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
when she once knew him and his Embassy she then undaunted discours'd with him as an Angell whom before she quak't at as a man I conjure all modest soules that shall peruse this passage by all things deare to them to dwell long upon it as worthily deserving both their admiration and imitation Though she received from him extreme and heavenly praises yet she was afraid because she was alone O Saviour of the World Purity feares an Angell shall not Impurity then suspect a man though in the shape of an Angell when his complement and discourse are sensuall Virginity cannot bee too heedfull which makes it practise the doubt of things safe that so it may accustome it selfe to the feare of things dangerous If heathen women have by nature so abhorred pollution that they have chosen death before it how odious must we judge it to the Angellicall innocency of Gods owne Mother Well what course tooke she She rejected these his commendations not with her tongue but her lookes which put on a dislike of all he had said She had heard that when Castles come to a parley it is a signe of yeelding and therefore thought it her safest way to involve her selfe within humility and a sober silence But the Angell quickly delivered her our of this Agony into a greater out of this feare into a more tormenting care Feare not MARY saith he for thou hast found favour with God for loe thou shalt conceive in thy wombe and beare a Sonne and shalt call his name IESUS He shall be great and shall be called the Sonne of the most high and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David And he shall raigne over the house of Iacob for ever and of his Kingdome shall be no end To this her answer was How shall that be since I know no man It is true it is true most blessed Virgin thou knowest no man but let thy modesty rest secure for the operation of God and not of man is here required God should never beconceived in thee wert thou not a Virgin nor borne of thee shouldest thou not remaine such Thou canst not be spotted with the conception or birth of an issue so immaculate This feare is as needlesse as that of defiling thy fairest fingers with the purest fountaine If Obededon having received the Arke within his walles was so enriched with all manner of Treasure that Felicity was voyced to have descended from heaven into his house what shall we judge of thy supreme blisse O glorious Virgin who art not to be the receptacle of a wooden Arke but of his only Sonne With confidence therefore consent to thy owne happinesse and the Redemption of all Humanity But indeed I do not wonder at her astonishment when I consider her bashfulnesse Mee thinks I see her now casting her eyes up to heaven now fixing them on the earth and now againe on the Ambassadour himselfe resolving to give up her soule rather then her virginity Harsh must the word conception needs found to her who was a votary nere to know man whose onely love was prayer whose onely childe was piety But when the Angell urged Gods will she forthwith yeelded a handmaid to her Lords desire Let us intentively listen to the text And the Angel answer'd and said unto her The holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee therefore also that holy thing that shall be borne of thee shall be called the Sonne of God And beholâ— thy cousen Elizabeth shee hath alsâ— conceived a sonne in her old age anâ— this is the sixt moneth with her whâ— was called barren For with God nothing shall bee impossible And Mary said Behold the handmaid of the Lord bee it to mee according to thâ— word See here united an incomparable humility and an obedience even unto death For the consenting to be the mother of God waâ— not easie to her in that a meek anâ— humble spirit with greater difficultie ascends the highest steppe oâ— Honours Throne then a proud descends thence to the bottome 〈◊〉 being a thing in nature farre harde to climbe then to come downe 〈◊〉 any man shall yet rest unsatisfieâ— and shall make a further enquiâ—â— after this difficulty he may pleasâ— to consider that her humility ballanc't her Sonnes exalted and her owne dejected estate and as well meditated the care the diligency the reverence and obsequiousnes as the dignity and excellency of her whom God would vouchsafe the most glorious title of Mother She wisely weighed that the Angels were not worthy to wait on him and therefore the service of her whole life must as farre exceed as the name of Gods Mother did excell that of Servant or Angell If Saint Peter yet in the dawn of Grace could so clearly discerne his Masters greatnesse as that he cryed out Depart from me a sinner as deeming himselfe unworthy of his presence If the Centurion for the same respect thought his house too base to receive him what should she thinke who was not to take him into her ship or her lodging but into her wombe where he was to remaine not a visitant but a dweller Full well also she understood that her consent was not onely required to be the parent of the Almighty but the Spouse also of his holy Spirit to whose inspirations she ought a greater obedience then others having received from the same spirit a greater measure of grace and honour She clearly foresaw that she was not onely chosen to conceive the Son of God Many ancient Writers hold that she had the gift of prophecie to bring forth to nurse and governe him but also perforce to yeeld him up such being the divine pleasure to a three and thirty yeares persecution and lastly to the cursed death of the crosse the salvation of others depending on his destruction And that she did foresee all this plainly appeares by the speech of the Angell to her who after he had foretold the conception and birth of Christ added And he shall be called Iesus that is a Saviour An awfull reverence and an inconceiveable joy divided without doubt her all-holy heart when she contemplated her future being a mother to the Messias Can a man imagine any thing more difficult more bitter for humane nature to overcome Yet did her active vertue vanquish all these impediments and with an humble ravisht soule she expected the entrance of him into her sacred wombe whom already she had surely seated in her heart Here before we proceed to her conception we must observe two things not amply and fully enough express'd very remarkable in the Angelicall salutation First the dignity of the Ambassadour next the worth of her to whom his Embassy was directed together with her many vertues equally eminent in this divine Dialogue Concerning the first he was not a man but an Angell neither an Angell of an inferiour order but of the supreme Hierarchy which choise and pure spirits
having received infinite ornaments and graces from their Lord and Master retained still his favour Hom. 34 in lect Evang. and ever stood before him S. Gregory stiles him a principall Angell treating of principall things Some have not feared to call him the supreme Angell as Damascen and others Serm. de Virginis assump Truth will answer for him that amongst all the celestiall spirits none are so predicated in holy Writ as he and Michael to whom the Declaration and Exposition of so high Mysteries so often were committed as in Daniel Zachary and Mary is specified Some will have his name to signifie God and man and that this Etymology containes a miraculous mystery Amongst these is Proculus Arch-Bishop of Constantinople Geber saith he signifies man El God In 1 cap. Luc. alluding to his Embassy which treated of his approaching birth who was both God and man Saint Bernard judgeth the servant of Abraham to have beene a type of Gabriel In parvis serm Gen. 24. for he was sent by his Master not to seek anâ— Virgin that came next to hand but such a one as the Lord Goâ— had prepared for the Sonne of hiâ— Lord. Hom. de incomprehensibili Dei natura This Gabriel saith Saiâ—â— Chrysostome the Painters presenâ— to us winged not that God create him so but to denote the sublimmity and agillity of the celestiall Nature as also to admonish us that with gratefull hearts wee acknowledge him 〈◊〉 have for our cause descended from 〈◊〉 highest habitation And sweeth Chrysologus An Angell treated wiâ—â— Mary concerning our salvation because an Angell had dealt with Eâ—â— touching our damnation Serm. 142. Serm. 1. de nat Virgin This blessed Spirit and Saint Iohn the Evangelist Damianus compares to two Lyons which carefully guarâ— this our sacred subject I will nâ— here seeeke to satisfie the over-curious and needlesse doubts of Luther and others whether she knew Gabriel to be an Angell or no nor whether or no he entred her chamber the doore being shut nor whether he appear'd to her in a gentle familiar shape or in his full splendour as when he so much amaz'd Zachary and strucke him dumbe These questions serve rather to busie curiositie then enflame zeale Neither hath all that tender sexe to whose good I dedicate this discourse received an education that renders them capeable Iudges of such disputes And I freely acknowledge that in this Treatise I have not so much as used any one word not frequent and familiar because I would make the sense cleare to the Femal Readers Withall I professe my scope is not to sharpen their wits but to beautifie their lives and to kindle in their faire bosomes an holy ambition to aspire to the perfections of that devout life which this our incomparable Lady led and ended with the applause of men and Angels Laying aside therefore these superfluous arguments I will proceed as my method commands me to deliver her inestimable worth and sober demeanour towards the Angell which no eloquence can so well expresse as 〈◊〉 silent and reverent admiration Much I need not say of her of whom I never can speake enough especially having already produc'd so many ancient and learned extollers of her excellencies to which my vote would adde no more then a dimme lampe to the glorious eye of heaven or an obscure gloworme to a starry night Yet since at the Altar of this meek one sweet and chast as the Incense there daily burned a single graine sent from a simple heart is acceptable I will not feare to pay her a due oblation though it come as short of her value as I of her goodnesse May it please thee then pious Reader gratefully with me to acknowledge that this is she who gave flesh to him by whom all flesh is sav'd This was the Dove that first brought to us the Olive of our peace This is the Rainbow or first signe of our reconciliation to the divine Majesty And to shut up all in a little this was the Tabernacle and Throne of the Almighty whence his Majesty obscured his love shined forth to all humanity But in that a plaine delivery of her vertues adorne her more then can all the flowers of Rhetoricke I will though in an inelligant phrase set such downe as shall appeare most eminent in this unparalell'd colloquy wherein were handled the profound mysteries of the sacred Trinity as of the Fathers omnipotency the holy Ghosts efficacy the Sonnes excellency and in him the proprietie of both natures Her prudency Her Prudency shall take the first place not as the greatest but as the most diffusive because cleane through this Dialogue it blends with all the rest First she awfully and advisedly gives him full audience and at once both observes the laws of patience and the custome of good manners in quietly attending the period of his salutation Many of her Sexe would have so cut him off at every word that hee should never have peec't his speech together againe Being more mistresses of their tongues then their eares The common sort when the Moone was eclipsed thought her to be enchanted and with basons and other things made a hideous noyse to barre her from hearing the charmers voyce they would never have given him hearing till they had beene weary of talking One of these Iuvenal makes mention of in his 6. Satyre who made a din able to free the Moon from the power of the enchanter This vertue of an opportune silence few women obtain if they do it comes to them the last of all other Their tongues are clocks which once wound up few of them go lesse then sixteene houres But this wisest of Saints in a seasonable silence and caution of speech was alike admirable Insomuch that through the whole Bible we finde not that she spake above five times Her opportune silence and caution of speech Twice to the Angell Gabriel as How shall this be and againe Behold the Hand-maid of the Lord. Next in the encounter betweene her and her cousen Elizabeth A fourth time to her beloved Sonne after long absence Why have you dealt so with us Lastly when she becomes a petitioner for the poore Because they have no wine Here in this place she intentively hearkens to the Angell whom she heares twice ere she replyes once She made two pawses usher her answer which she fram'd with such care and sobriety as if Modesty had seal'd up her bosome and lippes and that without her speciall warrant they were not to be opened And though her thoughts were perplex'd and troubled yet she apparrell'd them in such a cleare smooth calme of language that it would have gentiliz'd Barbarisme it selfe When her Chastitie is call'd in question which she esteemes above health liberty or life it selfe she positively denies nothing in that strange and to her impossible assertion of the Angell but answers with an humble enquirie How shall that be Well might she make this demand