SECT. V. JESUS OBTAINS HIS FIRST DISCIPLES.*

Again the next day after, John stood, and two of his disciples; and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou? He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.

The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me. Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel. Jesus answered

The four disciples, Andrew, Peter, Philip, and, doubtless, John himself, who narrates the incident, do not seem to have permanently attached themselves to our Lord at this time, though they followed him into Galilee, and witnessed the miracle at Cana. Nathanael probably joined the little company upon the journey.

and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these. And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.

ECT. VI. THE MARRIAGE AT CANA OF GALILEE.* 23rd Feb., 27 A.D.

(JOHN ii.)

And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: and both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. And there were set there six water-pots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus saith unto them, Fill the water-pots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it. When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew,) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, and saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now. This

* The fifth day after the temptation was ended, when the chronicling begins, and the third day after Christ's departure from the banks of the Jordan, he and his five attendants came to Cana in Galilee. Two days' travel would bring them to Nazareth, a town about fifty miles from Bethabara; and on the following day they would proceed to Cana, a village lying a few miles farther to the north. Early tradition affirms that this marriage occurred in the family of Alphæus, the father of Simon the Canaanite, and the husband of Christ's mother's sister. If so, Jesus now sat down at a marriage feast with his mother, brothers and sisters, uncle, aunt, and cousins, and a peculiarly domestic character is thus given to the scene. As no allusion is made to Joseph, the obvious inference is that he was now dead. The measures of the ancients are very uncertain. A firkin, is, however, commonly supposed to be equal to 7 gallons.

beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.

After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brethren,* and his disciples: and they continued there not many days.

Various theories have been held respecting our Lord's brethren, and it is one of the most difficult subjects within the whole range of our inquiries. No data are given by which a positive judgment may be formed; but, on the whole, the balance of probability seems slightly in favour of the view that they were younger children of Joseph and Mary. Some have held that they were halfbrothers of Jesus-sons of Joseph by a former marriage; others, that they were only cousins.

Capernaum, Bethsaida, Chorazin, and some other towns probably stood on the western shores of the Lake of Gennesaret, which were then extremely populous, and scenes of great activity. Their very names have now perished. Capernaum was the centre of our Lord's Galilean ministry, and his short visit to it at this time would put him on the route along which the gathering bands of visitors from Northern Galilee were passing southward to Jerusalem to observe the passover feast, now close at hand.

PART III.

CHRIST'S FIRST PASSOVER.

Time, ONE YEAR.

SECT. I. THE TRADERS DRIVEN OUT OF THE TEMPLE.

And the Jews' passover was at hand;* and Jesus went up to Exod. xii. Jerusalem, and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:† and when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; and said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise. And his disciples remembered that it was written, Ps. Ixix. 9. The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? § But he spake of the temple of his body. When

* That this was the first passover which Jesus attended after his baptism is almost universally believed. Though mentioned only by John, the fact that Jesus had been in Judea before the imprisonment of the Baptist is implied in Matt. iv. 12 and Mark i. 14. As a Jew, Jesus was bound to keep the ceremonial law, and to fulfil all righteousness.

In the forecourt of the temple, and attached to its surrounding walls, were booths, in which money changers and dealers in cattle carried on a profitable trade, more than 250,000 victims being sometimes, as Josephus tells us, sacrificed in the course of a single passover celebration. The same significant act, in all its essential outward features, as here narrated, was again performed when Christ's ministry drew to a close.

The supreme council of the Jews, the Sanhedrim, sat in a magnificent chamber adjoining the temple, and we doubt not it was they who asked Christ his authority for performing so bold a deed.

Herod the Great commenced the rebuilding of the temple in the eighteenth year of his reign; but it does not seem to have ever been entirely completed, the meaning being "up to this time the temple has been forty and six years building." The statement here made forms one of the factors in determining the date of Christ's birth.

therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the Scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.

Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.

SECT. II. CHRIST'S CONVERSATION WITH

NICODEMUS.*

(JOHN iii.)

JERUSALEM.

There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: the same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whether it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.

Nicodemus was a member of the Jewish Sanhedrim, and is described in rabbinical writings as a man of unbounded wealth, of magnificent liberality, and of the most ardent piety.