Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1893-10-20

the BROOKLYN tabernacle this forenoon,
called for the unusual power of congrega-
tional singing, organ and cornet, anu the
voices of the thou ands OF worshlpers mace
the place resound with music, Inc SUD
ject was, Helpful Churches" the text
being Psalms ~: 2: "eend thee help from
the sanctuary"
If you should ask fifty men what
the church is, they would give you
fifty differenU answers One Liam
would say, at is IA convention OF hypo.
critics Another, cit is an assembly OF
people who feel themselves a great
deal better tnan Others" Another,
at is a plao for gossip. where wolver-
inc dispositions devour each other.
Another, alt is place for the Guilt
walton of superstition and can't. An
other, 1T is an arsenal where theo-
logians go to get pix and muskets
and shot" Another, 1T is an art
gallery, where men go to admire grand
arches, and exquisite fresco, and
musical MARBLE, and the Dantesque in
gloomy imagery" Another man
would say, 1T is the best place on
earth except my own home If for
get thee, q, Jerusalem. let my right
hand forget her cunning"
Now, my friends, whatever the
church is, my text tells you what 1T
ought to be; great, practical, homeiy
omnipotent help. send thee he:p
from the sanctuary" The pew ought
to yield restfulness to the body. he
color of the upholstery ought to yield
pleasure to the eye. The entire serv-
ice ought to yield strength for the
moil and struggle of every day life.
The Sabbath ought 10 be harnessed to
all the six days OF the week, drawing
them in the right directi n. The church
ought to be magnet, visibly and
nightly affecting all the homes OF
the worshippers. Every man gets
rou hly jostled gets abused, gets cut,
gets insulted, gets sighted, gets eXas-
perated. BY the time the Sabbal h
comes, he has an accumulation OF SiN
days of annoyance, AMI that is
starveling CHURCH service which has
not strength enough to take that "a
cumulated annoyance and hurl II into
perdition. The business man sits
down in the 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 religi us 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, san tuary help
ought TO come from the music. A
woman dying in England persisted in
singing to the last moment. The at
tendants tried 10 persuade her to stop,
saying it would exhaust her and make
her disease worse She answered, Il
must sing: am only practising for the
heavenly choir Music on earth is
rehearsal for music in heaven. If you
and | are going TO take part in that
great orchestra, 1T is high time that
we were stringing and thrumming our
harps. They tell us that Thalberg
and Gottschalll never would go into
concert until they had first in private
rehearsed, although they were such
masters of the instrument. And can
it be that we expect to take part
the great oratorio of heaven If we do
not rehearse here? But l am not
speaking of the next world. Sabbath
song ought 10 set all the week to
music We want not more harmony,
not more artistic expression, but more
volume in our church music.
Now, 1 am no worshipper of noise,
but / believt that if our Americ n
churches would with full heartiness of
soul and full emphasis of voice sing
the songs of Zion, this part of sacr q
WORSHIP would lave tenfold more
power than it has now. Why not take
this part of the sacred service and lift
- tn hn A ha
annoyances of life might be drowned
out OF tuat 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 congrega ional singing,
and let few drops of melody trickle
through the dam l 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 or not, let us ng with all pos
sible emphasis.
We hear a great deal of the art of
singing, of music as an entertainment,
of music as a recreation. 1t is high
time " e heard nothing of music as
a help. practical help. In order to
do this, we must only have few
hymns. New tunes and new hymns
every Sunday make poor congrega-
tional singing. Fifty hymns are
enough for fifty years The Episcopal
church prays the same prayers every
Sabbath. and year after year, and
century after century. For that rea-
son they have the hearty resp nses.
Let us take hint from that fact, and
let us sing the same songs Sabbath
after abbath. Only IN that way can
we come to the full force of this exer-
else Twenty thousand years wi
not wear out the hymns of Wi ham
Cowper, and Charles Wesley. and
Isaac Watts Suppose now ch p T.
son in this audience has brought all the
Of the last three
hundred and sixty-fve days
Fill this room TO the ceiling
with sacred song, ana you would
drown out all those annoyances OF the
365 days, and you would drown them
out forever. Organ and cornet are
only to marshal the voice. Let the
voice fall into line, and in companies,
and in lrigades, by storm take the OBJ
duracy and in of the world. | 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 o,
.he people inside the city were famish-
ng, and vessel came OPP with proSis-