Singing in the Light: The Spiritual Power of Song in the Piety of Campegius Vitringa
Recently I have been digging into the works of Campegius Vitringa (1659–1722), a Protestant Scholastic theologian during the Post-Reformation era who taught at the University of Franeker in the Netherlands. Vitringa’s greatest works are in the areas of biblical exegesis and hermeneutics, but I came across a book on spirituality by Vitringa entitled Typus theologiae praticae, sive de vita spirituali, ejusque affectionibus commentatio (An Outline of Practical Theology or of the Spiritual Life and a Study of Its Conditions/Affections) that was quite devotional. Though not many of Vitringa’s works have been translated into English, Charles Tefler has recently translated this little text and titled it The Spiritual Life (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2018). I greatly benefited from Vitringa’s wisdom on Christian spirituality in this book and wanted to share his thoughts on the power of singing in our spiritual lives as music has been a mighty means God has used to sanctify and secure me.
The text originates from a course Vitringa taught on Christian spirituality at Franeker. The first section outlines the nature, origins, and cause of the spiritual life. A second part describes the spiritual life of Christians as consisting of self-denial, cross-bearing, and following the Lord Jesus. Section three examines the trials and temptations of the spiritual life while part four provides the means for perseverance and flourishing. Finally, Vitringa ends with an explanation of eternal life as the goal of spirituality.
The conviction that cultivating one’s spiritual life is nonnegotiable for sincere Christians grounds this book. Vitringa states, “For the spiritual life leads to eternal life. We cannot have one without the other. The first is the beginning of the second; the latter is the consummation of the former”(p.3). Christianity, “consists in an interior commerce of the soul with God in Christ and a continual consideration for him in all the actions of life” (p.4-5). He warns, “The important thing is not to call yourself or to seem a Christian, but to be one” (p.5). Yet an unmuddied exposition of Christian spirituality is hard to come by in church history due to the extrabiblical eccentricities of many voices on piety in the past who “would rather be unique and outstanding than walk the old paths with other Christians” (p.3-4). Vitringa wishes his presentation to be “free from such defects” and submissive to Scripture “and to rational experience” because “true godliness has been the same in every age of the world since its beginning” (p.4). He goes on, “There is only one way: the ancient way, the straight way, the way of faith, hope, holiness, love, righteousness, and justice in which the patriarchs, prophets, and saints of old walked” (p.4). Ultimately, Christ is the pure example that must be modeled in the spiritual life. Tefler notes that Vitringa also gives credit to Clement of Alexandria (ca. 150–ca. 215), Cyprian (ca. 200–ca. 258), John of Damascus (ca. 675–ca. 749), and especially Augustine's (354–430) On Morals as helpful guides on spirituality.
Vitringa’s call to follow Christ should not be interpreted as a mere decision believers make. It stems from the reality of the supernatural work of God in regeneration. The spiritual life is a “state [status] of a man in Christ who has been liberated from slavery” and “brought into communion with God” (p.9). This state is the result of the Holy Spirit, and the Bible refers to this state as “life.” Three characteristics of this life include being “in Christ,” liberation from slavery to sin, and obtaining the power that flows from “the regenerating grace of the Holy Spirit” (p.13). Under the foundation of these truths Vitringa proceeds to the means by which the spiritual life can be cultivated.
Holy Singing as Essential Spiritual Living
Alongside other disciplines, Vitringa devotes equal time to stressing “holy singing” or “psalmody” as another means of cultivating sanctification. Singing to the Lord is a practice commanded by both Testaments as a “duty owed to God” and a “means of promoting our spiritual condition” (p.123). Even Christ is said to engage in this activity (Matt. 26:30). In keeping with his principles of arguing from Scripture and “rational experience,” Vitringa contends that nature compels men to sing when they experience liberation from trials or distress. He claims, “The very capacity to sing, forming sounds and modulating our voices in a thousand ways, is an invitation for us to do so” (p.124). In other words, God’s design of our vocal chords and inclination to celebrate victories in the human experience points us to our design to worship him. The intuitions of birds make the same argument:
If certain species of birds, having been instructed by the author of nature, know how to make sweet and delightful sounds purely from instinct and without rational thought, they are setting an example for us in carrying out this duty. How much more should a human being, using the rational part of his nature that the Holy Scripture calls his ‘glory,' employ his mouth and tongue to celebrate God and to tell of His marvelous deeds? ‘Awake, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp!’ (Ps. 57:8) (p.124).
Secondly, Vitringa argues from the common experience of Christians when singing edifying lyrics. Singing calms the mind, “composes our turbulent affections and produces all sorts of good, bright, and grateful feelings in us” (p.125). It produces sanctification by pushing “out the boiling feelings of sin and puts an end to the soul's wearying restlessness” (p.125). Vitringa seems to believe the act of singing has a spiritual impact on inner turmoil. Indeed, singing has great power over all people to produce all kinds of good or evil fruit depending on the music. This is why singing must be harnessed toward God because it will produce love and admiration for him.
Thirdly, Vitringa makes an honest admission about how the minds of the masses are shaped. People frequently tune out during preaching and constantly skim devotional material due to wandering minds. Vitringa provides a solution to this problem:
The best remedy for this shortcoming is singing, especially worthwhile and well-composed songs. This is an excellent means of getting the singers to carefully consider what they are expressing in song. The singers meditate on the content, which embeds itself in their minds. Hebrew words for singing often suggest meditating, humming, or carefully reviewing something. "I will meditate on Your amazing acts" (Ps. 145:5; see also Ps. 105:2) (p.125).
A negative example of the power of music to form doctrine is given through the heterodox hymns of Arius. This extraordinary medium must be utilized for sound doctrine! He concludes that “holy singing more than almost any other spiritual exercise,” shapes the mind for godliness (p.126).
His next move is summarizing the history of singing in the Scriptures and the early church. Vitringa does not provide a historical survey in this way for any other spiritual discipline. Surely this reveals its heightened importance to him. The Psalms are identified as the first hymnbook of “benefits and comforts” where believers learn the “inner affections and movements” of the hearts of God’s people toward him. Amongst others, he cites Philo to argue for singing as a common Jewish practice in the first century and based on evidence from antiquity “that singing was admitted as a regular part of early Christian worship services” (p.128). After this, Vitringa argues for the importance of singing in the triumph of the Reformation. Forerunners such as Jan Hus (ca. 1369-1415) are praised for their labors in hymn writing and psalmody along with Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531), Martin Luther (1483-1546), and Theodore Beza (1519-1605). The Reformers “employed singing with equal success to instill the people with spiritual teaching, sanctify their affections, and lift them out of the spiritual torpor and frigidity so common when Christianity was corrupted and had fallen to pieces” (p.129).
It is significant to note that Vitringa’s enthusiasm for those at the time of the Reformation is focused on their private singing, not just their assembled worship. After commending the spiritual power evident in believers composing songs and singing through their suffering during the Reformation, he concludes,
All I have described required an unbelievable amount of effort, but it was the undertaking of people who had stepped forth into the light after having been sunk in darkness. And they delighted in this type of holy singing as something that would contribute to the progress of the gospel and the benefit of others. The indifference of their posterity and the coldness of Christians today is deserving of censure: such singing is almost only heard in the public assemblies. If in treating this subject of holy singing I have gone beyond the proper limits of this short book, it is to stir up in lukewarm souls and frigid minds a pious and sincere desire to follow the outstanding example of our ancestors to whose prudence, godliness, and zeal (having been ignited by God) we owe the precious benefit of the Reformation—that is, purified religion (p.130).
For Vitringa, private singing is the fruit of regenerated hearts that have seen the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6).
Finally, Vitringa considers public singing. The motivation of public worship is the same as private worship, but corporate singing has two greater benefits. First, the pure singing of God’s gathered people moves outsiders to worship God and “to confess that God is indeed among Christian worshipers (1 Cor. 14:24-25)” (p.133). Secondly, for the believer, the purifying and recentering effects of private singing are amplified. In public worship, he or she is “disengaged from the affairs of the world” and the “busyness of life” (p.133). The Christian is “taken into the chamber of the heavenly sanctuary” where the “soul finds itself in the very presence of God and comes under His influence” (p.133). It is in assembled worship we “find the bath of regeneration” where “God often gives to His people in worship a foretaste of the celestial delights of paradise” (p.133). In eternity, Vitringa believed we would join voices forever within the rapturous experience of glory: “All of us will celebrate and glorify Him with a single voice in harmony and perfect concert both for His excellencies, virtues, powers, and works as well as for the immense benefits and many things more that we have received out of His infinite grace (cf. Rev. 4:8; 5:8-14; 15:3-4; Ps. 17:15; 65:8)” (p.212). This is the power and privilege of holy singing in the spiritual life of God’s people. Vitringa calls all those with spiritual life to raise their voices privately and publicly to God as they celebrate the Sonrise they have awoken to.