GReat is the Mystery of Godliness, 1 Tim. 3.16. 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, Wisd. 19.16. (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, 1 Pet. 1.12. 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 [Page 2] 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? 1 Cor. 2.11. 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. Vers. 10. 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, Rom. 16.26. 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 [Page 3] 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 'tis almost as difficult out of the Prophets to con­clude the Reality of any such Mysteries, as 'tis 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: Gen. 3.15. 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 [Page 4] 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 'twas [...], 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 [Page 5] 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 [Page 6] 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 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.

[Page 7]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 ('tis, 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 [Page 8] 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, Vers. 30. 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 [Page 9] 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 Incar ­nation. I 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! [Page 10] 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, Dan. 7.9. 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. Quae vel An­gelica puri­tas Illi aude­at comparari, quae digna fuit Spiritus Sacrarium fieri & habi­taculum filii Dei! S. Bern. de Assump. Serm. 4. 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. [Page 11] 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, Heb. 2.16. 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, Exod. 33. 11,18,20. 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 'twas withal by secret Inspirations and Dreams, in an imper­fect manner. Several Persons are Recorded in [Page 12] 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, 1 Joh. 3.1. 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 [Page 13] only upon account of our blessed Lords Incar­nation, the Reason hitherto insisted on; but also,

II. Upon the score of those Excellent II Graces and Vertues wherewith she was, in a very eminent degree, dignified and accomplish'd. God might, 'tis 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, Wisd. 1.4. nor dwell in the Body that [Page 14] is subject unto Sin; 'tis infinitely gross to ima­gine that our Blessed Lord, who is the Wisdom of the Father, 1 Cor. 1.24. 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, Conc. Trid. Sess. 5 Art. 5. ad finem. 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. Rom. 5.12. 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 [Page 15] 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 Virgin [...] The Angels Complyment is in all Circumstances too big for her Modesty;

  Quod turbata est, Verecun­diae fuit.

  S. Bernard. Serm. 3. super Missus. est.

  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 [Page 16] 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, 'twas 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,
  1 Pet. 5.5.
  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 [Page 17] 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, Rom. 4.20, 21. 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 a Man, is a strong Ob­jection against her Faith: But that GOD can do in this case, as well as any other, what trans­cends our Imaginations, is on the other hand as much out of question. And if he say he Will do it, the Divine Veracity, which is as infallible as his Power is infinite, is engag'd to a performance. And so she's undoubtedly assured that it must be so, though she cannot tell how. And thereupon she acquiesceth in what the Angel had told her, without any further Hesitancy or Contradiction: Behold, says she, freely resigning up herself to the Divine Pleasure, Behold the Handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.

[Page 18]But I shall not insist any longer upon the Va­riety of Gifts and Graces wherewith the blessed Virgin was Endow'd; but shall only take no­tice of the profound Reverence and Honour which Antiquity paid Her in that Celebrated Opinion of theirs, That after she had given the consent just now mentioned, Be it unto me ac­cording to thy word, She was by singular Privi­ledge kept secure from all Actual Sin during her whole Life. An Opinion, I confess, entertain­able without any prejudice to our Holy Faith, and such as the Fathers who embrac'd it, took up certainly out of the great and awful Regard they had to the Dignity and Person of our Sa­viour; but such as has not the least Foundation in Scripture, and therefore may reasonably be laid aside, among many other ungrounded Eja­culations, and over-officious Praises of a Saint, too honourably and advantageously represented in the Gospel as to her Vertue and Piety, to need the Accession of our groundless extravagant Commendations.

And if we cannot account the Zeal of some Ancient Fathers of the Church so discreet as well-meaning in this particular; What shall we say of that Abominable Superstition, which has induc'd the Church of Rome and her Doctors to [Page 19] sally out so far in the Praises of the Virgin Mary, as to Romance her into a Deity? to attribute to her Divine Perfections, and to pay her that Religious Worship which belongs only to God?

She was, says the Angel [...], that is, say they, Gratia plena, Full of Grace. And a very Gracious Person she was undoubtedly; so far we concur, and here we must leave them. For they go on, and with a Confidence befitting the Worshippers of Saints and Angels, mention'd by the Apostle, Col. 2. 18. who should boldly intrude into those things which they had not seen; They affirm that her Fulness of Grace was such, that she was able to communicate it to any that wanted; in the very same manner, as our Savi­our says, Joh. 5.26. that as the Father had Life in Himself, so had he given to the Son to have Life in Him­self. Nay, Suarez. the Jesuite is wonderfully Nice and Critical in stating this Plenitude, and giving us an exact Estimate of it. The Grace of the Virgin Mary (says he, 3. Part. Disp. 18. Sect. 4. upon the the Popish Hypothesis of her Immaculate Conception) was greater in the very first moment she was conceiv'd, than the Grace of the highest Angel, and conse­quently merited more than a thousand Men can merit all their Life long. Now this Grace of hers receiv'd [Page 20] a continual Increase as long as she liv'd; in such a manner, that in the first instant of her Conception, her Grace excell'd that of the highest Angel, who by one or two Acts compleated his Merits. In the second instant, her Grace was doubl'd, and so was twice as Excellent and Meritorious as the former. In the third instant four times, in the fourth eight times as much as the first; and so on according to Geometrical Proportion. So that the Grace of every instant doubling its foregoing Grace from the moment in which she was conceiv'd, till the time of her Nativity; and afterwards every Act of Grace being in like manner twice as excellent as its precedent Act, till the Seventy Second Year of her Age, wherein she died; She was so far advanc'd in Goodness and Merit, as to have more Grace and Merit than the whole Society of Men and Angels put together: She is dearer to God than the whole Reasonable Creation; He loves her more than the Vniversal Church. What odd Metaphysical Notions are these! And yet a World of such Insignificant and Non-sensical Trash we meet with in the School-men: Who in their Dis­courses relating to the Holy Virgin, thought they could never be Romantic enough in describing the Praises, and advancing (after their dull rug­ged fashion) the Merits of a Saint, whom the [Page 21] Church of Rome had in so singular a manner made the Object of a Religious Adoration. Conc. Trid. Sess. 25. Art. 2. But I shall wave at present any farther pursuit of these, and the like Superstitious Fopperies, where­by whilst they would be thought to magnifie the Mother of our Lord, they do really expose Christ himself and his Gospel to scorn and contempt; contenting my self with what has been said al­ready concerning the high Honour done her in making her so miraculously Instrumental in our Lords Incarnation; and bestowing upon her such eminent Gifts and Graces. The Contemplation of this transcendent Dignity of the Virgin, was I told you, one Branch of this Days Religious Exercise.

2. The second part of our Duty consists in the Celebration of her Memory, or in expressing to her upon account of her eminent Vertue and Goodness, all due Respect and Veneration. The blessed Angel, you see, did this in his Address to her; Hail, Thou that art highly favour'd, the Lord is with Thee: Blessed art Thou among Wo­men. Blessed art Thou; i. e. Let all Men Ho­nour Thee, as an ever blessed Saint. Indeed, who can seriously reflect upon her wonderful Relation to God, who can truly love our Lord Iesus Christ and not entertain a most Profoundly [Page 22] Reverend Esteem of Her, whose Womb bare Him, and whose Paps He sucked? If the Wo­man in the Gospel was to have a Perpetual Me­morial for breaking her Box of Spikenard, and pouring it upon our Saviours head, Mark 14. 9. of what Honour shall She be thought worthy, who was the very Mother of God? How lasting and precious ought her Name to be among us, by whom God brought forth Christ into the World, and convey'd to Us the Benefits of our Redemption?

But how must we declare and manifest the great Esteem and Honour we have for the Blessed Vir­gin?

To this I answer, 1. Negatively; 2. Posi­tively.

1. Negatively. We are not to express the great Esteem we have of Her by a Religious Wor­ship, or such a sort of Adoration as we pay unto God. We are not to ascribe to her such Perfe­ctions as are proper to the Deity, nor pray to, or call upon her in any case or exigency whatso­ever. For it is written, Matth. 4.10. Thou shalt Worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve. He is the God hearing Prayer, Psal. 65.2. and therefore to Him, and Him alone, shall all Flesh come. St. Iohn indeed fell down at the feet of the Angel to wor­ship [Page 23] him, Rev. 19. 10. But receiv'd a Repri­mend for his Inconsiderate Zeal: See thou do it not, says the Angel; I am thy Fellow servant, and of thy Brethren that have the Testimony of Iesus: Worship God. And certainly [...], if the Blessed Virgin now in Heaven have any Knowledge of what is done here below; if she sees the many Shrines and Altars erected to her, and hears the Prayers and Devotions offer'd up continually by stupid and superstitious Votaries; she cannot but infinitely disdain the Religious Homage paid her, so much in Derogation to God and his Christ: A Worship which has not the least countenance from Sacred Writ; there being in those holy Books neither Precept nor Example of Devotion in this kind. Our Savi­our is so far from enjoyning the Worshipping of Her, that he restrains upon all occasions all ex­travagant apprehensions of the Honour due to her, as foreseeing the proneness of succeeding Ages to Superstition in this matter. When he was told that his Mother and his Brethren stood without; Who, saith he, are my Mother and my Brethren? He that doth the Will of my Father, the same is my Mother, and Sister, and Brother. And when the Woman brake forth into that Rapture concerning the Blessed Mother of our Lord; [Page 24] Blessed is the Womb that bare Thee, and the Paps which Thou hast sucked: Our Saviour diverts it to another thing; Yea rather blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it. Nor do the Apostles give us the least advice of addressing our selves to the Virgin, and making use of her Intercession; nay, they have not so much as once mentioned her Name in all their Epistles. Now if the Worship of the Blessed Virgin had been a thing in practise from the beginning, can it with any colour of reason be imagin'd, that our Saviour and his Apostles would have been silent in so considerable a part of Religion? The truth is, 'tis so far from Apostolic or Primi­tive, that neither the Scriptures, nor the Christian Writers for the first three hundred years, give any countenance at all to this sort of Devotion. To be plain; This Superstitious Practice began about the middle of the fourth Century; and Epiphanius, Epiphan. contr. Hae­res. lib. 3. Haer. 79. who liv'd about that time, particu­larly calls it (as he might have done a great ma­ny more) The Heresie of Women. There were in his days certain devout Women of Arabia, who, as an instance of their Worship of the Blessed Virgin, offer'd up to this Queen of Heaven (as they thought her) certain Cakes call'd Colly­rides, whence they had the name of Collyridian [Page 25] Heretiques. The Good Father hearing of this preposterous Devotion of theirs, inveighs with all possible vehemency against that Superstitious Practice; accounting it Damnable and Diaboli­cal, and the Persons devoted to it, no better than those that attend to Seducing Spirits, 1 Tim. 4. 1. and Doctrines of Daemons. And then he states the Worship due to the Virgin Mary, thus: Mary, says he, was a Virgin, 'tis true; nay more, [...], a very Honourable Virgin; [...], but she is not propos'd to us as an Object of Religious Worship. [...], says the same Father, Though Mary be a most Excellent, Holy and Venerable Woman, yet is she by no means capable of a Religious Ado­ration. And again, [...], Let the Virgin be Reverenc'd, but God only Worshipp'd. So Zealous was Epiphanius in the matter of the Virgins Invocation, a piece of Superstition before his time not known in the World.

What would he have said, had he seen this Idolatry of Worshipping the Virgin, (of calling upon her, and imploring her Mediation with Christ) grown into such a general Reputation, as to be Universally Practis'd, and Establish'd by [Page 26] the Law of a Church, Conc. Trid. Sess. 25. Art. 2. which Glories in the style of Catholic? His Spirit undoubtedly upon Ob­servation of the Churches, Shrines and Altars E­rected to her Devotion, (as St. Pauls once was) would have been stirr'd within him, when he should have seen not only one particular City, but a whole Church wholly given to this and many other Branches of Idolatry: The Idols or Images set up in Honour of the Blessed Virgin, being infinitely more numerous, than those the great Apostle saw at Athens, and both made use of to the same Religious Ends and Purposes.

Indeed the Romish Superstition relating to the Blessed Mary, as 'tis now practis'd, is infinitely too gross and absurd, to be in any tolerable man­ner accounted for, and justified. 'Tis wholly Anti-Scriptural; and 'tis evident the Church of Christ knew nothing at all of it for above three hundred years after our Saviour. Alas! The several Periods of the Rise and Growth of this Superstitious Folly and Will-Worship, as to all the parts of it, are too notorious, to allow it the least Pretensions to Antiquity. The Coun­cil of Ephesus, Anno 431. towards the beginning of the fourth Century, gave her indeed the style of [...], or Mother of God, in Opposition to the Nestorian Heresie: And I know very well that in [Page 27] the Ages immediately succeeding, they fell to making lofty and unreasonably high Harangues in her Commendation. But 'twas above a thousand years after Christ before any Daily Office was Instituted to Her. And a long time after that was it ere the Doctrine of her Imma­culate Conception appear'd in the World. The Canons of Lyons are the first Men upon Record, who inserted that Doctrine into their Ecclesi­astical Offices, and are upon that account sharply reprehended by St. Bernard. About three hun­dred years ago Duns Scotus a School-Doctor reviv'd That Opinion, and propos'd it as a thing meerly probable. In favour of it Pope Sixtus the Fourth afterwards Published a Bull, which was finally Approv'd and Ratifi'd by the Coun­cil of Trent. So that She now passes among the Romanists (if they be true to the Decrees of their Church) for a Virgin perfectly free from Original Sin; not to mention the several other Prerogatives and Perfections they have out of very great kindness doubtless fix'd upon Her. They style her in their Missals and Offices, The Queen of Heaven, The Empress of the World, The Ladder of Paradise, The Gate of Salvation, The Mediatrix between God and Man, The Sa­viour by whom God hath sent Redemption unto [Page 28] his People, A Goddess, The Omnipotent Lady, &c. And the peculiar Offices which have been instituted to her, are so extreamly Wild and Blasphemous, that I cannot mention what they speak of the Virgin, without offence to this In­telligent and Noble Auditory.

Bonavent.A Cardinal of the Romish Church, who Com­piled the Ladies Psalter, (as they call it) has taken the liberty very fairly to Burlesque the Psalms of David, and roundly to apply and di­rect to the Holy Virgin all those Noble Hymns, and most Pious Ejaculations and Prayers which the Royal Psalmist presented to Almighty God. So Indiscreet a Thing is Superstition, that whilst it labours to Gratifie and Please God, it blindly falls upon such means in order thereto, as do most highly disoblige and dishonour Him.

Blessed Saint ! Is this the Respect and Ho­nour which Thou requirest of Us, to build Thee Shrines and Temples, and then to pay to Thee in Them a Religious Worship? To offer up at Thy Altars our Devotions and Prayers, to run over our Rosaries, to say Ten Ave Maries for One Pater Noster; i. e. to make Ten Addresses to Thee, for One Prayer directed to Almighty God? (and this is the proportion observed in the Romish Devotions.) In a word, to transfer upon [Page 29] Thee the Religious Reverence due to God as his own Peculiar Prerogative? Surely no. This is a sort of Complaisance or Humility (as the A­postle speaks in the case of Angel Worship) which cannot possibly be grateful to Thee. Col. 2.18. We can­not imagine that Thou canst at all delight in re­ceiving (if yet Thou art capable of receiving) from Us those Religious Services, which we can­not pay Thee, without Injuring and Affronting Thy MAKER. We dare not present to Thee our Petitions and Prayers; because they are due to God only. We dare not implore Thy Fa­vour in Interceding for Us to Thy Son; because we have an Immediate Advocate with the Father, 1 Joh. 2.1. IESVS CHRIST the Righteous. But This we will do; We will give Thee all the Honour that possibly we can, on this side Religious Wor­ship. We will Extol Thy Graces, magnifie that Infinite Mercy which raised Thee to the Dignity of being the Mother of God: And last of all, Imitate as far as we can, Thy Admirable Goodness and Piety. And this is the true way of declaring the Veneration we have for the Blessed Virgin. Our Esteem of Her is to be expressed not in a Religious Worship: But,

2. Positively. In the Celebration and Imitation of her Vertues and Graces. If we affectionately [Page 30] Celebrate her Memory, Praise and Admire her Graces, and endeavour to transcribe them in our Lives and Actions, we do her as much Honour as is possible. We have hitherto consider'd her manifold Graces, pray let us forthwith fall to Imitation and Practice. Let Us follow her even in her Virginal Chastity; remembring that the God of Purity would be born of none but a Virgin: That they were Virgins who had the Honour to sing a new and peculiar Song before the Throne, and to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth, Rev. 14. 3, 4. Or however, let us be Conjugally Chaste; and not by Lust and Folly defile and prophane our Bodies, which ought to be the Temples of the Holy Ghost; nor make the Members of Christ, for such these of ours are by Mystical Union, the Members of an Harlot. Let us Imitate her Humility, the very Crown of all Christian Graces, that wherein our Lord chiefly delights. Learn of me, says he, for I am meek and lowly in heart, Matth 11. 29. The Lord chose a meek and humble Woman for his Mo­ther. A Lesson to those in particular, whom St. Peter in one of his Epistles makes it his busi­ness to accomplish. But how? 1 Pet. 3.3,4. Let their Adorning, says he, not be that Adorning of Plaiting the Hair, and of Wearing of Costly Apparel: but let it be [Page 31] the hidden Man of the Heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the Ornament of a meek and quiet Spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

What shall I say more? In everything where­in we find her excellent, let us tread her Steps; and this will be indeed to Celebrate This Festi­val. We may Imitate her even in this Mysterious Conception of our Saviour. We are capable of the Honour of having Christ formed in us, Gal. 4. 19. Of being Partakers of the Divine Life and Nature, 2 Pet. 1.4. Of having Christ dwell in our Hearts, Ephes. 3. 17. Of being the Temples of the Holy Ghost, 1 Cor. 6. 19. In fine, we are capable, in our Saviours account, of greater Blessedness than that which accrew'd to the Holy Virgin upon the score of her being the Lords Mother: Blessed is the Womb that bare Him, and the Paps which He sucked: But rather blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it. He that doth the Will of my Father, the same, says Christ, is my Brother, and Sister, and MOTHER.

GOD Grant that We may all of Us so perfectly ex­press our Love and Relation to CHRIST by a Sincere, Constant, Uniform Observance of His Commands, that together with the Holy Mother of our Lord, and all the Company of Saints and Angels, We may enjoy a Blessed Immortality in the Highest Heavens for Ever and Ever. AMEN.