ISSN: 1094-902X
Volume 2, Number 2 (Spring 1999)

Liturgy, Spirituality, and Polemic in the Hymnody of Richard Allen

Kenneth L. Waters, Sr., Azusa Pacific University and Vermont Square United Methodist Church

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©1999 Kenneth L. Waters, Sr..  Any archiving, redistribution, or republication of this text in any medium requires the consent of the author.

I. Neglected and Misunderstood

Richard Allen’s hymnody has been largely neglected as evidence for a particular attitude toward historically-peculiar forms of early African-American Christian worship. On the relatively few occasions when his compositional work has been consulted, there has been misunderstanding of his polemic. Allen (1760-1831) was, of course, the founder and first consecrated Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (incorporated in 1816). (1)  I call attention to both the neglect and misunderstanding of his hymnic message because the attitudes of the present are partially shaped by the voices of the past. It is important that those voices be heard, understood, and interpreted with complexity and nuance.  A pre-1801 hymn by Richard Allen entitled Spiritual Song is at the center of this investigation of the relationship between Richard Allen's hymnody and his views on African-American worship styles. Spiritual Song was originally published as a broadside in Philadelphia. An original copy now resides at the William L. Clements Library in Ann Arbor (University of Michigan). (2)

Allen both collected and authored hymns. He produced the first compilation of hymns specifically for African American congregations. In 1801 he published A Collection of Spiritual Songs and Hymns Selected from Various Authors by Richard Allen, African Minister. John Ormrod was hired by Allen to print this collection of 54 hymns drawn from the collections of Isaac Watts and John and Charles Wesley. (3)   Later that year, Allen added 10 additional hymns and had T.L. Plowman print this enlarged edition under the title, A Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs from Various Authors, by Richard Allen, Minister of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Allen published a pocket sized edition of this collection in 1808; and finally in 1818 he brought 314 hymns together to produce the first hymnal of the A.M.E. Church. (4) Allen himself probably authored some of the hymns in his evolving collections. He also created hymns that circulated independently. As Eileen Southern observed, two such hymns, The God of Bethel heard her cries and Ye ministers that are called to preaching, appeared in his 1887 autobiography. Spiritual Song is among these independently circulating compositions. Like his other hymns, Spiritual Song was written without tune or melody. (5)

Dorothy Porter has done us an invaluable service by reproducing the hymn in her anthology of early African American writings. However, in her introductory comments about the hymn, where she refers specifically to the second stanza, we begin to detect misunderstanding. Porter observes:  "In this religious chant he warned his congregation against loud 'groaning and shouting'; such religion, he states, is 'only a dream.'" (6)  Her remarks suggest that Richard Allen was generally opposed to traditional styles of early African-American Christian worship with their highly celebrative, emotive, enthusiastic, rhythmic, kinetic, and vocal expressions. A new look will show that her impression requires revising.

One might argue that Richard Allen was at least opposed to extreme manifestations of these worship styles. This may very well be correct; still, this hymn, when properly interpreted, cannot be taken as evidence for even that opposition.  Such a misunderstanding of Allen's position can be found  in another otherwise outstanding work by John Lovell, Jr. who also refers to the second stanza of the hymn, saying:   "For example, Richard Allen did not like shouting Methodist; he thus had his congregation sing, 'Such groaning and shouting, it sets me to doubting…'" (7)  Regrettably, other fine scholars would appropriate Lovell’s misreading of the Allen hymn. Wendel Whalum, for example, would write a most informative piece on the black hymnic tradition. However, he would quote Lovell above, saying: "Expressed feelings against the use of spirituals, especially shouting ones, are evident from early black church fathers. The attitude of Richard Allen…is described as follows: 'For example, Richard Allen did not like shouting Methodists; he thus had his congregation sing, ‘Such groaning and shouting...'" (8)  In an even more recently-published text, Melva Wilson Costen has produced an excellent work on the historical and theological roots of the African American worship tradition.  Yet, she also reiterates Lovell’s mistaken impression of Richard Allen, writing, "His concern for emotional restraint and the 'offensiveness' of unbridled emotions during worship is revealed in this song: 'Such groaning and shouting, it sets me to doubting…`Twas truly offensive to all that were there.'" (9)  Thus, we have a history of interpretation, spanning the course of a number of decades, that emphasizes an understanding of Richard Allen's perspective on African-American worship as a distinctly negative one.  Moreover, these intrepretations rely on his hymns for the primary evidence. 

II. A New Interpretation of Richard Allen

Contrary to previous interpretations, the purpose of Richard Allen’s Spiritual Song was to defend traditional, historic styles of early African American Christian worship against then contemporary assimilationist/accomodationist detractors. This is more clearly seen when we apply literary analysis to this hymn. When we do so, we clearly see shifts in mood, perspective, and speaker thoughout the eleven stanzas of the song. Richard Allen’s hymn is actually a dialogue between two speakers. It is an antiphony or call and response. In those stanzas where traditional, historic styles of early African American worship is defended and affirmed, Richard Allen, the author of the hymn, is speaking. In those stanzas where the features of early African American worship are exaggerated and decried, a representative figure named "brother Pilgrim" is speaking. This clever format becomes even clearer when we simply move through the stanzas.

First Stanza: The First Speech of Richard Allen

At the start of the hymn, Richard Allen has an early morning encounter with "brother Pilgrim." Allen inquires about Pilgrim’s trials, spiritual progress, and Christian hope. He says:

Good morning brother Pilgrim, what marching to Zion,
What doubts and what dangers have you met to-day,
Have you found a blessing, are your joys increasing?
Press forward my brother and make no delay;
Is your heart a-glowing, are your comforts a-flowing,
And feel you an evidence, now bright and clear;
Feel you a desire that burns like a fire,
And longs for the hour that Christ shall appear. (10)

This initial greeting, which is followed by a series of questions addressed to a second person, sets the stage for a dialogue. All that is needed is a first person response to establish the antiphonal character of the hymn. We have such a response in the second stanza, and again in the fourth, seventh, and eleventh stanzas.

Second Stanza: The First Speech of "brother Pilgrim"

Brother Pilgrim was obviously returning from a rather ecstatic worship experience to which he reacted negatively. He declares:

I came out this morning, and now am returning,
Perhaps little better than when I first came,
Such groaning and shouting, it sets me to doubting,
I fear such religion is only a dream;
The preachers were stamping, the people were jumping,
And screaming so loud that I neither could hear,
Either praying or preaching, such horrible screaching,
`Twas truly offensive to all that were there?

It is pivotally important to see that this second stanza, so often quoted, is not the voice of Richard Allen, as so frequently mistakingly supposed, but that of brother Pilgrim. Allen, of course, was the author of these words, but, I argue, they do not represent his perspective on the issues. Rather, in the world of the hymn they represent the sentiments of those assimilationist/accomodationist members of Allen’s community who oppose the historically peculiar worship forms that were so characteristic of early African American worship. Allen’s rhetorical strategy is to place their complaints in the mouth of brother Pilgrim so that he may answer them.

It is possible that Brother Pilgrim is referring to a racially-mixed, white, or predominantly white worship service, since there were also ecstatic forms of worship among whites in early America. However, given the racial/cultural identity of Allen’s primary community and audience, it is more likely that African American worship is being described by Pilgrim.  Pilgrim’s comments reflect an assimilationist/accomodationist tendency to exaggerate the features of early African-American worship. If this is saying too much, it can at least be said that he describes the experience in rather unflattering terms. In any case, brother Pilgrim, in this antiphony, becomes a straw man whom Allen builds in order to knock down, however gently he does it.

Third Stanza: The Second Speech of Richard Allen

Richard Allen responds with the suggestion that brother Pilgrim’s negative reaction resulted from his choice to rationally analyze rather than prayerfully participate in the worship experience, as believers are taught in 1 Thessalonians 5:17. He says:

Perhaps my dear brother, while they pray’d together,
You sat and consider’d and prayed not at all,
Would you find a blessing, then pray without ceasing,
Obey the command that was given by Paul,
For if you should reason at any such season,
No wonder if Satan should tell in your ears,
The preachers and people they are but a rabble,
And this is no place for reflection and pray’rs.

Fourth Stanza: The Second Speech of "brother Pilgrim"

Brother Pilgrim defends his consternation by referring to what he perceived as the noisy and distracting excesses of worship. He says further that the ecstatic manifestations he witnessed have no precedence in the Bible. He contends:

No place for reflection, I’m fill’d with distraction,
I wonder what people could bear for to stay,
The men they were bawling, the women were squaling,
I know not for my part how any could pray;
Such horrid confusion, if this be religion,
Sure `tis something new that never was seen,
For the sacred pages that speak of all ages,
Does no where declare that such ever has been.

Fifth and Sixth Stanzas: The Third Speech of Richard Allen

Allen’s answer alludes to 2 Samuel 6: 14-16, Nehemiah 8:9-18, Ezekiel 21:12-14, and Luke 19:40. His words constitute an incipient African American theology of worship. His point is that there is biblical precedence for the type of worship that brother Pilgrim experienced. In Allen’s words:

Don’t be so soon shaken, if I’m not mistaken,
Such things have been acted by christians of old,
When the ark was a-coming, King David came running,
And dancing before it by scripture we’re told,
When the Jewish nation had laid the foundation,
And rebuilt the temple at Ezra’s command,
Some wept and some prais’d, and such a noise there was rais’d,
It was heard afar off, perhaps all through the land.

As for the preacher, Ezekiel the teacher,
Was taught for to stamp and to smite with his hand,
To shew the transgression of that wicked nation,
That they might repent and obey the command.
For scripture quotation in the dispensation,
The blessed Redeemer had handed them out,
If these cease from praying, we hear him declaring,
The stones to reprove him would quickly cry out.

Obviously, Allen is using this poetic means to respond to contemporary assimilationist/accomodationist criticisms of typical patterns of historic African American Christian worship.

Brother Pilgrim raises a protest against Allen’s argument with a standard assimilationist/accomodationist reference to 1 Corinthians 14:40. However, in the course of his polemic, he also reveals a personal fear of losing control in the midst of the surrounding ecstasy. He argues:

The scripture is wrested, for Paul hath protested,
That order should be kept in the houses of God,
Amidst such a clatter who knows what they’re after,
Or who can attend to what is declared;
To see them behaving like drunkards a-raving,
And lying and rolling prostrate on the ground,
I really felt awful and sometimes was fearful,
That I’d be the next that would come tumbling down.

Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Stanzas: The Fourth Speech of Richard Allen

In Allen’s view, Pilgrim’s fears and his resistance to the Holy Spirit are devilish in origin. With allusions to Luke 7:23, Acts 2:1-21, and Ephesians 4:30, Allen affirms early African American Christian worship as a genuine expression of New Testament religion. He maintains:

You say you felt awful, you ought to be careful,
Least you grieve the Spirit and make it depart,
For from your expressions you felt some impressions,
The sweet melting showers has tender’d your heart;
You fear persecution, and that’s the delusion,
Brought in by the devil to turn you away;
Be careful my brother, for bless’d is no other,
Than creatures who are not offended in me.

When Peter was preaching, and boldly was teaching,
The way of salvation in Jesus’ name,
The spirit descended and some were offended,
And said of the men they were fill’d with new wine.
I never yet doubted but some of them shouted,
While others lay prostrate by power struck down,
Some weeping, some praying, while others were saying,
They are as drunk as fools, or in falsehood abound.

Allen closes his affirmation of early African American spirituality on an eschatological note. He warns brother Pilgrim that those who are not in the Spirit will nevertheless do some shouting, screaming, and crying of their own, but for mercy not for joy. He proclaims:

Our time is a-flying, our moments a-dying,
We are led to improve them and quickly appear,
For the bless’d hour when Jesus in power,
In glory shall come is now drawing near,
Methinks there will be shouting, and I’m not doubting,
But crying and screaming for mercy in vain:
Therefore my dear Brother, let’s now pray together,
That your precious soul may be fill’d with the flame.

Brother Pilgrim finally concedes to Allen’s witness and responds with repentance, confession, and conversion. He even receives the Holy Spirit and becomes filled with the assurance of his salvation. He testifies:

Sure praying is needful, I really feel awful,
I fear that my day of repentance is past;
But I will look to the Saviour, his mercies for ever,
These storms of temptation will not always last,
I look for the blessing and pray without ceasing,
His mercy is sure unto all that believe,
My heart is a glowing, I feel his love flowing,
Peace, comfort, and pardon, I now have received.

Pilgrim’s act of contrition, concession, and confession is, of course, the indication of Richard Allen’s true purpose in the composition of this tour de force. He wants to answer his critics with arguments that he feels are compelling and convincing.

This new portrait of Richard Allen has the strength of being consistent with the Allen that we encounter in other of his writings. We know, for example, that Allen was concerned about the encroachment of European formalism upon Methodist worship life. Allen, in fact, alludes to the threat of European formalism as early as the famous "Christmas Conference" of 1784 in Baltimore. He observed prophetically: "The English preachers just arrived from Europe, Dr. Coke, Richard Whatcoat, and Thomas Vassey. This was the beginning of the Episcopal Church among the Methodists. Many of the ministers were set apart in holy orders at this conference and were said to be entitled to the gown; and I have thought religion has been declining in the church ever since. (11)  Parenthetically, a few years later, in the Arminian Magazine, John Wesley (1703-1791), the founder of Methodism, disclosed his own fears about the formalistic direction that the young church was taking. Alluding to 2 Timothy 3:5, he wrote, "I am not afraid that the people called Methodist should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid, least they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of of religion without the power. And this undoubtedly will be the case, unless they hold fast both the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out. (12)

This cross-racial division between those who affirmed a personal, heartfelt, uninhibited worship expression and those who promoted an emotionally subdued, staid, ceremonial worship life was played out in a peculiar way within the early African American religious community. Apparently, there were those who were so motivated by the desire for accreditation, acceptance, and prestige within a predominantly white European American culture that they abdicated their African worship heritage. They chose instead to accommodate themselves and be assimilated to white European American congregational life. High tensions rose between them and those like Richard Allen who affirmed, asserted, and held on to their African spiritual heritage. Richard Allen’s Spiritual Song, which is so widely misinterpreted, is attestation to this conflict and to Allen’s own affirmationist stance.

The historic conflict between affirmationist black Christians and assimilationist/accomodationist black Christians becomes more sharply defined when we introduce another historical personality to the discussion. Brother Pilgrim, of course, was only a literary construct who functioned as a sounding board for Allen’s polemic. There was, however, an actual person of unquestionable historic significance who embodied the sentiments that Richard Allen opposed, although he, for the most part, made his mark on history after Allen's.

Daniel Alexander Payne (1811-1893), highly educated from a Lutheran and Presbyterian background and destined in 1852 to become the sixth bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, was history’s driving force in the production of an educated African-American clergy. Indeed, his efforts to achieve an educated black clergy can only be described as heroic. Nevertheless, when commenting upon contemporary forms of traditional African American Christian worship, Payne revealed a formalistic bias. He observes:

I have mentioned the "Praying and Singing Band" elsewhere….After the sermon they formed a ring, and with coats off sung, clapped their hands and stamped their feet in a most ridiculous and heathenish way….Among some of the songs… I find…what are known as "corn-field ditties"….I suppose that with the most stupid and headstrong it is an incurable religious disease….The time is at hand when the ministry of the A.M.E. Church must drive out this heathenish mode of worship or drive out all the intelligence, refinement, and  practical Christians who may be in her bosom. (13)

Although there is no evidence that Richard Allen and Daniel Payne ever directly engaged one another over worship style, it is clear that they each encountered representatives of the other’s beliefs and practices. More importantly, they stood in opposite camps on the issue of worship. It is precisely this point that has been glossed over by prior misinterpretations of Allen’s thought.

Alexander Crummell (1819-1898), an Episcopalian clergyman, was similar to Payne in his judgment upon the religious practices of his kinspeople. He particularly associated these practices with the corrupt character of rural clergy. He said,  "Good but illiterate men numbers of the field preachers were. But large numbers of them were unscrupulous and lecherous scoundrels! This was a large characteristic of "plantation religion;" cropping out even to the present, in the extravagances and wildness of many of their religious practices!" (14)  Crummell considered the worship styles of contemporary African Americans as one of the deleterious effects of slavery. He even conceded as much to his enemy, Joseph L. Tucker, a white Episcopalian minister from Mississippi who accused former slaves of being morally retrograde, writing, "We will, for Dr. Tucker’s sake, make large concessions, (a) on account of the ignorance of these people; (b) for  the taint of immorality, the heritage of slavery, which, doubtless, largely leavens their profession; and (c)   because their religion is certainly alloyed with phrensy and hysteria, and tinged with the dyes of superstition." (15)

Francis J. Grimké (1850-1937), a Presbyterian minister, was another who would have sided with Payne. In a 1892 address to the Minister’s Union of Washington D.C., Grimké was highly disparaging of the phenomenon he described as mere emotionalism in African American worship, particularly in regard to pulpiteering. He argues:

The aim seems to be to get up an excitement, to arouse the feelings, to create an audible outburst of emotion, or, in the popular phraseology, to get up a shout to make   people ‘happy.’ In many churches where this result is not realized, where the minister is unable by sheer force of lung power, and strength of imagination, to produce this state of commotion, he is looked upon as a failure. Even where there is an attempt to instruct, in the great majority of cases this idea is almost sure to assert itself, and become the dominant controlling one. (16)

Whether or not Grimké was correct in reducing contemporary African American worship expression to mere emotionalism, he compellingly warns that mere emotionalism deters authentic spirituality:  "Where emotionalism prevails there will be a low state ofspirituality among the people, and necessarily so. Christian character is not built up in that way." (17)  It appears that Grimké had no use for the type of worship manifestations that Allen seemed to defend.

We nevertheless find a more sympathetic and understanding view of indigenous African American worship in W.E.B. DuBois (1868-1963), journalist and sociologist. For DuBois, early African American worship style was not an aberration but a pattern typical of religious expressions since ancient times.  He wrote in The Souls of Black Folk:

Finally the Frenzy or "Shouting," when the Spirit of the Lord passed by, and, seizing the devotee, made him mad with supernatural joy, was the last essential of Negro religion and the one more devoutly believed in than all the rest. It  varied in expression from the silent rapt countenance or the low murmur and moan to the mad abandon of physical  fervor, --the stamping, shrieking, and shouting, the rushing to and fro and wild waving of arms, the weeping and laughing, the vision and the trance. All this is nothing new in the world, but old as religion, a Delphi and Endor. And so firm a hold did it have on the Negro, that many generations firmly believed that without this visible manifestation of the God there could be no true communion with the Invisible. (18)

DuBois' position is reminiscient of Allen's in the ways in which he alludes to ancient precedents for African American worship style.

The Ongoing Debate

It is the ongoing debate over what is the proper worship style of African American Christians that makes a thoughtful consideration of Richard Allen, Daniel Payne, and others relevant for us. Intimations of the debate are detectable in the work of several writers. One of the most arresting asides to the debate was made by the late great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) in his sermon on Luke 11:5-6 entitled "A Knock at Midnight" where he speaks of two kinds of "Negro" churches that "feed no midnight traveller," i.e., that falls short of having a vital ministry. According to King:

One burns with emotionalism, and the other freezes with classism.  The former, reducing worship to entertainment, places more emphasis on volume than on content and confuses spirituality with muscularity. The danger in such a church is that the members may have more religion in their hands and feet than in their hearts and souls….The other type of Negro church that feeds no midnight traveller has developed a class system and boasts of its dignity, it membership of professional people and its exclusiveness. In such a church the worship is cold and meaningless, the music dull and uninspiring, and the sermon little more than a homily on current events. If the pastor says too much about Jesus Christ, the members feel that he is robbing the pulpit of dignity. If the choir sings a Negro spiritual, the members claim an affront to their class status. (19)

The former type of African American church that Dr. King described may be called an "emotionalist" black church. This type of church emphasizes a superficial emotional and sometimes hysterical expression of worship rather than a more substantial spirituality that responds to the deeper needs of the individual, family, congregation, and community.  The second type of church fits the description of an "assimilationist/accomodationist" congregation. This type of church has abdicated an authentically African American worship and religious heritage in order to adopt a white European American style of congregational life.

King at least alluded to yet a third type of black church that has the "vitality" and "relevant gospel to feed hungry souls" and whose worship is a "social experience in which people from all levels of life come together to affirm their oneness and unity under God." (20)   This type of church, had King described it more directly, would be an "affirmationist" congregation, --a congregation that affirms and celebrates an authentically African American worship, congregational life, and ministry. Of course, it can not be assuredly said that Dr. King would have agreed with these labels for the types of African American churches that he describes or alludes to, nevertheless, they are helpful for the present discussion. (21)

J. Deotis Roberts is another scholar who informs the debate about African American Christian worship styles, commenting particularly on the issues of  assimilation and accomodation in the black church. He writes:

Blacks who copy the religion of the White mainstream because they have really arrived at a measure of success or make believe that they  have done so have no healing provisions built into their church life…  They are less emotional and are more consciously sophisticated in their worship than Whites of the same denomination….The minister is to be well educated and extremely polished, but he dare not extend morning worship for more than an hour. He must not introduce any Africanisms into his service - - "gospels" and "spirituals" are out. Anthems are in. The preacher must not get carried away with his message. He must present a clear, concise, logical, and cohesive message. Not only must he steer clear of emotion in his manner of delivery; he must not belabor the cause of social justice in his message. It is my impression that this is not the proper climate for the visitation of the Spirit. What cost inauthentic existence! (22)

Incidently, Roberts also addresses the problem of mere emotionalism or hysteria in black church worship, contending that, "It is very important…that the mere expression of vehement emotion not be automatically taken as a manifestation of the Spirit of God." (23)

There are, of course, other scholars who contribute to the debate over black church worship styles. However, enough has been said to show that our investigation of Allen and Payne, and their conflicting positions, is indeed relevant to a modern discussion.

There were and still are those like brother Pilgrim or Daniel Payne who would describe Richard Allen’s spirituality in negative or exaggerated emotionalist terms, but it is evident that the spirituality of Richard Allen was  more substantial than the stereotype would allow and of a type that became translated into the ministry of social healing and empowerment.  After leading the exodus from Old St. George’s Church, Allen and Absalom Jones established the Free African Society as a mutual aid, self-help, and burial society. Not only was this organization the precursor to Mother Bethel of Philadelphia, the first African Methodist Episcopal church congregation, but it was also an embodiment of Allen’s spirituality and extension of his social witness.  The leadership of Richard Allen and Absalom Jones during the Yellow Fever outbreak of 1793 in Philadelphia was an extraordinary demonstration of how the religion of the heart becomes the religion of the hands.(24)  In sum, Richard Allen represented the affirmationist style of worship, congregational life, and ministry. He stood squarely within an authentic African American tradition of Christian religious life.

African American people have the right, of course, to adopt any style of worship, congregational life, and ministry that they wish. African American people have indeed adopted a wide variety of styles of religious life. It is only when the historic style of African American Christian worship comes under attack in deference to some supposedly "superior" or "better" style that problems arise. Despite the clear commitment on the part of many that the African aspects of our worship and congregational life constitute a rich, valuable heritage that should be preserved, developed, and affirmed, others sometimes asser that African Americans have no right to retain the African part of their spiritual heritage in their worship and congregational life. Since proponents of different positions on African American Christian worship will frequently buttress their case with the witness of a historical personality, it has been the concern of this presentation to show the historic relevance of Richard Allen to the modern debate. I have tried to show that Allen clearly belongs on the side of those who affirm an authentically African heritage in the worship and congregational experience of the African American Christian church.

©1999 Kenneth L. Waters, Sr..  Any archiving, redistribution, or republication of this text in any medium requires the consent of the author.

Author's Biography

Kenneth L. Waters, Sr. is adjunct professor of New Testament at Azusa Pacific University, Azusa, California and Pastor of the Vermont Square United Methodist Church in Los Angeles.  He is the author of Afrocentric Sermons: The Beauty of Blackness in the Bible (Judson Press, 1993) and I Saw the Lord: A Pilgrimage Through Isaiah Six (Upper Room Books, 1996).  He received his Ph.D. in New Testament from Fuller Theological Seminary in 1999.  Dr. Waters will soon be bringing his pastoral career of twenty-eight years to a close as he moves into full time university teaching in the area of biblical studies. [top of page]

Notes

1. Daniel Coker was the first bishop-elect of the A.M.E. Church, but he resigned on April 10, 1816, the day after his election. Richard Allen was then elected and consecrated on April 11. See Daniel Alexander Payne, History of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, ed. C.S. Smith (Nashville: A.M.E. Sunday School Union, 1891), 14. [return to text]

2. Dorothy Porter, ed., Early Negro Writing 1760-1837 (Beacon Press, 1971), 521. [return to text]

3. Eileen Southern, The Music of Black Americans: A History, 2d. ed. (W.W. Norton & Company, 1983), 76. [return to text]

4. Ibid. [return to text]

5. Ibid., 76-77, 80-81. [return to text]

6. Early Negro Writing 1760-1837, 521. [return to text]

7. John Lovell, Jr., Black Song: The Forge and the Flame (MacMillan and Company, 1972), 105-106. [return to text]

8. Wendel Whalum, "Black Hymnody" in Black Church Life-Styles: Rediscovering the Black Christian Experience, ed. Emmanuel L. McCall (Broadman Press, 1986), 86. [return to text]

9. Melva Wilson Costen, African American Christian Worship (Abingdon Press, 1993), 95. [return to text]

10. See Early Negro Writing 1760-1837, 559-561 for the entire hymn. [return to text]

11. Richard Allen, The Life Experiences and Gospel Labors of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, with an introduction by George A. Singleton (Abingdon Press, 1960), 22. Cf. Gayraud S. Wilmore, Black Religion and Black Radicalism: An Interpretation of the Religious History of Afro-American People, 2d ed. (Orbis Books, 1984), 80. "[Richard Allen] shared with the Wesleys, Asbury, and other Methodist fathers a bias for personal, noninstitutional religion…He saw that the formal churchmanship that was gaining ground among whites of the northern cities, as the new middle class began to dominate churches such as St. George’s was not for poor blacks." [return to text]

12. John Wesley, Selections From the Writings of the Rev. John Wesley, M.A., ed. Herbert Welch (Abingdon Press, 1942), 205. [return to text]

13. Daniel A. Payne, Recollections of Seventy Years ( Arno Press and New York Times, 1986), 253-256. Cf. Harry Richardson, Dark Salvation: The Story of Methodism as it Developed Among Blacks in America (Anchor Press, 1976), 111. "Today we would regard the tunes Payne opposed as indigenous folk music, possibly as precursors of the now-accepted ‘spirituals.’ But Payne felt that they were neither good music nor good religion, and he opposed their use. He encountered, of course, terrific opposition." [return to text]

14. Alexander Crummell, Civilization and Black Progress: Selected Writings of Alexander Crummell on the South, ed. J.R. Oldfield (The University Press of Virginia, 1995), 83. [return to text]

15. Ibid., 89. [return to text]

16. Francis J. Grimké, The Works of Francis J. Grimké, Vol.1: Addresses Mainly Personal and Racial (The Associated Publishers, Inc., 1942), 229. [return to text]

17. Ibid., 230. [return to text]

18. W.E. Burghardt DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk (A.C. McClurg & Co., 1903), 191. [return to text]

19. Martin Luther King, Jr. Strength to Love (Fortress Press, 1982), 62-63.  [return to text]

20. Ibid., 63. [return to text]

21. Cf. Floyd Massey, Jr. and Samuel Berry McKinney, Church Administration in the Black Perspective (Judson Press, 1982), 11-12, 50-52. Massey and McKinney offer categories for identifying black church types that I find helpful and analogous to my own. They are: the "mass" or "Negro" church characterized by emotion and social isolation, the "class" or "Mulatto" church characterized by pseudo-whiteness and social elitism, and the "mass-class" or "Black" church which achieves a vital worship and an effective social ministry. These designations have little to do with shades of skin color. They have more to do with behavior. Massey and McKinney argue, for example, that "some Mulatto churches are ‘whiter’ in behavior than some White churches." [return to text]

22. J. Deotis Roberts, Liberation and Reconciliation: A Black Theology (The Westminster Press, 1971), 125. [return to text]

23. Ibid. [return to text]

24. Richard Allen, 48-65. [return to text]

©1999 Kenneth L. Waters, Sr..  Any archiving, redistribution, or republication of this text in any medium requires the consent of the author.