ization, or that his nervous system lost its elasticity
of tone, or that the depression of his physical life cast a shadow on
his soul?

We are all so highly strung, so delicately balanced. Often the lack of
spiritual joy and peace and power in prayer is attributable to nothing
else than our confinement in the narrow limits of a tiny room; to the
foul, gaseous air we are compelled to breathe; to our inability to get
beyond the great city, with its wilderness of brick, into the country,
with its blossoms, fields, and woodland glades. In a large number of
spiritual maladies the physician is more necessary than the minister of
religion; a holiday by the seaside or on the mountains, than a
convention.

What an infinite comfort it is to be told that God knows how easily our
nature may become jangled and out of tune. He can attribute our doubts
and fears to their right source. He knows the bow is bent to the point
of breaking, and the string strained to its utmost tension. He does
not rebuke his servants when they cast themselves under juniper bushes,
and ask to die; but sends them food and sleep. And when they send from
their prisons, saying, Art Thou He? there is no word of rebuke, but of
tender encouragement and instruction.

(2) _Disappointment_. When first consigned to prison, he had expected
every day that Jesus would in some way deliver him. Was He not the
opener of prison-doors? Was not all power at his disposal? Did He not
wield the sceptre of the house of David? Surely He would not let his
faithful follower lie in the despair of that dark dungeon! In that
first sermon at Nazareth, of which he had been informed, was it not
expressly stated to be part of the Divine programme, for which He had
been anointed, that He would open prison-doors, and proclaim liberty to
captives? He would surely then send his angels to open his
prison-doors, and lead him forth into the light!

But the weeks grew to months, and still no help came. It was
inexplicable to John's honest heart, and suggested the fear that he had
been mistaken after all. We can sympathize in this also. Often in our
lives we have counted on God's interfering to deliver us from some
intolerable sorrow. With ears alert, and our heart throbbing with
expectancy, we have lain in our prison-cell listening for the first
faint footfall of the angel; but the weary hours have passed without
bringing him, and we have questioned whether God were mindful of