The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-08-18

Aug. 10, 900 John tx, 1-17-The Man
Eoru blind.


To the thirty-three parallels the thirty-thre@
miracles of Jesus may well be added: for the
latter were in fact parallels. too-deeds packed
with an inexhaustible symbolism. The
Cplifted stones. the glazing faces OF those who
thirsted for His blood. had just forcibly re-
minded Jesus OF the rapid approach of the right
OF death, in which He must cease from these
symbolic deeds. He will crowd the few remain
ing hours full of them. Among the laz-
zaroni crowding the approach 10 the temple
stands the well-known beggar blind from birth.
Pfnninger, with the instinct OF a poet. imagines
a discussion among the apostles as they half
halt in passing: Judas began. His parents
must have heavily sinned.' Thomas replied. Or
God foresaw great sin in Him. John adds. i
know not what TO think thereon Peter finally
breaks out, Master. tell Us who.' The
words Of Jesus may have fallen upon the ears
of the unfortunate man, all the more alert be-
cause the other sense was lost. Those words
may have been the seeds of that faith which
was so soon TO shake like Lebanon Neither
this man nor his parents.' . What JOY TO
be rid of the odious imputation cast at him from
childhood. that his phenomenal suffering must
be penalty of phenomenal sin! Now. that he is
in this sad and. humanity speaking, remedies
plight, he furnishes a rare subject for the dis
play of my divine power. 1 will make him a
new, indubitsble and ~lustrous seal upon my
claim TO Messiahship." . II pleased the
Master to condescend TO the use of the crude
materia medica of the day in order TO strengthen
the growing faith OF the unfortunate man and to
make the cure the more conspicuous. Across the
city he goes, holding the ~poultices of clay TO his
sightless eyes. followed by an ever-increasins
crowd OF curiosity mongers. some OF whom. no
doubt, gibe at his credulity. He went; he
washed; he saw. As the clay iozengers dropped
siloam's mirrored surface reflected for him the
beetling crags OF the temple-crowned mount and
over all the azure dome. . . What wonder
that his very neighbors doubted the identity OF
the man upon whose expressionless face the
light of the soul was now pouring through his
opened eyes! The man himself was passed into
a new world. but has no doubt about his being
the same man who once cried on the temple
steps: PITY one born blind." Nor has he a
shadow of doubt as to who wrought his cure.
Mayhap some hired and overalert emissary OF
the Sanhedrim hales him before that august
body. 1t was. for them, the most unfortunate
catch" they ever made. The man deposes like a
self-possessed witness. He rests the irresistible
lover OF his logic upon an indisputable fact. and
hears down upon IT with the vigor of true man.
illness. Behold you. the ancient. caunted. co.
lossal superstructure Of an efete ecclesiasticism
topples to its fall There Is a wild scurrying to
its rescue. . The attempt is made to ter
rorize the mans parents into the lie that his
blindness was not congenital- Their very timid-
ity enhances the value of their testimony. The
man himself is now recalled. and. as IL In his
| absence a foul plot had been discovered to foist
Jesus upon the nation by means of a fictitious
| miracle. he is adjured by all the pains and
penalties at discretion of the Sanhedrim to deny
the validity of his cure. . . . Like a pillar OF
Hercules this humble man stands while the
highest court Of his nation frets itself into q
foam Of rage against him. He Is overborne at
length and swept -contemptuously out like so
much filth and offscouring But he is quickly
| found of Jesus. and ensconced in that church
against which the gates. of hell shall ne'er pre-
| vail.
TEACHERS NTER
| I picked up an autograph album in the home
Of my friend. Professor Sultzberger. in Frank
furt-am-Main: and. opening IL at random. my
eye fell on the. to me, familiar handwriting of
-Four first bishop TO make the circuit OF the globe.
The sentiment was one never to be forgotten:
The question is not so much how sin got into
the world as how TO get sin out OF the world.
C. Kingsley" Jesus steered His dis
| c:ples away from a subject that was purely
speculative in character. He attempts no the
| odicy. He simply afirms that In this instance,
though the parties were not sinless persons. the
suffering was not due TO an unusual
| degree of sin in them. But Providence would
avail himself Of this instance Of phenomenal
ainiction 10 snow the oiNine power tnat was In
Christ. An eccentric thought which
Victor Hugo somewhere weaves into one Of his
fctions is this-the normal condition OF our
world is one of darkness, only relieved by the
Intrusion upon ii Of the Illuminating orb. What
may be a mere conceit as regards the material
world is a fact in the moral sphere. The utter
and obstinate darkness of mems minds to the
things of God is only relieved by Him who said
Il am the light of the world" Prof.
Tyndall can trace the subtle metamorphoses OF
sunlight in its manifestations in organic and m
organic, vital and physical power. In every fire
that burns. and every flame that giows. he sees a
dispensing of light and heat which originally be-
longed to the sun. Yet. when it comes 70 believ-
ing that the moral darkness Of the human soul
for the nnrnnSa Of huildino q stao e raad