Songs of Love and Life

Original Compositions of FATHER DIVINE and How They Came Into Being

In This Article the Writer Has Tried to Capture a few of the Hundreds of Original Compositions Sung Volitionally by FATHER DIVINE From Time to Time
and Cite the Circumstances that Brought Them About.


Part One

Spontaneous songs burst forth from the Heart of FATHER DIVINE, and as HE sings His listeners are affected in a way that nothing else could affect them. The softness of His Voice and the Wisdom of His Words become embedded in the soul. In them, HE gives to the world a philosophy of Truth to lead all mankind into the omniscient light of His Divine Wisdom, and in them, the height and depths of His Love and understanding are revealed.

Many profound Sermons given by FATHER DIVINE are preceded by an original and volitional song to portray and imprint the thought of His text upon His listeners. Some of these songs both melodic and meaningful and always filled with love, have been carefully and tenderly stored in the memory of those who have been with FATHER DIVINE Personally before the turn of the century or, in later years, have been recorded from time to time by stenographers who jotted them down word and note.

The music to the song 'Feeling Good'

One little tune that FATHER has re-sung in recent years, is characteristic of those HE would often start singing at the Holy Communion Table, expressing His inner joy. It says:


"If anybody asks you how I AM,
Feeling good, feeling good,
If anybody asks you how I AM
Tell them I'm walking in the light
And filled with love and feeling good."

FATHER answered many testimonies by singing songs that seemed to bubble up from His Omniscience to convey a word of consolation or advice to the speaker.

Often as HE was about His never ending duties, FATHER DIVINE could be heard softly singing little impromptu melodies that never failed to give a word of instruction on some point of truth.

Long before the world was cognizant that GOD was on earth in a Holy Body, FATHER DIVINE walked daily among the people, both living and preaching the pure and unadulterated Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was His desire to remain unknown that His Message alone might be conveyed to the people and so HE requested those with Him not to reveal His identity.

 

 

 

 

 

FATHER DIVINE stands for the first formal portrait
HE allowed to be taken.

The music to the song 'Feeling Good'

Sometimes called the "Messenger," by those who did not know who HE was, FATHER DIVINE'S association in the days of the late 1800's before churches had been established under the Peace Mission Movement, was often with other churches, for it was here that HE could readily express His religious views. It was here, too, that HE had a common bond with the men of the cloth — those ordained and those elders of the churches called by the Spirit to preach the Word of GOD.

The ministers could not always see eye to eye with Him for FATHER DIVINE was not bound by orthodoxy nor did HE cull His views from theological seminaries and the staid traditional doctrines of men. FATHER went among men, much as Jesus went among the doctors and lawyers in His youth, speaking profound wisdom, yet revealing the Christ in such simple terms of understanding that the truth defied them. He was too great a challenge for them; too much of a threat to them; and so they rejected Him. Notwithstanding, He continued to exalt the stainless Life of Christ, portraying in perfect exemplification the Word He preached.

And so FATHER DIVINE sang in all dominion and authority:

The music to the song 'I Am the One'

"I Am the One, I Am the One,
I came treading the winepress all alone;
I Am the One, I Am the One,
I came treading the winepress all alone.

All were wrong , do you not see?
I came treading the winepress all alone,
I Am the One , I Am the One,
I came treading the winepress all alone.

Do not doubt, and do not fear,
I came treading the winepress all alone ,
For I came to dry up all your tears,
I came treading the winepress all alone.

I said, all the way from Bozrah I came,
I came treading the winepress all alone,
I Am the One, I Am the One,
I came treading the winepress all alone.

Refused $50,000

The ministers considered FATHER DIVINE utterly foolish when HE refused to accept fifty thousand dollars offered to Him to make a phonographic transcription of one of His original compositions.

Of this incident FATHER said in a Message given on November 14, 1950:

"I recall about thirty years ago I composed a song, in the which I had composed many different compositions and still Am composing as My Spirit leads to compose, but at the time I had composed a song and I was offered fifty thousand dollars for that one composition to go on a transcription, go on a phonograph record, but I said I would not receive it. I refused to accept of it, for it is written, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive!' And, 'No man has forsaken all these things lest he gain an hundred fold more in this present time and in the world to come life everlasting!' I Am happy to say that I know for that fifty thousand dollars I could have gained — by not accepting of it I have gained an hundred times as much as the fifty thousand dollars over and over again! So, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive!' That is the way to get and that is the way to receive, by the way of giving: for it is written, "So freely as you receive, so freely give!'

"And as I said at that time," FATHER continued, "when some of the ministers said unto ME, 'Why You are foolish not to accept that contribution that they desire to give You for the composition!' I said, if I sacrifice it I will gain an hundredfold more, which means an hundred times as much as the fifty thousand dollars! — and you may multiply the fifty thousand by one hundred and then when that is come or would come, it is sacrificed again; and multiply the grand total of what it would be, multiplied by one hundred over and over again! The material blessings I AM talking about, as well as the mental and spiritual blessings!

"So then I said, the stock exchange has nothing for ME to envy! They may acquire millions, it is true, in dividends and stock exchange, but Christ has promised to multiply you an hundred fold more right here and now, for what you give for His Name's sake:

'No man has forsaken or will forsake all these things lest he gain an hundredfold more in this present time and in the world to come life everlasting!'


By interpretation I could say, 'No man has forsaken or will forsake all these things lest he gain an hundredfold more on the material plane and in the Spiritual Realm and in Spiritual things, infinite, unlimited blessings!'

"So let MY Words be to you even though it may seem like they should be few, but let them be the way to success and all prosperity! It is written,

'He that puts his trust in ME shall never be confounded!'

One declared,
"I once was young, but now I am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, neither his seed begging bread."

"Can you not see the mystery? I have not as yet ever taken up a collection for MY Spiritual Work and for MY Spiritual Profession, but yet unlimited blessings are at MY disposal and the Scripture is fulfilled in reality as declared by the minor prophet. He declared that GOD said,

'Try ME and see if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out such a blessing there will not be room to receive it!'"

The lesson FATHER DIVINE taught and the proof of His Conviction has borne fruit in such abundance, that the world itself can see that HE draws from an inexhaustible supply. Although FATHER does not claim a single penny for Himself, nor does HE Personally own any real estate, yet HE has access to the amount HE refused, multiplied over and over again. Because HE is without graft or greed HE has abundance and to spare. The masses are fed today just as HE fed hundreds daily in His Sayville home many decades ago without accepting a penny from anyone. He housed many families in comfort and conveniences, from time to time at the Sayville Home, fulfilling the declaration of the apostle, ". . . as poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing all."

The music to the song 'The People Don't Know The Lord'

Unmoved by the grafting minds of men, and as HE once declared: I would not sell MY Spirit or MY Life for thirty or forty or one hundred million dollars," FATHER sang:


"The people in the world they don't know the Lord.
The people in the world they don't know the Lord.
The people in the world they don't know the Lord.
For HE will not do what they said do.

The people want the Lord to be a money beggar,
The people want the Lord to be a money beggar,
The people want the Lord to be a money beggar,
For HE will not do what they said do.

For the love of money is the root of all evil,
For the love of money is the root of all evil,
For the love of money is the root of all evil,
And He will no do what they said do"

FATHER DIVINE explains the mystery of supply in His utter self-denial, for, as He says, all of the resources of the earth — those of the mineral kingdom, those of the vegetable kingdom, those of the animal kingdom and those of the man and GOD kingdoms — all say, "Here am I, send me!" Blessings seek Him out for all His Ways are truth and righteousness.

 

 

 

I Have A-Plenty For All

The music to the song 'I Have A-Plenty For All' The music to the song 'I Have A-Plenty For All'

Fully capable, Father Divine, the Fulfiller and multiplier of all good things, asserts His Godship as He sings:


A-plenty, a-plenty, a-full and a-plenty,
I have a-plenty, a-plenty for all,
A-plenty of food, of raiment, and shelter,
I have a-plenty, a-plenty for all.

For GOD is your Father and there is no other,
I have a-plenty, a-plenty for all ,
Eat, drink and be merry of limitless blessings,
I have a-plenty, a-plenty for all.

Christ walked on the water like a man on the land,
It's a-plenty, a-plenty for all,
Of food, of raiment, of homes and of shelter,
I have a-plenty, a-plenty for all"

And this is the truth FATHER DIVINE lives by, for Himself and is coworkers, His friends and His guests.

 

 

 

By Example

Contrary to the preachment of the ministers, FATHER DIVINE exemplifies the Christ Teaching in its fullness in His Words, Deeds and Actions. He lives the Gospel Truth every day, showing Christianity in particular that the Sabbath is to be lived every day of the week, not just for an hour or two on Sunday. Jesus said, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." But here Christians ceased to worship GOD the rest of the week, leaving Him out of their daily business affairs.

The music to the song 'I Have Entered in My Glory' The music to the song 'I Have Entered in MY Glory'

FATHER DIVINE preaches this eternal gospel daily. He vied with the ministers in the days when He walked among men, those who merely had a sketch of the Spirit and a smattering of the Truth. And so He sang in His omniscience as His Spirit gave utterance to the declaration of His Deity:


"I've entered in My Glory, entered in My Glory,
Entered in My Glory I had before the world was,
I've entered in My Glory, entered in My Glory,
Entered in My Glory I had before the world was.


"Before the world was I was in the bosom of My Father,
I've Entered in My Glory I had before the world was,
And then I said, Prepare Me a Body,
I have Entered in My Glory I had before the world was."

 

 

 

Danger in the City

In 1885 a great storm hit Charleston, South Carolina. In its fifty-mile-an-hour fury it blew rooftops off the houses, drenching people from the open sky. The battery wall at the water front looked like a gigantic waterspout. The lightening was so fierce it struck the earth and rolled along like a great ball of fire. Citadel Square Baptist Church was completely demolished. The weatherman was shaken in surprise. He had predicted fair weather but the storm proved to be the worse on record in Charleston. What the weatherman did not know was that the cosmic forces of nature worked it's havoc according to the Personal Word of GOD.

On one of His visits South just before the storm, FATHER DIVINE had visited Charleston bringing the Word of GOD in peace and harmony. He was rejected by the people. They did not want the unbiased and unadulterated truth He preached among them as He said, " . . . when many of the ministers heard of MY coming, a good many of them said, ' Don't you ministers allow Him to come in your church with that mess,' or words to that effect. I recall Doctor Jenkins of the orphanage in South Carolina said, 'If it is of GOD, it will stand, but if it's not of GOD it must go down!' When the ministers held a meeting to keep Me out of the city in Charleston, South Carolina; and I said, of course that was a thought to be considered, if he did not know it or if they did not know it, that was the way to take it — just want everything to go down — prayed GOD that everything that is not of GOD go down, that that which is of GOD might stand." That which was not of GOD prevailed and destroyed over and over again since then.

Among those who heard and believed was a young woman whose husband had her committed to the insane asylum because he so bitterly opposed FATHER DIVINE. This was not the end of it, however.

In the din and noise of the ensuing storm, as he later confessed, FATHER DIVINE came to him in the form of a huge policeman forcefully ordering him to get his wife out of the asylum. Quivering with fright he immediately went out into the storm and brought her home.

The music to the song 'I Have Entered in MY Glory'FATHER sang , as His Word was fulfilled:

"Didn't I tell you it was danger
It was danger in the city, Allelu.

I saw the doctors trembling
And the patients going to the graveyard,
It was danger in the city, Allelu.

(chorus)

I heard the members screaming
And the preachers falling backwards,
It was danger in the city, Allelu.

(chorus)

I saw the lawyers trembling
And the prisoners going to the chain gang
It was danger in the city, Allelu.

(chorus)

People of the "sanctified" churches particularly were often caught up in emotional expressions as they sang with feeling and ardent zeal, thinking on the words of the songs they sang, as well as enjoying the melodies and rhythm combined.

FATHER DIVINE often tells His followers, "Don't say it unless you mean it." He points out that mere singing to enjoy a catchy tune is not important, the meaning of the words of the song should become a part of the person singing songs of praise and glory to GOD.

The essentiality of singing songs for the purpose of working out some adverse condition in one's affairs was explained by FATHER in a talk to the masses listening to Him at the Brooklyn Palace in Brooklyn, New York in 1933. He said in part:

"There are those of you under the sound of My Voice that have heard the many songs that have been sung, and many praises, and through the unfoldment of these compositions cometh the best of all, I might say, cometh the strength of your energy and of spiritual vibration. You notice that on the battlefield they have music and they have singing, so the songs and music combined will make men faithful and zealous, and courageous and strong. It is wonderful.

"I feel tonight, if you will continue to attune yourselves to these wonderful compositions of songs and praises, your sorrows and your trials and tribulations will all pass away. It is wonderful. I set a sample and an example before you all. You hear the many songs and praises we sing, and you see the victory that goes forth through the singing. Thousands of people are being resurrected from the limited degrees of all their adversities by their contact with Me through their singing. It is wonderful. So you can be happy and be glad. Through the singing you can attune yourselves to one heart and one mind, and you become to be with one accord. Singing is more essential than that which is known as praying. It is wonderful. There are two things you can do effectively and agreeably with one accord and that is to sing and to eat." (Published in The Light, January 6,1933.)

FATHER DIVINE does not confine Himself to any style of singing. He has said, "I Am in the jazz world. I Am in the theatrical world. I Am in the world of blues and every field of endeavor, and I cover the same.; for My Presence is actually there and I shall convert them and direct them in the positive direction instead of the negative. That is what I called for, I called for a real combination of jazz and blues converted to GOD, to sing and praise GOD'S Name from the jazz world of expression, but to be directed in a different direction in thanksgiving and praise." (Printed in The Spoken Word, May 4, 1939 p. 72.)

Perfect Liberty

Verifying His Omnipotent stand in the perfect freedom of His own undiluted ideals of liberty, both for Himself and for all who would hear His Words of Infinite Wisdom, FATHER DIVINE spoke in reference to another of His compositions, He said:

"It matters not what may arise, regardless to the theories and doctrines of men; with all of their versions, or even all of their preconceived ideas and opinions, your human fancies, pleasures and their tendencies, even all of your simplest fancies, mental and spiritual, you must be 'don't-care-ish,' as far as you are concerned.

"I Am taking these thoughts to consideration Myself," FATHER said, "as the reaction of any expression that might arise while standing in this liberty wherein I set men free. I recall an original composition composed for the consideration of the people many years ago, and it came forth spontaneously, as men were thinking and watching and beholding My Personal and Spiritual Activities, it came forth in the melody as follows:

The music to the song 'I Have Entered in MY Glory'

FATHER sang , as His Word was fulfilled:


"I don't care, Oh, I do not care,
I don't care what the people say about Me;
I don't care, well, I do not care
I don't care what the people say about Me.

"Some may laugh, and some may scorn,
I don't care what the people say about Me;
They've got to come to judgment — just as sure as you're born
I don't care what the people say about me."

Another original composition sung by FATHER DIVINE many years ago similarly bears out His complete detachment from the bondage of man's yoke of personality, of which FATHER says: "The mortal versions of men will cause you to doubt and fear, if you will allow them. The mortal versions of men will cause you to be ashamed, if you will allow them, but you must break the bars of conventionality, all men's theories and doctrines, as the veil thrown around the temple door. It must be torn in twain that you might see and look diligently in and see Him as He is."

In conjunction with this thought, FATHER sings: The music to the song 'I Have Entered in MY Glory'

"Wear the world, wear the world,
Wear the world as a loose garment;
Wear the world, wear the world,
Wear the world as a loose garment;

Wear the world so you can slip it right off,
Wear the world as a loose garment;
Lay down the world and take up your cross,
Wear the world as a loose garment.

(chorus)

Do not care what the people say,
Wear the world as a loose garment;
Just keep walking along this bright new way
And wear the world as a loose garment

(chorus)

Doubts and fears can no longer stay
When you wear the world as a loose garment,
If you keep walking up the King's Highway
And wear the world as a loose garment.

(chorus)

Nothing but peace should walk up this way,
Wear the world as a loose garment.
Lo, I will be with you, day by day,
If you wear the world as a loose garment."

(chorus)

(Part II follows)

Thank YOU, FATHER and MOTHER DIVINE!

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