ERRATA. Page 3, line 3, after David strike out the remainder of the sentence. 66 19, " 9, for Isaiah, read Micah. THE LIFE OF THE SAVIOUR. CHAPTER I. THE PARENTAGE AND DESCENT OF JESUS. It is usual to begin the life of a distinguished person with an account of his family and parents. Sometimes the line of descent is traced back generation after generation, and it is boasted from what celebrated ancestors he sprung. Sometimes it is acknowledged that he was of obscure origin, and has been the founder of his own fame and family. In either case, it is thought that the circumstance is honorable to him. In the first, he derives splendor and dignity from the great men from whom he descended. In the second, what can be more creditable, than to have risen from nothing, by his own industry and talents, to an equality with those whose natural advantages were superior? Two of the Evangelists who have written the history of our Saviour, begin their account of him in this way. They give the genealogy of his family, and show his descent from the kings of Judah. His immediate parentage was obscure. Joseph and Mary were persons of no note, and he was born to the condition of humble life. But his remote ancestors were of the royal family of the nation, and through them his lineage went back to the distinguished fathers and founders of the nation; through David, the great king, to Abraham, the chief progenitor, and to Seth, the son of Adam, the first man, who was the son of God. Thus, regarded only in a human point of view, this wonderful person united in himself the two circumstances mentioned above, to which biographers draw attention, that they may exalt the persons they celebrate. He was of poor and humble parents, yet rose to eminence above all persons of his age and country. He was also of honorable ancestors, belonging to the chief family of the nation, ennobled by descent from the greatest names in human history, and able to trace his lineage up to the first man, who was the immediate creation of God. The Evangelists point out another remarkable distinction of our Lord's descent. It is capable of Luke iii. 13. Mat. i. 1. being traced to its original stock through both parents. The family of Joseph and the family of Mary both run back till they meet in David, and, there separating, meet again in Abraham. This renders his descent doubly illustrious. Besides the circumstances already mentioned, which give an interest to this subject, it is to be considered, that this was amongst the Jews a matter of extreme importance. Every family kept its genealogical register, and knew the list of its ancestry from the earliest day. This was necessary on account of some peculiar requisitions in their law respecting property and inheritance; which required evidence of the tribe and family to which every individual belonged. There was a further reason which made it a matter of interest. The promised and expected Messiah, that great prince and deliverer, of whom the prophets had so rapturously spoken, and on whose coming the hopes and glory of the nation were suspended,was to be of the tribe of Judah and the family of David. It was of importance therefore to be able to trace the descent of every individual who should claim to be this person. Hence the records of that family, and of every branch of that family, would be kept with the most jealous care, in order that it might be proved, when the Messiah came, that he |