shall certainly be worse than our beginning' ;-the publicans and harlots shall go into the kingdom of God before us;—and it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon, nay even for Sodom, in the day of judgment, than for ust.

No miracles of mercy like to those we have received, and therefore no ingratitude like ours; and consequently no punishment greater than we shall then deserve.

All which avert, O most compassionate Jesus! Amen.

r Matt. xii. 45.

s Matt. xxi. 31. t Matt. x. 15. xi. 22.

THE TWELFTH MIRACLE.

A man made to see, that was born blind.

JOHN ix. 1, &c.

And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth, &c.

THIS miracle was a most sensible and surprising

confirmation of what our Lord had said a little before; I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. And it is very probable that he designed it as such: for the Pharisees had objected to him, that he bare record, or witness, of himself, and therefore his record was not true: to which he answered, The Father that sent me beareth witness of me; and then, after some further discourse with them, he made it appear that he did so by this amazing miracle, saying just before he wrought it, I must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, in which no man can work; (alluding to his approaching death, which he knew they were continually plotting and contriving, and which reflection was occasioned by their late endeavouring to stone him;) and then he repeated almost the same words again as he had done at first, As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world e.

a John viii. 12.

d John ix. 4.

b John viii. 13.

e John ix. 5.

c John viii, 18.

Which expressions, though they are to be understood in a sense that is spiritual, so as to mean Christ's enlightening the souls of men by the doctrine of the gospel, and chasing away the darkness of error and of sin; yet must needs be impressed with greater force upon the mind, by so affecting and lively a representation of the thing they signified, as that of a man's being made to see by him, which was blind from his birth.

So mighty a demonstration of his divine power as this was, could not but give the greatest weight and authority to all that he should say, and engage men seriously to ponder and reflect upon it. And the miracle being so exactly suited to what he had been discoursing, as to be an exemplification of that in the body, which he told them he came to effect upon the soul; it must needs cause in them a very quick and clear apprehension of the thing, and set their thoughts on work upon it with great vigour and affection.

Since the world began, as this poor man truly said, it was never heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind : nothing less than a creative power could make new organs of sight, (that noble sense, to which an exact harmony of so many curious parts are requisite,) or supply the defects of nature in the first formation of the eye; which yet was necessary to be done to make one see, that was blind from his birth.

And therefore Jesus, when he applied himself to work this wondrous cure, spat upon the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and therewith covered the eyes of the blind man; not as by way of medi

f John ix. 32.

cine, to be sure, for what virtue can be conceived in clay, for such a purpose as this, which is rather apt to deprive of sight than to create it where it never was? But it was designed to shew, in that emblematical way which was usual with the prophets, that nothing less than that almighty Power which fashioned the admirable frame of man's body of clay at first, could be sufficient to make eyes where nature had made none, and render that complete which she had made imperfect: none could do this but that divine Architect who first contrived and raised this wondrous building, and in whose book are all our members written &.

No doubt but all that saw our Lord cover the blind man's eyes with clay, and those that met him going thus to the pool of Siloam to wash, wondered at it, and were in great expectation of what would follow; and the man himself too must needs be full of thought about it; and had it not been Jesus that commanded him to go, (of whose fame, a constant beggar at the temple b, as this blind man was, could not but have heard,) we may believe he would not have obeyed so readily. But when he had washed off the clay, and came back seeing, then it plainly appeared that the omnipotent power of God was communicated to Jesus, and the meaning of his anointing the man's eyes with clay, was by every considering man easily discernible, and likewise of his sending him to Siloam to wash it off; for that pool was looked upon by the Jews as an emblem of the Messias, and signified sent, which was his title, who was the Shiloh, that is, the sent of God: and it was natural to conclude from the whole, that he g Psalm cxxxix. 16. h John ix. 8.

who could confirm his doctrine by such a miracle as this, must be the then expected Christ; who was to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of God's people Israel. As was said of him in a heavenly rapture by devout Simeon, according to divers prophecies of old concerning him ; and who, together with all the pious and learned of that nation, at that time waited for the consolation of Israel1.

To confirm the truth then, of his being the light of the world, and the messenger of the covenantTM, we see was his design in working this great miracle; and we have seen how apt it was to create in men a belief in him as such, suiting so exactly with ancient prophecies, and expressing to the life the office of the Messias, which was to cleanse and to enlighten; and hinting his very title too, so that those must be strangely inapprehensive who were not mightily affected with it. But it was not wrought for their conviction only, in whose times our Saviour lived, but also for our confirmation and instruction, upon whom the last ages of the world are come; and the relation of it will afford us several useful observations.

And first, we find the disciples asking our Lord, when they saw him look wistfully upon this blind beggar, Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Which question was grounded upon an opinion then very current both with the Jews and heathens, of the preexistence and transmigration of souls; that is, that the souls of men were in a state of being before they came to be k Isa. ix. 2. xlii. 6. xlix. 6. lx. I, &c. lxii. I. m Mal. iii. I.

i Luke ii. 32.

1 Luke ii. 25.