IL
Adoration.
Having reached Adoration, we can use the words of the people of the Decapolis and say, " He hath done all things well : he maketh even the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak."
^ Bam2'ton Lectures, 362. * J. G, Paton, Autobiogra2)hy, 32Q,
ST. MARK — 13
194 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
1. There is the universal •perfection of the work — "He hath done all things well." We do not know what the " all things " of these men comprehended, but we know that they express the nature of all Christ's acts of healing and of all His wonderful works of whatever kind, and His whole work for us men from the beginning to the present day. Hort thinks it likely that St. Mark saw in the saying of the multitude an unintended likeness to the language which the Book of Genesis (i. 31) uses about the finishing of the work of creation : " God saw every- thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good."
2. There is next the particular example or examples — "He maketh even the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak."
(1) First of all He gives us our hearing. It is Christ who enables any one of us to hear any of the common sounds that enter into our ears as we walk out on an August day like this. If you have heard the singing of the birds or the running of the stream, or the voices of children as you came to church, then recollect that it was Christ who caused you to hear them. He fills the earth and air with all melodies, and He gives to men the power of taking them in. By giving back hearing to this man who had lost it, He declared this ; He said, I am the giver of hearing ; the power comes from Me.^
(2) He restores us our hearing. This is the purpose of His coming. He comes for restoration. But not for bodily restora- tion chiefly. He gives us our hearing at the first that we may hear the word of God and live. As Browning has it, He gives us all our gifts — " such a body, and then such an earth for insphering the whole " — that He may go on and give us the best, the gift of life eternal.
Would it ever have entered my mind, the bare will, much less
power, To bestow on this Saul what I sang of, the marvellous dower Of the life he was gifted and filled with ? to make such a soul Such a body, and then such an earth for insphering the whole ? And doth it not enter my mind (as my warm tears attest), These good things being given, to go on, and give one more,
the best?
* F. D. Maurice,
ST. MARK
195
Ay, to save and redeem and restore him, maintain ar the
height This perfection, — succeed with life's dayspring, death's minute
of night ?^
^ My little girl came to me the other day with the head- less body of her doll. She came carrying it, and in her little hands some of the broken pieces. She had smashed its china head into insignificant fragments. With tears in her voice she said, " Mend it, Papa, mend it." What was I to do ? Her large blue eyes, blue as the Italian sky, looked up at me trustingly and expectantly. She would not understand if I told her I was unable to mend it, for her faith in me was bound- less. What was I to do ? I could make her forget her distress ; and in a moment the broken doll fell from her hands as she reached out for the new delight. The Divine Fatherhood never fails. He does not so cheat us into satisfied forgetfulness. He doeth all things well.^
3. There is the spiritual result — ^fulness of spirit and life. " We will now," says Tauler, " consider the seven gifts of the Spirit, given to man through this touch whereby the ears of his mind are opened. First is given unto him the spirit of fear, which has power to rid him of all self-will, and teaches him to flee from temptation, and at all times to shun unruly appetites and licence. Next is given to him the spirit of charity, which makes him sweet-tempered, kind-hearted, merciful, nor ready to pass a harsh judgment on any one's conduct, but full of tolerance. Thirdly, he receives the gift of knowledge, so that he understands the meaning of his inward experience, and thus learns to guide himself according to the blessed will of God. The fourth gift is Divine strength : through this gift such Divine might is imparted unto him that, with Paul, it becomes a small and easy matter to him to do or bear all things through God who strengtheneth him. The fifth is the gift of good counsel, which all those who follow become gentle and loving. Lastly come two great gifts, understanding and the wisdom of insight, which are so sublime and glorious that it is better to seek to experi- ence them than to speak thereof. That our ears may thus be opened of a truth, that the Eternal Word may be heard in us, may God grant us ! " ^