A SERMON Preach'd before the King and Queen IN Their MAJESTIES Chappel at St. James's upon the Annunciation of our Blessed Lady March 25. 1686. By JO. BETHAM Doctor of Sorbon Published by His Majesties Command LONDON Printed by Henry Hills Printer to the King 's most Excellent Majesty for his Houshold and Chappel 1686. Sold by Matthew Turner Bookseller at the Lamb in High-Holborn A SERMON Preach'd before THEIR MAJESTIES 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 honour'd with appear'd 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 Messias so long sighed after Isaiah declares he would never rest his Importunities should never cease for Sion and Hierusalem propter Esa 62. 1. Sion 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 shew 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 Vtinam disrumperes coelos Esa 64. 1. descenderes Great Prophets your Sighs and Tears at last have prov'd successful your earnest Petitions are granted the Calamities of Mankind and your mournful Lamentations have so far prevail'd that all things are now accomplish'd which were to forego the happy arrival of this long-expected Messias The Royal Scepter has past to a Stranger from the Sons of Judas as Jacob foretold Daniel's Seventy Mysterious Weeks or Septenaries of Years are now expir'd The Virgin that Isaiah told King Achaz should be fruitful and bear a Son is prepar'd for so great a Mystery and the Herald is arriv'd 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 Virgâ—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 conceiv'd 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 receiv'd from the Son and the best way of Honouring the Mother make the two Points of my Discourse and the Subject of Your Majesties Royal Attention It were rashness to discourse upon so sublime a Mystery without imploring the Assistance of that Holy Spirit by whose Divine Vertue 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 Worlds 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 scourg'd and chastis'd 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 ruine as the same Father calls it which it drew upon their whole Posterity All the Scourges of Heaven upon Sinful Man ever since the Worlds Creation were just Chastisements of this first Rebellion yet had they been infinitely more they could not have restor'd 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 Guilt 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 remain'd Moyses exterminavit Aegyptum Ibidem non peccatum In fine All Chastisements ever undergone all the Sacrifices ever offer'd all the Vertues the World ever admir'd 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. iâ— 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 employ'd in nothing but sighing forth Penitential Psalms and with it whole Mankind been condemn'd to feed on nothing but Dust and Ashes to drink nothing but Brine
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 shew'd 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 c. 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 abandon'd them to the utmost Rigour of thy provok'd Justice Had thy Divine Majesty been ever the less Adorable Had thy Eternity been shortned Had thy Immensity been confin'd Had thy Omnipotency been weakned Had thy Infinity been limited Had thy Glory been eclips'd What prejudice had God suffer'd if the vilest Ingratitude had been chastis'd if Man the most unworthy of Creatures had perish'd for ever Had thy Friends forsaken thee because thy Enemies were punish'd Had not the Father Son and Holy Ghost still enjoy'd 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 own'd thee as their Supream Lord altho' ungrateful Man had been treated according to his Demerits 'T is true Dear Christians God's absolute Independency and Supream 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 sav'd or abandon'd 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 joyn 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 pardon'd more his Justice could never exact more 'T is only here he was infinitely Merciful to satisfie himself in Person for the Offences committed against his own Laws 't is here he was infinitely Just and Severe in admitting of no less Satisfaction then what was offer'd by his own Coeternal and Coequal Son who could not atone for us had he been of an inferiour Rank as St. Leo observes Nisi esset verus Deus non adferret remedium Serm. 1. de Nat. God the Eternal Justice it self 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 Patriarchs 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 Immence Word of the Almighty reduc'd to the state of a newly conceiv'd Infant And why St. Paul tells you in a few but most surprizing words Peccatores salvos 1 Tim. 1. 16. facere to save Sinners his declar'd Enemies Ungrateful Rebellious Sinners to save you that have contemn'd his Benefits abused his Graces vilified his Glory blasphemed his Majesty for the Salvation of such who so little deserv'd 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 inseperably 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 shewing himself to be your most inveterate and implacable Enemy Alas all this is infinitely out-done in our present Mystery The Creator of all things is substantially united to that created Nature which of all Beings had been most ungrateful the supream Lord and Master of Heaven and Earth hath assum'd 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 'T is here clear Bretheren the Powers of Heaven stand astonish'd 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 altho abandon'd by his own Creatures not own'd as their Father or Benefactor but despis'd vilify'd 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 Indearing 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 heap'd upon us since the Worlds 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 intail'd 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 sigh'd 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 debauch'd 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 discover'd and easie to be walk'd in The Law of Figures confin'd 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 dispens'd 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 't is only the confounding the Powers of Darkness wresting their Prey out of their Mouths the repairing the Ruins caus'd 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 assum'd Humane Nature as you have heard prov'd at large Which being perform'd 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 receiv'd from the Son I shall now lay before you the best way of Honouring the Mother which is my Second Part. II. P. THe Catholick 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 offer'd certain Cakes in Sacrifice to the Virgin Mother who for so doing are treated as Hereticks for raising her above the Nature of a Creature and so intrenching on the Divine Prerogatives So likewise the same Father stigmatizes others call'd 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 then may be allow'd 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 allow'd to pray to her as the Mother of Pity to pray for us but must always expect the Grace implor'd not from her but her Son's Bounty Here you see the Spirit of the Catholick Church is that her Children in Honouring the Virgin Mother should never transgress by falling into Extreams in giving her more then 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 honour'd but let God be ador'd 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 my self at present to recommend only that unto you which is most desir'd by the Church and her most advantagious 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 Vertues 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. â—â— 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 Judgment 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 shew And in reality 't is 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 Judgments when on Earth were exactly conformable to the Wisdom of Heaven their Choice squar'd to the Rules of the Gospel their Actions measur'd 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 esteem'd Rational and now being immovably fix'd 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 follow'd his Example Therefore it is only then the Saints esteem themselves truly Honour'd 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 stirr'd 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 express'd 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 imbrace 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 her self a poor Handmaid when assum'd to the dignity of Mother to the Almighty What more humble than to go a long Pilgrimage to visit her Kinswoman that had conceiv'd a Prophet when she carried in her own Womb the Redeemer of Mankind the Lord of Glory What more humble than to present her self in the Temple as defil'd in Childbed like the rest of her Sex when she had conceiv'd without loss of Virginity and brought forth with a miraculous Purity and Integrity What more humble than to Redeem her First-born complying with the Law impos'd on Sinners when in her Arms she carried him who came to wash away the Guilt 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 conceiv'd in a Spiritual manner as St. Augustin says this Heavenly Son in her own Soul by Contemplation and Love before she concerv'd him in her Womb Filium suum prius concepit mente In Psal 67. quam carne What melting joys must she daily experience when she possest 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 Extasie 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 inamour'd with nothing but his Bounty her Memory charg'd with nothing but his Mercies as the Scripture relates of her Conservabat omnia verba haec conferens in corde 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 utter'd nothing but his Praises her Hands were imploy'd 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 imploying 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 Vertues 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 Inferiour Honours may be good and laudable when us'd with a true desire of acquiring the mention'd Vertues 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 Vertues so eminent in the Mother Devotions to our Lady with this Disposition and intention will ingage 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 Houshold and Chappel 1686. REflections upon the Answer to the Papist Mis-represented c. Directed to the Answerer Quarto Kalendarium Catholicum for the Year 1686. Octavo Papists Protesting against Protestant-Popery In Answer to a Discourse Entituled A Papist not Mis-represented by Protestants Being a Vindication of the Papist Mis-represented 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 Dutchess of York Published by his Majesty's Command Folio The Spirit of Christianity Published by his Majesty's Command Twelves The first Sermon Preach'd 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 Majesties Chappel at St James's 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 Preach'd before the King and Queen in their Majesties Chappel at St. James's 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 Publish'd by his Majesty's Command Quarto The Third Sermon Preach'd before the King and Queen in their Majesties Chappel at St. James's 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 Majesties Command Quarto An Exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholic Church in Matters of Controversie By the Right Reverend James Benigne 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 Majesties Command Quarto