Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1889-03-28

that so many people in this day appa
rently converted do not stay converted l
because they did not first explore the ruin
of their own heart The reason that Their
are so many professed Christians who Il
this day lie and forge and steal and com
NIT adultery and go to the penitentiary
because they do not learn the ruin
of their own heart They have not foun'
out that s'the heart is deceitful above al
things and desperately wicked" They
had an idea that they were almost RICH
and they built religion as sort OF extern
sion, as an ornamental cupola- There wa
a superstructure of religion built on sub
stratum of unrepented sins. The trouble
with a good deal of modern theology il
that instead of building on the RICH
foundation it builds on the debris OF al
unregenerated nature. They attempt Il
rebuild Jerusalem before, in the midnigh
| Of conviction, they have seen the ghastli'
ness of the ruin. They have such a poo
foundation for their religion that the frs
northern storm Of temptation blows then
down. have no faith in a mans CONVEX
| sion if he is not converted in the old
fashioned way-John Bunyan's way, Johr
Wesley's way, John Caivin's way, Paul's
way, Christ's way, Gods way. dentist
| once said to me: "Does that hurt!" Said
L: 'Of course it hurts. 1t is in your busi-
ness as in my profession. We have tc
| hurt before we can help"
You will never understand redemption
until you understand ruin. A man tells
me that some one is a member Of the
Church. 1t makes no impression on my
mind at all. 1 simply want to know
hat hor ho tod in 6 h.
toned way, or whether he was converted
in the new fashioned way. If he was con-
verted in the old fashioned way he will
stand. If he was converted in the new
fashioned way he will not stand. That is
all there is about it. A man comes to me
to talk about religion. The first question
I ask him is: "Doyou feel yourself to be a
sinner" If he says: "Well, Lyes,"
the 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 horses neck, and will take
his right hand and smite on his
heart and say: 'God be merciful
to me a sinner" and before he has
stabbed his horse he will take his feet
out of the stirrups, and will slide down on
the ground, and he will kneel, crying,
"Have mercy on me, o God, according
unto Thy loving kindness, according unto
the multitude of Thy tender mercies; blot
out my transgressions, for l acknowledge
my transgressions 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 a million dollars and
impenitent in his sins and says, You're a
pauper." 1t comes to woman Of fairest
cheek, who has never repented, and says,
"You're a sinner" 1t comes to a man
priding himself on his independence and
says, "You are bound hand and foot to
the devil" 1t comes to our entire
race and says, you're a ruin,
CHASTITY ruin, an illimitable ruin"
Satan sometimes says to me, 'Why
do you preach that truth? Why don't
you preach a gospel with no repentance in
it? Why don't you fiatter mems hearts so
that you make them feel all right? Why
don't you preach humanitarian gospel
with no repentance in it, saying nothing
about the ruin, talking all the time about
redemption?" 1 say, Get thee behind me,
Satan" l would rather lead five souls
the right way than twenty thousand the
wrong way. The redemption of the gospel
is perfect farce if there is no ruin. THE
whole need not physician, but they that
are sick" eff any one, though he be an
angel from Heaven, preach any other than
this" says the apostle, "let him be ac-
cursed" There must be the midnight ride
hn hafn ha
built. There must be the clicking of the
hoofs before there can be the ringing of
trowels.
Again. My subject gives me a specimen
of busy, triumphant, sadness. If there was
any man in the world who had right to
NOPE and give up every thing as lost it
was Nehemiah. You say, "He was cup
bearer in the palace of Shushan and it
was a grand place." So it was. The hall
of that palace was 200 feet square and the
roof covered over thirty-six marble
pillars, each pillar sixty-eight feet high;
and the intense blue of the sky and the
deep green of the forest foliage and the
white Of the driven snow all hung tremb-
ling in the upholstery. But, my friend,
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 those desolate
streets and by these dismantled towers
and by the torn up grave of his father you
would suppose that he would have been
and that he would have dis.
from his horse and gone to his
room and said: "Woe is me. My fathers
grave is torn up. The temple is dis
honored The walls are broken down.
have no money with which to rebuild
wish had never been born. | wish
I were dead" Not so says Nehemiah.
Although he had great grief
so intense that it excited the
commentary of his King. yet that penni-
less, expatriated Nemehiah rouses himself
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 ferocious opposition.
He arouses the piety and patriotism of the
people, and in less than two months,
namely, in fifty-two days, Jerusalem was
rebuilt That's what 1 call busy and tri-
nmphant sadness. My friends, the whole
is with you, when you have
trouble, to do just the opposite to the be-
havior of Nehemiah. and that is, to give
up. You say, Il have lost my child and
can never smile again" You say, 81 have
ost my property and 1 never can repair
my fortunes" You say, Il 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 rouse you, to animate
you, to propel 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 better use.