thoir hmguuge wos due, not so much to also" Western" anthoritie9 in 111:,irk iii. 32, inquiry ua to astonishment, wl,ich may in where see Westcott and Hort, 'Append.'). some cases be Lhe first stage of inquiry (eh. 'fhdr names are quite unknown. Ara ix. 33; xii. 23), or moy, os here, be checked they not e.11. There wore several, a.t any from further development. Knowing his rate not less tha.n three. Matthew alon/J family, ond despising it, they treated him h1t8 all. With us l Mark expressly e.dcfa merely o.s o. curiosity, nnd never thought of "here;" i.e. in Nazareth. Whence then submitting themselves to him. Ha.th this ha.th this Man all these things? (ver. 54, Man this wisdom. Which they bad just hea.rd. note). And these mighty works 1 These is not ex- Ver. 57.-And they were offended in him pressed in the Greek, nor necessa.rily im- (eh. v. 29, note). Their knowledge of the plied. Perhaps he had already performed ea.rtbly conditions of his youth proved a some of the few miracles that he wrought stumbling-block to their faith. But Jesus there (ver. 58), or possibly his townsfolk re- said unto them. He accepts the fact, but ferred to what they ha.d heard of his miracles remincls them that they wcr13 under a special elsewhere. temptation thus to reject him. Even in bis Ver. 55.-Is not this the carpenter's son 1 reproof he will call them to rise above their In Mark, "the carpenter, the son of Mary," position. A prophet is not without honour. which may possibly be a doctrinal correction, There will ever be some to honour him. mu.de to ovoid representing our Lord os the He who speaks forth the mincl of God shall son of Joseph, but is more proba.bly the not totally fail in any place save one. An earlier form of the narrative (due to im- encouragement a.nd a warning. Save in his mediate and, perhaps, local knowledge), own country Uv -rfi ,ra.-rpio,). Better omit which St. Matthew, or one of those who own, for a.v-roii is not genuine here ( contrast transmitted the source he used, avoided out ~Ia.rk), and the insertion of lo/If before of o feeling ofreverence. In the Apocryphal ,ra.Tplo, is not supported by enough autho,·ity. Gospels our Lord is not represented as a Mark adds, "and among his own kin." And carpenter himself, but as helping Joseph by in his own b,ouse. Possibly J eremiah's ex- miraculously lengthening a piece of wood perience (Jer. xi. 21; xii. 6) ga.ve rise to which Joseph hod out too short (e.g. 'Pseudo- this proverb. (On John iv. 44, cf. ver. 5!, Matthew,' § 87; ' Gospel of Thomas,' first note.) Greek fonn, § 18; contrast Justin Martyr, Ver. 58.-And he did not many mighty 'Dial. with Trypho,' § 88). Is not his mother works there beoause of their unbelief. Our oalled Mary 1 and his brethren (eh. xii. 46). account is abbreviated from Mark's. Notice Probalily sons of Joseph by e. former wife there, "He could not do ... and he mar- (see Bishop Ligbtfoot's classical dissertation velled because of their unbelief." Our Lord in 'Ga.latians '). .Tames. Afterwords" bishop" was hindered, not by lack of power, but by of Jerusa.lem (Gal. i. 19; Acts xv. 18), and lack of those moral conditions which would the author of the Epistle. And .Toses; alone have made his miracles really tend to Joseph (Revised Version), which is also pro- the spiritual advuntage of the inhabitants or bably right in eh. xxvii. 56. Joses is the Nazareth (cf. eh. xii. 88). Because of their Grrecised form (see Westcott and Hort, unbelief; i.e. complete (ci,rurTfa.); but in the • Append.'). And Simon, and .T11dae. Prob- case of the failure of the disciples to perform obly the author of the Epistle. e. mirucle, only oompe.rative (a>..,-yo,r11T-rla., eh. Ver. 56.-And his sisters, Mentioned only xvii. 20). here o.nd in the pare.lie! passage in Mark (cf.
HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-23.-Tlie parable of tlie sower. I. 'l'HE cmcuMSTANCES. 1. The time. It was the day, St. Matthew says (the order in St. Luke is different), on which our Lord had cast the devil out of the blind and dumb man; the day on which the Pharisees had so fiercely accused him of intercourse with Satan; when his own mother and brethren had feared for his safety, and sought to guide and regulate his work; when, as appears from St. Luke (xi. 37), a Pharisee bad invited him in no friendly spirit to his house, and there the disagreement had been so great, the antagonism so ma:-ked nnd intense, tho.t the scribes and Pharisees, in their bitter anger, pressed vehtmently upon him, catechizing him with wrathful and ensnaring questions, to find, if possible, au opportunity for accusing him. "'!'he same day went Jesus out of the house, :tnd so.t by the sea-side." After all that fury of opposition he was quiet u.nd collected. In the holy co.lm of his soul he was able to think of others, able to tescb them on that very day of strife. It is a blessed thing to be enabled by the grace of Gotl to turn lG TIIE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MA.TTIIEW. [oa, xm. 1-GB.