In the previous issue, I described the cautious stance with which Reformed churches in the Netherlands accepted the singing of anything but the Psalms in worship. Yet this is not to suggest that good Dutch hymns were lacking—far from it! In fact, some of the most beautiful expressions of Protestant faith emerged from Germany and the Netherlands in the centuries following the Reformation. The words of these hymns have sustained and refreshed generations of believers. Here I’d like to trace the history of one such hymn by the Dutch minister Jan Scharp (1756–1828).
Scharp served congregations in Sint-Annaland, Axel, Noordwijk-Binnen, and Rotterdam. He was influential in introducing the 1773 translation of the Dutch Psalter and was responsible for authoring nine of the texts in the 1807 collection of “Evangelical Songs” published by the state denomination, the Nederlandse Hervormde Kerk. Among these is the fascinating text Alle roem is uitgesloten.
The scope of the hymn’s eight stanzas is astounding, moving through the story of redemption in an individual believer’s life to a cosmic hymn of everlasting praise. In the first stanza, the singer rejoices that long before God formed the world, “his choice was for me.” The second, third, and fourth stanzas reflect on total depravity and irresistible grace, including a paraphrase of John 3:16. In the fifth stanza, the singer turns to consider the blessings afforded by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Stanzas six and seven admit the ongoing doubt and unbelief that often characterize the Christian life but emphasize the reassurance that comes from a fresh look at “my Father’s heart.” Finally, the hymn expresses the believer’s desire for heaven and a tranquil posture toward death—“And the final word I stammer:/Free, amazing, boundless grace!” At the end of each stanza is a couplet that echoes the closing verses of Psalm 103: “God is love, O angel throng,/Tongues of men, praise him in song!” It is a beautiful and intimate expression of faith in the fatherly mercies of a sovereign God.
Here’s where the history of Alle roem is uitgesloten becomes tangled and intriguing. The hymn is set to an altered version of a tune from the seventeenth century, composed by the German violinist Johann Schop (c. 1590–1667). The original text associated with that tune is the German hymn Sollt ich meinem Gott nicht zingen, authored by the famous German hymnodist Paul Gerhardt (1607–1676). The Dutch text is not close enough to Gerhardt’s hymn to be called a translation, but there are still some interesting similarities.1 Both texts reference John 3:16 in the second stanza, both invoke the imagery of a parent caring for a child in the second-to-last stanza, and both conclude with a couplet about God’s love. Yet there are notable differences too; the Scharp hymn includes much more explicit Calvinistic themes.
Perhaps Scharp took Gerhardt’s hymn as inspiration for his own text. In any case, both hymns are worthy of inclusion in Protestant hymnals today. Gerhardt’s text has been translated into English as “I Will Sing My Maker’s Praises,” but Alle roem is uitgesloten has never been completely rendered into English until now. The altered melody appears in the Canadian Reformed Book of Praise with the text of two other hymns, “Christ Has Risen! Hallelujah!” and “He Has Come, the Holy Spirit!” But this is the first time that the Jan Scharp–Johann Schop duo has appeared in English with a full translation and full harmonization.
The richness of this Calvinistic text would make it wonderful material for family devotions, perhaps learning one stanza each day over the course of a week. It could also suggest an outline for a topical Bible study on the doctrines of grace. And, of course, it is a tremendous blessing simply for use in one’s personal walk of faith with the Lord. May it continue to encourage those who sing and hear it!
1. See https://hymnary.org/text/i_will_sing_my_makers_praises.
I first learned of this Dutch hymn through an organ fantasia by the composer John Propitius (1953–). Follow this link, https://youtu.be/AbXT7iZbO5Y, to see my performance of Propitius’s fantasia on Alle roem is uitgesloten, recorded on a historic 1853 organ at St. Paul of the Cross Monastery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Michael R. Kearney is a board member of Reformed Fellowship. He is pursuing a Ph.D. in Rhetoric at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.
