Jesus Befriends the Blind and Dumb
As Jesus was passing on from there, he was followed by two blind men, who kept calling out:
“Take pity on us, Son of David!”
When he had gone indoors, the blind men came up to him; and Jesus asked them:
“Do you believe that I am able to do this?”
“Yes, Master!” they answered.
Upon that he touched their eyes, and said:
“It shall be according to your faith.”
Then their eyes were opened. Jesus sternly cautioned them. “See that no one knows of it,” he said. But the men went out, and spread the news about him through all that part of the country.
Cure of a Dumb Man
Just as they were going out, some people brought up to Jesus a dumb man who was possessed by a demon; and, as soon as the demon had been driven out, the dumb man spoke. The people were astonished at this, and exclaimed:
“Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel!” But the Pharisees said:
“He drives out the demons by the help of the chief of demons.”
—Matthew.
The Supreme Art
The supreme art life above all other arts is the art of living together justly and charitably. There is no other thing that is so taxing, requiring so much education, so much wisdom, so much practice, as the how to live with our fellow-men. In importance this art exceeds all productive industries which we teach our children. All skill and knowledge aside from that is as nothing. The real education of life is to learn bow to live brotherly and the real business of life is to help our fellow-men to be brotherly.
—Henry Ward Beecher.