a aignj and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the
For as Jonas was a si£ni unto the
prophet.
30 For as Jonas was a sign Nineyites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.
31 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with tiLe men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts
of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon ; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
32 The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this genera- tion, and shaU condemn it : ibr they repented at the preaching of Jonas ; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
A WOMAN is brought before us in this passage of Scripture of whose name and history we know nothing. We read that, as our Lord spake, " A certain woman of the com- pany lifted up her voice and said imto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee." At once our Lord founds on her remark a great lesson. His perfect wisdom turned every incident within His reach to profit.
We should observe in these verses how great are the privileges of those who hear and keep God*8 word. They are regarded by Christ with as much honour as if they were His nearest relatives. It is more blessed to be a believer in the Lord Jesus than it would have been to have been one of the family in which He was bom after the flesh. It was a greater honour to the Virgin Mary herself to have Christ dwelling in her heart by faith, than to have been the mother of Christ, and to have nursed Him on her bosom.
Truths like these we are generally very slow to receive. We are apt to fancy that to have seen Christ, and heard Christ, and lived near Christ, and been a relative of Christ according to the flesh, would have had some mighty effect upon oiu* souls. We are all naturally inclined to attach great importance to a religion of sight, and sense, and touch, and eye, and ear. We love a sensuous, tangible, material Christianity, far better than one of faith. And