The miracles of Jesus - Classical Christian Literature by Athleo.net

322 THE OPENING OF THE EYES
line of it. It therefore confirms in an unexpected
way, like a watermark in the narrative, the verisimilitude
of the incident.
Now the revelation of the slow, successive steps
of imparting the power of vision to the blind man
in the miracle of our Lord, contains a much-needed
lesson for our day. We are apt to think that this
miracle is
less wonderful than other miracles because
it was done gradually, and we see the various steps
of the process. If the eyes of the blind man had
been opened immediately by a word from God, we
should consider it as a mere act of sovereign will,
and acquiesce in it at once. All reasoning would
have been laid aside, and the mind would repose
at once on the boundless resources of Almighty
power. But when second causes and intermediate
instruments are employed, of whose efficiency for
the purpose we ourselves can judge, it is a far
greater strain upon our faith to attribute the whole
carrying out of the process to God. The work
seems to be a common work of healing instead of
a divine miracle of grace. And so we are apt to
think that the wonders of creation are less due to
a great First Cause, because science has enabled us
to trace
the ways in which these wonders have been
brought about. We seem to lose sight of the
Creator Himself, the more clearly we understand
the natural causes, and the methods of the work
of His hands. If we can explain how a thing came
about, we seem to ourselves to have taken all the
mystery, all the divine agency, out of it. It seems
as if it came about of its own accord, by natural
causes, and needed no divine agency. It was far