The soul that has learned, 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.)

“The soul that has learned the blessed secret of seeing God’s hand in all that concerns it, cannot be a prey to fear, it looks beyond all second causes, straight into the heart and will of God, and rests content, because He rules.” -- Susannah Spurgeon

“Worship helps you through the hardest times in your life. It shifts your focus from the problem to the solver of problems!” -- Unknown

“I would rather help a lot of people who don’t need it than to risk not helping someone who does.” -- Ben. M. Bogard

“That very church which the world likes best is sure to be that which God abhors.” -- Charles H. Spurgeon

“If more people valued home above gold, this world would be a merrier place.” -- “Thorin” in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit

“Music should be rendered with the spirit and understanding; that the very soul and heart should enter into the song being sung.” -- James L. “Jim” White

“When people bring up your past, tell them Jesus dropped the charges.” -- Unknown

“Scripture everywhere teaches that even the minutest details of life are of divine ordering.” -- Louis Berkhof

“Making a living often gets in the way of making a life.” -- Charles Swindoll

“The heart cannot rejoice in what the head rejects.” -- Unknown

“The modern church is producing passionate people filled with empty heads who love the Jesus they don’t know very well.” -- Voddie Baucham, Jr.

President of Revision Committee

White, Dr. C. M. Charles Maxwell White of Geneva County, Alabama must be this person, though available records that refer to him as a doctor have not been located. He is listed as a farmer in the 1900 and 1910 censuses. He may have been a country doctor as well. A 1908 newspaper report of the United Convention mentions the Dr. White of south Alabama as a delegate to the convention.[i] “Dr. C. M. White, of Geneva county” was “among the prominent members attending” the Alabama State Musical Association in 1911. He served as president of a singing convention, at the Geneva County Courthouse in Geneva, Alabama, August of 1901. Born March 6, 1868, he was the son of Joakim James L. White and Sarah Ann Register. He married Mariam Sebenna Grace (1870–1966) and they had eight children. Charles M. White died October 9, 1913. He and Mariam are buried at the Hurricane United Methodist Church Cemetery at Hartford, Geneva County, Alabama. There is no obvious kinship with the B. F. White family.

        1909-1911 Revision Committees

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[i] “Harp Singers At Tabernacle,” in Newspaper Accounts from the Atlanta Constitution and Atlanta Journal of the United Sacred Harp Musical Association 1904-1956, John Plunkett, Tucker, GA: 2003

Baptist Accountability, and other links

The posting of links does not constitute an endorsement of the sites linked, and not necessarily even agreement with the specific posts linked.

• Baptist Accountability Tracking Database -- “This site relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content and may not always be 100% accurate.”
• California county bans singing in online worship services -- “The coronavirus has brought many petty tyrants out of the shadows, and it appears Mendocino County is home to some of the most abominable tyrants in America.”
• Coronavirus: YouTube bans ‘medically unsubstantiated’ content -- “Anything that would go against World Health Organization recommendations would be a violation of our policy.”
• Denmark: Fake Bible Must be Revoked -- “...the Danish Bible Society (DBS), nevertheless, issued a revised New Testament in 2012 completely omitting the word ‘Israel’ or replacing it with ‘Jews or ‘us’.”
• East Texas History -- “East Texas History is a free mobile app and web platform that places the past at your fingertips.”
• Govt officials reverse course, allow drive-in church services after lawsuit threat -- “Eight uniformed police officers had issued $500 tickets to each car parked, with windows down, in a parking lot while drivers listened over the phone to a sermon.”
• New York City is lying about Chinese virus death rates -- “In New York City, the death of anyone who dies who tests positive for COVID-19 is counted as a coronavirus death.  This is the case even if the coronavirus failed to play a significant role in the person’s passing or illness.”
• Planned Parenthood’s Ambassador to CBS News -- “Kate Smith poses as a neutral reporter, smuggling her support for abortion into her work and sacrificing her objectivity for scoops from prominent abortion-rights groups.”
• Robert Conquest: Sovietologist and Poet -- “The question with Bob is whether he was a poet who happened to be a Sovietologist or a Sovietologist who happened to be a poet. I tend to think the former...”
• Why We Won’t Livestream During Lockdown (Though We Could) -- “...video conferencing is not good for a wedding, for a feast, for a funeral, or for a family reunion. Which is corporate worship more like: a lecture, or a ceremony? A business meeting, or a family gathering? A performance, or a renewal of vows?”
• Why Severe Social Distancing Might Actually Result In More Coronavirus Deaths -- “What the media and policymakers are not telling us is that the longer we delay the development of herd immunity, the more elderly or high-risk people will become infected and die.”
• Worshippers gather for Louisiana church service after pastor charged for violating ban on large gatherings -- “Along with parishioners, protesters arrived at Spell’s Life Tabernacle Church in the city of Central on Tuesday...”
• Why You Should Probably Get a Guinea Fowl -- “Guinea fowl are hardy and low maintenance, and are adept at foraging for their food. While they don't lay continuously like chickens do, their nutritious eggs have a unique and delicate flavor.”
• Wrong Responses to a Loss of Corporate Worship -- “Could it be that we, and our people, have treated corporate worship casually and flippantly?”
• 28 Million Mail-In Ballots Went Missing in Last Four Elections -- “States and local authorities simply have no idea what happened to these ballots since they were mailed – and the figure of 28 million missing ballots is likely even higher because some areas in the country.”

He will subdue our iniquities

“He will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” Micah 7:19

Sin subdued is the next greatest blessing to sin pardoned; and wherever God does pardon sin he subdues sin; for the same grace which saves sanctifies; the same grace which casts sin behind God’s back, puts its foot upon the corruptions of the believer, and prevents iniquity from having dominion over him.

J. C. Philpot (1802-1869)

Gone To Rest

The following song, Gone To Rest, is posted and sung by Myra Dalton in memory of her sister. The words and music were written by Thomas Willard Loftin in memory of his sister, Lenora, who died November 17, 1900 at age 24.

Gone To Rest appears to have been first published in 1909 in The Sacred Harp, Fifth Edition, by J. L. White. Loftin wrote several songs that appear in White’s book, as well as others that appear in The Sacred Harp, revised by W. M. Cooper. Loftin worked at one time or another with both of these book editors. He also has a song in Union Harp and History of Songs, compiled by J. S. James.

This is a beautiful memorial tribute to a sister. I hope it might bless someone.

Here are the three stanzas and chorus, which is sung after each stanza:

1. Our loving one has gone to rest

In heaven now she’s ever blest

In heaven now she waiting stands

To welcome us to that blest land.

2. She called each one around her bed,

And thus in dying words she said:

My days on earth are at an end

My soul is summonsed to attend.

3. I can no longer stay with you,

I now must cross o’er Jordan’s shore

The Saviour calls and I must go,

Farewell, farewell, to all below.

Chorus:

O glorious thought, we’ll meet again,

And with the angels we will sing:

Yes, we will sing.

The YouTube recording is HERE.  The singing starts about 30 seconds in, when the song page comes up.

J. L. White Sacred Harp songs

Below are links to songs online, in either audio or video, that are in the 1911 The Sacred Harp, Fourth Edition with Supplement, by J. L. White. The list is songs that are – or at least one time were – unique to the J. L. White book. Some of these songs have since been published in other books, e.g. The Sacred Harp, Cooper Edition, and The Shenandoah Harmony. In two cases (on the Wootten Family recording) the poster gives the more accessible Cooper Book number, but I believe the family was singing from the White book, where they originally learned those songs. A few of the songs are not recorded in a Sacred Harp class singing.

If you know of the location of other songs J. L. White book songs online that are not linked, please let me know and I will link them. Thanks so much!

• Don’t Grieve Your Mother, 494
• Gone To Rest, 515
• Gospel Waves, 526
• It Is Well With My Soul, 540
• Jesus Died for Me, 491
• Land of Beulah, 519
• Love At Home, 492
• Mother Tell Me of the Angels, 495
• Not Made With Hands, 517
• Pray On, 512
• There is a Fountain, 328
• Trusting, 486a
• Willie, 511

John Riley Hopkins: singer and inventor

Hopkins, J. R. is listed on the White revision committee. This likely is John Riley Hopkins of Norcross, Gwinnett County, Georgia, a Sacred Harp singer who served as president of the Gwinnett County Sacred Harp Singing Association. John Riley Hopkins (November 5, 1835–July 14, 1909) was the son of George Harrison Hopkins and Lucinda Turner. In 1857, Hopkins married Emeline J. Veal (1840–1858). After her death, he married Zipporah Jane Henry (1840–1923) in 1859. He and Zipporah lived on Beaver Ruin Road near Norcross. They had ten children. The guide to the “John Riley Hopkins Family Papers” at the Georgia Department of Archives and History gives the following regarding Hopkins: “John Riley Hopkins...was a schoolteacher, landowner, political aspirant, inventor, businessman, lawyer, and prominent citizen of Gwinnett Co., GA, for the last half of the 19th Century. During the Civil War he was superintendent of the Confederate niter works in Alabama. After the war he returned to Norcross, GA, to pursue his diverse personal and business interests: he operated sawmills, cotton gins, and lathe shops; ran unsuccessfully for the state legislature; and took an active part in the Sweetwater Primitive Baptist Church.” He was a member and deacon at the Sweetwater Church, southeast of Norcross. Contained in the “John Riley Hopkins Family Papers” are materials of or related to the Gwinnett County Sacred Harp Singing Association – of which he was president at least in 1891 and 1898. Though Hopkins’s name is listed in the 1910 and 1911 books, he was deceased by that time. His name was probably continued because of the respect in which he was held.

1909 Revision Committee

“John Riley Hopkins Family Papers,” 1830-1915 (bulk 1865-1900)

“Singing Association,” The Atlanta Constitution, Thursday, 09 July 9, 1891, p. 2

“Sacred Harp Singing Association,” Jackson Herald, Friday, July 22, 1898, p. 3

A Brief History of A Brief History, and other music links

The posting of links does not constitute an endorsement of the sites linked, and not necessarily even agreement with the specific posts linked.

• A Brief History of A Brief History of the Sacred Harp -- “Yet James’s book remains an important source of information about early Sacred Harp singers, conventions, and songbooks.”
• Aldine S. Kieffer and the Musical Million -- “One of the most influential of these publications was the Musical Million and Fireside Friend, begun in 1807 by Aldine S. Kieffer and Ephraim Ruebush...”
• Bandcamp Will Again Waive Its Cut of Sales to Support Artists -- “In an effort to assist artists during these unprecedented times, last month Bandcamp decided to waive its cut of sales for an entire day.”
• Country music artist Joe Diffie dies from complications of COVID-19 -- “County music artist Joe Diffie has died from complications of coronavirus, according to a post on the artist’s Facebook page. He was 61.”
• Frank Smith, Andrew Jenkins, and Early Commercial Gospel Music -- “In 1923 two forces were working in the South to transform the face of American music: the radio and the phonograph record.”
• Gospel Waves -- “Smith’s Sacred Singers were an amateur ‘shape-note’ singing group led by J. Frank Smith, a Methodist teacher based in Braselton, GA.”
• Let Everybody Sing -- “All these years later, I have developed a theory about singing conventions. I believe they represented refuge for certain people.”
• Our Debt to George Pullen Jackson -- “In his speech, Wolfe notes Jackson’s key role in drawing attention to Sacred Harp singing by telling its story in print.”
• Shaped-Note Music -- What’s That? -- “Except for the shape of the note heads, shape-note written music has the same basic appearance as regular music notation.”
• The Curious History of Shape-Notes -- “The Reverend John Tufts spear-headed a movement to establish singing schools with the publication in 1721 of his Introduction to the Singing of Psalm Tunes.”
• The History Of A Famous Church Hymn -- “The late 19th century tune is still familiar and regularly sung in churches and by gospel groups today, but its history is not as familiar.”
• The “Sacred Harp” in the Urban North: 1970-1995 -- “In typically informal Sacred Harp fashion, the idea for this project arose during a morning break at a Sacred Harp singing at Bethel Primitive Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana...”

The Gates of Zion

“The Lord loveth the gates of Zion.” Psalm 87:2

What are gates for? Two purposes, entrance and exit. And Zion, too, has her gates of exit and entrance; she has her gates of access to God, entrance into the presence of the Most High; “the door of hope,” opened in “the valley of Achor.” And who has opened the door; or, rather, who has not only opened it and made it, but himself is the Door? “I am the Door,” says Jesus. And was not “the door” opened through his rent flesh? As the Apostle speaks: “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh.” Through his bleeding wounds, through his pierced side, through his mangled feet and hands, there is now access to God:

“A door of hope is open’d wide In Jesus’ pierced hands and side.”

Is there any other access to God, but through the slaughtered Lamb? “Through him we have access by one Spirit unto the Father.” There is no other; for he is “the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh to the Father but by him.” Is not this an open way? Does not the soul through this door “walk in and out and find pasture,” and enter into the immediate presence of God? Do you, my friends, ever find access to God, a heart to pray, a sense of acceptance in prayer, an open door, and power to enter therein? What opens it? Merit? Set up merit, and we are all damned to a man. It is not merit, great or little; it is the blood of the Lamb which alone has opened a way for poor lost sinners to draw near to God.

Joseph Charles Philpot (1802-1869)

A door of hope is opened wide

The following hymn was written by William Gadsby, and appears in his hymn book A Selection of Hymns for Public Worship on page 585. The heading is “No Help for Sinners but in Christ,” with a reference to Acts 4:12. “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Salvation that is of the Lord is exalted, achieving a crescendo at “A door of hope is opened wide, In Jesus’ bleeding hands and side!”

The hymn consists of six-line stanzas and is labeled with the old psalm meter 148th – what we Sacred Harp singers refer to as H. M. or Hallelujah Meter. Two good tunes for this hymn, in my opinion, are Amherst and Worlds Above, found on pages 314 and 315 in The Sacred Harp.

1. Where must a sinner fly,

That feels himself undone?

On what kind hand rely,

Eternal wrath to shun?

Can wit or reason help him out,

And bring a lasting peace about?

2. Reason no help can give,

But leaves him in distress;

Nor can he be reprieved

By works of righteousness;

The law as loud as thunder cries,

“The soul that sins against me, dies.”

3. Should creatures all agree,

To give him settled rest,

They cannot set him free,

Nor cheer his troubled breast;

No human arm his case can reach,

Nor men, nor angels heal the breach.

4. Salvation is of God;

Jehovah is his name;

The Saviour shed his blood;

The Lord of Life was slain;

And by his own atoning blood,

He made a precious way to God.

5. Here sinners may draw near,

With all their sin and guilt;

Nor death nor danger fear,

Since Jesus’ blood was spilt;

A door of hope is opened wide,

In Jesus’ bleeding hands and side.

Sing with the spirit and understanding

“Music should be rendered with the spirit and understanding; that the very soul and heart should enter into the song being sung.”

“One of the reasons that the Sacred Harp never grows old is: 1) Its author and composers had in its establishment the advancement of religion and not for the purpose of making money, as is too often the case in the publication of song books at the present time. 2) My father had good offers for the rights of the Sacred Harp but refused to accept any of them. It was feared that if he parted with it, its fate would be like that of many others, a mere money machine and the purpose for which it was composed and arranged would be lost.”

James L. “Jim” White, as quoted in A Brief History of the Sacred Harp by Joseph Stephen James (Douglasville, GA: New South Book and Job Print, 1904)

ID'ing a Sacred Harp Singer

I have identified a Sacred Harp singer and composer, R. E. Ray, who served on J. L. White’s revision of The Sacred Harp. He composed one song that is in the book.

Ray, R. E. This singer is identified as R. E. Ray of Gwinnett County, Georgia, in The Gadsden Times, July 23, 1920. This is Robert Edward Ray, son of John P. Ray and Annie Anchors. He was born April 2, 1871 in DeKalb County, Georgia. He married Mattie M. Brown and they had at least two children. After Mattie’s death, R. E. Ray married Minnie C. [last name unknown].[i] He worked as both a farmer and cabinetmaker. Robert was a member of the Dekalb and Fulton County Sacred Harp Singing Association (later called Stone Mountain Musical Convention.) According to J. S. James, Ray had served as a secretary of the convention at some time before 1904. He served on J. L. White’s revision committees, 1909-1911. He died December 15, 1943 in Fulton County. R. E. and Mattie Ray are buried at Indian Creek Cemetery near Scottdale in DeKalb County, Georgia.

            60        Nearer Home

A Brief History of the Sacred Harp, Joseph Stephen James, Douglasville, GA: New South Book and Job Print, 1904

“Fa-So-La Notes Original,” The Gadsden Times, Friday, July 23, 1920, p. 1

“Old Time Music Heard At An All Day Singing,” The Atlanta Constitution, Monday,  August 5, 1901, p. 9

U. S. Censuses: DeKalb county, 1880; DeKalb County, 1900; DeKalb County, 1910; Gwinnett County, 1920; Fulton County, 1930; Gwinnett County, 1940

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[i] Probably the widow of William J. Vincent, who died in 1911.

Nothing to say

We are generally longest when we have least to say. A man with a great deal of well-prepared matter will probably not exceed forty minutes; when he has less to say he will go on for fifty minutes, and when he has absolutely nothing he will need an hour to say it in.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students

Gospel Waves

The following song can be found in The Sacred Harp, Fourth Edition with Supplement, by J. L. White, 1911. The first two stanzas and chorus are as found there. The third stanza is in Gospel Waves recorded by the Smith Sacred Singers circa 1927-28. That stanza is transcribed as best I could, with the input from several others. It may not be what was originally written or exactly what is being sung.

1. Up from the shore (sacred shore) of far Galilee (Galilee)

Where the storm raged (fiercely raged) so dark and wild (dark and wild)

Gospel waves roll (peace be still) a message to me (even me)

Fear not, ’tis I (Jesus speaks) O, wavering child (trust in me)

Chorus:

Gospel waves roll (ever roll) in pow’r and might (pow’r and might)

Bear o’er the earth (o’er the earth) the message of light (wondrous light)

Gospel waves roll (swiftly roll) on Calvary’s stream (Calv’rys stream)

Sing, O my soul (He’ll redeem) the Lord will redeem (redeem).

2. Out of Gethsemena’s (where alone) garden of woe (Jesus wept)

Where the Lord wept (Jesus wept) in pain and grief (prostrate lay)

Gospel waves roll (ever roll) to all here below (here below)

Bearing sweet comfort (trust his love) bringing relief (praise his name).

3. From the death scene (earth behold) on Calvary’s height (hear him cry)

Where Jesus died (to the place) the world to save (boundless love)

Gospel waves roll (ever roll) in splendor and might (sound his praise)

Roll on in pow’r (mighty pow’r) o’er death and the grave (Jesus reign).

Donaho, Carl, the named composer of Gospel Waves, remains unknown. The earliest discovered appearance of the song currently is The Sacred Harp, Fifth Edition, 1909. It also appears in Church of God Songs: for Church, Family and Religious Worship (M. S. Lemmons, Efford Haynes, Cleveland, TN: Church of God Publishing House, 1920) and The Christian Harmony – both the Deason-Parris revision of 1958 and the 2010 combined edition (page 82b). The name “Donaho” might be misspelled, or an alias under which another songwriter composed. However, contrary to the attribution in The Sacred Harp, Charles K. Wolfe names “F. M. Ferrell” as the “author of ‘Gospel Waves’.”[i]
526      Gospel Waves

Ferrell, F. M. If Charles K. Wolfe is correct, the composer of Gospel Waves is Francis Mickleberry “Mick” Ferrell of Mt. Sylvan, Texas (and “Carl Donaho” a pen name under which he wrote). F. M. Ferrell (as his songs are attributed) was born in Georgia January 24, 1864 to John W. Ferrell and Nancy W. Head. The family was in Coweta County, Georgia in 1880, but was in Texas by 1886, when Mick married Beulah Beckham. Mick Ferrell was a farmer, songwriter, and teacher of vocal music. At some time in the early 20th century, Ferrell compiled Heavenly Light with J. B. Vaughan of Elberton, Georgia. In 1898, he was president of the Smith County Singing Convention, and perhaps other years. At this time the convention used Crowning Day, a Ruebush-Kieffer publication.[i] Ferrell died August 2, 1946 at age 82. He and his wife are buried at the Dover Cemetery near Lindale in Smith County, Texas.

Floyd, Mrs. E. G. is Eugenia F. Greer Floyd, the daughter of Spencer Greer and Adeline Jefferies. She was born March 24, 1829 in Union County, South Carolina. The family was in Dallas County, Arkansas in 1860, and came to Texas around 1864. Eugenia married John W. Floyd, Jr. (1847–1901) in 1869. Texas state senator William Jefferies Greer was her brother, and his wife was the daughter of Sacred Harp singer Judge J. P. Gossett of Canton, Texas. According to HymnTime, “She taught at the first school established in nearby Glenwood, Texas.” Her hymns are usually attributed to “Mrs. E. G. Floyd” or “Mrs. E. Greer Floyd.” Eugenia died January 5, 1934 at age 84 in Gilmer, Texas. She and her husband are buried at the Gilmer City Cemetery in Gilmer, Upshur County, Texas. Mrs. E. G. Floyd wrote many hymns used by various songwriters. She may have written as many as 100 hymns in the late 1800s and early 1900s. A 1928 recording by J. Frank Smith’s Sacred Singers reveal a third stanza not found in The Sacred Harp or The Christian Harmony. The date that Gospel Waves, either words or music, was written is currently unknown.

526      Gospel Waves (words)

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[i] “Smith Co. Singing Convention,” Musical Million, Volume 29, Number 7, July 1, 1898, p. 109

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[i] “Frank Smith, Andrew Jenkins, and Early Commercial Gospel Music,” by Charles K. Wolfe in American Music, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Spring, 1983), University of Illinois Press, pp. 49-59.

In other words, Black Friar to red mercury

• Black Friar, noun. A member of the Dominican order of friars.
• colour-de-roy, noun and adjective. A cloth of a rich purple colour associated with the French kings; this colour itself. Later also: a bright tawny colour; a cloth of this colour. Also figurative.
• house-lew, noun. Shelter of a house.
• leggiadrous, adjective. Graceful, elegant.
• macaronic, adjective and noun. Of the nature of or designating a jumble or medley.
• red mercury, noun. A supposedly powerful radioactive substance rumoured to have been manufactured in Russia and elsewhere, and suggested as a potential ingredient of nuclear weapons for terrorists (believed to be part of a confidence trick).
• scripophilist, noun. A person who collects old bond and share certificates as a pursuit or hobby.
• timelily, adverb. In a timely manner. Cf. timely.
• train-scent, noun. An object dragged along the ground to make a scent for hounds to follow; a chase using such an object; a drag.
• uranography, noun. A description of heaven.
• wallydraigle, noun. A lazy, unkempt, or slovenly person; a good-for-nothing, a slob, a slattern.

Easter in KJV, Acts 12:4

Joseph Rawson Lumby was a member of the revision committee and worked with Westcott & Hort on the Revised Version. As co-editor of the Cambridge Bible for Schools, he edited, with commentary, The Acts of The Apostles, Chapters I–XIV in The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (J. J. S. Perowne, Gen. Ed., Cambridge: University Press, 1879, p. 147). The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges is a biblical commentary set published in parts by Cambridge University Press. Lumby is obviously not King James Only, but he gives the following reason why the King James translators chose to keep the word “Easter” in Acts 12:4 – And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.

intending after Easter (the Passover)] The rendering “Easter” is an attempt to give by an English word the notion of the whole feast. That this meaning and not the single day of the Paschal feast is intended by the Greek seems clear from the elaborate preparation made, as for a longer imprisonment than was the rule among the Jews. Peter was arrested at the commencement of the Passover feast (14th of Nisan), and the king’s intention was to proceed to sentence and punish him when the feast was at an end on the 21st of Nisan.

Inspiration, Preservation

Online at Baptist discussion sites, I find a sad and constant drumbeat that tends to dull confidence in the Bible. Only the autographs are inspired, and we don’t have the autographs. From there every trail is followed to show differences in translations, differences in original language texts, anything that makes for intriguing and infinite debate. Like the Athenians, some new thing is constantly sought (Acts 17:21).

Perhaps we should take our cue from what the New Testament scriptures say about the Old Testament scriptures, rather than our much learning which may make us mad. The New Testament tell us that the scriptures were given by inspiration (2 Timothy 3:16). The scriptures they had are authoritative and profitable, whether they were original copies or not (e.g. Acts 17:11; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; 2 Timothy 3:15-17). Not knowing the Scriptures is to err (Matthew 22:29). They asked, what do the scriptures say (Romans 4:3). They began with the scriptures and preached (Acts 8:35). There is no worrying and debating with endless conjectures on whether only the autographs were inspired or whether they still existed. Our current common approach chips away at and undermines the scriptures.

Studying the scriptures to find the truth is honorable. Criticizing, not so much! Rather than looking at the scriptures to find fault, let us look in the mirror of God’s word to see our own faults (James 1:22-24).

Popular Songs in the J. L. White Sacred Harp

The following is a list of popular songs unique to the J. L. White Sacred Harp Book. These are songs that were not in the Sacred Harp books edited by W. M. Cooper and J. S. James – though, because of their popularity and because the book was difficult to find, several of them were added to the Cooper Revision in 1992. We Sacred Harp singers in Texas did not use this book in my lifetime, but I have sung from it in other places. I have compiled this list in consultation with singers in areas where it was used more often (Sand Mountain, Alabama; Decatur, Georgia; Hoboken, Georgia; and north central Mississippi). Some of the songs are popular in local areas, while many are popular in all these areas.

These are not all the songs that are popular; there are many others. However, many of those are the songs common to the 19th century Sacred Harp editions, and the current revisions of Cooper (2012) and Denson (1991).

• New York Tune, p. 38a
• Georgia, p. 54a
• Paris, p. 55a
• Nearer Home, p. 60
• Solon, p. 91b
• Noah’s Dove, p. 264b
• I Will Arise, p. 317
• Harman, p. 389a
• Brown, p. 478a
• Fleming, p. 484a
• Trusting, p. 486a
• Manoah, p. 487a
• Lisbon, p. 487b
• All-Saints, p. 490b
• Just For a Day, 491a
• Jesus Died for Me, p. 491b
• Love At Home, p. 492
• Don’t Grieve Your Mother, p. 494
• Mother, Tell Me of the Angels, p. 495
• Mary, p. 498a
• Poyner, p. 503
• The Love of God, p. 504
• Roll On, Dark Stream, p. 505
• Laurel Hill, p. 507
• The Better Country, p. 508a
• Ostend, p. 509
• We Will Gather Sheaves for Jesus, p. 510
• Willie, p. 511
• Pray On, p. 512
• Happy Day, p. 513
• Gone to Rest, p. 515
• Not Made with Hands, p. 517
• Land of Beulah, p. 519
• Gospel Waves, p. 526
• Lady, Touch Thy Harp Again, p.527
• It is Well with My Soul, p. 540
• The Hebrew Children, p. 542
• Alone, p. 543a
• Zion, p. 544a
• Just As I Am, p. 545a
• Sessions, p. 547a
• Evening Song, p. 26 (back of book)

Some of these songs appeared first in The New Sacred Harp of 1884, J. L. White and B. F. White, Jr. John Plunkett has pointed me to the J. L. White Book singing at Lookout Mountain, March 16, 2008.

Sacred Harp Cousins

Two important individuals to the “J. L. White Book” tradition of The Sacred Harp after the death of James Landrum White were cousins Sam C. Mann and Mary B. Lloyd White. Mary was J. L.’s daughter. The rights to the book may have passed to her; at the least she was the one from whom the book was ordered. Sam, son of J. L.’s sister Mallie, appears to have been after J. L.’s death the most active leader in promoting the book and the singings from it.

Lloyd, Mary Burdette White (1888–October 2, 1946) was the only daughter of J. L. White and Mary Melinda Clarke. She married Ewell Kenneth Lloyd (1894–1954) sometime between 1920 and 1930. Fourth Edition Sacred Harp books – probably printed in the 1930s or later – advises purchasers to “Address All Orders To” M. White Lloyd, 2199 Woodland Ave NE, Atlanta, Ga. City directories show that Mary lived on Woodland Avenue at least 1933-1936.[i] The book rights passed from J. L. to Mary. She “periodically has reprints made” – according to an anonymous Atlanta reporter in 1937 – and “the last two years have shown an increase in that demand…” Mrs. Lloyd may have been responsible for the last printing in 1946, the year she died. Mary and her husband are buried at the Westview Cemetery in Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/156170414/mary-burdette-lloyd

“Mrs. E. K. Lloyd Dies; Funeral Rites Today,” The Atlanta Constitution, Thursday, October 3, 1946, p. 24

Mann, Samuel Chupp (February 24, 1882–April 23, 1958) was the son of Wesley Brown Mann (q.v.) and Thurza Melvina “Mallie” White. He was born in DeKalb County, Georgia. He was a grandson of John J. Mann and Mary R Harper, of Griffin County, Georgia. He married Maude Stephens Smith, January 23, 1907 in Fulton County. Sam and Maud had six known children. He was a member of Calvary Baptist Church.[ii] He died in Fulton County and is buried at the Greenwood Cemetery, Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia. Sam’s obituary says that he was a 40-year member of Electrical Workers Local No. 84, and was a cable splicer for Georgia Power Company. Songwriter R. F. M. Mann was his uncle. S. C. Mann was not a composer, but he served on the revision committees in 1910 and 1911, and was one of the chief promoters of the “White book” after the death of J. L. White. He served many times as an officer of the B. F. White Interstate Convention. The Atlanta Constitution quotes Mann as saying, “We sing for what we can get out of it—the inspiration and religious environment…Once we get the spirit and inspiration of the hymn, there is no stopping. We are just carried along.”

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=88271638

“150 Voices Blend in Dixie Sing,” The Atlanta Constitution, Sunday, September 11, 1949, p. 2-A

”Samuel C. Mann,” The Atlanta Constitution, Thursday, April 24, 1958, p. 37

“200 Sacred Harp Singers Convene,” The Atlanta Constitution, Saturday, August 14, 1937, p. 7

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[i] She may have been there at the time of her death, though her obituary gives 2199 Stephen Long Dr NE instead of 2199 Woodland Ave NE.

[ii] Presumably the same Calvary Baptist Church where the White Book Convention met before moving to the Fulton County Courthouse in 1925.

Let us be glad and rejoice

“Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.” Revelation 19:7

We want two things to take us to heaven; a title to it, and a meetness for it. Our only title to heaven is the blood and righteousness of the Son of God— that blood which “cleanseth from all sin,” and that righteousness which “justifies us from all things from which we could not be justified by the law of Moses.” Nothing unclean or defiled can enter heaven. This is God’s own testimony: “There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Rev. 21:27).

But besides the title, there must be also a meetness for this heavenly city, according to the words of the apostle: “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light” (Col. 1:12). Whilst here below, then, we must learn to sing some notes of that joyous anthem which will issue in full, uninterrupted harmony from the hearts and lips of the redeemed in the realms above, when that glorious company will ever cry, “Alleluia! Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power unto the Lord our God.” If we are to sit down among those blessed ones who are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb, not only must we be “arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints,” but we must have had “the kingdom of God, which is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost” (Rom. 14:17), set up in our hearts.

J .C. Philpot (1802-1869)

Alone, all alone

The words and music of Alone were written by Thomas Willard Loftin. As best I can tell, the song first appeared in J. L. White’s revision of The Sacred Harp in 1909 on page 206 (new/second section). It is found on page 543a in The Sacred Harp, Fourth Edition with Supplement (1911/2007). Alone was added to the Deason-Parris Revision of The Christian Harmony (aka Alabama Book) in 1958, on page 261b. It appears in The Christian Harmony (2010 Combined Edition), also on page 261b.

The meter contains 8 syllables per line in four-line stanzas. Since the stress is irregular, it is probably best labeled P.M. (Particular Meter; that is, Iambic Long Meter or Anapestic 8s hymns will not fit well with this tune).

T. W. Loftin died in 1967 at age 93, and is buried at the Magnolia Cemetery in DeFuniak Springs, Walton County, Florida.

1. Father’s gone and left me alone,

No father's hand to guide my feet;

No father’s arm to lean upon,

In the silent tomb, father sleeps.

2. Mother too has left me alone,

No mother now to kiss my cheek;

No mother’s breast to learn upon,

In the silent tomb, mother sleeps.

3. O mine eyes with tear drops are dimmed,

My heart is bleeding now and torn;

O all my joys have passed away,

And I cannot here longer stay.

I really like this song. It is sentimental in nature, so not applicable for church worship services. However, it is enjoyable in private and social singing and may be appropriate for memorials, memorial lessons, or as a funeral song. I have not found the words of this hymn online, neither a recording of the song.