LORD and SAVIOUR, JESUS CHRIST. Our Lord having thus given manifell proofs of his divinity, and called five dif- ciples, was the third day after, with his mother and them, invited to a marriage - feao at Cana, a finali town not far dillant from Nazareth. His mother, it may rea- fonably be fuppofed, was either a relation or intimate friend of the married pair ; and it happened, at the fupper, that they were fcarce ofwine : fhe had often, no doubt, been witnefs of the fupernatural power that attended her fon, and, as fhe would willingly have every thing fo conduced, that there might be no reproach fall on her new -married friends, fhe applied to him, perhaps, expeéling' that he would work a miracle for their fupply. Jesus, upon re- ceiving the information from his mother, replied, with a kind of gentle rebuke, Wo man, what have I to do with thee ? Mine hour is not yet come : intimating by this, that the time for his working miracles in Galilee was not yet approached, but his bufinefs lay in other parts of the king- dom. His mother does not feem, by this reply, to have given up her hopes of Otis doing fomething for her friends in this neceffity ; and, therefore, fhe ordered the fertants punElually to perform what- ever he commanded: nor was fhe miftaken in her fuppofition ; for our Lord kindly condefcended, by his miraculous power, to relieve "his friends, and to convince his new difciples of the divinity of their Ma- iler. He ordered the fervants to fill fix water-pots, each containing about twenty gallons, with water; the fervants obeyed, and filled them up to the brim. The whole, in a moment, was changed into the moll excellent wine : Bear, faid our exalted Redeemer, to the governor of the feaft. The governor, ignorant of the miracle, and highly pleafed with the deli- cious flavour and richnefs of the wine, which was much fuperior to what they had drank before, applied to the bride- groom, and, in the hearing of the com- pany, informed him, that he had ailed contrary to the common cultom of feats No. 4. 37 Every span at the beginning, faid he, Both fit forthgood wine; and, when men have well drank, then that which is worfe, but thou haft kept the good wine until now, The bridegroom, doubtlefs, was much fur- prifed at this account, and, upon inquiry, found that this excellent wine was pro- duced by JESUS, in a miraculous manner. This miracle was the firfl which our bief- fed Saviour performed ; by it he honoured the inhitution of marriage, convinced his difciples that, he, in reality, was the Son of God, and the Saviour of Ifrael, and fpread his fame over all the country around, It mull be acknowledged, that the ene- mies of our religion, who diligently watch for every opportunity to cart contempt on' the great Author of .it, have prefumed to cenfure and ridicule this firfl miracle of' our Lord. They reprefent the affair, as though the evangelic had reported our Saviour to have miraculoufly produced this wine, after the company had plenti- fully drank, and hence would infinuate, that he was a friend 'to drunkennefs. They might, however, have fpared their mirth, if they had confidered that the words of the governor of the feafl, before quoted, do not imply that any of the company were intoxicated, but only that it` was the cuflom at fuch feafls to bring the befl wine Bra. Befides, our felf-conceited and impu-' dent cavillers, mighthave given themfelves time to confider, that, though the Jewifh marriage-feats lafled feven days, our Lord did not order all this wine, which he mi- raculoufly produced, to be drank at that folemnity : nor is there one circumcance in the account of this feaft, which gives the leaf} intimation that any of the com- pany were intoxicated ; and it muff be fuppofed, that, when they had difcovered the miracle, they would have fo much re- verence £ór the divinity of the perfon of our Lord, as would prevent them from making fuch bad ufe of his wine, efpecially in his prefence. Nor can it be inferred K from
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