-taldny Mrn·11, not conmmmaling the mar- flrstborn Bon. Thus the angel'• promis8 is riaye, naming !he chilcl in faith. so far fulfiller!. A son (Reviser\ Versir,1>); "her firslborn," though founrl as earlj• a• Ver. 24.-Then Joseph boing re.ised; Tatian's 'Diates1 .,' having &cen a<lclerl frr,m and Joseph a!'oae (Revised Vcrsiou); for the Luke ii. 7. Though no great stress can bo stress of the Greek is not on "Joseph," laid on the word "till" (lr,,r [o~, Ba.ail r, for3 but 1-y,pO,l,. Immediately on arising, to Gen. viii. 7; comp. also Pa. exii. 8). nor Joseph obeyed. From sleep; from Ide sleep even on "firstborn," whi~h suggesle<l to a (Revised Ver.ion); i.e. which he wa.s then Jew rather consecration (Luke ii. 2:1) tl.an enjoying. No etre8S is laid on sleep as the birth of otl,er children (comp. Bishop such. Did as the angel of the Lord had Lightfoot on Galntians, p. 270, edit. I.~0O); bidden him, e.nd took unto him his wife. yet it is a reasonable infer(;nce from the "Bidden," in modem English, too much passage as a whole that the obrc h(vo,rr1<ev suggests" asking;" hence tbeHcviserl. Ver• was not continued after the birth of the sion "commanded" ('11'poufra!•v). Joseph'e Bon. Whether, howe~er, other children faith was seen in immediate obedience to were bor[l to Mary or not, the true text of comma.nds received. this passage gi ms no hint. And he called Ver. 25.-And knew her not. The ter.se his name JESUS (.er. 21, note). Observe (l-ylvwu1«v) brings out the continuance of that this name h:vl e.lrea•ly cccurre,I in Joeeph'e obedient self-restraint. "He wa.s Joseph's family (Lake iii. 29). It is, h~w- dwelling in holiness with her" ('l'atia.n'e ever, now given in sign of Joseph's foith in ' Diatees.'). Till Bhe he.d brought forth hor him e.nd his work,
HOMILETICS. Vere. 1-17.-The introduction. I. TnE TITLE. 1. It is a book; but it is not, like other books, the product of human thought. It presents to us a life not like other lives. That life stands alone in its beauty, purity, tenderness, in the glory of its unearthly holiness, in the majesty of its Divine self-sacrifice. It stands alone in its claims; it claims to be the great example, the one pattern life, the Light of the world. It claims to be a revelation of a new life; it offers a gift of power and Divine energy-a power which can lift men out of darkness into light, out of worldliness and selfishness into the life of holy love, into the clear light of tc.a presence of God. The conceptic,n of that life is unlike any of the ideals of perfection to be found in ancient writers; there was never anything like it before. It has changed our estimate of various moral qualities; it bas raised some that the world thought little of to a very high place of dignity; it has depressed others that once stood high in the thoughts of men to their proper level. That life has affected the modes of thought and fteling even of those who will not e.ccept it e.s a revelation from God. It formed a mighty epoch in the history of thought; men cannot divest themselves of its influence; they cannot think now as they might have thought bad that life never been lived on earth. It is impossible for us to put ourselves back into the mental attitude of those who bad never heard of that life; it has exercised an influence so widespread, so deep-reaching, over the whole field of thought and feeling. But we can see that that lil'e could never have been con- ceived by any human genius, least of all e.t the time when the Gospels were written. Compare it with any efforts of human imagination; there is not one that can even seem to endure the comparison. 'l'his history is unique. It has the stamp of genuineness, the ring of truth. Fictitious it cannot be; there uever was man that could have invented it, Compare it with other religious writiugs of antiquity, whether Jewi~h or Christian; compare it with the apocryphal Gospels, or with the books of the s11b-apostolic Fathers : this book stands absolutely alone; there is no other book like it; the gulf the.t parts it from all other books is wide, deep, immense. It is the book, the Dible- the book that speaks to tho heart of man as no other book can, because it is God's book; it comes from him, and it speaks to the heart which is his handiwork, to the man whom he created in his own im11ge, after his own likeness. It bears in itself the evidence of its Divine origin; we/eel, as we read its sacred words, that it bas a me~sa;!e for us, that it is God's voice calling us, telling us all that we need to know of Limself, of his will, of his redemption of the hume.n race from sin and death. 2. The subject of the book. It i~ "th,i book of the generation of Jesus Christ," the book which tells ns of his birth, of his histury. It c•pens with a table of gr.nealogy. lie is" the Son of David. 10 TIIE GOSPEL .ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. [en. r. l-21,,