I often say my prayers

As a people who are taught to “come boldly unto the throne of grace” and “pray without ceasing,” we often may be weighed and found wanting when it comes to open, honest, sincere, continual prayer. The following hymn by John Burton investigates and questions the “heart” of our prayers.

The following hymn was possibly first published in The Union Hymn Book for the Use of Sunday Schools (Bath Sunday School Union,1840). The text below is as it appears in A Book of Praise for Home and School, compiled by Samuel D. Major (published initially in 1869, No. 237).

1. I often say my prayers;
But do I ever pray?
And do the wishes of my heart
Go with the words I say?

2. I may as well kneel down
And worship gods of stone,
As offer to the living God
A prayer of words alone.

3. For words without the heart
The Lord will never hear;
Nor will he to those lips attend
Whose prayers are not sincere.

4. Lord, teach me what I want
And teach me how to pray;
Nor let me ask thee for thy grace,
Not feeling what I say.

The Child’s Hymn Book (F. M. Caulkins, editor. New York, NY: American Tract Society, n.d. [ca. 1840-1850] includes Burton’s hymn under the title “How to Pray aright” (No. 176, 3 stanzas) with the following stanza that does not appear in Major’s Book of Praise for Home and School.[i]

’Tis useless to implore
Unless I feel my need—
Unless ’tis from a sense of want
That all my prayers proceed.

John Burton Jr. was born July 23, 1803, in Stratford, West Ham, Essex, England. The designation “Jr” suggests he is the son of John Burton. John Burton died January 22, 1877, and was buried at the West Ham Cemetery.

John Burton Jr. spent most of his life in his home county where he was born, Stratford, Essex. He ran a business as a cooper for about 50 years. He served as a deacon within the Congregational Chapel he attended. He was a popular hymn writer for children – He is best remembered for his hymnody, with his first submission being to the Evangelical Magazine in 1822. Burton often wrote under the pseudonym J. B. Essex. His publications include:

• One Hundred Original Hymns for the Young, 1850
• Hymns for Little Children, 1851
• The Book of Psalms in English Verse, 1871

The hymn is in Short Meter, and has appeared with the tunes State Street, Reeves, and Gorton.

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[i] This stanza appears in other books as well, as the second stanza of the hymn. Perhaps it is an original stanza by Burton and A Book of Praise for Home and School merely left it out. I have not found enough old sources to verify that.

Perfect Peace

1. Like a river, glorious 
Is God’s perfect peace,
Over all victorious
In its bright increase.
Perfect, yet it floweth
Fuller ev’ry day,—
Perfect, yet it groweth
Deeper all the way.

2. Hidden in the hollow
Of his blessed hand,
Never foe can follow,
Never traitor stand;
Not a surge of worry,
Not a shade of care,
Not a blast of hurry,
Touch the spirit there.

3. Ev’ry joy or trial
Falleth from above,
Traced upon our dial
By the Sun of Love.
We may trust him fully
All for us to do;
They who trust him wholly
Find him wholly true.

Chorus:
Stayed upon Jehovah,
Hearts are fully blest,
Finding, as he promised,
Perfect peace and rest.

Frances Ridley Havergal was a daughter of William Henry Havergal and Jane Head. Her father was a minister in the Church of England, as well as a composer and poet. Frances was born at Astley, Worcestershire, December 14, 1836. She wrote that in 1851, “I committed my soul to the Saviour, and earth and heaven seemed brighter from that moment.” Frances experienced a great deal of suffering and frail health in her lifetime. She died at the age of forty-two at Caswell Bay, Swansea, June 3, 1879, and is buried at the Priory Church of St. Peter in Astley, Worcestershire, England.

Frances Havergal was well-educated, including mastering several languages, two of which were Greek and Hebrew. She was writing verses at a very young age, and spent much of her lifetime producing poems that expressed her deep love of her Lord Jesus Christ. One of her best-known hymns is “Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee.”

James Mountain (1844-1933) wrote the tune Perfect Peace for this hymn, which appeared as number 272 in Hymns of Consecration and Faith. James Mountain was born at Leeds, York, England, July 16, 1844. He died June 27, 1933 and it buried at Kent and Sussex Cemetery and Crematorium in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England. He composed this tune (also called Wye Valley) this text on one of the first preaching tours he made through Britain. Mountain was influenced by evangelical piety, and followed especially Dwight L. Moody and Ira Sankey in their evangelistic preaching and singing.

Calvary

Death and Eternity, by Isaac Watts

1. My thoughts, that often mount the skies,
Go search the world beneath,
Where nature all in ruin lies,
And owns her Sovereign, Death.[i]

2. The tyrant, how he triumphs here,
His trophies spread around!
And heaps of dust and bones appear
Through all the hollow ground.

3. These skulls, what ghastly figures now!
How loathsome to the eyes!
Those are the heads we lately knew
So beauteous and so wise.

4. But where the souls, those deathless things,
That left this dying clay?
My thoughts, now stretch out all your wings,
And trace Eternity!

5. O that unfathomable deep!
Those deeps without a shore!
Where living waters gently creep,
Or fiery billows roar.

6. Thus must we leave the banks of life,
And try this doubtful sea:
Vain are our groans and dying strife
To gain a moment’s stay.

7. There we shall swim in heav’nly bliss,
Or sink in flaming waves,
While the pale carcass thoughtless lies
Amongst the silent graves.

8. Some hearty friend shall drop his tear
On our dry bones, and say,
“These once were strong, as mine appear;
“And mine must be as they.”

9. Thus shall our mould’ring members teach
What now our senses learn:
For dust and ashes loudest preach
The infinite concern.

The above hymn, in 9 stanzas of common meter, was published in Horæ Lyricæ by Isaac Watts. It was not in the 1706 Edition, but was added in 1709. See Horæ Lyricæ, pages 28-30, Book 1. For a little more on Isaac Watts, see HERE. (Fuller biographies of Watts are easily found online.)

In The Sacred Harp (page 300), the fist stanza of Watts’s above text appears with the tune Calvary by Daniel Read.

Daniel Read was born November 16, 1757 in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, the son of Daniel Read and Mary White. He grew up on a farm there, but moved to and settled New Haven, New Haven County, Connecticut in 1782. Here he married Jerusha Sherman (in 1785), ran a general store, made combs, composed music, and taught singing schools. He is considered a key figure in early American music, being part of the “First New England School” of musicians –also known as the “Yankee Tunesmiths.” Various sources assert that Read was the third American composer to publish a collection of his own music, in 1785, known as The American Singing Book. Read later also published The Columbian Harmonist and The New Haven Collection of Sacred Music. He wrote in 1790 An Introduction to Psalmody to instruct and encourage hopeful new composers.

Eleven tunes by Read appear in the 1991 Denson Edition of The Sacred Harp, and five in the 2012 Cooper Edition of The Sacred Harp. Some of his best-known compositions include Windham, Stafford, and Sherburne.

Daniel Read died at age 79 on December 4, 1836. He and his wife are buried at the Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven, Connecticut.

See “Daniel Read complains, gets even” for an excerpt from a letter from Daniel Read to Jacob French in which he complains about Isaiah robbing and republishing his works in the Worcester Collection of Sacred Harmony (1786). The book Music in the USA concludes: “Ironically the ‘pirating,’ or unauthorized borrowing by other tune-book publishers, made it possible for Read’s music to survive.” For example, “‘Greenwich’ was published 82 times in Read’s own era.” (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2008, p. 73)

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[i] In the first stanza “owns” (3rd person singular present tense of “own”) seems to be used primarily in the sense of “acknowledging” or “admitting” rather than “possessing.” The searched and examined state of nature recognizes or testifies that “death” is her sovereign.

The Wheat and Tares

Another of the many hymns of John Newton, related to the parable of the wheat and tares. The hymn is Long Meter and might be sung with Long Meter tunes such as Old Hundred and Windham. 

Olney Hymns, Hymn LXXXVI. [Book I, pages106-107]

The wheat and tares. [Matthew] Chap. xiii. 37—42.

1. Tho’ in the outward church below
The wheat and tares together grow;
Jesus ere long will weed the crop,
And pluck the tares, in anger, up.

2. Will it relieve their horrors there,
To recollect their stations here?
How much they heard, how much they knew,
How long amongst the wheat they grew!

3. Oh! this will aggravate their case!
They perish’d under means of grace;
To them the word of life and faith,
Became an instrument of death.

4. We seem alike when thus we meet,
Strangers might think we all are wheat;
But to the Lord’s all–searching eyes,
Each heart appears without disguise.

5. The tares are spar’d for various ends,
Some, for the sake of praying friends;
Others, the Lord, against their will,
Employs his counsels to fulfill.
 
6. But tho’ they grow so tall and strong,
His plan will not require them long;
In harvest, when he saves his own,
The tares shall into hell be thrown.

Newton requested to following inscribed on his tombstone, which was done:

Once an infidel and libertine,
A servant of slaves in Africa,
Was by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
Preserved, restored, pardoned,
And appointed to preach the faith
He had long labored to destroy.

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Note: See “Poor Old John” for a description of an attack on this John Newton hymn.

Poor Old John

Back in September of last year, I mentioned a sad state of affairs. Leftists, liberals, and lost unbelievers asked for the keys to shape note singing, and some shape-note singing leaders gladly handed them over. In that context, I noted the “Prodigal Misgendering” of John Newton’s hymn text about “The Prodigal Son.” The prodigal son and his father are male (in the Bible both in Greek and English, Matthew 13:37-42; and in John Newton’s hymn, Olney Hymns). Nevertheless, persons who regularly complain about people misgendering others are fine with misgendering the prodigal son and his father. What is good for the goose was not good for the gander!

A fellow singer pointed out to me another song in which John Newton’s words have been attacked, altered, and adulterated. This time God is “misgendered” – changing the pronouns from “he” and “his” to “she” and “her.” The second stanza of the song is not original to Newton, but has been attached to his hymn at least as early as 1868. Curiously, while the arranger changes the gender from masculine to feminine in reference to God – he then changes when speaking of humans in the second stanza and rather chooses to use neutral terms so as not signify one gender or another. The reference to “Hell” is also removed.

The texts are presented below for comparison. In the left column is the sixth stanza of the hymn “The Wheat and Tares” by John Newton (Olney Hymns, Book I, Hymn 86), and the additional stanza (possibly by L. Hartsough).[i] The hymn as corrupted and used with the tune Wheat or Tare (Song No. 233) in the 2024 shape-note songbook The Valley Pocket Harmonist is shown in the right column (as arranged by Joshua Rush Barnett, 2020). I use strikethrough (left column) for removals from the original and yellow highlight (right column) for changes or additions.

There is an agenda to being pushed. The Valley Pocket Harmonist is helping push it.

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[i] The first stanza is by John Newton, but the second stanza was added to Newton’s hymn – possibly first in The Revivalist by Joseph Hillman and L. Hartsough (1868). L. Hartsough was the music editor of The Revivalist and the arranger of “The Wheat and Tares” on page 67. The song in The Valley Pocket Harmonist also has a chorus: For soon the reaping time will come, And angels shout the harvest home. See also The Wheat and the Tares.

The Wonderful Day - Jesus is Coming

The Wonderful Day (No. 89) was composed by Woodie W. Smith (words) and Lulu E. English (music), and copyrighted 1921 in Gospel Light: for the Church, Sunday-School, the Revival, Young People’s Meetings, Children’s Services, Conventions and the Home, by Woodie W. Smith and Joe English.

Woodie Washington Smith was a fairly prominent Baptist pastor and evangelist in his day. He also wrote many songs, both words and/or music. Smith was born August 5, 1877 in Clay County, Alabama, the son of Uriah Dekalb Smith and Sarah Frances Royster. His testimony is that he was converted at Lineville Baptist Church when he was eight years old, but he was so small the church did not receive him because they thought he did not understand what he was doing. Later (in 1895) he joined the Baptist Church at Mart, Texas upon that profession of faith.

Smith was active in singing and church music from about that time. He studied at the Allen-Bridges Normal School in 1896, and later graduated from the Southern Development Normal (S.D.N) School of Music (which was founded in Waco, Texas by Franklin Lycurgus Eiland, and others).[i] Woodie Smith felt the call to preach in 1898, during a sermon by J. M. Frost at the Baptist General Convention of Texas held in Waco – but he did not surrender to the call until several years afterward. He enrolled in Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth in 1912. He pastored the First Baptist Church in Rosenberg, Texas for three years, then entered into evangelistic work with Joseph Willis “Joe W.” English.

Woodie W. Smith married Ada Elizabeth Bates in 1899, and they had seven children. After her death, he married Eva J. Ritter of Baxter Springs, Kansas, widow of Norton Elijah Ritter. Woodie W. Smith died July 3, 1958 in Tulsa, Ollahoma. He and Ada are buried at Laurel Land - Rose Hill Memorial Park at Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas.

1. There’s a wonderful day, for the prophets all say
That the Lord in his glory shall come;
All the saints shall arise and ascend to the skies,
Evermore to be with him at home.

2. As I think of that day, I can joyfully say,
Blessed Savior, I’m ready to go;
For I’m trusting his grace, and shall look on his face,
Oh, what rapture, my Savior to know.

3. Earthly joy shall recede with its pomp and its greed,
When the light of his glory I see;
I will fall at his feet, and the story repeat,
Jesus’ blood made atonement for me.

4. Oh, that wonderful day! oh, the rapture for aye!
Oh, the marvelous love of the King!
How I long to be there, his communion to share,
And his praises forever to sing.

Chorus:
He’s coming some day, He’s coming some day,
Oh, what will it mean to you?
Shall you welcome that day, share his glory for aye,
Fellow trav’ler, oh, what will you do?

It is uncertain who is Lulu E. English, the composer of the music. It is possible “Lulu” might have been a nickname of Joe English’s mother, Louiza Elizabeth Watts English, or his daughter Louise.

Indian Citizen, Thursday, November 8, 1917, p. 1

Indian Citizen, Thursday, November 8, 1917, p. 1

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[i] Specifics about the Allen-Bridges School are unknown. Smith came to Mart, Texas in 1895, and studied at that school in 1896. It was likely located in the Mart area – possibly in Waco. The Southern Development Normal (S.D.N) School of Music, which Smith also attended, was organized in Waco, Texas by F. L. Eiland. It might be possible that “Allen” should be “Eiland” instead. Whether or not that could be, no “Eiland-Bridges School” has turned up either.

There’ll Be No Sorrow There

I woke up this morning feeling fine. I woke up with heaven on my mind. I wrote that Wednesday morning, July 22nd. It was not a rhetorical flourish, but I literally had this hymn on my mind when I awoke, particularly the chorus, “In heaven above where all is love, there’ll be no sorrow there.”

1. Oh, sing to me of heav’n,
When I am called to die,
Sing songs of holy ecstasy,
To waft my soul on high.

2. When cold and sluggish drops
Roll off my marble brow,
Burst forth in strains of joyfulness,
Let heav’n begin below.

3. When the last moments come,
Oh, watch my dying face,
And catch the bright, seraphic gleam,
Which on each feature plays.

4. Then to my ravished ear
Let one sweet song be giv’n,
Let music charm me last on earth,
And greet me first in heav’n.

5. Then close my sightless eyes,
And lay me down to rest,
And clasp my cold and icy hands
Across my peaceful breast.

6. Then ’round my senseless clay
Assemble those I love,
And sing of heav’n, delightful heav’n,
My glorious home above.

Chorus:
There’ll be no sorrow there,
There’ll be no sorrow there;
In heav’n above, where all is love,
There’ll be no sorrow there.

Additional choruses:

O may we meet in heav’n,
The Christians’ happy home;
In heav’n above where all is love,
There’ll be no parting there.

Amen, amen, amen,
Amen, amen, amen;
Praise God, praise God, praise God, praise God,
Praise God, praise God, Amen!

There’ll be much sorrow there,
There’ll be much sorrow there;
In hell below, where all is woe,
There’ll be much sorrow there.

Mrs. Mary Shindler was a significant 19th century American Christian hymnwriter. She published hymn books, including The Southern Harp in 1840 and The Northern Harp in 1841. One of her hymns still found in popular 20th century hymnals (such as The Broadman Hymnal and The National Baptist Hymnal) has 4 lines inscribed on her tombstone:

     Flee as a bird to your mountain,
     Thou who art sick of sin;
     Go to the clear flowing fountain,
     Where you may wash and be clean

Mary Stanley Bunce Palmer was born in Beaufort, South Carolina, February 15, 1810. She was the daughter of Mary Bunce and Benjamin Morgan Palmer, a Congregational Church pastor at Beaufort. In 1835 Mary married Charles W. Dana of New York, and they moved to Iowa in 1839. After her husband and two year-old son died of cholera that summer, she returned to Beaufort.

In May 1848 Mary married Robert Doyne Shindler, an Episcopal clergyman. Sometime after the Civil War, Robert and Mary moved to Texas. He served as a school teacher in San Augustine and rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Nacogdoches. He died in 1874.

Mary Shindler lived with her son and daughter-in-law R. C. and Anna Mary Shindler until her death on February 8, 1883, in Nacogdoches, Texas. She is buried in the historic Oak Grove Cemetery near downtown Nacogdoches.

Writings include:

• The Southern Harp (Boston, 1840)
• The Northern Harp (New York, 1841)
• The Parted Family, and other Poems (1842)
• The Temperance Lyre (1842)
• Charles Morton, or the Young Patriot (1843)
• The Young Sailor (1844)
• Forecastle Tour (1844)
• Letters to Relatives and Friends on the Trinity (1845)

The above hymn have been set to several tunes. In The Sacred Harp, it is used with the tune Sing To Me Of Heaven (page 312), arranged by John Massengale. In Favorite Songs and Hymns, it is paired with There’ll Be No Sorrow There (No. 219) by C. R. Dunbar.[i] The hymn is also paired with a tune in the oral tradition, composer unknown (See There’ll Be No Sorrow There, sung by Myra Dalton).

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[i] According to Find-A-Grave, Charles Raymond Dunbar was originally buried at Broderick Cemetery (Union County, Ohio) in 1895, then moved to Oakdale Cemetery in 1928.

Shades of Love

1. We are often bowed with a load of sorrow,
When our loved ones fall asleep,
But we’ll meet again on the glad tomorrow,
Where the shades of love lie deep.

2. With the cares of life we are always bended,
And the hills are rough and steep;
Praise the Lord, we know it will all be ended,
Where the shades of love lie deep.

3. We will have more faith on the pilgrim journey,
And our vows to Jesus keep,
He will welcome us to the land of Eden
Where the shades of love lie deep.

Chorus:
It will be a grand tomorrow (tomorrow)
In that land of rapture sweet (of rapture sweet).
Hallelujah I’ll be present be present,
Where the shades of love lie deep.

As best I can tell, this song was first printed in the 1931 Tennessee Music Publishing book Radiant Gems. (I have not located a copy of the book in order to check.) The words were written by Oren Adolphus Parris (1897-1966). He was a native of Jefferson County, Alabama, born December 26, 1897 in Warrior, Alabama, the son of Oscar Hayden Parris and Ada Ovelia Morris. He served as a bugler in World War I. O. A. Parris and Mae L. Lewis married in 1919. Parris was a skilled songwriter, writing well in several different styles. He wrote many 7-shape note songs, both gospel and Christian Harmony, as well as 4-shape songs in The Sacred Harp. He was an important figure in gospel song publishing. With John Deason, Parris produced a revision of Walker’s Christian Harmony in 1958. It was often called the “Alabama Book.”. In 1997 O. A. Parris was inducted into the Southern Gospel Music Hall of Fame. Parris died April 13, 1966. He and his wife buried at New Prospect Baptist Church Cemetery, Jasper, Walker County, Alabama.

One especially meaningful experience for me was at a Christian Harmony singing we had at the old Redland Church in Rusk County, Texas. During the introduction of the singing, I announced that a son of O. A. Parris was present, Heflin T. Parris. I said some things about Mr. Parris and his songs, after which Heflin Parris added, “And he was a good father, too.” You can’t say it much better than that!

The tune/music of the song was written by Eugene Hilton Wright (1907-1943), a somewhat younger co-laborer with Parris. For example, Wright and Parris were elected President and Vice-President, respectively, for the 1942 Walker County Fourth Sunday Singing. Eugene Wright was born September 16, 1907 in Walker County, Alabama, the son of James Louis Wright and Ida Estes. He married Nora Elizabeth Crump and they had two children. Wright was a singer, songwriter, and singing school teacher. He died of heart trouble July 2, 1943 at the young age of 35. He was buried at New Prospect Baptist Church Cemetery, Jasper, Walker County, Alabama.

You can listen to Where the Shades of Love Lie Deep on YouTube HERE and HERE. To me a later Christian Harmony song – I Won’t Turn Back by S. Whitt Denson – bears some stylistic similarities.

Complete

John 19:30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

Hebrews 10:10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

The sacrificial work of Jesus Christ is a finished work. In The Sacred Harp (p. 365, 1991 & 2012) we sing the words below (by Robert Seagrave in 1742) to the tune Southwell, written by Elihu Carpenter in 1786-87. The link below records Priscilla Wiggins leading the song at the Texas State Sacred Harp Convention in 2011.

The words below are the six stanzas found in the 1860 edition of Hymns and Spiritual Songs for Christian Worship by Robert Seagrave (reprinted in London by Daniel Sedgwick). It was popularized in the United States through hymn books such as A Selection of Psalms and Hymns: done under the appointment of the Philadelphian Association (Samuel Jones, Burgiss Allison, 1790) and The Christians Duty, Exhibited, in a Series of Hymns, published by Peter Leibert in 1791 (and in songbooks pairing the words with a tune). My presentation uses somewhat modernized spelling and capitalization, as well as the word “sinful” in the last line of the first stanza as found in The Sacred Harp, rather than “helpless” as found in what is the original and in most of the older hymn books (this matches what you will hear when listening to the recording of the song).

Hymn V
It is finish’d.

1. “’Tis finish’d,” the Redeemer said,
And meekly bow’d his dying head;
Whilst we this sentence scan,
Come sinners, and observe the word.
Behold the conquests of our Lord,
Complete for sinful man.

2. Finish’d the righteousness of grace,
Finish’d for sinners pard’ning peace;
Their mighty debt is paid:
Accusing law, cancell’d by blood,
And wrath of an offended God,
In sweet oblivion laid.

3. Who now shall urge a second claim?
The law no longer can condemn,
Faith a release can shew;
Justice itself a friend appears,
The prison-house a whisper hears,
“Loose him, and let him go.”

4. O unbelief! injurious bar!
Source of tormenting fruitless fear,
Why dost thou yet reply?
Where’er thy loud objections fall,
“’Tis finish’d,” still may answer all,
And silence ev’ry cry.

5. Behold, my soul, the Saviour’s task
Is finish’d just as thou would’st ask;
His merit now embrace.
’Tis justice due to Jesu’s name,
To ground on him a fearless claim
And triumph thro’ his grace.

6. His toil, divinely finish’d stands,
But, ah! the praise his work demands;
Careful let me attend!
Conclusion to my soul be this,
Because salvation finish’d is,
My thanks shall never end.

Recording of Southwell, by Elihu Carpenter and Robert Seagraves

Elihu Carpenter was born in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, December 18, 1752, the son of Eleazer Carpenter and Elizabeth Warfield. He served in the Revolutionary War, and then married Martha Hutchins in 1783. He was a deacon in the Congregational Church, a schoolmaster, and a songwriter. A copy of Simeon Jocelin’s and Amos Doolittle’s The Chorister’s Companion (New Haven, 1782) in Yale University’s Beinecke Library is inscribed “Elihu Carpenter of Rehoboth his Book given him by the authors. May 13, 1783” (Carpenter has tunes in this book). Southwell first appeared in The American Musical Magazine (Daniel Read and Amos Doolittle, New Haven, 1786–1787, Volume 1). Elihu Carpenter died July 5, 1827. His tombstone at the Newman Cemetery in East Providence, Rhode Island reads thusly:

Sacred to the Memory

of

Deacon

ELIHU CARPENTER

who departed this life

July 5, 1827,

in the 75th year

of his age.

Now the grave’s a downy bed

Embroidered round with blood;

Say not that believer’s dead,

He only rests with God.

Robert Seagrave was an English preacher, author, and hymn writer. He was born at Twyford, Leicestershire November 22, 1693, the son of a Robert Seagrave who was an Anglican vicar. The son graduated from Clare College, Cambridge in 1714 (B.A.) and 1718 (M.A.) – and participated in the Methodist movement with John Wesley and George Whitefield. Seagrave published his collection titled Hymns for Christian Worship in 1742. According to Daniel Sedgwick’s reprint of Seagrave’s hymns in 1860, there were “four editions [of Hymns for Christian Worship, rlv] published and corrected by the author.”  “Rise, my soul, and stretch thy wings” (Hymn VII, The Pilgrim’s Song) is Seagrave’s best-known hymn, included in hundreds of different hymn books. Though Sedgwick includes a six-page biographical sketch of the author, he did not know when Robert Seagrave died. Sedgwick relates a story of John Griffith hearing Robert Seagrave preach in 1759, and some in modern times have estimated his death to be not long afterward.

As might be expected of an author of hymns, Robert Seagrave did not espouse “Exclusive Psalmody” in the churches, stating the Gospel does not direct the use “of them and no other.”

“…every religious Assembly, with Reverence and Sobriety, may lawfully use even their own Compositions, provided they speak the language agreeable to Scripture. This I conceive a Part of Christian Liberty as much as to preach or pray in our own Words: Why not as lawful to sing in our own Words, as to preach and pray in them?

“In this Publication the Author has endeavour’d to avoid not only Corruptness of Doctrine, but likewise such strokes, as might gender to Bondage of Mind; being of Opinion, that no unbelieving Worship is properly Christian Worship, and that the Frame suitable to the Gospel is a Frame of Liberty and Joy.”

“An unworthy Servant of God, R. Seagrave.”

Dying on the way to California

The hymn below is an “occasional hymn,” not particularly a “church hymn.” It is written to express the last thoughts and words of a dying man. It clearly expresses hope in God, who “doeth nothing wrong.” It urges others to solemnly consider God and their own fate. The words were written by Kate Harris of Pascoag, Rhode Island, and printed in the New England Diadem and Rhode Island Temperance Pledge, February 9, 1850. According to Harris, the words were “Suggested on hearing read an extract of a letter from Captain Chase, containing the dying words of Brown Owen, who recently died on his passage to California.”[i];

At some point after that, Ball & Drinkard picked up the words and wrote the tune The Dying Californian. This was printed in The Sacred Harp in 1860 on page 410.[ii]

1. Lay up nearer, brother, nearer,
For my limbs are growing cold,
And thy presence seemeth nearer
When thine arms around me fold.

2. I am dying, brother, dying,
Soon you’ll miss me in your berth;
For my form will soon be lying,
’Neath the ocean’s briny surf.

3. I am going, surely going,
But my hope in God is strong;
I am willing, brother, knowing
That he doeth nothing wrong.

4. Tell my father, when you greet him,
How in death I prayed for him,
Prayed that I might only meet him
In a world that’s free from sin.

5. Tell my mother,—God assist her,
Now that she is growing old—
That her son would glad have kissed her,
When his lips grew pale and cold.

6. Listen, brother, catch each whisper
’Tis my wife I’ll speak of now,
Tell, O tell her, how I missed her
When the fever burned my brow.

7. Tell her she must kiss my children
Like the kiss I last impressed,
Hold them as when last I held them
Folded closely to my breast.
 
8. Give them early to their Maker,
Putting all her trust in God,
And He never will forsake her,
For He’s said so in his word.

9. Oh! my children, Heaven bless them,
They were all my life to me:
Would I could once more caress them,
Ere I’d sink beneath the sea!

10. ’Twas for them I crossed the ocean,
What my hopes were I’d not tell;
But they gained an orphan’s portion—
Yet He doeth all things well.

11. Listen, brother, closely listen,
Don’t forget a single word:
That in death my eyes did glisten
With the tears her memory stirred.

12. Tell them I ne’er reached the haven
Where I sought the precious dust;
But have gained a port called Heaven
Where the gold will never rust.

13. Tell my sisters I remember
Every kind and parting word,
And my heart has been kept tender,
By the thoughts its memory stirred.

14. Urge them to secure an entrance,
They will find their brother there;
Faith in Jesus and repentance
Will secure for them a share.

15. Hark! I hear my Saviour speaking,
’Tis—I know his voice so well;
When I’m gone, O don’t be weeping,
Brother, hear my last farewell!

The original poem contained eight 8-line stanzas (of 8s.7s. meter). R. F. Ball and (First Name Unknown) Drinkard used 4-line stanzas instead, and dropped the first half of the second stanza, creating fifteen 4-line stanzas for their tune. The missing half stanza is:

Hearken, brother, closely hearken:
I have something I would say,
Ere the vale my visions darken
And I go from hence away.

Both of these composers continue to be something of an enigma. R. F. Ball served on the 1859 Committee that produced the 3rd edition of The Sacred Harp. He is credited with three songs: I Am Passing Away, The Dying Californian, and Valley Grove.[iii] Drinkard might be John Smith Drinkard (1808-1865), born in South Carolina, lived in Georgia, and lastly in Chambers County, Alabama. There were several men with the surname Ball in Troup County, Georgia, which is a neighboring county of Chambers County, Alabama.

Brown Owen (1820-1849) died somewhere in Panama and is interred there. A cenotaph in his memory was erected near his wife’s grave at the North Burial Ground in Providence, Providence County, Rhode Island. He married Elizabeth Potter Randall in 1845, and they had two children. Little is known of the Kate Harris who wrote the poetry.

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[i] The Louisiana Spectator (Friday, December 13, 1850, p. 4) says that Brown Owen was Captain Chase’s brother-in-law (as do other newspapers). There are several Chases buried at North Burying Ground, but none that appear obviously to be Owen’s brother-in-law. Maxwell Chase (1798-1854) is identified as a Captain on his tombstone.
[ii] In 1902, W. M. Cooper moved the song to 398b, added an alto, and reduced the text to the first three stanzas. The 1936 Denson added a rearrangement by Howard Denson. The text was reduced to four stanzas, an alto added, and the time signature changed from 4/4 to 3/2. The J. L. White edition of The Sacred Harp maintains the song in its original state. I sometimes sing “’Neath Oak Flat’s cold native earth” in place of “’Neath the ocean’s briny surf.”
[iii] J. S. James claimed that Absalom Ogletree said that R. F. Ball died during the Civil War in 1862.

Victory in Jesus

1 Corinthians 15: 57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

I have sung the song Victory in Jesus as long as I can remember. However, until today (6/5/2026) I had not noticed the story about this song written by E. M. Bartlett. In 1939, Bartlett suffered a stroke, which left him partially paralyzed. It was during this time of trouble that he wrote his last and best-known song. Despite the critical condition of Bartlett at the time he composed the words and music of Victory in Jesus, the song is a bright number that emphatically looks back on salvation through the blood of Jesus and expectantly looks forward to some sweet day when we’ll sing up in heaven “the song of victory.”

It seems Victory in Jesus was first published in Gospel Choruses (Lawrenceburg, TN: James D. Vaughan Music Publisher, 1939, No. 104). It was popularized through shape-note song books, singing in church worship services, and recordings by popular singers.

1. I heard an old, old story, how a Saviour came from glory,
How He gave His life on Calvary to save a wretch like me;
I heard about His groaning, of His precious blood’s atoning,
Then I repented of my sins and won the victory.

2. I heard about His healing, of His cleansing pow’r revealing
How He made the lame to walk again and caused the blind to see;
And then I cried, “dear Jesus, come and heal my broken spirit,”
And somehow Jesus came and brought to me victory.

3. I heard about a mansion He has built for me in glory,
And I heard about the streets of gold beyond the crystal sea;
About the angels singing, and the old redemption story,
And some sweet day I’ll sing up there the song of victory.

Chorus:
O victory in Jesus, my Saviour, forever!
He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood;
He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is due Him.
He plunged me to victory, beneath the cleansing flood.

Eugene Monroe Bartlett was born at or near Waynesville, Pulaski County, Missouri on December 24, 1883 (or 1885).[i] He was the son of Hiram F. Bartlett and Elizabeth Atwell. At some time before the 1900 census, the family had moved to Sebastian County, Arkansas. (Hiram and Elizabeth had previously been in Sebastian County during the 1880 census enumeration, but has returned to Missouri.) Bartlett furthered his education at the Hall-Moody Institute in Martin, Tennessee, and William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri. In 1913 he married Joan Tatum and they had at least two children. E. M. Bartlett died January 25, 1941. At the time of his death, E. M. Bartlett was a member of the Baptist Church at Siloam Springs. The Bartletts are buried at the Oak Hill Cemetery in Siloam Springs, Benton County, Arkansas.

With David Moore and John A. McClung, E. M. Bartlett partnered to established the Hartford Music Company in Hartford, Arkansas in 1918.[ii] In 1921 E. M. Bartlett started the Hartford Music Institute, a shape-note singing school. He also served as editor of a monthly musical magazine called The Herald of Song. Bartlett was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1973.

Bartlett’s Everybody Will Be Happy Over There is a popular shape-note convention song. He also wrote some humorous songs, such as Take an Old Cold Tater and Wait, a song about the country practice of kids having to wait to eat at the “second table” when the family had company. This song was recorded by country music singer Little Jimmy Dickens.

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[i] 1883 according to his World War I draft registration, but 1885 according to his tombstone. The 1900 census also has 1883. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas gives his marriage year as 1917, but records in Ancestry (if transcribed correctly) show he was married in 1913. This needs further research.
[ii] On his World War I draft registration, he called this company the Bartlett-Moore Music Company. This was apparently the original name.

Consolation

Charles Albert Tindley wrote the words and music of Consolation. It is also listed as “Arr. by Wm. D. Smith.” The song was copyrighted in 1909 in Soul Echoes No. 2, where it appeared as song No. 7.

For my fuller biography of Tindley, see Leave It There. Someone has written, “If Thomas A. Dorsey is the ‘Father of Gospel Music,’ then Charles Albert Tindley is the ‘Grandfather of Gospel Music.’”

1. Ye pilgrims through this vale of tears,
Come, let us cheer each other,
Amid the danger’s doubts and fear,
Let each console his brother.
Our way is often dark and hard,
Temptations all around us,
Unless we pray with one accord
They surely will confound us.

2. We see the pit where others lie,
All smitten by the Tempter,
We too shall come to grief and die,
If we to him surrender.
We’ll walk the blood-be-sprinkled way,
The road that leads to glory,
And as we go we’ll sing and pray,
And tell redemption’s story.

3. While some are shouting all the time,
Some other hearts are bleeding,
They want the heavenly peace to find
For which their souls are pleading.
Come, let us lead them through the gate,
The way of sins confessing,
The word of God will put them straight
And they will find the blessing.

4. There may be some that’s growing tired,
Because the way is tedious,
Let’s take the Book that was inspired
And tell them more ’bout Jesus.
Tell them of him who bled and died
The crucifixion story—
Who rendered justice satisfied
And then went home to glory.

5. We soon shall reach the shining shore,
And see our dear Redeemer,
Where we shall weep and sigh no more,
But praise his name forever.
Our time is short, and crosses great
And often hard to carry,
Unless we start we’ll be too late,
We’ve got no time to tarry.

6. We almost hear the happy shouts
Of saints beyond the river,
They’ve gone beyond this world of doubts,
They’re saved with God forever.
Our kindred they are in that happy throng,
O what a happy meeting,
We’ll watch and pray, it won’t be long
Before the Heavenly greeting.

God’s Wonderful Book Divine

“What light is this shining so brightly for me?” Why, it is none other than “God’s Wonderful Book Divine.” What hope for the traveler, what chart to guide? God’s Wonderful Book Divine!

• Psalm 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
• Psalm 119:114 Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word.

1. What light is that shining so brightly for me,
That gives me such courage, the right way to see?
What hope for my trusting soul ever shall be?
God’s wonderful book divine.

2. What hope for the traveler with strength almost gone,
That makes him determined to keep plodding on?
What sweet consolation from heaven’s bright throne?
God’s wonderful book divine.

3. What chart can you trust as a guide for your soul,
When tempests would strand you on some treacherous shoal?
What compass will point you to heaven’s bright goal?
God’s wonderful book divine.

Chorus:
I love the old Bible, the precious old Bible.
A light on my pathway to shine.
It keeps me so happy, always so happy.
God’s wonderful book divine.

God’s Wonderful Book Divine, Luther G. Presley, Starlit Crown: Our 1938 Book for Singing Schools, Conventions, etc. Virgil O. Stamps, et al., Dallas, TX: Stamps-Baxter Music Company, 1937.

God’s Wonderful Book Divine was written by gospel songwriter Luther G. Presley. It shows the Bible as light, hope, consolation, a chart, and a compass – and a source of happiness. It first appeared in the 1938 Stamps-Baxter publication Starlit Crown (copyright 1937). I have been unable to locate the first printing; the words above are a compilation from and representation of later printings, probably accurately representing the original with three stanzas and a chorus.

Luther G. Presley (March 6, 1887 – December 6, 1974) was born in Faulkner County, Arkansas, the son of James Thomas Presley and Nancy Ann Brooks. Presley married Julia Magdaline Yingling in 1911. They had three children. After Maggie’s death, Presley married Lorena Henderson. They had one child. Lorena Presley was also a songwriter. Luther Presley died in 1974. He and Lorena are buried at Saint Mary’s Cemetery near Rose Bud in White County, Arkansas.

Luther Presley wrote his first song when he was 17. He wrote this one when he was about 50. His best-known song likely is the spiritual When the Saints Go Marching In. Presley wrote the lyrics of that song in 1937, and Virgil O. Stamps composed the music. He also wrote When All of God’s Singers Get Home. According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, Luther Presley “told his friends that his best song was ‘I’d Rather Have Jesus.’” Heavenly Highway Hymns was compiled by Luther G. Presley for the Stamps-Baxter Music Company in 1956. Presley was inducted into the Southern Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame in 2008.

Some King James Bible defending churches sing the following stanza, and sometimes end the chorus as follows:

Now if you are wondering of what book I sing,
It’s the same one the old-time revival did bring,
It’s the only one version authorized by the King:
God’s wonderful book divine.

Chorus:

I love the old Bible, the Old King James Bible.
A light on my pathway it shines.
It keeps me so happy, always so happy.
God’s wonderful book divine.

Preach the word

2 Timothy 4:2 preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

1. Preach the word, the holy word,
Lade with meat the heav’nly board,
Stewards of the store of God,
Sound the saving truth abroad.
You are sent the world to draw
To the Saviour and His law,
Praying them to leave sin’s road
And be reconciled to God.

2. Preach the word, O ministry,
Let the earth salvation see.
Tell it, woman, child, and man
Where you may and where you can,
Let no sluggish spirit bind,
Let not earth absorb your mind,
Keep salvation on your tongue,
Roll the Saviour’s praise along.

3. Preach the word, ’twill faith produce,
Turn the struggling captive loose,
Heal his pain and give him sight,
Turn his darkness into light,
Cheer his soul on heaven’s way,
Keep him watchful day by day,
Cause him happy here to be,
Save him for eternity.

Charles Price Jones, preacher and songwriter, wrote this hymn about “preaching the word.” He also wrote the tune, which has been designated by the title Gaines. Charles P. Jones was born December 9, 1865, at Texas Valley near Rome, Floyd County, Georgia, the son of Mary Jones.[i] He grew up in Kingston, in Bartow County to the east of Floyd County. His family attended Shiloh Baptist Church at Kingston. After the death of his mother, Jones wandered about to live and work in various places. He was saved in 1884 at Locust Grove Baptist Church, while living in Cat Island, Arkansas. He soon surrendered to the call of the ministry and began preaching. Jones started attending Arkansas Baptist College in Little Rock in 1888, and was ordained that same year by the Mount Zion Baptist Church (also in Little Rock). He graduated in 1891, and married Fannie A. Brown in 1892 in Pulaski County, Arkansas. They had one child, a daughter, who died in 1897. Fannie was still living in Jackson, Mississippi when 1910 census was taken. She died, possibly in Jackson, in 1916.[ii] While living and pastoring in Arkansas, Jones served as the corresponding secretary of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention.

In or around 1894, Jones accepted a holiness view of a second work of grace, while pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church in Selma, Alabama. When he began teaching this view in the church he pastored in Jackson, Mississippi in 1896 – the Mount Helm Baptist Church – some members of his congregation as well as other Baptist churches in the area opposed the new-fangled teaching. He eventually came to reject the teaching of eternal security as well.[iii] The congregation removed Jones as pastor, and he and his followers eventually built the Christ Temple campus in Jackson.[iv] In 1917, Jones organized Christ Temple Church in Los Angeles. In early 1918, C. P. Jones married Pearl Eleanor Reed.[v] They had three sons, Charles Price Jones Jr., Vance Reed Jones and Samuel Sherman Jones. Charles Price Jones died January 19, 1949 in Los Angeles. He and Pearl are buried at the Evergreen Cemetery in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California.

C. P. Jones is the author of over 1000 songs, many of which can be found in His Fullness Songs, published by the National Publishing Board of the Church of Christ (Holiness). Some of his better-known hymns include “Hark, ’tis the voice of love I hear,” “Hear the blessed Saviour calling the oppressed” (Come Unto Me), “Jesus Only is my motto.” The majority of Jones’s song were written in a ten-year period, between 1895 and 1905. Jones and Truth Publishing Company in Jackson, Mississippi published Jesus Only, Songs and Hymns in 1901.

Note: I found some discrepancies in various records about Charles Price Jones, and have tried to sort it out to the best of my ability. An early biography of Jones appears in The History of Negro Baptists in Mississippi (1898, pp. 613-615). A later reflection on his life can be found in History of the Church of Christ (Holiness) U.S.A. 1895-1965.

The History of Negro Baptists in Mississippi, 1898, p. 614

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[i] Various sources list Charles’s father as Edmond Jones or William Jones. It is uncertain who was his father or what happened to him. His mother later married Barry Latimer, who became his stepfather.

[ii] Wikipedia says she died in Little Rock, Arkansas, but does not give a source for this information. History of the Church of Christ (Holiness) U.S.A. 1895-1965, (p. 311) says she died in Jackson, Mississippi. Both History of the Church of Christ (Holiness) U.S.A. 1895-1965 and Hymnology Archive give the name of their daughter as Ola Mae, saying she was born in 1893 and died of severe burns in 1897.
[iii] Jones’s modification of views eventually led to the official organization of the “Church of Christ (Holiness)” denomination in 1920. Several sources (e.g. Handbook of Denominations) give the origin of the church as 1894. This is anachronistic at best, possibly trying to identify when Jones first adopted his new views. He was still pastor of a Baptist Church in 1896, and the first “holiness convention” connected with Jones was held in Jackson, Mississippi in 1897. Jackson, Mississippi is still the headquarters of the denomination.
[iv] “Church of Christ (Holiness) Founded in Jackson,” The Clarion-Ledger, Sunday, March 4, 1979, p. 1G. The removal of Jones from Mount Helm was a battle that took place over several years. The new denomination eventually rejected Baptist congregationalism and adopted an episcopal model of church government.
[v] Probably in January 1918. The California Eagle (Saturday, January 12, 1918, p. 6) describes C. P. Jones as lately married and “spending his honeymoon in Fresno.”