A SERMON OF THE EPIPHANY, Preached in the Queen Dowagers Chapel at , upon Twelfth Day, January the 6th. 1686. By John Betham, Doctor of Sorbon, and Preacher in Ordinary to his Majesty. Published by her Majesty's Command. LONDON, Printed for Matthew Turner, at the Lamb in Holborn. 1687. Ecce Magi ab oriente venerunt Jerosolymam, dicentes: Ubi est, qui natus est Rex Judaeorum? vidimus enim Stellam ejus in oriente, & venimus Adorare eum. MAT. 2. 1, 2. Behold, there came Wise Men from the East to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his Star in the East, and are come to adore him. WHEN the world's Redeemer was born in Bethlem, a solemn Embassy was sent from Heaven, to acquaint poor Shepherds, that the Messiah had then began his Reign. About the same time, a Star was appointed to summon from remoter Countries, three crowned Heads, to pay Adoration to this newborn King. In the Shepherds, who were near at hand, he was discovered to the Jews, to whom he was first sent, and amongst whom, he was to be born: In the wise Men, who came from foreign parts, he was made known to the Gentiles, who were at a dreadful distance from God and Heaven. Manifestatus est, Judaeis in pastorum propinquitate gentibus Serm. 3. de Epiph. in magorum longinquitate, says St. Augustin. The Shepherds were invited to this honour, because the meanest and poorest sort of men: the Wise men, because as St. Augustin observes, Magicians (tho' in this differing from many other Fathers, who say the word Magi signifies philosophers) but St. Augustin will have them Magicians, & consequently enormous sinners. These passages were a Praeludium to the Doctrine our Saviour afterward preached and practised, in choosing the meanest and most contemptible things in this world, and labouring chief for the Salvation of sinners; to the end St. Augustin says, Ut nullus magnus superbiret, nullus infirmus desperarer: That the Great Ones here on earth, might not swell with pride; and that no sinner, how heinous soever, should be dejected and cast into despair. By this, our Saviour proved himself the great Cornerstone, Lapis Angularis, as the scripture Ephes. 2. 14. calls him, uniting to the same head, and in the same faith, the heretofore so opposite people Jews and Gentiles, and with them raising one Spiritual building, the Catholic Church composed of them both, fecit utraque unum. Here the old feuds between Jews and Gentiles, that had so long divided the world, were at last ended, and the Prophecy of Esay made good; That 11; 22. 62. 25. the time should come when the Lamb and Woolf should peaceably feed together in the same Pasture; and the Lion and the Ox eat quietly in one Manger. Lupus & Agnus pascentur simul, Leo & Bos comedent paleas: That is, the Jews and Gentiles, heretofore as irreconcilable as ravenous Wolves with the innocent Lambs, as hungry Lions with Sheep or Oxen, this day are reconciled at the Manger of our new born Jesus, joyfully united in the same Faith of the true Messiah there present, by which their souls were nourished and made able to seek after eternal Glory. Here was verified to the latter, what the same Prophet affirms: puer parvulus minabit eos; the mentioned savage and ravenous creatures, shall forget their natural cruelty, their bloody antipathy, and become so gentle, as to be joined together in the same yoke, with what they used to devour; rendered so tame, that an infant-child shall lead them. God's mercy never appeared so astonishing, as in this miraculous call of the Gentiles to the true Faith; man's weakness never can prove more fatal, than by abusing so signal a favour: Happy we Gentiles, who were called after so admirable a manner; thrice unhappy Gentiles, if we abuse so infinite a blessing. The prodigy of mercy that ever most astonished the world, was the calling us Gentiles upon this happy day to the true Faith, as I shall prove in my first part. The greatest misery man can fall under, is not to correspond with so undeserved a Grace, as I shall show in my second Part. These two Points make the division of my discourse, and the Subject of your favourable attention, which I shall crave, after we have invoked the assistance of the Divine Spirit, begging the Virgin Mother to join with us in so necessary a Petition. Ave Maria. The Birth of our Great Messiah, and the miraculous discovery of it made to the Jews, was a gracious effect of his ever to be adored mercy; yet we may in some measure truly term it an act of Justice; because in this, we find fulfilled several Divine promises, made by God in recompense of that signal faith, and absolute obedience, so eminent in many of his Loyal servants. First to an Abraham; Benedicentur in semine tuo omnes Gentes, quia obedisti voci meae. And in thy seed all Nations shall be blest, because thou hast obeyed my Gen. 22. 18. voice. And then likewise to Jacob, that the Royal Sceptre shall not departed from the Race of Juda, till the Messiah appeared, Non auferetur Sceptrum Gen. 49. 10. de Juda, donec veniat qui mittendus est. And often to David in consideration of his good Government, his Saintly life, his zeal in his Maker's Service. By these promises we find the Prophets raised to a pious impatience, for the arrival of that happy moment; propter Zion non tacebo, & propter Jerusalem non quiescam Esay. 62. 1. donec oriatur ut splendor Justitiae ejus. For Zion and Jerusalem I will never rest till the bright Sun of Justice its Saviour shall rise as a Fire, as a burning Lamp. At other times they beg of the Heavens to shower him down; and sometimes beseech him to break through them; so impatient were they for his appearance: These zealous petitions, these languishing sighs after the World's Redeemer, deserved some little consideration in the Court of Heaven, merited in some manner, as Divines observe, the actual appearance of this Celestial Comforter: Therefore God Almighty told them at last for their comfort, Propter miseriam Psal. 11. 5. inopum, & gemitum pauperum, nunc exurgam, dicit Dominus: For the miseries of my afflicted and disconsolate people, for the sighs of my poor servants who have long languished to see and feel the effects of my saving Providence, I will now come to their assistance. Although they were often a rebellious Nation, they were the Children of an Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; Names sacred both in Earth and Heaven, for whose sakes alone, God had spared them, in the worst of times: and therefore, when Moses their Prophet and Governor, stood in need of a favourable audience, they generally petitioned in the name of these great Men, to whom God had tied himself by oath, as Moses minds him, after their Apostasy, in Exod. 32. 13. adoring the Golden Calf, Quibus jurasti per temetipsum. Although it be true, that they too too often failed, yet they and their Ancestors, were the only people, that had brought down the worship of the True God from man's creation; never wanting in the height of their disorders, some faithful servants of Heaven, true worshippers of the only divinity; as appears by the answer made to the Prophet Elias, when he 3. Reg. 19 3. thought piety at the lowest ebb: so among both living and dead, they never wanted powerful advocates to plead their Cause, to interpose between the People and their offended Maker. Some had failed, others had still faithfully served him; some blasphemed his holy Name, others sung his praises day and night: when there was one of the race of Jacob so weak, that Maccab. 1. 2. he sacrificed to Idols, by the command of Antiochus, there was a Mattathias so zealous, as to immolate the unfortunate wretch, upon the same Altar, and so repaired the Insolence. When there was a Zimri so impious, as to defile himself Numb. 25. 8. with an unfortunate Midianite, there was a Phineas so replenished with the zeal of the Lord, that he could not suffer the indignity, but sacrificed upon the place, the two Criminals to the divine Justice. Perfodit ambos simul, killed them both; and so by his zeal saved the race of Israel. Nay, at the very time the Messiah appeared, although there was a monstrous Herod, than a Jew by Profession, that thirsted after the Blood of this innocent Lamb; there was at the same time an old Simeon, replenished with the holy Ghost, who expected with impatience the happy moment, desiring to live for no other end, but that he might only see this sweet Babe, and embrace him in his arms; after which happens, he asked for his own dismission from this world. Nunc dimitte tuum servum Domine: Begging his Luke. 2. 29. Life might be closed with that Exstacy of Love, with which he was wrapped at that charming passage. In fine, although few honoured him, as Redeemer, when first born; yet we find within the precincts of Judaea, a band of pious Shepherds, a Prophetess Anna, a faithful Joseph and Mary, that gave him the honour and adoration due to his Divine Majesty. From hence we may conclude, that although the Jew's Call to believe in, and adore the true Messiah, was an effect of God's infinite Bounty and Mercy, yet it was in some measure proper and convenient. After this, dear Christians, should I lay before you the sad condition of the Gentiles, when our Saviour came to redeem the world, as 'tis described by St. Paul, 'twill appear the Rom. 1. most deplorable, that unfortunate man was ever condemned to, they knew the eternal Power, the invisible Majesty, of an incomprehensible God, by the creatures he had made; yet they were so senseless and stupid, Stulti facti sunt, as to give the supreme worship due only to this adorable Divinity; to Birds, Beasts, Crocodiles, and Serpents: and so preferred the last, and most despicable of Creatures, before the All-Puissant and eternal Creator. Servierunt Creaturae, Ver. 25. potius quam Creatori. And therefore, St. Paul says, God justly delivered them over to the Tyranny of the most ignominious of Passions, in Passiones ignominiae; men and women 26 perverting the order of Nature, by the most infamous, and monstrous ways, that human corruption could invent; most unhamanly revenging themselves upon one another, and this as the chastisement, and just reward of their Idolatryes, and other Crimes; Mercedem quam oportuit Erroris sui in temetipsis recipientes: so ●7. abandoned by their Maker, whom they had first forsaken, he delivered them over to a reprobate sense, that they might act more like brute Beasts, than reasonable Creatures; Ut faciant 28. ea quae non conveniunt; defiled and infamous by all sorts of iniquity; Avarice, Impurity, Pride, Sedition, Murder, Theft; envious malicious enemies to mankind, and hateful to God, Detractores 30. Deo odibiles; void of all Sense, of all Modesty, of all good Nature, of all Fidelity, without Pity, without Mercy, Insipientes 31. absque faedere, absque misericordia. Such monsters of Vice, that scarce any thing above Hell, could be an Emblem of them, as appears by what St. Peter saw in his vision, that told him, they Acts. 10. were not excluded from the Gospel; they were then laid before him, as brute Beasts, Serpents, savage Creatures, as the greek Text relates it. Nay, they were so despicable to the Jewish Nation, that God Almighty, did not think any thing could more mortify the Israelites, than to tell them, their Crimes had lessened them so in the sight of God, that the very Gentiles should be preferred before them. Provocabo eos in eo, qui Deut. 32. 21. non est Populus: I will provoke them to jealousy, and envy, in seeing those abandoned wretches, preferred before them, who were never treated as yet, but as People designed for slaughter: In Gente stulta irritabo ill●s; I will provoke them to rage and fury, in seeing such Sots and Idiots, become my favourites; a People, with whom he had never vouchsafed to treat, to whom he had never made the least promise of mercy: Promissionis spem non habentes. Ephes. 2. 12. The sacred History is filled with the formidable effects of his Justice; as when the Israelites were commanded to murder whole Counties, Man, Woman, and Child, without any distinction of age, sex, or condition: whole Kingdoms, massacred by one another; the Chaldeans by the Persians, the Persians by the Grecians, the Grecians by the Romans; and this for the space of some thousands of years, without any account of particular Persons, for whose Salvation we have ground to hope. Then if we proceed farther, and cast an eye over the vast Continent of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, we shall find all these vastly extended Countries, Infamous by all the abominations, that reprobate man could invent; scarce a Creature so despicable in whole nature, as Crocodiles, and Serpents, that by some or other was not treated as a God. The detestable disorders of this nature, were not only found in some corner of the World, but in all nations where the Sun gave light; except that poor spot of Ground called Palestine: this not for a year or two, but for thousands of years, without affording any servants of the true God, that might mediate for the rest; verifying to the letter in whole Empires, what David said of the Jews, by exaggeration: Non est qui faciat Psal. 52. 4. bonum non est usque ad unum. In innumerable Kingdoms, not one, that we can name; and in the whole worlds of Gentiles, we have certainty of none's salvation, but of one poor single Job, among so many millions, from the days of Abraham, till the coming of the Messiah: as for all our unfortunate forefathers near home, in Britain, France, Germany, and all Europe, we cannot name one nor have any good reason to affirm, that Heaven had one true servant amongst them; all Pagans, all Idolaters, all justly for their Crimes, hated by the Almighty, and excluded from Heaven. This is the real Description, and true Character of the Gentiles for so many Ages. What must we then say of that Mercy, which takes such Monsters into favour, instructs them in the true Faith, puts them in the certain Way, that leads to Heaven: This is the highest instance of an infinite Mercy, that the world ever admired; it seems the great Masterpiece, by which he procures his Mercy to be above all his Works: to indulge such as once faithfully served him, though so unhappy as sometimes to run astray; to bless that Race, whose Ancestors have been Loyal, to preserve a Country which never wanted some true Servants of God, although many failed in their Duty, seems worthy a Divine bounty; but to court such as had never been Loyal, to take whole Nations into favour, whose forefathers to a man (for what appears to us) had been false and treacherous, to pour his benedictions upon vast Kingdoms, that had never produced (that we know of) one truly obedient Creature; this seems, according to our comprehension, acting above the rules of Mercy. That expression of St. Paul, That God's Rom. 5. 20. Grace never so overflowed, as when iniquity ran at the height, was never so verified to the letter as in the transactions of this day; Ubi abundavit delictum superabundavit & gratia. A Physician's Skill never appears so admirable, as in Curing a desperate Disease; God's mercy never so Adorable, as in pardoning where there seems not to have been the least inducement. The Gentiles crimes and abominations, had cried out to Heaven for Vengeance; during many Ages, they had infected the whole Universe, they had debauched whole Nations, perverted the use of all Creatures, profaned all the Elements, stood at defiance with God and Heaven, almost ever since the Creation; their Understanding's buried in darkness and blindness, their Hearts hardened and stupefied with sin and sensuality, their whole Nature's perverse and malicious in the highest degree; Therefore, that Grace that must clear and illuminate these clouded and dark Understandings, that must soften these obdurate and stony Hearts, that must rectify these crooked and depraved Wills, that must change the Nature of such habitually perverse Wretches, that must make them hate what they loved and adored; honour and embrace what they hated and abhorred; that Grace which works these miracles, is justly called a miraculous and prodigious Grace; a superabundant Grace; Superabundavit & Gratia; likewise that mercy that can forget so many thousands of years' provocations of his Majesty, that can remit so many million of Blasphemies and Idolatries, with which whole Lives have been profaned; whole Ages have been defiled; this mercy that pardons such abominations, those Graces that Reform and Sanctify such Perverse and Malicious Souls, and fix them wholly upon God and Heaven; such Graces must surpass all the favours ever bestowed on man, since the mentioned enormities exceed all the crimes ever committed against God: Ubi superabundavit iniquitas, superabundavit & Gratia. It was, dear Christians, upon this day we were made happy, by that inconceavable Mercy, and prodigious Grace; when that propitious Star invited us Gentiles to the Sacred Crib of our Newborn JESUS, where we were made partakers of those saving truths, for want of which our unfortunate Ancestors were miserably lost. It was in these three Kings, as St. Leo observes, that the whole body of the Gentiles (notwithstanding their rebellions and enormities Serm. 3, de Epiph. of so old a date) were honoured and blessed with a gracious admittance, both to believe in, and adore then present, the only true God and Author of all things: Adorant in tribus magis, omnes populi, universitatis Authorem; and now the knowledge of the true Messiah, the so-long-unknown way to Heaven, the Adoration of the true God was no longer the prerogative of the race of Jacob, a privilege of the Country of Judea, but a benediction extended to the whole world: Non in Judaea tantum Deus, se in toto orbe sit notus. Now it was, that Abraham began to multiply his Race, by the numerous addition of the Gentiles, called the sons of Promise; and we heretofore the undutiful children, who in our Ancestors shamefully degenerated from so saintly a Parent; enter this day upon the Possession of that glorious title, of the sons of Abraham, by inheriting his Faith; Intret in Patriarcharum familiam Gentium plenitudo, says St. Leo. The whole body of the Gentiles begin this day to be incorporated in the holy family of the Patriarches: Electi generis dignitatem, fides omnibus facit esse communem. One Faith communicated to Jews and Gentiles, has rendered the dignity of being the Chosen people of God common to them both. Oh, inconceaveable Mercy! Oh ever to be adored Bounty! we, who as St. Paul observes out of the Prophet Hosea, Rom. 9 25. were never yet honoured so far, as to be owned a people belonging to God, regarded by Providence, are this day honoured both with the Title, and advantage, of being called and treated as his Chosen People; Vocabo non plebem meam plebem meam. We, the Object of Heaven's hatred for so many thousands of years, called the detested people of God; this day changed the dreadful quality of Enemy to God, into that of Friend and Favourite of Heaven, Vocabo— non dilectam, dilectam. We that seemed excluded from any share in his Mercies, marked out, by his justice, for chastisement, and slaughter; without hopes of Pity of Pardon, are this day the Object of his Love and Mercy; Vocabo— non misericordiam; consecutam, misericordiam consecutam. We, who, as the same Apostle observes, had no title to claim any share in the Messiah; Eratis sine Christo; never included in any Ephes. 2. 12. treaty or covenant made with God, Hospites testamentorum: So utterly abandoned in all appearance, that he calls us people, for whom Providence seemed not concerned: Sine Deo in hoc mundo; without a God in this world. After these great and innumerable calamities, and scourges; after this fatal and long Oblivion of God and Heaven; after so many Ages being destitute of all efficacious means to Salvation; after those seeming irreconcilable feuds of so ancient a date, that divided us from the people of God, we are now miraculously united with his dearest Servants and Friends, in the same Faith, in the same Hope, in the same Messiah; who is the common peacemaker between us both, ipse enim est pax nostra; who Epkes. 2. 14. has happily united us both, in one Church, in one Mystical Body; Qui fecit utraque unum. The ancient separation, that kept us at such a distance both from God's people, and his Kingdom; that dreadful wall, that hindered all communication with God and his Servants, is this day broken down; Medium parietem maceriae solvens: No more distinction of Jew and and Gentile; Mercies are equally extended to them both; the so long hidden way to Heaven is now laid open to all; Jew and Gentile have free access by CHRIST to the Eternal FATHER, being directed by the same divine Spirit. Per ipsum habentes accessum Ver. 18. ambo, in uno spiritu ad patrem. These illegitimate children, these sons of bondage and slavery; these dogs, as our Saviour himself styled them, shall be now called as they are, says St. Paul, Vocabuntur filii Dei vivi; Fellow Rom. 9 26. Osee 1. 10. Ephes. 2. 19 Citizens with the Saints, and domestics in the same House of God. Nay, he added, that we now are honoured, in being part of that sacred Structure, in which God himself pleases to reside, by his divine Spirit; Vos coaedificamini in Ver. 22. habitaculum Dei, in Spiritu. Those hearts that were defiled with all Impurities, those Powers that were profaned with all Enormities, those Souls that were possessed by the Father of Darkness, deformed, and hideous, as become his habitation; are now more Beautiful than the rising Sun; so enriched with all the ornaments of Grace and Virtue; so happily beautified and adorned, as to be chosen for that agreeable Mansion where God himself resides. Vos coaedificamini in habit aculum Dei. Did ever the divine Mercy work such wonders as in making such Enemies worthy to be his bosom Friends? Such hideous Monsters, Angels of Light; such sons of darkness, shining pillars in the Heavenly Jerusalem? This, without dispute, dear Christians, is the most eminent act of Bounty and Mercy, ever performed in the behalf of Man: But if abused by our Ingratitude, will make us the most Unfortunate of Creatures; as I shall prove in my Second Part. Second Part. GOd's Mercies never appeared more eminently above his other Works, than in the Call of us Gentiles to the true Faith: yet we find his Justice to have left whole Kingdoms which still miserably lie waste: How many Millions have never heard of the true Messiah? how many Countries, that once received him, have again fallen off, and are overrun with Infidelity? How many, that pretend to follow him, obey only by halves, admitting his Doctrine in part, and reject what they please? In fine, dear Christians, how many here present, have the grief to see their friends, kindred, and nearest relations, unfortunately engaged in Schism and Error? whilst they themselves are so happy, as to be partakers of the true Faith, which can only lead to eternal Bliss. If any here ask, how it comes to pass, that some have been Called, others Abandoned, that we are Christians, others Pagans; you partakers of the true Faith, others left in Schisms and Heresies; you the happy object of his Mercy, another of his Justice and Wrath; here humane reason is at a stand, and must with all humility and submission cry out with the great Apostle: O altitudo divitiarum sapientiae Rom. 11. 33. et scientiae Dei! O the profound abyss of the treasures, both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of GOD! his Secrets are too deep for our fathom; his Aeconomy and Conduct are above our reach, his Ways are incomprehensible, his Judgements inscrutable; Incomprehensibilia sunt Judicia ejus, investigabiles viae ejus. To whom has he ever opened his Secrets? Who has he ever made his Counsellor? Therefore St. Augustin, contemplating the inscrutability of this mystery, why one was Called, another Left; declares frequently in his Works, he can give no other answer to it, than what St. Paul has left us: O Altitudo! O the profound Abyss! and for such as are not satisfied with this answer, he bids them consult some more learned than Aug. Quaerant Augustino doctiorem: But he advises De spu, & Lit. Cp. 33. them to be careful they meet not with such as are too presumptuous: Sed caveat ne inveniat presumptores. His Scholar St. Prosper, esteems it In Obec. 14. Vincent. a mystery lodged only in the divine Breast; far enough above the reach of humane comprehension, & that none ought to attempt the knowledge. Nec possibile comprehendere, nec licitum investigare. And therefore this knowledge ought to satisfy every Christian; that no man is in the way of Salvation, that is not called by God's mercy, and sustained by his bounty; and that no man sins, but by his own perverse will; and no man perishes, but by his own sin and malice; and this without further search or curiosity may and aught to satisfy every Christian. Cum scire sufficeret, ab illo esse quod statur, & ab illo non esse quod ruitur. 'Tis most certain, no man ever miscarried but by his own fault; no man was ever saved, but by God's Grace. But if you will farther know, why his Mercy draws one happy creature, out of the mass of perdition, and why his Justice leaves another abandoned to a reprobate sense: O Altitudo! The calling the first, was an inconceavable Mercy, the leaving the latter, an act of irreproachable Justice. Therefore, dear Brethren, how infinitely great is the obligation of all Christians, who have been the Chosen Favourites out of millions! To whom God has fully proved himself to be what St. Paul calls him, Pater misericordiarum; the Father of mercies: such privileged persons, may justly cry out with holy David, Non fecit Psal. 147. 20. saliter omni nationi; all Countries and People, have not been treated with that tenderness and mercy as you have been; for all which we can give no reason on our side, that could deserve this preference; for if we consider the inclinations of thousands of Infidels, they surpass us in the gifts of Nature; more mild, more humble, more compassionate, more charitable, more just in their deal, than thousands of us Christians; and in all appearance, had they been called to the true Religion and Worship, would have excelled us in Christian Virtues. Yet by an inscrutable secret of God's Judgements, they are left in sin, and infidelity, for everlasting reproach and contumely, Vas in contumeliam, Rom. 9 21. whilst you are preferred, without the least desert; chosen for everlasting honour and glory: Vas in honorem. One is justly abandoned for his sins, another is one of the elect who deserved as little: a Peter is called to Repentance, a Judas dies in Despair: this made St. Paul invite all Gentiles to Rom. 11. 22. enter into the contemplation of this surprising mystery: Vide ergo bonitatem et severitatem Dei: Behold the bounty and severity of God; his severity, to those poor Creatures who were never called, who have sinned, and never rise again: in eos quidem qui ceciderunt severitatem: and his bounty and inscrutable mercy to you; In te autem bonitatem Dei: who have been called before millions to the true Faith, and true Church. Happy we, if grateful and faithful in our Master's service, si perm●nseris in bonitate: If you remain in that happy state, his mercy has placed you in; if you conserve that faith, correspond with those graces he has heaped upon you; otherwise you will be cut off from that divine Olive, into which you were grafted, alioquin et tu excideris. As it is an ineffable blessing to have been called to the true Faith, before thousands more deserving than we; so the abusing so signal a grace, so infinite a favour, will prove so fatal an ingratitude, a crime of so black a die, as to render us more unworthy, more execrable in the sight of Heaven, than those unfortunate Pagans, that never heard of God or Christ. This will evidently appear by a familiar example: Had any person here two Servants both Negligent and Undutiful, to an exorbitant degree; one for his Fault, you justly turn out of your service, banish him your sight, leave him without all hopes of ever being received into favour: The other, tho' equally guilty, is by pure favour pardoned his past Faults, admitted into your Family, made your favourite, trusted with your secrets, disposes and governs all things under you, with more freedom and confidence than before he offended. Should this Favourite prove so ungrateful a wretch, as to abuse your goodness, slight your kindness, vilify your favours so far, as wilfully to relapse into all those Faults for which your goodness once pardoned him, and to which he returns again, without the least sense of gratitude, for your bounty toward him, in preferring him before his fellow-servant, who deserved no worse than he. Had any here so unworthy a servant, would you not esteem this ingratitude, infinitely more criminal, than all the other servants whom you pardoned not, ever did against you; who although faulty, yet never abused your patience, never insulted over your bounty, never despised your favours, after so gracious a pardon, as this other was partaker of. Our crime, dear Christians, is infinitely more enormous than such a servants; if we abuse this ineffable Mercy with which we Gentiles were blest on this day, in being called to the faith of Christ. We were all unprofitable and criminal servants, equally guilty in our first-parents, and afterwards by our own wills, infinitely perfidious, infinitely rebellious against our Divine Master; for which enormities, millions of millions of unfortunate wretches were justly abandoned, justly excluded from Faith and Heaven: when you, by an inscrutable Mercy, have been called in your forefathers, to the true Faith: Had your pardon granted, your crimes remitted; you made members of the True Church; instructed in those Heavenly Mysteries; made partakers of those sanctifying Sacraments, without which no Salvation; placed in the certain Way to Heaven, fortified with Divine Graces, instructed by saintly Documents, encouraged by most fatherly Promises, animated by the powerful Example of God made Man. 'Tis true, that Christ came for all, did sufficiently for all, Dyed for all; yet millions were so unfortunate, as for their sins, to be justly deprived of the knowledge, use, and application of so infinite and sovereign a remedy to their unfortunate Souls; whilst you, dear Christians, who were equally undeserving, equally stupid, equally blind, equally hardened by Vice, equally criminal, should have your eyes and understandings opened, and illuminated by those saving Truths our SAVIOUR came to Teach; your hearts warmed, and your affections inflamed, with his precious Blood, and bitter Passion: your sins blotted out by the infinite value of that inestimable Ransom, sufficient to Redeem an hundred Worlds. O Altitudo! This makes us, dear Brethren, the most happy of Creatures, if our Lives are a constant and grateful acknowledgement of so signal a Mercy and Favour; if we concur, and correspond on our parts, with these surprising Graces: But on the contrary, if we live so, that our behaviour is not a constant expression of our gratitude for so undeserved a preference, and blessing; if the Gentiles (as St. Paul complained of the Converts of his days) are scandalised and tempted by our behaviour, To Blaspheme the Name of GOD. This will be the Crime of Crimes, after so signal, so miraculous, so undeserved a preference of us before the greatest part of Mankind; after this, to contemn him in our own persons, and render him despicable to others, when we have been honoured by him, in the highest degree our nature was capable of. This contempt of the highest instance of his Bounty and Mercy, this enormous sin of Ingratitude, is so hateful in the sight of our infinite Benefactor, that he declares, nothing so insupportable, as the unjust, and unworthy returns of such, as were once honoured with his Favour, and enriched by his Bounty: For as the Prophet David declares: Si inimicus meus Psal. 54. 13. us maledixisset mihi, sustinuissem utique. If my enemy, whom I always treated as such, keeping him at a just distance, if Turk or Pagan, to whom as yet I have never opened the secrets of Heaven, and mysteries of Salvation; if they, my always declared enemies, should blaspheme my Holy Name, maledixisset mihi; The insolence, tho' great, might have been supposed sustinuissem utique: But for you, Homo unanimis Verse 14. dux meus & notus meus: You to whom I had united myself as one Heart and one Soul; my dear and intimate Friends, lodged you in my own Sanctuary, fed you at my own Table, with the sweet and delicious food of Angels: Qui simul mecum dulces capiebas cibos: Placed you in my Catholic Church, made a perfect reconciliation and union, between you and Heaven: In domo Dei ambulavimus cum consensu; after I had chosen you before millions, preserved you before whole nations, saved you from perdition, rescued you out of the Jaws of Hell: and that after all these high expressions of love & mercy; these innumerable titles that cry out for gratitude, and obedience; you should turn my bitter enemies, and side against me. What can the Divine Justice pronounce severe enough, against this barbarous and monstrous ingratitude? The same prophet David tells us in the following verse, God will not have patience to expect their natural death, but will hurry them away without the least warning; give them no time to Repent, no time to cry for Mercy; surprise them by a sudden & unprovided death: Descendant in Infernum viventes: Ver. 16. Let them sink alive into Hell. This contempt of God's favours and mercies, this sin of ingratitude, turns his Love into Hatred, as the same prophet David explicates at large in his 105th. Psal. 105. Psalms, where he numbers the Favours received by the Children of Israel; their delivery out of Bondage; their passing the Red Sea; their preservation in the Desert, with their ungrateful returns; their murmuring, their sedition, their schism, their infidelity, their idolatry, their unhuman sacrifices: all which abominations God had suffered for many centuries at the hand of the Gentiles, that knew him not; but when his chosen, and beloved people, his darling Israel, was so stupendiously ungrateful, as to vilify all Favours received, and provoke him with these abominations; his patience could not bear it, but his Love was turned, as the prophet observes, not only into anger, but rage and fury: Iratus est furore Dominus in Populum Ver. 38. suum. Fury, as Philosophers observe, is not a common sort of anger, but a rage, that is restless till it gluts its self, with blood and revenge: a rage, that is not appeased but by massacre & slaughter; a rage, which the wise man calls that kind of anger, that punisheth without bounds, chastises without pity, or mercy: Non libet misericordiam erumpens furor: A rage that is Prov. 27. 3. accompanied, as Moses says, with a devouring fire: Ignis succensus est in furore meo. A fire, that Deut. 32. 22. searches every corner of those melancholy infernal Caves, and will burn, as long as Hell shall last, & ardebit usque ad Inferni novissima. This dreadful consequence of man's Ingratitude, this unhuman return for much eminent favours, made St. Peter explicate himself at large upon this point, that we might be sensible of such unworthy proceed. Si refugientes coinquinationes 2 Pet. 2. 20. seculi, in cognition Domini nostri, & salvatoris Jesu Christi. Whomsoever have been so happy, as by the assistance of God's Grace, to fly from the dangerous infection of this world, when blest with the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus; His rursus implicati superantur: Yet shall be so unfortunate, so ungrateful, as to plung themselves a second time in their once renounced and forsaken disorders. What will be the consequence of such relapses, but that their present condition, is much more deplorable than their former; Facta est posteriora, deteriora prioribus. Wherefore the same Apostle concludes, Melius enim erat illis non cognoscere Ver. 21. vias Justitiae. They had better have remained in their ignorance and blindness, in their abominations and idolatry, never to have been blest with the Faith of the true Messtas, the knowledge of the Law of God; never to have known the paths that lead to Heaven; Quam postquam post agnitionem retrorsum converti: then to be so miserable, as after such Divine Lights, to return again to our ways of darkness. St. Paul in like manner told the Jews, who availed themselves upon the account of Revelations which had been made to them, that God had confided to them the secrets of his Worship, the prophecies of their own, and the world's future Happiness: But alas! what advantage would they reap from these privileges, if their lives were not an exact observance of this Law; if their lives were not squared to its Rules and Precepts? Si prevaricator legis sis, says Rom. 2. 25. St. Paul, if you break its commands; Circumcisio tua praeputium factum est: your having that pledge of God's kindness put into your hands, his Divine Law; your being marked out for his peculiar people, your circumcision, and all your privileges, make you not less miserable than the poorest Pagan. Had not the Israelites that Apostatised under Jeroboam, better never have known the Law of the Lord of Israel, than to have turned his Honour to the Temples of Idols? Had not Judas better have remained the worst of most obstinate Jews, than to have heard the Law of Christ, and betray its Maker? Therefore our Saviour told the Pharisees, who were so zealous in gaining Proselytes, that if their Conversion to the Jewish Law, were not accompanied with an absolute change of Manners, in such as embraced that Worship: Facitis Mat. 23. 15. eum filium Gehennae duplo quam vos. The poor convert was more miserable than ever, sentenced a double damnation, for abusing so signal a Call. But our Saviour, in St. John's Gospel, comes yet more home to our present point, when he told the Jews, to whom he preached, before whom he wrought so many Miracles, to convince them he was the true Messiah; the only way to Heaven, as he calls Himself: That all those advantages not rightly used, would avail them nothing; but on the contrary, they had been more happy, never to have heard of the true Messiah, or his Law: For as our Saviour said, Si non venissem, John. 15. 22. & locutus fuissem, peccatum non haberent. If I had not appeared amongst you, & preached my Gospel, you had not been so criminal: but now, since I have opened your eyes, convinced you with Miracles, proved my Mission by your own Law and Prophets, Excusationem non habent de peccato suo; They are left without excuse. This dear Christians, will be applied to us, who have been called before thousands; who in appearance deserved the grace better; since he has, as you have heard, preferred you before your neighbours, friends, and nearest relations: given you a full knowledge of your Crimes, provided you with infallible Remedies against them, placed you in the certain way, if you will walk in it, of obtaining everlasting bliss: Therefore such as correspond not with these Graces, make not the right use of these Mercies, Excusationem & non habent de peccato suo, will be destitute of all excuse and defence, that might help to Save them. We cannot answer with Heathens and Infidels, that we knew not the Law; for it has been preached unto us; that we were ignorant our lives were so guilty and enormous; for our crimes have been clearly laid open before us: we cannot complain we wanted means to heat our seared Consciences; for most sovereign Remedies have been put into our hands; we cannot complain we knew not the world's Messiah; for he has published his coming and appearance, by innumerable Miracles, made known unto us: we cannot pretend the paths of Heaven are still inaccessible; for they have been beaten, and made plain to any that does not wilfully shut his eyes; you have been set in them with such certain directions, that no-nothing but a wilful blindness could hinder you from walking steadily to eternal Bliss: therefore if we run astray, it's wholly our own fault, we are deprived of all defence, struck dumb by a self-conviction, Excusationem non habent de peccato suo, no excuse left to lessen our doom. Let me therefore, dear Christians, conclude, earnestly beseeching you, as St. Paul did the Ephesians, Obsecro ut digne ambuletis vocatione qua vocati Ephes. 1. 1. estis; to live as becomes men honoured with so merciful a Call: A Call that was the most undeserved, most signal, most astonishing Grace that sinful man could ever receive from Heaven; and consequently our behaviour ought to be the most humble, the most grateful, most faithful & steady performance of all Christian duties, that ever was seen in creatures: Let our daily Meditation be, how upon this day, by an Omnipotent Mercy, after so many Thousand years' Rebellion, after the Crimes of so many Ages, the Contempt of GOD, the abuse and profanation of all his Creatures, for which we seemed justly abandoned for evermore to the slavery of Hell; we were happily snatched out of the Lion's Jaws, rescued, as St. Paul says, out of the hands of the power of Darkness: Eripuit nos de Col. 1.. 13. potestate tenebrarum. And happily translated, In Dei lumen & gloriam: To the Light and Glory of GOD, made partakers of the light of his Divine Gospel, which will, if followed, certainly direct you to the more bright and refulgent rays of Eternal Glory. Remember hourly, as St. Leo says, Memento cujus capitis & corporis sis membrum: Serm. 1. de Nati. To what Head you are this day United, and of what Body you are made happy members: In a word, says he, Agnosce Christiane dignitatem tuam. Own Christian man, and contemplate thy new dignity. Et noli in veterem vilitatem degeneri conversatione redire. For shame, degenerate not so far, disgrace not yourselves to that degree, as to return to those mean unworthy Base Ways, that dishonoured the Life of Man, before this happy Call and Conversion. Let's imitate the first-fruits of us Gentiles, those generous and glorious Kings: who were no sooner called to the Faith of Christ, but they were raised above the charms of this world; neither the love of ease or their own homes, not all the Pomps and Magnificence of Herod's Court, the greatest, according to Joseph, that perhaps the world had seen; neither this nor the apprehensions of most imminent dangers could stop them in the search after this Newborn King, nor hinder their zeal from public adoration: Nor was this performed in a slight manner, but by an entire casting of themselves and all they possessed at his Royal Feet. This was fully done and signified, as St Ber. observes by Hom. 3. de Epiph. the three Offerings they made; in the Gold they consecrated to his service, all the treasure and earthly substance they possessed in this world. In the Frankincense, which signifies Prayer, they testified an entire devoting themselves to a spiritual life for the future; for Prayer is nothing else but an ardent desire of God and Heaven. By Myrrh, which keeps things from putrefaction, they dedicated themselves to penance and mortification, which as St. Ber. observes, conserveses from the corruption of sin: Ne diffluens in vitia putrefiat; lest by the dissolution of sin, the soul may be tainted & perish: These were emblems of their future behaviour, during the rest of their lives; they were careful never to return to their old ways, in which they had walked before their conversion, but went home as the Scripture tells us, another way, per aliam viam: lets follow them dear Christians, and never stop, till we arrive as they did, at the Heavenly Jerusalem. Amen. FINIS. ERRATA. PAge 3. line 7. for the innocent read Innocent. ibid. l. 12. f. latter r. Letter. p. 5. l. 4. f. Justitiae r. Justus. ibid. l. 27. f. Prophet r. Prophets. f. Governor r. Governors. p. 7. l. 12. f. happens r. happiness. p. 11. l. 6. f. tiil r. till. ibid. l. 22. f. procures r. proves p. 13. l. 16. f. Majesty r. Justice. ibid. l. 27. f. superabundavit iniquitas r. Abundavit delictum. p. 21. l. 2. f. saliter r. taliter. p. 26. l. 8. f. supposed r. supported. ibid. l. 19 f. preserved r. preferred. p. 28. l. 6. f. libet r. habet. ibid. l. 13. f. much r. such. l. ult. f. est r. sunt. p. 29. l. 9 deal postquam.