1. Come, thou long-expected Jesus,
Born to set thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in thee.
Israel's strength and consolation,
Hope of all the earth thou art;
Dear desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.
2. Born thy people to deliver,
Born a child and yet a King,
Born to reign in us forever,
Now thy gracious kingdom bring.
By thine own eternal spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone;
By thine all sufficient merit,
Raise us to thy glorious throne.
By Charles Wesley, Hymns for the Nativity of Our Lord
“Ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein.” Caveat lector
Translate
Sunday, May 31, 2020
Friday, May 29, 2020
In other words, mauvais ton & mazel tov
- antelucan, adjective. Of, belonging to, or occurring in the hours just before dawn.
- awfulize, verb, intransitive. To class as awful or terrible.
- begrudgery, noun. Envy or resentment of another’s success, happiness, wealth, etc.; reluctance to give praise or show admiration.
- bukateria, noun. A roadside restaurant or street stall with a seating area, selling cooked food at low prices.
- cloudy, adjective. Full of or overcast by clouds; having little or no sunshine; of or like a cloud or clouds; pertaining to clouds.
- hendecad, noun. A group, set, or series of eleven things; especially, a period of eleven years. Formerly, the number eleven (obsolete).
- mauvais ton, adjective. Unacceptable in certain circles or polite society.
- mazel tov, interjection. A Jewish phrase expressing congratulations or wishing someone good luck.
- muscose, adjective. Of the nature of or resembling moss; mosslike.
- saturnine, adjective and noun. In regard to a person’s temperament, mood, or manner: gloomy, melancholy, dejected, downcast, grim; not easily enlivened, enthused, or cheered; (in early use) ill-tempered, angry.
- sidereal, adjective. Resembling, characteristic of, or reminiscent of a star or starlight; starlike; esp. lustrous, bright, shining; splendid, outstanding.
- simony, noun. The buying or selling of ecclesiastical or spiritual benefits; esp. the sale or purchase of preferment or office in the church. Also sometimes more generally: trading in sacred things.
- sub voce, adverb. As a direction in a text: under the word or heading given (abbreviated s.v.).
- thwart, verb (used with object). To oppose successfully; prevent from accomplishing a purpose; to frustrate or baffle (a plan, purpose, etc.).
- yark, noun. A sharp blow with a whip, hand, or other object; a stroke, a lash. Also: the sound of a sharp blow; a crack; a thud.
Tuesday, May 26, 2020
Cultural Accounting, 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.
- Chicago blocks church parking lots to enforce stay-at-home order -- “City police prevented cars from parking at Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church as people gathered for its Sunday evening service...”
- Clergy, scientists grapple with thoughts of worship without congregational singing -- “Hearing of Eaton’s warning and the more general notion of not singing when people regather in pews, the Rev. Boise Kimber responded that it was a nonstarter for a predominantly black church like his in New Haven, Connecticut.”
- Cultural Accounting -- “These drawings—many attributed to the Kiowa—were originally bound in an account ledger and dated 1840–1895.”
- Disease Mitigation Measures in the Control of Pandemic Influenza -- “No model, no matter how accurate its epidemiologic assumptions, can illuminate or predict the secondary and tertiary effects of particular disease mitigation measures.”
- Does This CDC Study Deliver the Knockout Blow in the COVID Lockdown Debate? -- “Most people are more likely to wind up six feet under because of almost anything else under the sun other than COVID-19.”
- Firmly Rooted -- The Stark family lumber empire of Orange forged cultural destinations that offer art, history and nature.”
- For Years, an East Texas Carpenter Has Been Building a Gothic Contraption of Decks and Spikes in a Historic Square -- “Right across from the courthouse, wrapping around and atop a modest single-story 1935 home on Broadway Street, lies something genuinely perplexing...”
- Go Ask Alice -- “What happened to the ballot box that saved Lyndon Johnson’s career?”
- My Hometown: Henderson Holds Tightly to Its History -- “A former middle school art teacher, Smith leads local history tours, dons period attire for the Heritage Syrup Festival, and sings in the annual East Texas Sacred Harp Singing Convention...”
- New antibody study is strong evidence that the lockdown strategy is the wrong course -- “The answer to these questions has devastating implications for the lockdown strategy employed by Western governments in combating the spread of COVID-19, as opposed to the balanced approach of most Asian countries.”
- Senators Call On DOJ to Investigate Planned Parenthood for Fraud -- “...dozens of Planned Parenthood affiliates had applied for and received a total of about $80 million in forgivable loans from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), established by the CARES Act for small-business relief, despite the fact that Congress explicitly excluded nonprofit organizations set up as affiliates...”
- Spirits of Seguin -- “I’d heard that Seguin’s Magnolia Hotel is one ghostly getaway where eerie encounters are a nightly occurrence, so I decided to see for myself.”
- The 2006 Origins of the Lockdown Idea -- “At least now we know that many great doctors and scholars in 2006 did their best to stop this nightmare from unfolding. Their mighty paper should serve as a blueprint for dealing with the next pandemic.”
- What do coins on military tombstones mean? -- “A coin left on a headstone lets the deceased soldier's family know that somebody stopped by to pay their respects.”
- Why Didn’t the 1958 and 1918 Pandemics Destroy the Economy? Hint: It’s the Lockdowns -- “Adjusted for population size, [the COVID-19 pandemic] comes out to a mortality rate of 272 per million. This is (so far) less than half the mortality rate for the 1957–58 flu pandemic.”
- Why Those COVID-19 Models Aren't Real Science -- “...too many people in high places, in government and the media, have been acting as if there is a right and moral policy toward the pandemic that applies throughout America.”
Monday, May 25, 2020
Happy Memorial Day
...with special honor to those who had to study the art of war.
I could fill Volumes with Descriptions of Temples and Palaces, Paintings, Sculptures, Tapestry, Porcelaine, &c. &c. &c. -- if I could have time. But I could not do this without neglecting my duty. The Science of Government it is my Duty to study, more than all other Sciences: the Art of Legislation and Administration and Negotiation, ought to take Place, indeed to exclude in a manner all other Arts. I must study Politicks and War that my sons may have liberty to study Mathematicks and Philosophy. My sons ought to study Mathematicks and Philosophy, Geography, natural History, Naval Architecture, navigation, Commerce and Agriculture, in order to give their Children a right to study Painting, Poetry, Musick, Architecture, Statuary, Tapestry and Porcelaine.Excerpt from a letter from then ambassador (later president) John Adams in Paris, France to his wife Abigail Adams, May 12, 1780
Sunday, May 24, 2020
Home Above
Galatians 4:26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
The first hymn is found in The Sacred Harp. It appears with Home Above, a tune by J. L. Hinton, No. 441b in The Sacred Harp, 1870. This common meter text is unattributed.
Home Above
Oh for a light to guide my feet
In heav’n’s alluring way,
To that celestial bright retreat,
Where smiles can ne’er decay.
Eternal Father, Shine around
And spread thy silken love,
And flit all o’er this spacious mound,
To bring us home above.
This following hymn is credited to Elder Aaron Brooks Whatley in The Pilgrim’s Hymnal by W. H. Crouse in 1908. It has the same first line, but is not the same hymn as the one in The Sacred Harp.
Prayer and Praise
O for a light to guide my feet,
While in this world below;
And in my Saviour be complete,
His love and mercy know.
O may he guide me in his truth,
His grace to me impart;
His righteousness to me impute,
Dwell richly in my heart.
By faith I’ll mount on eagle’s wings,
And soar away on high;
My Saviour’s love and mercy sing,
With rapture till I die.
Then from this world I’ll take my flight,
To reign with Christ above;
And wear a robe of spotless white,
With the redeemed in love.
The first hymn is found in The Sacred Harp. It appears with Home Above, a tune by J. L. Hinton, No. 441b in The Sacred Harp, 1870. This common meter text is unattributed.
Home Above
Oh for a light to guide my feet
In heav’n’s alluring way,
To that celestial bright retreat,
Where smiles can ne’er decay.
Eternal Father, Shine around
And spread thy silken love,
And flit all o’er this spacious mound,
To bring us home above.
This following hymn is credited to Elder Aaron Brooks Whatley in The Pilgrim’s Hymnal by W. H. Crouse in 1908. It has the same first line, but is not the same hymn as the one in The Sacred Harp.
Prayer and Praise
O for a light to guide my feet,
While in this world below;
And in my Saviour be complete,
His love and mercy know.
O may he guide me in his truth,
His grace to me impart;
His righteousness to me impute,
Dwell richly in my heart.
By faith I’ll mount on eagle’s wings,
And soar away on high;
My Saviour’s love and mercy sing,
With rapture till I die.
Then from this world I’ll take my flight,
To reign with Christ above;
And wear a robe of spotless white,
With the redeemed in love.
Friday, May 22, 2020
Baptists as Orthodox Radicals, and other review links
The posting of book reviews does not constitute endorsement of the books or book reviews that are linked.
- A Review of Dr. Yarnell’s “Who Is The Holy Spirit? Biblical Insights into His Divine Person.” -- “Dr. Yarnell was also motivated by the lack of material written about the person of the Holy Spirit as opposed to the work of the Holy Spirit.”
- Baptists as Orthodox Radicals -- “At any rate, Bingham’s argument is well-documented, demonstrating from the primary sources that the ‘Baptists’ conceived of themselves as travelers along the ‘Congregational way’.”
- Book Review: Calm, Cool, and Connected -- “It’s timely in arriving on the scene of a society that finds it more real to interact online than in person.”
- Book Review: Eve in Exile, by Rebekah Merkle -- “This isn’t a biblical theology of women or a treatise on marriage; Merkle addresses women in the canonical context of the Bible’s storyline, but her focus is on how wives and mothers should live in our cultural moment.”
- History of the Donatists [Book Review] -- “The Donatists serve as yet another reminder of the great cost paid in blood to live according to truth and worship God freely.”
- Nominal Christianity—Not Complementarianism—Leads to Abuse -- “While churchgoing conservative Protestant men register the lowest rates of domestic violence, it turns out that the opposite is true of nominal conservative Protestant men—that is, men who identify as ‘conservative Protestant’ but do not attend church.”
- Paul and His Letters -- “Each chapter ends with a judicious bibliography, while detailed end-notes demonstrate familiarity with a broad swath of secondary literature, most of it quite recent.”
- Review: The Count of Monte Cristo -- “...though I rooted for Dantès when he was the David, I couldn’t find myself liking him or believing him when he was the all-powerful Goliath, the Count of Monte Cristo.”
Wednesday, May 20, 2020
Ravi Zacharias Dies, 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.
- Code Review of Ferguson’s Model -- “All papers based on this code should be retracted immediately.”
- Coronavirus in Mississippi: Now is the time to reimagine approach to education -- “For years, we have been calling for the tearing down of the barriers that resist innovation in education.”
- Dear Media, Governor Kemp Will Accept Your Apology Now -- “Georgia is proving with measured and careful steps forward we absolutely can do two things at once.”
- Did singing together spread coronavirus to four choirs? -- “The evidence for a link with singing and spreading the virus may look compelling but is still anecdotal. Without data from comparably large groups who interacted in the same way but didn’t sing, it’s hard to be certain that the singing was responsible.”
- Director of Roe v. Wade film: ‘I cared about telling the truth of this story’ -- “Almost 50 percent of the film's dialogue is verbatim from letters, speeches, and court transcripts.”
- God’s Calling on Men to Be Protectors -- “Complementarianism is being taken to task as feeding abuse. I think that is dead wrong.”
- Here’s why the media is ignoring the obvious facts and pushing the ‘stay at home forever’ narrative -- “There’s still a belief that bad news sells.”
- Is Congregational Singing Dangerous? -- “...I am a worship pastor in a local church. While I do not have have medical training, this article has been written in consultation with medical professionals.”
- Ken Osmond, Eddie Haskell on 'Leave It to Beaver,' dies at 76 -- “He was an incredibly kind and wonderful father. He had his family gathered around him when he passed. He was loved and will be very missed.”
- <Ravi Zacharias Dies of Cancer -- “Earlier this year, doctors discovered a malignant tumor on Zacharias’s sacrum as he underwent back surgery.”
- Response to an AP Reporter on the Relationship of Faith and Science -- “I don’t believe there can be a real conflict between God’s two books of nature and scripture; the conflict lies in our interpretation of the same.”
- The Crucifixion: Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday? -- “The exact day of the week of Christ’s death has been debated for centuries.” (not that I agree)
- The fallen state of experts -- “Daniel Defoe complained of the ‘calculators’ and ‘quack-conjurers’ whose fear-mongering ‘kept up their trade’ in London’s plague year of 1665.”
- The Truth about Marijuana -- “Tell your kids not to dabble. Marijuana isn’t a harmless drug.”
- Unhitching Jesus -- “Andy Stanley may have good intentions...Unfortunately his attempts may be creating unnecessary distinctions that weaken the foundation of our faith.”
Monday, May 18, 2020
The Real “Race” Issue
The Real “Race” Issue
SPIRITUALLY, there are only two races — the children of Adam and the regenerated children of God. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). The supreme “race issue” is whether we belong to the once-born or the twice-born. There is not much excitement about this issue, but it is the only one that will matter in eternity.Vance Havner, 1901-1986
Saturday, May 16, 2020
If I have seen further, 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.)
“If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.” -- Isaac Newton
“I never will vote for a sermon that has not the slightest perfume of the Rose of Sharon.” -- Robert Patterson
“We are too prone to regard only one of God’s attributes—his mercy; forgetting that he was infinite in them all – his justice as well as his mercy.” -- Robert Patterson
“A place for everything, everything in its place.” -- Benjamin Franklin
“Though we ought to reverence the blessed Bible above all other books, yet we may not worship it, but the Author of it only.” -- Increase Mather
“Excellent research is a team sport.” -- Heather Nelson
“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart.” -- Helen Keller
“We ought to bring nothing of our own when we worship God, but we ought to depend always on the Word of His mouth.” -- John Calvin
“Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, you ought to set up a life you don’t need to escape from.” -- Seth Godin
“A true love for God must begin with a delight in His holiness, and not with a delight in any other attribute; for no other attribute is truly lovely without this.” -- Jonathan Edwards
“If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.” -- Isaac Newton
“I never will vote for a sermon that has not the slightest perfume of the Rose of Sharon.” -- Robert Patterson
“We are too prone to regard only one of God’s attributes—his mercy; forgetting that he was infinite in them all – his justice as well as his mercy.” -- Robert Patterson
“A place for everything, everything in its place.” -- Benjamin Franklin
“Though we ought to reverence the blessed Bible above all other books, yet we may not worship it, but the Author of it only.” -- Increase Mather
“Excellent research is a team sport.” -- Heather Nelson
“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart.” -- Helen Keller
“We ought to bring nothing of our own when we worship God, but we ought to depend always on the Word of His mouth.” -- John Calvin
“Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, you ought to set up a life you don’t need to escape from.” -- Seth Godin
“A true love for God must begin with a delight in His holiness, and not with a delight in any other attribute; for no other attribute is truly lovely without this.” -- Jonathan Edwards
Thursday, May 14, 2020
Addenda to the R. E. Browns
Brown, Reuben Ellis, Sr.
on May 13, 1861, already in an advanced age, enrolled in Company B of Captain
James R. Arnold’s Company of Texas Infantry Riflemen, at Nacogdoches, Texas. He
ranked as a private, and served as a chaplain. He died in Galveston, Texas in
February of 1864. Thomas Rogers McCrorey (1838–1902), of Company E of 20th
Texas Infantry, Elmore’s Regiment, on February 23, 1864, was detailed to carry
the remains of Brown back to Polk County, Texas for burial. They encased his
body in lime for the trip. The exact location of burial is now unknown. Of
Reuben E. Brown, Sr., W. L. Andrews wrote, “Among other accomplishments, he was
a noted vocalist. He had a splendid voice, full, rounded, rich and he had
trained it well, and by his good singing as well as preaching he always
attracted large crowds wherever he appeared.” According to one newspaper
account, R. E. Brown, Sr. wrote a song during the War of 1812, which began “Come,
all ye tempered hearts of steel—come quite your flocks and farms.” It was later
repurposed as a Civil War song. See also Makers
of The Sacred Harp, p. 92.
333 Family Circle
Brown, Reuben Ellis, Jr.
(1827–December 7, 1891) was the son of Reuben Ellis (Sr.) and Elizabeth Brown. R.
E. Brown, Jr. married first Hester Marshall, circa 1848 and married second Mrs.
Nancy A. Johnson, July 12, 1864. He “died at his home a mile from Clayton on
Monday at 2 o’clock a.m. He had been sick for three or four week, and died from
the effects of old age and disease. He was a well known character is our midst
and highly respected by those who knew him.” He was buried at or near Clayton,
in Barbour County, Alabama, but the exact location is unknown. R. E. Brown, Jr.
lived in southeast Alabama. He sang with some whose names would become a
recognizable part of Sacred Harp history, such as D. C. Allen, T. J. Allen, W.
M. Cooper, Jas. T. Hollan, J. M. C. Shaw (revisers and promoters of the Cooper
book), and Z. E. Blocker (a member of the J. L. White revision committee,
q.v.). The respect accorded Brown can be seen in his lesson at Dean’s in June
1891, a few months before his death – “Reuben E. Brown, Jr. whose time was
unlimited.” See also Makers of The Sacred
Harp, p. 93.
392 Converting Grace
Tuesday, May 12, 2020
Abortionist admits, 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.
- Abortionist admits he’s limited to ‘no set period’ in unearthed video -- “Boyd says it’s his ‘calling’ to provide ‘full-range, first, second, and third-trimester’ abortion services.”
- Amash Announces Exploratory Committee to Run for President on Libertarian Ticket -- “We’re ready for a presidency that will restore respect for our Constitution and bring people together.”
- Do Lockdowns Save Many Lives? In Most Places, the Data Say No -- “The speed with which officials shuttered the economy appears not to be a factor in Covid deaths.”
- John Gill on the Johannine Comma -- “...God preserves His word through copying and duplicating it, not by preserving the original.”
- Leading Democrats Stand Behind Biden After Sexual-Assault Allegation -- “Women seen on presumptive presidential nominee’s running-mate shortlist undeterred by former Senate staffer’s claims.”
- New York vs Texas: NY Has Nearly 50 Times More COVID-19 Deaths Per Capita -- “No conclusions can be drawn about the states that sheltered quickly, because their death rates ran the full gamut, from 20 per million in Oregon to 360 in New York.”
- Politicians Are Locking Us Down Because Overdoing It Doesn’t Cost Them Anything -- “Draconian and unsupported restrictions on Americans are not necessarily an exercise in ambition, but vanity: politicians absolutely must look like a leader at all costs.”
- Three Historic Theologians on the Johannine Comma -- “It has become popular today for those who deny the authenticity of the Johannine Comma (1 John 5:7) to speak condescendingly of those who believe it is inspired...”
Monday, May 11, 2020
A Light-house at the Harbour
“But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.” Hebrews 10:39
The Scriptures have brought certain marks not only to test, but also to comfort God’s people. But in order to keep them tremblingly alive to the fear of being deceived; in order to set up an effectual beacon lest their vessel should run upon the rocks, the blessed Spirit has revealed such passages as we find in the sixth and tenth chapters of the Hebrews. They seem set up by the Spirit of God as a light-house at the entrance of a harbour. Is it not so naturally? Some shoal or sand-bank often lies near the entrance of a port, which the mariner has to guard against. How is he guarded? A light-house is erected on or near the spot, which warns him of the shoal.J. C. Philpot (1802-1869)
Friday, May 08, 2020
J. L. White Sacred Harp Book Singing
John Plunkett has pointed me to the following J. L. White Book Sacred Harp Singing whose audio is available online:
Thanks John, Bobby Watkins, and Nathan Rees.
Thanks John, Bobby Watkins, and Nathan Rees.
Thursday, May 07, 2020
All is well
At Baptist
News, opinion writer Kate Hanch asks, “Amid this pandemic, can we say
with Julian of Norwich, ‘All shall be well’?” I say yes, and not only, “All shall be well,” but with the text used
by J. T. White in his Sacred Harp song on page 122, “All is well.”
In Christ:
If this be sickness, all is well.
If this be death, all is well.
If this be life, all is well.
For to me to live is Christ, and
to die is gain. Philippians 1:12
Tuesday, May 05, 2020
My God, the spring of all my joys
Perkins, E. A. probably is Edward A.
Perkins, son of John Perkins and Mary Bassett, born March 1834 in Ohio. In 1840 & 1850
the family was in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, and in Pepin County, Wisconsin in
1860. Perkins worked in treasury department, living in Washington, DC in 1880.
He appears in the Multnomah County, Oregon censuses, living in Portland in
1900, 1910, and 1920. However, he was in Hudson, New Jersey, living with
Stephen and Grace Anderson (his daughter) during the 1905 New Jersey state
census. His occupation that year is “composer.” The tune Solon appears at least as early as 1857 in The Jubilee: an Extensive Collection of
Church Music (William B. Bradbury, New York, NY: Mason Brothers,
1857, p. 158) credited to E. A. Perkins. Perkins also has a tune named Menona in that book. In 1857 he produced
The Western Bell: a Collection of Glees,
Quartetts and Choruses, with Frederick
H. Pease (Boston, MA: Oliver Ditson & Co., 1857). Edward A.
Perkins wrote the words and music of The
Soldier’s Dream Of Home, sheet music published in 1858 (Boston: Oliver
Ditson & Co, 1858). Some of Perkins’s songs appear in the New York Musical Review and Gazette; one
attribution locates him in Lyons, New York in 1856. School Chimes: a New School Music Book (James R. Murray, Cleveland,
OH: S. Brainard’s Sons, 1874) includes three songs by Edward A. Perkins
“Composed for this work.” He may be the same Edward Perkins who died
January 22, 1922, in Portland, Oregon.
Solon is found
on page 91b of 1911 The Sacred Harp,
Fourth Edition with Supplement, and was on 91b in the new section of The Sacred Harp, Fifth Edition
in 1909. The song uses two stanzas of Isaac Watts’s hymn “God’s presence is
light in darkness.”
My God, the spring of all my joys,
The life of my delights,
The glory of my brightest days,
And Comfort of my nights!
In darkest shades, if thou appear,
My dawning is begun,
Thou art my soul’s bright morning star,
And thou my rising sun.
Monday, May 04, 2020
Dissolve a heart of stone
“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.” Titus 3:5
With softening pity look,
And melt my hardness down,
Strike with thy love’s resistless stroke,
And break this heart of stone!
Charles Wesley, Hymn 102, in A Collection of Hymns, for the Use of the People Called Methodists
To view mercy in its real character, we must go to Calvary. It is not sufficient to contrast the purity of God with the impurity of man. That indeed affords us some view of what mercy must be to reach the depths of the fall; a sideface of that precious attribute. But to see its full face shining upon the redeemed, we must go by faith, under the secret teachings and leadings of the Holy Ghost, to see “Immanuel, God with us,” groveling in Gethsemane’s garden. We must view him naked upon the cross, groaning, bleeding, agonizing, dying. We must view Godhead and manhood united together in the Person of a suffering Jesus; and the power of the Godhead bearing up the suffering manhood. We must view that wondrous spectacle of love and blood, and feel our eyes flowing down in streams of sorrow, humility, and contrition at the sight, in order to enter a little into the depths of the tender mercy of God. Nothing but this can really break the sinner’s heart.
“Law and terrors do but harden,
All the while they work alone;
But a sense of blood-bought pardon
Soon dissolves a heart of stone.”
Law terrors, death and judgment, infinite purity, and eternal vengeance will not soften or break a sinner’s heart. But if he is led to view a suffering Immanuel, and a sweet testimony is raised up in his conscience that those sufferings were for him—this, and this only will break his heart all to pieces. Thus, only by bringing a sweet sense of love and blood into his heart does the blessed Spirit shew a sinner some of the depths of the tender mercy of God.J. C. Philpot (1802-1869)
With softening pity look,
And melt my hardness down,
Strike with thy love’s resistless stroke,
And break this heart of stone!
Charles Wesley, Hymn 102, in A Collection of Hymns, for the Use of the People Called Methodists
Sunday, May 03, 2020
The Better Country
The
Better Country is a song found on page 508 in The Sacred Harp, Fourth
Edition with Supplement. The words are by Rev. C. W. Ray (probably Charles
Walker Ray, a Baptist pastor in New York and Philadelphia who wrote a number of hymns) and the music by John R. Bryant. Bryant wrote other tunes in J. L. White, including Walden (p. 488a, first printed in The Musical Million, and also in Union Harp and History of Songs on page 126). According to J. S. James, Bryant was born in 1861 in Newton County, Georgia, married Mamie (actually Minnie) Johnson in 1885, studied music under R. M. McIntosh, and was living in Atlanta, Georgia at the time James wrote the bio. He died the next year. The Lifeboat, 162 in Union Harp, was originally arranged by Bryant, but arranged by S. M. & T. J. Denson.
With L. L. Pickett and M. W. Knapp, Bryant was a compiler of Tears and Triumphs circa 1896.
1. O better country far away,
In fadeless beauty dressed,
Where toil-worn pilgrims soon shall lay
Their burdens down and rest.
No dreaded plague nor artful foe,
Their presence there invades;
Delights untold they each shall know,
In thy embow’ring shades.
2. O city fair, thy gates for me,
Thy king shall soon unfold;
Within thy courts I soon shall be,
And walk the streets of gold.
We now the dawn of glory know,
We sight the distant towers.
We catch the fragrance here below,
From thy celestial bow’rs.
3. O better country far away,
Whose glories one can tell,
Who would on earth forever stay,
Or weep to say farewell.
I soon shall reach the mansions blest,
From sin and sorrow free;
To kindred hearts we shall be press’d
Friday, May 01, 2020
Born in Burton-upon-Trent, died in South Carolina
Greatorex,
Henry Wellington
(December 24, 1813–September 10, 1858) was born in Burton-upon-Trent in
England. He was the son of Thomas Greatorex, an organist of Westminster Abbey
and from whom Henry received his musical education. Henry was an organist at
St. Mary-le-bone Church in London before going to the United States in 1839. He
served in churches in New York City, Hartford, Conn., and Charleston, S.C. as
an organist. He was married twice and had several children. His second wife was
Eliza Pratt (1819–1897), an artist who acquired a reputation through her
pen-and-ink sketches. Greatorex died in Charleston of yellow fever, and is
buried at Saint Philips Episcopal Church Cemetery, Charleston, Charleston
County, South Carolina. The tune Manoah
first appeared in Henry W. Greatorex’s Collection
of Church Music, published in 1851, which included 37 of his tunes and
arrangements. In the Bible, Manoah is the father of Samson, and is probably the
source of the title.It is often disputed whether the tune Manoah is derived from a theme
Gioacchino A. Rossini or Francis Joseph Haydn. The Sacred Harp, Fourth Edition, includes the note “From Rossini”. Other
tunes by Greatorex include Bemerton,
Grostete, Leighton, and Seymour.
487a Manoah
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