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ness of Christ in the hereafter, if so be that we will look upon Him and have communion with Him; for then He, the heavenly Magnet, will draw out of us by His presence, all the God-like nature which lies dormant in our souls,

And if we are sons of God, if we in the hereafter, by gazing on Him, by communion with Him, are to be conformed to His likeness, then should our lives be to us those of "dumb, driven cattle," and not those of "heroes in the strife"? Are we to plough our lives in the water, leaving no furrow-a little wave breaking on the shore, and then no vestige of our existence left ?

A great preacher says, "We are what the past made us; the results of the past are ourselves. The perishable emotions, the momentary acts of bygone years, are the scaffolding on which we build what we are. As the tree is fertilized by its own broken branches and fallen leaves, and grows out by its own decay, so is the soul of man ripened out of broken hopes, and blighted affections."

Yes, life out of death! health out of decay! This should be the teaching of the resurrection of Christ, the rising on "stepping-stones of our dead selves to higher things."

As we are the sons of God, as we shall be transformed into likeness with Christ, let us do something, let us be something, in life. We, surely-we, heirs of heaven, and co-heirs with Christ-have been called

into being on this earth not to lead a life of dull, passionless inaction, a life absorbed in grovelling gains, in frivolity or discontent, but rather to leave below us, as far as in us lies, the unrealities of earthly existence, and to fix our eyes ever on those eternal realities, the communion with God the Father, His Word and His Works; the communion with that Christ Whose cross no longer for us stands on earth, but, as to the Roman emperor of old, hangs high in heaven; communion with His Spirit, through Whose aid alone we are enabled to show ourselves true sons of God now in this dark world, and to see Him as He is, and be transformed in His likeness in that hereafter when He appears among the sons of men, and the day breaks full and the shadows flee away.

SERMON VIII.

The Heritage of Suffering.

PREACHED AT MORTIMER, HOSPITAL SUNDAY, 1882.

"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 did this man sin, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him."-JOHN ix. 1-3.

No single incident, perhaps, in the life of Christ as recorded in the pages of the Gospel narrative, opens out a series of reflections more varied in their suggestiveness and application than the story of which these words form the prelude. And though I propose to confine the chief part of my remarks this morning to the thoughts more immediately suggested by the text, it may not be uninteresting, nor without its bearing on our main subject, to touch lightly in passing on some of the more salient features of the whole story.

The miracle, indeed, performed on the man born blind is merely the hinge on which the door of history turns, and reveals to us a glimpse of the inner

chamber and furniture of mind which characterized some of the Jews of our Lord's day, and which, perhaps, may be not altogether unknown among the people in the times in which we live.

Notice, first, how the simplicity and straightforwardness of the healed man is brought out in sharp and impressive contrast to the sceptical sneers and subtle malice of the Pharisees. The latter are at their wits' end to discover some explanation satisfactory to their own self-complacency which may account for his restored vision. No ingenuity, however, can contest the facts. The identity of the man is beyond all reasonable dispute.

"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."

They are fairly baffled. Again and again they ply him with questions.

"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.”

There is a grand simplicity about this answer which deserves notice. No colouring or varnish in it stamps the man as a partisan of his Benefactor's cause. He is a witness who has a plain and straightforward story to tell, and no cross-examination can shake his consistency. Nor does a reference to his parents obtain for the Pharisees any explanation

which can account for the startling fact of the miracle. "We have no explanation to give," is their practical rejoinder; "ask the man himself."

And now notice how their venom grows more and more embittered in proportion as their inability to account for the fact becomes more apparent to themselves and others. And is it not always thus? Are not the bitterness and jealousy with which we condemn the views of an opponent generally a very correct measure nowadays of our ignorance on any subject on which we desire to be considered oracles. Bitter dogmatism is often another name for ignorance.

And so the Pharisees say, "Give God the praise : we know that this man is a sinner." That is, "Jesus is a mere blind organism in the hands of God; it is no merit to Him, therefore, that He should have performed this work of healing." And is not this a very modern feeling, too? When we see our neighbour praised by the world for a good deed, for some act of munificent charity or striking heroism, do not jealousy and envy turn the edge of universal praise by whispering, "It is merely his luck. It is the bare duty of a man in his position-but he-is a sinner. Give God the praise"?

But mark the healed man's answer-perhaps the most striking passage in the whole incident. There is a superb and yet homely irony in it. "Whether He be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that,

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