(which was no less than five successions of kings besides Cyrus), do the walls of the temple stand still, yea, lie waste, subject to the wrongs of time and weather, the fit matter of sorrow to the Jews, insultation to the enemies, derision to passengers. prevailed against the trowel. Still do the Jews find themselves, as it were, captives at home; and, in silence and sorrow, cease from their labours, until the days of the next successor, Darius Nothus. As those that had learned to sow after What a wide gap of time was here, be- a bad crop, these Jews, upon the change twixt the foundation of God's house and the of the prince, by the encouragement of the battlements! How large a trial doth God prophets of God, Haggai and Zechariah, now secondly take of the faith, of the pa- take new heart to build again. If others' tience of his people! how large a proof doth | power hinder us in the work of God, our he give of his own long-suffering! O God, will may not be guilty. when thou hadst but one house upon earth, thou wert content to put up with delays, yea, affronts, in the building of it: now thou hast many, it is no marvel if thy longanimity and justice abide some of them to lie deso-wisely and modestly plead the service of the late. They are not stones, or metals, or men, that can make thee more glorious: thou best knowest when to serve thyself of all these, when to honour these with thy service. A small matter hinders the worthiest action; as a little fish, they say, stays the greatest ship. Before, the Jews were discouraged with words, but now they are stopped by commands. These envious Samaritans have corrupted the governors which the Persian kings set over those parts, and from their hands have obtained letters of deep calumniation, to Ahasuerus the king, and after him to his son Artaxerxes, wherein Jerusalem is charged with old rebellion to kings; and for proof, appellation is made to the records; from which evidence is spitefully inferred, that if these walls be once built, the king shall receive no tribute on this side the river. Never was God's church but subject to reproaches. Princes have reason to be jealous of their rights. The records are searched: it soon appears, that, within one century of years, Jerusalem had rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, and held out two years' siege of that great Babylonian. The scandal of disloyalty is perpetual; although indeed they held him rather a prevailing enemy, than a lawful sovereign one act disparages either place or person, to all posterities. Therefore shall the walls of Jerusalem lie waste, because it had once been treacherous; after a hundred years doth that city rue one perfidious act of Zedekiah. Fidelity to our governors is ever both safe and honourable. Command is now sent out from Artaxerxes, even the son of queen Esther, to restrain the work. All respects must cease with carnal minds, when their honours and profits are in question. Rehum the chancellor, and Shimshai the scribe, come now armed with authority: the sword hath easily Their new governors come, as before, to expostulate: "Who hath commanded you to build this house, and to make up this wall? and what are your names?" They God of heaven, the decree of Cyrus; still persisting to build, as if the prohibition of Artaxerxes had died with the author. The impartial governors do neither claw nor exasperate, but, relating the humble and just answer of the Jews, move the king, that search may be made in the rolls of Babylon, whether such an edict were made by Cyrus, and require his royal pleasure concerning the validity of such a pretended decree.Darius searches, finds, ratifies, enlargeth it; not only charging his officers not to hinder the work, but commanding to levy sums of his own tribute, beyond the river, for the expenses of the building, for the furnishing of sacrifices; threatening utter ruin to the house of that man, and death to his person, who should offer to impeach this bounty: and shutting up with a zealous imprecation, "The God of heaven, that hath caused his name to dwell there, destroy all kings and people that shall put to their hand to alter and to destroy this house of God which is at Jerusalem: I Darius have made a decree; let it be done with speed." Who could have looked for such an edict from a Persian? No Solomon, no David, could have said more. The ruler of all hearts makes choice of his own instruments, and, when he pleaseth, can glorify himself by those means which are least expected. That sacred work, which the husband and son of an Esther crossed, shall be happily accomplished by a Darius. In the sixth year of his reign is the temple of God fully finished; and now the dedication of it is celebrated by a joyful feast: an hundred bullocks, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, in a meet proportion, smoke upon their altars. And now the children of the captivity think this day a sufficient payment for all their sorrows. We have reason to think it the fairest day that ever shone forth to us, wherein the spiritual building of God's house is raised up in our souls. How should we shout at the laying of this foundation, and feast at the laying on of the roof! What other, what better sacrifice can we offer up to God in the sense of our joy, than ourselves? Let our hearts be at once the temple, the altar, the sacrifice. O God, be thou glorified in all these, | who hast graciously honoured all these with thyself. Every holy feast is now duly kept: the priests know their divisions, the Levites their courses, and the whole service of God is put into a settled order. But, as there can be no new beginnings without imperfection, nor long continuance without corruption, reformation is no less necessary than good institutions. Artaxerxes Mnemon had learned of his father Darius to befriend God's people, and strives to inherit his beneficence: under his government is Ezra the priest and learned scribe sent with a large commission from Babylon to Jerusalem, to inquire into the wants, and redress the disorders of the Jews, with full power, not only to carry with him all the voluntaries of his nation, and the treasures contributed in all the province of Babylon, but to raise such sums out of the king's revenues as should be found requisite; and, withal, to ordain magistrates and judges, and to crown the laws with due execution, whether to death, or banishment, or coufiscation; and, lastly, with a large exemption of the priests and Levites, and all the inferior officers of the temple, from all tolls, tributes, customs. Nothing wanted here, whether for direction or encouragement. It is a sign of God's great favour to any nation, when the hearts of sovereign governors are raised up, both to the choice of worthy agents, and to the commanding of pious and restorative actions. Holy and careful Ezra gathers a new colony of Jews, takes view of them at the river of Ahava; and finding a miss of the sons of Levi (without whom no company, no plantation, can be complete), sends for their supply; and, now fully furnished, he proclaims a fast in the way. I do not hear him say, The journey is long and dangerous; the people have need of all their strength. I could well wish us all afflicted with a religious fast, were it not that the abatement of the courage and vigour of the multitude, may endanger our success; but, without all these carnal consultations, he begins with this solemn act of humiliation. It is better to have God strong in our weakness, than to have flesh and blood strong in his neglect. Artaxerxes was a patron of the Jews, yet a pagan by profession. Wise Ezra was afraid of quenching those sparks of piety, which he descried in his semi-proselyte: rather, therefore, than he will seem to imply a distrust in the providence of that God, in whose service he went, by seeking a convoy of soldiers from the king, Ezra chooses to put himself upon the hazard of the way, and the immediate protection of the Almighty. Any death were better than to hear Artaxerxes say, Is this the man that so confidently told me, "The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him; but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him?" Doth he believe himself, that he thus doubts ere he begin? Dare he not trust his God with his own businesses? The resolutions of faithful hearts are heroical. No heathen man, shall stumble at Ezra's fear: he can find more assurance in his fast, than in a Persian band. With a courageous reliance upon the hand of his God, he puts himself into the journey, and finds nothing but safety and success. The fidelity of the Almighty never disappointed the confidence of his servants. All the army of Artaxerxes could not have been so strong a guard to the Jews, as their invisible protection. In the space of four months is Ezra and his company happily arrived at Jerusalem, where he joys to see the new temple, and his old colleagues: and now, having delivered up the charge of his treasure, by weight, in the chambers of the house of the Lord, he applies himself to his work, and delivers the king's commissions to the lieutenants and governors, for their utmost assistance. The princes of Judah do not, for aught I hear, repine at the large patent granted to this priest, nor say, What doth a man of this robe meddle with placing or displacing magistrates, with executions of judgments, to death, bonds, banishments? but rather, as congratulating this power to sacred hands, gladly present unto him all their grievances. Truly religious hearts cannot grudge any honour to their spiritual guides. This holy commissioner is soon welcomed with a sad bill of complaint from some good peers of Israel; wherein they charge divers of the priests, Levites, people, not to have separated themselves from the idolatrous inhabitants of the lands, nor therefore from their abominations, even from Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, and the rest of those branded nations; that they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons, so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with those forbidden people; and, which made the matter so much more heinous, less remediable, that the "hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass." O hypocritical Jews! did ye refuse to suffer your Samaritan neighbours to join with you in building a lifeless house unto God, and do ye now join affinity with a more accursed generation, for the building of living houses unto posterity, for the pulling down of the lively house of God? How could Ezra hear this with his clothes, his hair, his beard untorn? What grief, what astonishment, must this news needs bring to a zealous heart! And were it not that the conscience of his sincere respect of God's glory relieved him, how could Ezra choose but repent him of his journey, and say, "Am I come from Babylon to find paganism in Judah? did I leave Persians to meet with Canaanites? What do I here, if Jerusalem be removed? how much better were a clear captivity than an idolatrous free- | dom? Woe is me, that, having left many Jewish hearts in Babylon, I now am forced to find heathen blood in Jerusalem!" As a man distracted with sorrow, Ezra sits down upon the earth with his garments :ent, with the hair of his head and beard plucked off, wringing his hands, knocking his breast, not moving from his place until the evening sacrifice. It is hard to be too much affected with the public sins of God's people. Those who find themselves in the ship of God's church, cannot but be much troubled with every dangerous leak that it takes. Common cases are not more neglected by the careless, than taken to heart by the wise and godly. There, and thus, Ezra sits astonished until the evening sacrifice: others resorted to him the while, even all that trembled at the words of the God of Israel; but to help on his sorrow, not to relieve; neither doth any man wish a mitigation of his own or others' grief. At last he rises up from his heaviness, and casts himself upon his knees, and spreads out his hands unto the Lord his God. Wherefore was all that pensiveness, fasting, silence, tearing of hair and clothes, but to serve as a meet preface to his prayers? wherein he so freely pours out his heart, as if it had been all dissolved into devotion; professing his shame to lift up his face towards the throne of God; confessing the iniquities of his people, which were increased over their heads, and grown up unto heaven; fetching their trespass far, and charging them deep; feelingly acknow | | ledging the just hand that had followed them in all their judgments, and the just confusion wherein they now stand before the face of their God. Tears, and sighs, and grovellings, accom. panied his prayers; the example and noise whereof drew Israel into a participation of this public mourning; "for the people wept very sore." How can they choose but think, If he thus lament for us, how should we grieve for ourselves! All Judah went away merrily with their sin, till this check of Ezra: now they are afflicted. Had not the hands of the peers been in this trespass, the people had not been guilty; had not the cheeks of Ezra been first drenched with tears, the people had not been penitent. It cannot be spoken what power there is in a great example, whether to evil or good. Prayers and tears are nothing without endeavours. Shecaniah, the son of Jehiel, puts the first life into this business. Having seconded the complaint of Ezra, he now adds, “Yet there is hope in Israel concerning this thing; now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them: arise, for this matter belongeth to thee, we also will be with thee; be of good courage, and do it." When mischief is once done, the chief care is, how to redress it. The best way of redress is the deliberate undoing of that which we have rashly committed. The surest obligation to the undoing of an evil act, is an oath or covenant made with God, for the performance. There is no man so wise, but he may make use of good counsel; there is no man so forward, but he may abide incitation. It is no small encouragement to see a hearty assistance in an envious and difficult service. "Then arose Ezra, and made the chief priests, the Levites, and all Israel, to swear that they should do according to this word." It is half done that is thus assured. There was need of a strong power to dissolve a matrimonial, though inordinate love. Doubtless these men had married out of affection: their hearts were no less set upon these wives, though heathenish, than if they had been of their own tribes; neither were their children, thus begotten, less dear unto them, than if they had lain in Jewish wombs. Nothing less than an oath of God, therefore, could quiet these passions: that is both required and taken. Now begins Ezra to conceive some hope of present redress; the comfort whereof yet cannot turn off lus sorrow for the offence | passed. He neither eats bread nor drinks water, willingly punishing himself, because Israel had sinned. Now shall his countrymen easily read in his face their own penance, and just humiliation, and say, This man takes no joy in our sufferings; he would not smart thus for us, if he did not descry more danger towards us than we can apprehend. Proclamation is made through Judah and Jerusalem, under pain of forfeiture of substance, and excommunication from God's people, that all the children of the captivity should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem. They are met accordingly: the courts of God's house are thronged with penitents; and now, as if the heavens would teach them what to do, the clouds rain down abundance of tears. What with those sad showers, what with their inward remorse, the people sit trembling in the open courts, and humbly wait for the reproof, for the sentence of Ezra. He rises up, and with a severe countenance lays before them their sin, their amends; the sin of their strange wives, the amends of their confession, of their separation; not sparing to search their wound, nor neglecting the meet plaster for their cure. The people, as willing to be healed, yield themselves patiently to that rough hand, not shrinking at the pain, nor favouring the sore: "As thou hast said, so must we do:" only craving a fit proportion of time, and a due assistance for the despatch of so long and important a work. Ezra gladly hearkens to this not so much request, as counsel of Israel. The charge is divided to men and days; for two months space, the commissioners sit close, and within that compass finish this business, not more thankless than necessary. Doubtless much variety of passion met with them in this busy service. Here you should have seen an affectionate husband bitterly weeping at the dismission of a loving wife, and drowning his last farewell in sobs: there you might have seen a passionate wife hanging upon the arms of her beloved husband, and on her knees conjuring him by his former vows, and the dear pledges of their loves, and proffering, with many tears, to redeem the loss of her husband with the change of her religion. Here you might have seen the kindred and parents of the dismissed, shutting up their denied suits with rage and threats: there the abandoned children kneeling to their seemingly cruel father, beseeching him not to cast off the fruit of his own loins, and expostulating what they have offended in being his. The resolved Israelites must be deaf or blind to these moving objects, and so far forget nature as to put off part of themselves. Personal inconveniences have reason to yield to public mischiefs: long entertainment makes that sin hard to be ejected, whose first motions might have been repelled with ease. Had not the prohibition of these marriages been express, and their danger and mischief palpable, the care of their separation had not bred so much tumult in Israel. He, that ordained matrimony, had, upon fearful curses, forbidden an unequal yoke with infidels. Besides the marring of the church by the mixture of an unholy seed, religion suffered for the present, and all good hearts with it. Many tears, many sacrifices, need to expiate so foul an offence, and to set Israel straight again. All this while, even these mis-line Jews were yet forward to build the temple. The worst sinners may yield an outward conformity to actions of piety. Ezra hath done more service in pulling down, than the Jews in building: without this act, the temple might have stood, religion must needs have fallen: Babel had been translated to Jerusalem, Jews had turned Gentiles. O happy endeavours of devout and holy Ezra, that hath at once restored Judah to God and to itself! CONTEMPLATION II. NEHEMIAH BUILDING THIRTEEN years were now passed since Ezra's going up to Jerusalem, when Nehemiah, the religious courtier of Artaxerxes, inquires of the estate of his country, and brethren of Judea: he might well find that holy scribe had not been idle. The commission of Artaxerxes had been improved by him to the utmost. Disorders were reformed, but the walls lay waste: the temple was built, but the city was ruinous; and if some streets were repaired, yet they stood unguarded, open to the mercy of an enemy, to the infestation of ill neighbourhood.. Great bodies must have slow motions: as Jerusalem, so the church of God, whose type it was, must be finished by leisure. Nehemiah sat warm in the court at Shushan, favoured by the great king Artaxerxes: nothing could be wanting to him, whether for pleasure or state. What needed he to trouble his head with thoughts for Jerusalem? What if those remote walls lay on heaps, while himself dwelt fair? what if his far distant countrymen be despised, while himself is honoured by the great mo- | zeal with him that waits on the cup of a narch of the world? It is not so easy for gracious dispositions to turn off the public calamities of God's church: neither can they do other than lose their private felicities, in the common distresses of the universal body: If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning: if I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth." Many Jews went up from Babylon and Shushan to Jerusalem; few ever returned voluntarily from their native home to the region of their captivity. Some occasion drew Hanani, with certain others of Judah, to this voyage. Of them doth Nehemiah carefully inquire the present condition of Jerusalem. It was no news that the people were afflicted and reproached, the walls broken down, the gates burnt with fire. Ever since the furious devastation of Nebuzaradan, that city knew not better terms. Seldom doth the spiritual Jerusalem fare otherwise, in respect of outward estate. External glory and magnificence is an unsure note of the church. Well had Nehemiah hoped, that the gracious edict and beneficence of Darius, and the successive patronage of his lord Artaxerxes, had, by the continuance of twenty years' favour, advanced the strength and glory of Jerusalem; but now, finding the holy city to lie still in the dust of her confusion, neglected of God, despised of men, he sits down and weeps, and mourns, and fasts, and prays to the God of heaven. How many saw those ruins, and were little affected! he hears of them afar off, and is thus passionate. How many were, upon this sight, affected with a fruitless sorrow! his mourning is joined with the endeavours of redress. In vain is that grief, which hath no other end than itself. pagan monarch. The mercies of God are unlimited to places, to callings. Thus armed with devotions, doth Nehemiah put himself into the presence of his master Artaxerxes. His face was overclouded with a deep sadness, neither was he willing to clear it. The king easily notes the disparity of the countenance of the bearer, and the wine that he bears; and, in a gracious familiarity, asks the reason of such unwonted change. How well it becomes the great to stoop unto a courteous affability, and to exchange words of respect, even with their humble vassals! Nehemiah had not been so long in the court, but he knew that princes like no other than cheerful attendants; neither was he wont to bring any other face into that presence, than smooth and smiling. Greatness uses to be full of suspicion, and, where it sees a dejection and sourness of the brows, is ready to apprehend some sullen thoughts of discontentment, or, at the least, construes it for a disrepect to that sovereignty, whose beams should be of power to disperse all our inward mists. Even good manners forbid a man to press into the presence of a prince, except he can either lay by these unpleasing passions, or hide them: so had Nehemiah hitherto done. Now, he purposely suffers his sorrow to look through his eyes, that it may work both inquiry and compassion from his master; neither doth he fail of his hopes in either: "Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick?" How sensible do we think the Father of mercies is of all our pensive thoughts, when a heathen master is so tender of a servant's grief! How ready should our tongues be to lay open our cares to the God of all comfort, when we see Nehemiah so quick in the expressions of his sorrow to an uncertain ear!" Let the king Nehemiah is resolved to kneel to the live for ever! Why should not my counteking his master, for the repair of his Jeru-nance be sad, when the city, the place of salem: he dares not attempt the suit till he have begun with God. This good courtier knew well, that the hearts of these earthly kings are in the overruling hand of the King of heaven, to incline whither he pleaseth. Our prayers are the only true means to make way for our success. If in all our occasions we do not begin with the first mover, the course is preposterous, and commonly speeds accordingly. Who dares censure the piety of courtiers, when he finds Nehemiah standing before Artaxerxes? Even the Persian palace is not incapable of a saint. No man that waits on the altar at Jerusalem, can compare for my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof burnt with fire?" Not without an humble preface doth Nehemiah lay forth his grievance: complaints have ever an unpleasing harshness in them, which must be taken off by some discreet insinuation; although it could not but sound well in the generous ear of Artaxerxes, that his servant was so careful for the honour of his country. As nature hath made us all members of a community, and hath given us common interests, so it is most pleasing to us, to see these public cares divide us from our own. The king easily descries a secret supplication wrapped up in this moanful answer, |