To the extent possible under law, the Text Creation Partnership has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above, according to the terms of the CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/). This waiver does not extend to any page images or other supplementary files associated with this work, which may be protected by copyright or other license restrictions. Please go to http://www.textcreationpartnership.org/ for more information.
How the sanctity of our B. Lady, doth much im∣port to the honour of Christ our Lord. How not∣withstanding all her excellency, we anow her to be nothing, in respect of Christ our Lord as God, and by innumerable degrees inferiour to him as man: and how much more honourably our Lord redeemed her, then others.
IF a man, who were full of want, should need the helpe of a woman, towards the
obtayning & accomplishing of some honora∣ble and vsefull designe of his; and if she should cheerfully concurre therin, and so the end de∣sired should be obtayned by him; could that man be so wicked, as not to acknowledge the merit of that other creature, and not to inrich, and honour her, as far as her condition would beare; especially if he were mighty, and not to be made the poorer by it? Or at least, if the case should be so put, as that his owne future honour, were so interessed in the honour & excellēcy of that other, as that they two, were Relatiues, and that, after a sort, it would re∣dound vpon them both a like; there could be no doubt, but that howsoeuer he were so vn∣worthy, as not to be gratefull to her for her sake, yet he would not faile to be so, for his owne.
What kind of(a) 1.1 thing must they ther∣fore, make Almighty God, who allow him not to haue endued our Blessed Lady, with∣all the priuiledges and prerogatiues of sāctity, and grace, wherof a pure creature could be ca∣pable; since he tooke flesh of her; and that she was ordayned from all eterniry to giue a new being, and nature, and life to himselfe? Wher∣by he was to atcheeue the most glorious en∣terprize which euer he had vndertaken, or e∣uer would? And so much more wicked is it to thinke any such thing of God, euen because he is God, and is not a whit the emptier for fil∣ling any other with himselfe. And because he is supreme goodnes, and knowes not how to
be ouercome with curtesy. But now since he descended to this Incarnation, in the B. Vir∣gins wombe, especially, and expresly, for the meere cōmunication of himselfe to all his rea∣sonable creatures; what flouds of grace must he needs be beleeued to haue rayned downe v∣pon that happy soule, by whose only meanes, vnder himselfe he was afterward to deriue himselfe to others. Yea and finally, if this blasphemy could be a truth, that God had sought his owne, and not our end therby; and that it were possible, to conceaue God to be wise, and not conceaue him to be also good, yet euen wisedom alone, would haue obliged him to doe all that for her, which could possi∣bly haue bin done to a created nature, since himselfe was to be so highly interessed ther∣by, his very body hauing bin wholy hers.
The glory or shame of any mother, and her Sonne, are so neere of kinne, that they will not part; and how much more of this Sonne, and mother, since this mother gaue this Sonne all the humane nature he had, by the operatiō of the holy Ghost. And(b) 1.2 that ve∣ry body, so bestowed by her as to remaine, & raigne at the right hand of God, for all eterni∣ty. It is therfore of much honour to Christ our Lord, the more honorable and excellent his Blessed Mother was. And by this we way al∣so easily discerne, the immensity of height, to which our Blessed Lady is exalted. She being raysed vp, so neere to the Deity of Christ our Lord it selfe; and beholding that omnipotent
God, both personally, and eternally, to sub∣sist, and liue in her nature. And by the infini∣te merit of that person of his to be working such store of spirituall miracles in the world, adorning men heere with guifts of grace, and crowning them afterward with glory.
So great is our Blessed Lady, & so much more, as shall be shewed afterward: and her ad∣nersaries and ours, haue no cause to scandalize themselues with vs, for saying so. For to that which they are wont to say, that we equall her to Christ our Lord, I will desire them to receaue this short true answere, that afterward I may proceed in her prayses, without any fur∣ther feare of offending them: By so good a worke we all acknowledge and beleeue, our Lord IESVS to be true and perfect God; and that our Blessed Lady, (though the most ex∣cellent meere creature that euer was) to haue bin no more then a meere creature. Now(c) 1.3 it followes heervpon that there was, & is, more excellency in him, as God, then her, by more millions of degrees, then there is greater quā∣tity in the bulke of the whole world, then in the least little moate, which wanders vp and downe in the ayre. For, in a word, he is infi∣nite, & she but finite; & therfore there lyes no kind of comparison betwene them two.
Let it be also considered, that euen what she had of dignity and greatues, did all originally (as will further be shewed after∣ward) depend vpon that first Grace, wherby she was elected, without any merit at all of
hers, through the only goodnes of God, who drew her (by his diuine vnderstanding, before all eternities, and did execute it afterwards, v∣pon her, when the fulnes of tyme was come) out of the whole race of mankind, with inten∣tion to make her that happy creature, which should giue flesh, and bloud, and life to the increated Word and Wisedome of God, the secōd person of the most holy Trinity. Which diuine life of his he would afterward lay downe vpon the Crosse for the redemption of the world, and the totall destruction of our death. That(d) 1.4 out of the same free goodnes, she was made a most pure vessell of the holy Ghost, at the very first instant of her sa∣cred, and immaculate Conception; that so as she was to be the mother of God, she might also be made most worthy of so incomparable a dignity. And that, to this end, she was most beloued, adorned and enriched, withall that plenitude of diuine graces, and vertues, & prerogatiues, which might any way be con∣uenient for the incomprehensible high office, to which she was assumed.
That not only she was infinitely infe∣riour, & indeed, of her selfe, a meere Nothing, in respect of God; but that she was also incō∣comparably of lesse excellency, and dignity, then Christ our Lord, as he was man. And that, since euen the soule of Christ our Lord himselfe, did not deserue that first Grace wher∣by it pleased God, to assume and vnite it hy∣postatically, to the second person of the most
blessed Trinity (in vertue of which vnion, the Grace and merit of that soule, after a sort, was infinite) so much lesse could the soule of the B. Virgin deserue the first Grace which was im∣parted to it; whervpon all her other greatnes did originally depend.
That(e) 1.5 Christ our Lord, did merit, as it were infinitely, of himselfe, and for him∣selfe; but that, the Blessed Virgin, could ne∣uer haue merited any thinge, but in vertue of the merits of Christ our Lord. That Christ our Lord, was absolutely, and of himselfe, & by nature, holy; and indued at the first instant wherin his soule was vnited to the Word, with such an immensity of all diuine graces, as was wholy incapable of any increase. That he was our sole Redeemer, and Sauiour, and for himselfe, did need no Sauiour nor Redee∣mer. That he was not conceaued, in the way of ordinary generation, but by way of Obum∣bration of the holy Ghost, in the most pretious and pure wombe of the all-immaculate,* 1.6 and B. Virgin.
But that she, came into the world, by way of generation from her most holy parēts. That her soule was so inriched, in contempla∣tion of the merits of her only Sonne IESVS Christ our Lord; and that by him, and him alone, she was redeemed; but(f) 1.7 but yet after a more excellent manner, then other creatu∣res, as became the dignity, and loue of such a Sonne, to such a mother. For whereas he re∣deemed all others, by applying his merit to
their soules, in the way of redresse and remedy of the sinnes, eyther originall or actuall, into which they had fallen, he had applyed it to hers, by way of preseruatiue, and for the keep∣ing it euer in perfect innocency. And this kind of more noble Redemption, is so far from hauing diminished, the glory of Christ our Lord as he is God; as that it maketh a cleere demonstration, not only of his infinite good∣nes and power, in regard of her, but of his infinite wisedome, in respect of himself. Since both at all other tymes, and especially in the Conception of this Queene of heauen, he had a soueraigne care of her sanctity, and did so studiously prepare and preserue that holy tree vntoucht by the dew, or mist, or euen breath of any imperfection or sinne, wherof himselfe meant to be the fruite.
How our Lord was, as it were, o∣bliged to fill our B. Lady with all perfectiō.
That body, which our B. La∣dy gaue to Christ our Lord is that ve∣ry body, which is to raigne eternally at the right hād of God.
There lyes no compari∣sort at all, betweene our B. La∣dy, and Christ our Lord as God.
The ground, & Origi∣nall cause of all our B. Ladies sanctity.
The great pre∣heminēce of Christ our Lord euen as he is man, beyond our B. Lady.
Luc. 1.
How much more ex∣cellently our B. Lady was redeemed by Christ our Lord then any other.