The Penn's Grove record., 1893-10-20
REV. DIR. TALMAGE,
THE BROOKLYN DIvINE'S SUN.
DAY SERMON.


Y 'SeHu Nee Htp FROM NE SdHciH
0ry."--psalms xS., 2.
If you should ask fifty men what the church
Is, they would give you fifty different an.
swers. One man would say, at Is aconycn
ton of hypocrltes." Another, at is an as
sembly OF people who feel themselves a grrat
deal better than others" Another. 1T is :
place for gossip, where wolverine di7po,.
lions deyour each other" Another. "Tf il a
place for the cultivation Of superstition and
can't" Another, at is an arsenal wher,
t~heologians go to get pixies and muskets and
shot, Another, at is an art gallery. where
men 90 10 admire grand arches aud exquisite
fresco, and musical MARBLE and the Dan.
tesoue in gloomy imagery" Another man
cept my own home" If l forget thee. q
Jerusalem let my right hand forget her cum
ming"
Now, my friends, whatever the church il.
my text tells you what it ought to bc-1
great, practical, homely, omnIpotent helm.
''Send thee help from the sanctuary" Tie
pew ought to yield restiulness TO the body.
The color of the upholstery ought to Weld
pleasure to the eye. The entire service ought
10 yield strength for the mol n struggle of
everyday life. The Sabbath ought to behar-
messed to all the six days OF the week, draw
ing them in the right direction. The church
ought to be a magnet, yisibly AMI nightly
affecting all the homes of the w0rshipers.
Every mar gets roughly ~jostlei, gets abused,
gets cut, gets insulted, gets Sighted, gets
exasperated.
By the time the Sabbath comes he has an
accumulation of six days of annoyance, and
that Is a staryeling church service which has
not strength enough to take that accumulat-
ed annoyance and hurl it into perlition. The
business mar sits down iii church h~eadachey
FROM Tho u-aaEfa aOanaaOf5 parb,,- L.,
wishes he had tarried at home on the lounge
with the newspapers and the slippers. That
man wants to be cooled off and g~racious,y
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. "Sen | thee help
from the sanctuary"
In the first place, sanctuary help ought to
come 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 it would exhaust her and
make her disease worse. She answered II
must sing. l am only practicins for the
heavenly choir" Music on earth Is a re-
hearsal for music in heaven. Ii you and [
are going TO take part in that great or.hes-
ira. 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 re-
hearsed, although they were such masters of
the instrument. And can it be that we eX-
pect to take a part in the great Orltorio of
heaven If we do not rehearse here? But [
am not speaking OF the next world. Sabbath
o ought to set all the week to music. We
want not more harmony, not more artistic
expression, but more volume i'll our church
music.
Now l am no I..orshiper OF noise, hut I be-
lieve that If our American churches would,
with full heartiness Of sou and full emphasis
of voice, sing the songs of Zion this part OF
sacred worship would have tenfold moro
power than it has nov. Why not take this
part of the sacred service and lift it to where
It ought to be2 All the a%nnoyances of lifo
might be drowned out of that sacred song.
Do you tell me that 1t is not fashionable TO
sing very loui lily? Then, | say, away with
the fashion. We dam back tho great Mis-
sissippi of congregational singing and let a
few drops of melody trickle through the
dam. l say, take away the dan and let the
pillows roar IN their way to the oceanic
heart OF God. Whether it is fashionable to
sing loudly or not, let us sing with all pos
sible emphasis.
We hear a great deal OF the art of singing,
of music as an entertainment, of music as IA
recreation. 1t is high time we heard some-
thing OF music as a help-a practical help.
In order to do this we must only have "a few
hymns. New tunes ami new hyHAs every
Sunday make poor congregational singing.
Fifty hymns arc enough'io fifty years. The
Episcopal Church prays the same prayers.
every sabbath, and year after year and
century after century. For that reason they
have hearty responses. Let us take 3 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.
Suppose now each person in this audience
has brought all the a~nnoyanees OF the last
1865 days. Fill this room TO the ceiling with
sacred song, and you would drown out all
those ~annoyances of the 365 days, and rog
would drown them out forever. Organ an"
cornet are only to marshal the voice. Let
the voice fall line, and in companies, and
In brigades, by storm take the obduraey n
sin of the world. II 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 besieged, many years ago, the
vessel came up with provisions, but the yes
sci ran on the river bank and stuck fast. The
enemy went down, with laughter and de.
rision. to board the vessel. when the vessel
gave a broadside fire against the emery, and
by the shock was turned back into the stream,
and all was well.
Oh, ye who are high and dry on the rocks
oil melancholy, give a broadside fire Of song
AGAINST your spiritual enemies, and by holy
rebound you will come out into the calm
waters. III we want to make ourselves
nnaPpy, we must make others happy.
mythology tells us of Amphian, who played
IN tyre until the mountains were moved n
inc walls OF Thebes arose, but religion has q
mightier story to tell of how Christian song
nay build whole temples of eternal joy and
ny the round earth into sympathy with the
ysles. l tarried many nights in London, ard
used to hear the bells-the small bells OF
me city-strike the hour of night-one, two,
tnree, Tour, and after they were done strik-
ing the hour of night, then the great ST.
fauls Cathedral would come in to marx the
making all the other sounds seem ut
leriy insignificant as with mighty tongue it
the hour or tine night-eyery
stroke an overmastering boom.
MY friends, it was intended that all the
Iesser sounds OF the world should be drowned
out In the mighty tongue OF congregational
song beating against the gates Of heaven.
70 you know how they mark the hours in
neayenY They have no clocks, as they have
40 candies, but a great pendulum NJ halle
70 eternity.
Let those reuse to sing
VINO never knew our God,
buI children M tha haauanlv EfNr