Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1893-10-16
HELPFUL CHURCHES.
ELOQUENT SERMON BY THE GREAT
BROOKLYN PREACHER.

Business of Worship.
BROOKLYN. Oct. 15.-Thc character Of
the hymns given ont Iy Tcv. DR.. Tai
image in the Brooklyn I~aLtrnacle this
forenoon called for the unusual power
of congregational singing. Organ and
cornet and the voices of the thousands
of worshipers made the place resound
with music. The subject was Helpful
Churches," the text being Psalms Xxx, 2,
l"Send thee help from the sanctuary"
If you should ask so men what the
church is, they would give you 90 differ
lent answers. One nan would say, "1t Isl
convention of hypocrites." Another, cit
is an assembly of people who feel them
selves a great deal better than Others"
Another, lit is a place for gossip, where
wolverine dispositions devour each 9TH
en-" Another, at is a place for the cul-
aviation of superstition and can't" An
other, 1T is an arsenal where th~eologians
go to get pixies and muskets and shot"
Another, 1T is an art gallery, where men
go to admire grand arches, and exquisite
fresco, and musical MARBLE, and the
Dantesque in gloomy imagery" An
lother man would say: sit is the best
place on earth except my w home. If
I forget thee, 0 Jerusalem! 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-
AIRY" 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 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 sighted, gets exasperated.
By the time the Sabbath comes he has
an accumulation of six days of annoy
aance, and that is a starveling church
service which has not strength enough
to take that accumulated annoyance and
Ihurl 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 fhe newspapers and the slippers.
That man wants to be cooled off and
gr~aciously 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-
emily emotion. ''Send thee help from
the sanctuary"
ABBAT SONGS.
In the first place, sanctuary help ought
to come from the music. A woman dy-
1nr IN Fn01on1 norcictad in cipoipr 70
the last moment. The attendants tried
to persuade her to stop, saying it would
exhaust her and make her disease worse.
She answered: 81 must sing. I am only
practicing for the heavenly choir" Mu-
sic on earth is a rehearsal for music in
heaven. If you and I are going to take
part in that great orchestra, it is high
time that we were %stringing and thrum-
ming our harps. They tell is that Thai
berg and Gottschalk never would go into
a concert until they had first in private
~rehearsed, although they were such mas
tiers of the instrument. And can it be
that we expect to take a part in the great
oratorio of heaven if we do not rehearse
here? But I 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
volume in our church music.
/ Now I am no w~OrShiper Of noise, but
Il 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 it 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 q few drops of melody trickle
through the dam. 1 say, take away the
dam and let the pillows roar on their
to the oceanic heart of God.
Whether it is fashionable to sing loudly
or not, let us sing with all possible en-
We heal a great deal of the art of
singing, of music as an entertainment,
of music as a recreation. It is high time
we heard something of music as a 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
are enough for so years. The
Episcopal church prays the same pray
ers every Sabbath, and year after year
and century after century. For that
reason they have the hearty responses.
Let us take a 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. Tween
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-