Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-03-30

nacle this morning the Rev. Il. Dewitt
Talmage, ID. d.. expounded the seventh
chapter OF Ecciesiastes. He afterward
gave out the hymn beginning:
Gracct tits IL charming sound,
Harmonious to the ear,
which was sung 10y the vast congrega-
ton with magnificent effect. The subject
of Dr.. Telmage's ermon was "The
Moonlight Ride" and the text. Nehe-
miah ii, Is: Then l went up IN the
night by the brook, and viewed the wall,
and turned back, and entered by the
gate Of the valley, and 80 returned he
said;
A dead city is more Suggestive than a
living city-past Rome than present
Rome-ruins rather than newly frescoed
cathedral. But the best time to visit a
ruin is by moonlight. The Coliseum is
more fascinating 10 the traveller after
shutdown than before. You may stand by
daylight amid the monastic ruins OF Mel
rose Abbey, and study shafted oriel and
TOSPllCh SlOut anu IiulIlOb' pht s'Nt
throw their strongest witchery by
moonlight. Some OF you remember
wha. the enchanter of Scotland said in
the Lay of the Last Minstrel"
Wouldst thou view fair Meirose Alright,
Go visit II by the pale moonlight.
Washington Irving describes the An.
dalusian moonlight upon the Alhambrd
ruins "a amounting to IN enchantment.
My text presents to you Jerusalem IN
ruins. The tower down. The gate
down. The walls down. Everything
down. Nehemiah on horseback, by
moonlight looking upon he ruins.
While he rides there are friends on foot
going with him, for they do not want the
many horses to disturb the suspicious of
the people. These people do not know
the secret OF Nehemiah's heart, but
they are going as a sort OF
body guard. l hear the clicking
hoots Of the horse on which Nehemiah
rides, as he guides it this way and that,
into this gate and ont of that, winding
through that gate amid the debris OF once
great Jerusalem. Now the horse comes
to a dead halt al the tumb!ed masonry he
cannot pass. Now he snies off al the
CnHrTpu lUlDErH. NOW nc tO1liCe dlOliR
where the water under the moonlight
flashes from the mouth of the brazen
dragon after which the gate was named.
Heavy hearted Nehemiahl Riding in
and out. now by blS Old home desolated,
now hy the defYced temple. now amid
the scars of the city that had gone down
under the battering ram and the cObiia-
grafton. The escprtng party ku0@s not
what Nehemiah means. Is be getting
crazy? Have hIs own personal sorrows,
added 10 the sorrows OF the nation unbal-
anced his intellect rtill the midnight
exploration goes On. Nehemiah on horse
back rides tArough the fish gate, by the
tower OF the furnace. by the kings pool.
nv the dragon wei, IN and
out. in and ont untH the
midnight ride is completed, and Nebo-
miah dismounts from his horse and 10 the
amazed and c~onfounded and incrcdulous
body guard. declares the dead secret of
his heart when he says: Come, now let
as build Jerusalem" What, Nehemiah,
have YOU any money" No" "l!avc
you any kingly authority No"
Have you any eloqnencef" No
Yet that midnight moonlight ride of Ne
heminh reeultcd in the glorious rebuild
ing of the city of Jerusalem. The people
knew not how the thing was 10 be done,
but with great enthusiasm they cried out:
Let us rise up now and build the city
Some people laughed and said IL could
not be done. Some people were infuri-
ate and offered physical violence, saying
the thing should not be done. But the
workmen went right on. standing on the
wall, trowci in one hand, sword IN the
other, until the work was gloriously com
pleted. At that very time, in Greece.
Xenophon was writing a history. and
Plato was making philosophy, and De.
mosthenes was ratuljng his rhetorical
thunder, but all Of them together old not
do SC much for the world as this mid
night. moonlight ride of praying. cour-
ageous, homesick, close mouthed Nehe-
niah.
My subject first impresses me with the
idea what An intense thing is church af-
lection. Seize the bride of that horse
and stop Nehemiah. Why are you rick
ing your life here in the 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 he was an exile in a far
distant land. and he was a servant, a cup
bearer in the palace Of Artaxerxes Lopgi-
manus. and one day, while he was hand
ing the cup Of wine to the king, the king
said to him: What ia the matter with
YOU? You are not sick. | know you
must have some great trouble. What is
the matter with your" Then 6e told the
king how thai beloved Jerusalem was
broken down: how that his fathers tomb
had been desecrated; how that the temple
had been dishonored and defoced; how
that the walls were scattered ana broken.
well" says King ArtaxerXcs, what do
Won wantf" well" said the cup bear
or Nehemiah, Il want to go home, |
want to fix up the grave of my father.
/ want to restore the beauty OF the tenn.
pie. | want to rebuild the masonry Of
the city wall. Besides, I wunt passports
so that shall not he hindered In ray
tourney. And besides that" rs YOU will
find in the context. Il want an order on
be msn who keeps your forest for just
80 much timber az | may need for the re-
building of the city" How long shall
YOU be gomez" said the king. The time
of absence is arranged. In hot haste
this seeming %adventurer comes
10 Jerusalem, and IN my text