The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-04-09

HTSL 90 not learn the rum OF Insir own
heart. They ave not found out that the
heart is deceitful above all things, and
desperately wicked" They had an idea
that they were almost right. and they
an ornamental cupola- There was a SUI
perstructure of religion built or a
| substratum of u~nrepented sins The
trouble with a good deal of modern the
cIogy is that instead of building or the
right foundation, it builds on the debris
of an unregenerated nature. They at
! tempt to rebuild Jerusalem before, in the
midnight of conviction, they have seen
the ghastliness of the ruin. They have
such a poor foundation for their reli-
gion that the first northeast storm of
temptation blows them down. / have no
faith in a mans conversion if he is not
converted in the old fashioned way-John
Bunyan's way, John Wesley's way, John
Calvin's way. Pauls way. Christ's way.
Gods way. A dentist said to me. Does
that hurt?" Said /: 'Of course IL hurts.
1t is in your business as in my profession.
We nave to hurt before we can help" You
will never understand until
you understand ruin.
THE OLD AND THE NEW.
A man tells me that some one is a mem
Der of the church. 1t makes no impression
on my mind at all. l simply want to know
whether he was converted in the old fash
! Toned way, or whether he was converted
in the new fashioned way. If he was con-
verted in the old fashioned way, he will
stand. If he was converted in the new
fashioned way, }e will not stand. That is
all there is about it. a man comes to me
to talk about religion. The first question
1 ask him is. DO you feel yourself to be
hesitancy makes me feel that that man
| wants a ride on N~eheniah's horse by mid
night through the ruins-in by the gate of
| his affections, out by the gate of his will
and before he has got through with that
midnight ride he will drop the reins on
the horses neck, and will take his right
hand and srnite on his heart and say,
God be merciful to me a sinner and
before he has stabbed his horse he will
take his feet out of the stirrups, and he
will slide down on the ground, and he will
kneel, crying: Have mercy on me, =
God, according to tbs loving kindness, ac-
ccrding unto the multitude of thy tender
| mercies. Blot out my transgressions, for
/ acknowledge my transgreSsionS, and my
sins are ever before thee An, my friends,
you see this is not a complimentary Cos
pei. That is what makes some people SO
mad. 1t comes to q man of a million dol
lars, and impenitent in his sins and says:
"You'e a pauper." 1t comes to a woman
Of fairest cheek, who has never repented,
| and says, You're a sinner 1t comes to
a man priding himself on his independ,
foot by the devil 1t comes to our entire
race, and says, You're a ruin, a ghastly
ruin, an illimitable ruin Satan some
times says to me: Why do you preach
that truth? Why don't you preach a gcs-
pei with no repentance in it? Why don't
you flatter mems hearts so that you
make them feel all right? Why don't you
| preach a humanitarian gospel, with no
| repentance in it, saying nothing about the
luin, talking all the time about the he-
denptiOn p
| REDEMPTION A FORCE WITHOUT
RUIN.
| say, Get thee behind me. satan" ]
would rather lead five souls into safety
than 2),900 into perditicn. The redemp-
ton OF the gospel is a perfect farce if
| physician, but they that are sick If
| any one, though he be an angel from
heaven, preach any other gospel than
l III. ~ nv-C. tIA- lnot1A ~ him In. na-
cursed There must be the midnight ride
over the ruins before Jerusalem can be
| built. There must be the clicking Of the
hOofs before there can be the ring Of the
trowcls.
Again. My subject gives me a speci-
men of busy and triumphant sadness. If
there was any man in the world who had
q right to NOPE and give up everything as
lost. it was Nehemiah. You say, II was
q cupbearcr in the palace of Shushan, and
it was a grand place. So it was. The
hall of that palace was 200 feet square,
and the roof lowered over SO marble pill
lars, each pillar 90 feet high, and the in
OF the forest foliage, ana the white of the
driven snow. all hung trembling in the
| upholstery. But. my friends, you know
very well that fine architecture will not
! put down homesickness. Yet Nehemiah
! did not give up. Then when you see him
going among these desolated streets, and
by these dismantled towers. and by the
torn up grave of ms father, you would
suppose that he would have been dis
| Z ltIlCt. anu tiol lC ObI IiNC uio~
mounted from MS horse and gone to his
room and said: Wee is me! My fathers
grave is torn up. Thu temple is dishon-
ored. The walls are broken down. | have
no money with which to rebuild. l wish
I had never been born. l wish 1 were
dead Not SO says Nehemiah. Although
he had a grief SO intense that it excited
| the commentary of his king, yet that pen
niless, expatriated Nehemiah rouses him.
self up to rebuild the city. He gets his
permission of absence. He gets his pass
ports. He hastens away to Jerusalem.
By night on horseback he rides through
the ruins. He OvercOmes the most fero-
cious opposition. He arouseS the piety
and patriotism Of the people, and in less
than two months-namely, fifty-two days.
Jerusalem was rebuilt. That's what l
call busy and triumphant sadness.
THE DESIGN OF TROUBLE.
My friends, the whole temptation is
with you when you have trouble to do
just the opposite to the behavior of Ne
hemiah, and that is to give up. You say,
Il have lost my child and can never smile
again You say, Il have lost my prop
erty. and 1 never can repair my. fortunes,
| You say, Il have fallen into sin, and l
never can start again for a new life II
satan can make you form that resolution
and make you keep it, he has ruined you.
Trouble is not sent to crush you, but to
arouse you, to animate you, to propel you.
The blacksmith does not thrust the iron
into the forge and then blow away with
out on the anvil and beat with stroke af-
ter stroke to ruin the iron, but tc prepare
it for a better use. Oh, that the Lord
God of Nehemiah would rouse up all bro
ken hearted people to rebuild! Whipped.
betrayed, shipwrecked, imprisoned, Paul
went right on. The Italian martyr .Alge-
rius sits in his dungeon writing a letter,
and he dates it, From the delectable or
chard of the Leonine prison." That is
what l call triumphant sadness. 1 knew
a mother who buried her babe on Friday
and on Sabbath appeared in the house of
God and said: Give me a class. Give
me a Sabbath school class. l have no
child now left me. and 1 would like to
have a class of little children. Give me a
class off the back street" That, l say,
is beautiful. That is triumphant sadness.
AT 8 o'clock every Sabbath afternoon for
years in a beautiful parlor in Philadel-
phia-a parlor pictured and statuetted-
there were from ten to twenty destitute
children of the street. Those destitute
children received religious instruction,
concluding will cakes and sandwiches.
How do 1 know that that was going on
for sixteen years? l know it in this way:
THAI was the first home in Philadelphia
where l was called to comfort a great sor-
row. They had a splendid boy, and he
L l-l A-~ 90 o-~ D-a~>I Tlo