Spiritual Songs
The Old Scottish Psalter of 1565 only contained psalms. Additional songs were added in later editions and the edition of 1634 contained fourteen extra songs (they were entitled The Ten Commandments, A Prayer, The Lord’s Prayer, Veni Creator, The Song of Simeon, The XII Articles of Christian Belief, The Humble Suit of a Sinner, The Lamentation of a Sinner, The Complaint of a Sinner, The Song of the Blessed Virgin Mary, The Lamentation, The Song of Moses, A Thanksgiving after Receiving the Lord’s Supper, and A Spiritual Song).
In 1647, the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland discussed Rous’ Psalms (which had been recommended by the Westminster Assembly) and authorised a revision of them. The same Assembly asked Zachary Boyd, a minister and author of several volumes of Scriptural Songs, to translate the other Scriptural Songs in metre, after which he should report his work to the Commission of Assembly which would arrange for his translations to be sent down to Presbyteries for consideration before the next General Assembly.
By the 1648 General Assembly, the revised text of Rous’ Psalms was ready to send to Presbyteries. The same could not be said of Boyd’s work on the additional songs. John Adamson and Thomas Crawford were asked to revise Boyd’s labours, which indicates that the Assembly was not content with Boyd’s work or else the Assembly had not received any revised versions from him.
In addition to Boyd, two other men had been asked by the General Assembly to paraphrase songs from the Old and New Testaments. David Leitch from Ellon was working on some in 1648 in Edinburgh and Robert Lowrie was working on some in 1650. Neither man submitted any of their work to the General Assembly.
In 1649, the General Assembly decided that the Commission should revise and issue the new Psalter in 1650, without waiting for the revised Scriptural Songs. It is possible that the General Assembly intended to include these Songs in subsequent Psalters. Whether it did or not, it did not have the opportunity because it was disolved in 1653 and did not meet again until 1690.
In 1695, the General Assembly again raised the issue of revising Scripture Songs but nothing appears to have been done. Ten years later, in 1705, the General Assembly raised the matter again, asking ‘their Commission to revise the book called Scriptural Songs in order to be prepared for public use and report to the next Assembly’. This Assembly appointed two committees and over the next three years various reports and Acts sending the Songs down to Presbyteries for consideration were passed.
In 1708, the following Act was passed on 27th April: ‘The General Assembly do Instruct and Appoint their Commission maturely to consider the printed version of the Scripture Songs, with the remarks of the Presbyteries thereupon: And after Examination thereof, they are hereby Authorised and Impowered to conclude and establish that version, and to publish and emit it for the publick use of the Church, as was formerly done on the like occasion, and when our version of the Psalms was published in the year 1649.’
Despite taking steps to get Presbyteries involved in the process, only two Presbyteries (Ross and Kirkcudbright) sent in their remarks by the following March. The Commission in March therefore decided not to make any ‘further procedure in this matter at this time, until the remarks of other presbyteries were also brought in.’ This is the last reference to Scriptural Songs in the records of the General Assembly or in the records of the Commissions of Assembly.
It looks as if the barrier to including such Songs in the Psalter was the refusal of the vast majority of Presbyteries to heed the Acts of Assembly requiring them to review the revised Scriptural Songs. Possible reasons are (1) they could not be bothered, an unlikely reason; (2) they preferred the unrevised versions, also an unlikely reason; (3) they did not want them re-introduced in public worship, a likely reason and one for which they were prepared to ignore the Assembly’s intentions.
