The Virgin-Birth of Our Lord | Page 4

kai ton ekeivon matheton paralabousa ten eis hena theon Patera pantokratora . . . pistin; kai eis hena Christon Jesoun, ton huion tou theou, ton sarkothenta huper tes hemteras soterias; kai eis Pneuma Hagion, to dia ton propheton kekeruchos tas oikonomias, kai tas eleuseis, kai ten ek Parthenou gennesin, kai to pathos, kai ten egersin ek vekron, kai ten ensarkon eis tous ournous analepsin tou egapemenou Christou Iesou tou Kuriou hemon, kai ten ouranon en te doxe tou Patros parousian. . . . Touto to kerugma pareilephuia kai tauten ten pistin, hos proephamen, he Ekklesia, kaiper en holo to kosmo diesparmene, epimelos phulassei, hos hena oikon oikousa; kai homoios pisteuei toutois, hos mian psuchen kai ten auten echousa kardian, kai sumphonos tauta kerusse kai didaskei, kai paradidosin, hos hen stoma kektemene, kai gar hai kata ton kosmon dialektoi anomoiai, all' he dunamis tes paradoseos mia kai he aute." --
He goes on to say that in this Faith agree the Churches of Germany, Spain, Gaul, The East, Egypt, Libya, and Italy. His words are: "No otherwise have the Churches established in Germany believed and delivered, nor those in Spain, nor those among the Celts, nor those in the East, nor in Egypt, nor in Libya, nor those established in the central parts of the earth."+
-- + Contra Haeres., I. x. 2. "Kai oute hai en Germaniais hidrumenai Ekklesiai allos pepisteukasin, e allos paradidoasin, oute en tais Iberiasis, oute en Keltois, oute kata tas anatolas, oute en Aigupto, oute en Libue, oute hai kata mesa tou kosmou hidrumenai." --
Again, in the same work we read of the many races of Barbarians "who believe in Christ . . . believe in one God, the Framer of heaven and earth and of all things that are in them, by Christ Jesus the Son of God, who for His surpassing love's sake towards His creatures, submitted to the birth which was of the Virgin, Himself by Himself uniting man to God."#
-- # Contra Haeres., III. iv. x, 2. "Qui in Christum credunt... in unum Deum credentes, Factorem coeli et terrae, et omnium quae in eis sunt, per Iesum Christum Dei Filium; qui propter eminentissimam erga figmentum Suum dilectionem, eam quae esset ex Virgine generationem sustinuit, ipse per se hominem adunans Deo." --
5. Tertullian.
His writings represent the teaching of the Churches of Rome and Carthage, and, writing a little later than Irenaeus (c. 200), he assures us again and again that the Virgin-Birth is an integral portion of the Catholic Faith. "The rule of faith," he says, "is altogether one, alone firm and unalterable; the rule, that is, of believing in One God Almighty, the Maker of the world; and His Son Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary, crucified under Pontius Pilate."*
-- * De Virg. Veland., 1. "Regula quidem fidei una omnino est, sola immobilis et irreformabilis, credendi scilicet, in unicum Deum Omnipotentem, mundi Conditorem; et Filium ejus Jesum Christum, nature ex Virgine Maria, crucifixum sub Pontio Pilato." --
"Now the rule of faith . . . is that whereby it is believed that there is in any wise but one God, who by His own Word first of all sent forth, brought all things out of nothing; that this Word called His Son, was . . . brought down at last by the Spirit and the power of God the Father into the Virgin Mary, made flesh in her womb, and was born of her."+
-- + De Praescript. Haeret., cap. xiii. "Regula est autem fidei, . . . illa scilicet qua creditur: Unum omnino Deum esse qui universa de nihilo produxerit per Verbum suum primo omnium demissum; id Verbum, Filium ejus appellatum .... postremo delatum ex Spiritu Patris Dei et virtute, in Virginem Mariam, carnem factum in utero eius, et ex ea natum." --
Again, speaking of the Trinity, he writes that the Word, "by whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made, was sent by the Father into a Virgin, was born of her--God and Man--Son of man, Son of God, and was called Jesus Christ."#
-- # Adv, Prax., cap. ii. "Per quem omnia facta sunt, et sine quo factum est nihil. Hunc missum a Patre in Virginem, et ex ea natum, Hominem et Deum, Filium hominis et Filium Dei, et cognominatum Jesum Christum." --
6. Clement.
Clement about the year 190, and Origen about 230, represent the great Church of Alexandria. Their testimony to the place which the Virgin-Birth holds in the Church is clear and unhesitating. Clement speaks of the whole dispensation as consisting in this, "that the Son of God who made the universe took flesh and was conceived in the womb of a Virgin . . . and suffered and rose again."*
-- * Strom. vi. 15. 127. "Hede de kai he oikonomia pasa he peri tou kuriou propheteutheisa, parabole hos