plunge into the middle of the subject, and ask you, first of all, to consider afresh that 'throughout the Church the statement of the belief in the Virgin-Birth had its place from so early a date, and is traceable along so many different lines of evidence, as to force upon us the conclusion that, before the death of the last Apostle, the Virgin-Birth must have been among the rudiments of the Faith in which every Christian was initiated;' that if we believe the Divine guidance in the Church at all, we must needs believe that this mystery was part of "the Faith once for all delivered to the Saints."

Bear with me, then, while I go over the evidence of the leading witnesses.

1. St. Ignatius.

He must have become Bishop of Antioch quite early in the second century. As he passes through Asia about the year 110, he is on his way to martyrdom, and in his Epistles he speaks emphatically of the Virgin-Birth.

In the Epistle to the Ephesians, he says: "Hidden from the prince of this world were the Virginity of Mary and her child-bearing, and likewise also the death of our Lord—three mysteries of open proclamation, the which were wrought in the silence of God."*

— * Eph., 19. "Kai elathen ton archonta tou aionos toutou he parthenia Marias kai ho toketos autês, homiôs kai ho thanatos tou Kuriou; tria mustêria kraugês, hatina en hêsuchia theou eprachthê." —

In the Epistle to the Symrnaeans, he says: "I give glory to Jesus Christ, the God who bestowed such wisdom upon you; for I have perceived that ye are established in faith immovable… firmly persuaded as touching our Lord, that He is truly of the race of David according to the flesh, but Son of God by the Divine will and power, truly born of a Virgin, and baptized by John… truly nailed up for our sakes in the flesh, under Pontius Pilate and Herod the tetrarch."+

— + Smyrn., I. "Doxazô Iêsoun Christon ton theon ton houtôs humas sophisanta; enoêsa gar humas katêrtismenous en akinêtô pistei …, peplêrophorêmenous eis ton kurion hêmôn alêthôs onta ek genous David kata sarka, huion theou kata thelêma kai dunamin theou, gegenêmenon alêthôs ek parthenou, bebaptismenon hupo Ioannou … alêthôs epi Pontiou Pilatou kai Herôdou tetrarchou kathêlomenon huper hêmôn en sarki." —

In his Epistle to the Trallians, he writes: "Be ye deaf, therefore, when any man Speaketh to you apart from Jesus Christ, who was of the race of David, who was the Son of Mary, who was truly born."*

— * Trall., 9. "kôphôthête oun, hotan humin chôris Jesou Christou lalê tis, tou ek genous Daveid, tou ek Marias, hos alêthôs egennêthê." —

2. Aristides of Athens.

In his Apology, written about the year 130, mentioning the Virgin-Birth as an Integral portion of the Catholic Faith, he writes: "The Christians trace their descent from the Lord Jesus Christ; now He is confessed by the Holy Ghost to be the Son of the Most High God, having come down from heaven for the salvation of men, and having been born of a holy Virgin+ . . . He took flesh, and appeared to men."#

— + Another reading here is "a Hebrew Virgin," and the Armenian recension has the name "Mary." See Hahn, Bibliothek der Symbole, p. 4; and Harnack's Appendix to the same work, p. 376. # Apol., ch. xv. The quotation is from the Greek text preserved in the History of Barlaam and Josaphat. See The Remains of the Original Greek of the Apology of Aristides, by J. Armitage Robinson. Texts and Studies (Cambridge, 1891), vol. i. pp. 78, 79, 110. "hoi de Christianoi genealogountai apo tou Kuriou Jesou Christou, houtos de ho huios tou theou tou hupsistou homologeitai en Pneumati Hagio ap' ouranou katabas dia ten sôtêrian ton anthrôpôn; kai ek parthenou hagias gennêtheis … sapka anelabe, kai anephanê anthpôpois." —

3. Justin Martyr.

In his Apologies and in his Dialogue with Trypho he has three summaries of the Christian Faith, in all of which the Virgin-Birth, the Crucifixion, the Death, the Resurrection, and the Ascension are the chief points of belief about Christ.

In his First Apology (written between 140 and 150) he says: "We find it foretold in the Books of the Prophets that Jesus our Christ should come born of a Virgin . . . be crucified and should die and rise again, and go up to Heaven, and should both be and be called the 'Son of God.'" * And a little later in the same work he says: "He was born as man of a Virgin, and was called Jesus, and was crucified, and died, and rose again, and has gone up into heaven."+

— * Apol., i. 31. "En dê tais tôn prophêtôn biblois heuromen prokêrussomenon paraginomenon gennômenon dia parthenou . . . stauroumenon Iesoun ton hemeteron Christon, kai apothnêskonta, kai anegeiromenon, kai eis ouranous anerchomenon, ai huion theou onta kai keklêmenon." + Apol., i. 46. "Dia parthenou anthrôpos apekuêthê, kai Iesous epônomasthê, kai staurôtheis kai apothanôn anestê, kai anelêluthen eis ouranon." —

In his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew (written after the First Apology) he says: "For through the name of this very Son of God, who is also the First-born of every creature, and who was born of a Virgin, and made a man subject to suffering, and was crucified by your nation in the time of Pontius Pilate, and died, and rose again from the dead, and ascended into heaven, every evil spirit is exorcised and overcome and subdued."#

— # Dial., 85. "kata gar tou omonatos autou toutou tou huiou tou theou, kai prôtotokou pases ktiseôs, kai dia parthenou gennêthentos kai pathêtou genomenou anthrôpou, kai staurôthentos epi Pontiou Pilatou hupo tou laou humôn kai apothanontos kai anastantos ek nekrôn, kai anabantos eis ton ouranon, pan daimonion exorkizomenon nikatai kai hupotassetai." —

4. St. Irenaeus.

Writing not later than 190, he makes constant reference to the Virgin-Birth as an integral portion of the Faith of Christendom. He says: "The Church, though scattered over the whole world to the ends of the earth, yet having received from the Apostles and their disciples the Faith—

In one God the Father Almighty… and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who was incarnate for our salvation: and in the Holy Ghost, who by the Prophets announced His dispensations and His comings; and the birth of the Virgin (kai tên ek Parthenou gennêsin), and the Passion, and Resurrection from the dead, and the bodily assumption into heaven of the beloved Jesus Christ our Lord, and His appearance from heaven in the glory of the Father . . .

having received, as we said, this preaching and this Faith, the Church, though scattered over the whole world, guards it diligently, as inhabiting one house, and believes in accordance with these words as having one soul 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. "Hê men gar Ekklêsia, kaiper kath' holês tês oikoumenês heôs peratôn tês gês diesparmenê, para de tôn Apostolôn kai tôn ekeivôn mathêtôn paralabousa tên eis hena theon Patera pantokratora . . . pistin; kai eis hena Christon Jêsoun, ton huion tou theou, ton sarkôthenta huper tês hêmteras sôtêrias; kai eis Pneuma Hagion, to dia tôn prophêtôn kekêruchos tas oikonomias, kai tas eleuseis, kai tên ek Parthenou gennêsin, kai to pathos, kai tên egersin ek vekrôn, kai tên ensarkon eis tous ournous analêpsin tou êgapêmenou Christou Iêsou tou Kuriou hêmôn, kai tên ouranôn en tê doxê tou Patros