spoken before by the angel Gabriel concerning Him. — "We cannot doubt, that altho jgh our Lord had lived a quiet li'e at Nazareth for thirty \ ears, and done no miracles, His motlier must have observed in Him a per''ection of word and deed utterly unlike the behaviour of common men. — We cannot doubt that she was aware of all the events of the la?t few weeks, — our Lord's baptism by John, John's public proclamation of JELim as the Messiah, and the gatheiini^ around Jesr.s of a small knot of disciples. — Remem- bering all these thing-, we surely need not wonder that Marv'a expectations were greatly raised. She looJ<:ed for her Son speedily doing some great mir:icle. She was in daily expectation that He would prove Himself the Messiah by some mighty act. And it was under these feelings that she turned to Him, saying, " They have no wine." It is as though she said, — " Surely the time is come for declaring thyself. Manifest thy power, as I have long expected thee to do, by providing a supply of wine."
The argument which the Roman Catholics draw from this expression in favour of the Virgin Mary's intercession in heaven for sinners, and the consequent lawfulness of praying to her, is utterly worthless, and most unhappy. For one thing, it does not follow, because the petitions of living saints are heard upon earth, that the petitions of dead saints in heaven. are effectual. For another thing, it is an unfortunate fact, that this petition, the only one that we ever find addressed to our Lord by the Virgin Mary, brought from Him an immediate rebuke ! Men must be in great straits for an argument when they can reason in this way in defence of the invocation of saints !
^Melancthon, Chemnitius, and others, think that this want of wine at the marriage feast is purposely mentioned in order to remind married persons, or those who intend marriage, that matrimony brings with it cares as well as comforts, and specially cares from poverty. They that marry do well, and with Christ's blessmg will have happiness. But they must not expect to escape " trouble in the flesh " from the very day of marriage. (1 Cor. vii. 28.)
i. — [Jesus saith, Woman, what, &c., <fec.] This remarkable verse has naturally attracted great attention. In interpreting it, it is very important to avoid the extremes into which some Protest- ants and nearly all Roman Cathohc writers have fallen, in their interpretations.
On the one side we must not lay too much stress on the ex- pression " Woman." It is surely a mistake to suppose, as. Calvin and (t'ners suggest, that it conveys any reproof, or is anywise inconsistent with reverence and respect. The very same ex- pression was used by our Lord when He addressed His mother for the last time on the cross, and aflfectionatedy commended her