Seeing And Not Seeing–Or, Men As Trees Walking
DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, JULY 22, 1866, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE
METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"And He came to Bethsaida and they brought a blind man unto Him, and
besought Him to touch him. And He took the blind man by the hand, and
led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes, andputHis
hands upon him, He asked him if he saw anything. And he looked up, and
said, I see men as trees, walking. After that He put His hands again
upon his eyes, and made him look up. And he was restored, and saw every
man clearly." Mark 8:22-25.
OUR Savior very frequently healed the sick by a touch, for He intended
to impress upon us the truth that the infirmities of fallen humanity
can only be removed by contact with His own blessed humanity. He had,
however, other lessons to teach, and therefore He adopted other methods
of action in healing the sick. Moreover, it was wise for other reasons
to manifest variety in His methods. Had our Lord cast all His miracles
in one mold men would have attached undue importance to the manner by
which He worked, and would have superstitiously thought more of it than
of the Divine power by which the miracle was accomplished.
Accordingly, our Master presents us with great variety in the form of
the miracles. Though they are always fraught with the same goodness,
and display the same wisdom and the same power, yet He is careful to
make each one distinct from its fellow, that we may behold the manifest
goodness of God and may not imagine that the Divine Savior is so short
of methods as to need to repeat Himself. It is the besetting sin of our
carnal natures to stay in what is seen and to forget the unseen–hence
the Lord Jesus changes the outward modus operandi, or manner of
working, in order that it may be clear that He is not bound to any
method of healing–and that the outward operation is nothing in itself.
He would have us understand that if He chose to heal by the touch, He
could also heal with a word.
And if He cured with a word, He could dispense even with the word and
work by His mere will–that a glance of His eye was as efficacious as a
touch of His hand–and that even without being visibly present, His
invisible Presence could work the miracle while yet He was at a
distance. In the present case our Savior deviated from His accustomed
practice, not merely in the method of healing but also in the character
of the cure. In most of the Savior's miracles the person healed was
restored at once. We read of the deaf and dumb man, that not only was
his mouth opened, but, what was more remarkable for one who never had
heard a sound before, he spoke plainly, receiving the gift of language
as well as the power to make articulate sounds.
In other cases the fever left the patient at once, the leprosy was
completely healed on the spot, and the issue of blood was stayed. But
here, "the Beloved Physician" went more leisurely to work, and only
bestowed a part of the blessing at first, halting by the way, and
making His patient consider how much was given, and how much withheld,
and then by a second operation perfecting the good work. Perhaps our
Lord's action in this case was directed not only by the desire to make
each miracle distinct, lest men should think that like a magician He
had but one mode of operating–but it may have been suggested by the
particular form of the disease, and the spiritual infirmity of which it
is a type.
Jesus would scarcely have healed some sicknesses by degrees. It seemed
necessary to deal a decisive blow and end them. The casting out of a
devil, for instance, must be accomplished entirely or else it is not
accomplished at all. And a leper is a leper still if but a spot
remains. It is possible, however, to heal blindness by degrees–to give
some little glimmer at first, and then afterwards to pour upon the
eyeballs the full light of day. Perhaps it may even be necessary in
some cases to make the cure gradual, that the optic nerve may grow
accustomed to the light. As the eye is the emblem of the understanding,
it is very possible, no, it is usual, to heal the human understanding
by degrees.
The will must be changed at once. The affections must be turned
instantly. Most of the powers of human nature must experience a
distinct and complete change. But the understanding may be enlightened
by a long course of illumination. The heart of stone cannot be
gradually softened, but must instantaneously be made into a heart of
flesh. But this is not necessary with the understanding. The reasoning
faculties may be gradually brought into proper balance and order. The
soul may receive at first but a slight perception of the Truth of God
and there it may rest with comparative safety. Afterwards it may come
to apprehend more clearly the mind of the Spirit, and in that degree of
light it may abide without serious peril, although not without loss.
It may be described as seeing, but not seeing afar off. And then the
ultimate restoration of the understanding may be reserved to more
mature experience. Probably the spiritual sight will never be, in
absolute perfection, bestowed upon us till we enter into the light for
which the spiritual state is intended, namely, the glory of that place
where they need no candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God
gives them light. The miracle before us portrays the progressive
healing of a darkened understanding.
The miracle cannot be used as a picture of the restoration of a willful
sinner from the error of his ways, or the turning of the debauched and
depraved from the filthiness of their lives. It is a picture of the
darkened soul gradually illuminated by the Holy Spirit, and brought by
Jesus Christ into the clear light of His kingdom. This morning, feeling
that there are many half-enlightened souls present, I shall, by the
Holy Spirit's assistance, picture the case. Then we shall notice the
means of cure. Thirdly, we shall stop awhile and consider the hopeful
stage, and then conclude by a short notice of the completion of the
cure.
I. First, we have TO PICTURE THE CASE. It is one of a wonderfully
common class nowadays–very common, certainly, among the new additions
to this congregation–for very many are coming to us who have been for
the previous part of their lives spiritually blind, having been mere
formal churchgoers, or stiff outside religionists among Dissenters.
Observe carefully the case in hand. It is a person with a darkened
understanding. It is not a man who might be pictured by a person
possessed with the devil. A man possessed with the devil raves, rages,
is dangerous to society, must be bound with chains, watched and
guarded, for he will rend himself and injure others. This blind person
is perfectly harmless. He has no desire to injure others and is not
likely to be violent towards himself. He is sober, steady, honest,
kind, and his spiritual malady may excite our pity but not our fear.
If these unenlightened persons associate with the Lord's people they do
not rave and rage against the saints, but respect them and love their
company. They are not haters of the Cross of Christ–they are, in their
poor blind way, even lovers of it. They are not persecutors, revilers
or scoffers. Nor do they run desperately in the way of wickedness. On
the contrary, although they cannot see the things of God, yet they feel
their way in the paths of morality in a very admirable manner. So that,
in some respects, they might even be examples to those who can see!
Furthermore, the case before us is not one of a person polluted with a
contagious disease, foul and loathsome like leprosy. The leper must be
put away. There must be a place reserved for him, for he contaminates
all those with whom he comes in contact. Not so with this blind man who
comes to the Savior. He is blind, but he does not make others blind. If
he is in association with other blind persons, he does not increase
their blindness–nor, if he is brought into connection with those who
can see does he injure their sight in any way.
They, perhaps, might even derive some benefit from association with
him, for they are led to be thankful for the eyesight which they
possess when they mark the darkness in which he is so sorrowfully
enveloped. It is not, therefore, the case of a person of a libidinous
life or of a foul conversation. It is not at all the case of a man who
would deprave your children, who would lead your son or your daughter
into sin. The unenlightened people of whom we speak are beloved in our
families, and very properly so, for they spread no injurious doctrines,
and set no ill examples. And even when they talk of spiritual things
they make us pity them because they know so little, and we are grateful
to God to think that He has opened our eyes to see the wondrous things
of His Word.
They are neither raving haters of God nor yet foul livers, so as to do
mischief to their race. No, these people are not even incapable in any
respect except the one organ of the mind's eye–it is the understanding
which is darkened. But in all other senses, these people whom I am now
picturing are hopeful, if not healthy. They are not altogether deaf,
they hear the Gospel with considerable pleasure and earnest heed. It is
true they do not clearly understand it. It is very much the letter
which they receive, and but in a very small degree the spirit. Still,
at the same time, they do hear, and they are in the way of getting a
greater blessing, for "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word
of God."
And moreover, after a certain sort, they are not dumb either, for they
do pray in a manner. It is true that their prayer is scarcely
spiritual, but yet it has a kind of earnestness about it not to be
despised. They have been to a place of worship from their youth up, and
never neglected the outward forms of religion. Alas for them, they are
still blind! But they are anxious to hear and to pray, and we trust
will yet be able to do both. They are, therefore, not absolutely deaf
or dumb.
Nor, moreover, do they seem to be incapable in other respects. The hand
is not withered, as in the case of one whom Christ met within the
Synagogue. Neither are they bowed down by grievous depression of
spirit, as that daughter of Abraham who had been bowed down for many
years. They are both cheerful and diligent in the ways of the Lord. If
the cause of God wants assistance they are ready to assist it, and
though by reason of the loss of their spiritual eyes they cannot enter
into the full enjoyment of Divine things, yet they are among the most
forward people we know to help on any good cause–not because they
thoroughly comprehend the spirit of it nor can enter therein, for by
reason of their natural blindness they are still aliens–but still
there is worked in them something which is very lovely and very
hopeful, for they are anxious as much as lies in them to help the cause
of Christ.
In connection with all Christian congregations we have a knot of people
of this kind, and in connection with some Christian churches the most,
even of the members, are very little better! They have not received
more than enough instruction to enable them to know their right hand
from their left in spiritual matters. For lack of doctrinal teaching
they are left in the dark, and because there is not held up before them
the form of sound words, they remain in semi-blindness, unable to enjoy
the fair prospects which cheer the eyes of the enlightened Believer.
II. We have now to see OUR LORD'S METHOD OF CURE. Every part of the
miracle is suggestive. The first thing to be observed is a friendly
intervention–his friends brought the blind man to Jesus. How many
there are who do not rightly understand the fundamental doctrine of the
Gospel of Christ and need the help of Believers! They have an affection
for religion in the abstract, but they do not fully know what they must
do to be saved.
The great Truth of Substitution, which is the cardinal point in the
Gospel, they have not yet apprehended. They scarcely know what it is to
come to rest wholly upon the Lord Jesus because of the satisfaction
which He has offered to almighty Justice. They have a sort of faith,
but they have such slender knowledge that their faith brings them
little or no benefit. Such people might often be blessed if more
advanced Christians would try to bring them to a clearer knowledge of
the Savior. Why can you not bring such souls under the sound of that
ministry which has been instructive to yourself? Why can you not lay
that Book in their way which was the means of opening your eyes? Why
can you not bring before their minds that text of Scripture, that
passage of God's Word, which first illuminated you?
Would it not be a most hopeful work for us to engage in, to look for
those who are not hostile to the Gospel, but simply ignorant of it–who
have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge–and who, if they
once could be furnished with light, would then have found the one thing
necessary? Surely, if we look after the degraded, the debased, and the
depraved who defile our festering courts and alleys, we ought, with
equal eagerness, to seek out these hopeful ones who sit under the sound
of preaching which is not Gospel preaching, or who hear the true Word
of God, but perceive it not!
Brothers and Sisters, you would do well if you prayed for these, and
if, moreover, you sought out the excellent young men and the amiable
young women, and endeavored to answer the question of their tender
consciences, "Oh that we knew where we might find Him!" It might be, in
God's hand, the first step to their receiving spiritual eyesight if you
would care for these children of mist and of the night. When the blind
man was brought to the Savior, he first received contact with Jesus,
for Jesus took him by the hand. It is a happy day for a soul when it
comes into personal contact with the Lord Jesus! Brethren, when we are
in our state of unbelief we sit in the House of God, and Christ seems
to us to be at a distance.
We hear of Him, but it is as of one who has departed to ivory palaces,
and who is not now among us. And even if He passes by we feel as if He
did not come near to us, and so we sit and sigh, and long to feel His
shadow fall upon us, or to touch, as it were, the hem of His garment.
But when the soul really begins to close with Jesus–when He becomes
the object of devout attention–when we feel that there is something to
be grasped and realized about Him after all. When we realize that He is
no distant and impalpable shade, but a veritable Existence, and an
Existence having influence over us–then it is that He takes us by the
hand.
I know some of you have felt this. It has frequently happened on the
Sunday that you felt that you must pray. You felt that the sermon was
made for you. You thought someone had told the preacher about you, the
truth came so closely home–the very details of the preacher's speech
fitted the condition of your mind. That was our blessed Lord, I think,
taking you by the hand. The service was to you no mere word-talk and
word-hearing, but a mysterious hand touched you. Your feelings were
impressed and your heart was conscious of peculiar emotions originating
from the Presence of the Savior. Of course Jesus does not come into any
physical contact with us–it is a mental, spiritual contact–the mind
of the Lord Jesus lays its hand upon the mind of sinners, and by the
Holy Spirit, gently influences the soul for holiness and truth.
Mark the next act, for it is peculiar. The Savior led the man to a
solitary position, for He took him out of the town. I have noticed that
when persons converted have been spiritually blind rather than
willfully wicked–who have not been so much hostile as they have been
ignorant–one of the first signs of their becoming Christians is the
getting into retirement and feeling their individual responsibility.
Brethren, I have always hope for the man who begins to think of himself
as he stands alone before God! There are tens of thousands in England
who consider themselves to be parts of a nation of Christians and born
members of a Church, and thus never consider themselves as personally
responsible to God.
They say the confession of sin, but it is always with the whole
congregation. They chant the Te Deum, but it is not personal, but
choral praise. But when a man is led, even while in the congregation,
to feel as if he were alone. When he grasps the idea that true religion
is of the individual and not of the community–and that confession of
sin is more fitting from his lips than from any other man–then is a
gracious work commenced! There is hope of the blindest understanding
when the mind begins to meditate upon its own condition and examines
its own prospects. It is a sure sign that the Lord is dealing well with
you if He has taken you out of the town–if you are forgetting all
others, and thinking just now of yourself.
Call it not selfishness! It is only such a selfishness as the highest
law of our nature commands. Every man, when he is drowning, must think
of himself! And if it is a justifiable selfishness to seek to preserve
one's own life, much more is it to labor to escape from eternal ruin!
When your own salvation is accomplished you shall have no more need to
think of self, but you shall care for the souls of others–but now the
highest wisdom is to think of yourself in your standing towards God,
and to look to the Savior that you yourself may have eternal life. "He
took him by the hand, and led him out of the town."
The next was a very strange act, too. He brought him under ordained but
despicable means–He spit on his eyes. The Savior frequently used the
saliva of His mouth as a means of cure. It has been said because it was
recommended by ancient physicians. But I cannot think that their
opinion could have had much weight with our wonder-working Lord. It
seems to me that the use of spittle connected the opening of the eye
with the Savior's mouth, that is to say, it connected in type the
illuminating of the understanding with the Truth of God which Christ
utters. Of course spiritual eyesight comes by means of spiritual Truth,
and the eye of the understanding is opened by the doctrine which Christ
speaks.
Yet it seems to me that the association which we naturally put with
spittle is that of disgust, and that this was intentionally employed by
the Savior for that very end. It was nothing but spittle, though it was
spittle from the Savior's mouth. And so, mark you, Friend, it is very
possible that God will bless you by that very truth which you once
despised, and He might even bless you through that very man against
whom you spoke the most bitterly! It has often pleased God to award to
His ministering servants a gracious kind of vengeance–many and many
times those who were the hottest and most furious against God's own
servants have received the best blessings from the hands of those men
whom they most despised.
You call it, "spittle"–nothing but that shall open your eyes. You say,
"The Gospel is a very common-place thing." It is by such common places
that you shall have life. You have sneeringly declared that such a man
speaks the Truth of God in a coarse and vulgar style–you shall one day
bless that vulgarity–and be glad enough to receive, even after a
coarse fashion, the Truth as his Master bids him speak it. I think that
many of us had to notice this in our conversion, that the Lord
chastised our pride by saying to us, "Those poor people of whom you
thought so harshly shall be made a blessing to you, and My servant,
against whom you were most filled with prejudice, shall be the man to
bring you into perfect peace."
It strikes me that more than that, a great deal but all that, is in the
thought of the Savior's spitting on his eyes. No powders of the
merchant, no myrrh and frankincense, no costly drugs–just a common
spittle on the lips. And so if you would see, my Hearer, the deep
things of God, it shall not be by the philosophers, nor by the profound
thinkers of the day, but he that said unto you, "Trust Christ and
live," teaches you better philosophy than the philosophers! And he who
tells you that in Him, in the Lord Jesus, dwells all the treasures of
wisdom and of knowledge, tells you in that simple statement more than
you could learn though Socrates and Plato should rise from the dead,
and you could sit, a scholar, at their feet. Jesus Christ will open
your eyes, and it shall be by this ignoble means–the spittle of His
mouth.
You will further perceive that when He had spit on his eyes it is added
He put His hands upon him. Did He do that in the form of heavenly
benediction? Did He, by the laying on of His hands, bestow upon the man
His blessing, and bid virtue stream from His own Person into the blind
man? I think so. So, Brethren, it is not the spittle, it is not the
leading of the man out of the crowd after all! It is not the ministry!
It is not the preaching of the Word! It is not the hearer's
thoughtfulness that shall earn spiritual blessings–it is the
benediction of Him who died for sinners which confers all upon us!
This Man is exalted on high to give repentance and remission of sin. He
who was despised and rejected of men, it is through Him and through
Him, only, that priceless gift such as sight to the blind shall be
given to the sons of men. We must use the means, and neither despise
them nor trust them. We must get alone, for retirement is a great
blessing–but we must look up, after all, to the Lord and Giver of
every good gift! Or else the spittle had need to be wiped away in
disgust, and the being alone shall only make the blind man lose his way
the more effectually, and wander in the deeper darkness with less of
sympathy and help.
This sketch is the photograph of some here. I believe there are persons
here who from their youth up have attended places of worship without
the slightest perception of spiritual life, and would have continued to
do so had not the Lord been pleased to make use of friends, happy
cheerful Christian friends, who said, "Come now, I think I can tell you
something which you do not know." These friends, by prayer and
teaching, brought you into contact with Jesus! Jesus touched you,
influenced your mind, made you thoughtful, made you see that there was
more in religion than just the mere external! He made you feel that
going to church or going to chapel was not everything, no, was not
anything at all, unless you learned the secret, the real secret of
everlasting life!
It has been through all this that you have begun to feel that there is
power in that Gospel which once you despised. And that which you
sneered at as Methodism and rant, is now to you the Gospel of your
salvation! Let us thank God for this, for it is by such means that eyes
are opened.
III. We have now come to the third point, and we will pause a moment at
A HOPEFUL STAGE. The Savior had given the man's eyes the power to see,
but He had not removed completely the film which kept out the light.
Hear the man. Jesus says to him, "Can you see anything?" He looks up,
and the first joyful word is, "I see!" What a blessing! "I see!" Some
of you, dear Friends, can say that, "Whereas I was once blind, now I
see."
"Yes, Lord, it is not total darkness now. I do not see as much as I
should, nor as much as I hope I shall, but I do see. There are many,
many things I knew nothing of, which I do know something about now. The
devil himself cannot make me doubt that I do see. I know I do. I used
to be quite satisfied with the outward form. If I got through the hymns
and prayers, and so on, I felt satisfied. But now, though I feel I
cannot see as I want to see, I can see as much as that. If I cannot see
light, there is certainly darkness visible. If I cannot see salvation,
I can see my own ruin. I do see my own needs and necessities–if I see
nothing more, I do see these."
Now, if a man can see anything–it matters not what–he certainly has
sight! Whether it is a beautiful object or an ugly thing that he sees,
does not matter–the mere seeing of anything is proof positive that
there is sight in his eyes! So the spiritual perception of anything is
proof that you have spiritual life, whether that perception makes you
mourn, or whether it makes you rejoice. Whether it makes you
broken-hearted, or binds up your heart, if you do see it, you must have
the power of sight. That is clear enough, is it not?
But hear the man again. He says, "I see men." That is better still. Of
course the poor fellow had once been able to see, or else he would not
have known the shape of a man. "I see men," he says. Yes, and there are
some here who have enough sight to be able to distinguish between one
thing and another, so as to know this from that. Though you were as
blind as bats once, nobody could make you believe that baptismal
regeneration was the same thing as the regeneration of the Word of God!
You can see the difference between these two things, at any rate. One
would think anybody might–but a great many cannot. You can see the
difference between mere formal and external worship and spiritual
worship–you can see that.
You can see enough to know that there is a Savior. That you need a
Savior. That the way of salvation is by faith in Christ. That the
salvation which Jesus gives really saves us from sinning, and brings
those who receive it safe to eternal glory. Thus it is clear that you
can see something, and you know within a little what that something is.
Listen, however, to the blind man, for here comes in the word that
spoils it to a great extent–"I see men as trees, walking." He could
not tell whether they were men or trees, except that they were walking,
and he knew that trees did not walk, and therefore they could not be
trees.
Objects were a confused blot before his eyes. He knew from their motion
that they must be men, but he could not tell exactly by sight whether
they were men or trees. Many precious souls are waiting at this hopeful
but uncomfortable stage. They can see. Bless God for that! They will
never be thoroughly blind again. For if they can see the Man Jesus and
the tree on which He died, they make but one object of them if they
please, for Christ and His Cross are one. Eyes, which cannot clearly
see Jesus may yet dimly see Him, and even a dim sight will save the
soul!
Observe that this man's sight was very indistinct–a man or a tree–he
could not tell. So is it with the first sight that is given to many
spiritually blind persons. They cannot distinguish between doctrine and
doctrine. The work of the Spirit and the work of the Savior they
frequently confuse in their minds. They possess justification and they
possess sanctification, but it is probable they could not tell you
which was which. They have received imparted righteousness of heart,
and they have also received the imputed righteousness of Christ, but
between the imparted righteousness and the imputed righteousness they
can scarcely distinguish. They have them both, but they do not know
which is which–at least not so as to be able to write down the
definitions, or tell them to their fellow men. They can see, but they
cannot see as they should see. They see men as trees walking.
Their sight, in addition to being indistinct, is very exaggerating. A
man is not so big as a tree, but they magnify the human stature into
the towering timber. And so, half-enlightened people exaggerate
doctrines. If they receive the doctrine of election they cannot be
content to go as far as Scripture goes–they make a tree of the man by
dragging in reprobation. If they get a hold of the precept, Baptism, or
whatever it may be, they exaggerate its proportions, and make it a sort
of all-in-all. Some get one crotchet and some get another, and it is
all through mistaking a man for a tree! It is a great mercy that they
see doctrine at all and precept at all, but it would be a greater mercy
if they could see it as it is, and not as it now appears to them.
This exaggeration generally leads to alarm, for if I see a man walking
up to me who is as tall as a tree, I am naturally afraid that he will
fall on me, and so I get out of the way. Many persons are afraid of
God's doctrines because they think they are as high as trees. They are
none too high. God has made them of the right stature, but their
blindness exaggerates them, and makes them more terrible and high than
they might be. They are afraid to read books upon certain Truths of
God, and they are shy of all men who preach them only because they
cannot see those doctrines in the right light but are alarmed with
their own confused vision of it.
In connection with this exaggeration and this fear, there is to such
people an utter loss of the enjoyment which comes from being able to
perceive beauty and loveliness. The noblest part of a man is, after
all, his countenance. We like to catch the features of our friend–that
gentle eye, that tender expression, that winning look, that radiant
smile, that expressive glow of benevolence upon his face, that towering
forehead–we like to see all. But this poor man could see none of
these, for he could scarcely tell a man from a tree, could not discover
those softer lines of the great master artist which make true beauty.
He could only say, "It is a man," but whether a black man, black as
night or fair as the morning, he did not know and could not tell. And
whether sour and morose, or kind and gentle, he could not distinguish.
So it is with these persons who have obtained some spiritual sight.
They cannot see the details of the doctrines. You know, Brothers and
Sisters, it is the details in which lies the beauty. If I trust Jesus
as my Savior I shall be saved, but the enjoyment of faith comes from
knowing Him in His Person, in His offices, in His work, in His present,
and past, and future. We perceive His true beauty by studying Him, and
observing Him carefully, and with holy watchfulness. So it is with the
doctrines–the mere whole of the doctrine in the gross is blessed–but
it is when we come to take the doctrine to pieces that we gain the
purest enjoyment.
"Yes," says the clown, as he looks at a fine painting, such, for
instance, as Paul Potter's famous Bull at the Hague, "it's a rare
picture certainly," and then he goes away. But the artist sits down and
studies its details. There is to him a beauty in every touch and shade
which he understands and appreciates. Many Believers have light enough
to know the faith in its bare outline, but they have not observed the
filling up, and the minutiae wherein the sweetest comfort will always
be found by the spiritually educated child of God. They can see, but
they "see men as trees, walking."
Although I know that the most of you, my Brethren, have traveled far
beyond this stage, yet I know there are hundreds of God's people who
are still lingering there, and hence it is, when Satan gets the upper
hand, that sects, and parties, and theories arise. If a number of
people with good eyes meet together and look at an object, they will
very nearly agree in the description of what they see. But if you
select an equal number of men with eyes so weak that they can scarcely
tell a man from a tree, they will make no end of confusion, and likely
enough fall to quarrelling. "It is a man," cries one, "he walks!" "It
is a tree," cries the second, "it is too tall to be a man!"
When half-blind men grow willful and despise their teachers, and will
not learn as the Holy Spirit ordains to teach, they set up their
ignorance for knowledge and perhaps lead other half-enlightened ones
into the ditch with them. Even where a holy modesty prevents this
mischievous result, this half-sight is still to be lamented, for it
leaves men in sorrow when they might rejoice, and lets them mourn over
Truth which, if understood, would fill their mouths with song all the
day long! Many are troubled about election. Now if there is a doctrine
in this Book which ought to make Believers sing all day, and all night,
too, it is just the doctrine of electing love and distinguishing Grace
of God! Some people are frightened over this and some over that,
whereas if they understood the Truth, instead of flying from it as from
an enemy, they would run into its arms!
IV. Having given this sketch of the man in this transition state, we
close by noting the ULTIMATE COMPLETENESS OF THE CURE. Brethren, be
grateful for any sort of light. Without the Grace of God we could not
have a ray of it. One ray of light is more than we deserve. If we were
shut up in the blackness of darkness forever, how could we complain? Do
we not deserve, since we shut our eyes against God, to be doomed to
perpetual darkness? Be thankful, then, for the least gleam of light,
but do not so prize what you have as not to wish for more!
That man is still sadly blind who does not care to see more. It is a
bad sign of unhealthiness when we have no desire to grow. When we are
satisfied that we know all the Truth of God and cannot be taught any
more, it is probable that we need to begin at the beginning. One of the
first lessons in the school of wisdom is to know that we are naturally
fools, and that man is growing wise who is growing conscious of his own
deficiency and ignorance. But when the Lord Jesus Christ brings a man
to see a little, and to desire to see more, He does not leave him till
He has led him into all Truth.
We find that the Savior, to complete the cure, touched His patient
again. A renewal of your contact with the Savior must be the means of
your perfection, as it was your first means of enlightenment. Pray for
Divine Grace to be close to Christ, in intimate acquaintance with His
blessed Person, in sole dependence upon His merit. Study His Character,
desire to commune with Him for yourself, and to see Him with your own
eyes by faith and not with the eyes of another–this shall be the means
of giving you clearer light. The Divine touch does it all.
I suppose that when the man's eyes were fully opened, the first person
He saw was Jesus, for he had been taken away from the crowd, and could
only see men at a distance. Blessed vision, to drink in the sight of
that face! To perceive the beauties of that matchless lover of our
souls! Oh the joy! One might be content to be blind forever if He were
not to be seen–but when Jesus is seen, oh the heavenly delight of
being rescued from the blindness which concealed Him from our eyes!
Believer, above all things, pray that you may know Him and understand
Him. With all your heart, get an understanding of Him. Count doctrine
precious only because it is a throne on which He sits. Think much of
the precept, but make it not to be a legal stone to hide Him in the
sepulcher–think only of it as it is illustrated and set forth in His
life. And even your own experience–care little for it if it does not
point, as with a finger, to Christ. Consider that you only grow when
you grow up in Him. "Grow in Grace," says the Apostle, but he adds,
"and in the knowledge of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." "Grow up," he says, but what does he
add? "Grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ
Jesus." Ask to see, but put the prayer in this form–"Sir, we would see
Jesus."
Pray for sight, but let it be a sight of the King in His beauty that
you may one day see the land that is very far off. You are nearing
clearness of vision when you can see only Jesus! You are coming out of
cloud-land into the brightness of day, when, instead of seeing men as
trees, you behold the Savior! Then you may let the men and the trees
take care of themselves.
We read that our Lord bade His patient, "Look up." If we would see, we
must not look below us–no light springs from this dusky earth. If we
would see, we must not look within us–it is a dark, black cavern, full
of everything that is evil. We must look up. Every good gift and every
perfect gift comes from above, and we must look up for it. Meditating
upon Jesus and resting upon Him, we must look up to our God. Our soul
must consider her Lord's perfection, and not dream of her own. She must
muse upon His greatness, and not on any fancied greatness of her own.
We must look up– not on our fellow servants, or upon the externals of
worship–but up to God Himself. We must look, and as we look up we
shall find the light.
We are told that at last, "the man could see every man clearly." Yes,
when the great Physician sends the patient home, you may rest assured
that his cure is fully worked. It was all well with him in the
superlative degree! He saw, he saw every man–he saw every man clearly.
May this be the happy lot of many a half-enlightened one here present!
Be not satisfied, my dear Friends, with being saved! Desire to know how
you are saved, why you are saved, the method by which you are saved. It
is a Rock on which you stand, I know, but think upon the questions–how
you were put on that Rock, by whose love you came there, and why that
love was set on you.
I would to God that all the members of this Church were not only in
Christ Jesus, but understood Him, and knew by the assurance of the
understanding to where they have attained. Be always ready to give a
reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. Remember
there are many grave distinctions in Scripture which will save you a
world of trouble if you will know and remember them. Try to understand
the difference between the old nature and the new. Never expect the old
nature to improve into the new, for it never will. The old nature can
never do anything but sin, and the new nature never can sin. They are
two distinct principles, never confuse them.
Do not see men as trees walking. Do not confuse sanctification and
justification. Remember that the moment you trust in Christ you are
justified as completely as you will be in Heaven. But sanctification is
a gradual work which is carried on from day to day by God the Holy
Spirit. Distinguish between the great Truth of God that salvation is
all of God, and the great lie that men are not to be blamed if they are
lost. Be well assured that salvation is of the Lord, but do not lay
damnation at God's door! Be not ashamed if men call you a Calvinist,
but hate with all your heart Antinomianism.
On the other hand, while you believe human responsibility, never run
into the error of supposing that man ever turns to God of his own free
will. There is a narrow line between the two errors, and ask for Divine
Grace to see it. Ask for Grace neither to fall into the whirlpool nor
to be dashed against the rock–to be neither a slave of this system nor
that. Never say of one text of Scripture, "Be still, I cannot endure
you," nor yet of another, "I believe you, and you alone." Seek to love
the whole Word of God, to get an insight into every Truth revealed.
Pray to have God's Word given to you not as so many discordant books,
but as a whole, and seek to grasp the Truth as it is in Jesus in all
its compactness and unity.
I would urge you, if you have got sight which enables you to see at
all, to fall on your knees and cry unto the great Sight-Giver, "O
Master, still go on! Take every film away! Remove every cataract! And
if it should be painful to have my prejudices cut away or burnt out of
my eyes, yet do it, Lord, until I can see in the clear light of the
Holy Spirit, and shall be worthy to enter into the gates of the holy
city, where they see You face to face."