The Penn's Grove record., 1897-04-09
REV. 3DR. TAI4MAGE
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY TUE
NOTED DIVINE.
Subjects '"rhe Triumph of Sadness"

~
Subject: a'The Triumph Of Sadness.
-
TEXT. ifThen won't 7 mn In ,ba nI,,, r.,
the brook and viewed The wall and tus "a
bnck md entered Nv tha g,1s =, ~ 1910.
and 40 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS a tx '''
A dead city Is moro suggestive than n liv-
ing eity-past Rome than present Rome
ruins rather than newly frescoed cathedral.
But the best time 10 visit a ruln Is by moon
light. The Coliseum Is far more fascinating
to the traveller atter eundown han before.
You may stand by daylight amid the monas-
tic ruins OF Melrose abbey. md study
shafted oriel and rosetted stone aud null
hon, but they throw their strongest witchery
by moonlight, Bone OF you remember what
the OF Scotland said in tho Lay
OF the Last Minstrel;"
uua.,ss
a U,sss !, ' ~, Wv .alr aieifo5o nrigntf
Wv Ing pa'o uoonisnt.
Washington Irving describes the An lain
sian moonlight upon the Alhambrn rnins
rs amounting to on ~enchnntlnent, NV text
presents you Jerusalem In ruine, The tower
down. The gates down, The walls down.
Everything down.. Nehemiah ON HORSEBACK
BY moonlight looking upon the ruin While
he rides there ure some friends on loot 90
Ing with him. for they do not want the
MANY nOrSeS 10 0lofurn the Quanfrinnq nj thn
people. These people do not know the
secret OF Nehemiah's heart. but thew ara 90.
Ing as a sort OF b~odyguard.
| hear the clicking hoofs Of the horse on
which Nehemiah rides, as he guides II this
way md that. into this gate and out OF that,
winding through that gate amid the debris
Of once great Jerusalem. Now. the horse
where he cannot pass. Now he SHES of At
the charred timbers. Now he comes along
where the water under the moonlight flashes
from tho mouth of the brazen dragon after
which the gate wa named. Heavy hearted
Nehemiah, riding in and out, now BY his old
home desolated, now by the defaced temple.
now amid tho scars OF the city that had Zone
down under battering ram AMI confederation!
The escorting party knows not what Nehe-
miah means. Is no getting crazy? Have
his own personal sorrows, added to the sor-
rows Of the nation. unbalanced his intellectY
stu tne ml1niRnt EXPLORATION goes on.
NeneHlan On uorsepacR rides through the
iish gate, py tne tower OF the urnac by
~ klns : pooi, ~ q dragon well, III AMI
out, until tue midn,ght ride Is completed,
ana Neneinian mou from his horse.
anu 10 the amazed and confounded and 10.
creuuious declares the dead
secre. Oh MS heart when no says,
ZONE, now, iSt US puild Jerusa-
lem. Wnal. Nehenlan nave you
any money! NJ, NO.. nHaye you any
Sinsly au1norityr No. .have you n
eIoqueuces go. het tnat midnignt,
moohught rae o. Nenemiah resulted IN the
glorious rebuilding ofthe city Of Jerusalem.
me peopte Knew nor now tue thing was to
10 LONE, DIt WIN kfeat enthus,asm tneY
erica OUT. 'Let US rise up now ana putid the
city,, some people laughed and said 1t
cou,a NOT pc dome. SOM people were IN
, ,hs sbIn ah sh o . ~ pp ~ Vio,enee, sayihs
men ne vent right on, standing on the wall,
troWeli IN one manu-, SWORD IN tne otneI, IN
III .ne VOTE WIS gios.ously Sompieteo. A
tont very time In ureece, AenoPhon was
writlhg u history. q iiato was making
phi'o,opny, anu Demostnenes was rat.Iing
uIs rneto,isa. .nunoer put au OF mem
togetner ula moi 10 so mucn LOT me worid
as this mianlgnt. moonlight rlde Oh pray,
M, courageous, homesick' Close moutned
Nenemian'
: 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 pos Of your life. No; Nehemiah
will not stop. He at last tells us tho whole
story. lie let's us know he was an exile In q
far distant land. and he was n servant, q 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 you2 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
jerusalem was broken down, how that his
fathers tomb had been desecrated, how
mat the temple had been dishonored and
defaced, how that the walls were scat
tered and broken. 'sWell," says King
AEtaxerxes,, what do you WANT
"Well," said the cupbearer. Nehemiah,
81 want TO 60 home. l want TO Ak up the
grave of my father. I want to restore the
beauty of the temple. ! want to rebuild the
masonry OF the oily wall. Besides, ! want
passpoB so that / shall not be hindered In
my journey. n 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 l may need for the rebuilding OF
the city," "How long shall you be gomez"
said the king. The time OF absence is ar
ranged, In hot haste this seeming adven-
turer comes to Jerusalem, and In my text we
end him on horseback, In the midnight, rid
ing around the ruins. 1t Ia 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 loyo lust as much az Nehemiah
loved his Jerusalem. The fact is that you
love the church of God 80 much that thereis
20 spot on earth 50 sacred unless 1t be your
own freside. The church has been to you so
much comfort and illumination that there is
nothing that makes you so hate as to have
1t 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 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, Ike Nenemiani you
walked around and looked at u, ana IN .ne
moonlight you stood iis,eniag YOU so tha
not near tine voice 81 me oeau ssan, .ne
psalm OF the expired SaDIsatns. NY I'LL =
to you. Skepiics and in1iueis may soon az
the church as IN obsolete niiair, as q fens o.
the dark ages, rs q convention OF soSoy
poOdy pe0pIo. but all the impression tney