Argument of Saint Jerome on the Gospel according to Matthew.

Matthew, being the first in order, was the first to write the Gospel in Judea: his calling to God was from his duties as a publican.

Presuming the principles of the two in the generation of Christ, one whose first circumcision was in the flesh, and the other whose election was according to the heart: for Christ is from both fathers. And thus, with the number fourteen set forth in a threefold manner, extending from the faith of believing to the time of election, and directing from the election to the day of the migration, and defining from the day of the migration unto Christ, he demonstrates the generation of the coming of Christ, which has been run its course. This is so that, by satisfying both the number and the time, he might show both what he was, and, while showing the work of God in himself, he would not deny the testimony of Christ working from the beginning, even in those whose lineage he set down.

The time, order, number, arrangement, or reason of all these things, which is necessary for faith, is God Christ. Who was made of a woman, made under the law, born of a Virgin, suffered in the flesh, and fixed all things to the cross: so that, triumphing in his own body, he might rise again, and the name of the father in the fathers be restored to the son, and the name of the son to the father in the sons, without beginning and without end, showing himself to be one with the Father, because he is one.

In this Gospel, it is useful for those who desire God to know things that are proper, or intermediate, or perfect, so that they may understand, as they read through everything, both the calling of the Apostle, the work of the Gospel, and the love of God being born in the flesh, and recognize this in that by which they have been grasped and which they desire to grasp.

For this was our purpose in this study of the argument: to transmit both the faith of the deed done, and not to remain silent for those seeking to understand the disposition of God who works diligently.

EXPLANATION OF THE ARGUMENT OF S. JEROME ON MATTHEW.

Matthew, being the first in order, was the first to write the Gospel in Judea: his calling to God was from his duties as a publican.

First, he touches upon the writer's suitability for writing: second, the subject matter and circumstances of the writing: third, the end.

He shows the suitability from five things: from the name, "Matthew," which is interpreted as "giver of counsel" because of the revelation of secrets to be written. I Corinthians 2:12: "We have not received the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God, that we may know the things that are given us from God." Ecclesiasticus 6:6: "Let one out of a thousand be your counselor," specifically the one called by Him who is called Wonderful, Counselor 1: or, according to the Septuagint, "Angel of the Great Counsel." For there was a presage of this, that upon his conversion, his name being changed, he was called Matthew. Isaiah 65:15-16: "He shall call his servants by another name: in which he who is blessed upon the earth shall be blessed in God, amen."

Second, he describes him by his place of birth, which prefigures the writing of salvation. John 4:22: "Salvation is of the Jews." Psalm 75:2: "In Judea God is known." Baruch 4:4: "We are happy, O Israel, because the things that are pleasing to God, are made known to us." Knowledge, therefore, is referred to the authority of the Writer.

Third, he touches upon the order from the place: for since salvation is of the Jews, it is reasonably written first in Judea, the Gospel of salvation. Psalm 113:2: "Judea was made his sanctification." For if it had to be contradicted, where the thing was certain, it had to be either rejected or confirmed. Acts 4:14: "Seeing the man standing with them, who had been healed, they could say nothing against it." Therefore, he uses this order when speaking to the Apostles. Acts 1:8: "You shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the uttermost part of the earth." First, therefore, in Judea: and for this reason he says, "he was the first to write the Gospel in Judea." Acts 13:46: "To you it behoved us first to speak the word of God: but because you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold we turn to the Gentiles."

Fourth, according to the order of the sentence (although it is the third according to the order of the letter), he touches upon the order of the Evangelist when he says: "As he is placed first in order." The reason for this is that the other faces are placed around the face of a man (which is Matthew's): and thus it is, as it were, placed before the others as the subject. Ezekiel 1:10: "The face of a man in them." This is not said of any of the other faces, because the others are, as it were, placed around this one. Whence also among the other

faces, this one was turned towards the front: so that although Mark writes of the face of the lion in the Resurrection, and Luke of the calf in the Passion, and John of the eagle in the Ascension, yet all these were accomplished in the face of a man: and therefore the face of a man is prior in order according to nature.

Moreover, he naturally has the face of a man: the others, however, have it by metaphor. Jeremiah 31:22: "The Lord has created a new thing upon the earth: A woman shall compass a man." His face is that of a man, not of a lion or another. Psalm 86:5: "A man is born in her, and the Highest himself hath founded her."

But is there a counter-argument? Augustine in his book On the Harmony of the Evangelists: "It seems to me more probable that those who understood the man in Matthew, the lion in Mark, the calf in Luke, and the eagle in John, were attentive to something." I answer. Augustine does not speak according to the substance of the face, but according to the property of the royal tribe through which he descends: as it is said, Apocalypse 5:5: "The lion of the tribe of Juda has prevailed." All the other saints, however, speak of the substance of the face, which he turns toward men at the front: which is that of a man born of men, and exhibiting and suffering human things among men: for each of the Evangelists turns his own proper face toward men at the beginning of his writing, but the face of a man is turned forward. Ezekiel 10:22: "Their look and their impetus of each one went before their own face."

Fifth, he touches upon the congruence of the writing from grace. His calling is below, 9:9. Cf. Luke 5:27, and Mark 2:14. For one who is intent on earthly gains cannot understand heavenly sacraments, which, once converted, he understands through grace. I Corinthians 2:14: "The sensual man perceiveth not these things that are of the Spirit of God: for it is foolishness to him." And it follows, v. 15: "But the spiritual man judgeth all things," etc. Baruch 3:23: "The sons of Agar, who search after the prudence that is of the earth, the merchants of Merrha and Theman, and the tale-tellers, and searchers out of prudence and intelligence: but the way of wisdom they have not known, neither have they remembered her paths." Agar is interpreted as a stranger, and signifies those who are foreign to the secrets of God, even if they are wise in worldly matters. Galatians 1:15-16: