Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1893-11-02
HELPFUL CHURCHES.
Eov. DR.. Talmage Says the Church
Should be Practical
Sanctuary Help Should Come From the
Music, the Sermon and the Prayers
of the People Fifty Hymns Are
Enough for fifty Years.

ernacle was Helpful Churches" the
text being Psalms, XXX, 2: ''Send thee
help from the sanctuary" The SER
mon follows:
If you should ask fifty men what the
church is. they would give you fifty
different answers. One man would say,
lit is a convention of hypocrites.
Another. 1T is an assembly of people
who feel themselves great deal better
than others. Another, at is a place
for gossip, where wolverine DISPOSE
tions devour each other" Another, 1T
is place for the cultivation of super
stition and can't" Another 1T is an
arsenal where theologians go TO get
pixies and muskets and shot" Another
''It is an art gallery, where men go to
admire grand arches and exquisite
freseo. and musical MARBLE, and the
Dantesque in gloomy imagery. An.
other man would say 1T is the best
place on earth except my own home.
If forget thee o, 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 the 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 serv-
ice ought TO yield strength for the moil
and struggle of everyday life. The
Sabbath ought to be harne ssed to all
the six DAYS of the week, drawing 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
jostled, gets bruised, gets cut gets in
suited. gets sighted, gets exasperated.
by the time the Sabbath comes, he has
an accumulation of six days annoy
ance. and that is a startling church
service which has not strength enough
TO take that accumulated annoyance
and hurl it into perdition. The BUSH
ness man sits down in church headachy
from the weeks engagements. Per
haps 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 heavenly emotion.
"Send thee help from the sanctuary.
In the first place, sanctuary help
ought to come from the music. a
woman dying in England persisted in
fIha
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" Music on earth
is rehearsal for music in Heaven. II
YOU and are going to take part in
that great orchestra, it is high
time that we were stringing and
drumming our harps. They tell us that
Thalberg and Gottschalk never would
90 into a concert until they had first
in private rehearsed although they
were such masters of the instrument.
And can it be that we expect to take
part in the great oratorio OF Heaven II
we do not rehearse here? But am
not speaking of the next world. Sab
bath 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, am no worshiper of noise, but
I believe that il 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 1t has
now. Why not take this part of the
sacred 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 1t is
not fashionable to sing very loudly?
Then, / say, away with the fashion.
We dam back the great Mississippi of
congregational singing. and let 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, letus
sing with all possible emphasis
We hear a great deal of the art OF
singing. of music as an entertainment.
of music as recreation. 1t is high
time we heard something of music as
help. a practical help. In order to do
this, we must only have a few hymns.
New tunes and new hymns every sun
day make poor congregational singing.
Fifty hymns are enough for fifty years.
The Episcopal church prays the same
pravers everv Sabbath, 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.
Twenty thousand years will not wear
out the hymns of William Cowper, and
Charles Wesley, and Isaac Watts Sup.
nose now each person in this audience
has brought all the annoyances of the
last three hundred and sixty-fve days.
Fill this room to the ceiling with sacred
song. and you would drown out all
those annoyances of three hundred
and sixty-five days and you would