Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1893-10-26
DR.. TALMAGE's SERMON.
DIR. TALMAGE'S IDEA OF THE
CHRISTIAN CHURCH..
The Inspiration and the Help of the
People-HelP i'm the Music, In the
Sermon and in the Prayers.

People-Help in the Music, in the
Sermon and in the Prayers.
Brooklyn, n. u. Special.--The char
acter of the hymns given out by Rev.
DR.. Tafmage in the Brooklyn Tabcr-
nacle this forenoon called for the un-
usual power Of congregational singing
organ and cornet, and the voices of the
thousands Of worshipcrs made the
place resound with music. The sub
1ect was: Helpful Churches" the text
being Psalms M, .: Send thee help
from the sanctuary"
If you should ask fifty men what the
church is, they would give you fifty diff
ferent answers One man would say
1t Is convention Of hypocrites. An
other. 1T is an assembly of people who
feel themselves Il great deal better
than Others Another. ut is a place
Tor gossip, where wolverine dispositions
devour each other" Another. 1T is
a place for the cultivation Of supersti-
ton and can't Another, 1T is an ar
senal where theologians 20 to get
spikes and muskets and shot" Anoth-
er, 1T is an art gallery, where men 90
10 admire grand arches and exquisite
1resco, and musical MARBLE, and the
DantesQuc in gloomy imagery" An
other man would say: 1T is the best
pace ON earth except my own home
II forget thee, oh, jerusalem! let nv
right hand forget her cunning"
NOW, my friends, whatever the
church is, my text tells YOU what if
ought to be; a great practical. homcly.
omnlpotent help. "Send thee helm from
me sanctuary" The pew ought to
!leld rcstfulness to the body. The color
VI the upholstery Dug hit to yield pleas
ure TO the eye. r he entire service
ought to yield strength for the toll and
struggle OF everyday life. Tho sab
natn ought to be harrcsscd to all the
siA DAYS OF the week. drawing them in
tne right direction. The church ought
20 oe magnet, visibly and nightly
anecuns all the homes of the Worship
ers. Every man gets roughly jostled
gets abused, gets cut, gets insulted, gets
e,isAseu, gets eXasperated. BY the time
,ne SaDDath comes, he has an accumu
iation OF SIX days annoyance, and that
IS Il starveling church service which
LAS not strength enough to take that
accumulated annoyance and hurl if into
perultion. The business man sits down
III church hcadachey from the weeks
engagements. Perhaps he wishes he
mad nrricd at home on the lounge with
the newspapers and the slippers. That
man wants to be cooled off. and gra-
clouSly 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 III England persisted in
singing to the last moment. The at
PENDANTS tried to persuade her to stop
saying it would exhaust her and make
her disease worse. She answered, Il
must sing; l am only practicing for
the heavenly choir" Music on earth
Is rehearsal for music in heaven. If
you and l are going to take part in
that great orchestra it is high time that
we We're Stringing and drumming our
harps. They tell us that Thalberg and
GOttschalk never would go into con-
cert until they had first in private re-
tiers of the instrument. And can it be
that We expect to take Il part in the
great oratorio of heaven if we do
not rchearse here? But am not speak
ing of the next world. Sabbath song
ought to set all the week to music. We
want not more harmony. not more art
istic expression. but more volume in
our church music.
but believe that if our American
churches would. with full hcartiness
of soul and full emphasis of voice
sing the songs of Zion this part Of
sacred worship would have tcnfold
more power than it 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 it is not fashionable
to sing very loudly! Then. l say, away
with the fashion. We dam back the
great Mississippi Of congregational
singing. and let few drops of melody
trickle through the dam. 1 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 sing with
all possible emphasis.
We hear Il great deal Of the art Of
singing, of music rs an entertainment,
of music as Il recreation. 1t is high
time we heard something of music as
Il help, Il 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
prlys the same prayers every Sabbath,
and year after year and century after
century. For that reason they have
the hearty responses. Let us take Il
hint from that fact, and let us sing
the same songs Sabbath after Sab
bath Only in that way can we come
to the full force OF this exercise. Twcn-
ty thousand years will not wear out
the hymns of William Cowper and
Charles Wesley and Isaac Watts. Sup
pose. now, each person in this audience
has brought I'LL the annoyances of the
last 365 days Fill this room to the
ceiling With sacred song and you would
i,nun o,,f all those onnOV.lncpS of the