Autumne I produce the Blossome but you beare the fruit What the most penetrating Eye can discerne in me the most partiall Tongue will call a superficiall ornament but the dimmest sight may soone discover that in you which the most detracting Penne must be forced to style essentiall worth Thus dignified give me leave to tell you sweetest Cousin that you offer me an affront together with your service A seemely sight it were surely to behold decrepit age waiting on active youth wisedome on vanity a venerable Matron on a simple Girle The scope of my journey is to attend you to lend you my strength now your owne failes you and to serve you through all the offices of your Hand-maid Doe but intimate your will by the least signe and you shall see me flye to performe it Your Invention cannot devise any thing so impossible which my will ambitious to please you will not judge most easie to be executed Whereas you intreat me to stay long with you you transgresse the Lawes of Friendship in petitioning her whom you may justly and boldly command A thing strange to me it is that you should thinke me so stupid and sencelesse as that I should need an invitation to be made truely happy Before I had the honour to see you I envied those that enjoyed your sweet and divine conversation and thought they enricht themselves with my losse wherefore a staffe to beat me hence is more requisite than Oratory to keepe mee here Ever since the blessed Angell imparted to me the newes of your being fruitfull my desire to see you hath beene restlesse and next to God I have onely meditated you and your goodnesse O my best Cousin whose fervent and devout prayers obtaine victories whose Fasts abundance joyâ— with me in thankesgiving to God for the grace which I shall never be able to conceive much lesse to expresse or deserve Him with alâ— my heart and with all my soule I invoke that blessings may fall upon you before and above your wishes and that you may yet long live to his glory and my Comfort Had their three months demeanour each to other together with their godly discourse and pious practise of it beene penn'd to posterity had all other Bookes been burnt save that and the Bible the Femall sexe in these two should have found matter ample enough to exercise both their Meditation and action Sure I am the Romish Church Sess 43. Concil Basileen as in an honourable menoriall of this their Charitable Encounter hath ordained the Annuall Celebration of a solemne Feast And the Councell of Basil of what authoritie in other things know not certainly in this one particular very commendable hath decreed the solemnization of this Festivall day in these verie words The Blessed Virgin being instructed the celestiall Messenger and conducted by the Holy Ghost ascended in haste the mountanous Countrey and entred the humble house of Zachary For IESUS who was in her wombe wade haste to blesse Iohn as yet in his Mothers Belly And the most glorious Virgin visiting her Cousen Elizabeth was pleasing to her both in her loving visitation and fruitfull Colloquie The Consideration of this Excelling Mystery ought to delight the mindes of the Faithfull wherein these two glorious Mothers who bore about them the comencement and accomplishment of our Salvation did so familiarly communicate their joyes and wherein the most excellent Virgin Mary of the House of David and Elizabeth the most venerable amongst the Daughters of Aaron discours'd together The first of these had inclosed in her wombe the Creatour and Redeemer of us all the latter his Forerunner These Saints being made Mothers by a Miracle conferr'd together of the Divine benefits they had received The meeting of this worthy paire was most happie and illustrated with great and glorious testimonies of the divine Grace The one conceived by the cooperation of the holy Spirit the â—her by Myracle in her old Age and both their issues foretold by the celestiall Angell Iohn as yet imprisoned in his Mothers wombe doth worship his Lord borne to him in Maries Belly and Elizabeth fill'd with the Holy Ghost doth congratulate the Conception of the Sonne of God and the Saviâ—â— of Mankinde and prophecying declares her Cousen blessed in beleeving and contemplating the mysteries revealed to her On the other side Mary full of unutterable joy layed up all these sayings in her heart which before she had heard from the Angel and now from Elizabeth and breaks out into a Song of Thanksgiving to the Lord. Who can sufficiently praise so great Mysteries Who can declare those joyes to the full Iohn not yet borne rejoyceth Elizabeth is delighted with the arrivall of the Virgin Mary is extreamely pleased in the Mysteries the Saviour of the world is acknowledged by his Fore-runner not onely the Angels but Heaven and Earth resent the pleasure and the whole Trinitie is glorified with new praises Wherefore the greatnesse of these joyes is to be extolled with especiall commendations and with singular solemnities to be celebrated and the Lord in the wombe the Virgin that beares him the barren that conceives and the Fore-runner that it sanctified ought to be presented with all imaginable praises and honours With this pious and gratefull ordinance of the Church I conclude the visitation of our incomparable Lady and now proceed to her Deliverie Her delivery We reade in holy Writ of three supernaturall Productions the one of Adam the other of Eve the last of Christ which as most miraculous we are now to treat of Here in his Nativitie as before in his Conception let us turne Inquisition into thanksgiving and with one spirit and voyce sing aloud Ps 118.22 The stone which the Builders refused is the head of the corner This was the Lords doing and it is marvellous in our eyes This is the day which the Lord hath made let us rejoyce and be glad in it This is our wedding-day wherein by the Sonne we are joyned to the Father This is the day of the new union wherein he who is God remaineth the same that he was yet for our sakes is borne and made what he was not wherein he that was every where without a Body is made present to us by a Body that what God hath by Nature men might receive by Grace This is a great a joyfull a fortunate a desired day the end of the Law the end of the Prophets the beginning of the Gospell nay the Gospell it selfe This is a day of State usher'd by the Angels follow'd by the Apostles Let our Mindes remove the distance of Time and place and dwell a while with our all-holy-Lord and blessed Lady lest we loose the pleasure of this day the least Accident whereof is Mysterious What a brave assembly of Visitants of all Conditions resorted this day to this place which then might rightly be called the Randevous of the Saints Would you see those who are above men but below him who
her selfe It was charity that cheer'd her up and sent her on this congratulating Embassy Lastly it was Charity that invited sanctity it selfe enclosed in this happy Maide to hasten to the sanctification of the childe in the wombe of Elizabeth Having patiently passed the troubles and annoyances of her voyage she with joy at length arrives at her cousins habitation into which she no sooner puts her head but the reverend Prophetesse having no other revealer nor prompter than the holy Spirit immediately knoweth the Mother of her Lord to be there present and knowing doth acknowledge it and acknowledging doth magnifie her perfections professeth her house blessed in being graced with her vouchsafing to be in it She at first sight discernes in her so many and so great concealed vertues and mysteries that a man would judge she had beene present at the enterview of her and the Angell Nor did she conceale these her excellencies but did describe them with such skill and zeale that Fame was even proud to repeat them Could the domesticall servants thinke you having heard their Mistresse predicate her divine qualities and transcendent condition containe themselves from divulging a joy which a narrow humane bosome is not capacious enough to receive Could they abstaine from justly boasting that a beauteous blessed Maide resided then in their house which together with their soules were by her glorious presence enlightened But I can no longer with-hold my pen from setting downe the journey it selfe and their mutuall salutations in the same words wherein the Text commends them to us And Mary arose in those dayes and went into the hill-Country with haste to a City of Iuda and enter'd into the house of Zacharias and saluted Elizabeth And it came to passe as Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary the Babe sprang in her belly and Elizabeth was filled with the holy Ghost and she cryed with a loud voyce and said Blessed art thou amongst women because the fruit of thy wombe is blessed And whence commeth this to passe that the Mother of my Lord should come to me For loe as soone as the voyce of thy salutation sounded in mine eares the Babe sprang in my belly for ioy And blessed is shee that believ'd for those things shall be performed which were told her from the Lord. Then Mary said My soule magnifieth the Lord and my spirit reioyceth in God my Saviour for he hath regarded the lowlinesse of his handmaid for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed Because he that is mighty hath magnified me and holy is his name And his mercy is from generation to generation on them that feare him Hee hath shewed strength with his arme he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts He hath put downe the mighty from their seates and hath exalted the humble and meeke He hath filled the hungry with good things the rich he hath sent empty away He hath upholden Israell his servant being mindefull of his mercy As he hath spoken to our fathers to wit Abraham and his seed for ever In this salutation of Elizabeth the springing of the Babe in her wombe at the sound of our sweetest Ladies voyce requires not only our observation but astonishment He that was greater than all the Prophets as yet not borne and enclosed in the narrow compasse of the Wombe no sooner heard the charming voyce of this heauenly Nightingale but he leaped for joy essaying then and there to exercise the office of the Fore-runner of his Master The asseveration of some that this was not an effec◠of the Virgins vertue S. Bernard saies that if an Jnfant was so over-joyd at the sound of her voyce what will the joy of the Celestiall inhabitants be when they shall see and heare her Serm. 1. de assump Mariae but of the Word incarnate◠may be admitted fo◠good if we onely have an eye to her Vertue and exclude the aide and power of the divine Grace But all Wisedomes Children are by Truth her selfe informed that many things are lawfully attributed to secondary Causes the primary and efficient cause not rejected And this way we may impute to Mary what worke soever God with her co-operating hath wrought either in the house of Zachary or else where for the benefit and instruction of us poore mortals Neither will any sound and sollid judgement attribute any thing to the conspicuous merits of the Virgine Mary or any other Saint without the concurrence and predication of the divine Grace who by those Saints that serve and feare him distributes his gifts and favours to Mankinde That sentence of Christ is no way obscure Ioh. 14. He that beleeves in 〈◊〉 shall do the works that I do and greater By many examples the Scriptures do confirme the comming of Saints to any mans dwelling to conferre upon him both Grace and Happinesse Three Angels came to Abraham Gen. 18. whom he entertain'd taking them for pilgrims when the Patriarch forthwith with became fortunate in the obteining of that for which so long he had offer'd up vows to God namely a sonne his wife and he being by the course of nature past the generation of children Gen. 19. Againe two Angels came to Lot and lodg'd in his house at Sodome and sav'd their host and his two daughters from being reduc't to cinders with their City Iacob visited wicked Laban Gen. 30. to whom God granted a singular blessing for that idolater in so much that he himselfe confessed it saying I have learned by experience that God hath blessed me for thy sake Elizeus to expresse the kindnesse he received at the hands of his hostesse 4. Kin. 4. the Shunamite restored her dead sonne to life The Apostles themselues brought peace and felicity to all hospitable men whose dwellings they enter'd And shall the arrivall of Gods owne mother at the house of Zachary prove onely vaine and fruitlesse in bringing no divine consolation to her kindred Yes surely Elizabeth tasted the fruit of her all-gladding presence for she could not conceale the pleasure conceived in her heart but utter'd it in the best words she could Iohn himselfe also tellisht it and by his motion gave what signes he could of the content and worship he receiv'd and payd Neither could it otherwise be but the Mansion of Zachary and the adjacent countrey were both delighted and sanctified by the three moneths residence of her who bore not about but in her the Author and consummatour of all piety Their joy questionlesse was beyond imagination great in that they had never before seene Gods gifts and graces passing through so pure an organ of his Spirit But the aged Prophetesse her selfe doubtlesse was in a holy delitious Trance at the very first steppe she made over her threshold and thought her house but halfe blest till the other foot was in Their mutuall salutation surely was low and submissive which I cannot better expresse then by the supposition of the
adopted and since naturall mother to gaine her living with sweat and care that her example might give pride the checke and teach Majesty Humility In her he made manifest that mortall felicity is not the parent of the immortall She was not solicitous for the feather the looking-glasse or any outward bravery being onely carefull to cover her shame and at once to expell two deadly enemies to her soule and body pride and cold Her outward simplicitie was in all things answerable to her inward Her betrothing Well now she began to write woman and her fifteenth yeare approached and hand in hand with the increase of time went the acquisition of all Graces Her least perfection would render another most accomplisht In her all vertues were at strife all overcame Nothing was here meane she being no other then an union of sâ—perlatives Charity obedience pâ—etie virginity all were in herâ— height Nothing in her was waâ—â—ing but the Deity it selfe Yet wâ—â— not her vaine-glory such that sâ—â—â— desired with Dina to visit thâ— daughters of other Regions anâ— to enlarge the renowne of thesâ— her Excellencies being onely stâ—dious in the government of hâ—â— owne little inward commoâ— wealth Her fixed resolution waâ— not onely to confine her persoâ— but her fame which had it penâ— trated forreigne Countries King would have come suppliants 〈◊〉 her cottage and on their kneâ—â— have petition'd for her love Bâ—â— the bonds of her Matrimony weâ—â— already askt in heaven and no impediment found why she might not wedde God himselfe Yet at the earnest solicitation of the reverend Priests saith Mantuan was she content to be betroth'd to Ioseph not that he should do the office of an husband but serve as a barre to the importunity of other Sutour that so she might the more freely enjoy the inconceiveable pleasure she tooke in her vowed virginity Luâ—t The Salutation 28. And the Angel came in vnto her and said Haile thou that art Highly fauoured the LORD is with thee Blessed art thou Among women The salutation But now the time is come when she must be to the astonishment of the world a Mother and yet remaine a Virgin The marriage betweene God and Nature is concluded on in heaven and Gabriel the Ambassador concerning mans Redemption prepares himself for his journey decreed from all eternity He receives instructions from the hands of Gods owne transcendent Mercy and therefore no doubt but they are gentle and pleasing Clad in white as an Emblem of his innocencie he sets forth without any other guard then his owne right Arme able to destroy Legions The Chaldaeans carried in their Ensignes a towring Flame the Babilonians a Dove the Scythians Lightning the Persians a Bow and Arrows the Romans an Eagle And this extraordinarie Ambassadour of peace being to descend from the higher to the lower world from the Creatour to the creature an Angell to men beares along with him in his very name the signe of his Power and Fortitude that sends him The gates saith Vernulaeus of the celestiall pallace stand wide open and the sacred Trinity gladly beholds the departure of this divine Messenger The Angels clap their wings and make the heavenly roofe ring with Haleluiahs The Saints attend and send their vows after him that his presence may be without terrour and his sweeâ— delivery win consent in the heaâ—â— of their glorious Empresse The vaste space betweene the Poles is filled with troopes of holy spirits who give a convoy to this their fellow-servant graced above the rest in having so important an affaire as the worlds salvation committed to his charge The Starres put on new and brighter aspects as seeming to foretell what they foresee not The Earth bedeckt with all imaginable ornaments presents him with variety of sents and colours even to her selfe new and layes her prime dainties under his feet Onely her stupid Inhabitants whom his Embassie most concern'd were altogether unsensible of his arrivall and of the eternall benefit he brings them receiving him rather like an Herald then an Ambassadour And which encreased his wonder at his entertainment his first approach was unwelcome to the Saint whose Votary he was He found her as some thinke alone separated as well in body as minde from the world She was not ignorant that piety was nearer pollution in society than solitude and therefore to shun infection she avoyded company She well knew that the holy Ghost himselfe had dwelt with the Prophets and Apostles in Caves Dens and Dungeons and there pen'd the all-saving Writ That which we call good fellow ship and sweet conversation heâ— conscience assured her to be aâ— best but a sociable folly In neighbourhood she feared proximity in vice Well if alone he founâ— her questionlesse she made a divine use of that privacy and meditated how in a corrupible body to preserve a spirit incorruptible The celestiall agent having demanded and obtained audience spake the oration he made not for he was but Interpreter of the holy Spirit in which office he justly gloried The speech assuredly was modest and sutable to the sacred cares it was to enter The beginning of it no doubt consisted of a reverent applause of the perfections God had imparted to her Haile Mary said he full of Grace the Lord be with thee blessed art thou amongst women c. How she tooke this the Text following declares And when she saw him shee was troubled at his saying and thought what manner of salutation that should be No doubt the Angell no sooner pronounc't Haile Mary full of Grace but a blush arose in her bashfull face and verified his words But this colour was not fixed it went quickly back to fortifie her noble heart against the feare that invaded it She saw her selfe alone with one altogether a stranger to her whose face she neither knew nor his intent True it is his language was smooth and even but as faire words as these have often proceeded from a foule heart She trembled at his salutation thinking him to be a * That the Angell appeared to her in the form or shape of a man is the opinion of S. Hierome in Epist ad Eustoch de cust Virgin and of S. Ambrose lib. 1. offic cap. 18. Anâ— that which Damascen hath lib. 2. de fide orthod All the learned approve of to wit that the Angel are transform'd and appear to men according to thâ— pleasure of the Lord and reveale his divine Mysteries And that Angels appear'd in the old Testameâ—â— in the shape of men is certaine and for many reasoâ— it is very probable that Gabriel assumed the formâ— a man when he came to the blessed Virgin Chryso logus serm 140 is of opinion that the Angel appear in a shape and habit most pleasing and gentle and that the Virgin was not troubled at his person but his speech in that it is said shee marvelled what sayings those should be mat subject to abhorred Lust and therefore feared violence but
Humility is base and degenerate There is a third proud one of the Hypocrite Hypocriticall humility who though he be ambitious of dignities and seeks them by all cunning and undermining wayes yet to be reputed humble he seemes to flie them This Humility is false and fained A fourth there is philosophicall Philosophicall humility and morall and this consists in the knowledge of a mans selfe and his miserable condition so that by a naturall light he can see to humble himselfe and be serviceable to all men yet no further then the dignitie of his estate allows and humane reason requires So that in this mans opinion it should not be humility but basenesse in a Gentleman to pardon an injury done him or to place himselfe in an Hospitall as a servant to attend the sicke and needy This Humility will not endure the Christian Test A fifth Mosaicall Mosaicall or Iudaicall Humility or Iudaicall offers it selfe to our consideration and this hath a neare resemblance of the true one for by the perusall of the written Law we come to know our selves more perfectly then all the Philosophers of the world can teach us To this purpose Saint Paul saith From the Law comes the knowledge of sinne and in another place I had not knowne concupiscence to bee a sinne had not the Law said Thou shalt not covet In this Mirrour we discerne our originall corruption and all our disordinate passions and affections together with our ignorance and frailty By this Touchstone we finde all our moral philosophical vertues to be but counterfeit But this carries with it a very detrimentall discommoditie for it leads us beyond hope of salvation and there leaves us For when a man shall consider that an unattainable perfection and an exact observance of the Law is required at his hands wherein he is commanded to honour God with all his soul and with all his might and to love his neighbour as himselfe and yet withall shall discover in himselfe an utter disabilitie to execute these holy commands a frozen dijection wil so benumme all his thoughts that not one of them will be of force to uphold it selfe from sinking into the bottomlesse pit of despaire But with the true Christian Humilitie it is otherwise which having first made a submissive acknowledgement of its owne ingratitude The true Christian Humility pride avarice injustice impietie and infinite other imperfections by a strong apprehension layes hold on the mercie of God in Christ And this goodnesse of God towards us makes our sinnes more odious even in our own eies no otherwise then the tender kindnesse of his Father made the prodigall childe more clearly see his owne errour and disobedience For this makes that speech of God to the Iewes When you come into the Land of promise then you shall know your sinnes as if he should have said How often have you distrusted me and not onely murmur'd against me but abandon'd me and ador'd Idols making them your guides and attributing to them the benefits you have received from me so the regenerated Christian being once entred into the spirituall Kingdome of Christ sees more clearely his sinnes then he did before his calling as having received a greater Light The excellency of this vertue in a Christian is beyond humane expression Not amisse a learned Father of the Church stiles this the Treasurer of all other vertues Hieron in Epist ad Celant The antient Christians commonly usurpe Humility for vertue it selfe Christ cals it poorenesse of Spirit and discoursing of mans Beatitude sets it in the Front This and Pride are at endlesse oddes for this is sociable and loves company wheras pride affects solitude and is for the most part alone In the Empire of Pride two cannot stand quietly together whereas in the dominions of Humility an infinite number may be placed without either combat or strife Pride is never void of feare and doubt whereas this stands secure with Ionas in the bottome of the Sea Pride is ever ambitous of the first seate this of the lowest and therefore is as much extoll'd by all men as the other cride downe Pride assumes all to it selfe and is full of selfe-love This refuseth even its owne due and undervalues it selfe as knowing that it can justly call nothing its owne but sinne Pride stormes at an injury receiv'd this embraceth all occasions that may exercise its patience Pride like all things puft up and light is wavering and blown here and there by every gust of Fortune this in stability is a rock not in hardnesse being soft and white as the Downe of Swans Yet though this Vertue be of all other the most innocent and submissive it is withall the most powerfull for as nature so God abhors vacuity and therefore finding the humble utterly empty of affectation presumption and what else is derogatory to his honour hee fils him with his grace and spirit What should I say more Humility is fearelesse in danger free in bondage rich in poverty quiet in persecution noble and gloriorious in ignominy lofty in lownesse joyfull in anguish and happy in the midst of misery This made Moses speechlesse Abraham to acknowledge himselfe dust and ashes Iohn the Baptist to esteeme himselfe a meer Voyce and Saint Paul to account himselfe the greatest of all sinners This Iewell was so faire in Christs eye that to purchase it he underwent not only poverty misery and all indignities but even execration and malediction What would we judge of a great Prince who in stead of enlarging his Territories should abase himselfe so farre as to become a poore subject Why this did Christ who being of all things the greatest and best from all eternity by humility became of all the lowest and descended even to the profession of service to the meanest of his creatures It is also an evident marke of his humility that he chose to be borne of simple and obscure Parents whereas he might if he would have allyed himselfe to the greatest Princes This gave occasion to the Iewes to mocke him saying Is not Ioseph his Father and Mary his Mother True it is that he was of the House of David but when he was borne it was in its declination and of no repute As the Moone fourteene dayes together to our sight encreaseth and fourteene againe diminisheth till at length it be seene no more so in the fourteene generations from Abraham to David the House of David received advancement in honour and splendour and was in his time at the full height but in the fourteene following generations it was in the wane and in the dayes of Christ neere utter extinction And whereas he might have inserted Sarah Rebecca and many other Saints in his Genealogy he placed Tamar Raab Ruth Bersabe and others of an incestuous race to shew the world that though he hated sinne he abhorred not sinners What man is there who having a lascivious wife detected of whoredome will take her
encounter of two shades softly creeping ore the face of the earth The Evangelist delivereth onely the Compendium of their conference which could not be but as long as serious They treated surely of deepe miraculous Mysteries as of the incarnation of the Word of the persecution of her and Gods onely Sonne as also of his passion and the salvation of Mankinde And here it will neither be a thing impious nor impertinent binding our selues strictly to the substance of their short discourse to ayme at the amplification thereof by which happily it may come to passe that the supposition of what they might say may turne to a Truth of what they said indeed This then or like to this was or might be the speech of the holy Matron to the more holy Virgin What looks shall I put on What words shall I assume what entertainment shall I finde out O Princely Virgin to give thee a welcome answerable to thy merits who art Superiour to the Saints in Heaven and the prime glory of thy Sex on Earth I am wholly transformed into shame when I consider every way thy Excellency and my unworthinesse Alas what is there in miserable me that should invite the mother of my Lord to afford me a visit who am the meanest of his Creatures What equality is here Thou who art full of Grace comest to mee void of it Thou who art famous for thy Fertilitie to me who have beene a long time infamous for my Barrennesse Thy Charity and Humility made thee forget thy sublime and my low estate and conducted thee to my poore Cottage no way fit to receive thee Most of thy Sexe having attained to thy supreame condition who did'st conceive and nourish the Creatour and Redeemer of the world with that thy clearest bloud of which he was made would have advanced their heads above Mortality and disdaining all inferiour Conversation would have demanded as their due to be assumed into the imperiall Heaven But in thee one heat hath expelled another the flames of thy zeale have utterly consumed those of thy Pride if any thou ever had'st and thou art so farre from vaunting that thou by all meanes seekest to conceale that daintie Fruit of which all Posterity shall taste and never be satisfied and for which all Generations shall call thee blessed But from others thou mayst hide it from me thou canst not to whom the Spirit hath reveal'd it and the springing of the Childe in my wombe hath testified it and if the Children of Israel should be so dull and unhappy as not to apprehend it God would give the stones an articulate voyce proclaime it The Lord of mee and all things else hath firmely seated himselfe in thee and chosen thee for his mother to the end that the seed of Abraham may breake the head of the Serpent and the Sonne of David bring reliefe to his forlorne and distressed Church streightly beseiged by the Prince of Darknesse and his infernall Troopes True it is I am above thee in yeares but in desert infinitely below thee and therfore ought to have prevented this thy painfull joyrney by comming first to thee to congratulate thy happinesse and not onely in the behalfe of my selfe my kindred and Nation but in the name of Gods selected people to tender thee most humble though not condigne thanks for so readily assenting to beare bring forth and educate their Soveraigne Lord and Redeemer But thou having gotten the start of me in goodnesse art come to me ere I could set forward towards thee and now thou art here Irepine at nothing more that at my disability to serve thee Thou who meritest to have the earth the water and the ayre ransack't to please thy pallat shall have nothing here but the simple viands of Nature prepared by as simple an Art But trust me what ever is here is truely thine owne and my selfe to boot My willing heart to waite on thee and obey all thy Commands shall supply all other defects Such is my desire to attend and please thee that doe but signifie thy pleasure by the least becke or nod and thou shalt see how nimbly I will bestirre these aged limmes and place before thine eyes a plaine and evident conversion of Impoteney into Ability I shall not thinke any paines my weakenesse can endure too great nor any cost my purse can compasse too deare for thee Wherfore I earnestly beseech thee to blesse me and my house with thy long abode and let not our course and slender fare make thee hasten my death in thy sudden returne O my brightest Starre envy me not thy comfortable shine but let me Live in it till I exchange it for a brighter in Heaven The dayes of my Pilgrimage are even now at an end O leave me not then who art the Staffe and Solace of mine Age but stay the arrivall of my last minute and with thy fairest hands close up these my dimme eyes So shall I bid farewell to this world with content and enter the other with glory Thou my sweetest Princesse who hast verified the Prophecy of Esay and being an unspotted Virgin dost conceive and bring forth to the world our Emanuell grant this my first and most humble request O thou daughter of Abraham who hast surpassed thy Fathers Faith in beleeving things which seeme more impossible to humane Reason if in this rude speech of mine I have over-talked my selfe or underspoken thee impute it to my declining and doting yeares and grant me thy Pardon Thus I end but not without adding to those I have already given thee a Myriade of Welcomes and a million of Aves more The vertuous Maid undoubtedly was not here mute but devided her speech betweene God and her Cousin She directed with I know not whether greater Piety or Prudency her praise to the former ere she would vouchsafe to make a reply to the latter An answer without all peradventure her humanity afforded her and to this purpose for ought we know might it be Dearest Cousin your own wisedome will plead my excuse in that I rendred him laud to whom it belongs ere I accepted of it my selfe to whom it is not due You magnifie me and I my Creator Your sacred issue moved with delight at the sound of my harsh voyce and my spirit rejoyceth in the Mercy of my sweetest Saviour You give me attributes more proper to my Maker than to me not unlike those Heathen who take off the heads from the Images of their Gods and fasten them to the shoulders of their Princes Statues Your commendations fit your selfe better than me and resemble those resplendent rayes which returne into the radiant body that sent them forth In a word you have subscribed my Name to your owne Character The humbling and undervaluing of your self is a strong argument of your vertue forâ—â— in a field of Corne we see the empty eares to hold up their heads the fuller to hang them downe I am in my Spring you in your
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
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