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Thirdly, he is the Son of God, as being by the Powerof God the first begotten of the Dead, restored to Life. to die no more. For thus St. Paul exprelles it: God. hath raifed up Jefus again, as it is also written, Thou art my Son: this Day have I begotten thee.

Fourthly, he is fo, as being Heir of all Things', and. by this Inheritance having obtained a more excellent Name, than Men or Angels: they being as Servants in the House, of God, he as a Son3.

But the most important and eminent Sense, in which Chrift is the Son of God, remains yet to be mentioned: as, in Respect of his divine Nature, he derived his Being from the Father, by an eternal Generation; not as Creatures do, who are made out of Nothing, and were made by him; but in a Manner peculiar to himself, and inconceivable to us: by which all the Fulness of the Godhead dwells in him*; and he and the Father are, in the ftrictest Union, one5. For God was his Father, with whom he had Glory before the World was: and he in the Beginning was with God, and was God". God over all, blessed for ever. Of this myfterious Doctrine, I fhall fpeak fomewhat further, under the Article of the Holy Ghost and therefore fhall only fay at prefent, that being exprefsly revealed, it ought to be implicitly believed; without attempting in vain to be wife above what is written; to know more, than God hath enabled us. And now,

4thly, From all these Things arifes, what the Creed mentions, in the laft Place, his Relation to us; our Lord. For being the only Son of God, he is Heir and Lord of all his Father's Houfe. Having triumphed over the Power of Darknefs, which held Mankind in Bondage, we are his by Right of Conqueft: and though other Lords have had Dominion over us, we are now to make Mention of his Name only, as fuch: having purchased

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9 Acts xiii. 33
4 Col. ii. 9.

8 Rom. ix. 5•

1 Heb. i. 2. 5. John x. 30. 9. xxvi. 13.

2 Ibid. 4.

6 John xvii. 5.

us to himself for a peculiar People' with his own Blood, we are not our own; for we are bought with a Price: and he died for all, that they, which live, fhould not henceforth live unto themfelves, but unto him, which died for them, and rofe again3. For to this End Chrift both died, and rofe, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the Dead and Living: that he might be fuch, not in Name only, but in Deed and Reality alfo. For not every one, that faith unto him, Lord, Lord, fhall enter into the King-. dom of Heaven: but he that doth the Will of his Father, which is in Heavens. To all others his Words will be at the great Day, what they were whilft on Earth: Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the Things which I fay? Obedience, conftant, univerfal Obedience, is' the only Manner of acknowledging him that will finally prove acceptable to him: and in that Manner we have folemnly promised that we will acknowledge him, and ferve him all our Days. Thus then let us ever honour him; thus let us afcribe to him, who is our Prophet, our Prieft, and our King, our Saviour, ourLord, and our God, Glory and Dominion, for ever and ever. Amen”.

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Article III. Iho was conceived by the Holy Gheft, born of the Virgin Mary.

AFTER fetting forth, in general, the Name and

Offices of our bleffed Reedeemer, his Relation to the Father and to us; our Creed goes on to recount the

feveral

feveral Particulars of what he did and fuffered, what her continues to do ftill, and will do finally, for our Salvation.

The firft of thefe is, that the Word was made Flesh': that the eternal Son of God, wonderfully joining to himfelf a Body and Soul like ours, united the human Nature with the divine into one Perfon: thus becoming Hable to the fame Neceffities and Wants, Infirmities and Pains: and endued with the fame innocent Paffions, Appetites and Affections, that we are: on which Account we read in the Gofpel of his feeling Hunger, and Pity, and Grief, and Anger, nay, and increafing, as in Stature, fo in Wisdom alfo: not furely in Refpect of that Nature, which in the Beginning was with God, and was God, but of the other, by which he was the Man Chrift Jefus. Further than thele Facts, we are not diftinctly acquainted with the Extent and Properties of this unparalleled Union. And it is no Wonder, that we are not. For even that of our own Souls with our own Bodies hath many Things in it, utterly beyond our Comprehenfion. We must therefore, in all Reason, without infifting to know, how thefe Things can be3, confine ourfelves to learn from Scripture, what they are.. And it hath plainly taught us, that our bleffed Lord was conceived by the Holy Ghoft, and born of the Virgin Mary.

Concerning the Holy Ghoft, there will be a proper Place to speak more at large, in that Article of the Creed, which directly relates to him. At present we are only to confider his Influence in the Conception of our Saviour: which Conception was not in the ordinary Courfe of Things; but God himself, being already bis Father with refpect to that divine Nature; which he had from the Beginning, became again fo, in a new Sense, with respect to his human Nature too, by the incom prehenfible Operation of his Spirit. For the Birth of Jefus Chrift, to use the Words of Scripture, was on.

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this wife. When as his Mother Mary was espoused to Jofeph; before they came together, she was found with Child of the Holy Ghoft, in purfuance of what the Angel had told her, Thou shalt conceive and bring forth a Son, and Jhalt call his Name Jefus. Then faid Mary unto the Angel, How fhall this be feeing I know not a Man? And the Angel anfwered and faid unto her: the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the Power of the Higheft fhall overfhadow thee: therefore alfo that holy Thing, which fhall be born of thee, fhall be called the Son of God".

And thus, in the Fulness of Time, was accomplished, what had been intimated as early as the Fall of Man, by that remarkable Expreffion, that the Seed of the Woman fhould bruife the Serpent's Head; and what had been. exprefsly fpoken of by the Prophet Ifaiah, 700 Years before our Saviour's Incarnation, Behold a Virgin fhall be with Child, and bring forth a Son, and they fhall call his Name Emmanuel: which, being interpreteted, is God with us?. When the Scripture fays, that fuch a Perfon or Thing fhall be called by fuch a Name, it frequently means no more than that they fhall have a Right to be fo called: that what that Name fignifies, fhall be verified in them, fhall be true in Relation to them. There are many Inftances of this in the Old Teftament. And therefore as our Saviour's coming in the Flesh was the most effectual and illuftrious Manifeftation of God's Prefence with Men, and Favour towards them, that could be: though perhaps in common Speech he was feldom, if ever, called, yet in the Language of Prophecy he was very juftly called, Emmanuel, or, God is with us. in his Perfon God was really amongft Men, in fuch a Manner, and to fuch Purpofes of Grace and Salvation, as he had never been before. And therefore this Name agrees perfectly in Senfe, though it differs in Sound, from his common Name, Jefus, i. e. Saviour.

For

After faying, that he was born of a Virgin, the Creed adds, that it was of the Virgin Mary: not that we are

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to feek for any particular Myftery in her being called Mary as fome of the Church of Rome have imagined, and accordingly formed groundlefs and ridiculous Derivations of the World. But indeed the Name was a very common one among the Jews: by which feveral Women, mentioned in the New Teftament, and several in other Hiftories, went and no Intimation was given in Scripture of its having any efpecial Propriety, or Meaning, in Relation to her. But the Reafon of inferting it into the Creed moft probably was, because it is fet down in Scripture; and that, by naming the particular Perfon, of whom our Saviour fprung, he might appear to be of that Family, from which it was foretold' he fhould arife, being born of this Virgin of the House of David'.

other

Still we are very far from thinking lowly of one whom firft an Angel from Heaven, then Elizabeth filled with the Holy Ghost, declared to be bleffed among Women: and who, with the greatest Reason, faid of herfelf, He that is mighty, hath magnified me, and holy is his Name 3. For greatly without Doubt fhe was magnified, a high Honour the received, in becoming, as Elizabeth ftiles her, the Mather of our Lord *. But this, however fingular, was not the most valuable Diftinction of the holy Virgin. In Scripture, no Advantage of any Kind is ever put on a Level with that of a pious Heart, and a virtuous Life. On the contrary, when on hearing one of our Saviour's Difcourfes, a certain Woman of the Company, in a Tranfport of Admiration and Affection, had cried out, Bleffed is the Womb that bare thee and the Paps which thou haft fucked: his Anfwer was; Yea, rather bleffed are they that hear the Word of God, and keep it. Now of this trueft Bleffednefs the Virgin Mary enjoyed a moft eminent Share: appearing, in all that is laid of her, to have been pious and devout, reasonable and confiderate, humble and modeft, mild and gracious; in the utmost Degree.

Luke i. 27.

4Luke i. 43.

2 Luke i. 28, 41, 42,
5 Luke xi. 27, 28.
C &

3 Luke i 29.

But

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