towns-man, one of their own people: if he were such,
theirs was the credit of having produced him! Then indeed they were
ready to bear witness to him, take his part, adopt his cause, and before
the world stand up for him! As to his being the Messiah, that was merest
absurdity: did they not all know his father, the carpenter? He might,
however, be the prophet whom so many of the best in the nation were at
the moment expecting! Let him do something wonderful!

They were not a gracious people, or a good. The Lord saw their thought,
and it was far from being to his mind. He desired no such reception as
they were at present equal to giving a prophet. His mighty works were
not meant for such as they--to convince them of what they were incapable
of understanding or welcoming! Those who would not believe without signs
and wonders, could never believe worthily with any number of them, and
none should be given them! His mighty works were to rouse the love, and
strengthen the faith of the meek and lowly in heart, of such as were
ready to come to the light, and show that they were of the light. He
knew how poor the meaning the Nazarenes put on the words he had read;
what low expectations they had of the Messiah when most they longed for
his coming. They did not hear the prophet while he read the prophet! At
sight of a few poor little wonders, nothing to him, to them sufficient
to prove him such a Messiah as _they_ looked for, they would burst into
loud acclaim, and rush to their arms, eager, his officers and soldiers,
to open the one triumphant campaign against the accursed Romans, and
sweep them beyond the borders of their sacred country. Their Messiah
would make of their nation the redeemed of the Lord, themselves the
favourites of his court, and the tyrants of the world! Salvation from
their sins was not in their hearts, not in their imaginations, not at
all in their thoughts. They had heard him read his commission to heal
the broken-hearted; they would rush to break hearts in his name. The
Lord knew them, and their vain expectations. He would have no such
followers--no followers on false conceptions--no followers whom wonders
would delight but nowise better! The Nazarenes were not yet of the sort
that needed but one change to be his people. He had come to give them
help; until they accepted his, they could have none to give him.

The Lord never did mighty work in proof of his mission; to help a
growing faith in himself and his