We have attended the great Teacher sent from God to the synagogue at Nazareth, and have heard him fulfilling the duties of that gracious office by reading and opening up the Scriptures, and thus producing one species of evidence to the truth of his divine mission, the accomplishment of ancient, well known and acknowledged prophecies concerning himself, his person, ins consecration to the great work which he should come to execute, and the wonderful success with which it should be crowned. We have seen him with complacency receiving his disciples on their return from a progress of preaching and healing, and of casting out devils; and rejoicing in spirit, as he contemplated the sudden and utter destruction of Satan's kingdom, and, on its ruins, the universal and everlasting establishment of his own. We are now

66

to behold him exhibiting a different kind of evidence, but calculated to produce the same effect, that is, a full conviction that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and the Saviour of the world, namely, the display of miraculous powers, to support the truth of the doctrines which he taught. This "Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews," felt and admitted. Rabbi," says he, "we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him." As on the two great commandments, love to God and love to man, "hang all the law and the prophets," so on these two unmoveable pillars rest the whole fabric of Christianity. The fufilling of prediction, is a demonstration of the foreknowledge of Deity, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:" and of his truth and faithfulness in bringing it to pass, to an iota, to a tittie: the working of miracles evinces the presence and concurrence of almighty power, which is able to support and to suspend, to control and alter the laws of nature, by a word, by an "I will." If the spirit and native tendency of the gospel be taken into the account, we shall find it to possess every character of Divinity that the heart of man could desire, or reason demand, or imagination figure.

.66

The period, and the place, and the occasion of Christ's first public miracle are all specified. It was the third day after the noted conversation that passed between Christ and Nathanael, which is recorded in the conclusion of the preceding chapter. There Jesus gave proof not merely of superiour sagacity, but of a knowledge that discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart. Nathanael, with all his guileless integrity, laboured under the common prejudice of the day, and had the vulgar proverb in his mouth, "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth ?" He soon received conviction that there could, and that too the best of all things; for while he was yet speaking to Philip, Christ himself drew nigh to meet them, and instantly, in the hearing of Nathanael, pronounced a character of him which the searcher of hearts only could have unfolded: "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile." Nathanael, justly conscious of inward rectitude, finds himself at once reproved and detected. His sarcasm respecting Nazareth not retorted, but disarmed by receiving in return the honourable appellation of "an Israelite indeed," was a keen reproof to an ingenuous mind; and to find himself minutely known to a stranger, must have inspired high respect for that stranger, not unmixed with awe. With astonishment he exclaims, "Whence knowest thou me ?" The answer completely displays the character of the Nazarene : "Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw thee." Here is an eye which at once penetrates into the heart, and marks minute, external contingent circumstances even to the species of plant under the shadow of which Nathanael, at a certain moment, happened to repose. The "Israelite indeed" now resigns his prejudices and dismisses his doubts; wonder changes into veneration, "Nathanael an

swered, and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel:" and thus another respectable disciple is added to the School of Christ.

Let not this be considered as foreign to the subject of the present Lecture. Nathanael was, of course, one of the invited guests to celebrate the marriage at Cana of Galilee. He was there, within three days, to behold another spe cies of demonstration of his Master's divinity, that he might bear witness to it. And it was fit that a man so candid and upright should be furnished with every kind of evidence, which could remove prejudice or subdue infidelity. He is not indeed hereafter mentioned in the gospel history, but it seems highly probable that a person of his description, was specially called to take an active part in propagating the truth as it is in Jesus. Some commentators have supposed him to be the same with Bartholomew, one of the Twelve.

The place, where the miracle exhibited the glory of the Redeemer, was "Cana of Galilee," perhaps to distinguish it from another city of that name in Celosyria, mentioned by Josephus in his Jewish Antiquities. It was situated in that part of the Holy Land, which in the partition under Joshua, fell by lot to the tribe of Asher; and stood on a river of the same name, which flowed through part of the inheritance of the tribe of Ephraim, into the Great Sea. It was hitherto a mere name, or a speck which might casually catch the eye as it wandered over the map of Palestine; but Cana now acquired a celebrity which makes her to rank with the proudest of capitals, from an event which will transmit her name to the latest posterity.

The occasion was a marriage solemnity. It is an institution of Heaven, nearly as old as the creation: it was first celebrated in Paradise; God himself formed the union, presided over and witnessed the contract, and pronounced the nuptial benediction. This stamps a purity, a dignity, a permanency on the ordinance, which man is bound highly to respect. The great Interpreter and Restorer of the Law, accordingly, puts honour upon the institution by his presence and countenance, and by contributing to the comfort of the assembly convened on this happy occasion, by the charms of his conversation, and by a seasonable supply of one ingredient in a feast: and he afterwards vindicated the primitive sanctity of marriage from the irregularity and impurity which the hardness of the human heart had constrained even a Moses to permit, at least to connive at. "Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning, made them male and female; and said, for this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What, therefore, God hath joined together, let no man put asunder."

John the Baptist incurred the imputation of being possessed with a devil, because he was a man of more austere manners, and of a more sequestered mode of living; because he "came neither eating bread nor drinking wine." His divine Master, more gentle in deportment, more affable, accessible, and condescending, because he mixed with society, because he "came eating and drinking," is by the self-samne persons represented as "a gluttonous man, and a wine bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners." Where there is a disposition to censure, no purity nor prudence can escape. Nothing can please the peevish children in the market place. If their fellows excite them to dance by the sound of the pipe, they are disposed to look grave and mourn: if their companions are in a serious mood, it is with them a time to dance. You cannot tell where to find them. It is not, at the same time, a mark of wisdom to brave the opinion of the world; but wo be to that man whose conduct has no better regulator than either popular opinion, or the decisions of a self-constituted censor. Christ has by example taught his disciples to seek,

and to take opportunities of being useful, whatever construction may be put upon it by malignant observers.

"The mother of Jesus was there," apparently, as one of the family, who took an interest in the credit of her relations, and to assist in attending to the comfort and accommodation of the guests; for we find her watching over the expenditure of the provision, and devising the means of supply when it should fai!. But Jesus and his disciples were among the persons specially invited. As the aim of the Evangelist is simply to detail the circumstances relating to the miracle, every thing foreign to this is suppressed. This remark is applicable to the sacred writers in general. They present the leading object in its. strongest features, leave it to make its native impression, and pass from it without exclaiming, without parade, without a commentary. On the other hand, where minuteness of description and enumeration is necessary or of importance, all is examined with a microscopic eye, and beauties disclose themselves to closeness of investigation which the careless glance had overlooked.

Whether the company had proved more numerous than was expected, or whether a provision too scanty had been made, but in the middle of the banquet wine failed. Things which are in themselves, and as far as man is concerned, merely contingent, are predisposed and produced by a special interposition of divine Providence, to fulfil some valuable purpose. This little awkwardness of domestic arrangement furnished occasion for a grand display of almighty power. The deficiency was observed by the mother of Jesus, who communicated it to him as simply a remark of her own. But did not the communication partake of the nature of request, of expectation, of suggestion? They have no wine:" Is not this saying, can nothing be done to save the credit of the family? They will suffer in the estimation of their friends, as too parsimonious at a season of festivity like the present. Canst thou find no supply? There must, undoubtedly, have been something offensive in her meaning or mode of expression, for she meets with a reproof. And the mildest censure from such lips is a mark of displeasure. As to Nathanael before, so to Mary now he gives proof that he could read in the heart, what had not yet fallen from the tongue : "Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come." "Woman:" we are not to estimate the spirit and import of this term of address by the refinement of our modern ideas and manners. A British female of very middling rank would consider herself as very highly insulted to be thus abruptly accosted by an equal, from an inferiour it would be intolerable, and even in a superi our it would be resented. But it was the appellation by which princes addressed themselves to ladies of the highest rank, and which even slaves employed in speaking to their mistresses, for it marks respect not familiarity. And we have a demonstration, in the present case, that it could imply nothing harsh or unkind, for it is Jesus who uses the word in speaking to his mother. On an occasion still more tender and interesting, when sovereign love was in its triumph, and dictated every expression; when his cross was surrounded by some of the persons who witnessed the miracle of Cana of Galilee; this conversation took place: "When Jesus, therefore, saw his mother, and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.” Here was the dying effusion of filial affection: “Woman, behold thy son."

"What have I to do with thee." This has an air of severity, and probably was intended to check encroachment. There is a point beyond which parental authority itself must not presume to go. At the age of twelve, excess of maternal solicitude received a mild rebuke: "How is it that ye sought

me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" Nevertheless he went down with them" from the temple, "and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them." But to the man of thirty even a mother must not presume to dictate, or so much as insinuate. The words of the original have by some been differently translated; and Jesus is made to say, in reply to his mother's observation, "they have no wine," "What is that to me and thee?" What does it concern us whether there be wine or not? Such a question is little in the spirit of Christ, who took a condescending and an af fectionate interest in all the infirmities and distresses incident to humanity, and to whom nothing could be indifferent which tended to promote the comfort of others; and the sequel plainly shews, that he actually cherished those kind affections, and expressed them in a manner peculiar to himself. It is more natural to adopt our common version, consistent as it is with the same sense of the phrase in a variety of other passages. "The devils coming out of the tombs exceeding fierce," in the country of the Gergesenes, exclaim, "What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God?" Meaning evidently; "We are afraid of thee; let us alone; we desire no acquaintance with thee; art thou come hither to torment us before the time?" The sev enty interpreters translate the Hebrew idiom in the same phraseology and spirit, in a great many passages. Thus Jephthah addressed the king of Ammon, "What hast thou to do with me?" saying plainly, "I wish no intercourse; we can have nothing in common; Wherefore should we go to war together?" And thus, not to multiply instances, David said to Abisha, when he proposed to go over, and, in cold blood, to cut off Shimei's head, "What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah?" "I like not your spirit; I want no such triumph; let God's will be done: you are taking his work out of his hand, and are deciding hastily when you ought to wait patiently." This is entirely in the spirit of the passage before us. "Woman, what have I to do with thee?" "Intrude not; prescribe not; I know what is fit for me to do; all my movements are already settled." In this view all is of a piece; all breathes the spirit of meekness; there is the majesty of Deity, and there is the united firmness and mildness of the man.

If there be any thing like sternness in the question, "What have I to do with thee?" it is sunk in the solemn asseveration concerning himself: "mine hour is not yet come." The hour of a man's birth, of his baptism, of his majority, of his marriage, of his death, is an epoch of singular importance both to himself and others. We measure time, we know its value, and we trifle with it. With an experience of its necessary lapse, and with the cer tain knowledge that no moment can be responsible for the debt of its prede cessor, having enough to do with itself, the thoughtless sons of men will be drawing on a day which they are never to see, and they sport with borrowed property as if it were their own. The wise man, in the face of this reckoning of felly and madness, states the just account of the expenditure and use of time: There is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven." But we look up to Him who is wiser than the wisest, that we may learn to measure time, to understand the value of a day, and to improve the flying hour, which is gone before we are sensible that it has come.

Mine hour is not yet come.' It is an expression applied to various events of Christ's life and ministry. When his unbelieving brethren urged him, by way of defiance, to go up to Jerusalem at the feast of tabernacles, and there make an open display of his miraculous powers, this was his reply: · My time is not yet come-Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up unto this feast; for my time is not yet full come;" intimating that all his movements and ope rations were regulated to a moment, and therefore could neither be hurried forward nor retarded. When he did go up to Jerusalem, and taught openly

in the temple, though his plainness and fidelity gave much offence, it is remarked that "no man laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet come :" that is, the hour of his apprehension, trial and condemnation. When the devout Greeks who had come to worship in the temple, desired an interview with him, Jesus said to his disciples; "The hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified;" meaning the dawn of the gospel day upon the gentile world. But while he rejoiced in spirit, as he contemplated that auspicious hour, he saw it leading to another and a darker hour, the hour of suffering and death. The prospect spreads a transient cloud over the serenity of his mind, and he said: "Now is my soul troubled and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour." Thus far the man of sinless infirmity. But the cloud passes away, serenity is restored and the hour of sorrow is lost in contemplating the glory that should follow, the accomplishment of his heavenly Father's purpose of mercy, in the redemption of a lost world: "but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name." When his" time was full come" that he should glorify God by his death, with heavenly composure "Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee." Thus every step of the Redeemer's progress was weighed, measured, established by an antecedent counsel incapable of being overthrown or of failing.

His mother, though reproved, is not wholly discouraged. She perceives that whatsoever he did must be done at his own time and in his own way, and therefore enjoins the servants carefully to attend to whatever he should say. unto them.

The ablutions, at this period, practised among the Jews, were carried to an absurd and superstitious excess. The law had indeed prescribed certain washings, which nature herself points out as conducive to health, cleanliness and comfort; but tradition had multiplied these without end; they had acquired an authority paramount to that of law, and the primary duties of life were sunk in an affected attention to external purity. The Pharisees," says St. Mark," and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders. And when they come from the market, except they wash they eat not. And many other things there be which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables." This drew upon them a severe censure from the lips of Jesus Christ. He charges them with the vilest hypocrisy, in "teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." "For," says he, "laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do." "Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition." He then produces, as an instance, their open and avowed violation of the fifth precept of the decalogue, engraven by nature on the heart of man, and proclaimed from Sinai by the mouth of God. The unnatural child had but by a vow to devote his substance to a pretendedly sacred purpose, in order to be for ever released from all obligation to assist aged or decayed parents. Thus a punctilious attention to washing the body could be reconciled to a deliberate purpose of hardening the heart. These copious and frequent ablutions account for the large provision of water made for the marriage feast. "There were set six water-pots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece." To pretend to ascertain the quantity, by the names of ancient measurement, would be nugatory and absurd. If the thing could be done, what profit would arise from it? Is it not well known that all the wisdom of the British legislature, though frequently exerted, has hitherto been unable to establish a standard of weights and measures for the southern division of this little island? The precise quantity is left in intentional obscurity, Vol. vir. 17