Imprimatur Concio haec in Luc. 1. v. 28. Gulielmus jane, Reverendo in Christo Patri ac Domino D no Henrico Episcopo Lond. April 1. 1676. à Sacris Domesticis. A SERMON Preached on the FEAST of the ANNUNCIATION OF THE B. Virgin Mary, AT St martin's in the Fields, Westminster. BY JOHN MILL, M. A. Fellow of Queen's College Oxon. In the SAVOY: Printed by THO. NEWCOMB, MDCLXXVI. St. LUKE, Chap. 1. Vers. 28. And the Angel came in unto Her, and said, Hail, Thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with Thee: Blessed art Thou among Women. GReat is the Mystery of Godliness, 1 Tim. 3.16. says St. Paul; God Manifested in the Flesh, justified in the Spirit, Seen of Angels, Preached unto the Gentiles, Believed on in the World, Received up into Glory. Mysterious Doctrines these indeed, and such as transcend the Capacities of Men I do not say, Wisd. 19.16. (those poor shallow Creatures who hardly guess aright at things upon Earth, and with labour find even the things that are before them;) but also of the Holy Angels of God. Those Glorious Spirits, who are all Flame and Intelligence, cannot arrive to the Knowledge of them; are not allowed as much as a Glimpse into these Depths of our Holy Religion. Desire they may and do, as St. Peter tells us, 1 Pet. 1.12. to pry a little into these Gospel- Arcana; but can by no means have their Curiosity gratified: Any Wisdom inferior to that of God, being uncapable of a full Comprehension and Understanding of them. The reason is plain: For what Man, says the great Apostle, knows even the Things of a Man, our poor inconsiderable Thoughts and Designs, save the Spirit of a Man which is in him? 1 Cor. 2.11. Even so the Things, the deep Things of God knows no Man, (nor for the same reason any Creature else) but the Spirit of God. Vers. 10. And yet God hath revealed Them unto us, says the same Apostle. He has so; But how? and in what measure? He has not explained the Modes and Reasons of Gospel-Mysteries surely; Those are, and will, even in Heaven, remain to us Unintelligible: But acquainted us merely with the Truth and Reality of them, and discovered what those Supernatural Doctrines of Faith are, by Extraordinary Revelation. A Revelation, to go on with St. Paul, as early as the Prophetic Writings, wherein the Apostle affirms them to be declared: The Mystery of the Gospel, says he, Rom. 16.26. was a thing hid from Ages, and from Generations, kept secret since the World began; but is now, by the Scriptures of the Prophets, made known, and manifested to all Nations, for the Obedience of Faith. A Truth undoubtedly clear and evident, as far as concerns the Promises of a Messiah, (i. e.) of our Blessed Saviour's Mission into the World, which are in the old Prophecies most expressly delivered: but if extended to the several Doctrines touching his Person, can only be true in this sense, that the Fullness of Time was able to interpret those Ancient Records so, as to discover in them even these Doctrines too. The Birth, Life, Actions and Sufferings of our Saviour spread a sensible Light over those Ancient Volumes, and made these Essential Truths of the Gospel appear, otherwise or not at all, or very hardly discernible. The Truth is, there is so much Obscurity in their Manifestations of them, (if I may so speak without absurdity) that 'tis almost as difficult out of the Prophets to conclude the Reality of any such Mysteries, as 'tis impossible to understand the Natures of them. For to instance in that one, which more particularly relates to the present Festival, I mean the Mysterious Incarnation of our Lord: This Truth, I confess, was in some sort delivered to our first Parents, in that promise of bruising, the Serpent's Head by the Seed of the Woman: Gen. 3.15. But this was a wonderful dark Insinuation of the Mystery. I grant also, that Abraham had some Knowledge of this Matter; (our Saviour himself attests so much, joh. 8. 56.) So likewise had the Patriarches, and several Godly Men, in the first Ages of the World. They embraced This among many other things of the Gospel; nay, they saw them, says the Author to the Hebrews, Chap. 11. v. 13. but than 'twas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a far off, at a vast distance, and so implies a very Inadequate and small Discovery. The Prophet Isaiah may seem indeed to have had a much clearer and more advantageous view of Christ Incarnate, in his account of it, Ch. 7. v. 14. Behold, a Virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call his Name Immanuel. For if the Prediction relate to Christ, than the Prophet knew that the Mother of our Lord was to be a Virgin. But that the Virgin there mentioned, was to Typify the Virgin Mary, and the Immanuel to be born, our blessed Saviour, we have only the warrant of a Mystical Interpretation, made indeed by St. Matthew, Chap. 1. v. 23. and so most undoubtedly true; but such as otherwise we should never have thought upon; the plain Letter of the Text only pointing out to a Child, to be born immediately after the Prophecy, (whoever he was) as a Sign to King Ahaz, that jerusalem should be secured from the Arms of the Kings of Israel and Syria. So that for all the Prophetical accounts of this and the like Doctrines of Faith, we are like to be left infinitely in the dark, unless the Divine Goodness unfolds what they wrapped up in Types, and displays the Truth of them in such an evident manner, as may procure and establish a belief of them in the minds of Men. But blessed be God, who will not suffer the World to remain under the Prophetic Shades, and continue ignorant of the Principles of Christianity any longer. It sufficed the Wisdom of Heaven to have kept these Glorious Things unknown in a manner during the Mosaic Oeconomy. But now the fullness of time is come, when the Mysterious Abyss of the Gospel shall be broken up, and the Glories of Christianity appear in so eminent and illustrious a manner, that all the Ends of the World may see the Salvation of God. The Grand Design of Heaven is to be laid open, and unravelled successively, in all the Parts and Branches of it. The first of them, and Foundation of all the rest, I mean the Manifestation of God in the Flesh, was explained to us this very day, by the Message of an Angel; God sent one of those blessed Spirits from Heaven, on purpose to inform us who was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Virgin, (as the Prophet Isaiah styled her by way of Eminency) that blessed Woman of all the World, who was to be the Mother of our Lord. And who was this Virgin, think ye, who was to be Christ's Mother? and to whom upon that account, so extraordinary an Embassy was dispatched? Some great and and noble Personage certainly, highly eminent for her Extraction and Quality. No such matter, but on the quite contrary, a poor mean Daughter of Israel; expressing indeed in her Name something of Ladyship, (for so much St. jerom tells us the word Mary imports in the Syriac) but in reality of very low condition. Lord! how thou despisest those things which in the opinion of the World pass for great and honourable! how thou delightest to dignify the most excellent grace of Humility, by this and all the other circumstances of thy Incarnation! A lowly Hand-maiden she was, (as she styles herself in her Magnificat, v. 48.) in whom before all the Princesses of the Earth, our blessed Lord was pleased to invest himself with Flesh, and become an Infant. Of this astonishing Mystery the Angel Gabriel gives her solemn notice, v. 31. and out of an admiration of the infinite Honour our Saviour was about to do her, before he delivered his message, he addresses himself to the Holy Virgin in this affectionate Salutation: Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. Which words admit a twofold Interpretation: for they may be taken either in a plain Indicative sense, and so they expressly denote the transcendent Glories and Privileges of the blessed Virgin; or else they may bear a sense Apprecative, as the Learned Grotius and others are of opinion they do, and so they are expounded to be a Salutatory form of speech, wherein the Angel Gabriel most heartily congratulates her upon the subject of her wonderful Conception, whereof he is come on purpose to give her an assurance, and wishes her thereupon all the joy and happiness imaginable. And thus the Reverend Doctor Hammond paraphrases the words in this manner: Hail, Gracious Person, the Lord of Heaven be with thee; and let all men ever account thee the most blessed woman in the world. In either acceptation of the words, the Glorious Saint of this day is sufficiently insinuated to be the Grand Favourite of Heaven; such a woman as all the Generations of the Earth should have reason to celebrate, and esteem most happy. Let us now meditate upon, and consider ('tis, or aught to be, the religious exercise of this Festival) the great and noble Character here given her. Let us first of all fix our thoughts upon the high Honour God has vouchsafed her. And then, in the second place, in Consideration of that, and of her singular Endowments and Graces, pay to her memory all due Veneration and Respect: To the first part of this Religious Duty, we have a prevalent Motive in the first words of the Text; to the latter in the close of the Angel's Salutation. 1. Mary is here styled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or highly favoured, and accepted of God: for so we render the word congruously to the sense of it in the best Greek Authors, and to the mind of Gabriel, Vers. 30. who tells her that she had found favour with God. Though I am not ignorant that other Interpretations are fastened upon the word. Our Protestant Divines, many of them, rendering it gratis dilecta; the Romanists generally gratiosa, or gratia plena: neither of them so much out of respect, as I conceive, to the meaning of the word in this place, as out of a design to countenance their own particular Hypotheses. Not to stand therefore upon Critical Niceties, certain it is, that highly graced and favoured she was; in so transcendent a manner, that we cannot fix our Meditations upon the Honour done her, in all its several ennobling and exaltingCircumstances, without being swallowed up with Admiration. We cannot trace the Divine Love to Her through the various Mazes and Labyrinths of it, without losing ourselves in so profound a Speculation. We shall in the following Discourse, consider her as highly favoured upon these two accounts: I. Upon account of our blessed Lords Incarnation. II. Upon account of those Excellent Graces and Virtues wherewith she was in a most eminent manner dignified and accomplished. I. Upon account of our blessed Lords Incarnation. Will God indeed come down from Heaven, the Habitation of his Holiness and of his Glory, and converse with Dust and Ashes? Yes; and what is infinitely more, he will take upon him the very Nature and Infirmities of a Man. And the blessed Virgin is to be the Woman in whom the whole Mystery of this Incarnation is to be transacted. The Holy Ghost shall come upon her, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow her, Vers. 35. And that Holy Thing which shall be born of her, shall be Essentially God, God blessed for ever, Rom. 9 5. Amazing News! And such as had the Angel acquainted Us with, as he did Mary, supposing us to have known as little what was to befall her, as herself did before that extraordinary Message, think whether we should have believed him, and not rather have resolved all into mere absurdity and contradiction. Nay, but with God nothing is impossible, says the Angel, Vers. 37. Well then, suppose for once a Conviction of the Possibility of the thing: Suppose the Manifestation of God in Flesh Practicable; that is to say, that Infinity could be circumscribed in the Womb, Eternity commence in Time, Omnipotency be surrounded with Weakness, Dan. 7.9. the Ancient of Days become a Child of a span long; (and yet the Conception of Them is ready to crack our Faculties:) Suppose, I say, the Possibility of all these things; and then consider how highly Dignified she must be, who is to be the Illustrious Subject of all these Miracles. Quae vel Angelica puritas Illi audeat comparari, quae digna fuit Spiritus Sacrarium fieri & habitaculum filii Dei! S. Bern. de Assump. Serm. 4. The Woman, who by peculiar Designation is to carry Divinity in her Womb, and become the Mother of God. Lord! what shall we say? She is inexpressibly far above either Saints or Angels. The grand instance of a Creature on whom the Almighty has accumulated all the Greatness and Honour consistent with a Created Capacity, a Finite Nature. Virgo Mater! (as a pious Father harangues it upon this Argument) Illa majorem Deus facere non potest: Majorem Mundum potest facere Deus: Majorem autem Matrem quam Matrem Dei non potest facere Deus. God cannot, says he, create a greater Creature than a Virgin Mother. God can make a larger World, (a thousand Worlds if it pleases him) but to make a greater Mother than the Mother of God, is perfectly Impossible. Blessed Saint! how beyond all Imagination highly hath the Lord regarded thy low condition! How far hath he advanced Thee above the whole Creation in point of Honour and Dignity! The Glorious Angels which attend upon his Throne, were the Creatures he wholly passed by, Heb. 2.16. when he came down and Impregnated Thee by the Holy Ghost. His dearest Servants are but small Sharers in his Favour, when compared to Thee, who didst possess even the whole Divinity. Moses had the Honour to talk with God, Exod. 33. 11,18,20. with the like familiarity, as a Man talketh with his Friend, and was earnest to have a sight of his Glory; but was denied it, as not being able to endure so dazzling a Lustre. The Prophets likewise had some converse with Heaven; but 'twas withal by secret Inspirations and Dreams, in an imperfect manner. Several Persons are Recorded in Scripture to have been filled with the Holy Ghost. And indeed every good Christian may be said to be Partaker of the Divine Nature, 2 Pet. 1. 4. To have put on Christ, Gal. 3. 17. Nay, to have Christ form in him, Gal. 4. 19 in a Spiritual sense. But the Blessed Virgin was the Person alone of all the World, in whom the Almighty would, not by the Gifts and Graces of his Spirit only, but Essentially, Locally, Properly reside; whose Womb was to be the real Receptacle and Temple of God, and in whom was to dwell all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Behold, 1 Joh. 3.1. says St. John, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the Sons of God. If so great be the love of God to us in making us his Sons, what must That be whereby be made the Blessed Virgin (besides the favour she enjoys in common with the best of Christians) our Saviour's Mother? We are his Sons only in a Qualified and Spiritual Notion; but she is in Truth and Reality the Mother of God. This is her Title, and this is her Memorial for all Generations. So that now we shall adventure to take up again the Angel's Salutation, and say, Hail, Thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with Thee: Blessed art Thou among Women. Highly favoured: And that not only upon account of our blessed Lords Incarnation, the Reason hitherto insisted on; but also, II. Upon the score of those Excellent Graces and Virtues wherewith she was, in a very eminent degree, dignified and accomplished. God might, 'tis true, had it so pleased Him, have made choice of any other, even Unsanctified Virgin, as well as the Virgin Mary, wherein to transact the Mysterious Incarnation of his Son. And I know very well there are a sort of ill-natured Fanatical Spirits, who will not allow this Holy Woman any Extraordinary Grace, nay indeed not any Civil Respect upon the account of this her Honourable Relation. She was, say they, beloved merely gratis, without the least respect had to any peculiar Graces and Qualifications she could pretend to. An Assertion so far true indeed, that her Piety could not challenge either This, or any other Divine Favour, strictly and by way of Merit; but if so extended as to exclude the Singular Eye or Respect God had to her Virtues and Graces in so grand an Affair as this was, is an absurd and unworthy Doctrine. For if (according to the Wise man's Aphorism) Into a Malicious Soul Wisdom shall not enter, Wisd. 1.4. nor dwell in the Body that is subject unto Sin; 'tis infinitely gross to imagine that our Blessed Lord, who is the Wisdom of the Father, 1 Cor. 1.24. should inhabit the Body, and clothe Himself with the Flesh and Blood of an Irreligious Woman. Far be this from our Conceptions. The Holy JESUS undoubtedly had a very tender and special regard not only to the low estate, (Vers. 48.) but much more to the Piety of this Hand-maiden whom he designed for his Mother. Not that I would here be thought in the least wise to affirm the Blessed Mary perfectly free from all Actual Sin, much less from Original Corruption. I leave such Anti-Scriptural Doctrines to be Established by the Council of Trent, Conc. Trid. Sess. 5 Art. 5. ad finem. and Preached up by the Franciscan Friars. We have no warrant for any Magnificent Strains of that kind concerning her. Having on the contrary as good Assurance, as Scripture can give us, that all Men (the Virgin Mary no where excepted) are conceived and born in Sin. Rom. 5.12. All that I aim at is this, that the Mother of our Blessed Saviour was an eminently Religious and Holy Woman. And truly we need not go far for an Argument of this Truth. St. Luke has in this very Chapter given us a sufficient account of her Graces: The History of the Annunciation representing to us these several Particulars. 1. Her Chastity; She was a Virgin, (V. 29.) one that knew not a Man, (V. 34.) free from all carnal Uncleanness and Pollution: Her Mind and Body entirely pure and Immaculate; not in the least measure sullied and ruffled by Lust; and consequently devoid of what might otherwise have alienated her from the Divine Love, and rendered her Body an unfit Temple for the God of all Purity to inhabit. 2. Her Humility and Modesty; Virtues expressed in her behaviour towards the Angel, (V. 29.) When she saw him, says the Evangelist, she was troubled at his saying; and cast in her mind what manner of Salutation this should be. She was troubled at his saying. Poor Virgin● The Angel's Complyment is in all Circumstances too big for her Modesty; Quod turbata est, Verecundiae fuit. S. Bernard. Serm. 3. super Missus. est. The Address in her Apprehension, most infinitely unsuitable to a Woman of her low Rank and Condition in the World. What! An Angel clad all in Robes of Glory, come to visit a poor mean Daughter of Israel? Can it be that Heaven should in Her, of all the Women in the World, find any thing that might incline God to respect and favour Her? She blushes upon the Angels Address; Sees and hears herself highly magnified; Thinks upon the Message deeply; Considers it again and again: But after all, cannot apprehend any thing in herself which may in any wise correspond to the Angel's Character: Her Modesty will not allow her to understand the least part of the Import of the Angel's Salutation. How she of all others should be the great Favourite of Heaven, advanced and honoured above all her Sex, a Person to be celebrated throughout all Ages, she cannot imagine. And as for her Humility, 'twas the same after her Exaltation as before. In her Magnificat, she expresses herself sensible of her low Condition; and takes occasion to meditate upon, and adore the Mercy of God, who rejects the Proud, 1 Pet. 5.5. but gives Grace and Honour to the Humble. He hath scattered, says she, the Proud in the Imagination of their Hearts. He hath put down the Mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the Humble and Meek, Vers. 51, 52. Her Humility was one of the principal Graces which procured her this favour. God delights in this Grace in a peculiar manner; Loves those, and only those that are Humble: He loves and lives with them. Thus saith the high and lofty One, who inhabiteth Eternity, whose Name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy Place; with him also that is of a contrite and humble Spirit, to revive the Spirit of the Humble, and to revive the Heart of the Contrite Ones, Isai. 57 15. The next Grace observable in the Virgin Mary, is her Faith, expressed Vers. 38. Behold, says she, the Handmaid of the Lord; Be it unto me according to thy Word. She staggers not at the promise of God through unbelief, (to apply to her St. Paul's words concerning Abraham upon a much-like Argument) but is strong in Faith, Rom. 4.20, 21. giving Glory to God; and being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he was able also to perform. The Consideration of Omnipotency removes all Doubts and Difficulties. To be a Mother without knowing a Man, is a strong Objection against her Faith: But that GOD can do in this case, as well as any other, what transcends our Imaginations, is on the other hand as much out of question. And if he say he Will do it, the Divine Veracity, which is as infallible as his Power is infinite, is engaged to a performance. And so she's undoubtedly assured that it must be so, though she cannot tell how. And thereupon she acquiesceth in what the Angel had told her, without any further Hesitancy or Contradiction: Behold, says she, freely resigning up herself to the Divine Pleasure, Behold the Handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. But I shall not insist any longer upon the Variety of Gifts and Graces wherewith the blessed Virgin was Endowed; but shall only take notice of the profound Reverence and Honour which Antiquity paid Her in that Celebrated Opinion of theirs, That after she had given the consent just now mentioned, Be it unto me according to thy word, She was by singular Privilege kept secure from all Actual Sin during her whole Life. An Opinion, I confess, entertainable without any prejudice to our Holy Faith, and such as the Fathers who embraced it, took up certainly out of the great and awful Regard they had to the Dignity and Person of our Saviour; but such as has not the least Foundation in Scripture, and therefore may reasonably be laid aside, among many other ungrounded Ejaculations, and over-officious Praises of a Saint, too honourably and advantageously represented in the Gospel as to her Virtue and Piety, to need the Accession of our groundless extravagant Commendations. And if we cannot account the Zeal of some Ancient Fathers of the Church so discreet as well-meaning in this particular; What shall we say of that Abominable Superstition, which has induced the Church of Rome and her Doctors to sally out so far in the Praises of the Virgin Mary, as to Romance her into a Deity? to attribute to her Divine Perfections, and to pay her that Religious Worship which belongs only to God? She was, says the Angel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is, say they, Gratia plena, Full of Grace. And a very Gracious Person she was undoubtedly; so far we concur, and here we must leave them. For they go on, and with a Confidence befitting the Worshippers of Saints and Angels, mentioned by the Apostle, Col. 2. 18. who should boldly intrude into those things which they had not seen; They affirm that her Fullness of Grace was such, that she was able to communicate it to any that wanted; in the very same manner, as our Saviour says, Joh. 5.26. that as the Father had Life in Himself, so had he given to the Son to have Life in Himself. Nay, Suarez. the Jesuit is wonderfully Nice and Critical in stating this Plenitude, and giving us an exact Estimate of it. The Grace of the Virgin Mary (says he, 3. Part. Disp. 18. Sect. 4. upon the the Popish Hypothesis of her Immaculate Conception) was greater in the very first moment she was conceived, than the Grace of the highest Angel, and consequently merited more than a thousand Men can merit all their Life long. Now this Grace of hers received a continual Increase as long as she lived; in such a manner, that in the first instant of her Conception, her Grace excelled that of the highest Angel, who by one or two Acts completed his Merits. In the second instant, her Grace was doubled, and so was twice as Excellent and Meritorious as the former. In the third instant four times, in the fourth eight times as much as the first; and so on according to Geometrical Proportion. So that the Grace of every instant doubling its foregoing Grace from the moment in which she was conceived, till the time of her Nativity; and afterwards every Act of Grace being in like manner twice as excellent as its precedent Act, till the Seventy Second Year of her Age, wherein she died; She was so far advanced in Goodness and Merit, as to have more Grace and Merit than the whole Society of Men and Angels put together: She is dearer to God than the whole Reasonable Creation; He loves her more than the Universal Church. What odd Metaphysical Notions are these! And yet a World of such Insignificant and Nonsensical Trash we meet with in the Schoolmen: Who in their Discourses relating to the Holy Virgin, thought they could never be Romantic enough in describing the Praises, and advancing (after their dull rugged fashion) the Merits of a Saint, whom the Church of Rome had in so singular a manner made the Object of a Religious Adoration. Conc. Trid. Sess. 25. Art. 2. But I shall wave at present any farther pursuit of these, and the like Superstitious Fopperies, whereby whilst they would be thought to magnify the Mother of our Lord, they do really expose Christ himself and his Gospel to scorn and contempt; contenting myself with what has been said already concerning the high Honour done her in making her so miraculously Instrumental in our Lord's Incarnation; and bestowing upon her such eminent Gifts and Graces. The Contemplation of this transcendent Dignity of the Virgin, was I told you, one Branch of this Days Religious Exercise. 2. The second part of our Duty consists in the Celebration of her Memory, or in expressing to her upon account of her eminent Virtue and Goodness, all due Respect and Veneration. The blessed Angel, you see, did this in his Address to her; Hail, Thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with Thee: Blessed art Thou among Women. Blessed art Thou; i. e. Let all Men Honour Thee, as an ever blessed Saint. Indeed, who can seriously reflect upon her wonderful Relation to God, who can truly love our Lord jesus Christ and not entertain a most Profoundly Reverend Esteem of Her, whose Womb bore Him, and whose Paps He sucked? If the Woman in the Gospel was to have a Perpetual Memorial for breaking her Box of Spikenard, and pouring it upon our Saviour's head, Mark 14. 9 of what Honour shall She be thought worthy, who was the very Mother of God? How lasting and precious aught her Name to be among us, by whom God brought forth Christ into the World, and conveyed to Us the Benefits of our Redemption? But how must we declare and manifest the great Esteem and Honour we have for the Blessed Virgin? To this I answer, 1. Negatively; 2. Positively. 1. Negatively. We are not to express the great Esteem we have of Her by a Religious Worship, or such a sort of Adoration as we pay unto God. We are not to ascribe to her such Perfections as are proper to the Deity, nor pray to, or call upon her in any case or exigency whatsoever. For it is written, Matth. 4.10. Thou shalt Worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve. He is the God hearing Prayer, Psal. 65.2. and therefore to Him, and Him alone, shall all Flesh come. St. john indeed fell down at the feet of the Angel to worship him, Rev. 19 10. But received a Reprimend for his Inconsiderate Zeal: See thou do it not, says the Angel; I am thy Fellow servant, and of thy Brethren that have the Testimony of jesus: Worship God. And certainly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, if the Blessed Virgin now in Heaven have any Knowledge of what is done here below; if she sees the many Shrines and Altars erected to her, and hears the Prayers and Devotions offered up continually by stupid and superstitious Votaries; she cannot but infinitely disdain the Religious Homage paid her, so much in Derogation to God and his Christ: A Worship which has not the least countenance from Sacred Writ; there being in those holy Books neither Precept nor Example of Devotion in this kind. Our Saviour is so far from enjoining the Worshipping of Her, that he restrains upon all occasions all extravagant apprehensions of the Honour due to her, as foreseeing the proneness of succeeding Ages to Superstition in this matter. When he was told that his Mother and his Brethren stood without; Who, saith he, are my Mother and my Brethren? He that doth the Will of my Father, the same is my Mother, and Sister, and Brother. And when the Woman broke forth into that Rapture concerning the Blessed Mother of our Lord; Blessed is the Womb that bore Thee, and the Paps which Thou hast sucked: Our Saviour diverts it to another thing; Yea rather blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it. Nor do the Apostles give us the least advice of addressing ourselves to the Virgin, and making use of her Intercession; nay, they have not so much as once mentioned her Name in all their Epistles. Now if the Worship of the Blessed Virgin had been a thing in practice from the beginning, can it with any colour of reason be imagined, that our Saviour and his Apostles would have been silent in so considerable a part of Religion? The truth is, 'tis so far from Apostolic or Primitive, that neither the Scriptures, nor the Christian Writers for the first three hundred years, give any countenance at all to this sort of Devotion. To be plain; This Superstitious Practice began about the middle of the fourth Century; and Epiphanius, Epiphan. contr. Haeres. lib. 3. Haer. 79. who lived about that time, particularly calls it (as he might have done a great many more) The Heresy of Women. There were in his days certain devout Women of Arabia, who, as an instance of their Worship of the Blessed Virgin, offered up to this Queen of Heaven (as they thought her) certain Cakes called Collyrides, whence they had the name of Collyridian Heretics. The Good Father hearing of this preposterous Devotion of theirs, inveighs with all possible vehemency against that Superstitious Practice; accounting it Damnable and Diabolical, and the Persons devoted to it, no better than those that attend to Seducing Spirits, 1 Tim. 4. 1. and Doctrines of Daemons. And then he states the Worship due to the Virgin Mary, thus: Marry, says he, was a Virgin, 'tis true; nay more, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a very Honourable Virgin; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, but she is not proposed to us as an Object of Religious Worship. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, says the same Father, Though Mary be a most Excellent, Holy and Venerable Woman, yet is she by no means capable of a Religious Adoration. And again, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Let the Virgin be Reverenced, but God only Worshipped. So Zealous was Epiphanius in the matter of the Virgin's Invocation, a piece of Superstition before his time not known in the World. What would he have said, had he seen this Idolatry of Worshipping the Virgin, (of calling upon her, and imploring her Mediation with Christ) grown into such a general Reputation, as to be Universally Practised, and Established by the Law of a Church, Conc. Trid. Sess. 25. Art. 2. which Glories in the style of Catholic? His Spirit undoubtedly upon Observation of the Churches, Shrines and Altars Erected to her Devotion, (as St. Paul's once was) would have been stirred within him, when he should have seen not only one particular City, but a whole Church wholly given to this and many other Branches of Idolatry: The Idols or Images set up in Honour of the Blessed Virgin, being infinitely more numerous, than those the great Apostle saw at Athens, and both made use of to the same Religious Ends and Purposes. Indeed the Romish Superstition relating to the Blessed Mary, as 'tis now practised, is infinitely too gross and absurd, to be in any tolerable manner accounted for, and justified. 'Tis wholly Anti-Scriptural; and 'tis evident the Church of Christ knew nothing at all of it for above three hundred years after our Saviour. Alas! The several Periods of the Rise and Growth of this Superstitious Folly and Will-Worship, as to all the parts of it, are too notorious, to allow it the least Pretensions to Antiquity. The Council of Ephesus, Anno 431. towards the beginning of the fourth Century, gave her indeed the style of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or Mother of God, in Opposition to the Nestorian Heresy: And I know very well that in the Ages immediately succeeding, they fell to making lofty and unreasonably high Harangues in her Commendation. But 'twas above a thousand years after Christ before any Daily Office was Instituted to Her. And a long time after that was it ere the Doctrine of her Immaculate Conception appeared in the World. The Canons of Lions are the first Men upon Record, who inserted that Doctrine into their Ecclesiastical Offices, and are upon that account sharply reprehended by St. Bernard. About three hundred years ago Duns Scotus a School-Doctor revived That Opinion, and proposed it as a thing merely probable. In favour of it Pope Sixtus the Fourth afterwards Published a Bull, which was finally Approved and Ratified by the Council of Trent. So that She now passes among the Romanists (if they be true to the Decrees of their Church) for a Virgin perfectly free from Original Sin; not to mention the several other Prerogatives and Perfections they have out of very great kindness doubtless fixed upon Her. They style her in their Missals and Offices, The Queen of Heaven, The Empress of the World, The Ladder of Paradise, The Gate of Salvation, The Mediatrix between God and Man, The Saviour by whom God hath sent Redemption unto his People, A Goddess, The Omnipotent Lady, etc. And the peculiar Offices which have been instituted to her, are so extremely Wild and Blasphemous, that I cannot mention what they speak of the Virgin, without offence to this Intelligent and Noble Auditory. Bonavent. A Cardinal of the Romish Church, who Compiled the Lady's Psalter, (as they call it) has taken the liberty very fairly to Burlesque the Psalms of David, and roundly to apply and direct to the Holy Virgin all those Noble Hymns, and most Pious Ejaculations and Prayers which the Royal Psalmist presented to Almighty God. So Indiscreet a Thing is Superstition, that whilst it labours to Gratify and Please God, it blindly falls upon such means in order thereto, as do most highly disoblige and dishonour Him. Blessed Saint! Is this the Respect and Honour which Thou requirest of Us, to build Thee Shrines and Temples, and then to pay to Thee in Them a Religious Worship? To offer up at Thy Altars our Devotions and Prayers, to run over our Rosaries, to say Ten Ave Maries for One Pater Noster; i. e. to make Ten Addresses to Thee, for One Prayer directed to Almighty God? (and this is the proportion observed in the Romish Devotions.) In a word, to transfer upon Thee the Religious Reverence due to God as his own Peculiar Prerogative? Surely no. This is a sort of Complaisance or Humility (as the Apostle speaks in the case of Angel Worship) which cannot possibly be grateful to Thee. Col. 2.18. We cannot imagine that Thou canst at all delight in receiving (if yet Thou art capable of receiving) from Us those Religious Services, which we cannot pay Thee, without Injuring and Affronting Thy MAKER. We dare not present to Thee our Petitions and Prayers; because they are due to God only. We dare not implore Thy Favour in Interceding for Us to Thy Son; because we have an Immediate Advocate with the Father, 1 Joh. 2.1. JESUS CHRIST the Righteous. But This we will do; We will give Thee all the Honour that possibly we can, on this side Religious Worship. We will Extol Thy Graces, magnify that Infinite Mercy which raised Thee to the Dignity of being the Mother of God: And last of all, Imitate as far as we can, Thy Admirable Goodness and Piety. And this is the true way of declaring the Veneration we have for the Blessed Virgin. Our Esteem of Her is to be expressed not in a Religious Worship: But, 2. Positively. In the Celebration and Imitation of her Virtues and Graces. If we affectionately Celebrate her Memory, Praise and Admire her Graces, and endeavour to transcribe them in our Lives and Actions, we do her as much Honour as is possible. We have hitherto considered her manifold Graces, pray let us forthwith fall to Imitation and Practice. Let Us follow her even in her Virginal Chastity; remembering that the God of Purity would be born of none but a Virgin: That they were Virgins who had the Honour to sing a new and peculiar Song before the Throne, and to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth, Rev. 14. 3, 4. Or however, let us be Conjugally Chaste; and not by Lust and Folly defile and profane our Bodies, which ought to be the Temples of the Holy Ghost; nor make the Members of Christ, for such these of ours are by Mystical Union, the Members of an Harlot. Let us Imitate her Humility, the very Crown of all Christian Graces, that wherein our Lord chiefly delights. Learn of me, says he, for I am meek and lowly in heart, Matth 11. 29. The Lord chose a meek and humble Woman for his Mother. A Lesson to those in particular, whom St. Peter in one of his Epistles makes it his business to accomplish. But how? 1 Pet. 3.3,4. Let their Adorning, says he, not be that Adorning of Plaiting the Hair, and of Wearing of Costly Apparel: but let it be the hidden Man of the Heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the Ornament of a meek and quiet Spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. What shall I say more? In everything wherein we find her excellent, let us tread her Steps; and this will be indeed to Celebrate This Festival. We may Imitate her even in this Mysterious Conception of our Saviour. We are capable of the Honour of having Christ form in us, Gal. 4. 19 Of being Partakers of the Divine Life and Nature, 2 Pet. 1.4. Of having Christ dwell in our Hearts, Ephes. 3. 17. Of being the Temples of the Holy Ghost, 1 Cor. 6. 19 In fine, we are capable, in our Saviour's account, of greater Blessedness than that which accrued to the Holy Virgin upon the score of her being the Lords Mother: Blessed is the Womb that bore Him, and the Paps which He sucked: But rather blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it. He that doth the Will of my Father, the same, says Christ, is my Brother, and Sister, and MOTHER. GOD Grant that We may all of Us so perfectly express our Love and Relation to CHRIST by a Sincere, Constant, Uniform Observance of His Commands, that together with the Holy Mother of our Lord, and all the Company of Saints and Angels, We may enjoy a Blessed Immortality in the Highest Heavens for Ever and Ever. AMEN. FINIS.