Christ our Lord, having taken our nature upon Him, manifested Himself to men. These manifestations admit of being distinguished by the times and places at which, and by the persons to whom, they were vouchsafed.

At His birth, to the shepherds. In His infancy, to the wise men from the East. In His boyhood, at the age of twelve years, to the doctors in the Temple, when He began to shew forth the treasures of wisdom and knowledge which lay hidden in Him, verifying the declaration of the Psalmist, "I have more understanding than all my teachers: I understand more than the ancients." When He was come to man's estate and about to enter upon His office, the descent of the Holy Ghost, and the Voice from Heaven at His Baptism, manifested Him to the followers of the Baptist. And again, as we have heard in the Gospel for to-day, when He entered publicly on His ministry, He manifested thousand is introduced twice. Both having a manifest reference to the Holy Eucharist.

forth His glory by changing water into wine at the marriage feast. "This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth His glory.'

The two first of these were at Bethlehem, the third in Jerusalem, the fourth in the wilderness, the fifth in Cana of Galilee. The persons to whom He manifested Himself were of various estates. First, to the lowly shepherds: next, to men of rank and political power, (for such the wise men or magi appear to have been :) then, to men of learning, the doctors of the law of God: then, to persons professedly bent on religion, the multitude attending the ministry of John Baptist: lastly, to persons in private life on a social occasion; whereby He shewed that He is the Author of the political, the ecclesiastical, and the social states of life,

b

In the Vulgate they are styled Kings; and the feast of the Epiphany, commonly called Twelfth Day in England, is in other Christian countries of Europe called "The day of the Kings."

d Johan. Gerhard. Homil. iii. in Dom. i. post. Epiphan.

and is pleased to call men to Himself from all ranks and states; learned and unlearned, rich and poor, of high rank and of low degree, married and unmarried. To the wise men, magi or kings, from the East, He manifested Himself as a King, receiving kingly gifts; in the Temple, He shewed forth His divine wisdom; at the river Jordan, His divine nature was declared; at Cana of Galilee, His Almighty power.

This His first miracle let us now consider, as to its circumstances, and as to the way in which He was thereby manifested. All the circumstances suggest some instruction. For instance: the faith of the Virgin Mary, shewn by her apparent confidence that He could supply the need of the guests, and by her injunction to the servants to do whatever He should bid them, although our Lord's reply seemed in a manner to convey reproof; "Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come." To take this point first. The Virgin Mary confessed His Almighty power, by applying

to Him, yet He reproved her interference, although she was His mother, and blessed among and above all women. From this we learn, that they must err who teach men to pray to the Virgin, and argue that she has influence over Him as His mother, even now that He is high exalted above all thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers; whereas, even in the days of His humiliation, He allowed her not to interfere. As the power was His alone, so did He assert the manner and the hour of manifesting the same to be His alone; things in which her relation to Him, as His earthly mother, gave her no influence. How manifestly contrary, then, to the teaching of Romanists is the voice of Scripture which we have heard this day: "Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come." So far from "shewing herself to be His mother," (as, alas! Romanists are taught to call upon her to do,) by ordering His deeds

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e The rendering piety only to the ear.

our mother" softens the im

in His office as the Saviour of the world, she appears to have erred, and so to have shewn, (not that she had authority as a mother over Him in the work of His ministry, but) that she herself needed that ministry, for her own instruction and her own salvation. The Virgin Mary, then, is not to be prayed unto, but she is to be imitated in the other part of her conduct on this occasion; viz. in her faith, seen in her request; and in her obedience and patience, seen in her commanding the servants to obey our Lord, although her petition had been refused. Herein she, like other Saints, is to be reverently remembered and imitated, but she is not to be addressed as a mediator between us and Christ.

To pass to another circumstance, the change of water into wine conveys a proof of Divine power; even that of creation. Hereby, in the beginning of His ministry, our Lord displayed the same power as He exerted "in the beginning," when the heavens and the earth were made, and all