Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-01-26

joy or grief, we will dwell to all eternity.
1t is an act which ought to ELL the boldest
heart with ave. and yet we perform it so
lightly, so carelessly, that we scarce think
what we are saying, and when we are done
we scarce remember what we have said.
"What doest thou here 2" Here upon
our knees with hands folded, what is it,
what really is it which we are doing?
MUSIC OF THE CHOIR.
And then, the praises: We sing them or
listen to them after the same careless fash
ion. Every note of music which sounds in
Christian church having any other inten-
ton than to glorify God in heaven is pro-
found impertinence. It is entirely plain,
when we stop to think what the church is.
what the service is for, and what the words
mean. And yet we find ourselves,
sometimes, in spite of ourselves,
| Valuing the music of the
church in proportion to its attractlveness to
the congregation. Every singer in every
choir has an almost irresistible temptation
to sing the praises of God, forgetting God
altogether, and thinking of the music COM
mittee of the vestry. What doest thou here,
in choir or congregation? What does it
mean which you say or sing? In your own
heart, what do you honestly mean by it?
When we come to ask such plain and un-
comfortable questions as these, we begin, al
most all of us I am afraid, to make unpIeas-
ant discoveries about ourselves. We must
| put away the dull glasses of conventional
ism and familiarity, and look at things as
they are. Prayer really means prayer, and
praise really means praise, and He to whom
both are addressed is the Lord God AL
mighty. And the most beautiful prayer
that was ever uttered, and the most lovely
anthem that was ever sung, if they were
meant for other ears than His, were simply
elaborate and artistic breakings of the third
commandment
Every syllable of prayer or psalter we
should utter as if we knelt or stood in the
presence of God visible. Ever considera-
ton of awe or of love we should urge upon
our hearts. Not a look, not a whisper,
should divert US nor any one beside us from
the one sublime purpose for which we have
come into the house OF God. We are here
to worship God.
AT CHURCH TO LEARN.
We are here also and this is the other
meaning of church attendance, of which
will speak-we are here to learn the will Of
God.
The will of God is declared in church, in
the scriptures and the sermons. Our whole
purpose as we listen, and the preachers
whole purpose as he speaks, should center
and to teach the will of God. Whatever IN
the utterance of the teacher has any other
real intention than to draw people nearer to
God, to lead them to follow more closely the
blessed steps of the life OF Christ, and-in
word-to make them better Christians, is
impudently out of place. That is the meas
ure by which to value sermons.
st. Paul preached a great sermon one
time, in Athens, on the top of Mars Hill.
He had all the philosophers of that cultured
city in his congregation. He began with
grace and tact which has ever since been
cited as a model of persuasive "eloquence.
He ventured into philosophy, he quoted
from the heSthen poets. 1t was probably
the most elaborate, finished and oratorical
sermon which that eminent apostle and
preacher ever delivered. But the sermon
made no converts. There arose no church
in Athens for st. Paul to write epistles to.
The sermon may have attracted admiration,
but it attracted no allegiance. Then the
apostle took long walk all by himself He
sent his companions around by ships, and
himself went On foot alone. Across the fields
he went and over the hills of Greece, and as
he walked he thought that sermon over, and
the more he thought about it the more he
was sorry that he had preached it. And SO
he came to Corinth. And here he preached
a different sort of sermon. Here was no
longer any elaborate and ingenious philoso-
ply, no more learned quotations from the
verses of the heather poets.
HE SAW HIS MISTAKE.
ST came, brethre," he reminded the Cor
inthians afterward. 81, brethren, when 1
came to you, came not with excellency of
speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the
testimony of God. For 1 determined to
know nothing among you save Jesus Christ
and Him crucifed."
That is what we go to church to hear
about. To learn the will of God, to be !
taught about Jesus Christ and Him crucified |
is what men need and what they want. |
There is always talk about the trouble of |
non-attendance. Non-attendance in some |
cases means wickedness, in some cases means |
Indifference, in some cases means laziness, |
in some cases means honest doubt as to the |
preachers purpose to preach the real word |
Of God. I believe that the most imperative |
of all those modern claims upon the pull |
pit" of which Archdeacon Farrar has re-
Gently been writing, is the claim that the
preacher shall preach Christ The people |
crowded about Him to hear the word of God
in the old days when he lived in Palestine.
People will always crowd about anybody
who, with all his heart, breaches the true
word of God anywhere.
To give glory to the Lord our God and to
get help for our own souls; this is what
church-going means or ought to mean. And
so, although said that church attendance
is to be accounted as among the lesser
Christian duties, it is still duty which can
not advantageously be left undone To
praise God and to learn His will; these are
very serious duties, indeed.
And not only does church attendance
imply the performance of these duties; but
Aha of nj |
church attendance. Whoever very greatly
desires to worship God and to get religious
help goes to church, if he can.
NEGLECTED AT HOME.
It is true that both these duties may be
done at home. 1t is also true, however,
that in 19 cases out of 20 they are not done
at home. The men and women, the older
boys and girls, who are at home this Sun
day morning in this city, what are they
about? What are they actually doing?
They may be upon their knees everyone of
them, with the word of God open beside
them; but l am afraid not. am afraid that
if great canvas could be stretched across
the chancel of some church and upon it, by
some lantern which might we'll deserve the
name of magic" lantern, series of pic
lures could be cast for US to look at which
should tell US, in house after house and
room after room, down Penn avenue and up
Fifth avenue and along the intersecting
streets, just what the people who are at
home are doing at this moment, am afraid
that very few Of the pictures would be quite
in place in church. They would be pictures
of people reading improper literature, or
getting dinner. Not 1 picture out of 80
would show a woman praying; not out of
200 would show man studying the Bible.
No; the truth is that we need all the Sun
II