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SIGHT RESTORED TO THE MAN BLIND FROM HIS BIRTH.

JOHN ix. 1 to 8.

And as Jesus passed by, He saw a man which was blind from his birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? &c. &c.

Q. WHAT do you here understand by a man blind from his birth?

A. According to the sense of the letter of this history, by a man blind from his birth, is meant one who was born blind, or without the use and enjoyment of the organs of bodily sight; but according to the spiritual sense involved in this and all the other miracles wrought by the BLESSED JESUS, by the blind man here recorded, are figured and represented those who are spiritually blind, or those who are destitute of the saving knowledge of heavenly truth; and by being blind from his birth, is further figured and represented the state of the Gentiles, or of those,

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who, when they have the faculty of receiving instruction in the knowledge either of moral or religious truth, never receive it, and who consequently are mere sensual men, believing only the testimony of their senses, and acknowledging nothing to be true but what they can confirm by their senses.

Q. And how do you understand the reply which the BLESSED JESUS here makes to the question proposed by His disciples, when He says, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his pa rents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him?

A. It appears from the mode of expression here adopted, as if the BLESSED JESUS pronounced both the man and his parents free from sin, and thus that He contradicts the testimony of His apostles, one of whom says, All have sinned, (Romans iii. 23,) whilst another says, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us, (1 John i. 8,) but this appearance arises from separating the former part of the above words from the latter, instead of reading them in the connexion in which they stand. For if they be read in connexion, their combined sense will then be this, Neither hath this man sinned, or his parents, (in such a manner or degree,) but that the works of GOD may be made manifest in him, which is the same thing as if He had said, Both this man and his parents may have sinned, but still they are not out of the reach of DIVINE MERCY and operation, and therefore their sin may tend to mani

fest more fully the works of that mercy, in ef fecting their purification and regeneration, which effects are in an eminent sense the works of God. A similar mode of expression occurs in another evangelist, where the BLESSED JESUS replies to the mother of Zebedee's children, "To sit on my right-hand, and on my left is not mine to give, but (it shall be given to those) for whom it is prepared of my Father, (Matt. xx. 23,) and this mode of expression has led many into the error of supposing, that to sit on His right-hand and on His left is not His to give, whereas if the former part of the words be connected with the latter, no such declaration is made. For in

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connected series, the import of the above words, when read without the interpolation made by the translators, is to this effect, To sit on my right-hand and on my left is not mine to give, but (or except) to those for whom it is prepared of my Father; thus the declaration of the BLESSED JESUS amounts only to this, that He cannot confer the joys of heaven on those who are not in a state of purification and preparation to receive them, but only on those who are prepared, and whose preparation is of the Father; in other words, of what is signified by the Father, viz. the divine good of the divine love; for when the FATHER and the Son are spoken of distinctly, by the former is to be understood the divine good of the divine love, and by the latter the divine truth of the divine wisdom.

Q. But the BLESSED JESUS immediately adds,

I must work the works of Him that sent Me while it is day; the night cometh when no man can work-can you see any connexion be tween these words and those of the preceding verse?

A. Yes; the BLESSED JESUS, in the preceding verse, had been speaking of the works of GOD, and now He declares in the present verse, that these works must be wrought by Himself in the day, and not in the night; in other words, they must be wrought when the principles of goodness and truth are admitted by man, and not when they are rejected. For the principal works of GOD consist in the purification and regenera tion of human minds, and these works cannot be accomplished where evil and error, which constitute spiritual night, abound, but only in the day of the dawning of heavenly goodness and truth. JESUS CHRIST accordingly teaches in the succeeding verse, that this day cometh from Himself, and that consequently He is the GOD who performs the mighty works of man's purification and regeneration, for He declares, While I am in the world, I am the light of the world; in other words, I am that DIVINE TRUTH from which and by which all purification and regeneration is effected, for divine truth is light, and by divine truth and life according to it, man is purified and regenerated.

Q. And how do you understand the words which next follow, When He had thus spoken, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle; and He anointed the eyes of the blind

man with the clay, and said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam (which is, by interpretation, Sent?)

A. These words, like the foregoing, have both a literal and a spiritual meaning, and according to their literal meaning, they are to be understood as they are expressed; but according to their spiritual meaning, they are to be understood in relation to the recovery of spiritual sight, which is the understanding of truth, amongst those who are signified by the man in this history, who was blind from his birth. Agreeable to this meaning, by JESUS thus speaking, is to be understood the declaration which He had just made of His SUPreme Divinity, consequently of His DIVINE HUMANITY, as being the only source of all divine faith; and by His spitting on the ground and making clay of the spittle, and anointing the eyes of the blind man with the clay, is further to be understood the preparation and application of a lower order of truth in His HOLY WORD, called sensual truth, or truth adapted to the apprehension of sensual men, or minds, such as have been above described; for by clay made of spittle, such an order of truth is signified and represented. It is remarkable therefore, that, on this occasion, the BLESSED JESUS doth not address this blind man as, on two former occasions, He had addressed other blind men, saying, in one instance, Believe ye that I am able to do this? (Matt. ix. 28,) and in another instance, What will ye that I should do unto you? (Matt. xx. 32,) neither doth He