t to come out. This
is what keeps hundreds and thousands from becoming Christians.

It was a serious thing to be put out of the synagogue in those days.
It does not amount to much now. If a man is put out of one church,
another may receive him; but when he went out of the synagogue there
was no other to take him in. It was the State church: it was the
only one they had. If he were cast out of that, he was cast out of
society, position, and everything else; and his business suffered
also.

Then again the Jews called the man that was blind, "and said unto
him, 'Give God the praise; we know that this man is a sinner.'"

It looks now as if they were trying to prejudice him against Christ:
but he "answered and said, 'Whether He be a sinner or no, I know
not; one thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see.'"

There were no infidels or philosophers there who could persuade him
out of that. There were not men enough in Jerusalem to make him
believe that his eyes were not opened. Did he not _know_ that for
over twenty years he had been feeling his way around Jerusalem; that
he had been led by children and friends; and that during all those
years he had not seen the sun in its glory, or any of the beauties
of nature? Did he not know that he had been feeling his way through
life up to that very day?

And do we not know that we have been born of God, and that we have
got the eyes of our souls opened? Do we not know that old things
have passed away and all things have become new, and that the
eternal light has dawned upon our souls? Do we not know that the
chains that once bound us have snapped asunder, that the darkness is
gone, and that the light has come? Have we not liberty where we once
had bondage? Do we not know it? If so, then let us not hold our
peace. Let us testify for the Son of God, and say, as the blind man
did in Jerusalem, "ONE THING I KNOW, that whereas I was blind, now I
see. I have a new power. I have a new light. I have a new love. I
have a new nature. I have something that reaches out toward God. By
the eye of faith I can see yonder heaven. I can see Christ standing
at the right hand of God. By and by, when my journey is over, I am
going to hear that voice saying, 'Come hither,' when I shall sit
down in the kingdom of God."

"Then said they to him again, 'What did He do to thee? how opened He
thine eyes?' But he answered them, 'I have told you already, and ye
did not hear; wherefore would ye hear