his strongly confidence in his compassion and love. The cup that maketh glad the heart of man, need not be altogether indispensable at the marriage feast it might exalt the comfort of the guests, but it was not absolutely necessary for their happiness; and if, to enhance a chastened joy, Christ thus condescended to work a miracle, would he suffer his chosen to bear their sorrows without his aid? Would he not take away the sting from pain, when he had thus given an impulse to enjoyment? If, moreover, he gently reproved his mother for her apparent impatience, and made his own wisdom to regulate both the time and the manner of his gracious gift, there need be no cause of murmuring or anxiety, if he graciously delays his blessing for a season, till he sees fit to grant it with the greater efficacy. When his hour is come, he will give us the relief for our wants, in greater abundance, and with more generous bounty, than if we prescribed to him the measure or the manner in which his blessing should be communicated.

We have already said, that the miracles of our blessed Lord were evidences of his divine power. They were the visible suspensions or interruptions of what we call the laws of nature. But perhaps we fail sometimes to observe the magnitude of those conclusions to which the contemplation of those miraculous displays would lead

us. They may not only teach us the truth of those doctrines which Jesus delivered; they are not only the strong recommendations of his sayings and his actions, as the substance of that revelation which God has made to man through him; they are also the manifestation of his mighty character as the Creator, the Lord, and the Lawgiver of the universe. The laws of nature can only be suspended at the will of him who ordained them: the alterations of those laws. can only proceed from him who originally established their course. We are apt to overlook this mighty attribute of Jesus Christ. We are led sometimes to omit the influence upon our hearts, which might be derived from that truth, uttered almost daily by our lips, that "by him all things were made." We lose much of the consolation, the impulse to godliness, the excitement of gratitude, which this thought would supply, when connected with the hope of our salvation through him. We rather dwell upon the singular manifestations of his power, than upon the constant and regular exertions of his providence. Yet how sublime is the feeling of humble devotion and of pious confidence, generated by the contemplation of his almighty agency, as present in every part of his material creation, to guide, govern, and support its minutest portions. He, without whom not a sparrow falls to the ground, is the same who has engaged to redeem our

souls. He who sustains the hungry, and feedeth the young ravens that call upon him, has promised to feed us with the bread of life. He who "spake, and it was done ;" who said, "Let there be light, and there was light," is pledged to establish, to sustain, to enlighten our souls. With this conviction we need not the repetition of miracle and sign: we are ourselves living miracles of his mercy, living signs of his power a mercy and a power established not only by the testimony of the change of the laws of nature, but by the evidence of their continued maintenance; and equally ought we, with the early disciples, to believe in his holy name, and to rejoice in his holy comfort. Let us endeavour to realise the full contemplation of this truththe deity of Jesus Christ and while we confess that in him we live and move and have our being, let us acknowledge our dependence on his power; let us exercise our confidence in his love. Let us surrender ourselves to him ; let us give up our souls and bodies to his service; and he who wrought a miracle to enhance the comfort of those he loved, will so peaceably order the course of this world for our safety, that we shall be enabled to serve him without fear, and in all godly quietness.

It must be confessed, that this miracle, as well as other miracles of our blessed Lord, has often been subjected to the subtleties of human

imagination, in order to discover resemblances which he probably had no intention to exhibit, and applications which, perhaps, have existed only in the ingenuity of the commentator. While we would repress vain curiosity, we would encourage humble and scriptural research. The actions of Christ were not of a merely casual character; they were the transactions of a life devoted to one great object, the redemption of mankind; they were the gradual development of the mighty plan of human restoration; the means by which the revelation of that plan was accomplished, and the character of the Saviour exhibited. The Jews themselves remarked the difference which existed between the habits of Christ, and of the prophets of the earlier times; perhaps more especially, the difference between Jesus and his immediate forerunner, the Baptist : "John came neither eating nor drinking; and they say, He hath a devil: the Son of man came eating and drinking, and ye say, Behold a man gluttonous and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners." While neither the asceticism and retirement of John, nor the social and kindly feeling of the Saviour, satisfied the prejudice and bigotry of those who disliked the doctrines of both, there may have been an intentional reference to the distinction between a dispensation which consisted chiefly of restraints, appealing to the conscience by strict and rigid prescriptions,

it

and a system which allured rather by a display of mercy, and promoted the obedience of the heart by the engagement of the affections. He who came to work out for man a full and sufficient remedy for all his sorrows, and to call him to the participation of joys, more satisfactory and more spiritual than he had lost, wrought the first evidence of his divine character, to consecrate, as were, the purest and the holiest of human affections, and to diffuse a prudent and sober pleasure over the enjoyment of social intercourse. He showed that he partook of our joys, and felt a sympathy with our happiness, as he afterwards gave the strongest evidence of his sympathy with our sorrows, by submitting to be made perfect through sufferings. He sanctioned the rational use of God's blessings, by supplying the means for their prolonged enjoyment; he blessed the arrangement of God for the happiness of his creatures, by his presence at the celebration of a marriage feast. And who can describe the sacred awe that pervaded every heart, at that table where Christ was a visitant? Who can paint the feeling of humble reverence and of godly affection, in those who then began to view more fully in Jesus of Nazareth, the great and glorious lineaments of the Messiah? What heart can fully respond to the emotions of a child of Israel, that perceived in him, who thus blessed his affections and increased his store, the Redeemer