Testimony that Rankin claimed divine direction through dreams for his psalmody stand

Source: history-of-the-presbyterian-church-in-the-state-of-kentucky-with-a-preliminary-sketch-of-the-churches-in-the-valley-of-virginia
Page: 87
Type: quote
Confidence: high
Date mentioned: 1789
Topics: psalmody-controversy rankin-case divine-revelation dreams-visions
People: adam-rankin david-rice james-crawford
Places: Kentucky
Institutions: transylvania-presbytery

Context

Davidson describes Rankin’s claims to divine direction through dreams, which became the third charge at his trial. Father David Rice, the senior Presbyterian minister in Kentucky, had warned Rankin about this practice.

Extract

Nor did he stop here, but shielded himself under the sanction of a Divine warrant, pretending to be directed in this and all other affairs of moment, by dreams and visions. Mr. Rice, to whom he had confided his dreams, solemnly warned him of the danger of being led into great errors and delusions, and expressed his strong disapprobation of reliance on dreams and night-visions for direction in duty. But he silenced his friend in a summary manner by replying, that those who had never experienced it, could form no judgment about the matter.

He represented himself as an instrument raised up by God for this special juncture, and he was confident that he should live to see the total expulsion of Watts’ Psalmody from the Church. When asked by what authority he went to the General Assembly, and whom he represented there, the only reply he deigned to give was this: “Tell me was the institution of Watts of Heaven or of men, and I will tell you by what authority I did these things.”

[From the biography:] He was led by a dream to leave his native home; in dreams he was instructed not to countenance human inventions; in dreams he was warned to abstain from unhallowed assemblies; by dreams he was directed in all matters of moment; and, finally, having learned from a dream, or from the study of the prophecies, that the time for rebuilding the holy city was at hand, he took a solemn farewell of his flock, and set off on a journey to Jerusalem; but died on the way, in Philadelphia, Nov. 25, 1827, at the advanced age of seventy-two.

Significance

This extract reveals a critical element of Rankin’s self-understanding that his opponents used against him:

  1. Dreams as divine guidance: Rankin claimed dreams directed him to leave Virginia for Kentucky, to oppose Watts, and to avoid “unhallowed assemblies” where Watts was sung

  2. Prophetic self-image: “He represented himself as an instrument raised up by God for this special juncture” - he saw himself as called for this specific moment in church history

  3. Confident prediction: “He was confident that he should live to see the total expulsion of Watts’ Psalmody from the Church”

  4. Confrontational response: His reply about the General Assembly (“Tell me was the institution of Watts of Heaven or of men”) echoes Jesus’s response about John’s baptism (Matthew 21:25)

  5. Final journey to Jerusalem: The detail that Rankin died while journeying to Jerusalem, believing “the time for rebuilding the holy city was at hand,” suggests millenarian beliefs that may have intensified over time

Critical question for Chapter 5: Did the opponents focus on dreams to avoid engaging Rankin’s biblical arguments about psalmody? The dreams gave them a way to dismiss him as a “fanatic” without refuting his exegesis of the Regulative Principle.