Sermons, preached partly before His Majesty at White-Hall and partly before Anne Dutchess of York, at the chappel at St. James / by Henry Killigrew ...

Woman.

That Christ should call the Blessed Virgin by the Name only that distinguish'd her Sex, Woman, and not by the Individual Name of her Person, Mary; nor yet by the Name of his Relation to her, Mother; that he should thus treat his Parent, as not his Pa∣rent, use a Compellation to her as a Stranger; was so surprizing and posing a Behaviour from him, that it has occasion'd many Different, and some Wild Ima∣ginations in men, why he did this thing. The Mon∣tanists and Valentinians (a sort of Hereticks who taught that our Saviour took not True Flesh from the Virgin) affirm'd, That he denies her here to be his Mother, and that these Words, Woman, what have I to do with thee? import as much as, Nihil tecum commune habeo, non agnosco te pro Matre, I am not of the same Nature with you, I acknowledge you not to be my Mother: But there is no ground from our Lord's Words to say, He made his Mother a Stranger to his Nature, though he made her a Stranger to his Busi∣ness. The Jovinians, Helvetians, and Eunomians af∣firm'd as extravagantly, That our Lord call'd her Wo∣man, to shew, that she continu'd no longer in her Virgin-State, than till she brought-forth him: But what S^t Augustine says, is not only agreeable with the Universal Tradition of the Church, but also with Scripture it self, Dicta est mulier, secundùm Foemininum Sexum, non secundùm corruptionem Virginitatis. Christ call'd her Woman in regard of her Sex, not of her Mar∣ried Condition; as God call'd Eve Woman the hour he created her, before he gave her to Adam for a Wife. The Papists, on the other side, who may be call'd Beatae Virginis Parasiti, the Parasites or Flatterers of

the Blessed Virgin, create to her an addition of Ho∣nour, and sing her New Magnificats, from her being call'd Woman. They say Christ styled her so upon the same account, that himself was styled The Son of Man, by way of Excellence, because she was some∣thing Above a Woman. But our Church (which has no other Interest in this matter, but the Truth; which honours the Blessed Virgin, but does not ido∣lize her; which celebrates her Sanctity, but makes no Markets of her Shrines) speaks as the Gospel gives her light, viz. That Christ, by the Compellation of Woman in this place, checks and rebukes her; that his Words are a Diminution and no Accession of Glory to her. The term Woman, I confess, in it self carries no Reproof or Asperity: neither did our Lord use it at other times to signifie his Displeasure. When he said to the Woman of Canaan, that be∣sought him to heal her Daughter, O Woman! great is thy Faith. He call'd her not Woman, because he was angry with her, but because she was a Stranger, known only to him by her Faith. But then, though to call a Stranger Woman, has no Asperity, yet to call a Mother so, has much Asperity. We find but one time only more besides this, that our Lord took up this Compellation to the Blessed Virgin, and that was when he hung upon the Cross; a time, I confess, when he had no displeasure at all to her, but contra∣riwise the most tender Resentment of her desolate Condition. When he bequeath'd her to the Care of his Beloved Disciple, he said to her, Woman, be∣hold thy Son. But though the Expression there im∣ply'd no Anger, it imply'd something of the like na∣ture with what it does in my Text: for as his calling of her Woman upon his entering on his Prophetick Office, imported the Expiration of her Maternal Au∣thority:

So his calling of her Woman at the hour of his Death, imported the Expiration of hers, and all other humane Relations to him; and that for the fu∣ture she was to look upon him as her Saviour, not as her Son; depend upon his Divine Providence, not his Filial Care of her.

It is not possible for a Son, with the preservation of his Duty and Reverence, to use a Term of Diminu∣tion, or but of Strangeness to a Parent, without some very important Reason to justifie it. But the Case and Condition of Christ, as I say, was at this time much alter'd: for when the Relation of Re∣deemer commenc'd, Carnal Relations began to cease; and when he was in a more evident manner declar'd to be the Son of God, his being the Son of Mary surceas'd and expir'd. He put this Question (con∣cerning his Divine Nature and Humane Alliance) afterwards to the Pharisees. The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my Right hand, until I make thine Enemies thy Footstool. Seeing Christ was the Son of David, says he, why does he call him Lord? viz. for this only reason, because the Greater and more Impor∣tant Relation, on some Occasions, swallows up the Less. As we see in the Case of a Father and a Son in a Commonwealth, when the Son comes to bear Of∣fice, the Father that was Superiour Oeconomically, and commanded in the Family, becomes Inferiour to his Son Politically, and is commanded by him in the State: and thus though Fabius Maximus might ap∣proach his Son, being a Private Person, on Horse∣back, or which way he pleas'd; yet when his Son was Consul, he might approach the Supreme Magistrate only on foot: and when the Lictors commanded him from his Son to alight, he not only obey'd, but re∣joic'd that he so rightly understood the Dignity he

bore. But I might have brought an Example from Scripture. When Joseph was in his Father's house, he paid humble Submission and Subjection to his Parents: but when he was advanc'd to be a Prince in Egypt, 'twas God's will, that not only the Elder Sheaves should do Obeysance to the Younger; but e∣ven that the Sun and Moon themselves, i. e. his Fa∣ther and Mother (by their Representatives his Bre∣thren) should bow their Heads in Homage to him. And by the same Rule, Christ, who express'd Obedi∣ence to his Parents while he appear'd nothing but their Son, had Obedience belonging to him, when it appear'd he was their Lord and Saviour.

But now, though these things are true, and that omnis Christi actio nostra est instructio, every Action of Christ is our Instruction: Yet it will concern us to take heed, that we rightly understand his Acti∣ons, and that we make not a wrong Construction of that, which was given to be our Instruction. We must not wrest or extend this Carriage of Christ to his Mother, to the Prejudice of our Parents Authority: for it does not warrant any one, that is a Son or Daughter among us, so soon as they are out of their Minority, to cry, Aetatem habeo, I am of Age, and owe no more Observance: Or as soon as they are promoted to any Dignity, presently to change their Behaviour, and to take up a new Compellation to them. No, in respect of a dutiful Regard to be paid to those that Bore and Educated us, Christ would have all men for ever to be Pupils, for ever to con∣tinue in a Voluntary Reverential Wardship, as I may say, to them: and we read▪ that he prefer'd Duty to Parents, even before the Corban; the Mainte∣nance of them, before the giving Oblations for the Reparations of the Temple. Again, no Spiritual

Change in our Condition absolves us from the Duty of Children; though we are called to a Divine Office and holy Ministry, we are not exempted from Filial Obedience and Natural Affection. And therefore the Doctrine of the Church of Rome in this particular is to be abominated, ubi pietatis genus du∣citur, esse crudelem, among whom it is held a Sublime and abstracted Piece of Piety, for those that are once enter'd into a Covent, to forget their Parents and Kindred according to the Flesh; as soon as their Persons are thus sequester'd from them, to sequester also their Natural Affections; and to espouse the In∣terest of their Spiritual Cognation, though it be ne∣ver so Prejudicial to their Natural. In some Cases indeed, religiosior est mentium copula, the Union of the Mind, upon long experience of mutual Vertue, may deservedly be counted a faster Tye, than that of Consanguinity, accompanied with less Vertue. As our Lord on this account preferr'd his Cognation to his Disciples, before that with his Kinsmen; e∣steem'd those to be nearer Allied to him, in whom he found Faith, than those that had the same Bloud run∣ning in their Veins. And looking upon his Disciples, he said, Behold my Brethren, my Sisters, and my Mo∣ther. But then in such Changes of Condition, as are the mere Inventions of Men, as the Orders of Friars, and their Rules of Worship are, to add Barbarity to Superstition, under the pretence of Greater Sanctity to shake off the Duties of Humani∣ty, no Church can justifie, but that which justifies yet greater Impieties. I proceed to the second Cir∣cumstance I observed in Christ's reproving his Mo∣ther, the Terms in which he reproved her,