Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1898-07-22
SANCTUARY HELPS.
What the Church Should be in Re-
lation to Its Worshippers.
Rev. DIR. Talmage Says All the Various Por-
lions of the Service Should be
Practical, HomeIy Helps
for Everybody.


TX, ..
If you should ask so men what the
church is they would give you so diff
ferent answers. One man would say:
ut is a convention of hypocrites. An
other: at is place for gossip, where
wolverine dispositions devour each
other" Another: 1T is place for
the cultivation of superstition and
can't" Another: ut is an arsenal
where theologians go to get pixies and
muskets and shot" Another: 1T is
an art gallery, where men go to ad-
mire great arches, and exquisite fresco,
and musical MARBLE, and the Dan tcsque
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 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 insultcd, gets
Sighted, gets eXasperated, BY the
time the Sabbath comes he has an ac.
cumulation Of six days of annoyance
and that is a starveling church service
which has not strength enough to take
that accumulated 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
ana glad and heavenly emotion. "Send
thee help from the sanctuary
In the first place, sanctuary help
ought to come from the music. A
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.: 81
must sing; | am only practicing for the
Heavenly choir" Music on earth is q
rehearsal for music in Heaven. If you
and | 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 concert
until they had first IN private re
hearscd, although they we're masters
of the instrument. And can it be that
we expect to take part in the great
oratorio of Heaven if we do not re
heafsc here?
But | am not speaking of the mex,
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 fal
surpass our American churches in thi,
respect. An English audience of 1906
people will give more volume of sacred
| song than an Am ercan audience of2 ,0)J
people. | do not know what the reason
is. On, you ought to have heard them
sing in Surrey chapel / hid the OPP
pOrtunity of preaching the anniversary
i think the ninetieth anuiv ersary-
sermon in Rowland Hills old chapel
and when they lifted their voices in
sacred song it was simply overwhelm
ing, and then in the evening of tn,
same day, in Agricultural hall, many
thousand voices lifted in doxolgy. II
was like the voice of many waters, and
like the voice Of many thunderings, ant
like the voice OF Heaven.
The blessing thrilled through all the laborinI
throng,
And Heaven was Won by violence OF song.
Now, am no worshipper OF noise
but | believe that ii our American
churches would with full heartiness o
soul, and full emphasis Of voice sing
the songs OF Zion, this part of sacred
worship would have tenfold NOR,
power than it has now. Why not talk,
this part of the sacred service and lif
il where it ought to be. All the an
noyances of life might be drowned gu
by that sacred song. Do you tell IN,
that it is not fashionable to sing very
loudly? Then, | say, away with tn
fashion. We dam back the great Mis-
sissippi of congregational singing ant
let few drops of melody trickl,
through the dam. say, take ava,
the dam and let the pillows roar OF
thor way to the oceanic heart of God
WhctEcrit is fashionable to sing loudl,
or not, let us sing with all possible EN-
phass.
We hear q great deal of the art o
singing, OF music as an entertainment
of music as Il recreation. 1t is higl
time we heard something of music as
help, practical help. In order to d
this we must have only few hymns
New tunes and new hymns every Sun
day make poor congregational singing
Fifty songs are enough for 80 years
The Episcopal church prays the sam
prayers every Sabbath, and year afte
year, and century after century Flo
that reason they have the hearty re
sponses Let us take hint from tina
fact, and let us sing the same song
Sabbath after Sabbath. Only il
that way can we come to the full
force of this exercise Twenty thou
sand years will not wear out the hymn
of William Cowper, Charles Wesle.
and Isaac Watts Suppose now eac
person in an audience has brought al
the annoyances OF the last 365 days
Fill the room to the ceiling with sacre
song, and you would drown out al
thoco nnnnvupnac NJ fha loct g6S dave