The Baptist headlight., 1893-11-01
HeIDful Churches.

Helpful Churches.
D.. Talmages subject last Sunday
morning was Helpful Churches, the
text being Psalms Xxx =, 'Seno Inee
help from the sanctuary"
If YOU should ask fifty men what the
church is, they would give you n1ty
different answers. One man Woulo say,
1T is a convention of hypocrltes;
Another, sit is an assembly OF people
who feel themselves a great deal peC-
ter than others. Another, 1T Is
place for gossip, where wolverine dls-
positions devOur each other. Anotner'
'It is a place for the cultivation OF SUI
perstition and cant. Another, III Is
an arsenal where theOlOglans go to get
pixies and muskets and shot" Another,
sit is an art gallery, where men go 10
admire grand arches, and exquisite
fresco, and musical warble, and the
Dantesque in gloomy imagery" An
other man would say: ut is the BEST
place on earth except my own home.
If forget thee, O Jerusalem! let my
right hand forget her cunning"
Now, my friends, whatever the
church is, my text tells you what 1t
ought to be-a great, practlcal, homeiy
OmnipOtent help. Send thee help
from the sanctuary" The pew ought
to yield restfulness to the body. The
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 lie.
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 magnet, vlslbly
and nightly affecting all the homes OF
the worshipers. Every man gets rough
ly iostled, gets abused. gets cut, gets
insulted, gets sighted, gets eXasper-
ated.
Bv the time the Sabbath comes he
has an accumulation of six days OF an
nOvance, and that is starveIlng church
service which has not strength enough
to take that accumulated annoyance
and hurl it into perdition. The busi-
ness man sits down in church head
achey from the. weeks engagements.
Perhaps he wishes he had tarrled at
home on the lounge with the news
papers and the slippers. That man
wants to be cooled off and graciously
diverted. The first wave of the re-
| ligious service ought to dash clear
over the hurricane decks and leave him
dripping with holy and glad and heav.
| enly emotion. Send thee help from
| the sanctuary
| Sabbath Songs.
Tn the first place. sanctuary he'll
ought to come from the music. A wO
man dying in England persisted il
singing to the last moment. The at
tendants tried to persuade her to stop
saving it would exhaust her and make
her disease worse. She answered.: u
must sing | am only practicing fol
the heavenly choir" Music on earth
is a rehearsal for music in Heaven. /
you and [ are going to take part in thai
great orchestra, it is high time thai
we were stringing and thrumming oul
| harps They tell us that Thalberg anC
! Gottschalk never would go into a con
cert until they had first in private re
hearsed, although they were such mas
ters of the instrument. And can it be
that we expect to take a part in the
great Oratorio of Heaven if we do no
rehearse here? But | am not speak
ing of the next world. Sabbath sons
| ought to set all the week to music
We want not more harmony, not more
artistic expression, but more volume il
our church music.
Now | am no worshiper of noise, but
believe that if our American churche
would, with full heartiness of soul ant
full emphasis of voice, sing the song
of Zion this part of sacred worshi,
would have tenfold more power THANH
has now. Why not take this part O
the sacred service and lift it to wher'
it ought to be? All the annoyances o
life might be drowned out of that sa
cred song. Do you tell me that it i
not fashionable to sing very loudly
Then, | say, away with the fashion
We dam back the great Mississippi @
congregational singing and let few
drops OF melody trickle through tn
dam. | say, take away the dam an
let the billOws roar on their way to tn
oceanic heart of God. Whether it i
fashionable to sing loudly or not, let II
sing with all possible emphasis.
We hear great deal of the art c
singing, OF music as an entertainment
of music as a recreation. II is higl
time we heard something OF music a
a help-a practical help. In order I
do this We must only have a fe,
hymns. New tunes and new hymn
every Sunday make poor cOngrega
tional singing. Fifty hymns are enoug
for fifty years. The Episcopal churc1
prays the same prayers every Sabbath
and year after year and century afte
century. For that reason thay hav
the hearty responses. Let Us take
I hint from that fact. and let Us sing tn
same songs sabbath after sabbath. Onl
in that way can we ccne TO the fu
force of this exercise. Twenty thou
} sand years will not wear out the hvmr
OF William Cowper and Charles We:
lev and Isaac Watts
My friends, il was intended that a
= the lesser sounds of the world shoul
be drowned out in the mighty tongu
OF congregational song beating again:
the gates of Heaven. DO you kno