“You name a hymn and I’ll tell you a Psalm which tells that truth incomparably better and in infallible words. A great deal of the corruption of the Christian church is by hymns…. It is very difficult to find a hymnbook which has anything much to say about sin, and judgment, and eternal damnation. It tends to mention the things that are comforting to saints: It never warns as the Bible warns. It never threatens as God threatens. It always consoles whether the consolation is appropriate or not. The Psalms cover the entire gamut of human experience. You are safe with the Psalms.”
–John Gerstner, commentating upon Westminster Confession of Faith Chapter 21.