The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1897-04-08
REV. IlLnlGE'S SUNDAY SERMON
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE.
Subject: "The Triumph OF Sadness.

Subject: 1.-THE Triumph OF Sadness"
Tiki: 'Then went / up In the night by
the brook and viewed the wall, and turned
back, and entered by the gate OF the valley.
A dead city Is more suggestive than a liv-
Ing city-past Rome than present Rome
ruins rather han newly frescoed cathedral.
But the best tim to visit a ruin Is by moon
light. The Coliseum is far more fascinating
to the traveller after shutdown than before.
You may stand by daylight amid the monas-
ito ruins OF Melrose abbey, and study
shafted oriel and rosetted stone and null
hon. but they throw their strongest witchery
by moonlight. Some OF you remember what
the enchanter Of Scotland said in the LAY
OF the Last MINSTREL"
''wouldst thou view fair Melrose Alright?
Go visit It by the pale moonlight"
Washington Irving describes the Andalu-
sian moonlight upon the Alhambra ruins
as amounting to ap enchantMent. NY text
presents you Jerusalem in ruins. The tower
down Tit gates down. The walls down,
Everything down. Nehemiah on horseback,
by moonlight looking upon tho ruins. While
he rides there are some friends on foot 90.
ing with him, for they do not want the
many horses to disturb tho suspicious OF the
people. These people do not know the
secret of Nehemiah's heart, but they are go
ing us a sort OF %bodyguard.
l hear the clicking hoofs OF the horse on
which Nehemiah rides. as he guides il this
way and that, into this gate and out OF that.
winding through that gate amid the debris
OF once great Jerusalem. Now the horse
comes to dead halt at tho tumblei masonry
where he cannot pass. Now no SHES of at
the charred timbers. Now he comes along
where the water unde the moonlight flashes
from the mouth OF the brazen dragon after
which the gate was named. Heavy hearted
Nehemiah, riding In and out. now by his old
home desolated, now by the defaced temple.
now amid the scars OF tho city that had gone
down under battering ramanl confiagration!
The escorting party knows not what Nehe-
miah means. Is he getting crazy? Have
his W personal sorrows, added to the sor-
rows OF the nation. unbalanced his intellectY
stu tue midnight exploration goes on.
Nehemiah on horseback rides through the
fish gate, by the tower Of the furnaces. by
the kings pool, ~ the dragon we'll, in and
out, until tho midnight ride is completed.
and Nehemiah dismounts from his horse.
and to the amazed and COMPOUNDED and in
credulous ~bodyguard, declares the dcad
secret OF his heart when ho says,
Come, now, let us build Jerusa-
lem" what, Nehemiah. have YOU
any money!" mo" Have YOU any
kingly authority" NO" "Haye YOU any
eloquence?" mo" Yet that midnight
moonlight ride OF Nehemiah resulted In the
glorious rebuilding ofthe city of Jerusalem.
Tho 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. Sons people were in
Inrinfp md ptTarpt pbySi,nI uIaI,,,, ,,.i,.
the thing should not be done. But the work
men went right on, standing on the wall,
trowel In one hand, sword in the other, I'M
III the work was glorlously completed. At
that very time in Greece, Ncnophon was
writing II history, and Plato was making
philosophy, aud Dcmosthenes was rafting
his rhetorical thunder. But all OF them
together did not do so much for the world
as this midnight, moonlight rldo OF pray
ing, courageous, homesick, close mouthed
Nehemiah.
My subject first impresses me with tho iden
what an intense thing is church affection.
Seize the bride Of that horse and stop,
Nehemiah. Why are you rlsking your Ito
here In the night? Your horse will stu mhla
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 u
far distant land. and he was q servan., a cup
bearer In the palace of Artaxerxes Lonigma.
nus, and one day, while he was handing the
cup OF vino to the king, the king said to
him: "What is the matter with you? You
are not sick. ! know you must nave some
great trouble. What Is the matter with your"
Then he told tho king how that beloved
Jerusalem was broken down, how that his
fathers tomb had been desecratod. how
that the temple had been dishonored and
defaced, how that the walls were scat
tered a1d broken. "Well,' SAYS KIM
Artaxerxes, "what do you WANT"
"Well," said the cupbearer, Nehemiah.
II want to 90 home. l wan to fix up the
grave OF my father. | want to restore the
beauty OF tho temple. | want to rebuild the
masonry OF the city wall. Besides, | want
passports so that | shall not BE- hindered in
my journey, and besides that, -" us you will
lind in the context, ~ want nm order on the
man who keeps your forest for Just so much
timber as ] may need for the rebuilding of
the city" How long shalt you bs gomez"
said the king. The time OF absence Is mr.
ranged. In hot haste this seeming adven-
turer comes to Jerusalem, and in my text we
find him on horseback, In the midnight, rid
ing around the ruins. 1t Is through tho
spectacles OF this scene that we discover the
ardent attachment Of Nehemiah for sacred
Jerusalem, which in all ages has been the
type OF the church of God. our Jerusalem,
which we love just as much AS Nehemiah
loved his Jerusalem. The fact IL that you
love the church Of God SO much that there is
no spot on earth 80 sacred unless 1t be- your
own dreside. The church has been to you so
much comfort and illumination TINT there is
nothing that makes you so ilate as to have
II talked against.
Ii there have been times when YOU have
been carried into captivity by sickness, you
longed for the church, our holy Jerusalem,
Just rs much as Nehemiah longed for his
Jerusalem. and the first day you came ont
you came to the house Of the Lord. When
the temple was in ruins, like Nehemiah, you
walked around and looked at 1t, and In the
moonlight you stood listening II you could
not hear the voice OF the dead organ, the
psalm OF the expired Sabtaths. What Jeru-
salem was To Nehemiah the church of God is
to you. Skepiics and inlldels may scoff Mt
the church as an obsolete affair, rs n relic OF
tfe dark ages, rs u convention OF goody
goody people,. but al! tho impression they
nave ever made on your mind against the
church OF God Is absolutely nothing. You
would make more sacrifices for 1t to-day than
any other institution. and II 1t were needful
you would die in It's defense. You can take
me words OF the kingly poet as he said, M
l forget thee, 0 Jerusalem. let my right