Forbidden Gospels and Epistles, Complete

CHAPTER VII.

7 The salu­ta­tion of the Vir­gin by Gabriel, who ex­plains to her that she shall con­ceive, with­out ly­ing with a man, while a Vir­gin, 19 by the Holy Ghost com­ing up­on her with­out the heats of lust. 21 She sub­mits.

NOW at this time of her first com­ing in­to Galilee, the an­gel Gabriel was sent to her from God, to de­clare to her the con­cep­tion of our Saviour, and the man­ner and way of her con­ceiv­ing him.

2 Ac­cord­ing­ly go­ing in­to her, he filled the cham­ber where she was with a prodi­gious light, and in a most cour­te­ous man­ner salut­ing her, he said,

3 Hail, Mary! Vir­gin of the Lord most ac­cept­able! O Vir­gin full of grace! The Lord is with you. You are blessed above all wom­en, and you are blessed above all men, that have been hith­er­to born.

4 But the Vir­gin, who had be­fore been well ac­quaint­ed with the coun­te­nances of an­gels, and to whom such light from heav­en was no un­com­mon thing,

5 Was nei­ther ter­ri­fied with the vi­sion of the an­gel, nor as­ton­ished at the great­ness of the light, but on­ly trou­bled about the an­gel’s words,

6 And be­gan to con­sid­er what so ex­traor­di­nary a salu­ta­tion should mean, what it did por­tend, or what sort of end it would have.

7 To this thought the an­gel, di­vine­ly in­spired, replies;

8 Fear not, Mary, as though I in­tend­ed any­thing in­con­sis­tent with your chasti­ty in this salu­ta­tion:

9 For you have found favour with the Lord, be­cause you made vir­gin­ity your choice.

10 There­fore while you are a Vir­gin, you shall con­ceive with­out sin, and bring forth a son.

11 He shall be great, be­cause he shall reign from sea to sea, and from the rivers even to the ends of the earth?

12 And he shall be called the Son of the High­est; for he who is born in a mean state on earth, reigns in an ex­alt­ed one in heav­en.

13 And the Lord shall give him the throne of his fa­ther David, and he shall reign over the house of Ja­cob for ev­er, and of his king­dom there shall be no end.

14 For he is the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, and his throne is for­ev­er and ev­er.

15 To this dis­course of the an­gel the Vir­gin replied, not, as though she were un­be­liev­ing, but will­ing to know the man­ner of it.

16 She said, How can that be? For see­ing, ac­cord­ing to my vow, I have nev­er known any man, how can I bear a child with­out the ad­di­tion of a man’s seed.

17 To this the an­gel replied and said, Think not, Mary, that you shall con­ceive in the or­di­nary way.

18 For, with­out ly­ing with a man, while a Vir­gin, you shall con­ceive; while a Vir­gin, you shall bring forth; and while a Vir­gin shall give suck.

19 For the Holy Ghost shall come up­on you, and the pow­er of the Most High shall over­shad­ow you, with­out any of the heats of lust.

20 So that which shall be born of you shall be on­ly holy, be­cause it on­ly is con­ceived with­out sin, and be­ing born, shall be called the Son of God.

21 Then Mary stretch­ing forth her hands, and lift­ing her eyes to heav­en, said, Be­hold the hand­maid of the Lord! Let it be un­to me ac­cord­ing to thy word.