Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1897-04-15


sacred, unless il I've yoar own tH>>j T..
The church h. t1>n 10 yon 50 mach
comfort and iltu animation that there is
nothing that MAKES You So trate rs
TO have it talked against. Ii there have
been times when you ha re been carried
into captivity by sickness, YOU longeu
for the church, our holy Jerusalem,
Just as much as nehemiah, longed for
his Jerusalem, and the first day you
came out you came to the house of the
Lord, When the temple was in ruins,
like Nehemiah. YOU walked around aui
looked ut it, and in the moonlight YOU
stood listening If YOU could not hear
the voice of the dead organ. the psalm
of the expired Sahbaths. What ,lcru-
God is to YOU. Sl<eptics and inti3clS
may scott at the church as an ob>o-
lete affair as relic of the dark
ages, as a convention of the 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 more sacri-
tuition, and if it We're necdful you
would die in it's defense. You can
take the words of the kiugly poet as he
said: If forget thee, . Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget her cunning"
You understand in your own expert
ence the pathos, the homesickness, the
courage, the holy enthusiasm of Nehe-
miah i'll his midnight moonlight ride
around the ruins of his beloved Jeru.
salem.
Again, my text impresses me with the
fact that, before reconstruction, there
must be an exploration of the ruins.
Why was not Nehemiah asleep under
the covers? Why was not his horse
stabbed in the midnight? Let the pc
lice of the city arrest this midnight
rider, out on some mischief. No, Ne
hemiah is going to rebuild the city. and
he is making the preliminary explora-
ton. In this gate, out that gate, east,
west, north, south. All through the
ruins. The ruins must be explored be-
fore the work of reconstruction can
begin. The reason that SO many peo-
pie in this city. apparently converted,
do not stay converted is because they
do not first explore the ruins of their
own heart. The reason that there
are SO many professed Chris
tians who in this day lie and
forge and steal, and commit abimi-
nations, and go 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
We're almost right, and they built re-
ligion as sort of extension, as an or
namental cupola, There was super
structure of religion built on a sub
stratum of unrepented sins. The
trouble with a good deal of modern
theology is that instead of building on
the right foundation it builds on the
debris of an unregenerated nature.
They attempt to rebuild Jerusalem be-
fore. in the midnight of conviction,
they have seen the ghastliness of the
ruin. They have such poor foundation
for their religion that the first north
east storm of temptation blows them
down. have no faith in a mans con-
version if he is not converted in the
old-fashioned way-John l5unyan's
way, John Wesley's way, John Calvin's
way, Paul's way, Christ's way, Gods
way. A dentist said To me: Does
that hurt?" Said |: "Of course it
hurts. 1t is in your business. Us in my
profession. We have to hurt before we
can help" You will never understand
redemption until you understand ruin
A man tells me that som, one is mem
Der of the church. 1t makes no impress
sion 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
here is about it.
Again. My subject gives me specl-
men of busy and triumphant sadness.
If there was any man in the world who
had a right to NOPE and give up every
thing as lost, it was Nehemiah. You
say: He was a cupbearrr N the pal
ace of SlIushan, and it was grand
place. SO it was. The hal of that
palace was go feet square, and the roof
lowered over 30 marble pillars each pill
lar 80 feet high; and the intense blue
of the sky, and the deep green of the
forest foliage and the white of the driv-
en- snow, all hung trembling in the
upholstery. But, my friends, you know
very well that fine architecture will
not put down Inconsistencies. Yet Ne
hemiah did not give up. Then. when
you see him going among these desc
lated streets, and by these dismantled
towers, and by the torn-up grave Of his
father, you would suppose that he
would have been disheartened and that
he would have disnounted from his
horse and gone to his room and said:
"Woe is me! Ny fathers grave is torn
up. The temple is dishonored. The
walls are broken down. | have no
money with which to rebuild. |
wish had never been born.
wish ! were dead" Not so
says Nehemiah. ....nougn ne mad a
trripf 81 iptpnSe thar II ayGttad Tho onrn