The Lord gains a witness, and a stalwart witness too! First, he stood upon his own inalienable experience. "_One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see._" Second, he drew his own firm inferences from the beneficence of the work. And, in the third place, he reached his grand conclusion. "_If this man were not of G.o.d, He could do nothing._" A grand testimony, and given by one who "dared to stand alone!"

And the witness gained a Friend. "Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and when He had found him...." Our Lord is always seeking the outcasts. He never abandons the abandoned. When the faithful witness is driven into the wilderness he finds "a table spread" before him "in the presence of his enemies." The man who had recovered his sight was cast out, but on the threshold he met his Lord!

And further sight was given. By the first sight he could see his parents, by the second sight he saw the Son of G.o.d. The film was first removed from his eyes, and then from his soul, and he saw "the glory of the Lord." "And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped Him."

MAY The Twentieth

_THE LONE CRY IN THE BIG CROWD_

MARK x. 46-52.

Our Lord hears the cry of need even when it rises from the midst of the tumultuous crowd. A mother can hear the faint cry of her child in the chamber above, even when the room resounds with the talk and laughter of her guests. And our Lord heard the wail of poor Bartimaeus! That lone, sorrowful cry pierced the clamour, "and Jesus stood still." My soul, cry to Him! "Jesus of Nazareth pa.s.seth by."

And Bartimaeus knew what he wanted. He merged all his pet.i.tions in one.

"Lord, that I might receive my sight!" And let me, too, come to my Saviour with some great, dominant, all-commanding request. I trifle with my Master. I ask Him for toys, for petty things, while all the time He is waiting to give me "unsearchable wealth," "sight, riches, healing of the mind." "The Lord is great"; and shall I add, "and greatly to be _prayed_!"

And how delicately gracious it is that our Lord should attribute the miracle to Bartimaeus himself. "_Thy faith hath made thee whole!_" As though the Lord had had no share in the ministry! He makes so much of our faith, and our endeavour, and our obedience. "If ye had faith as a grain of mustard-seed!" That's all He wants, and miracles are accomplished.

MAY The Twenty-first

_HUMAN FRAILTIES_

ISAIAH xlii. 1-7.

What a winsome revelation of the delicate gentleness of the Lord! "The bruised reed"--is it the impaired musical reed, that cannot now emit a musical sound, and can only be thrown away? He will not snap it and cast it to the void. The discordant life can be made tuneful again: He will put "a new song in my mouth."

"And the smoking flax"--the life that has lost its fire, and therefore its light, its enthusiasm, and therefore its ideals; the life that is smouldering into the cold ashes of moral and spiritual death! He will not stamp it out with His foot. The smouldering fire can be rekindled, a spent enthusiasm can be revived. "He shall baptize you ... with fire!"

And so He comes to minister to the infirm. He comes to restore injured faculty; "_to open blind eyes_." He comes to give vision to restored sight: "_to be a light of the Gentiles_." And He comes to endow the restored life with a rich and gracious freedom: "_to bring out the prisoners from the prison_." Sight, and light, and freedom! And my Lord is at the gate, and these gifts are in His hand.

MAY The Twenty-second

_THE LIGHT AS DARKNESS_

MATTHEW xiii. 10-17.

The condition of the heart determines the quality of my discernment. If "the heart is waxed gross," the ears will be "dull of hearing," and the eyes will be "closed." My spiritual senses gain their acuteness or obtuseness from my affections. If my love is muddy my sight will be dim.

If my love be "clear as crystal" the spiritual realm will be like a gloriously transparent air.

And the awful nemesis of sin-created blindness is this, that it interprets itself as sight. "The light that is in thee is darkness." We think we see, and all the time we are the children of the night. We think it is "the dawn of G.o.d's sweet morning," and behold! it is the perverse flare of the evil one. He has given us a will-o'-the-wisp, and we boastfully proclaim it to be "the morning star."

But there is hope for any man, however blind he be, who will humbly lay himself at Jesus' feet. Let this be my prayer, O Lord, "Cleanse Thou me from secret faults." Deliver me from self-deception, save me from confusing the fixed light of heaven with the wandering beacon-lights of h.e.l.l. And again and again will I pray, "Lord, that I might receive my sight!"

MAY The Twenty-third

_WIND AND FIRE_

ACTS ii. 1-21.

The Holy Spirit will minister to me as a _wind_. He will create an atmosphere in my life which will quicken all sweet and beautiful growth.

And this shall be my native air. Gracious seeds, which have never awaked, shall now unfold themselves, and "the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose." It was a saying of Huxley, that if our little island were to be invaded by tropical airs, tropical seeds which are now lying dormant in English gardens and fields would troop out of their graves in bewildering wealth and beauty! "Breathe on me, breath of G.o.d!"

And the Holy Spirit will minister to me as a _fire_. And fire is our supreme minister of cleansing. Fire can purify when water is impotent. The great fire burnt out the great plague. There are evil germs which cannot be dealt with except by the searching ministry of the flame. "He shall baptize you ... _with fire_." He will create a holy enthusiasm in my soul, an intense and sacred love, which will burn up all evil intruders, but in which all beautiful things shall walk unhurt.

"Kindle a flame of sacred love On these cold hearts of ours."

MAY The Twenty-fourth

_CALVARY AND PENTECOST_

ACTS ii. 22-36.

The Apostle Peter traces the stream of Pentecostal blessing to a tomb.

This "river of water of life" has its "rise" in a death of transcendent sacrifice. And I must never forget these dark beginnings of my eternal hope. It is well that I should frequently visit the sources of my blessedness, and kneel on "the green hill far away."

It will save me from having a cheap religion. I shall never handle the gifts of grace as though they had cost nothing. There will always be the marks of blood upon them, the crimson stain of incomparable sacrifice.

And it will save me from all flippancy in my religious life. When I visit the cross and the tomb, life is transformed from a picnic into a crusade.

For that is ever my peril, to picnic on the banks of the river and to spend my days in emotional loitering.

After all, my Pentecost is purposed to prepare me for my own Gethsemane and Calvary! Life is given me in order that I may spend it again in ready and fruitful sacrifice.

MAY The Twenty-fifth