The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1893-12-09
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
What the Christian Church OF To-
Day Ought to Be.
The Inspiration and the Help Of the Peo'
ple-Help In the Music, In the Ser
mon and in tho Prayers
for Some One.

Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage delivered
the following sermon on Helpful
Churches" in the Brooklyn tabernacle,
taking for his text:
Send the help from the sanctuary.-Psalms
xx.,2.
If you should ask fifty men what the
church is, they would give you fifty
different answers. One man would
say: est is a convention of hypocrites.
Another: ''It is an assembly of people
who feel themselves great deal bet
ter than others" Another: ut is
place for gossip, where wolverine dis
positions devour each other" Another:
at is place for the cultivation OF SUI
perstition and can't" Another: ''It is
an arsenal where theologians go to get
pixies and muskets and shot" Another:
st is an art gallery, where men go to
admire grand arches, and exquisite
fresco, and musical MARBLE, and the
Dantesque in gloomy imagery" An
other man would say: ut is the best
place on earth except my own home.
If forget thee, Oh, Jerusalem! let my
right hand forget her cunning"
Now, my friends, whatever the
church is, my text tells you what it
ought to be; 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 fife. 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 magnet, visibly
and nightly affecting all the homes
of the worshipers. Every man gets
roughly jostled, gets abused. gets cut,
gets insulted, gets sighted, gets exas-
perated. By the time the Sabbath
comes, he has an accumulation of six
| days annoyance and that is a starveling
| church service which has not strength
enough to take that accumulated an
noyance and hurl it into perdition.
| The business man sits down in church
headachy from the weeks engage
ments. Perhaps he wishes he had tar
L
| newspapers and the slippers. That
man wants to be cooled off, and gra-
| ciously 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
h eavenly emotion. "Send thee help
from the sanctuary"
In the first place, sanctuary help
ought to come from the music. A
woman dying in Europe 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 an
swered: 81 must sing; am only prac-
ticing for the Heavenly choir" Mu-
sic on earth is a rehearsal for music
in Heaven. If you and are going te
take part in that great orchestra it is
high time that we were stringing and
| drumming our harps. They tell Vi
that Thalberk and Gottschalk never
would go into concert until they had
first in private rehearsed, although
they were such masters of the instru
ment. And can it be that we expect
to take part in the great oratorio O.
Heaven if we do not rehearse here.
But l am not speaking of the mex
world. Sabbath song ought to be sci
all the week to music. We want not
more harmony, not more artistic ex
preston. but more volume in oul
church music.
Now, am no worshiper of noise, bu
l believe that If our American churche.
would, with full heartiness of soul ani
full emphasis of voice, sing the songs
of Zion this part of sacred worship
would have tenfold more power thar
it has now Why not take this part o
the sacred service and lift 1T to wher,
1t ought to be? All the annoyances o
life might be drowned out of tina
sacred song. Do you tell me that 1t i
not fashionable to sing very loudly
Then, say, away with the fashion
We dam back the great Mississippi o
congregational singing, and let a few
drops of melody trickle through thu
dam. say take away the dam ant
let the pillows roar on their way t,
the oceanic heart of God. Whether i
is fashionable to sing loudly or not, lie
us sing with all possible emphasis.
We hear a great deal of the art o
singing, of music as an entertainment
of music as a recreation. 1t is higl
time we heard something of music as
help, a practical help. In order to d,
this we must only have 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 sam
, prayers every Sabbath, and year ate
year. and century after century. Flo
that reason they have the hearty re
sponses. Let us take hint from tina
I fact, and let us sing the same song
.. Sabbath after Sabbath. Only in tina
8 way can we come to the full force @
I this exercise. Twenty thousand year
will not wear out the hymns of Wi
liam Cowper, and Charles Wesley, an
: Isaac Watts. Suppose, now, each pei
son in this audience has brought a.
the annoyances of the last three hun
bred and sixty-five days. Fill thi
> room to the ceiling with sacre
song and you would drow
! out all those annoyances of tn
three hundred and sixty-five day
; and you would drown them out TO
ever. Organ and cornet are only to ma
: shall the voice. Let the voice fall int