Ver. 22.- "These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews." Standing before such an august tribunal, brow-beaten, and knowing the consequences of their avowal, they had not the courage to declare the fact. "For the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that He was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue." "There were two or three kinds or degrees of excommunication among the Jews. The lighter species consisted of a kind of suspension from some of the privileges of worship and social intercourse, while the heavier was an utter and final exclusion, attended with terrible curses and maledictions that were pronounced in the fearful words, Anathema Maranatha (1 Cor. xvi. 22).”

Ver. 23." Therefore, said his parents, He of age; ask him." At the age of thirteen, among the Jews, a person was qualified to give evidence on disputed points. In this way the parents exposed their son to the danger from which they shrunk.

ask him he shall speak for himself." "The son must speak for himself. The whole reply is characteristic of parents who are honest and sensible, but at the same time timidly and selfishly cautious. Something of their son's intellectual humour is perceptible in their answer, which, however, especially testifies to their pride that their son has wit enough to give them correct information with regard to the last question. The thrice-repeated αὐτὸς αὐτοῦ ἡμεῖς, αὐτὸν, αὐτὸς) is in the highest degree significant. On the one hand it tells of their confidence in their son, but on the other hand, also of their fear. That they hereby jeopardize him or leave him in the lurch, is truly a selfish trait. They lack strength to prove their gratitude for the healing of their son by uniting their testimony to his, although they clearly indicate by the tartness and touchiness of their reply, that they are thoroughly observant of the bad intentions of the inquisitors." -Lange. HOMILETICS. The previous paragraphs of this chapter we employed to illustrate three classes of men in relation to the work of Christ; viz., those who consciously need His work, those who are speculatively interested in His work, and those who are malignantly prejudiced against His work. These words we employ to illustrate another class; viz., those who practically ignore His work. This class is represented by the parents, who were called into court, and who, instead of avowing that Christ had given eyesight to their son, evaded the question for fear of the Jews. That they felt some interest in Christ can scarcely be doubted. He who had conferred such a benefit on their son could scarcely fail to attract their special attention and to make some such special impression. But their interest in Him was not strong enough to make them courageous for the truth. They practically ignored Him. The great majority of men in England, ay in Christendom,

belong to this class. They have no strong prejudice against Christ, still less are they malignant opponents; but they lack that vital interest in Him necessary to induce them to avow Him. We offer three remarks in relation to this class, as suggested by the conduct of these parents.

I. They ignored Christ's work, although THEY HAD EVERY OPPORTUNITY OF KNOWING IT. It cannot be doubted for a moment that these parents had the means of knowing Christ. He was no stranger in the neighbourhood. Often, in all probability, they had seen Him, heard Him speak, and witnessed some of His beneficent works. They were present, too, without doubt, when He wrought the miracle on their son; and from the lips of their son, we may infer from the sequel, they had heard, with the emphasis of gratitude and delight, the marvel which Jesus of Nazareth had wrought. This is the case with the millions that belong to this class; they practically ignore Him, not because they lack opportunities of knowing the mighty works He has achieved and is still achieving. Wherever they look, they can discover monuments of His beneficent operations. In every social circle which they enter they can scarcely fail to find some faithful disciple who will proclaim and extol His name.

Another remark in relation to this class, as suggested by these parents, is,—

II. They ignored Christ's work when GRATITUDE SHOULD HAVE URGED THEM TO ACKNOWLEDGE IT. Under what an obligation had He placed these parents, in conferring on their son the inestimable privilege of vision! By this He had not only given their child a new world of enjoyment, but had given him a capacity to contribute to their comfort and enjoyment in such a way as he never could have done in a state of blindOne might have thought that common gratitude would have impelled them, not only to acknowledge Him, but to glory in His name. Have not all the members of this class in Christendom, and especially in England, the strongest reasons for cherishing gratitude to Christ? All that is salutary and righteous in their government, all that is pure and ennobling

ness.

in their literature, all that is fair and honest in their commerce, all that is true and loving in their friendships, all that is progressive in their intelligence, morality, and happiness, must be ascribed to Him. Take from England to-day all that she owes to Christ, and you will leave her in all the ignorance, the confusion, horrors, and cruelties of the heathen districts of the world. What base ingratitude, then, to ignore Christ! Another remark in relation to this class, as suggested by these parents, is,—

III. They ignored Christ's work FROM A COWARDLY MEANNESS OF SOUL. "They feared the Jews," they were afraid of the Sanhedrim; they were afraid to be truthful, honest, and hence their reply, "He is of age, ask him." They were willing for their son to bear alone all the danger that the avowal of the truth would entail.

Why do members of this class now ignore Christ? Does not selfish fear lie at the root of their baseness-fear of losing property, sacrificing friendships, and injuring their position and their influence? Fear, that prompted Peter to deny Christ, inspires the multitudes to ignore Him. Strange to say, thousands who have the courage to confront an army, are too cowardly to avow Christ. "He that is ashamed of Me

and of My cause," etc.

"THE Cure of the blind man, and the incidents and conversations which followed thereupon, are transactions as full of nature as they can hold. Here was a miracle right under the eye of the Sanhedrim, and in the Temple court, and the people have seen it. It will not do to arrest and execute this man, unless the fact can be accounted for or explained away. They appeal to the parents, hoping the parents will deny that there was any blindness in the case. They evade most ingeniously, and are non-committal. All we know about it is, that he was born blind, and that he now sees. Who opened his eyes? He is of age, ask him.' Then follow the cross-examination of the young man himself, and his excommunication, and the rebuke of Jesus to the Pharisees for their own incurable blindness, ascending as usual from natural things to spiritual. The miracle is only the nucleus of a whole texture of natural events, and the discoursings which proceed from them, which are indissolubly bound together with the plainest marks of historic certainty, and the most subtle shadings of human character."-Dr. Sears.

The Preacher's Germs of Thought.

The Spectre of the Old Nature.

"O WRETCHED MAN THAT I AM! WHO SHALL DELIVER ME FROM THE BODY OF THIS DEATH? "-Rom. vii. 24.

OME years ago a large number of peculiar photographs were circulated in America by spiritualists. Two portraits appeared on the same card, one clear and distinct, and the other faint and obscure. The fully-developed portrait was the obvious likeness of the living person who sat to the photographer; and the indistinct portrait was supposed to be the likeness of some dead friend, produced by supernatural agency. Several specimens of these double photographs were sent to this country, and the mystery that had been made use of to foster a gross superstition was found to admit of an easy scientific explanation. Photographic portraits are first taken as negatives on glass plates, and from these plates they are printed as positives on cards. It not unfrequently happens that the portrait of a person is so deeply impressed on the glass of the negative by the action of the light, that although the plate is thoroughly washed and cleansed even with strong acid, the picture cannot be removed from it, although it is made invisible. When such a plate is used over again, the original image faintly reappears along with the new portrait. Beyond the substantial and fullydeveloped figure of the person last taken, is the shadowy outline of some unknown person, occupying the same chair and exhibiting a ghostly repetition of the same accessories.

Now, as it is with these double or phantom photographs, so is it in the experience of the Christian. He has been washed and purified in the blood of Christ; the old man, with his sinful deeds, has been put off, and the new man, which after God is renewed in knowledge and holiness, put on. Beholding the glory of Christ as in a glass, he is changed into the same image. And yet, notwithstanding all this, the ghost of

his former sinfulness, the phantom of the old nature, persists in reappearing side by side with the image of the new man. So deeply are the traces of the former godless life impressed upon the soul, that even the sanctification of the Spirit, carried on through the discipline of trials, bitter and burning as any corrosive acid, cannot altogether remove them. They may seem to vanish for awhile, but again and again they reappear when the slightest temptation presents itself. The Christian is indeed a new creature in Christ Jesus; but all old things have not passed away. The remains of former corruption still exist in his soul. The sins formerly committed passed into the very substance of his being. The memory of them often rises up to haunt him and mock his repentance.

Such was the experience of St. Paul. He passed through an ideal death, a spiritual martyrdom, to a nobler life in Christ Jesus; and yet the image of his former life, the old body of death, kept ever reappearing. He strove to forget the things that were behind, but they intruded on his holiest and heavenliest moments. Thoughts and suggestions of evil started up even when he was most occupied in communion with Christ. The photographer is familiar with a process which has the peculiarity of completely obliterating his picture, reducing it to a state of perfectly white paper which may be used for any other purpose; but though utterly invisible, the picture still exists, and may at any time be revived from its dormant state by brushing it over with a certain chemical solution. And so it was with the Apostle. The sin that so easily beset him seemed to disappear altogether for a time; but it returned with fresh power in circumstances favourable to it, and made him almost despair of renewing efforts so often defeated. And this confession of his powerlessness to throw off the incubus was made, not when he was a mere novice in the Divine life and the scales had newly fallen from his eyes, but after he had been thirty years a Christian and twenty years an Apostle, and was ready to be offered up on the altar of the martyr's sacrifice. The sense of the contrast between the two natures within him became stronger and more painful with his growth in grace.