50 SECT. vii. Vcr. Joseph's perplexity on his finding Mary with child, IMPROVEMENT. WITH what sacred joy should we join in this hymn of praise! 67 The blessings celebrated in it were not peculiar to the family of Zacharias or to the house of Israel; but we, through the 68 Divine Goodness, have our share in them: the Lord God of Israel hath visited and redeemed us. He hath remembered his covenant with the pious patriarchs in favour of millions who are their seed 72, 73 only as heirs of the faith of Abraham.-To us hath he accomplished 70, 78 the words he had spoken by his holy prophets, and through his tender mercies hath caused the Sun of Righteousness to arise upon 79 us; upon us who were once indeed sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death; and whose ancestors, for many succeeding generations, were lost in ignorance, idolatry and wickedness. Let us bless the Lord, who hath given us light; and make it our daily prayer that it may be the happy means of guiding our feet into the way of peace.-Let us, with pleasure and thankfulness, receive 77 the knowledge of salvation by the remission of our sins, without which we shall never see it but at an unapproachable distance. Let us repose our chearful confidence in this Almighty Saviour, 69 this Horn of Salvation, which God's own right-hand hath raised up for us through him let us seek the pardon of our sins and 74 deliverance from all the enemies of our souls. And let a grateful sense of his redeeming love engage us resolutely to walk in the 75 strictest holiness and righteousness, as in the presence of God, and carefully to maintain before him a conscience void of offence all the days of our lives. 80 May we carry this temper along with us into solitude and retirement may it animate us in the busiest scenes of life; and, in every particular instance, may it determine us in our choice of either and regulate our conduct in both! SECT. viii. Mat SECT. VIII. Joseph's suspicions concerning Mary removed by the appearance of an angel to him. Mat. I. 18, to the end. MAT. I. 18. MAT. I. 18. Jesus Christ was AN ND now, having given an account of the NOW the birth of birth of John, afterwards surnamed the on this wise: When Baptist, we proceed to that of JESUS CHRIST, as his mother Mary I. 18. the great subject of our history, which was at- was espoused to Jotended with the most surprising circumstances, together, she was found seph, before they came and was thus introduced. His mother Mary be- with child of the Holy ing contracted to Joseph, according to the method Ghost. of the Jewish espousals, before they came to cohabit together as man and wife, she was found to be just man, and not way privily. Is removed by an angel. 51 SECT. be with child; and this pregnancy was (as we have been informed above) by the miraculous viii. 19 Then Joseph operation of the Holy Spirit. Now Joseph her Mat. her husband, being a husband, being a righteous man', perceiving there I. 19. willing to make her a was something very extraordinary in the case, public example, was and being by no means willing to expose her to minded to put her a public infamy by any severe prosecution, nevertheless was so confounded with the concurrence of the strange circumstances that attended this affair, as that, in order to secure the honour of his own character and to behave with all the tenderness that might be to a person that he loved, he purposed to himself to have divorced her as privately as the law of Moses would have allowed, that is, only in the presence of two witnesses and without assigning any particular cause. 20 But while he thought on these angel of the Lord ap a not to take unto thee And as he was revolving these things in his mind 20 during the night-season, full of the thoughts of things, behold the what he was to do, he fell asleep; and, behold, peared unto him in an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, dream, saying, Joseph, and said unto him, Joseph, thou son of David, (as thou son of David, fear being lineally descended from him) fear not to Mary thy wife; for take home Mary thy wife, according to the espouthat which is conceiv- sals that have passed between you, though there may seem some danger of bringing a reflection on thyself and family: for that which is begotten and formed in her, is of no human original, but was produced by the miraculous and unexampled 21 And she shall operation of the Holy Spirit himself. And, in 21 bring forth a Son, and thou consequence of it, when her time is fulfilled, ed in her, is of the Holy Ghost. a A righteous man.] It is without any just reason that this text is often assigned as an instance where the word dixi is used to signify merciful, and some accordingly have here translated it a good-natured man. If we consider the information which Joseph might have received from persons of such an extraordinary character as Zacharias and Elizabeth, (who would certainly think themselves obliged to interpose on such an occasion, and whose story so remarkably carried its own evidence along with it) besides the intimation the prophecy of Isaiah gave, and the satisfaction he undoubtedly had in the virtuous character of Mary herself, we must conclude that he had acted a very severe and unrighteous part, had he proceeded to extremities without serious deliberation; and that putting her away privately would, in these circumstances, have been the hardest measure which justice would have suffered him to take. b To expose her to public infamy.] It is very possible wagaduysalisai may here she refer to that exemplary punishment which c An angel of the Lord.] Probably d Cell 52 viii. Mat. Joseph commanded to name the child, Jesus. d Jesus: for he shall their sins. SECT. she shall bring forth a Son; and thou, under thou shalt call his name whose protection and care he shall be placed save his people from during his infancy, shalt call his name Jesus, I. 21. that is, God the Saviour; for he shall prove that glorious and divine person intended by God to save his people, even all that truly believe in him, both from the punishment and the dominion of their sins, by procuring an ample pardon for them, and raising them, after a life of holiness on earth, to a state of complete perfection and happiness. 22 22 (Now all this be fulfilled which was 23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, Now all this was done (that is, this miraculous conception, together with all the circum- was done, that it might. stances proper to attend it, was effected) that spoken of the Lord by this celebrated prophecy might be accomplished the prophet, saying, which the Lord had so long before spoken by the prophet Isaiah, (Is. vii. 14.) who said to the house of David in the reign of Ahaz, when it seemed in the utmost danger of being destroyed, 23" Behold, and attend to it with a becoming regard, while I assure you that God will accom- and shall bring forth a plish a yet nobler work than what he is ready Son, and they shall call to perform in your deliverance from Pekah his name Emmanuel, and the son of Tabeal; for an unspotted vir- which, being interpretgin, descended many ages hence from this royal family now to be rescued, shall, in a miraculous manner, conceive, and bring forth a Son; and they shall call his name Emmanuel ;" which, being translated, signifies God with us, that is, d Call his name Jesus.] Bishop Pearson e That this prophecy might be accom- God ed, is, God with us.) then a virgin, when she was married, was no such miraculous event as to answer such a pompous introduction; and that it seems most reasonable to interpret Isa. vii. 16. as referring to Shearjashub, whom Isaiah was ordered to take in his hand (ver. 3.) for no other imaginable reason but that something remarkable was to be said of him. So that the general sense, in short, is this: "You have affronted God by refusing a sign now; yet his transcendant mercy will make your present forfeited deliverance, (by the death of these confederate kings, which shall happen before [HANAHAR] this child in my hand is grown up to the exercise of reason) a sign of a much nobler deliverance by the Messiah, who shall be born of an immaculate virgin, and condescend to pass through the tender scenes of infancy as other children do." Compare Isa. vii. 10-16. And see Bishop Chandler's excellent remarks on this text, in his Defence of Christianity, page 325-331. Mr. Green's 4th Letter to Mr. Collins; and Usher's Annals, A. M. 3262. Reflections on the tidings of Christ's incarnation. 24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep, did as the angel gra God dwelling in our nature, on the most 53 SECT. viii. Mat. Then Joseph, arising from his sleep, with entire 1.24. satisfaction and humble acknowledgment, did of the Lord had bid- as the angel of the Lord had appointed him; and den him, and took unto without any farther delay, took home Mary his 25 And knew her wife. Nevertheless, in expectation of this won- 25 not till she had brought derful event, and out of reverence to this sacred forth her first-born Son; birth, he knew her not as a wife, though she dwelt and he called his naure under his roof; but she continued a pure virgin him his wife; Jesus. even till she had brought forth her divinely be- IMPROVEMENT. We see here, in Joseph, an excellent pattern of gentleness and Ver. prudence. In an affair which appeared dubious, he chose, as we 19 should always do, rather to err on the favourable, than on the severe extreme. He was careful to avoid any precipitate steps; and, in the moments of deliberation, God interposes to guide and 20 determine his resolves. With what wonder and pleasure did he receive these glad tidings! With what pleasure should we also receive them! For we too are informed of Jesus who came to save his people from their 21 sins. An important and glorious salvation indeed! Hosannah to him that cometh in the name of the Lord! Blessed Jesus! answer thy character in delivering us not only from sin's condemning, but from its reigning power! f Till she had brought forth her Son, the first-born.] There seems to be some peculiar emphasis in the expression, Too aula; Tov #puloloxov, which justifies the turn I have given to the words. Compare Luke ii. 7. (where the very same words are used with a remarkable exactness ;) Rom. viii. 29. Col. i. 15. and Heb. i. 6. -Though I confess the force of the learned and candid Dr. Daniel Scott's remarks on this note to be such as to convince me that this expression might have been used with regard to the first-born son of any family, and consequently, that no certain argument of Christ's superior diguity and glory can be drawn from it, yet, from the pen of one so deeply impressed with the thought of it as Luke as well as Matthew was, I think it may probably contain some VOL. VL. Let references to it.-On what terms Joseph and Mary afterwards lived is of so little importance to us, that I cannot but wonder it should have been the subject of so much debate. It is sufficient for us to know that she was a virgin, not only at the time of Christ's conception, but at his birth, as the prophecy foretold she should be. The evangelist therefore wisely contented himself with recording this, without affirming any thing farther either way on this delicate subject: I say, either way, for that the manner of expression here used will not certainly prove that Mary had more children afterwards, appears from comparing Gen. xxvii. 15. 1 Sam. xv. 35. Job xxvii. 5. Psal. cx. 1. cxii. 8. and Mat. xii. 20. E 54 SECT. viii. The genealogy of Christ from Abraham, Let our souls bow to Emmanuel, our incarnate God: and, while with holy wonder we survey the various scenes of his humiliation, Mat. let us remember too his native dignity and his divine glory. By 121. him God hath fulfilled his ancient promises in the most ample 22 SECT. ix. 1. 1. and glorious manner, in the fulness of time sending forth his Son, made of a woman, and sprung like a tender shoot from the decayed. stock of David his servant. While we study the oracles of the Old Testament, let us with pleasure trace the notices of the great Messiah there, even of Jesus, to whom all the prophets give witness. May his name be ever inscribed upon our hearts! In that name may we lift up our banners, and judge those reproaches a glory which we may meet with in his sacred cause 2 ! SECT. IX. The genealogy of Christ from Abraham, as recorded by Matthew; and from Adam, as recorded by Luke. Mat. I. 1-17. Luke III. 23, to the end. MAT. I. 1. Mat. I. 1. neration of EFORE we proceed to the birth of this THE book of the geB Divine Infant, whose conception was so Chris, the son of Dus Mat. very remarkable, it will be proper to give some vid, the son of Abraaccount of his descent according to the flesh. ham. And we shall therefore introduce it with a table of the genealogy of Jesus Christ; which is intended, not only as an introduction to his history, but more especially to shew that he was the son of David, and the son of Abraham, as it was often foretold the Messiah should be. (Compare Psal. cxxxii. 11. Isa. xi, 1. Jer. xxiii. 5. xxxiii. 15. and Gen. xii. 3. xxii, 18. xxvi. 4. xxviii. 14.) 2 gat Judas and his bre Now it is well known that Abraham, that 2 Abraham begat renowned patriarch and friend of God, from Isaac, and Isaac begat whom the whole Jewish nation had the honour Jacob, and Jacob beto descend, begat Isaac in his old age, that son of Sarah, according to the promise, with whom God's covenant was established; and Isaac begat g In his sacred cause.] There was, humanly speaking, a probability that Joseph might have brought some suspicion on his character, or reflection on his family by admitting Mary in these circumstances. a The genealogy of Jesus Christ.] I am well aware that the word yes, and the Hebrew TILEDETH which corresponds to it, sometimes signifies the history of a persou's life (as well as other things,) and not merely his genealogy; (compare Gen. i. 9. xxxvui. 2. Judith xiii. 18. Jam. i. 23. Jacob thren. and iii. 6. Gr.) and that the learned Vitringa understands it so in this place; (See Vitring. Observ. Sacr. lib. i. dissert. i. pag. 39.) Yet, as it is much more frequently used in the latter sense (see Gen. v. 1. x. 1. xi. 10-27. xxv. 12. xxxvi. 1, 9. Numb. i. 20, &c. and Ruth iv. 18. in all which places it is applied to genealogies), I think it best, with the learned Dr. Scott, to render it as above; only giving a little hint of the more extensive sense the word may possibly bear. |