Lecture XII
LECTURE XII.
ON THE INCARNATION OF THE SON OF GOD.
Isar. vii. ]O—14, Moreover the, Lord spake again unto Ahaz, saying, Ask thee a sign Of the Lord thy God; ask it either in the depth, or tn the height abuve.
And Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord, And he said, Hear ye now,
O House of David; is it a smali thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also?
Therefore the Lord Himself shali give you a sign; Behold, a Virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call His Name
Immanuel.
1. NuRsLin@s of purity, and disciples of soberness, let us with lips full of purity hymn the praises of God, born of a Virgin.
Let us, who are accounted worthy to partake of the flesh of the Spiritual] Lamb, partake of the head with the feet ;— vid. of the head, which means His Godhead; of the feet, that is, if, e His manhood.
We, who are hearers of the Holy Gospels, let us attend to John the Divine; for he who has said, Jn John 1, the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, ° and the Word was God, has added, And the Word became ver. 14.
Jlesh.
For neither is it religious to worship the mere man, ghetale nor is it pious to speak of Him as God only, separate from,,.
His manhood.
For if Christ, as He truly is, be God, but took not manhood, we are aliens from salvation.
Be He then adored as God, but let it be believed that He became man; for it boots not to call Him man, without His Godhead, nor is it salutary, if we confess not His manhood together with His Godhead.
Let us confess the presence of the King, and the Physician.
For the King Jesus, when vid.
: i John 13 about to be our Physician, having girded Himself with the eo
Errors of heretics on the doctrine. napkin of human nature, ministered to what was sick; the perfect Teacher uf babes, He hath become a babe with babes, that He might make wise the foolish.
The Bread of heaven came down to the earth, that it might nourish the famishing.
Lect.
XII.
2. But the Jewish race, who have set at nought Him "terales ' who has come, and expect him who is to come wickedly*, was have refused the True Christ, and the deceived wait for the deceiver.
And even in this is the Saviour found to be true, who said, Jam come in My Father's name, and ye receive Me not; tf another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.
It is well also to ask the Jews a question.
Is Esaias the Prophet, who says, that Emmanuel shall be born of a Virgin, true or false?
If they accuse him as false, it is nothing wonderful; for it is their way not only to accuse the prophets as liars, but also to stone them.
But if the Prophet John 5, 43. is true, point out Emmanuel. Further, shall he, who is to come, who is looked for by you, be born of a virgin, or no?
For if he is not to be born of a virgin, ye charge falsehood on the Prophet; but if ye expect this in the case of him who is to come, why do ye refuse Him who is come already?
(2.) ° 3. Let the Jews then, since they so will, go astray; but let the Church of God be glorified.
For we receive God the Word, who was truly made man, not of the will of man and woman, as the heretics say', but made man of the Virgin and the Holy Ghost according to the Gospel, not in appearance', but in reality.
And that He was really made man of the Virgin, now attend the time for teaching it, and thou shalt receive the proof; for heretics go wrong in many ways.
Some of them altogether deny that He was born of the Virgin'; others say that He was born, yet not of a virgin, but of a woman married to a husband.
And others say that Christ was not God made man, but that a man was made God*; for they have dared to say that it was not the preexisting Word who became man, but that a certain man by advancement was crowned.
Parra: wig.
® j. e. Antichrist.
Lecture, (iv. 9.) who said H bo:
» 0.g. The Ebionites, Theodotus, &c. bat not of the Vitgio as if Bud owAioos.
© As the Docete taught.
* Panl of Samosata.
¢ As these, mentioned in a former
They must be refuted from Scripture.
4. But remember thou the things spoken yesterday concerning His Godhead; believe that that very same Only-begotten
Son of God, was again born of the Virgin.
Listen to John the Evangelist, who says, And the Word became flesh, and Jobn 1, dwelt among us.
For the Word was eternal, begotten before i all ages of the Father; but the flesh He took lately, for our sakes.
But many object, and say, " What reason was there so great, that God should descend to manhood? and,
Can the nature of God have converse with men at all? and, Is it possible for a virgin to bear?" Since then there is much controversy, and the strife is various in its forms, come, let us, by Christ's grace, and the prayers of those present, explain each difficulty.
5. And first we have to inquire, wherefore Jesus came (3.) down?
Now heed not any ingenious views of mine; else thou mayest be misled; but unless thou receive the witness of the prophets concerning each maiter, believe not what is spoken; unless thou learn from Holy Scripture concerning the Virgin, and the place, and the time, and the manner, receive not witness from man.
Any one at this time who teaches it, may possibly be suspected ; but who of any sense, will suspect him who prophesied a thousand years and more ago? If then thou inquire the reason of Christ's coming, go back to the first book of the Scriptures.
In six days God made the world; but the world was for man.
The sun, however resplendent with bright beams, was made to give light to man.
And all the living creatures were made to serve us.
Herbs and trees were created for our enjoyment.
All the works were good, but of these none was an image of God, save only man.
The sun was fashioned at His mere command; man by God's hands.
Let Us make man in Our Gen. 1, own image, after Our likeness.
The wooden image of an aS: earthly king is honoured; how much more, then, the rational image of God.
Yet this, the greatest of God's creation, disporting himself in Paradise, was by the devil's envy cast out.
The foe exulted over the fall of him whom he had envied; wouldest thou have had the foe continue to rejoice ?
He, not daring to accost the man because of his strength, accosted, as being weaker, the woman, yet a virgin; for after his expulsion from Paradise, then Adam knew Eve his wife. vee 4;
Christ came in the flesh to restore man. ae 6. Cain and Abel succeeded in the race of man; and Cain was the firat murderer.
Afterwards the deluge was poured abroad, because of the great wickedness of men.
Fire came down from heaven on the people of Sodom, because of their transgression.
After a time God chose Israel; but even he became froward, and the chosen race received a wound.
For while Moses stood before God upon the mount, a calf was worshipped by the people instead of God.
Under their Lawgiver Moses, who said, Thou shalt not commit adultery, a man entered a resort of sinners, and dared to be wanton.
After Moses, the Prophets were sent to heal Israel; but, while they exercised that office, they bewailed themselves, as not getting the better of the evil; so that one of them ae says, alas, The good man ts perished out Of the earth, and He ia.9, there ts none upright among men; and again, They are all quoted gone out Of the way ; they are together become unprofitable ;
3,12, there ts none that doeth good, no, not one.
And again, conn Cursing, and stealing, and adultery, and killing, are poured Pike out on the land.
They sacrificed their sons and thetr 87.
'daughters unto devils.
They used auguries, and enchantpel ments, and divinations; and again, They fastened their garments with cords, and made hangings near the altar'.
(4.) 7. Very great was the wound of man's nature.
From the Is. 1,6. sole of the foot even unto the head there was no soundness in Pt tt; there was no mollifying ointment, nor oil, nor bandages.
Then the Prophets, bewailing themselves, and being in Ps. rel', »7trouble, said, Who shall give salvation unto Israel out of ae it, Sion? and again, Let Thy hand be upon the man of Thy
Pr. B. right hand, and upon the Son of man, whom Thou madest Ps. 80, strong for Thyself: 30 will we not go back from Thee.
And 17.18. another of the Prophets cries out, Bow Thy heavens, O F144; Lord, and come down; the wounds of man's nature pass our
1 Kings Skill to heal; they have slain Thy Prophets, and digged down 19, 10. Thine altars; the evil is irretrievable by us; Thou must retrieve it.
8. The Lord heard the prayer ofthe Prophets.
The Father did not overlook our race which was perishing; He sent His f The verse stands in our transladown on clothes lai edge tion thus:
"They lay themselves every altar." wah =
Texts prophetical of His coming.
own Son, the Lord from heaven, to be our Physician.
And one of the Prophets says, The Lord whom ye seek cometh, Ma, 3, and He shall suddenly come,—whither? to His temple, where ye stoned Him.
Then, having heard this, another of the Prophets says to him, " When telling of God's salvation, John 8, speakest thou low? Bringing the good tidings of God's salva5 tion, speakest thou in secret?" O thou that tellest good tidings Is. 40, to Zion, get thee up into the high mountain; say unto the Raaein. cities of Judah—whati— Behold your God! Behold the Lord™ ee
God will come with strong hand.
Again, the Lord Himself 7.4. s, said, Lo, J come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith 10. 11. the Lord.
And many nations shall be joined to the Lord.
The Israelites have refused salvation through Me; J come to lea. 66, gather all the nations and the languages; for He came unto fant
His own, and His own received Him not.
Comest Thou, and 1). what wilt Thou bestow on the nations? J come to gather all Is. 66, nations; and I will leave on them a Sign.
For from My 9-5ePtconflict on the Cross, I will give to each of My soldiers a royal Seal to bear upon his brow!
And another of the eggeProphets saith, He bowed the heavens also, and came down, ?l.r iy, and darkness was under His feet.
For His coming down!4. from heaven was not known by men.
9. Then Solomon, hearing his father David saying these Pe.18,9. things, and having built a wondrous house, and looking forward to Him who should come into it, says in astonishment, But will God in very deed dwell with men on the2Chron. earth?
Yea, says David, anticipating Him in the Psalm,® '* which is inscribed, For Solomon; in which it is said, He shall come down like rain into a fleece of wool.
" Like rain," he Pu». 72, .
"es » title. says, because of His heavenly nature; "into a fleece of wool,"
| because of His manhood.
For the rain coming down into a6. Pr.B. fleece of wool, descends noiselessly; so that, the mystery of His birth being unknown, the wise men said, Where is He who is born King of the Jews? and Herod, being troubled, Mat. 2, inquired concerning Him who was born, and said, Where ts"
™ Christ born ?
10. Who is He who comes down?
He says, afterwards, He abideth with the sun and before the moon, for generations pz, 71, of generations, And again another of the Prophets says, 72;) 5.
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Zeck. 9,
Signs of Christ.
Jerusalem; behold, thy King cometh unto thee; He ts just, and having salvation.
There are many kings; of which of them speakest thou, O Prophet? Give us a sign which other kings have not.
If thou say, He is a purple-clad king, the dignity of such apparel has been anticipated.
If thou say that He is attended by spear-men, and seated on a goldembossed chariot, this also has been anticipated by others.
Give us a peculiar sign of that King, whose coming thou announcest.
And the Prophet answers and says, Behold, thy King cometh; He is just, and having salvation, lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass,
Lect. xii.
Zech. 9, 9.
pot in chariots.
Thou hast an incommunicable mark of the King who is to come.
Alone of kings did Jesus sit upon an uvharnessed foal, entering into Jerusalem, with _ acclamations like a king.
And what does this King, who a, is to come? By the blood of Thy covenant, 1 have sent forth or ahiyt Thy prisoners out of the pit, wherein ts no water.
Zech. 9, 11. But He might chance to sit upon a foal ; give us rather a sign, of the place where the king who is to enter in, shall stand?
And give not the sign far from the city, lest we be ignorant of it; but give it us near, and manifest to our eyes, that while in the city, we may behold the place.
Again the Prophet answers, saying, And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east.
Can any one stand within the city, and not behold the place? ll.
12. We have two signs, and we desire a third; tell us what the Lord shall do when He is come.
Another Prophet says, Behold your God, and so on; then, He will come and save you; then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing.
And let us mention another testimony also.
Thou speakest, O Prophet, of the Lord coming, and doing signs such as never were ; what other evident one givest thou besides? The Lord comes into judgment with the ancients of His people, and the princes thereof.
A notable sign this; the Master judged by Ancients, His servants, and enduring it.
Is. 35, 4—6.
Is.8,14, eems i, a Se 18. These things the Jews, though they read, hear not; for they have stopped the ears of their heart, that they may not hear.
(5.)
Christ came in the flesh that we might endure the sight of God. 129
But let us believe in Jesus Christ, who came in the flesh, and was made man; for otherwise we had not received Him.
For since we could not look on Him, or enjoy Him, as He is, He became what we are, that we might attain to the enjoyment of Him.
For if we cannot look full on the sun, which was created on the fourth day, can we behold God, its
Creator?
The Lord came down in fire on Mount Sinai, and the people endured it not, but said to Moses, Speak thou with Exod. us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we"
'™ die; and again, For who ts there of all flesh, that hath heard Devt. 5, the voice of the Living God speaking out of the midst of the ~ Jire, and lived?
If to hear the voice of God speaking would work death, how shall not the sight of God Himself minister death? And why wonderest thou? Even Moses himself saith,
I exceedingly fear, and quake.
Heb.12, 14. What wouldest thou then? that He who came for our?" salvation, should become the minister of death, men not bearing
Him? or that He should suit His grace to our level? Daniel endured not a vision ofan Angel; and canst thou bear the sight of the Lord of Angels? Gabriel appeared, and Daniel fell down: of what sort was he who appeared, and what was his form?
His face was as the appearance of lightning, not as the sun; panto, and his eyes as lamps of fire, not as a furnace of fire; and the voice of his words was like the voice of a multitude, not as of twelve legions of angels: and yet the Prophet fell down.
And the Angel came to him, saying, Fear not, Daniel; stand ver. 19. upright ; be of good courage, thy words have been heard.
And 11-19.
Daniel says, J arose trembling: yet even thus he answered ver, 11. not, until the likeness of a man's hand touched him.
And when he who had appeared was changed into a vision of a man, then Daniel spake; and what says he?
O my Lord, ver. 16. by the vision my sorrows are turned upon me ; and there re-\"mained no strength in me, neither ts there breath left in me.
If an Angel appearing took away the voice and strength of the Prophet, would the appearance of God have allowed him to breathe? And until there touched me one like the appearance ver. 18. of a man, says the Scripture, Daniel took not courage. Thus a proof having been shewn of our weakness, the Lord took on Him what man required.
For since man sought to be addressed by one of like countenance, the Saviour took on Him
130 Christ came in the flesh that what had destroyed might save us.
Lect. a nature of like affections, that men might the more readily ae be taught. cai, 15. But receive another reason also.
Christ came that He might be baptized, and that He might sanctify Baptism: He came that He might work wonders, walking upon the waters cis of the sea.
Since then before His coming in the flesh, the mer sea saw Him and fled, and Jordan was driven back, the Lord took to Himself His body, that the sea might endure to behold Him, and that Jordan might without fear receive
Him.
This then is one reason: there is also a second.
Since through Eve, a virgin, came death, it behoved that through avirgin, or rather froma virgin, should life appear; that as the serpent had deceived the one, so to the other Gabriel might bring good tidings.
Men, having forsaken God, made images in the form of men; since then that which was in the form of man was untruly worshipped, God became truly man, that the untruth might be destroyed.
The devil had used the flesh as an instrument against us; and this knowing, Paul
Rom 7,saith, But I see another law tn my members, warring against 73. the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity, and the rest.
By those very weapons then have we been saved, by which the devil was used to vanquish us.
The Lord took of us a like nature with us, that He might save human nature.
He took a like nature with us, that to that which lacked He might give the larger grace; that sinful humanity might be
Beat 5, made partaker of God. or where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.
It behoved the Lord to suffer on our behalf; but had the devil known Him, he had not dared to 1Cor.2, approach Him, for had they known tt, they would not have oa 114, 3.
' crucified the Lord of Glory.
His body then was made to bait death withal, to the end that the dragon hoping to devour ate aE Him, might cast forth those whom he had already devoured. xiv. 17, For Death waxing mighty devoured; and again, The Lord oa 19. God will wipe away tears from off all faces.
8. 25,8.
P :
Sept.
16. Was Christ made man for nought? are our doctrines mere inventions and human sophisms? are not Holy Scriptures our salvation? are not the predictions of the Prophets? a se Keep then, I pray, this deposit undisturbed, and let no one
Hinw.
Temove thee; believe that God was made man.
That this was possible, has been proved; but if the Jews persist in
The time of Christ's coming.
disbelieving, let us hold this forth to them.
What strange thing do we preach, saying that God was made man, when yourselves say, that Abraham entertained the Lord? 'What strange thing do we preach, when Jacob says, I have seen Gen, 32,
God face to face, and my life is preserved? The Lord who3™ ate with Abraham, has eaten with us also.
What strange thing then do we preach?
But we present moreover two witnesses, who were with the Lord in Mount Sinai;—Moses was in the cli/t of the rock; and Elias was once in the clift Exod. of the rock.
These were present with Him in Mount Tabor ' when He was transfigured, and spake to His disciples ef His Drake 9, decease, which He should accomplish at Jerusalem. Ithaving®" then been proved possible, as I said before, for Him to be
' made man, the rest of the proofs may be left for the diligent to collect.
17. But I promised above to find the time also of the (7.) advent of the Saviour, and the place: and I must not go away convicted of falsehood, but rather send away the Church's novices well guarded.
Let us then inquire the time when the Lord came; since His advent is recent, and therefore excepted against; and Christ Jesus is the same yesterday, to-day, and Heb.
13, Jor ever.
Moses the Prophet says then, A Prophet shall the at Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto 18, 15. me.
(Let the words, like unto me, be reserved awhile, and we will examine them in their proper place*.)
But when 37. comes this expected Prophet? Go back, he says, to my writings; search into the prophecy of Jacob spoken to Judah.
Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise, and s0 Gen. 49, forth, not to repeat the whole; and then, 4 Ruler shall note i fail out of Judah, nor a Chieftain Srom his loins, till He sept. come for whom it is reserved; and He is the expectation (not of the Jews, but) of the Gentiles.
Thus he hath given asa sign of the coming of Christ, the ceasing of the Jewish rule.
If they are not now under the Romans, Christ is not yet come; if they have a Ruler of the race of Judah and David, the expected one is not yet come.
For I am ashamed to speak of their recent measures relative to their Patriarchs", as they now
& This intention is not falfilled in West, as they were called, or Heads of the sequel of these Lectures. the Captivity in Judea ' vid. Basnage, » Concerning the Patriarcha of the History of the Jews, lib. iii, They K2
The time of Christ's coming.
Lecr. call them, and what is the race of these men, and who is their _XII. mother: but I leave it to those who know.
But He who is to come, the Expectation of the Gentiles, what further sign Gen.49, hath He? he says afterwards, binding His foal unto the vine ;
1).
thou seest that foal clearly spoken of by Zecharias.
18. But thou seekest again another testimony also respectPs. 2,7.ing the time.
The Lord said unto Me, Thou art My Son, this ver.9, day have I begotten Thee:-aud after a little, Thou shalt rule
Sept. them with arodof iron.
I have already said that the kingdom of the Romans is plainly called a rod of iron; Daniel however will supply for us what is wanting on this point.
For when he relates and explains to Nebuchadnezzar the emblem of the statue, he tells him all he saw as regards it; moreover that a Stone cut out of a mountain without hands, set up not by man's contrivance, should overpower the whole world.
And Dan. 2, he speaks most openly, thus, And tn the days of those king44.Septdoms shall the God of Heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom thereof shall not be left to other people.
(8.) 19. But we seek yet more evidently the proof of the times of His coming; for man, being hard of belief, unless he can clearly calculate the very years, gives no credence to what is spoken.
What was the season then, and what manner of time was it? when, the kings sprung from Judah failing, a stranger, Herod, succeeds to the kingdom.
Therefore the Angel talking with Daniel says, (and mark now, I pray, the Dan. 9, words;) Know therefore and understand, that from the going
25. forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem ' unto Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks.
Now threescore and nine weeks of years make four hundred and eighty-three years.
He said then, that after the building of Jerusalem four hundred and eighty-three years having elapsed, and the princes having failed, then there comes a certain stranger king, in whose time Messiah is born.
Now Darius the Mede built the city in the sixth year of his kingdom, and in the first year of the sixty-sixth were of the tribe of Levi, and consisted
Their residence was at Tiberias. The * a yoscw of ee Surorners by were called Governors ef the West " in escent, from the time o rian contrast to the i to the early part of the fifth century. at Babylon.
Rriposs of, Gon, Ceativity
the place of Christ's cominy.
Olympiad, of the Greeks'. ('The Greeks call an Olympiad, the games which are celebrated every four years, on account of the day which in the course of four years of the sun's motion, is made up of the three hours over in each year.)
And Herod reigns in the hundred and eighty-sixth Olympiad, in the fourth year thereof.
Now from the sixty-sixth to the hundred and eighty-sixth, the intervening Olympiads are an hundred and twenty, anda little more.
Now the hundred and twenty Olympiads make four hundred and eighty years.
For the remaining three years are accounted for by the interval between the first year and the fourth year.
Thus hast thou the proof according to the Scripture, which says, From the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build
Jerusalem, unto Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks.
Of the times then thou hast for the present this proof, though there are other different interpretations of the aforesaid weeks of years spoken of in Daniel.
20. But now attend to the place of the promise.
Micah says, And thou, Bethlehem house of Ephratah, art not lite Micah among the thousands of Judah; for out of thee shall He come pi tiuforth unto me, that is to be Ruler in Israel; whose goings 7#**forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
Moreover, ers conceming the place, thou, being an inhabitant of Jerusaoc lem, knowest beforehand what is written in the hundred (9) and thirty-second Psalm, Lo, we heard of tt at Ephratah, 4
8.132, and found it in the fields of the wood.
Yor a few years ago — the place was woody'.
Again thou hast heard Habakkuk saying to the Lord, When the years draw nigh, Thou shalt Hab. 3, be known; when the time comes, Thou shalt be shewn.
And a what is the sign, O Prophet, of the coming of the Lord?
He Sept. says presently, In the midst of two lives shalt Thou be known ; amd saying this plainly to the Lord, " When Thou shalt come in after the flesh, Thou shalt live and die, and having risen from the Bresret ed. stead of aan Ezra's mission, or the twentieth of the same king when he commissioned Nehemi 1i.e. B.C, 516—518. but this was the sixth year of Darius Hystaspes, not of Darius the Mede, and the building of the City was begun in the twentieth k Hadrian, as it appears, had planted or dedicated a grove to Adonis near the oe of the Nativity. (Hieron. Ep. ad aulin. 13, ed. 1684.) Helena had cleared it away about sixteen years before this Lecture was delivered. Ed. Ben. of Artaxerxes. Various dates aregiven for the commencement of the period; e. g. the second of Cyrus when the rebuilding of the Temple commenced, or the'seventh of Artaxerxes, the date of
The mode of Christ's coming.
Lecr. dead, shalt live again."
And from what quarter round about _X!L__ Jerusalem comes He?
From the East or the West, or the North or the South? tell us exactly.
And he answers most Ibid. plainly, and says, God shall come from Teman, (now Teman
Sept. means south,) and the Holy One from Mount Paran, shady, woody.
With which the Psalmist agreeing says, We found tt in the plains of the wood.
21. Further, we seek, of whom, and how He comes.
This Is.7,14, Esaias tells us, Behold, a Virgin shall conceive,and beara Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. Now the Jews contradict this doctrine; for it is their way of old to be wretched assailants of the truth: and they say that it is not written, " virgin," but " damsel."
But even granting this, still I find the same truth warlins here.
For they must be asked, when does one who is assaulted xin. cry out, and call for aid,—after the outrage, or before it?
If now the Scripture says elsewhere, The damsel cried, and thereDevt. was none to help her, speaks it not of a virgin? A further
22,37. proof that a virgin may be meant in Holy Scripture by " damsel," is found in the book of Kings, saying of Abishag
1 Kingsthe Shunamite, dnd the damsel was very fair ; for that she 1,4¢ had been chosen and brought to David a virgin, is confessed.
(10.) 22. But the Jews say again, This was said to Ahaz concernIs.7,11.ing Hezekiah.
Read we then the Scripture, Ask thee a Sign of the Lord thy God; ask tt either in the depth,or in the height above.
Now first of all, the Sign ought to be something extraordinary: for that was a sign, when the water came from the rock; and when the sea was divided; and when the sun was turned backward, and the like.
But next I observe, what is a still plainer confutation of the Jews.
(I am aware that I am going into details, and that the hearers are wearied ; yet suffer the multitudes of words, since it is for Christ's sake that these things are discussed, and they are not about common matters.)
Now since Esaias spake this in the reign of Ahaz, and Ahaz reigned only sixteen years, and the prophecy was spoken to him within these years, it confutes the objection of the Jews that the next king Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, was five and twenty years old when he began to reign; and the prophecy being confined within sixteen years, he must have been begotten by Ahaz full nine years before the prophecy.
Now what need was there to speak the
The race of which Christ was born.
prophecy concerning one already born, even before the reign of his father Ahaz? For he said not, a virgin hath conceived, but, shall conceive, speaking as with foreknowledge.
28. That the Lord was born of a Virgin we know for certain; now we must shew, of what race the Virgin was.
The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David; He will not turn a 183, Sromit; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.
And again, His seed also eotll I make to endure for ever, and Ps. 89, his throne as the days of heaven.
And afterwards, Once have 2" oe L sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David ; his
36.
87. seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before Me, and shall be established for ever asthe moon.
Thou seest that it is Christ, and not Solomon, who is spoken of; for Solomon's throne endured not as the sun.
But if any one make it an objection that Christ sate not on the wooden throne itself of David, we may refer to the expression, The Scribes Mat.23, and Pharisees sit on Moses' seat; for this refers not to his
~ wooden seat, but to the authority of his teaching. Thus inquire then for the throne of David, not for his wooden throne, but for his kingdom itself.
And receive as witnesses of this Mat.21, the children crying out, Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed jonn 12, is the King of Israel.
Aud the blind men also say, Thou \3ae Son of David, have mercy upon us.
And Gabriel testifies30.— ' plainly, saying to Mary, dnd the Lord God shall give unto anne 1,
Him the throne of His father David.
And Paul says, Re-g 3 ee member that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised* ®. from the dead according to my Gospel.
And in the beginning of his Epistle to the Romans, he says, Which was made Rows, 1 of the seed of David, according to the flesh.
Receive thou* therefore Him who is born of David, obeying the prophecy Is. 11, which says, And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse ; ee it. and He that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, in Hin! ret shall the Gentiles trust.
24. All this sorely troubles the Jews.
This Esaias also (11.) foreknew, saying, And they shall be willing, f they were Is Ne 4 scorched with fire; for unto us a Child hath been born, (not
to them,) even a Son, and hath been given unto us.
But mark, that He was first the Son of God, then He was given unto us.
And after a little, he says, And of His peace there ver. 7. shall be no bound ;—the Romans have their bounds, but of the pert
The flesh is nut necessarily sinful.
Lecr. kingdom of the Son of God is there no bound; the Persians I. and Medes have their bounds, but the Son bas none;—he proceeds, upon the throne of Duvid, and upon his kingdom, to order it. The Holy Virgin therefore was sprung from David.
25. For it behoved the Purest, and the teacher of Purity, to come forth from a pure bride-chamber; for if he who ot fulfils well the office of Jesus' priest refrains himself from i Cor. Women, how should Jesus Himself to be born of man and Be a1, woman? Because Thou art He, says the Psalmist, that drew
(22, ree. Me out of the womb.
Mark carefully the word, drew Me out Todt the womb, which means that He was born without man, being drawn from the womb and flesh of the Virgin; for it is different in the case of them who are born of the marriage law.
26. He is not ashamed to take flesh of such members, being the framer of these very members.
And who tells us Jer.1,5.this?
The Lord says to Jeremiah, Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee.
He, then, who in framing men, touches them and is not ashamed, should He be ashamed, in i seeefashioning for Himself His holy flesh, that veil of His Godjs. head? It is God who even now forms babes in the womb, as rere 10, it is written in Job, Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?
Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast fenced me with bones and sinews. There is nothing in man's frame shocking, except thou pollute it with adulteries and licentiousness.
He who made Adam, made Eve also, and male and female were fashioned by the e%» ex Divine hands; nothing in the body is shocking, as framed mos ot the ene Let the mouths of all the heretics be stopped', who slander the body, yea rather, Him who 1Cor.6, formed it: but let us remember the saying of Paul, Know ye nol that your bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost, which isin you? And again, the Prophet, speaking in the Hos. 9, person of Jesus, foretold, saying, My flesh is of them.
13. Sept. And elsewhere is it written, Therefore He shull give them 3. Sept. till the time of her who beareth; and what isthe Sign? He says afterwards, She shall bring forth, and the rest of their brethren shall return.
And what is the nuptial pledge of ae 2, the Virgin, the holy Bride?
J will even betroth thee unto 1 The Manichees, &c.
_ Jews and Pagans believe things as hard asthebirth froma Virgin.187
Me in faithfulness.
And Elisabeth in like manner speaking to her says, And blessed is she which believed; for there shall Loke 1, be a performance of those things which were told her of the Lord.
27. But both Greeks and Jews harass us with their allega- (12.) tion, that it was impossible that Christ should be born of a virgin.
We may silence the Greeks out of their own fables.
For ye who tell that stones, when thrown, became men, how say ye that it is impossible for a virgin to bear?
Ye who in your legends relate that a daughter was born from the brain, how say ye that it is impossible for a son to have been born from a virgin womb? Ye who assert the fiction that Bacchus was born from the thigh of your Jupiter, how is it that ye set at nought our truth?
I know that I am speaking what is unnecessary for the present hearers ; but we put these things before thee, that thou mayest have the opportunity of retorting them on the Greeks, attacking them out of their own fables.
28. Meet, however, those of the circumcision with this question; which is the difficult thing, for an aged woman, barren, and past age, to bear, or for a virgin in her youth to have a child?
Sarah was barren, and though it had ceased to be with her after the manner of women, yet contrary to nature she bore a child.
If then it be contrary to nature for a barren woman and for a virgin to bear, either
| reject both or receive both; for it is the same God who wrought the one, and provided the other.
For thou wilt not dare to say, that in one case it was possible for God so to do, and not in the other.
And again, what kind of nature is it, for a man's hand to be changed in one hour to another appearance, and to be restored again? How then was Moses' hand made white as snow, and at once restored again?
But thou sayest that God by so willing changed it.
Is God, by willing, able in that instance, and is He not in this? And that was a sign which related only to the Egyptians; but this was a Sign given to the whole world.
O ye Jews, which 'is the more difficult, for a virgin to bear a child, or for a rod to be quickened into a living creature?
Ye own that in the case of Moses, a perfectly straight rod taking the form of a serpent was terrible to him who had cast it down; so
Things natural as strange as the birth from a Virgin.
Lect. that he who had before held it as a rod, now fled from XIl it asa dragon.
For it was in truth a dragon; but he fled, not being afraid at what he had held, but being filled with terror at Him who had changed it.
The rod had teeth and eyes of a dragon; shall now eyes which see be produced from a rod, and shall not a child be born from a virgin's womb at God's will?
For I mention not that the rod of Aaron also in one night did that which other trees are many years in accomplishing.
For who knows not, that a rod when it has lost its bark, will never sprout forth, even though it be set in the midst of streams?
Yet since God follows not, but makes, the natures of trees, the fruitless and withered and barkless rod, flowered and budded, and bore almonds.
Has not then He, who bestowed fruit on this rod supernaturaily, for the sake of the typical High-priest, granted to the Virgin to bear a son, for the sake of the True?
(13.) 29. These are good heads of argument; however, the Jews still contradict, and do not feel the force of this reference to the rod, because it is not a reference to births, like this, strange and contrary to nature.
Ask them then the following questions :—Of whom at the beginning was Eve begotten?
What mother conceived her, who had none?
But the Scripture says that she was made from the side of Adam.
Was then Eve born without a mother from the side of man, and may not a child be born without a father, from a virgin's womb?
A benefit was owing to men from womankind ; for Eve sprung from Adam, not conceived by a mother, but, as it were, brought forth by man alone.
Mary then repaid the benefit, not by man, but immaculately by herself, conceiving by the Holy Ghost, through the power of God.
30. But let us take something yet greater than this; for that bodies should be born of bodies, though it be strange, is nevertheless possible.
But that the dust of the earth should be made a man, this is more wonderful; that clay mixed together should become the coats and brightness of the eye, is more wonderful.
That from dust, one in its appearance, should spring at once the hardness of the bones and the delicateness of the lungs, and the other different sorts of
The conception of Christ immaculate.
members, this is wonderful.
That clay should be quickened, and should traverse the world, self-moved, and build houses, this is wonderful.
That clay should teach, and speak, and follow crafts, and reign, this is wonderful.
Whence then, O most shallow Jews, was Adam made?
Did not God take dust from the earth, and mould this wondrous creature?
Shall clay then be changed into an eye, and a virgin not bear a son? Does that which is, of the two, impossible among men come to pass, and not that which is possible?
$1. Let us keep these things in mind, brethren; let us (14.) employ these weapons of defence.
Let us not endure those heretics who teach a mere visionary advent.
Let us loathe them also, who say that the birth of the Saviour was of a man and woman, and who dare to say that it was of Joseph and Mary, because it is written, And he took unto him his wife. M+. 1,
For let us call to mind Jacob, who before he had received ~ Rachel said to Laban, Give me my wife; for like as she, in Gen.29, virtue of the promise only, was called the wife of Jacob,
7!: before the marriage took place, so also Mary, in that she was betrothed, was called the wife of Joseph.
And behold the exactness of the Gospel, which says, And in the sixth Luke}, month the Angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city TY atl
Galilee, numed Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, and so forth; and again, when the taxing was, and Joseph went up to be taxed, what saith the Scripture? and Joseph also went up from Galilee, to be tared ee 2, with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
For "
~ though she was great with child, yet said he not, " with his wife," but " with his espoused wife."
For God sent forth G*\4,4His Son, says Paul, made, not of a man and woman, but of @ woman only, that is of a Virgin; for we have before shewed, that a virgin is also called a woman; for of a virgin é Lene was He born, who makes souls virgins. vin Seta 32. But thou wonderest at the event; she also wondered x" who bore Him, for she says to Gabriel, How shall this be eet
1, seeing I know not a man? But he says to 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 Sonof God.
Immaculate and undefiled was His birth, for where the Holy
'140
The excellence of Virginity.
Laor. Ghost breathes, there all pollution is taken away: undefiled was the birth in the flesh of the Only-begotten from the bein Virgin.
Though heretics should deny the truth, the Holy Ghost shall convict them ; that overshadowing Power of the Highest shall wax wroth with them, Gabriel shall confront them in the day of judgment; the place of the manger, which received its Lord, shall overwhelm them with shame.
'The shepherds shall testify, who then received the glad tidings; and Luke 3, the host of Angels praising and chanting and saying, Glory to Me God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will ;
Grrl. and the Temple, into which He was then brought on the voluntafortieth day; and the pair of turtle-doves, which were offered bag hhre for Him"; and Symeon, who then took Him in his arms, and Spee, Anna the fetes who was there present.
* 88. Since then God bears witness, and the Holy Ghost qoupE Y) with Him, and Christ says, Why go ye about to kill Me,a 3,40.
Man that hath told you the truth, let the heretics be silent who speak against His manhood ; for they speak against Him
Lekett, who said, Handle Me, and see; en a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have.
Adored be the Lord the Virgin-born, and let the Virgins understand what is the crown of their condition.
Also let the order of Solitaries understand the renown of chastity; for we too are allowed the same dignity.
For nine months was the Saviour in the womb of the Virgin; but the Lord was a Man for three and thirty years; so that if a virgin has to boast of those nine months, much more we of those many years.
(15.) 34, But run we all by the grace of God the race of chastity, Pa:148, young men and maidens, old men and children; not going after licentiousness, but praising the name of Christ.
Let us not be ignorant of the glory of chastity; for its crown is angelic, and its perfection superhuman.
Let us be chary of these our bodies, which are to shine as the sun; let us not for a little pleasure, pollute a body such and so constituted; for the sin is small and only for an hour, but the shame is for many years, yea, eternal.
Angels on earth are they, who follow chastity ; the Virgins have their part with Mary the Virgin.
Let all vain ornament be banished away, and every ™ 'This reason for the offering is comLeviticus 12,6. specifies on! monly given by the Fathers; the text in cation of cha Maas only the purifi-
Practical exhortation.
hurtfal look, and all wanton gait, and dress, and perfumes, which are the baits of pleasure.
The perfume of all of us be the prayer of sweet savour, even of good works, and the sanctification of our bodies; that the Lord Virgin-born may say of us also, both of men who keep their chastity, and of women who receive the crown, I wild dwell in them, and 2 et 6, walk in them; and I will be their. Gud, and they shall be My'* people:—To whom be glory for ever and ever.
Amen.