The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1897-04-15

c cIp ii ls'' to- to til the
traveller after shutdown than before
You may stand by daylight amid the
monastic ruins of Melrose Abbey, and
study shafted oriel, and rosetted stone
and mullion, 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
Andalusian moonlight upon the AL
hambra ruins as amounting to an en-
chantment. My text presents you
Jerusalem in ruins. The tower down.
The gates down. The walls down.
Everything down. Nehemiah on horse
back, by moonlight looking upon the
ruins. While he rides, there are 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 a sort of body-guard. I hear the
clicking hoofs of the horse on which
Nehemiah rides, as he guides it 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
the tumbled masonry where he cannot
pass. Now be SHES off at the charred
timbers. Now he comes along where
the water under 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 DESC
lated, now by the defaced Temple, now
amid the scars of the city that had
gone down under battering-ram and
conf1agratiOn. The escorting party
knows not what Nehemiah means. Is
he getting crazy? Have his own per-
sonal sorrows, added to the sorrows Of
the nation, unbalanced his intellect?
Still the midnight exploration 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, in and out,
until the midnight ride is completed,
and Nehemiah dismounts from his
horse, and to the amazed and con-
founded and incredulous body guard,
declares the dead secret of his heart
when he says: Come now, let us build
Jerusalem" What, Nehemiah, have
you any money!" mo" "Haye you
any kingly authority?" "No." "Have
you any eloquence?" mo-" Yet that
midnight, moonlight ride of Nehemiah
resulted in 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 infuri-
ate and offered physical violence, say
ing the thing should not be done. But
the workmen went right on, standing
on the wall, trowel in one hand, sword
in the other, until the work was glori-
ously completed. At that very time in
Greece, Xenophon was writing a his
tory, and Plato was making philosophy,
and Demosthenes was rattling his
rhetorical thunder; but all of them to-
gether did not do SO much for the world
as this midnight, moonlight ride OF
praying, courageous, homesick, close
mouthed Nehemiah.
My subject first impresses me with
the idea what an intense thing is church
affection. Seize the bride of that
horse and stop Nehemiah. Why are
you risking 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 let's us know he was
an exile in a far distant land; he was
servant, a cup-bearer in the palace
of Artaxerxes Longimanus, and one
day, while he was handing the cup of
wine to the king, the king said to him,
What is the matter with you? You
are not sick. I know you must have
some great trouble. What is the mat
ter with your" Then he told the king
how that beloved Jerusalem was
broken down; how that his fathers
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 cup bearer Nehemiah
II want to go home want to fix up
the grave of my father. I want to re-
store the beauty of the 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" as you will find in the
context, II want an order on the man
who keeps your forest for just so much
timber as may need for the rebuilding
of the city, Glow long shall you be
gomez" said the king. The time of alb.
sence is arranged. In hot haste this
seeming adventurer comes to Jerusa-
lem, and in my text we find him on
horseback, in the midnight, riding
around the ruins. It is through the
spectacles of this scene that we dis
cover the ardent attachment Of Nehe-
miah for sacred Jerusalem. which in