on all which accounts she was as truly his mother, as any other woman is mother of the child that is born of her. The true faith, therefore, on this point, is not only to believe Christ to be the only begotten Son of God, in the sense of his being thus miraculously conceived, and born into the world, but to believe also, what has been so fully shown in the two preceding Lectures, viz. that Christ, before his conception, was truly the only begotten Son of God, who verily was foreordained before the foundations of the world, but was manifest in these last times for us (1 Pet. i. 20): and a better proof of his pre-existence, in that relation, cannot be given, than these words of the Apostle to the Hebrews, which it may not be amiss to introduce here, in order to confirm you in the remembrance and belief of this eternal truth: God, who at sundry times, and in divers manners, spake in times past to the fathers by his prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son-whose prior and peculiar description is, that by him he made the worlds, and that he was the brightness of his glory, upholding all things by the word of his power. Now, common sense teaches us, that this must be spoken of him before he came into the world; which is rendered still more clear by what follows; who when he had purged our sins (by his personal sacrifice) sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. And the be

lief of this is absolutely necessary to prevent all suspicions of spot in this Lamb of God, any fear of sin in this Jesus; for, of the Word incarnate, this could not be said, otherwise God would not have declared, that in him he was well pleased. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean thing? says Job: a clean and undefiled Redeemer, out of an unclean and defiled nature? We answer, HE, whose name is Holiness, whose office is to testify, even the Holy Ghost. Our Saviour, therefore, was like unto us in all things, as born of a woman, sin only excepted; which it was impossible he could inherit, being conceived of the Holy Ghost. This original and entire sanctification of the human nature was necessary to fit it for the personal union with the WORD, or only begotten Son of God; who, out of his infinite love, humbles himself to become flesh; and at the same time, out of his infinite purity, could not defile himself to become SINFUL flesh; and therefore it is said, in Hebrews, x. 5, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared for me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, thou hast had no pleasure (i. e. thou couldest not be satisfied with them): Then said I, Lo, I come (as in the volume of the book it is written of me), to do thy will, O God. By which will (my brethren) we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all; in other words, pardon

of our sins is obtained by his atonement; and the gift of his Spirit is vouchsafed to render us fit for the inheritance so purchased.

We may further observe, that, by this manner of Christ's conception, the freedom of God's grace is clearly manifested; for, as the Holy Ghost is GOD, and is likewise called the GIFT of God, therefore the human nature of Christ, in its first state, was formed by the Spirit; was made holy in its formation; and in that sanctification was united to the Word, or Son of God:" so that the grace was entirely free, and may justly be attributed to the love, mercy, and goodness of God. In this the kindness of God our Saviour towards men appeared.

And, as we are commanded to be holy as (i. e. because) God is holy; we may learn from what has been just said, on what foundation this holiness must be built; we are very sure, we bring no such purity into the world, nor are we sanctified as Christ was, at his conception. But, as he was not conceived by man, but by the Holy Ghost; so are we, at our regeneration, indebted to the same good Spirit for all the graces we receive, being born again, in a spiritual sense, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever. The same power which formed Christ's human nature, in excellence, reforms ours; and in this sense also it may

be said to bring a clean thing out of an unclean. The same Spirit assures in us a pardon of our sins, which caused in HIM freedom from all sin. He who was born for us upon his incarnation, is born within us, upon our regeneration.

And now, my brethren, if you have duly weighed what has been said to you, you cannot be at a loss to understand what you profess and declare to be the object of your faith, when you say, I BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST, WHO WAS CONCEIVED BY THE HOLY GHOST. It is, in short, this truth, that you declare; that the only begotten Son of God, begotten by the Father, before all worlds, very God of very God, was conceived, and born, and so made man, taking to himself the human nature, consisting of soul and body, and conjoining it to the divine, in the unity of his person. You declare your belief that the WORD was in this manner made flesh; that he was really and truly conceived in the womb of a woman, not after the manner of men, not by the common course of natural generation, but by the singular, invisible, and immediate power of the Holy Ghost; by which a Virgin was enabled to conceive a child, contrary to the usual laws of nature; and also, that what was conceived in her, was originally and completely sanctified. And thus you profess to believe in this article.

We come now, in this last place, to consider the third Person mentioned in this article of the Creed, and distinguished by the title of the VIRGIN MARY.

And surely, a person who was thought worthy to be made so choice an instrument of God's merciful and miraculous purposes towards his creatures, deserves the degree of notice that is herein paid her in this article of the Creed. We read, that, when a certain woman, on hearing one of our blessed Lord's discourses, exclaimed in a transport of admiration and love, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked; his answer was, Yea, rather blessed are they that hear the word of God, and KEEP IT: which words may be understood to relate to the truest and best character of his mother's virtues; who, doubtless, on account of her meekness, piety, and chastity of manners, was made choice of to be the honoured vessel, by her submitting in humble faith to what was delivered to her by the angel; and our Lord's reply testified also to those who heard him, the strongest and most valuable difference between bare outward honours or distinctions, and inward purity of heart; for it was that, and a devoted obedience to God's will, which rather caused her to be blessed. The reply, therefore, affords no encouragement to any private or exclusive reverence being paid to the