The Red Cloud chief., 1905-03-17

next of the Lesson, John IL. ILL.
Memory verses, 10, 11-GOlden Text,
John In. documentary Prepared
by Rev. ID. NJ. learns.
Copyright. 1905. by American Press Association
How manifold are the scenes and
events I'm Scripture which 40 clearly
reveal TO us God and His love and our
selves and our sinfulness! All our
righteousness are only filthy rags,
and we must he born from above; we
are actual sinners, but we may become
wells of living water; we are utterly
impOtcnt, but without human instru-
mentality or ordinance. lie can make
us whole: lie can satisfy III hunger
and use us to feed the hungry. And
now we are reminded that we are
blind, but He can give us sight and
use us TO open the eyes Of others. Like
this man. we were born blind, by ma
ture children of wrath. dead in sins,
without Christ. having no hope and
without God CEph. ii, 3. 3, 10. blinded
by the god of this world. wrctchcd and
miserable and poor aud blind and ma
ked O1. Cor. ", 4; Rev. iii. ~, our lives
all waste and void and dark, but God,
who commanded the light to shine out
Of darkness, can shine in the darkest
heart Gen. |, .: II Cor. iv, ~.
1t is To this day II nm belief
that if any one is afflicted there must
have been some individual sin back of
It, some reason for the aillictiOn or
trial. but our Lords reply on this occa-
sion indicates the "Reminiscences Of
such Il supposition. While all are sim
ners and sin is mt the root Of all suf-
fering and some suffering may he
caused by particular individual sin, rs
In the case of the impotent man (John
v, AZ, yet If parents have blind or
deaf or dumb or palSied children there
Is no good reason for thinking that
some special sin on the part of the
parents lies back of it.
The sickness and death of Lazarus,
the brother of Martha and Mary, and
all the sorrow Of the sisters were for
the glory Of God. that the Son Of God
might be glorifed thereby tJohn XII,
a. Who would not he willing to be
material on which the Son of God
might show His power and work the
works of Him that sent Him? Verse A.
Thinking of Him AZ the Carpenter of
Nazareth. one has said: ~ pray. o
Master, let me lie as on Thy bench the
favored wood: Thy plane, Thy saw,
Thy chisel ply and work me into some
thing good"
He, the living word, is the light of
the world u. 8; viii, ~: xii, 46): the
written word which all speak Of Him
Is also a light Us. cXix. 100, 1907, and
those who are born Of the Spirit and
the word. into whose hearts the light
has shone. being filled with the Spirit
and the word, are the light OF the
world because Of the life of Jesus
made manifest In them Matt. V, IA,
1G). We are nothing and can do moth
Ing apart from Him. lie must do it
all, yet He plcases to use sometimes
human instrumentality. Is not the
clay, made of the earth and something
from His mouth, suggestive of the sin
ner born by the word of God? lie put
the clay on the eyes of the blind man
and sent him to Sloan to wash it off
and thus receive his sight. lie who
loved to speak of Himself as sent of
God" d~hirty-four times in this gospel
sent the man with the clay on his eyes
to wash it off in Sloan, which means
''sent' Verse u. Being born of God,
He uses us to open other blind eyes,
provided We are willing to be washed
of, to fall back into Him who sends
and uses us. that He may be glorified.
We have the treasure In earthen YES
sells that the excellency of the power
may be OF God and not of us, for we
are not sufficient to think anything as
Of ourselves, but our sufficiency Is Of
God Oh Cor. Nv, Z; iii, 81. If we would
be used Of God w must hear Him say,
"Behold, as the clay IL I'm the pOtter's
hand, so are ye I'm Mine hand" and we
must reply, 80 Lord, Thou art our Fa-
ther, we are the clay and Thou our
potter, and we all are the work Of Thy
hand der. xviii, e.; Isa. xiv, -. The
least desire on the part of the clay to
be framed or made anything of may
prevent u being used, for no flesh
shall glory in His presence.
The man who had been blind was so
changed that some of his n~eighbors
hardly knew him. |, too, have seen
Just such Il change in many sinners
after the light shone in. In n recent
latta, from pnrtn Rirn NIro Iarr,nIn