Sacred Harp, high thoughts and best moments

"One of the last singings that I have attended was held at a typical rural church in northeast Mississippi...Later as I look from face to face of the singers and listen to their whole-hearted participation I realize that Sacred Harp singing is an expression of the highest and noblest thoughts and feelings of which these people are capable -- of what they believe and love and are in their best moments; in short, that perhaps more than anything else it is an expression of their total ideals and total sensibilities." -- From the papers of John Quincy Wolf.