The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1898-06-24

| earth except my own home" IF /
| forget thee, o Jerusalem, let my right
hand forget her cunning"
| Now, whatever the church is, my
text tells you what it ought to bc-a
| great, practical, homely omnipotent
| help. Send thee help from the sanct-
uary." The pew ought to yield rest
| fulness for the body. The color Of the
upholstery ought to yield pleasure to
the eye. The entire service ought to
yield strength for the toll and struggle
of everyday life. 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 a
magnet, visibly and nightly affecting
all the homes of the worshippers.
Every man gets roughly jostled, gets
| abused, gets cut, gets insulted, gets
sighted, gets eXasperated. BY the
time the Sabbath comes he has an &C
cumulatiOn of six dLys of annoyance,
and that is n starveling church service
which has not strength enough to take
that accumulate annoyance and hurl
it into perdition. The business man
sits down in 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 religious service ought to
dash clear over the hurricane decks,
and leave him dripping with the holy
and glad and heavenly emotion. send
thee help from the sanctuary"
In the first place, sanctuary help
ought to come frO4D the music. \
woman dying in 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 a
reh earsal for music in Heaven. If you
and l are going to take part in that
orchestra, it is high time that we were
stringing and drumming our harps.
They tell us that Talberg and Gott-
schalk never would go into a concert
until they had first IN private re-
hearsed, although they were masters
vi the instrument. And can it be that
we expect to take part in the great
OratOrio of Heaven if we do not re-
hearsc here?
But l am not speaking of the next
world. Sabbath song ought to set all
the week to music. We want not more
harmony, not more artistic expression,
but more volume in our church music.
The English dissenting churches far
surpass our American churches in this
respect. An English audience of I,OJO
people will give more volume of sacred
song than an Am erican audience off, 900
people. | do not know what the reason
is. On, you ought to have heard them
sing in SIrrsy chapel | h I'd the OPP
pOrtunity OF preaching the anniversary
i think the ninctieth anniv ersary-
sermon in Rowland Hills old chapel,
and when they lifted their voices in
sacred song it was simply overwhelm-
ing, ana then in the evening of the
same day, IL Agricultural hall, many
thousand voices liftel in dOxolgy. 1t
was like the voice of many waters, and
like the voice of many thunderings, and
like the voice of Heaven.
The blessing thrilled through all the laboring
throlg,
And Heaven was won by violclcs of song.
Now, an no worshipper of noise,
hut l believe tina. if our American
churches would with full heartiness of
soul, and full emphasis of voice sing
the songs OF Zion. this part of sacred
worship would have tenfold more
power than IL has now. Why not take
this part OF the sacred service and lift
it where it ought to be. All the an
nc .yapces of life might be drowned out
by 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 Mis-
sissippi of congregational singing and |
let few drops of melody tricl1le |
through the dam. l say, take away
The dam and let the pillows roar on !!
their way to the oceanic heart of God. !
Nhetherit is fashionable to sing loudly |
Or not, let us sing with all possible en-
phasis.
We hear n great deaI of the art of /
singing, of music as an entertainment,
Of music as a recreation. 1t is high |
lime we heard something of music as a
Ielp, practical help. In order to do
his we must have only n few hymns
New tunes and new hymns every Sun
lay make poor congregational singing.
Fifty songs are enough for 80 years.
The Episcopal church prays the same
prayers every Sabbath, and year after
-ear, AMI century after century. For
hat reason they have the hearty re-
pOnses. Let US take hint from that
act, and let US sing the slme songs
sabbath after Sabbath. Oaly in
hat way can we come to the full
orce OF this exercise. Twenty thou
and years will not wear out the hymns
# William COwPer, Charles Wesley
md Isaac Watts. Suppose now each
'ersOn in an audience has brought all
he annoyances of the last 365 days.
ill the room to the ceiling with sacred
olg, and you would drown out all
hose annoyances of the last 365 days,
nd you would drown them forever
|rgan and cornet are only to marshal
he voice. Let the voice fall into line,
nd in companies, and in battalions,
y storm take the OBJ luracy and sin of
he world. If you can not sing for
ourself, sing for others. by trying
0 give others cheer you will bring
God cheer to your own heart.
When londonderry, Ireland, was be- :
legged many years ago the people in {