A declararation [sic] of the twelue articles of the christen faythe with annotations of the holy scripture, where they be grounded in. And the righte foundation and principall comon places of the hole godly scripture, a goodly short declaration, to all Christians profitable and necessarye for to come to the right vnderstondynge of holy Scripture compyled for the commodite of al christen people. By D. Vrbanum Regium.

❧The thyrde article. Vvhiche was conceyued by the holy gooste, borne of the virgyn Marye.

Thys article hath two partes. The firste, Christe is not of a man after the commune course of nature, but of the holy gost, yet naturally born. The seconde. The mother of Christe, was not defyled, as another woman, that conceyueth a chyldee with hurt of her bodyly and goostly virginite, but she is a virginall mother, a virgyn before the byrthe, in the byrthe and after the byrthe.

The wonderfull conceyuyng and byrthe, hath the holy gost prophecyed through the Prophetes,* 1.1 & by the Euā¦gelistes descrybed and proued. For thus sayth the Angell vnto Ioseph. That whiche is conceyued in her, is

of the holy gost. For when the blessed virgyn Mary heard the salutaciō an∣gelical, that she shoulde become a mo∣ther of so mightye a Lorde, which was the sonne of the moost hyghest, and that hys princely kyngdome shoulde endure for euer, she asked tharchangel Gabriell with a virginal comlynesse, howe that shoulde be, seynge she kne∣we of no man.* 1.2 Then answered thar∣changel. The holy gost shal come vpō the, and the power of the hyest shall ouershadowe the. Therfore also, that holy thyng, which shalbe borne, shalbe called the sonne of god.

Here was necessary that a specyall newe mā shoulde be borne,* 1.3 that might take away, and wash awai the corrup∣tion and disease of the fyrst synne of oure damnable byrthe of Adam with hys purenes. Therfor was it here ne∣cessary to be a virginal pure birth, we∣rein were no spot of sinne, nor yet ma∣ledictiō. The holy ghost was the wor∣ke mayster in the workynge place of the pure immaculate body of Mary, her pure flesshe and bloude was the

natural sede, whereout God the holy gost hath shapen the noble pure body of Christ. And the wōderful holy vir∣ginite of Marye the electe virgyn is descrybed in the Prophetes and Euā¦gelistes with inuincyble argumentes.

The scripture geueth to vnderston¦de,* 1.4 that Christ the blessed fruyt of Ma¦rye must be a natural childe of a wo∣man, for he is called the sede of a wo∣man. Item he must be a man of an ex∣cellent frydom aboue all men, that he be aboue all synne. For he shal treade downe the heade of the serpent, that is, synne, death, & hel, yf he were borne in synne, then shoulde the deuyll also haue power ouer hym, as ouer other children of wrath. But he hathe no po¦wer ouer him.

For Christ sayth thus.

* 1.5The Prynce of thys worlde cometh, and hath nought in me. And so muste Christe nedes be a right natural son∣ne of a woman (but with a supernatu¦rall wyse be borne, then the children of Adam) of whome all the virginyte is clearly and vndoubtedly kept.

Firste sayth the Scripture, the sede of a woman. It sayth not. The sede of a man. It nameth onely the name of a woman. Therfore the mother of thys chylde whiche conceyueth with∣out the helpe of a man, is a virgyn, & yet a ryght natural mother of the chil¦de as also Paule witnesseth,* 1.6 wher as he sayth. That the sonne of God is borne of a woman. Other children be borne of a man and a woman. Here sayth the Scripture Christe is onelye borne of a woman.* 1.7 A woman is not here taken, for a womā that knoweth a man, but it signifyeth the person of a woman, or the name of a woman, and geueth here to vnderstonde, that thys byrth is done without all additi∣on of man, or helpe of man.

Secondarely,* 1.8 whan God promysed to Abraham Christe the ryght Messi¦as, he sayde.

In thy sede shall all the nations of the earthe be blessed. Marye co∣meth bodily of Abrahā and Dauid. And Christe cometh of Mary bodily and is thesame sede of Abraham,

through the which al natiōs be blessed. Then it followeth,* 1.9 that Marye is a pure virgyn. For yf her sonne Christe be a blessed sede, whiche taketh awaye all male diction, truely than can not he be borne of a man, yf he were borne of a man, than were he borne after the course of nature, and were a chylde of Adam polluted with synnes. Now is he onely a fruyt of a womanes body, and not of a man: for the worke of the flesshe, and the blessyng stande not to∣gether.

Thirdely speaketh the spirite of god, through Esay.* 1.10 God hymselfe shal ge∣ue you a token. Beholde a virgyn shal conceyue, and beare a sonne &c. The Hebrewe texte hath Alma, that is a virgyn, not as a seruyng mayde, but a yonge woman person, which as yet hath no husbande, and weareth a gar∣londe, which is yet vndefyleth. And that is also nothynge elles, but a vir∣gyn. And so do men call the mother of God a pure mayden, that is a vir∣gyn as the Iewes them selues can not deny. And therfore is she a pure vir∣gyn

before the byrth, and in the byrth. Let the testimony of the Euangelistes Mathewe and Luke be sufficient for the, for they cal Mary a virgyn,* 1.11 alle∣gen the sayeng of the Prophete Esaye That she also dyd remayne alwayes a virgyn after the byrth,* 1.12 wyl I defend euen with the scripture. Wherewyth the heretyke Heluidius would proue the contrary parte, that she shoulde ha¦ue hadde children by Ioseph, after the fyrste borne sonne.

Mathewe sayth,* 1.13 Ioseph knewe her not, tyl she had brought forth her first sonne, hereout wille the folysshe that marke not the nature and propertye of the language, defyne, and conclude that she shoulde haue borne more chil∣dren afterwardes. But I saye, loke better vpon the circumstaunce. The Euangelist setteth a great meruayll before oure eyes: namely that a virgin is with childe before the man taketh her into hys house and lyeth with her and before he knoweth her, for as mo∣che as she hath a sonne before, whome not withstondyng she should haue, In

case she were knowen of hym after the common course. And the wordes of saynt Mathewe, tende not vppon that, whiche is done after the byrth.

* 1.14Item in the fyrst boke of Moyses, to speake after such lyke phrase. The Rauen flewe out and retourned not agayne vntyl the waters were dryed vp vppon the earth. Here wyl the tex¦te that the Rauen is not come agayne at all. Euen so followeth not in the for¦sayde sayenge of Saint Mathewe, that Ioseph afterwardes hath lyen with Mary, or hath knowen her, but rather the contrary parte, that he ne∣uer knewe her afterwarde.

* 1.15The temporall byrth of Christe, hath Esaye prophecyed and notifyed. A childe is borne vnto vs, and a sonne is geuen vnto vs vpon hys shoulder doth hys kyngdome lye. And he is cal¦led with his own name wōderful, the mightye God, the Prince of peace, a father of the worlde to come. Behol∣de also the xi. Chap. of Esay.

The historye of the byrth of Christ reade Luc. ij, Howe Marie the virgyn

was delyuered of her childe in Beth∣leem,* 1.16 as the Prophete Micheas dyd say in spirite, oh which wordes saynte Mathewe maketh relation, sayng: & thou Bethlehem in the lande of Iuda, arte not the leaste amonge the Prin∣ces of Iuda, for oute of the shall there come vnto me, the Captayne, that shal gouerne me people Israel.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Math. i
• * 1.2

  Luc. i
• * 1.3

  Christe most be borne pure.
• * 1.4

  Gen. iij.
• * 1.5

  Ioh. xiiij
• * 1.6

  Gal. iiij
• * 1.7

  A wo∣man.
• * 1.8

  Ge. xxij
• * 1.9

  Gal. iij
• * 1.10

  Esa. vij
• * 1.11

  Math. i Luc. i
• * 1.12

  Marye a vir∣gyn also after the byrthe.
• * 1.13

  Math. i
• * 1.14

  Ge. viij
• * 1.15

  Esay. ix
• * 1.16

  Mich. v Matt. ij