Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1897-10-11
WORKING TOR THE LORD.
An Impressive Lesson from the Build
ing Of lions Walls

An Impressive Lesson from the Build
| ing Of lions Walls
An Interesting Discourse Yester-
day Morning by Rev Jacob Brit
tinxlam at st. Luke's p. E.
Church-Working for the Christ
and the Church the Peoples
Work-The Success Of the Work
Depends Upon the Coop Grafton
/! and Spirit Of the Workers-A
Sermon Directed Principally to
Believers.
/ The Rev. Jacob Birmingham, rector
of St. Lukes P. e. Church, delivered
| yesterday morning strong and i'm
| pressive sermon to the people of his
parish relating to their work for the
| church and the parish. It contained
many good thoughts and helpful sug-
gestions The following is it in part:
To the average Jews who dwelt in
Babylon during the captivity, the re-
| building OF the Temple in Jerusalem
must have seemed hopeless task in
| deed. But is was not SO to the chief of
/! the fathers of judah and Benjamin, to
the priests and Levities, and to all those
whose spirit God had raised to go up
to build the house of the Lord. 1t was
not by any means hopeless under
| taking to those who heard the procla-
nation of Cyrus, King of Persia, in
which he declared that the Lord God
| of Heaven had charged him to build
| Him house at Jerusalem, and that
therefore he would grant permission
! to Gods people to go and do this
thing "And whatsoever remaineth in
| any place, says this proclamation,
| where he sojourneth, let the men of
! his place keep him with silver, and
with gold, and with goods, and with
beasts, besides the farewell Offering for
the house of God" The people whose
heart God had raised to do this thing
were greatly encouraged by this per-
mission Of Cyrus, and they set their
faces towards Jerusalem with the firm
intention of accomplishing that of
which they well knew God also APP
proved. How wonderfully and sue
cessfully the men did their work was
afterwards seen in building more
| beautiful and far grander that the first
| temple, which was the pride and glory
of the Jewish nation under the kings.
God greatly blessed their efforts; SO
i He blessed another effort which was
undertaken later on under the efficient
leadership of Nehemiah. This man
went down to Jerusalem in the reign
| of Artaxerxes, another king of Persia,
to build up the walls of Zion. These
walls, like Solomon's temple, were al
most destroyed, and SO it was neces-
sary to replace them for the protection
not only of the people, but also of the
| temple. When Nehemiah arrived in
Jerusalem he found the people great
ly discouraged by the ruins and by
enemies, who hated to see the prosper
ity OF Gods people. Nehemiah was
neither discouraged by the one nor
| thwarted by the other. The first thing
he did was to go and see for himself
the condition of the wall. He went out
by night, unknown to the people, and
examined the walls and then came back
and declared to them his mission He
came to direct and help them as far as
possible and he found ready response.
Although the work was large and
great, and the people, few and weak,
nevertheless they said: "Let us rise
up and build"
You observe then first that it was
the peoples work, and they recognized
it. They were Joined together as one
man. They marched together as SOL
diers. They pulled together as oars
men. They strengthened their hands
for the good work by readily and
promptly responding to their leader and
his councillors after the plan was sub
mitted to them. They had confidence
in the good intentions of Nehemiah,
who had come all the way from Baby
Ion to do the thing which God had
commanded. The record informs us
that every man was in his place, and
i every one did the work assigned him.
4 The people stopped their MORNINGS
and complainings about the ruins and
rubbish in and around Jerusalem.
The scorn and desision of those who cp-
posed them was soon changed into fear
and dismay by an organization at once
complete and uncomfortable. Once be-
ing aroused to their personal response
bility they united against the common
enemy and worked together for the
common veal. They worked with
swords by their sides during the day,
and during the night, while part of the
people slept and gained rest, another
part in turn watched against the sud-
den approach of the enemy. They also
had guards during the day. They never
| lost sight Of their work, and were al
| ways ready for their enemy. Eternal
! vigilance was the price of their liberty"
The people woke UP to the fact that the
building of this wall was not one mans
| work, but every mans work. 1t was
| theOple's work and this is the lesson
God would teach us to-day. Building
UP Gods kingdom, or doing any special
work in it, is not one particle more
binding upon the ministry than upon
| the vestry, and so the humblest indi-
vidual in the vineyard of our Father
must bear, and continue to bear, his or
her part Of the burden, if he would reap
his part of the reward.
But cooperation on the part of all
the people is not the only striking fea-
| ture in this incident of Gods ancient
| people. The spirit with which they
went about and carried on this effort is
quite as significant as their unity. 'The
| people had a'mind to work." but not
| the mind Of those who are driven to an
unwilling task. Slaves have this sort
of disposition, but not freemen like
those who worked on the walls of Jeru-
@:.,,& - Il,