The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1905-03-17
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON XII, FIRST QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, MARCH 10.

bJ Rev. =. y. Stcarns.
Copyright, 1905. by American Press Association
How manifold are the scenes and
events Ia Scripture which SO clearly
reveal to Us God and His love and our
selves and our sinfulness. All our
rightoousne ,ses are only filthy rags,
and we must be born from above; we
are actual sinners. but we may become
wells of living water; we are utterly
impotent. but without human instru-
mentality or ordinances lie can make
us whole; He can satisfy our 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 Q1ph ii, g. >, ID. blinded
by the god of this world, wretched and
miserable ard poor and blind and ma
ked Q1. Cor. iv. !; Rev iii, 10, our lives
all waste and void ana dark, but God,
who commanded the light 20 shine out
of darkness. can shine in tie darkest
heart Gen. i. >; II Cor. iy, 81.
1t is TO this day common belief
that If any one is afflicted there must
have been some individual sin back Of
1t, some reason for the atlliction or
trial. but our Lords reply on this occa-
sion indicates the groundlessness of
such a supposition. While al are sin
ners and sin. is mt the root Of all suf-
fering and some suffering may be
caused by particular individual sim as
in the case Of the impotent man John
V, 10, 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 il.
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 Gohn Xi
d. Who would not be 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 as the Carpenter OF
Nazareth, one has said: Il pray, o
Master. let me lie as on Thy bench the
favored wood; Thy plane, Thy saw,
Thy chsel ply and work me into some
thing good.
He, the living word, is the light Of
the world Il, o. viii, -; xii, 40; the
written word which all speak Of Him
those who are born Of the Spirit and
the word into whose hearts the light
has shone. being filed with the Spirit
and the word. are the light Of the
world because of tire life Of Jesus
made manifest in them Matt. V, IA,
10. We are nothing and can do moth
ing apart from Him. He must do 1t
all, yet He pleases 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? He put
the clay on the eyes Of the blind man
and sent him to Sloan TO wash it off
and thus receive his sight He who
loved to speak Of Himself as sent OF
God" Cthirty-four times in this gospel
sent the man with the clay on his eyes
to wash it off in Sloan, which means
"sent" Verse y. Being born of God,
He uses us to open other blind eyes,
provided we are willing to be washed
off. 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 eXcelency Of the power
may be Of God and not of us, for we
are not sufficient to think anything as
of ourselves, but our sufticiency Is Of
God GI Cor. iv, = iii. -. If we would
be used Of God we must hear Him say,
"Behold, as the clay is in the pOtter's
hand, so are we in Mine hand" and we
must reply, 80 Lord. Thou art our Fa-
Their we are the clay and Thou our
potter. and we all are the work Of Thy
hand" Ger xviii, g; lisa. Xiv, s. The
least desire on the part Of tie clay TO
be framed or made anything of may
prevent our being used, for no flesh
shall glory in His presence.
The man who had been blind was so
changed that some of his ueighbors
hardly knew him |, too, have seen
Just such Il change in many sinners
after the light shone in. In n recent
letter from Porto Rico Mrs. Fernando
writes. 1T is wonderful to see how the
entrance of the truth changes the
whole person Even the faces seem
not the same, so great is the change Of
expression which comes into Item" Is
II not written that "if aay man be in
Christ he is 4 re" creature; old things
are passed 5ay; all things are become
no. I'll Cor V, IL And unless
t-ere is in some form very manifest
change is there not reason to inquire
If there is really a new creation? One
must be able 10 say. "One thing
know-that. whereas / was blind, now
see" Verse 2J).
This new life is. however, so costly
mean the manifestation OF il, the open
confession Of it-that many are not
willing to pay the price. See what it
cost this man-reviling and excommu-
nication oversees %. 81. margin), but
even that led TO fuller revelation of
Of