person of the Virgin Mary, but rather a check or precaution against it; for it is observable, that the duties above recommended by our Saviour, seem to be preferred even to the honour of bearing him in her womb, or nourishing him at the breast.

But the chief reason of our belief being required to this part of the article, and of mentioning the person of whom Christ was born, is this: by this description and memorial of the blessed Virgin, we show that Christ was the true seed of Abraham and David, of whom the Prophets write; for thus speaks God to Abraham (Gen. xxvi. 4), And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. Again, God's promise to David is thus expressed in 2 Sam. vii. 12, 13: And when thy days be ful filled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, and I will establish his kingdom: and in Psalm lxxxix. 36, he saith, His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me. And by the Prophet Jeremiah, xxiii. 5, 6, the Lord speaks still more plainly: Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise up unto David a RIGHTEOUS BRANCH; and in his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And to put it out of all doubt, that this was spoken of CHRIST, and not of Solomon, it is added, And this is the name by which he shall be called; even

the LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Of this man, saith the Apostle (Acts, xiii. 23), hath God, according to his promise, raised unto Israel a Saviour, JESUS. To these prophecies do the words of the Evangelists St. Matthew and St. Luke exactly agree. The former opens his history with this singular title: The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham; and the latter (i. 32), speaking of Christ, saith, He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. And St. Paul (Rom. i. 3) describes our Lord in these words, who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. Therefore, as all these testimonies show that our blessed Lord and Saviour descended from Abraham, by David, it becomes a very essential part of our faith likewise, that we should believe that the Virgin Mary descended from this stock or lineage.

There are also several good reasons why she should be distinguished by the title given her, of the VIRGIN MARY. By the first, we testify our belief, that, in the production of our Saviour, she had no knowledge of any man. This was foretold by the Prophet Isaiah (vii. 14): Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son. As to her common name of Mary, it is recorded merely to hand down to posterity, that singular person who was so well known in those

VOL. I.

days to have been espoused to Joseph.-In regard to the title added to this name, to make the just distinction of her character, it seems by the very first promise of the Messiah, that he was to be born after a miraculous manner; to be the son of a woman, not of a man, as these words clearly testify: The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head. And, as this is certainly to be understood of Christ individually, as the original conqueror of the serpent's power; so the woman is to be understood, not as having any relation to man in this respect, but as specifying that sex from which alone that son should come. And according to this first evangelical promise followed the saying of the Prophet (Jer. xxxi. 22), The Lord hath created a new thing in the earth; a woman shall compass (or inclose) a man: which sense of the words, added to the Prophet's declaration of a new creation, may well be accounted a miraculous conception. In respect, then, both of the mother and the son, the belief of this article is absolutely necessary: in regard to HER, that we might preserve a becoming esteem for one exalted to so high a dignity, which her own prediction declares; From henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. Elizabeth cried out with transport, Blessed art thou among women, when Christ was but newly conceived in her womb. We

cannot, therefore, but bear a reverential regard to the mother of our Lord, so as we give her not that worship which is due ONLY unto the LORD HIMSELF. Let us preserve the maxim of the primitive Church; let HER be honoured and esteemed; let HIM be worshipped and ADORED. In regard to HIM, the belief of this article is absolutely necessary, (1.) that we might be assured, he was made or begotten of a woman, and so fulfilled the prophecies; for he took not on him the nature of angels (Heb. ii. 16), and therefore saved none of them; for they, for want of a Redeemer, are reserved unto the judgment of the great day: but man, once fallen, has been redeemed; and for that end Christ took upon him the seed of Abraham; for, as we are partakers of flesh and blood, we could expect no redemption but by him, who took part of the same. And, as there is but one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, we cannot be assured that he was the CHRIST, or is our JESUS (i. e. our Saviour), except we believe that he was a man. (2.) Again, it is necessary we should believe our Saviour conceived and born of such a woman as was a most pure and unspotted virgin, because he was in all things to be made like us, sin only excepted. Our passover is slain, and behold the Lamb that taketh away the sins of the world. But the lamb of the

passover was to be without blemish; which was

a type or figure of Christ's purity. From all that has been said (my brethren), every Christian must now understand what he is bound to profess, when he repeats his faith of JESUS CHRIST BEING BORN OF THE VIRGIN MARY. He intends to assent to this certain truth, that there was a holy woman, known by the name of Mary, espoused to Joseph of Nazareth, who, before and after her espousals, was a pure and immaculate virgin; and who, in that pure state, did, by the immediate power of the Holy Spirit, conceive the only begotten Son of God, and, after the natural time of women, brought him forth her first-born Son, as was foretold should come to pass in the fulness of God's appointed time.

What, therefore, can we collect by way of application from the whole of this wonderful narrative? Why, this surely, that, without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness, as particularly relating to Christ manifest in the flesh. And though the Apostle may be supposed to allude here, more immediately, to the union of the two natures in the person of Christ; yet, in respect to the power of the Holy Spirit in regenerating all good Christians, it is equally true, that great is the mystery of godliness. And whosoever is so happy as to experience the blessed effect of divine grace, no matter as to