that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God; this did not Abraham." John viii. 39 40.

The Jews, incensed at our Lord, rushed on him, and attempted to stone him; but Jesus, by miraculously concealing himself, had passed unhurt through the crowd, and retired out of the temple. With what patience did our blessed Redeemer bear, and with what "meekness of wisdom" did he answer the most virulent and opprobrious language. And shall we too keenly resent the reflections which are thrown upon us? May but our conscience witness for us, and we need not fear all that are against us!

17

CHAPTER XIX.

Our Lord continues to work Miracles, in Confirmation of his Mission and Doctrine. --- Calls forth and sends out seventy Disciples. Preaches to the People of Judea, by way of Parable.

THE great Preacher of Israel, having defeated the cruel designs of the obstinate Jews, in passing on his way, saw a man who had been blind from his birth. The sight of so affecting an object could not fail to excite the compassion of the benevolent Saviour of mankind. Nor could the affronts and indignities he had just received from the Jews hinder him from "working the works of him that sent him," and dispensing blessings on that rebellious and ungrateful nation. Accordingly, he beheld this poor blind man, not with a transient view, but fixed on him the eyes of pity, and presented him with the riches of his adorable love.

The disciples, observing the affectionate regard of their Master to this object of compassion, and probably imagining that he was going to extend his usual mercy to this unfortunate object, asked their Master whether his blindness was occasioned by his own sin, or the sin of his parents? They had often heard their Master say, that afflictions were commonly the punishment of particular sins, and had .learned, from the law of Moses, that sin was the

fruitful source of evil; and that the Lord punished the iniquities of the fathers upon the children. Their Master kindly answered, that neither his own nor the sins of the parents were the immediate cause of this peculiar affiiction; but that he was born blind, "that the works of God should be made manifest in him:" particularly his sovereignty in bringing him blind into the world, his power in conferring the faculty of sight upon him, and his goodness in bearing witness to the doctrine by which men are to be saved.

We may learn, by this pertinent reply of the Saviour of the world, that a curious inquiry into the cause of afflictions in other men may be safely avoided; and that we ought to suppose every calamity subservient to the glory of Omnipotence; never imputing to their personal sins whatever miseries we behold in others, lest, like the disciples in the present case, we assign to sin what owes its origin to the glory of our Maker.

Having assigned the cause of this person's blindness, namely, "that the works of God should be made manifest in him," Jesus added, "I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day; the night cometh when no man can work ;" (John ix. 4 ;) intimating to his disciples, and all the sons of men, his unwearied labor in the work of his Almighty Father. In this he was employed day and night, during the time of his sojourning in the flesh. To this alone he directed all his thoughts and all his intentions. This he esteemed even as his meat and drink; and for this he suffered the neglect of his

ordinary food, that he might finish the blessed, the beneficent work of human salvation. A work, to accomplish which he left the courts of heaven, and, during the execution of it, went about doing good.

It was now the Sabbath-day, and the blessed Jesus was going to perform a miracle, in which there was to be a small degree of servile work; and therefore he told his disciples, that they need not be surprised to see him work miracles of that kind on the Sabbathday. For though they should imagine that he might defer them till the day of rest was over, his time on earth was so short, that it was necessary for him to embrace every opportunity that offered of working miracles. Perhaps he chose to perform this work on the Sabbath, because he knew that the Pharisees would, for that reason, inquire into it with the utmost attention, and consequently render it more generally known.

But, however this might be, our blessed Saviour, who was now going to confer sight on one that was born blind, took occasion from thence to speak of himself as one appointed to give light also to the minds of men involved in darkness. "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." John ix. 5.

Having declared the salutary design of his coming into the world, "he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is, by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way, therefore, and washed, and came seeing." John ix. 6, 7.

This miraculous operation could not fail of producing a general curiosity and surprise; it induced those who had seen this blind man in his dark and deplorable condition, to be very particular in their inquiries into the means of so singular a miracle. It was, doubtless, the subject of general conversation, and, it is natural to think, should also have proved the means of a general conversion; but, as it too frequently happens, a perverse curiosity prevented its salutary effects upon their souls. Unbelief, and hardness of heart, led some of them even to doubt of the plainest fact- a fact the most evident and indisputable, and plainly the work of the Divinity—and others, to persecute at once both the object and the author of it! "The neighbors, therefore, and they which had before seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged? Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he." John ix. 8, 9.

The man, transported with gratitude and joy, and perceiving his neighbors to doubt of the identity of his person, proclaimed himself to be the very same whom they lately saw begging in total darkness. I am he thus wonderfully blest with sight, by the peculiar mercy of the Almighty! I am he, who was blind from my birth, whom ye have all seen, and many relieved from my miserable distress! I am he who was, even from my mother's womb, involved in total darkness, but now enjoy the enlivening light of day!

So genuine an acknowledgment of the fact ex