Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy Wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. Now being the expreffions in the Scriptures are fo general, that from thence the operation of the Spirit cannot precifely be diftinguished from the concurrence of the Virgin; much lefs fhall we be able exactly to conclude it by that late distinction, made in this Article, conceived by the Holy Ghoft, born of the Virgin; because it is certain that the fame Virgin alfo conceived him according to the Prophecy, Thou shalt conceive and bear a Son: and therefore notwithstanding that diftinction, the difficulty ftill remains, how he was conceived by the Spirit, how by the Virgin. Neither will any difference of (s) prepofitions be fufficient rightly to diftinguish thefe operations. Wherefore there is no other way to bound or determine the action of the Holy Ghoft, but by that concurrence of the Virgin which must be acknowledged with it. For if he were truly the Mother of Chrift (as certainly fhe was, and we fhall hereafter prove), then is there no reason to deny to her in refpect of him whatsoever is given to other Mothers in relation to the fruit of their womb; and confequently, no more is left to be attributed to the Spirit, than what is neceffary to cause the Virgin to perform the actions of a Mother. When the Scripture fpeaketh of Regeneration, or the fecond Birth, it denieth all which belongeth to natural procreation, defcribing the fons of God as begotten not of bloods, nor John i. 13. of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God: And in the Incarnation of our Saviour, we remove all will or luft of the flesh, we deny all will of Man concurring; but as the bloods in the language of the Hebrews did fignify that fubftance of which the flesh was formed in the womb, fo we acknowledge in the generation of Jefus Chrift, that he was made of the fubftance of his Mother.

But as he was fo made of the substance of the Virgin, fo was he not made of the fubftance of the

Holy Ghoft, whofe effence cannot at all be made. And because the Holy Ghoft did not beget him by any communication of his effence, therefore he is not the Father of him, though he were conceived by him. And if at any time I have said, Christ was begotten by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, if the Ancients fpeak as if he (t) generated the Son, it is not fo to be understood, as if the Spirit did perform any proper act of generation, fuch as is the foundation of Paternity.

Again, as the Holy Ghoft did not frame the human nature of Chrift out of his own fubftance; fo must we not believe that he formed any part of his flesh of any other fubftance than of the Virgin. For certainly he was of the Fathers according to the flesh, and was as to that truly and totally the Son of David and Abraham. The Socinians, who will acknowledge no other way before Chrift's Conception by which he could be the Only-begotten Son of God, have been forced to invent a ftrange conjunction in the nature of Chrift: one part received from the Virgin, and fo confequently from David and from Abraham, from whom that Virgin did defcend; another (u) framed by the Spirit, and conjoined with it; by the 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 neceffary to prevent all fear or fufpicion of fpot in this Lamb, of fin in this Jefus. Whatfoever our original corruption is, however displeasing unto God, we may be from hence affured there was none in him, in whom alone God hath declared himself to be well pleafed. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? faith Job; a clean and undefiled Redeemer out of an unclean and defiled Nature? He whofe name is Holiness, whofe operation is to fanctify, the Holy Ghoft. Our Jefus was like unto us in all things as born of a Woman, fin only excepted, as conceived by the Holy Ghoft.

21.

This original and total fanctification of the human nature was first neceffary, to fit it for the perfonal union with the Word, who, out of his infinite love, humbled himself to become flesh, and at the fame time, out of his infinite purity, could not defile himself by becoming finful flesh. Secondly, The fame Sanctification was as neceffary in refpect of the end for which he was made man, the Redemption of mankind: that as the (x) firft Adam was the fountain of our impurity, fo the fecond Adam fhould also be the pure fountain of our righteoufnefs. God fending his own Son in the likeness of finful Rom.viii.3. flesh, condemned fin in the flesh; which he could not have condemned, had he been fent in finful flesh. The Father made him to be fin for us, who knew no fin, 2 Cor. v. that we might be made the righteousness of God in him; which we could not have been made in him, but that he did no fin, and knew no fin. For whofoever, Pet. ii. is finful wanteth a Redeemer; and he could have 22. redeemed none who ftood in need of his own Redemption. We are redeemed with the precious blood 1 Pet. i. 19. of Chrift: therefore precious, because of a Lamb without blemish, and without spot. Our atonement can be made by no other High-Priest than by him who is holy, harmless, undefiled, and feparate from Sin- Heb. vii. ners. We cannot (y) know that he was manifefted to take away our fins, except we alfo know that in him 5. is no fin. Wherefore, being it is fo neceffary to believe the original holiness of our human nature in the Person of our Saviour; it is as neceffary to acknowledge that way by which we may be fully aflured of that fanctity, his conception by the Holy Ghost.

Again, it hath been (z) obferved, that by this manner of Chrift's conception is declared the freedom of the grace of God. For as the Holy Ghoft is God, fo is he alfo called the gift of God: and therefore the human nature in its firft original, (a) without any precedent merit, was formed by the Spirit, and in its formation fanctified, and in its fanctification

26.

1 John iii.

Tit. iii. 4.

fanctification united to the Word; fo that the grace was co-existent, and in a manner connatural with it. The Mystery of the Incarnation is frequently attributed in the Scriptures to the love, mercy and goodLuke i. 78. nefs of God. Through the tender mercy of our God the day-fpring from on high bath visited us: In this, the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared. And though thefe and fuch other Scriptures fpeak properly of the love and mercy of God to man alone, offered unto him in the Incarnation of our Saviour, and fo directly exclude the merits of other men only; yet because they speak fo generally with reference to God's mercy, they may well be thought to exclude all univerfally. Efpecially confidering the impoffibility of (b) merit in Chrift's Humanity, in refpect of his conception; because all defert neceffarily precedeth its reward, and Chrift 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 fountain this holiness muft flow. We bring no fuch purity into the world, nor are we fanctified in the womb; but as he was fanctified at his Conception, fo are we at our Regeneration. He was conceived not by man, but by the Holy Ghost, and John i. 13. we are not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. The fame overfhadowing power which formed his human nature, reformeth ours; and the (c) fame Spirit affureth us of a remiffion of our fins, which caufed in him an exemption from all fin. He which was born for us upon his Incarnation, is born (d) within us upon our Regeneration.

All which confidered, we may now render a clear explication of this part of the Article, whereby every perfon may understand what he is to profess, and exprefs what is the object of his Faith, when he faith, I believe in Jefus Chrift, which was conceived

by

by the Holy Ghoft. For hereby he ought to intend thus much; I affent unto this as a moft neceffary 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 fo made man, taking to himself the human nature, confifting of a Soul and Body, and conjoining it with the Divine in the unity of his Perfon. I am fully affured 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 fingular, powerful, invifible, immediate operation of the Holy Ghoft, whereby a Virgin was beyond the law of nature enabled to conceive, and that which was conceived in her was originally and completely fanctified. And in this latitude I profefs to believe in Jefus Christ, which was conceived by the Holy Ghost.

T

Born of the Virgin Mary.

HE third Perfon confiderable in this third Article is represented under a threefold defcription, of her name, condition, and action. The first telleth us who it was, it was Mary; the second informeth us what he was, a Virgin; the third teacheth us what fhe did, fhe conceived and bare our Saviour, and brought forth the Son of God, which was born of the Virgin Mary.

The Evangelift, relating the Annunciation, taketh particular notice of this Name; for fhewing how an Angel was fent unto a Virgin efpoufed to a man, he Luke i. 27. first obferveth that his name was fofeph; and then that the Virgin's name was Mary: Not for any peculiar excellency in the name itfelf, or any particular application to the Virgin arifing from the origination of it, (e) as fome have conceived; but only to denote that fingula Perfon, which was then fo well

known