So th and North; we are ftretching out the right hand of fellowship over continent over oceans to give the falutation of brotherly-love to all who love our Lord Jefus and to invite men of all colours and of all languages to caft in their lot a mong us, and to take fhelter with us under the fhadow of this "great rock in a weary land," to repofe with us amidft" the trees of life," whofe leaves are for the healing of the na tions."

But is not" our fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jefus Chrift ?" Is it not then, with them who are drinking new wine in our Father's kingdom; with the fpirits of juft men made perfect; with those whom on earth we loved; with those who have often eaten and drank with us at this table, and with whom we hope to eat and to drink at the table that is a bove, fitting down with them, and " with Abraham, and Ifaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven ?" Delightful reflection! The employments of earth and heaven are the fame; the animating principle, the fpirit of love is the fame; the fubject of their praife and the fource of their joy are the fame. "Unto Jefus Chrift, who is the faithful witnefs, and the firft begotten of the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our fins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

The folemnity concludes with an intimation of Chrift's fecond appearance. "As often as ye eat this bread, and drink' this cup, ye do fhew the Lord's death till he come." "Why trouble ye the woman ?" faid Chrift to the indignant difciples, who grudged the wafte of the ointment which he poured on his teet," for fhe hath wrought a good work upon me; for in that the hath poured this ointment on my body, fhe did it for my burial." Her pious aft embalmed the body for the grave: Ours contemplates Jefus, and the refurrection; ours tooks forward to the day when" the So of man fhall come in the clouds heaven with power and great glory. Yet a little while "He** He that fhall come will come, and will not tarry.” which teftifieth thefe things faith, furely I come, quickly. A. men. Even fo, come Lord Jefus. The grace of our Lord Je fus Chrift be with you all. Amen."

an

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LECTURE XVI:

JOHN, II. 1-11:

And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee and the mother of Jefus was there. And both Jefus was called, and his difciples, to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jefus faith unto him, they have no wine. Jefus faith unto her, woman, what have I to do with thee & Mine hour is not yet come. His mother faith unto the fervants, whatsoever he faith unto you, do it. And there were fet there fix waterpots of tone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins a piece. Fefus faith unto them, fill the water-pots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And he faith unto them, draw out now, and bear unto the Governor of the feaft. And they bare it. When the ruler of the feast had tafted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was, (but the fervants which drew the water knew) the governor of the feaft called the bridegroom, and faith unto him, every man at the beginning doth fet forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou haft kept the good wine until now. This beginning of miracles aid Jefus in Cana of Galilee, and manifefted forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.

IT requires no common degree of wisdom to make the transition from various fituations, one to another, with dignity and propriety. The gravity and seriousness of deportment that fuits the temple do not fuddenly melt away into the familiarity and ease of private life. Men are called to act various parts, but often lack the fkill to difcriminate between character and character. At other times the fcene changes too! rapidly, and the habit of the public perfonage is fcarcely laid afide, when the fpirit of it is likewife fhifted, and the man dif covers that he is merely an actor. Difference of behaviour may undoubtedly be affumed with change of place and of company, without incurring the imputation of hypocrify: but there is a radical character which the honeft man never

lays

lays afide, whatever be the feason, whatever the fituation. He cannot indeed be gay and serious at the fame moment: but in the house of mourning he may be fad without linking into depreffion, and in the house of feafting he may be cheerful without rifing into levity. He can rejoice with them that rejoice, and weep with them that weep," without losing the firmnefs of his mind, or betraying inconfiftency of fpirit and temper, In truth, if you would be ufeful to men, you must accommodate yourfelf, where the rights of confcience do not interfere, to their circumftances, and to the laws of decency and prudence.

But where, alas! fhall we find the man who is continually on his guard, who in every fituation poffeffes his foul, and governs his fpirit, and keeps the door of his lips? In vain we look for fuch a one among men of like paffions with ourselves. But it is not for want of a perfect pattern, in the person of him who in all places, at all feafons, and in every fituation approved himfelt the Son of God and the triend of men. Let this mind be in you which alfo was in Chrift Jefus. He hath left us an example that we fhould follow his fteps. Bleffed Lord, we will follow thee whitherfoever thou goeft.

We have attended the great Teacher fent from God to the fynagogue at Nazareth, and have heard him fulfilling the duties of that gracious office by reading and opening up the Scriptures, and thus producing one fpecies of evidence to the truth of his divine miffion, the accomplishment of ancient, wellknown and acknowledged prophecies concerning himself, his perfon, his confecration to the great work which he thould come to execute, and the wonderful fuccefs with which it fhould be crowned. We have feen him with complacency receiving his difciples on their return from a progress of preaching and healing, and of cafting out devils; and rejoicing in fpirit, as he contemplated the fudden and utter deftruction of Satan's kingdom, and, on its ruins, the univerfal and everlafting establishment of his own. We are now to behold him ex. hibiting a different kind of evidence, but calculated to produce the fame effect; that is, a full conviction that Jefus Chrift was the Son of God, and the Saviour of the world, namely, the difplay of miraculous powers, to fupport the truth of the doctrines which he taught. This "Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews," felt and admitted. "Rabbi," lays he, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doeft, except God be with him."

.6

As on

the two great commandments, love to God and love to man,

hang all the law and the prophets," fo on these two unmove

able pillars reft the whole fabric of Chriftianity. The fulfill ing of prediction, is a demonftration of the foreknowledge of Deity, "declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, laying, my counfel 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 tittle: and the working of miracles evinces the prefence and concurience of almighty power, which is able to fupport and to fufpend, to control and alter the laws of nature, by a word, by an I will." If the fpirit and native tendency of the gospel be taken into the account, we fhall find it to poffefs every character of Divinity that the heart of man could defire, or reafon demand, or imagination figure..

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The period, and the place, and the occafion of Chrift's first public miracle are all specified. It was the third day after the noted converfation that paffed betweon Chrift -and Nathanael, which is recorded in the conclufion of the preceding chapter. There Jefus gave proof not merely offuperior fagacity, but of a knowledge that difcerns the thoughts and intents of the heart. Nathanael, with all his guilelefs integrity, laboured under the common prejudice of the day, and had the vulgar proverb in his mouth, "Çan there any good thing come out of Nazareth?" He foon received conviction that there could, and that too the beft of all things; for while he was yet fpeaking to Philip, Chrift himself drew nigh to meet them, and inflantly, in the hearing of Nathanael, pronounced a character of him which the fearcher of hearts only could have unfolded: Behold, an Ifraelite indeed, in whom is no guile." Nathanacl, juftly confcious of inward rectitude, finds himself at once reproved and detected. His farcafm refpe&ting Nazareth not retorted, but difarmed by receiving in return the honourable appellation of " an Ifraelite indeed," was a keen reproof to an ingenuous mind; and to find himself minutely known to a ftranger, must have infpired high respect for that stranger, not unmixed with awe. With aftonishment he exclaims, " Whence knoweit thou me ?" The answer completely displays the character of the Nazarene : " Before that Philip called thee, when thou waft under the fig-tree, I faw thee." eye which at once penetrates into the heart, and marks minute, external contingent circumftances, even to the fpecies of plant under the fhadow of which Nathanael, at a certain moment, happened to repofe. The " Ifraelite indeed" now refigns his prejudices and difmifles his doubts; wonder changes into veneration, "Nathanael anfwered, and faith unto him, Rabbi, thou

Here is an

1

art

art the Son of God; thou art the King of Ifrael" and thus another refpectable difciple is added to the School of Chrift.

Let not this be confidered as foreign to the fubject of the prefent Lecture. Nathanael was, of courle, one of the invited guefts to celebrate the marriage at Cana of Galilee. He was there, within three days, to behold another fpecies of demonItration of his Mafter's divinity, that he might bear witnefs to it. And it was fit that a man fo candid and upright should be furnished with every kind of evidence, which could remove prejudice or fubdue infidelity. He is not indeed hereafter mentioned in the gofpel hiftory, but it feems highly probable that a perfon of his description, was fpecially called to take an active part in propagating the truth as it is in Jefus. Some commentators have fuppofed him to be the fame with Bartholomew, one of the Twelve.

The place, where the miracle exhibited the glory of the Re. deemer, was" Cana of Galilee," perhaps to diftinguish it from another city of tha: name in Celofyria, mentioned by Jofephus in his Jewish Antiquities. It was fituated in that part of the Holy Land, which in the partition under Jofhua, fell by lot to the tribe of Afher; and flood on a river of the fame 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 fpeck which might cafually 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 tranfmit her name to the lateft pofterity.

The occafion was a marriage folemnity. "It is an inftitution of Heaven, nearly as old as the creation: it was first celebrated in Paradife God himfelf formed the union, prefided over and witneffed the contract, and pronounced the nuptial benediction. This ftamps a purity, a dignity, a permanency on the ordinance, which man is bound highly to refpect. The great Interpreter and Reftorer of the Law, accordingly, puts honour upon the inftitution by his prefence and countenance, and by contributing to the comfort of the affembly convened on this happy occafion, by the charms of his converfation, and by a feafonable fupply of one ingredient in a fealt: and he afterwards vindicated the primitive fanctity of marriage from the irregularity and impurity which the hardnefs of the human heart had conftrained even a Mofes 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 faid, for this caufe fhall a man leave father and nicther, and fhall cleave to his wife; and they twain fhall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more

twain,