Produced by Anne Folland, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
SOUL-HEALING FIRST: BODY-HEALING SECOND (Matt. ix. 6)
THE TOUCH OF FAITH AND THE TOUCH OF CHRIST (Matt. ix. 18-31)
A CHRISTLIKE JUDGMENT OF MEN (MATT. ix. 36)
CHRIST'S CHARGE TO HIS HERALDS (Matt. x. 5-16)
THE WIDENED MISSION, ITS PERILS AND DEFENCES (Matt. x. 16-31)
LIKE TEACHER, LIKE SCHOLAR (Matt x. 24, 25)
THE KING'S CHARGE TO HIS AMBASSADORS (Matt. x. 32-42)
THE GREATEST IN THE KINGDOM, AND THEIR REWARD (Matt. x. 41, 42)
JOHN'S DOUBTS OF JESUS, AND JESUS' PRAISE OF JOHN (Matt. xi. 2-15)
THE FRIEND OF PUBLICANS AND SINNERS (Matt. xi. 19)
SODOM, CAPERNAUM, MANCHESTER (Matt. xi. 20)
CHRIST'S STRANGE THANKSGIVING (Matt. xi. 25)
THE PHARISEES' SABBATH AND CHRIST'S (Matt. xii. 1-14)
AN ATTEMPT TO ACCOUNT FOR JESUS (Matt. xii. 24)
FOUR SOWINGS AND ONE RIPENING (Matt. xiii. 1-9)
'TO HIM THAT HATH SHALL BE GIVEN' (Matt. xiii. 12)
MINGLED IN GROWTH, SEPARATED IN MATURITY (Matt. xiii. 24-30)
THE GRAVE OF THE DEAD JOHN AND THE GRAVE OF THE LIVING JESUS (Matt. xiv. 12; xxviii. 8)
THE FOOD OF THE WORLD (Matt. xiv. 19, 20)
THB CRUMBS AND THE BREAD (Matt. xv. 21-31)
THE DIVINE CHRIST CONFESSED, THE SUFFERING CHRIST DENIED (Matt. xvi. 13-28)
CHRIST FORESEEING THE CROSS (Matt. xvi. 21)
THE KING IN HIS BEAUTY (Matt. xvii, 1-13)
THE SECRET OF POWER. (Matt. xvii. 19, 20)
THE COIN IN THE FISH'S MOUTH (Matt. xvii. 25, 26)
This word of encouragement, which exhorts to both cheerfulness and courage, is often upon Christ's lips. It is only once employed in the Gospels by any other than He. If we throw together the various instances in which He thus speaks, we may get a somewhat striking view of the hindrances to such a temper of bold, buoyant cheerfulness which the world presents, and of the means for securing it which Christ provides.
But before I consider these individually, let me point you to this thought, that such a disposition, facing the inevitable sorrows, evils, and toilsome tasks of life with glad and courageous buoyancy, is a Christian duty, and is a temper not merely to be longed for, but consciously and definitely to be striven after.
We have a great deal more in our power, in the regulation of moods and tempers and dispositions, than we often are willing to acknowledge to ourselves. Our 'low' times--when we fret and are dull, and all things seem wrapped in gloom, and we are ready to sit down and bewail ourselves, like Job on his dunghill--are often quite as much the results of our own imperfect Christianity as the response of our feelings to external circumstances. It is by no means an unnecessary reminder for us, who have heavy tasks set us, which often seem too heavy, and are surrounded, as we all are, with crowding temptations to be bitter and melancholy and sad, that Christ commands us to be, and therefore we ought to be, 'of good cheer.'