John 2

John 2:1

Parallels: Galatians 49

Christ attends a marriage feast at Cana in Galilee, lously changes water into wine. John II

JOHN II. 1.

NOW the third day after Christ’s coming into Galilee, and discoursing there with Nathaniel in the manner we have related above, there was a marriage at Cana, a town in Galilee,ᵃ which originally belonged to the tribe of Asher (Josh. xix. 28,) and Mary the mother of Jesus was there;ᵇ it being the marriage of a near relation or an intimate friend of hers. And Jesus, and those of his disciples that were with him, (namely the two disciples that had followed him from the banks of Jordan, with Peter, Philip, and Nathaniel,) being known to be in the neighbourhood, were invited to the marriage: and Jesus, not affecting the austerities which became the character and ministry of John the Baptist, freely accepted of the invitation, and favoured them with his instructive presence.

Now, as it was known that Jesus would be present at the feast, this, in conjunction with the events which had lately arisen, occasioned a

ᵃ Cana, a town in Galilee.] It lay toward the southern part of the land of Asher (Josh. xix. 28,) and might be called Cana in Galilee, to distinguish it from another town of that name in Celosyria mentioned by Josephus. Antiq. Jud. lib. xv. cap. 5. (al. 6) sect. 1. p. 751. Havercamp.

ᵇ The mother of Jesus was there.] Some have supposed this marriage to be celebrated at the house of Cleopas or Alpheus, whose wife was sister to the mother of our Lord (John xix. 25,) and one of whose sons was Simon the Canaanite, whom some have thought to be so called from his being an inhabitant of this Cana. (Mark iii. 18.) And this may be considered as the more

probable, as Mary was not only present at the feast, but was concerned about supplying them with wine; and when the feast was over, we are told at ver. 12, that Jesus was attended at his leaving Cana, not only with his own disciples, but with his brethren, or his nearest kinsmen, who probably came thither as relations, to be present at the marriage. As Mary here is spoken of alone, it may be reasonable to conclude that Joseph was now dead, and that he lived not to the time when Jesus entered on his public ministry, especially as he is no where mentioned in the gospel afterwards. See Dr. Lightfoot’s Harmony, in loc.

His mother tells him of their wanting wine.

greater resort of company than was expected; and when the wine provided for the entertainment of the guests fell short, the mother of Jesus, who either had seen some of his miracles in private, or received from him some hint of his intention now, thought proper to inform him of it, and says unto him, Son, dost thou observe they have no wine to carry on the feast?

But Jesus not approving it that she should take upon her to direct him in the exercise of his miraculous power, says freely to her, with an air of serious rebuke, and in a plainness of language suited to the simplicity of those ages and countries, O woman, what hast thou to do with me, thus to direct me how and when my miracles are to be wrought? Let me now say it once for all, this is a thing that does not lie within thy proper sphere; and in particular, for what is now proposed my time of doing it is not yet come; but it is best to wait a little

Either had seen some of his miracles in private, or received some hint, [c.] Without supposing the one or the other of these, one can hardly imagine why she should thus apply to him on this occasion. For she could scarce suppose he had money to buy any large quantity; nor would it have been so proper to have done it if he had, lest it should have been interpreted as an affront to the bridegroom. But the supply that she expected from him was by his working of a miracle; and it is plain that, notwithstanding the rebuke she justly met with, yet she had still a view to this by her direction to the servants afterwards, ver. 5, to do whatever he should order them.

O Woman.] We have no reason to conclude that there was any rudeness in his addressing to his mother thus. For though indeed it is a manner of expression that is very unusual among us, to call a person woman, when we are speaking to her, if she be one to whom we think that any respect is due; yet some of the politest writers of antiquity make the most well-bred and accomplished princes use it in their addressing unto ladies of the highest quality; and even servants too are sometimes represented as speaking to their mistresses in the same language. There are some instances of this referred to in Blackwall’s Sacred Classics, Vol. I. p. 206; to which many more might easily be added.

What hast thou to do with me?] Some

have thought, τι ψαί και σοι, might be rendered, What is that to me and thee? “What does it signify to us, or what concern is it of ours, if they want wine?” But Jesus was of so benevolent a temper, and Mary seems to be so far concerned as a relation, that it does not in this sense appear to be so proper a reply. It seems rather to be intended as a rebuke to Mary; and it was surely expedient she should know that Jesus was not upon such occasions to be directed by her. And nothing is more evident than that the phrase in other places has the meaning that our version gives it. See Matth. viii. 29; and Judges xi. 12; 2 Sam. xvi. 10; 1 Kings xvii. 18; 2 Kings iii. 13; and ix. 19. Septua.

My time is not yet come.] Some are for adding a note of interrogation here (as Gregory Nyssen does,) and so would render it, is not my time yet come? As if he had said, “Am I not old enough to know when to work miracles? and now that I have entered on my public ministry, is it not time that I should be exempt from thine authority, and should be left to govern my own actions without an direction.” But I conceive the sense in which it is generally taken to be more natural and easy: and I would rather chuse to understand it of the time when he intended to perform this miracle, for which the proper moment, though ve near, was not yet quite come; than to

She charges the servants to obey his orde

longer, and leave it to my conduct to determine when it will be the fittest and the most convenient season for me to interpose.

In this his mother readily acquiesced, as conscious to herself that she had been over hasty in the proposal; but yet, as she inferred from his answer that he intended them some extraordinary supply, she says unto the servants, with some degree of authority, as being in part concerned in managing the feast, Whatever he shall order you, see that you carefully do it; for he may have reasons for it beyond what you imagine.

Now there were set there, near the room in which the feast was kept, six water pots or jars of stone, from whence the water might be taken that was made use of by the guests to wash their hands and feet, and that was necessary for the washing of the cups and other vessels that were used at table, according to the Jewish custom of purifying, which in some instances was grown to such a superstitious nicety⁸ as to require a considerable quantity of water to be ready upon such occasions: these jars were therefore of a considerable bigness, containing each of them two or three measures.⁹ And Jesus chusing, for wise reasons, to make use of these⁹ rather than the vessels in which

refer it in a more general way to the time of his doing miracles in public, or more particularly to restrain it to the time of his sufferings, which Christ indeed has elsewhere called his hour, and which Mr. L’Enfant supposes him here to intimate that he would not anticipate by provoking the Jews too soon; for thus it would have implied a denial of his mother’s request, which it is plain from ver. 5 she did not apprehend, and which the event shews that Christ did not design.

⁸ Was grown to such a superstitious nicety.] Besides the purifications that were appointed by the law of God, there was a multitude of others that were then practised in compliance with the tradition of the elders. Compare Mark vii. 3, 4; and see Godwin’s Moses and Aaron, lib. iii. cap. 11. § 4.

⁹ Two or three measures.] The measures of the ancients are so very uncertain that it is hardly possible to determine the exact extent of these vessels. Some have com-

puted them to contain about two or three hogsheads; and it is rendered so in our translation as to make them contain above a hundred gallons. But it is hardly probable the vessels were so large; and as the word μετρησε signifies no more than measures, it is much better we should leave it as we find it, unless the quantity could be determined with more certainty. It seems most probable that, as the Jewish bath was the most common measure that was used in liquids, this is the quantity designed where measures are expressed without any limitation. And as the Jewish bath is reckoned to contain four gallons and a half, the content of these vessels, if they are computed only at two measures each, will amount to no less than fifty four gallons, which may be reckoned a sufficient quantity. See Dr. Lightfoot’s Harmony, in loc. and Godwin’s Moses and Aaron, lib. vi. cap. 9. ad fin.

⁹ Chusing to make use of these.] Jesus might rather chuse to make use of these

Christ turns the water into wine.

the wine had before been contained, after some convenient pause, that the failing of the wine might be the more observed, goes to the servants that were waiting, and says to them, Fill up those jars with water, And they filled them up to the very brim. And having presently transformed the water by his Divine power into excellent wine, he says unto them, Now draw some of it out, and carry it to the president of the feast. And, in obedience to the orders Jesus gave them, they carried [it] to him.

Now when the president of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it came (though the servants that drew the water very well knew,) observing that it had a finer flavour than any they had drank before, the president of the feast calls for the bridegroom, at whose expense he reckoned that this wine had been provided, And says unto him, thou hast acted today in a very uncommon manner, for every man that makes a feast first sets out the good wine, and when they have drank plentifully,ᵏ so that their taste is not so delicate as before, then brings out that which is worse; [but] thou hast kept the good wine until now, and towards the conclusion of the feast surprisest us with what is much better than we have yet tasted. This naturally gave the bridegroom an opportunity of declaring that he knew nothing of this new supply; which occasioned an examination of the servants, and so a discovery of what Christ had done in it.

large vessels, thus to add to the dignity of the miracle by the liberal quantity of wine produced; which we have no reason to believe was all drank that day. If the feast, as was usual, lasted several days (Gen. xix. 27, 28; and Judg. xiv. 12—17,) a considerable expense might by this means be saved, and an equivalent given for the additional charge of entertaining so many of his disciples. Not to say that this would prevent any suspicion that the tincture, or taste, of the water might be derived from any remainder of wine in the vessels; for indeed the goodness of the wine thus made would be sufficient to obviate such a thought.

ᵏ When they have drank plentifully.] Though without often signifies to drink to

excess, yet it would be very unjust and absurd to suppose that it implies here that these guests had already transgressed the rules of temperance. None can seriously imagine the evangelist so destitute of common sense as to represent Christ as displaying his glory by miraculously furnishing the company with wine to prolong a drunken revel. It is much more reasonable to conclude that it signifies here (as it does in Gen. xliii. 34; Cant. v. 1; and Hag. 1. 6. Septuag.) only to drink so freely as innocently to exhilarate the spirits. And even this perhaps might only be the case of some of them, and particularly not of those who, drawn by a desire to converse with Jesus, might be but late, come in.

1 This beginning of his public miracles.] which doth not at all appear to have been This interpretation seems much preferable the case. It rather seems to be here represented only as the first of his public miracles; for it seems probable that the necessities of the family might sometimes have engaged him to have done something miraculous for its relief in private. See note, p. 137. SECT. XXIII. John II. 11 IMPROVEMENT. We have here the first of Christ’s public miracles, which we find was not wrought till about his thirtieth year. How much sooner could he have glorified himself, and amazed the world by the display of his divine power? But he waited his Father’s call, and the delay added at length to the lustre of his works. Verse 1 It was performed to grace a nuptial solemnity: and who doth not see that it was in effect a testimony borne to the honour and purity of that happy state on which so much of the comfort of the present generation, and the existence of the future, regularly depends? 2 How happy were these guests while Jesus was among them! and how condescending did he appear in making one on the occasion! His social and obliging temper should sweeten ours, and be a lesson to his followers that they avoid every thing sour and morose, and do not censure others for innocent liberties at proper seasons of festivity and joy. 3,4 If his mother met with so just a rebuke for attempting to direct his administrations in the days of his flesh, how absurd is it for any to address her as if she had a right to command him on the throne of his glory? And how indecent for us to direct his supreme wisdom as to the time and manner in which he shall appear for us in any of the exigencies of life? 5 Her submission and faith manifested on this occasion are truly amiable: and with this we have surely reason to admire the benignity and generosity of Christ in this miracle before us; who consulted the pleasure and entertainment as well as the necessity of his followers; and by this abundant supply amply repaid any extraordinary expense which he might have occasioned to the family. 7,8 How easily could he, who thus turned water into wine, have transformed every entertainment of a common table into the 1 This beginning of his public miracles.] which doth not at all appear to have been This interpretation seems much preferable the case. It rather seems to be here represented only as the first of his public miracles; for it seems probable that the necessities of the family might sometimes have engaged him to have done something miraculous for its relief in private. See note, p. 137.

Jesus goes to keep the passover at Jerusalem,

greatest delicacies, and have regaled himself daily with royal deities? But, far superior to such animal gratifications, he chose the severities of a much plainer life. Blessed Jesus! who can say whether thou art greater in what thou didst or in what thou didst not do? May none of us thy followers be too intent on indulging our taste, or any of our other senses; but, pursuing those intellectual and devotional pleasures which were thy meat and thy drink on earth, may we wait for that good wine which thou reservest for thy people to the last, and for those richer dainties with which thou wilt feast those who shall drink it with thee in thy Father’s kingdom! (Mat. xxvi. 29.)

John 2:12

Our Lord celebrates the first passover of his public ministry at Jerusalem; and vindicates the outer court of the temple from the profanation of those that bought and sold there. John II. 12, to the end.

JOHN II. 12.

JOHN II. 12. AFTER this, he went down to Capernaum, he and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples; and they continued there not many days.

And the Jews’ passover was at

NOW, after Jesus had attended at this marriage, where he miraculously turned the water into wine, he and his mother, and his brethren (or his near relations) and his disciples, who were now ready to attend him wheresoever he should go, went down from Cana to Capernaum, a city that lay near the north part of the sea of Galilee, on the south border of the land of Naphtali: and at this time the stay they made was but short, for they continued there not many days. And the reason of their leaving it so soon was that the passover of the Jews drew near, when it was ordered by the

a The passover of the Jews drew near.] As the evangelists have not expressly determined the number of passovers which happened between the baptism and death of Christ, or during the course of his public ministry, so it is well known that learned men have been much divided in their opinions about them. By far the greater part have supposed there were four; reckoning this the first; the feast mentioned, John v. 1, the second; the passover spoken of, John vi. 4, as the third; and that at which Christ suffered the fourth. But there are others of a different opinion. The celebrated Sir Isaac Newton reckons five; the first, this which is now before Vol. I.

us; the second, according to him, happened four months after Christ’s discourse with the woman of Samaria, John iv. 35; the third, a few days before the story of the disciples rubbing the ears of corn, Luke vi. 1; the fourth, a little after the feeding of the five thousand; and the last, at the time of our Lord’s crucifixion. The reasons for this the reader will find at large in Sir Isaac Newton’s Observat. on Proph. Part I. chap. 11; and the most considerable of them will be touched upon in their proper places. Mr. Manne has with great learning and ingenuity attempted to revive a long exploded notion, that Christ’s ministry continued but sixteen months; (see

s

And drives the traders there out o the ten

law of Moses that all the males should appear before the Lord (Exod. xxiii. 17; and Deut. xvi. 16:) and therefore Jesus, who maintained a religious regard to the ceremonial as well as the moral part of the law, went up to Jerusalem to worship at the temple.

And, at his coming thither, he found in the outer court and cloysters of the temple those that, under a pretence of accommodating such as came to worship there with proper sacrifices, sold oxen, and sheep, and doves; and he also saw there the money changers sitting at their tables, who, for a certain profit, changed any foreign coin into that which was current, and larger pieces of money into half shekels, which were on some occasions to be paid into the sacred treasury. (Exod. xxx. 15.) Now, at the sight of this, Jesus was moved with a just indignation to think that so sacred a place, honoured with such peculiar tokens of the Divine presence, should be profaned in this audacious manner, and so great an affront be put on the devout Gentiles, in whose court this market was kept: and therefore, having made a whip of the small cords (with which they were used to tie the beasts to some rings fixed in the pavement for that purpose) he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen, which they had brought into it: and he also poured out the money of the exchangers, and overturned the tables at which they were sitting. And he said to them that sold doves, Take all these things away from hence directly; [and] do not, for shame, make my Father’s house, by such scandalous practices as these, an house of public traffic, and

Tanne’s second Dissertation, p. 146, & seq. so that there were but two passovers during the whole course of it. Mr. Whiston’s reasoning against this hypothesis, in the sixth of his late dissertations, appears to be unanswerable. For he there shews that, if this was true, Christ must have travelled on an average near ten miles a day during the course of his ministry. Besides, the transpositions in scripture which this would introduce, seem very unwarrantable and dangerous; and, among other difficulties, it is none of the least that Mr. Maune is obliged to suppose that Christ

only purged the temple at his last passover, and consequently that St. John has misplaced this story; though ver. 24 of this chapter, and ver. 22, 23, 24, of the next (sect. 27,) afford such strong arguments to the contrary. Compare note and note of this section.

b Sold oxen, and sheep, and doves. There must have been a grand market for these animals at such times; for Josephus tells us that no less than 256,500 victims were offered at one passover; see Joseph. de Bell. Jud lib. vi cap. 9. (al. vii. 17; § 3. p. 399.) Edit. Havercamp.

dmire his zeal.

n market place, or exchange. g this he openly proclaimed Father, and made such a Divine mission as could not erved by the multitude. And n they saw so meek a person transport of just displeasure, it was written of David, in expressed the character of asion (Psal. lxix. 9.) “The hath eaten me up;” as if it gard for the honour of thy secret flame glowing in my n my spirits, and would have I not given it vent. and remarkable as this could tely come to the knowledge nd rulers of the Jews, whose

XXIV. John II. 16 17

might be inclinable for a while to wait the issue of Christ’s pretensions, and so much the rather, as he now wrought some wonderful miracles. Compare ver. 23, and chap. iii. 2.) Accordingly we find in the beginning of the next chapter one of the chief among the Pharisees comes privately to confer with Christ in a very respectable manner. It seems necessary to acquiesce in these solutions, because the conference which refers to the miracles wrought at this feast is expressly said to have been before John the Baptist was imprisoned. Compare John iii. 22–44; sect. 27.

[d Remembered that it was written of David.] That these words were originally spoken of David, and not of Christ, is plain from the fifth verse of the lxixth. Psalm: O God, thou knewest my foolishness, and my sins are not hid from thee; which cannot be applied to Christ. Abundance of other scriptures are quoted, with such a beautiful accommodation as this.

[e Rulers of the Jews.] It seems most probable that the Jews here mentioned were rulers, because we know that the great assembly of Jewish rulers (that is, the sanhedrim) sate in the temple, and that the chief of them often attended public worship there. This action of Christ (in driving out the bayers and sellers) must undoubtedly come to their knowledge; and as their office would seem to authorize them to call him to an account, we are sure their prejudices against him would incline them to de-

Christ’s saying o the temple of his body.

supreme council sate in a magnificent chamber belonging to the temple: some of them therefore when they heard of it, answered and said unto him, By what authority dost thou thus take upon thee to reform what is amiss here, and what sign dost thou shew us, seeing that thou dost these things, to prove thy having a divine commission, since it is certain thou hast none from the government? Jesus answered and said unto them, You shall not want convincing evidence that I have an authority far superior to what man can give me; for if you demolish this temple, I promise and assure you I will raise it up again in three days. The Jews then said unto him, in proud derision and contempt of what they did not understand, This temple hath been no less than six and forty years building (for it is now so long since Herod began to repair it,) and notwithstanding many thousand men have been employ-

f A magnificent chamber belonging to the temple.] This fine rotundo was called, from its beautiful pavement, Lishcath Haggazith, and stood on the wall of the temple, part of it within and part of it without its sacred precincts. See Calmet’s Dictionary at the word Sanhetrim; Lightfoot’s Description of the Temple, chap. 9; and Witsii. Miscell. Sacr. lib. i. Diss. iii. § 66.

g Demolish this temple, and I will raise it up in three days.] It is most evident that Christ intended nothing more in these words than the paraphrase expresses, and did not mean to command them to demolish the temple; though his enemies indeed did, some years after, misrepresent this saying, as if he had intimated a purpose of doing it himself. Compare Mark xiv. 58; sect. 185.

h This temple hath been six and forty years built in.] Mr. Whiston (in his View of the Harmony, p. 143) would render it, Forty and six years hath this temple been built: but, as it would have been absurd to argue from the time since the temple was built to the time it would require to rebuild it, this sense must certainly be wrong; and Dr. Lightfoot has well shewn that the word ‘red’ may signify (as we render it) it hath been so long building. Hor. Hebr. in loc. Mr. Fleming’s calculation (in his Christology, Vol. II. p. 366-371) to prove that the second temple was forty six years building, is not only very precarious, but also very unnecessary; for the words refer to the time since Herod began to rebuild it, which he first proposed to the people in the eighteenth year of his reign (Joseph. Antiq. Jud. lib. xv. cap. 11 (al. 14) § 1. Havercamp;) and though he finished what he proposed in eight or nine years, it seems (as Dr. Lightfoot and Dr. Lardner have judiciously observed) that the Jews still went on improving and adorning it: for long after this, under the government of Florus (about the year of Christ 65,) Josephus speaks of the temple’s being finished, and the workmen dismissed: so that it seems they were at work upon it all the time of Christ’s ministry and life. (Compare John viii. 59; sect. 105; John x. 31; sect. 134; and see Joseph. Antiq. Jud. lib. xx. cap. 9. (al. 8) § 7. p. 978; and Lardner’s Credib. Part I. Vol. I. p. 534-539; and Vol. II. p. 856-860.) Now, as the eighteenth year of Herod’s reign from the death of Antigonus began some time in A. U. C. 734, and his proposal to rebuild the temple might then be made to the Jews at the feast of tabernacles, it will from thence be but a few months more than forty six years to the passover, A. U. 781. Or, since a year or more might probably be spent in preparing for the work before he actually began it, it may thus be brought down to A. U. 782 or 783, which is the lowest time to which this passover can be referred.

c oretells his resurrection in three days.

ed upon it, it is not yet entirely finished; and wilt thou undertake to raise it up in three days? None certainly will be foolish enough to pull it down to try the experiment. But they were quite mistaken in the sense of what he said; for what they understood him to have spoken of the temple at Jerusalem, he spake of the much more sacred temple of his own body, in which the Deity dwelt in a far nobler manner than in their holy place (Col. ii. 9,) and he might give some intimation of it in the gesture that he used in speaking. When therefore he was risen from the dead, just on the third day after his crucifixion, his disciples remembered that he had said this to them; and they yet more firmly believed the scripture in all its prophecies concerning the Messiah’s kingdom, and their faith in him was confirmed by the word which Jesus had spoken: for such a wonderful event as the resurrection of Christ, considered in its connection with this solemn prediction,¹ justly appeared as the fullest conceivable proof of his Divine mission.

And while he was at the passover in Jerusalem, on the feast day, many of the Jews who were then present there, seeing the miracles which he wrought,ᵏ believed in him,ˡ and were inwardly persuaded that he was the Messiah: But Jesus did not care to trust himself to them,ᵐ so far as to acknowledge it expressly that he was actually the promised Messiah; and, by confessing who he was, to put himself into their power, because he knew them all, And had no need that any one should testify or tell him any thing of the character of any man, though ever so much a stranger to him: for he himself, by an immediate and unerring penetration, knew what was in the heart of every

¹ The resurrection of Christ considered in its connection with this solemn prediction.] This important thought is set in a very strong light by Dr. Jenkins, in his Reasonableness of Christianity, Vol. I. p. 25, 26.

ᵏ Seeing the miracles which he wrought.] These words, as also those in John iii. 2, and iv. 45, plainly refer to some miracles wrought by Christ, the particulars of which are not transmitted to us.

ˡ Believed in him.] It is in the original, believed in his name; a Hebraism, which it

did not seem necessary to retain. Nothing is more common than to put the name of person for the person himself. Compare John i. 12; xx. 31; Psal. lxxv. 1; Acts i. 15; and Rev. iii. 4.

ᵐ Did not trust himself to them.] I look upon this as a demonstration that the pass over here spoken of was not that at which Christ suffered; for then there had been no need of such a precaution, and indeed no room for it.

Reflections on Christ’s purging the temple, &c.

man; and consequently knew that those people XXIV. had such gross notions of the Messiah’s kingdom, John that there was no room for him to confide in II. 25 them, or to expect them to be faithful to him.

IMPROVEMENT.

How powerful is the love of this world, when it could engage 14 even the priests and the Pharisees to let out the temple itself for a market place! though a professed zeal for the honour of it made so great a part of the righteousness of which they boasted before 15, 16 God. But our Lord behold the scene with just indignation; as that displeasure is indeed just which arises from a sense of dishonour done to God and contempt poured on the institutions of his worship. Happy shall we be in the warmest emotions of zeal which do not transport us beyond the rules of prudence and love, and make us forget those stations in life which require the same principles to shew themselves in widely different effects!

Methinks the state of the temple, when these traders had erected their seats and their stalls in it, and turned the courts of 16 God’s house into a market, is too just an emblem of the state of our hearts when we appear in the sanctuary distracted with worldly cares to the neglect of that one thing needful which then demands our most attentive regards. Would to God that in this sense our Father’s house were not often made a house of merchandize! Let us pray that Jesus, by his good Spirit, would assert it to himself, and drive out those intruders which break in upon our truest enjoyments, in proportion to that degree in which they intrench in our devotion!

After a thousand proofs of his Divine mission, the Jews were wicked and desperate enough, with sacrilegious hands to destroy the temple of Christ’s body: but let us be thankful for the undoubted evidence we have that, as an everlasting monument of his power and truth, he raised it again in three days!

23, 25 Happy will it be for us if we cordially believe a gospel so gloriously attested; but most vain will that belief be which doth not penetrate and influence the heart. Let us remember that we have to do with him that formed our nature, and is most intimately acquainted with all its recesses. He knows what is in man: may he see nothing in us which shall not be thoroughly agreeable to the profession we make of being his faithful disciples!

To conclude; let us learn from the caution which Jesus used, not rashly to put ourselves and our usefulness into the power of others; but to study a wise and happy medium between that universal prejudice and suspicion which, while it wrongs the best and the most worthy characters, would deprive us of all the pleasures of an intimate friendship, and that undistinguishing

Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night

asiness and openness of temper which might make us the property of every hypocritical pretender to kindness and respect.