By this is meant, that the human nature of Jesus
Christ was formed, not in the ordinary method of generation, but out of
the substance of the Virgin Mary, by the immediate operation of the Holy
Ghost. The evidence upon which this article of the Christian faith rests
is found in Matt. i, 18–23, and in the more particular narration which
St. Luke has given in the first chapter of his Gospel. If we admit this
evidence of the fact, we can discern the emphatical meaning of the
appellation given to our Saviour when he is called the seed of the
woman,” Gen. iii, 15; we can perceive the meaning of a phrase which St.
Luke has introduced into the genealogy of Jesus, Luke iii, 23, and of
which, otherwise, it is not possible to give a good account, ων, ὡς
ενομιζετο, ὑιος Ιωσηφ; [being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph;] and
we can discover a peculiar significancy in an expression of the Apostle
Paul, Gal. iv, 4, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman.” The
conception of Jesus is the point from which we date the union between
his divine and human nature; and, this conception being miraculous, the
existence of the person in whom they are united, was not physically
derived from Adam. But, as Dr. Horsley speaks in his sermon on the
incarnation, the union with the uncreated Word is the very principle of
personality and individual existence in the son of Mary. According to
this view of the matter, the miraculous conception gives a completeness
and consistency to the revelation concerning Jesus Christ. Not only is
he the Son of God, but, as the Son of man, he is exalted above his
brethren, while he is made like them. He is preserved from the
contamination adhering to the race whose nature he assumed; and when the
only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, was made flesh,
the intercourse which, as man, he had with God, is distinguished, not in
degree only, but in kind, from that which any prophet ever enjoyed, and
it is infinitely more intimate, because it did not consist in
communications occasionally made to him, but arose from the manner in
which his human nature had its existence.
Christ was formed, not in the ordinary method of generation, but out of
the substance of the Virgin Mary, by the immediate operation of the Holy
Ghost. The evidence upon which this article of the Christian faith rests
is found in Matt. i, 18–23, and in the more particular narration which
St. Luke has given in the first chapter of his Gospel. If we admit this
evidence of the fact, we can discern the emphatical meaning of the
appellation given to our Saviour when he is called the seed of the
woman,” Gen. iii, 15; we can perceive the meaning of a phrase which St.
Luke has introduced into the genealogy of Jesus, Luke iii, 23, and of
which, otherwise, it is not possible to give a good account, ων, ὡς
ενομιζετο, ὑιος Ιωσηφ; [being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph;] and
we can discover a peculiar significancy in an expression of the Apostle
Paul, Gal. iv, 4, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman.” The
conception of Jesus is the point from which we date the union between
his divine and human nature; and, this conception being miraculous, the
existence of the person in whom they are united, was not physically
derived from Adam. But, as Dr. Horsley speaks in his sermon on the
incarnation, the union with the uncreated Word is the very principle of
personality and individual existence in the son of Mary. According to
this view of the matter, the miraculous conception gives a completeness
and consistency to the revelation concerning Jesus Christ. Not only is
he the Son of God, but, as the Son of man, he is exalted above his
brethren, while he is made like them. He is preserved from the
contamination adhering to the race whose nature he assumed; and when the
only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, was made flesh,
the intercourse which, as man, he had with God, is distinguished, not in
degree only, but in kind, from that which any prophet ever enjoyed, and
it is infinitely more intimate, because it did not consist in
communications occasionally made to him, but arose from the manner in
which his human nature had its existence.