HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 1-31.-Tlie blessing of God on an active lifefounded upon ltis word. I. TnE _ TR(TE RELIGIOUS REFORMATION, both negative and positive. 1. Abuses must be vigorously attacked and cleansed away. The house of God has to be purified of strangers. '.!.'he neglect of discipline a terrible evil. Unfaithful ministers the curse of the Church. The "mixed multitude" is no strength to Jerusalem, but weakness. The observance of the sabbath. To the Jew a typical commandment, which repre- sented obedience altogether. W'hile days cannot possess the same place under the new dispensation, there is guardianship of the day of rest which is absolutely neces- sary for the life of religion. In all active efforts of reformation personal caprice and mere self-assertion must be renounced. The open Bible must be the strong basis of operations, the unfailing armoury from which the weapons are taken. On that simply dependent, the true reformer can be bold, energetic, uncompromising, intolerant of e,il, dri,ing out the violators of God's law and defilers of his temple. We have a great example of consuming zeal in the Lord himself. 2. All really religious reform- ation will be corutructive as well as destructive. The evil driven away wiU come back finding "the l1ouse empty and garnished" unless it be possessed by the spirit of active obedience. The only principle upon which we can keep out abuse is that of the right use of the things before abused. This applies to the service of God's house, to the observance of the sabbath, and to the purity of communion among God's people. Nehemiah re-established the true order of religious life. The safety of the Church lies in its acti-.ity and development according to the word of God. All living growth is defence against attack and decay. II. THE TRUE MEMORIAL BEFORE Goo AND MAN. "Remember me, Lord, for good." 1. We should cast ourselves on the faithfulness of God. Men forget one another. God rewards his servants. 2. To hold a place among the honoured names of God's word, to be in the line of the great succession, is more than all that this world can offer us. 3. God's blessing descends to future generations. We build a monument in the characters and lives of those we leave behind us.-R. Vers. 1-9.-R.eading, obe'IJing, suffering, &c. These verses record two cleansings -the one of the congregation, and the other of the sanctuary of the Lord ; the one by the people, and the other by a single servant of Jehovah. Taking them together, we learn- I. THAT THE BIBLE SHOULD BE RllAD WITH A SPECIAL VIEW TO ITS BEARING ON OUR OWN LIVES (ver. 1). "On that day they read in the book of Moses, .... and therein was found written that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the con- gregation of God for ever ; " ... and " when they had heard the law they separated," &c. (vers. 1, 3). The Israelites listened not only to understand and admire and be moved with joy and gladness, but to learn wltat they slwuld do, that they might con- form more perfectly to the will of God. We may read our Bible from (1) the antiquarian point of view, or (2) the poetical, or (3) the professional, or (4) per- functorily, il.s a part of the day's routine; but we shall not have treated it ~s it deserves to be treated, as its Divine Author would have us use it, as our own spiritual necessities demand that it should be approached, unless we come to it in the spirit of those old words, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" We must study it devoutly, to learn what there is in us to be uprooted, about us to be avoided, absent from us to be implanted and cultivated. II. THAT PLAIN DUTY, HOWEVER PAINFUL, MUST DE DONE F'ORTRWITH (vors. 3, 7, 8, 9). It is very soon told that " it came to pass when they had heard the law that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude." But the act of separation, of expul- sion, must have been an exceedingly painful one. The" mixed mul<;itude" must have been closely aJlied to and inwoven with "the congregation," and there must have ->een great rents and gaps made in families and connections and friendships for this excommunication to be thorouglily carried out. When, too, Nehemiah returned from Babylon, and found the house of the Lord used for an enemy's storehouse, it must buve "grieved him sore" (ver. 8), not only to find tlii: fact in existence, but also to lJH. XIII 1-31.] THE BOOK OF NEHEMIAH. 151
have to put himself into direct antagonism with the high priest, and to reflect so sternly on his conduct as he did (vers. 8, 9). So Paul must have been troubled to withstand Peter to the foce (Gal. ii. 11 ), and we know how "out of much atiliction and anguish of heart'' he wrote " with many tears " a letter of reproach to the Church at Corinth (2 Cor. ii. 4). We nro told that we are to deal tenderly and graciously with offend- ers; those who are spiritual restoring such "in the spirit of meekness" (Gal. vi. 1); but when the integrity, the purity, the reputation of the family, the Church, the society absolutely demand severe measures, we must take them. '\Ve should in such case6 act, (1) where possible, after remonstrance and giving opportunity for repentance; (2) with all possible regard to wounded feelings; (3) with manifest attention to the directions of Scripture; (4) thoroughly and speedily, lest slackness or delay should do as much harm as entire unfaithfulness. Ill. THAT SIN BAS FAR-REACHING CONSEQUENCES IN ITS TRAIN. There was written in the law "that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God for ever," &c. (vers.1, 2). There is nothing so cruel in the end as undue leniency in the presence of sin ; there is nothing so kind and wise, all things considered, as the manifestation of" righteous indignation" against iniquity. God's revealed anger at the transgressions of his people was one side of his mercy-the less pleasant to our view, but not the less necessary for our redemption. Hence, among other things, his severity and apparent harshness. Hence such an act of judgment as this against the Ammonite. An act of inhospitality, and then of seductive treachery, done a thousand years before, leading to exclusion from privilege no,;- I What a long train of consequences has sin I How far in its injurious results may one .guilty action reach ! " Oh, mortal man, beware Lest one wrong act should bring an age of care ! "