The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 2 — Section 261

by the coldness and neglect ?f some familiar friend. The spirit droops. Inp;ratitude has wounded, neglect has ch11led, cruelty ha.s crushed, and enmity has tried to slay reputation and renown. "The spirit of a man can sustain his infirmity, but a wounded spirit who can bear?" Who? Certainly not the anxious temperament. Surely at such times it is heart-rest to know the Brother born for adversity, the Friend that sticketh closer than a brother; then is the hour to feel the warm radiance of the love of Christ. One smile from the Saviour t.l1en is worth all the honour and flattery of a fickle world. Doubt simply means misery and darkness to the anxious temperament. And in such. a .wor)d as this, where we never know what a day or an hour may bring forth, surely 1t 1s wise to obey the counsel concerning God, "Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace." , III. THERE MAY BE MINISTRATIONS THAT ARE HUMAN AS WELL AS DIVINE. We can perform miracles of healing, not in the old sense, but wonders of restorative powers are within our reach. Is it a child that is nervous and sensitive? See to it, 0 parent, that you early discern the differenc.e between that little trembling spirit and the stronger brother. Is it a life-companion? See that you do not treat this sensitiveness as a mere weakness to be cured by physical agencies alone-the best curative will be a cheerful mind within, working outwards. 1. Settled melancholy is terrible, and it often prevail,s. Try and a,ert it by all ministries of hope and cheer and comfort that you can command. Try and do as Wilberforce is said to have done-bring a ray of sun- shine across every threshold you cross. We talk about courage, but we do not yet fully understand its true philosophy. It is altogether a related thing. If constitution- ally bra,·e-that is not the highest courage. It is easy for some who are born strong to be physically brave; it is easy for some t.v be determined and defiant; it does not spoil their rest nt night to fight battles for themselves or others. But with the nervous temperament to~ act out all the truth that is in them is a costly affair; it tears their strength to pieces. With them to bear the slight of neglect, or the wound of insult, is like a crown of thorns on the heart. With them happiness itself is as the life of a plant which has its nerve-centres in other hearts. The best medicine for many is to he understood and appreciated. You cannot talk down or laugh down nervousne&s. You cannot even argue down the sensitiveness that springs from it. You cannot do all you desire to do even; but you can do much; and the evening of life will bring you no sweei·er reward than for your Lord's sake to have fulfilled the scriptural command, "D"ar ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the Law of Christ." 2. Christ's spirit is little undcrstood,and sometimes little honoured. You have but to study life to see how much hard11ess and cruel.ty there is in it. Begin at the beginning. Take school life- public sclwol iife ! How are boys trained? Why, to admire the daring and defiant, to hu111iliale the weak, to laugh at sensibility as womanish, to deal with one another as brutes, wliere the strongest is lord. And it is said home-petting is cured by such means. Cured? I believe that Christ's book of record will contain martyr-lives of school-clays more terrib!e than the martyrdoms once and for ever made at the stake. G ruwn-u p men do not like to talk of such things; but many look back with a creeping sense of horror at their school-time. The nervous and the sensitive have had their natures repreBsed and their hearts crushed, who entered public schools with beautiful, child-like, Christ-like spirits. Take a nation. Even when it is called Christian, bow often is it bra~gart, defiant, imperiou~, proud of military strength! how little concilia- tion to smaller nations !-that is thought to be unworthy of imperial greatness I We have to live and teach the cross, in its spirit as well as in its doctrine; in its beautiful revelation that he, the Highest and Strongest of all, suffered for us; that he was despised an<l rejected of men for us; that he gave himself for us. Remember, then, that you staud in Christian relationship to the timorous, the sensitive,a.nd the anxious, and ever seek to manifest the spirit of him who would not break the bruised reed. IV. THERE .MUST BE A STUDY OF THE DI6EABE TO UNDERSTAND THE REMEDIES. That is why I ask you to meditate on the nervous temperament. How unrea.l are its images! How it trembles at the idea of solitude I How it fears to-morrow I How it bows in gloom before the advent of disea110 or death! You cannot see the delicate net- work of nerves; you cannot understand the mysterious functions of the brain. We are fearfully as well as wonderfully made; then let us remember bow easily nervousness is promoted by self-indulgence a.nd sloth. by morbid books, by strange tales told in child- OIi, LI. 1-23,] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 271