Phil.ii.

5---8.

༡

that are tempted. This is That Humility and Condefcenfion, which St Paul so affectionately describes: Let this (humble) Mind be in You, which was alfo in Christ Jesus: Who being in the form of God, (&x ågraɣμὸν ἡγήσατο τὸ εἶναι ἴσα θεῷ, ταs not earneftly defirous to appear in that Form of God, in which he might have appeared; But (ExEwOEY EQUTO) devefted himself of That Glory, and took upon him the Form of a Servant, and was made in the Likenefs of Men; And being found in fashion as a Man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto Death, &c.

The

THIS is the General Doctrine. Particulars, expreffed in the present Article, are; that he was conceived by the influence of the Holy Ghoft; that he was born, of a Virgin; and of That Particular Perfon, the Virgin Mary.

I. HE was conceived, by the influence of the Holy Ghost.

Writers understand

Some very Antient

those words of the

Luke 1.35. Angel to the Bleffed Virgin, The Holy Ghoft fhall come upon thee, to be meant of

That

That Holy Spirit, which was Chrift him÷
felf before his incarnation. But they are
more generally understood to fignify his
being miraculously conceived, by the in-
fluence of the holy Ghoft. And this is ve-
ry agreeable to the Analogy of the whole
Gospel-Difpenfation, which fuppofes All
Miracles under the New Testament to be
worked by one and the felf-fame Spirit, 1 Cor. xii.]
which from the Beginning infpired the 11,
Prophets under the Old Teftament, and
was in Them the Spirit of Chrift, testifying 1 Pet.i.11.
before-hand the Sufferings of Christ, and
the Glory that should follow. Whatsoever
God does of This kind, from the Begin-
ning to the End of the Whole Dispensati-
on; the Scripture generally reprefents as
being done by the Holy Ghoft fent down
from Heaven. And because What God
does thus by his Holy Spirit, is in event
the Same, as if he had done it immediate-
ly by Himfelf in his Own Perfon; hence
the fame individual Works are frequently
afcribed both to God Himself, even to the
God and Father of all, who works them
by his Spirit; and at the fame time they

1Pet.f.12

16.

10.

16. vi.19.

16.

Eph ii. 22.

4.

are ascribed also to the Spirit, by which God works them. The Prophetick Wri

tings of the Old and New Testament are I. xlviii. infpired of God, because inspired by his 1Pet.i.12. Holy Spirit. Our Bodies are ftiled TemRev.i. 1, ples of God, because they are Temples of 1 Cor.iii. the Holy Ghoft; and God dwells in us, by 2 Cor. vi. his Spirit. Ananias and Sapphira * are charged with lying unto God, when they Acts v.3, lied to the Holy Ghoft; and with lying to the Holy Ghoft, when they lied to Men inSpired with the Holy Ghost; because Lying to the Spirit by which God fpeaks, is in effect and in reality Lying to God Himfelf. The Miracles which our Lord himfelf worked during the course of his Ministry, are ascribed sometimes to the Father which dwelt in him, and sometimes to Rom.i.4. the Spirit which God gave not by measure

Joh. xiv.

10.

Mat. xii

28.

John iii.

34.

Acts x. 38.

to him. By a not unlike manner of speak

ing, Christ is fometimes spoken of as haJoh.i.3. ving created the World; (of which neverCol.i. 16. thelefs God, even the Almighty Father, is Rev.iv.11. the Creator, for whofe Pleasure all things Are and were Created :) Because God creHeb.i.2. ated all things by Jefus Chrift. And thus therefore

Eph. ii. 9.

therefore likewise concerning our Lord's miraculous Conception: Because the Holy Lukei.35. Ghost (faid the Angel to the Blessed Virgin) fhall overshadow thee, THEREFORE alfo That Holy thing which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of GOD; [not the Son of the Holy Ghoft:] God in This miracle likewife, as generally in Others, operating by his Spirit, even 1 Cor. xii. by one and the self-fame Spirit, by which he worketh all in all.

II.

Ver. 6.

2. HE was born, of a Virgin. The Reafon of this, feems to be; because, not being originally of our Nature, but a Perfon infinitely of fuperiour Dignity to Men; and having præexifted in the Form of God, Phil. ii. 6. as the Angel of the Covenant, till the time

of his Incarnation; this was the most na- Mal. iii. 1. Zech.xii.8. tural Method, in which he could be made Phil. ii. 8. in the Likeness of Men. And miraculous as it was, there was ftill in this whole tranfaction nothing impoffible, nor in the nature of the thing itself at all more difficult, than in the established Course of

Nature.

F 3

3. HE

3.

He was born, of This Particular Perfon, the Virgin Mary. The Reason of

This, was, that by his genealogy he might

Luke ii. 4. appear to be of the House and Lineage of David, according to the Scriptures.

Luke i.

48.

Ver. 43.

THAT the Blessed Virgin was a Perfon eminent for her Virtue and Piety, cannot be doubted; and it plainly appears in the Spirit with which her Magnificat, or Song of Praife, is expreffed. So that, with the greatest reafon, from thenceforth All Generations were to call Her Blessed, who was exalted to be [ugoTox] The Mother of our Lord. But that she should therefore be adored and invocated after her 1 Tim. ii. Death, as if She had been appointed Mediator between God and Men; this is fo abfurd and profane, and fuch a manifest Departing from Chrift The One Mediator; as if it had been invented on purpose by the Enemies of our Lord, to expose his Holy Religion to the Scorn and Ridi cule of Unbelievers. What St. Paul fays Col. ii. 18, concerning the Worshipping of Angels, that a Man thereby beguiles himself of his Reward,

5.