Lesser things, Presbyterians and Old music

Lesser Things shall be a category for more worldly posts. With primarily controversial issues or personal topics.

I have recently discovered that I have a thing for the very old hymns. Specifically ones written by Isaac Watts.

Some of it is nostalgia from going to a Presbyterian church in my Youth. Yet, that cannot explain it. For I both love and loathe Presbyterians. I have looked into why I feel this way; it is rather complex. I think it stems from the fact I was not saved in that church nor would I have been in my estimation. I was actually saved in an Arminian Baptist-like church. (It was rather a nondenominational evangelical church.) I think this problem is compounded when I look into it; they did not teach with much zeal or teach strongly the doctrines that I now cherish. They were sound in doctrine but I was sound asleep. If I was to return my soul would cry out to hear Christ and him Crucified in a service. My Spirit would wished to be moved but would know full well that it would not be. I am sure others know how this feels in returning to past churches. My heart would be broken even further if I were to see another Presbyterian service in which the light of Christ did not shine forth in its full radiance.

Lets be clear, the Presbyterian church (PCA) I went to handled the word accurately but its sermons did not feed my soul. It was not liberal PCUSA but still had its share of dead orthodoxy. Morality being preached over the Gospel. Traditionalism (not even reformed theology) over the everliving and traditional theology of the cross. I could see a church that believes false things to be dead. To see a church that believes many of the right things and be dead is a more heart-wrenching issue. To see that church gloss over the other truths that I now love and that it held without force is also heart-wrenching.

It was like the Spurgeon's downgrade article said
"They traded the gospel truths in for natural theology. They for pastors focused on academic qualification more than spiritual ones." Perhaps it is guilt by association because I am using too broad of a brush to paint but I saw this plainly. I am prejudiced against the PCA and other Presbyterians for it.

Next, I have always been a Baptist at heart. This is where I am at variance with Presbyterians again. Credo-baptism (believer baptism) is a must for me. I have managed the doctrine carefully because of my covenantal theology and because I am a baptist.

Back to what I was discussing early, it is not just any musically styled hymn that I will like. I would throw up over some. Fall asleep over others. So this certainly can't be why I like hymns, especially ones by Watts. This nostalgia does not exist solely for hymns that I know by heart. I could write off things like the Doxology and Holy, Holy, Holy or A Mighty Fortress as such. Not the hymns by Isaac Watts that I have never heard. I just love their doctrine and praise so intertwined. There is something moving in being sinner by fact yet a saint by blood. I even like the old words over the modernized ones. That is the extent of my nostalgia as far as I can discern.

Here is a sample of one hymn I like:
Let everlasting glories crown by Isaac Watts: (it is sorta related to my other posts particularly stanza 2,5,6)

Let everlasting glories crown
Thy head, my Savior and my Lord;
Thy hands have brought salvation down,
And writ the blessings in Thy Word.

What if we trace the globe around,
And search from Britain to Japan,
There shall be no religion found
So just to God, so safe for man.

In vain the trembling conscience seeks
Some solid ground to rest upon;
With long despair the spirit breaks,
Till we apply to Christ alone.

How well Thy blessèd truths agree!
How wise and holy Thy commands!
Thy promises, how firm they be!
How firm our hope and comfort stands.

Not the feigned fields of heath’nish bliss
Could raise such pleasures in the mind;
Nor does the Turkish paradise
Pretend to joys so well refined.

Should all the forms that men devise
Assault my faith with treach’rous art,
I’d call them vanity and lies,
And bind the Gospel to my heart.