SERMON IV.a THE LOW AND MEAN CONDITION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN CONSIDERED AS ALSO THE SINGULAR GRACE AND FAVOUR OF GOD VOUCHSAFED TO HER; AND THAT RESPECT WHICH IS DUE TO HER FROM US UPON THAT ACCOUNT, WHEREIN THE INVOCATION OF HER BY THE PAPISTS IS CONFUTED. LUKE i. 48, 49. For He hath regarded the low estate of His handmaiden; for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For He that is mighty hath done for me great things; and holy is His name. UPON the very hearing of my text read, every man will presently perceive it to be a part of the Magnificat, or the divine song of the blessed Virgin, into which she brake forth upon the prophetic salutation of the inspired Elizabeth to her, recited from ver. 41 to 45, inclusively. For this song is daily sung or rehearsed in our churches; and may it ever continue so to be, both for the excellency of it, and because thereby the prophecy of the blessed Virgin, in my text, is in part fulfilled ; that future generations should call her blessed. The song, as Grotius thinks, hath respect to the time of the children of Israel's departure out of Egypt; by which the time of the Messias was figured and typified, not without a wonderful congruity of circumstances disposed by Divine Providence. There was then a Miriam, that is, a Mary, a virgin and prophetess, the sister of Aaron, leading a female troop in the divine praises. And here there is another Miriam, or Mary, over a [This Sermon was preached some time after the year 1671.] b Exod. xv. 20, 21. shadowed with the Holy Ghost, to be celebrated above all women, and therefore celebrating the praises of God. There was then, in the second place, an Elizabeth, the wife of Aaron; and here there is another Elizabeth, married to a priest of the line of Aaron. Throughout this excellent song, the sacred Virgin expresseth a deep sense of her own unworthiness, and, upon that account, a profound resentment of the singular favour of the Almighty bestowed on her. Her Magnificat is not a magnifying of herself, but of the Lord. For thus it begins, "My soul doth magnify the Lord;" not myself, who am but a poor unworthy handmaid of the Lord; but the Lord Himself, Who hath so highly dignified and advanced me, though unworthy. She first sings in the lowest and deepest note of humility, and then raiseth her song to the highest strain of gratitude and thanksgiving, admiring the transcendent honour to which, by the goodness of God, she was exalted. For in the former part of my text, she sincerely acknowledgeth the very mean condition she was in, when the Divine grace surprised her; "For He hath regarded the low estate of His handmaiden:" and then she sets forth the superlative dignity that God had advanced her to; "for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed." Let us a little stay upon that lower ground, from whence the holy Virgin takes her rise, and consider her humble acknowlegment of her own meanness and unworthiness, expressed in these words, Επέβλεψεν ἐπὶ τὴν ταπείνωσιν τῆς δούλης αὑτοῦ, which our translators have well rendered, " He hath regarded the low estate of His handmaiden." For the word raπeivwσis signifies here the same with тaπeivóτŋs, a mean, base, or vile condition; as "our body of a base condition," or "dour vile body." And it is often by the Seventy joined with a verb, signifying "to behold," "respect," or "regard," as here, and used to express a poor mean condition; or, which is more, an afflicted condition, whereby one is brought very low, as we use to phrase it. So 2 Kings xiv. 26. "The Lord saw the affliction of • [Elisheba, Exod. vi. 23: which is the same as Elizabeth.] d Phil. iii. 21. • Τὸ σῶμα τῆς ταπεινώσεως ἡμῶν. Israel." And Psalm xxv. 18. "Look upon mine affliction." But it is especially to be noted, that the words of Hannah, upon much a like occasion, are in the LXX. almost the same with the words of my text. "If indeed Thou wilt look upon the affliction of Thine handmaiden." Erasmus had long ago observed this, and corrected the vulgar Latin, too closely followed here by our older English translation, which hath it, "He hath regarded," humilitatem ancillæ, "the humility, or lowliness of His handmaiden," as that signifies the virtue of the mind, which we commonly call humility, but is more properly called modesty, and by the Greeks termed ταπεινοφροσύνη. This erroneous translation, the pretenders to merit at Rome had greedily catched at, and thence inferred, that the blessed Virgin was, for the merit of her humility, so highly advanced by God. But Erasmus clearly evinced, that Tameivwσis is rather in this place, to be rendered parvitas, vilitas, "the littleness," or "vileness;" that is, "the low and mean estate" of Thine handmaiden. The ignorant and angry monks indeed, fell very foul upon that excellent man for this his criticism; whence there arose a proverb in that time, concerning any man that should attempt to amend that which could not be better expressed, vult corrigere magnificat, "the man would correct the magnificat." But the more learned Papists are since grown wiser, and have subscribed to the interpretation of Erasmus; among whom is the judicious Maldonat, who gives us this clear account of it: "If we weigh," saith he, "the sense of these words, it is so much the less credible, that Mary should here have spoken of her own virtue, by how much more she excelled in that virtue. For I cannot think it to be humility, for a man not only to know, but also to proclaim himself to be humble. Humility is the only virtue that knows not itself: and I cannot tell how it comes to pass, that the humble person, as soon as he knows, or makes known, his own humility, loseth it. And besides, it was not the design of the most humble and holy Virgin to declare, that by her merits she obtained so great a benefit; but rather to profess herself utterly unworthy of such a favour. She * Εἶδε Κύριος τὴν ταπείνωσιν Ισραήλ. * Εἶδε τὴν ταπείνωσίν μου. hi Sam. i. 11. ἡ Ἐὰν ἐπιβλέπων ἐπιβλέψης ἐπὶ τὴν ταπείνωσιν τῆς δούλης σου. intended not therefore to say, that her virtue, but rather her low and mean estate, and, in a word, her unworthiness, was regarded by God: that although she was altogether unworthy of it, yet God was pleased to vouchsafe her so great an honour. Thus to speak became her, both as a virgin, and an humble and modest one." So far that learned Jesuit. In short, there is no doubt, but that the blessed Virgin was as humble and lowly in her spirit, as she was low and mean in her fortune and condition, and that God, in bestowing so singular a grace and favour on her, had respect to that virtue of her mind, more than to the lowness of her estate. But yet we say, that it was the meanness of her condition, that she herself intended here to express, not her own transcendent humility, which, if she had intended to express, she had lost: but by overlooking that virtue of her mind, and fixing her thoughts on her mean and unworthy condition, she indeed exercised that humility, of which she was a true owner. And therefore the same Maldonat commends those interpreters who resolve, "that Mary in this place did not profess, but practise humility'." But what was the low estate of this blessed handmaiden of the Lord? I answer, it was a state of poverty. So poor she was, so mean her portion, that she could arrive to no higher a fortune, than to be the espoused wife of a poor carpenter. So poor, that in her childbirth she was not able to procure a room (even in her greatest necessity) in that inn, to which she came as a guest; but, being neglected by her richer kindred of the royal tribe and family of David, lay indeed in the straw, and was brought to bed in a stable, and that in a cave under ground, in the vicinity of the poor town of Bethlehem, according to the tradition of the most ancient Doctors of the Church". In the very place it was, (as some have probably conjectured,) where poor David, the ancestor of the Messias, and His most illustrious type, fed his sheep, and from that mean kind of life was, by the singular grace and favour of God, called to be the king and ruler of His people". So mean she was, that at her Maldonat in loc. 1 Mariam hoc loco humilitatem exercuisse, non significasse. τη [Εν σπηλαίῳ τινὶ σύνεγγυς τῆς Huns. Justin Martyr. Dial. cum Tryph. K §. 78. Origen says, that the cave and purification, her great and generous piety was confined to the offering of the poor, according to the law of Moses, "a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons:" a lamb, (the prescribed offering to those of ability,) her purse could not reach too. Lastly, so poor she was, and still continued, that her blessed Son, when dying, thought it necessary to recommend her to the charitable care of His most beloved disciple P. From all which we may learn, that innocent and virtuous poverty is consistent with the truest felicity; and that those who are richest in grace, the best of God's saints, and most regarded by Him, may be of a low and despicable estate in this world. If, therefore, thou sincerely lovest God, and art truly devoted to His service, how poor otherwise and contemptible and miserable soever thou mayest be, thou art a happy man: happy and blessed, as the blessed Virgin was: yea, blessed, as her blessed Son, our Lord and Saviour, was here on earth; Who was born of poor parents, in the meanest circumstances, and afterwards chose a life of poverty; so great, that whereas “the foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, He had not where to lay His head;" so great, that He lived upon the charity of good people that "ministered to Him!" The poor are either good or bad; that is, the poverty of men is found either in the way of righteousness, or in the way of wickedness. The good and virtuous poor man, though he deserves our greatest pity, (as by that is signified our propense inclination to do him good, and relieve his necessities,) yet he is also an object of our greatest esteem and admiration. This is the man that baffles the devil's challenge to God, concerning holy Job, "that serves God for nought," that courts virtue without regard to her dowry, that is, any visible dowry, any present pay; and by a mighty faith rests satisfied with the future reward. On the other side, the poor man, that is as wicked in the sight of God as he is wretched in this world, is of all men the most miserable. For how great must be the misery of that man, who, being poor towards God as well as men, shall consequently be miserable, • Luke ii. 22-24; compared with Lev. xii. 6-8. P John xix. 25-27. q Matt. viii. 20. Mark xv. 41; Luke viii. 3. |