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30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary; for Nazareth thou hast found favour with God.

sage has some other meaning. But the fact is, that this encompassing
in the womb being called a wonderful thing, has been referred on that
very account to the miraculous conception. He supposes the woman to
be the Jewish Church, which should put to rout all its powerful ene-
mies. The word 220, in Hiphil or Pihil, may certainly signify to
cause to turn about, i. e. to repulse. But this was by no means a thing
so unusual, that it should be called a new thing in the earth; for the
Church of Israel had repeatedly overpowered, or been delivered from
its enemies in the most wonderful manner. The interposition of Provi-
dence for this cause was by no means a new thing in the earth. The
sense of repulse or put to the rout also, is very forced, and without suffi-
cient authority. Blayney's Jeremiah, 4to. 1784, Oxford, p. 86, and
notes 194. Calvin, an author always entitled to our most impartial at-
tention, comparing the passage with Isa. xliii. 19. interprets it to sig-
nify the triumph of the Jews over the Chaldeans. The woman, he inter-
prets to mean, the Jews-the man, the Chaldeans-the surrounding, to the
triumph of the Jewsover these, their enemies: and Luther once maintained
the same opinion. This interpretation, however, is entirely overthrown by
the recollection of the fact, that the Chaldeans or the Persians, or Medes,
were never conquered by the Jews, who were freely released from their
captivity. Not only does this fact overt row the interpretation given by
this eminent man, but the word pɔ is never used figuratively. Pfeiffer
adds many very curious interpretations of the passage. Vide Pfeiffer
dubia vexata, p. 760. The passage is interpreted by Christian divines
to refer to the miraculous conception. The woman is the mother of
Christ. The man encompassed (the of Isaiah ix. 5.) is the
Messiah; the encompassing is the enclosure of the promised infant cre-
ated in the womb. The new thing in the earth is the creation of the
infant by supernatural power, a circumstance unusual, unknown, un-
thought, and unheard of before. That this is the meaning of the passage
is gathered from the context, the former and latter passages connected
with it referring to the Messiah. This intelligence only could give
complete comfort to the pious Jews at the period when they were thus
distressed. They were assured not only that they should return to their
cities, but that the ancient promise should be accomplished, and the
seed of the woman be born. Three arguments have been adduced by
some against this mode of interpreting the passage. The first is that
nap is the epithet applied only to the female sex in general, and not
to any individual. More especially, that the term is by no means appli-
cable to a virgin. To this it is answered, that the word is applied to an
individual in the following passages—Gen. i. 27. and v. 2.; Levit. iii. 1.
and 6.; and iv. 28 and 32; xxvii. 4; Num. xxxi. 15; and that it is not
unusual to use the same word in opposition to 1, an individual of
the other sex. And in Leviticus xii. 5. the word nap is applied to
a female infant, newly born. The second argument is that the word
3 is never used to denote a newly born male infant. The Targum
of Onkeles, however, on Gen. iv. 1. uses the word in this sense, and it
is also so applied in Isa. ix. 5. unto us a child is born, &c. &c.
11. The third argument is, that 10 never refers to concep-
tion. The word, however, signifies in general to enclose, to surround;
and its use in the present instance is sufficiently enforced and applicable.
Vide Pfeiffer dubia vexata, p. 760-762, and his references. (n) I will
notice but one objection which has lately been again brought forward
against the doctrine of the immaculate conception, as it has frequently
been urged by the Socinian writers, and is so admirably answered by a
gentleman to whose valuable work I am much indebted. In his calm
inquiry into the Scripture doctrine of the person of Christ, Mr. Belsham
observes, "If the relation given of the miraculous conception were
true, it is utterly unaccountable that these extraordinary events should
have been wholly omitted by Mark and John, and that there should not

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31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and Nazareth. riod, 4709. bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.

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be a single allusion to them in the New Testament, and particularly that
in John's history, Jesus should be so frequently spoken of as the son of
Joseph and Mary, without any comment, or the least hint that this state-
ment was erroneous." This objection, says Dr. P. Smith, is plausible:
but we ask a fair attention to the following considerations. The fact in
question was of the most private and delicate nature possible, and, as
to human attestation, it rested solely on the word of Mary herself, the
person most deeply interested. Joseph's mind was satisfied with regard
to her honour and veracity, by a divine vision, which, in whatever way
it was evinced to him to be no delusion, was still a private and personal
affair. But this was not the kind of facts to which the first teachers of
Christianity were in the habit of appealing. The miracles on which they
rested their claims were such as had multiplied witnesses to attest
them, and generally enemies not less than friends. Here then, we see a
reason why Jesus and his disciples did not refer to this circumstance, so
peculiar, and necessarily private. The account in Matthew had probably
been transmitted through the family of Joseph and Mary; and that in
Luke, through the family or intimates of Zacharias and Elisabeth; a sup-
position which furnishes a reason why the two narratives contain so little
matter in common. It is objected also that this doctrine is not alluded
to in the other books of the New Testament. The same reason will
account for the absence of reference to this miracle in the epistolary
writings of the New Testament, if that absence be admitted to the fullest
extent for there is, at least, one passage which appears to carry an
implication of the fact. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, in
explaining the symbolical representations by which it pleased the Holy
Spirit, under the former dispensation, to prefigure the blessings of
Christianity, seems to put the interior sanctuary, or "holy of holies,"
as the sign of the heavenly state; and the outer tabernacle as that of
"the flesh," or human nature of the Messiah. As the Aaronical high-
priest, on the great anniversary of expiation, was first to officiate in the
tabernacle, offering the sacrifices and sprinkling the blood of symbolical
pardon and purification, and then was to advance, through that taber-
nacle, into the most holy place, the representation of the divine pre-
sence; so Christ, our Great High-Priest," and "Minister of the
sanctuary and of the true tabernacle,"-" entered into the sanctuary,-
through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, his own blood."
Now, of this tabernacle it is declared that "the Lord pitched it, and
not man ;" that it was "not made with hands, that is not of this crea-
tion." The expression in Scripture "not made with hands," denotes
that which is effected by the immediate power of God, without the in-
tervention of any inferior agency. It, therefore, in the case before us,
intimates that the fleshly tabernacle of our Lord's humanity was formed,
not in the ordinary way of nature, but by the immediate exercise of Om-
nipotence.-Smith's Scripture Testimony to the Messiah, vol. ii. p. 17—
19. Many modern interpreters, it is true, understand "the tabernacle"
in these passages as signifying the heavenly state. Yet these writers
make the sanctuary" also to signify the same object; thus confound-
ing two very distinct images. The propriety of the figures, the argu-
ment of the connexion, and the frequent use of oкñvoc and okηvw pa
to denote the human body, (2 Cor. v. 1-4. 2 Pet. i. 13, 14. and this use
of at least oкKйvog is common in Greek writers: see Wetstein on
2 Cor. v. 1. and Schleusneri Lex.) satisfy me of the justness of the inter-
pretation of Calvin, Grotius, James Cappel, Dr. Owen, &c. It is no
objection that in Heb. x. 20. "the veil" is the symbol of the Messiah's
human nature for the veil, as one of the boundaries of the tabernacle,
in a natural sense belonged to it; and the passage relates to our Lord's
death, so that the veil is very fitly introduced, marking the transition out
of life into another state. The text was partially quoted above, for the
sake of presenting alone the clauses on which the argument rests. It
is proper here to insert it at length. The reader will observe the appo-

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Before the
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32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of Nazareth.

sition of "the tabernacle" and the "blood." "But Christ, having
presented himself, a High-Priest of the blessings to come, through the
greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands (that is, not
of this creation,) and not through the blood of goats and calves, but
through his own blood, entered once (i. e. once for ever, never to be
repeated,) into the sanctuary, having acquired eternal redemption."
Grotius's note is so judicious and satisfactory that it deserves to be in-
serted. "The design of the writer is to declare that Christ entered
the highest heavens, through his sufferings and death. To keep up the
comparison with the high-priest under the law, his object is to declare
that Christ entered through his body and blood; for the body is very pro-
perly put by metonymy for bodily sufferings; and it is common in all
languages to use the term blood to denote death, as death follows upon
any very copious effusion of blood. Yet he does not express the body
by its proper word, but uses a symbolical description suitable for car-
rying on the comparison. The Hebrews were accustomed to call
the body a tabernacle: and from them the disciples of Pythagoras
deduced the expression. In particular the body of Christ is called
a temple, on account of the indwelling divine energy John ii. 21.
Here, this body is said to be "not made with hands," and the
writer explains his meaning by adding, "that is, not of this crea-
tion," understanding by creation the usual order of nature; as the Jews
apply the Talmudical term Beriah (creation, any thing created): for the
body of Christ was conceived in a supernatural manner. "In this sense
he properly employs the term not made with hands, because in the He-
brew idiom any thing is said to be made with hands which is brought to
pass in the ordinary course of nature. See v. 23. and Mark xiv. 58.
Acts vii. 48. xvii. 24. Eph. ii. 11. The Prophets frequently give to
idols the appellation made with hands, as the opposite to any thing
divine." Grotii Annot. in Heb. ix. 11.-Dr. P. Smith's Messiah, vol. ii.
p. 29, 30. Archbishop Magee, on the Atonement. Horsley's Tracts.
Works of Bishop Bull. Scott's Christian Life. Archbishop Lawrence.
Veysie. Rennell. Nares. Layman's Vindication of the Disputed
Chapters of St. Matthew and St. Luke. Notes of Scott; Gill; Mant
and D'Oyly. Wardlaw's Socinian Controversy. Dr. P. Smith's Ser-
mon on the Atonement.

9 ON THE SALUTATION OF MARY.

The learned Joseph Mede remarks on the salutation of the angel, "Hail thou that art highly favoured," xaïpe kexapitWpèvn-that it must be rendered, not as Dr. Hammond and the Vulgate represent it, Hail thou that art full of grace, but in the same sense in which the house of Levi was highly favoured above the rest of the tribes of Israel. The word wp (holy) does not always mean "holy in life," but "holy to the Lord," which implies a relative holiness, and as the word Ton, which sometimes is considered a synonym of wp, is used in the samé twofold sense, he concludes the salutation of the angel ought so to be understood in this place. The sermon in which Mede expresses this opinion, is upon Deut. xxxiii. 8.—Let thy Urim and thy Thummim be with thy holy one. The Hebrew is be with Ton, which Junius expounds, with thy favoured one; not ἀνδρὶ ὁσίω σε, as the Septuagint, but κεχαριτωμένω σε. The word, says Lightfoot, (vol. i. p. 411, fol. edit.) is used by the Greek scholiast to express on Y, μεтà Kεxapitwμeva xapırwonon, Ps. xviii. 25. in the sense of xápis, mercy or favour, as Ephes. i. 6. ¿xapírwσev nμas. The salutation of the angel means, therefore, hail thou that art the especially elected and favoured of the Most High, to attain to that honour which the

Julian Pe- the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the Nazareth. riod, 4709. throne of his father David:

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33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man!

35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.

37 For with God nothing shall be impossible.

38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

Before Vul

SECTION V.

Interview between Mary and Elisabeth.

LUKE i. 39-56.

39 And Mary arose in those days, and went into the Hebron. gar Era, 5. hill country with haste, into a city of Juda ";

Jewish virgins, and the Jewish mothers, have so long desired-
thou shalt be the mother of the Messiah. For an account of
the peculiar manner in which the Jewish women desired off-
spring, in the hope that they might be the mother of their pro-
mised Messiah-Vide Allix's Reflections on the Books of Moses,
Mede's Works, fol. edit. London, 1677. p. 181. Lightfoot, vol. i.
folio edit. p. 411. See also Kuinoel and Rosenmüller in loc.

10 There is very little doubt but that Hebron was the city
here spoken of. In Joshua xxi. 13. we read that Hebron, with
her suburbs, was given to the children of Aaron the priest, and
in ver. 11 of the same chapter, and in chap. xi. 21. it is de-
scribed as a city in the hill country of Judah. After the return
from the captivity of Babylon, the priests were anxious to take
up their abodes in their appointed heritage. Hebron is cele-
brated for many events. Here Abraham received the promise
of the miraculous birth of Isaac. Here circumcision was pro-
bably first instituted, (many being of opinion it was known
before the time of Abraham), here Abraham had his first land,
and David his first crown. John was born at Hebron, and
here he first appointed, and practised as a permanent institution
the ordinance of baptism (a).

The Talmudists (b) inform us of a very singular custom in the Temple service, which had a reference to Hebron. Before the morning sacrifice was offered, the President of the Temple was used to say every morning-Go and see, if it be time to kill the

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40 And entered into the house of Zacharias, and sa- Hebron. riod, 4709. luted Elizabeth. Before Vulgar Era, 5.

41 And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb "; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:

42 And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.

43 And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

sacrifice. If it was time, the answer was, "it is light." Those
in the court replied, "Is the light come so far, that thine eyes
may see Hebron?"

How far this tradition may be received I do not venture to
decide; it is certain that Hebron was always regarded with
particular attention by the people of Israel, and if this tradition
be correct, it must doubtless have been typical of some predicted
and expected event. What place, then, in the land of Israel,
could have been so appropriate for the true light first to dawn
before the perfect sacrifice could be offered, as the city of He-
bron. Here John the Baptist was born-and here the rays of
truth first shone; when, through the inspiration of the Holy
Ghost, the appointed Saviour was hailed for the first time near
this place, as the Lamb of God, the true Sacrifice, who should
take away the sins of the world.

Can these remarkable and wonderful events be regarded only as coincidences? To me they appear to point out the beautiful connexion and harmony in minute points of the two dispensations, and to prove that nothing has come to pass, but what was ordained of old.

If the account of Josephus (Bell. Jud. lib. 5. c. 7.) may be depended upon, Hebron was not only celebrated for the great events which had there taken place, but was renowned for its antiquity, and considered of more ancient date than Memphis, in Egypt. Jerome and Eusebius likewise mention that there still remained at Mamre, near Hebron, the oak under which Abraham entertained his angelic visitors; and that the surrounding Gentiles held it in great veneration.

(a) See Witsius de Vitâ Johan. Bapt. Misc. Sacra, vol. ii. P: 495. (b) Lightfoot's Chorographical Century-Works, folio, vol. ii. p. 46.

11 The native Jew who reads in St. Luke's Gospel this expression, would be reminded of a tradition of their fathers, that when the Israelites came to the red sea the children in the womb leaped for joy.

imo etiam ואפילו ואיכון עוברין במעי אמהון הוו, ומשבחן לל"בה:

embryones, qui in utero matris erant, viderunt id, et Deum
S. B. celebrarunt. Possibly it was in allusion to this tra-
dition that the phrase is here used. Elizabeth may be sup-
posed to express the greatness of her joy at the sight of her
cousin, which so agitated her as to produce this effect. Eli-
zabeth compared her happiness, in beholding the mother of the
expected Messiah, to that of her countrymen when they saw
before them, for the first time, the earnest of their long wished
for deliverance from Egypt. Fol. 25. col. 99. apud Zohar Exod.
fol. 32. col. 91. apud Schoetgen. Hor. Heb. vol. i. p. 257.

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