Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1897-04-14

iOd's way.
man comes 20 me- to talk about religion.
rh" first question I ask him il, "Do you
feel yourself to be IL sinner" II he says,
"Wel', YES" the hesitancy makes me feel
that iiie man wants a ride on Nehemiah's
horse by miinight through the ruins-in by
the gate OF his affections. out by the gate OF
his willard before he has got through with
that midnight ride he will drop the reins on
the horse's neck AMI will take his right hand
ant smite on his heart an say, "God, be
inerclful to me, a sinner" and before he
has sta1led his horse he will take his feet
out Of the stirrups. and he will slide down
on the ground, and he will kneel 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 before
Thee
Again, my subject gives me specimen of
busy and triumphant sadness. Ii there was
any man in the world who had a right to
nope and give up everything as lost, It was
Nehemiah. You say, ''He was a cupbearer
In the palace of Shushan, and it was u grand
place." So it was. The hall OF that palace
was POO feet square, and the roof hovered
over thirty-six marble pillars, each pillar
sixty feet high, and the intense blue OF the
sky and the deep green Of the forest foliage,
and the white OF the driven snow, all hung
trembling in the upholstery. But, my
friends, you know very well that fine archi-
lecture will not put down homesickne5s.
Yet Nehemiah did not give up. Then,
when you saw him going among
these desolated 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 dsmounted from his
horse and gone to his room and said: "Woe
is me! MY fathers grave IS torn up. The
temple Is dishonored. The walls are broken
down. 1 have no money with which to re-
build. l wish had never been bora. l wish
/ were dead" Not so says Nehemiah.
Although he had a grief so intense that it
excited the commentary of his king, yet that
penniless, expat rtatei Nehemiah rouse5 him
self up to rebuild the city. He gets his per-
mission of absence. He gets his passports.
He hastens away to Jerusalem. BY night
on horseback he rides through the ruins.
He overcomes the most ferocious opposition.
He arousas the piely and patriotism OF the
people, and in less than two months
namely, ffty-two days-JerusaIem was re-
built. That's what Call busy aud triumph.
ant sadness
At o'clock every Sabbath afternoon, for
years, In beautiful parlor in Philadelphia
parlOr pictured and statuettei-there were
from ten to twenty destitute children of the
street. Those destitute children received
religious instruction. concluding with cakes
and sand ndwiches. How do / know that that
was going on for sixteen years? know it
In this way: That was the first home in Phil
adelphia where 1 was called to comfort a
great SORROW. They had a splendid boy, and
he had been drowned at Long Branch. The
father and mother almost idolized the boy,
and the sob and shrek OF that father and
mother as they hung over the coffin resound
in my ears to-day. There seemed to be no
use of PRAYING. for when l knelt down to
pray the outcry in the room drowned out all
the prayer. But the Lord comfOrted
shat sorrow. They did not forget their
trouble. II you should go any afternoon in
to Laurel Hill, you would find a monument
with the word walter" inscribed upon 1t
and a wreath of fresh flowers around the
name. l think there was not an hour in
twenty years, winter or summer, when there
was not u wreath OF fresh flowers around
Walters name. But the Christian mother
who sent those flowers there, having no child
left, Sabbath afternoons mothered ten or
twenty of the lost ones of the street. That
Is beautiful. That is what call busy and
triumphant sadness. Here is a man who
has lost his property. He does not go to
hard drinking. He does not destroy his own
life. He comes and says: Harness me for
Christian work. My moneys gone l have
no treasures on earth. l want treasures in
heaven. l have a voice and a heart to serve
God" You say that that man has failed.
He has not failed-he has triumphed!
Oh, wish l could persuade all the people
up. l wish they would look at the midnight
rider of the text and that the four hoofs of
that beast on which Nehemiah rode might
out to pieces all their discouragements and
hardships and trials. Give upi Who is 60
Ing to give up when on the bosom of God he
c,n have all his troubles hushed? Give up.
Never think of giving up. Are you borne
iown with poverty? A little child was found
holding her dead mothers hand in the dark
ness OF Il tenement house, and some one COM
4 4
her dead mothers hand, and said. "Oh, l
do wish that God had made more light for
poor folks" My dear. God will be your
light, God will be your shelter, God will be
your home Are you borne down with
the bereavements Of life! Is the
gone? Do not give up. Think of what the
old sexton said when the minister asked him
why he put so much care on the little graves
In the cemetery-so much more care than on
the larger graves-and the old sexton said,
''Sir, you know that of such is the kingdom
of heaven and 1 think the Saviour Is
pleased when he sees so much white clover
growing around these little graves" But
when the minister pressed the old sexton
for a more satisfactory answer the old sex
ton eaid, ''Sir, about these larger graves.
don't know who are the Lords saints and
who are not, but you know, sir. it 10 clean
different with the BARNS" Oh, IL you have
had that keen. tender, indescribabie sorrow
that comes from the loss of child. do not
give up. The old sexton WAS right. 1t is
all we'll with the BARNS. Or, If you have
sinned ii yoa have sinnei grievously-
sinned until you have been east out by the
church, sinnsd until you have been east out
by so:iety--,io not give up. Perhaps there
may be in this house one that could truth
fully utter the lamentation of another:
Once I was pure as the snow, but l fell
Fell like a snowflake, from heaven to hell
4 lIsl-:
Feii to be scoifed at, spit on and beat,
Praying, cursng, wishing to die,
Selling my soul to whoever would buy
Dealing in shame for morsel of breai,
Hating the living aud fearing the dead.
Do not give up! One like unto the Son OF
Col comes to you to-day, saying. 60 and
sin no more" while he cries out to your as
sailanis, LET him that is without sin
cast the first stone at her." Oh, there
Is no reason why any one in this
house by reason of any trouble or
sin should give up. Are you foreigner
and in a strange land? Nehemiah was an
exile Are you penniiess? Nehemiah was
poor. Are you homesick? Nehemias was
homssick Are you broken hearted! Nehe-
miah Was Broken hearted. But Just see him
In the text, riding along tine sacriieged grave
OF his father, aud by the dragon well, and
through the fish gate, and by the king s
pool, in aud out. in and out, the moonlight
falling on the broken masonry. which
throws loEg shadow, at which the horse
shies. and mt the same time that moonlight
kindiiny up the features OF this man till you
see not only the mark OF sad "Reminiscences,
but the courage AMI hope, the enthusiasm
of a man who knows that Jerusalem will be
rebuided. pick you up to-day out of your
sins and out OF your sorrow, an put you
against the warm ho trt or Christ. "rhe
eternal Col is thy refuge, and underneath
are the everlasting arms"
Pretty munh all the hnnilitu Ia mad q