Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1893-10-21
HELPFUL CHURCHES.
ELOQUENT SERMON BY THE GREAT
BROOKLYN PREACHER.

bROOkLYN PREACHER,
A Reply to tho Query. ~whas Is tho
Churcha.'-It Should Be Great, Prao-
tioni. Homely, omnipotont HeIp-The
Business OF Worship.
BnooKIYN. Oct. 15.@The character OF
the hymns given OUT by Rev. Dr.. Tai
mage In the Brooklyn Tabernacle this
forenoon called for the unusual power
Of congregational singing. Organ and
cornet tand the voices Of the thousands
Of worshipers made the place resound
with muslc.s The subject was Helpful
Churches the text being Psalms Xxx, 9,
"Send thee help from the sanctuary"
If you should ask 80 men what che
ohurchSis, they would giyeyou 80 differ
emit answers. One man would say, at is .
convention of hypocrites." Another, "It
Is an assembly Of people who feel them
selves 8 great deal better than others"
Another, SIT Is q place for gossip, where
wolverine dispositions devour each 9TH
en-" Another, at L. a.place for the oul-
tivation Of superstition and can't An
other, 1T Is an arsenal where theologsns
go to get pixies and muskets and shot"
Another, ut is an art gallery. where men
90 to admire grand arches, and exquisite
tresco, and musical MARBLE, and the
Dantesque in gloomy imagery" An
other man would say: "ft Is the best
place on earth except my own home. If
forget thee, o Jerusalemi let my right
hand forget her cunning.e
Now, my friends, whatever the church
is, mytext 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 thesbody. The color of the upholstery
oughtAos yield pleasure to the eye. The
entireserv!ce 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 q 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 e1asperated.
BY the time the:Sabbath comes he has
an accumulation ofzsix days Of annoy
ance, and that rs, staryeling church
service which has not strength enough
TO takethat 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 st 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 end heay-
emily emotion. "Send thee help from
the sanctuary
SABBATH. SONGS
Inithe first place, sanctuary help ought
to come from the music Awoman dy-
| ing In England persisted in singing to
the last moment. The attendants tried
opersaade her to; stop, saying It would
exhaust her Snd make her disease worse,
She answered, II must sing. I am only
practicing for the heavenly choir Mu-
sic on earth is rehearsal for music In
heaven. II you and are going to take
part in that great orchestra, 1t Is high
time that we were stringing and thrum-
ming our harps. They tell us that Thai
berg and Gottschalk never would go into
concert until they had first in private
rehearsed. although they were such mas.
tiers Of the instrument. And can 1t be
that we expect to take part in the great
oratorio Of heaven II we do not rehearse
herei 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 am no worshiper Of noise, but
I believe that If OUT 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 sa-
cred service and lift 1t 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 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
OF not, let US sing with all possible en-
phasis.
We hear q 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 80 years. The
Episcopal CHURCH prays the same pray
ers every Sabbath, and year after year
HUI C5uCuIy dLtcH SOA1oAJ' 'NS
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 thatway 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-
dienoe has brought oil the annoyances
Of the last S85 days. FIJI this room to
the ceiling with sacred song, and you
would drown out ali those annoyances
of the 1896 days, and you would drown
them out forever. Organ and cornet
are only to marshal the voice. Let the
voice fall into limo, and in companies,