Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1889-03-18
THE MOONLIGHT RIDE.
WHAT THB PRAYING, COURAGEOUS NBHR-
MlAH ACCOMPLISHED.
Church Affection is an Intense Thing-Busy and
Tnumphal Sadness Conversion in the Old
Fashioned Way-Ihs Rev Dr. Tai
IMAGES Sermon Yesterday.
special Tslsoram 10 the Register.

Special Tsls0ram TO he Register.
BROOKLYN, March l7.-At the Tsber-
nscle this morning the Rev. T. De Witt
Talmsge, D. D., expounded the seventh
chapter Of Ecclesiastes. He afterwards
gave out the hymn beginning:
Gracel tis a charming sound,
Harmonious to tho ear,
which was sung by the vast congregation
with magnificent effect. The subject of
Dc Talmsge's semon was "The Moonlight
Ride" and The text, Nehemiah ii. Is:
Then 1 went up in the night by the
brook, ard viewed the wall, aad turned
back, and entered by the gate of tn val
ley, and so returned" He said:
A dead city is more suggestive than a
living city-past Rome than present Rome
ruins rather than newly frescOed cathe-
dral But the best 10 visit ruin is by
moonlight. The Coliseum is far more fas-
ciuating to the traveller after sundown than
before. You may stand by daylight amid
the monastio ruins Of Melrose Abbey, and
study shsftsd oriel, aui Iosetted stone and
nullioD, but they throw their strongest
witchery by moonlight Some Of you re-
member what the enchs nter of Scotland
said in the Lay in the Last Minstrel:'
/ Wouldst thou view fair Melro'e Alright,
GO visit il 10y the pale moonlight.
JERUSALEM IN RUINS.
Washington Irving describes the Auda-
lusian moonlight upon the Alhambra ruins
as amounting to an enchantment. My
text presents you Jerusalem in ruins. The
/ tower down. The gates down. Nehemiah
on horseback by moonlight. looking upon
the ruins. When he rides, there are some
/ friends on foot going with bin, for they
/ DO not want the many horses TO disturb
the suspicious Of the people These pto
pie do not know the secret of Nehemiah's
hesrt. but they sre going as a sort Of body
guard. I hear the clicking hoOfs Of the
hOrse on which Nehemiah rides, as he
guides it this way and that, into this gats
and out ofthat, winding through that gate
amid the debris of OuCe great jerusalem.
Now the horse comes 10 a dead halt at the
/ tumbled masonry where he cannot pass
/ Now he SHES off st the charred timhers.
/ Now he cones alOlg where the water
under the moonlight flashes from the
mouth of the brazen dragon after which
the gate was named. Heavy hearted Ne
| bemlahi Riding in and out, now by his
ol1 home desolated, now by the detaced
temple, now amid the scars Of the city that
had gone down under battering ram and
ConfagTatiOn. The escOrting party knows
not what Nehemiah means. Is he getting
crazyP Have his own personal s0Tr0ws,
sdied to the sorrows of the nation, un-
balanced his intellect? Still the midnight
exploration goes on. Nehemiah on horse
back rides through the fish gate, by the
tower Of the furnaces, by the kings pool,
by the dragon we'll, IN and ont, N and out
until the midnight ride is completed, and
Nehemiah dismounts from his horse, and 70
the amezsd and COnfounded and incredu
lous body guard, declares the dead secret OF
his heart when ne says, Come, now,
let US build Jerusalem What,
Nehemiah have you any money!" No"
"Have YOU any kingly authority?' mo. "
Have YOU any eloQuence?' No" Yet
that midnight, moonlight ride OF Nehemiah
resulted in the glorious rebuilding Of the
city of Jerusalem. The people knew not
how tho thing was to be done, but with
great enthusiasm they cried out, Let Us
rise up nov and build the city" Some
people laughed and said it could not be
done Some people were infuriate and
offered physical violence, saying the thing
should not be done. But the wOrkmen
went right on, standing on the wall
trowel in hand, sword in the other, until
the work WAS glOriOusly completed. AT
that very time, in Greece, y NsnCphon was
writing a history, and Plato was making
philosophy, and DemOsthenes wss rafting
his rhetorical thunder, but all OF them to-
gether did not DO so much for the world as
this midnight, moonlight tide of praying
courageous, homesick, close mOuthed Ne
hemiah.
CHURCH AFFECTION.
Nv SUI iect first impresses me with the
idea what an intense thing is church a.
fection. Seiz9 the bride of that horse
and stop Nehemiah. Why are you riskiug
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 far distant land,
and he was q servant, a cup bearer IN the
palace Of ArtaxeIxes LOngimanus, and one
dav. while he was handing the cup OF VINE
to the king. the king said to him, What
| is the mstter with you? You are not sick.
I know YOU must have some great trouble.
What ia the matter with you?' Then
he told the king how that be-
loved Jerusalem was broken down;
how that his fathers tomb had been desc
Grated, how that the Temple had besn dls'
honored and defsced how that the walls
we're scattered and broken. well, SAYS
King Artaxerxes, what do You want?'
well ~ said the cup bearer Nehemiah,
II want to 20 home. I want to tx up the
grave of my father. 1 want 10 restore the
beauty of the temple. want to reoullG
the masonry of the city wall. Besides,
want passports 80 that 1 shall not be HIN
dere1 in my Journey. Ard besides tha',
ss Won Will nud iu the context, Want
an order od the man who keeps your for
est for inst so much timber as ! may need
for the rebuilding of the city" How
iong sb,ll you be gomez" said the king.
Tbs time of absence is arranged. In hot
haste this seeming adveuturer comes
N Jerusalem, and in my text
Wa find him on horseback, in the midnight,
riding around the ruins. 1t is through
tha s1eotacles of this scene that we dis
covsr the ardent attachment Of Nehemiah
for sacred Jerusalem, which in all ages
has been the type Of the church OF God,
o,r Jsrusslen,, which We love Just as
U,1cb az Nehemiah loved his Jerusalem
The fact is that you love the church OF
Cod so much that there is no spot on earth
- sacred. unless it is your own hreside.
Tho church has been TO you so much com
60 and illumination that there is nothing
tbat makes you so irate as to have It
tsILe6 against. If there have been times
when YOU have been carried into captivity
bv sickness. you longcd for the church,
oI- boIv Jerusalem, Just as much as
Nehemiah longed for his Jerusalem
and The first dsy you came out you
came 70 the house of the LORD. "heh
tbe Temple wss in ruins as ours was years
&c lie Nehemiah, you walked around
eSd looked at it, and in the moonlight you
stood listening if you could not near ile .ne
voice of the dead organ, the psalm Oh @ lne
sxnired Sabbaths. What Jerusalem was va.
70 Nehemiah. the church OF God ls to you.
SteDt;cs and ipfde's may scot at tne
= = ,hsolate affair, IS q relic OF