The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-03-14

| THE TEACHER,s LANTERN. | I picked up an autograph album in the home of my friend Professor sultz- berger. in Frankfort -on- the Main. and. 1 opening 1t at random, my eye fell l on the, to me. familiar handwriting of the first Methodist 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 worid.--C. Kingsley" Jesus steers His disciples away from subject that Is purely speculative in character. He attempts no theodicy. He simply afflrms that in this instance | though the parties were not sinless persons. the common suffering was l not due tolan unusual degree of sin in them. But Providence would avail Himself of this instance of phenom- enal afiiiction to show the Divine | power that was In Christ.
 An eccentric thusht which Victor | Hugo somewhere weaves into one of his Actions Is this--the normal condi- tion of our world is one of darkness. only relieved by the intrusion upon 1t of the Illuminating orb. What may be mere csnceit as regards the ma | terial world, is a fact In the moral | sphere. The utter and obstinate dark ness of mems minds to the things of God is only relieved by Him who said: T am the Light of the world" Professor TyndalI could trace the subtle metamorphoses of sunlight in it's manifestations in organic and inor- | ganic, vital and physical power. In every fire that burns. and every flame that glows he saw q dispensing of light and heat which originally be- longed to the sun. Yet, when 1t come to believing that the moral darkness of the human soul could be irradiated and its weakness stored with higher l potencies. he hesitated. he denied. The | miracles of sunlight to one so com potent to define them, ought to have made belief in the miracles of moral illumination comparatively easy.
 Johns glowing narrative gives us a dissolving view. fascinating and im- pressiye. The pitiful mendicant fades away, and In hls stead appears a glo- rious confessor. witty, dauntiess. meet to be enrolled in the noble army of the faithful, if we but knew his name. I Converts shouldn't be coddIed. The healed man was left to his own re- l sources, left to fight it out with the | august assembly. to suffer extreme ec- clesiastical penalty, all with no word of comfort. Thus he endured hardness. I And 1t was good for him.
 Excommunication put the mark of moral Ieprosy on the Jew. If he died. there was no mourning for him. If he | lived, no one could come nearer to him than four cubits. His social and relig- ious privations were of direst sort. But an this was as dust of balance com uared with denying the reality of his l cura. or the worth of the Prophet who | had effected 1t. Converts of today | may well initiate such an example. Analysis and Key. | Incident: Man Born Blind.
 Disciples possibly discuss cause
 Afarm sin in parents or himself. IT. Jesus Affirmation.
 .'Neither this man nor his par
 ents."
 III. Method of Miracle.
 Crude materia medica or day
 adopted.
 strengthened mans faith.
 Emphasized cure.
 ". Healed Man Haled to sandneuriHi'
 Proves a good witness. Effect of his testimony.
 The glad acceptance of Jesus by the