yonr hrrthren i Will :re not cleal kindly illegally received on tho corn and money end gently with them! Beoa.uae of the re- borrowed of them, but to restoro the forfeited proa.oh of the heathen our enemies. If the lands and houses, which must have been ot merr fear of God, the desire to escape bis far greater value, and to which they wero displeasure end win his approval, 1s not by law fully entitled. "We will restore enough, will not the thought of the light them," they said, "and will (in future) in which you will appear to the heathen require nothing of them, neither interest influence you! You make a profession of nor security, but will do a.a thou Hyest." religion; you claim to be actnated by- high The promise ~~ sweeping in its terms, and moti-es ; to he merciful, compaSSionate, probably not msmcero ; but N eheminh mis- and sclf-den:nng. If they see you as keen trusted all sudden impulses. He would have aft,ir gain as any of themselves, as regard- something more than a promise. Then less of others, as pitiless and oppressive, what called I the priests, and took an oath of a reproach "ill not this bring on your them (the nobles), that they should do religion ! 'What a proof will it not seem to according to this promise. I. e. he swore be that you are no better than your neigh- the nobles, in the sacred presence of the bours. and ~-our religion, therefore, no whit priests, to the performance of the promise superior to theirs! which they had made. Yer. 10.-I likewise . .. might exact of Ver. 13.-Also I shook my lap. Even them. Rather, "have lent them." I and the taking of the oath did not seem suffi- mine have advanced to the poorer classes, in cient to the prudent governor. He would this period of their distress, money and com ; strengthen the oath by a malediction, and a but not as you have, not upon security. malediction accompanied by a symbolical Let us then, all of us, you as well as I, act, to render it the more impressive. henceforth relinquish this practice of mort- Among the nations of antiquity few things gaging and pledge-taking. were so much dreaded as falling under a Yer. 11.-Restore, I pray you, &c. Nay, curse. The maledictions of Deut. xxviii. more. Let us not only give up this practice 16--44 were the supreme sanction which in the futnre, but let us remedy its evils in Moses devised for the Law, whereof he was the past. You are in possession of lands the promulgator. Curses protected the tombs and houses that have become yours through and inscriptions of the Assyrian and Persian these mortgages, and you have received a kings, the contracts of the Babylonians, and heavy interest on the sums of money, or on the treaties of most nations. Nehemiah's the com, wine, and oil that you have curse is an unusual one, but very clear and advanced. I bid yon restore it all Give intelligible. He prays that whosoever de- back at once the houses and the lands that parts from his promise given may be cast you will in any case have to restore in the forth a homeless wanderer, emptied of all year of jubilee. Give back the interest that his possessions, o.s empty as the fold in his you have illega.J.ly taken, and so, as fax as own dress, which he first gathers into a sort is possible, undo the past ; make restitution of bsg or pocket, and then throws from him of your ill-gotten gains, relinquish even and so empties out. To this the assembly your legal rights, and become self-denying responded by a hearty "Amen," and then patriots, instead of tyrants and oppressors. praised the Lord for the happy ending of Ver. 12.-Then they said, We will re- the whole affair ; in which they piously ■tore them. Nehemiah's eloquence pre- traced the directing and over-ruling hand of vailed, and brought about a " day of sacri- God, " restraining the fierceness of men," fices." The nobles, one and all, agreed not and "turning it to his praise" (Pa. lxxvi. only to give back the interest that they had 10-Prayer-Book version).
HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-13.-E.z:tortion rebuked. Rulers of men have no easy task. No sooner have they provided a remedy for one evil than another presents itself. Nehemiah found this to be the case. He had preserved the city from the enemies outside, and was fast proceeding with the fortifications which would be a permanent protection; but before they were completed a cry arose within which called his attention to dangers quite aB threatening. Of what avail to have sei::ured the peopl~ from the foreign foe if they were to destroy one another by extortion and d1ssene1on? The wisdom and courage 6f the governor, however, proved equal to the occasion. Observe- L THE LOUD COMPLAINT MADE (vers. 1-5). A large number of the people "and of tl1tir wives" came to Nehemiah and complained bitterly of their condition, and of the extortion to which they were subjected by their rich and noble brethren. The UH. V, 1-13.] THE BOOK OF NEHEMIAH.