The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1900-07-28

not cure that body so drawn out of
shape. Perhaps they might stop il
from getting any worse, perhaps they
might contrive braces by which she
might be made more comfortable, but
it is. humbly speaking, incurable. Yet
this Divine Surgeon put both His
hands on her, and from that doubled
up posture she began to rise, and the
empurpled face began to take on a
healthier hue. and the muscles began
to relax their rigiGity. and the spinal
column began TO adjust itself, and the
cords of the neck began to be more sup
pie, and the eyes that could see only
the ground before. now looked into the
face of Christ with gratitude and up
toward Heaven in transport. Straight!
After IS weary and eXhausting years.
straight! The poise. the gracefulness,
the beauty of healthy womanhood re-
instated. The IS years case was
man who lay on a mattress near the
mineral baths at Jerusalem. There
were five apartments where lame peo-
pie were brought, so that they could get
the advantage of these mineral baths.
The stone basin Of the bath is still
visible, although the waters have dis
appeared, probably through some con-
vulsion of nature. The bath, 120 feet
long, 40 feet wide and eight feet deep.
All, poor man. if you had been lame ano
helpless 3s years. the mineral bath can
not restore you. Why, IS years is more
than the average of human life. Moth
ing but the grave will cure you. But
Christ the Surgeon walks along these
baths and | have no doubt passes by
| some patients who have been only six
months disordered, or a year or five
years and comes TO the mattress of the
man who had been nearly four decades
helpless, and to this 3s years invalid
said: wilt thou be made whole?"
In speaking of Christ as a surgeon
l must consider him as an oculist or
eye doctor, and an aurist or ear doc
tor. Was there ever such another Ocu-
list? That he was particularly sorry
for the blind folks | take from the fact
that the most of His works were with
the diseased optic nerves. l have not
time to count up the number of blind
|
Two blind men in one house; also one
who was born blind; so that it was
not removal of a visual obstruction
but the creation of the cornea anC
ciliary muscle and crystalline lens ant
retina and optic nerve and tear gland
also the blind man of Bethsaida, cureC
by the saliva which the Surgeon TOOK
from the tip of His own tongue an6
put upon the eyelids; also two blind
men who sat by the wayside.
In our civilized lands we have blind
ness enough, the ratio fearfully in.
creasing, according to the statement
of European and American oeulists
because of the reading of morning anC
evening newspapers on the jolting ears
by the multitudes who live out of the
lefty and come in to business. But il
the lands where the Divine surgeon
operated the cases of blindness wer,
multiplied beyond everything by tht
particles of sand floating in the air
and the night dews falling on the eye
lids of those who slept on the top O.
their houses, and in some of these land.
it is estimated that 20 out of 100 peo
pie are totally blind. Amid all tina
crowd of visionless people, what worl
for an oculisti And l do not believ,
that more than one out of hundred
of that surgeons cures were reported
He went up and down among thos'
people who were feeling slowly thei
way by staff. or led by the hand of man
or rope of dog, and introducing then
to The faces of their own household
to the sunrise and the sunset and tn
evening star. He just ran his hant
over the expressionless face, and tn
shutters of both windows were swun.
open, and the restored went home cry
ing: 81 see! l see! Thank God l see!
That is the oculist we all need. Til
, he touches our eyes we are blind
, Yea, we were born blind. By natur,
we see things wrong, if we see then
at all. Our best eternal interests ar,
! put before us, and we cannot se
: them. The glories of a loving an'
pardoning Christ are projected, an,
we do not behold them. Or we hav
n defective sight which makes tn
= things of this world larger than tn
things of the future, time bigger thai
: eternity. Or, we are color blind an,
/ cannot see the difference between tn
? blackness of darkness forever and tn
= roseate morning of an everlasting
5 day. But Christ the Surgeon come
7 in, and though we shrink back, afrai
to have Him touch us, yet He put
His fingers on the closed eyelids @
= the soul and midnight becomes mid
/ noon, and we understand somethin
: of the JOY of the young man of tn
e Bible who, though he had never befor
been able to see his hand before hi
S face, now by the touch of Christ ha
!, two headlights kindled under hi
o brow, cried out in language that cor
: founded the jeering crowd who wer
g deriding the Christ that had effecte
/ the cure and wanted to MAKE Him OF
il bad man, whether He be a slime
e or not, know not. One thing l know
/, that whereas I was blind, now I see
t But this surgeon was just as VOL
g derful as an aurist. Very few peop