The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1889-03-20

that befor5 reconstruction there must be an
exploration Of ruins. Why was not Nehe-
miah asleep under the coversf Why was not
his horse stabbed In the midnight Let the
police OF the city arrest this midnight rider
out on some mischief No. Nehemiah Is 60
ing TO rebuild the city, and he is making
the preliminary exploration. In this gate,
out that gate, o st, west, north, south. All
through the ruins. The ruins must be ex-
plored before the work Of reconstruction
can begin. The reason that so many people
In this day, apparently converted do not
stay converted Is because they did 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 go
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 de-
ceitful above all things. and desperately
wicked" They had an idea that they were
almost right and they built religion as
sort Of extension, as an ornamental cupola.
There was superstructure OF religion built
on substratum of unrepented sins. The
trouble with good deal o. modern theology
Is that instead OF building on the right foun-
dation II builds on the debris Of an unre-
generated nature. They attempt TO rebuild
Jerusalem before, in the midnight of con-
viction, they have seen the ghastliness OF
the ruin. They have such a poor foun-
dation for their religion that the first
northeast storm Of temptation blows
them down. have no faith in mans con-
version II he is not converted In the old
fashioned way-John Bunyan's way, John
Wesley's way, John Calvin's way, Paups
way, Chrisps way, Gods way A dentist
once said to me, "Does that hurti" Said |,
"Of course 1t hurts. tits in your business as
in my profession. We have 10 hurt before
we can help" You will never understand
redemption until you understand ruin. A
man tells me that some one is a member
Of the church. II makes no impression on
my mind at all. simply want TO know
whether he was converted In the old-fash-
ioned way, or whether he was converted In
the new-fashioned way. II he was con-
verted in the old-fashioned way he will
stand. II he was converted In the new-fash-
ionel way he will not stand. This Is all
there Is about 1t. A man comes to me
10 talk about" religion. The first ques-
ton / ask him is: "Do you feel your
self to be sinnerfr II he says, "Well,
| I-yes," the hesitancy makes mo
feel that that man wants a ride on Nehe-
miah's horse by midnight through the ruins
i'm by the gate of his affections, out by the
gate Of his win; 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 smite on his heart
and say: "God be merciful 10 me sinner;"
and before he has stabbed his horse he will
take his feet out OF the stilrups, and he will
slide down on the ground, and he will kneel,
| crying, "Have mercy on me, o God, accord
| ing 10 Thy loving kindness according unto
the multitude OF Thy tender mercies; blot
out my transRressions, for / acknowledge
my transgressions, and my sins are ever
before Thee" An, my friends you see this
is not complimentary gospel That Is
what makes some people so mad. It comes
TO man OF mil ion dollars and impenitent
in his sins and says, "You're pauper." 1t
comes TO a woman OF faiiest cheek who has
never repented, and says You're a sim
nerm II comes to a man priding himself
on his independence and says, "You're
bound hand and foot by the deviLp
It comes 10 our entire race and says
"Youre ruin. ghastly ruin, an illimita'
bio ruin.n Satan sometimes says TO me,
"Why do you preach that truthl Why
don't you preach n gospel with no repent
ance in ~ Why don't you ilatter men''
hearts so that you make them feel all right
Why don't you preach humanitarian gos
pei with no repentance in II, saying nothing
about the ruin, talking all the time about
redemption" ! say. sect thee behind me
Satan" would rather lead FIVE souls the
right way than twenty thousand the wrong
way The redemption OF the gospel is q
perfect farce II there Is no ruin. "Tht
whole need not physician. but they thai
are sick" "If any one, though he be Al
angel from heaven, preach any other gospe
than this,n says the apostle, "let him b,
accursedn There must be tho midnight
ride over the ruins before Jerusalem can b,
built There must be the clicking Of the
hoofs before there can be the ringing Of
tho trowels.
Again: My subject gives me specimen o.
busy and triumphant sadness. II there wa
any man In the world who had right I,
NOPE and give up every thing as lost II wa
Nehemiah. You say, "He was a cup beare
in the palace Of Shushan, and II was grant
!, | palace 10 " was. lUe uhll Ol ttlhb DalhC
was two hundred feet square, and the roo
covered over thirty.six marble pillars eacl
pillar sixty feet high, and the intense blueo
the sky, and the deep green Of the fores
foliage, and the white Of the driven snow
all hung trembling In the upholstery. But
, my friends, you know very well that fin
, architecture will not put down homesick
ness. Yet Nehemiah did not give up. The
when you see him going among thes
/ desolated streets, and By these dismantle
towers, and by the torn up grave Of hi
father, you would suppose that no woul
have been disheartened, and that he woul
, have dismounted from his horse an,
, gone 70 his room and said: "Woe Is me M.
! fathers grave Is torn up. The Tomple |
, dishonored. The walls are broken down.
have no money with which TO rebuild.
, wish had never been born. wishI wer
dead.n Not so says Nehemiah. Althoug
! he had grief so intense that II excited III
4 commentary Of his King, yet that pennies,
1 expatriated Nehemiah rouses himself up ;
rebuild the city. He gets his permission o
absence. He gets his passports He hasten
: away 10 Jerusalem. By nighton horsebac
he rides through the ruins He overcome
!. the most ferocious opposition. He arouse
! the plety and patriotism OF tho people, an
In less than two months, namely, in ffty-tw
!. days, Jerusalem was rebuilt. That's what
|. caa busy and triumphant sadness. {.
q My friends, the whole temptation is will
d you, when you have trouble, 70 do Just th