Re: [Worship] Luther quote? Not!

["Bruce L. Johnson" <bjohnson@worshipmap.com>]

Perhaps you can't find it in Luther's writings because Luther didn't really
say it!    (I wouldn't swear he never said anything like it-- he said quite
a
lot!  --but if you haven't found it yet I wouldn't count on it.    BTW, what
sort of "secondary sources" have you found it in?    Do they give evidence
of careful scholarship or are they more casual?    If these are all popular
works and none cites a solid source I'd be skeptical.)

The quote you cite sounds more like a statement by the Reverend Rowland
Hill,
pastor of Surrey Chapel in London (from a sermon he preached in 1844).
More precisely he said,  "The devil should not have all the best tunes."
(At least that's what I've read.   I'll let you know if and when I find the
"primary source" for that!)

As for what Hill meant (in case anyone wonders), I don't have a fuller
citation so I can't be certain, but I've heard that he was specifically
criticizing what he regarded as the mediocre quality of the music Christians
were then writing,  rather than advocating the use of any particular style.

Come to think of it,   we have to watch out for that today too.    I feel it
more often with texts-- when would-be songwriters, and some well-known ones,
seemingly  put little effort into assuring that their songs are Biblically
sound,  and that their words are understandable,  free from cliches and
grammatical blunders.

Please don't misunderstand me.   I'm not knocking anyone's abilities.   The
problem is more one of not putting in the EFFORT to do the best we can with
those abilities -- not sweating through the polishing, not researching or
enlisting help from those with Biblical (or other) expertise that we may
lack,  not asking for feedback from others who have a feel for
language or simply the ability to look our work objectively.    (Could it be
we are simply in too much of a hurry?)


Bruce Johnson
www.worshipmap.com




-----Original Message-----
From: Theologus@aol.com <Theologus@aol.com>
To: worship@praise.net <worship@praise.net>
Date: Wednesday, December 02, 1998 10:12 AM
Subject: [Worship] Luther quote


>Okay all you Lutheran Hymnologists, here's a trivia question for you. I
have
>often seen the famous quote of Luther that goes, "The devil should not be
>allowed to keep all the best tunes for himself." The problem is, I have
only
>seen this in secondary sources. I have searched Luther's actual works to no
>avail. Does anyone know the primary source for this quotation?
>
>Thanks,
>David
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