A SERMON Preached before the King and Queen, IN Their MAJESTY'S Chapel at St. James', upon the Annunciation of our Blessed Lady, March 25. 1686.  
By JO. BETHAM Doctor of Sorbon.  
Published by His Majesty's Command.  
LONDON, Printed by Henry Hills, Printer to the King's most Excellent Majesty, for his Household and Chapel. 1686.  
Sold by Matthew Turner Bookseller, at the Lamb in High-Holborn▪   

A SERMON Preached before THEIR MAJESTY'S, Upon the Annunciation of our Blessed Lady, March 25. 1686.  Ecce concipies in utero & paries filium. Luc. 1. 31. Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son. 
THE most Solemn Embassy our World was ever honoured with, appeared this Day in Galilee, at the Town of Nazareth: The most surprising and astonishing News ever sent from Heaven, was brought this Day by the Angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary. She was to remain the most spotless and pure of Virgins, and yet become the most Honourable of Mothers: She was Religiously to observe her Promise made to the Almighty of Perpetual Chastity and Virginity; and yet on this Day become Fruitful, and conceive a Son: Ecce concipies in utero.  
Were the Prophets ever impatient upon any account, it was with the Expectation of this Days News, this Miraculous Conception, which brought with it the Messiah so long sighed after. Isaiah declares he would never rest, his Importunities should never cease for Zion and Jerusalem, propter 
Esa. 62. 1.  Zion non tacebo, propter Jerusalem non quiescam; till that Just Man should appear, that Saviour, which should illuminate the World, and shine as a burning Lamp; Donec— Salvator ejus ut lampas accendatur: So to show their ardent Desires, they address themselves in pathetical Apostrophes to the Earth and Heavens, beseeching the one to send him down in a Cloud, or in a Heavenly Dew; or the other to open its fruitful Womb, that he may grow forth to save us; Rorate coeli desuper, & nubes pluant justum, 
Esa. 45: 8.  aperiatur terra & germinet salvatorem. At other times they call upon his Omnipotent Hand to force his Passage, to break through the Heavens, and come down to our Relief; utinam disrumperes coelos, & 
Esa. 64. 1.  descenderes.  
Great Prophets, your Sighs and Tears at last have proved successful, your earnest Petitions are granted; the Calamities of Mankind, and your mournful Lamentations, have so far prevailed, that all things are now accomplished which were to forego the happy arrival of this long-expected Messiah. The Royal Sceptre has passed to a Stranger from the Sons of Judas, as Jacob foretold: Daniel's Seventy Mysterious Weeks, or Septenaries of Years, are now expired: The Virgin that Isaiah told King Achaz should be fruitful and bear a Son, is prepared for so great a Mystery; and the Herald is arrived from Heaven that proclaims the joyful News; Ecce concipies in utero; Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb.  
Chaste Virgin, of the Royal Race of David, thou shalt this Day conceive a Son; not by the common way appointed by Nature, but by the Omnipotent Hand of the Holy Ghost: No Man shall have the Honour to be his Father; but he shall be called, what he truly is, The Son of the most High; Filius Altissimi vocabitur: The Eternal Son of the Eternal Father; the Omnipotent Word by which all things were Created; that Infinitely-significant Word, which expresses all that God could conceive; this Incomprehensible Word, this only Son of the Almighty, will this Day be united to Humane Nature in thy chaste Womb, will miraculously become Man, and not disdain to be truly thy Child, and at the same time the only Son of the most High, of God himself.  
Here we have, Dear Christians, two stupendious Mysteries, which the Church Honours upon this Day: A Virg●n made a Mother, without loss of her Virginal Purity: God made Man, without prejudice to his Divinity. This obliges me to divide my Discourse between the Adorable Son, and the miraculous Mother; explicating in my first Part the chief Cause or Reason why this only Son of God was this Day made Man, conceived in the Womb of the Virgin Mary; and in my second, I shall lay before you the Chief Honour due to the Mother. The Infinite Blessing we received from the Son, and the best way of Honouring the Mother, make the two Points of my Discourse, and the Subject of Your Majesty's Royal Attention. It were rashness to discourse upon so sublime a Mystery, without imploring the Assistance of that Holy Spirit by whose Divine Virtue it was wrought: Let us therefore humbly crave it by Her Intercession, who, before all Creatures, was chosen this Day as a miraculous Instrument of the World's Redemption, when saluted by the Angel, Hail, full of Grace.  

I. P.  
THere's no Condition more deplorable, then to owe immense Sums, which must be paid to the last Farthing, under pain of Eternal Prisons and Everlasting Dungeons; and yet to be destitute of all means to pay one Mite: Nothing more miserable, then to be scourged and chastised during thousands of years, for Crimes committed, and yet no Satisfaction made for the least Offence. This was the unhappy Condition of Unfortunate Man, ever since the Fall of our First Parents; whose Sin, upon that account, St. Augustin calls great beyond expression, ineffabiliter 
Enchir. c. 24.  grande peccatum, by reason of that Misery, ruina ineffabilis, that ineffable ruin, as the same Father calls it, which it drew upon their whole Posterity. All the Scourges of Heaven upon Sinful Man, ever since the World's Creation, were just Chastisements of this first Rebellion; yet had they been infinitely more, they could not have restored him to his Maker's Favour. For, as St. Augustin observes, the General Deluge, the most severe Effect of the Divine Justice ever felt by Mankind, was only able to destroy Man, but not sufficient to wash away his Gild: Diluvium hominem delevit, 
Serm. 17.  crimen delere non potuit. Moses could drown Pharaoh and his Army, could open the Ocean and swallow up at once great part of the Inhabitants of a whole Nation; yet this dreadful Punishment could make no Atonement with Heaven; their Sins still remained: Moses exterminavit Aegyptum, 
Ibidem.  non peccatum. In fine, All Chastisements ever undergone, all the Sacrifices ever offered, all the Virtues the World ever admired, as the Faith of an Abraham, the Patience of a Job, the Meekness of a Moses, the Penance of a David, could not make Satisfaction for the least Crime: No Man could be perfect to that degree, (says 
Lib. 6. i● Luc.  St. Ambrose) as to make Satisfaction for this sinful World; Nullus hominum tantus esse potuit ut totius mundi peccata deleret. Nay, had all the Angels of Heaven, all the Men that ever had or will have a Being, been employed in nothing but sighing forth Penitential Psalms; and with it whole Mankind been condemned to feed on nothing but Dust and Ashes, to drink nothing but Brine and Tears, to be clad in Hair and Sackcloth, to have passed whole Lives, tho' prolonged to thousands of Years, in the most severe and contradicting Mortifications that Humane Nature can support; all these, tho' multiplied beyond the reach of Arithmetic, would fall infinitely short of making just Satisfaction for the least Capital Crime.  
The reason generally given by Fathers and Divines, why Man's Poverty and Weakness could not cancel that Handwriting that was against us, Chirographum decreti, nor satisfy for the sins committed 
Col. 2. 14.  against God, is the greatness of God and the vileness of Man: On the one side there was an Infinite Majesty offended, on the other, a despicable Worm, the Offender: The offended was Lord and Master, absolute and supreme Proprietor of all that had a Being in Earth and Heaven; The Criminal had nothing he could call his own, nothing but what did all really belong to his Offended Maker upon several Titles; on the one side, all Power, all Greatness, all Independency, all Majesty, all Divinity; on the other, nothing but Impotency, Servitude, Dependency, Vileness and Baseness. This raises our Sin and Rebellion to such a degree of Enormity, that St Thomas of Aquin sticks not to call it in some measure Infinite, Peccatum 
Q. 1. de Incar. ar. 2. ad 2.  contra Deum commissum quandam infinitatem habet; because the Majesty offended is infinitely Great, infinitely Good, infinitely Amiable, infinitely Adorable; Man the offender infinitely beneath him in all these sublime Attributes; which inhances his guilt beyond the reach of Humane Comprehension. Nay, the great St. Bernard to give us a fuller notion of Sins malice carries it yet higher, by impeaching Rebel and Sinful Man, of no less a crime than Deicide, that is, a desire to destroy God himself, as much as lies within the power of his malicious Will, Ipsum quantum in ipsa 
Serm. 3. de Incar.  est Deum perimit voluntas propria, striking at the Divinity, and aiming to Dethrone the Almighty; because, whoever offends God, does at the bottom of his Heart, secretly desire, that God either did not see him, or could not punish him, and so wishes him either ignorant, or impotent, which is in effect, to desire he were not what he is; that is, that he were not God, which makes St. Bernard's Zeal cry out, O crudelis & execranda malitia! O most cruel and execrable malice! Quae Dei Potentiam, Justiam, Sapientiam perire desiderat, which desires God might cease to be Omnipotent, Just and Wise.  
Thus it stood with unfortunate Man, for about Four thousand Years, charged with an immense Debt, guilty of an infinite Malice; and at the same time destitute of all means to make the least payment or satisfaction, which in justice was due and required. No Creature, that was only such, could repair our Ruins; nothing less than a God could make just satisfaction for the Sins of Men; because the boundless greatness, and dignity of the Majesty offended, as you have heard, rendered our Crimes infinitely enormous, and the despicable meanness of the Offender depressed all the satisfaction, we could offer, infinitely beneath the least proportion to our Offences, or the acceptance of the Person offended. Tell me, dear Christians, Was there ever a condition more deplorable? ever a Cause more desperate? Full satisfaction to be made, yet none possible but what must come from the offended himself; no just Reconciliation, unless the Adorable will stoop to Submission, and Humiliation, the Offended turns Advocate, and the Innocent be dragged to the Bar, and condemned for the Criminal, who stands indicted and convicted at his Suit. What hopes is there of these Prodigies? Can Four thousand Years Sin and Rebellion move the Almighty to so incomprehensible a Condescendency? Can our Insolence and Pride of so ancient a date, and so long continuance prevail with our slighted Maker to undergo such unbeseeming Indignities for our sakes? May we not here justly cry out as the Prophet Isaiah did upon a less occasion? Who ever heard or saw any thing like this! Quis audivit unquam tale, quis vidit 
Esa. 66. 8▪  huic simile? How prodigious soever this may seem, 'tis the Case truly stated; no Salvation for Man upon easier terms.  
Therefore that Justice might at last triumph, after the unsuccessful Endeavours of many Ages, consumed in millions of Sacrifices and Holocausts, not regarded in the Court of Heaven, as St. Paul observes out of David, Holocautomata pro peccato non 
Heb. 10. 6.  tibi placuerunt; his saving and just Providence appointed a new, more agreeable Victim, by preparing a Humane Body for the Eternal Son of Heaven, as St. Paul observes out of the same Royal Prophet, Corpus autem aptasti mihi: Which Body 
Heb. 10. 15.  was this Day framed in the Womb of the Spotless Virgin, for our Redemption. Against this Mediator no exception could be made, in his Satisfaction no flaw could be found; his Mediation could not be refused; for as St. Paul assures us, Non rapinam 
Phil. 2. 6.  arbitratus est esse se aequalem Deo, He did not think it any Usurpation or Presumption to style himself equal with God; Omnipotent with his Eternal Father, equally Great, equally Just, equally Independent, the same in Sanctity, the same in Majesty, the same in all things that were Divine, without any Encroachment upon his Father's Prerogatives: Non rapinam, etc.  
Neither could his Satisfaction be refused, because conformable to the most rigorous Rules of Justice; infinitely charming, as the fault was infinitely hateful, infinitely submissive, as the fault was infinitely insolent, infinitely meritorious, as the fault was infinitely unworthy, infinitely pacifying and appeasing, as the fault was infinitely provoking; fully equalling our Debts, as the Council of Ephesus observes, Ad amussim debita nostra coaequantem, which made St. Paul say, we were Redeemed at 
1 Cor. 6. ult.  a high rate, Pretio magno, with an inestimable Ransom.  
May we not here, Dear Christians, more justly cry out, than the Prophet Jeremy did upon a less surprising Occasion, Obstupescite 
Jer. 2. 12.  coeli super hoc! Stand astonished at this, O you Heavens! Man hath offended God; the same provoked God comes to satisfy for the very Offences committed against his own Person: Man by Pride had soared above himself in affecting to be like the most High; God, that he might not perish for this Insolence, stoops to the greatest of Humiliations, and becomes the most Low. Man had abandoned God, sold himself to be Captive and Slave to the Devil; God descended into the narrow and dark Prison of a poor Virgin's Womb, to restore Man to his lost Liberty, and rescue him out of the Hands and Tyrannical Possession of the Powers of Darkness. In fine, Stupid and ungrateful Man had for thousands of years debauched his Affections with fatal Friendships, criminal Loves, pernicious Alliances and Unions with all the declared Enemies of Heaven; God, to reclaim and save this perverse Creature, descended so low, as to unite himself really and substantially to despicable Humane Nature, for an endless Eternity. Had not St. Leo just reason here to say, Mirabilior nobis Dei humilitas quam potestas; 
Serm. 10. de Pass.  That the boundless Power he showed in raising this fair World out of Nothing, Peopling the Heavens with Angels, the Earth with Men, and all variety of Creatures, was not so surprising and astonishing, as the inconceivable Humiliations he underwent in the Redemption of Man; Mirabilior nobis, etc.  
Were we here permitted, O Eternal Maker, humbly to expostulate with thy ineffable Bounty; Couldst thou not have left a Race of Rebels, Despisers of thy Laws, Blasphemers of thy Majesty, Monsters of Ingratitude? Couldst thou not have abandoned them to the utmost Rigour of thy provoked Justice? Had thy Divine Majesty been ever the less Adorable? Had thy Eternity been shortened? Had thy Immensity been confined? Had thy Omnipotency been weakened? Had thy Infinity been limited? Had thy Glory been eclipsed? What prejudice had God suffered, if the vilest Ingratitude had been chastised? if Man, the most unworthy of Creatures, had perished for ever? Had thy Friends forsaken thee because thy Enemies were punished? Had not the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost still enjoyed one another in Boundless Knowledge, in Infinite Love, in Immense Glory? Would not the Angels still have been ready at thy beck, the Cherubims rapt in Contemplation of thy Greatness, the Seraphims melted in the Flames of thy Love? Would not the Earth and Heavens, with all other Creatures, have still trembled in thy Presence, and submissively owned thee as their Supreme Lord, altho' ungrateful Man had been treated according to his Demerits?  
'Tis true, Dear Christians, God's absolute Independency and Supreme Dominion places him infinitely above such Casualties upon the account of his Creatures Disorders: And altho' that Power which created the Universe with a Word, could with the same ease have saved or abandoned all Mankind; yet, all this notwithstanding, it was not to be done upon other Terms. The Reason was, Because God would not have the Greatness of his Mercy so manifested, that he might seem in the least to neglect his Justice; he would join together those seemingly opposite Attributes, after so admirable a manner, that his Mercy should never appear more Indulgent, nor his Justice more Severe; fully making good David's Prophecy, Justitia & Pax osculatae sunt. His Mercy could never have pardoned more, his Justice could never exact more. 'Tis only here he was infinitely Merciful, to satisfy himself in Person for the Offences committed against his own Laws; 'tis here he was infinitely Just and Severe, in admitting of no less Satisfaction than what was offered by his own Coeternal and Coequal Son, who could not atone for us, had he been of an inferior Rank, as St. Leo observes, Nisi esset verus Deus non adferret remedium. 
Serm. 1. de Nat  God, the Eternal Justice itself, will have full Satisfaction for the Sins committed against his Person and Orders; this cannot be had but from a Person equal to himself; therefore his only Son, who is God, and Equal with himself, crowds (as I may say) his Immensity into the narrow Womb of a Virgin, mercifully takes the Form of a Servant, and by it raises our Poverty to the rich Condition of being able to pay a full and just Ransom for the Sins of all Mankind.  
Here stop a while, my Soul, and Contemplate the Eternal Word, the Omnipotent Son of Heaven, for thy sake, become an Infant Child; Behold his boundless Love for many, as the Prophet Sophonias foretold, has reduced him to a charming silence, Silebat in dilectione suâ, he was silent 
Sopho. 3. 17.  in the dearest expression of his Love. O Incomparable Invention of Divine Mercy! Oh Silence more Eloquent than all the Tongues of Men and Angels! more forceable in the sight of Heaven than all the Penitential Psalms of David, than all the Lamentations of Jeremy, than all the earnest Petitions, and languishing sighs of the Patriarches and Prophets, which cries more loud, tho' in a sweeter strain, than the Blood of an innocent Abel, pleads Man's Cause with a Heavenly Eloquence, the happy Product of his infinite Love, silebat in dilectione suâ. Was ever Love carried to this height? was ever Charity to be compared to this? The only Son of Heaven, the Immense Word of the Almighty, reduced to the state of a newly conceived Infant: And why? St. Paul tells you in a few, but most surprising words, Peccatores salvos 
1 Tim. 1. 16.  facere, to save Sinners, his declared Enemies, Ungrateful Rebellious Sinners; to save you that have contemned his Benefits, abused his Graces, vilified his Glory, blasphemed his Majesty, for the Salvation of such who so little deserved it. He is this Day miraculously made Man, substantially united to one of his own Creatures, infinitely beneath him in all Perfections. Would any here present willingly consent, that his Rational Soul, his Humane Nature should be really and inseparably united for all Eternity, to the Nature of a Serpent, a Toad, a Worm, or what is more Vile and Abject amongst Creatures; and this only to redeem from Slavery, that Person of the World which most contemned him that let slip no occasion of showing himself to be your most inveterate and implacable Enemy? Alas! all this is infinitely outdone in our present Mystery. The Creator of all things is substantially united to that created Nature, which of all Being's had been most ungrateful; the supreme Lord and Master of Heaven and Earth hath assumed the contemptible Nature of his own Slave and Vassal, God is become Man, and will remain so for all Eternity, to save his own Rebellious Creatures, his Treacherous Servants, Monsters of Sin and Iniquity, Peccatores salvos facere. 'Tis here clear, Brothers, the Powers of Heaven stand astonished, and submissively adore the profound Abyss of the Divine Wisdom, the Infinite severity of his Rigorous Justice, the Charming Goodness of that God of Mercies; who although abandoned by his own Creatures, not owned as their Father or Benefactor, but despised, vilifyed, and hated, as their inveterate Enemy; yet appears this Day the most Gracious of Sovereigns, the most Bountiful of Benefactors, the most Tender of Fathers, giving us all the Treasures of Heaven, his only Son, as the most Generous and endearing Instance of an Infinite Love, Sic Deus dilexit mundum ut filium suum unigenitum daret.  
May we not justly say with St. Aug. That altho' we have been insensible of all other Benefits his Bounty has heaped upon us since the World's Creation; yet certainly this strongest Proof of an Infinite Love must force some return from the most Stony Heart, Si amare pigebat saltem redamare non pigeat.  
That Nature upon which the First Adam had entailed Temporal Miseries and Eternal Punishments, is this Day, by the Second Adam, renewing its Title and Claim to Eternal Glory; the Pressures and Calamities we sighed under, as Chastisements of our Sins, are this Day made the best and surest Earnest of everlasting Bliss: All Creatures that ever had become our Masters, and had debauched our Affections, are again falling at our Feet, by that Grace of our Redeemer that makes us triumph over them, and despise them. The Way to Heaven, hitherto unknown and untrodden by Mankind, is now clearly discovered, and easy to be walked in. The Law of Figures, confined to Judea, is receiving an end, and all Nations invited to a better Worship, to adore in Spirit and Truth. The Distance kept with Man for thousands of Years, is this Day dispensed with; he is Hypostatically united to Humane Nature: and that nothing might be wanting, he graciously appears in our own Form. This must needs charm us, how insensible soever we were to past Favours, si amare pigebat saltem redamare non pigeat.  
If any thing appears on this Day that puts us in mind of his heretofore so formidable Omnipotency, 'tis only the confounding the Powers of Darkness, wresting their Prey out of their Mouths, the repairing the Ruins caused by Sin, not to be made up by a lesser Power. No Effects here of his Justice, that Attribute so dreadful to Mankind, unless it be the offering himself a rich Victim of Peace, in full satisfaction to our offended God, reconciling this sinful World to his Eternal Father, himself, and Heaven, mundum reconcilians sibi. This was the Business he came for; for this Reason he assumed Humane Nature, as you have heard proved at large: Which being performed, the Promise made in the opening my Discourse calls upon me, after having spoken of the Son, to say something of the miraculous Mother. You have heard how great the Blessing was we received from the Son; I shall now lay before you the best way of Honouring the Mother, which is my Second Part.   

II. P.  
THe Catholic Church was always careful to put just Bounds and Limits to that Honour which her Children paid to the Virgin Mother; giving a check to those who by an indiscreet Zeal carried it too high, and not supporting such who durst in the least derogate from her. Of this we have a clear Proof in St. Epiphanius, a Father living near the middle of the Fourth Age: In him we read of the Collyridians', 
Epip. Haer. 79.  Persons who offered certain Cakes in Sacrifice to the Virgin Mother, who, for so doing, are treated as Heretics, for raising her above the Nature of a Creature, and so entrenching on the Divine Prerogatives. So likewise the same Father stigmatizes others, called Antidicomarianites, with the same infamous 
Haer. 78.  Character, for denying one of her Chief Prerogatives, the Honour of being a Perpetual Virgin. So that as she forbids her Children to give her more Honour than may be allowed to a Creature, she likewise permits them not to deprive her of any Advantage granted by her and our Creator. The first is so absurd, that it cannot be a Temptation to a Reasonable Creature; the second so unjust, that none can refuse it that know her Merits. To adore her as a Goddess, were the most enormous of Crimes, a Sacrilegious Idolatry; not to Honour her above all Saints, were to diminish her Dignity, and a manifest Injustice. We are allowed to pray to her, as the Mother of Pity, to pray for us; but must always expect the Grace implored, not from her, but her Son's Bounty. Here you see the Spirit of the Catholic Church is, that her Children in Honouring the Virgin Mother, should never transgress by falling into Extremes, in giving her more than is due to a Creature, or refusing what is her Right upon so many just Titles. Maria in honore sit, Dominus 
Haer. 79.  adoretur; Let Mary be honoured, but let God be adored as our Sovereign Lord and Master.  
But my time is too far spent to enter upon the particular Discussion of several Ways that may be made use of in Honouring the Virgin Mother: Wherefore I shall content myself at present to recommend only that unto you, which is most desired by the Church and her, most advantageous to all that honour her, and which alone makes all other Honours done her, to be truly so: I mean, the Imitation of her Life and Virtues.  
The Chief Honour St. Paul demanded from those converted by his Apostolical Labours, was, That they would study to imitate his Life, as he did the Sacred Life of Christ; Fratres imitatores mei estote, sicut 
1 Cor. 11. ●●  ego Christi. This is the best way of Honouring the Saints, most acceptable to them, and most beneficial to us: And therefore St. Augustin says, They alone truly 
Serm. 74. de Sanctis.  keep the Festivals of the Saints and Martyrs, and truly honour them as they ought, qui ipsorum Marryrum exempla sequuntur, who make it their business to imitate their Lives. And the Reason is evident: For when we would make our Court to any Great Person here on Earth, and convince him we have a true Honour for him, we cannot do it more efficaciously, then by saying always what he says, approving what he approves, finding fault with all he dislikes; in a word, imitating his Behaviour and Conduct in all things. By this Proceeding we convince him, that we take his Judgement for our Rule to act by, we esteem his Choice to be the most wise, and himself to be the most excellent Pattern for Prudence, Discretion, and Wisdom, of all others. Is not this the highest Honour we can show? And in reality 'tis so, if we think he deserves it, and proceed without Flattery. But the Saints in Heaven are not only above our Flattery, but have moreover this Advantage, which we have not: Their Judgements, when on Earth, were exactly conformable to the Wisdom of Heaven; their Choice squared to the Rules of the Gospel; their Actions measured by the Will of the Almighty: To which must be added, That now in Glory they see incomparably more clear; that no way of Living here on Earth but theirs, when Pilgrims with us, was to be esteemed Rational; and now being immovably fixed to the Will of the Almighty, can love only what he loves, and necessarily hate what he hates; and consequently, cannot esteem or admit of any Honour done to themselves, as truly such, which is not at the same time a true Honour of the Lord of Glory, who cannot possibly approve of any Action directed to himself, or his Saints, that is not accompanied with a Desire at least of imitating his Son, or Disciples that followed his Example. Therefore it is only then, the Saints esteem themselves truly Honoured, when their own exemplary Lives contribute in any measure to carry on the true Honour and Glory due to our common Lord and Master. When they see any one become Chaste by their Example, Penitent by their Example, Self-deniers by their Example, true Servants and Adorers of the Lord of Glory, being animated and stirred up by their Example; this they esteem a great Honour indeed, that they should be any ways instrumental to effect that which the Angels and whole Court of Heaven incessantly sigh after, the Salvation of Men.  
Upon this account St. Ambrose contemplating the Prerogatives of the Virgin Mother, with the Advantages we may receive from them, and the best Honour she can receive from us; recommends her Life to all the Faithful as a Pattern for theirs, Hinc 
Lib. 1. de Virg.  sumat exempla vivendi, since as he adds, in her Life, as in the best Copy that was ever drawn after that great Original of her Divine Son, we have expressed the most lively Representations and Sovereign documents of all Virtues, Vbi tanquam in exemplari magisteria expressa probitatis; pointing out to us what we ought to embrace as conformable to God's Law, and what we ought to fly, as opposite to that Sacred Rule. In fine, a Pattern so universal, that every Man may find in it the Lesson proper to himself. Talis fuit vita Mariae ut ejus unius vita omnium disciplina sit: To the Proud she offers Humility in a Sovereign Degree; to the Luxurious Purity and Modesty without example, to the Tepid and Slothful Christian the most eminent Charity that ever inflamed the Breast of a Creature. What more humble than to own herself a poor Handmaid, when assumed to the dignity of Mother to the Almighty? What more humble than to go a long Pilgrimage to visit her Kinswoman that had conceived a Prophet, when she carried in her own Womb, the Redeemer of Mankind, the Lord of Glory? What more humble than to present herself in the Temple, as defiled in Childbed, like the rest of her Sex, when she had conceived without loss of Virginity, and brought forth with a miraculous Purity and Integrity? What more humble than to Redeem her Firstborn, complying with the Law imposed on Sinners, when in her Arms she carried him who came to wash away the Gild of the World, and whose Nature was incompatible with all that was sinful? Never was Purity and Virginity carried to so eminent a pitch; never was Modesty so exemplar, a Married Woman, unacquainted with all the lawful liberties of that state; the Purest of Virgins, yet the most Honourable and Sublime of Mothers. What Charity could be compared to hers? who knew she was chosen before all Creatures to the dignity of Mother of God; who had conceived in a Spiritual manner, as St. Augustin says, this Heavenly Son in her own Soul, by Contemplation and Love before she concerved him in her Womb, Filium suum prius concepit ment, 
In Psal. 67.  quam carne. What melting joys must she daily experience, when she possessed the God of Heaven made Man, and united to Humane Nature in her Chaste Body? It must needs seem a Miracle, that her Life was not a continued Ecstasy of Love, since she had the Creator and Redeemer of Mankind daily before her Eyes, constantly in her Thoughts; the sustainer of all things supported by her Arms, the Father and Author of all Being sucking at her Breasts, which made her cry out, Her Soul was transported with her God and Saviour, Exultavit spiritus meus in Deo salutari meo. 
Luc.  Her Understanding contemplated nothing but his Greatness; her Will enamoured with nothing but his Bounty; her Memory charged with nothing but his Mercies, as the Scripture relates of her, Conservabat omnia verba haec conferens in cord suo, locking up in the Cabinet of her Heart every Passage of his Divine Life, as a Sacred Fuel to feed the Flames of Divine Love. In a word, Her mouth uttered nothing but his Praises; her Hands were employed wholly in his Service; her Feet made no Step but for his Concerns; and her Eyes could be satisfied with no other Object; witness her Grief and Tears when she thought him lost in Jerusalem: So that her whole Soul was transported with so ravishing a Mystery, always magnifying her Son and Saviour; Magnificat anima mea Dominum: Joyfully employing all her Senses, all her Being, all her Soul, (as Venerable Bede observes upon these Words) in Thanksgiving and Gratitude; Quicquid vivo, sentio, discerno gratulanter impendo.  
These, Dear Christians, are the true Praises of the Virgin Mother; these Virtues are what render her Honourable in Heaven; and the Imitation of these is the best Honour she can receive, or expects from us upon Earth, not but that other Inferior Honours may be good and laudable when used with a true desire of acquiring the mentioned Virtues: Prayers for Example offered to her by the Proud, with a true desire to become Humble; by the Dissolute, with a true desire to become Chaste; by the Indevout, with a true desire to become Fervent; by all Christians with a true desire and intention to serve her Glorious Son by imitating the Virtues so eminent in the Mother. Devotions to our Lady with this Disposition and intention, will engage her efficaciously in our Protection, and invite her powerfully to use that Grace and Favour she has with her Divine Son, in Praying with us, and for us, that we may obtain a happy and glorious share in that Redemption, for which the Eternal Word was this Day Incarnate, and so becoming the source of all Grace in this World, and everlasting Glory in the next; Which God of his Mercy grant to Your Sacred Majesties, and all Your Subjects here assembled. Amen.   
FINIS.   

A Catalogue of Books Printed for Henry Hills, Printer to the King's most Excellent Majesty, for his Household and Chapel, 1686.  
REflections upon the Answer to the Papist misrepresented etc. Directed to the Answerer. Quarto.  
Kalendarium Catholicum for the Year 1686. Octavo.  
Papists Protesting against Protestant-Popery. In Answer to a Discourse Entitled, A Papist not misrepresented by Protestants. Being a Vindication of the Papist misrepresented and Represented, and the Reflections upon the Answer. Quart.  
Copies of Two Papers Written by the late King Charles II. Together with a Paper Written by the late Duchess of York. Published by his Majesty's Command. Folio.  
The Spirit of Christianity. Published by his Majesty's Command. Twelve.  
The first Sermon Preached before their Majesties in English at Windsor, on the first Sunday of October 1685. By the Reverend Father Dom. P. E. Monk of the Holy Order of S. Benedict, and of the English Congregation. Published by his Majesty's Command. Quarto.  
Second Sermon Preached before the King and Queen, and Queen Dowager, at Their Majesty's Chapel at Saint James', November 1, 1685. By the Reverend Father Dom. Ph. Ellis, Monk of the Holy Order of S. Benedict, and of the English Congregation. Published by his Majesty's Command. Quarto.  
Sixth Sermon Preached before the King and Queen, in their Majesty's Chapel at St. James', upon the first Wednesday in Lent, Febr. 24. 1685. By the Reverend Father Dom. Ph. Ellis, Monk of the Holy Order of St. Benedict, and of the English Congregation. Published by his Majesty's Command. Quarto.  
The Third Sermon Preached before the King and Queen, in their Majesty's Chapel at St. James', on the third Sunday in Advent, Decemb. 13. 1685. By the Reverend Father Dom. Ph. Ellis, Monk of the Holy Order of St. Benedict, and of the English Congr. Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty. Published by His Majesty's Command. Quarto.  
An Exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholic Church in Matters of Controversy. By the Right Reverend James Benign Bossuet, Counsellor to the King, Bishop of Meaux, formerly of Condom, and Preceptor to the Dauphin: First Almoner to the Dauphiness. Done into English with all the former Approbations, and others newly published in the Ninth and Last Edition of the French. Published by His Majesty's Command. Quarto.