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Q. In what sense is the Most Holy Virgin called Mother ON of God?

A. Although Jesus Christ was born of her not after His Godhead, which is eternal, but after the manhood, still she is rightly called the Mother of God; because He that was born of her was both in the conception itself, and in the birth from her, as He ever is, very God.

Q. What thoughts should we have of the exalted dignity of the Most Holy Virgin Mary?

A. As Mother of the Lord she excels in grace and nearness to God, and so also in dignity, every created being1: and therefore the Orthodox Church honours her far above the cherubim and seraphim.

Q. What is there further to be remarked of the birth of Jesus Christ from the Most Holy Mother of God?

A. This, that since this birth was perfectly holy and void of sin, it was also without pain: for it was among the penalties of sin that God ordained Eve in sorrows to bring forth children. J. Damasc. Theol. 1. iv. 14. § 6.

Q. What tokens had God's providence prepared, that men might know the Saviour, when He was born to them?

A. Many exact predictions of various circumstances of His birth, and life on earth. For instance, the Prophet Isaiah foretold that the Saviour should be born of a virgin. Is.vii.14. The Prophet Micah foretold that the Saviour should be born in Bethlehem; and this prophecy the Jews understood even before they heard of its fulfilment. Mat. ii. 4..6. The Prophet Malachi, after the building of the second temple at Jerusalem, foretold that the coming of the Saviour was drawing nigh, that He should come to this temple, and that before Him should be sent a forerunner like unto the Prophet Elias, clearly pointing by this to John the Baptist. Mal. iii. 1; iv. 5. The Prophet Zachariah foretold the triumphal entry of the Saviour into Jerusalem. Zach. ix. 9. The Prophet Isaiah with wonderful clearness foretold the sufferings of the Saviour. Is. liii. David, in the twentysecond Psalm, described the sufferings of the Saviour on the

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FIRST cross with as great exactness as if he had written at the foot of the cross itself. And Daniel, 490 years before, foretold the appearance of the Saviour, His death on the cross, and the subsequent destruction of the temple and of Jerusalem, and abolition of the Old Testament sacrifices. Dan. ix.

Q. Did men in fact recognise Jesus Christ as the Saviour at the time that He was born and lived upon earth?

A. Many did recognise Him by various ways. The wise men of the East recognised Him by a star, which before His birth appeared in the East. The shepherds of Bethlehem knew of Him from Angels, who distinctly told them that the Saviour was born in the city of David. Simeon and Anna, by special revelation of the Holy Ghost, knew Him when He was brought, forty days after His birth, into the temple. John the Baptist, at the river Jordan, at His baptism, knew Him by revelation, by the descent of the Holy Ghost upon Him in the form of a dove, and by a voice from heaven from God the Father; This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Mat. iii. 17. A like voice was heard of Him by the Apostles Peter, James, and John, at the time of His transfiguration on the mount; This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased; hear Him. Mark ix. 7. Besides this, very many recognised Him by the excellence of His doctrine, and especially by the miracles which He wrought.

Q. What miracles did Jesus Christ work?

A. People suffering under incurable diseases, and possessed by devils, were healed by Him in the twinkling of an eye, by a single word, or by the touch of His hand, and even through their touching His garment. Once with five, at another time with seven loaves He fed in the wilderness several thousand men. He walked on the waters, and by a word calmed the storm. He raised the dead: the son of the widow of Nain, the daughter of Jairus, and Lazarus on the fourth day after his death.

Q. You said that the Son of God was incarnate for our salvation in what way did He effect it?

A. By His doctrine, His life, His death, and resurrection.
Q. What was Christ's doctrine?

A. The Gospel of the kingdom of God, or, in other words, the doctrine of salvation and eternal happiness, the same that is now taught in the Orthodox Church. Mark i. 14, 15.

Q. How have we salvation by Christ's doctrine?

A. When we receive it with all our heart, and walk according to it. For, as the lying words of the devil, received by our first parents, became in them the seed of sin and death; so, on the contrary, the true word of Christ, heartily received by Christians, becomes in them the seed of a holy and immortal life. They are, in the words of the Apostle Peter, born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever. 1 Pet. i. 23.

Q. How have we salvation by Christ's life?

A. When we imitate it. For He says, If any one serve Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall also My servant be. John xii. 26.

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Q. How came it to pass that Jesus Christ was crucified, when His doctrine and works should have moved all to reverence Him?

A. The elders of the Jews and the scribes hated Him, because He rebuked their false doctrine and evil lives, and envied Him, because the people, which heard Him teach and saw His miracles, esteemed Him more than them; and hence they falsely accused Him, and condemned Him to death.

Q. Why is it said, that Jesus Christ was crucified under Pontius Pilate?

A. To mark the time when He was crucified.

Q. Who was Pontius Pilate?

A. The Roman governor of Judæa, which had become subject to the Romans.

Q. Why is this circumstance worthy of remark?

A. Because in it we see the fulfilment of Jacob's prophecy; The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come: and He is the desire of the nations. Gen. xlix. 10.

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Q. Why is it not only said in the Creed that Jesus Christ was crucified, but also added that He suffered?

A. To shew that His crucifixion was not only a semblance of suffering and death, as some heretics said, but a real suffering and death.

Q. Why is it also mentioned that He was buried?

A. This likewise is to assure us that He really died, and rose again; for His enemies even set a watch at His sepulchre, and sealed it.

Q. How could Jesus Christ suffer and die, when He was God? A. He suffered and died, not in His Godhead, but in His manhood; and this not because He could not avoid it, but because it pleased Him to suffer.

He Himself had said; I lay down My life, that I may take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. John x. 17, 18.

Q. In what sense is it said, that Jesus Christ was crucified for us?

A. In this sense, that He, by His death on the cross, delivered us from sin, the curse, and death.

Q. How does holy Scripture speak of this deliverance? A. Of deliverance from sin; In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace. Ephes. i. 7.

Of deliverance from the curse; Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. Gal. iii. 13.

Of deliverance from death; Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same, that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them, who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Heb. ii. 14, 15.

Q. How does the death of Jesus Christ upon the cross deliver us from sin, the curse, and death?

A. That we may the more readily believe this mystery, the

word of God teaches us of it, so much as we may be able to receive, by the comparison of Jesus Christ with Adam. Adam is by nature the head of all mankind, which is one with him by natural descent from him. Jesus Christ, in whom the Godhead is united with manhood, graciously made Himself the new almighty Head of men, whom He unites to Himself through faith. Therefore as in Adam we had fallen under sin, the curse, and death, so we are delivered from sin, the curse, and death in Jesus Christ. His voluntary suffering and death on the cross for us, being of infinite value and merit, as the death of one sinless, God and man in one person, is both a perfect satisfaction to the justice of God, which had condemned us for sin to death, and a fund of infinite merit, which has obtained him the right without prejudice to justice, to give us sinners pardon of our sins, and grace to have victory over sin and death.

God hath willed to make known to His saints, what is the riches of the glory of this mystery of the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Col. i. 26, 27.

For if by one man's offence death reigned by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Rom. v. 17.

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Rom. viii. 1.. Q. Was it for us all, strictly speaking, that Jesus Christ suffered?

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A. For His part, He offered Himself as a sacrifice strictly for all, and obtained for all grace and salvation; but this benefits only those of us, who, for their parts, of their own free-will, have fellowship in His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death 15. Philipp. iii. 10.

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