News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1893-10-19
HELPFUL CHURCHES.
ELOQUENT SERMON BY THE GREAT
BROOKLYN PREACHER.

BROOKLYN, Oct 15.-The character of
the hymns given out by Rev. DIR. Tai
mage in the Brooklyn Tabernacle this
forenoon called for the unusual power
bf congregational singing. Organ and
eornet 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,
tsSend thee help from the sanctuary"
If you should ask 80 men what the
church is, they would give you so differ
Snt answers. One man would say, "It is
convention of hypocrites." Another, sit
is an assembly of people who feel them
selves great deal better than others"
Another, 1T is place for gossip, where
wolverine dispositions devour each 9TH
Another, ''It is place for the Gull
Nv Clon OF superstition and can't" An
ole' ~ Is an arsenal where theologians
70 70 get pixies and muskets and shot"
Anotner, 1t is an art gallery. where mon
go to admire grand arches, and exo1,ie;+,
fresco, and musical MARBLE, and a.
Dantesque in gloomy imagery" An
other man would say: cit is the best
place on earth except my own home. If
forget thee, o Jerusaleml let my right
hand forget her cunning"
Now, my friends, whatever the church
lis, my text tells you what it ought to be
Ia great, practical, homely, omnipotent
help. "Send thee help from the sanctu-
ary." The pew ought to yield restfulness
Ito 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
iostled, gets abused, gets cut, gets in
suited, gets slighted, gets exasperated
By the time the Sabbath comes he has
AN accumulation of six days of annoy
lance, and that is starveling church
service which has not strength enough
Ito take that accumulated annoyance and
lhurl 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 the newspapers and the slippers.
That man wants to be cooled off and
igraciously diverted. The first wave of
THE religious service ought to dash clear
lover the hurricane decks and leave him
dripping with holy and glad and heav-
emily emotion. 'Send thee help from
the sanctuary"
SABBATH SONGS.
In the first place, sanctuary help ought
Ito come from the music. A woman dy-
ing in England 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 answered: Il must sing. / am only
practicing for the heavenly choir" Mu-
sic on earth is a rehearsal for music in
heaven. If you and l are going to take
part in that great orchestra, it is high
time that we were stringing and thrum-
ming our harps. They tell US that Thai
Iberg 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 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 expressioa, but
more volume in our church music.
Now am no worshiper of noise, but
I 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
ito 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, 1 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. l say, take away the
dam and let the pillows roar on their
lway to the oceanic heart of God.
Whether it is fashionable to sing loudly
or not, let us sing with all possible EN-
phasis.
We hear great deal of the art of
singing, of music as an entertainment,
of music as recreation. 1t is high time
I'VE heard something of music as help
"a practical help. In order to do this we
must only have few hymns. New
tunes and new hymns every Sunday
make poor congregational singing. Fifty
hymns 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
Ity thousand years will not wear out the
hymns of William Cowper and Charles
Wesley and Isaac Watts.
Suppose now each person in this au-
Idience has brought all the annoyances
Iof the last 365 days. Fill this room to
the ceiling with sacred song, and you
would drown out all those annoyances
of the 365 days, and you would drown
them out forever. Organ and cornet
bre only to marshal the voice. Let the
voice fall into line, and in companies,
and in brigades, by storm take the OBJ
lduracy and sin of the world. If you
cannot sing for yourself, sing for Others
By trying to give others good cheer you
will bring good cheer to your own heart
When Londonderry, Ireland was be-
sieged, many years ago, the people in
side the city were furnishing, and yes
foo1 IN11t
vessel ran ON the river bank and stuck
Fast. The enemy went down, with
laughter and derision, to board the yes
eel, when the vessel gave broadslde
ire against the enemy, and by the shock |
vas turned back into the stream, and all |
vas well.
Oh, We who are high and dry on the |
ocks of melancholy, give broadside
ire of song against your spiritual enc
MES, and by holy rebound you will |
;ome out into the calm waters. If we |
want to make ourselves happy, we must |
make others happy. Mythology tells |
is of Amphion, who played his Tyre I'M
Ill the mountains were moved and the |
walls of Thebes arose, but religion has |
nightier story to tell of how Christian
;ong may build whole temples of eternal
Joy and lift the round earth into sympa-
5hy with the skies. tarried many nights
N London, and fused to hear the bells
The small bells of the city-strike the
1our of night-one, two, three, four, I
nd after they were done striking the
hour of night, then the great st. Paul's
cathedral would come in to mark the
hours. making all the other sounds seem
Utterly insignificant as with mighty
ongue it announced the hour of the
stroke an overmastering