In a recent essay I mentioned in passing that we do not need Bishop Ken’s seventeenth-century substitute (i.e., “Praise God from whom all blessings flow…”) for the Psalms since there are five doxologies inspired by the Holy Spirit and included in the Psalter (i.e., the 150 Psalms) in God’s Word. The Psalter is in five books and each book ends with a doxology. A reader wrote to ask which Psalms contain the doxologies. Here they are:
- Psalms 41:13
- Psalms 72:18–19
- Psalms 89:52
- Psalms 106:48
- Psalms 150:1–2
More Resources on the Psalms
- Office Hours: Learning To Love The Psalms With Bob Godfrey
- W. Robert Godfrey, Learning to Love the Psalms.
- Resources On Psalm Singing
- Resources For Recovering Psalmody
Heidelblog Resources
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- The Ecumenical Creeds
- The Reformed Confessions
- The Heidelberg Catechism
- Recovering the Reformed Confession (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2008).
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R. Scott Clark
R.Scott Clark is the President of the Heidelberg Reformation Association, the author and editor of, and contributor to several books and the author of many articles. He has taught church history and historical theology since 1997 at Westminster Seminary California. He has also taught at Wheaton College, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Concordia University. He has hosted the Heidelblog since 2007.
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What are your thoughts on the use of the Gloria Patri? I think it’s excluded by the RPW but I know it has a very long history in the Christian church.
The more I read and study, the more convinced I am that the church should use the psalter, not a psalter hymnal. Indeed, I now feel uncomfortable when singing hymns in worship (in other settings I still enjoy them.) Praying that all the NAPARC denominations will one day move in that direction, especially my beloved URCNA.
What about Ps 100? The Old OneHundredth? That’s where Ken borrowed the tune from.
Hi Keith,
Well, if there are five books in the Psalter (and there are) and the doxologies occur at the end of the book, then Ps 100 isn’t a doxology. It’s a wonderful Psalm (but aren’t they all?) and one of my favorites but it’s not a doxology.
My children wake up to a loud singing of Psalm 100 every Lord’s Day.
We hope that this leads them to love the psalms. 😁
Dr Clark, do you stand by your listing (https://heidelblog.net/2021/12/keith-gettys-critique-of-contemporary-worship-music-is-a-step-in-the-right-direction/) of Psalm 150:1-2 as the Doxology at the “end” of Book 5, even though verses 3-6 follow it in the Psalter? Do you really object to identification of this final Doxology as being the entire Psalm rather than just its first two verses? Or is there actually a sixth Book, comprising these verses, with Verse 6 or Verse 6b comprising its (final) Doxology?
John,
I followed the RPCNA Psalter. I don’t have strong feelings one way or another.
How does the RPCNA Psalter define those last 4 verses, if it defines the first two verses as the Doxology that ends the Book?
John,
What is the nature of a doxology? Compare the verses cited from Ps 150 to the other doxologies in the Psalter.
My favorite is Ps. 72:18-19 out of the 1650 Psalter, to the tune “Effingham.”
Now blessed be the Lord our God,
the God of Israel:
for he alone doth wondrous works
in glory that excel.
And blessed be his glorious name
through all eternity.
The whole earth let his glory fill.
Amen, so let it be.