Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-03-29

onS !nan for any other institution,
ito da - ~ were peedful you would die in
th s 9le1ense. You can take the words Of
thea Ai ~ poet as he said, IF forget
aaf " Jerusalem, let my right had for
81. ner cunning" You understand in
four own experience the pathos, the
anthe. the courage, the holy
n.nuslasm of nehemiah in his midnight,
moonlight ride around the ruins of his
beloved Jerusalem.
RECONSTRUCTION OF THE HEART.
again, my text impresses me with the
aac1 that before reconstruction there
must be an exploration of ruins. Why
was not Nehemiah. asleep under the
| covers! Why was not his horse stabbed
~ the midnight? Let the police of the
Guy arrest this midnight rider out on
some mischief. No. Nehemiah is going
10 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
DC explored before the work of recon-
many people in this day, apparently con-
verted, do not stay converted is because
they did not first explore the ruins of
their own heart. The reason that there
are SO many protested Christians who in
this day lie and forge and steal, and
commit adultry, and go to the peniten-
tlary, is because they first do not learn
the ruin Of their own heart. They have
not found out that the heart is deceit
full above all things, and desperately
wicked" They had an idea that they
were ALMOST right, and they built relig-
ION as a sort of extension, as an orna-
mental cupola. There was superstruc-
ture of religion built on substratum of
unrepented sins. The trouble with a
good deal of modern theology is that in
stead of building on the right founda-
ton, it builds on the debris of an unre-
generated nature. They attempt to re-
build Jerusalem before, in the midnight
OF conviction, they have seen the ghasti-
illness of the ruin. They have such a
poor foundation for their religion that
the first northeast storm of temptation
blows them down. have no faith in a
man conversion If ne ls not converted
in the. old-fashioned way John
Bunyan's way, John Wesley's way, John
Calvin's way, Pauls way, Christ's way,
Gods way. A dentist once said to me:
Does that hurt?" Said I: "Of course it
hurts. 1t is in your business as in my
profession. We have to hurt before we
can help" You will never understand
redemption until you understand ruin.
Der of the church. It makes no impress
sion on my mind ut all. I simply want
to know whether he was converted in
the old-fashioned way, or whether he
was converted in the fashioned
way. # he Vas converted in the old
fashioned way he will stand. # he was
converted in the new-fashioaed Way he
will not stand. That is all there is
about it. A man comes to me to talk
about religion. The first question ask
him is, DO you feel yourself to be a
sinner" If he says, well, I-yes," his
hesitancy makes me feel that that man
wants ride on Nehemiah's horse by
midnight through the ruins-in by the
gate of his affections, out by the gate of
his will; and before he has got through
with that midnight ride he will drop the
reins on the horse's neck and will take
his right hand and smite on his heart
and say: God be merciful to me sim
ner;" and before he has stabbed his horse
he will take his feet out of the stirrups,
and he will slide down on the ground,
and he will kneel, crying, Have mercy
or me, o God. according to thy loving
Kindness. according unto the multitude
of thy tender mercies; blot out my trans
gressions, for acknowledge my trans
gressions and my sins are ever before
thee" All, my friends, you see this is
not complimentary gospel. That is
what makes some people SO mad. 1t
comes to a man of million dollars and
impenitent in his sins and says, "You'r re
a pauper." It comes to woman of fair
est cheek, who has never repented, ond
says, You're q sinner" 1t comes to a
man priding himself on his independ-
ence and says, You're bound hand and
hH, ho 10
tire race and says, sYou're a ruin, a
CHASTITY ruin, an ilfimitable ruin" Satan
sometimes says to me, "Why do you
preach that truth? Why don't you preach
the Gospel with no repentance in it?
Why don't you fatter mems hearts SO
that you make them feel ali right? Why
don't you preach humanitarian gospel
with no repentance in it, saying moth
ing about the ruin, talking all the time
about redemption?" say, Get thee
behind me, Satan" would rather lead
five souls the right way than twenty
thousand the wrong way. The redemp-
ton of the Gospel is a perfect farce if
there is no ruin. THE whole need not
q physician, but they that are sick. IF
any one, though he be an angel from
this, says the apostle, "let him be ac-
cursed" 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 ring
ing of the trowels.
CHRISTIAN PERSEVERANCE.
Again. My subject gives me speci-
men of busy and triumphant sadness.
If there was any man in the world who
had a right to NOPE and give up every
thing as lost, it was Nehemiah. You
say, He was cup-bearer in the palace
of Shusban, 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 in
tense blue Of the sky, and the deep
green of the forest foliage, and the
white of the driven snow, all hung trem-
bling in the upholstery. But, my
friends, you know very we'll that fine
architecture will not put down home
sickness. 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 dis
hoo rtonod and that he would have dis.