all that man can do.
Having these powers, He could not but use them for men. Having power to
heal, He could not but heal, irrespective of the result which the
miracle might have on the faith of those who saw it; nay, He could not
but heal, though He straitly charged the healed person to let no man
know what had been done. His miracles were His kingly acts, by which He
suggested what man's true life in God's kingdom should be and will be.
They were the utterance of what was in Him, the manifestation of His
glory, the glory of One who came to utter the Father's heart to His
strayed children. They expressed good-will to men; and to the spiritual
eye of a John they became "signs" of spiritual wonders, symbols and
pledges of those greater works and eternal blessings which Jesus came to
bestow. The miracles revealed the Divine compassion, the grace and
helpfulness that were in Christ, and led men to trust Him for all their
needs.

We must, therefore, beware of falling into the error that lies at either
extreme. We must neither, on the one hand, suppose that Christ's
miracles were wrought solely for the purpose of establishing His claim
to be God's Viceroy on earth; nor, on the other hand, are we to suppose
that the marvels of beneficence by which He was known did nothing to
prove His claim or promote His kingdom. The poet writes because he is a
poet, and not to convince the world that he is a poet; yet by writing he
does convince the world. The benevolent man acts just as Christ did when
He seemed to lay His finger on His lips and warned the healed person to
make no mention of this kind act to anyone; and therefore all who do
discover his actions know that he is really charitable. The act that a
man does in order that he may be recognised as a good and benevolent
person exhibits his love of recognition much more strikingly than his
benevolence; and it is because the miracles of Christ were wrought from
the purest and most self-denying compassion that ever explored and bound
up the wounds of men, that we acknowledge Him as incontestably our King.

2. In what respects, then, did this first miracle manifest the glory of
Christ? What was there in it to stir the thought and attract the
adoration and trust of the disciples? Was it worthy to be the medium of
conveying to their minds the first ideas of His glory they were to
cherish? And what ideas must these have been? The first impression they
must have received from the miracle w