that is therein; for "all things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made'."

So,

At the creation, the water brought forth the fowls of the air and the fishes of the sea; and the substance of the earth was transmuted by the Word of God into herbs, and trees, and beasts, and creeping things, and even its dust into man. at the marriage feast, water brings forth wine at the command of the same Word. Thus have we proof of Christ's Almighty power: and, consequently, proof that He Himself is the Almighty God.

The circumstance that this water was set there for the purposes of purification, "after the manner of the purifying the Jews," also appears instructive.

Its change seems to intimate, that all those purifications, of the Jewish ceremonial, were about to vanish away, and be changed into what was as far better than they, as wine is better than water. The Law of Moses was about to make f John i. 3.

room for the Gospel of the kingdom of Heaven, that good wine which, by God's providence, hath been "kept until now."

This water of the Law given from God by Moses, set for the purifying of the Jews, was changed into wine by Christ, in that He shewed the true office of the Law, as merely a schoolmaster to bring men to Himself. And as in this instance, so on all occasions, we must look up to Christ as the Author of all good things, spiritual and temporal. All are of His free gift, and not the result of any merit of ours. Still, we are instructed by the same portion of the Gospel, that, although all good things do come from Him, it is His pleasure to use means and instruments, and to dispense His blessings, after a certain method: which brings us to consider the way in which He manifested Himself on this occasion. For observe, in the servants who draw the water is set forth a lively image of the ministry of the Gospel. As on this occasion Christ dispensed the water which was made wine,

and, on another occasion, the bread and fishes to the multitude, by the hands of others; so does He now dispense, by the hands of Ministers, the grace of His Sacraments.

The servants could not serve more wine until He had supplied it to them, and had ordered them to act; so no one may take upon himself the ministry of the Word and Sacraments, except on being duly called and sent.

The words of the Blessed Virgin to the servants, "Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it," contain the rule by which such Ministers must act: they must speak as the oracles of God; they must do all that is commanded them; and they are not to add unto it aught of their own. "He that speaketh, let him speak as the oracles of God," saith St. Peters. "The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath My word, let him speak My word faithfully," saith the prophet Jeremiahh.

8 1 Pet. iv. 11.

h Jerem. xxiii. 28.

By thus giving heed to our ministry, we save our own souls and the souls of others; and yet not we, but Christ in us and by us. For though the servants dispensed the wine, yet they did not make the wine, but Christ; He did one thing by making them do another; He bade them fill the water-pots up to the brim, and, lo! the water became wine. Thus by Ministers, mere earthen vessels, and and other instruments of mean appearance, powerless in themselves, Christ worketh "hithertoi." When the Ministers of His Church baptize, hear confession, give absolution, distribute bread and wine, Christ by His Holy Spirit giveth efficacy to all these things, unto as many as imitate the faith and obedience of the blessed Virgin and the servants at the marriage feast. By the water, is applied the efficacy of Christ's Blood. By the bread and wine, we are made partakers of His spiritual Body and Blood. The word of absolution to the truly penitent, spoken by frail man i John v. 17.

on earth, is repeated and ratified in Heaven. And all this takes place in a wonderful manner, past our finding out. We think it is water in the earthen vessels, but, behold, it is "good wine!" By outward visible signs on us, Christ works inwardly and spiritually in us. And it is His will that it be thus, although, being Omnipotent, He can at any moment dispense with these means. Why needed He cause the water-pots to be filled with water by the servants? Could He not, by the same Almighty power, which changed the water into wine, have filled them, at once, with water, and without the servants' aid? and indeed have filled them at once with wine? Doubtless, He could. But that is not the question: the question is, did He? Could He not by the same Almighty power, which put health into the frame of the centurion's servant, whilst yet far off, have filled the cups and vessels out of which the guests were drinking, as easily as He filled the water-pots? Doubtless, He could have so done. But, again, the question is not