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 an handmaid she seems to bear that exaltation in her name. Beside this name of the blessed virgin, little hath been discovered to us. Christ, who commended the faith of the centurion, the love of Mary Magdalen, the excellencies of John the Baptist, hath left not the least encomium of his mother. The evangelists, who have so punctually described the city, family, and genealogy of Joseph, make no express mention of her relations, only of her cousin Elizabeth, who was of the tribe of Levi, "of the daughters of Aaron." Although it be of absolute necessity to believe that he which was born of her descended from the tribe of Judah, and the family of David; yet hath not the scripture clearly expressed so much of her, nor have we any more than an obscure tradition of her parents Joacim and Anna. Whereof the title added to that name maketh the distinction; for as divers characters are given to several persons by which they are distinguished from all others of the same common nomination, as Jacob is called Israel, and Abraham the Friend of God, or Father of the faithful; so is this Mary sufficiently characterised by that inseparable companion of her name," the virgin." For the full explication whereof more cannot be required, than that we show first that the Messias was to be born of a virgin, according to the prediction of the prophets; secondly, that this Mary, of whom Christ was born, was really a virgin when she bare him, according to the relations of the evangelists; thirdly, that being at once the mother of the Son of God, and yet a virgin, she continued for ever in the same virginity, according to the tradition of the Fathers, and the constant doctrine of the church. The obdurate Jew, that he might more easily avoid the truth of the second, hath most irrationally denied the first; resolved rather not to understand Moses and the prophets, than to acknowledge the interpretation of the apostles. It will therefore be necessary from those oracles which were committed unto them, to show the promised Messias was to be born after a miraculous man The first ner, to be the son of a woman, not of a man. promise of him seems to speak no less; "The Seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head:" for as the name of " seed" is not generally or collectively to be taken for the generation of mankind, but determinately and individually for that one seed, which is Christ; so the woman is not to be understood with relation unto man, but particularly and determinately to that sex from which alone immediately that seed should come. According to this first evangelical promise followed that prediction of the prophet, "The Lord hath created a new thing on the earth, A woman shall compass a man," Jer. xxxi. 22. That new creation of a man is therefore new, and therefore a creation, because wrought in a woman only, without a man, compassing a man; which interpretation of the prophet is ancient, literal, and clear; and whatsoever the Jews have invented to elude it, is frivolous and forced. For while they force the phrase of "compassing a man," in the latter part of the prediction, to any thing else than a conception, they do not only wrest the scripture, but contradict the former part of the promise, making the new creation, neither new, as being often done, nor a creation, as being easy to perform. But if this prophecy of Jeremy seem obscure, it will be sufficiently cleared by that. of Isaiah, "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call his name Emmanuel," Isa. vii. 14. The ancient Jews immediately upon the promulgation of the gospel, understanding well how near this place did press them, gave three several answers to this text: first, denying that it spake of a virgin at all; secondly, asserting that it could not belong to Jesus; thirdly, affirming that it was fully completed in the person of Hezekiah. Whereas the original word was translated "a virgin," by such interpreters as were Jews themselves, some hundred years before our Saviour's birth. And did not the notion of the word, and frequent use thereof in the Scriptures persuade it, the wonder of the sign given by the Lord himself would evince as much. But as for that conceit, that all should be fulfilled in Hezekiah, it is so manifestly and undoubtedly false, that nothing can make more for the confirmation of our faith. For this sign was given and this promise made, "a Virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son," at some time in the reign of Ahaz, 2 Kings, xvi. 2. This Ahaz reigned but sixteen years in Jerusalem; and Hezekiah his son, who succeeded him, was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and therefore born several years before Ahaz was king, and consequently not now to be conceived when this sign was given. Thus while the ancient Jews name him only to fulfil the prophecy in whom it is impossible it should be fulfilled, they plainly show, that, for any knowledge which they had, it was not fulfilled till our Saviour came: and therefore they cannot with any reason deny but that it belonged unto the Messias, as divers of the ancient Rabbins thought and confessed and is yet more evident by their monstrous error, who therefore expected no Messias in Israel, because they thought whatsoever was spoken of him to have been completed in Hezekiah. Which is abundantly enough for our present purpose, being only to prove that the Messias promised by God, and expected by the people of God before and under the law, was to be conceived and born of a virgin. : Secondly; as we are taught by the predictions of the prophets, that a virgin was to be mother of the promised Messias; so are we assured by the infallible relations of the evangelists, that this Mary the mother of Jesus, whom we believe to be Christ, was a virgin when she bare him, when she brought forth her first-born son. That she was a virgin when and after she was espoused unto Joseph, appeareth by the narration of St. Luke; for "the Angel Gabriel was sent from God to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph," Luke i. 27. After the salutation of that angel, that she was still so, appeareth by her question, "How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?" That she continued so after she conceived by the Holy Ghost, is evident from the relation of St. Matthew for when she was "espoused unto Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost." Matt. i. 18. That she was a virgin not only while she was with child, but even when she had : brought forth, is also evident out of his application of the prophecy; "Behold a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a Son," Matt. i. 23. For by the same prediction it is as manifest that a virgin should bring forth, as conceive a Son. Neither was her act of parturition more contradictory to virginity, than that former of conception. Thirdly; we believe the mother of our Lord to have been not only before and after his nativity, but also for ever, the most immaculate and blessed virgin. For although it may be thought sufficient as to the mystery of the incarnation, that when our Saviour was conceived and born, his mother was a virgin; though whatsoever should have followed after could have no reflective operation upon the first-fruit of her womb; though there be no farther mention in the Creed, than that he was born of the virgin Mary: yet the peculiar eminency and unparalleled privilege of that mother, the special honor and reverence due unto that Son, and ever paid by her, the regard of that Holy Ghost who came upon her, and the power of the Highest which overshadowed her, the singular goodness and piety of Joseph, to whom she was espoused, have persuaded the church of God in all ages to believe that she still continued in the same virginity, and therefore is to be acknowledged the ever virgin Mary. As if the gate of the sanctuary in the prophet Ezekiel were to be understood of her; "This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it: because the Lord the God of Israel hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut," Ezek. xliv. 2. Many indeed have taken the boldness to deny this truth, because not recorded in the sacred writ; and not only so, but to assert the contrary as delivered in the scriptures; but with no success. For though, as they object, St. Matthew testifieth that "Joseph knew not Mary until she had brought forth her first-born Son," from whence they would infer, that afterwards he knew her; yet the manner of the scripture-language produceth no such inference. When God said to Jacob, "I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of," it followeth not that when that was done, the No. XIV. Div. Y God of Jacob left him; Gen. xxviii. 15. When the conclusion of Deuteronomy was written, it was said of Moses, "No man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day;" but it were a weak argument to infer from thence, that the sepulchre of Moses hath been known ever since; Deut. xxxiv. 6. When Samuel had delivered a severe prediction unto Saul, he "came no more to see him until the day of his death; but it were a strange collection to infer, that he therefore gave him a visit after he was dead; 1 Sam. xv. 35. Michal the daughter of Saul had no child until the day of her death; and yet it were a ridiculous stupidity to dream of any midwifery in the grave; 2 Sam. vi. 23. Christ promised his presence to the apostles until the end of the world; who ever made so unhappy a construction as to infer from thence, that for ever after he would be absent from them? Again; it is true that Christ is termed the "first-born Son of Mary," from whence they infer she must needs have a second; but they might as well conclude that wheresover there is one, there must be two. For in this particular the scripture-notion of priority excludeth an antecedent, but inferreth not a consequent; it supposeth none to have gone before, but concludeth not any to follow after. 66 Sanctify unto me," saith God, "all the first-born;" which was a firm and fixed law, immediately obliging upon the birth; whereas if the first-born had included a relation to a second, there could have been no present certainty, but a suspension of obedience; nor had the first-born been sanctified of itself, but the second birth had sanctified the first. And well might any sacrilegious Jew have kept back the price of redemption due unto the priest, nor could it have been required of him, till a second offspring had appeared; and so no redemption at all had been required for an only son. Whereas all such pretences were unheard of in the law, because the original Hebrew word is not capable of any such construction; and in the law itself it carrieth with it a clear interpretation, "Sanctify unto me all the first-born; whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and beast, it is mine,' Exod. xiii. 2. The apertion of the womb determineth the |