Then said they unto him, Where is he? He said, I know not, They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. And it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes.

Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see. Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them.

They say unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes? He said, He is a prophet.

COMMENT.-On the Sabbath of this Feast of the Tabernacles our Lord and His apostles met a man who had been blind from his birth, a poor man, apparently of the lowest class, and the disciples, knowing that all infirmity is caused by sin, and that many diseases are actual punishments for individual sins, asked whether this blindness were the effect of the man's own sin, or of that of his parents. Our Lord answered that it came from neither, but had been permitted that God's works might be shown forth. In fact, it was the occasion of completing, in word and action, that lesson on the Light of the World which the jealousy of the Pharisees had cut short. He added that He must work out the work at once, since the night put an end to work. "I am the Light of the World," He said; then He proceeded to remove the man's darkness, by applying to his eyes a mixture of part of His own Divine Self with the dust of the earth, and then bidding him prove his faith by washing in the pool of Siloam. This was the clear, deep reservoir whence came the water lately poured out in the temple as an emblem of the Holy Spirit. The name 66 Sent" was given probably because it sends out "the waters of Siloa that flow softly" to all the gardens round; but it answers to Shiloh, or Sent, the name by which our Lord was promised by Jacob. (Gen. xlix. 10.)

So He showed in this acted parable that Christ gives light to men, first by the uniting His own Divine Nature with our earthly manhood in the Incarnation, as in the clay made of the spittle and the dust; and this is followed up by our having in faith to be washed in the water of life, being born anew of water and the Holy Spirit, and thus obtaining the power to see the things of the Kingdom of God. So was this blind man's affliction made to be the means of showing forth the manner of God's working.

The miracle caused a great cavilling. At first the neighbours could not believe the man to be the same, so changed was he by the opening of his eyes, and he then was closely examined on the manner in which it was done. The making of clay and the washing were in Pharisaic eyes transgressions of the Sabbath; but the simple heart of the grateful man held fast to the conviction that He who had power to heal him could be no sinner, and must have authority to issue the commands he had obeyed.

LESSON LXXII.

PERSECUTION OF THE MAN BORN BLIND.

A.D. 29.-JOHN ix., 18—41.

But the Jews did not believe, concerning him, that he had been blind, and received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight.

And they asked them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind? how then doth he now see?

His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind :

But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not he is of age; ask him : he shall speak for himself.

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These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.

Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask him.

Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise we know that this man is a sinner.

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He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.

Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes?

He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear : wherefore would ye hear it again? will ye also be his disciples?

Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses' disciples.

We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is.

The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine

eyes.

Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.

Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind.

If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.

They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out.

Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?

He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee.

And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.

And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?

Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

COMMENT.-The history of the man who had been born blind shows us why it was that our Lord found so many more disciples among the poor than among those whom party spirit hindered from being candid.

The Jews would not believe that the man had really been blincl from his birth till they had had the testimony of his parents, and these were afraid to take any part in the discussion. The being put out of the synagogue was to be treated as one fallen from all the privileges of a Jew, and though no one durst pronounce this sentence on JESUS Himself, it had been made the penalty of adhering to Him. So the parents would only say that their son had once been blind; but would tell nothing as to the means of his seeing. The Jews called the man up, and in a rough off-hand way, taking advantage of his ignorance, said, “Give God the praise; we know that this man is a sinner." But the man was too grateful to be silenced. As to His being a sinner, he did not know, but he was sure that to Him he owed his sight. They required again an account of the means, no doubt to find some accusation therein; but the man, guessing their purpose, refused to repeat it. Then they sharply blamed him for falling away from Moses, saying they knew that God spoke to Moses, they could not tell whence this Man came. To which the ready retort was, "Why herein is a marvellous thing, that ye cannot tell whence this Man is, and yet He hath opened mine eyes!" There was nothing to hold this once blind man back

from openly owning that One who could give sight to closed eyes by a miracle must be of God. "Were He not of God, He could do nothing." This home truth stoutly stated filled his examiners with fury, they treated it as an impertinence, and at once cast him out of the synagogue. He is the first recorded as having borne persecution for our Lord's sake, and that from gratitude, and for maintaining boldly the very little he knew as yet, namely, that his Healer could not be other than Divinely commissioned. Our Lord gave more to one who thus had used his little. He sought the disgraced and sentenced man out, and made Himself fully known as the Son of God. Happy man who said, “Lord, I believe," and worshipped Him. The outward light had been to this man the beginning and guide to the inward light. He had seen the sun in the sky only a few days before, and after the trial of his truth, the Sun of Righteousness with healing in His wings had risen upon his soul. Blind had he been in sight, and ignorant of the law and prophets; now he saw clearly Him to whom they all pointed. And so our Lord, reflecting as it were on the change, observed, that in His coming, the secing had become blind, the blind had learnt to The learned were ignorant of Him, the ignorant had accepted the best wisdom. "Are we blind?" asked the Pharisees. "If ye were really blind, incapable of knowledge," our Lord replied, “it would not be your fault; but ye say, ye see. Ye are satisfied with yourselves, and therefore your sin is not taken away." So is it with all who fancy that learning and party spirit are the same with wisdom and true religion. To them applies again our Lord's warning from heaven (Rev. xi.) :—

see.

Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked :

I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear: and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see.

LESSON LXXIII.

THE GOOD SHEPHERD.

A.D. 29.-JOHN X. 1—18.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.

And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him for they know his voice.

And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.

Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.

All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.

I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.

The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.

I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.

And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.

No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

COMMENT. It appears from the verses following these that our Lord stayed on at Jerusalem, from the end of the Feast of Taber