The morning news., 1889-03-18


were needful YOU would die in its defense.
You can take the words of the klngly poet
as be said, ''If forget thee, q Jerusalem.
let my right hand forget her cunning "
You understand in Your own experience
the pathOs, ths inconsistencies, the courage,
the holy ell husiasm Of Nehemiah in his
midnight, moonlight ride around the runs
of his beloved Jerusalem.
Again, my text lnIpresses me VIII the
fact that tefore reconsbruc ion there must
be an exploration of ruins Why was not
Nehemiah asleep unde' the coversi why
was not his horse stabbed in the midnight
Let the police of the city arrest tins Md
night rider out on some mi '0hleI NO.
Nehemiah is going to rebuild the city, and
he is making the preliminary exploration
In this gate, out that gat@ east, west,
north. south. All through the ruins
The ruins must he explored before
the work of reconstruction can be-
gin. The reason that so many peo-
pie in this day, apparently converted, 90
not stay converted, is because they dld not
first explore the ruins OF their own heart.
The reason that there are so many pro-
fessed christians who in this day lie and
forge and steal, and commit adultery, and
90 to the penitentiary, is because they first
DO not learn the ruin of their own heart.
They have not found out that 'the heart
is deceitful aooye all things, and
that they were almost right and they
built religion as a sort OF extension, as
an ornamental cupola. There was su-
perstructure of religion built on q SUBJ
stratum Of unrepentsd sins. The trouble
with q good deal of modern theology is that
instead Of building on the right foundation,
it builds on the debris of an unregeuerated
nature. They attempt to rebuild Jerusalem
before, in the midnight OF conviction, they
have seen the gha,tliness of the ruin. They
haze such a poor found tiOl for their
religion that the first northeast storm Of
temptation blows them down. l have no
faith i'll mans conversion if he is no con-
verted in the old fashioned way-John
Bunyan's way, John Wesley's way
john Calvin's way, Paui,5 way, Chrlsts
way, Gods way. A dentist once said to
me. ''Does that hurt!" Said l, "Of course
it hurts. 1t is in your business as in my
profession. We have to hurt before we can
help You will never understand redemp-
tion until you understand ruin. A man
tells me thai some one Is a member Of the
church. It makes no impression on my
mind at all. l simply want to know
whether he was converted in the old fash
ioned way, or whether he was co inverted in
the new fashioned way. If he
was converted in the old fashioned
way he viii stand. II he was
converted in the new fashioned way he will
not stand That is all there is about it. A
man comes to me to talk about religion.
The first question l ask him is, "Do you
feel yourself to be a sinnerP If he say,
'Well, I-yes,n the hesitancy makes me
feel that that man wants ride on Nehe-
mlah's horse by midnight through the ruins
in by the gate of his affections, out by the
gate of his viii; and before no has got
through with that midnight ride he will
dr. p the reins on the horses neck, and will
take his right hand aud smte on his heart
and say: "God be mercuul to mel a sinner"
and before he has stabbed his horse he viii
take his feet out Of the stirrurS and he will
slide down on the ground, and he will kneel
crying: "Have mercy on me, . God, ac-
cordiug to thy loving kindness, according
unto the multitude of thy tender mercies
Blot out my tranSgresslons, for | ackrowl-
edge my transgreSsiOns and my sins are ever
before thee" All, my friends, you see this
is not complimentary gospel That is
what makes some people so mad. 1t comes
to man of a million dollars and impeni-
tent in his sins and says: You're a
pauper." 1t comes to woman of fairest
cheek, who has never repentad, and says:
"XOu'Te a sinner" 1t comes to a man
priding himself on his Independence
and says, "Y You're hound hand ana foot by
the devil" 1t comes to our entire race and
says, YOU'RE a ruin, ghastly ruin, an
me. why do you preach that truth? Why
don't you preach gospel with 10 repent
ance in it9 Why don't you ilatter mems
hearts so hat you make them feel all rightl
Why don't you preach q hurnanitara an
gospel with no repentance IN it, saying
nothing about the ruiz, talkjny Ru tie time
about redemptionW | say, "Get thee BE-
hind me, Satan" / would ra her lead
five uls the right way than twenty
bn
demption of the gospel is per-
feet farce if there is no ruin. The whole
need not physician, but they that are
sick" " If any one, though he be an angel
from heaven, preach any other gospel than
this" says the apostle. "let him be ac-
cursed There must be the midnight ride
over tie ruins before Jerusalem can be
built. There must be the clicking of the
hoofs before there can be the ringing of the
trowels.
Again My subject gives me specimen
of busy and triumphant sadness. If there
was any man in the world who had right
to mope and give up everything as lost, it
was Nehemiah. You say. HE was cup
bearer in the palaca Of Shushan, and it was
a grand place. So it was. The hall of
that palace was two hundred feet square,
and tue roof lowered over thirtv-six mar
BILE pillars, each pillar sixty feet high and
=
green Of the forest foliage and the white of
the driven snow, all hung trembling in the
upholstery. But, NV friends, you know very
well at fine architecture will not put down
inconsistencies. Yet Nehemiah did not give
UP. Then when you see him going among
these deso!ated streets, and by these dis
mautled towers, and by the torn up grave
of his father, you would suppose that he
would have been disheartened ard that he
would have dismounted from his horse AID
gone TO his room and said: "Woe is mel
My fathers grave is torn up. The temple
is dishonored. The walls are broken down.
] have NJ money with which to rebuild.
! wish | had never been born. | wish
] were dead" Not SO says Nehemiah
Although he had a grief so intense
that 1t excltd the commentary of his king,
yet that pennies, eXpatriated Nehemiah
rouses himself up 20 rebuild tho city. He
gets his permission of absence. He gets
his passports He hastens away to Jerusa-
lem. By night on horseback he rides
through the ruins. He oYercomes the most
ferocious opposition. He arouses the piety
and patriotism Of the people, and in less
than two months, namely, in fifty-two days
Jerusalem was rebuilt. That's what /
call busy and triumphant sadness.
My friend the whole temptation is with
you, when you have trouble, to do just the
opposite TO the behavior of Nehemiah, and
that is TO give up. You say, ~ have lost
my child and can never smile again" You
say, 81 have lost my property, and / never
can repair my fortunes "You say, II
have fallen into al ID and I uever can start