Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1897-04-10


moonlight you stood listening if you
could not hear the voice Of the dead Or
gan, the psalm OF the expired Sabbaths.
What Jerusalem was to Nehemiah tho
church of God is to you. Slleptics and
infidels may scott at tho church as an
obsolete affair." as Il relic Of the dark
ages, as IL 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 would make moro sacrifices for it
today than any other institution, and if
it were nccdful you would die in its de-
fcnsc You can take the words of tho
kingly poet as he said, "If I forget
thee o Jerusalem, let my right hand
forget her cunning" You understand
in your own experience the pathos, the
Inconsistencies, the courage, the holy ell
thusiasm of Nehemiah III his midnight
moonlight ride around the ruins Of his
beloved Jerusalem.
Exploration.
Again. my text improsses me with
the fact that, before reconstruction,
there must be al exploration of ruins.
Why was not Nehemiah asleep under
the covers? Why was not his horse
stabbed in the midnight? Let tho police
Of the city arrest this midnight rider,
out OIL some mischief No. Nehemiah
is going to rebuild tho city, and he is
making the preliminary exploration. In
this gate, out that gate, east, west,
north, south. All through the ruins.
The ruins must be explored before the
work of reconstruction can begin.
The reason that so many people in
this day apparently converted do not
stay converted is because they did not
first explore tho ruins of their own
heart The reason that there arc so
many professed Christians who in this
day lie and forge and steal and commit
denominations and go to the peniten-
tiary il because they first do not learn
the ruin of their own heart. They have
not found out that 1.-THE heart is deceit
full above all things and desperately
wicked. " They had an idea that they
were almost right, and they built reli-
gion as sort Of extension, us an orna-
mental cupola. There was a superstruc-
ture of religion built on a substratum Of
unrepented sins. The trouble with Il
good deal of modern theology is that
instead of building on the right foundI-
ton it builds OH the debris of an unrc-
generated nature. They. attempt to re-
build Jerusalcm before, i'll the midnight
of conviction, they have seen the ghast-
illness of the ruin. They have such a
poor foundation for their religion that
the first northeast storm of temptation
blows them down. l have no faith i'll Il
mans conversion if ne Is not converted
in the old fashioned way-John Bun
vans way, John Wesley's way, John
Calvin's way, Pauls way, Christ's way,
Gods way A dentist said to me. docs
that hurt?" Said L: "Of course it hurts.
1t is III your business as i'll my profess
sion. We have to hurt before we can
Help. You will never understand re-
demption' until you understand ruin. "A
man tells me that some one is men,
Der. of the church It makes lie. impress
sea, on my mind at all. simply want
to know whether he was converted in
the old fashioned way or whether he
was converted i'll the new fashioned
way. If he was converted i'll 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 re-
ligion. The first question ask him is,
'Do you feel yourself to be sinner
If he says, "Well, I-yes, 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 no
will slide down OH the ground, and he
will kncel, crying: Have mercy on
me, o God, according to thy loving
kindness, according unto the multitude
of thy tender mercies! Blot out my
transgressions, for acknowledge my
transgressions, and my sins are ever be-
fore thee. " All, my friends, you sea
this is not complimentary gospel.
That is what makes some people so
mad. It comes to man of $1,000 900
and impenitent in his sins and says,
"You re paupcr. 1t comes to a wom-
an of fairest check who has never re-
pented and says, you're a sinner.
It comes to man priding himself on
his independence and says, You re
bound hand and foot by the devil. " 1t
comes to our entire race and says,
"You re ruin, Il CHASTITY ruin, IN IL
Irritable ruin. Satan sometimes says
10 me: "Why do you preach that truth?
Why don't you preach a gospel with no
repentance i'll it? Why don't you fatter
mems hearts so that you make them
feel all right? Why don't you preach
humanitarian gospel, with no repent
ance in it, saying nothing about the
ruin, talking all the time about the re-
demption?" I say, "Get thee behind
me, satan. - I would rather lead five
souls into safety than 20, 600 into perdi-
ton. The redemption of the gospel is a
perfect farce if there is no ruin. 1.-The
whole need not a physician, but they
that are sick. - "If any one, though he
be an angel from heaven, preach any
other gospel than this, says the apos-
tie ''Iet him be accursed. F." There must
be the midnight ride over the ruins be-
fore Jerusalem can be built. There must
be the clicking of the hoofs before there