Tricoenivm Christi in nocte proditionis suæ The threefold svpper of Christ in the night that he vvas betrayed / explained by Edvvard Kellett.

PR. 6.

BUt their more particular belchings against Christ, and his Mother, are in shew more pithy, sharp-pointed, vivid, and specious unto any ignorant man, or ill-aff••cted unto Christ; whilst thus they object, as it is in the first Chapter of Saint Matthew in Hebrew, and the Annotations of Munster on it, saying: Qua∣le novum est, quod puella fit gravida, juxta morem universae terrae per copulam viri? What new thing is this; That a Virgin should bee with child, by copulation with a man, according to the manner of all flesh? And thus againe they rave, in Munsters Annotations on the second chapter of Saint Matthew. Si juxta verba vestra natus est (Christus) sine patre; quare ostendit vim suam in filia tredecum an∣norum, quae apla erat conceptui, & partui? Potius ostendere debuit potentiam suam in s••liatrium, aut quatuor annorum, quae non est apta conceptui: & tunc potuisset mun∣dus cognoscere signum illud novum, est a saeculo inauditum. If according to your own words, Christ were borne without a Father; Why did he shew forth his pow∣er in a daughter of thirteene yeeres of age, which was apt for conception, and child bearing: He ought rather to have shewed his power in a daughter of three or foure yeeres old, which was not apt for conception: And then might the world have knowne that New-Signe, which was not heard of from the begin∣ning of the world? Munster saith, hee answered the Iewes in Hebrew. Abunde magnum signum esse, Nasci de Ʋirgine, juxta Propheitam illam Esaiae, Ecce Virgo im∣pregnata pariet filium. It is a wonder strange enough, to bee borne of a Virgin, according to that Prophecie of the Prophet Esaiah: Behold a Virgin shall conceive and beare a sonne•• Let me enlarge his too concise answer, thus: or rather to de∣clare mine owne answer, to the blind-folded, yea blinde Iewes. Shall Christ bee

borne according to the fancies of man, or according to the will of God? What Christ said to them, I wish they would observe Iohn 5.39. Search the Scriptures: and they are they which testifie of mee. The very manner of his suffering and resur∣rection, was fore-prophesied, Luk: 24.46. Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer: And, All things must be fulfilled, which was written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets and in the Psalmes concerning mee, vers. 44. especially concerning Christ's Incarnation, and his Birth, All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the Prophet, saying, Behold a Virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a Sonne, and his name shall be called Emmannel, which being interpreted is GOD WITH ƲS, Mat. 1.22. & 23. vers.

I resume mine old Quaere; and turne it into this Thesis, Christ was not to be borne according to the humerous discourses, or partiall reason of man; but accor∣ding to the Scriptures, and the fore-running prophesies, dictated unto holy men by God himselfe, This is a ground worke, on which both Jewes and Christians do build, and is confessed by all. The deniall of this Thesis preferreth mans judge∣ment before the wisedome of God: and floting imaginations of silly ignorants, before the stable power, and perfection of Holy Scripture. Let us now assume: But the Prophets no where foretold, that Christ was to be borne of a young Girle, or child of three yeares or foure, as the Jewish argument would enforce; But the heavenly inspired Scriptures, did fore-divine, that Christ should be borne of a Virgin of ripe years,* 1.1 of a woman fit for so great a worke, rather than an unfit in∣fant. Let us come to the Prophet Ieremy 31.22. Foemina circundabit virum: A woman shall compasse a man. Nekebak (with Koph) is not taken any where pro pu∣ellula: for a young wench of three or foure yeares of age: but for a female of ripe yeares 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 & Nekebah, foeminam woman, in adulta: viz. aetate, in a ripe age. Gen. 1.27. If a man would reason against God, according as the Jewes doe, against both him and Christ: One might say; It had beene a great wonder indeed, if Adams wife had beene but three or foure yeares of age, and had brought him forth children. But we may more truly say concerning both Eve, and the blessed mother of our Lord, Gods will was his law: what he decreed, was performed: what was performed, was best of all; what God spake before by his holy Pro∣phets, must be accomplished, however the folly of man, would seeme to project better courses.

Whereas the Jewes object: God hath created a new thing in the earth: A woman shall compasse a man; and most carnally and cursedly say: Is this a New thing for a woman to be with child? It is the ordinariest, and commonest matter in the world.

I answer. These obstinate Jewes consider not, that the novelty consisteth not in this, that a woman was with child: but this was the greatest new thing in the world, that a virgin without the helpe of a man should be with child. Adam came into the world without the helpe either of man or woman; Eve of a man without any ayde from any woman: other men not without the helpe both of man and woman: The Newest thing, the greatest wonder was, Christ was to come, and did come of a pure Virgin without the helpe of Man.

Notes

• * 1.1

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉