Chap. ix.

the House of Jacob for ever; and that of his Kingdom there should be no End.

Q: What doth this Description made by the Angel Gabriel refer to?

A. To the Prophecy of Isaiah concerning the Messias, who foretold, That the Government should be upon his Shoulders, and his Name should be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace; of the Increase of his Government and Peace there should be no End, upon the Throne of David, and upon his Kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with Judgment and with Justice, from henceforth even for ever.

Q. What is the Importance of the Angel's Description of the Messias?

A. That God should settle upon the Messias a spiritual Kingdom (of which that temporal one of David was but an imperfect Representation) the absolute Government of the Church, that spiritual House of Jacob; and that this Kingdom of his shall continue for ever, shall never be destroyed as the Kingdom of the Jews was to be.

Q. What preceded this Declaration?

A. The Salutation made to the blessed Virgin Luke i. 28. by the same Angel in those Words, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among Women.

Q. What was the Meaning of this Salutation?

A. That the blessed Virgin was most excellently disposed to receive the greatest Honour that ever was done to the Daughters of Men; her Employment being holy and pious, her Body chaste, and her Soul adorned with all Virtues, particularly with Humility, which is in the Sight of God of great Price; for though she was to be the Mother of an universal and everlasting Blessing, which all former Ages had desired, and all future Times should rejoice in; yet she resigns all this Glory to him that gave it her, and declares whence she received it, that no other Name but his might have the Glory,

Q. How did the blessed Virgin receive this Salutation ?

A. She was troubled at the Saying of the Angel, Ver. 29. and cast in her Mind what Manner of Salutation it should be; judging herself unworthy of so great an Honour, and being surprised with the Strangeness of such an Appearance in her Retirement. But when the Angel positively affirmed that she should conceive and bring forth the Messias, she enquires how that could be, since she knew not a Man.

Q. What is implied in this Answer of the blessed Virgin?

A. No Doubt, I think, concerning the Thing, nor any Diffidence in respect to the Issue of it; but rather Admiration in respect to the wonderful Manner of effecting it. And if we have any Regard to the Tradition mentioned by Epiphanius, that Joseph was old, when espoused to the blessed Virgin, it will be probable, what many of the Ancients believed, that by this Answer, the Virgin seems to hint at some Resolution of continuing in a State of perpetual Virginity; at least, it implies that she desired to be satisfied in the Manner, as well as in the Matter of this Mystery.

Q. How did the Angel answer the Difficulty she suggested?

A. By declaring the wonderful Manner how this Message should be brought about, vis. That the Luke i. 35. Holy Ghost should come upon her, and that the Power of the Highest should overshadow her. By furnishing her with an Example of somewhat of the like Nature in her Cousin Elizabeth; and by confirming her from the Power of God, to which Nothing is impossible.

Q. What Effect had this upon the blessed Virgin? A. She demonstrated an entire Faith and perfect Obedience in her Reply: Behold the Handmaid of the Ver. 38. Lord, be it unto me according to thy Word. Neither is it to be doubted, but that upon her Consent and Desire the Promise began to be fulfilled, and the

Luke i. 46,

Son of God became incarnate, and was made Man, taking upon him human Nature, Body and Soul.

Q. How doth the blessed Virgin express her Joy and Gratitude upon this Occasion?

A. In that admirable Hymn called the Magnificat, wherein she shews such a thankful Sense of the great Honour that was conferred upon her, and expresses at the same Time, in so full a Manner, her Humility and Devotion, as well as the infinite Power and Goodness of God, that it appears, as she was highly favoured, so she was also full of Grace, and had a Mind plentifully enriched with the Gifts of God's Holy Spirit. This Hymn was so respected among the primitive Christians, that they used it as a Part of their Devotions; and the Church of England has retained it in her divine Service as proper to express the pious Affections of godly and devout Minds.

Q. What may we learn from this Hymn we so frequently repeat?

A. The infinite Mercy and Goodness of God in sending his Son into the World to redeem us from a State of Sin and Misery, when we were Enemies to him by our evil Works. That all the Faculties of our Souls, our Reason, our Will, and our Affections, ought to be employed in blessing and praising his holy Name; and though we cannot add to his Greatness, yet we are then said to magnify the Lord, when we publish and proclaim to the World our Sense of his mighty Perfections. That the best Method to engage God's Favour, is to govern all our Actions by a Fear to offend him. That to obtain the Blessings of Heaven, we must have a great Sense of our Want of them. That we may advance ourselves into the Rank of those that had the great Ho nour of being related to our Saviour, by conceiving Christ in our Hearts by Faith and Obedience; for Mat. xii. by doing the Will of God, we are esteemed by him as his Brethren, Sisters and Mother.

Q. Hath this Festival only a Relation to the blessed Virgin Mary?

A. It hath 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 relate 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 Incar

nation?

A. That the Son, who is the Word of the Father, Artic. 2. 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 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, t

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 chusing, proceed from the Soul; yet it is the Person made up of both, who is said to eat and drink, to understand and chuse. Thus, Colour, Feature, and Symmetry, from whence arise 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, and consequently,