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thoroughly depraved in body and soul." And wilt thou," thus so constitutionally vile, “teach us?" 'And they cast him out." This was according to their threat (ver. 22). They excommunicated him, thrust him, not only from the court-room, but from the synagogue, the Temple, and from all worship.

Ver. 35.-" Jesus heard that they
had cast him out." Christ heard
of his expulsion, hastened in
search of him. "And when He
had found him, He said unto him,
Dost thou believe on the Son
of God?" Davidson translates,
"Son of Man." That is, the
Messiah. This voice the blind
man had heard before in the
words, "Go, wash in the pool of
Siloam." No doubt he at once
recognized its tones.

Ver. 36.-" He answered and said,
Who is He, Lord, that I might

believe on Him?" As if he had said, I am ready to believe on Him if I knew Him; but I must know who He is.

Ver. 37, 38.-" 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." It is remarkable that Jesus declared Himself as the Messiah to the woman of Samaria, to His disciples, and now to this man, while He made no such explicit announcement to the Jews at large. The reason, no doubt, was, that He would not subject Himself to the tumult incident upon making such a profession to the mass of the people. Worshipped Him." "Paid Him obeisance, probably by prostrating himself on the ground according to the Eastern manner.

HOMILETICS.-We have already noticed four classes of persons in relation to the work of Christ as suggested by this chapter-those who consciously need His work, those who are speculatively interested in His work, those who are malignantly prejudiced against His work, and those who practically ignore His work. The verses now before us suggest another class, viz., those who are consciously restored by the work of Christ. The young man himself is the type of that class. He was blind, and now he saw. Not only was there in his case the restoration of physical vision, but of spiritual. He met Christ, "And he said, Lord, I believe, and he worshipped Him."

We find this man doing two things which characterize all who are spiritually restored by Christ.

I. MAINTAINING TRUTH IN THE FACE OF FIERCE OPPOSITION. Nothing could exceed the determination of these rulers to reject the fact that this blind beggar was restored by Christ. After having had him before them once, and questioned and cross-questioned him, in order to destroy the credibility of the fact, and having summoned to their presence afterwards his parents with the same attempts, and again been thwarted,

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they recall the young man, and try in every way to get rid of Jesus Christ as the Restorer. But see how he holds his own. First He maintained the truth in a noble spirit. His conduct stands in sublime contrast to that of his parents and others concerning this matter. Mark his candour. Hearing men disputing about the miracle, some saying he was like the blind man and others that he was the blind man, without mincing or hesitation, he exclaims, "I am he." Outspokenness is the ring of a great nature. Mark his courage. In defiance of the prejudices and the wishes of the Sanhedrim, he declares repeatedly that Jesus, whom they hated, wrought the cure. The genuine alone are brave: honest souls dread a lie more than the frowns of a thousand despots. Mark his consistency. In spite of all the questions, cross-questions, and brow-beating he never varies in his statements. He never flinches from his first assertion. He is consistent throughout. His honest soul, though put through hottest furnaces, will come out nothing but metal. Truth is that subtle element which alone gives unity to all the varied parts of a man's life. Error makes man contradict himself, makes his utterances and deeds jostle against each other like logs of wood on the dashing wave. Verily the spirit which this young man manifested throughout is noble, and shows that the most abject poverty, aggravated by blindness, does not necessarily unman the soul. There may be grandeur of soul where there is social obscurity and physical infirmity.

Secondly: He maintained the truth by sound argument. (1) His argument was built upon consciousness. "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." No one could convince him to the contrary. All the new sensations that the light of heaven had poured into him rose in rebellion against any doubt on the subject. The logic of a college of Aristotles could not disturb his conviction. It is so with the true Christian: he feels the change, and no argument can touch it. (2) His argument was formulated by common sense. His judges pressing him again with the ques

tion, "What did He to thee? how opened He thine eyes ?" he reproves them for repeating the questions which he had already answered; and with withering irony says, "Will ye also be His disciples ? " He states his argument thus :that his cure, of which he was conscious, was a miracle. "Herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence He is, and yet He hath opened mine eyes." Here is a miracle of which I am conscious, which you cannot deny, and you ask whence He is that wrought it? Is it not a doctrine with you, that no one who has not Divine authority can perform miracles? Why ask such questions? He goes on to state that not only had the Author of the miracle Divine authority, but also a holy character. "Now we know that God heareth not sinners." Such is the spirit of the argument with which this man maintained the truth in the face of fierce opposition; and all men who are consciously redeemed will in some such way defend the truth. They will exemplify a noble spirit, and will employ arguments drawn from their own experience-arguments which to themselves no logic can refute.

Another thing which we find this man doing, which characterizes all who are spiritually restored by Christ, is,—

Noble as

II. FOLLOWING CHRIST WHEN CAST OUT FROM MEN. was his spirit, and strong as were his arguments, instead of convincing his judges, he only irritated them and intensified their opposition. "They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins: and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out." The best men in every age are always cast out" by the ungodly. But, when cast out, what became of him?

First Christ sought him. "Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him." Christ found him out. Sometimes men seem to have found Christ out by their own searching; such was the case with Zaccheus and blind Bartimeus. But here Christ finds the man out, as He found out the woman of Samaria, irrespective of his search.

Secondly: Christ revealed Himself to him. He, that is Jesus,

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." Christ must show Himself, to be known.

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Thirdly Christ followed by him. "And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped Him." Out with the world, and in with Christ. Calvin says, "We have known the same thing in our own time; for when Dr. Martin Luther, and others of the same class, were beginning to reprove the grosser abuses of the Pope, they scarcely had the slightest relish for pure Christianity. But after the Pope had cast them out of the Roman synagogue by terrific Bulls, Christ stretched forth His hand and made Himself fully known to them."

The Preacher's Germs of Thought.

Some of the Conditions of Spiritual Healing. "AND THE POWER OF THE LORD WAS PRESENT TO HEAL."-Luke v. 17.

T was noised abroad, that Christ was in the house

(His own or Peter's, probably,) at Capernaum, and straightway a great crowd assembled, insomuch that there was no room to receive them. See Mark ii. 1, 2. Among them were Pharisees and doctors of the Law sitting by, "which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judæa, and Jerusalem." See Luke v. 17.

And now an interruption. Four men come along to the house, bearing on a couch a poor paralytic man to the Great Physician; but they could "not come nigh to Him for the press" of people. Therefore, not to be foiled in their object, 'they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling, with his couch, into the midst before Jesus." And mercifully, "the power of the Lord was present to heal."

What a com

What are some of the lessons to be learnt here? I. Wherever Christ is, there is power to heal. fort in such a world as this, where, in manifold forms, disease and death reign. Men have even to blaze abroad their confessed impotence, inscribing over some grand charity, “Hospital for the Incurable." Christ never met the suffering He could not relieve, either of body or mind-never met the case of disease He could not cure.

Moreover, wherever He was or moved, "virtue went out of Him." Whether He was seen in a house of poor or rich, in a synagogue, in the Temple, on the highway or sea-shore, there was power to help and heal. Christ always "travelled in the greatness of His strength."

Besides, healing in some form or other was His favourite occupation. Christ came, "not to destroy men's lives, but to save them." First appearance in the synagogue at Nazareth.

See Luke iv. 18.

And where can we more reasonably expect the blessing of His restoring, saving power now, than in the sanctuary? True, we go there as disciples, to learn; as children of a family, to be fed. But possibly, to His eye, many a sanctuary looks like an hospital. Thither come the patients with "afflictions, sorted;" some with lacerating disappointment; some brooding over wounds of offence-wounds of strife and spiritual conflict; some with cankering cares, or corroding anxieties that eat into the very life; souls smitten in loving but sharp discipline; souls suffering from spiritual atrophy-they take much, but nothing will nourish; others afflicted with a sort of spiritual chill-they have "caught a cold;" some paralysed, having lost all "power to will or to do ;" while over some there has come a settled melancholy. But where Christ comes, there is One who "can minister to a mind diseased," who knows the Divine art of "how to speak a word in season to him that is weary." How often have sad and sorrowing men, who have felt the touch of His hand, gone home singing, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, who healeth all my diseases."

II. Power to heal, spite of all hindrance. Pharisees and doc