5. Look up to God for strength to do his will —
[In the passage which our blessed Lord has quoted in our text, the Prophet teaches us to make this improvement of it. " The son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother ; the daughter-in-law against her mother- in-law : a man's enemies are those of his own house. There- fore I will look unto the Lord ; I will wait for the God of my salvation : my God will hear me®." Yes; your God will hear you : and how difficult soever you may find it, on some occa- sions, to hold fast your integrity, " His grace shall be sufficient for you:" and "you shall be able to do all things through Christ, who strengtheneth you."]
e Mic. vii. 6, 7.
Christ's answer to john's disciples.
Matt. xi. 4 — 6. Jesus atiswered and said iwto them, Go and shew John agam those things ivhich ye do hear and see : the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are
cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them ; and blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me.
IT has pleased God in every age so to deal with his most favoured servants as to shew, that though he had raised them up and qualified them for his service, he was not dependent on them, nor needed their labours for the support of his interests in the world. He has permitted many to languish on a bed of sickness, or to be immured in a prison, or to be cut off by an untimely death, when they might have been actively engaged in promoting his glory : and this circumstance has sometimes filled the weak and inexperienced with surprise. But it becomes all to submit with meekness even to his darkest dispensations, assured that, though clouds and darkness may be round about him, right- eousness and judgment are the basis of his throne. We are persuaded that this was the frame of the Bap- tist's mind when shut up in prison, and apparently neglected by his Lord and Master. Some indeed imagine, that John was himself beginning to doubt whether Jesus were the Christ: but when we consider the miraculous attestations of it which he had received from heaven, and the many testimonies which he him- self had borne to Christ, and the evidence which Christ daily gave of his Messiahship, and that there was no other person at that time existing as a rival of Christ, we cannot admit the idea that John's faith was at all shaken. But his disciples hearing of the wonderful miracles which Christ wrought, yet thinking that, if he were the Messiah, he would have shewn more regard for John, and used his almighty power to liberate him from prison, were much in doubt, and were therefore referred by their master to Jesus himself, in order to get all the satisfaction which they desired. To Jesus they came, and inquired whether he were the true Messiah or not : and our Lord, not choosing to let their faith rest on a mere verbal testimony from him- self, gave them the fullest evidence of their senses, and cautioned them against yielding to the force of prejudice, or rejecting him on account of any circum-
1347.] Christ's answer to John's disciples. 335
stances which they could not altogether account for. His answer to them will naturally lead us to consider,
I. The grounds we have for faith in Christ — -
There were two things to which our Lord appealed in proof of his divine mission :
1. The miracles he wrought —
[These were great and stupendous, wrought on the occa- sion, pubHcly, in the sight of these messengers; and they were of such a nature as did not admit of any confederacy or collu- sion Nothing but a Divine power could have effected