The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1909-04-30
THE PULPIT.
AN ELOQUENT SUNDAY SERMON BY
DR.. C. F. j. WRlGLEY.
Theme: Spiritual Blindness.

| Heights, preached ouuudy llOI llluS
on spiritual Blindness" The text
was from Luke AIS: HE hath sent
me to recovering of sight to the
blind" DR.. Wrigley said:
The text is part OF a quotation from
the prophesy of Isaiah, viz, 1.-THE
spirit of the Lord is upon me, be-
Gospel to the poor He hath sent
me to proclaim release to the cap
lives, and recovering of sight to the
blind. To set at liberty them that
are bruised" When. one studies that
| passage, says a modern writer, it
recalls the famous tent of the Arab
chief; when folded it could be car
ried in the hand; when opened it
sheltered his tribe. The passage con-
| tains the keynote of the teaching of
Jesus, and it shows how unerringly
He selected the very heart of the Jew
ish system upon which to found His
own. 1t shows US the profound truth
of His statement, that He came not
to destroy, but to fulfil the Law. =
Many years ago a modern infidel
philosopher OF shallow kind pointed
out the fact that Moses had made
some mistakes in figures, and also
that he had not been very we'll in
| structed in science. or he would have
| constructed a different cosmogony
from the one found in Genesis. This
same philosopher failed to point out
| the pregnant fact that the Law of
Moses was built upon the great ele-
mental principle of mercy; that it
stood for liberty and order; that it
| had taken (as Munger says) a nation
! Of slaves, ignorant, barbaric. besotted
! in mind and degenerate in body, and
/ by a shrewdly adapted system of
| laws lifted it steadily and persistently
upward and bore it on to ever better
ing conditions and always toward
freedom. He forgot to mention that
! from first to last, and from centre to
circumference, it was a system OF de-
liverance from bondage, disease, ig-
norance, anarchy, superstition and
despotism. Jesus Christ, with His
keen spiritual vision, sees what the
other fails to see. When He rises in
the little synagogue at Nazareth, He
quotes the elemental truth of the Mo!
sale system, and says this is your
! charter of liberty, and I propose to
make it the charter of the world 8
freedom; freedom from ignorance,
superstition, sensuality, sorrow and
! pain. 1t is remarkable again that the
passage quoted from Isaiah has a
double meaning in every paragraph.
The poor may be those poor in pocket
or poor in soul. The slaves may be
slaves of worldly master or slaves
of their own passions. The blind may
be blind of body or blind of spirit.
Which does Christ mean? Undoubt-
eddy He means both, for the Saviour
never emphasized suffering. without
calling attention to the fact that suf-
fering came from sin. He cared for
bodily wounds, but His great SYM
pathies went out to the sin-sick soul.
Now, blindness, like leprosy, was
a type of sin. The blind were not
i-only disbarred from the priesthood,
but we're not allowed to take part in
the Temple service. Blindness, like
| leprosy, was supposed to be incur
able, except by the direct act of God.
| Blindness was therefore type Of sin,
because sin could only be cured by
the direct act of God. Sin was spirit
ual blindness, because sinners had
always been marked by dull spiritual
apprehension. Abraham in his day
had been able to see Christ, and to
see the city having foundations. The
I1C uIO-
sale dispensation had been able to see
Christ in the ancient ordinances, and
the prophets had cried out against
their countrymen, who were more stu
pid than the OK and the ass, because
! these creatures knew their masters
and the owners crib, but the children
| of God did not know their Father and
could not find their Fathers house.
st. Paul, when he had found it i'm
possible to make his people receive
Jesus as the Messiah, declared them
to be spiritually blind, and then made
some remarks about spiritual blind
ness that apply very we'll to the men
and women of our own day.
Now, it is to this large class OF
spiritually blind people that Jesus ap-
peals, in all His miraculous works
upon the blind He heals the blind
in body to show that He can heal the
blind in spirit. He heals the type,
that man may believe that He can heal
the really blind, viz, the blind in soul.
Moreover, it is extremely interesting
TO note that in every separate instance
where He uses His supernatural
power to heal the blind, He teaches
us some important lesson concerning
the relation that exists between God
and His children, and how all men;
If they will, may be healed of spirit
ua1 blindness. Notice the first in
stance: Two blind men meet Him at
Capernaum. They knew their need,
and cried aloud for help, and the
Saviour did not appear to notice
them, and when He did not notice
they followed Him persistently, fol-
lowed Him into the house and de.
manded help. 1t is a case like that
of Jacob at Pencil. The antagonist
of the patriarch would not bless, and
therefore, he would not let him go
It was certain faith, a faith that
grew stronger as the apparent indif-
ference of God became more dread
full. 1t was case of the Kingdom OF
Heaven being taken by violence.
These men give us a picture of those
who have known what it is to see
and who can appreciate what il
means, if anybody can give them the
power to see again. They have known
the meaning of goodness, and of spir.
itual vision, and they have known the
unhappiness of evil and spiritual
darkness, and they want to be lifted
out of darkness into light again, il
there is anyone able to accomplish
that miracle. They feel themselves
helpless, and so this faith, as they
hear of the power of Jesus grows
and when He apparently neglects
them, it becomes a compelling faith
which gains whatever they wish
This miracle is nothing less than al
eternal provision to the soul that il
separated from God, and knows tina
1t is SO separated. 1t is the divine
promise that such man may have
whatsoever he will. ''As yet We have
esE-s| nothing in My name; ask ant
ye shall receive, that your Joy may
be full"
The next instance is that of the
man born blind 1t is an entirely
different case and yet typical one
The man is hopeless. He has never
been able to see. He has never heard
of a case where man born blind has
been made to see, and so he does not
! consider the question. He settles
back into a grim acceptance of his
SORROW He does not ask to be healed
and because he does not ask, Christ
| offers, Just because of the mans hope,