John Trapp on Matthew 1:25

Verse 25. And knew her not till she had brought forth.] We thinke hardly of him that taketh to wife the widow and relict of another, that is left great with childe, before she hath laid down her burden; how much more in this case? Besides this might be part of the Angels charge to him: that after she had brought forth her Son Jesus: she continued still a virgin, [illegible: 2 words]: 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 [illegible: 1 word] 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 over shadowing the [illegible: 1 word] virgin. As for the Papists that disgrace it, they appear herein more like devils then Divines. If the1 Tim 4. 1. same God had not been the authour of virginity and marriage, he had never countenanced virginity by marriage, as he did in the Virgin Mary.