one part of which humanity he was the son of man, as by the other part he was the Son of God. The belief of this is necessary to prevent all fear or suspicion of spot in this Lamb, of sin in this Jesus. Whatsoever our original corruption is, however displeasing unto God, we may be from hence assured there was none in him, in whom alone God hath declared himself to be well pleased. "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?" saith Job (xiv. 4.); a clean and undefiled Redeemer out of an unclean and defiled nature? He whose name is Holiness, whose operation is to sanctify, the Holy Ghost. Our Jesus was like unto us in all things as born of a woman, sin only excepted, as conceived by the Holy Ghost. This original and total sanctification of the human nature was first necessary, to fit it for the personal union with the Word, who, out of his infinite love, humbled himself to become flesh, and at the same time, out of his infinite purity, could not defile himself by becoming sinful flesh. Secondly, The same sanctification was as necessary in respect of the end for which he was made man, the redemption of mankind: that as the first* Adam was the fountain of our impurity, so the second Adam should also be the pure fountain of our righteousness. "God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, condemned sin in the flesh;" (Rom. viii. 3.) which he could not have condemned, had he been sent in sinful flesh. "The Father made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him;" (2 Cor. v. 21.) which we could not have been made in him, but that he "did no sin," (1 Pet. ii. 22.) and knew no sin. For, whosoever is sinful wanteth a Redeemer; and he could have redeemed none, who stood in need of his own redemption. We are redeemed "with the precious blood of Christ:" (1 Pet. i. 19.) therefore precious, because "of a Lamb without blemish, and without spot." (Ibid.) Our atonement can be made by no other high-priest than by him who is "holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners." Christ. c. 18. And St. Hilary calls it: 'Sementivam ineuntis Spiritus efficaciam.' 1. 2. de Trin. c. 26. But in this they only understood the operation of the Spirit, loco seminis. And whosoever spake of any proper semen, they abhorred; as appears by the 191st Sermon de Tempore: Nec ut quidam sceleratissimi opinantur, Spiritum S. dicimus pro semine fuisse, sed potentia et virtute Creatoris operatum.' I know not whether be the greatest folly; to make the Holy Ghost the father, as these men have done, by creating part of his body by way of seminal conjunction; or to make the same Spirit mother of Christ, as the Nazarenes did. In Evanlio Hebræorum quod lectitant Nazaræi, Salvator inducitur loquens, Modo me arripuit mater mea, Spiritus Sanctus.' There is only this difference, that one is founded upon the authority of Scripture, the other upon the authority of a pretended, but no Scripture: the one maketh the Holy Ghost a partial, the other a total mother. Illud unum peccatum, quod tam magnum in loco et habitu tantæ felicitatis admissum est, ut in uno homine originaliter, atque, ut ita dixerim, radicaliter, totum genus humanum damnaretur, non solvitur ac diluitur nisi per unum Mediatorem Dei et hominum, hominem Christum Jesum, qui solus potuit ita nasci, ut ei opus non esset renasci.' S. August. Enchirid. cap. 48. (Heb. vii. 26.) We cannot "know that he was manifested to take away our sins,"* except we also know that "in him is no sin." (1 John iii. 5.) Wherefore, being it is so necessary to believe the original holiness of our human nature in the person of our Saviour; it is as necessary to acknowledge that way by which we may be fully assured of that sanctity, his conception by the Holy Ghost. Again, it hath been observed+ that by this manner of Christ's conception is declared the freedom of the grace of God. For as the Holy Ghost is God, so is he also called the Gift of God and therefore the human nature in its first original, without any precedent merit, was formed by the Spirit, and in its formation sanctified, and in its sanctification united to the Word; so that the grace was coexistent, and in a manner connatural with it. The mystery of the incarnation is frequently attributed in the Scriptures to the love, mercy, and goodness of God. "Through the tender mercy of our God the day-spring from on high hath visited us :" (Luke i. 78.) In this "the kindness and love of God our Saviour towards man appeared." (Tit. iii. 4.) And though these and such other Scriptures speak properly of the love and mercy of God to man alone, offered unto him in the incarnation of our Saviour, and so directly exclude the merits of other men only; yet because they speak so generally with reference to God's mercy, they may well be thought to exclude all universally. Especially considering the impossibility of merit§ in Christ's humanity, in respect of his conception; because all desert necessarily precedeth its reward, and Christ was not man before he was conceived, nor can that merit which is not. Thirdly, Whereas we are commanded to be holy, and that even as he is holy; by this we learn from what foundation this holiness must flow. We bring no such purity into the world, nor are we sanctified in the womb; but as he was sanctified at his conception, so are we at our regeneration. He was con ceived not by man, but by the Holy Ghost, and we are "not of •‘In quo non est peccatum, ipse venit auferre peccatum. Nam si esset in illo peccatum, auferendum esset illi, non ipse auferret. S. August. Tract. 4. in 1 Ioan. 6.8. By St. Augustin: Ex hoc quod de Spiritu S. est secundum hominem nativitas Christi, quid aliud quam ipsa gratia demonstratur. Enchir. c. 37. Modus iste quo natus est Christus de Spiritu S. non sicut filius, et de Maria Virgine sicut filius, insinuat nobis gratiam Dei, qua homo, nullis præcedentibus meritis, in ipso exordio naturæ suæ quo esse cœpit, Verbo Dei copularetur in tantam personæ unitatem, ut idem ipse esset filius Dei qui filius hominis, et filius hominis qui filius Dei: ac sic in bumanæ naturæ assumptione fieret quodammodo ipsa gratia naturalis, quæ nullum peccatum posset admittere. Quæ gratia propterea per Spiritum S. fuerat significanda, quia ipse proprie sic est Deus, ut etiam dicatur Dei Donum.' Id. ibid. c. 40. · Cum ad naturam Dei non pertineat natura humana, ad personam tamen unigeniti Filii Dei per gratiam pertinet humana natura; et tantam gratiam, ut nulla sit major, nulla prorsus æqualis. Neque enim illam susceptionem hominis ulla merita præcesserunt, sed ab illa susceptione merita ejus cuncta cœperunt.' S. August. Tract. 82. in Ioan. blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John i. 13.) The same overshadowing power which formed his human nature, reformeth ours; and the same Spirit assureth us a remission of our sins, which caused in him an evemption from all sin. He which was was born for us upon his incarnation, is born within us upon our regeneration.+ All which considered, we may now render a clear explication of this part of the Article, whereby every person may understand what he is to profess, and express what is the object of his faith, when he saith, I belieye in Jesus Christ, which was conceived by the Holy Ghost. For hereby he ought to intend thus much I assent unto this as a most necessary and infallible truth, that the only-begotten Son of God, begotten by the Father before all worlds, very God of very God, was conceived and born, and so made man, taking to himself the human nature, consisting of a soul and body, and conjoining it with the divine in the unity of his person. I am fully assured that the Word was in this manner made flesh, that he was really and truly conceived in the womb of a woman, but not after the manner of men; not by carnal copulation, not by the common way of human propagation, but by the singular, powerful, invisible, immediate operation of the Holy Ghost, whereby a Virgin was beyond the law of nature enabled to conceive, and that which was conceived in her was originally and completely sanctified. And in this latitude I profess to believe in Jesus Christ, WHICH WAS CONCEIVED BY THE HOLY GHOST. Born of the Virgin Mary. THE third person considerable in this third Article, is represented under the threefold description of her name, condition, and action. The first telleth us who it was, it was Mary; the second informeth us what she was, a virgin; the third teaches us what she did, she conceived and bare our Saviour, and brought forth the Son of God; which was born of the Virgin Mary. The evangelist, relating the annunciation, taketh particular notice of this name; for shewing how an angel was sent unto a" virgin espoused to a man," he first observed that his "name was Joseph;" and then that the "virgin's name was Mary:" (Luke i. 27.) not for any peculiar excellency in the name itself, or any particular application to the Virgin arising from the Ea gratia fit ab initio fidei suæ homo quicunque Christianus, qua gratia homo ille ab initio suo factus est Christus. De ipso Spiritu et hic renatus, de quo est ille natus. Eodem S remissio peccatorum in nobis ctum est ut nullum haberet ille peccatum.' S. August. de Pradest. Sanct. c. 15. Nolite desperare; quod semel natum est ex Maria, quotidie et in nobis nascitur.' S. Hieron. Comm. in Psal. lxxxiv. 17. origination of it, as some have conceived; but only to denote that singular person who was then so well known to all men, being espoused unto Joseph, as appeareth by the question of his admiring countrymen, "Is not this the carpenter's son ? Is not his mother called Mary ?" (Matt. xiii. 55.) Otherwise the name was common even at that time to many; to the sister of Lazarus, (John xi. 1.) to the mother of James and Joses, (Matt. xxvii. 56.) to the wife of Cleophas, (John xix. 25.) to the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, (Acts xii. 12.) to her who was of Magdala in Galilee, (Luke viii. 2.) to her who bestowed much labour on St. Paul, (Rom. xvi. 6.) Nor is there any original+ distinction between the name of these, and of the mother of our Lord. For as the name of Jesus was the For some have thought the dignity of the Virgin to be denoted in her name. As Gregory Nyssen (or rather his interpolator) Homil. in Natal. Christi: 'Eπδὲν ἐτέχθη τὸ παιδίον, ὠνόμασε μὲν αὐτὴν Μαρίαν, ὡς ἂν καὶ διὰ τῆς ἐπωνυμίας τὸ Θεόδου τον διασημανθείη τῆς χάριτος. Mistaking, as I conceive, the origination of Mary for that of Anna, her mother. Thus he thought grace, others dominion, to be contained in her name. Η Μαρία έρμηνεύεται κυρία, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐλπίς. Κύριον γὰρ ἔτεκε τὴν ἐλπίδα τοῦ παντὸς κόσμου Χριστόν. Auctor Homil. de Laud. B. Mariæ, sub nomine Epiphanii. Τίκτει τοιγαροῦν ἡ χάρις (τοῦτο γὰρ ἡ ̓Αννὰ ἑρμηνεύεται) τὴν κυρίαν· τοῦτο γὰρ σημαίνει τῆς Μαρίας τὸ ὄνομα. Damasc. Orthod. Fid. 1. iv. c. 15. S. Hieron. de Nom. Hebraicis, col. 1478: • Sciendum quod Maria sermone Syro Domina nuncupatur.' So Chrysologus: Dignitas Virginis annunciatur ex nomine: nam Maria Hebræo sermone, Latine Domina nuncupatur. Vocat ergo Angelus Dominam, ut Dominatoris genetricem trepidatio deserat servitutis, quam nasci et vocari Dominam ipsa sui germinis fecit et impetravit auctoritas.' Serm. 142. Sermone Syro Maria Domina nuncupatur, et pulcre, quia Dominum genuit.' Isidor. Hispal. Orig. 1. vii. c. 10. The same Isidore with others gives another etymology: Maria illuminatrix, sive stella maris; genuit enim lumen mundi.' Ibid. And Bernard, Homil. 2. super Missus est: Loquemur pauca et super hoc nomine, quod interpretatum maris stella dicitur, et matri Virgini valde convenienter aptatur. Ipsa namque aptissime sideri comparatur, quia sicut sine sui corruptione sidus suum emittit radium, sic absque sui læsione Virgo parturit filium.' So far not amiss. But when from a bad etymology he makes worse divinity, calling her the Star of Jacob, and attributing unto her the light of our S minds, the life of our graces and extirpation of our vices (the work of the Spirit of Christ), when in the midst of all our temptations, horrors of conscience, and depths of despair, he adviseth us immediately to a Respice Stellam, Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca;' his interpreta tion can warrant no such devotion. This etymology also descended from St. Jerome, who in his interpretation of the names in Exodus, as from Philo: Maria illuminatrix mea, vel illuminans eos, aut smyrna maris, vel stella maris.' De Nom. Hebr. col. 1454. And again, on the names in St. Matthew: Mariam plerique existimant interpretari, illuminant me isti, vel illuminatrix, vel smyrna maris; sed mihi nequaquam videtur. Melius autem est ut dicamus sonare eam stellam maris, sive amarum mare.' Ibid. col. 1478. Ερμηνεύεται πάλιν ἡ Μαρία σμύρνα Bakásons. Homil. de Laudibus B. Mariæ. 'Dictæ sunt et ante Mariæ multæ: nam et Maria soror Aaron dicta fuit, sed illa Maria amaritudo maris vocabatur.' S. Ambros. Instit. Virg. c. 5. Indeed that ab amaritudine, without the adjection of mare, is the etymology observed by the Jews; as appears by the author of the Life of Moses, who relating how Amram took Jochebed to wife, and of her begat ותקרא שמה מרי כי,a daughter, addeth בעת ההיא החלי המצרי בני חס למרור חיי same with Joshua, so this of Mary was the same with Miriam. The first of which name recorded was the daughter of Amram, the sister of Moses and Aaron, a prophetess; to whom the bringing of Israel out of Egypt is attributed as well as to her brethren. "For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt (saith the Lord), and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam." (Mic. vi. 4.) As she was exalted to be one of them who brought the people of God out of the Egyptian bondage; so was this Mary exalted to become the mother of that Saviour, who through the red sea of his blood hath wrought a plenteous redemption for us, of which that was but a type: and even with the confession of the lowliness of a handmaid she seems to bear that exaltation in her name.+ in ultima; the latter with a Greek termi- Again, because no Greek word endeth Bagà, for Magiàu Magia. Wherefore from the Hebrew Mirjam came, by variety of pronunciation, at first the Syriac Marjam; and from the Syriac Marjam, at first, only by variation of the pronunciation, Magiàu, then for the propriety of termination, Mapia, t For though that interpretation Domina may seem to some conveniently enough from D, yet that being rather from the Chaldees, cannot so well agree with Miriam; nor is the so properly added at the end, as to the beginning of a Hebrew word, where it is usually in words of simple signification Heemantical. Again, though may signify smyrna maris, or illuminatrix, which St. Jerome rejected; and stella (or rather stilla, which is properly) maris, or amarum mare, which he rather embraced: yet these compositions are not so proper or probable at all, especially in a name dissyllable. Though the Jews themselves deduce it from 772, to signify the bitterness of the Egyptian bondage, as we read |