yers of good King Hezekiah, and to assure him of an addition of fifteen years to his imit of life. But what are the waters of the sea, or the luminaries of the sky, or the element of time to him who furrowed the channel for the one and fixed the place of the other, and who himself fills all space with his presence and all time with his fulness? And yet he stood stil. when that crisis, the greatest in all this world’s history, was fast approaching—for Messiah to be cut off, sin to be made an end of, and everlasting righteous- ness brought in; and all this in answer to Bartimaus’s earnest entreaties, and to restore
ight to his blind eyes and impart life to his dead soul. 2. What he did on standing stéH.
e have three accounts of this also, but, while identical in the main, they exhibit the game thing under different aspects. “ He called” is the statement of St. Matthew; “he commanded him to be called” is the version cf St. Mark; “he commanded him to be brought ” is the addition of St. Luke. In the first we have the sovereignty of God, who ealls us by his grace—calls us out of darkness into marvellous light. In the second we have the ministry of man. “The Lord gave the Word,” we read: “great was the com-
y of those that published it.” In the third we have the agency of the Holy Spirit, Bod, of his sovereign grace and mere good pleasure, calls us—calls us, as St. Peter assures us, “ unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus ;” and so, as stated in other Scriptures, it is a “high calliny,” a “holy calling,” and a “heavenly calling.” To men, as his ambassadors, is committed the ministry of reconciliation ; they are employed to explain the Divine call, to enforce it and repeat it. The Holy Spirit’s agency must accompany the minister’s message, to bring it home in power and demonstration and assurance, convincing of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Thus we are made willing in the day of his power ; and thus at his own command we are brought unto him. The lessons of his Word, the dispensations of his providence, the ordinances of religion, the movements of his Holy Spirit on our hearts, are all employed in drawing us to Christ for the salvation of our souls, 3. A strange question. We almost see the blind man rise in haste at the word # command, which is now repeated to him by the crowd, with the encouraging “ Be of good comfort,” and, in obedience to the Saviour’s call, rush forward, “casting aside his garment,” in his eager, earnest haste. We almost hear the Saviour answer the unspoken thought of the blind man’s heart, as he said unto him, “ What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?” There was little need for such an inquiry, one would think, on the part of our Lord. here was not one in all that crowd that could not guess, and guess correctly, the answer; the Saviour knew the thought that was uppermost in the blind
oH. x. 1—52.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. 117 a ee
man’s heart, for he knew what was in man. Why, then, does he ask the question? Just in order to give him an opportunity of presenting his petition and making known his wants in his own words. (1) Soin our own case we come to Jesus by his command and gracious invitation ; that command is expressed in many forms, such as “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden; ” “Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” His invitations are multiplied. (2) In coming we must lay aside every weight, and the sin that would most easily beset us, just as Bartimaeus cast aside his outer garment, to be free from every entanglement that might retard or altogether prevent our reaching him. The young ruler, as we have seen, came to Jesus; he longed for Jesus, and Jesus esteemed him; he panted for life eternal, but could not bring himself to part with the things of this present life; he did not cast aside his garment, (3) We are to come with prayer. Once the gracious desire is formed in our heart by the Spirit of grace, it will soon shape itself in prayer, for the spirit of grace is also the spirit of supplication. Though he knows our wants better than we ourselves, and before we ask him, and even our ignorance in asking; yet he will have us express them in prayer, so that “ Behold, he prayeth!” indicates the first outgoing of spiritual life. God grants to our feeblest petitions what he will not give without them. Prayer fits us for receiving the blessing ; it puts us into the proper position—that of humble dependence; it exalts the Giver without in any way degrading the receiver; it brings us into conformity with God’s own plan. Fixed, as the alternation of day and night, or as the succession of the seasons, or as the order of the universe itself, is God’s purpose that we must ask in order to receive, seek in order to find, and knock in order that it may be opened. When our necessity is greatest, let us go to him by prayer, and he will supply it; when the trial is sorest, let us go to him in prayer, and he will alleviate it or entirely remove it; when the burden is heaviest, let us go to him in prayer, and he will lift it entirely off our shoulders or at least enable us to bear it. (4) Another reason for the questiou was to suggest the large liberality and great generosity of the Saviour; there is a glorious fulness in the inquiry, “‘ What wilt thou?” There is a gracious freeness in it at the game time. There is a royal ring in the question; there isa kingly munificence. It reminds us of, though it surpasses, both in reality and richness, the question of King Ahasuerus to his queen, “ What is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee: and what is thy request ? even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed.” So to Bartimeus the Saviour said, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?” and it shall be done; you have only to make your choice; you have only to mention what you want. I do not limit you; if straitened, it is in and through yourself. So to the suppliant still Christ says, “ What wilt thou that I should do unto thee ?”—The wealth of worlds is mine; the power of re is mine; the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are mine; ask, and you shall receive what you want, as much as you want, yea, all you want, provided it be really expedient for you, conducive to the Divine glory, and con- sistent with the welfare of your fellow-man. 4. The blind man’s direct reply. Bartimesus, we are sure from all the known circumstances of the case, wanted many things—better clothing, more wholesome food, # more comfortable place of abode, more of the neces- saries of life in general; some even of its simple comforts would not be likely to spoil this poor mendicant, who had suffered so long from privation, pining in poverty and
inched with want. Bartimesus refers to none of these things, or such things as these;