The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1898-06-15
OUR CHURCHES.
Their Doors Should Open Towards
Both Worlds.
DIR. Talmage Says the Church Has Much
to Do With Both of Them-SOme of
the Things in Which Many
Churches Are Deficient.

Witt Talmage shows that the old
style humdrum sermon will not do for
this age. New methods and means
must be devised to meet new problems.
His text is Psalm 2O:2: Send thee help
from the sanctuary"
If you should ask so men what the
church is, they would give you so diff
ferent answers. One man would say:
1T is a convention of hypocrites."
Another, "It is an assembly of people
who feel themselves great deal bet
ter than others" Another, 1T is
place for gossip, where wolverine dis
positions devour each other" An
other, 1T is place for the cultivation
of superstition and can't" Another
1T is an arsenal where theologians go
to get pixies and muskets and shot"
Another, 1T is an art gallery, where
men go to admire grand arches, and
exquisite fresco, and musical /warble,
and the Dantesque in gloomy i'm
agery." Another man would say, ut
is the best place o1 earth except my
own home" IF l forget thee, .
Jerusalem, let my right hand forget
her cunning"
Now, whatever the church is, my
text tells you what it ought to be-a
great, practical, homely, omnipotent
help. Send thee help from the sane
tuary" 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 moil and strug-
gle 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 worship
ers. Every man gets roughly jostled,
gets abused, gets cut, gets insulted,
gets sighted, gets eXasperated. BY
the time the Sabbath comes he has an
accumulation of six days of annoy
ance, and that is starveling church
service which has not strength enough
to take that accumulated annoyance
and hurl it to perdition. The busi-
ness man sits down in church head
achey from the weeks engagements.
Perhaps he wishes he had tarried 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-
igious 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 tho fret p1ooa eoro+,o,,, lo1.,
ought to come from the music A wo-
man dying in England persisted in
singing to the last moment. The at
tendants tried to persuade her to
stop, saying it would exhaust her and
make her disease worse. She an
swered, Il must sing; / am only prac-
ticing 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 were stringing and
drumming our harps. They tell lis
that Thalberg and Gottschalk never
would go into concert until they had
first in private rehearsed, although
they were such masters of the instru-
ment. And can it be that we expect
to take part in the great oratorio OF
heaven if we do not rehearse 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 eX.
preston, but more volume in our
church music. The English dissent.
ing churches far surpass our Ameri.
can churches in this respect. An En-.
glish audience of one thousand peo.
pie will give more volume of sacred
song than an American audience OF
two thousand people. / do not know
what the reason is. Oh, you ought tc
have heard them sing in Surrey
chapel. l had the opportunity OF
preaching the anniversary think
the nineteenth anniversary-sermor
in Rowland Hills old chapel. and
when they lifted their voices in sacred
song it was simply overwhelming;
and then, in the evening of the same
day, in Agricultural Hall, many thou.
sand voices lifted in doxology. 1t was
like the voice of many waters, and like
the voice of many thunderings, and
like the voice of heaven.
Now, I am no worshiper of noise
hut / believe that 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 tenfolG
more power than it has now. Why moi
take this part of the sacred service
and lift it to where it ought to be
All the annoyances of life might bt
drowned out by that sacred song. Dc
you tell me that it is not fashionable
to sing very loudly? Then, say
away with the fashion. We dam bacl
the great Mississippi of congrega
tional singing, and let few drops O.
melody trickle through the dam.
say, take away the dam, and let tn,
pillows roar on their way to the ocean
ic heart of God. Whether it is fash
ionable to sing loudly or not, let IL!
sing with all possible emphasis.
We hear a great deal of the art O.
singing, of music as an entertainment
of music as a recreation. 1t is higl
time we heard something of musi,
ms help, practical help. In order t.
do this we must have only u few
hymns. New tunes and new hymns
every Sunday make poor congrega
tional singing. Fifty hymns ar,
enough for so years. The Episcopa
church prays the same prayers ever.
Sabbath, and year after year, and cen
tury after century. For that reasol
they have the hearty responses. LIE
us take hint from that fact, and lie
us sing the same songs Sabbath afte
Sabbath. Only in that way can w
come to the full force of this exercise
Twenty thousand years will not wea
out the hymns of William Cowper