'A pleasing and affecting part of divine worship': on metrical psalms after Matins

Last week we considered John Shepherd's reflections on The Grace in his A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Morning and Evening Prayer of the Church of England (1796). While The Grace does, of course, conclude Morning and Evening Prayer, we have not yet quite finished with Shepherd's commentary. He turns to the 18th century practice of metrical psalms being sung in parish churches after the conclusion of Matins:

In our church it is customary to sing a few stanzas of one of the two authorized translations of the psalms, after the Morning Prayer and Litany are ended, and again, before the Sermon. In these instances, the introduction of psalmody is proper, and in some degree, even necessary. Without something of this kind, the transition from the Litany to the office of the Holy Communion; and from the Nicene Creed to the Sermon, might appear too sudden and abrupt.

Evidence of this practice is found in older editions of the Book of Common Prayer. For example, my copy small copy of the BCP of the United Church of England and Ireland, printed in 1862, includes, at the back, the Brady and Tate metrical psalms (suggesting the practice continuing into the late 19th century).

This introduces us to a quite touching but now lost aspect of Anglican parochial worship. With the appointed Psalms and the canticles of Matins said in parish churches, it was in the use of metrical psalms after Morning Prayer that singing was experienced. As Shepherd states, "The singing of psalms, in itself a pleasing and affecting part of divine worship".

He then proceeds to offer "a few hints on the subject of parochial psalmody". The use of "parochial" here is another reminder that we are talking about parish churches, before the Victorian innovation of parish choirs and the chanting of psalms and canticles in the parish church. I do not think it is Georgian nostalgia alone that may explain why the congregational singing of metrical psalms has an attraction. It feels more modest and reserved than chanting in parish churches, reflecting the piety of the Prayer Book. It also reflects something of the modesty of the plain Georgian parish church, before the style of the Victorian Ecclesiologists carried all before it. 

Shepherd begins by suggesting that the congregation should stand for the singing of metrical psalms:

It might be proper for all the congregation to stand during the singing of the psalm. This practice, though enjoined by no rule, and probably contrary to the more ancient usage of the church of England, violates no Rubric, and is consonant to the order of the other parts of the daily service. When the psalms are read the congregation is directed to stand. Why should they sit, when the psalms are sung?

I have previously drawn attention to a similar call from 1811 in PECUSA: it is interesting to note the same discussion in Anglican churches on both sides of the Atlantic in the same era. And, of course, it also highlights that the same use of metrical psalms was found in both the Church of England and PECUSA in the late 18th/early 19th century.

Shepherd also emphasises that the purpose of the use of metrical psalms is congregational singing:

The singing of psalms should not be confined to a select band, nor to a small part of the congregation: but all that can sing, should join in the melody ... Every attempt at intricacy of execution, all complex air, with whatever is difficult, or carries the appearance of art, should be discouraged. I mean more particularly where the people are not skilled in the science of Music. Simple melodies are the most easily performed, and to the subjects of sacred poesy [i.e. poetry] simplicity is most suitable. 

This is another aspect of the attractiveness of the practice - the manner in which it reflects common prayer. Simple melodies that all can sing: it echoes a key concern of Cranmer in providing common prayer, that "the plainness of the Order" ensures edification and participation. Related to this, such singing of metrical psalms in the context of Prayer Book worship is also an expression of a wider, shared Reformed heritage, in which the singing of the Psalter was brought out of the monastery into the parish church, to shape, nurture, and sustain communal life.

Finally, Shepherd reminds us that metrical psalms are to be sung in a manner appropriate to divine service:

The psalms should be sung with modesty and humility: all vociferous roar and squall should be utterly banished.

In other words, the singing of metrical psalms is to aid prayer and contemplation, not to be a battle cry or an act of self-expression. Mindful of how - both in the late 18th/early 19th century and in the early 21st century - the use of song in Christian worship can encourage Enthusiasm, the singing of metrical psalms points to a sober, reasonable alternative.

It all, of course, seems very foreign to 21st century Anglicans.  There are, however, lessons to be learnt, not least about the place and form of congregational singing in smaller parish churches without choirs: in this respect, many of us are closer to Georgian than to Victorian Anglicanism. The emphasis on modest, sober singing also has some significance in a cultural - and, too often, ecclesial - context in which singing can be encouraged in order to 'express your feelings'. 

Let me end, however, by returning to my nostalgia for the singing of metrical psalms after Matins. It speaks of quiet, decent, sober divine service; of said Matins in a Georgian parish church free of Victorian fussiness and extravagances; of a Prayer Book piety contrasting with both secular and religious Enthusiasms; of 'a pleasing and affecting part of divine worship', a simple joy; with ordinary, average congregations singing the praises of God, before returning to domestic and communal life, carrying with them the assurance and comfort of the gracious, covenant love of God, through all the changing scenes of life.