If the Master praised him, he cared not what others might say of him.

'Lord, what wilt _Thou_ have me to do ?' was the constant prayer of Nehemiah's heart; and though the work was oftentimes unpopular and disagreeable, Nehemiah did it both boldly and fearlessly.
The wheel of time goes round, and history, which works ever in a circle, constantly repeats itself, and so also does sin.

The sin of Nehemiah's days is still to be seen; the same temptation which beset those Jerusalem Jews, besets us even in these more enlightened days.
We all love company.

There is in us a natural shrinking from being alone and desolate.

That feeling is born in us; we inherit it from our first father Adam.