h was not a Jewish prince, although it is
supposed he had royal blood in his veins. He was born in captivity.
It was about one hundred years after Jerusalem was taken that he
appeared upon the horizon. He was in the court of Artaxerxes, a
cupbearer to the king, and held a high position. Yet he longed to
hear from his native land. When these men told him the condition of
the city, that the people were in great want and distress and
degradation, and that the walls of the city were still down, that
the gates had been burned and never restored, his patriotic heart
began to burn. We are told he fasted and prayed and wept, and not
only did he pray for one week, or one month, but he kept on praying.
He prayed "day and night." Having many duties to perform, of course
he was not always on his knees, but in heart he was ever before the
throne of grace. It was not hard for him to understand and obey the
precept, "Pray without ceasing." He began the work in prayer,
continued in prayer, and the last recorded words of Nehemiah are a
prayer.

It was in November or December when those men arrived at that court,
and this man prayed on until March or April before he spoke to the
king. If a blessing doesn't come to-night, pray harder to-morrow,
and if it doesn't come to-morrow, pray harder, and then, if it
doesn't come keep right on, and you will not be disappointed. God in
heaven will hear your prayers, and will answer them. He has _never
failed_, if a man has been honest in his petitions and honest in his
confessions. Let your faith beget patience. God is never in a hurry,
said St. Augustine, because He has all eternity to work.

In the first chapter of Nehemiah is

THE PRAYER

of this wonderful man, his cry which has been on record all these
years, and a great help to many people:

"I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God,
that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe
his commandments: let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes
open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray
before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy
servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we
have sinned against thee: both I and my father's house have sinned.
We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the
commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou
commandedst thy servant Moses. Remember, I beseech thee, the word