News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1889-03-28
SUNDAYS SERMON.
ONE OF REV. DIR TALMAGE's
STERLING DISCOURSES
Subject: THE Moonlight Ride"

Text: "T2eR tcent up in the night 6g
the brook, r:nd rieaCed The leaU and turned
back, and entered by the gate Of the UaILe5i
and 50 returned. "-Nehemiah H., Is
A dead city is more suggestive than liv-
ing city-past Rome than present Rome
ruins rather than newly frescoed cathedral
But the best time TO visit ruin is 10y moon
light. The Coliseum is far more fascina ting
to the trave-er after shutdown than before
You may stand by daylight amid the nlonas-
tic TuiuS Of Melrose Ahtey, and study
shafted oriel, and roSstted stone and mullion
but they throw their strongest wtchery by
moonlight. Some of you remember what
the enchanter of Scotland said in the "Lav
OF the Last MINSTREL
Wouldst thou view fair Melrose Alright,
Go visit il by the pale moonlight.
Washington Irving describes the Anda-
lusian moonlight upon the Alhambra ruins
as amounting TO an enchantme MT NV text
presents you jerusalem in rains. The tower
down. The gates down. The walls down.
Everything down. Nehemiah on horseback
by moonlight looking upon the ruins While
he rides, there are some friends on foot going
with him, for they do not want the many
horses to disturb the suspicious of
the people. These people do no know
the secret of Nehemiah's heart but they are
going as a sort of body guard | hear the
clicking hoof of the horse on which Nehe-
miah rides, as he guides it this way and that
into this gats and out of that, winding
through that gate amid the debris of once
great Jerusalem. Now the horse comes to a
dead halt at the tumbled masonry where he
cannot pass. Now he SHES off at the charred
um5ers. Now he comes along where the wa
ter under the moonlight flashes from the
mouth of the braZen dragon after which the
gate was named Heavy hearted Nehemiah!
Riding in and cut, now by his old home
0pS0iatn1 Inv tba 6afarafl far1T1lo
amid the scars of the city that had gone
down under battering ram and confagra-
ton. The escorting party knows not what
Nehemiah means. Is he getting crazy? Have
bis own personal sorrows, added to the sor.
rows of the nation, unbalanced his intellect
Still the midnight exploration goes on
Nehemiah on horseback rides through the
fsh gate, by the tower of the furnaces, by
the Kings pool, by the dragon we'll, in and
out, in and out, until the midnight ride is
completed, and Nehemiah dismounts from
his horse, and 10 the amazed and confounded
ana lncredulouS body guard, declares the
dead secret of his heart when he SAYS:
Come, now, let US build Jerusalem"
w hat, Nehemiah, have you any money!"
mo" Have You any kingly au-
thorityP' ''No" "Have You any elo-
quenceT' mo" Yet that midnight. moon.
light ride of Nehemiah resulted in the glori-
Gus rebuilding OF the city of Jerusalem The
people knew not how the thing was to be
AOAAc. ONS Win eau ctltuU5laSDH Iuey CFlSn
out: Let US rise up now and build the city,
Some people laughed and said it could not be
done. Some people were infuriate and Of
fered physical violence, saying the
thing should not be done But the
W. woFkn as went right on, Standing
sword in the other; until the work was
sloriously completed. At that very time, in
Greece. Xenophon was writing history
and Flato was making. philosophy, and
Demosthenes was rattling his rhetorical
thunder, but all of them together did not do
SO much for the world as this midnight,
moonlight ride OF praying, courageous, home
sick, ciose-mouthed Nehemiah.
My subject first impreSses me with the idea
what an intense thing is church affection.
Seize the bride OF that horse and stop Nehe
iniah. Why are you riSking your life here
in the night! Your horse viii stumble over
these ruins and fall on you. Stop this use
less exposure of your life. No; Nehemiah
will not stop. he at last tells us the whole
story. He lets us know he was an exile in a
lar distant land, and he was a servant, cup
bearer in the palace of Artaxerxes Longi- 4
nanus, and one day. while he was handing .
he cup of wine to the King, the King slid
% him: ''What is the matter with youf You
ire not sick. know you must have some
.rsat trouble. What is the matter with
-ouF' Then he told the King how that be-
owed Jerusalem was broken down;
low that his fathers tomb had
cen desscrated; how that the Temple had
,een dishonored and defaced; how that the
Falls were scattered and broken. "W ell,n
avs King ArtaxerXes, "what do you wantln
'Wel,n said the cup-bearer Nehemiah,
i want to go hone. l want to fix up
he grave Of my father. l want to re-
tore the beauty of the Temple. l want
% rebuild the masonry of the city wall.
Besides, | want passports so that | shall
lot be hindered IN my journey. And be-
des that as you viii find in the context,
L want an order on the man who keeps your
orest for just so much timber as / may neeo
Tor the rebuilding of the city, How long
shall you be gone!n said the King. The
time of absence is arranged. In hot
haste this seeming .adventurer comes
to Jerusalem, and in my text we
ind him on horseback, in the midnight
riding around the ruins. 1t is through the /
pectacles of this scene that we discover the
rdent attachment Of Nehemiah for sacred
jerusalem, which in all ages has been
erusalem, which we love Just as much
Is Nehemiah loved his Jerusalem
The fact is that you love the church of God
% much that there is no spot on earth so
acred, unless IL is your own fireside- The
church has been to you 81 much comfort and .
Illumination that there is moth ne that /
makes You 50 trace as nave 10 uaIKeo [
against. If there have been times when yoa /
sickness, you longed for tie church, /
our holy Jerusalem, just as much as
Nehemiah lOnged for his jerusalem, and the (
irst day you came out you came to the /
house of the Lord. When the Temple was
in ruins as ours was years ago, like Nehe-
niah, you walked around and looked at it.
and in the moonlight you stood listening if I
you could not hear the voice of the dead /
organ, the psalm of the expired Sab 4
baths What Jerusalem was TO Nehe. /
niah, the church of God is to you
5keptics ami inli1els may scott at the church /
ODEOtAFa TP a raj 10 Of ,Io,I
iges, as convention OF goody goody people /
1ut all the impression they have ever made /
N your mind against the church OF Col is 4
absolutely nothing. You wouIl make more
other institution, and if it were need /
ui you would die in its defence (
on can take the words OF the kingiy poet /
IS he said: ''if / forget thee, o Jerusalem, /
ct my right hand forget her cunningn You
understand in your own expsrieuy. the
,atEo5, the Inconsistencies, the courage, the /
loiy enthusiasm OF Nehemiah in his mid /
light, moonlight ride around the ruins of I
lis beloved jerusalem.
again, my text imgressss ma with the fact
nat ooiore reconstruction there must ba an
xp.oFation OF ruins. Why was not Nehe-
Nah asleep un1er the coversl Why was not
MS horse stabbed in thu midnight! Let the
'oiIce OF the city arrest this midnight rider
mt on some mischief. No. Nehemiah
going to rebuild the city, and
ioration. In this gate, out that gaze.
ast, west, norsh, south. All through
10 ruins. The ruins must bs explored be-
1re the work OF reconstruction can begin.
ne reason that SO many people in this
ay, apparently converted, do not STAY
onvertsd IS because they did MOI first
xpiore the ruins OF their own heart Tho
3ason that there are so many profe55e1
hTistsns who in this day lie and forge
nd steal, and commit adultery, and go TO
1e penitsntiary is because they first do not
arm the ruin OF their own heart. They have
OF fount out that "th3 heart is dsceiGeui
boge all things, and desperately wicked"
hey had an idea that they were almost right,
nd they built religion As a sort of extension,
J an ornamental eu90la. There was a super
ructure OF religion built on q sub
ratum OF unrepsntei sins. The
oubie with a COOL deal of modern
leology Is that instead Of building on the
ght foundation, it builds on the debris of
. unrogensTated nature. They attempt t.,
'buiid Jerusalem before, in the midnight
1nvlcbion, they have seen the Shastilinass Of
ne ruin. Ih2y have such a poor founds.
on for thsir religion tn 1t tae first northeast
orm OF temptation blows them down / /
ave no faith in mans conversion if no is
Ot converted in the Old fashioned way-John
unyaRs way, John Wssleys way, John
Twins way, Paups way, Christ'S waY,
DDS way. A dentist once said to me:
Does that hurtF' Said l: ''Of course it
lrts. 1t is in your business as ib is in my
We have tohurt before we can
Zip" You viii never understand re Temp
on until you understand ruin. A man tells
le that some one Is a member of the
iurch. It makes no Impression on my mind
all. l simply want to know whsth-r he /