The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1889-03-23

,nce said to me: "Does tina hurt?" Said
[: 'FOf course it hurts. 1t is in your BUSH
ness as in my profession. We have to
before we can help"
You will never understand redemption
until you understand ruin. A man tells
that some one Is a member of the
Church. 1t makes no impression or my
mind at all. l simply want to know
he was converted in the old fash
toned way, or whether he vas converted
in the new fashioned way. Ii he was con-
in the old fashioned way he will
stand. If 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 yourselfto bea
sinner?" If he says: "Well, YES"
the hesitancy makes me feel that that
wants a ride on Nehemiah'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
reins on the horses neck, and will take
his right hand and smite on his
heart and say: 'God be merciful
to me a sinner" and before he has
stabbed his horse he will take his feet
out of the stirrups, and will slide down on
the ground, and he will kneel, crying,
"Have mercy on me, o God, according
unto Thy loving kindness, according unto
the multitude of Thy tender mercies; blot
out my transgressions, for l acknowledge
my transgressions and my sins are ever
before Thee" All, my friends, you see
this is not a complimentary gospel. That
Is what max some people so mad. 1t
comes to a man of a million dollars and
im~penitent in his sins and says, You're n
pauper." 1t comes to a woman of fairest
cheek, who has never repented, and says,
'You're a sinner" 1t comes to a man
priding himself on his Independence and
says, "You are bound hand and foot to
the devil" 1t comes to our entire
race and says, you're a ruin, a
CHASTITY ruin, an illimitable ruin"
Satan sometimes says to me, why
do you preach that truth? Why don't
you preach a gospel with no repentance in
1t? Why don't you hatter mems hearts SO
that you make them feel all right? Why
don't you preach humanitarian gospel
with no repentance in 1t, saying nothing
about the ruin, talking all the time about
redemption?" say, Get thee behind me,
Satan" / would rather lead five souls
the right way than twenty thousand the
WTOuk way. IL EcuCLlpbiOu VI IL BOopoi
Is a perfect farce If there is no ruin. THE
whole need not a physician, but they that
are sick.' 'If any one, though he be an
angel from Heaven, preach any other than
this" says the apostle, ''let him be ac-
cursed" There must be the midnight ride
over the ruins before Jerusalem can lie
built. There must be the clicking of the
hoofs before there can be the ringing of
trowels.
Again. My subject gives me a specimen
of busy, triumphant, sadness. II there was
any man in the world who had a right to
NOPE and give up every thing as lost ii
was Nehemiah. You say, she was a cup.
bearer in the palace Of Shushan and il
was a grand place." So it was. The hall
of that palace was 200 feet square and the
roof covered over thirty six marble
pillars, each pillar sixty-eight feet high
and the intense blue of the sky and The
deep green of the forest foliage and tvs
white of the driven snow all hung tremb.
ling in the upholstery. But, my friend
you 10Y very we'll that fine architecture
will not put down Inconsistencies. Ye
Nehemiah did not give up. Then wher
you see him going among those desoiatt
streets and by these dismantled toweri
and by the torn up grave of his father you
would suppose that he would have beer
disheartened, and that he would have dis
mounted from his horse and gone to hi
room and said: "Woe is me. My father
grave is torn up The temple is dis
honored. The walls are broken down.
nave no money with which 10 rebuild.
wish 1 had never been born. l wisl
1 were dead." Not so says Nehemiah
! Although he had a great grie
SO intense that it excited tn
commentary of his King, yet that penni.
less, expatriated Nemehiah rouses himsel
to rebuild the city. He gets his perini 'siol
of absence. He gets his passports. II
haste ms away to Jerusalem. By night OIL
horseback he rides through the ruins. HI
overcomes the most %ferocious opposition
He arousss the piety aud patriotism OF tn
people, and in less h a two months
namely, in fifty-two days, Jerusalem wa
rebuilt. That what l call busy and tri
umphant sadness. My friends, the Who'll
temptation is with you, when you hav
trouble, to do jist the opposite to the be
havior of Nehemiah. and that Is, to Civ
up. You say, II have lost my child an
can never smile again" You say, 81 hav
lost my property and l never can repai
my fortunes" You say, Il have falle
2 into sin and l never can start again for
new life" If Satan can make you forI
that resolution, and make you keep 1t, b
has ruined you. Trouble is not sent I
crush you, but to rouse you, to animal
you, to propel you. The blacksmith doe
not thrust the il on into the forge and the
blow away with the bellows, and the
bring the hot iron out on the anvil nm
beat with stroke after stroke to ruin tn
iron, but to prepare it for better use.
o, that the Lord God of Nehemiah woul
rouse up all broken hearted people to re
build. Whipped, betrayed, shipwreckeC
imprisoned, Paul went right on. Th
Italian martyr Algerius sits in his dun
geon writing a letter. aud he dates
"From the delectable orchard of the Leon
tine prison." That is what ! call triumph
ant sadness. l know a mother who burie
her baby on Friday and on Sabbath az
peared in the house of God and said
"Give me a class; give me a Sabbat
school class. / have no child now left m
and l would like to have a class of lit
children. Give me real poor children
Civ me a class of the back street." Tina
l say, is beautiful. That is triumphaI
sadness. 1t three o'clock this Afternoon
in a beautiful parlor in Philadelphia
parlor pictured and statuetted-there wi
be from ten to twenty destitute childre
of the street. 1t has been SO every Sal
bath afternoon at three o'clock f.
many years. These destitute childre
receive religious instruct, on, conclude
with cakes and sandwiches. How {
, / know that that has been goir
on for many years? l knew 1t in tn
3 way. That was the first home in Phil
delphia where l was called to comfort
great sorrow. They had a splendid b.
{ and he had been drowned at Long Branc
3 The father and mother almost idolized t
+ boy, and the sob and shrek of that faith
and mother as they hung over the cof
8 resound In my ears to-day. There seem
= to be no use Of praying. for when / kn'
= down to pray the outcry in the roc
drowned out all the prayer. But the Lo
comforted that sorrow. They did not fo
s get their trouble II you should go on t
o snowiest winter afternoon INTO Laul
Y Hill you would find a monument with t
word "Walter" inscribed upon it, and
n wreath Of fresh flowers around the nan
Q / think there has not been IN hour
these years, winter or summer, VIII
there was not n wreath of fresh fiowe
0 around Walters name. But the Christi
J. . mother who sends those flowers the
9 having no child left, Sabbath afternoo
% mothers ten or twenty OF the lost ones
the street. That is beautiful. That
o b 1 call busy and triumphant sadne
It Here Is a man who has lost his propert
1t He does not go to hard drinking. He de-
v not destroy his own life. He com ~ a
n says: Harness me for Christian wo
l. My moneys gone. l have no treasures
j. earth. I want treasures in Heaven.
Ie have a voice and a heart to praise Coz
\. You saw that that man has failed. He |
I, not failed-he has ~triumphed o, l W