The Virgin Mary misrepresented by the Roman Church in the traditions of that church, concerning her life and glory, and in the devotions paid to her, as the mother of God ...

SECT. II.

Concerning the blessed Virgin's Nativity, and the Cir∣cumstances of her Birth; with Remarks thereupon.

AS we have hitherto found a great many bold Assertions obtruded on us without any cogent Proof; so the Rea∣der must expect the same Entertainment still; and it cannot well be otherwise, where both Scripture and ancient genuine Authorities are wholly silent, as they are in the Things that concern her Nativity. There are indeed Prophecies in the holy Bible concerning her, but not as she is the Daughter of Anne, but the Mother of Jesus; not to tell us how she was conceived and born, but that a Virgin should conceive, and the Holy one should be born of her: Even the Verses we now have of the pretended Sibylls, say very little more than that of her.

But the Men of this Church cannot be contented and at rest, till they have filled every Stage of her Life with Wonder and Miracle. So they have done here in her Birth; the Circum∣stances whereof they make as glorious as possible may be, and to run parallel in most things with those that are related of our Saviour. The oft-cited bold Jesuit a thinks it not e∣nough to call her (what the Scripture calls the Messiah) The Desire of all Nations; but, he adds, That this Woman was in their Wishes before her Son, though he was much more noble and ne∣cessary for Mankind. Abraham rejoiced to see the Day of Christ, he saw it and was glad; but long before Abraham, Adam and Eve rejoiced to see the Day of Mary, they saw it and were glad. Wherein he is seconded by another of his Society, b saying, We ought to believe that Adam foresaw this Nativity to the rejoic∣ing of his Heart. So did Seth too, if you will believe the Re∣lation of J. Gerbrandus c, who tells us, that in the Year 1374. Sibylla Queen of Hungary, causing Workmen to dig in the Valey of Jehosaphat, they found a Tomb made of Brick, with a Body in it entire, over whose Head was a Tablet with this Inscription in Hebrew Characters, I Seth, the Third born Son of Adam, believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God, and in the

Virgin Mary his Mother, who shall come from my Loins. A ve∣ry likely Story! Much of the same Nature and Credit with that which is mentioned by Aquinas d, of an Inscription up∣on a Plate of Gold found in a Tomb, which prophesied thus, Christ shall be born of a Virgin, and I believe in him; O Sun, thou shalt see me again about the time of Irene and Constantine. Or like that Table which J. Boniface e relates out of Cassinaeus, That in the Sepulchre of Plato, was a Plate of Gold found with this written on it: I believe in Christ who shall be born of a Virgin, suffer for Mankind, and rise again the Third Day.

Neither will these Prophecies suffice, unless Miracles also prepare her Way, and accompany her into the World. Ba∣ronius f is contented to tell us in general, That great Things, and altogether admirable, such as cannot worthily be express'd, did precede the Birth of Mary the Mother of God: And every one that questions this, he brands for a Man of a narrow Soul, and for one out of his Wits. And his Reason for it is very admira∣ble: Because we know that great and strange Things went before the Birth of Sampson and Samuel, Jeremiah and John the Baptist; and who can think so abjectly and meanly of God, or be so mad as to affirm, That he did greater Things, and was more li∣beral to his Servants than to his Mother, to the Friends of the Bridegroom than to his Spouse? (Or, if you will, to the Hand∣maid rather than to the Lady, for in the Language of another Cardinal g, Every faithful Soul is a Handmaid of the Virgin; nay more, even the Ʋniversal Church it self.) If the Cardinal had been speaking of the Graces that were necessary to make her beloved of God, or necessary to her Salvation, his Rea∣soning might have been allowed; but speaking of Gifts (the gratiae gratis datae, as the Schools speak) which are measured by no Rule, but only the Pleasure of God, who gives them as he thinks sit, being at perfect Liberty herein, both as to the Kind and the Degree; it is great Presumption to argue and reason from what has been done for one, to what will be done for ano∣ther: Because God may deny that, for secret Reasons of his own, to one, which he may bestow upon another: And thus, for Instance, he may resolve to make Sampson's Birth Conspi∣cuous by a Miracle, and to conceal that of the blessed Virgin, and therefore work none when she was born. Not that I af∣firm that he did not, but that he not having told us that he

did, no Man can reason (unless he were as Wise as God, or a Privy-Councellor of Heaven) that God must do it, or if he does not, that he is too sparing where he ought to be more li∣beral in his Donations. And I am afraid, upon these Principles and Arguings, we shall have but a sorry Account, why the Apo∣stles, that were but Servants, had the Power given, not only of doing the same Works that the Son of God did, but greater than those; which we are sure is true, because Christ foretold it; or why this blessed Mother did not work greater Miracles than any of the Apostles, which we are sure she did not, but ought to have had such a Power given her, by the said Rea∣soning of the Cardinal. However he was so wise, as not to mention in particular any Miracle at her Birth, as well know∣ing, that none could be produced, unless he made use of those fabulous Authors to vouch for them, which he had before dis∣carded.

But we have a Jesuit h to help him out even here also, who seldom fails at a dead Lift, whose Fancy and Invention is so pregnant, that he can accommodate any wonderful Story to his Purpose: For Josephus i mentioning a Tradition, That all the time Herod's Temple was a building (which he makes to be about Eight Years) it never rained on the day-time, but all Showers fell by Night, that the Work might not be Inter∣rupted; he takes the Story for granted; only what Josephus thought was ordered for the Service of the Temple, he for∣sooth will have these Night-showers to fall in honour of the Virgin, whom he would have to be born at this time; and to give it some Colour, heaps up a deal of forced and metapho∣rical Stuff concerning her, not deserving to be mentioned. He also k hooks in that Miracle S. John mentions (Chap. 5.) of healing at the Pool of Bethesda: This Wonder he will have, no body knows why, to happen in the Month of September, when the blessed Virgin was born; and having found in some Authors that Joachim had a House by that Pool, and that she was born there, he presently concludes that this Miracle was yearly ite∣rated in honour of her Birth, and he thinks it first began at the time when she was born, and that the Virtue that was in it to cure the Sick and Impotent that were let down into it, was contracted, ex vicinia hujus domus, by its Neighbourhood to this House: He finds also a Mystery in it l That she washes

away our Filth, like that Pool, and was born there to shew how tender her Care is of Sinners.

We are further informed m That a numerous Multitude of Blessed Angels, at the time of her Birth, out of every Order did descend from Heaven, and with ravishing Musick of all sorts, played the Spouse of the eternal King into the World, singing sweet Songs of ineffable Melody.

For thus, because we read that Angels with their Songs of Praise ushered our Savi∣our into the World, we must believe that they performed the same Office to his Mother also at her Birth. Nay, Poza n would have us think that not only Angels Songs and Harmo∣ny were then heard, but that all other Creatures testified their Joys, Because they were all renewed by Mary to their pristine State and Condition; I suppose he means before the Fall. Pelbar∣tus o tells us out of one Theophilus (no doubt, an ancient and authentick Historian)

That on the Day of Mary's Nati∣vity the Sun shone twice as bright as he was wont; and on that Night the Moon shone almost as bright as the Sun, and that cloudiness that darkens her Face for a time, did not ap∣pear from the Day of her Birth

(I suppose he means to the next new Moon)

but it shewed like one great bright Star about the middle of the lunar Globe.

This Miracle had been better calculated for the Day of her Conception, especially that of the Moon having no Spots, for then it would have admirably de∣clared, that the blessed Virgin, whom they call the Queen of Heaven and the mystical Moon p had no Spot or Stain of original Sin in her Conception.

As for the Year when she was born, they give us a formal Account of that too, for thus Chr. à Castro q has summ'd it up:

She was born September 8. on the Fourteenth day of the Moon, on a Saturday, because the Dominical Letter on that Year was G. Fifteen Years before Christ was born, on the Fourth Year of the 190 Olympiad; 738 Years from the build∣ing of Rome; L. Domitius and P. Corn. Scipio being Consuls; 27. Years from the first Consulship of Augustus; from the Victory at Actium 15. in the Eighteenth Year of Herod the King; from the beginning of the World 4073, &c.

Baronius sets it r one Year sooner. If you ask how they came to know this so exactly? I answer, it depends chiefly up∣on this Supposition, That the Virgin was Fifteen Years of Age

when Christ was born. And how know they that? I am sure, not by Baronius's Reason s, That it was the Custom of the Jews to marry their Daughters when they were adult; for that concludes no more for her being Fifteen, than Fourteen or Sixteen Years of Age: Nor by the Testimonies of any of the Ancients of undoubted Authority; for all that he produces for it, is only a Fragment in Nicephorus t of Euodius Bishop of Antioch and Successor to the Apostles, in an Epistle of his cal∣led Lumen, though the Cardinal confesses that he never met with any ancient Writer that took notice of such a Work of his; and if any one examine it (as we may have occasion af∣terwards) he will find it plainly to be a Counterfeit; or as Bishop Mountague u censures it, That it was never the Issue of any of the Children of Light, but the misbegotten and misborn Changeling of an heretical Father.

But still if all this were granted about the Year, it makes no∣thing for the Month and Day of her Nativity, which still re∣mains as uncertain as before. In this they must be beholden to Ecclesiastical Tradition and its teaching, x from whence they have learn'd many other great Secrets, and that deter∣mines it on the Eighth of September; only they have an ad∣mirable Art to back it with Motives of Congruity, as here in this Case. Congruum fuit, &c. Says Carthagena, y That she who was to be for ever a Virgin, should be born in the Month of Sep∣tember, was very congruous, because in that Month the Sun going out of the Sign of Leo, enters into the Sign of Virgo; which plainly enough foresignified, That God, who otherwise roared like a Lion, according to that, Vengeance is mine and I will repay, should now be born like a Lamb of the meek Ewe Mary, and like an Ʋnicorn, should lay aside all his Fierceness in the Lap of the Virgin. Another z says,

This was a very conve∣nient Season for her Birth, that as the World, according to the commonest Opinion, was created in the Month of Sep∣tember, so the new Creation of it should begin at the same time: Besides, we know that this Month does commonly a∣bound with Diseases, and therefore it is no wonder, if at that time in which Dangers appear, the Medicine and Re∣medy against every Sickness should be sent.

(Though these Reasons seem to conclude stronglier for the Birth of our Savi∣our in that Month, than for hers.) Nay, in this way of Con∣gruity,

they can tell us the very time of the Day when she was born, that it was in the dawning of the Morning before Sun∣rise, a that so this Circumstance of Time might answer to the Mystery, who in the Hymns is called, Solis justitiae aurora, The Morning of the Son of Righteousness. As for the Place where she was born, they are not so well agreed. Poza, as we heard before, will have her to be born at Jerusalem, and he brings b S. Briget's Revelations c, and others to countenance it. But the most common Opinion is that which Baronius d mentions, That she was born at Nazareth: So says also the Counterfeit Epistle of S. Jerome; and the Table that hangs up in the holy House at Loretta, makes that Church to be a Chamber of the House of the blessed Virgin at Nazareth, in which she was born and educated, and afterwards received in it the Salutation of the Angel Gabriel. This Chamber was taken from Nazareth by Angels, and carried over-Sea, and after some Removes, was at last placed by them where it now stands in Italy, by a High∣way side. Chr. de Castro e says that she was born at Na∣zareth, Inter ovium balatus, pastorumque hilares concentus, among the bleatings of Sheep, and the joyful Consorts of Shepherds: And afterwards in his Notes adds, It is probable that S. Anne came over to Joachim, while he lived with his Shepherds, and there brought forth the holy Child; adding in the Margin, That Ma∣ry was born in the House of a Shepherd: For which he cites J. Damascen. Lib. 4. fid. Orthod. c. 15. Editur partu in ovilis ip∣sius Joachim domo. Wherein Castro commits a gross Mistake; for the Words of Damascen in the Greek are these, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 (Sc. Virgo) 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 where 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 is not a Shepherds Dwelling, but signifies the Place in S. John c. v. 2. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c. In the Sheep-Market we translate it, or Gate, there was a Pool called Bethesda: And he means, no doubt, that House of S. Anne at Jerusalem, which Adricomius f mentions, and places hard by the Pool of Bethesda, and where, he says, Joachim and Anne often lived, and where bles∣sed Mary was conceived (for he makes her also to be born at Nazareth.) This appears by another place in Damascen g, where he wishes all good Luck to this Probatica, calling it Patrium Reginae domicilium; and after mentions how once a Year it of old received the Angel that troubled the Waters, and restored one Person to Health: This by the way. However it be, whe∣ther

as to the Place Damascen be in the Right or no, we need not much trouble our selves, but it concerns them much, who are resolved to believe the Fable of the House at Loretta, which this plainly contradicts.

These curious Inquirers into her Birth, that nothing may escape them, consider whether she came into the World the common way; and one of them h, after all his Search pro∣fesses, That he cannot yet resolve, whether she came out of S. Anne's Womb with her Head or Feet formost: Only he has dis∣covered to us thus much, That she might, if she pleased, have come with her Feet foremost: For, says he, she having in the Womb the use of her Reason; she might have contracted her Arms and other Parts close together, and then there would have been no more Difficulty in this, than in the other common Way.

It would be a great Mistake to think, That when she came into the World, she cryed as other Children do. No, says one i,

She neither sighed nor cryed, but expressed great Joy in her Face, smiling upon those that looked on her, and rejoiced with a multitude of Angels that sang sweet Songs at her Birth:

Which the former Virtuoso k ascribes to that perfect Wisdom wherewith she was endued from her Concepti∣on, and her grave Constancy, not to be altered by this new Sight of the Fabrick of this World. Nay, so far was she from crying her self, when she was born, That she did not so much as make her cry out that bare her. Those that think that S. Anne conceived her without Pleasure, conclude from thence, that she brought her forth without Pain; besides the Congruity of it l, That she, who by her Birth, brought Joy to all the World, should not tear her Mother with grievous Pangs. But the skilful Poza m goes further (as he commonly flys at all) and says,

That by a Miracle, and God's Kindness, S. Anne, when she went with Child of her, felt no Burden, and in her Child∣bed she had no Sorrows, for it was without Pain, without the Help of Midwives, without fainting of Spirits, or con∣sequent Uncleanness; so that excepting the Miracle of the Virginity of the Mother of God, before and after her bring∣ing forth, all the other Wonders are alike in the Birth of Mary and Jesus.

He also concludes, n That the Body of the blessed Virgin did shine at her Birth with exceeding Bright∣ness;

for so, he says, we read it happened in the Nativity of S. Herebert, S. Avitus, and S. Suibert, &c. And we know it is a first Principle, that no other Saint must outdo her, which I suppose their Poet o intended, who speaking of her when she suck'd, says,

Stringere complexu natam, ferre oscula fronti Non erat ausa parens, nec enim mortalis in illa Humanusve decor, sed erat▪ coelestis Imago.

That is,

Anne durst not with her circling Arms embrace This Babe, nor give fond Kisses to her Face; Amaz'd to see such Majesty combine, With heav'nly Graces and a Form divine.

As confidently does another p assert, That from her Birth and so sorward, the Virgin's sacred Body breathed a Perfume and fragrant Smell, that so, as he adds, she might not be excelled by any illustri∣ous Person: Plutarch having reported the same of Alexander, and God having granted it to several dead Bodies of his Ser∣vants, it can in no wise be thought that he would not bestow this Honour upon her Body, in which God intended to take up his dwelling afterwards.

There remains a great Question, much debated among them, concerning her Guardian Angel: For it is generally resolved a∣mong the Schoolmen q that every Man from his Nativity has such an Angel appointed to keep and defend him; even Adam in Innocency had one r: Only our Saviour, though he had Angels ministring to him, yet he needed none to counsel or de∣fend him. Poza s, who would fain make the blessed Virgin in every Privilege as like to her Son as may be, will allow her one or more, ad famulatum, for Attendance and State, though not as a Guardian, for that, forsooth, would suppose something of Superiority, which must not be allowed over her:

She had, he says, an Angel just as she had the Habit of Penitence, which yet conferred nothing to the Work and Exercise of it, because she had no Sin; only it was profitable to adorn her, and keep company with her other Vertues. God would de∣ny

her nothing that he had bestowed upon others, therefore she should rather have Angelum otiosum, an Angel that was Idle, and had nothing to do, than seem to be wanting in Li∣berality to his dear Daughter.

But Raynaudus t assures us, that the common Opinion is, That she had a Guardian Angel, and that this Angel was Gabriel, according to that of P. Damia∣nus u, who compares Gabriel and John the Evangelist, to Two Lions, the one of which was deputed to be a Keeper on her right Hand, the other on her Left; Gabriel watchfully preserved her Soul, and John her Body. But neither can this so easily obtain, but meets with great Opposition. Aquinas x is of Opinion, That the Custody of single Persons, belongs only to Angels of the lowest Form and Order: And another says y It is certain that none of the Order of Archangels (such as Gabriel is made to be) is taken to this Office of being Guardians of Men. Besides, we know, says he, that remarkable Embassies are wont to be made by some Prince, who does not familiarly converse with the Per∣son to whom he is sent: such was the Embassy of the Annun∣ciation, which therefore had not been so fit to be committed to Gabriel, if he had been her Angel Guardian: He thinks there∣fore, that it was not he, but the chief of the Order of meer Angels, to whom this Charge was committed. But others z are not content with one alone (no not if it were Gabriel him∣self) but that more besides were in Commission to minister to her. Pelbartus a says, many Angels, according to that of the Canticles (cap. iii. 7.) Behold Salomon's Bed, Three score valiant Men are about it. Albertinus b thinks that almost an infinite Mul∣titude of Angels did concurr to her Protection; which is plain enough out of Cant. vi. ult. What will ye see in the Shunamite? as it were the Company of Two Armies. Vulg. Lat. Choros Castro∣rum, which signify her guardian Angels.

Their Authors also make very large Harangues, to declare the Nobleness of her Birth. S. Bernardine asserts c That the blessed Virgin was the most noble Creature that ever was in humane Nature, or ever can be begotten; for she derived in her Birth from Forty Patriarchs, Fourteen Kings, and Eleven Dukes. And we ought, says he, to preferr her before all Princesses, Kings and Queens, Emperors and Empresses, and before all Powers, Tribes and Languages of the whole Ʋniverse. Whither will not the Folly of superstitious Men carry them? And where will it stop?

What nauseous, as well as insignificant, Flattery is this? How would it have grated in her Ears, if this Story had been told her whilst she lived? We may easily guess at it by her own Song, which magnifies God, for exalting them of low Degree; and for regarding the low Estate of his Handmaiden. But it is worse still, when we hear her very Sanctity flattered, and the Merit of it proclaimed by another d to be so great, as to be the Cause, That after her Birth all her Kindred were holy Per∣sons: Though this plainly contradicts the Gospel e, which says, That neither did his Brethren believe in him. Unless Christ's Brethren were nothing akin to his Mother.

But the worst of all is still behind; I mean, the abomina∣ble Flattery of their Devotions; their lowly addresses to S. Anne and her Husband in their Prayers, upon the Account of being her Parents, and bringing such a Daughter into the World.

Notes

• a

  Pozae Eluci∣dar. l. 2. trac. 6. p. 494.
• b

  J. Bonifacius de vit. & mi∣rac. B. Virginis l. 1. c. 5.
• c

  Chronic. Belgic. l. 31. c. 26.
• d

  Summa Theol. in 2. se∣cundae qu. 2. art. 7.
• e

  Lib. citat. 2. p. 137.
• f

  Apparat. ad Annal. n. 40.
• g

  Bonaven∣ture in Specu∣lo. c. 1.
• h

  Poza ib. l. 2. tract. 7. c. 1.
• i

  Antiq. 15, cap. 14.
• k

  Id. ib. c. 2▪
• l

  Ibid. c. 7.
• m

  Barnard. de Bust. Marial. p. 2. ser. 3.
• n

  Ib. l. 2. tract. 5. c. 3.
• o

  Stellar. l. 5. p. 2. art. 2. c. 9.
• p

  Max. San∣daeus Entitles his Book of the Virgin, Luna Mystica.
• q

  Hist. deip. c. 2. p. 85.
• r

  Apparat ad Annal. n. 48.
• s

  Ibid. n. 47.
• t

  Eccles. hist. l. 2. c. 3.
• u

  Acts & Mo∣num. c. 8. p. 535.
• x

  Raynaud. Dipt. Mar. p. 24.
• y

  De arc, De∣ip. l. 2. hom. 2.
• z

  Gononus Chron. Deip. p. 3.
• a

  Raynaudus ibid.
• b

  Ib. tract. 8. c. 3.
• c

  L. 5. c. 13.
• d

  Apparat. n. 48.
• e

  Hist. deip. c. 1. p. 60.
• f

  Theatr, terrae sanct. Je∣rusalem, n. 37. p. 153.
• g

  Orat. 1. de Nativ. Virg.
• h

  Poza ib. l. 2. tract. 15. c. 3.
• i

  Bernard. de Bust. part. 2. serm. 1. p. 133.
• k

  Poza ib. c. 2.
• l

  Raynaudu•• lib. citat. p. 29.
• m

  Ib. l. 2. tra••. 15. c. 7.
• n

  Ibid. c. 3.
• o

  Mantuan. Parthan. Mar. l. 1.
• p

  Gononus in Chron. de••p. p. 3.
• q

  See Aqui∣nas sum▪ Th. p. 1. qu. 113. art. 4, 5.
• r

  Id. ib. art. 4. ad 1, 2. Fr. Al∣bertinus de Ang. Custod. c. 4. p. 24, 29, 30. Becanus in Theol. Schol. trac. 3▪ c. 6.
• s

  Elucid. l. 2. trac. 16. c. 3.
• t

  Ibid. p. 26.
• u

  Serm. 1. de Nativ. Mar.
• x

  Ib. qu. 113. art. 3.
• y

  Gononus ib. p. 4.
• z

  Castro Hist. deip. c. 2. p. 86.
• a

  Stellar. lib. 10. par. 5. art. 2.
• b

  Loc. citat. p. 28.
• c

  De Nativ. Virg. serm. 5. art. 1. c. 1.
• d

  Poza ubi prius. l. 2. tract. 15. c 8.
• e

  John vii. 5.