THE BLIND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8273, 4 June 1890, Page 6

THE BLIND.

Mr. John Abbott writes I have much pleasure in submitting the fifteenth list of subscriptions herein, £50 17s, which, added to previous amount,, totals £804 2s. Wo have prospered; we shall, we must succeed. A noble aim, a grand object., continuous liberality, and unwearying zeal are regal factors which merit and seize the crown. The eye ! Did you ever think of it profoundly ? I mean not only the corporal eye, which in the magnificence and grandeur of its structure is peerless, but all that which is symbolized in God's great universe, in all its realms by prescriptive and vested right, never a usurper, the eye ltas been regarded as prime minister. 'Tis true there are the other great officers of State, but the crown, the throne, the sceptre, are the legal aud regal property of he eye. Let us ascend by the ladder of Revelation right up to the throne of the Eternal. What strikes us here ? It is the eye of Omniscience. "Thine eyes are in every place, beholding the evil and tlie good." Again, listen to the eubiitne declaration, ringing out the death-knell of Darwinism, " Thine eyes did see my substance yet being unporfect; and in Thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none ot them." Here we do not recognise life ae a force, working up to higher tilings by slow processes, link by link, from a simple cell to a fish, from a fish to a reptile, from a reptile to a bird, from a bird to a mammal, from a mammal to a man, who may be regarded as the paragon of animals. But, on the other hand, we do see life in its colossal march, slow but sura, from the first germ of embryonic life to the six foot man, made in intellectual stature and physical beauty but a " little lower than the angels, and crowned with glory and honour." And now, descending from the Creator, we may traverse the tremendous incline till we reach the creature. Let us glance a moment at the eye of his mind. What a prodigious range ! where can it not penetrate? Back at one bound to the creation, when order and beauty wore evolved out of chaos, " when tho morning stars sang together and the sons of God shouted aloud for joy." Mark, this is but one stage, infinitely further back will the mental vehicle carry us to that solemn period when God was all in all, when Jehovah as the great I Am sat in solemn majesty upon the throne, when there was no world beneath it, and no multitude before it. How altered now ! There is before that throne "a great multitude whom no man can number," so many that every service will be sublimated and every enjoyment heightened by' the countless throng who share it. What I have described is the eye turned backwards. This organ works on a swivel; direct it to the future. What a mighty range ! Life, death, time, eternity, the future state, the resurrection morning — the last grand assize—this clear, cold, calculating eye of reason uplifts the scales, and in the beam notices the slightest deviation to right or left, and, in the terse language of Scripture, enables us to prove all things, and hold fast that which is good. Let us now look at the eye of Faith, brightest, a thing of iridescent loveliness and beauty in the rainbow character of Abraham. You know that tremendous draft Jehovah made on this patriarch. It embraced the whole of the rich treasure aud enormous wealth of his kingdom. That three days' journey of terrible suspense, what must have passed through his mind. The trial not yet over, for lie lifted up his eyes and then behold the place afar off. Think of the question of Isaac : " Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering." Then of the reply : " My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt ottering." These gems have a divine set ting. I regard this as the groat masterpiece of the Pentateuehal gallery ; and if you desire a grand school of art, I recommend you on either side to hang those inimitable productions of Joseph and Moses, but, in closing this eye of faith, let me direct you to the minstrelsy of the bard : Faith lend* its realising li/ht. Tbe clouds <liaperso, the shadows fly, The invisible appears in si^bt, Ami God is seen by mortal eye. While I am in this region I may exhibit to you the eye of poesy : The poet'* eye, in fine froury rolling, Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven ; And as imagination bodies forth The forms of things unknown, the poet'a-pen 'trims them to shapes, anil (fives to airy notbincr A local habitation hjkl a name. I might speak of tho malignant, tho microscopic, and the jealous eye. This triplet is a bad property. No. lls the vulture feeding on thocarrion, which, alas ! is often found in our best endeavours. No. 2 magnifies the defects till they appo>»»loathsome and hideous. No. is the cevil of devils ; it robe a man of his happiness and a woman of her joy ; it is tha destructionist and the spoliator, is twin sister to envy and malice, breeds nothing but an in- j fernal progeny. i Trifles light as air Are to the jealous confirmations strong As I routs of Holy Writ. I have not time to sneak at length of the corporeal eye, but- J will take you in thought to the period when by senile decay the eye shall grow dim, the pulse shall become feeble, "Those that look out of the windows shall be darkened, the daughters of music shall be brought low, the goldou bowl shall break," when this earth shall, like a dissolving cloud, roll back from our vision ; when eternity, in all its solemn and imposing grandeur, shall loom up before the eye of the mind ; When the mundane taper lights shall become extinct, and in lieu the electric lights of Heaven— not the Aurora Borcalis nor Australia, but Celestas —shall flood the soul with light ; when, with tremendous vividness, the ascent of the Master shall bo realised. Loose all your liars of massive And wide unfold the ethereal scene. He claims these mansions as flis right, Receive the King of Glory in. Who is th« King of <»lory, who? The Lord that, all our loos o'ercaine ; The world, sin, death, and hell o'orihrew, And Jesns is the Conqueror's name. Now, couple the poetry with the following prose :—" Beloved, now are we the sons of Clod, and ib doth not yet appear what we ahull be, but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for wo shall see Him as He is," the acme of the believer realised in likeness to and presence with Christ. Vails rent, glasses broken, clouds dispersed, and the twinklings of night lost in the radiance and effulgence of eternal noon. Willi Promethean fire in the soul and supernal light in the experience, we shall realize in glorious eestaey. What it is to have a bright, eye and a still brighter vision ; for " When after the long slumber I awake I shall be satisfied." Now enter the lift, hold on ; a deep and terrific descent is before us in order that, we may sketch the telescopic eye, which beholds sorrow and suffering in the distance, but never directs the hand to tho pocket for its alleviation. Then lastly we have the eye of the hypocrite, which by conundrum and in poetry we can best delineate : — Can you tell me why An hypocrite's ye ('an better descry Thau you or I, On how many toes A pussy-cat goes ANSWIiftA man of deceit, Can best counterfeit (count-her-feet), And so I suppose, He can beat count her toes ! Newton Brass Rind Concert for the Blind, £3 17k (id; Nautilus, £'■); J). 1.. Murdoch, £2 is; Court Bros., £22-i ; Judge Richmond, £1 Is; Mayor of Onehunga, £1 Is; J Wn.kefle.ld, £1 Is; J. Kndeuri, £lls; Captain Logan, £1; C. P. Nowcoinbe, £1; Rev. Dr. Kinder, per W. Hill, £1; R.W.K., £] • C. A. Bruford, IDs (id; Mrs. Griffiths, Ills Cd ; W. Bennett, 10n (id; T. \V. l>aUy, 10s Oil; F. B. Woodhouse, 10s tid ; lialstead, 10m; Geo. Morrow, £1 • J. Burton, 10s; 0. Iloherton, 10s; G. P. Cox, lus;' C. Buddie, 10s ; Mutual Creditors' Association, 10a ; A Friend, 10s ; Young Bros., 5s ;T. Hill, ss; W. 1.. Durham, ss; W. B. Fitxsiruons, 5»; M., 5a • K. Gallagher, ss; A Friend, fas ; H.M., as ; W. Oliver, ss; Jno. Chambers, ss; Thou. Quoi, 5s ; W. Buchanan, 5s ; K. Gill, '-is (id ; C.D., is tid ; collected by Messrs, Warnock Bros, from employes, £3 'is ; Cambridge subscriptions, £18 23 tid : total, £50 17s.