank, not only at their morning and evening worship, but at their meals, conduced very much to the strength and growth of the reformed religion in France, in its first and best days.

John Quick, Synodicon in Gallia Reformata, Vol. 1, p. 5:

Clement Marot a Courtier, and a great Wit, was advised by Mr. Vatablus, Regius Professor of the Hebrew Tongue in the University of Paris, to consecrate his Muse unto God; which Counsel he embraceth, and translateth fifty of David's Psalms into French Meeter. Mr. Beza did the other hundred, and all the Scripture-Songs. Lewis Guadimel, another Asaph, or Jedathun, a most Skillful Master of Musick, set those sweet and melodious Tunes unto which they are sung even unto this day. This holy Ordinance charmed the Ears, Hearts and Affections of Court and City, Town and Country. They were sung in the Louvre, as well as in the Pres des Clerks, by the Ladies, Princes, yea and by Henry the Second himself. This one Ordinance only contributed mightily to the downfall of Popery, and the propagation of the Gospel. It took so much with the genius of the Nation, That all ranks and degrees of Men practiced it in the Temples and in their Families. No Gentleman professing the Reformed Religion, would sit down at his Table without praising God by singing. Yea it was a special part of their Morning and Evening Worship, in their several Houses, to sing God's Praises. The Popish Clergy raged, and to prevent the growth and spreading of the Gospel by it, that mischievous Cardinal of Lorrain, another Elymus the Sorcerer, got the Odes of Horace, and the filthy obscene Poems of Tibullus and Catallus to be turn'd into French, and sung in the Court. Ribaldry was his Piety, and the means used by him to expel and banish the singing of divine Psalms out of the prophane Court of France.

Songs of Zion

It is well known that singing impresses lyrics upon the heart. The Scottish Patriot Andrew Fletcher once wrote (An Account of a Conversation concerning a right regulation of Governments for the common good of Mankind (1704)) that "I knew a very wise man so much of Sir Christophers sentiment, that he believed if a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who should make the laws of a nation." What a blessing, then, when God's statutes are sung, in the Psalms (Ps. 119.54), and are thereby laid to heart (Ps. 119.11). In singing the Psalms, with understanding (Ps. 47.9) and grace in the heart (Col. 3.16), one is laying up a great treasure indeed (Matt. 6.21). The beauty of Psalm-singing cannot be overstated. The single best and most comprehensive introductory resource today for learning and practicing psalmody is Crown & Covenant Publications, which includes such tools as a DVD designed to teach children to both sing psalms and sign them using American Sign Language.



As a memorization tool, Puritan Thomas Doolittle acknowledged likewise that singing was part of the catechist's arsenal for equipping young minds.

The Prefatory Catechism Enlarged:

For if thofe that cannot read, can learn a Ballad, or a merry Song, by hearing it often faid, may they not alfo fo learn their Catechifm if they will? Yes.

Attempts have been made in previous centuries to versify the Westminster Shorter Catechism for this very purpose. Horatius Bonar, in his Scottish Catechisms of the Reformation, includes an early Metrical Catechism attributed to the Wedderburns. Post-Westminster, in 1769, Ebenezer Dayton published A Concise, Poetical Body of Divinity Published in Three Separate Parts, Each a Pamphlet: Being the shorter catechism first agreed upon by the rev'd Assembly of divines, sitting at Westminster; wherein each question is turn'd into a divine hymn, in the form of a question and answer; and fitted to several metres, and suitable to be sung in families and private meetings of societies; for the instruction of persons of all ages and capacities, to whom they are dedicated, with a view of promoting Christian knowledge, Godly devotion and real piety. Below are some additional examples relating to the first question and answer (see William Carruthers, The Shorter Catechism of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, pp. 66-67):

Robert Smith, The Assembly's Shorter Catechism in Metre (1729):

The chief and highest end of man
Is God to glorify,
Keep His commandments, and enjoy
Him to eternity.

M.G. Campbell, A Catechism in Rhyme on the basis of the Shorter Catechism:

What is our chief and highest end?
To serve on earth a heavenly Friend,
And, by redeeming time, to spend
Eternity with God.

Hymns suited to each question of the Assembly's Shorter Catechism (1808):

Why was I form'd with reason? Why
Above the brutal herd?
Reason itself will back reply,
To glorify the Lord.

James Fisher, The Westminster Assembly's Shorter Catechism, in verse (1824):

Man's chiefest end and bliss supreme,
Most noble and all sweet employ,
In heart, in life, by every scheme,
Is God to praise and him enjoy.

In more recent times, some such as Bruce Benedict, as well as Tim and Lori McCracken, and Shawn Hare's Westminster Shorter Catechism Singing Project, have set some questions and answers to music. Holly Dutton has done so for the entire Shorter Catechism. I close this post with a sample from Bruce Benedict, commending song as a way of laying up a great treasure in the heart indeed.