him they thus expound it That the Evangelists would not make his Mother the first witnesse of his Resurrection though indeed she was knowing that her testimony by the Iewes would be more suspected than that of Mary Magdalen I dare not positively conclude any thing herein but I may safely maintaine that this her delight for his Resurrection counterpois'd her griefe conceived for his death In her was now made good that of the Psalmist According to the multitude of the griefes of my heart thy Comforts have rejoyced my soule and that of her Sonne Blessed are they that mourne for they shall bee comforted And who makes question but that she who with such unutterable pleasure discover'd his Resurrection faithfully and closely waited on him till his Ascention She who was as inseparable to him as his shadow without doubt was on the Mount * Epiphanius contra haeres libel Aetij Olivet with other of the faithfull when in the sight of them all he ascended She heard doubtlesse his last words received his last benediction and her sight waited on him till the clowds imbrac't him which it in vaine essay'd to penetrate What Soule not it selfe transported with the view of a heavenly object can suppose much lesse expresse what her contentment was when she saw her owne flesh flye above the reach of Envie into the Armes of Glory When she beheld this high Priest his Sacrifice ended and God fully appeas'd enter Heaven there to sit on the right hand of his Father and to be the uncessant and eternall Mediatour betwixt him and man With bended knees erected hands and eyes she worships him ascending and when her sight failes her adoration continues Her zeale passeth all the orbes betweene him and her with greater facility and subtility then the Lightning shooteth through the Ayre Great is the vigour and force of the Spirit when all things else set apart it is wholly intentive on the Meditation of its Creatour When by contemplation it is separated from the body it thinkes onely on him lives onely to him and is as it were drown'd in an inundation of his love When it hath extinguisht the scorching lawlesse desires of the flesh and kindled the holy ones of the Spirit the body rebels no longer but becomes obedient to it in all things When it hath once fixed its eyes on this beloved object it never removeth them thence When it is once illuminated with the beames of the holy Ghost it is presently turn'd into all Eye all Spirit all Light no otherwise than those things the fire once layes hold on are turn'd into fire it selfe Of those who live in Wedlocke it is said that they are two in one flesh and why may it not be said of Christ and the Soule wedded to him that they are two in one Spirit And if ever it might be reported of any surely of this Holy Virgin who though she was devided from her Redeemer in Body yet in soule she was united to him When her eyes were growne dimme with her so long dwelling on that part of Heaven where they left and lost him she cast them downe on the earth the poverty whereof she commiserated in that it was deprived of this one Iewell in value above all it had left And now She returnes into the holy City not disconsolate and dejected as other women are when they lose their onely childe but with a cheerfull look for her Sons victory who had triumphed not onely over the Iew but death and hell it selfe She made her will lacky Gods and though she desired to be dissolved and be with Christ yet since it was his best pleasure she should continue longer here below she readily assented resolving by her example on earth to furnish heaven with Saints Dammianus sayes that after her Sonnes decease she remained ten daies in Prayer and Fasting expecting with a fervent longing the promised comming of the Spirit Saint Luke witnesseth that sixe score men and women were assembled in one rome and joyned in hearty prayer of the which Mary the Mother of IESUS was one And as he names her last so her wonted Humility perswades me that she had the last and * S. Bernlard In serm de â—erb Apocalyp Signum nagnuÌ„ lowest place and sate beneath the other sinfull women of inferiour quality in remembrance of her humble Lord now exalted And it is more than probable that she was present with the Apostles when the Holy Ghost came upon them and that she there received the first fruits of the Spirit After which time we reade no more of her in holy Writ For where and with whom how strictly and how piously she liv'd after the Ascention of Christ Serm. 5. de Assump Virg. till the houre of her death saith Idelphonius is onely knowne to God the searcher of hearts and to the Angels her diligent Visiters The reason which many alledge why neither the rest of her life nor death are penned by the holy Evangelists is this that the Apostles were so busied about the conversion of the Iewes and the Gentiles enlarging of the Christian Church That they had no time to set downe the particular Acts of her life after her Sonnes Ascention nor the severall Circumstances of her death as where when and how she dyed Some Authours peremptorily maintaine upon what ground I know not that she liv'd to her seaventieth yeare and to her last houre dwelt in Ierusalem neare to her Sonnes Sepulchre Damascen ser de dormit Virg. Others upon no better warrant averre that she went with Iohn into Asia and continued with him at Ephesus till her death and urge the authority of Ignatius who affirmes that she wrote to him in these words I will come with Iohn to see thee and thy friends c. Concerning her death Some avouch that the Apostles and the most eminent of the Primitive Church were present at it Serm de dormit Virg. Damascen saith that Christ was also there in person and that he thus spake to her Come my blessed Mother into the rest I have prepar'd for thee and that shee thus in way of answer prayed to him Into thy hands O my Sonne I commend my Spirit Receive that deare Soule which thou hast preserved free from all rebuke As I will not justifie all these their Assertions for true so on the other side I will not condemne them as erroneous not being able to convince them of untruth and for ought I know they may have pass'd by unwritten Tradition from man to man I will therefore affirmatively say nothing but this that most assuredly her death was welcome to her in that she had so often both meditated and practised it having many times by austerity and contemplation departed this life ere she left it If that of Seneca be true that to dye well is to dye willingly then certainly she dyed the death of the Righteous She was not ignorant that Death to the just is no
God hath sent from his eternall sphere Blest Gabriel his fire-wing'd Messenger Who crown'd with Glory and a wreath of Light Salutes the Virgin doubtfull of the sight And courts her thus Haile Mary full of grace Wherewith a blush rose in her bashfull face And verifi'd his words the Lord quoth he Hath left his Heaven and comes to dwell in thee Blest amongst women in thy sexe divine For ev'ry brest salvation sucks from thine Suppose a King had some gay favorite sent With powerfull Rhetoricke and Court complement To win a Country Girle What could she guesse But 't was some scorne on her unworthinesse So Mary ignorant what her Vertue was For she had made Humility her glasse Doubts what the words should meane wonders to heare This salutation and mistrusts her eare And when the Angell tels her of a Sonne To sit on Princely Davids royall Throne To rule the house of Iacob and to be A sceptred Prince to all Eternity Her modest soule no vaine Ambition sway'd She rather chose to live an humble Maid Then a Queene Mother How can I quoth she Who nere knew man and am a Votary Nere to know any teeme with such a birth Who would not for the treasure of the earth Be false unto my vowes My love is pray'r And piety all the sonnes I meane to beare But when the Angell did Gods will relate That he would get a sonne that might create She yeelds a Handmaid to her Lords desire O I but thinke how such strange newes would fire Some Ladies hearts with pride when they should heare Gods growne enamour'd on their beauties were How they would thinke themselves worthy the bed Of their Creatour and advance their head Above Mortality promising their eyes To be made Stars to glorifie the skies But Mary's zeale swell'd higher then her pride Nothing mov'd that not when old Zachary's Bride Felt the Babe dance and leape within her wombe For joy the Mother of his Lord was come But bless'd her God regarded her estate And sung not to her selfe Magnificat Nor when the Shepheards did relate their story That was as full of wonder as of Glory But tooke the Angels Hymne and chanted then Glory to God on high good will to men Nor when three Kings did to her Cratch resort Did shee conceive her Stable turn'd a Court When to a Priest a Prophet and a King They sev'rall brought their sev'rall offring She tooke not to delight a wanton sense The pretious Myrrhe and odrous Frankincense Nor did with covetous greedy eyes behold The Easterne wealth the third mans treasure gold Her Sonne and Saviours honour to prefer Was Mirrhe was Frankincense was gold to her Her life was all Humility Must make haste To sing her Death and how he life being past Heaven entertain'd her for their Hymnes divine Are fitter to relate her praise thaâ— thine Thou hast not power t' unfold with what a feare She fled to Aegypt and continu'd there To save her Infants life not skill to tell How much she joy'd at ev'ry Miracle Presume not thou to number what her eyes Showre forth in teares as on the Crosse she spies Her Sonne and Saviour nor what care she show'd To gather up the drops of bloud that flow'd Pure Balsome from his side nor venture on To write with what a violent zeale she run To begge with Ioseph he a Tombe might have By whom we all are ransom'd from the Grave Me thinks I see how by his Crosse she stood How her sad eyes vide teares he dropt bloud Her eyes more sad cause they rain'd their sight And could not doe as Heaven diâ— loose their light Her armes expresse the Croâ— whereon he dide As if she too meant to be crucâ—fide I see her vaile rent for it couâ—â— not be The Temple should expresâ— more griefe than she Me thinkes I heare her plaints Christ that I Should give thee flesh for else thiâ— could'st not dye Divinity is from all passion free That thou canst suffer torments wâ— from mee Wherefore thy Virgin Mother here vowes all â—er houres to prayers till thy last trumpet call And here I crave no pardon if my penne tabbe those presumptuous and o're curious men Whose bold Disputes dare into question call What sonnes she had and whether Christ was all As if a mortall durst to Mary come And court Gods widdow to prophane her wombe As if the Mother Maide that stile gave ore To be a Mother but a Maide no more Or she that God and man hatâ— borne would be A Mother now to beare Humanity As she from heaven to earth he thoughts had cast And could love Ioseph that haâ— God embrac'd No having layne great heaven immortall King Vnder the shadow of thy gratioâ—â— wing She Turtle like would a chasâ— widdow be And vow'd to love no otheâ— Dove but thee But ever mourn'd thy absence tilâ— her eyes Had spent her soule in teares anâ— love-strain'd cries Crackt her poore heart-strings Having cast away The roylesome burthen of unweldy clay With pure and ayrie pinions hence she flies And forsakes earth to seeke thee in the skyes When she arriv'd where her blest Mate doth dwell What Poets Priests or Prophets rage can tell The entertainements welcomes joyes have beene Vnlesse in Pathmos he had Visions seene We may suppose that Angels clapt their wings Powers and Dominions showted all the strings Of Seraphins tun'd high lowd Hymnes did play A troope of Virgins on the Milky way Met her in snow-white robes aâ—â— Convoy had Legions of Martyrs all in scarlâ—â— clad Iosuah with Captaines Davâ—â— sainted Kings All tendred their respects Thâ— Pallace rings With acclamations Eve runnâ— forth to see Whence sprung the fruit cur'd the forbidden tree Sarah makes haste her Ladiâ— wombe to blesse Without whose birth the curlâ— of barrennesse Had laine upon her though she had a sonne And had brought twenty Isaacâ— forth for one Rebecca with the better of heâ— twins And Rachel with her Ioseph too begins To chant her praise The brave Bethulian Dame Victorious Iudith to her welcome came With troopes of Amazons The Sheban Queene Who now the new Ierusalem had seene Runs to the sight and wistly gazeth on The Mother of the mightier Solomon There met with Saints and Angels all desire To bid her welcome thus in a full Quire Come blessed Virgin fixe thine eyes upon This glorious Throne And on the right hand there behold thy Sonne Behold his hands his feet his pierced side That for us dide Whose very wounds in heaven are Deifide Those glorious lips which once drew milke from thee Shall one day be The doome of soules to blisse or misery Blest wombe the mysteries that sprung from hence Dazle our sense Whose onely Essence is Intelligence Finite thou wert yet infinite in thee Wee treasur'd see Mortall yet Mother to Eternity Thy Sonne made of thee made thee Faith aspire One ladder higher Elder then 's Mother antient as his Sire 'T is strange thou should'st both Maide
I wish you tâ—â— spare your here fruitlesse advise for the eares of this wicked generation is stopped their hearts obdurate and they are as fully resolved to goe on in their wickednesse as you in your journey Having proved his Nativity by these holy Testators let us now enter our selves and view this pretty one in his narrow lodging lay our selves prostrate before him worship him and reâ—â—ate our selues with the lovely â—bject And that our delight may 〈◊〉 the greater let us first behold 〈◊〉 and his sweetest Mother a â—â—art then both together But â—et us here shut out the Pharisees â—nd barre them the sight of this â—eavenly Infant who urge the â—aw and reject him the Author â—â—it Let us exclude the Arrians â—ho deny his coequalitie with the â—â—â—her and the Sabellians who â—â—n found the Trinitie of which â—â—â—is distinctly one and hold that â—â—ere is in it one Essence and one â—â—â—rson and the Samosatenians â—ho derogate from his Nature â—nd avouch the Word which truâ—â—â— he is to be no other then a vaâ—â—hing sound Nor let us onely â—â—epe out these but the whole swarme also of Atheists and Hereticks Let the Philosophers too stay without who not so impious yet more ignorant cannot dive to the bottome of this Mystery But to all those who are honour'd in the assumption and profession of his glorious Name a free accesse is granted Enter then you little flock you few whom his Father hath bestowed on him and see him who when he gave the Law appeared in Fire now he offers Grace involv'd in Hay Yet in this dejected posture in this course manner while he lay he wanted not a whole Army of Angelicall spirits that declar'd his Birth to Men and they who had before chanted his praises as he sate in Glory now sing his goodnesse lying in the Cratch Though he have a hoomely roofe over his head â—e East observes his approach Though the poverty of his Humanitie obscures his Deity the Starres in Heaven make it known â—ehold him who came humble to â—he humble for the humble and â—et his humility is above all sublimity Reverently and intentively â—ook on him who descended from Heaven to Earth who came to you into you who is borne in the â—ight borne in the midst of Winter and borne after the wretched humane condition naked and â—one offer him assistance Swadâ—ling clothes are wanting some â—agges are found out a Cradle is missing a Manger is at hand Here he cryes to you and holds up â—is pretty hands to Heaven which he cals to witnesse that he can humble himselfe no lower Can you view this humble this mercifull spectacle and not weepe your selues into marble O speedily put on sackcloth besprinckle your selues with Ashes kneele downe in the dust and dung under the Manger where your Lord lyes knock your selues on the bosomes fetch sighs and grones from the bottom of your hearts repay him the teares he lent you and by your sad gesture and deportment demonstrate how much you are bound to him who suffered for you even in his Birth Having seene the Sonne now stedfastly place your eyes upon the Mother Behold the unpolluted Mayd a great part of the wonder sitting neare the Manger being voyd of all lust chast in Soule and Body who doth now confesse that of which she is not capable without a miracle to wit that she is a Mother and with fixed eyes expressing now joy now admiration sees her selfe wedded to Heaven She beholds her selfe a Mother deliver'd of her Parent a handmaid of her King and Master She to her astonishment finds that she hath brought forth an issue more mighty then David more ancient then Adam And now she feeles the tender and ardent affection of a Mother but the old love she hath borne her virginity gives it an allay Here the Mother the Midwife and the Nurse are one and the same lest any thing lesse pure should handle him then her who brought him forth And now she nurseth this Heavenly infant with her pure milke which flows from no mortall lust but from the Celestiall Grace Her breasts white as their owne milke pressed by her delicate fingers as white as either he softly pats and playes with Sometimes he repaires to them for sport sometimes for necessity and he who feeds all things else draws thence his nourishment He casteth up now one eye now the other and with a pleasing looke gives her a sweet smile not unlike to that which Zephirus imprints on the cheeke of the Rose She returnes him another and her infinite but chaste affection she divides betweene her Sonne and her virginity And now her extasie being a little over she cals to minde that she hath often read her owne story fore-told by the Prophets That a Virgin should bring forth a Sonne Fly O fly farre hence you Monsters of women who carry leprous soules in polluted bodies and have not one vertue to rescue you from the Legion of our vices Depart hence you who are lives to Lust whose fetters you have â—orne so long that they have made a â—â—pe impression in your mindes You 〈◊〉 have spent your time in the â—â—rch after alluring dresses and in â—â—â—on dalliance shall have no enâ—â—nce here You who have received â—â—th delight one warme Masculine â—â—sse shall here be excluded Nay you â—â—ho have had onely one unchaste â—â—ought shall not here be admitted â—thout being prepared by a cleansing â—â—rty Repentance This is the lodging 〈◊〉 Purity into which nothing must come that is uncleane But you whose chaste eyes have never sent out lustfull beames nor received them in whose Bosomes have beene of proofe against the fierce assaults and Batteries of Temptation you are so farre from being forbidden to come here that you are earnestly invited hither You who have lived spirituall Amourists whose spirits have triumphed over the Flesh on whose Cheeks Solitude Prayers Fasts and Austerity have left an amiable pale You who ply your sacred Arithmeticke and have thoughts cold and cleare as the Christall beads you pray by You who have vow'd virginity mentall and corporall you shall not onely have ingresse here but welcome Approach with Comfort and kneele downe before the Grand white Immaculate Abbesse of your snowy Nunneries and resent the all-saving Babe in her Irmes with due veneration Never â—hinke more of the Faecunditie of Vedlocke since you see here that God himselfe is the fruit of Virginity â—ou who have tyed your selves in holy bonds from which you wish never â—ut by death to be freed who have â—hose rather lawfully to yeeld to the â—bellious desires of the flesh than unâ—â—fully to subdue them you who in sdelity and simplicity of life have â—â—ictly imitated Christ and his spouse you whose Fertility is blessed â—onely in preserving and propagaing the humane Race but in augmening also the number of the Saints in heaven to you a free and open accesse given You widdowed Turtles â—ho have lost your Mates and either â—â—ve
the Temple of thy Service the congregation whereof makes me the onely point wherein the lines of their affection and admiration doe meete If women be respected for their fertillity needs must I be in great esteeme with all men who by thy eternall Predestination and fatherly providence have brought forth thy onely Sonne their Redeemer With a bowed heart and bended knees I acknowledge that thou hast faithfully and mercifully fulfilled all those thy favourable promises made me by thy Angell Gabriel my Cousin Elizabeth and thy holy Prolets Thou who can'st neither deâ—eive nor be deceived hast made me the vertue of thy Spirit operating Mother my virginall integrity still â—eserved That long long'd for Emanuel than whom nothing greaâ—â—r or better could be given by thee 〈◊〉 taken my me I have at length proâ—â—c'd to save all those that beleeve in him This magnificent immense inâ—â—haustible unvaluable Treasure â—his beloved Sonne of thine in whom thou art well pleased This Saint of Saints by whom all things in Heaven and Earth are re-establisht this Saviour of the world I here present to thee as a gift most acceptable in thy sight He whom all Nations and the Fathers themselves have so much thirsted to see The Angell of the new Testament the seed of Abraham the sonne of David the King of Israel in whom all generations are blessed the Lord of the Temple is here come to illustrate his owne house O mercifull Father open the eyes of the dimme sighted Israelites that they may see the glorious Light that now shines on them and not onely acknowledge but worship their Messias and imbrace him in their hearts as I doe in mine Armes Neither let the Rayes of this new borne starre reflect onely on them but on all those also who sit in darkenesse and the shadow of death that to them it may restore life and lustre So shall they acknowledge thee and him whom thou hast sent CHRIST IESVS and be made spirituall dwellings for thee to reside in there to receâ—ve due thankes and praise for ever and ever Betweene her Purification and passion of her Sonne she is not ofâ—â— mentioned in holy Writ but â—â—en she is it is still to her praise â—â—d honour As when her care for â—e poor made her petition Christ 〈◊〉 Wine to revive Her charity and refresh â—â—eir drooping fainting Spirits â—nd when she said to him Why â—â—ve you us'd us thus your Father â—â—d I have beene to seeke you Whence all women may learne â—umility motherly care and conâ—gall Faith She who was without â—emish as being Gods owne Moâ—her whose chaste bosome no carâ—all thought had ever entred who â—ookt on all men with the same inâ—ocency simplicity with which the beheld Statues deigned to call apoor rustical labouring man Husband from whose deare company no flight Her motherly care together with her coningal Faith and obedience terrour travaile noâ— paines could separate her Bâ— what the Scripture omitteth mâ—â—â— be supplied by our charitable imagination which cannot but coâ—ceive all those her Actions burieâ— in silence to have beene of thâ— same pure thred with the rest oâ— her life The truth of which wâ—â— finde confirm'd in her perseverance in goodnesse even to heâ— sonnes end and her ow ne Her demeanour at her Sonnes death At his death wee reade she was prâ—sent and there stood saith the Evaâ—gelist by the Crosse of Christ his Noâ—ther and her Sister Mary Cleophoâ—â— and Mary Magdalen When therefore Iesus saw his Mother and his beloved Disciple standing by he saidâ— his Mother Woman behold thy Soâ— and he said to his Disciple Behold thy Mother and from that time he tooke her for his His pardoning of the Thiefe is not a greater argument of his Mercy than his taking care for his Mother was of his Piety He gives Temperancy the custody of Chastity and commends these to each other who were resolved to live and dye Virgins Saint Bernard sayes these words of Christ to his Mother included much bitternesse for they put her in minde that she was to make a dammageable exchange of Christ for Iohn of the Servant for his Lord of the Disciple for his Master of the Sonne of God for the sonne of Zebedaeus And this was the reason if we give beliefe to Mantuan that he called her Woman not Mother lest the very sound of that deare word should make her more sensible of his approaching losse and force her into an immoderate griefe But sorrow was no Noveltie to her for that saying of Christ In this world you shall have affliction was in her verified whose life contained more miseries then minuts which she patiently underwent knowing that the more distressed she was here the more blessed she should be he reafter And if we shall adde the light of Reason to the Evangelicall Truth we shall soone perceive that a fatall sadnesse haunted her from the birth of her onely Sonne to his buriall When she was great with him and readie to lye downe the inhumanity of the Bethlemites was such that they confined her and the Lord of all things to a Stable and would not supply her with as much as Linnen a Mantle and other necessaries wherewithall she might defend her selfe and her sweet Babe from the moysture of the night the sharpenesse of the winter and other intollerable inconveniences When her Childe was eight daies old she saw him loose bloud in his Circumcision which her divining soule misgave her to be a Type of the deare remainder he was to shed Then againe her minde was infinitely vexed for the butchery of those guiltlesse Children which were murthered for the sake of her owne innocent Infant of the sorrow and miserie of whose Mothers her tender compassionating heart was a most competent Iudge From this bloudy Massacre to save her Saviour she was constrained without taking leave of her friends or disposing of what was hers to take her flight with him through danger * Vernulaeus saies that those who flye from danger travaile most by night and therefore it is likely our blessed Lady did so darknesse and horrour to make her way into Aegypt When he was twelve yeeres old she lost him an Accident more grievous than any of the former for heretofore her study had been to preserve what she had now her care was to finde what she had not What an Agony her soule suffer'd at the lamentable tydings of the beheading of her Sonnes Forerunner I leave to the consideration of all thankefull soules for she could not without being stayned with ingratitude but mourne for his absence and violent departure out of the world who had received so much joy at her presence before he came into it But above all these the unequall'd Treacherie of Iudas who deliver'd this Lambe of God as a prey to these Wolves the infidelity of his other Disciples the malignity of his Iudges the crucelty of his Executioners conspir'd to make her miserable Nor is it unlikely
that she bewailed the ingratitude the obstinacy and impiety of her Nation who revil'd him that blessed them and tortur'd him who came to save them With what amazement and sadnesse was her heart surprised think ye when the newes came of her Sonnes being apprehended But when she saw him forsaken by his friends bound by his enemies accused before the high Priests derided by Herod despis'd by the people scourg'd and tortur'd by the command of Pilate his body trembling torne and pierced besmear'd with his owne bloud and hung between two Theeves then and never till then did the Sword foretold by Simeon passe through her Soule Luther saies this Prophecy of Simcon was spoken to her not to Ioseph for on her alone the whole weight of sorrow was to be laid True it is that many differ about the interpretation of this Sword To cleare all doubts we must take notice that the holy Scriptures mention foure sorts of Swords The first is a Corporall or materiall sword and of this Christ speakes to Peter All that use the Sword shall perish with the Sword The second is a spirituall Sword of which Saint Paul makes mention when he saies Receive the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God The third is a Sword of Scandall or Ambiguity with which the Apostles themselves were strucken when they forsooke their Master The fourth is the Sword of Griefe or Tribulation Psal 33. Ps 105. Gen. 37. With this the Prophet David averres the Soule of Ioseph to have beene pierc'd when his death was plotted first by his trecherous Brothers next by his incontinent Mistresse That this Sword whereof Simeon Prophecied could be no materiall one is evident in that we read not of any violent death she suffered That it could not be the sword of the Spirit is manifest for the word of God was her daily delitious food at the same time when Simeon made this Prophecy Origen indeed will have it to be the sword of Ambiguity or Infidelity which erroneous opinion of his is refuted by many great Fathers of the antient Church and by Franciscus Lumbertus an accute Protestant Doctor of the moderne in these words In exposit Evang Lucae cap. 2. Those saith he who will have this to be the sword of Infidelity are not to be hearkened to for besides that they can produce no proofe of this their opinion it is contradictory to the Text most rash and most untrue How can it be that the sword of Infidelity should penetrate the brest of Gods sacred Mother into which infidelity never made the least impression From the leginning her Faith was most firme and intire Let therefore those Blasphemies and wicked slanders of canall men be put to silence I will attribute nothing to the blessed Virgin but what I reade in the holy Writ where she is pronounced blessed because shee beleev'd We have many testimonies of her Faith but of her Infidelity not one word is extant in the sacred Scriptures Yet this prophane assertion is not a whit strange or to be marvelled at in Origen who held that Christ dyed for the Angels and the Starres and whose soule was indeed no other than a Mynt of Heresies Her passive Fortitude and Patience at the Death of her Sonne Melan. in cap. 27. Matth. Melancton affirmes that her sorrow was much asswaged by her faith which assured her of his Resurrection She knew she had borne the Messias whose bloud was to wash away the sinnes of the world Wherefore she might well be amaz'd distrustfull she could not be at all The holy Spirit certified her this was not a destroying death but a triumphing Her Faith the oftner it was tryed in the furnace of affliction the brighter still it shewed She stood with the affection of a Mother the passion of a woman but with the constancy and fortitude of a man in beholding her owne bloud spilt her owne flesh rent and mangled before her face With an unshaken confidence and a true internall valour she beheld his body naked and scourg'd his hands and feet nailed to the Crosse yet sometimes the strings of her relenting mournefull heart were ready to cracke with the very thought of his cruell tortures and afflictions but as often againe they were strengthened and comforted with a full assurance that he should overcome them all and death it selfe She stood here her Sonne onely excepted the prime patterne of a sollid Faith and constant Patience to all posteritie in that neither the feare of Tribulation of persecution of the wracke of the scourge or death it selfe could divide her from her Christ She committed not that errour most incident to women many of which gentle sexe perish in the midst of their Lamentations and will neither admit of Counsell nor Comfort She did not teare her haire scratch her face batter her bosome seeke to stifle her selfe or gave any other desperate signe of a ragefull sorrow nor did she curse her enemies or make imprecations for Vengeance or so much as murmur against them but attended the sad event with the same calmenesse of minde with which this meeke Lambe did his end Her arriage was beyond the Levell of Censure and in all things sutable â—o the modesty and gravity of such a Matron She fear'd not at all the fury of the Iewish Souldidiers that environ'd her but stood lecure and fac'd danger Though she was an eye witnesse of his passion and saw his Limbs distended and wrack'd yet did not the evils she saw wound her so deep as those she heard The Roman Fencers used to have Wards or Covers to save their Eares She had greater need of such to barre the entrance of blasphemies able to provoke God if his mercies were not above all his workes utterly to deface Nature and reduce the world to its first Chaos She heard him call'd a Drunkard a Blasphemer a breaker of the Sabboth both a lover of Publicans and Sinners nay a very Divell who was her and Gods onely delight Yet did not all these killing objects these impious slanders drive her into the mercilesse gripes of despaire for she was confident that the two persons of the Trinity would not forsake the third Melan. in loco praedic Melancton commending this dismall story to our sad and serious contemplation adviseth us That when Tribulations and Death it selfe come upon us we should imitate this holy Virgin who mixed a heart killing sorrow for his death with a joyfull assurance of his Resurrection Consider saith he what a Conflict the Faith of Mary had There was in her an extreme griefe linked with Faith and Hope Let us in our death thus comfort our â—elves and harbour the same â—houghts with Mary still fixâ—ng on God the Eyes of our Faith And verily we must â—eleeve that no small measure of Beliefe was required to temper and asswage â—o great a * Sophronius ser de Assump Beatae Virg. maintains that she suffered more than all the Martyrs
in that the passion of the minde is greater than that of the body and shee in soule felt most because her love to him was above all others sorrow If we â—onceive that she was so without bowels as not to grieve for the death and passion of her dearest and onely Sonne we must withall beleeve with the Maniches that he had a phantasticke body not made of his Mothers flesh No doubt when after man had left and betray'd him she heard him cry out that God himselfe had forsaken him also her teares her sighes her groanes her countenance her very posture her dolefull voyce all united their forces to expresse the greatnesse of her sorrow Listen and you shall heare her thus lament O my dearest Sonne Her Lamentation is also expressed by S. Bernard Serm. qui incipit Signum magnum that thou who healest others shouldst thy selfe be wounded That thou who freest others shouldst thy selfe be bound That thou who art the Fountaine of Life and Creator of the waters shouldst thy selfe be thirsty That thou who cloathest all things shouldest thy selfe stand naked O my dearest Master how hast thou trespassed against this obdurate Nation that it should so thirst after thy pretious bloud Thou wouldest have cover'd them under the wings of thy gratious Providence as Henne doth her Chickens but they those rather to perish than to come thither for shelter With them the lead are more sensible of thy passion than the living and their devouring Sepulchers more mercifull then they themselves O my Sonne my Sonne that I should see thee suffer and not be able to succour thee O that I were an oblation as spotlesse and as gratiâ—us in thy Fathers sight as thou thy selfe that all thy afflictions all thy torments might be mine Were my power correspondent to my will I would rescue thee from Legions of thy enemies But alas I am a weake woman and all my strength lyes in my tongue which will onely serve mee to deplore thy losse and that I truely doe from the very bottome of my heart Thus or to this purpose questionlesse she bewail'd him dying but when she once beheld him dead Love and Beauty being banisht that face and saw withall their malitious cruelty survive him when she view'd his very carkasse pierc't and water together with bloud flowing thence when she had leisure to imbrace his dead body to number his wounds to kisse them and to Essay with the holy water of her eyes to wash away his stripes she then was so wholly oppressed with anguish of soule that she ardently at that instant desired her soule if possibly might transmigrate out of her living body into his dead one True it is that many affirme she felt not those torments which other women endure in Child-birth who are liable to the malediction laid upon Eve But if at his comming into the world she was not sensible of any paine at all certainely at his going out the griefes of all women contracted into one equals nothers alone And assuredly her sorrow was much increased when she saw Mary Magdalen and the other women so vehemently to grieve whom his death not so nearly concern'd as it did her nor were they so able as she to judge of his value Then questionlesse in this or the like phrase she renewed and redoubled her complaints O my sweetest Sonne I bewaile mine owne and the wretched condition of all those whose soules thou hast feasted so many yeares with thy mellifluous Language My griefe is answer able to my affection If Samuel lamented the death of a reprobate King if David wept over wicked Absolon with this exclamation Absolon my Sonne O my Sonne Absolon can my teares be too prodigally powr'd upon thee who art Sonne to me and Righteousnesse it selfe Who shall forbid or hinder me for crying out Iesus my sweet Sonne O my sweet Sonne Iesus If thou didst weepe over Ierusalem as lamenting her destruction then at hand shall I not bewaile thy neere approaching end Thou didst then compassionate the future Ruine of those very stones which now with a silent gratiâ—â—de seeme to condole and weepe for â—hee When thou cam'st to the Tombe â—f Lazarus thou wert so farre from â—prehending the teares of others that â—hou wepst thy selfe for company Thy â—â—ne example then warrants the justâ—sse of my griefe for when thou wert â—wing the small paine thou felt'st in 〈◊〉 sleeping of thy foot was and ought 〈◊〉 be more to mee than the eternall â—epe of Lazarus could be to thee and as thy teares for him weretokens 〈◊〉 thy humane nature not signes of by diffidence in that thou knew'st 〈◊〉 would forthwith arise so are mine 〈◊〉 thee witnesses of my wretched elate not of my distrust who am asâ—â—red of thy speedy resurrection Nor be I onely grieve my owne griefe for 〈◊〉 for mans sake I rejoyce in thy Fathers Grace who delivers thee to death and in thy Charity who dost suffer it So likewise in mans behalfe I am griev'd that he should be the cursed cause of those thy extreme torments for as not to joy in the benefits thy death hath brought with it would argue his ingratitude so not to condole for the tortures that attend it would demonstrate his cruelty And here I faithfully promise thee that both I while life and thy Church while the world doth last shall yearely spend this dolefull * time of thy Tragicall expiration in Prayer S. Bernard cals this Hebdomadam poenosam the weeke of pennance and the high Dutch Die Martyr Wocken the Martyrs weeke fasting severity of discipline maceration of the flesh and contrition of the spirit as becomes thy mournefull Mother and â—â—y gratefull Spouse to doe Thus condoling thus bemoaâ—ing hers and the generall losse â—e attended his herse to the Seâ—â—lchre provided by Ioseph where â—ever man was laid before for it â—as not fit that Incorruptibility â—â—ould succeed corruption in the â—â—me lodging This fragrant â—lower was no sooner set in the â—â—ound but she sent many a deare â—â—op after it to fasten it at the â—oot for she knew within three â—ayes it should spring up againe â—ot to grow in the earth but to be â—â—anslated into Heaven there for â—ver to flourish and perfume the â—elestiall habitation Nor were â—er eyes saith Damascen closed with his Monument but watched â—hemselves almost blinde with a greedy expectation to see the temple of his body built up againe which three dayes since was destroyed After many a longing looke she espied the Tombe to open and her onely joy to issue forth whom full well she knew by the countenance and figure of his Humanity but farre better by the cleere proofes of his Godhead for the Graves delivered up their dead many of which appear'd to their friends in the holy City Some and those of great authority in the Church affirme that after his Resurrection she of all others saw him first and wheras the Scripture seemeth to inferre that Mary Magdalen first beheld
other than a delivery from prison a laying downe of a burthen the end of a Pilgrimage the unmanacling of the Soule the discharging of a due debt to Nature the returne into our true Country the dore that opens into a never fading life the entrance into the celestiall Kingdome and the Vsher that was to conduct her to her blessed Saviour with whom she had mentally conversed ever since he left the earth Since which time there be who avouch that she never willingly saw any man The Assumption What honor could to this great Queene be done More then be taken up to heauen high And there haue GOD for Father Spouse Sonne The Angells wayte the World stand wondring by Her assumption The same modesty I have shew'd in treating of her death I shall reserve in discoursing of her Assumption which by many of the Fathers all of the Romish Church and some of the Reformed is held for an undoubted truth though upon no sounder proofes than the former produce concerning her departure hence Bullinger directly backs this opinion Lib. de origine erroris cap. 16. We doe beleeve saith he that the wombe of the God-bearing Virgin and the Temple of the holy Ghost that is her sacred body to have beene assumed into heaven Brentius leaves it indifferent to us to beleeve whether or no she ascended in Soule in body or both It might well be saith he that as Enoch was translated in body into heaven and as many bodies of the Saints did rise with Christ Homil. 1. in Die Assump Virgin See Athanasius on this very point a Father of great repute both with the Latines and the Greekes in his serm in Evang. de sanctissima Deipara And Iohannes Rivius in his Booke de abusibus Ecclesiae though hee dares not maintaine her corporal Assumption yet hee will not deny it as being a thing probable enough So Mary also might in body be assumed into Heaven But most certain it is that she obtained everlasting Felicity And some ther be who demand why God might not manifest his power by her privy to so many divine secrets and mysteries as well as by an Angell or as by Elias who after long prayer was taken up in a Fiery Chariot Some againe who hold that the dead who arose with Christ ascended with him into Glory and were not againe reduc't into Ashes thinke the Assumption of Mary altogether as likely Damascen saith the workes of the Deity are therefore possible because omnipotent and that there are some things which though they are wholly omitted in holy Scriptures yet upon evident reasons they are believ'd and exemplifies his position in the Assumption of the Virgin Mary Dammianus argues thus That as conceiving without sinne shee brought forth her Sonne without paine a curse laid on all other women so might it well be that she who was without sinne might overcome Death the reward of it Some goe about to prove it by the Text Ps 131. Arise Lord into thy rest thou and the Arke of thy Sanctification Nay I have read a moderne Oratour who thus elegantly describes the manner of it When saith hee the Soule of this Sweet one reactuated her body she arose in Triumph from her Sepulcher and was assumed into Heaven In her passage thither the orbes bowed and bended themselves to make her a triumphant Arch through which shee might passe in greater state The Sunne with his brightest beames imbrac't her that it might be said A woman was cloath'd with the Sunne The Moone stooped to her that it might be divulg'd the Moone was under her feet The brightest of the Starres intermove themselves to make her a radiant Crowne c. But this description is no more theologicall than the consent of the orbes is Philosophicall and is no way correspodent to the dignity of our Sacred subject on whose triumphant entry into Heaven having beene a faithfull and reverent Attender I will now returne to vindicate her honour here on Earth and make an Apology to Christians with shame and horrour I speake it for Christs owne Mother It may please then the gentle Reader to understand that two questions arise amongst the Moderne Divines The one whether or no she merited to be the Mother of God the other which way she could deserve that greatest of Glories For the first they affirm that never any Creature merited so great a blessing as the incarnation of Gods owne Sonne For he sent say they his Sonne into the world not urg'd thereto by our merits but out of his owne meere Grace and Goodnesse It was a worke of his Charity and condescending not of retribution or obligation and therefore that he chose not the Virgin Mary to be the Mother of Christ as she was a Virgin humble obedient adorn'd with Faith Charity and other divine vertues but because God had decreed her to beare his onely Sonne therefore his best pleasure was she should be Mistresse of perfections suteable to so high a Calling Wherfore Saint Paul saies Because God hath predestinated us therefore he calles justifies and glorifies us and not because we are just therefore he electeth us Againe they argue thus that all our merits depend on Christ and are deriv'd from him and therefore she was without all desert before her Sonne had imparted it to her That this was well knowne to her is manifestly proved by her divine Hymne in which she acknowledgeth all good to proceed from him and therefore to him ascribeth all honour and glory Others her Champions who couragiously fight not onely for her heavenly but earthly triumph confesse that she was not prefer'd to that supreme dignity by desert but by Congruity as they call it that is not that she was absolutely worthy of so great a grace but that since God had fixed a decree to send his dearely beloved Sonne amongst us she of all others was the fittest to conceive and beare him But here againe they differ about the way in that so many waies they hold her capable of this inestimable Diadem Some give the preheminency to her Virginity and say the love of that drew the Sonne out of the bosome of his Father into her hallowed wombe and therefore the Text saies not that a faithfull an obedient or an humble shall conceive but a Virgin Others attribute this supreme favour to her Faith by which as Saint Paul demonstrates all the miraculous workes of the old Testament have beene begunne and perfected Wherefore her Cousin Elizabeth said to her Blessed art thou because thou hast beleeved Some ascribe this infinite honour done her to her Humility to which all other vertues flow no otherwise than the waters naturally runne to the lowest places This caus'd her to say in her gratefull Hymne Thou hast regarded the lowlinesse of thy Hand-maid Others impute the conferring of this greatest blessing on her to her obedience in that she committed all to the will of the highest with this protestation Behold the