"_And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord._"--Let us now meditate on the great benefit of our redemption, and the boundless mercy of the only-begotten and eternal Son of God; who, when four thousand years had elapsed after the creation and fall of our first parents from their original innocence, out of pure love and compassion, came down from heaven, to reconcile us to his eternal Father, and to purchase mercy, grace, and salvation for us, by the effusion of the last drop of his precious blood. Thus he became our Jesus, our Christ, our Redeemer, our Saviour, our High Priest, our Mediator, our King, our Lord, and our Sovereign Master. He claims and challenges us, therefore, as his sole right and property. We belong to him by every title that dominion or jurisdiction can confer. We are his by creation, his by preservation, his by the title of his all-ruling providence. We are his in a very special and particular manner, by virtue of our redemption. As Christians we derive our name from him, and are his members and temples, dedicated and consecrated to him by the solemn vows and covenant of our baptism. {213} Let us then offer all our thoughts, words, and actions, to his honour and glory, and let us employ our whole lives in loving and serving him faithfully; saying, for this end, the prayers which himself and his church have taught us: "Our Father," &c. "Hail Mary," &c. Third Article. "_Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost; born of the Virgin Mary._"--We are now to meditate on the wonderful mystery of the incarnation and temporal nativity of the Son of God. When the fulness of time appointed for the redemption of mankind was come, the second Person of the blessed Trinity assumed our flesh in the womb of his blessed Mother; that the divine and human nature being thus united in his person, he might be capable of satisfying divine justice for the injury which God had received by sin. He became man for our salvation, not in the _ordinary way_, but after _a supernatural and incomprehensible manner_, by the operation of the Holy Ghost. But although the incarnation, considered particularly as a work of divine mercy, goodness and love, be particularly attributed to the Holy Ghost, and although the three Persons of the blessed Trinity, essentially possessing the same undivided powers, have equally concurred therein, yet this wonderful work was effected only by the second Person: his sacred body was formed of the most pure blood of his Virgin Mother, without the least violation of her virginal integrity, and a most perfect soul was created to animate his body. {214} Being thus miraculously conceived, he was also, after the space of nine months, miraculously born in a stable at Bethlehem, under the reign of Augustus Cæsar. As man, being at the same time true God, he subjected himself to all our infirmities and miseries, sin only excepted, of which he was incapable. At so early a