like felons at the gallows, have their bones unburied, in an undistinguished Golgotha, "that is to say, a place of a scull," Matt. xxvii. 33. Nehemiah touched the king's breast, when speaking of the sepulchres of his fathers laying waste; for this made the monarch take part in what concerned his fathers, and his own royal house. Hence his indulgence to his servant, to go to Jerusalem for such a purpose. Far higher views, however, if I mistake not, occupied the mind of Nehemiah. He possessed, in common with other men, all those tender feelings of sympathy which adorn our nature; and the graves of his ancestors, in beholding once more, after a long absence of many years, might excite the falling tear. But it was not nature, but grace, which prompted his heart to visit Jerusalem. Jerusalem was not only the city of his fathers, but the city of the living God. Here, in after ages, was to come the Mighty One that would redeem Israel from all her sins. Here would the Son of God openly tabernacle, in substance of our flesh; and here all the wonderful events included in redemption would be accomplished! Will it be questioned whether Nehemiah had such apprehensions? The answer is at hand. Is it not certain, that in ages yet further back, and more remote from the time of Nehemiah, the patriarchs lived and died in the faith of Christ? Did not Abraham see the day of the Lord afar off, "rejoiced, and was glad?" John viii. 56. Did not Jacob in the same prospect exclaim, "I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord!" Gen. xlix. 18. And is it not said of Moses, that he "esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward." Heb. xi. 26. Was not the gospel preached in the wilderness? Heb. iv. 2. And could Nehemiah be ignorant of these things, or of the solemn services during that eventful period, when the people "drank of that rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ?" 1 Cor.

x. 4. Let the reader call to mind the prayer of this son of Abraham, which I have noticed in the opening of this man's history; and let him determine for himself whether he was not "a child of promise, even as was Isaac," Gal. iv. 28. Yea, let him read what is said of Nehemiah, chap. xii. 46, 47. of his singing the psalm of David and Asaph, and then say, whether he sung not, as those did, of the incarnate Jehovah?

But I pursue these observations no further. Let us attend the Tirshatha, now arrived at Jerusalem, and entering on his new government. His own relation of it is at once simple and beautiful.-" So I came (said he) to Jerusalem, and was there three days. And I arose in the night, I, and some few men with me: neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem; neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon. And I went out by night, by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon wall; and to the dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire. Then I went on to the gate of the fountain, and to the king's pool, but there was no place for the beast that was under me for to pass. Then 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. And the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work. Then said I unto them, ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire. Come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach. Then I told them of the hand of my God, which was good upon me; as also the king's words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, let us rise up and

build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work." Neh. ii. 11-18.

I know not with what frame of mind the reader hath passed through this statement of Nehemiah; to me I confess, it is very interesting. When, with an enlightened understanding, we read scripture spiritually, there is then a personal concern we take in all that relates to the church, and the people of God. What holy men of old felt, at the desolation or prosperity of the church, forms a part in our feelings. We can, and do, enter into similar apprehensions, and insensibly are led to pray for the prosperity of Zion. This is divinely expressed in one of the Psalms: "Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion; for the time to favour her, yea, the set time is come. For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof," Psalm cii. 13, 14,

I can, and do also, enter into somewhat of Nehemiah's mind, that made his first visits to behold the dilapidated state of Jerusalem by night. We have before observed, that it is more than probable public ordinances had ceased, and therefore he could not present himself before the Lord God of Israel, in his opening his embassy, among the congregation of the people at large. Besides, Nehemiah's visit at Jerusalem was from the Lord, and therefore to the Lord he wished on his arrival first to unbosom himself, and alone. And who shall say what passed, in this night of communion, between the Lord and his soul, while he went round the unwalled desolated ground of his beloved Jerusalem? And when the man of God had taken a distinct and leisurely survey of the ruins, then, and not before, he brake his mind to the rulers, and those in office of the people, inviting them to co-operation in building the walls, and taking away the reproach under which they lay, while they continued a derision to the nations: and, above all,

assuring them that the hand of God was first in this design; for it was the Lord that had moved the king of Persia, his master, in this business.

I pause here again, to remark (though I would fain persuade myself, that without my remark, the reader, if spiritual, will outrun the observation) how evidently the hand of the Lord was seen, in the people, as well as Nehemiah, offering themselves willingly to this service. And who, that is taught of the Lord, can help connecting the zeal of the people at Jerusalem, with that of Nehemiah, when at Shushan, as originating from the same Almighty mover of all that is right, "who worketh in us, both to will and to do, of his good pleasure." Solomon, years before these transactions, had been inspired by the Holy Ghost, to teach the church this as a standing truth, when he said, "The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord," Prov. xvi. 1. And I not only pause to contemplate the predisposing cause, of the rising up of the people as one man, to the Lord's service, in building the walls of his Jerusalem; but the earnestness with which they at once entered upon it. Here was again discovered the Lord's hand. Hezekiah, upon a memorable occasion of a like nature, made a beautiful and gracious observation, and the Holy Ghost hath left it upon record, for the church's perpetual instruction and comfort; that the Lord's people are not unfrequently stirred up to the Lord's service, and that sometimes so instantaneous and unlooked for, that, as the spouse said in the Canticles, "or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib," Song vi. 12. Hezekiah discovered this, "and rejoiced, yea, and all the people with him, that God had prepared the people; for the thing was done suddenly," 2 Chron. xxix. 36. And I cannot find in my heart to dismiss the consideration of these things, without first desiring the reader to make a personal application to himself, and

to the church, in the present state of what is going on in life. We live in an awful day! The walls of our Jerusalem are broken down, and the true Zion of God is ploughed as a field. It will be well for all the true lovers of Zion, while besieging the mercy-seat with unceasing prayers day and night on her account, never to lose sight of what the Lord himself hath said to his Zion, Behold! I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me," Isa. xlix. 16. The true Israel of God are safe, apostatize who may. Professors or profane, in this era of amalgamation, may pass unnoticed, to the eye of common observation; but here is seen the unalterable, unaccommodating standard-"The Lord knoweth them that are his!" 2 Tim. ii. 19. This is enough. That strong language of the Lord, by his servant Jeremiah, suits the present hour, as though it had been written purposely for it: "I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran; I have not spoken to them, yet they prophecied. The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord!" Jer. xxiii. 21--28.

It is time now to enter upon that part of Nehemiah's history, in which we behold him with the chosen people, entering upon their labours of building the wall. And here I admire the distinguished honour that God the Holy Ghost hath put upon those, whom the Lord wrought on their mind to engage in this work. I do not presume to say, that their names are written in the book of life; for "secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us, and to our children for ever," Deut. xxix. 29. But when we find such honourable testimony is given of them here, "true yoke-fellows," and buckled in the harness of labourers for the Lord's service; we cannot but hope, that they are of those numbered