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ST. MATTHEW. 39 25. And he knew her not till she brought forth her first-born son, and he called His name.

CHAPTER II.

The coming of the Magi to Christ: the massacre of the innocents by Herod: the flight to Egypt, and the return thence.

1. When therefore Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Juda,

contract. "We must not," says St. Augustine, "suppose that Joseph was not the husband of Mary, because preserving her virginal integrity, and without intercourse with him, she brought forth Christ. By this example it is strongly intimated to such of the faithful as are in the marriage state, that marriage can subsist, and be styled such, even when continence is observed by mutual consent.” L. II. de consensu Evang. c. I. This is a scriptural form of speech, as Campbell acknowledges, which does not necessarily imply that Joseph knew her afterwards. Thus we read, in Psalm cix., "The Lord said to my Lord, Sit Thou on my right hand until I make Thy enemies the footstool of Thy feet." "Will He not sit afterwards!" asks St. Ambrose. ** As in pleading, a lawyer is content with urging what suffices for proving the case in hand, and cares not to press extraneous matter, so the evangeliat, having undertaken to establish the mystery of the Incarnation in its integrity, did not think proper to pursue more fully what regarded the virginity of Mary, lest he should appear rather as the advocate of the virgin than the herald of the mystery. Since, however, he stated that Joseph was a just man, he gave us sufficiently to understand, that he would not dare violate the temple of the Holy Ghost, the womb in which the mystery was ac- complished the mother of the Lord." In Luc. 1. ii. n. 8. A like remark is made by St Chrysostom in loc. ¹ This does not suppose that others were born afterwards. The law prescribed offerings to be made for first-born males forty days after their birth, when it could not be known whether other children would be born to the same parents. Scott says, " Observe, Christ was the First-Born, and so He might be called, although His mother had not any children after Him, according to Scripture language." Pract. Obser. birth before the arrival of the Magi: probably nearly forty days, since the presentation in the temple must have taken place soon afterwands. Digned by Google Digitized
 * Luke ii. 7. We know not what length of time elapsed after His