Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-18

verted in the old-fashioned way or whether nc
was converted in the new-fashioned way. II
he was converted in the old-fashioned way ne
will stand. If he was converted IN the new
fashioned way he will not stand. That Is al
there is about it. A'man comes to me to talk
about religion. The first question ask him is
"Do YOU feel yourself to be sinner"
If he say,"wen, I-yes," the hesitancy makes
me feel that that man wants ride on Meme
miah's horse by midnight through the ruins
in by the gate of his affections, out by the gate
of his will; and before he has got through with
| that midnight ride he will drop the relns on
| the horses neck and will take his right hand
| and will smite on his heart and say, 'Gou De
merciful to me, sinner; and peiore ne nas
the stirrups and he will slide down on the
ground and he will kneel, crying, "Have
| mercy on me, o God, according to Thy loving
kindness, according unto the multitude OF Thy
tender mercies: blot out my transgressions,
for acknowledge my transgressions ana 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 a man of a million dollars and I'M.
penitent in his sins and says, you're pauper."
It comes to a woman of fairest cheek, who has
1t comes to a man priding himself on his indie.
penuence and says, YOU'RE bound hand and
foot by the devil" 1t comes to our entire race
and says, you're a ruin, a CHASTITY ruin. an
III.
"Why do you preach that truth? Why don't
you preach gospel with no repentance in it?
Why don't you 1atter mems hearts SO that you
make them feel all right? Why, don't you
preach humanitarian gospel with no repent
ance in it, say nothing about the ruin, talking
all the time about redemption?" say, "Get
thee behind me, Satan" Iwould rather
LEAD FIVE SOULS
the right way than 10000 the wrong way. The
redemption of the gospel is a perfect farce if
there is no ruin. "The whole need not physi-
clan, but they that are sick" "If anyone,
though he be an angel from heaven, preach
any other gospel than this" says the apostle,
"let him be accursed" There must be the
midnight ride over the ruins before Jerusalem
can be built. There must be the clicking of
the hoofs before there can be the ringing of
the trowels.
Again. Ny subject gives me a specimen of
busy and triumphant sadness. II there was
any man in the world who had a right to nope
and give up everything as lost, it was Nehe.
miah. You say, "He was a cup bearer in the
palace of Shushan, and it was a grand place"
So it was. The hall of that palace was 200 feet
square, and the roof hovered over 36 marble
pillars, each pillar so feet high; and the intense
blue of the sky, and the deep green of the
forest foliage, and the white of the driven
snow all hung trembling in the upholstery.
But my friends, you know very well that fine
architecture will not put down homesickness.
Yet Nehemiah did not give up.
Then when you see him going among these
desolated streets. and by these dismantled tow
ers, and by the torn-up grave of his father, you
would suppose that he would have been dis
heartened, and that he would have dismounted
from his horse and gone to his room and said:
"Woe is ne My fathers grave is torn up
The temple is dishonored. The walls are
broken down. 1 have no money with which to
rebuild. 1 wish had never been born. I wish
1 were dead" Not so says Nehemiah. AL
though he had grief so intense that it excited
the commentary of his king, yet that penni-
less, expatriated Nehemiah rouses himself up
to rebuild the city. He gets his permission of
absence. He gets his passports. He hastens
away to Jerusalem. By night on horseback he
rides through the ruins. He overcomes the
most ferocious opposition. He arouses the
PIETY AND PATRIOTISM
of the people, and in less than two months,
namely, in So days Jerusalem was rebuilt.
That's what call busy and triumphant sad
ness. My friends, the whole temptation is with
you, when you have trouble, to do just the op-
posite to the behavior of Nehemiah, and that
is to give up. You say, 81 have lost my child
and can never smile again" You say, 81 have
lost my property and never can repair my
fortunes" You say, 81 have fallen into sin.
and never can start again for a new life" If
Satan can make you form that resolution, and
make you keep it, he has ruined you.
Trouble is not sent to crush you, but to arouse
you, to animate you, topropel you. The black
smith does not thrust the iron into the forge
and then blow away with the bellows, and then
bring the hot iron out on the anvil and beat
with stroke after stroke to ruin the iron, but to
prepare it for a better use. Oh that the Lord
God of Nehemiah would rouse up all broken
shipwrecked, imprisoned Paul went right on
The Italian martyr Algerius sits in his dungeon
writing letter, and he dates it: From the
delectable orchard of the Leonine prison." That
is what call triumphant sadness.
! knew a mother who buried her baby on Fri
day and on Sabbath appeared in the house of
God and said: Give me class; give me
Sabbath school class. l have no child now left
me- and l would like to have class of little
children. Give me real poor children.
Give me a class off the back street."
That, l say, is beautiful. That is triumphant
sadness. At O'Clock this afternoon, in a beau
tiful parlor in Philadelphia-a parlor pictured
and statuetted-there will be from ten to twen-
ty destitute children Of the street. 1t has been
SO every Sabbath afternoon at 9 O'Clock for
many years. These destitute children receive
religious instruction, concluding with cakes
and sandwiches. How do know that that has
been going on for many years? 1 knew it in
this way:
GREED CURED BY CHRISTIAN WORK,
That was the first home in PHILADELPHIA
where I was called to comfort great sorrow.
They had splendid boy and he had been
drowned at Long Branch. The father and
mother almost idolized the boy, and the sob
and shrek of that father and mother as thew
hung over the coffin resound in my ears to-day
There seemed to be no use of praying, for when
1 knelt down to pray, the outery in the room
drowned out all the pray. But the Lord COM
forted that sorrow. They did not forget their
trouble. If you should go on the snowiest
winter afternoon into Laurel Hill YOU would
find monument with the word Walter in.
scribed upon it, and a wreath of fresh flowers
around the name.
think there has not been an hour all these
years, winter or summer, when there was not a
wreath of fresh flowers around Walters name,
But the Christian mother who sends those flow
srs there, having no child left, Sabbath after
Moons mothers 10 or 20 of the lost ones of the
street. That is beautiful. That is what call
busy and triumphant sadness. Here is man
who has lost his property. He does not go to
hard drinking. He does not destroy his own
life. He comes and says: Harness me for
Christian work My moneys gone. l have no
treasures on earth. want treasures in heaven,
have voice and a heart to serve God" You
say that that man has failed. He has not
has triumphed.
oh, wish l could persuade all the people
who have any kind of trouble never to give up
wish they would look at the midnight rider of
5he text, and that the four hoofs of that beast
IN which Nehemiah rode might cut to pieces