The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1897-04-09

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 o. God so mucn
that there Is no spot on earth SO sacred,
unless 1t be your own fireside. The
church has been TO you so much COM
fort and illumination that there is
nothing that makes you so irate as TO
have 1t talked against. II there have
been times when you have been carrieu
into captivity by sickness, you longed
for the Church, our holy Jerusalem,
just as much as Nehemiah longed Tor
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 II you
could not hear the voice OF the dead
organ, the psalm of the expired Sab
baths. What Jerusalem was to Meme
miah, the Church of God Is to you.
Sceptics and infidels may scoff at the
Church as an obsolete affair, as relic
of the dark ages, as a convention or
goody-goody people, but all the impress
sion they have ever made on your mind
against the Church of God is abso-
lutely nothing. You would make more
sacrifices for 1t to-day than any other
institution, and IL it were needful you
would die in its defence. You can take
the words of the kingly poet as he
said: IF l forgot thee. o Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget her cunning.
You understand in your own experience
the pathos, the inconsistencies, the
courage. the holy enthusiasm OF Meme
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
II there was any man in the worid
who had right to NOPE and give up
everything as lost, it was nehemiah
You say, "He was q cup-bearer In the
palace of Shushan, and II was grand
place. So it was. The hall OF that
palace was two hundred feet square
and the roof lowered over thirty-six
marble pillars, each pillar sixty feet
high; and the intense blue Of the sky
and the deep green of the forest fol-
iage, and the white of the driven snow
all hung trembling in the upholstery
But, my friends. you know very wei
that fine architecture will not put
down Inconsistencies Yet Nehemiah
did not give up. Then when you see
| him going among these desolatec
streets, and by these dismantled tow
crs. and by the tOrn-up grave OF his
father, you would suppose that he
would have been disheartened. anC
that he would have dismounted from
his horse ard gone to his room ant
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.
wish | had never been born. wisl
l were dead" Not so says Nehemiah
Although he had grief so intense tina
it excited the commentary of his king
yet that penniless, expatriated Nehe
miah rouses himself up to rebuild tn
city. He gets his permission of alb
sence. He gets his passports. He has
tens away TO Jerusalem. BY night OF
horseback he rides through the ruins
He overcomes the most ferocious oppo
sition. He arouses the piety and pa
triotism of the people, and in les
: than two months, namely, ffty-tw
days, Jerusalem was rebuilt That
what l call busy and triumphant sad
ness.
My friends, the whole temptation
with you when you have trouble, I
do Just the opposite to the behavior {
Nehemiah, and that is to give up. Yc
say: Il have lost my child and ca
never smile again" You say, II hav
lost my property, and | never can re
pair my fortunes" You say, IL hav
fallen into sin, and never can star
again for new life" II Satan ca
make you form that resolution. an
; make you keep il, he has ruined yo'
| 1TOuDlt Is llOI bOhN ~ NANSA sCNb ~
to arouse you, to animate you. to pre-
. mel YOU. The blacksmith does M
thrust the iron into the forge, and the
blow away with the bellows, and the
bring the hot iron out on the anv
and beat with stroke after stroke
.. ruin the iron. but to prepare it for
better use. Oh that the Lord God
: Nehemiah would rouse up all brokel
!. hearted people to rebuild. Whippe
betrayed. ship-wrecked, imprisone
7 Paul went right on. The Italian ma
: tyr Algerius sits in his dungeon wri
ing a letter, and he dates it. Fro
? the delectable orchard of the Leonil
prison." That Is what / call triur
phant sadness. / knew a mother WI
: buried her babe on Friday and on ga
bath appeared in the house OF God al
:, said: "Give me class; give me
: Sabbath school class. have no chi
now left me, and would like to ha
: class of little children. Give 7
2 real poor children. Give me class I
- .ho no Oh etroat That I cov IL hQa