# Westminster Psalms



## VirginiaHuguenot (Aug 16, 2008)

http://www.puritanboard.com/f30/big-p-little-p-wcf-21-5-a-20263/

George Bancroft, _The Apostolic Church and the Gospel Ministry_, pp. 223-224:



> Some promoters of singing hymns may differ with the [OPC] majority and minority reports, alleging that perhaps the phrase "singing of psalms" in the Westminster Confession of Faith may not mean that only psalms are to be employed in public worship. Some Presbyterians have argued that the term 'psalms,' being a lower case 'p' might refer to psalms and hymns. In the original 1648 edition of the Westminster Directory for the Publick Worship of God, the upper case 'P' in the term 'Psalms' was consistently used;16 but regardless of which edition is used with consistent upper or lower case, it will make no difference to the true intent of the writers and signers of the Westminster Standards. The following Westminster documents consistently speak of singing psalms, with no mention of hymns: Westminster Confession of Faith (ch. XXI, sec. V), Westminster Form of Presbyterial Church Government (_Of the Ordinances in a particular Congregation_), and the Westminster Directory for the Publick Worship of God (_Of the Sanctification of the Lord's Day_, _Of Singing of Psalms_). Acknowledging historic Presbyterian familiarity with the Synod of Dordrecht Church Order (1618-19) and the distinction made between psalms and hymns, in all fairness to legislative intent interpretation, the 'psalms' or 'Psalms' in the Westminster Standards must be biblical psalms of praise.
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> In the later editions of the Westminster Standards, biblical psalms of praise, were commonly referred to as 'psalms.' In the reading of the Scriptures, in the Westminster Directory for the Publick Worship of God, it references exposition of the portion of Scripture read: "let it not be done until the whole chapter of psalm be ended" (_Of Public Reading of the Holy Scriptures_). Regarding public preaching, it speaks of some 'text of scripture'; it further orders the use of "some chapter, a psalm, or book of the holy scripture" (_Of the Preaching of the Word_). In the Directory for the Publick Worship of God, there are parallel and coordinate directives to read or sing a 'psalm,' but no directive to sing a hymn. We find this same employment of the term 'psalm' or 'psalms' in the Authorised King James Version to refer to the Book of Psalms (see Luke 24:44).
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