The miracles of Christ illustrated, as well as confirmed, His doctrines.  When, for instance, He converted the water into wine at the marriage in Cana of Galilee. [24:6] He taught, not only that he approved of wedlock, but also that, within proper limits, He was disposed to patronise the exercise of a generous hospitality, in some cases He required faith in the individuals whom He vouchsafed to cure, [24:7] thus distinctly suggesting the way of a sinner’s salvation.  Many of His miracles were obviously of a typical character.  When He acted as the physician of the body, He indirectly gave evidence of His efficiency as the physician of the soul; when He restored sight to the blind, He indicated that He could turn men from darkness to light; when He raised the dead, He virtually demonstrated His ability to quicken such as are dead in trespasses and sins.  Those who witnessed the visible exhibitions of His power were prepared to listen with the deepest interest to His words when He declared—­“I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” [25:1]

Though our Lord’s conduct, as a public teacher, fully sustained His claims as the Messiah, it must have been a complete enigma to all classes of politicians.  He did not seek to obtain power by courting the favour of the great, neither did He attempt to gain popularity by flattering the prejudices of the multitude.  He wounded the national pride by hinting at the destruction of the temple; He gave much offence by holding intercourse with the odious publicans; and with many, He forfeited all credit, as a patriot, by refusing to affirm the unlawfulness of paying tribute to the Roman emperor.  The greatest human characters have been occasionally swayed by personal predilections or antipathies, but, in the life of Christ, we can discover no memorial of any such infirmity.  Like a sage among children, He did not permit Himself to be influenced by the petty partialities, whims, or superstitions of His countrymen.  He inculcated a theological system for which He could not expect the support of any of the existing classes of religionists.  He differed from the Essenes, as He did not adopt their ascetic habits; He displeased the Sadducees, by asserting the doctrine of the resurrection; He provoked the Pharisees, by declaring that they worshipped God in vain, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men; and He incurred the hostility of the whole tribe of Jewish zealots, by maintaining His right to supersede the arrangements of the Mosaic economy.  By pursuing this independent course He vindicated His title to the character of a Divine lawgiver, but at the same time He forfeited a vast amount of sympathy and aid upon which He might otherwise have calculated.