Let us remember it as we look forward to the days yet to come. We know not what they may be, bright or dark, many or few. But we know that we are in the hands of Him who " doeth all things well." He will not err in any of His dealings with us. He will take away and give — He will afflict and bereave — He will move and He will settle, with perfect wisdom, at the right time, in the right way. The great Shepherd of the sheep makes no mistakes. He leads every lamb of His flock by the right way to the city of habitation.
We shall never see the full beauty of these words till the resurrection morning. We shall then look back over our lives, and know the meaning of everything that happened from first to last. We shall remember all the way by which we were led, and confess that all was " well done." The why and the wherefore, the causes and the reasons of everything which now perplexes, will be clear and plain as the sun at noon-day. We shall wonder at our own past blindness, and marvel that we could ever have doubted our Lord's love. " Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now we know in part, but then shall we know even as we are known."* (1 Cor. xiii. 13.)
* The reason why our Lord made use of the previous actions re- corded in this miracle — spitting, looking up to heaven, and sighing — is a question that has often perplexed commentators. Some obser- vations of Luther, quoted by Stier, are worth reading :
" This sigh was not drawn from Christ on account of the single tongue and ear of this poor man ; but it is a common sigh over all tongues and ears, yea over all hearts, bodies, and souls, and over all men from Adam to his last descendant."
" Our beloved Lord saw well what an amount of suffering and sorrow would be occasioned by tongues and ears. For the greatest