Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-03-27

ia that you love the Church of God so much
that there is no spot on earth so sacred, ur-
less it is your own fireside. The church has
been to you so much comfort and illumina
| tiou that there is nothing that makes you
so irate as to have it talked against. IL
/ there have been times when you have been
carried into captivity by sickness, you long
ed for the church, our holy Jerusalem, Just
az much as Nehemiah lopged for his Jerusa-
Hem, and the first day you came out you
came to the house of the Lord. When the
Temple was in ruins, as ours was years age,
| like Nehemiah, you walked around and
Hooked at it, and in the moonlight yo1 stood
listening if you could not hear the voice of
the dead organ, the psalm of the expired
Sabbaths What Jerusalem was to Ne
| hemiah, the Church of God is to you
Skeptics and infidels may scott at the
church as an obsolete affair, as relic OF
the dark ages, as convention of goody-
goody people, but all the impression they
have ever made on your mind against the
| Church of God is absolutely nothing. You
could make more sacrifices for it to-day
than for any other institution, and if it
were needful you would die in its defence.
You can take the words of the kingly poet
as he says, "if forget thee. o Jerusalem.
let nv right hand forget her cunning" +"
| You understand in your own experience the
pathos, the homesickness, the courage, the
holy enthusiasm of Nehemiah in tho mid
night, moonlight ride around the ruins OF
his beloved Jerusalem.
| Again, my next imp.esses me- with the
| fact that before reconstruction there must
he an exploration of ruins. Why was not
| Nehemiah asleep under the covers? Why
was not his horse stabbed in the midnight?
Let the police of the city arrest this mid
night rider out on sonas mischief. Eo,
Nehemiah is going to 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
ruius must be explored before the work of
reconstruction can begin. The reason that
so many people in this day, apparently con-
yerted, do not stay converted is because
thew did not first explore the ruins OF their
OWE heart. The reason that there are SO
many professed Christians who IN this day
lie and forge and steal, and commit adul-
terry, and go to the penltentialy, is because
| they FIRST DO not learn the ruin of their OVID
heart. They have not found out that "the
hesrt is deceitful above all things, and des
n4rately wicked They bad al idea that
thew were almost right. and they built re-
lisiSn as a sort Of extension, So sn 0rna-
ufantsI cupola There was supefsbTRgsnse 9
of relieioa built on substratum OF npre-
pented SINS. The trouble with good deal
Of modern theology lie tnst instead of oultd-
inq on the right Foundation, it builds oG the
debris of an unregenerated nature. rhey
attempted to rebuild Jerusalem before, Ia
/ the midnight of conviction; they have seen
the ehastiiness Of the ruin. They have
such q poor Foundation for their religion
that the first northeast storm of temptation
blows them down. | have no faith IN a
mans conversion IL be is not eonYertee 10
the old fashioned was---JebP Bupyans
way, John Wesley's way, Joha Gslvie's
way, Pauls way, Chriss's way, Gnd's way.
4 dentist once said to me. "Does that
/ hurts" Said I, ''Of course it hnrts.! 1t ia
! in your business as in my profession, we
have to hurt befoEe 9e can help" ou
will never understand reeeMpSio Until you
understand ruin. a man taits sne te2I
some one is member OF the e3uTca. ~
makes 60 impression on my mind at ali.
simply want to know whether he was COZ
verted 10 the oidfsshioned way Or whether
he was converted in tha pa Y fashioned way
! IF he was converted ia the cid fashioned
wsy he will stand. II he YVES eonyeTta4l n
! the ssey fashioned way he will not stsos.
! That is all there ls about it. a man comes
| to me to talk about religion The first
question | ask him is, f'Do you feel your
self to be sinner" II he say, We'll,
YES" the besitancy makes nae fas. that
tha, man wants a ride on Nehemiah's hofss
by midnight through the ruins-in by the
gate of his affections, out by the gate of his
will. aaG before he has got through With
that rlidnight ride he will drop the reiDs Oh
| the horses neck, aud will take his right
hand and amite oa bis heart and say: 'G ID
be merciful to ne siane5:" and before be
has stabbed his horse be Will tsko bis feet
out of the stirrups, and hs viii sstSs down
on the ground, aud he will knesl, eryiag,
s.Have mercy on me, 0 God, according Go
lThy loving kindness, according unto the
multitude of thy tender Eserciet; blot ont
nv transgressions, for l acknowledge my
transgress.o1s and my sins are ever before
Thee Ah. nsy friends you see this is Not
complimentary gospel. This Is what
makes some people SO n,aa. IT comes to
man of million dollars aud iDpenitent IL
his SINS aud says, ''You'ra q psupsr.' il
comes to woman of fairest cheek, wse has
never repented, and says, ''Yon're sia
ner.D It comes to g man priding himself
on his Independence aud says, ~ gu re
bound hand aud foot by the devil. 1t comes
to our entire race aud says, you're o ruin,
a CHASTITY ruin, az iilimisable ruin" Satan
sometimes says to me, ''Wby DO yea pr, ach
that truth2 Why don't you preach gospel
with no repentance in it? Why don't you
hatter mems hearts 80 that you make them
feel all right? Why don't you preach a
humanitarian gospel with no repentance in
it, saying nothing about the ruin, talking
all the time about redemption?" l say
s'Get thee behind me, Satau," would
rather lead I've souls the right way than
twenty Thousand the wrong way. The re-
demption of the gospel is a perfect farce il
there is no ruin 'sThe whole need not a
physician, but they that are sick" "If ang
ons, though he be al angel from beaven,
Gre .eh suy other gospel than this" says
the apostle, ''let him be aGeursed There
must ba 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 trowes.
/ Again. Ny subject gives me specimen
of busy and triumphant sadness. If there
was any man in the world who had right
to NOPE and give up everything as lost, it
was Nehsmiah. You say, "He was cup
bearer in the palace of Shushan, aud it was
a grand place" So it was. The ball OF
that palace was two hundred feet square
and the roof hovered over thirty-six marble
pillars, each pillar SKY feet high; and the
intense blue of the sky, and the deep green
of the forest foliage, and the white of the
driven suow, ail hung trembling 10 the up
holstery. But, my frieads, you know very
| well that fine architecture will not out
down homesickness. Yet Nehemiah did
not give up. Then when you see him going
among these desolatsd streets, and BY these
dlsnansled towers, and by the torn-up
grave of bis father, sou you'd suppose that
! be would have been dIsheartened, and that
he would have dismonnted from his horse
and gone to his rom aud ssid "Woe is
me! My fathers grave is torn up. The
Temple is dishonored The walls are bro-
ken down. have no money with which
to rebuild. I wish I had never been born.
l wish l were dead" Not so says Ne
hemiah. Although ne had a gr'ef so in
tense that it exoited the commentary II bis
king, yet that penniless, expatriated Ne