Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1890-04-26
together. for thirty-sight years; A Christ


that the most of His works was with the dis
eased optic nerves have not time to count
up the number of blind people mentioned
who got His cure Two blind men in one
house, also one who was born blind; 50 that
it was not removal of visual obstruction,
but the creation of the cornea, and ciliary
muscle, and crystalline lens and retina,
and optic nerve and tear gland: also the
blind man of Bethsaida, cured by the saliva
which the Surgeon took from the tip of His
own tongue and put upon the eyelids also
two blind men who sat by the wayside. In
our civilized lands we have blindness enough,
the ratio fearfully increasing, according to
the staten ent of Boston and New York and
Philadelphia oculists. because of the reading
of morning and evening newspapers on the
jolting cars by the multitudes vino live out of
the city and come in to business
But in the lands where tais Divine Sur eJn
operated, the cases of blindness were multi
piled beyond everything by the particles Of
sand floating in the air. and the night dews
falling on the eyelids of those who slept on
the top of their houses: and in some of these
lands it is estimated that twenty out of
hundred people are totally blind. Amid all
that crowd of visionless people, what work
for an oculist. And | do not believe that
more than one out of hundred of that Sur
geon's cures were reported. He went up and
down among those people VINO We're feeling
slowly their way by staff. or led by the hand
of man or rope of dog, and introducing them
TO the faces of their own household, to the
sunrise and the sunset, and the evening star.
He Just ran His hand over the expressionless
face; and the shutters of both windows were
swung open, and the restored went homie
crying II see | see Thank God, l see p
That is the oculist we all need. Till He
touches our eyes we are blind Yea, we were
born blind. By nature we see things wrong
A.
ssts are put before us, and we cannot see
shem The glories of a loving and pardoning
Christ are projected, and we do not behold
hem. Or we have defective sight which
makes the things of this world larger than
the things of the future, time bigger than
sternity. Or we ara color blind and cauno
see the difference between the blaeSness O
1arkness forever and the roseate morning
an everlasting day But Christ the Surgeon
comes in, and though we shrink back, afraid
70 have Him touch us, yet He puts
His fingers on the closed eyelids OF the soul,
and midnight becomes nlid-noon; and we
understand something of the JOY OF heyoung
man of the Bible, who, though ne had neve-'
before been able to see his hand before his
face, now, by the touch of Christ, had two
headlights kindled under his brow, cried out
in language that COMPOUNDED the jeerin..
crowd who were deriding the Christ THAI
Him out bad man whether He be sinner
or no, know not; one thing | know, that
whereas | was blind, now see"
But this Surgeon was just as wonderful as
an aurist. Very few people have two good
ears. Nine out of ten people are particular
to get on this or that side of you when they
sit or walk or ride with you. because they
have one disabled ear. Many have both ears
damaged, and what with the constant rack
ct of our great cities, and the catarrhal
troubles that sweep through the land, it is
remarkable that there are any good ears at
all Most wonderful instrument is the hui
man ear. 1t is harp and drum and telegraph
and telephone and whispering gallery all in
one So delicate and wondrous is its con
stfuction that the most difficult of all things
to reconstruct is the auditory apparatus.
The mightiest of scientists have put their
skill to its returning. and sometimes they stop
the progress of its decadence or remove
temporary Instructions. but not more than
one really deaf ear out of a hundred thou
sand is ever cured. 1t took God to make
the ear. and it takes God to mendit That
makes me curious to see how Christ the STR
geon succeeds as air aurist.
We are told of only two cases He operated
on as an ear surgeon His friend Peter nat
urally high tempered, saw Christ insulted by
a man by the name of Malcnus, and Peter
let his sword fly aiming at the mans head,
but the sword slipped and hewed off the out
side ear, and our Surgeon touched tie lacera-
ton and another ear doomed in the place of
the one that bad been slashed away. Bat it
is not the outside ear that hears. That is
only funnel for gathering sound and pour
ing it into the hidden and more elaborate
ear. On tie beach of Lake Galilee our Sur
geon found a man deaf and dumb. The pa
tent dwelt in perpetual silence, and was
speeches.. He could not hear note of mu
sic OF clap of thunder. He could not call
father or mother Or wife or children by name,
What power can waken that dull tympanum
or reacn that chain of small bones or revive
that auditory nerve or open the gate between
the brain and the outside world The Sur
geon put His fingers in the deaf ears and agi
tated them, and KEPT on agitating them until
the vibration gave vital energy to all the
dead parts and they responded, and when
our Surgeon Withdrew His fingers from the
ears the two tunnels of sound were clear for
all sweet voices of music and friendship. For
the first time in his life ne heard the dash of
the waves of Galilee. Through the desert of
painful silence had been built kings high
way of resonance aud reclamation. But yet
he was dumb No word had ever leaped over
his lip. Speech was chained under his tongue.
Vocalization and accumulation were to him
an impossibIitv He could express neither
love nor Indignation nor worship. Our Sur
geou. having unbarrej his ear, will now melt
the shackle of his tongue. The Surgeon viii
Use the SAME liniment or salve that he used
on two occasions for the cure of blind people,
namely, the moisture of His own mouth. The
application is made. And 10. the TIsldity OF
the dumb tongue is relaxed and between the
tongue and teeth we're born whole vocaou
larry, and words flew into expression. Hen"
only heard but he talked. One gate OF mr.
body swung in to let sound enter. and thu
other gate swung out to let sound depart
Why is it that while other surgeons used
knives and forceps and probes and spectre
scopes, this Surgeon used only the ointment
of His own lips? 70 snow that all the cura
tive power we ever feel comes straight from
Christ. And if He touches us not, weshall be
deaf as a rock and dumb as tomb. Oh,
thou greatest of all aurists, compel US to hear
and help us to speak!
But what were the Surgeons fees for all
these cures Of eyes and ears and tongues and
withered hands and crooked backs The skill
and the painlessness of the operations were
worth hundreds and thousands of dollars Do
not think that the cases He took were all
moneyless. Did He not treat the nobleman's
son? Did He not doctor the rulers daughter2
Did He not effect cure in the house of
centurion of great wealth, who had out of
his own pocket built a synagogue They
would have paid Him large fees If He had de
manded them, and there were hundreds OF
wealthy people in Jerusalem. and among the
merchant castles along Lake Tiberias, who
would have given this Surgeon houses and
lands and all they had for such cures as He
could effect For critical cases in our time
great surgeons have received a thousand dol
lars. five thousand dollars, and 10 one case
know of, fifty thousand dollars, but the Sur
geon of whom | speak received not a shekel,
not a penny, not farthing.
In His whole earthly life, we know of His
having had but sixty-two and a hs { cents
When His taxes were due, by His omnis-
cience He knew of a fish in the sea which had
swallowed piece of silver money, as fish are
apt to swallow anything bright, and He sent
Peter with a hook which brought up that
fish. and from its mouth was extracted a
Roman slater, or sixty-two and half cents.
the only money He ever had. and that He
paid out for taxes. This great Surgeon of
all the centuries gave all His services then,
and offers all His services now. free Of
charge. without money ana without
price" you may spiritually have your blind
eyes opened. and your deaf ears unoarred,
and your dumb tongues looseaed, and your
wounds healed; and your soul saved. II
Christian people get hurt of holy. mind or
soul, let them remainder that surgery is apt
to hurt, but it cures. and YOU can afford
present pain for future glory. Beside That,
there are powerful anUsthetics in the divine
promises that soothe and alleviate No ether
or choroform or cocaine ever made one so
superior to distress as few drops of that
magnificent anodyne: IAN things work to
gether for good to those who love God"
F'Weeping may endure for night, but joy
cometh in the morning"
What grand thing for our poor human
race when this Surgeon shall have completed
the treatment of all the worlds wonndsl
The day will come when there will be no