other gross abomination by which "Judah and Jerusalem were defiled". nor was his zeal consumed in one direction. He sought to raise up that which was good, while putting down that which was bad. He set himself to the work of repairing "the house of the Lord his God." And during these repairs," a book of the law of the Lord was found given by Moses"-and when the book was carried to the king, and read before him," he rent his clothes"-and for what reason? because he trembled for himself and for his people and he “sent to enquire of the Lord." Although it was impossible that inspired declarations of the purposes of God could be reversed, yet the pious solicitude of Josiah for the people was appreciated by Him who" trieth the heart.” The good king was spared from seeing the evil which was to be brought "upon that place and its inhabitants." Still further active for the best interests of his subjects,

he revived and restored religious ordinances, for he commanded them saying, "keep the passover unto the Lord your God as it is written" and he accompanied the command by affording them every facility for obeying it thoroughly. Josiah was undoubtedly the friend of his people, and might prove a useful object for the attention of Christian rulers.

Concern felt for the condition of the oppressed and degraded bespeaks the presence of a spirit delicate and nobly moulded. It was when tidings reached the godly Nehemiah of the wretched state of the Jews" which were escaped and left of the captivity," sunk in "great affliction and reproach," and that the wall of their Jerusalem was "broken down and the gates burned with fire," that he "sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven." During this period of humiliation, after

confessing the sins of the children of Israel, and alluding to the threats and promises pronounced to them through Moses, the heart of Nehemiah seemed lifted up to God by faith, to ask the special favour of help in a project which filled his thoughts, as he said, "Prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man," for he was the king's cupbearer. Holding communion with God is the way to strengthen men's courage, and discover to them that supposed impossibilities are often proved to be practicable, when laid before the throne of the Lord God omnipotent. Nehemiah found it so; for "it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him, and I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence." Nehemiah was no hypocrite; the anguish his countenance betrayed for the guilt and