The Virgin-Birth of Our Lord | Page 4

and the same heart; and with one voice preaches and
teaches and hands on these things, as if possessing one mouth. For the
languages of the world are unlike, but the force of the tradition is one
and the same."*
-- * Contra Haeres., I. x. 1, 2. "He men gar Ekklesia, kaiper kath' holes
tes oikoumenes heos peraton tes ges diesparmene, para de ton
Apostolon 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