The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1897-05-13

The time of absence is arranged. In
hot haste this seeming adventurer
comes to Jerusalem, and in my text we
find him on horseback. in the mid
night, riding around the ruins. 1t is
through the 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 Nehe-
miah loved his Jerusalem. The fact is
that YOU love the church OF God so
much that there is no spot on earth so
The church has been to you SO much
comfort and illumination that there is
nothing that makes you so irate as
to have it talked against. If there have
been times when you have been carried
into captivity by sickness, you longed
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 and
looked at it, and in the moonlight you
stood listening if you could not hear
the voice of the dead organ, the psalm
of the expired Sabbaths. What Jeru
salem was to Nehemiah, the church of
God is to you. Skeptics and infidels
may scotf at the church as an obso-
lete affair. as a 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-
fees for it to-day than any other insti
tuition, and if it were needful you
would die in its defense. You can
take the words of the kingly poet as he
said: IF | forget thee, o 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 in his midnight moonlight ride
around the ruins of his beloved Jeru-
salem.
Again. My subject gives me speci-
men of busy and triumphant sadness.
If there was any man in the world who
had right to NOPE and give up every
thing as lost, it was Nehemiah. You
say: He was cupbearer in the pal
ace of ShuShan, and it was a grand
place" SO it was. The hall of that
palace was 200 feet square, and the roof
hovered over 36 marble pillars, each pill
lar go 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 we'll 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 dismounted 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. | have no
money with which to rebuild. l
wish | had never been born.
says Nehemiah. Although he had a
grief so intense thatit excited the com
mentary of his king, yet that penni-
less, expatriated Nehemiah rouses him,
self up to rebuild the city. He gets his
passports. He hastens away to Jeru-
salem. BY night on horseback he rides
through the ruins. He overcomes the
most ferocious opposition. He arouses
| the piety and patriotism of the people
| and in less than two months, namely
| So days, Jerusalem was rebuilt. That's
what call busy and triumphant sad
ness.
My friends, the whole temptation is
with you when you have trouble, to dc
just the opposite to the behavior OF
| Nehemiah. and that is to give up. Yor
say: Il have lost my child and car
never smile again" You say: Il have
lost my property, and | can never re
pair my fortunes You say: Il have
fallen into sin, and | never can star
again for new life If Satan cal
| mdkc you lOIIl tlidG ltSolulloI, dHs
make you keep it, he has ruined you
Trouble is not sent to crush you, bu
to arouse you, to animate you, to pro
pei YOU The blacksmith does no
thrust the iron into the forge and thel
blow away with the bellows, and thel
bring the hot iron out on the anvil ant
beat with stroke after stroke to ruiz
the iron. but to prepare it for bette
use. Oh, that the Lord God of Nehe
miah would rouse up all broken
hearted people to rebuild. Whipped
betrayed, shipwrecked, imprisoned
Paul went right on. The Italian maj
tyr Algerius sits in his dungeon writ
ing letter, and he dates it, From tn
delectable orchard of the Leonin
prison" That is what | ca
triumphant sadness. | knew
mother who buried her babe o
, Friday and on Sabbath appeare
in the house of God and said: Civ
me class; give me a Sabbath-scho'
class. l have no child now left me, an
would like to have a class of lit
children. Give me real poor childel
Give me a class off the back street
, That cav IS beaDtifu1 That is Fl