And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.
Ver. 25. And knew her not till she brought forth] We think hardly of him that taketh to wife the widow and relict of another, that is left great with child, before she hath laid down her burden; how much more in this case! Besides, this might be part of the angel's charge to him, that after she had brought forth her Son Jesus she continued still a Virgin, pie credimus, but it is neither article of our creed nor principle of our religion. But that she vowed virginity is both false and absurd. For how could she promise virginity to God and marriage to Joseph? Sure it is, the blemish will never be wiped off from some of the ancients, who, to establish their own idol, of I know not what virginity, have written most wickedly and most basely of marriage, which both Christ honoured with his first miracle and the Holy Ghost by overshadowing the betrothed Virgin. As for the Papists that disgrace it, they appear herein more like devils than divines. 1 Timothy 4:1. If the same God had not been the author of virginity and marriage, he had never countenanced virginity by marriage, as he did in the Virgin Mary.