Sidenote: Ib. 34. Sidenote: Ib. 38. 5. But if they will not believe the doctrines of the Clergy, let them believe the oracles of Christ, let them believe the admonitions of Angels who say, _For with God nothing shall be impossible_. Let them give credit to the Creed of the Apostles, which the Roman Church has always kept and preserved undefiled. Mary heard the voice of the Angel, and she who before had said _How shall this be?_ not asking from want of faith in the mode of generation, afterwards replied, _Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word_. This is the virgin who conceived, this the virgin who brought forth a Son. For thus it is written, _Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son_; declaring not only that she should conceive as a virgin, but also that she bring forth as a virgin. Sidenote: Ezek. xliv. 1, 2. Sidenote: S. Matt. iii. 15. Sidenote: Ezek. xliv. 2. 6. But what is that _gate of the sanctuary_, that _outward gate which looketh towards the East, which remains shut, and no man_, it is said, _shall enter in by it but the Lord, the God of Israel_. Is not Mary this gate, by whom the Saviour entered into the world? This is the gate of righteousness, as He Himself said, _Suffer us to fulfil all righteousness_. Blessed Mary is the gate, whereof it is written that _the Lord hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut_ after birth; for as a virgin she both conceived and brought forth. Sidenote: Ps. cxiv. 3. Sidenote: Exod. xvii. 6. Sidenote: Ib. xiv. 22. Sidenote: Numb. xx. 11. Sidenote: 2 Kings vi. 6. Sidenote: S. Matt. xiv. 26. Sidenote: Is. xix. 20, 21. Sidenote: Exod. xv. 20. 7. But why should it be incredible that Mary, contrary to the usage of natural birth, should bring forth and yet remain a virgin; when contrary to the usage of nature, the sea saw and fled, and the floods of Jordan retired to their source. It should not exceed our belief that a virgin should bring forth, when we read that a rock poured forth water, and the waves of the sea were gathered up like a wall. Nor need it, again, exceed our belief that a man should be born of a virgin, when a running stream gushed forth from the rock, when iron swam upon the waters, and a man walked upon them. If therefore the waves carried a man, could not a virgin bring forth a man? But what man? Him of Whom we read, _The Lord shall send them a Man Who shall deliver them; and the Lord shall be known to Egypt_. Wherefore in the old Testament a Hebrew virgin led the people through the sea, in the New Testament a royal virgin was elected to be a heavenly abode for our salvation. Sidenote: S. Luke ii. 36, 37.