The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-04-05
RUIN AND THEN RESTORATION.
TAIMAGE,S LESSON FROM THE
REBUILDING OF JERUSALEM.


nv All the Other Earthly Agencies
at Work at That Time-IntensttY
of Church Affection the First Les
son Tnught-NehemiRh Specimen
of Busy and Triumphant Sadness.
Washington, April 4.-From the weird
and midnight experiences of one of ancient
times DR.. Talmage, in this sermon, draws
lessons startingly appropriate. His text
was Nehemiah .: Is: Then went I up in
the night by the brook and viewed the
wall. and turned back, and entered by
the gate of the valley. and so returned
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 time 10 visit ruin Is
by moonlight The coliseum is far more
fascinating to the traveller after shutdown
than before. You may stand by daylight
amid the monastic ruins of Melrose Abb
bey. and study shafted oriel. and rosetted
stone and mullion, but they throw their
strongest witchery by moonlight. Some
OF you remember what the enchanter of
Scotland said in the Lay Of the Last
Minstrel:
Wouldst thou view fair Melrose Alright,
Go visit it by the pale moonlight.
washington Irving describes the Anda-
Iusian moonlight upon the Alhambra ruins
as amounting to an enchantment. MY
text presents you Jerusalem in ruins. The
tower down The gates Down. The walls
down Everything 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 disturb
the suspicious of the people. These peo-
pie do not know the secret of Nehemiah's
heart. but they are going as sort of body
guard l hear the clicking hools 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 Jeru-
salem. Now the horse comes to dead halt
at the tumbied masonry where he cannot
pass. Now he SHES off at the charreI
timbers Now he comes along 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 las
old home desolated, now by the defaced
temple now amid the scars of the city
that had gone down under battering-ram
and confagration. The escorting party
knows not what Nehemiah means. Is he
getting crazy? Have his own personal
sorrows, added to the sorrows of the ma
ton. unbalanced his intellect? Still the
midnight exploration goes on. Nehemiah
on horseback rides through the fish gate
by the tower of the furnaces, by the
kings pool, by the dragon we'll, in and
out. in and out, until the midnight ride is
completed, and Nehemiah dismounts from
his horse and to the amazed and con-
founded and incredulous body-guard, de-
clares the dead secret of his heart when
he says: Come, now, let US build Jeru-
ealem" What, Nehemiah, have you any
money!" mo" Have you any kingly
authority?" No" Have you any elo-
ouence?" mo" Yet that midnight,
moonlight ride of Nehemiah resulted in
the glorious rebuilding of the city of
Jerusalem The people knew not how the
thing was to be done, but with great en-
thusiasm they cried out: Let us rise up
now and build the city" Some people
laughed and said it could
not be done. Some people
we're infuriate and offered physical vio-
lenee, saying the thing should not be done.
But the wOrkmen went right on, stand
ing on the wall, trowel in one hand, sword
in the other, until the work was glorious
~ completed. At that very time in Greece,
tory. and Plato was making
nhiIosopbv. and Demosthenes was
rafting his rhetorical thunder; but
all of them together did not do SO much
for the world as this midnight, moon
light ride of praying, courageous, home
sick, close-mouthed Nehemiah
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 risk
ing your life here in the night? Your
horse will stumble over these ruins ana
fall on you. Stop this useless exposure
of your life. No; Nehemiah will not stop
He at last tells us the whole story. He
let's US know he was an exile in a far dis
tant land, and he was a servant, cup
bearer in the palace of ArtaxerXes Long
imanus and one day, while he was hand
ing the cup of wine to the king, the king
said to him, what Is the matter with
you? You are not sick l know you must
have some great trouble. What is the
matter with your" Then he told the king
how that beloved Jerusalem was broken
down; how that his fathers tomb had been
deseerated; how that the temple had been
dishonored and defaced; how that the walls
were scattered and broken. well" says
King ArtaXerxes, what do you wantY'
WELL" said the cup-bearer Nehemiah,
Il want to go home. i want to fix up the
grave of my father. / want to restore
the beauty of the temple. / want to re-
build the masonry of the city wall Be
sides, 1 want passports so that 1 shall
not be hindered in my journey. And be-
sides that" as you will find in the con-
text. Il want an order on the man who
keeps your forest for just so much timber
as l may need for the rebuilding of the
city" How long shall you be gomez"
said the king. The time Of absence is
arranged. In hot haste this seeming adj
venturer comes to Jerusalem and in my
text we find MIN on horseback, in the
midnight, riding around the ruins. II is
through the spectacles of this scene that
we discover the ardent attachment of Ne
hemiah 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 Nehemiah loved his Jerusa-
lem. The fact is that you love the church
of God so much that there is no spot on
earth so sacred, unless II be your own
fireside. The church has been to YOU so
much comfort and illumination that there
IS nothing that makes you so rate as TO
have II talked against. If there have been
trh a.,