Yet they sent unto me four times after this sort; and I answered them after the same manner.

Ver. 4. Yet they sent unto me four times] As thinking to prevail by their importunity. This wicked men have learned from their master Beelzebub, the lord of flies, as the name (απομυιος) signifieth, or master fly, that will not off the bait till beaten, and hardly then. Sin hath painted an impudency in some men's faces; and it appears they are past all grace, because shameless, Et pudet non esse impudentes, it is not shameful to be impudent. saith Austin.

And I answered them after the same manner] Nehemiah stood immoveable as a rock; he was homo quadratus, man, four-square, not to be altered, but firm to his principles, resolute in his holy purposes. We may style him (as Theodoret doth Athanasius) the bulwark of truth (προβολον της αληθειας), the Church's champion. Nec tremere, nec timide, may seem to have been his motto, neither temerarious nor timorous.

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