Baptist Hymns

How often do you find yourself humming the tune to an old hymn, not even realizing that you had been doing it?  Hymns and the singing of them have become almost as much a part of our churches today as preaching and doctrine.  Hymns often leave a lasting impression upon the minds of children in our congregations, and the doctrine taught in the hymn remains with the child for a lifetime, yet we seem to not place a great importance on ensuring the doctrine being taught in our hymns is Scriptural.  We have become “attached” to our favorite hymns and many times do not realize the story behind the hymn or the false doctrine being taught in our churches through hymns.  If it is important to purge our Baptist churches of reformed doctrine, then it is important to do this across every facet of the church, including our hymnbooks.  The purpose of this article is not to “condemn” hymns that have become cherished memories to us, but to declare “things which become sound doctrine”. (Titus 2:1)   Allow this to be an admonishment to be careful in all things, and an encouragement to study the issue for yourself.

There is nothing wrong with singing hymns in our churches.  We are commanded in Ephesians 5:19 to speak to ourselves in psalms AND hymns.  We find Christ and the disciples singing a hymn after the last supper. (Matt. 26:30, Mark 14:26)  One of the issues that separated Baptists and Protestants in the 17^th and 18^th centuries was the argument over whether it was acceptable to sing hymns in churches.  Many believed that only the singing and reciting of Psalms was the correct practice, and that the use of hymns written by men was worldly and unacceptable for churches.  Baptists were among the first to take the stance of introducing new hymns to their congregations for the purpose of teaching doctrine, particularly those doctrines of baptism and the Lord’s table.  How ironic that some of the early uses of hymns in Baptist churches were to teach our defining doctrines, yet today we will allow just about any doctrine to be taught in hymns as long as we feel the music isn’t worldly! We would not allow the Catholic priest across town to speak from the pulpit of our church, but week after week we allow Catholic doctrine to be taught through our ecumenical songbooks that we use in Baptist churches.  One of the statements John R. Rice made about the compiling of Soul Stirring Songs & Hymns was that its purpose was to unite singers of many faiths.  Well, are we Baptist or aren’t we? If hymns are a tool used to teach doctrine, we ought to make sure that the hymns we are singing are Baptistic in doctrine. 

There is no way in an article of this length that we could discuss the history or doctrine of every single hymn.  I would like to make some observations of a few hymns as examples of the doctrine that hymns can teach. 

One of the most surprising and frustrating hymn stories I have seen is that of Faith of Our Fathers.  I have always heard this song upheld as a great hymn that describes in song the stand our forefathers have taken and the persecution they have undergone for their faith.  Allow me to enlighten you to the history of this “great” hymn.  The words were written by Frederick Faber, who in his younger years, was at best a Protestant.   He later became a follower of John Henry Newman who was a hero of the Catholic church at that time.  Frederick converted to Roman Catholicism and became a staunch supporter of that faith as well as a strong adversary of any who would oppose his faith.  He wrote Faith of Our Fathers to commemorate the great persecution that Catholics had suffered at the hand of those who opposed them, including Baptists!  What we uphold as one of our “great hymns of the faith” to show the persecution our forefathers withstood is actually a hymn that tells the exact opposite!

One of the songs best known for uplifting the power of the blood of Christ is another that is misinterpreted.  The Cleansing Wave seems to resound with the doctrine of the cleansing power of Christ’s blood, and is a song that Baptist congregations love to sing.  The hymn was written by a woman named Phoebe Palmer, who coincidentally was a very close friend of Fanny Crosby.  Phoebe Palmer was raised in a Methodist church and later became an evangelist and writer. She promoted the “doctrine” of Christian perfection and is considered to be one of the founders of the Holiness movement.  The words of her hymns have a whole new meaning when viewed in this light.  Consider the third verse of The Cleansing Wave: “I rise to walk in heav’n's own light above the world and sin.” Yes, we are commanded to live pure, but I find nowhere in Scripture where I am told I can live above sin in the sense that the Holiness movement teaches!  Why would we knowingly teach this doctrine to our congregations through song?

Other songs that have been upheld as strong “Baptist” hymns are ones such as Onward Christian Soldiers and Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus.  Both of these, and others like them, are Catholic hymns.  Onward Christian Soldiers was a hymn written for Catholic children to sing as they were marching to Sunday School.  You will find that many of the “soldier” or “battle” songs we sing have their roots in reformed theology, yet we use them as songs to rouse our congregations and to stir us to action.  If the song that we are singing is doctrinally correct, there is no need for us to stir ourselves up; the doctrine of the song would naturally bring a change in heart.  This is where true Baptists and the reformed theology crowd will differ.  Reformed theology has always advanced its cause by force at the end of a sword, while Christ’s church has advanced His cause through the truth of God’s Word.  The same holds true in the hymns written by men of either group.

I Peter 5:8 warns us to “be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”  For years, our adversary has been using our hymns to subtly infiltrate good churches with false teaching.  Let us be vigilant and watchful that we are allowing only “sound doctrine” in every area of our churches.

 Weston Noyes

Old Paths Baptist Church

Truth Baptist Church is in agreement with this author.

 

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