LITMIR.BIZ

      CHAPTER II.

      1 An angel appears to Joachim,

       9 and informs him that Anna shall conceive and

       bring forth a daughter, who shall be called Mary,

       11 be brought up in the temple,

       12 and while yet a virgin, in a way unparalleled,

       bring forth the Son of God:

       13 Gives him a sign,

       14 and departs.

      BUT when he had been there for

       some time, on a certain day

       when he was alone, the angel

       of the Lord stood by him with

       a prodigious light.

      2 To whom, being troubled at

       the appearance, the angel who had

       appeared to him, endeavouring to

       compose him, said:

      3 Be not afraid, Joachim, nor

       troubled at the sight of me, for

       I am an angel of the Lord sent by

       him to you, that I might inform

       you that your prayers are heard,

       and your alms ascended in the

       sight of God.

      4 For he hath surely seen your

       shame, and heard you unjustly

       reproached for not having children:

       for God is the avenger of sin,

       and not of nature;

      5 And so when he shuts the

       womb of any person, he does it for

       this reason, that he may in a more

       wonderful manner again open it,

       and that which is born appear to

       be not the product of lust, but the

       gift of God.

      6 For the first mother of your

       nation, Sarah, was she not barren

       even till her eightieth year: and

       yet even in the end of her old age

       brought forth Isaac, in whom the

       promise was made of a blessing to

       all nations.

      7 Rachel, also, so much in

       favour with God, and beloved so

       much by holy Jacob, continued

       barren for a long time, yet

       afterwards was the mother of Joseph,

       who was not only governor of

       Egypt, but delivered many nations

       from perishing with hunger.

      8 Who among the judges was

       more valiant than Sampson, or more

       holy than Samuel? And yet both

       their mothers were barren.

      9 But if reason will not convince

       you of the truth of my words, that

       there are frequent conceptions in

       advanced years, and that those

       who were barren have brought forth

       to their great surprise; therefore

       Anna your wife shall bring you a

       daughter, and you shall call her

       name Mary;

      10 She shall, according to your

       vow, be devoted to the Lord from

       her infancy, and be filled with the

       Holy Ghost from her mother's

       womb;

      11 She shall neither eat nor

       drink any thing which is unclean,

       nor shall her conversation be

       without among the common people,

       but in the temple of the Lord;

       that so she may not fall under any

       slander or suspicion of what is bad.

      12 So in the process of her

       years, as she shall be in a

       miraculous manner born of one that

       was barren, so she shall, while yet

       a virgin, in a way unparalleled,

       bring forth the Son of the most

       High God, who shall, be called

       Jesus, and, according to the

       signification of his name, be the

       Saviour of all nations.

      13 And this shall be a sign to

       you of the things which I declare,

       namely, when you come to the

       golden gate of Jerusalem, you

       shall there meet your wife Anna,

       who being very much troubled

       that you returned no sooner, shall

       then rejoice to see you.

      14 When the angel had said this,

       he departed from him.