Jeremy Taylor on the 'native simplicity and gravity' of psalm-singing

As I mentioned last week, a recent visit to The Middle Church this view of a simple, plain pew caught my attention. It somehow embodies the simplicity of Prayer Book worship that would have been known in The Middle Church, through the late 17th century, across the 18th, and into the 19th.

Part of such simple Prayer Book worship would have been metrical psalmody. A metrical version of the Psalter was usually bound with the Prayer Book and was a characteristic of Anglican worship across the 'long 18th century'. Bishops Bull and Beveridge extolled the practice of singing metrical psalms. John Shepherd in his Prayer Book commentary at the end of the 18th century described the singing of metrical psalms as "a pleasing and affecting part of divine worship". Into the mid-19th century, bishops urged the singing of metrical psalms, contrasting their sober character with the enthusiasm of the new hymns.

It is almost certainly metrical psalmody to which Jeremy Taylor refers in Ductor dubitantium (1660), when he refers to "that native simplicity and gravity" which should define the singing of psalms:

all wise and sober persons doe find fault when the Psalmody which is recommended to us by the practice of Christ and his Apostles, does sensibly passe further into art then into religion, and serves pleasure more then devotion; when it recedes from that native simplicity and gravity which serv'd the affections and holy aspirations of so many ages of the Church; when it is so conducted that it shall not be for edification, that is, when it is so made accurate and curious that none can joyn in it but Musicians, and they also are not so recitative, they doe not sing and expresse the words so plainly that they which hear doe understand; for by this means the greatest benefit and use of edification is lost.

Here we are very far indeed from what many assume to be the necessarily choral nature of supposed 'Laudian' worship. While the choral tradition was indeed a feature of cathedral worship post-1660, Taylor reminds us that parish worship was quite different indeed: sober, plain, said services, with metrical psalms. By 1660, this was a very well established feature of Prayer Book worship in the parish churches of England and Ireland. As Diarmaid MacCulloch states:

English congregations took up metrical psalms with relish, so that it would have been very rare to hear any other music in parish churches within a decade of Elizabeth's settlement.

MacCulloch made this comment in his essay on The Bay Psalm Book, the form of metrical psalms used in Puritan New England. There is something significant in the fact that Jeremy Taylor, the royalist and episcopalian champion, soon to be Bishop of Down and Connor, similarly choral settings for psalmody, preferring the "native simplicity and gravity" of metrical psalms.

It is also worth considering Taylor's words alongside those quoted by MacCulloch at the conclusion of his essay, from the preface to The Bay Psalm Book:

If therefore the verses are not always so smooth and elegant as some may desire or expect; let them consider that Gods altar needs not out polishing ...

Or, as Taylor stated, psalm singing, when it passes "further into art then into religion" then "serves pleasure more then devotion".

Something of this understanding is suggested by those plain pews in The Middle Church, evoking a lost 'native simplicity and gravity' - a 'native simplicity and gravity' not entirely unlike that found in the meeting houses of New England.

Why I support the ordination of women: a High Church reflection

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How the Old High tradition continued

Charles Gore's 1914 letter to the clergy of his diocese, ' The Basis of Anglican Fellowship ', can be regarded as a classical expression of the Prayer Book Catholic tradition. A key part of the letter - entitled 'Romanizing in the Church of England' - addressed the "Catholic movement", questioning beliefs and practices within it which tended to "a position which makes it very difficult for its extremer representatives to give an intelligible reason why they are not Roman Catholics". Gore provides the outlines of an alternative account and experience of catholicity within Anglicanism, defined by three characteristics. What is particularly interesting about these characteristics is their continuity with the older High Church tradition. Indeed, the central characteristic as set out by Gore was integral to High Church claims over centuries: To accept the Anglican position as valid, in any sense, is to appeal behind the Pope and the authority of t...

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The common cup may now be shared. So says the Church of England's most recent Covid-19 guidance , issued on 25th January, repeating the guidance given in December. It is, therefore, a rather odd time to renew the campaign to allow the administration of the Eucharist by means of individual cups : after all, the Covid-19 restrictions are being eased across society, the bishops have judged it appropriate to restore the Chalice to the faithful, and there is now no pressing need to consider alternatives. Unless, of course, this campaign has never really been about public health concerns but, rather, about altering Anglican eucharistic practice and theology . The Book of Common Prayer 1662 makes clear, explicit provision for what is to happen with "consecrated Elements" remaining after the faithful receive the Sacrament: When all have communicated, the Minister shall return to the Lord's Table, and reverently place upon it what remaineth of the consecrated Elements, coveri...

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