the son of Abraham." Here He is heir of a kingdom, and one of a chosen seed; and so His genealogy is traced through the line of Israel's kings, as far as Abraham, and no further.* In St. Luke it is traced to Adam ;† but here it is the Son of Abraham, not of Adam, whom God reveals to us. For an heir had been promised, and here our Lord is shewn as the One in whom the promise of the kingdom was to be fulfilled. The sure mercies of David" spake of a kingdom. The covenant ran thus; "I have found David my servant, with holy oil have I anointed him; also I will make him my first-born, higher than the kings of the earth: my mercy will I keep with him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him: his seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven.‡ Here the Heir is come, and His lineage is given, not as God's, or Adam's, but as David's Son.

Then in this genealogy four women are mentioned, each of whom in her life and course had been an appointed figure of the mystery of

*Chap. i. 2-16.

Luke iii. 23-38.

Psalm lxxxix. 20-29.

§ Chap. i. 3, 5, 6. Chrysostom, in his Homilies on St. Matthew, thus introduces this question. "It is worth enquiry, wherefore it can be, that when tracing the genealogy through the men, he hath mentioned women also; and why since he determined to do so, he hath yet not mentioned them all,

the kingdom. To see this may need some spiritual discernment; but, seen or unseen, it remains the same. It may not be out of place here, for few regard these things,-to shew how full of teaching is a single distinctive word in these Gospels. To speak then of Tamar, the woman first named here. This figure scarce needs comment; for, as with Sarah and Hagar, the type is most manifest. Judah is the line of the kingdom. The sceptre was his. But his seed, for they were born of a Canaanitish mother,† were very evil. Then a younger wife, Tamar, is brought in, and given to Judah's sons; but the children of the old wife dislike her, and have no seed by her. They are cut off for their iniquity. Then Judah's wife grows old and dies. After this the seed of the kingdom passes to her who had been rejected by Judah's sons. And by her, through Judah's sin, Judah being all unconscious of

but passing over the more eminent, such as Sarah, and Rebekah, and as many as are like them, has brought forward them that are famed for some bad thing, as for instance a harlot, an adulteress, a mother by incest, and a stranger."Hom. i. § 14. I quote this passage for the sake of its opening words:"It is worth enquiring," says Chrysostom. I would to God that Christians thought so, and did "enquire."

*Gen. xlix. 10.

See the history, Gen. xxxviii.; and compare Gen. xxxviii. 2 with Ezek. xvi. 3.

it, the line of the kingdom passes from his first sons into another channel. Judah, however, rages against the seed; yea, he is ready to burn the mother. But proof is at hand that her fruit, though Judah knows it not, is Abraham's seed. The signet and staff, though Judah may rage, clearly prove the lineage. Surely this scarcely needs interpretation. The first wife of Judah, like Hagar in another type, represents the principles of the Jewish Church,* by which Judah strove to build up the line of the elect kingdom. But the seed were evil, and were cut off. And though an attempt was made to improve and build up the line, by bringing in the second and younger wife, that is the spiritual principles of the New Dispensation, yet they would not have it. They turned from it with loathing, rather spilling the seed upon the earth, for which abomination judgment overtook them. For even of old the spiritual church was offered to the Jew. In prophets and righteous men

* Women in the types are principles, either good or bad, as Sarah and Hagar: men, the activities or energies connected with them. For this reason it is that in the Books of Kings, where we are shewn all the different forms of Rule to which God's elect may be subject, the mother of each king is always given, as showing from what principles certain forms of Rule proceed.

it came near to them, but they received it not.* So Tamar, the younger wife, was rejected. But time goes on. Judah's wife dies. The old dispensation ends; but not before Judah's sons have been cut off by sore judgments. Then by Judah's own fall, and all unknown to him, the seed passes to the younger wife,-for "the seed is the word," and she becomes fruitful. A seed has sprung out of Judah, which when sprung Judah judges, not suspecting the true father. Yea, he is ready to destroy it; but proof is at hand that it is Abraham's sced. The signet and the staff, though Judah. may rage, clearly prove the lineage of the Church's children.† It is throughout a mystery of the

Augustine rightly says, "Res ipsa quæ nunc Christiana religio nuncupatur, erat apud antiquos, nec defuit ab initio generis humani." Retract. i, 13. And again, “Viri sancti ́et justi, qui licet eo tempore fuerint, ad novum tamen pertinent testamentum." Contr. Faust. Lib. xxii. c. 84.

For the sake of those with whom authority is truth, rather than truth authority, I add the following extract from Augustine on this history. "Thamar de tribu Judâ reges tanquam mariti adhibebantur...Duo genera principum, qui non rectè operabantur, significantur in duobus filiis Judæ, quorum unus erat malignus ante Dominum, alter in terram fundebat, ne semen daret ad fœcundandam Thamar. Tertius vero filius Judæ significat tempus ex quo reges plebi Judœorum cœperunt de tribu Judâ non fieri...Thamar typum jam Ecclesiæ gerit, sedens cum hoc habitu ad portam Enaiim, quod interpretatur fontes. Accepit in occulto annulum,

kingdom, shewing how the line of heirs should change, and as such has a place here in the Gospel devoted to shew the Lord in connexion with the promised kingdom. And the same may be said of the other women here. I do not enter into details, further than to say that in each of them, with some distinctive peculiarities, the same story of the kingdom will be found repeated; shewing how the Gentiles, (for these women are Gentiles,) should obtain the kingdom, and continue the line of Abraham's sced.

But to turn from mysteries to what is on the surface. Here, to omit many minor points,* the Lord is called "Emmanuel," that is to say, "God with us," a name, the witness of the covenant with the kingdom, and also with the elect, testifying that He who had redeemed would not forsake His people. When the kingmonile, et virgam....Postea publicis signis annuli, et monilis, vicit temerè judicantes Judæos, quorum personam Judas ipse gestabat, qui hodiè quoque dicunt non hunc esse populum Christi, nec habere nos Abrahæ semen. Sed prolatis certissimus documentis nostræ vocationis confunduntur." Contra Faust. Lib. xxii. c. 84 and 86.

* Such as the fact, that this genealogy is given at Christ's birth, whereas St. Luke connects his with the baptism ;—that here it is a descending series, in St. Luke an ascending one;that this is Joseph's line, while St. Luke gives Mary's; all of which I am well assured is significant.