Styles in the Sacred Harp

There are a number of musical "styles" contained in the Sacred Harp -- early American music, folk hymns, psalm & hymn tunes, fuging tunes, odes & anthems, campmeeting songs, gospel songs, among others. I will record some of my attempt to sort this out in my own mind, which may or may not prove helpful to others. I rely on R. Paul Drummond's exposition and definition of Primitive Baptist song, as well as comments from Dr. Warren Steel. Much of this is left up to wide variations of opinion. What follows is a hodge-podge I've collected.

A Portion for the Singers (Drummond) identifies four broad categories of music found in Primitive Baptist hymnals: Southern Folk Hymns (folk hymns, Sacred Harp, fuging tunes, anthems); Mason-Bradbury Hymns, Gospel Songs (Kieffer/Showalter variety, Sankey/Bliss variety, Stamps/Baxter/Brumley variety), and Traditional Protestant Hymns. This is very similar to what is found in Sacred Harp, with the exception of the Stamps/Baxter/Brumley variety. Attempts to categorize music can be fraught with difficulties. For example, Drummond points to "Ortonville" and "Toplady"/"Rock of Ages" as examples of the problems of such categorizations (A Portion for the Singers, R. Paul Drummond, 1989, p. 18) -- "Ortonville" long since becoming a part of "folk tradition" and "Toplady" being a very traditional Protestant hymn. Yet, because of their origins, both are part of the Mason-Bradbury category of song. There is no reason that some categories cannot overlap, or a some be found in more than one category.

Psalm and hymn tunes (Examples: Old Hundred, Ninety-Third Psalm, Bethel) -- generally short tunes designed for one stanza of metrical hymn.

Folk hymns (Examples: Wondrous Love, New Britain, Pisgah) -- contrafactum of a secular folk song, ballad of religious experience, and camp-meeting spiritual
Campmeeting Songs (Examples: Sweet Morning, Farewell Vain World, The Morning Trumpet)
Campmeeting songs incorporate simple words with "simple tunes and meters [that] required no skill and therefore invited everyone to participate in the service." -- Bernard A. Weisberger, They Gathered at the River, Boston, 1958, p. 148

"The refrain or chorus is perhaps the predominant feature, not always connected with the subject-matter of the stanza, but rather ejaculatory. In some instances such a refrain was merely tacked on to a familiar hymn or an arrangement of one." -- Louis F. Benson, The English Hymn, New York: George H. Dornan Co., 1915, p. 293 (The interrupting refrain is a short phrase interpolated between the lines of the primary text.)

Paul Drummond sees a difference between "a first generation folk hymn" and those later composed "in the style". "Like most attempts at stylistic imitation these pieces tend to exploit clichés and most take on a rather uninspired, pedestrian quality." -- A Portion, p. 252 (In this he implicates a number of early Sacred Harp composers -- including both Rees brothers and Edmund Dumas. I would disagree with his assessment of their "pedestrian quality".)

Fuging tunes (Examples: Stratfield, Ocean, Mount Pleasant) -- usually begins with a homophonic section, in the course of which a definite cadence is reached; a new start is then made in which each individual part makes an entrance in succession, often utilizing some form of imitation; and the final phrase most often ending homophonically. (Irving Lowens and R. Paul Drummond)

Anthems (Examples: Easter Anthem, Rose of Sharon, David's Lamentation) -- "a musical setting for chorus of a non-metrical prose text, sectionalized by changes in tempo, meter, key, texture, and sonority." (John Worst)
Gospel song (Examples: Let Us Sing, Marriage in the Skies, Sweet By and By)

"Musically, the typical gospel song is in a major key, in common (4/4) time, with numerous repeated notes in a melody that is more interesting than the parts that accompany it." -- A Portion, p. 288 "Gospel songs of this type often display repetitive rhythmic and melodic features and rudimentary antiphonal and responsorial textures." -- A Portion, p. 300

"The gospel hymn was developed to meet the needs of revival and prayer meetings...The mood of the text might be optimistic or pleading; the music was tuneful and easy to grasp. The rudimentary harmonies, the use of the chorus, the varied metric schemes, and the motor rhythms were characteristic. A march-like movement as in 'Shall We Gather at the River' was especially typical. The device of letting the lower parts echo rhythmically a motive announced by the sopranos became a mannerism which was abused by later writers...The best of the gospel hymns have a direct simplicity which has appealed to singers ever since the appearance of the first gospel hymnals." (Janer places George F. Root among the earlier composers of the style.) -- Albert Christ-Janer, American Hymns Old and New, Vol. 2. New York: Columbia University Press, 1980, pp. 365-66

"The melodic range was designed for congregational song and was therefore limited to that of the untrained voice from about middle C to top-line F. Harmonies were generally primary triads, although secondary triads, borrowed minor chords, and secondary dominants became part of the harmonic vocabulary...Most characteristic of the gospel song was a contagious chorus or refrain that summed up the text's meaning in a succinct and memorable manner. -- W. K. McNeil, Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music, p. 293

The gospel song and Mason-Bradbury hymns tend to closer harmony than many of the early American tunes and folk songs. In close harmony, the alto and tenor parts tend to parallel the melody so that all three parts can be played on a keyboard. The bass part is not melodically tied to the soprano, yet fulfils a harmonic function. This describes the hymn tunes of Mason, Hastings, Bradbury, etc. as well as much early gospel music, especially of the more homophonic variety. (Warren Steel)

"The music of the 'Better Music boys' found in the hymnals of Primitive Baptists are typically short, strophic hymn-settings in major keys with limited ranges and easy tessituras." -- A Portion, p. 278 (Drummond gives "Brown" by Wm. Bradbury as an example.)

Methodist theatrical (Examples: Enfield, Dartmouth)
A few songs in the Sacred Harp are described by scholars as the "Methodist-theatrical style” of hymn-tune. These are imitations of those in 18th century British collections like Butts' Harmonia Sacra and Madan's Lock Hospital Collection. (Warren Steel) Someone described these as having "theatrical embellishments and a gallant cadence".

The American Fuging Tune

This conference paper compares and contrasts the American fuging tune with its British predecessors: The American Fuging Tune: ‘Marks of Distinction’ by Maxine Fawcett-Yeske

"...what strikes one as 'distinct' and 'emphatic' about American fuging tunes is the degree to which psalmodists employed certain procedures that were found only in limited usage in the early British prototypes and the innovative ways Americans developed those attributes into significant stylistic features. It is the creative patchwork of contrapuntal alternatives, the harmonic procedures that become refreshingly anachronistic (compared to contemporary developments abroad), and the expressive partnership of word and music wherein the American voice so loudly resounds."

{Added reading: The Sacred Harp: American Shape Note Hymns Cross the Atlantic by Lewis Jones}

The Government Can

Tim Hawkins - The Government Can

Life the day of grace and hope

HYMN 88, L. M.

Life the day of grace and hope. Eccl. 9:4-6,10.

Life is the time to serve the Lord,
The time t' insure the great reward;
And while the lamp holds out to burn,
The vilest sinner may return.

The living know that they must die,
But all the dead forgotten lie;
Their mem'ry and their sense is gone,
Alike unknowing and unknown.

Then what my thoughts design to do,
My hands, with all your might pursue;
Since no device nor work is found,
Nor faith, nor hope, beneath the ground.

There are no acts of pardon passed
In the cold grave, to which we haste;
But darkness, death, and long despair,
Reign in eternal silence there.

Isaac Watts (1674-1748)
Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 1707

More Sacred Harp/Shape Note pages

Ishmael on Shape Notes
Kaw Valley Shape Note Singing Association
Pat Keating's personal page for Sacred Harp materials
Shapenote Music at Rising Dove Bookstore
Shape Notes by Bruce Hayes
Shape Note Singing from "The Sacred Harp"
UVA Special Collection of Shape Note Hymnals

Patrick Henry’s Defense of the Baptist Ministers

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Three Baptist ministers had been indicted at Fredericksburgh for preaching the Gospel contrary to the statute.

Patrick Henry hearing of this rode some fifty miles to volunteer his services in defence of the oppressed. He entered the court, being unknown to all present save the Bench and the Bar, while the indictment was being read by the clerk.

He sat within the bar until the reading was finished, and the king’s attorney had concluded some remarks in defence of the prosecution, when he arose, reached out his hand for the paper, and without more ceremony proceeded with the following speech:

“May it please your Worships, I think I heard read by the prosecutor, as I entered this house, the paper I now hold in my hand. If I have rightly understood the king’s attorney of the colony has framed an indictment for the purpose of arraigning and punishing by imprisonment, three inoffensive persons before the bar of this court, for a crime of great magnitude, as disturbers of the public peace.

May it please the court, what did I hear read? Did I hear it distinctly, or was it a mistake of my own? Did I hear an expression, as if a crime, that these men whom your Worships are about to try for a misdemeanor, are charged with - - - -What?” and continuing in a low, solemn, heavy tone, “Preaching the Gospel of the Son of God?” Pausing amidst the most profound silence and breathless astonishment, he slowing waved the paper three times around his head, when, lifting his hands and eyes to heaven, with peculiar and impressive energy, he exclaimed: “Great God!”

The exclamation, the burst of feeling from the audience were all overpowering. Mr. Henry resumed: “May it please your Worships: In a day like this, when truth is about to burst her fetters, when mankind are about to be aroused to claim their natural and unalienable rights, when the yoke of oppression, that has reached the wilderness of America, and the unnatural alliance of ecclesiastical and civil power are about to be dissevered, at such a period when liberty, liberty of conscience, is about to awake from her slumberings, and to inquire into the reason of such charges as I find exhibited here to day in this indictment!”

Here followed another long pause on the part of the speaker, while he again waved the indictment around his head, and a deeper impression was made on the auditory. Resuming his speech, “May it please your Worships; There are periods in the history of man, when corruption and depravity have so long debased the human character, that man sinks under the oppressor’s hand, becomes his servile, his abject slave; he licks the hand that smites him, he bows in passive obedience to the mandates of the despot, and, in this state of servility, he receives his fetters of perpetual bondage.

“But, may it please your Worships, such a day has passed away! From that period when our fathers left the land of their nativity for settlement in these American wilds, for liberty, for civil and religious liberty, for liberty of conscience to worship their Creator according to their own conceptions of heaven’s revealed will, from the moment that they placed their feet upon the American continent, and in the deeply imbedded forests, sought an asylum from persecution and tyranny, from that moment despotism was crushed, the fetters of darkness were broken, and heaven decreed that man should be free, free to worship according to the Bible.

“Were it not for this in vain were all their sufferings and bloodshed to subjugate this New World , if we their offspring must still be oppressed and persecuted.

“But may it please your Worships,” continued the speaker, “permit me to ask once more, For what are these men about to be tried? This paper says, “for preaching the Gospel of the Saviour to Adam’s fallen race.”

Then in tones of thunder he exclaimed; “What law have they violated?” While the third time, in a low, dignified manner, he lifted his eyes to heaven, and waved the indictment round his head.

The court and audience were now wrought up to the most intense pitch of excitement. The face of the prosecuting attorney was pallid and ghastly, and he seemed unconscious that his whole frame was agitated with alarm; while the judge, in a tremulous voice, put an end to the scene, now becoming excessively painful, by the authoritive declaration: “Sheriff, discharge those men.”

-- From Reminiscences of Baptists Of Virginia by William Smoot

John Waller on Matthew 16:18

"Did God then leave Himself without a witness? Did the gates of Hell prevail against His church? Were the foundations of His kingdom laid in sand, that it yielded to the storms of persecution which befell it during the reign of the Man of Sin? Or did the church exist and stand, as firm as the rock of its foundation? And where was it in the long and dreary night, from the revelation of the Son of the Perdition until until the Reformation of the sixteenth century? There inquiries demand serious consideration and satisfactory answers.

"It will not do, be the way of response, to urge the existence of an 'invisible church.' This is to evade and not to meet the difficulty. The Savior did not build an 'invisible church' upon the 'rock' confessed by Peter. The Church of Christ on earth is visible. The light of the gospel was not given to be put under a bushel. The Church of the Redeemer is as a city set upon a hill, whose light cannot be hid. . . It is certain from the positive testimony of the Scriptures, that the adherents of Popery from the beginning, saw, and hence pursued and persecuted the saints of the Most High -- the people or church of the Redeemer -- those who followed the Lamb whithersoever He went -- who would not worship the beast, neither his image -- and who refused to receive his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands." -- John L. Waller

{John L. Waller (1809-1854) helped to found the General Association of Baptists in Kentucky where he served as clerk, general agent, and moderator of that body. He also founded and edited the "Western Baptist Review" from 1845 – 1851 and later served as the first editor of the "Western Recorder." Notice that Waller denied that Matthew 16:18 referred to the invisible church. He also believed this verse was scriptural proof that true churches existed from the origins of Popery until the start of the Reformation. The above quote is from the Southern Baptist Review, August-September, pp. 560-561.}

---Copied The Landmark Southern Baptist forum

Singing in Dallas

Singers will gather Saturday, November 7 (d.v.) to sing from the 1991 Revision of the Sacred Harp at Lovers Lane United Methodist Church on 9200 Inwood Rd. in Dallas, Texas. The gathering will be in the Wesley Chapel and is scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m.

Official Singing Flyer

Let patience have her perfect work

"The only thing worse than not having any patience, is having patience, and being mad about having to have it." -- Copied

Random Sacred Harp quotes 2

"I have seen this music go from a national curiosity to a cool pursuit. Keep it healthy by singing it, loving it, and contributing to its future." -- Martha Beverly

"Nothing is weirder than Sacred Harp. Its favored subject matter--the pilgrim, the grave, Christ's blood--is stark; its style--severe fourths and otherworldly open fifths--has been obsolete for more than a century. Its notation, in which triangles, circles and squares indicate pitch, looks like cuneiform. Yet it exudes power and integrity. Five people sound like a choir; a dozen like a hundred." -- From "Give Me That Old-Time Singing"

"Be sure not to force the Sound thro' your Nose; but warble the Notes in your Throat" -- William Billings

"Shape note singing is one way to recapture the sense of happiness and participation that was common to all Americans long ago during the great age of participatory singing." -- Bruce Hayes

"I’m not trying to write any jawbreakers; I like a good plain tune best." -- Marcus Cagle

"European music is less agreeable to the American ear than her own." -- Abraham Maxim, in The Northern Harmony, 2d ed. (Exeter: Norris and Sawyer, 1808). I think a lot of Americans have flip-flopped on this issue since 1808.

The Portal to Texas History

Here is a helpful site for Texas history and genealogy:
The Portal to Texas History

Searches books, maps, photos, newspapers, etc.

Granny Russell Singing

Lord willing, come sing with us tomorrow at the Granny Russell Singing held at the Little Hope Primitive Baptist Church meeting house on Farm to Market 1669 near Huntington, Texas. Singing starts around 10:00 a.m. and we usually quit around 3:00 p.m. We will be using the 2006 Cooper Revision Sacred Harp book.

The singing is held in memory and honor of Nancy Amelia "Granny" Russell.

Beebe on freedom of religion

Gilbert Beebe: "To protect the people from coercive interference with the sacred rights of conscience in matters of religion, the first Congress of the United States that ever assembled under the Constitution was convened in the city of New York, March 4, 1789, at which time and place the following amendment to the Constitution was proposed and submitted to the several states for their approval and was concurred in by the states and became a part of our Constitution: 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof'. What is now sought for is to so change our Constitution as to indicate that the United States 'are a Christian Nation'. The scriptures of truth recognize but one such nation, and that is called, 'A chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a peculiar people'. Into that nation can none enter except they be born of water and of the Spirit, and none can ever see it except they be born again. A Christian nation must be an establishment of religion, and no law concerning it has Congress any power to make, nor have any power to prevent the free exercise of it." -- Originally from The Signs of the Times and reprinted in the Old Faith Contender, October-December, 1980, edited and published by W. J. Berry

Wiggins

Above song © 2009. Click on image to enlarge the picture.

To pray or not to pray

I had a brief chuckle this morning when I heard on the radio that the Houston city council is being sued because their prayers are "too religious". I wondered what kind of non-religious prayers there are. To whom do atheists pray?

Seems the radio station botched the wording a bit, and the real claim is that the prayers are "too Christian". Kay Staley has sued the city (and specifically named council member Anne Clutterbuck). Staley says the prayers are too Christian and that they violate the First Amendment. Anne Clutterbuck was singled out because she quoted the Lord's Prayer.

To add to my chuckle, I found Staley is offended by watching this on TV: "I've been aggravated about it for some time watching City Council on access television." Watching city council on TV would probably aggravate me too. But instead of changing channels, she sues! This possibly is a dual purpose suit -- on the one hand to oppose Christianity and on the other (bigger hand) to grab a little publicity for the sewer (uh, I mean, sue-er; how do you spell that?). I mean, pu-leeze; Staley said, "I'm offended. I don't like people telling me when and how to pray." No one is telling her how to pray, or even that she has to pray. Furthermore, this person who doesn't want the council praying to Jesus says she is offended "because the praying goes against the teaching of Jesus. Heavily quoting the Bible, the lawsuit argues Jesus taught praying was not to be flaunted in public but to be done in private." Come on, Kay, why do you want these public officials to follow the teachings of Jesus? Isn't there some kind of hypocrisy there in your own thinking? If you believe prayers at city councils and other government functions are unconstitutional just say that and leave off the other mumbo-jumbo.

I could care less whether the members of the Houston city council have prayer at their meetings. It's not a religious gathering, and I'm not really all that keen on things that politicans may be doing just for show. But they are grown people who can pray if they want to. If they're mostly Christians, then the prayers will be mostly Christian (there have been some prayers of Hindu, Jewish and Muslim faiths). If there is a council member of another faith, Christians should not complain if he or she prays according to his or her faith. The Supreme Court has consistently upheld prayer at government meetings, but also say it must not promote any particular religion. If people simply pray according to their own beliefs, are they then promoting a particular religion? Or are they just praying?

Poor Clutterbuck -- she has "worked hard not to invoke a particular deity". The lawsuit contains transcripts that show she "never invoked a particular deity's name and one time read from Abraham Lincoln". And yet she gets special mention in the lawsuit above all the other council members!

Courthouse Bible plaintiff now targets Houston council prayer by Mary Flood

"Every prayer is an acknowledgement of our weakness and dependence . Who would ask that of another which he thinketh to be in his own power?" -- Thomas Manton

In memory 1916-2009

Myra Smith Palmer was an active Sacred Harp singer for many years. She was born Nov. 15, 1916, and passed away Oct. 22, 2009 at age 92. Myra was the daughter of the late Austin Asberry and Vicy Lorraine (Getty) Smith. Her funeral was held Sunday the 24th in Lindale, and she was buried at the Union Chapel Cemetery. She was one of the few remaining students of Tom Denson. She was an accomplished singer and leader; among her favorite songs were Morning Sun, The Bitter Cup, Morgan and Shades of Night.


Above song © 2009. Click on image to enlarge the picture.

Random Sacred Harp quotes 1

"Let music charm me last on earth and greet me first in heaven."

"This kind of music here, it comes out of you. There aren't any guitars or musical instruments, it comes from within you." -- Sam Craig, President, East Texas Sacred Harp Convention

"A living tradition changes. If it stopped changing, it would be because it died." -- David Lee

"....every letter has its own peculiar air, which air is very much hurt if the tune is not rightly pitched." -- William Billings

"What a beautful ramshackle racket. Needs to be heard loud." -- Paul in Nottingham

"When in doubt, sing loud." -- Robert Merrill, American operatic tenor

Flu shot??

"Desiree Jennings, 25, says that she started to develop symptoms for a rare and debilitating muscular disease, called dystonia, after receiving seasonal flu shots from two months ago."

Cheerleader Develops Dystonia After Receiving Vaccine
NFL Cheerleader says Flu Shot Caused Rare Neorological Disease

It's (gonna be) the law

Liberals prove time and again that they have a different vision for America -- it's not the act that is a crime, but thinking differently than they do. A new hate crimes bill violates the letter and spirit of our First Amendment, and abandons equal rights in favor of special class rights. Figuring they might not pass it in a fair vote, today the Senate passed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 by tacking it on to a defense spending bill. It is fairly certain the President will sign it.

Book that might interest

Calvinism: A Southern Baptist Dialogue, E. Ray Clendenen, Brad J. Waggoner (editors), Broadman & Holman, 2008

Goings on

There's always lots of things going on in our world, and for the most part I don't comment too much. But here are some of my rambling thoughts on five diverse current events.

Medical marijuana
A new policy memo memo was issued October 19 by Deputy Attorney General David Ogden concerning the pursuit of marijuana cases. The policy (memo linked HERE) is intended as "...guidance to federal prosecutors in States that have enacted laws authorizing the medical use of marijuana." Basically it says it is not a wise use of time and manpower to prosecute those who are in compliance with their state's laws on the medical use of marijuana. This is a change of direction from the former administration's policy of enforcing federal laws against marijuana regardless of state medical-use laws.

Makes sense to me. Let the federal government recognize these state laws and not criminalize those who are making medical decisions strictly in accordance with their state's laws.

Publicity, publicity, publicity
Richard and Mayumi Heene of Colorado reported that their 6-year-old son disappeared in a helium-filled balloon that became untethered and floated away. Following the report a wild rescue effort ensued with multiple entities concerned for the life and safety of the child. The Denver airport was even shut down for awhile.

Hang 'em high. If reports pan out, this was not a momentary lapse of judgment, but these folks conspired in a planned publicity stunt -- including encouraging 3 sons lying in a deliberate hoax -- for nothing but greedy gain.

Unsafe schools
Back in September, Todd Henry of nearby John Tyler High School was stabbed to death by a student with a butcher knife. The student had a history of violence, and evidently Mr. Henry had previously reported serious concerns about this student.

Don't know enough about all this, but it looks like a number of people may have had momentary lapses of judgment in dealing with this child. But hindsight is 20-20, they say. Despite the student's so-called illnesses, this was a deliberate violent act and I favor his being tried as a adult.

Interracial marriage
A Louisiana Justice of the Peace recently refused to marry an interracial couple. According to his claim, he recused himself for conscientious reasons and recommended another JP who would marry them.

Don't know the legalities of this. The JP maintains he can recuse himself, but attorney Bill Quigley, director of the Center for Constitutional Rights and Justice, says "A justice of the peace is legally obligated to serve the public, all of the public." Certainly preachers, priests and rabbis can marry or refuse to marry whom they choose, based on reasons of faith and conscience. But a justice of the peace? Being a creature of the state (and I assume paid by the state/parish/people) seems to not leave the same option. The fact that the couple is now consdering legal action against him makes me wonder whether they were/are initially looking for publicity or if they just stumbled on to this and are now being pressured to make a big deal out of it. I'm sure they were offended, but the JP did nothing to deter them from being married. Allowing people to have their own opinions is part of what a free country is about. Do they think he is incompetent and should be removed, are they trying to make a statement on race/marriage, or do they think there is money to be made here?

Easy conversion
The Vatican announced a stunning decision Tuesday to make it easier for Anglicans to convert... Read about it HERE. Well, Anglicanism is just an English version of the Roman Church anyway, as far as I can tell. One is as well off in one as the other.

Random preaching quotes 2

"If the truth were known, many sermons are prepared and preached with more regard for the sermon than the souls of the hearers." -- George F. Pentecost

"There is a difference between preaching because you have to say something and preaching because you have something to say." -- Warren Wiersbe

"A kick that scarce would move a horse, May kill a sound divine." -- William Cowper

"Hear how he clears the points o' Faith Wi' rattling an' thumpin'! Now meekly calm, now wild in wrath, He's stampin', and he's jumpin'!" -- Robert Burns

"I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day; I'd rather one should walk with me than merely tell the way: The eye's a better pupil and more willing than the ear, fine counsel is confusing, but example's always clear." -- Edgar A. Guest

Frozen heart

Lord, shed a beam of heav'nly day
To melt this stubborn stone away;
And thaw, with rays of love divine
This heart, this frozen heart of mine.

To hear the sorrows Thou hast felt,
All but an adamant would melt;
Goodness and wrath in vain combine
To move this stupid heart of mine.

But One can yet perform the deed;
That One in all His grace I need;
Thy Spirit can from dross refine
And melt this stubborn heart of mine.

O Breath of life, breathe on my soul!
On me let streams of mercy roll;
Now thaw with rays of love divine
This heart, this frozen heart of mine.

(This hymn was written by English hymnwriter Joseph Hart. I wonder if he had in mind any play on words: frozen heart/frozen Hart; stupid heart/stupid Hart; stubborn heart/stubborn Hart? Frozen Heart in The Sacred Harp The original consisted of 5 stanzas. Through the years the words have been slightly altered -- e.g., it originally became "Oh! for a Glance of heav'nly Day." The 4th stanza found in The Sacred Harp, 2012 is not part of Hart's original, but was added to it at least by 1826. See The American Seaman's Hymn Book by Noah Davis, 1826.)

Sacred Harp of Hoboken

Will Payne and WaterTower Films have placed the following on YouTube:

The Sacred Harp of Hoboken (part 1 of 2)
The Sacred Harp of Hoboken (part 2 of 2)

"An Emmy Award-winning look at a small Southeastern town and the music that has served as its soundtrack for 150 years."

Exploding Pyrex

There has been a lot of recent talk about exploding Pyrex dishes. Apparently it is some truth mixed with some error (sounds a lot like religion!). You can read about it HERE and HERE.

More Taylor

After a lengthy sermon by Joseph Buchanan, John Taylor prayed, “Oh, Lord, teach Brother Joe what to preach, and how to preach, and to quit when he is done. Amen.”

Deep enough: advice for young preachers

John Taylor (1752--1836), a pioneer Baptist preacher (mostly in Kentucky) was reputed to be warm and encouraging to young preachers, but could also be severe when he thought it warranted.

A young preacher at an associational meeting took his text from Ezekiel 47:3-5, the vision of the waters from the temple becoming a river. He divided his subject into four parts -- ankle-deep, knee-deep, loin-deep, deep enough for swimming. For about an hour he developed his first two points. Ankle-deep was repentance from sin. Knee-deep was assurance of salvation.

Taylor and other preachers, as was common in that day, were sitting behind him on the stand. Finishing his second division, the young preacher said, "Thirdly, we go a little deeper -— where the waters reached the loins."

At this point John Taylor straightened up, pointed his finger, and spoke up, "Young man, come ashore. You are deep enough, deep enough."

-- From S. H. Ford's The Christian Repository, June, 1859

• Thoughts on Missions by John Taylor, 1820
• A History of Ten Baptist Churches by John Taylor, 1823
• A History of Clear Creek Church and Campbellism Exposed by John Taylor, 1830
• John Taylor: Frontier Baptist Preacher by James R. Duvall

Love suffers long

Love suffers long with patient eye,
Nor is provoked in haste;
She lets the present injury die,
And long forgets the past.

She lays her own advantage by
To seek her neighbor's good;
So God's own Son came down to die,
And bought our lives with blood.

Love is the grace that keeps her power
In all the realms above;
There faith and hope are known no more,
But saints for ever love.

Isaac Watts (1674-1748)
Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 1707

Random preaching quotes 1

"It really doesn’t matter how many sheep we gather if we don’t intend to feed them." -- Stan Toler

"I preached as never sure to preach again and as a dying man to dying men." -- Richard Baxter

"But in his duty prompt at every call, He watch'd and wept, he pray'd and felt for all." -- Oliver Goldsmith

"The preacher’s work is to throw sinners down into utter helplessness that they may be compelled to look up to Him Who alone can help them." -- Charles Spurgeon

"The easiest way to stay awake during a sermon is to deliver it." -- Unknown

"The world looks at preachers out of church to know what they mean in it." -- Richard Cecil

Have sins to confess?

"In those days they still believed they had sins to confess; and when they got into trouble, they had not learned to hire an alienist [psychiatrist] to blame their misdeeds on their grandfathers and hang their guilt on their family tree." -- From Rest Awhile by Vance Havner, 1941

Declaration and Address

Members of the Restoration Movement are recently celebrating Thomas Campbell's "Declaration and Address". It was written in 1809 and was the founding document of the Christian Association of Washington. The Christian Association was a forerunner of what is now called the Restoration Movement.

Declaration and Address

25 years before

Interesting account of Southern Baptist life before the Cooperative Program:
The Year 25 B.C.P. by Bart Barber

Two Watts' hymns

HYMN 163, C. M.
Complaint of desertion and temptations.

Dear Lord! behold our sore distress;
Our sins attempt to reign;
Stretch out thine arm of conquering grace,
And let thy foes be slain.

The lion with his dreadful roar
Affrights thy feeble sheep:
Reveal the glory of thy power,
And chain him to the deep.

Must we indulge a long despair?
Shall our petitions die?
Our mournings never reach thine ear,
Nor tears affect thine eye?

If thou despise a mortal groan,
Yet hear a Savior's blood;
An Advocate so near the throne
Pleads and prevails with God.

He brought the Spirit's powerful sword
To slay our deadly foes;
Our sins shall die beneath thy word,
And hell in vain oppose.

How boundless is our Father's grace,
In height, and depth, and length!
He makes his Son our righteousness,
His Spirit is our strength.

Isaac Watts (1674-1748)
Hymns and Spiritual Songs, Book II, 1707


How did my heart rejoice to hear
My friends devoutly say,
"In Zion let us all appear,
And keep the solemn day!"

I love her gates, I love the road;
The church, adorned with grace,
Stands like a palace built for God,
To show His milder face.

Up to her courts with joys unknown
The holy tribes repair;
The Son of David holds His throne,
And sits in judgment there.

He hears our praises and complaints;
And while His awful voice
Divides the sinners from the saints,
We tremble and rejoice.

Peace be within this sacred place,
And joy a constant guest!
With holy gifts and heav'nly grace
Be her attendants blest!

My soul shall pray for Zion still,
While life or breath remains;
There my best friends, my kindred dwell,
There God my Savior reigns.

Isaac Watts
The Psalms of David, 1719

Joist or Joyce

Not only do we misunderstand songs, we often mishear or misunderstand words used in conversation, business, etc. One I'll never forget reading is about a person who responded strangely to the observation "no man is an island", thinking he heard "no mayonnaise in Ireland".

When I started as a teenage carpenter's helper, there was a lot of technical jargon used that I had neither read nor heard. I misunderstood quite a bit, if I remember correctly. One of the most memorable to me is that I thought a "joist" (a horizontal timber at the ceiling) was a "joyce" (as in the women's name Joyce).

Misunderstood songs

At a recent singing I attended, before leading Farther Along, a man told that singing this as a child he heard and thought it was "Father, alone, will know all about it; Father, alone, will understand why..." rather than "Farther along we'll know all about it, Farther along we'll understand why." In language/grammar this is called a mondegreen -- repeating the mishearing of a phrase in such a way that it acquires a new meaning.

Some misunderstood songs are misunderstandings of a word's meaning. Many a child not raised on a farm* have envisioned sheep being brought in to the fold as they sang "Bringing in the sheaves". But that is "sheaves" -- bundles of grain -- rather than the plural of sheep (which is sheep).

Readers, as a child did you ever misunderstand some song or songs, either mishearing the phrase or misunderstanding a meaning? Tell us about it.


*And I can testify for those raised on a farm which didn't harvest wheat. The only things I think we bundled were put up in bales (hay) or shocks (corn).

Smyrna singing Saturday

This coming Saturday, October 3, 2009, the Smyrna Memorial Sacred Harp Singing will be held (d.v.) at the Smyrna Baptist Church near Mount Enterprise, Texas. The church building is located on FM 2496, about 5 miles west of Mount Enterprise. The 2006 Sacred Harp (Cooper Revision) will be used. Singing begins at 10:00 a.m. and continues until about 3:00 p.m., with dinner on the ground. All welcome.

No new revelation

In another blog, a brother writing against the idea of near death experiences stated the following:

Since the Bible has been completed and while the church is on the earth today, a person receives NO revelation outside of the general revelation and specific direct revelation of God's Word which is assigned to all men...a person can not receive revelation outside of the general revelation (displayed in nature and in men's laws) and specific direct revelation (God's Word and the preaching thereof.)

I thought this would make an interesting discussion.

Is there NO revelation outside of general and direct revelation (the Bible)? I equate 100% truth and accuracy to God's revelation through His Word. And most of us agree that there is general revelation -- through God's creation, for example. What revelation is the Spirit giving when He guides us into all truth? What about revelation through God's providential guidance? Do we not learn of things that are not revealed in the Word in specifics through His opening & closing of doors and other providential factors in our lives? What about the "call to preach"? Is there one, or is it just a professional decision? If you are a preacher, why are you? We cannot read our names in God's Word. It does not say "_Your name_, you have been called to preach." How do you know? Was it just an occupational/professional decision, or do you believe there was some kind of spiritual guidance? If so, why was it not a "new revelation"? What about changing pastorates? Again, just a business decision, or perhaps some spiritual guidance there? Is this "new" revelation, or something different?

More School?

"[President] Obama says American kids spend too little time in school, putting them at a disadvantage with other students around the globe."

"'Our school calendar is based upon the agrarian economy and not too many of our kids are working the fields today', Education Secretary Arne Duncan said."

"Obama and Duncan say kids in the United States need more school because kids in other nations have more school."

But...
"Kids in the U.S. spend more hours in school (1,146 instructional hours per year) than do kids in the Asian countries that persistently outscore the U.S. on math and science tests — Singapore (903), Taiwan (1,050), Japan (1,005) and Hong Kong (1,013). That is despite the fact that Taiwan, Japan and Hong Kong have longer school years (190 to 201 days) than does the U.S. (180 days)." -- More school: Obama would curtail summer vacation

There is much that could be said about this, but the first two that jump out at me is that the reasoning is sloppy and that it's not the federal government's business anyway.

Online Bible Study Tools

According to Crosswalk, this King James Dictionary contains over 800 words whose definitions have changed since 1611. I would guess that in many cases, the definitions may still be in unabridged dictionaries but we just don't commonly use them that way today. I haven't used this tool, so can't really recommend it but am rather just pointing out that it is there. If some of you use it, you might stop back by and comment on it. Thanks.

Loss of ability

agnosia. noun. any loss of ability to recognize objects, people, sounds, etc., but most often caused by brain injury.

I've never changed!

Over the years I've heard preachers, and sometimes other Christians, speaking of what they believe, emphatically avow, "I've never changed!" One still ringing in my mind is an older Baptist minister at a Bible conference that I attended as a young man. At the time my reaction was "Amen!" Now my reaction is closer to a guarded "Oh, my."

Why?

Unless you already knew everything about God and His Word, then perhaps you are:

1. Too stubborn to change.
2. Too proud to admit you've changed.
3. Too ignorant to know you've changed.

I've tried to think of a more positive explanation. The only thing I've come up is that one saying this possibly doesn't really mean never changed anything.

God alone is immutable and can say, "I change not."

Interesting find

Largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon treasure found in UK, By Raphael G. Satter

"LONDON – An amateur treasure hunter prowling English farmland with a metal detector stumbled upon the largest Anglo-Saxon treasure ever found, a massive seventh-century hoard of gold and silver sword decorations, crosses and other items, British archaeologists said Thursday."

Particularly interesting to me is the following related to religious history:
"Leslie Webster...said the crosses and other religious artifacts mixed in with the mainly military items, might shed new light on the relationship between Christianity and warfare among the Anglo-Saxons...

"One of the most intriguing objects in the hoard is a small strip of gold inscribed with a warlike Latin quotation from the Old Testament, which translates as: 'Rise up, O Lord, and may thy enemies be dispersed and those who hate thee be driven from thy face'."

Helpless guilty nature

How helpless guilty nature lies,
Unconscious of its load!
The heart, unchanged, can never rise
To happiness and God.

Can aught, beneath a power divine,
The stubborn will subdue?
'Tis Thine, almighty Spirit! Thine,
To form the heart anew.

'Tis Thine, the passions to recall,
And upward bid them rise;
To make the scales of error fall
From reason's darkened eyes;

To chase the shades of death away,
And bid the sinner live;
A beam of Heaven, a vital ray,
'Tis Thine alone to give.

O change these wretched hearts of ours,
And give them life divine;
Then shall our passions and our powers
Almighty Lord! be Thine.

Anne Steele (1716-1778)
Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional, 1760

Preaching the gospel

"While conducting services on a Sunday evening our congregation had a visiting minister in attendance. He declined to speak due to it being my stated appointment. After the service we were speaking and he said to me (in so many words) 'You spoke well, but did not preach the gospel.' He then explained to me the difference between giving a lecture, teaching a lesson, exploring a text, and so on. 'Preaching the gospel' he explained 'is centering on Christ, in His various offices, to needy sinners.' He then told me I had failed to do that and I had to agree, hard as it was." -- Eld. Jim Poole, 12 Sept 2009

Sacred Harp links

Some Sacred Harp links, alphabetically listed

Info on some Texas vicinity annual Sacred Harp singings
Louisiana Northshore Shape Note
Pacific Northwest Sacred Harp Singers
Sacred Harp and Related Resource Guide
Sacred Harp Singing along the Front Range (Colorado area)
Sacred Harp Singing at Fasola.org
Sacred Harp Singing in Texas
SACRED HARP.mus
Shiloh Sacred Harp Singer
University of Chicago Shape-Note Singing Association

In addition to these and other sites, I discovered there is at least one blog devoted to the subject of Sacred Harp singing -- UC Berkeley Sacred Harp Blog

A friend

A friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Pr 18:24

One there is, above all others,
Well deserves the name of friend;
His is love beyond a brother's,
Costly, free, and knows no end:
They who once His kindness prove,
Find it everlasting love!

Which of all our friends to save us,
Could or would have shed their blood?
But our JESUS died to have us
Reconciled, in Him to God:
This was boundless love indeed!
JESUS is a friend in need.

Men, when raised to lofty stations,
Often know their friends no more;
Slight and scorn their poor relations
Though they valued them before.
But our Savior always owns
Those whom He redeemed with groans.

When He lived on earth abased,
Friend of sinners was His name;
Now, above all glory raised,
He rejoices in the same:
Still He calls them brethren, friends,
And to all their wants attends.

Could we bear from one another,
What He daily bears from us?
Yet this glorious Friend and Brother,
Loves us though we treat Him thus:
Though for good we render ill,
He accounts us brethren still.

O for grace our hearts to soften!
Teach us, Lord, at length to love;
We, alas! forget too often,
What a Friend we have above:
But when home our souls are brought,
We will love Thee as we ought.

John Newton (1725-1807)
Olney Hymns, 1779

To be or not to be...

...relevant. That is the question.

In our local Sunday paper I read: "As our church grows older, we will almost certainly find increasing difficulties, not only by losing our relevance in the community but in even sustaining ourselves financially."

I hear this more and more. I suppose we don't want to be irrelevant ("unrelated to the matter at hand"), but what do people really mean when they talk about the church being relevant ("having a bearing on or connection with the matter at hand")? Was Noah's message relevant when "few, that is, eight souls were saved"? Was Isaiah's message relevant when God said, "Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not" Was the message of Ezekiel relevant when God said, "And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear"? I am afraid we find more relevance in the number of people we "reach" than understanding that God's message is always relevant for all people of all times, and that is not based on the number of people who receive it.

Singing in Pasadena

On Saturday September 19, 2009, there will be a Sacred Harp Singing (d.v.) at the First United Methodist Church, 1062 Fairmont Parkway, Pasadena, Texas. The 1991 Revision of the Denson book will be used. For more information contact Crystal Meadows .

Focusing on one issue

In the God's pleasure; man's free will thread, the discussion has focused on general/limited atonement and conditional/unconditional election, though not necessarily in so many words. I have despaired that we will get back to the actual theme in that comment thread, so I have pulled out one context to post here and see anyone wants to discuss it. Please keep discussing on the other thread.

In the book of Numbers God records Israel coming to the land of the Amorites. They sent messengers to Sihon the king asking to be allowed to pass through thy land: they said would go straight through and not get off the main highway. Sihon would not give permission for Israel to pass through his country but rather gathered his people together to fight against Israel.

In a divine commentary on this incident we are told: "But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for the LORD thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as appeareth this day. (Deut 2:30)" Do you believe it? Is it so? The reason Sihon did not allow the Israelites to pass through his land peacefully is because God hardened him and made him obstinate. The end of this was to judge him and give his land to the people of Israel.

So I ask you, do you believe the Bible as it is literally recorded here? Did God actually harden Sihon's spirit and make his heart obstinate, or do we need to shave it here and there to make it fit our ideas of free will and fairness? Is it wrong because it is not fair, or must it right because God did it? Or something else?

God's pleasure; man's free will

The question we have before us from the Divine Governance thread is where man's free will resides within God's divine governance. I reassert that I believe man can make choices. I deny that man can do as he pleases. Only God can do that.

Does God do what He pleases? Yes. (Cf. Psalm 115:3; 135:6; Jonah 1:14; Isaiah 46:10; et al.)
Can anyone stop Him from doing so? No. (Cf. Dan. 4:35; Isa. 14:14-27; 43:13; et al.)
Can God move, turn and/or change the will of man? Yes. (Cf. below)

Does God move, turn and/or change the will of man? I believe this is a main sticking point between a lot of Christians. I assert that God not only can, but does, move, turn, and /or change the will of man -- according to numerous Scriptures, if we take them at their simple and literal meaning.

God changes events.
Many will agree here, at least if we don't push it too far. God is sovereignly absolutely in control of all events that take place in His universe. We can quibble over what He "causes" and what He "allows", but how can any Bible reader deny that God is working out His will in all things?

God was in control of the events of the destruction of Job's possessions, deaths of his children, and debilitation of his body.
Job 1:21 - And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.
Job 23:13-14 - But he (God) is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth. For he (God) performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.

God was in control in settling Israel in the land of Canaan, even to making it an inhospitable place for others.
Exodus 23:28 - And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.
Deuteronomy 7:20 - Moreover the LORD thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed.
Joshua 24:12 - And I sent the hornet before you, which drave them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites; but not with thy sword, nor with thy bow.
Psalms 44:1-2 - O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days...How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out.

God was in control of Ahab's death -- He determined the cause, the events and the instrument.
I Kings 22:23 - Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee.
I Kings 22:34 - And a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness: wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thine hand, and carry me out of the host; for I am wounded.
(God also kept Jehoshaphat from being killed: II Chron. 18:31 - And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, It is the king of Israel. Therefore they compassed about him to fight: but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the LORD helped him; and God moved them to depart from him.)

God was in control of when and where the Israelites would go into captivity.
Jer. 29:4 - Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon;
Ezek. 39:28 - Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.

God changes minds.
Many are not so disturbed by God's influence of events, and probably don't meditate too much on the fact that in changing events He changes minds. But what disturbs the human mind is to suppose that it is not free to think and do as it wishes.

God hardened Pharoah's heart against the Jews, that He might deliver Israel and destroy the Egyptians.
Exodus 4:21 - And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.
(God said he would harden Pharaoh's heart long before it mentions Pharaoh hardening his heart.)

God turned the heart of the Egyptians against Israel, before and after Moses came.
Psalm 105:25 - He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal subtilly with his servants.
Exodus 14:17 - And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.
(Egyptians didn't make a free will decision to drown in the Red Sea. They were hardened by God to follow Israel to die in the sea.)

God hardened Sihon's heart and made him obstinate, and then judged him.
Deut 2:30 - But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for the LORD thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as appeareth this day.
The king, whether Pharaoh, Sihon or someone else, in in the Lord's hands. Proverbs 21:1 - The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will. Romans 9:18 - Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

God, using Satan, provoked David to number Israel.
II Sam. 24:1 - And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.
I Chron. 21:1 - And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.

God blinded the eyes and hardened the hearts of some of those to whom Isaiah preached, as well as some to whom Jesus preached and preformed miracles.
John 12:40 - He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.
Isaiah 6:9-10 - And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.

God turned the heart of the Assyrian king to favor the people of Israel.
Ezra 6:22 - And kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy: for the LORD had made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

When we think of God doing as He pleases, we must be careful to not mix in our ideas of human emotions and pleasures. We probably think of pleasure often in the sense of "enjoyment or satisfaction derived from what is to one's liking; gratification; recreation or amusement; sensual gratification." But in reference to God, we should think of it more in the sense of pleasure being "one's will, desire, or choice."

Isa 53:10 - Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

When the Bible says it pleased the Lord to bruise/crucify His Messiah, it is not in the sense that He received some kind of sensual or sadistic gratification, but that He was fulfilling His will from the foundation of the world. The Hebrew word chaphets -- to delight in, take pleasure in, desire, be pleased with -- is also translated will.

God will do all His pleasure. Let us leave off our humanistic worries about Him somehow violating our free will. He doeth all things well.

Isa 46:10 - Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
Psalms 115:3 - But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.
Psalms 135:6 - Whatsoever the LORD pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places.
Isaiah 46:10 - Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
Isaiah 43:13 - Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?
Daniel 4:35 - And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?

Things we don't think about

Where does an 18-wheeler have its 18 wheels?

Church directories

Online church directories can be interesting. I tend to run across with the type of research I do. With no particular rhyme or reason (other than being Baptist):

Baptist Churches in the Philippines
Comprehensive directory of Sovereign Grace Landmark Baptist Churches
Directory of independent Baptist and fundamentalist churches
Directory of Independent Baptist Church web sites
Directory of Reformed Baptist churches
Directory of Sister Churches and Additional Resources
Directory of Sovereign Grace Landmark Independent Baptist Churches
(another) Directory of Sovereign Grace Landmark Independent Baptist Churches
Faithway Missionary Baptist Association Website
Listing of Fundamental, King-James-Only Baptist Churches
Missionary Baptist Churches
Primitive Baptist Churches church listing

[Note: these links do not constitute an endorsement of any of the above sites, but are for demonstrating the availibility of such information on the world wide web.]

Labor Day singing

Happy Holiday. According to the United States Department of Labor website, Labor Day is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It is a curious day when thousands celebrate "labor" by not working and other thousands work instead of getting a holiday.

I don't think there is a "Sing Day" holiday, but we will make our "Labor Day celebration" tonight a Sacred Harp singing at Smyrna Baptist Church near Mt. Enterprise, Texas. Come join us. 6:30 p.m. Directions at link above.

Now & then

"Do you believe the Holy Spirit is better equipped to convert men after the invention of the air conditioner and printing press than He was before?" -- Mark Osgatharp

Christ a Sanctuary

Jesus before Thy face I fall,
My Lord, my Life, my Hope, my All;
For I have nowhere else to flee,
No sanctuary, Lord, but Thee.

In Thee I every glory view,
Of safety, strength, and beauty too;
Beloved Savior, ever be
A Sanctuary unto me.

Whatever woes and fears betide,
In Thy dear bosom let me hide;
And, while I pour my soul to Thee,
Do Thou my Sanctuary be.

Through life and all its changing scenes,
And all the grief that intervenes,
Tis this supports my fainting heart ,
That Thou my Sanctuary art.

Apace the solemn hour draws nigh,
When I must bow my head and die;
But O what joy this witness gives,
Jesus, my Sanctuary lives!

He from the grave my dust will raise;
I in the heavens will sing His praise;
And when in glory I appear,
He'll be my Sanctuary there.

-- Gadsby's Hymn Book, No. 173
Samuel Medley

Central Louisiana All-Day Singing

An All-Day Sacred Harp Singing will be held (d.v.) on Saturday September 5, 2009 at New Providence Primitive Baptist Church near Ringgold, Louisiana. From Ringgold take Hwy 154 one mile east. The cemetery and church building are on the left. We will use both the 1991 Denson Revision and the 2006 Cooper Revision. Singing starts at 10 a.m.

We would see Jesus

"We have no fellowship with the “unfruitful works of darkness” and find neither comfort nor help in any advice or counsel given by the men of this world regardless of their sincerity or religious distinctions. “Sir, we would see Jesus.” " (John 12:21) – Mike McInnis, Grace Gazette, Volume VII, Issue 34

I would see Jesus when the flow’rs
Of joy adorn my way;
When sunshine and when hope surround
My path from day to day.
When friends I cherish most are near,
And hearts encircle mine.
Then Father would I turn from all,
To lean alone on Thine.
(author unknown)

God's Divine Governance

Speaking of his trials, Job says, "But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth. For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him." (Job 23:13-14)

Psalm 105:25 He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal subtilly with his servants.

All things are encompassed within God's governance of His universe. Otherwise, some things would be occuring outside of His Divine governance. There is always some element that certain things that are wrong for us according to His precepts, are not wrong for God. For example, God (as sovereign and creator) may take life/kill where we may not. Examples of this abound in the Scriptures. And there are a few times God is portrayed as "causing" something that might "seem" sinful (but is not). As Gordon Clark writes, "The Jews ought not to have demanded Christ's crucifixion. It was contrary to the moral law. But God decreed Christ's death from the foundation of the world." Or, attributing David's numbering of Israel to both God and the Devil. Or, for example, the lying of the lying prophets in I Kings 22 is attributed to the will and definitive affirmation of God. To simply believe this story exactly as Micaiah tells it might land one in hot water!

Word today

trusty (plural trusties) noun. a well-behaved and trustworthy convict to whom special privileges are granted.

Songs in the Night

Songs in the Night By Mabel Berry

What if the skies are sometimes darkened,
And sorrow like drops must fall;
Or, if the song of night be silenced:
God's love and mercy sweetens all.

As woeful gloom and deepened shadows
O'ercome the fearful, trembling heart,
This weakened life my Father knoweth,
And my sorrows bears a part.

And should the glorious dawn awaken,
Upon anxious eyelids which have not slept,
O'er the sorrows of Mary and Martha,
My loving Savior, "Jesus wept."

What, though the body aged and weary,
The night seem long with care and pain;
I would lift the heart and cease my weeping;
His chastening hand works greater gain.

Then let the heavy eyelids awaken;
Oh faithless be still and know;
Let there be no hopeless sighing:
My Father's love ordained so!

Though oft this sinful world astound me,
And naught but wickedness appear
'Tis yet O'er filled with His goodness;
May this blest fact dispel all fear.

Dear Father, I'll look up this morning,
With heart O'er filled with love and praise;
'Tis in love, Thy dear hand chastens;
I'll give Thee thanks for gloomy days.

(Written circa 1999)

Southwest Texas Sacred Harp

The Fall Session of the Southwest Texas Convention (yes, I know it's not "fall", but it's how the 5th Sundays "fall") will be held Saturday & Sunday, August 29-30, 2009 at the Austin Waldorf School on 8700 S. View Rd. in Austin, Texas (d.v.).

Five Smooth Stones

And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine. I Samuel 17:40

“As David chooses five smooth stones to be used in the task before him we see CHRIST stooping:

“HE chose five smooth stones. CHRIST is the ONE who selects those HE will send with the gospel message just as surely as HE chose those whom HE would have to hear it. “And how shall they preach, except they be sent?” (Rom 10:15)

“HE chose five smooth stones. CHRIST does all things according HIS purpose and nothing occurs by chance. David no doubt knew that Goliath had three sons and a brother who must be ultimately slain so he was merely making ready for that eventuality. (See II Sam.21:15-22) Those whom CHRIST appoints unto this task are sent with a specific message for a specific people even though each is sent to openly proclaim the truth of GOD. HE has a multitude which HE has appointed and is dependent upon no single one. (See I Sam. 14:6)

“HE chose five smooth stones. The LORD equips and prepares those whom HE sends. Stones are not naturally smooth. However when the LORD places them in a brook where they are tumbled and abraded against one another the passing of time wears off the rough edges. Some would dare to go into battle with unproven armor or that which is supplied by the learning of the flesh but GOD is pleased to prepare HIS stones and in the furnace of trial and affliction to teach them that all of their righteousness is HIS alone. GOD does not choose men based on their suitability for a task but rather HE is the ONE who makes them suitable. Those who are made suitable for this task are not the most eloquent nor the most learned as judged by men but those who are taught that all of their strength comes from HIM.

“HE chose five smooth stones. Stones are of little to no value. They have no power nor skill of their own let alone the ability to carry out any task. All of their usefulness is brought forth by the ONE who is pleased to use them as instruments of HIS glory. They can add nothing to the task at hand to which they are sent but are simply objects in the hand of HIM who slays giants and destroys principalities according to HIS own design.

“No giant can stand when CHRIST who chooses a stone and puts it in HIS sling lets it go with unfailing aim. It always finds its mark due to the skill of the SLINGER.”

– Excerpt from "Five Smooth Stones", by Mike McInnis, Grace Gazette, Volume VII, Issue 33

Thanks

I would like to say thanks to those who helped with the "On the Road to Remember" Tour last night.

National CUE and Monica Caison for adding Henderson, Texas to their national tour stop
Tractor Supply for providing the location and electricity
Missing persons' family members who attended
The media who came and covered the event
Simmons A/C and Heating of Henderson for donating ice
Harris Printing for printing discounted posters
Local stores who allowed us to post the event
McMurray Signs for making a discounted banner
Jonathan Rhodes of the Sheriff's Department for speaking
Matt Gholson, pastor, Ebenezer Baptist Church of Henderson for the closing prayer
Cal Riley and Steel Country Band for playing for the benefit
EVERYONE who came

Thank you.

(If I left anyone out, please forgive me and let me know so I can add you.)

Missing persons tour today

Missing persons tour comes to Henderson, TX Thursday evening at 6:30 p.m. The On the Road to Remember tour will be held in the tent in front of Tractor Supply in the Henderson Plaza Shopping Center on US Hwy 79 South.

Tweedledum and Tweedledee

Poet John Byrom, rhyming about the musical rivalry of the composers Giovanni Bononcini and George Frederic Handel, called them Tweedledum and Tweedledee:

Some say, that Signor Bononcini,
Compared to Handel's a mere ninny;
Others aver, that to him Handel
Is scarcely fit to hold a candle.
Strange! that such high dispute should be
'Twixt Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

This is apparently the origin of the terms, or the earliest known use. Possibly more commonly known is the use in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass.

Glorying Only In The Cross

“God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” Galatians 6:14

"I cannot, and, God helping me, I will not, while the Lord gives me strength to open my poor mouth, but speak well of love in God and the Holy Spirit, for it was He that laid hold of me in my mad career of sin, put a cry into my heart to cry unto God, and stopped me from going about to establish a righteousness of my own. His invisible hand kept me from being my own murderer. He revealed in my heart pardoning blood and IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS; and some scores of times, when the enemy has come into my poor soul with such a tremendous flood of awful blasphemies against the Holy Trinity, especially against the Holy Spirit, that I have been sunk so low that at times I could see no more hope that God would ever appear in love and mercy for me than He would appear for devils, He has, bless His dear Name, lifted up again a glorious standard, and brought me up again out the horrible pit, and set my feet again upon the Rock of ages."

John Warburton (1776–1857), English Baptist, as quoted in Shreveport Grace Church Bulletin - August 16, 2009

Fair Trade

(This has long been among my favorite jokes)

A preacher was making his rounds on a bicycle, when he came upon a little boy trying to sell a lawn mower. "How much do you want for that mower?" asked the preacher.

"I just want enough money to go out and buy a bicycle," said the little boy.

After a moment of consideration, the preacher asked, "Will you take my bike in trade for it?"

The little boy asked if he could try it out first, and, after riding the bike around a little while, said, "Mister, you've got yourself a deal."

The preacher took the mower and began to try to crank it. He pulled and pulled on the rope with no response from the mower. The preacher called the little boy over and said, "I can't get this mower to start."

The little boy said, "That's because you have to cuss at it to get it started."

The preacher said, "I'm a minister, and I can't cuss. It's been so long since I've cussed that I don't even remember how to cuss."

The little boy looked at him happily and said, "Just keep pulling on that rope. It'll come back to ya."

6 dead, 3 still missing

The following story caught my eye as being in the same city where I order Benjamin Lloyd's Primitive Hymns hymn book: Residents on edge as 9 women vanish from N.C. city.

Happy Birthday

...to my brother.

Landmark Baptist survey

Several years ago, I conducted an "unaffiliated Landmark Baptist Church survey". I worked on it and finally quit - there is really no end to something like this. After weeding out duplicates and/or churches for which I discovered some denominational affiliation, I came up with a total of 1283 churches.** I compiled no actual membership statistics for these churches, but, based on the average size of churches from known landmark Baptist statistics (ABA, BMAA, etc.) the membership of these churches should be approximately 200,000. (155 is the number I used for the average)

I have also identified 35 associations that hold Landmark ecclesiology - 3 general associations, 1 state association, and 31 unaffiliated local associations (the 3 general and 1 state also have local associations affiliated with them). In these 35 associations I have identified 3657 churches with 569,338 members. Most of these statistics are from the year 2000, but, for 8 or 10 of the local associations, the latest stats I could find were early 1990's. If these numbers are combined with the independent churches, there are almost 5000 churches that hold Landmark ecclesiology, representing about 770,000 members. I am of the opinion that there are probably twice as many unaffiliated independent landmark Baptists as I have been able to identify.

Add to these facts, that the groups of Baptists often identified as Primitivistic (Central Baptists, Duck River/Kindred Baptists, Old Regular Baptists, Primitive Baptists, Regular Baptists, and United Baptists) usually hold an ecclesiology in practice like landmarkism (they do not accept baptisms from other orders, do not use ministers from other orders, and practice closed communion), churches in the United States holding this form of ecclesiology probably number 8000 to 10,000 with over 1,000,000 members. These churches are not identified as Landmark Baptists because the term is usually limited to missionary Baptists.

This also does not consider that some churches in the Baptist Bible Fellowship, Southwide Baptist Fellowship, World Baptist Fellowship, and even the Southern Baptist Convention would identify with this doctrine and practice. This shows that, while still a small grouping compared to the total number of Baptists in the United States, landmark-type Baptist ecclesiology does have an important place in American Baptist life.

In my attempt to make sense of the 1283 unaffiliated independent landmark Baptist churches on my list, I developed seven categories to note some of the differences between the churches - Covenant Landmark, Direct Mission, Independent Fundamental, Old Time Missionary Baptist, Sovereign Grace, Unregistered Baptists, and Unknown. These categories are somewhat arbitrary (I place the churches in the categories rather the churches placing themselves) and fluid (many of the churches could legitimately be placed in two or more categories). The decision to place a church in a category was based on what I thought seemed to be her primary emphasis that made her stand out and/or seemed to guide her in her choice of fellowship with other churches. I am listing below the total number of churches placed in each category. It is possible that some of the churches in a category would fellowship with churches that I have placed in another category. Another possiblity is that some churches placed in a category might not fellowship with other churches I placed in the same category.

Covenant Landmark - 28 churches. These churches might be described as believing that only Christians in landmark Baptist churches are part of the New Covenant. They might not choose to describe themselves this way.

Direct Mission - 61 churches. Many of these churches have an historical connection to the gospel mission movement of missionary to China T. P. Crawford. I placed these in a separate category because I felt that their landmark principles of mission work was the chief reason they choose not to participate in associations or fellowships.

Independent Fundamental - 379 churches. These churches are very much heirs of the traits developed from the fundamentalist/modernist controversies of the early 1900's. They are the same as others commonly thought of independent fundamental Baptists, but with a stronger local church emphasis on baptism, Lord's supper, and pulpit affiliation, etc.

Old Time Missionary Baptist - 171 churches. These churches place a strong emphasis on a definite salvation experience, and usually have a mourner's bench in or near the front of the church. They tend to usually not have as strong objections to associations and fellowships as some unaffiliated Baptists, and are often found closely fellowshipping with other Old Time Missionary Baptists that are in associations.

Sovereign Grace - 417 churches. These churches place a strong emphasis on the doctrines of grace, usually known as TULIP or five-point Calvinism. I think most of these churches would not fellowship with other churches that do not hold the doctrines of grace.

Unregistered Baptist - 29 churches. These churches could probably all be placed in the independent fundamentalist category. But I found a strain of Landmarkers that are asserting that churches should not incorporate or otherwise cooperate with certain requirements of the government (e.g. Indianapolis Baptist Temple). Some of these believe that the registration and cooperation with governmental tax laws, etc. causes a church to lose its candlestick (no longer be recognized as a true church).

Unknown - 198 churches. These are churches which I believe meet the basic requirements to be called "Landmark", and yet I found no outstanding features (or did not have enough information) to classify them. In this group are probably some who themselves observe Landmark practices such as closed baptism, closed communion and non-pulpit affiliation, and yet do not strictly draw the line of fellowship on these issues.

These unaffiliated independent Landmark Baptist churches are scattered throughout the United States, with especially strong areas being in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Texas. The Sovereign Grace Landmarkers are very strong in Kentucky, but also surprisingly strong in states like West Virginia and Ohio. The Covenant Landmarkers have their strongest base on the west coast. They draw their lines of fellowship on the covenant issue, but not on whether a church is independent. So they are often found fellowshipping with Covenant Landmarkers in the ABA, etc. The Independent Fundamental Landmarkers have great strength in Texas, probably partly because of the influence of J. Frank Norris and Louis Entzminger. Old Time Missionary Baptists have their greatest strength in Tennessee and Kentucky.

** Note: I should have a more up-to-date version of this with a total of slightly over 1300, but I have yet to find it. It may have been destroyed in a past computer crash.

Word for today

malaise [ma-leyz] –noun. the way I feel right now.

Sing the almighty power of God

I sing th' almighty power of God, that made the mountains rise,
That spread the flowing seas abroad, and built the lofty skies.
I sing the wisdom that ordained the sun to rule the day;
The moon shines full at God's command, and all the stars obey.

I sing the goodness of the Lord, who filled the earth with food,
Who formed the creatures through the Word, and then pronounced them good.
Lord, how Thy wonders are displayed, where'er I turn my eye,
If I survey the ground I tread, or gaze upon the sky.

There's not a plant or flower below, but makes Thy glories known,
And clouds arise, and tempests blow, by order from Thy throne;
While all that borrows life from Thee is ever in Thy care;
And everywhere that we can be, Thou, God art present there.

Isaac Watts
Divine and Moral Songs for Children, 1715

Hymn book

A Sheaf of Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs is back from the printer and available to those who are interested. It contains 300 Christian hymns for worship or devotional reading. The cost is $11.99; the book is 4.25" x 7", 186 pages, spiral bound. Published by Waymark Publications June, 2009.

A Treatise of the Vanity of Childish-Baptisme

Baptistcenter.com has added A Treatise of the Vanity of Childish-Baptisme: wherein the deficiency of England is confidered in five particulars thereof, and wherein also is proved, that baptizing is dipping, and dipping baptizing by Andrew Ritor, an old defense of adult baptism and criticism of child/infant baptism from 1642.

Panopticon

Panopticon -- an area where everything is visible; a building so arranged that all parts of the interior are visible from a single point; a circular prison with cells distributed around a central surveillance station.

"In 1791, English philosopher Jeremy Bentham proposed an architectural innovation designed to lead to safe, humane prisons. He envisioned a prison space constructed as a circular array of inward-pointing cells. Solid walls between the cells would prevent any communication between prisoners, and a small window in the back of the cell would let in light to illuminate the contents. At the center of the ring of cells, Bentham placed an observation tower with special shutters to prevent the prisoners from seeing the guards. This 'all-seeing place', or panopticon, was designed to provide complete observation of every prisoner."

Sacred Harp data

A collection by Will Fitzgerald of various Sacred Harp essays and data including, the Popularity of tune choices in the 1991 (Denson) Edition of The Sacred Harp in 2005, 2004, and 2002; Frequency of Time signatures used in the Denson book; Time signatures used in the Cooper book; and Tom Malone on Beating Time.

Interesting stuff. For example, in 2005 two old tunes by New England composers that were added back to the Denson book in 1991 -- China and Kingwood -- are among the most and least favored. At singings recorded in the minutes, China was led 82 times and Kingwood was led 3 times.

Singing next week

One week from today (d.v.) the 154th Anniversary/142nd Consecutive East Texas Sacred Harp Convention will start in Henderson, Texas at 9:30 a.m. The Convention is scheduled Saturday & Sunday, August 8-9, 2009 at the Henderson Community Center on 302 Fair Park in Henderson, Texas.

Saturday, 9:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Sunday, 9:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.

We sing from the The Sacred Harp, 2006 Cooper Revision
See link above for map; For more info, e-mail Robert Vaughn, rl_vaughn -AT- yahoo.com (substitute @ for -AT-)