The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-03-18
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A RIDE BY MOONLIGHT.
TALMAGE's PICTURE OF JERU5A.
LEM IN RUINS.

NehemiGh's Course a Mystery to His
Escort, but 1t Resulted in the Re-
building OF the City-The Lessons
Taught the Preacher by the Text OF
His Sermon.
BROOKLYN, N. Y, March 17.-At tho
Tabernacle this morning the Rev.T DeWt
Talmage, D. D., expounded the seventh
chapter Of Ecclesiastes He afterward gava
out the hymn beginning:
Gracel it's a charming sound
Harmonious to the ear,
which was sung by the vast congregation
with magnificent effect The subject Of
DIR. Talmages sermon was "The Moonlight
Ride, and tie text, Nehemiah ii 10: "ThenI
won't up in the night by the brook, and
viewed the wall, and turned back, a.d on
tered by the gate of the valley, and 50 re-
turned He said:
A dead city is more suggestive than n
living city-past Rome than present Rome
ruins rather than newly fresooed ca he
dral. But the host time to visit a ruin is
by moonlight. The Coliseum Is far more
fascinating to tho traveller after suudown
than before. You may stand by daylight
amid the monastic ruins OF Melrose abbey,
and study shafted oriel. and rosetted stone
and mullion, but they throw their strongest
witchery by moonlight. Some Of Won ro-
member what the enchanter Of Scotland
said in the "Lay of the Last Minstrel"
wouldst thou view fair Melross orIght,
Go visit 1t by the pale moonlight.
Washington Irving describes the
Andalusan moonlight upon the Alunhra
ruins as amounting to an enchantgent.
My text presents you Jerusalem in ruins.
The tower down. The gates down, Tho
walls down. Everything down. Nehe uiah
on horseback, by moonlight 10 king upon
the ruins While he rides, there are some
friends on foot going with him, for thoy
do not want the many horses 60 disturb tho
suspicious of the people These pa1pie do
not know tho secret of Nehemiah's heart,
ut they are going as sort II body
guard | hear tho clicking hoofs Of
the horse on which Nehemiah rides,
as he guides it this way and that into this
gate and out of that, winding through that
gate amid the debris Of onco great Jerusa-
len. Now the horse comes TO a dead halt
at the tumbed down masonry where ho
cannot pass Now he SHES Off at the
charred timbers. Now he comes along
where the water under the moonlight
flashes from the mouth of tho brazan
dragon after which the gate was named.
Heavy hearted Nehemiahl Riding in aud
out, now by his old home desolated,
now by the defaced temple now amid
the scars Of the city that hal gone
down under battering ram and conhagra-
tion, The escorting party knows not wnat
| Nehemiah means. Is he getting crazyl
| Have his own personal sorrows added TO the
sorrows of the nation, unbalanced his in
| tellecta Still the midnight exploration
| goes on. Nehemiah on horseback rides
through the fish gate, by the tower of the
furnaces, by the kings pool, by the dragon
well, in and out, in and cut, until the mid
| l..sar N.-s.A a.
mounts from his horse, and 30 the amazed
and confounded and inJredulous body
guard, declares the dead secret
of his heart when he says, "Come,
now, let us build Jerusalem" "What,
| Nehemiah, have you any moneym mo"
"Have you any ls1gly authorityTn mo"
"Have you any eloquenceP mo- Yet
that midnight, mo olnigh ride of Nehemiah
resulted in the glorious rebuilding Of the
city OF Jerusalem. The people knew not
how the thing was to be done, but
with great enthusiasm they cried out,
Let Us rise up now and build the city,
Some people laughed and said it could
/ furiate and offered physical violence,
saying the thing should not be done But
the wOrkmen went right on, standing ON
| the wall, trowe in one hand, sword in tho
other, until the work was gloriousiv COM
peted. At that very time, in Greece,
| AtuODDDu WIS WTlIlllk n UiHLfTY, anu IiAtO
was making philosophy, and Damosthenes
Was rattllng bis rhetoric ! thunder, but all
of them together did not do 50 much for the
world as this midnight, moonlight ride Of
praying, courageous, homesick. close
mouthed Ne emiah.
My subject first impresses me with tho
idea what an intense thing 1, church affec-
tion. Seize the birdie OF tnat horse and
stop Nehemiah Why are YOU risklng your
life here In the nignti Your horse will
stumble over these ruins and fall on you.
Stop this useless exposure II your life. No:
Nehemiah will not op. He at la 1t tells us
the whole story. He let's us know he was
All exile in far distant land, and he was a
servant, cup bearer in the palace Of
Artaxerxes Lopgimanus, and one day, while
he was handing the cup of wine to
the king, the king said TO him.
"What is the matter with youl You are
not sick. | know you must have some
great trouble. What is the matter with
your Then no told the king how that be-
loved Jerusalem was broken down; how
that his father's tomb had been dasscrated;
how that the temple had been dshouorei
and defaced; how that the wilis we're scat
teI ed and broken. "Well,n says
King Ariaxerxes, what do you wantP'
WELL" said the cup bearer. Nehemiah,
the < ave Of my father. / want 10 re-
store the beauty Of the temple. | want to
rebuild tie masonry Of tue city wall Be-
sides, ! want passports 80 that / shall not be
hindered in my Journey. And besides
tina ~ a. you will find in the context, II
want an order on the man who keeps your
forest for just 50 much timber as may need
for the rebuilding Of the city" How lolg
shall you be gone n said the king. The
time Of absence is arranged. In hot haste
this seeming adventurer comes
10 Jerusalem, and in my text
we fnd him on horseback, in the midnight,
riding around the ruins 1t is through tho
specJncles Of this scene that we discover the
| ardent attachment Of Nehemiah for sacred
Jerusalem, which in all ages has been tho
type Of the church Of God, our Jerusalem,
which we love just as much as Nehemiah
loved his jerusalem. The fact Ia that you
love o church Of God 80 much that there is
no spot on earth SO sacred. unless IL Is your
own fireside. The church has been 20 you
80 much comfort and Inflammation
that there is nothing that makes you
50 irate as TO have IL talkei against n
there have been times when you have been
carrie into captivity by sickness, you
longed for the church, our holy Jerusalem,
just ~ much as Nehemiah longed for his
Jerusalem, and the first day you came out
you came 10 the house OF the Lord. When
the temple wasin ruins as ours was years
ago like Nehomia, you walked around and