* the wood.
  10:34 
 * Remember.
  14,22  Ps 25:7  26:8,9  106:4  Lu 23:42 



            CONCLUDING REMARKS ON THE BOOK OF NEHEMIAH.

 Of Nehemiah, the author and principal actor in the events
 recorded in this book, the Jews speak as one of the greatest men
 of their nation.  His concern for his country entitles him to
 the character of the first patriot that ever lived.  Descended,
 according to some, of the family of Aaron, or according to
 others, of the tribe of Judah and allied to the royal family of
 David, in the course of Divine Providence, he was a captive in
 Babylon:  but there his excellences were so apparent, that he
 was chosen by the Persian king to fill an office the most
 respectable and the most confidential in the whole court.  Here
 he lived in ease and affluence:  he lacked no good thing; and
 here he might have continued to live, in the same affluence, and
 in the same confidence; but he could enjoy neither, so long as
 he knew his people distressed, the sepulchres of his fathers
 trodden under foot, the altars of his God overturned, and his
 worship either totally neglected or corrupted.  He sought the
 peace of Jerusalem; prayed for it; and was willing to sacrifice
 wealth, ease, safety, and even life itself, if he might be the
 instrument of restoring the desolations of Israel.  And God, who
 saw the desire of his heart, and knew the excellences with which
 he had endowed him, granted his request, and gave him the high
 honour of restoring the desolated city of his ancestors, and the
 pure worship of their God.  The opposition of Sanballat and the
 Samaritans, and the firmness and zeal with which he repelled
 their insults and ineffectual efforts cannot be read without the
 liveliest emotions; and will afford to the latest times, a noble
 and animating example of distinguished patriotism, united with
 the sincerest devotion to the interests of religion.  The virtue
 and piety of this great and good man, appear with equal lustre
 in the numerous and important reformations he effected.  He
 relieved the people from their hardships and oppressions, by
 abolishing the harsh and usurious practices of the nobles and
 rulers; gave up his own revenue, as governor of the province,
 for the benefit of the people; and, as a further means of
 conciliating their affections, exhibited an example of the most
 princely hospitality.  As the best security for good morals, and
 the better observance of the laws of God, he re-established the
 offices of public worship, and prevented the profanation of the
 sabbath, which had arrived at a shameful excess; he furnished
 the returned captives with authentic registers, and enabled
 them, in the best manner possible, after so long and calamitous
 an interval, to trace the genealogies, and claim the inheritance
 of their respective families; and further, he accomplished the
 separation of the Jewish people from the mixed multitude, with
 which they had been incorporated, and annulled the numerous
 marriages which they had made with heathens and idolaters of
 every description.  For disinterestedness, philanthropy,
 patriotism, prudence, courage, zeal, humanity, and every virtue
 that constitutes a great mind, and proves a soul in deep
 communion with God, Nehemiah will ever stand conspicuous among
 the greatest men of the Jewish nation; and an exemplar worthy of
 being copied by the first patriots in every nation under heaven.