Sermons and discourses upon several occasions by G. Stradling ... ; together with an account of the author.

A SERMON Preached on the Annunciation. (Book 1)

St. LUKE XI. v. 27, 28.

And it came to pass as he spake these things, a certain woman of the com∣pany lift up her voice, and said un∣to him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. But he said, Yea, ra∣ther blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it.

AND it came to pass as he spake these things, a certain woman lift up her voice; And had she not done so, had all the Auditory been si∣lent,

the Stones would have immediate∣ly ery'd out and applauded the Speaker.* 1.1 And yet, though never Man spake as He did, the harder Jews were of full proof here against his Eloquence; A generati∣on of Vipers, not to be charm'd by the wisest Charmer, who could as easily resist his Words as they had done his Miracles. Each of these might convince, but both together could not change them; so that their Infidelity over-mastering his Omnipotency, it prov'd a harder task for him to dispossess them, than the dumb man, v. 14. the occasion of our Saviour's discourse here, and of the Jews envy.

Yet could not their untoward dispo∣sition make void the word of God, espe∣cially when proceeding from the mouth of the Word Incarnate: Here, to be sure, it should not altogether miss of its ef∣fect; nor did the Seed sown by him wholly fall on such rocky ground, some part thereof met with a fitter soil to re∣ceive and cherish it. One there was, a∣mong the rest, of a more tender com∣plexion, whom God's hand had chaft into a suppleness capable of his impressi∣ons. In the midst of all opposition from

the Jewish Doctors, he raises up a cer∣tain Woman to check and frustrate it; His Truth opens her Mouth, as his Grace her Heart, to bless him whom they cur∣sed, and to proclaim him a▪ Prophet whom they gave out for a Devil. Thus can the Almighty out of the mouth of Infants, or such-like weak Instruments, those that bring them forth, perfect his own Praises, and give them that cou∣rage to maintain his Cause which Nature had deny'd them. For let the learned Scribes and Pharisees revile him never so much, this single weak Woman here shall dare to defend his Truth against their Slanders, and magnifie his Person in spight of their malitious Contempt. And now her Tongue, mov'd by that Holy Spirit whom these Revilers blas∣phemed and resisted, pronounces not only Christ himself Blessed, but the very womb that bare him, and the paps that gave him suck; reflecting a Glory from the Son on the Mother, which our Lord was not unwilling she should share in; allowing her Blessed, though not most Blessed in that respect; granting it her as her privilege, not as the sole, much less the best reason of her Blessedness:

A Blessedness others might not despair of, Men no more than Women, who by a diligent attendance to God's Word conceiving, and by a conscionable prac∣tice of its Precepts bringing Christ forth, might each of them become his Mother too; As if our Lord should have said, Thou, O woman, pronouncest the womb bles∣sed that bare me, and the paps that I have suckt: And herein thou say'st true, for she is indeed even thus Blessed, and all generations shall call her so: but I will tell thee who are rather Blessed, They that hear the Word of God, and keep it.

I shall not pretend to tell you, as some here doe, who this Woman was, nor what her name; but 'tis not strange those per∣sons should be able to find out unknown names, who can at their pleasure Saint folks, as they have done this Woman in the Text; it being as easie for them to Christen, as to Canonize. But of this the Text is silent, and 'tis not of such consequence to know who she was, as what she says; her Testimony being much more material than her Person. Which Testimony here directly points to Christ, and but glances at the Holy Virgin; it being usual with the Jews to

magnifie the Parents of those they chiefly intend to commend, and not to be won∣der'd at, if a Woman were so willing to extoll her own Sex; or a Jewish Woman the Paps and Womb of a Mother, who could fancy nothing beyond the Milk and Honey of her Canaan.

I shall not consider the words as they point to our Lord himself, (who is above our praises, over all, God blessed for ever)* 1.2 but as they occasionally reflect on his Mother; A subject proper to this day's Festival, and wherein there are two things considerable.

• 1. The Testimony given in by this Woman, and allow'd by Christ, that she that bare and nurs'd him up was Bles∣sed.
• 2. A Way or Means propos'd by our Lord, whereby others as well as she, might be not only Blessed, but more Blessed than the very Mother of God, considered barely under that Relation; and that is, By hearing the Word of God, and keeping it.

Which two things, when I shall have briefly spoken to, I shall then in the close endeavour, 1. To shew you how the Holy Virgin was in this latter respect

Blessed above all her Sex, anointed, like her Son, with the Oyl of Gladness above her fellows, in being as much the Mo∣ther of God, and as properly in a Spiri∣tual as ever she was in a Carnal sense. 2. And, secondly, to stir you up to an imitation of those her Vertues and Per∣fections, which, as they entitled her to this more divine and blessed Relation, will us too, proportionably as they shall be found in every one of us.

The first thing that offers its self here is the Woman's Testimony allow'd by Christ, That she that bare him was Bles∣sed; and for that very reason too. In the time of the Law 'twas accounted a great Blessing to be a Mother in Israel; Barrenness being then as infamous, as Fruitfulness was honourable. To have still preserv'd their Virginity, was in most people's conceit as bad as to have betray'd it; insomuch that some have more bitterly lamented that, than their untimely death, or which is more, their sins. The reason which the Jewish Doc∣tors give us of this strange passion, was, Because the Messiah being to come, every one that was not barren might hope to be that person that should have the ho∣nour

to bring him into the World. And as all the Daughters of Israel were most ambitious of it, so about the time Christ came in the flesh, the expectation of the Messiah's Revelation was very high and pregnant.

Whether this Woman in the Text took our Lord for the true Messiah, that great Prophet that should come in∣to the World (which yet 'tis not im∣probable she might guess him to be by the visible power of his Miracles, and, which was as admirable, the force of his persuasions) is altogether uncertain; But this is certain, that she lookt upon him as an extraordinary person sent from God, and, as such, one that might justly ennoble his Parents and Relations. This, as it was a great Truth, so 'twas not all; and our Saviour did not only here al∣low this Woman's Testimony for good, but farther improve it, by expresly re∣vealing Himself to be the Messiah, which is called Christ, Joh. 4. 25 the Holy One of Israel, and the glory of its People; a Monarch, but a spiritual one, to whose Sceptre all Nations and Souls should bow; such a King as had Heaven for his Throne, and the Earth for his Foot∣stool;

That the Desire of Nations was now come, so long before promised by God, foretold by the Prophets, expected by the Patriarchs, infinitely wisht by all just Men, with a desire equal to their necessities; And to be the Mother of such a Prince as this, to inclose Him in her bowels whom the Heaven of Hea∣vens could not encircle, to be the Mo∣ther of God, Deipara: (A Title bestow'd* 1.3 on the Blessed Virgin by a General Coun∣cil, and which we may safely allow her:) This was more than to have descended from the Loins of the Kings of Judah, or the most glorious Monarchs of the Earth; An honour which the greatest Queens thereof would willingly have purchas'd even with the loss of their temporal Diadems; A thing which ne∣ver happened but once, and can never any more, unless a Saviour could again be born; so that there can never any more be such a Mother, because never again such a Son. We reade, Gen. 5. 2. that the Sons of God joined themselves to the Daughters of Men, but that God himself should vouchsafe a poor Virgin that honour he is pleas'd to bestow upon his Church, to call her his Spouse, the

great Creator, (He by whom all things* 1.4 were made, and do consist,) not disdain to be made the Son of his own Creature, and own himself as it were beholding to that Creature for something, which he that has all things had not, a gar∣ment of flesh (such a garment, as he can no more put off now than He can his Godhead, for, quod semel assampsit, nun∣quam dimisit.) This, I say, was a strange Condescension in the Almighty, and a peculiar honour done to the Holy Vir∣gin, who was cull'd out for this purpose from the rest of Women, and may there∣fore very well be styl'd Blessed among, yea and above them, the top and glory of her Sex, as in whom the whole Tri∣nity now met to consult, not as at the Creation to make Man, but Deum-Ho∣minem, to unite God and Man in one Person of the Word; so that as the Fa∣ther bespeaks the Son, Psal. 2. 7. Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee: The Blessed Virgin might to her immor∣tal honour say too, This day have I con∣ceived thee.

Nor was this all; To be such a Mo∣ther, was indeed a high Privilege; but* 1.5 to be a Mother, and yet still a Virgin,

wonderfull as that Son she brings forth. This had the Prophet Esay long before* 1.6 foretold, ch. 7. 14. Behold a Virgin shall conceive: But the Prophet Jeremy, not content with that, gives it out for a strange and unheard-of thing, (and so indeed it was) more strange than Christ's coming into the house, the doors being shut, Joh. 20. 26. The Lord (says he, ch. 31. 22.) hath created a new thing in the Earth, a Woman shall compass a Man; i. e. A Virgin (still continuing such, o∣therwise sure it were no new thing) shall in her Womb inclose a Man child, and such a Man as the same Prophet styles Immanuel, God with us, chap. 8. 8.* 1.7 and chap. 9. 6. The mighty God, the ever∣lasting Father, the Prince of Peace, (e∣nough to silence the incredulous blasphe∣ming Jew;) so that these two Glories, like the two Luminaries of Heaven, met in the Mother of our Lord, (which ne∣ver happened to any before, nor shall ever hereafter,) that of a Mother and of a Virgin; the Fruitfulness of the one, and the Purity of the other.

But these things, as they were the Holy Virgin's Privileges, and in some sort her Happiness too; so there was

something that render'd her yet more blessed, by being a Blessing to us, in conveying to us the greatest good that ever could happen to Men. For as her Son is the Fountain of those living streams which refresh the Sons of Men; so was this Mother the golden Pipe to derive them to them. 'Tis of his fulness we all receive, but by her; The promise of our Redemption, as it was as old as our Fall; Gen. 3. 15. The seed of the Woman shall bruise the Serpent's head; so was it literally fulfilled in this Wo∣man, of whom St. Paul says Christ was made, Gal. 4. 4. i. e. from whom He took the matter of that Body, wherein He wrought out our Redemption; the full import of St. Paul's 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and St. John's too, Joh. 1. 14. For however the Anabaptist dream of a Body fram'd in Heaven, which pass'd through the Holy Virgin as water through a Con∣duit-pipe; yet cannot this fancy possi∣bly consist with the work of Man's Re∣demption, which could not have been perform'd but in such a Body as his own; nor could the Seed of the Wo∣man be said to bruise the Serpent's head, had not Christ been conceived of that

Seed; nor the Promise renew'd to Abra∣ham, Gen. 22. 18. In thy seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed, have been made good, had not the Mother of our Lord descended from his loins too. And surely well may she be call'd Blessed, without whom we could never have been so, since 'twas she that furnish'd those Materials that repair'd our ruines, from whose Bloud also flow'd that most pretious One, which alone can cleanse and redeem us. Our Mother Eve could brag when she had brought forth her first-begotten, (and he but an untoward Child, for St. John tells us he was of that wicked one the Devil, 1 John 3. 12. as all other Reprobates are there said to be, vers. 10.) I have gotten a Man from the Lord, Gen. 4. 1. i. e. (as some interpret the words) That famous Man the Lord, fancying Cain to be that Seed of the Woman that should bruise the Serpent's head: But how truly may each of us now say, Possedi Deum per Virginem, I have gotten the Lord my Redeemer by the means of a pure Virgin, of whom my Saviour was made Man, that I might be made the Son of God. How much better may the Virgin Mary deserve the name

of the Mother of all the Living than Eve did, Gen. 3. 20. who at best con∣vey'd unto us but a Natural, whereas the former a Spiritual life, in giving us Him who is the Life: so far was Eve from being Mater Viventium in this sense, that she brought forth all her Po∣sterity still-born into the World, dead in* 1.8 trespasses and sins. She indeed heark∣ned to the Suggestions of an evil Spirit, but the Holy Virgin to the Message of a good one; If she were the Mother of the Living, then this, of the Predesti∣nate; and if by the former Satan brui∣sed our heel, by this Anti-Eve we crush his head, being instated in a better con∣dition than we had forfeited. Now if they who were the first 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Bene∣factors to Mankind were thought wor∣thy of divine Honours, (the first occa∣sion of Idolatry, there being nothing that renders a person more like God than to doe good, especially to oblige all Manking, nothing that could raise such Persons so high in the Esteem of Mortals as such a large and comprehen∣sive Goodness,) surely none came so near the Almighty in this so divine a quality as the Holy Virgin did; by

whose means not only the Inhabitants of the Earth, but, in some sort too, those of Heaven became certainly and immu∣tably* 1.9 Blessed, confirm'd in such a state of happiness by her Son as they are un∣capable of losing; And therefore well might the Angel pronounce her Blessed, who, with the rest of his Order, were so much obliged by her; And surely all generations of Men much more, who in part owe unto her their recovery, and those hopes they have of being one day 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 alike Blessed with them; and if St. Paul was Blessed in being a chosen Vessel to bear Christ's name, then the Holy Virgin much more, by conveying a humane Nature to him, who alone makes us partakers of the divine one. All these advantages had the Mother of God; glorious indeed, but not the chief∣est part of her happiness; nor was she to value her self for her relation, purely considered in its self; Yea, rather, Blessed are they, says our Lord, who hear the Word of God and keep it.

Whereby it appears how little he set by any carnal propinquity, and how much nearer and dearer to him the Righteous are than his own bloud; not

that he did in the least despise his Pa∣rents, (for his own Example preaches Subjection to them, Luke 2. 51.) but only preferr Spiritual kindred to Carnal, as he often does, letting us know, That* 1.10 to doe the will of his Father which is in Heaven, is, to be his Brother, Sister and Mother, Matth. 12. 50. That true Chri∣stian Heraldry is founded in Grace, and not in Bloud; That to be joined unto him in one Spirit is a closer Union than to be united to him in the flesh, and to be obedient to his Commands far more advantageous than to relate to his Per∣son. Nay so little would our Lord have us too to prize such outward things as these, that unless in some cases we hate Father and Mother, Wife and Children, Brethren and our selves too, he plainly tells us, we cannot be his Disciples, Luke 14. 26. And for this reason Moses bles∣sed Levi, Deut. 33. 9. Who said unto his Father, and to his Mother, I have not seen him, neither did he acknowledge his Bre∣thren, nor knew his own Children; but ob∣served God's Word, and kept his Covenant. This is certain, that all outward favours and privileges, how pompous soever in themselves, are wholly insignificant and

ineffectual without the grace of Obedi∣ence, being at best but gratioe gratis da∣toe, non gratum facientes, rather ornaments than benefits; which as we are not thank∣lesly to over-slip, so neither presumptu∣ously to over-ween. See how little ac∣count St. Paul makes of them, 2 Cor. 5. 16. Though we have known Christ after the flesh, have familiarly convers'd with him, been eye-witnesses of all those glo∣rious things he did, as his Apostles; yet now henceforth know we him no more, we disclaim all such carnal acquain∣tance; and if we should know Christ no better, he would not know us, nor own us for his; we might be nearly re∣lated to him, and yet be far enough from him, and without him; for so 'tis ex∣presly recorded of some of his Brethren, that they did not believe in him; Joh. 7. 5. So far were they from looking upon him as their Saviour, that they took him for no better than a mad-man, one besides himself, Mark 3. 21. (though in process of time some of them indeed became his disciples) and no doubt of Christ's Ge∣nealogy not a few were eternally lost. The Jews much prided themselves in be∣ing Abraham's sons, and yet one of them

that calls himself so, fryes in Hell. What did it avail Saul to be a Prophet, or Ju∣das an Apostle, when such privileges serv'd them for no other purpose but to enhanse their damnation? We reade not of any dignified with more glori∣ous Prerogatives than these two, the Blessed Virgin and St. John the Evange∣list; the one for bearing our Saviour in her Womb, and the other for leaning on his Breast; yet how little had these things benefited them, had not Faith and Piety seasoned such outward privileges, and made them as gracious as they were glorious. Happier Mary for bearing Christ's Sayings in her Heart, than Him∣self in her Womb; in that she partook of the Merit, than imparted the Matter and Substance of his bloud; 'Twas not so much the loveliness of her Mother∣hood, as the lowliness of her Handmaid∣ship that He regarded; And how much happier St. John too, in carrying his Sa∣viour in his own bosom, than in leaning on his. The far greater happiness of the two, but common to every one of us; The more excellent way being our spi∣ritual relation, without which Christ will* 1.11 be ashamed to call us his Disciples, Bre∣thren

or Mothers. Bring then but a good Ear, but especially a good Heart; Let thy Saviour in by that, and get him form'd in this most sanctify'd Womb of thy Soul; i. e. conceive him by thy Faith in the hearing of his holy Word, and bring him forth by thy Obedience in the practice of its divine Precepts, and then shalt thou be a much happier Mother of thy Lord, than if he had been a part of thine own bowels; Thou hast his own Word for it; Yea, rather, Bles∣sed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it; The proper way or means whereby every Christian is to be happy, and more happy than the Mother of God, meerly according to the flesh, and my next part.

Blessed are they, 1. That hear. And no doubt, a Blessing belongs to that in the first place. 'Tis a fundamental and original Duty, the Nurse of all other Duties we owe to God; Hearing and Receiving the Word being the inlet to Faith and Piety. 1. To Faith, for that comes by hearing, Rom. 10. 17. the sense of divine as of humane Discipline. 2. To Piety; so our Saviour, Job. 17. 17. Sanc∣tifie them by they word, thy word is truth.

For as the first Insinuations of Sin were conveyed by the Ear; so are the first Inspirations of Grace let in by the same door: with this, God began his Law, Deut. 4. 1. and with this, Christ his Go∣spel too, Mat. 17. 5. This is my beloved Son, hear ye him. And his voice alone we must hear, not the voice of strangers, Joh. 10. 4, 5. The proper object to which our great Shepherd here limits our Hearing; being the Word of God, not the uncertain Traditions or pre∣tended Revelations of Fanatical Men, vainly pufft up by their fleshly mind.

I shall not press the necessity of a Du∣ty so frequently and clearly requir'd by the Scriptures, nor indeed need I, Men being generally so fully persuaded of it:* 1.12 and 'twere to be wisht they were as swift to practice as they are to hear. All their devotion now is plac'd in hearing; (as if like Athenians, their whole time were to be spent in nothing else but either to tell or hear some new thing;) All their serving God is an Ear-service, as their profession little else but an Eye-ser∣vice. We see many flock to Sermons and Lectures, just as they use to do to

Plays and Shows, only to feed their Eyes and Ears. Man's whole Body is become* 1.13 one great Ear, and that such an itching one as is never to be satisfy'd with hear∣ing, no more than their Eye with see∣ing. Such a 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 there is in this part, such a canine appetite and craving for spiritual food without any digestion, Omnia te adversum spectantia, a continu∣al taking in there is without bringing forth any thing. This is certainly a common, and 'tis an evil disease under the Sun, which Satan labours all he can to nurse up; nor is it a small delusion of his to shrink us all into an Ear; for when he cannot draw us wholly from the service of God, he makes us single out one part from all the rest, to mag∣nifie that, and cry it up alone, with neg∣lect, and even with some disgrace to all besides it. Wherein how successfull his policy has been in these our days, ap∣pears by this, That the Church is gene∣rally so throng'd at Sermons, and so empty at God's service. It must needs appear strange to our reason, why hear∣ing of the Word should so much get the start of, and eat out all the rest of the more substantial parts of God's service;

whereas it is its self, although the first, yet but one part of it, and subservient to practice, and consequently as inferior to it as the means is to the end. And that the Primitive Church had this opi∣nion of it, its practice evidently de∣clares, which was to finish the Sermon before they began the Service, and by promiscuously admitting all sorts of peo∣ple, Heathens and Infidels, Jews, Schis∣maticks and Hereticks, Catechumeni and Poenitentes, to the former; but totally excluding such persons from their As∣semblies when the Liturgy began, as that part of divine Worship which none but holy and sanctified Men were in a due capacity, in their esteem, to partake of. I urge not this to decry Preaching or Hearing, but only to prefer doing to it as the more important Duty of the two, and to which the Blessing is chiefly appropriated, Joh. 13. 17. as it is Jam. 1. 25. and imply'd in the Text, which styles them Blessed that hear the Word of God, but much more them who keep it.

But then what is it you will say to keep it? Is it to be a little moved with it? To rejoyce in it for a little season,

or to tremble at it? Why this is no more than what an Agrippa, a Herod, or a Felix might doe. A few sudden qualms of Conscience, and pangs of a su∣perficial sorrow for sin; some faint de∣sires vanishing like flashes of Lightning as soon as they appear; some insignifi∣cant resolutions of amendment and new∣ness of life may be found in a Balaam, nay in the most profligate wretches; Or, lastly, is it to applaud the Preacher and his fine-spun Discourse, and to be ravisht with his Eloquence? Some in∣deed there were in the Prophet Ezekiel's* 1.14 time of that humour, that reckoned of Sermons no otherwise than of Songs; the Musick of a Song and the Rhetorick of a Sermon, all was one with them; they could give a Prophet the hearing, commend his sweet air and delicate strains, and that was all; Their devo∣tion expir'd with the harmony: They hear thy words (says God there speaking of them) but they will not doe them. And of such Auditors there are store enough at all times, who will afford the Preacher nothing but their Ears; and no sooner is the Sand run out of his Glass, but his Words are out of their Memories. Let

us not mistake our selves; that word that must save the Soul, must be an en∣grafted* 1.15 word; not a superficial seed float∣ing on the surface of the Heart, but ta∣king deep root there, and springing up in the visible actions of a good life. 'Tis not the Conception, but the Birth of the new Man that makes us Christi∣ans; and better were it for us that this divine Issue should never come to the birth, than we want strength to bring it forth; and that Christ should never be form'd in us, than we prove abortive. But if by hearing we receive the im∣mortal Seed of his Word; if by a firm purpose of doing we conceive, by a longing desire quicken, and by an ear∣nest endeavour travel with it, then in∣deed God's Word, yea God himself, the eternal Word is incarnated in us, and we become as much his Mothers in the Spirit, as the Blessed Virgin was in the Flesh.

And herein was it that the Mother of God was in the best and most advanta∣geous sense Blessed, as one in whom the Word was twice Incarnated, her Lord and his Gospel; much more Blessed in sucking the sincere Milk of the Word

from her Sons Paps (those golden ones, Revel. 1. 13.) than in affording him her own. 'Twas her glory and her chiefest happiness that she kept all her Sons say∣ings, and pondered them in her heart; an Eulogy given her no less than twice in one Chapter of St. Luke, ch. 2. v. 19, 51. This sacred Ark had the two Tables of the Law and the better Manna laid up in it, which she continually treasur'd up in her heart, feeding upon it in her pri∣vate thoughts, and digesting it in her practice; being as well a Daughter as a Mother of God, and her Soul more fruit∣full than her Womb. So that this Mary too chose the better part: It was, I say, her Choice this; whereas to be the Mo∣ther of God but her Privilege. In this latter capacity she only furnisht her Son with a humane Nature, but in the for∣mer she procur'd her self a participation of his divine one. There Christ was made her Son, and here, her Saviour; and 'tis upon the account of her Faith Elizabeth blesseth her, Luke 1. 45. and so does St. Augustine pronounce her more happy, Percipiendo fidem Christi, quàm concipiendo carnem Christi; nay he plain∣ly tells us, that this latter Conception

had done her no good at all without the former, Nihil Mariae profuisset (says he)* 1.16 nisi feliciùs Christum corde quam corpore gestâsset. To bear Christ in her Womb was little to the having the Holy Ghost in her Soul; and to conceive of him lit∣tle to the bringing forth the fruits of the Spirit, Faith, Humility, Patience, Love and the like Graces, whereof she was a sacred Repository; like the Ark, over∣laid and in-laid with Gold, adorn'd with outward Privileges and inward Graces, nay like that King's daughter, Psal. 45. 14. more glorious within than without. This Spouse of God shining out radiis Mariti, cloath'd with that Woman, Re∣vel. 12. 1. with the Son of Righteousness, who deckt her with his light as with a gar∣ment. And how could it be otherwise? How was it possible that He on whom the Spirit rested and abode, should not* 1.17 impart of it to her in whom he so long* 1.18 dwelt, and in greater measures than to any mortal, He who himself received not* 1.19 the Spirit by measure? If in him were hid all the Treasures of Wisedom and Knowledge, surely the Blessed Virgin must needs have been highly enricht by them; and while he sanctify'd the Bap∣tist

in his Mother's womb, did he not think we much more sanctifie that Womb wherein, with himself, the fulness* 1.20 of the Godhead dwelt bodily? where the whole Blessed Trinity met, the Father being with her, the Son in her, and the Holy Ghost over-shaddowing her? Sure∣ly being so near the Fountain of Grace and Glory, nay having it in her Soul, those single Perfections which singly meet in others, all concenter'd in this great Saint.

Among which give me leave to pro∣pose some of the more eminent ones to your imitation; as, 1. Her Faith, in cre∣diting the Message of the Angel. 2. Her entire Resignation of her self to the Will* 1.21 of God, Ecce Ancilla Domini. 3. Her Modesty, in being troubled at the pre∣sence of a Man, and those Praises he be∣stow'd on her, being, it seems, un∣acquainted with such guests or addresses, a thing which now-a-days would perhaps be constru'd ill breeding. 4. Her Pru∣dence in examining a Message, which at first blush seem'd to look like a Temp∣tation, casting in her mind what man∣ner* 1.22 of Salutation that should be; so jea∣lous was she of her honour, that she

durst not trust the divine Messenger with so choice a Jewel, till she saw it should be safe; till he could find out a way to reconcile her, being a Mother, with her Purity, otherwise to her even an Angel of light had been but an An∣gel of darkness. This was not Unbelief in her (as 'twas in Zachary) but Cauti∣on; He indeed requir'd a Sign for that which was within the ordinary course of nature; She none at all, though in a business far above nature; not in the least questioning the thing its self, but desirous only to be inform'd of the man∣ner* 1.23 of it, since she knew not a man. 5. Add we to this her Devotion, in con∣stantly visiting God's Temple, where, after our Lord's Ascension, we find her assembled with the Apostles and other Saints of God, Acts 1. 14. as in the fre∣quent exercise of the Acts thereof, Me∣ditation and Prayer; It being a general Tradition, that when the Angel deliver∣ed her his message, he found her on her knees; and, if we may credit St. Ber∣nard,* 1.24 (but how warrantably I know not) at that very instant begging earnestly for the Salvation of the World, and the Revelation of the Messiah. 6. Lastly,

To crown all, her profound Humility, (that heavenly Ladder whereby God descended to her, and she mounted up to him) and that even in the midst of far higher Ecstasies and Revelations than the great Apostle was afraid of; And yet no pretence of Merit, no assuming to her self any portion of that glory which be∣longed unto God; and she wholly a∣scribes to him in these words, He that is Mighty hath magnified me, and Holy is his Name.

Which clearly shews how inconsistent with, nay how diametrically opposite to her Modesty and Humility those praises are which Popish flatterers so frequently bestow upon the Blessed Virgin, and how impossible 'tis to excuse their 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 that is, (as they are pleas'd to explain it) not so high a kind of worship as belongs unto God, and yet higher than what is due to any other Creature besides her self. A strange middle sort of Adoration, that has no ground or foot-step in Scripture, and no better than flat Idolatry. Prayer and Invocation are the Almighty's Pre∣rogative; This Incense must not smoak but on his Altar; and the calves of the lips are a sacrifice which must be offered

to none but to a God that heareth pray∣er, Psal. 65. 2. and can alone grant our requests. This he challenges as his pe∣culiar right, Psal. 50. 15. Call upon me in the time of trouble; so will I hear thee, and thou shalt praise me. And to him the Saints of God have always address'd their Petitions, David for one, who, Psal. 5. 2, 3. professes that unto him he would direct his Prayer. And therefore 'tis ob∣servable that the Angel here salutes the Holy Virgin, but does not pray to her; and her self says, that all generations shall call her Blessed, not invocate her for Blessings, as the Papists doe; and not only so, but in other respects too equal her to God, as by freeing her from all sin, both original and actual, (whereas her self, by calling Christ her Saviour,* 1.25 professes her need of him,) so especially by making her a vast and inexhaustible Ocean of all perfection, the property of him alone in whom all fulness dwells, and of whose fulness we all (the Virgin* 1.26 Mary not excepted) have received: and all this upon a plain mistake of the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 which implies not any infus'd qualities, or inherent gifts, but God's meer gratious acceptation of her.

And yet as great an affront as this is to the divine Majesty, there is yet one thing more intollerable, that these Men not content to allow the Virgin equal to her Son, will needs give her a kind of Command and Authority over him; as if now in Heaven he were to be sub∣ject to her as once on Earth, and she were a Queen - Regent to govern and comptroll him as it were in his Mino∣rity: Witness those expressions, Mon∣stra te esse Matrem, and, Jussu Matris im∣pera salvatori, words which I dare not English, and which their Rosaries and Litanies are stufft with. Nor does their Practice bely their Expressions; their Addresses being more to the Mother, than to the Son; and her Temples ha∣ving almost swallow'd up his, which are now become Shops of lying Mira∣cles; one of them especially, that of Loretto, all Wainscoted within with them; and its self the greatest of all, as having been carried, if we will believe them, from Bethlehem by Angels, and by them plac'd where now it stands. I shall not trouble you with a description of all their fopperies, their superstitious bow∣ings, cringings, and lighting of Can∣dles

to our Ladies Images, their ridicu∣lous dressing and undressing them, their vows, offerings and presents to these dumb Idols, so like the Cakes offered up to the Queen of Heaven, Jer. 7. and the like; which if they do not out-doe, at least they bid fair for Heathenish Idola∣try; if this be not to worship the Crea∣ture more than the Creator, 'tis at least* 1.27 to doe service to her who by Nature is no God, and who can no more endure it than St. Paul could a sacrifice, Act. 14. or the Angel in the Revelations, chap. 19. 10. divine Worship; or, to come a little more home, than St. Peter, to be styl'd Universal Bishop of God's Church; a Title they will needs force upon him, though himself expresly disclaims it, 1 Pet. 5. 3. No; let us honour the Bles∣sed Virgin as becomes the Mother of God, not as a Goddess; she is but a Creature how glorious soever, and we are not to make her an Idol, neither to invoke her Name nor adore her Person; we allow her God's Mother, but not his Rival; place her we may as near his Throne as Religion will suffer us, not in it (in the Throne God will be* 1.28 greater than any) style her Queen of

Saints, while Christ remains the Sove∣reign King of them, and 'tis honour e∣nough for this Queen to be solo Deo mi∣nor, to be blessed even above the Angel that proclaim'd her so; yea, if they will have it, above all Saints and Angels too; but still below her Son, who is over all, God blessed for ever, Rom. 9. 5.

In a word, Our endeavour should be to copy out those Perfections which were so eminent in this Blessed Mother of our Lord; Her Faith, by our ready assent to God's Word; Her Devotion, by frequently meditating on it (a book which, like Ezekiel's rowl, must be ea∣ten* 1.29 and well digested;) Her Purity, by* 1.30 keeping our selves unspotted from the* 1.31 World, and hating even the garment* 1.32 spotted by the flesh, always remem∣bring that they who follow the Lamb are Virgins; Her Prudence, by trying the Spirits, by proving all things, but holding fast that which is good, suspec∣ting even an Angel from Heaven, could he propose any thing to us that should seem to cross a Precept of Christ, and dreading not only every little stain, but the very suspition of it; Her Obedience, by an entire submission to God's revealed

Will, and, which is the crown and per∣fection of all grace, her Humility. These are the Copies we are to transcribe, the best Gifts to be coveted, such as will adorn and perfect us, make us holy and glorious; other may have more pomp and lustre in themselves, these most use and benefit to us; and therefore let our aim be to be pure as the Mother of God, we who are commanded to strive to be perfect, even as our Father which is in Heaven is perfect. And if we hear the Word of God and keep it as she did, the Lord will as certainly be with us as He was with her, and we at last be with him where she now is, eternally Bles∣sed in the fruition of the most Blessed Trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost; To whom let us ascribe, as is most due, everlasting glory, &c.

Amen.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Joh. 7. 46.
• * 1.2

  Rom. 9. 5.
• * 1.3

  Rom. 1. 4.
• * 1.4

  Coloss. 1. 16, 17. Joh. 1. 3. Heb. 1. 2.
• * 1.5

  Esay 9. 6.
• * 1.6

  Mat. 1. 23.
• * 1.7

  V. Scultet. Evangel. Exercit. lib. 1. c. 46.
• * 1.8

  Ephes. 2. 2.
• * 1.9

  Col. 1. 20.
• * 1.10

  Mar. 3. 32, 35. Luk. 8. 19, 21.
• * 1.11

  1 Cor. 12. 31. Heb. 2. 11.
• * 1.12

  Jam. 1. 19.
• * 1.13

  1 Cor. 12. 16, 17. Eccles. 1. 8.
• * 1.14

  Ezek. 33. 31.
• * 1.15

  Jam. 1. 21.
• * 1.16

  Lib. de S. Virginit. c. 3.
• * 1.17

  Esay 11.
• * 1.18

  Joh. 1. 31. ch. 3. v. 34.
• * 1.19

  Coloss. 2. 3.
• * 1.20

  Coloss. 2. 9.
• * 1.21

  Luk. 2. 29.
• * 1.22

  Luk. 2. 34.
• * 1.23

  Luk. 2, 34.
• * 1.24

  V. Tayl. Gr. Ex. r••. p. 17.
• * 1.25

  Luk. 1. 47.
• * 1.26

  Col. 1. 19.
• * 1.27

  Rom. 1. 25. Gal. 4. 8.
• * 1.28

  Gen. 41. 40
• * 1.29

  Ezek. 3.
• * 1.30

  Jam. 1. 27.
• * 1.31

  Jud. v. 23
• * 1.32

  Rev. 14. 4.