The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1897-04-16
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
lessons of the Story of the Re-
building Of Jerusalem.
The Great Value and Power of Church At
fectiOn-Before Reconstruction Must
Come an Exploration of
the Ruins.


| the text:
THIN went up in the night by the brook
| and viewed the wall, and turned back, and en-
tered by the gate of the valley and so returned.
Nehemiah, ii, Is.
A dead city is more suggestive than
living city-past Rome than present
Rome-ruins rather than newly fres-
| coed cathedral. But the best time to
| visit a ruin is by moonlight. The Coli
scum is far more fascinating to the
traveller after sundown than before.
You may stand by daylight amid the
monastic ruins of Melrose abbey, and
study shafted oriel, and resetted stone
and mullion, but they throw their
strongest witchery by moonlight.
Some of you remember what the en-
chanter of Scotland said in the "Lay of
the Last Minstrelr'
Wouldst thou view fair Melrose Alright,
Go visit it by the pale moonlight.
Washington Irving describes the An
dalusian moonlight upon the Alham-
bra ruins as amounting to an enchant-
ment. My text presents you Jerusa-
lem in ruins. The tower down. The
gates down. The walls down. Every
thing down. Nehemiah on horseback,
by moonlight, looking upon the ruins.
While he rides, there are some friends
on foot going with him. for they
do not want the many horses to dis
turb the suspicious of the people,
These people do not know the secret of
Nehemiah's heart, but they are going
as sort of bodyguard. l hear the
clicking of the hoofs of the horse on
which Nehemiah rides, as he guides it
this way and that, into this gate and
out of that, winding through that
gate amid the debris of once
great Jerusalem. Now the horse
comes to a halt at the tumbled
masonry where he can not pass.
Now he SHES off at the charred tim
bers. Now he comes aloRg where the
water under the moonlight flashes
from the mouth of the brazen dragon
after which the gate was named.
Heavy-hearted Nehemiah! Riding in
and out, now by his old home desc
lated, now by the defaced temple, now
amid the scars of the city that had
gone down under the battering-ram
and conflagration. The escorting
party knows not what Nehemia means.
Is he getting crazy? Have his own
personal sorrows, added to the sorrows
of the nation, unbalanced his intellect?
Still the midnight exploration goes on.
Nehemia on horseback rides through
the fish gate, by the tower of
the furnaces, by the kings pool,
by the dragon well, in and out, in and
out, until the midnight ride is COM
pleted, and Nehemiah dismounts from
his horse, and to the amazed and con-
founded and incredulous body guard,
declares the dead secret of his heart
when he says: Come, now, let us
build Jerusalem" What, Nehemiah,
have you any money!" mo" "Have
you any kingly authority?" ''No."
"Have you any eloquence?" mo" Yet
that midnight moonlight ride of Ne
hemiah resulted in the glorious rebuild
ing of the city of Jerusalem. The peo-
pie knew not how the thing was to be
done, but with great enthusiasm they
cried out: LET US rise up now and
build the city" Some people laughed
and said it could not be done. Some
people were infuriate and offered phys
ical violence, saying the thing should
not be done. But the workmen went
right on, standing on the wall, trowel
in one hand, sword in the other, until
the work was gloriously completed. At
that very time in Greece, Xenophon
was writing a history, and Plato was
making philosophy, and Demosthenes
was rattling his rhetorical thunder; but
all of them together did not do so much
for the world as this midnight, moon
;orI,f do Df
sick, close-mouthed Nehemiah.
My subject first impresses me with
the idea what an intense thing is
church affection. Seize the bride of
that horse and stop Nehemiah. Why
are you risking 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; Ne
h emiah 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 a servant, cup-bearer in
the palace of Artaxerxes Longimanus,
and one day, while he was handing the
cup of wine to the king, the king said
to him: ''What is the matter with you?
You are not sick. 1 know you must
have some great trouble. What is the
matter with you?" Then he told the
king how that beloved Jerusalem
was broken down; how that his fathers
tomb had been desecrated; how that
temple had been dishonored and de-
faced; how that the walls were scat
tered and broken. s'Well," said King
what do you want?"
''Well," said the cup-bearer Nehemiah,
81 want to go home. want to fix up
the grave of my father. / want to re-
store the beauty of the temple. Iwant
to rebuild the masonry of the city wall. |
Besides, I want passports, so that
shall not be hindered in my journey.
And besides that" as you will find in
the context, 81 want an order on the |
man who keeps your forest for just so
much timber as 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 to Jerusalem, and in my text we |
find him on horseback, in the mid |
night, riding around the ruins. 1t is
through the spectacles of this scene |
that we discover the ardent attachment |
of Nehemiah for sacred Jerusalem, |
which in all ages has been the type OF |
the church of God, our Jerusalem, |
which we love just as much as Nehe- |
miah loved his Jerusalem. The fact is |
that you love the church OF God so !
much that there is no spot on eaFta %