Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1897-04-10
A PLEA FOR COURAGE.
REV. DR.. TALMAGE ON RUIN AND RES
TORATlON.

There Must BE Exploration Before Re-
observation-disclosures of tho Triumph
of Sndness-Words of Hope and Cheer
For THO Discouraged.
WASHINGTON, April 4.-From the
weird and midnight experiences of one
of ancient times Dr. Tnlmago in his SER
mon draws lessons startlingly appropri-
ate. His text was nehemiah ii, 10,
"Then went 1 up in the night by tho
brook and viewed the wall, and turned
back, and entered by the gate of the val
ley, and so returned. -
a dead city is more suggestive than a
living city-past Rome than present
Rome-ruins rather than newly frescocd
cathedral. But tho best time to visit q
ruiz, 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
NIclrosc abbey, and study shafted oriel
and rosettcd stone and mullion, but they
throw their strongest witchery by moon
light. Some of you remember what the
enchanter of Scotland said in tho Lay
of the Last Minstrel"
Wouldst thou view fair 0lelroso srightP
Go visit 1t by tho palo moonlight. 4
Jerusalem In Ruins.
Washington Irving describes tho An
dalusian moonlight upon the Alhambra
ruins as amounting to an enchantmcnt.
My text presents you Jerusalem in
ruins. Tho tower down. The gates
down. The walls down. Everything
down. Nehemiah OH horseback, by
moonlight looking upon the ruins. While
he rides there arc some friends on foot
going with him, for they do not want
the many horses to disturb the suspicious
of the people. These people do not know
the secret of Nehemiah S heart, but they
are going as Il sort of bodyguard.
hear the clicking hoofs of the horse
on which Nehemiah rides. us he guides
it this way and that, into this gate and
ont of that winding through that gate
amid the debris Of once great Jcrusa-
lem Now the horse comes to dead halt
ut the tumhlcd maso2ly where lie can
not pass. Now lie SHES off 1T the charred
timbcrs. Now he comes along where the
water under the moonlight flashes from
the mouth of the br@zcn dragon after
which the gate WAS named. Heavy
hearted Nehemiah, riding in and out,
NOW by his old home dcsolated, now by
the defaced temple, now amid the scars
of the city that had gone down under
battcring ram and contlagrationl The
cscorting party knows not what Nehc-
miah means. is he getting crazy? Have
his own personal sorrows, added to the
sorrows of the nation, unbalanced his
intellect? Still the midnight explora-
ton 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, i'll and out,
until the midnight ride is completed,
and Nehemiah dismounts from his
horse, and to the amazed and confound-
ed and incredulous bodyguard, declares
the dead secret of his heart when he
says, Come, now, let US build Jerusa-
lem. "What, Nehemiah, have you
any money!" "No. " Have you any
kingly authority" "No." "Have you
any eloquence?'' mo" Yet that mid
night, moonlight ride of nehemiah re-
suited i'll the glorious rebuilding of the
city of Jerusalem The people knew not
how the thing was to be done, but with
great enthusiasm they cried out, LET
us rise up now and build the city. ;"
Some people laughed and said it could
not be done. Some people were infuriate
and offered physical violence, saying the
thing should not be done. But the work
men went right on, standing on the
wall, trowcl in one hand, sword in the
other, until the work was gloriously
completed. At that very time in Greece,
Xenophon was writing history, and
Plato was making philosophy, and De-
mosthenes was rattling his rhetorical
thunder. But all Of them together did
not do SO much for the world as this
midnight, moonlight ride of praying,
courageous, homesick, close mouthed
Nehemiah.
Church Affection.
My subject first impresses me with the
idea what al 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 and
fall on you Stop this useless exposure
of your life. No; Nehemiah will not
stop. He at last tells US the whole story.
He lets US know he was an exile in a
far distant land, and he was servant,
a cupbearcr in the palace of Artaxerxes
Lonigmanus, and one day, while he was
handing the cup of wine to the king,
the king said to him: "What is the mat
ter with you? You are not sick. I know
you must have some great trouble.
What is the matter with you?" Then he
told the king how that beloved Jerusa-
lem was broken down, how that his ia
theirs tomb had been desecrated, how
that the temple had been dishonored and
defaced, how that the walls were scat
tered and broken WELL" says King
Artaxerxes, what do you want?'
"Well," said the cupbearer, Nehemiah,
81 want to go home. I want to fix up
the grave Of my father. want to re-
rtore the beauty of the temple. 1 want
to rebuild the masonry of the city wall.
Besides, Iwant passports so that shall
not be .lindered in my journey, and be-
sides that" as you will find i'll the COIL
text, 81 want an order on the man who
keeps your forest for just so much TIM
Der us may need for the rebuilding OF
tba cjtv - GLOW long shall Won be