Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1889-03-18
the holy enthusiasm Of Nehemiah in his
midnight, moonlight ride around the ruins
OF his beloved Jerusalem.
crruc1rp TTrNf or, er,,c
A sUBSTRATUM OF SINS.

Nchehiiau "elet u uuuet tno CJNereF Why
Was not his horse stabbed in tho midnightP
Let the police OF this city arrest this mid
night rider out on some mischief. No.
Nehemiah is going TO rebuild the CITY. and
he is making the preliminary exploration.
In this gate, out that gate, east. west
north, south. All through the ruins. The
ruins must be explored before the work of
reconstruction can begin. The reason that
50 many people in this day, apparently
converted, do not stay converted ia he.
cause they did not first explore the ruins
OF their own heart. The reason thst there
are so many profeesed Christians who in
thisuay lie and forge und steal, and
commit adultery, and 20 to the peni-
tentiary, is because they first do not
leern the ruin of their own heart. Thev
have not found ont 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 a superstructure of re-.
hglOn built on a substratum of unrepented
sins. The trouble with a good deal of
modern theology is that instead of build
ing on the right foundation, it builds on
the debris OF an unregenerated nature
They attempt to build Jerusalem before
in the midnight of conviction, they have
seen the ghastliness Of the ruin. They
have such poor foundation for their re-
ligiOn that the irst northeast storm of temp.
tatiOn blows them down. I have no faith in p
mans conversion if he is not converted in
the old-fashiOned way-John Bunyan's
way, John Wesley's way, John Cslviu's
way, Paul's way, Christ's way, Gods
way. A dentist once said to me: "Doss
that hurt?" Said 1: "Gf course il hurt,
Il is in your business as in my profession.
We have to hurt before we can helm -
You will never understand redemption
until you understand ruint. A man tells
me that some one is a member Of the
church. II makes no impression on my
mind at ali I simply want to knog
whether he was converted in the old
fashioned way. If he was converted in
the 0ld-fashIOned way he will stand. If
he was converted in the new-fashioned
way ne will not stand. Tkis is oil there
is about it.
TRIUMPHANT SADNESS
Again. My subject gives me a speci-
men of busy and triumphant sadness. I'll
there was any man in the world who had
right to mOps and give up everything as
lost, il was Nehemiah. You say, HE was
a cup bearer in the palace of Shushan. and
it was grand palace" So it was. The
hall of that palace was two hundred feet
sqUrre, aud the roof lowered over thirty
six marble pillars, each pillar sixty feet
high and ths intense bcue of the sky,
and the deep green of the forest foliage,
and the white of the driven snow, all huDg
trembling in the upholstery. But, my
friends, you know very well that fine
architecture will not put down homesick
ness. Yet Nehemiah did not give up.
Then when yOu see him going among these
dosolated streets, and by these dismantled
towers, and By the torn mp grave of his
| father, you would suppose that he would
have been disheartened, and that he would
have dismounted from his hor and gone
70 his room and said: "Woe is mel My
fathers grave is torn up. The Temple is
dishonored The walls are broken down
I have no money with which to rebuild |
| wish had never been born wish /
we're dead " Not so says Nehemiah. AL
though he mad grief so intense that 1t
excited the commentary of his king, yet
that penniless expatiialed 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 fero
cious opposition. He arOuses the piety
aud patriotism of the people, and in less
than two months, namely, in ffty-twO
daYs. Jerusalem was rebuilt. That's what
l call busy and triumphant sadness.
DO NOT GIVE UP.
Are YOU borne down with the bereave
ments of life? Is the house lonely now
that the child is gone? Do not give up
Think Of what the old sexton said when
the minister asked him why he put so
much care on the little graves in the Gem
etery-so much more care than on the
larger graves, and the old sexton said. "Sir, |
Won know that of such ia the kingdom OF
heaven and l think the Savior is pleased |
when he sees so much white clover grow
inc around these little graves" But when
the minister pressed the old sexton for o
more satisfactory answer, the old sexton |
said: isis, about these larger graves,
don't know who are the Lords saints and |
who are not; but you know know, slT, 1t is
clean different with the bairns." Oh, II
Won have had that keen, tender, indescrlb- |
able sorrow that comes from the loss OF
child, do not give up. The old sexton was
r;ght II is all vol with the BARNS. Or, |
if YOU have sinned, if you have sinned |
orievouslv-sinned until yon have been
cast ont by the church, sinned until you |
have been cast ont by slciety, do not give
no. Perhaps there may be in this house
one that could truthfully utter the lamen-
tations of another:
Once was pure as the snow, butt fell.
Eell ike snowflake from heaven to hell |
Fell TO be trampled as filth in the street
Feil To be scofled a. spit on and beat
PravinR cursing, wishing 70 die,
Sol ing my soul 70 whoever would buy
Dealing i'm shame for mOrsel OF bread,
Hating the living and fearing the dead.
Do not give up. One like unto the Son
Of God comes to You to-day, saying Go
and ain no more while he cries out to
vonr assailants. 'Let him that is without
Sin cast the first stone at her. On! there
- no rsason why any one in this house, by |
reason of any trouble or sin, should give
nm Are Won a foreigner, and in a strange |
land2 Nehemiah was an exile. Are you
nanniless? Nehemiah vas poor. Are You
bomesick? Nehemiah WIS homesick. Are
Won broken hearted? Nehemiah was brok-
en- hearted But Just see him IN the text,
riding along the sacrileged grave OF his
father and by the dragon well, and
tbrongh the fish gate, and by the kings
nooj in and out in and out, the moon
iight falling on the broken masonry, which
throws a long shadow at which the horse
sb;es and at the same time that moonlight
L;nd1ing nm the features of this man till
von see not only the mark Of sad reminis-
caD,e. but the courage, the hope, the en-
tbnsissm of A man who knows that Jeru-
saIem will be rebuilded. l pick you up
today out of your sins and out OF your sor-
row. and put you against the warm
beeIt of Christ. "Tbe eternal God Is thy
Tefnge and underneath are the everlasting
arms"
Large Wooden MIL Destroyed.
PITTSBURGH, March 1.-THE large
woolen mill of Backhaus q kinsell' at
New Bremen. near Lima, Ohio, was de,
stroved bv fire last night. Loss esumateu
a. SEQ 600: insurance $40, 900. Fifty men
are thrown out of employment.
Great Carpet Bargains,