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 ...

The Third Sermon. (Book 3)

JOHN ii.4.

—Woman, What have I to do with thee? my hour is not yet come.

OUR Saviour's turning Water into Wine at the Marriage-Feast in Cana of Galilee, was not only the first Miracle he wrought, but, as I may say, the first Revelation of the Messiah to the World: For the Wonderful Conception of him by a Virgin, the Vision of Angels declaring his Birth, the Star pointing out his Cradle, and the like, may rather be reckoned among the Prophecies, than the Revelations of him; the Types and Shadows of him in the Law, than for the Completion of them in his Person. The Meanness and Obscurity of his Education and Parentage did again so darken the Glorious Pro∣gnosticks that usher'd him into the World, that he was still the Messi••h under a Veil, the Saviour to be gi∣ven and the Christ to come. But when he once en∣ter'd on the Execution of his Office, and began to teach, and Work Miracles; when at this poor but holy Feast in Cana of Galilee he turn'd Water into

Wine, and gave not only an Instance of his Benigni∣ty to his Creatures, but of his Power over the Crea∣tures, then, as our Apostle says, He Manifested his Glory, and lay no longer under the Disguise of Fa∣bri Filius, the Carpenter's Son, but prov'd himself to be Fabricator Mundi, the Creator of the Uni∣verse! What we read in the Gospel hitherto, is of the Child Jesus, now it, first, treats of the Lord Je∣sus; to this Period it relates his Obedience to his Pa∣rents, but now it shews the time that his Parents were to be Obedient to him. If Mary therefore upon the Score of her Maternal Authority affects still to exer∣cise a Dominion over him, he checks her by the Right of his Divine Authority; if she intimates that her Desires are to be comply'd with, he lets her know his own appointed Seasons are to be attended; and the Submission to be paid to him, which she expected from him. When they wanted Wine, the Mother of Iesus said unto him, They have no Wine. Jesus said unto her, Woman, What have I to do with thee? my hour is not yet come.

The Words offer more especially to our Considera∣tion these two things:

I. Our Saviour's Check or Reproof of his Mother, Woman, What have I to do with thee?

II. The Reason of his Checking or Reproving her, Because she importun'd him Unseasonably, when his Hour was not yet come.

In the Reproof we may reflect again upon two things: The Name he calls her by, Woman: And the Terms in which he reproves her, What have I to do with thee? I begin first with the Name he calls her by,

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,

What have I to do with thee?

This was a Phrase used among the Jews, to repulse those that moved any thing to them unseasonably, or unworthy of them to do in their Opinion; and also to express their Resentment, if they thought themselves hardly dealt with. The Widow of Ze∣rephath used it this last way to the Prophet Elijah, when she conceiv'd the Cohabitation of so holy a Person with her, and his near Inspection into her Life, was the Cause of her Childs death, What have I to do with thee (says she) O thou Man of God! art thou come unto me to call my Sins to remembrance, and to slay my Son? And David used it the first way, 2 Sam. 19. to Abishai, urging him to put Shimei to death upon the Day of his Restoration to the King∣dom, because he had Curs'd him in his Flight from Jerusalem. Says he, What have I to do with you, ye Sons of Zerviah? And notwithstanding the great Dislike and Offence this Phrase exprest, our Lord forbore not to use it to his Mother, intermedling in his Divine Employment, Woman, says he, What have I to do with thee?

I confess it was durum Dictum, a harsh Speech, con∣sidering the Person to whom 'twas spoken: but 'twas also, if rightly weighed, frugiferum Dictum, a Speech full of good Instruction and Profit: For it shews Christ's equal and impartial Deportment, as he is a Lord and Saviour, to all Persons whatsoever, with∣out Consideration of Country, Acquaintance, or Kindred: The very Womb that bare him, in an Un∣advis'd Action, shall not go away without a Rebuke; if his Mother does that which is Dishonourable to his Office, she shall hear that which is less honourable

to her Relation; if she forgets her Duty, he will for∣get her Name and Title. A good Lesson for those Favourites of Christ in these our Days, who call themselves his Elect, and his Darling Children, how∣ever they live in Disobedience to his Laws; and fansie he can see nothing in them that displeases him, what∣ever wickedness they commit. Though Propinquity in Grace be more in Christ's account, than Propin∣quity in Bloud: yet if even those that are ally'd to him by Grace, sin presumptuously against him, they will find him but a rough Kinsman. Though Coniah were as the Signet upon my Right hand, says God, yet would I pluck him thence. And if Peter, the most Zealous of the Apostles, shall take upon him to tempt Christ, he shall bear the Name of Adversary, Get thee behind me Satan. If the Provocations of the Servants of God be Great, however near and close their former Relation to him was, they will find him as far Estranged from them: and in Case their Pro∣vocations be of a less and meaner Allay, they will re∣ceive a Check, as the Blessed Virgin here did. And so I proceed to the Reason why Christ reprov'd her, Be∣cause she unseasonably interpos'd in what she ought not to have meddled, prompted him to work a Mira∣cle before his Time was come.

—My Time, says he, is not yet come.

These, and the foregoing Words, Woman, what have I to do with thee? utterly o'erthrow all the vain and false Glories, which the Church of Rome Super∣stitiously, Idolatrously, and injuriously, rather than Devoutly, heap upon our Lady: ascribing to her impeccability and being born without Sin, the Title of Queen of Heaven, and a perpetual Regency over

her Son, &c. But as Stout and resolute Souldiers, where the Works are weakest, shew the greatest Va∣lour: So those of that Church shrink not for all the Assault they receive from my Text; but the ruder the Shock is, the more obstinately they maintain their Post. They affirm that the Action of the Bles∣sed Virgin here was not only without Blame, but full of Faith, Charity, Humility, Prudence, &c. and that Christ was so far from being angry with her, or having any Cause given him to be so, that he took up a feigned and dissembled Dislike, to have an Occa∣sion only to teach the World, and not her neither, That the Power by which a Prophet works Miracles, is not derived from his Parents, nor to be governed by them, but wholly by the Spirit of God, says Cor∣nelius à Lapide, In ipsa nulla fuit culpa: ergo non vera fuit Christi reprehensio, reprehendere tamen illam vide∣tur, ut non ipsam, sed nos doceret, in operibus thean∣dricis parentes nihil habent juris, and so forth. Thus the Jesuite is not asham'd to make our Lord Jesuitize, i. e. falsifie and dissemble: but the time would be ill spent to confute such gross Follies and Blasphemies, which chuse rather to find a Miscarriage in Christ, than in his Mother; to make him angry without a Cause, or to feign an Unjust Anger, than to allow it possible for her to give him a Just Cause to be angry. But the Explanation of these Words [my hour is not yet come] will more plainly shew wherein our Lady deserv'd a Reprehension.

The Hour of Christ is sometimes understood of the Hour of his Death, as 'tis said, They could not lay hold of him, because his Hour was not yet come. But here it is to be understood of his Season or Opportuni∣ty to do a thing: as when he answered his Brethren, that ask'd him to go up to Jerusalem to the Feast, Your

Time, says he, is always, but my Time is not yet come. But here by the way, we must not conceive any thing of the Hours assign'd to Christ of that nature, which the Arrians and Priscillians did, who said, He was subject to Fate and Necessity, and bound up to the Observation of Times, and could not therefore be the Eternal Son of God. Christ's Death was not impos'd on him by any Fatal Necessity, as himself de∣clares Chap. 10. and 18. of our Evangelist: No man taketh my Life from me, says he, but I lay it down of my self, I have Power to lay it down, and I have Power to take it up. But when 'tis said, The Hour of his Death was not yet come, it means no more than this, That he had not yet finish'd the Work for which he came into the World, he had not fully preach'd the Gospel, accomplish'd the Prophecies that were of him, confirm'd his Disciples, &c. i. e. the Hour by his own Eternal Wisdom chosen, was not yet come; the Hour, as S^t Augustine speaks, non Necessitatis, sed Voluntatis; the Hour not of his Necessity, but his Will; not of his Constraint, but of his Counsel. And the like may be said of the Hour of his working Miracles, he attended no Critical Minute, or favour∣able Conjuncture of the Stars to assist him: as to his Power, he could have wrought them when he would, every Hour was the Hour of his Power, but every Hour was not the Hour of his Opportunity; he could have turned the Water into Wine at the time his Mother spoke to him, as well as at any other, but the End for which he did it, would not have fallen out so Easily and Naturally at one time, as at ano∣ther; and though the Miracle had been the same, the Effect would not have been so great. An Opportunity is not to be measured or judged by the Power of the Agent, but by the Purpose and Design of his Action;

and the Purpose of Christ's present Action here was, to give a Testimony of his Divine Power, that Men might the readilier believe in him; his Inferiour and Subordinate Purpose to this was So to dispose his Mi∣racle, as it might best conduce to this End.

And in the first place therefore 'twas of no small Moment, that he should order it so, that he might be seen to be the Free and Sole Agent of it, with∣out any Complice or Confederate, without Mo∣nitor or Director: that it proceeded meerly from a Divine Motive as well as Power, and tended to a Divine End; to use our Adversaries Words, that in operibus Theandricis Parentes nihil habent juris, a Pro∣phets Parents have nothing to do in his Divine Opera∣tions. It was enough alone to have put off the Hour of Christ's working this Miracle, had it been come, his Mothers prompting him to do it. Secondly, It was of great Importance to chuse the most Advan∣tageous Season or Minute for the Performance of it, viz. when it would be both most remarkable, and most grateful; and that would have been after the perfect Absumption of the Wine provided for the Feast, when the Guests felt the Defect of it: Abundance is most welcome, when it succeeds Want. Thirdly, It was considerable to perform it, when it was sure to move the Greatest Admiration and Astonishment; and that was, before there was any Intimation or Ex∣pectation of it. The Surprize of a Rare Event cre∣ates most Wonder: as we see the Good Wine did here in the Master of the Feast, he not knowing whence it came; the Unexpected Change and Excel∣lence of it was a Miracle to him, before he knew 'twas derived from a Miracle.

Now the Blessed Virgin forestall'd and discompos'd all these Divine and Prudential Purposes of our

Lord. First, By her inconsiderate Advising him of the Want of Wine, she disparag'd his Prophetick Power, as if he had been Ignorant, or less Observant of what past, and of what was needful for him to do; and he might well answer her trifling Solicitude with Indignation: as Elisha did the young Prophets, that took upon them to inform him, that his Master would be taken that day from his head: I know that, says he, hold ye your peace. Secondly, She precipi∣tated the Proper Season of the Miracle, and had her motion taken place, the Benefit of it would scarce have appeared to have been a Benefit. Thirdly, She appears, by interposing her Motherly Authority, to have affected part of the Glory of the Miracle, ut quae Filium haberet tali potentia praeditum, as being the Mother of such a Wonderful Son: so that what∣ever Honour Christ had acquired, a share of it might redound to the Womb that bare him, and to the Paps that gave him suck. Fourthly, The highest Motive which seems to have induced her to desire the Mira∣cle, was some Secular Regard: as to oblige the Mar∣ried Couple, to gratifie the Guests, or the like: and this appears by her whispering to the Servants to ob∣serve what our Lord commanded them, as a benefi∣cial Obedience to all that were concerned in the Feast.

And thus her Purpose was as different from Christ's Purpose, her Design from his Design: as Good Cheer is from Preaching the Gospel; as Wine is another thing from Faith; complementing a Friend from Converting men to Christianity; and she justly de∣served the Reprehension she received. For 'twas too low and mean an Imagination of his Power, that 'twas to be engaged meerely to supply the Defects of a Meal, that those Divine Operations that were de∣sign'd

to destroy the Kingdom of Satan, and to set up the Kingdom of God in the World, were fit to be terminated, as well as employed, in serving Tables. We read indeed in the Legend of Romish Saints, that a holy Abbot or Hermit meeting with another holy Abbot or Hermit, (meerly to exercise their Faith, and to shew which had the greater Favour with God, and the profuser measure of his Graces) would vie Mira∣cles with one another, as Juglers do Tricks, remove a Hill, or change the Site of a Forest, and the like: Inventions, as one says, ferrei oris, & plumbei cordis, of a blockish Understanding, and a shameless Impu∣dence. Christ did not prostitute his Miracles, to light or Vain-glorious Purposes: That he turn'd Water in∣to Wine at the present Marriage-Feast, was not so much to gratifie the Palates of the Company, as to give them, and the World after them, a Taste of the Inocciduum Nectar, the Fruit of the Eternal Vine that grows only in his Father's Kingdom.

And here it may be worthy our Observation, That both Christ and his Apostles were many times more Se∣vere against the Mistakes of Men, than against their Misdeeds; more offended with those that did not rightly Apprehend the Faith and the Design of it, than those that Oppos'd it. Get thee behind me, Sa∣tan, was a Sharp Reproof, not for Infidelity, but for an Unadvised Carnal Tenderness shew'd to Christ. Ananias and Sapphira were made terrible Examples, not again for Denying the Faith, but for thinking a Cheat or Lye were reconcileable with the Profession of it, or could be hid from the Spirit of God. And in the Passage here before us, notwithstanding the A∣ction of the Blessed Virgin was not without Good-Will, Charity, and a Perswasion of Christ's Divine Power: yet because she had not a due Regard of

that Divine Power, of the Dignity of a Miracle, and our Lord's Office, but thought she might be the Dis∣poser of them, she received a sharp Rebuke.

And if ever this Observation was worthy a Serious Consideration and adverting to, 'tis in these Days, in which the Gospel is so Universally profest, and the Faith so Factiously Contended for, and the Principal Purpose and Design of it so little regarded. The Church of Rome on the one side, stands upon the An∣tiquity of her Religion and Worship, though her Antiquity be no better, than that of an old Ship's, which has been pieced and altered, till little remains, beside the Name, of the first Building; Ignorance and Superstition in some Ages, and Interest and Am∣bition in all, having patcht up their boasted Anti∣quity, till 'tis liker to Heathenism, than the Gospel at first profest in that Church: We of this Nation on the other side stand as much upon our Reformation, and because our Doctrine and Worship are more holy and consonant to Scripture, we care not though our Lives and Manners be worse than theirs whose Errors we condemn. There are others again among us, who are perswaded they have yet purer Ordi∣nances than we, and that they have Reformed the Reformation; and so it be to promote their Preten∣ces, that Faction, Schism, Sedition, Treason, Mur∣der of Princes, and Subversion of States, are a Justi∣fiable and Holy Zeal. These Misapprehensions and Erroneous Conceits in Religion, I say, are more per∣nicious to it, and hateful to God, than direct Op∣position and Blasphemy against it; and Turks, Jews, and Infidels have not hindred the Progress and Pro∣pagation of the Gospel so much, as the Scandalous Dissensions and the Unsutable Lives of the Professors of it. And all this while, the Ways and Modes of

serving God are not the Service of God it self, but Holiness, Righteousness, Charity, Obedience, Meek∣nees, Peaceableness, and the like. All Manners and Forms of Worship are good, that are consonant to Scripture, conduce to Edification, and establisht by Just Authority, I say, and establisht by Just Au∣thority: for 'tis not allow'd to Private Men to be the Fashioners or Chusers of the Publick Way of Worship; if this were permitted, the Issue would be only Confusion; and the Dissensions about the Cir∣cumstances of Religion, would destroy the Substance and Essentials of it. Christ laid not down his Life to establish these or those Rites or Forms of Worship, but, as himself professes, To destroy the Works of the Devil. And this is that which ought to be the Busi∣ness and Concern of his Followers, that about which all their Care and Sollicitude should be employ'd, a∣gainst which their Anger and Animosity should be directed, I say, to abolish Sin, and to make Vertue and Piety flourish in the Earth. And they that lay not the Weight and Stress of Religion in this, are Impertinent and Trifling in the Faith, and Impious in their Zeal; they understand not the most Material and weighty Part of their Profession; and instead of receiving an Euge, or Well-done from Christ at the last Day, they will receive a Check or Increpa∣tion, as the Blessed Virgin did in my Text, and not only so, but a Renunciation and a Condemnation. God give us Grace to be Wise in a Wise Religion; and Holy in a Holy Faith: and to God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost be ascribed all Honour, Glory and Thanksgiving, now, and for evermore. Amen.