—­ # Contra Haeres., III. iv. x, 2.  “Qui in Christum credunt... in unum Deum credentes, Factorem coeli et terrae, et omnium quae in eis sunt, per Iesum Christum Dei Filium; qui propter eminentissimam erga figmentum Suum dilectionem, eam quae esset ex Virgine generationem sustinuit, ipse per se hominem adunans Deo.” —­

5.  Tertullian.

His writings represent the teaching of the Churches of Rome and Carthage, and, writing a little later than Irenaeus (c. 200), he assures us again and again that the Virgin-Birth is an integral portion of the Catholic Faith.  “The rule of faith,” he says, “is altogether one, alone firm and unalterable; the rule, that is, of believing in One God Almighty, the Maker of the world; and His Son Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary, crucified under Pontius Pilate."*

—­ * De Virg.  Veland., 1.  “Regula quidem fidei una omnino est, sola immobilis et irreformabilis, credendi scilicet, in unicum Deum Omnipotentem, mundi Conditorem; et Filium ejus Jesum Christum, nature ex Virgine Maria, crucifixum sub Pontio Pilato.” —­

“Now the rule of faith . . . is that whereby it is believed that there is in any wise but one God, who by His own Word first of all sent forth, brought all things out of nothing; that this Word called His Son, was . . . brought down at last by the Spirit and the power of God the Father into the Virgin Mary, made flesh in her womb, and was born of her."+

—­ + De Praescript.  Haeret., cap. xiii.  “Regula est autem fidei, . . . illa scilicet qua creditur:  Unum omnino Deum esse qui universa de nihilo produxerit per Verbum suum primo omnium demissum; id Verbum, Filium ejus appellatum .... postremo delatum ex Spiritu Patris Dei et virtute, in Virginem Mariam, carnem factum in utero eius, et ex ea natum.” —­

Again, speaking of the Trinity, he writes that the Word, “by whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made, was sent by the Father into a Virgin, was born of her—­God and Man—­Son of man, Son of God, and was called Jesus Christ."#

—­ # Adv, Prax., cap. ii.  “Per quem omnia facta sunt, et sine quo factum est nihil.  Hunc missum a Patre in Virginem, et ex ea natum, Hominem et Deum, Filium hominis et Filium Dei, et cognominatum Jesum Christum.” —­

6.  Clement.

Clement about the year 190, and Origen about 230, represent the great Church of Alexandria.  Their testimony to the place which the Virgin-Birth holds in the Church is clear and unhesitating.  Clement speaks of the whole dispensation as consisting in this, “that the Son of God who made the universe took flesh and was conceived in the womb of a Virgin . . . and suffered and rose again."*

—­ * Strom. vi. 15. 127.  “Hede de kai he oikonomia pasa he peri tou kuriou propheteutheisa, parabole hos alethos phainetai tois me ten aletheian egnokosian, hot’ an tis ton huion tou theou, tou ta panta pepoiekotos, sarka aneilephota, kai en metra parthenou kuoporethenta . . . teponthota kei anestramenon legei.” —­