negative t he possibility of what may seem, though it is not, interference, since the

natural causes which lead to these evil consequences may so easily, naturally, and

rationally be affected. But there is another and a higher aspect of it, since Christ has

come, and is really the Healer of all disease and evil by being the Remover of its

ultimate moral cause. This is indicated in His words, when, putting aside the clumsy

alternative suggested by the disciples, He told them that it was so in order 'that the

works of God might be made manifest in him.' They wanted to know the 'why,' He told

them the 'in order to,' of the man's calamity; they wished to understand its reason as

regarded its origin, He told them its reasonableness in regard to the purpose which it,

and all similar suffering, should serve, since Christ has come, the Healer of evil -

because the Saviour from sin. Thus He transferred the question from intellectual ground

to that of the moral purpose which suffering might serve. And this not in itself, nor by

any destiny or appointment, but because the Coming and Work of the Christ has made

it possible to us all. Sin and its sequences are still the same, for 'the world is established

that it cannot move.' But over it all has risen the Sun of Righteousness with healing in

His wings; and, if we but open ourselves to His influence, these evils may serve this

purpose, and so have this for their reason, not as, regards their genesis, but their

continuance, 'that the works of God may be made manifest.'

To make this the reality to us, was 'the work of Him' Who sent, and for which He sent,

the Christ. And rapidly now must He work it, for perpetual example, during the few hours

still left of His brief working -day.14 This figure was not unfamiliar to the Jews,15 though it

may well be that, by thus emphasising the briefness of the time, He may also have

anticipated any objection to His healing on the Sabbath. But it is of even more

importance to notice, how the two leading thoughts of the previous day's Discourse

were now again taken up and set forth in the miracle that followed. These were, that He

did the Work which God had sent Him to do,16 and that He was the Light of the world.17

As its Light He could not but shine so long as He was in it. And this He presently

symbolised (and is not every miracle a symbol?) in the healing of the blind.

Once more we notice, how in His Deeds, as in His Words, the Lord adopted the forms

known and used by His contemporaries, while He filled them with quite other substance.

It has already been stated,18 that saliva was commonly regarded as a remedy for

diseases of the eye, although, of course, not for the removal of blindness . With this He

made clay, which He now used, adding to it the direction to go and wash in the Pool of

Siloam, a term which literally meant 'sent.'19 A symbolism, this, of Him Who was the

Sent of the Father. For, all is here symbolical: the cure and its means. If we ask

ourselves why means were used in this instance, we can only suggest, that it was partly

for the sake of him who was to be healed, partly for theirs who afterwards heard of it.

For, the blind man seems to have been ignorant of the character of his Healer,20 and it

needed the use of some means to make him, so to speak, receptive. On the other hand,

not only the use of means, but their inadequacy to the object, must have impressed all.