The Martial Ethos of Historic Reformed Worship: Psalm singing and persecution in the Netherlands

In pursuing the connection between psalm singing and persecution, we move from France to the Netherlands. Sadly, the experience of the Reformed in the Netherlands varied little from the experience of the French Reformed, as pools of bright red Reformed blood formed across the landscape of the Netherlands as the Reformed faith struggled to take root. Besides being bonded by blood, these churches were bonded by a common commitment to the singing of psalms, and it was this commitment that generated violent opposition against the Reformed church.

From the inception of Reformation in the Netherlands, there was no lack of Psalters available to Reformed Christians to help them give voice to their praise. As early as 1539 psalm books flowed from the presses in Antwerp as the Reformed faith began to gain a footing. In 1540 Souder Liedekens' complete Psalter was rolled out, eventually  going through thirty-three editions. Another Dutch Psalter was produced by Jan van Utenhove who brought his own version of 100 psalm settings over from London. The introduction to Psalm 46 in this Psalter highlighted the relationship between psalm singing and persecution stating, “this psalm also aroused all those truly praising God to trust whenever the godless arose in persecution.” However, the Psalter which gained widest circulation was the Marot-Beza Genevan Psalter of 1562 which was translated into Dutch first by de Heere, and then by Dathenus, the latter version being adopted officially at the Reformed synods of Wesel (1568) and Dordrecht (1574).

As the psalms began to unite the hearts and voices of the Dutch Reformed in praise and worship, it will come as no surprise that persecution was initiated against them. Strada, a Roman Catholic historian, reports that hundreds of Reformed Christians flocked to public meetings where psalms were sung in protest against the Roman Catholic magistrate. In the Netherlands, public psalm singing led to the same experience of bloodshed as it did in France. On one occasion, 300 English refugees were sent to the stake with Psalm 130 on their lips, while on others, riots broke out and arrests led to mass executions.

A series of instances of persecution against the Reformed are worth taking a moment to highlight and draw attention to, as we consider the connection between psalm singing and persecution in the Netherlands. First, in 1562 at Valenciennes, when the magistrate attempted to execute a man named Faveau and his associate for publicly preaching Reformed doctrine, a large crowd of Reformed Christians began to form and started to loudly sing the psalms. Mayhem was unleashed and the end result was that the mob of psalm singers overwhelmed the executioners, effecting the release of the prisoners. Second, in 1562 a man named Christopher Fabricius was condemned to death for preaching Protestant doctrine. While positioned on the pyre awaiting execution, Fabricius began to sing Psalm 130 and the crowd began to join their voices to his. The situation rapidly deteriorated with the executioner  and civic officials turning tale and running; however, before the executioner fled in panic he thrust Fabricius through with a sword and smashed his head in, instantly killing him. Third, in 1566 Viscount Brederode began to publicly organize large public worship services as a means of civil disobedience against the magistrate. These public services, often attracting crowds measured in the thousands, consisted of preaching and psalm singing. On one occasion, Dr. Hermanus led his followers into a cathedral and preached a fiery sermon against idolatry. In response to the sermon, the crowd began to vigorously sing the psalms, which eventually led to an outburst of iconoclasm as the worshipers destroyed all the images in the cathedral. The regent was so alarmed by these public meetings that she wrote to Philip II warning him psalm singing was leading to widespread civil unrest and rebellion. Fourth, by 1574 the public singing so enraged the magistrate that the Dutch Reformed experienced their own St. Bartholomews Day massacre in Alva’s Council of Blood, which effectively suppressed the public gatherings of the Reformed.

This brief survey of the early days of reformation in the Netherlands shows that the Dutch Reformed were psalm singers whose experience was one of persecution and the costly shedding of blood. While Roman Catholic oppressors hated the psalms, the Reformed found their identity and unity in them.  Though the psalms were sung out of the conviction that God had prescribed them as an element of worship, they were not relegated to the Lord’s Day worship alone, as the Dutch Christians made use of them at home privately and in the public square openly as a means of civil disobedience.  Clearly, the Psalms were the fuel of first generation reformers in the Netherlands, giving shape to Dutch worship, piety, and practice, and would remain dominant in Dutch Reformed life for hundreds of years until the winds of 19^th century liberalism would sweep over the Dutch church in the Netherlands and until the blight of revivalism and Yankee pragmatism would ravage Dutch Reformed convictions about worship in the 20^th century in America. If the Dutch Reformed church would regain the robust faith of their forefathers it will need to toss out the use of manmade revivalistic hymns and junk praise songs and replace them with the Psalms, God’s very own appointed manual of praise.