Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1893-10-27
HELPFUL CHURCHES.
Rev. T. Dewitt Talks on the
Christianity of To-Day.
What the Church Need to lie to Fulfill
Its Mission-A Great. Practical,
HomeIy, Gmu;pofent Help
10 Mankind.

ernacle. from the text:
Send the help from the sanctuary.-Psalms
xx.,2
II you should ask fifty men what the
church is, they would give you fifty
different answers One man would
say: 1T is a convention Of bypocrites. !"
Another: st IS an assembly Of people
who feel themselves Il great deal bet
ter than Others" Another: 1T is a
place for gossip where wolverine dis
positions devour each other" Another:
1T is place for the cultivation Of su-
perstition and cant" Another: st is
an arsenal where theologians go to get
pixies and muskets and shot" Another:
1T i an art gallery, where men 20 to
admire grand arches, and exquisite
fresco. and musical MARBLE, and the
Dantesquc in gloomy imagery" An
other man would say: 1T is the best
place on earth except my own home.
If forget thee, Oh. Jerusalem. let my
Ri hand forget her cunning"
SOW, my friends. whatever the
church is, my text tells you what it
ought to be: Il great. practical, homcly,
omnipotcnt help. send thee help
from the sanctuary. The pew ought
70 yield rcstfuiness to tn" body. The
color Of the upholstery ought to yield
pleasure to the eve The entire service
ought to yield strength for the mnil
and struggle Of everyday life. The
Sabbath ought to he harnesscd to all
the six days Of the week, drawing
them in the right direction. The
sabl la 10, 10 I,y
and nightly affecting all the homes
Of the worshipcrs. Every man gets
roughly jostled, gets abused, gets cut,
gets insnIted, gets sighted, gets eXas-
pcratcd. by the time the Sabbath
comes, he has an accumulation of six
days, annoyance, and that is Il starvciing
church service which has not strength
enough to take that accumulated an
norance and hur it into perdition.
The business man sits down in church
headachy from the weeks engage
ments. Perhaps he wishes he had tar
ricd at home on the lounge with the
newspapers and the Slippers. That
man wants to he 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
heavenly 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
ewcred: Il must sing; am only prac-
ticinr for the Heavenly choir Nu-
sic on cath is a rehearsal for music
in Heaven. If you and are going to
take part in that great orchestra it is
high time that we were Stringing and
drumming our harps. They tell us
Ihat Thalbcrk AMI GottSchalll never
would go into \ concert until they had
iirst IN private r"hear,ed although
they were such masters Of the inStru-
ment. And can it b. that we expect
- Fake a part in the great oratorio of
Heaven if we do not rchearse here?
But | am NJ: Speaking OF the next
world. sabbath song ought to he set
all the week to music We want not
more harmony, not more artistic ex-
preston. but more volume in our
church music
Now. | am no worShiper Of noise but
] believe that if our American churches
would. with full hc&rtinrsS of soul and
fnlI emphasis Of voice. sing the songs
of Zion this part of sacred worship
would have trnfuld more power than
il has now Why not take this part of
The sacred service and lift IT to where
it ought to be? All the annoyances of
life might be drowned out of that
sacred song Do you tell me that il is
not fashionable to sing very loudly?
Then. ! say, away with the fashion
We dam back the great Mississippi of
congregational singing, and let a few
Srops of melody trickle through the
dam. SAY take away the dam and
let tn" pillows roar on their way to
the oceanic heart of tod Whether it
Is fashionable To sing loudly or not, let
Ms sing with all possible emphasis,
We hear great deal of the art of
singing, Of music as an entertainment,
of music as Il recreation. It is high
time we heard something of music as Il
help. practical help. In order to do
this we must only have a 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 same
PRAYERS every Sabbath. and year after
wear, and century after century. For
that reason they have the hearty re-
sponses. Let rs take Il 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 ot
this exercise. Twenty thousand years
will not wear out the hymns of vii
liam Cowper, and Charles Wesley, anG
Isaac Watts. suppose, now, each per
son III this audience has brought al
the annoyances of the last three hun
drcj and >ixty-tive days. Fill thi.
room t. the ceiling with sacred
song and You would drown
out all those aunoyanceS Of The
tnrea hundred ana siNty-fiye days
aud YOU would drown them out for
ever Organ and cornet are only to mar
shal the voice, Ist the voice fall int
line ana III companies and in brigades
by storm take the obduracv and sin 0
the world. If You can not sing TO
yourself. sing for others, BY trying
50 give others good cheer YOU vii
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
vessel came up with provisions. but tn
gesael ran on the river bank aud stue.
fast. The enemy went down Will