rank of those that had the great honour of being related to our Saviour, by conceiving Christ in our hearts by faith and obedience; for by doing the will of God, we are esteemed by him as his brethren, sisters, and mother." Q. Has this Festival only a relation to the blessed virgin Mary?

A. It has farther a particular respect to the incarnation of our blessed Saviour; who being the eternal word of the Father, was at this time made flesh. And thus this Festival is by Athanasius reckoned as one of the chiefest that relates to our Lord; whether we consider the order and method of those things that the Evangelists declare concerning our Saviour, or the profound mystery we this day celebrate.

Q. What are we to believe concerning the incarnation?

A. That the Son, who is the Word of the Father, begotten from everlasting of the Father, the very and eternal God, of one substance with the Father, took man's nature in the womb of the blessed virgin, of her substance; so that two whole and perfect natures, that is to say, the Godhead and manhood were joined together in one person, never to be divided, whereof is one Christ, very God and very man; who truly suffered, was crucified, dead, and buried, to reconcile his Father to us, and to be a sacrifice not only for the original guilt, but also for the actual sins of men.

Q. What do you mean by the Godhead and manhood being joined together in one person, whereof is one Christ?

A. The true design of the church, in using the word person, was to express a vital substantial union; as that

Mat. xii. 50.

thence did result a true proper communication of names, characters, and properties, from the two natures to the person, made up of them. For though the eternal Word was a person before the incarnation, yet he is not considered under the same formal notion after it. Before, he subsisted only in the divine nature, afterwards, in the human as well as the divine; yet without any change or alteration, but under both respects continues but one and the same person.

Q. But are there not many difficulties and absurdities that flow from attributing the actions, passions, and properties of two such distinct natures as the human and divine, to the same subject, viz. our blessed Saviour?

A. Though they are absolutely inconsistent in themselves, and cannot be affirmed of the same nature, yet they may and must be averred of the same person, who is made up of both. And this will plainly appear, if we consider it in persons compounded of two distinct parts, as men made of body and soul. Eating, drinking, and walking, are performed chiefly by the ministry of the body; knowing, considering, willing, and choosing, proceed from the soul; yet it is the person made up of both, who is said to eat and drink, to understand and choose. Thus, colour, feature and symmetry, from whence arises beauty, cannot be in the soul, which is immaterial; learning and virtue, wisdom and righteousness, cannot inhere in the body, because, being matter, it is not a subject capable of them; for which reason it would be absurd to say, the soul is white or black, beautiful or deformed, or on the other hand, to say the body is wise or foolish, learned or ignorant, just or unjust: yet of the man, who is made up of both these parts, all these may be truly and properly affirmed. This being remembered,

it will help us to solve the seeming difficulties and absurdities of attributing the actions, passions, and properties of two such distinct natures, as the human and divine, to the same subject, viz. our blessed Saviour, Q. Why is the blessed virgin Mary styled the mother of God?

A. Because the second person in the blessed Trinity, the Son of God, by virtue of an eternal generation, vouchsafed to descend from heaven, and to stoop so low as to enter into the womb of the virgin; where, being united to our nature, which was formed and conceived there, he submitted to a second generation according to the flesh. So that this Son of God was truly the Son of the virgin, aud consequently, she that brought forth the man was really the mother of God, and by her cousin Elizabeth she is styled the mother of her Lord; which word, Lord, was accounted equivalent to the word God.

Q. But can the divine nature be born, and suffer, and die, and be buried, and rise from the grave?

A. No, it cannot; and so wild a thought has always been disclaimed by all orthodox Christians, with the utmost abhorrence and detestation. But this they have said, that he was God, that he was made of a woman, who was seen and handled; who was arraigned, and condemned, and crucified, and afterwards laid in the grave; not indeed in his divine, but human nature; but it was one and the same person which subsisted in both natures.

Q. What instances are there in Scripture that justify the manner of these expressions?

A. John the Baptist says, that he who cometh after

Luke i. 43.

me is preferred before me; which could not be true if affirmed of the same nature, but yet was verified of the same person. So St. Peter affirms, that the Son of Man was the Christ, the Son of the living God,' Christ avers of himself, that he was the Son of God, truly and properly, as his words were understood by his friends and enemies. The Apostles still preached the same doctrine, that the church was purchased with the blood of God; that the man whom the Jews crucified was the Lord of glory; the same Lord who was nailed to a cross, was afterwards laid in the grave, and arose from thence; and this Lord was God."

Q. It being sufficient as to the mystery of the incarnation, that when our Saviour was conceived and born, his mother was a virgin; what is reasonable to believe concerning her continuing in the same state of virginity?

A. The peculiar eminency, and unparalleled privilege of that mother; the special honour and reverence due unto that Son, and ever paid by her; the regard of that Holy Ghost that came upon 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."

Q. How ought we to reverence the blessed virgin Mary?

A. By entertaining a great opinion of her virtue and piety, who had the great honour of being the mother of the Messiah. It being reasonable to believe that a person chose for that purpose was endowed with great

* John i. 27, 30. 1 Mat. xvi. 13, 16. m Acts xx. 28. 1 Cor. ii. 8.

excellencies and the rather because she maintained so lively a sense of her own unworthiness to receive so great an honour, and when she was advanced to be the mother of the world's Saviour, seeks no greater title than to be styled handmaid of the Lord." But not to invocate her; because we are directed in Scripture to offer up all our prayers in the name, and through the mediation of Jesus Christ only; besides, the church of God, in the three first ages, makes no mention of it; neither are there any traces of that practice to be found among them. Q. What may we learn from the observation of this Festival?

A. To admire and adore the great goodness of God manifested in the incarnation of the eternal word; thereby shewing that he thought nothing too great nor too dear to part with for our sakes; and the wonderful humility and condescension of our Saviour, who stooped so low when he undertook the work of our redemption. To express great modesty and confusion when we meet with the praises and applause of the best men, from a true sense of our own unworthiness, and by a silence and fear to guard ourselves from vanity. To endeavour to to answer the design of our Saviour's being made man, that we might become like unto God, and be made partakers of the divine nature; and that Christ might be formed in us, and that we might put on the Lord Jesus Christ; by making no provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof; that as he was pleased to be united to our nature, so we may make it the great care and business of our lives to be really and spiritually united to him. Q. How are Christians united to Christ?

A. This union is formed by baptism, when they are

" Luke i. 38.