SERMON III.

The Purification of MARY, and the Prefentation of JESUS in the Tem

ple.

LUKE ii. 22, 23, 24.

When the Days of her Purification, according to the Law of Mofes, were accomplished, they brought him to Jerufalem, to present him to the Lord, (As it is written in the Law of the Lord, Every Male that openeth the Womb fhall be called Holy unto the Lord) And to offer a Sacrifice according to that which is faid in the Law of the Lord, A Pair of Turtle-Doves, or, two young Pigeons.

I

is,

N difcourfing upon this Paffage of Scripture, we have two Circumstances worthy our Attention: The one of which

I. The PURIFICATION of MARY.

II. The

II. The other the PRESENTATION of SUS to God."

E-SER M.

These two therefore, I intend to make the Subject of my prefent Difcourfe: And for your better Inftruction, fhall treat of them both in the following Manner.

I. First, I fhall recite to you the Inftitution and Meaning of each of these Rites, separately or jointly, as the Occafion fhall require.

II. Secondly, I fhall note from the Words of my Text, how readily and exactly, the Bleffed Virgin complied with thefe Rites in relation both to herself and her Son. And then,

III. Thirdly, I fhall fee what Obfervations we may draw from the Command itself, and this Compliance with the Command, for our own Direction and Use.

I. First, I fhall recite to you the Institution and Meaning of each of these Rites, feparately or jointly, as the Occafion fhall require.

I fhall begin with that Rite which more immediately concerned the Mother; becaufe this preceded the other Rite which concerned VOL. III.

E

the

III.

SERM. the Son: The Mother must be purified, beIII. fore the Son could be presented by her.

Now the End of the Mother's Purification, I prefume, was to free her from that Uncleannefs and Pollution, which the contracted by the Bearing of a Child. For the whole Human Nature being polluted and defiled in the Sight of God, through the Sin of our first Parents; it could not be otherwise, but that every Defcendant of theirs when born, must be born with their Original Corruption and Impurity upon it. This David afferts of himfelf; and it is not truer of him than of every other Man whatever: Every Son of Man may justly cry out with him, I was shapen in Iniquity, and in Sin did my Mother conceives me, Pfal. li. 5. The Child therefore being thus conceived and born in Sin, the Contagion of it's Sin is fuch as to pollute the Mother that bears it.

But now because the Sin of Adam was what his Pofterity could not help; and confequently fince it is not owing to any actual Fault in the Child, that it brings this original Defilement with it into the World; therefore God, designing that a fecond Adam fhould in Time be born, not only free from all Impurity in himself, but alfo to free all the Chil

dren

upon

III.

dren of the firft Adam from that Impurity SERM. which was in this Manner entailed them; God, I fay, defigning, out of his Mercy and Goodness, to effect this in Time by his Son, was willing in the mean while to overlook and forgive in his own chofen People, more especially, this original Stain, which was imprinted on all Children, and so on their Mothers, through Adam's Fault, though this fecond Adam was not yet born, nor could be till the Fullness of Time for it came, which was appointed of the Father.

However, to fignify the impure Condition of the Children of Men in their natural State, and how unable they are of themselves to get out of it; he instituted for this People certain religious Ceremonies and Rites, to intimate, that their Children were, as well as others, ftill born under his Displeasure and Wrath; that their Mothers were equally defiled by Childbearing, and could neither of them be looked upon as purified and clean, nor qualified to worship him in that Manner himself had prefcribed, till they had first performed fome typical Rites, which pointed at HIM for whose Sake they were forgiven and accepted. What these were with Relation to the Child, I fhall fhew by and by. But first let us examine, E 2

the

SERM. the Manner and Ceremony of purifying the III. Mother..

To do this we muft turn to the xiith of Leviticus where the Ordinance is contained. And there we shall find, that when a Woman was delivered of a Son, fhe was for feven Days after feparated from all common Converfation as unclean, and for three and thirty Days more (i. e. for forty in all) fhe was debarred the Sanctuary; i. e. during that Time fhe was not fuffered to enter into it, nor to join with the Congrégation in the Publick Worship of God. This was the Time prefcribed her for a Son: The Time for a Daughter was double the former. For fourteen Days The was fet apart from all Converfation; and for fixty-fix more (i. e. for eighty in all) was forbidden the Tabernacle. The Occafion of this Difference between a Son and a Daughter, is conjectured to have been, because Sin and Guilt was properly derived from the Female Sex. For Adam (faith St Paul) was not deceived, but the Woman being deceived was in the Tranfgreffion. The Female Sex: therefore having been the principal Source of Sin; it is therefore thought that the Birth of a Daughter under the Law communicated the longeft legal Contagion..

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