Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1893-10-27
REV. DR.. TAIMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S sun
DAY SERMON.
SUBJECT: HELPFUL CHURCHES.

IL you should ask fifty men what the church
is, they would give you tlfty different an
swers. One man would say, at is a conven
ton OF hypocrites." Another. at IL an as
sembly OF people who RELATIONSHIPS a great
deal better than others" Another, '.It Is q
place for gossip, where wolverine disposi
lions devour each other" Another, at is q
place for the cultivation OF superstition and
cant" Another, at is an arsenal wher,
theologians 70 to get pixies and muskets and
shot" Another, at Is an art gallery, where
men go to admire grand arches and exquisite
fresco, and musical MARBLE and the Dan
tesque in gloomy imagery" Another mar
would say, at is the best place on earth e1.
cept my own home" II forget thee, O
Jerusalem let my right hand forget her Gun.
ming"
Now, my friends, whatever the church is
my text tells you what II ought to be-a
great, practical, homely, omnipotent help.
''Send thee help from the sanctuary" The
pew ought to yield restiulness to the body.
The color Of the upholstery ought to yield
pleasure to the eye. The entire service ought
10 yield strength for the moil and struggle oil
everyday life. The Sabbath ought to be har-
messed to all the six days OF the week, draw
ing them In the right direction. The church
ought to be magnet, vsibly and nightly
affecting all the homes OF the worshipers.
Every man gets roughly iostled, gets abused,
gets cut, gets insulted, gets slighted, gets
exasperated.
By the time the Sabbath comes he has an
accumulation OF six days OF annoyance. and
that Is starveling church service which has
not strength enough to take that accumulate
ed annoyance and hurl II 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 hurri-
cane decks and leave him dripping with holy
and glad heavenly emotion. hSend thee help
from the sanctuary"
In the first place, sanctuary help ought to
como from the music. A woman dying in
England persisted in singing TO the last mo-
ment. The attendants tried to persuade her
TO stop, saying II would exhaust her and
make her disease worse. She answered II
must sing. l am only practicing for the
heavenly choir" Music on earth Is q re-
bearsal for music in heaven. II YOU and [
are going to take part in that great orches-
ira, it is high time that we were stringing
and drumming our harps. They tell us that
Thalbergand Gottschalk never would go into
q concert until they had first in private re-
the instrument. And can il be that we ex-
pect TO take u part in the great oratorio OF
heaven II 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 harmony, not more artistic
expression, but more volume in our church
music.
Now am no worshiper OF noise, but | be-
lieve that II 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 1t to where
1t ought to be? All the annoyances OF lifo
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 Mis-
sissippi OF congregational singing and let II
few drops OF melody trickle through tho
dam. say, take away the dam and let the
pillows roar on their way TO the oceanic
heart OF God. Whether 1t is fashionable TO
sing loudly or not, let us sing with all pos
Bible emphasis.
We hear great deal OF the art OF singing,
OF music as AL entertainment, of music as a
recreation. Ii IL high time we heard some
thing OF music AZ n help-a practical help
In order to do this we must only have a few
hymns New tunes and new hymns every
Sunday make poor congroS ational singing.
Fifty hymns are enough for fifty years The
Episcopal Church prayS the same prayers
every Sabbath, and year inter year and
century after century. For that reason they
have 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 iull force Of this
RXsfpi9p IVpDty thpnsunI NE M
wear out the hymns Of william Cowper and
Charles Wesley and Isaac Watts.
Suppose now each person in this audience
has brought all tho annoyances OK the last
365 days. Fill this room TO the ceiling with
sacred song, and you would drown out all
those annoyances OF the 1865 days. and you
would drown them out forever. Organ and
cornet are only to marshal the voice. lie.
the voice fall INTO line, and in companies. and
In brigades, 10y storm take the obduracy and
Sin Of the world. II You cannot sing for
yourself, sing for others. BY trying to gva
Others good cheer you will bring good cheer
to your own heart. When Londonderry,
Ireland, was bcsiegcd, many years ago. the
people inside tho city were furnishing, and u
vessel came up with provisions, hut the YES.
sci ran on the river bank AMI stuck fast. The
enemy went down, with laughter and de-
rision. 10 board the vessel. when the vessel
gave broadside fire against the ENEMY, and
by the shock was turned back int the stream,
and all was well.
Oh, ye who are high md dry on the rocks
OF melancholy, give a broadside fire of song
against your spiritual enemies. and by holy
rebound you will come out into the calm
waters. II We want to make ourselves
nappy, we must make others happy.
mythology tells us Of Amphian, who played
his Tyre until the mountains were moved AMI
the walls of Thebes arose, but religion has
mightier story to tell of how Christian song
may build whole temples of eternal JOY and
lift the round earth into sympathy with the
skies. tarried many nights in London and
used to heer the bellO-the small bells OF
the city-strike the hour of night-one, two,
three, four, and after they were done strik-
ing the hour OF night, then the great st.
PauPs Cathedral would come in to mark the
hours, making all the other sounds seem ut
terly insignificant as with mighty tongue it
announced tue hour or the night-every
stroke an overmastering boom.
My friends, 1t was intended that all the
lesser sounds Of the world should be- drowned
out in the mighty tongue OF congregational
song beating against the gates OF heaven
DO you know how they mark the hours In
heaven2 They have no clocks, as they have
no candles, but great pendulum of halle.
oNihbihB HeHNeu from eternity
to eternity.
Let those refuse to sing
Who never knew our God
But children OF the heavenly king
Should speak their Joys abroad.
Again remark that sanctuary help ought
to come from the sermon. or thousand
people In this or any other audience. how
many want sympathetic help2 Do you guess
n hundred2 Do you guess 6O02 You have
guessed wrong. Twill tell you Just the pro-
portion. Out OF thousand people In this
audience there are just 1000 who need SYM
pathetic help. These young people want 1t
Just as much as the old. Tho old people some
times seem to think they have monopoly
Of the rheumatism, and the neuralgias, and
the headaches, and the physical disorders OF
the world. But tell you there are no worse
heartaches than are felt by some OF these
young people.
Do you know that much OF the work 70
done by the young2 Raphael died at thirty.
seven, Richard III at thirty-three, Gustavus
Adolphus died at thirty-eight Innocent III
came to his mightiest influence at thirty
lnyan