Imprimatur Concio haec in Luc. 1. v. 28. Gulielmus Iane Reverendo in Christo Patri ac Domino D no Henrico Episcopo Lond. à Sacris Domesticis A SERMON Preached on the FEAST of the ANNUNCIATION OF THE B. Virgin Mary AT S t Martins in the Fields Westminster BY IOHN MILL M. A. Fellow of Queens Colledge Oxon. In the SAVOY Printed by THO. NEWCOMB MDCLXXVI St. LUKE Chap. 1. Vers. 28. And the Angel came in unto Her and said Hail Thou that art highly favour'd the Lord is with Thee Blessed art Thou among Women GReat is the Mystery of Godliness says St. Paul God Manifested in the Flesh Iustified in the Spirit Seen of Angels Preached unto the Gentiles Believed on in the World Received up into Glory Mysterious Doctrines these indeed and such as transcend the Capacities of Men I do not say those poor shallow Creatures who hardly guess aright at things upon Earth and with labour find even the things that are before them but also of the Holy Angels of God Those Glorious Spirits who are all Flame and Intelligence cannot arrive to the Knowledge of them are not allow'd as much as a Glimpse into these Depths of our Holy Religion Desire they may and do as St. Peter tells us to pry a little into these Gospel Arcana but can by no means have their Curiosity gratifi'd Any Wisdom inferiour to that of God being uncapable of a full Comprehension and Understanding of them The reason is plain For what Man says the great Apostle knows even the Things of a Man our poor inconsiderable Thoughts and Designs save the Spirit of a Man which is in him Even so the Things the deep Things of God knows no Man nor for the same reason any Creature else but the Spirit of God And yet God hath revealed Them unto us says the same Apostle He has so But how and in what measure He has not explained the Modes and Reasons of Gospel-Mysteries surely Those are and will even in Heaven remain to us Unintelligible But acquainted us meerly with the Truth and Reality of them and discovered what those Supernatural Doctrines of Faith are by Extraordinary Revelation A Revelation to go on with St. Paul as early as the Prophetic Writings wherein the Apostle affirms them to be declar'd The Mystery of the Gospel says he was a thing hid from Ages and from Generations kept secret since the World began but is now by the Scriptures of the Prophets made known and manifested to all Nations for the Obedience of Faith A Truth undoubtedly clear and evident as far as concerns the Promises of a Messiah i. e. of our Blessed Saviours Mission into the World which are in the old Prophesies most expresly delivered but if extended to the several Doctrines touching his Person can only be true in this sense that the Fulness of Time was able to interpret those Ancient Records so as to discover in them even these Doctrines too The Birth Life Actions and Sufferings of our Saviour spread a sensible Light over those Ancient Volumes and made these Essential Truths of the Gospel appear otherwise or not at all or very hardly discernable The Truth is there is so much Obscurity in their Manifestations of them if I may so speak without absurdity that 't is almost as difficult out of the Prophets to conclude the Reality of any such Mysteries as 't is impossible to understand the Natures of them For to instance in that one which more particularly relates to the present Festival I mean the Mysterious Incarnation of our Lord This Truth I confess was in some sort delivered to our first Parents in that promise of bruising the Serpents Head by the Seed of the Woman But this was a wonderfull dark Insinuation of the Mystery I grant also that Abraham had some Knowledge of this Matter our Saviour himself attests so much Ioh. 8. 56. So likewise had the Patriarchs and several Godly Men in the first Ages of the World They embrac'd This among many other things of the Gospel nay they saw them says the Author to the Hebrews Chap. 11. v. 13. but then 't was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a far off at a vast distance and so implies a very Inadequate and small Discovery The Prophet Isaiah may seem indeed to have had a much clearer and more advantagious view of Christ Incarnate in his account of it Ch. 7. v. 14. Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and shall call his Name Immanuel For if the Prediction relate to Christ then the Prophet knew that the Mother of our Lord was to be a Virgin But that the Virgin there mentioned was to Typifie the Virgin Mary and the Immanuel to be born our blessed Saviour we have only the warrant of a Mystical Interpretation made indeed by St. Matthew Chap. 1. v. 23. and so most undoubtedly true but such as otherwise we should never have thought upon the plain Letter of the Text only pointing out to a Child to be born immediately after the Prophesie whoever he was as a Sign to King Ahaz that Ierusalem should be secured from the Arms of the Kings of Israel and Syria So that for all the Prophetical accounts of this and the like Doctrines of Faith we are like to be left infinitely in the dark unless the Divine Goodness unfolds what they wrap'd up in Types and displays the Truth of them in such an evident manner as may procure and establish a belief of them in the minds of Men. But blessed be God who will not suffer the World to remain under the Prophetic Shades and continue ignorant of the Principles of Christianity any longer It suffic'd the Wisdom of Heaven to have kept these Glorious Things unknown in a manner during the Mosaic Oeconomy But now the fulness of time is come when the Mysterious Abyss of the Gospel shall be broken up and the Glories of Christianity appear in so eminent and illustrious a manner that all the Ends of the World may see the Salvation of God The Grand Design of Heaven is to be laid open and unravel'd successively in all the Parts and Branches of it The first of them and Foundation of all the rest I mean the Manifestation of God in the Flesh was explain'd to us this very day by the Message of an Angel God sent one of those blessed Spirits from Heaven on purpose to inform us who was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Virgin as the Prophet Isaiah styl'd her by way of Eminency that blessed Woman of all the World who was to be the Mother of our Lord. And who was this Virgin think ye who was to be Christ's Mother and to whom upon that account so extraordinary an Embassy was dispatch'd Some great and and noble Personage certainly highly eminent for her Extraction and Quality No such matter but on the quite contrary a poor mean Daughter of Israel expressing indeed in her Name something
Recorded in Scripture to have been fill'd with the Holy Ghost And indeed every good Christian may be said to be Partaker of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. To have put on Christ Gal. 3. 17. Nay to have Christ formed in him Gal. 4. 19. in a Spiritual sense But the Blessed Virgin was the Person alone of all the World in whom the Almighty would not by the Gifts and Graces of his Spirit only but Essentially Locally Properly reside whose Womb was to be the real Receptacle and Temple of God and in whom was to dwell all the fulness of the Godhead bodily Behold says St. John what manner of love the Father hath bestow'd upon us that we should be called the Sons of God If so great be the love of God to us in making us his Sons what must That be whereby be made the Blessed Virgin besides the favour she enjoys in common with the best of Christians our Saviours Mother We are his Sons only in a Qualified and Spiritual Notion but she is in Truth and Reality the Mother of God This is her Title and this is her Memorial for all Generations So that now we shall adventure to take up again the Angels Salutation and say Hail Thou that art highly favoured the Lord is with Thee Blessed art Thou among Women Highly favoured And that not only upon account of our blessed Lords Incarnation the Reason hitherto insisted on but also II. Upon the score of those Excellent Graces and Vertues wherewith she was in a very eminent degree dignified and accomplish'd God might 't is true had it so pleas'd Him have made choice of any other even Unsanctified Virgin as well as the Virgin Mary wherein to transact the Mysterious Incarnation of his Son And I know very well there are a sort of ill-natur'd Fanatical Spirits who will not allow this Holy Woman any Extraordinary Grace nay indeed not any Civil Respect upon the account of this her Honourable Relation She was say they beloved meerly gratis without the least respect had to any peculiar Graces and Qualifications she could pretend to An Assertion so far true indeed that her Piety could not challenge either This or any other Divine Favour strictly and by way of Merit but if so extended as to exclude the Singular Eye or Respect God had to her Vertues and Graces in so grand an Affair as this was is an absurd and unworthy Doctrine For if according to the Wise mans Aphorism Into a Malicious Soul Wisdom shall not enter nor dwell in the Body that is subject unto Sin 't is infinitely gross to imagine that our Blessed Lord who is the Wisdom of the Father should inhabit the Body and cloath Himself with the Flesh and Blood of an Irreligious Woman Far be this from our Conceptions The Holy IESVS undoubtedly had a very tender and special regard not only to the low estate Vers. 48. but much more to the Piety of this Hand-maiden whom he design'd for his Mother Not that I would here be thought in the least wise to affirm the Blessed Mary perfectly free from all Actual Sin much less from Original Corruption I leave such Anti-Scriptural Doctrines to be Established by the Council of Trent and Preach'd up by the Franciscan Fryars We have no warrant for any Magnificent Strains of that kind concerning her Having on the contrary as good Assurance as Scripture can give us that all Men the Virgin Mary no where excepted are conceived and born in Sin All that I aim at is this that the Mother of our Blessed Saviour was an eminently Religious and Holy Woman And truly we need not go far for an Argument of this Truth St. Luke has in this very Chapter given us a sufficient account of her Graces The History of the Annunciation representing to us these several Particulars 1. Her Chastity She was a Virgin V. 29. one that knew not a Man V. 34. free from all carnal Uncleanness and Pollution Her Mind and Body entirely pure and Immaculate not in the least measure sullied and ruffled by Lust and consequently devoid of what might otherwise have alienated her from the Divine Love and render'd her Body an unfit Temple for the God of all Purity to inhabit 2. Her Humility and Modesty Vertues express'd in her behaviour towards the Angel V. 29. When she saw him says the Evangelist she was troubled at his saying and cast in her mind what manner of Salutation this should be She was troubled at his saying Poor Virginâ— The Angels Complyment is in all Circumstances too big for her Modesty The Address in her Apprehension most infinitely unsuitable to a Woman of her low Rank and Condition in the World What! An Angel clad all in Robes of Glory come to visit a poor mean Daughter of Israel Can it be that Heaven should in Her of all the Women in the World find any thing that might incline God to respect and favour Her She blushes upon the Angels Address Sees and hears herself highly magnifi'd Thinks upon the Message deeply Considers it again and again But after all cannot apprehend any thing in herself which may in any wise correspond to the Angels Character Her Modesty will not allow her to understand the least part of the Import of the Angels Salutation How she of all others should be the great Favourite of Heaven advanc'd and honour'd above all her Sex a Person to be celebrated throughout all Ages she cannot imagine And as for her Humility 't was the same after her Exaltation as before In her Magnificat she expresses herself sensible of her low Condition and takes occasion to meditate upon and adore the Mercy of God who rejects the Proud but gives Grace and Honour to the Humble He hath scattered says she the Proud in the Imagination of their Hearts He hath put down the Mighty from their seat and hath exalted the Humble and Meek Vers. 51 52. Her Humility was one of the principal Graces which procur'd her this favour God delights in this Grace in a peculiar manner Loves those and only those that are Humble He loves and lives with them Thus saith the high and lofty One who inhabiteth Eternity whose Name is Holy I dwell in the high and holy Place with him also that is of a contrite and humble Spirit to revive the Spirit of the Humble and to revive the Heart of the Contrite Ones Isai. 57. 15. The next Grace observable in the Virgin Mary is her Faith express'd Vers. 38. Behold says she the Handmaid of the Lord Be it unto me according to thy Word She staggers not at the promise of God through unbelief to apply to her St. Pauls words concerning Abraham upon a much-like Argument but is strong in Faith giving Glory to God and being fully perswaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform The Consideration of Omnipotency removes all Doubts and Difficulties To be a Mother without knowing
of Ladiship for so much St. Ierom tells us the word Mary imports in the Syriac but in reality of very low condition Lord how thou despisest those things which in the opinion of the World pass for great and honourable how thou delightest to dignifie the most excellent grace of Humility by this and all the other circumstances of thy Incarnation A lowly Hand-maiden she was as she styles herself in her Magnificat v. 48. in whom before all the Princesses of the Earth our blessed Lord was pleased to invest himself with Flesh and become an Infant Of this astonishing Mystery the Angel Gabriel gives her solemn notice v. 31. and out of an admiration of the infinite Honour our Saviour was about to do her before he delivered his message he addresses himself to the Holy Virgin in this affectionate Salutation Hail thou that art highly favoured the Lord is with thee blessed art thou among women Which words admit a twofold Interpretation for they may be taken either in a plain Indicative sense and so they expresly denote the transcendent Glories and Priviledges of the blessed Virgin or else they may bear a sense Apprecative as the Learned Grotius and others are of opinion they do and so they are expounded to be a Salutatory form of speech wherein the Angel Gabriel most heartily congratulates her upon the subject of her wonderful Conception whereof he is come on purpose to give her an assurance and wishes her thereupon all the joy and happiness imaginable And thus the Reverend Doctor Hammond paraphrases the words in this manner Hail Gracious Person the Lord of Heaven be with thee and let all men ever account thee the most blessed woman in the world In either acceptation of the words the Glorious Saint of this day is sufficiently insinuated to be the Grand Favourite of Heaven such a woman as all the Generations of the Earth should have reason to celebrate and esteem most happy Let us now meditate upon and consider 't is or ought to be the religious exercise of this Festival the great and noble Character here given her Let us first of all fix our thoughts upon the high Honour God has vouchsafed her And then in the second place in Consideration of that and of her singular Endowments and Graces pay to her memory all due Veneration and Respect To the first part of this Religious Duty we have a prevalent Motive in the first words of the Text to the latter in the close of the Angels Salutation 1. Mary is here stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or highly favoured and accepted of God for so we render the word congruously to the sense of it in the best Greek Authors and to the mind of Gabriel who tells her that she had found favour with God Though I am not ignorant that other Interpretations are fastned upon the word Our Protestant Divines many of them rendring it gratis dilecta the Romanists generally gratiosa or gratia plena neither of them so much out of respect as I conceive to the meaning of the word in this place as out of a design to countenance their own particular Hypotheses Not to stand therefore upon Critical Niceties certain it is that highly grac'd and favour'd she was in so transcendent a manner that we cannot fix our Meditations upon the Honour done her in all its several ennobling and exaltingCircumstances without being swallow'd up with Admiration We cannot trace the Divine Love to Her through the various Mazes and Labyrinths of it without losing our selves in so profound a Speculation We shall in the following Discourse consider her as highly favour'd upon these two accounts I. Upon account of our blessed Lords Incarnation II. Upon account of those Excellent Graces and Vertues wherewith she was in a most eminent manner dignified and accomplish'd I. Upon account of our blessed Lords Incarnation Will God indeed come down from Heaven the Habitation of his Holiness and of his Glory and converse with Dust and Ashes Yes and what is infinitely more he will take upon him the very Nature and Infirmities of a Man And the blessed Virgin is to be the Woman in whom the whole Mystery of this Incarnation is to be transacted The Holy Ghost shall come upon her and the power of the Highest shall overshadow her Vers. 35. And that Holy Thing which shall be born of her shall be Essentially God God blessed for ever Rom. 9. 5. Amazing News And such as had the Angel acquainted Us with as he did Mary supposing us to have known as little what was to befal her as herself did before that extraordinary Message think whether we should have believ'd him and not rather have resolv'd all into meer absurdity and contradiction Nay but with God nothing is impossible says the Angel Vers. 37. Well then suppose for once a Conviction of the Possibility of the thing Suppose the Manifestation of God in Flesh Practicable that is to say that Infinity could be circumscrib'd in the Womb Eternity commence in Time Omnipotency be surrounded with Weakness the Ancient of Days become a Child of a span long and yet the Conception of Them is ready to crack our Faculties Suppose I say the Possibility of all these things and then consider how highly Dignified she must be who is to be the Illustrious Subject of all these Miracles The Woman who by peculiar Designation is to carry Divinity in her Womb and become the Mother of God Lord what shall we say She is inexpressibly far above either Saints or Angels The grand instance of a Creature on whom the Almighty has accumulated all the Greatness and Honour consistent with a Created Capacity a Finite Nature Virgo Mater as a pious Father harangues it upon this Argument Illa majorem Deus facere non potest Majorem Mundum potest facere Deus Majorem autem Matrem quam Matrem Dei non potest facere Deus God cannot says he create a greater Creature than a Virgin Mother God can make a larger World a thousand Worlds if it pleases him but to make a greater Mother than the Mother of God is perfectly Impossible Blessed Saint how beyond all Imagination highly hath the Lord regarded thy low condition How far hath he advanc'd Thee above the whole Creation in point of Honour and Dignity The Glorious Angels which attend upon his Throne were the Creatures he wholly passed by when he came down and Impregnated Thee by the Holy Ghost His dearest Servants are but small Sharers in his Favour when compared to Thee who didst possess even the whole Divinity Moses had the Honour to talk with God with the like familiarity as a Man talketh with his Friend and was earnest to have a sight of his Glory but was deny'd it as not being able to endure so dazling a Lustre The Prophets likewise had some converse with Heaven but 't was withal by secret Inspirations and Dreams in an imperfect manner Several Persons are