MAY 9TH, 1899
MAY 9TH, 1899
... I have been thinking much lately of John 9 as giving us soul history according to God. With most of us there is such a mixture practically that we can perhaps hardly discern the [p. 29] unbroken golden thread of divine history which runs through the apparently tangled web of our spiritual life. But it is there, and in John 9 this golden thread is, so to speak, disentangled from all the complications of experience, and held up to our view in its own proper character and beauty. That is, we see in the history of the blind man “the works of God”, verse 3, in unmixed purity and power — a soul (in figure) learning Christ first as Saviour, then as divine Teacher, Lord, Head, and finally as Son of God. It is a lovely, instructive, and engrossing study, and I trust my soul has tasted somewhat of its spirit and moral power in dwelling upon it. I commend it to your heart as a fruitful theme for consideration and prayer. The complete and blessed satisfaction into which God would introduce our hearts in the knowledge of His Son is so great, and so attractive to everyone who really contemplates it, that it is a perpetual wonder we do not go in for it with more wholehearted purpose. May God in His rich grace vouchsafe to us and to His beloved saints a prepared and understanding heart to estimate rightly and to pursue earnestly these precious and holy privileges to which His grace has called us!
May 9th, 1899.