Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1899-03-04
9nttrnationa1 gessoits.
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON XII, FIRST QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, MARCH 12.
Text Of the Lesson, John IL, ILL.
Memory verses. 5-7-Golden Text,
John ix, 2S-Commentary Prepared
by the Rev. d. VI. Stearns.

John ix, 2S-COmmentary Prepared
by the Rev. d. VI. Stearns.
copyright. 1899. by D. M. Stearns.]
l. And as Jesus passed by He saw q
man which was blind from his birth. "
In Acts i'll, Q, we see man lame from his
birth who was healed though Peter and
John. These cases of inflrmity from birth
are suggestive of the truth that we are all
sinners by birth, by nature the children OF
wrath (Eph. ii, 81. The cases Of in1rmi-
ties which come after birth are suggestive
of the after manifestations of the sin that
is born In us.
Q. And His disciples asked Him say
ing, Master, who did sin, this man or his
parents, that he was born blind?" The
reasoning of Jobs friends is brought to
mind "whoever perished being innocent, "
and many such like words (Job iv, y, but
when the Lord summed up the matter He
said that these men had not spoken OF
Him right things (Job xiii, y. While
It Is true that whatsoever q man soweth
that shall he also reap, yet we cannot
Judge from seeing one sick or suffering
that therefore they are reaping from some
sowing, for whom the Lord loveth BE
chaseeneth, and if we endure Christening
God dealeth with us as with sons (Heb.
xii, 6, y.
8. "Jesus answered, Neither hath this
man sinned nor his parents, but that the
works of God should be made manifest In
him." This mans blindness was not the
result of any special sin on the part of his
parents. This is what our Lord says. He
does not say that his parents were not sim
ners needing a Saviour, but He does say
that this affiiction Of having blind son
was not Judgment upon them, but
rather an occasion for God to be glorifed-
There are many nowadays who think that
a blind or lame or sickly child is an aff1ic-
tion upon the parents for some sin against
God.
4. "I must work the works of Him that
sent Me while it is day. The night COM
eth when no man can work" A carpen-
ter wants material on which to use his
tools and show his skill, doctor or sur
geon wants patients, and the worse or
more hopeless the case the more credit to
the physician for bringing cure and
health. Our Lord often repeats the truth
that all His works are commanded by and
wrought by the Father who sent Him, and
more than once it Is written that as the
Father sent Him so He sends us. It is
equally true that as God wrought IN Him
so God works in us, for while we are COM
manded to work we arc also told in the
same connection that it is God that work
eth in us both to will and to do. 1t was
His hand which prepared all the good
works we are to walk in.
5. "As long as l am in the world I am
tho light of the world" This is oft repeat
ed Chapters /, 4, 8; viii, 10; xii, 46). And
in the Sermon on the Mount He said to
His disciples, aye are the light Of the
world" We must remember that the life
is the light, and the life Is that which
men see and read. Words may amount to
but little, but holy life Is unanswerable
We are certainly not equal to 1t. We can
not live the Christ life nor do His works,
but if we are willing and yielded Hewill
live the life and work the works. Paul
said, II live, yet not 1, but Christ, liveth
in me.
6. "When He had thus spoken, He spat
on the ground and made clay Of the spit
tie, and He auointed the eyes of the blind
man with the clay" Sometimes He works
just by word, sometimes by touch and
at other times as here. He uses means,
but whether by word, a touch or other
instrumentality it is God who worketh
In the clay We have the dust of the ground
and His spittle-something Of earth and
something of God. Is not saved sinner
just that-something human, something
divine? And we are His workmanship
prepared for good works.
z. And said unto him, Go, wash In the
pool of Sloan (Which is by Interpretation
sent). He went his way, therefore, and
washed and came seeing" How often in
this gospel does Jesus speak OF Himself as
sent of God How suggestive, therefore,
is Sloan of Him who was and Is truly
the sent One! The clay is to be washed
off into Sloan. He who made the clay
and uses it receives it back to Himself.
The clay has no honor. 1t Is not to be
saved and laid up as precious thing, but
to be washed off into Sloan. Some OF US
stick so close to peoples eyes that they
cannot see.
s. 1.-The neighbors, therefore, and they
which before had seen him that he was
blind said, Is not this he that sat and
begged?" Formerly blind, helpless beg
gar, holding out his hand to every passer-
by for the aims they might be pleased to
give, but now upright, with opened eyes,
seeing like other men and enjoying what
be saw as none others did, for he had
never seen before. He is in new world
the sun, the sky, the trees, the flowers,
the faces of his friends, butt best Of all, q
little later, the face of Christ.
9. "Some said, This is he; others said,
He is like him, but he said, I am he"
Whatever others knew or did not know,
he could say, Zone thing I know-that
whereas I was blind. now see" (verse 25).
They might argue all they pleased-he
had the conscious joy of possessing what
he never possessed in all his life before,
and they could not gainsay it nor take 1t
from him. Argument Is not profitable;
possession Is.
10. Therefore said they unto him, How
were thine eyes opened?" And when he
told them they would not be persuaded,
but asked his parents, and SO their ques-
tions went on, all to no profit. The weap-
ons of our warfare are spiritual, casting
down reason or imaginings QI Cor. 4 4,
s, margin).
II. "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 Sloan and wash. And went
and washed, and 1 received sight" He
told simple, straightforward story and
stuck to it and insisted that the man must
be of God or he could not work such mir
acles, for it had never been heard Of before
that one born blind should have his eyes
opened. The Pharisees were so blinded
by their views of their Sabbath day and
so incensed by this man who paid no at
tention to their traditions that they would
not listen to the mnn,s story of his eyes