As we have already seen in our studies, the singing of Psalms has always been one of the characteristics of Christian worship. While it is not as common today as in the past, it is certainly something to which we ought to return. God gave us 150 inspired Psalms that we might learn the themes we ought to sing while we sing. They are marvelously God-centered, something very much needed in the worship of most churches in the West today. The very first book published on American soil was the Bay Psalm Book of 1640. In many hymnals these days, the only two Psalms included are Psalm 23 and Psalm 100. Let’s get back to using the other 148! In our study of Psalm 100, we once again give attention to several individuals.
In our hymnals, Psalm 100 is commonly called “Old Hundredth” and used for singing Psalm 100, although this music by Louis Bourgeois was written originally for Psalm 134 for the 1551 Geneva Psalter. Bourgeois was called to the task of writing music for the singing of Psalms in Calvin’s Geneva. He was a gifted French composer. With great musical skill he accomplished the task, creating 110 different meters (in contrast to three: common, long, and short meters, in later English psalters). Few people realize that Bach used Bourgeois’ music in a slightly modified rhythm for the final movement of his cantata, Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir BWV 130. Most of the metrical texts for the Geneva Psalter were written by Clement Marot, one of the finest of the French renaissance poets. He served in the French court until the persecution of protestants drove him from Paris. Calvin gave him sanctuary and welcomed the metrical Psalms he had been writing. The singing of these Psalms from Bourgeois and Marot helped spread the reformed faith rapidly and widely, even as they were translated from French.
Today everyone is familiar with Bourgeois’ music as it is used to sing the Doxology. This text is actually the final stanza for two hymns written by Thomas Ken, a 17th century Anglican clergyman and hymn-writer. His two best-known hymns are one for morning (“Awake, My Soul, and with the Sun”) and one for evening (“All Praise to Thee, My God, This Night”). Both hymns conclude with the words we sing as the Doxology. Ken was appointed Bishop of Bath and Wells but was later removed from that position and even briefly imprisoned as a result of conflict with royalty and his unwavering stance on biblical morality.
The English text that we sing today with Psalm 100 was written in 1561 by William Kethe, a Scotsman who fled to the continent during “Bloody Mary’s” persecution of protestants in the mid-1550s. Three hundred were martyred between 1553 and 1558, and more than 20,000 followed, many of them settling in Calvin’s Geneva, with John Knox being one of them. Kethe lived in Geneva for a time but traveled to Basel and Strasbourg to be with other English refugees. He is thought to be one of the scholars who translated and published the famous Geneva Bible in 1560. It contained what we would today call study notes at the bottom of the pages, notes which articulated the reformed faith. Kethe’s twenty-five psalm versifications were also adopted into the Scottish Psalter of 1565. After the death of Queen Mary and the coronation of Queen Elizabeth, Kethe returned to England and served as a pastor.
It was at the coronation of another Elizabeth that Old Hundredth gained new prominence. This took place in Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953 and was watched live on television by millions around the world. British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams was commissioned to write a festive anthem for the occasion. His choice of music and text was Old Hundredth. His arrangement for choir, organ, brass, and percussion has become a classic. It included not only the four stanzas of the metrical Psalm, but also a doxology as a fifth stanza. Here is a recording of the performance at Queen Elizabeth’s 60th anniversary celebration as monarch.
Psalm 100 is the conclusion to the collection of “Royal Psalms” (93 – 99) celebrating the glories of the LORD as reigning monarch over His covenant people. Though we do not know the human author, since it is inspired scripture, we joyfully confess that its composer is the LORD Himself. And how wonderful to think of Jesus singing this very Psalm in the synagogues of Galilee, celebrating the glories He shares with the Father as King of kings. And how wonderful it should be for us to sing it now in anticipation of singing it with the angels’ and saints’ choruses in heaven in His very presence!
In stanza 1 (Psalm verses 1 – 2), we call on all those redeemed by the Lamb to join together in joyful song, with such words as “cheerful,” “mirth,” “rejoice.” When we do so in corporate worship, we are actually in His presence – a repeated theme in the Psalm. While Charles Wesley wrote of His desire to have “a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer’s praise,” this is where his wish comes to pass every time we sing the gospel.
All people that on earth do dwell,
Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice;
Him serve with mirth, His praise forthtell,
Come ye before Him and rejoice.
In stanza 2 (Psalm verse 3), our attention is drawn to our position before the Lord. We acknowledge that He is truly God; there is no other. We have been created by Him (and by implication re-made in our regeneration) without our having contributed anything to our existence (or to our salvation). The text goes on to identify our covenant relationship with Him. Having made us, we belong to Him as His “folk,” His family, His children by adoption. We are the sheep whom Jesus loves and for whom Jesus gave His life, and He feeds us and cares for us as His flock (Psalm 23).
The Lord ye know is God indeed;
Without our aid He did us make;
We are his folk, He doth us feed,
And for His sheep He doth us take.
In stanza 3 (Psalm verse 4), the theme of joy glows even more brightly. When we sing, we are actually in His presence. We need to orient our minds to grasp that reality. Not only should we “walk by faith” that He is near, but we should also sing by faith that we have actually entered the gates of heaven, that we are now approaching his court, His throne room. And what attitude should fill our hearts? A joy more intense than any earthly pleasure could give. And thus our eternity will be spent as we ever “praise, laud , and bless His name.”
O enter then His gates with praise,
Approach with joy His courts unto;
Praise, laud, and bless His name always,
For it is seemly so to do.
In stanza 4 (Psalm verse 5), this Psalm, like so many others, not only tells us to praise Him. It also tells us why we should do so. That is missing from many shallow, simplistic choruses that are sung in churches today. It is God’s goodness that should thrill us. And that will only happen as we pause before we sing to remember the many ways His mercy has been poured out on us. And not only that, we also praise Him for His truth that will always be there as the solid rock on which we stand with confidence. After everything else in our lives and culture is gone, He will remain, and all His promises will be fulfilled.
For why? the Lord our God is good,
His mercy is for ever sure;
His truth at all times firmly stood,
And shall from age to age endure.
In the final (optional) stanza added by Vaughan Williams, we have a doxology. It resembles the tradition trinitarian doxology from Thomas Ken, but in its revised form provides a glorious and joyful conclusion to the Psalm, especially when sung in Vaughan Williams’ anthem.
To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
The God whom heaven and earth adore,
From men and from the angel host
Be praise and glory evermore. Amen.