Finally the day arrived when there was but one nail left.  You can imagine the joy of the boy when he and his father went together to pull that nail out.  With great glee the claws of the hammer were fastened about the head of Mr. Nail and, jerk, out he came.  “Oh,” exclaimed the boy, “the marks are left.”  Yes, it was true, for every nail driven in and pulled out a mark was left, and it was an ugly looking door.  “That is the sad thing about it all,” said the father, “every time you do an evil deed a mark is left upon the life.  It is never the same as if the evil deed had not been committed.  It is fine that we have all the nails out, but it would have been much better had they never been driven in.”

MEMORY VERSE, Jeremiah 2:  22

    “For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much sope,
    yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord God.”

MEMORY HYMN [348]

    "Take my life and let it be
    Consecrated, Lord, to thee."

A BLIND MAN WHO SAW

Once upon a time there was a boy who had a call to be a preacher.  Now this boy was Scotch, and the fondest ambition of a Scotch mother is that her son shall become a minister.  You may believe that this particular lad’s mother was very, very happy.  So George (George was his name) went to school.  He was not a brilliant student, but he was faithful, he did his work well and passed his grades.  One day he noted some difficulty with his eyes.  The trouble increased rather than diminished.  Before he had finished his education, while he was yet a young man, he became totally blind.  He was greatly discouraged.  He was tempted to give up entirely, stop trying to do anything.  Certainly he could not be a successful preacher if he was blind.  Who would listen to him?  How could he do his work?

However there was another voice inside him, the voice of courage, hope and faith.  It was the voice of the Lord that bid him go right on with his plans.  He heeded the urge of the inner voice.  He was ordained.  People loved him, and flocked to hear him preach.  Though his natural vision was darkened, his spiritual vision was so much brighter.  Though he could not look upon the beautiful sights of the world, he had eyes to see more clearly the wonderful things of the soul.  His fame spread throughout Edinburgh, Scotland, England, and all the English-speaking world, and everywhere he was known and loved as the blind preacher.

This blind preacher wrote many hymns.  The greatest hymn he ever wrote, and one of the finest in all the English language, is the Memory Hymn for to-day.

His name?  Well, I almost forgot that.  His name is George Matheson.

MEMORY VERSE, Isaiah 42:  16

“I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known:  I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight.  These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.”

MEMORY HYMN [481]