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
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
and Tears to be clad in Hair and Sackcloth to have pass'd whole Lives tho' prolong'd to thousands of Years in the most severe and contradicting Mortifications that Humane Nature can support all these tho' multiplied beyond the reach of Arithmetick would fall infinitely short of making just Satisfaction for the least Capital Crime The reason generally given by Fathers and Divines why Mans Poverty and Weakness could not cancel that Hand-writing that was against us Chirographum decreti nor satisfie for the sins committed Col. 2. 14. against God is the greatness of God and the vileness of Man On the one side there was an Infinite Majesty offended on the other a despicable Worm the Offender The offended was Lord and Master absolute and supream Proprietor of all that had a Being in Earth and Heaven The Criminal had nothing he could call his own nothing but what did all really belong to his Offended Maker upon several Titles on the one side all Power all Greatness all Independency all Majesty all Divinity on the other nothing but Impotency Servitude Dependency Vileness and Baseness This raises our Sin and Rebellion to such a degree of Enormity that St Thomas of Aquin sticks not to call it in some measure Infinite Peccatum Q. 1. de Incar ar 2. ad 2. contra Deum commissum quandam infinitatem habet because the Majesty offended is infinitely Great infinitely Good infinitely Amiable infinitely Adorable Man the offender infinitely beneath him in all these sublime Attributes which inhances his guilt beyond the reach of Humane Comprehension Nay the great St. Bernard to give us a fuller notion of Sins malice carries it yet higher by impeaching Rebel and Sinful Man of no less a crime than Deicide that is a desire to destroy God himself as much as lies within the power of his malicious Will Ipsum quantum in ipsa Serm. 3. de Incar est Deum perimit voluntas propria striking at the Divinity and aiming to Dethrone the Almighty because whoever offends God do's at the bottom of his Heart secretly desire that God either did not see him or could not punish him and so wishes him either ignorant or impotent which is in effect to desire he were not what he is that is that he were not God which makes St. Bernard's Zeal crie out O crudelis execranda malitia O most cruel and execrable malice Quae Dei Potentiam Justiam Sapientiam perire desiderat which desires God might cease to be Omnipotent Just and Wise Thus it stood with unfortunate Man for about Four thousand Years charg'd with an immense Debt guilty of an infinite Malice and at the same time destitute of all means to make the least payment or satisfaction which in justice was due and required No Creature that was only such could repair our Ruins nothing less than a God could make just satisfaction for the Sins of Men because the boundless greatness and dignity of the Majesty offended as you have heard render'd our Crimes infinitely enormous and the despicable meanness of the Offender depress'd all the satisfaction we could offer infinitely beneath the least proportion to our Offences or the acceptance of the Person offended Tell me dear Christians Was there ever a condition more deplorable ever a Cause more desperate Full satisfaction to be made yet none possible but what must come from the offended himself no just Reconciliation unless the Adorable will stoop to Submission and Humiliation the Offended turns Advocate and the Innocent be dragg'd to the Bar and condemned for the Criminal who stands indited and convicted at his Suit What hopes is there of these Prodigies Can Four thousand Years Sin and Rebellion move the Almighty to so incomprehensible a Condescendency Can our Insolence and Pride of so antient a date and so long continuance prevail with our slighted Maker to undergo such unbeseeming Indignities for our sakes May we not here justly cry out as the Prophet Isaiah did upon a less occasion Who ever heard or saw any thing like this Quis audivit unquam tale quis vidit Esa 66. 8 huic simile How prodigious soever this may seem 't is the Case truly stated no Salvation for Man upon easier terms Therefore that Justice might at last triumph after the unsuccessful Endeavours of many Ages consum'd in millions of Sacrifices and Holocausts not regarded in the Court of Heaven as St. Paul observes out of David Holocautomata pro peccato non Heb. 10. 6. tibi placuerunt his saving and just Providence appointed a new more agreeable Victim by preparing a Humane Body for the Eternal Son of Heaven as St. Paul observes out of the same Royal Prophet Corpus autem aptasti mihi Which Body Heb. 10. 15. was this Day fram'd in the Womb of the Spotless Virgin for our Redemption Against this Mediator no exception could be made in his Satisfaction no flaw could be found his Mediation could not be refus'd for as St. Paul assures us Non rapinam Phil. 2. 6. arbitratus est esse se aequalem Deo He did not think it any Usurpation or Presumption to stile himself equal with God Omnipotent with his Eternal Father equally Great equally Just equally Independent the same in Sanctity the same in Majesty the same in all things that were Divine without any Incroachment upon his Fathers Prerogatives Non rapinam c. Neither could his Satisfaction be refus'd because conformable to the most rigorous Rules of Justice infinitely charming as the fault was infinitely hateful infinitely submissive as the fault was infinitely insolent infinitely meritorious as the fault was infinitely unworthy infinitely pacifying and appeasing as the fault was infinitely provoking fully equalling our Debts as the Council of Ephesus observes Ad amussim debita nostra coaequantem which made St. Paul say we were Redeemed at 1 Cor. 6. ult a high rate Pretio magno with an inestimable Ransom May we not here Dear Christians more justly cry out then the Prophet Jeremy did upon a less surprising Occasion Obstupescite Jer. 2. 12. coeli super hoc Stand astonished at this O you Heavens Man hath offended God the same provoked God comes to satisfie for the very Offences committed against his own Person Man by Pride had soar'd above himself in affecting to be like the most High God that he might not perish for this Insolence stoops to the greatest of Humiliations and becomes the most Low Man had abandon'd God sold himself to be Captive and Slave to the Devil God descended into the narrow and dark Prison of a poor Virgin 's Womb to restore Man to his lost Liberty and rescue him out of the Hands and Tyrannical Possession of the Powers of Darkness In fine Stupid and ungrateful Man had for thousands of years debauch'd his Affections with fatal Friendships criminal Loves pernicious Alliances and Unions with all the declar'd Enemies of Heaven God to reclaim and save this perverse Creature descended so low
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