17. Omnes itaqué generationes, ab Abraham, usquè ad David, generationes quatuordecim; et à David usquè ad transmigrationem

Babylonis,

generationes quatuordecim; et à transmigratione Babylonis usquè ad Christum, generationes quatuordecim.

18. Christi autem generatio sic erat. Cùm esset desponsata mater ejus Maria Joseph, antequàm convenirent inventa est in utero habens de SpirituSancto.

17. So all the generations from Abraham to David, are fourteen generations: and from David, until the carrying away to Babylon, fourteen generations: and from the carrying away to Babylon, till Christ, fourteen generations.

18. Now the birth of Christ was thus: When Mary his mother was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost:

1 All the generations. In calculating the length of a generation in each of the periods of fourteen, we find them longer in the first than in the third, and longer in the third than in the second; but averaging them all round, an ordinary generation is 47 years.

2 The general opinion of the Fathers and sacred writers is, that Joseph was really married to Mary before the Incarnation. Some Fathers, who have Patrizi and a few other modern followers, think that they were only betrothed, and married after the Angel's revelation to Joseph. The difference of opinion arises from before they came together, and take unto thee. It was a custom among the Jews, as it is now in the East, and among the Celtic nations of the West, for the newly married man to live with his wife in her parents' house for some time after the marriage before he took her to his own house. This simple custom explains the whole difficulty. They were married before the Incarnation; but the bringing home took place afterwards. The doubts and hesitation between both.

19. Joseph autem vir ejus, cùm esset justus et nollet eam traducere, voluit occultè dimitterre eam.

19. 'Whereupon Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing publicly to expose her, was minded to put her away privately.

20. Hæc autem eo cogitante, ecce angelus Domini apparuit in somnis ei, dicens: "Joseph fili David, noli timere accipere Mariam conjugem tuam: quod enim in eâ natum est de SpirituSancto est.

20. But while he thought on these things, behold, the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in his sleep, saying: Joseph, son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

The justice of S. Joseph is not merely his sense of fairness and equity, but his sanctity. He wished to do the divine will, and did not understand the great mystery until the Angel cleared up all his difficulties.

21. "Pariet autem filium, et vocabis nomen ejus JESUM: ipse enim salvum faciet populum suum à peccatis eorum."

21. And she shall bring forth a son and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.

An ingenious French commentator (Fillion), has arranged the forty-two generations very nicely. He puts Jechonias in twicebefore the captivity and after-and thus has a threefold ancestry arranged for Our Lord. He divides these generations into periods: Ist. The period of theocracy; 2nd. The period of royalty; and 3rd. The period of Sacerdotal Government.

The reconciliation between this genealogy and that given by S. Luke, chap. iii. has exercised the skill and ingenuity of many writers on the sacred text. The opinion that S. Matthew gives the genealogy of Joseph, and S. Luke that of the Blessed Virgin, is generally followed, both by Catholic and non-Catholic writers in modern times. Some think S. Matthew gives Mary's, but this opinion is not well supported.

It follows from this defective narrative of S. Matthew's, even without quoting S. Luke's account of the Incarnation, that Joseph and Mary had entered matrimony with the determination of abstaining from carnal intercourse and that they so continued to the end. Joseph is called son of David by the angel, and is supposed to be the last of his race.

For sermons this portion of the text is most fertile.

22. Hoc autem totum factum est ut adimpleretur quod dictum est à Domino per prophetam dicentem:

23. Ecce virgo in utero habebit, et pariet filium, et vocabunt nomen ejus Emmanuel: quod est interpretatum "Nobiscum DEUS."

24. Exsurgens autem Joseph à sommo fecit, sicut præcepit ei angelus Domini, et accepit conjugem suam.

25. Et non cognoscebat eam donec peperit filium suum primogenitum, et vocavit nomen ejus JESUM.

We remark a singular phraseology in S. Matthew when he begins to speak about the birth of Our Lord. The genuit ceases at Joseph, and the was born commences with Jesus and Mary.

In verse 17 he says all the generations were so and so, with dates numbers and mysteries. A contrast comes now-" The generation of Christ was in this wise." It was not like any of those patriarchal and historical things; but it was a new thing altogether. It was so great and so Godlike that he despatches the matter in a few words.

We wonder at Mary keeping her secret. Could she not have told Joseph and save all his anxieties and her own troubles at them? No: we are too material to understand her grand reticence. She was called upon by God for a most unheard of thing. She would not publish her glory. It was His businesseven the business of the Almighty-to defend the honour of her He had espoused.

It was done. How noble was Mary's thought, and how splendidly did all come straight!

That the word might be fulfilled.-In the Hebraisms, which occur frequently in this book, we must not take in order that as a ratio cur, a reason why. No; its real translation is, so the prophecy.

will then

be fulfilled. God's foreknowledge uttered through the prophets will thus be shown to be right.

2 Behold a Virgin.-This was the wonder given by the prophet Isaias to Achaz when he was sorely beset by his enemies, and thought himself and the house of David (of which he was then the head), completely lost. Long dissertations have been written by Jewish Rabbis to explain away this prophecy-but; they are all settled by two observations.

Ist. The whole world, Jews, Hindoos and Pagans generally, expected a Virgin-purely and really such-to bring forth a child.

2nd. If a girl, not a virgin, performed this feat, it would be nothing at all extraordinary. The rest is all cavilling, and Catholic Commentators need not lose patience over it.

And they shall call his name Emmanuel.-The Hebraism here is equivalent to he shall be. The name is the same in many Hebrew phrases, as the substance or the nature. In the name of Jesus, etc. A name does not mean merely the appellation, but the attributes or condition. Our Lord might or might not be called Emmanuel (or Immanuel rather), according to people's fancy. He sometimes is and sometimes is not. The one thing insisted upon by the Prophet Isaias, and afterwards by Baruch, and here by S. Matthew, is, that He is God with us. The Second Person of the Trinity has taken flesh in the womb of Mary. "Afterwards he was seen on earth and conversed with men," Bar. iii. 38. "And the word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us," S. John i. 14. This point is important here, because many think that S. Matthew busied his narrative rather about the humanity of Our Lord than the Divinity. Here we have the Divinity very clearly.

Another question comes in here. Many commentators think these words are uttered by the Angel to Joseph, whilst clearing up his doubts; and others think them the utterances of the Evangelist. This is not material to their truth. If the Angel uttered them, Matthew recorded them with adhesion to their truth. Where is the difference ?

4 And he knew her not TILL.-This particle in the Hebrew has been used by Helvidius in S. Jerome's time and by modern heretics - after his example to make it appear that although Our Lady was a virgin until the birth of Our Lord, she did not continue so. The until in Hebrew and in Greek has not that force. If it have any force at all it signifies, he not only did not do such a thing before, but he never attempted it or could attempt it after. Michol did not repent until her death. Did she repent afterwards? She could not do so. Commentators give various instances of the same sort of phraseology. "Sit thou at my right hand