Where sin is viewed, and other quotes

The posting of quotes by human authors does not constitute agreement with either the quotes or their sources. (I try to confirm the sources that I give, but may miss on occasion; please verify when possible.)

"Where sin is viewed superficially, it is dealt with superficially." -- Erwin W. Lutzer

"One of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain." -- James Baldwin

"I would rather walk with a friend in the dark than walk alone in the light." -- Helen Keller

I would rather walk in the dark with God, than walk alone in the light;

I would rather walk with Him by faith, than walk alone by sight.

“He Knows,” The Christian Pioneer, 1876

"The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone." -- 

Harriet Beecher Stowe

As life runs on, the road grows strange

With faces new, and near the end

The milestones into headstones change,

’Neath every one a friend.

“Sixty-Eighth Birthday,” by James Russell Lowell

"It’s hard; but we have Jesus. If we can’t, who can?" -- Heard

"Faith is a leap into the light, not a step into the darkness." -- Reinhard Bonnke (and others, probably; sometimes, "Faith is not taking a leap into the dark, but taking a step into the light.")

"And if you must cheat, then please cheat death. Because I couldn’t live a day without you." -- Leap Year

"Strength and courage aren’t always measured in medals and victories. They are measured in the struggles they overcome. The strongest people aren’t always the people who win, but the people who don’t give up when they lose." --  Ashley Hodgeson

Sacred Harp Markers, Wells

An historical marker for the Primitive Baptist Church of Wells relates the a cappella singing of the church to Sacred Harp, which continued to be sung in the building for many years after the church ceased to function. The marker was approved/erected in 1984 and apparently updated in 2012.

The last line of the original marker read:
“Although the Primitive Baptist Church no longer exists in Wells, the church building still stands as a reminder of its history.”

It now has:
“The Primitive Baptist Church congregation no longer exists in Wells. Due to damage in 2012, the church building no longer stands.”

This marker is located on FM 1247 in Wells, Texas, at the location where the church building used to stand.

Original Marker Text:

Primitive Baptist Church

of Wells

  Alabama native Francis Marion Sessions is credited with the organization of the Primitive Baptist Church of Wells. Prior to his 1890 arrival in the town, Primitive Baptists traveled to Angelina County to worship in the Old Sand Hill Primitive Baptist Church. Although a formal organization date for the Wells church is unrecorded, Sessions and others began meeting in their homes and in the public schoolhouse and in 1918 purchased this school building and property for use as a permanent place of worship.

  Early leaders in the church included members of the Childers, Wilson and McAdams families. Often in attendance at the monthly services were residents of Angelina, Nacogdoches and Trinity counties. Hymns were sung in special arrangements without the accompaniment of musical instruments, a tradition in rural America known as sacred harp singing. The Old School Primitive Baptist Church, as it came to be known, often served as a gathering place for area harp singers.

  Sessions’ death in 1930 was followed by that of other older members of the church, and the congregation eventually ceased to meet. Although the Primitive Baptist Church no longer exists in Wells, the church building still stands as a reminder of its history.

Marker is Property of the State of Texas (1984.2012)

Francis Marion Sessions, who is mentioned on the historical marker, at Find-a-Grave

The Transcendent Word

I use the King James Bible. I make no apology for it. I want no other.  I believe it is the word of God. Nevertheless, there is a truth (as the King James translators themselves said)[i] that the word of God is the word of God even in the poorest translations. God’s word cannot be bound (2 Timothy 2:9). We must admit that, in ways we may not understand, the word of God transcends its written forms (Psalms 119:89; Isaiah 55:11).[ii]

To understand this, we must consider the natural element of the word as presented to natural man in the natural realm. The word of the Lord on tables of stone may be thrown to the ground and broken (Exodus 24:12; Exodus 32:15-16, 19). The word of the Lord in a book can be misplaced, even in the house of God (2 Kings 22:8-13). The word of the Lord on a scroll might be cut with a penknife and burned in the fire (Jeremiah 36:21-23).

The word did not cease when it was broken, lost, burned in its written form. Yet, even the broken will be re-inscribed (Exodus 34:1-4, 27-28). The lost will be found (2 Chronicles 34:15). The burned will be duplicated (Jeremiah 36:27-28).

The word of the Lord will not, shall not, pass away (Matthew 24:35). The word of the Lord in its purest form exists in the mind of God, where it is forever (Psalms 119:89). God’s word is just as eternal, just as sure, as God himself! (Cf. also Psalm 12:6; Psalm 119:160; Isaiah 40:8; Matthew 5:18; John 1:1; 1 Peter 1:23-25.)

There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord.

(Proverbs 21:30)

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[i] “Now to the latter we answer; that we do not deny, nay we affirm and avow, that the very meanest translation of the Bible in English, set forth by men of our profession, (for we have seen none of theirs of the whole Bible as yet) containeth the word of God, nay, is the word of God. As the King’s speech, which he uttereth in Parliament, being translated into French, Dutch, Italian, and Latin, is still the King’s speech, though it be not interpreted by every Translator with the like grace, nor peradventure so fitly for phrase, nor so expressly for sense, everywhere.” – “An answer to the imputations of our adversaries,” “Translators to the Reader,” Authorised Version, 1611

[ii] “Transcendent” means “surpassing all others; preeminent or supreme.”

A. J. and A. D. Whitten

Last Thursday I wrote about A. N. Whitten and the Harp of Ages. As I have continued my research on him, I found the following obituary for his father and brother in The Gospel Messenger.

A. J. and A. D. WHITTEN.

Eld. A. J. Whitten was born April 14, 1820, married first wife, Miss Anna Head, January 10, 1841, and were born to them five children. She died September, 1848. He was married again, to Miss Mary Ann Davis, October 17, 1850; to them were born twelve children. Eld. Whitten died April 8, 1892. He was baptized by Eld. W. M. Hubbard, 1852.

Also, his son, A. D. Whitten. died June 27, 1892, who was born January 5, 1855; was baptized 1883. These two worthy brethren were shining lights in the Primitive Baptist church Indeed, I could not mention a father and son who lived more spotless lives and adorned the profession more than they. They were separated but a short while. May their lives and examples be cherished and emulated by all who knew them, that their works may follow them. JAS. M. WARREN.

The Gospel Messenger, (Volume 16, No. 8, August 1894, p. 331 (Editors, J. R. Respess, W. M. Mitchell, J. E. W. Henderson, Sylvester Hassell)

The author of the obituaries, James Monroe Warren, married Amanda Marvia Whitten, daughter of A. J. and sister of A. D.

I also found that A. J. Whitten and son A. N. wrote an obituary for Jacob Joshua Cleveland of Fellowship Church in Tallapoosa County, Alabama, which is found in The Gospel Messenger (Vol. 13, No. 5, May 1891, p. 208, Butler, Georgia; J. R. Respess, W. M. Mitchell, J. E. W. Henderson, editors).

Learning from opposers

In tracing [Baptist] history through preceding ages, we are obliged to learn their existence and condition mostly from the concessions of Roman Catholics, and other opposers; for, during the Pagan and Papal persecutions, which continued from A.D. 66, to A.D. 1700, it was the constant aim of the Catholics and their allies to destroy the writings, as well as the persons of the true church.

The Convert’s Guide to First Principles; or Evangelical Truth, Israel Robords, New Haven, CT: William Storer, Jr., 1838

My Saviour’s Love

The following hymn and tune was written by Charles Hutchinson Gabriel (1856-1932). Charles H. Gabriel was born August 18, 1856 at Wilton, Iowa, to Isaac Newton Gabriel and Cleopatra Cotton. His father was a singing school teacher, who died when Charles was about 17 years old. Gabriel married first Francilla Woodhouse, and second, Amelia Moore. He had a child by each wife. He died September 14, 1932 at Los Angeles, California. His and Amelia’s cremains are interred at the Chapel Of The Pines Crematory. He wrote between 7,000 and 8,000 gospel songs, often composing both the hymn and tune. Several are well-known church songs, such as Send the Light, God is Calling the Prodigal, Higher Ground, His Eye is On the Sparrow, Will the Circle Be Unbroken, and Since Jesus Came Into My Heart.[i]  He edited over 80 songbooks. He served as music director at Grace Methodist Church in San Francisco, and in 1912 began to work for Homer Rodeheaver Publishing Company.[ii]  In addition to writing under his own name, Gabriel also used pseudonyms, including T. R. Allen, C. D. Emerson, H. A. Henry, Charlotte G. Homer, S. B. Jackson, Adolph Jesreal, and Jennie Ree. Charles H. Gabriel wrote an autobiography titled Sixty Years of Gospel Song (Chicago, IL: Hope Publishing Company, possibly printed posthumously in 1945). He is a 1982 inductee into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

Gabriel wrote and/or copyrighted My Savior’s Love (also known as I Stand Amazed) in 1905.[iii]  The original printing had four stanzas. The meter of this song is 8s.7s. with chorus.

1. I stand amazed in the presence

Of Jesus, the Nazarene,

And wonder how he could love me,

A sinner, condemned, unclean.

Chorus (after each stanza):

How marvelous (Oh, how marvelous),

How wonderful (Oh, how wonderful)!

And my song shall ever be:

How marvelous (Oh, how marvelous),

How wonderful (Oh, how wonderful)

Is my Savior’s love for me!

2. For me it was in the garden

He prayed, “Not my will, but thine.”

He had not tears for his own griefs,

But sweat great drops of blood for mine.

3. In pity angels beheld Him,

And came from the world of light

To comfort Him in the sorrows

He bore for my soul that night.

4. When with the ransomed in glory

His face I at last shall see,

’Twill be my joy through the ages

To sing of his love for me.

In addition to the four stanzas in the original printing, the song often appears with this stanza below (and often without the original third stanza). I do not know the original source of this stanza. Perhaps Gabriel himself added it at some point.

He took my sins and my sorrows,

He made them his very own;

He bore the burden to Calv’ry,

And suffered and died alone.

The song builds on the wonder and praise created by the suffering sacrifice of Jesus Christ for condemned sinners – ending with the desire to praise him through eternity for his wondrous love.

My Saviors Love by the Kingdom Quartet, on YouTube

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[i] Discussion of several Charles Gabriel songs may be found HERE.

[ii] Several sources say Gabriel moved to Chicago in 1912, but actually the censuses show him already living in Chicago in 1900 & 1910 – perhaps he did not begin to work for Rodeheaver until 1912.

[iii] At least it was first published that year, in Praises, Edwin Othello Excell, Chicago, IL: E. O. Excell, 1905. Roughly two dozen songs by Gabriel appear in this volume – including Little Teetotalers!

For such a time as this

Marriage is honourable in all (Hebrews 13:4) and honoured by our Lord Jesus Christ (John 2:1-2), but often seen as faulty, failing, and futile in our day. Some marry in order to divorce, and divorce in order to marry. Others abandon the commitment and covenant of marriage altogether, and settle in to the abstract absence of vows often called “shacking up.” Still others defy marriage as a unique relationship between a man and a woman, making it anything, everything, and nothing.

In 2014 Pew Research asked about “Public Views on Marriage.” 50% of the respondents said “society is just as well off if people have priorities other than marriage and children.” Two-thirds of those in the 18 to 29 age range held that view. However, marriage problems are nothing new. They hark back to almost the beginning of the world. The early chapters of Genesis teach us at least three things about marriage.

God ordained and instituted marriage. It finds not its origin in the minds of men, but in the mind of God (Genesis 1:27). “Therefore” marriage is what God says it is – man and wife, one flesh (Genesis 2:21-25). What God has put together – both particular marriages and the institution itself – let not man put asunder (Mark 10:6-9).

Sin marred and wrecked marriage. By the man Adam sin entered into the world and therefore all that is in the world, including marriage, is touched and tainted by sin (Genesis 3; Romans 5:12). There are no perfect people; there are no perfect marriages. Once you enter it, you taint it. Immediately! Yet...

A promise encourages and relieves marriage. On the heels of sin and judgment, God declared a promise (Genesis 3:15). The seed of woman – our Lord Jesus Christ – deals sin and Satan a deadly crushing blow. Within that promise is hope for our marriages. When I married, someone gave us a “Marriage Takes Three” poem. Certainly, ’true, a marriage of two, happy then to be, must add God for three. The Christian couple have the Spirit of God indwelling them (Romans 8:9;  Ephesians 1:13-15), the word of God to guide them (Ephesians 5:22-33), and the church of God to support them (Romans 12:5).

May you, Lord, bless our marriages in these difficult times.

Autonomy is not sacrificed, and other quotes

The posting of quotes by human authors does not constitute agreement with either the quotes or their sources. (I try to confirm the sources that I give, but may miss on occasion; please verify when possible.)

"Ultimately, autonomy is not sacrificed in most Baptist churches because no outside entity can compel them to function in any particular way. That does not mean that any way that a Baptist church chooses to function is biblical." -- R. Vaughn

"A church's autonomy ends where her violation of Scripture begins." -- R. Vaughn

"When man justifies the wicked, it is a miscarriage of justice which God hates, but when God justifies the ungodly it is a miracle of grace for us to adore." -- J. I. Packer

"Holy sexuality is either faithfulness in marriage or chastity in singleness." -- Christopher Yuan

"A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it." -- George A. Moore

"By ‘Baptist,’ all we mean is shorthand for biblical truth and for the New Testament church." -- Adam Greenway

"Given an open Bible, a regenerate heart, and an unprejudiced mind, the inevitable result is a Baptist." -- A. T. Robertson

As we cannot be Baptists without the Bible, we must know personally for ourselves, what order of obedience it requires at our hands." -- Thomas Armitage

"For every one book which is published on repentance and mortification there are a hundred which attempt to promote ‘church growth’ or else point the believer along the road to ‘success’." -- Maurice Roberts

"It is better to train ten men to do the work than to do the work of ten men." -- sometimes credited to D. L. Moody

"None can run this race but the saints of God, for the ground itself is holy ground, of which we read that "no unclean beast is to be found therein." None but the redeemed walk there; and none have ever won the prize but those who have run this heavenly race as redeemed by precious blood." -- J. C. Philpot

Don’t mess with the innocents

Jonah and the Teacher

A little girl was talking to her public school teacher about whales and how she was taught in Sunday School that a whale had swallowed Jonah. The teacher cranked up his self-righteous indignation and said that it is physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human – even though it is a very large mammal, its throat is very small.

The little girl remained steadfast in her position and reiterated that indeed, a whale had swallowed Jonah. Irritated, the teacher again stated that a whale could not swallow a human. “It is physically impossible,” he asserted forcefully.

The little girl said, “I’m not sure how it happened, but when I get to heaven I will ask Jonah.”

The teacher retorted smugly, “What if Jonah isn’t in heaven?”

The little girl replied, “Then you ask him!”

A. N. Whitten and the Harp of Ages

An Old Harper: A. N. Whitten and the Harp of Ages

In 1925 A. N. Whitten of Dublin, Texas compiled and presented a small seven-shape songbook titled Harp of Ages.[i]  Besides an interest in his music and songbook, I have a genealogical interest in the man Archibald Newton Whitten. My dad’s mother was a Whitten, but I have not been able to figure out where the families connect. Her people were Methodists and came to Texas from Tennessee via Missouri. His people were Baptists, and he was born in Georgia. Interestingly, the “Archibald” given name crops up over and over again in my Whitten family genealogy/history.

Archibald Newton Whitten was born in Georgia on March 16, 1856 to Andrew Jackson Whitten and Mary Ann Davis.[ii] His father was a Primitive Baptist preacher. A. N. was living in the household of his parents in Georgia in 1860 (Murray County) and 1870 (Mitchell County). He was living in Tallapoosa County, Alabama when the census was taken in 1880. He was a farm laborer living with his first wife Nancy Horsley and their two sons: Jonathan and Patrick.[iii] A letter referenced in A Portion for the Singers indicates Whitten had been teaching singing schools for 45 years, indicating he started around 1880 while still in Alabama.[iv] The family came to Texas in early 1894.[v] Inza (later Inez) was born in Texas in 1895. Nancy died sometime between that time and September 18, 1898, when A. N. married Rachel Florida Whitfield, daughter of John Miles Whitfield and Mary Jane Kinney. They had 3 children – Henrietta Bernice, Archibald Viron, and Gladys Wilma – before her untimely death February 15, 1906 at age 33.[vi]

After Rachel’s death, A. N. married Dora Finger Norton, daughter of Elder J. W. Norton and Nancy Caledonia Elliott.[vii] She had a daughter, Willie, from her previous marriage to Clark Moore.[viii] Dora and A. N. had three children, Archibald Newton Jr., Redford Cayce, and Winston Albion.

According to Drummond, A. N. Whitten helped Elder C. H. Cayce produce The Good Old Songs and then later disassociated with him.[ix] In a letter to the periodical Glad Tidings, Whitten gives this apology for his upcoming songbook: “We are aware of the fact there have been published several hymn and tune books for the Old Baptists; but none of these seem to satisfy a majority of Texas Baptists. I have in mind a book that I believe they would adopt in their church worship…” [x] The first Harp of Ages was a relatively small book published in 1925. It had approximately 160 pages, ending on song number 159.[xi] Like many song books of that period and before, Harp of Ages included “Rudiments of Music.”[xii] Apparently Whitten expanded the book a few times during his lifetime, and others did so after his death. His son Winston Albion Whitten published the book sometime after his father’s death in 1949, while he was living in Lake Charles, Louisiana. According to the Primitive Baptist Library, the “4th edition” has 191 hymns. It is not clear whether the 2nd and 3rd editions are also that size.[xiii] In 1971 Harp of Ages, Inc. was formed. This body published the 1973 and 1977 editions (about 416 songs/382 pages). These editions do not give edition numbers that could help clarify which edition was the last complied by Whitten – but likely it was the 4th edition.

A. N. Whitten was active in his local Primitive Baptist Church and associations. From currently available information it is not clear to me of which church he was a member – probably the one sometimes described as the Primitive Baptist Church in East Dublin. Whitten sent an announcement to paper of a protracted meeting at the Primitive Baptist Church in East Dublin, with Elder E. C. Mahurin.[xiv] The Dublin Progress reported his leading the singing at the Duffau Primitive Baptist Association held in De Leon in 1913.[xv] In 1938 A. N. Whitten was in charge of the song service at the “revival” at First Primitive Baptist Church in Dublin, with Elders J. C. Morgan and Len Dalton.[xvi] He announced to the Progress the meeting of the Old Harmony Primitive Baptist Association, July 11-14, 1940.[xvii]

Whitten frequently announced and/or was associated with singings mentioned in the Progress, some which included four-note books, Christian Harmony and “late books.”[xviii] With “Mr. Free of Abilene,” A. N Whitten taught a free Sacred Harp singing school at the Primitive Baptist Church in East Dublin in 1933.[xix] He was a leader in the Erath County Singing Convention, and was the local chairman of arrangements for the State Sacred Harp Association when it met in Dublin in 1938.[xx] In 1929 Progress Editor Francis E. Perry highlighted Whitten in his column “Wise, Unwise, and Otherwise,” noting him as “a citizen who not only writes songs but is a song publisher…” Perry mentions that Whitten has issued a new edition of Harp of Ages, lists songs that he wrote, and concludes by calling A. N. Whitten “one of the best loved citizens in this territory.”[xxi] In 1943 and 1944 The Dublin Progress published several letters in which A. N. Whitten recorded his “boyhood reminiscences.” Unfortunately, the online scans of most of these are quite hard to read.[xxii]

Elder M. W. Miracle began publishing The Sacred Harp Monitor in December 1912, under the auspices of the State Sacred Harp Association of Texas. In that issue, A. N. Whitten is listed as one of 12 associate editors, and there are two letters written to the paper from him. The October 1913 issue still listed him as such.[xxiii] Around 1915 Elder Miracle moved on to edit “The Good Old Songs Department” in C. H. Cayce’s periodical The Primitive Baptist. Whitten joined Miracle as part of the editorial staff of “The Good Old Songs Department.”[xxiv]

In 1917 A. N. Whitten was the vice-president of the State Sacred Harp Singing Association of Texas, and then served as president in 1918, 1919, and 1920. Some records indicate singings in Erath County that used both the Sacred Harp and Harp of Ages.[xxv] Two songs in The Sacred Harp, 2012 Cooper Edition, came from Harp of Ages (added to The Sacred Harp book in 1992) – Eden of Love, 39 and John 4:14, 133.[xxvi]

Archibald Newton Whitten died August 18, 1949 at the Dublin Hospital in Dublin, Texas at age 93. His cause of death was prostate cancer. His “usual occupation” is listed as farming (he may have derived a minor income from his songbook and teaching singing schools). He, Dora, and several other family members are buried at the Live Oak Cemetery in Dublin (at the time of his death called New Dublin Cemetery).[xxvii] The newspaper reported that he died “after several weeks’ illness” and that the funeral services were held at the First Baptist Church “with Rev. R. V. Sorrells (sic) of Abilene officiating.” The paper described A. N. Whitten as “well known in Dublin and the surrounding communities and has many friends here who extend their sincerest sympathy to the bereaved relatives.”[xxviii]

Paul Drummond’s assessment of the Harp of Ages, musically, is that the largest percentage of songs are folk hymns and Sacred Harp songs – 51 percent. He adds that almost 25 percent “may be categorized as Gospel Songs.” By “Gospel Songs” he means songs from what he considers the Kieffer/Showalter tradition, the Sankey/Bliss tradition, and the Stamps-Baxter tradition. He does not indicate how he categorizes the roughly other 24 percent. Other categories Drummond uses in A Portion for the Singers are Mason/Bradbury hymns, Traditional Protestant hymns, and original hymn-settings by Primitive Baptists. The songs written by A. N. Whitten would fall in this latter category, but possibly some of the other categories as well.[xxix]

There is no date in the Harp of Ages book that I have, but it was published in 1946 or later. Number 61 is a song titled It Must Have Been at Easter Time Long Ago (The Model Church), and is dated 1946. Whitten sent the words in to the Progress and they were printed in it April 19, 1946.[xxx] I counted the pages in this book; the song numbers are not page numbers. There are 192 total pages – the cover page and rudiments, pages 1-12; songs numbered 1-191 (with some “As” and “1/2s” in the page numbers), but actually 178 pages; finally, 2 unnumbered pages of Index.

By my count, the Harp of Ages credits 16 songs to A. N. Whitten, plus nine more that he arranged or harmonized and 3 Sacred Harp tunes to which he added alto. In addition, Francis Perry lists a song titled Leave Me Alone among those written by A. N. Whitten.[xxxi] The books I own do not have a song by that title in their indices. The accurate title is Leave Me Not Alone, which was removed and replaced by It Must Have Been at Easter Time Long Ago. Songs from Harp of Ages have found their way into other books, such as the two mentioned above (Eden of Love and John 4:14). Balm in Gilead from the 1973 Harp of Ages is included in The Shenandoah Harmony.

Whitten’s Harp of Ages songbook achieved its greatest success in his home state of Texas. Drummond indicates it found a home as well in churches in Louisiana, Oklahoma, Virginia, and California.[xxxii] The book still has a following, not only among Primitive Baptist churches that still use it, but also among Sacred Harp singers introduced to it at the Saturday Night Social of the Southwest Texas Sacred Harp Convention. It has a number of original tunes that are not available elsewhere.[xxxiii] Nevertheless, its use will be limited and constricted because it is no longer in print and a reprint seems unlikely.

Sources

• A Portion for the Singers: A History of Music Among Primitive Baptists Since 1800 by Robert Paul Drummond, Atwood, TN: Christian Baptist Library & Publishing Co., 1989
• Ancestry.com
• Find-A-Grave.com
• Gaylon Powell, e-mail
• Harp of Ages, A. N. Whitten, Dublin, Texas, no date
• Harp of Ages, A. N. Whitten, Harvey L. Bass, Afton E. Richards, Muleshoe, TX: Harp of Ages, Inc., 1977
• Primitive Baptist Library web site
• The Dublin Progress newspaper, Dublin, Texas, May 19, 1905—August 19, 1939
• The Sacred Harp Monitor, M. W. Miracle, Dallas, Texas, December 1912 and October 1913

PDF, 1973 edition of the Harp of Ages

Download the Harp of Ages

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[i] A few songs in the book are printed in 4 staves and 4 shapes. See, for example, Let Us Sing, song number 120.

[ii] Some sources give “Head” as her maiden name, but I believe this is in error. Andrew Jackson Whitten was married twice, first to Ann Head, and second to Mary Ann Davis in 1850. A. N. Whitten’s death certificate gives the maiden name of his mother as “Davis” and the date of A. J.’s marriage to Mary Ann Davis would confirm this is correct. Archibald Newton Whitten

[iii] He married Nancy November 8, 1877 in Tallapoosa County.

[iv] Portion, Drummond, p. 169

[v] The children of Archibald and Nancy include Jonathan, Patrick, Mary Lucinda, Kieffer, Grover W., Samuel Cicero, and Inza/Inez.

[vi] Rachel Florida Whitfield Whitten; sometimes the middle name of the son “Viron” is given/spelled as “Vernon.”

[vii] Dora Finger Norton Whitten

[viii] The 1910 census indicates she also had lost a child in addition to the two living, Willie Moore and A. N., Jr.

[ix] “We are under many obligations to Brother A. N. Whitten, of Dublin, Texas, for the great help he has been to us in the preparation of the work.” – “Preface,” C. H. Cayce, The Good Old Songs, 1913, p. 3

[x] Letter to the editors of Glad Tidings, November 1, 1922, cited in Drummond, p. 168.

[xi] E-mail from Gaylon Powell, February 15, 2019

[xii] Harp of Ages, pages 3-12.

[xiii] “Listing of Our Holdings of Primitive Baptist Periodicals and Hymnals”; the 191 page book that I have includes the song It Must Have Been at Easter Time Long Ago, which was written in 1946. Perhaps this was the 4th edition; I suspect earlier books also ended on song 191, and that the song number 61 was substituted for another song. The text of this 1946 song was sent in to The Dublin Progress and printed on the front page April 19, 1946.

[xiv] The Dublin Progress, Friday, April 23, 1937, p. 1

[xv] The Dublin Progress, Friday, August 22, 1913, p. 5

[xvi] The Dublin Progress, Friday, June 3, 1938, p. 1; It is not clear whether First Primitive Baptist was using the term “revival,” or if that terminology was chosen by the newspaper.

[xvii] The Dublin Progress, Friday, July 5, 1940, p. 1

[xviii] The Dublin Progress, Friday, May 19, 1905, p. 8

[xix] The Dublin Progress, Friday, July 21, 1933, p. 3

[xx] The Dublin Progress, Friday, July 15, 1938, p. 1

[xxi] The Dublin Progress, Friday, August 18, 1939, p. 1

[xxii] In the August 20, 1943 issue of the Progress, Whitten describes “the old church yard,” “Elder William Hubbard…the old Cornfield Preacher,” and Old Brother Clinkscales who “takes charge of the song service.” Whitten mentions the church singing Promised Land, Holy Manna, and Parting Hand. No doubt, this describes some of the earliest foundations and roots of his music. Whitten’s reminiscences are found at least in these issues: The Dublin Progress, Friday, June 25, 1943, p. 6; Friday, August 20, 1943, p. 6; Friday, October 8, 1943, p. 5; Friday, November 19, 1943, p. 4; Friday, December 10, 1943, p. 2; Friday, March 10, 1944, p. 5

[xxiii] The Sacred Harp Monitor, M. W. Miracle, Dallas, Texas, Volume 1, Number 1, December 1912; The Sacred Harp Monitor, M. W. Miracle, Dallas, Texas, Volume 1, Number 11, October 1913; these are the only two issues I have located.

[xxiv] Drummond, pp. 161-162, 165

[xxv] Including Drummond, p. 169; Also a Memorial Sacred Harp Singing held November 14, 1943 with The Sacred Harp and Harp of Ages – The Dublin Progress, Friday, November 12, 1943, p. 1.

[xxvi] John 4:14 in this Sacred Harp book is the original by Morris Nowlin rather than the revision/arrangement by Carolia Johnson printed in Harp of Ages in 1973. When the 1992 edition of the Cooper Book came out, I was given information on sources of all the tunes added to the book. John 4:14 was listed as an original composition by Morris Nowlin, rather than as coming from the Harp of Ages. I was told that this was because the song, as printed in the Cooper Book, was submitted by Brother Nowlin as originally written by him.

[xxvii] State of Texas Certificate of Death, Number 37999

[xxviii] The Dublin Progress, Friday, August 19, 1949, p. 1

[xxix] Drummond, pp. 168-169, 225-328; it appears that Drummond collated the edition with 191 numbered songs. He says it was probably released around 1946 (based on the song number 61).

[xxx] The Dublin Progress, Friday, April 19, 1946, p. 1

[xxxi] The Dublin Progress, Friday, August 18, 1939, p. 1

[xxxii] Drummond, p. 171

[xxxiii] Whitten’s tune From the Heavenly Choir (127) is an exquisite minor tune, in my opinion. No Vacant Seats in Heaven (74) combines well the doctrine of the preservation of the saints with a very nice tune by Whitten and Mrs. J. B. Edwards. How Sweet to Die (13) was written in memory of Elder S. A. Paine, incorporating his last words, “O, how sweet to die.”