Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1898-07-22


of Thebes arose; but religion has a
mightier story to tell of how Christian
song may build whole temples of eter-
nal joy, and lift the round earth into
sympathy with the skies.
tarried many nights in London,
and used to hear the bells, the small
bells of the city, strike the hour of
night-one, two, three, four-and
among them the great st. Paurs cathe-
dral would come in to mark the hours,
making all the other sounds seem ut
terly insignificant, as with mighty
tongue it announced the hour of the
night, every stroke an overmastcring
boom. My friends, it was intended
that all the lesser sounds of the world
should be drowned out in the mighty
tongue of congregational song beating
against the gates of Heaven. DO you
know how they mark the hours in
Heaven? They have no clocks, as they
have no candles, but a great pendulum
of hallelujah swinging across Heaven
from eternity to eternity.
Let those refuse to sing
Who never knew our Cod
But children OF the Heavenly King
Should speak their joys abroad.
Again | remark that sanctuary help
ought to come from the sermon. OF u
thousand people in any audience, how
many want sympathetic helpP Do you
guess 10C? Do you guess 500? You
have guessed wrong | will tell you
just the proportion. Out of 1000 peo-
pie in any audience there are just 1000
who need sympathetic help. These
young people want it just as much as
the old. The old people sometimes
seem to think they have monopoly of
the rheumatisms, and the neuralgias,
and the headaches, and the physical
| disorders of the world: but tell you
there are no worse heartaches than are
felt by some of the young people. Do
you know that much of the work is
done by the young? Raphael died at
| 81; Richelicu at 81; Gustavus Adolphus
died at IS; Innocent III. came to his
mightiest influence at 81. Cortez con-
quercd Mexico at 30; Don John won
Lepanto at %; Grotius was attorney
general at "a; and have noticed amid
all classes of men that some of the
severest battles and the toughest work
comes before -. Therefore we must
have our sermons aud our eXhorta-
tons in prayer meeting all sympa-
thetic with the young. And SO with
these people further on in life, What
do these doctors and lawyers and
merchants and mechanic - ire about
the distractions of rclig Yon? What
they want is help to bear the whimsi-
calities of patients, the browbeating OF
legal opponents, the unfairness of Gus
toners who have plenty of fault-find-
ing for every imperfection OF handi-
work, but no praise for twenty excel
lences. What does the brain-raclsed,
hnud-blistcred MN care for Xwingle's
Doctrine OF Original Sin or Au-
cuisines "Retractions?' You might
as well 60 to mtn who has the pleu-
risy and put on his side plaster made
out of DR.. PARIS Treatise on Medical
Jurisprudence"
While all of sermon may not be
helpful alike to all, If it be a Christian
sermon preached by Christian man,
there will be help for everyone some
where. We go into an apothecary's
store. We see others being waited on;
we do not complain because we do not
Immediately get the medicine; we
know our turn will come after awhile.
And SO, while all parts of a sermon
may not be appropriate to our case, II
we wait prayerfully, before the ser
mon is through we shall have
the divine prescription. | say to
young men who are going to preach
the Gospel: We want incur sermons
not more metaphysics, nor more
imagination, nor more logic nor more
profundity. What we want in our ser
mons and Christian eXhortations IL
more sympathy. When Father Taylor
preached in the Sailors Bethel at Bos
ton, the jack tars felt they had help foi
duties among the ratlines and fore
castles. When Richard Weaver preached
to the operatives in Oldham, England
all the workmen felt they had NOR,
grace for the spindles. When DR.. Soutl
preached to kings and princes ant
princesses, all the mighty men ant
women who heard him felt prepare
ton for their high station.
People will not go to church merely
as matter of duty. There will moi
next Sabbath be II hundred people in
this city who will get up in the morn
ing and say: "rhe Bible says mus
go to church; it is my duty to go t.
church, therefore | will go to church.
The vast multitude of people who GO
to church, go to church because they
like it, and the multitude of peopl,
who stay away from church, stay away
because they do not like it, | am no
speaking about the way the worlt
ought to be; am speaking about th,
way the world is. Taking things a.
they are, we must make tn,
centripetal force of the churcl
mightier than the centrifugal
We must make our churches mag
nets to draw the people there unto, SC
that man will feel uneasy il he does
not go to church. saying: IL wish
had gone this morning. wonder If
can't dress yet and get there in time
1t is IL o'clock; now they are singing
1t is 1880; now they are preaching.
wonder when the folks will be home
to tell us what was said, what has beer
going on" When the impression is con
firmed tina. our churches, by architec
ture, by music, by sociality, and by ser
mon, shall be made the most attractiv
places on earth, then we will wan
twice as many churches as we hav
now, twice as large, and then they vii
not half accommodate the people.
say to the young men who are en-
tering the ministry, we must put OF
more force, more energy, and into on
religious services more vivacity if w