which show us how human souls should feel and act as wondrously related to the past, the present, and the future. They live indeed and move onward to the highest destiny who praise, and serve, and hope in God.

George E. Hall.

NEHEMIAH'S PRAYER

NEHEMIAH 1: 1-11

"Prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day."

We open to the record of a great event in the history of the Jews, and so of the world. It has the simple directness of a public document, with the vivid personality of an autobiography. It presents a romantic drama of real life played on the stage of human progress and divine ordainments; with a hero for its hero; a king, chieftains, warriors, priests, Levites, the mass of the people, for its dramatis personæ. The scene shifts from Persian palace to devastated city, and then that city restored. The action includes fasting, building, weeping, rejoicing, fighting, praying, a revival of Scripture and a revival under Scripture, reforms, plots, sorrows, success.

We are immediately introduced to the principal character, one worth knowing. He is a captive in honor, like Joseph in Egypt of old, like Daniel in this same land, like Mordecai under this monarch's father. He is a prosperous man found pitiful. Kings' favorites are not always sufferers' hope; nor wealth and power the assurance of the oppressed. He prays in order that he may have chance to work, and works with the importunate energy of a divine commission. He is a statesman who counts God stronger than tyrants, and simple faith than diplomacy; a good man confessing the sins of his guilty people, and carrying the burden which they had thrown off; a disinterested ruler, who risked popularity at court and camp, chanced failure

for righteousness, refused tribute, fed many, released debtors, put down covetous and oppressive tyrants of the poor. Grand picture this of one of the

Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog

In public duty and in private thinking.

His career of distinguished ease as personal attendant on Artaxerxes is interrupted at the sight of some fellow Hebrews returning from Jerusalem, one of them a near relative, perhaps his own brother. Josephus gives a graphic description of the meeting as outside the city, where he chanced to overhear the dusty travelers conversing in his own native tongue, and at once asked of them the condition of the people. Their story was disheartening. Ezra had gone there ten years ago loaded with resources, heroic, energetic, trusting in God. But now they were a discouraged remnant in a city of broken walls and burned gates, the derision and prey of their enemies. The report enters like iron into Nehemiah's soul. He had never seen the city; he had duties at court, and might there find opportunity, like Esther and Mordecai, to save his nation. But he would rather suffer affliction with the people of God than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, and while God's people are in straits, his own pleasure is to him a sin. He seeks his object in a way at once most natural and most effective to a noble nature. First, he gives himself utterly to the cause; then takes it all to God in utter dependence and faith; uses the advantage of his position to win the monarch's help; and, as the opportunity opens, flings his whole life into the practical duty. Consecration, faith, works, these round out the character and deserve the achievement.

Nehemiah's prayer is our especial study to-day. It was a prayer four months long, never fainting because of answer delayed. Weeping and mourning and fasting went with it as the natural overflow of a burdened heart. The man's

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whole being turned from common desires and settled itself upon this one thing. He reached up for God with the concentrated energy of heart and soul and mind and strength, the force that prevails with men and is mighty with God. Like other saints of Scripture, he gives us the words of his petition, an outline, we may think, of his long intercessions.

The prayer begins with reverent adoration of God. He addresses, not the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but the God of Heaven, which seems a Persian title for the universal Ruler, applied by him to the infinite Jehovah, who is Lord over not Israel alone, but all the universe, who can turn the heart of the Persian tyrant, and command the resources of a heathen kingdom. He entitles him the great and terrible God; the God also who keepeth covenant and mercy with them that fear him and keep his commandments; the God whose ear is attentive and eyes open to the prayer of his servants. Prevailing prayer rests upon a right conception of the God who can grant it.

Confession is the next element,-humble, full, without attempted excuse for sin committed with clear knowledge of duty. Some redeeming excellences he might have pleaded -that many had abandoned the comforts of Babylon for the trials of exile and still clung to the dismantled city; that Ezra and a faithful few had not failed in their loyalty; that he himself loved Zion more than all the great king could give him. But these gleams of brightness were swallowed up in the conviction that the nation in its character and life had not been true to their gracious God. Such wholehearted confession sprang from a right instinct. Not our virtues but our needs are the prevailing plea. Our very sins appeal to the Most High, and heart-breaking repentance is the door to mercy. So deep was his sense of the evil that he made himself and his father's house sinners with the rest. Possibly he reproached himself that he had not sooner searched out the condition at Jerusalem and

earlier engaged for its relief. We can think of no other personal fault. But he loved his people so devotedly that he lost himself in their life; their guilt and sufferings were his own, their redemption his only joy.

Then he pleads God's faithfulness to his promises. Punishment threatened had come on sin; now they would prove the equal promise of favor to returning and obedience. Still are they the people of Jehovah, redeemed of old, once more waiting for redemption. His closing petition is for God's own help that day when he should seek the king's favor upon his plan to go himself to the rescue of Jerusalem. Fortunate the nation which has such as Nehemiah among its honorable men, giants in prayer, heroes in devotion, prompt and sagacious in practical service.

A striking characteristic of this petition is its use of Scripture. Every word seems the fit and free outpouring of Nehemiah's own heart, but Daniel's supplication, Solomon's prayer of dedication, and, most frequently, the pleas of Moses in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, together make up almost every sentence. He had pored over the ancient Scriptures and the newly recovered book of the law, finding in those earlier crises sympathy for the present, and in their deliverance the guide to the hour's redemption. These "old masters" in the art of prayer are ever worth studying. The Bible is no collection of imaginary situations and possible escapes, but the record of God moving among the nations, and the majesty and mercy with which he came into those lives is still the world's hope. Every later age adds to the gracious experience. No man suffers or conquers for himself alone; no man prays down redemption for the single hour of achievement.

Prayer as a working force in national destiny may be stated as the prominent teaching of this passage. The conspicuous intercessions of the Old Testament were for the nation. We need hardly make exception of the Psalms, for, though intended for private devotion and popular wor