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began to preach the glad tidings of salvation. Crowds came to listen wherever he showed himself, and two men who had begun with following John, namely, Andrew and the same John to whose narrative we are so much indebted, forsook, at his own bidding, their first master, and attached themselves to Christ. They felt indeed that they had found the Saviour of the world; and not long afterwards, Simon, the brother of Andrew, at a later period called Peter, with Philip and Nathanael, joined themselves to their company. These were the first who made an open avowal of their acceptance of Jesus as the promised deliverer, and they never afterwards quitted him.

From this date, during an interval of rather less than three years, the manner of our Lord's life can be faithfully described only by transferring, one by one, from the New Testament, the records of his gracious deeds, and most wise and gracious discourses. His days, and many of the hours of his nights, were devoted to the moral and religious instruction of his people. He spoke as never man spake before, explaining to the crowds which everywhere assembled to listen, God's will, as it bears upon the dealings of man with man here, and God's goodness in preparing, for such as serve him faithfully in this life, an eternity of honour and glory in another. All that sounds stern in the old law, he revoked by fulfilling it. It was no longer to be "Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy; but I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them who despitefully use you and persecute you." It was no longer to be "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth," but I say unto you, resist not evil; but whosoever shall

"Let not

"When

smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him thy left also." Instead of the absolute prohibition, too often violated in the letter, "Thou shalt not commit adultery," it was, "Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart." Hypocrisy, evilspeaking, guile, ostentation, a too great anxiety for the very necessaries of life, anger, revenge, pride, vain glory, were not only all prohibited, but their opposites enjoined and enforced. thy left know what thy right hand doeth." thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and shut thy door." "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." These, with the blessings pronounced upon "the poor in spirit," "the meek," "the mourners," "the merciful," "the pure in heart,' "the peace-makers," make up, when taken together, a code of morals, such as had never, till the Lord came, been dreamed of among men, such as God alone, speaking through his mouth, could have inculcated.

Nor were the Lord's acts at variance with the tenor of his teaching. He healed the sick, he fed the hungry, he gave sight to the blind, he cleansed the lepers, he cast out devils, he raised the dead. When he was reviled he reviled not again, when men threatened he cursed not, - but passing from town to town, and from village to village, he shed round him, wherever he appeared, the blessings of health, and peace of mind, and sound and holy instruction. Under these circumstances I must endeavour, rather to let my young readers know what were the most prominent events in the Lord's most gracious career, than seek to lead them minutely through it. And it may facilitate this

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arrangement if we divide his ministry into portions, according to the number of the Passovers at which, subsequently to his baptism by John, he appears to have been present.

CHAP. XLV.

THE GOSPELS-continued.

MARRIAGE AT CANA OF GALILEE. OUR LORD'S SECOND PASSOVER. PROCEEDINGS IN JUDEA AND GALILEE.

THE public ministry of Jesus Christ appears to have begun in one of the latter months of the Jewish year. The scene of his earliest labours was Nazareth, I where neither the wisdom of his doctrines, nor the blameless tenor of his life, availed to overcome the prejudices which a familiar knowledge of his kindred and connections had awakened among the inhabitants. But his first miracle was performed in Cana, a town of Galilee, whither he proceeded with his mother and his disciples, to be present at a marriage feast. Perhaps the young reader will better understand both the object of this gracious act, and the terms in which the inspired writer describes it, if he be made aware of some of the usages which prevailed among the Jews on these occasions.

I have elsewhere explained, that the betrothal of persons of the opposite sexes was a ceremony which occurred among the Jews often long before the marriage could be conveniently fulfilled. It was at the

time of the betrothal that whatever of ceremony attended the entrance into so serious an engagement took place. The party seeking a bride, demanded her, through a friend, formally of her father, and after paying down the portion or dower agreed upon, the bridegroom ratified the contract by giving to the bride herself either a written document or a piece of silver, in the presence of witnesses. Years might elapse before the engagement thus entered into went further, yet the bride was all the while as completely bound, as if her bridegroom had taken her home, though the young people held no personal intercourse, nor perhaps saw oneanother. By and by, however, when circumstances seemed to authorise the completion of the contract, the friend of the bridegroom (his paranymph), who had managed all preliminaries for him, set about arranging the "marriage feast." It lasted seven days. All the men invited to it were supplied, at the bridegroom's expense, with wedding garments, generally white; and any person presenting himself in other than a wedding-garment was repelled as an intruder. The master, or author of the feast, reclined at the head of one of the tables, placing the most honoured of his guests, next him. And the wants of all were attended to by a governor not a guest, but a sort of upper domestic or butler, whose duty it was to pass from table to table, and see that nothing of which the master's friends stood in need was wanting.

The Jews were not a drunken race, and it be longed to the governor or ruler of the feast to take care that no excess was committed, even at a marriage supper. He himself tasted the wines to ertain that they were good, but did no more; as men and women never sat together on such

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occasions, the men exercised themselves in trials of wit, and so wiled the hours away. Nor were the women without their amusements. At the appointed time, troops of virgins bearing lighted lanterns, went with the bridegroom and his friends to conduct the bride, by night, to her future home. Finally, at the end of the week, or sooner if the faintest token of disorder appeared, the governor of the feast gave a signal to break up, and all the guests departed. Without any religious ceremony, therefore, or other tie than that of the betrothal, the bridegroom and bride thus became man and wife.

His marriage feast being the great event in his life, the Jew often put himself to serious inconvenience in order that it might be held with due solemnity. A short-coming in the viands or the wine, on such an occasion, stamped him ever after as a niggard, and his friends fell off from him. It was characteristic of the beautiful religion of the Gospel that its Divine founder should seek to guard one of God's rational creatures from so sharp an evil. Accordingly, when his mother, who knew the straitened circumstances of the bridegroom, came to Jesus and told him that the stock of wine was exhausted, he did not treat the announcement as a matter too insignificant to be noticed. On the contrary, he desired the servants, who were near, to fill certain water pots which stood by for purposes of ablution, with water, and to bear them, when so filled, to the master of the feast. They obeyed his behest, and wine enough to carry the banquet to a legitimate close was provided.

A. D. 30. An act of kindness which came so home to the feelings of all by whom it was witnessed, drew towards our Lord an increased amount of public attention. The number of his disciples