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De Virginitate B. Mariae

5.

Helvidius.—Verum quia suum locum huic quaestiunculae reservamus, et ad reliqua festinat oratio: nunc illud est disserendum, quomodo Scriptura dicat: Exsurgens autem Joseph a somno, fecit sicut praecepit ei Angelus Domini, et accepit uxorem suam, et non cognoscebat eam, donec peperit filium, et vocavit nomen ejus Jesum (Matth. I, 24, 25). In quo primum adversarius superfluo labore desudat, cognoscendi verbum ad coitum magis, quam ad scientiam referendum: quasi hoc quisquam negaverit, et eas ineptias quas redarguit, aliquando prudens quispiam potuerit suspicari. Deinde vult docere, quod donec, sive usque, adverbium, certum tempus significet: quo completo fiat id, quod usque ad illud temporis quod praescriptum est, non fiebat, velut in praesenti: Et non cognoscebat eam, donec peperit filium. Apparet, inquit, cognitam esse post partum, cujus cognitionem filii tantum differebat generatio. Et ad hoc approbandum congerit de Scripturis exempla quamplurima, more Andabatarum gladium in tenebris ventilans, et linguae sonum ad confodienda sui tantum corporis membra concutiens.

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The Perpetual Virginity of Blessed Mary

5.

This, however, is a point which will find its proper place further on. We must now hasten to other matters. The passage for discussion now is, “And Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took unto him his wife and knew her not till she had brought forth a son, and he called his name Jesus.” Here, first of all, it is quite needless for our opponent to show so elaborately that the word know has reference to coition, rather than to intellectual apprehension: as though anyone denied it, or any person in his senses could ever imagine the folly which Helvidius takes pains to refute. Then he would teach us that the adverb till implies a fixed and definite time, and when that is fulfilled, he says the event takes place which previously did not take place, as in the case before us, “and knew her not till she had brought forth a son.” It is clear, says he, that she was known after she brought forth, and that that knowledge was only delayed by her engendering a son. To defend his position he piles up text upon text, waves his sword like a blind-folded gladiator, rattles his noisy tongue, and ends with wounding no one but himself.