The Red Cloud chief., 1889-03-22
A GRAND EXAMPLE.
DR.. Talmage Oh the Foundation
of True Christianity.
Nehemiah's Wonderful Midnight Visit to
JerusAlem in Ruins and the Lesson it
Te2ches-God Always the Hest
Friend.

Wv I 4dILudkc , 8OOs
ject was 'The Moonlight Ride" and the
text, Nehemiah ii. Is: Then l went up
n the night by the brook and viewed the
wall. and turned back, and entered by the
gate Of the valley, and SO returned" He
said:
A dead city is more suggestive than n
living city-past Rome than present Roms
ruins rather than newly .frescoed
cathedral. But the best time to visit q
ruin is by moonlight. The colosseum is
far more fascinating to the traveller after
shutdown than before. You may stand by
daylight mid the mOnastic ruins Of Mel.
rose Abbey and study shaf,ed oriel and
rosetted stone and mulliOn. but they throw
their strongest witchery by moonlight
Some Of You remember what the enchanter
OF Scotland said in the Lay Of the Last
MINSTREL"
"Wouldst thou view fair Melrose Alright
Go visit it by the pale moonlight"
Washington Irving describes the An.
dalusian moonlight upon the Alhambra
ruins as amounting to an enchantment.
Ny text presents you Jerusalem in ruins.
The tower down. The gates down.. The
walls down. Every thing down. Nehe.
miah on horseback, BY moonlight looking
upon the ruins While he rides, there are
some friends on foot going with him, for
they do not want the many horses to dis
turb the suspicious Of the people. These
people do not know the secret of Nehe-
miah's heart, but they are going as q sort
OF body guard. hear the clicking hOofs
Of the horse on which Nehemiah rides, as
he guides il this way and that, into this
gate and out OF that winding through
that gate amid the debris Of once
great Jerusalem. Now the horse comes TO
q dead halt at the masonry where he can
not pass. Now he SHES oil at the charr.d
timfers. Now he comes along where the
water under the moonlight flashes from
the mouth Of the brazen dragon after
which the gate was named.
Heavy hearted Nehemiah. Riding in
and out, now by his old home desolated.
now by the defaced temple, now amid the
scars Of the city that had gone down un-
der battering ram and confiagration. The
cscorting party knows not what Nehemiah
means Is he getting crazy: Have his
own personal sorrows. addel to the sor.
rows Of the nation, unbalanced his intel
lect. Sill the midnight exploration goes
OF. Nehemiah ON horse back rides through
the fish gate. by the tower Of the furnaces,
by the Kings pool. by the dragon well, in
anu Out, uuttt Inc Iuluu1suJ rus II COhus
p eted. and Nehemiah dismOunts from his
horse, and 60 the amazed and COMPOUNDED
and i~ncredulous body guard, declares the
dead secret Of his heart when he says:
Come. now. let us build Jerusalem"
What, Nehemiah. nave you any money!"
No" 'Have you any kinGly authority"
NO" slave you any elOquence:" NO"
Yet that midnight. moonlight ride Of Ne
emia al resulted in the glorious rebuilding
Of the city OF Jerusalem. The people
knew not how the thing was u lie done.
but with great enthusiasm they cried Out,
Let us rise up now and build the CITY,"
Some people laughed and said it could not
he done. Some people were infuriate and
offered physical violence. saying the thing
should not he done. But the wOrkmen
went right ON. standing on the wall, trOwel
in one hand. sword in the other. until the
work was gloriOusiy completed. At that
very time. in Greece, XenophOn was writ
ing Q history, and Plato was making
philosophy. and Demosthenes was rat.
tling his rhetorical thunder. but all OF
them together did not do SO much for the
world rs this midnight, moonlight ride Of
prying hOmesick, close.
mou,hed Nehemiah.
Nv subject first impresses me with the
idea what AN intense thing is church af-
lection. Seize the bride of that horse and
siop Nehemiah. Why you are risking
YOUR life here i'm night: Your horse will
stumble over these ruins and fall on you.
Stop this useless exposure Of your life.
No; Nehemiah will not stop. He at last
tells us the whole story. He lets US know
h. was an exile in a far-distant land, and
he was a servant. a cup.bearer in the pal
ace Of Artax.rxes L~ongimanus. aud one
day while he was handing the cup of wine
to the King. the King said To him, what
is the matter with vou. You are not sick.
know YOU must have had some great
trouble. What is the matter with you:"
Then he told the King how that beloved
Jerusalem was knocked down. how that
his fathers tomb had been iesecrated:
how that the temple had been di>honored
aud defaced how that III. walls was scat
tered and broken. We'll" says King
Artaxerxes, what do yoa want!'
IVY ell." SAID the cup-bearer Nehemiah.
Il want to go home. | want TO fix up the
grave of NV father. want 10 restore the
beauty Of the temple. want 10 rebuild
the masonry of the city wall. Besides, l
want passports so that | shall not be- him
dered IN INV Journey. Aud besides that"
as YOU will find in the context. Il wauta an
order on the man who keeps your forest
for just so much timber As l may need for
the rebuilding of the CITY,"
How long shall you be gomez" said the
King. The time Of absence is arranged.
In hot haste this seeming Adventures
comes to Jerusalem. and In my text We
find him on horseback. in the midnight,
riding around the runs Ii is through the
spectaclss OF this scene that We discover
the ardent attachment of Nehemiah for
sacred Jerusalem, which in all ages has
been the type of the Church Of God. our
Jerusalem, which we love just as much as
Neh. mlah loved his Jerusalem The fact
IS that YOU love the Church OF God SO
much that there is no spot ON earth SO
sacred. unless IL is your own fireside. The
Church has been 10 YOU SO much comfort
and illumination that nothing makes you
SO irate as TO have il talked against Ii
there have been times when YOU have been
carried into captivity by sickness. you
longed for the Church.. our holy Jerusa-
lem, just as much as Nehemiah loueed for
his Jerusalem. and the first day you came
out YOU came 70 the house Of the Lord.
When the temple was in ruins rs ours
was wears ago. like Nehemiah. YOU walked
around anu looked a: il. and in the moon
lieht YOU stood listening il you could not
hear the voice of the dead orGan. the
psalm OF the expired Sabhaths. What
Jerusalem was TO Nehemiah the Church
of God is to you. Skeptics and infidels
may scoff at the Church as an obsolete af-
fair, as a relic Of the dark ages, as . con-
vention Of soody-goody people. but all
the impression they have ever made on
your mind aga;ns, the Church of God is