Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1893-10-27
REV. DR.. TALMAGH.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun
day Sermon.
subject: "Helpful Churches"


TEXT "Send thee help from he sanctu-
drH"-Psalms Ky, 2.
If you should ask fifty men what the church
Is. they would give you Atty different an
swers. One man would say, at is a conven-
ton OF hypocrites" Another, "It is an as
sembly 0! people who feel themselves great
deal better than others" Another, ut is
place for gossip, where wolverine DISPOSE
lions devour each other" Another, at Is a
place for the cultivation OF superstition and
cant" Another. at is an arsenal where
theologians go to get pixies and muskets and
shot" Another. at is an art gallery, where
men go to admire grand arches and exquisite
| fresco, and musical MARBLE and the Dan
| tesque in gloomy imagery" Another man
would say, cit is the best pllce on earth ex-
cept my own home" If 1 forget thee, o
Jerusalem let my right hand forget her cum
| ming"
Now, my friends, whatever the church is,
my text tells you what it ought to be-a
great, practical, homely, omnipotent help.
"Send thee help from the sanctuary" The
pew ought to yield restfulness to the body.
The color of the upholstery ought to yield
pleasure to the eye. The entire service ought
| TO yield strength for the MOL and struggle OF
everyday life The Sabbath ought to char
messed to all the six days OF the week, draw
ing them in the right direction. The church
ought to be magnet, visibly and nightly
affecting all the homes OF the worshipers.
Every man gets roughly iostled, gets abused
gets cut, gets insulted, gets sighted, gets
exasperated.
By the time the Sabbath comes he has an
accumulation OF six days OF annoyance. and
that is a starveling church service which has
not strength enough to take that accumulat-
ed annoyance and hurl 1t into perdition. The
/ business man sits down in church headachey
from the weeks engagements. Perhaps he
wishes ne had tarried at home on the lounge
with the newspapers and the slippers. That
man wants to be cooled off and graciously
diverted. The first wave of the religious
service ought 10 dash clear over the hurri-
cane decks and leave him dripping with holy
and glad heavenly emotion. "Send thee help
from the sanctuary"
In the first place, sanctuary help ought 10
como from the music. A woman dying in
England persisted in singing to the last mo-
ment. The attendants tried TO persuade her
to stop, saying it would exhaust her and
make her disease worse. She answered II
must sing l am only practicing for the
heavenly choir" Music on earth Is a re-
hearsal for music in heaven. If you and
are going to take part in that great orches-
| ira, IL IS nl0n Time THAI We WeI6 StIluXllX
and drumming our harps. They tell us that
| Thalberg and Gottschalk never would go into
/ concert until they had first in private re-
i hearsed although they were such masters Of
! the instrument. And can it be that we ex-
! pect to take part in the great oratorio OF
| heaven if we do not rehearse here? But
am not speaking of the next world. Sabbath
song ought to set all the week to music. We
want not more harmony, not more artistic
| expression, but more volume in our church
| music.
Now / an no worshiper OF noise, but be-
| leve that If our American churches would,
with full heartiness Of soul and full emphasis
| OF voice. sing the songs Of Zion this part OF
sacred worship would have tenfold more
| power than it has now. Why not take this
part of the sacred service and lift it to where
it ought to be2 All the anhoyances of life
might be drowned out of that sacred song.
Do you tell me that it is not fashionable to
sing very loudly? Then, say, away with
the fashion. We dam back the great Mis-
sissippi Of congregational singing and let
few drops of melody trickle through the
dam. l say, take away the dam and let the
pillows roar on their way to the oceanic
heart of God. Whether 1t is fashionable to
sing loudly or not, let us sing with all pos
sible emphasis.
We hear great deal OF the art of singing,
| of music as an entertainment of music as a
recreation. 1t is high time we heard some
thing of music as a help-a practical help.
In order to do this we must only have few
hymns New tunes and new hymns every
Sunday make poor congregational singing.
Fifty hymns are enough for fifty years. The
Episcopal Church prays the same prayers
every Sabbath, and year after year and
century after century. For that reason they
! have hearty responses Let US take hint
from that fact, and let US sing the same
songs Sabbath after Sabbath. Only in that
way can we come to the full force of this
exercise. Twenty thousand years will not
wear out the hymns OF William Cowper and
Charles Wesley and Isaac Watts.
Suppose now each person in this audience
has brought all the annoyances of the last
965 days. Fill this room 10 the ceiling with
sacred song, ami you would drown out all
those annoyances of the 365 days, and you
would drown them out forever. Organ and
cornet are only to marshal the voice. Let
the voice fall into line, and in companies. and
in brigades, by storm take the obduracy and
sin of the world. If you cannot sing for
yourself, sing for others. By trying to give
others good cheer you will bring good cheer
to your own heart When Londonderry,
Ireland, was besieGed, many years ago, the
people1nside the city were famishing, and
vessel came up with provisions, but the YES
| sci ran on the river bank and stuck fast. The
enemy went down, with laughter and de-
| rsion to board the vessel. when the vessel
gave broadside fire against the enemy, and
| by the shock was turned back into the stream,
and all was well.
Oh, ye who are high and dry on the rocks
of melancholy, give q 1roadside fire of song
against your spiritual enemies, and by holy
rebound you will come out into the calm
waters. If we want to make ourselves
happy, we must make others happy.
Mythology tells US of Amphian, who played
bis Tyre until the mountains were moved and
the walls of Thebes arose. but religion has
mightier story to tell of how Christian song
may build whole temples of eternal Joy and
lift the round earth into sympathy with the
skies. tarried many nights in London, and
| | used 10 hear the BELLS the small bells oil
the city-strike the hour of ntght-one, two,
I three, four, and after they were done strik-
| ing the hour OF night, then the great st.
| PauIs Cathedral would come in to mark the
hours, making all the other sounds seem ut
= terly insignificant as with mighty tongue it
/ announced the hour or the night-every
stroke an overmasterlng boom.
My friends. it was intended that all tho
lesser sounds of the world should be drowned
out in the mighty tongue of congregational
song beating against the gates of heaven.
DO you know how they mark the hours In
heaven? They have no clocks, as they have
no candles, but great pendulum of halle
luiah swinging across heaven from eternity
to eternity.
Let those re use to sing
| Who never knew our God,
But children of the heavenly king
| Should aDVOa1.