Daily Yellowstone journal., 1889-03-24

he be an angel from heaven, preach
any other gospel than this, says the
apostle, ''let him be accursed." There
must be the midnight ride owe the
ruins before Jerusalem can be built.
There must be the clicking OF the
hoofs before there can be tie ringing
of the trowels.
CHRISTIAN PERSEVERANCE.
Again. My subject gives me a speci-
men of busy and triumphant sadness:
If there was any man in the world
who had a right to NOPE and give up
everything IS lost, it was Nehemiah.
You say, "He was q cup bearer in the
palace of SLushan, and it was a grand
place" So il 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 fell
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 tow
ers, 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 me! Ny fathers grave
is torn up. The Temple is dishonored.
The walls are broken down. / have
no money with which 10 rebuild. /
wish | had never been born. | wish
| were dead" Not so says Nehemiah.
Although he had a grief SO intense
that il excited the commentary of his
king, yet that penniless, 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 overcomes the most fero-
cious opposition. He arouses the piety
and patriotism of the people, and in
less than two months, namely, in
hfty-two days, Jerusalem was rebuilt.
That's what | call busy and triumph
ant 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, II have lost my child and can
never smile again" You say, Il have
lost my property, and | never can re-
pair my fortunes" You say, II have
fallen into sin, and / never can start
again for a new life" If 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 pro-
pei 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 it for a better
use. Oh hat the Lord God of Nehe-
miah would rouse up all broken
hearted people to rebuild. Whipped,
betrayed, ~shipwrecked, imprisoned
Paul went right on. The Italian
martyr Algerius sits in his dun
geon writing q letter, and he
dates it Prom the delectable
orchard of the Leonine prison" That
is what | 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 q class; give me a Sabbath school
class. l have no child now left me,
and would like to have a class of little
children. Give me real poor children.
Give me a class off the back street"
That, / say, is beautiful. That is tri-
umphant sadness. At 3 o'clock this
afternoon, in a beautiful parlor in
Philadelphia parlor pictured and
statuetted-there will be from ten TO
twenty destitute children of the street.
IL has been SO every Sabbath after
moor at 3 o'clock for many years. |
These destitute children receive relig-
ious instruction, concluding with
cakes and sandwiches. How do /
know that that has been going on for
many yearsi l knew it in this way.
GREED CURED BY Christian WORK.
That was the first home in Philadel-
phia where | was called 10 comfort a
great sorrow. They had a splendid |
boy and he had been drowned at Long
Branch. The father and mother al
most idolized the boy, and the sob and
shrek Of that father and mother as
they hung over the coffin resound in
my ears today. There seemed 10 be
no use of praying, for when / knelt
down TO pray, the outcry in the room
drowned out all the pray. But the
Lord eomforted that sorrow. They
did not forget their trouble. II YOU
should 60 on the snowiest winter af-
ternoon into Laurel Fill you would
find q monument with the word
"Walter" inscribed upon it, and a
wreath Of fresh flowers around the
name. / think there has not been an
hour all these years, winter or sum
mer, when there was not q wreath OF
fresh flowers around Walters name
But the Christian mother who sends
those flowers there, having no child
left, Sabbath afternoons mothers
or twenty of the lost oncs of the
street. That is beautiful. That il
what | call busy and triumphant sad
ness. Here is a man who has lost his
property. He does not go 10 hard
drinking. He does not destroy his
own life. He comes and says: "Har.
mesa mo for Christian work. My
moneys gone. | have no treasures
on earth. want treasures in heaven.
lhaye a voice and a heart 10 serve
You say that that man has
failed. He has not failed-he has
trIumDlpl oh I vuioh I na,ll no..