Scottish Paraphrases – The First Collection (1751-1755)
Before 1750, the term ‘paraphrases’ was used of metrical versions of the psalms. Metrical versions of other scripture passages were known as Scriptural Songs. Around 1750, the term was used to describe these passages and was no longer used of the psalms.
In 1741, a request was made to the General Assembly ‘that it be recommended to some fit persons to turn some passages of the Old and New Testament into metre to be used in Churches as well as in private families.’ This request was passed on to the Commission, but it did nothing about it.
The 1742 Assembly received a similar request from the Presbytery of Dundee and decided to appoint a committee of nineteen ministers to consider the matter and report their findings. This committee failed to report at either the 1743 or 1744 Assemblies. The 1744 Assembly enlarged the committee and appointed Patrick Cumming as its convener (he was minister of the Old Church, Edinburgh, and Professor of Church History in Edinburgh University).
This enlarged committee returned the following year (1745) with a collection of forty-five paraphrases. Immediately the collection was sent to a Revision Committee who approved it on the following day, and recommended that it should be sent down to Presbyteries for approval. with the additional requirement that a failure to respond would be taken as a sign of approval. There was opposition to the recommendation, with the outcome that it was agreed that the collection should be sent to Presbyteries merely for their opinion and comments.
In 1746, only a few Presbyteries had responded; the same happened in 1747 and 1748. An explanation was given at the 1749 Assembly for the slow response: many Presbyteries had lost their copies because of the recent troubles connected to the Jacobite rebellion. The Assembly ordered a reprint which was sent out in July 1750, but again in 1751 only a few Presbyteries replied. The 1751 Assembly, however, recommended that the Paraphrases could be used by families. Even by 1755, thirty-two Presbyteries had failed to respond.
The attempt to introduce paraphrases had been going on for fourteen years, yet it failed despite repeated attempts of the General Assembly to get Presbyteries to recommend the collection. Some aspects are clear. One is that the Assembly had a sufficiently large group that demanded a prolonged attempt to introduce paraphrases; the other is that the majority of Presbyteries had no interest in introducing paraphrases. The only success that the pro-paraphrases group had was that the collection had been recommended by the Assembly for use in families.
