on Good Friday they draw a cross on the bread they eat, and think it is all thus sanctified: it is just the shell or husk of a great and true thought, viz. that every crumb of bread has the cross of Christ upon it to the eye of faith; that the least mercy is the purchase of his blood. As soon as we can see and feel the great fact and reality, that our largest and least blessings are derived from Christ, we shall see Christ's image reflected from every thing; we shall hear the sweet tones of his voice running through all sounds; we shall taste in bread something sweeter than bread; all life will become to us a grand sacrament, earth itself a communion table, the whole world, as it were, a eucharistic festival; and all men will be felt to be brethren and fellow communicants; and to our eye the very desert will rejoice, and the wilderness blossom as the rose.

And then, in the last place, the result of the continuous view of Christ giving all, and doing all, is that we become daily more assimilated to him, and grow more and more like him: by the constant practice of rising from the gift to the giver, from the bread to the bread-giver, we come to drink into his spirit, and with increasing speed

conformed to him. And thus our daily meals become Scriptures, our commonest acts become Divine ones; we see him acting in all, and hear him speaking in all; new lights sparkle to us upon the mountain-tops; a new beauty glows in every landscape; the earth becomes girdled with a richer and more glorious zone; and we see brethren in heights and in depths, in palaces, and in huts, and in hovels; every day becomes a Lord's day, and its dawn the dawn of that millennial day when the giver shall take the place of his gifts; and men shall live and rejoice, not in the streamlet, but in the fountain; not in the creature, but in the Creator; not in the dead bread, but in the living bread that cometh down from heaven. Let us, in the mean time, follow Jesus, into the wilderness if needs be; let us trust in Jesus for the supply of the wants that we feel; and while we ask him for the bread that perisheth, let us ask him that he would give us that better bread that endures unto life eternal.

LECTURE XVIII.

THE BLIND MAN.

And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day the night cometh, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. When he had thus spoken, 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. The neighbours therefore, and they which before had 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. Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened? He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash and I went and washed, and I received sight. 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. 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. 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. 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. -JOHN IX.

I BELIEVE that this chapter is one of the most expressive sketches of contrasted human character that is contained in the Bible, and is not the least suggestive, to every one that reads and thoroughly understands it, of important practical reflections.

It appears from the close of the previous chapter, that Jesus had been proscribed and persecuted by the Pharisees; for it is said, "They took up stones to cast at him, but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by." And this ninth chapter, which is evidently the sequel of the previous one, goes on to say, that "As he passed by [running from the stones of the Pharisees] he saw a man which was blind from his birth." Teaching us the remarkable and