previous to that which men now have on earth, and that they were either rewarded or punished in this world, according as they had conducted themselves in that from whence they had come ; and that God also recompensed in men the good or evil that had been done by their parents ; the Disciples asked our Lord, which of these two things had occasioned to the poor man this great calamity. Our Lord told them, that the calamity was not to be traced either to any evil that the man had committed in a pre- existent state, or to any that had been committed by his parents ; but that it had been sent by God, for the furtherance of his own glory, in giving sight to the blind. It had been ordained of God, that the Mes- siah should evince the truth of his mission by open- ing the eyes of the blind : and the opening of this man's eyes was a work especially assigned to the Lord Jesus for that very end. Hence, instead of entering into a distinct consideration of the questions proposed to him, he contents himself with negativing both alternatives, and with intimating, that he must address himself without delay to the work before him; the work of giving sight to this blind man.
But though the words of our text have a particular reference to our blessed Lord, thev must not be con- fined to him ; since they are equally applicable to every child of man, and declare to all of us,
I. Our duty —
We all have a great work to do — [As far as our blessed Lord acted as a Mediator between God and man, his work was peculiar to himself: but, as far as he was engaged in "fulfilling all righteousness b," he was a pattern to us. He acted as his Father's servant, " sentc" to perform a work : and we, in like manner, are servants of the Living God : only, being sinners, we have the duty of sinners ; which Jesus, by reason of his innocence, could not have. As having offended Almighty God, our first duty is, to humble ourselves before him, and to seek for mercy at his hands. Our next duty is, to implore help from him, that we may be able to fulfil his will in future, and, by a holy life and conversation to
b Matt. iii. 15. c Text, with John ix. 7.