The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1897-04-15

side.
The church has been to you so much
comfort and illumination that there is
nothing that makes yeu so irate as to
have it talked against. If there have
been times when you have been car
ried into captivity by sickness, you
longed for the church, our holy Jeru'
salem, just as much as Nehemiah
longed for his Jerusalem, and the first
day YOU come out YOU came to the
house of the Lord. When the temple
was in ruins, like Nehemiah. you
walked around and looked at it. and
in the moonlight you stood listening
if you could not hear the voice OF the
dead organ, the psalm of the expired
Sabbaths. What Jerusalem was tu
Nehemiah, the church of God is to you.
Skeptics and infdels may scott at the
church as an obsolete affair as q relic
of the dark ages, as con ventlon OF
goody goody people, but all the i'm
preston they have ever made on your
mind against the church of God is ab'
solutely nethipg. You would make
more sacrifices for it today than any
other institution, and if it were need
full you would die in its defense. You
can take the words of the kingly poet
as lie said. IF I forget thee, o Jeru'
salem, let my right hand forget her
cunning" You understand in your
own experience the pathos, the home
sickness, the curage, the holy enthusi'
asm of Nehemiah in his midnight,
moonlight ride around the ruins OF
this beloved Jerusalem.
Again, my text lmpresses me with
the fact that before reconstruction
there must be an exploration of ruins.
Why was not Nehemiah asleep under
the covers2 Why was not his horse
stabbed in the midnight? Let the po.
lice of the city arrest this midnight
rider, out on some mischief. No.
Nehemiah is going to rebuild the city.
and he is making the preliminary ex.
ploration. In mis- gate, out that gate,
east, west, north, south. All through
the ruins. The ruins must be explored
before the W ork of reconstruction can
begin. The reason that so many peo.
pie in this day, apparently converted,
do not stay converted is because they
did not first explore the ruins OF their
own heart. The reason that there are
so many professed Christians who in
this day lie and forge and steal, and
commit abominations, and 60 to the
penitentiary, is because they first do
not learn the ruin of their own heart.
They have not found out that the
heart is deceitful above all things, and
desperately wicked" They had an
idea that they were almost right, and
they built religion as sort OF extern
sion, as an ornamental cupola. There
was superstructure of religion built
on q substratum of unrepented sins {.
The trouble with q good deal OF mod
ern theology is that instead Of build.
ing y the right foundation, it builds
on tn. debris of an unregenerated ma
ture. They attempt to rebuild Jeru-
salem before, in the midnight OF con.
viction. they have seen the ghastliness
of the ruin. They have such q poor
foundation tor their religion that the
first northeast storm Of temptation
blows them down. have no faith in
q mans conversion if he is not con.
verted in the old fashioned way-John
Bunyan's way, John Wesley's way,
John Calvin's way. Paul's way,
Gods way. A dentist SAID to me,
Does that hurt2' Said I: "Of course
it hurts. 1t is in your business as in
nv profession. We have to hurt be-
fore we can help" You will never
understand redemption until you un.
derstand ruin.
A man tells me that some one is a
member of the church, It makes no
impression on my mind at all. /
simply want to know whether he was
converted in the old fashioned way, or
whether he was converted in the new
fashioned way. If he was converted
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, DO you feel
Yourself to be a sinner" If he say,
"Well, I-yes, the hesitsncy makes
me feel that that man wants ride on
Nehemiah 8 horse by midnight through
the ruins-in by the gate of his affec.
tions; out by the gate of his willard
before he has got through with that
midnight ride he will drop the reins
on the horses neck, and will take bis
right hand and smite on his heart and
say. "God be merclful, to me sin.
ner," and before he has stabbed his
horse he will take his feet out of the
stirrups, and he will slide down on
the ground, and he will kneel, cry
ing: "Have mercy on me, o God,
according to thy loving kindness, ac-
cording unto the multitude of thy ten
der mercies. Blot out my transges-
sions, for I acknowledge my trans.
gressions, and my sins are ever before
thee" An, my friends, you see this
is not a complimentary gospel. That
is what makes some people so mad. 1t
comes to a man of million dollars,
and impenitent in his sins, and says,
You're a pauper." 1t comes to q
woman of fairest cheek, who has never
repented, and says, you're sinner" "
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