Connecticut western news., 1893-10-19
HELPFUL CHURCHES.
ELOQUENT SERMON BY THE GREAT
 BROOKLYN PREACHER.

Church?''-It Should Be Great, Prac-
 Business of Worship. : BROOKLYN, Oct. 15.-The character of the hymns given out by Rev. Dr. Tal- mage in the Brooklyn Tabernacle this forenoon called for the unusual power of congregational si-ging. Organ and cornet and the voices of the thousands of worshipers made the place rcsound with music. The subject was Helpful Churches" the text being Psalms xxx, 9. "Send thee help from the sanctuary"
 If you should ask 50 men what tho church is. they would give you 50 differ ent answers. One man would say, "It is a convention of hypocrites." Another, "It is an assembly of people who feel them selves great deal better than others" Another, ''It is place for gossip, where wolverine dispositions devour each oth- 1. er." Another, "It is place for the cul- tivation of superstition and cant" An other, Ut is an arsenal where theologians go to get bikes and muskets and shot," Another, 1t is an art gallery, where men go to admire grand arches, and exquisite fresco, and musical warble, and the Dantesque in gloomy imagery" An other man would say: "It is the best place on earth except my own home. If forget thee, O Jerusaleml let my right hand forget her cunning"
 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 sanctu- ary." 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 moil and struggle of everyday life. The Sabbath ought to be harnessed to all the six days of the week, drawing them in the right direction. The church ought to be a magnet, visibly and nightly affecting all the homes of the worshipers. Every man gets roughly jostled, gets abused, gets cut, gets in- suited, gets slighted, gets exasperated.
 By the time the Sabbath comes he has an accumulation of six days of annoy ance, and that is starveling church service which has not strength enough to take that accumulated annoyance and hurl it into perdition. The business man sits down in church headachey from the weeks engagements. Perhaps he wishes he 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 to dash clear over the hurricane decks and leave him dripping with holy and glad and heav- enly emotion. "Send thee help from the sanctuary"
 5a SABBATH SONGS.
 In the first place, sanctuary help ought to come from the music. A woman dy- ing in England persisted in singing to the last moment. The attendants tried to persuade her to stop, saying it would exhaust her and make her disease worse. She answered.: II must sing. am only practicing for the heavenly choir" Mu- sic on earth is rehearsal for music in heaven. If you and | are going to take part in that great orchestra, it is high N time that we were stringing and thrum- { ming our harps. They tell us that Thal- berg and Gottschalk never would go into a concert until they had first in private rehearsed, although they were such mas ters of the instrument. And can it be that we expect 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 har- mony, not more artistic expression, but more volume in our church music.
 Now l am no worshiper of noise, but 1 believe 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 sa- cred service and lift it to where 1t ought to be? All the annoyances 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 Mississippi of congregational sing ing and let a few drops of melody trickle through the dam. say, take away the dam and let the pillows roar on their way to the oceanic heart of God. Whether it is fashionable to sing loudly or not, let us sing with all possible em- phasis.
 We hear great deal of the art of singing, of music as an entertainment, of music as recreation. It is high time we heard something of music as help practical help. In order to do this we must only have a few hymns. New tunes and new hymns every Sunday make poor congregational singing. Fifty hymns are enough for 50 years. The Episcopal church prays the same pray CTS every Sabbath, and year after year and century after century. For that reason they have the 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. Twen- ty thousand years will not wear out the hymns of William Cowper and Charles Wesley and Isaac Watts.
 Suppose now each person in this au- dience has brought all the annoyances of the last 365 days. Fill this room to the ceiling with sacred song, and 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 ob- duracy 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 be- sieged, many years ago, the people in side the city were furnishing, and ves- sel came up with provisions, but the vessel ran on the river bank and stuck fast. The enemy went down, with laughter and derision, to board the yes sel, when the vessel gave a broadside fire against the enemy. and by the shock was turned back into the stream, and all was we'll
 Oh. ye who are high and dry on the rocks of melancholy, give broadside