The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1897-04-21
REV. DR. TALMAGE
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE
NOTED DIVINE.
Subject: "The Triumph of Sadness" "

Subject: "The Triumph of Sadness" "
TEXT. ssThen went I up In the night by
| the brook and viewed the wall, and turned
back, and entered by the gate OF the valley,
and so returned. ."-Nehemiah H., Is.
A dead city Is more suggestive than a liv-
| Ing city-past Rome than present Rome
| ruins rather than newly frescoed cathedral.
| But the best time to visit ruin is by moon
| light. The Coliseum Is far more fascinating
| TO the traveller after sundown than before.
You may stand by daylight amid the monas-
| tic ruins of Melrose abbey. and study
| shafted oriel and rosetted stone and null
| lion. 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 An1alu-
sian moonlight upon the Alhambra ruins
as amounting to an enchantment. My text
presents you Jerusalem in ruins. The tower
down. The gates down. The walls down.
Everything down. Nehemiah on horseback
by moonlight looking upon the ruins: While
he rides there are some friends on foot 60
Ing 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 60
ing us sort Of bodyguard.
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 hult at the tumbled masonry
L hn oh nR Of
the charred tmbers. 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 desolated, now by the defaced temple,
now amid the scars OF the city that had gone
down under battering ram AMI confagration!
The escorting party knows not what Nehe-
miah means. Is he getting crazy? Have
his own personal sorrows, added to the sor-
rows of the nation. unbalanced his intellectH
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, until the midnight ride is completed.
aud Nehemiah dismounts from his horse.
and to the amazed and confounded and in
credulous bodyguard, declares the dead
secret of his heart when he says,
"Come, now, let US build Jerusa-
lem" What, ;,Ss Nehemiah; ?, st1; have you
kingly authority" mo" "Have you any
moonlight ride of Nehemiah resulted in the
glorious rebuilding OF the city of Jerusalem.
The people knew nor 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 1t
could not be done. Some people were in
furiate and offered physical violence, saying
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, un-
til the work was gloriously completed.
that very time in Greece, Xenophon was
writing history, and Plato was making
philosophy, and Demosthenes was rafting
his rhetorical thunder. But oil Of them
together did not do so much for the world
as this midnight, moonlight 1de OF pray
ing, 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
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
far distant land. and he was a servant, 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. 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
foil ho1 hoan
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 oupbearer, Nehemiah,
~ want to 60 home. want to fix up the
grave OF my father. I want to restore 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, ~ want au order on the
man who keeps your forest for just so much
timber as I 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
find him on horseback, in the midnight. rid
ing around the ruins. 1t is through the
spectacles of this scene that we discover the
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 Is that you
love the church OF God 30 much that there is
no spot on earth 80 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 80 ilate rs to have
it talked against.
If ther- 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 out
you came to the house OF the Lord. When
the temple was in ruins, like Nehemiah, you
walked around and looked at II, and in the
moonlight you stood listening ifyou 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. Skep,ics and in1ldels may scott at
the church as an obsolete affair, as relic OF
the dark ages, rs convention OF 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 sacrifices for it to-day than
any other institution. and II it were needful
you would die in lis. defense. You can take
the words of the kingly poet as he said, "lf
forget thee, o Jerusalem, let my right
hand forget her cunning" You understand
in your own experience the pathos, the home
sickness, the courage. the holy enthusiasm
of Nehemiah in his midnight ride around
the ruins of his beloved Jerusalem.
Again. my text impresses me with the fact
that, before reconstruction, there must be IN
exploration OF ruins. Why was not Nehe-
miah asleep under the covers? Why was not
his horse stabbed in the midnight? Let the
police of the city arrest this midnight rider,
out on some mischief. No. Nehemiah is
going to rebuild the city. and he is making