The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1898-06-17

| say, 1t Is convention or hypocrites.
Another, 1T is an assembly of people
who feel themselves a great deal bet
ter than Others" Another, 1T is a
place for gossip, where wolverine dis
positions devour each other" An
other, 1T is a place for the cultivation
of superstition and can't" Another
1T is an arsenal where theologians go
to get pixies and muskets and shot y
Another, ut is an art gallery, where
men go to admire grand arches, and
exquisite fresco, and musical MARBLE.
and the Dantesque in gloomy imagery.
Another 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, 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 10
the eye. The entire service ought 20
yield strength for the moil and strug-
gle of everyday life. The Sabbath
ought to be harnesed to all the six
days of the week, drawing them in the
right direction. The church ought to
be magnet visibly and nightly af-
| fecting 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 annoyance.
and that is a starveling church service
which has not strength enough TO take
that accumulated annoyance and hurl
1t 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 10
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. \
woman 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 answered, T
must sing; l am only practicing for the
heavenly choir" Music on earth is a
rehearsal for music In heaven. If you
and / are going to take part in that
great orchestra, 1t is high time that
we were stringing and drumming our
harps. They tell us that Thalberg
and Gottschalk never would go into d
concert until they had first in private
rehearsed, although they were such
masters of the instrument. And can
1t 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 expression,
but more volume in our church music
The English dissenting churches far
surpass our American churches in this
respect. An English audience of one
thousand people will give more volume
Of sacred song than an American audi
ence of two thousand people. l do
not know what the reason is. Oh, you
ought to have heard them sing in Sur
rey chapel. l had the opportunity OF
preaching the anniversary think the
ninetieth nniversary-sermon 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 thousand
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.
The blessing thrilled through all the
laboring throng,
And heaven was won by violence of
song.
Now, / am no worshiper OF noise.
but l 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 tenfold more
power than 1t 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 by that sacred song. Do not tell
me that it is not fashionable to sing
very loudly? Then. l say, away with
fashion. We dam back the great Mis-
sissippi of congregational singing. and
let a few drops of melody trickle
through the dam. l 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 loud
ly or not, let us sing with all possible
emphasis.
We hear great deal of the art Of
singing, of music as an entertainment,
of music as a recreation. 1t is high
time we heard something of music as
a help, practical help. In order TO