The national leader., 1889-04-06

time about redemption9" I say, "Get
thee behind me, SATAN" / would
rather lead five souls the right way
than twenty thousand the wrong way
The redemption of the gospel is per-
feet farce if there is no ruin. 1.-THE
whole need not physician. but they
are sick" ''If any one, though he be
an angel from heaven, preach any other
gospel than this" says the apostle,
s'let him be accursed.n There must be
the midnight ride over the ruins before
Jerusalem can be built. There must
be the clicking Of the hoOfs before there
can be the ringing of the trowels.
Again: Ny subject gives me a speci-
men of busy and
TRIUMPHANT SADNESS.
If there was any man in the world who
had right to NOPE and give up every
thing as lost, it was Nehemiah. You
say, she was cup-bearef in the
palace or Shushan, and it was grand
place." So it was. The hall of that
palace was two hundred feet square,
and the roof lowered over thirty-six
marble pillars, each pillar sixty feet
high; and the intense blue of the sky,
and the deep green of the forest foli-
age, and the white of the driven snow,
all hung trembling in the upholstery.
But, my friends, you know very well
that fine architecture will not put
down homesickness. Yet Nehemiah did
not give up. Then when you see him
going among these desolated streets,
and by these dismantled towers, and
by the torn-up grave of his father, you
would suppose that he would have been
disheartened, and that he would have
dismounted from his horse and gone to
his room and said: "Woe is mel My
pie is dishonored. The walls are
broken down. have no money with
which to rebuild. wish | had never
been born. 1 wish / were dead" Not
so says Nehemiah. Although he had
grief so intense that it excited the
commentary of his king, yet that pen
niless, expatriated 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 over
comes the most ferociods opposition.
He arouses the piety and patriotism Of
the people, and in less than two
months, namely, IN fifty-two days,
Jerusalem was rebuilt. That's what l
call busy and triumphant sadness.
My friends, the whole temptation is,
with you.
WHEN YOU HAVE TROUBLE,
to do Just the opposite to the behavior
of Nehemiah, and that Is to give up.
You say, 81 have lost my child and
can never smile again." You say, 81
have lost my property. and never
can repair my fortunes" You say, 81
have fallen into sin. and never can
start again for new life." II Satan
can make you form that resolution,
and make you keep it, he has ruined
you. Trouble is not sent to crush you,
but to arouse you, to animate you, to
propel you. The blacksmith does not
thrust the iron into the forge and then
blow away with the bellows, and then
bring the hot iron out on the anvil and
beat with stroke after stroke to ruin
the iron, but to prepare 1t for a better
use. Oh that the Lord God Of Nehe-
mlah would rouse up all broken
hearted people to rebuild.
Whipped, betrayed, shipwrecked,
imprisoned Paul went right on. The
Italian martyr Algerius sits in his
dungeon writing letter, and he dates
it From the delectaOle orchard of
the Leonlne prison." That is what l
call triumphant sadness. knew
A MOTHER WHO BURIED HER BABY
on Friday and on Sabbath appeared in
the house Of God and said, ''Give me
a class; give me Sabbath-school class.
1 have no child now left me, and l
would like to have a class of little
children. Give me real poor children.
Give me a class of the back street. "
That, l say, is beautiful, That is tri-
umphant sadness. At three O'Clock
this afternoon, in beautiful parlor In
Philadelphia-a parlOr pictured and
statuetted-therew will be from ten to
twenty destitute children of the street.
1t has been so every Sabbath afternoon
at three O'Clock for many years. These
destitute children receive religious in
StructiOn, with cakes and sandwiches.
I1OW w huo" IudU tudG Ado oooA
going on for many years2 know it in
this way. That was the first home In
Philadelphia where 1 was called to
comfort a great sorrow. They had a
splendid boy, and he had been drowned
at Long Branch. The father and
mother almost idolized the boy, and the
sob and Shrek Of that father and
mother as they hung over the coffin
resound in my ears to-day. There
seemed to be no use of praying. for
when / knelt down to pray, the outcry
in the room drowned out all the prayer.
But
THE LORD COMFORTED
that sorrow. They do not forget their
trouble. If you should go on the snow
lost mintnr aftarnnnn into I anral Hill