SERM. sufficient and certain attestation he learneth to have XXIV. been conceived without any concurrence of man? who will not readily defer high veneration to him, who appeareth in a manner so glorious and supernatural? 3. Moreover, our Saviour was born of Mary; of that singular person determined and described in the Gospels; of her that was espoused to and did live with Joseph; with Joseph the carpenter; who was born in the town of Bethlehem, who lived in the city of Nazareth in Galilee; who both according to natural and legal extraction was descended in a direct 'Eixou a lineage from king David, being, as St. Luke saith, of the house and family of David, and who by consequence did lineally come from Abraham. She herself was also of the same stock and family; as may be collected from circumstances intimated in the story, and certainly may be deduced from the prophecies concerning our Saviour's stock, with the assertions implying their accomplishment. πατριᾶς Δα βίδ. Luke ii. 4. i. 27. Of Mary therefore, by blood and progeny a princess, extracted from the most illustrious stem on Luke i. 48. earth; not only famous among men, but (which is infinitely more) especially dear to God; who yet in external condition was very mean and poor, living obscurely in habitation with an artisan, of a painful and not gainful trade. As for her personal qualifications, they were excellently worthy; for in disposition of mind she was very religious and devout toward God; in the temper of her spirit, very sweet and calm, very modest, meek, and humble; such the passages occurring in the Gospels concerning her do shew her to have been; such particularly that most excellent hymn ejacu XXIV. lated by her (wherein we may discover a spirit ra- SERM. vished with the most sprightly devotion imaginable; a devotion full of ardent love, of humble thankfulness, of hearty joy, tempered with most submissive reverence) demonstrateth her to have been. 4. xii. 3. xxii. 18. Acts iii. 25. Isa. xi. I. 10. XV. 2. Of a mother so related, and so qualified, our Saviour was born; both which points were requisite. She was so related, for the declaration of God's truth, fidelity, and constancy, in accomplishing those Gen. xxvi. ancient predictions and promises made to the xviii. 18. Fathers; to Abraham, that in his seed all the fa-Gal. iii. 8. milies of the earth should be blessed; to David, that of the fruit of his loins God would raise up Christ to sit upon his throne; concerning whom, as Rom. i. 3. by many passages in the gospel it appeareth, God's Ps. cxxxii. people had a general expectation and persuasion, that Rev. v. 5. he should be the Rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch growing out of his roots; in whom the horn 11. of David should bud; who should raise the taber- Luke i. 32. nacle of David that was fallen, and rule over the 15. xxiii. 5. kingdom of Jacob for ever: and that our Lord should be born at Bethlehem, that he should be called a Nazarene, were circumstances touched in the Prophets, for the verification whereof it was needful that the mother of our Lord should be thus related. She was also to be so duly qualified, as to her state and mind; being homely in state of life, and holy in disposition of mind; to signify, that God did not so much regard the outward pomps and appearances of this vain world, as the inward frame and temper of spirit. It is indeed no small disparagement to those empty glories, which men are wont so hugely to admire, and it may be a strong inducement to a 17. xxii. 16. Amos ix. Acts xv. 16. Jer. xxxiii. Matt. ii. 5. 15, 21, 23. SERM. moderate esteem of them, if we consider it, that XXIV. God did not choose for the mother of his Son, and Saviour of mankind, a visibly great princess, or any to appearance honourable, splendid, or wealthy personage; but her that was espoused to a mechanic artificer, her that was only rich in grace, and decked 1 Pet. iii. 4. with interior endowments; adorned (after the garb which St. Peter recommendeth to women) with the hidden man of the heart, in the incorruptible purity of a meek and quiet spirit, which in the sight of God is of great price. This is the reflection which she herself did make upon the matter; for Luke i. 51. this her soul did magnify God, because he had regarded the low estate of his handmaiden; he had shewed strength with his arm, he had scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts; he had put down the mighty from their seat, and had exalted the humble and meek; he had filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he had sent empty away. This sheweth the extreme folly of contemning the poor, to whom commonly God expresseth so special regard, who are capable of so high favours, who have so glorious consorts of their state. Such a person did the Son of God choose to bear himself, to bear duty unto, to confer that special favour and eminent honour upon; an honour, among all exterior honours the highest that ever was vouchsafed to any of human kind, or indeed to any mere creature. I say of exterior honours; for spiritual advantages our Lord himself doth teach us in our esteem to prefer above this great privilege; they being toto genere, superior, and placing us in a nobler relation SERM. to him than this; Whosoever, saith he, shall do the will of my Father that is in heaven, the same is XXIV. my brother, and sister, and mother; the same in a Matt. xii. more excellent manner and sublime degree is allied, 5o. is endeared to me, than he can be upon the score of any carnal kindred: the conformity to him in our mind and affections doth render us nearer to him than any cognation of blood; the having him formed in our hearts is more considerable, than the bearing of him in the womb. upon 48, 49. Indeed, the mother of our Lord herself, although as such she was кexaρiтwμé, especially favoured Luke i. 28, and graced, and blessed among women; although that account all nations must esteem and call her blessed; although worthily she did in that respect acknowledge, that God had done peyaλeïa, magnificent and mighty things for her; yet really, in just esteem, to have Christ born in her soul, to have participated of his divine grace and presence in her heart, the Holy Ghost's having produced a spiritual birth of holy dispositions in her, was a nobler honour and a truer happiness than that; neither oidì rò xvowould it, as St. Chrysostom saith, have been any-ov, xai wise profitable to her, if she had not been virtuous, GTOV INSTVOV to bear Christ in her womb, or to bring forth that? admirable birth; this our Saviour plainly declared, οὐκ οὔσης. whenas a good woman, transported by the ravishing Chrys. in excellency of his discourse, did cry out, * Blessed is the womb that bare thee, he thence took occasion to say, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it. We might also here further observe, that our Saviour upon other good accounts willingly did choose so mean a parentage; namely, φορῆσαι τὸν τὸν θαυμα τόκου τεκεῖν ἔχει το κέρα Matt. xii. 50. 27. SERM. That he thence might have readier opportunity XXIV. to undergo and taste the greatest inconveniences and hardships incident to our nature, thereby more fully meriting and suffering for us. That he might have occasion to exemplify the most difficult virtues and duties, (humility, meekness, patience, contentedness,) shewing us how we should virtuously comport with the lowest state; how we should cheerfully sustain wants, labours, pains, and disgraces; how we should contentedly be destitute of all the glories, riches, and pleasures of this world. That also the divine power and glory might appear more conspicuously through his worldly state of impotency and baseness. That he might insinuate the nature of his kingdom not to consist in secular pomp and puissance, but in spiritual power over the hearts of men. That he might discover wherein our happiness doth consist; how little any thing, which is high in vulgar esteem of men, is an ingredient thereof: and what is the true grandeur of a man; not his outward garb and retinue, but his inward virtue and goodness. Finally, this relation of the blessed Virgin to our Lord, as it should beget a precious esteem and honourable memory of her, (for let that mouth be cursed which will not call her blessed, let the name of him be branded with everlasting reproach of folly, who will not prefer her in dignity before any queen or empress,) so it should not serve to breed in us fond opinions, or to ground superstitious practices in regard to her, as it hath happened to do among |