B. V. E. 5. ing, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this J. P. 4709. should be.

Nazareth.

This is the opinion of one of our most eminent divines, who proceeds to demonstrate, from the rabbinical and talmudical writers, that the ancient Jews gave the

Israel in a virgin, so would he also heal. By the testimony of R. Huna, in the name of R. Idi, and R. Josuah, the son of Levi. And again in Midrash Tillim, upon the second Psalm, R. Huna, in the name of R. Iddi, speaking of the sufferings of the Messiah, saith, non, Iste est rex Messias, that

עלי לבראתו ברית חדשה וכן הוא אימר ,when his hour is come God shall say

:7775 DIN " "I must create him with a new creation;" "and so (by virtue
of that new creation) he saith, this day have I begotten thee." From whence it
appeareth that this sense is of itself literally clear, and that the ancient Rabbins
did understand it of the Messias; whence it follows that the later interpreta-
tions are but to avoid the truth which we profess, that " Jesus was born of a vir-
gin, and therefore is the Christ." Vide also Schoetgenius, vol. ii. p. 99. Locum
general: 50. 2. In Sohar. Genes. fol. 13. col. 52. apud Schoetgen, vol. ii.
p. 202, the words on nap are applied to the Church.
"Die sexto
applicat se uxor (Ecclesia) ut præsto sit marito suo (Deo) qui vocatur justus,
eique die Sabbathi mensam instruat. Et hoc ipsum est, quod Scriptura innuit,
dicens: (Creabit Dominus). Et hoc fit temporibus Messiæ, quæ sunt dies
sextus."
Dr. Blayney, in his new translation of the prophecies of Jeremiah,
renders the phrase 66 a woman shall put to the rout a strong man," and de-
fends this interpretation by observing, that the words (even if and be translated
to encompass,) can only mean to contain or comprehend in the womb; and as
this is not a wonderful thing, he concludes the passage has some other meaning.
But the fact is, that this encompassing in the womb being called a wonderful
thing, has been referred on that very account to the miraculous conception.
He supposes the woman to be the Jewish Church, which should put to rout all
its powerful enemies. The word 220, in Hiphil or Pihil, may certainly signify
to cause to turn about, i. e. to repulse. But this was by no means a thing so
unusual, that it should be called a new thing in the earth; for the Church of
Israel had repeatedly overpowered its enemies, or been delivered from them in
a most wonderful manner. The interposition of Providence for this cause was
by no means a new thing in the earth. The sense of "repulsed," or "put to
the rout," also, is very forced, and without sufficient authority. Blayney's
Jeremiah, 4to. 1784, Oxford, p. 86, and notes 194. Calvin, an author always
entitled to our most impartial attention, comparing the passage with Isa. xliii.
19. interprets it to signify the triumph of the Jews over the Chaldeans. By
"the woman," he understands the Jews; by the "man," the Chaldeans;
and by the "compassing," the triumph of the Jews over these, their enemies.
Luther once maintained the same opinion. This interpretation, however, is
entirely overthrown by the recollection of the fact, that neither the Chaldeans,
nor the Persians, nor the Medes, were ever conquered by the Jews, who were
freely released from their captivity. Not only does this fact overthrow the in-
terpretation given by this eminent man, but the word nap is never used figu-
ratively. Pfeiffer adds many very curious interpretations of the passage. Vide
Pfeiffer dubia vexata, p. 760. The passage is interpreted by Christian divinęs
to refer to the miraculous conception. The "woman" is the mother of Christ.
The "man" encompassed (the b of Isaiah ix. 5.) is the Messiah; the
encompassing" is the enclosure of the promised infant created in the womb.
The "new thing in the earth" is the creation of the infant by supernatural
power, a circumstance unusual, unknown, unthought, and unheard of before.
That this is the meaning of the passage is gathered from the context, the former
and latter passages connected with it referring to the Messiah. This intelli-
gence only could give complete comfort to the pious Jews at the period when
they were thus distressed. They were assured not only that they should return
to their cities, but that the ancient promise should be accomplished, and the
sced of the woman be born. Three arguments have been adduced by some

30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for B. V. Æ. 5. thou hast found favour with God.

same interpretation to this passage, and referred it to the miraculous conception of the expected Messiah.

The greater part of the events which are predicted in the Old Testament are shadowed forth by types, or partial, intended resemblances to the event prefigured. The miraculous conception also is repeatedly typified in the Old Testament. Various women, Anna the wife of Elkanah, Sarah the wife of Abraham, the wife of Manoah,` and others, as well as Elisabeth the wife of Zacharias, are recorded to have brought forth children after their old age had begun. These events seem to have been designed to afford the Church of God, which expected a Messiah who should be in a peculiar sense the seed of the woman, a certain and miraculous proof, that, as nothing was impossible with God, he would in his own time give them the promised Messiah; of whose birth, the births of the children of these women were but types.

That the doctrine of the miraculous conception of the Messiah is laid down in the New Testament, as well as the Old, the Christian reader does not require to be informed. The account is contained in the commencing chapters of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke, and is to be found in every version and manuscript of the New Testament extant. As these chapters maintain the divinity of Christ, by asserting the fact of his miraculous birth, they have been attacked with a variety of theoretical arguments by the Socinian writers, as well as by all, whether Deists or nominal Christians, who would reduce the Gospel to a good and valuable system of morality; and represent the promised Messiah as merely the blameless man, the exemplary teacher, and possibly a superior prophet (r). On the same authority which induced the first ages to receive these

against this mode of interpreting the passage. The first is that map is the epithet applied only to the female sex in general, and not to any individual; more especially that the term is by no means applicable to a virgin. To this it is answered, that the word is applied to an individual in the following passages: Gen. i. 27. and v. 2.; Levit. iii. 1. and 6.; and ix. 28 and 32; xxvii. 4.; Num. xxxi. 15.; and that it is not unusual to use the same word in opposition to 5, an individual of the other sex. And, in Leviticus xii. 15. the word nap is applied to a female infant, newly born. The second argument is, that the word is never used to denote a newly born male infant. The Targum of Onkelos, however, on Gen. iv. 1. uses the word in this sense, and it is also so applied in Isa. iv. 5. " unto us a child is born," &c. &c. pab. The third argument is, that 227 never refers to conception. The word, however, signifies in general" to enclose," "to surround;" and its use, in the present instance is sufficiently enforced and applicable. Vide Pfeiffer dubia vexata, p. 760-762, and his references. (r) I will notice but one objection which has lately been again brought forward against the doctrine of the immaculate conception, as it has frequently been urged by the Socinian writers, and is so admirably answered by a gentleman to whose valuable work I am much indebted. In his "Calm Inquiry into the Scripture Doctrine of the Person of Christ," Mr. Belsham observes, "if the relation given of the miraculous conception were true, it is utterly unaccountable that these extraordinary events should have been wholly omitted by Mark and John, and that there should not be a single allusion to them in the New Testament, and particularly that in John's history, Jesus should be so frequently spoken of as the son of Joseph and Mary, without any comment, or the least hint that this statement was erroneous. -"This objection," says Dr. P. Smith, "is plausible: but we

19

J. P. 4709.

Nazareth.

B V. Æ. 5.
J. P. 4709.

Nazareth.

z Isa. vii. 14. Matt. i. 21.

31

And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.

chapters as authentic and genuine, Christians in all ages have made the doctrine of the miraculous conception an article of their faith. They have believed

ask a fair attention to the following considerations. The fact in question was of the most private and delicate nature possible, and, as to human attestation, it rested solely on the word of Mary herself, the person most deeply interested. Joseph's mind was satisfied with regard to her honour and veracity, by a divine vision, which, in whatever way it was evinced to him to be no delusion, was still a private and personal affair. But this was not the kind of facts to which the first teachers of Christianity were in the habit of appealing. The miracles on which they rested their claims were such as had multiplied witnesses to attest them, and generally enemies not less than friends. Here then, we see a reason why Jesus and his disciples did not refer to this circumstance, so peculiar, and necessarily private. The account in Matthew had probably been transmitted through the family of Joseph and Mary; and that in Luke, through the family or intimates of Zacharias and Elisabeth; a supposition which furnishes a reason why the two narratives contain so little matter in common. It is objected also that this doctrine is not alluded to in the other books of the New Testament. The same reason will account for the absence of reference to this miracle in the epistolary writings of the New Testament, if that absence be admitted to the fullest extent: for there is, at least, one passage which appears to carry an implication of the fact. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, in explaining the symbolical representations by which it pleased the Holy Spirit, under the former dispensation, to prefigure the blessings of Christianity, seems to put the interior sanctuary, or "holy of holies," as the sign of the heavenly state; and the outer tabernacle as that of "the flesh," or human nature of the Messiah. As the Aaronical high-priest, on the great anniversary of expiation, was first to officiate in the tabernacle, offering the sacrifices and sprinkling the blood of symbolical pardon and purification, and then was to advance, through that tabernacle, into the most holy place, the representation of the divine presence ; so Christ, our "Great High Priest," and "Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle,"—" entered into the sanctuary—through the greater and more perfect tabernacle,—his own blood." Now, of this tabernacle it is declared that "the Lord pitched it, and not man;" that it was "not made with hands, that is, not of this creation." The expression in Scripture, "not made with hands," denotes that which is effected by the immediate power of God, without the intervention of any inferior agency. It, therefore, in the case before us, intimates that the fleshly tabernacle of our Lord's humanity was formed, not in the ordinary way of nature, but by the immediate exercise of Omnipotence." Smith's Scripture Testimony to the Messiah, vol. ii. p. 17-19. Many modern interpreters, it is true, understand "the tabernacle" in these passages as signifying the heavenly state. Yet these writers make “the sanctuary" also to signify the same object; thus confounding two very distinct images. The propriety of the figures, the argument of the connexion, and the frequent use of okñvoc and okývwμa to denote the human body, (2 Cor. v. 1-4. 2 Pet. i. 13, 14. and this use of at least σkñvoc is common in Greek writers: see Wetstein on 2 Cor. v. 1. and Schleusneri Lex.) satisfy me of the justness of the interpretation of Calvin, Grotius, James Cappel, Dr. Owen, &c. It is no objection that in Heb. x. 20. "the veil" is the symbol of the Messiah's human nature: for the veil, as one of the boundaries of the tabernacle, in a natural sense belonged to it; and the passage relates to our Lord's death, so that the veil is very fitly introduced, marking the transition out of life into another state. The text was partially quoted above, for the sake of presenting alone the clauses on which the argument rests. It is proper here to insert it at length. The reader will observe the apposition of "the tabernacle" and "the blood." "But Christ having presented himself, a High-Priest of the blessings to come, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made

32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the B. V. Æ. 5.

in Him "who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born of the Virgin Mary." See the whole of the admirable third article of Pearson on the Creed.

9 ON THE SALUTATION OF MARY.

The learned Joseph Mede remarks on the salutation of the angel, "Hail thou that art highly favoured,” xaïpɛ Kexapɩrwμévn—that it must be rendered, not, as Dr. Hammond and the Vulgate represent it, "Hail thou that art full of grace," but in the same sense in which the house of Levi was highly favoured above the rest of the tribes of Israel. The word wp (holy) does not always mean "holy in life," but "holy to the Lord," which implies a relative holiness, and as the word Ton, which sometimes is considered a synonym of wip, is used in the same twofold sense, he concludes the salutation of the angel ought so to be understood in this place. The sermon in which Mede expresses this opinion, is upon Deut. xxxiii. 8.-" Let thy Urim and thy Thummim be with thy holy one." The Hebrew is 7707, which Junius expounds, "with thy favoured one ;” not ἀνδρὶ ὁσίῳ σε, as the Septuagint, but κεχαριτωμένῳ "The word," says Lightfoot, (vol. i. p. 411, fol. edit.) "is used by the Greek scholiast to express on by, μετὰ κεχαριτωμένα χαριτωθήση, Ps. xviii. 25. in the sense of xápis, mercy or favour, as Ephes. i. 6. xapírwoer npäç." The salutation of the angel means, therefore, "hail thou that art the especially elected and favoured of the Most High, to attain to that honour which the Jewish virgins, and the Jewish mothers, have so long desired—thou

08.

J. P. 4709.

Nazareth.

with hands (that is, not of this creation,) and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered once (i. e. once for ever, never to be repeated,) into the sanctuary, having acquired eternal redemption." Grotius's note is so judicious and satisfactory, that it deserves to be inserted. "The design of the writer is to declare that Christ entered the highest heavens, through his sufferings and death. To keep up the comparison with the high-priest under the law, his object is to declare that Christ entered through his body and blood; for the body is very properly put by metonymy for bodily sufferings; and it is common in all languages to use the term blood to denote death, as death follows upon any very copious effusion of blood. Yet he does not express the body by its proper word, but uses a symbolical description suitable for carrying on the comparison. The Hebrews were accustomed to call the body a tabernacle; and from them the disciples of Pythagoras deduced the expression. In particular the body of Christ is called a temple, on account of the indwelling divine energy: John ii. 21. Here, this body is said to be "not made with hands," and the writer explains his meaning by adding, "that is, not of this creation," understanding by creation the usual order of nature; as the Jews apply the Talmudical term Beriah ("creation," "any thing created"): "In this for the body of Christ was conceived in a supernatural manner. sense he properly employs the term not made with hands, because in the Hebrew idiom any thing is said to be made with hands which is brought to pass in the See v. 23. and Mark xiv. 58. Acts vii. 48. xvii. ordinary course of nature. 24. Eph. ii. 11. The prophets frequently give to idols the appellation made with hands, as the opposite to any thing divine." Grotii Annot. in Heb. ix. 11. Dr. P. Smith's Messiah, vol. ii. p. 29, 30. Arcobishop Magee on the Scott's Christian Atonement. Horsley's Tracts. Works of Bishop Bull. Life. Archbishop Lawrence. Veysie. Rennell. Nares. Layman's Vindication of the Disputed Chapters of St. Matthew and St. Luke. Notes of Scott; Gill; Mant and D'Oyly. Wardlaw's Socinian Controversy. Dr. P. Smith's Sermon on the Atonement.

B. V. Æ. 5. Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne J. P. 4709. of his father David:

Nazareth.

33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; a Dan, vii. 14. and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

Mic. iv. 7.

34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?

35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.

37 For with God nothing shall be impossible.

39 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

Hebron.

SECTION V.

Interview between Mary and Elisabeth.

LUKE i. 39-57.

39 And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda 10;

shalt be the mother of the Messiah." For an account of the peculiar manner in which the Jewish women desired offspring, in the hope that they might be the mother of the promised Messiah, vide Allix's Reflections on the Books of Moses. Mede's Works, fol. edit. London, 1677, p. 181. Lightfoot, vol. i. fol. edit. p. 411. See also Kuinoel and Rosenmüller in loc.

10 There is very little doubt that Hebron was the city here spoken of. In Joshua xxi. 13. we read that Hebron, with her suburbs, was given to the children of Aaron the priest, and in ver. 11 of the same chapter, and in chap. xi. 21. it is described as a city in the hill country of Judah. After the return from the captivity of Babylon, the priests were anxious to take up their abode in their appointed heritage. Hebron is celebrated for many events. Here Abraham received the promise of the miraculous birth of Christ. Here circumcision was probably first instituted, (many being of opinion that it was known before the time of Abraham); here Abraham had his first land, and David his first crown. John was born at Hebron, and here he first appointed and administered the ordinance of baptism (a).

The Talmudists (b) inform us of a very singular custom in the temple service, which had a reference to Hebron. Before the morning sacrifice was offered, the President of the Temple was used to say every morning, "Go and see, whether it be time to kill the sacrifice." If it was time, the answer was, 66 It is light."

(a) See Witsius de Vitâ Johan. Bapt. Misc. Sacra, vol. ii. p. 495. (6) Lightfoot's Chorographical Century, Works, folio, vol. ii. p. 46.