Power of Prejudice
R. Besser, D. D., Anthony Horneck. John 9:13-18 They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind.… Voltaire once said, "If in the market of Paris, before the eyes of a thousand men, and before my own eyes a miracle should be performed, I would much rather disbelieve the two thousand eyes and my own too, than believe it." So here, these men, fleeing as they do from the light and choosing the darkness, take up the matter over again, in the hope of being able to detect some traces of fraud. (R. Besser, D. D.)What will not prejudice do? It was that which made the Jews call Christ a Samaritan, a devil, a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. It was that which made them hale the apostles to their governors, and cry out, "Away with them! it is not fit that they should live." It was this made Ahab hate the upright Micaiah, and the Athenian condemn the just Aristides, though he had never seen him. It was this made the poor man, who knew not what John Huss's doctrine was, so busy and industrious to carry wood for his funeral pile, and as zealous to kindle it, inasmuch that the martyr could not but cry out, "O holy simplicity!" It is this sets men against consideration of their ways, and makes them give out that it will crack their brains and disorder their understanding. (Anthony Horneck.) Parallel Verses KJV: They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. WEB: They brought him who had been blind to the Pharisees.