Shut in with God alone;
I praise His holy name,
Who gave the Saviour to atone
For all my sin and shame.

Shut in with God alone;
And yet I have no fear,
I rest beneath the cleansing blood,
And perfect love is here.




CHAPTER IV

_Starting Right_


"Every one over against his house," Nehemiah iii. 28. The first part of
the Book of Nehemiah gives us a striking picture of destruction, and as
we look about us we see a city in ruins: the walls are down; the homes
have been destroyed; the people are in despair, so great is the
desolation that even the temple has been defaced. When the tidings
concerning the havoc which has been wrought in the city of Jerusalem
reached Nehemiah he was well nigh heart-broken. Speaking about the
story that had been brought to him he said, "And they said unto me, The
remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in
great affliction and reproach; the wall of Jerusalem also is broken
down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire," Nehemiah i. 3. When
he reaches the city of Jerusalem he goes about to view the ruins, and