Second Sermon for Advent: On the Words of the Prophet Isaias to King Achaz

“ Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God, either unto the depth of hell, or unto the height above. And Achaz said: I will not ask, and I will not tempt the Lord. And he said: Hear ye,

, therefore, O house of David: Is it a small thing for you to be grievous to men that you are grievous to my God also ? Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and His name shall becalled Emmanuel. He shall eat butter and honey, that He may know to refuse evil and to choose the good.’’—Is. vii. 11-16.

My brethren, we have heard the Prophet. urging King Achaz to “ask a sign of the Lord either unto the depth of hell or unto the height above.” We have also heard the King’s answer, vested indeed in the semblance of piety, but containing nothing of the virtue. For this reason he deserved to be rejected by Him Who seeth the heart, and to Whom “ the thought of man confesseth.”’ ‘I will not ask,” he said, “ and I will not tempt the Lord.” The royal state and dignity had puffed him up with pride, and, being full of craft, he knew how to speak the words of human wisdom. Therefore, Isaias received from the Lord the command, “ Go and say to that fox: Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God unto the depth of hell,”—by which is meant that although this crafty fox has his den of cunning deep down, yet even should he descend into hell, there is One Who “ will catch the wise in their own craftiness.” Again He commanded the Prophet, “Go and say to this bird: Ask thee a sign of the

Lord unto the height above.” That is, this ambitious bird has built himself a nest on high ; yet, even though he should ascend into heaven, he shall there find One Who “resisteth the proud,” and Who, by His own might, tramples on the necks of the arrogant and high-minded. King Achaz, however, refuses to ask a sign either of God’s exalted power, or of the incomprehensible profundity of His wisdom ; and hence the Lord Himself promises to the house of David a sign of goodness and charity, so that those whom neither the exhibitions of power nor of wisdom could terrify may be attracted at least by the manifestation of love. Yet the words, “unto the depth of hell,” may be taken, not unreasonably, to refer to this very charity of God, “ greater than which no man hath,” and which caused Him to die and to descend into hell for those whom He loved. According to this interpretation, Achaz is bidden, either to tremble at the Majesty of Him Who reigns on high, or else to respond to the charity of Him Who out of love descends into hell. Therefore, whosoever does not think of this Majesty with fear, and reflect on this charity with a return of love, is not only “ grievous to men ” but is “ grievous to God also.” ‘‘ Because of this,” the Prophet replies, “ the Lord Himself shall give you a sign (in which both majesty and love shall be clearly revealed). Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and His name shall becalled Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” O Adam, flee not away from Him, because now He is “ God with us.” Tremble not, O man, and quake not so with terror on hearing the name of God, for now it is ‘‘ God with us.” God is with us in the likeness of the flesh. He is with us by identity of nature. For our sakes He has come, and He has come as one of ourselves, “ passible like unto us.”

“ He shall eat butter and honey,” that is to say, He shall be a Little One, and shall be nourished with such food as is suitable for infants. “That He may know to refuse the evil and to choose the good.” Here also, my brethren, just as in the case of the forbidden fruit, as in thecase of the tree of transgression, we have good and evil presented for choice. But the second Adam makes a far wiser election than the first ; for He chooses the good, and rejects the evil : not like him who “loved cursing and it came upon him, and he would not have a blessing and it was far from him.” The words just preceding, “ He shall eat butter and honey,” indicate, as you may notice, the choice made by this Little One. Only let Him assist me now with His grace, so that I may be able to express worthily and intelligently the ideas which by Him have been suggested to my mind. There are two kinds of food made from the milk of the sheep, namely, butter and cheese. Butter is moist and oily, cheese is dry and hard. Well, therefore, does our Little One know how to choose, since He eats the butter and refuses the cheese. That hundredth sheep which, as the Gospel tells us, wandered from the fold, and in whose name the Psalmist sings, “ I have gone astray like a sheep that is lost,” that sheep, my brethren, represents the human race which the loving-kind Shepherd comes in quest of, leaving His other ninety-nine sheep on the mountains. Now in this stray sheep there are two things to be considered: its nature, which, like butter, is sweet and good, and precious ; and the corruption wrought in it by sin, of which cheese is asymbol. See therefore what an

-aI B admirable choice our Little One has made, assuming to Himself our nature, but without its sinful corruption. Of sinners you may remember to have read in the psalm, ‘Their heart is curdled like milk,” because in them the “leaven of malice ” and the curd of iniquity have corrupted the pure milk of their nature.

In the bee also there are two opposing properties. The sweetness of its honey is matched by the bitterness of its sting. But there is a Bee That “ feedeth among the lilies,” That lives in the flower-bedecked land of the angels. And because He loves the flowers, He flew down to the village of Nazareth, the very name of which signifies a flower; and coming to a sweet smelling blossom of perpetual virginity, thereon He lighted, thereon He remained. The honey and the sting of this Bee will not be forgotten by him who, with the Psalmist, sings “to the Lord mercy and judgment.” Nevertheless, when He descended to us, He brought but the honey, leaving the sting behind. That is to say, the Word came to us bringing mercy without judgment. Hence, on one occasion, when the disciples urged Him to give command that a certain city, which had refused to admit Him, should be consumed by fire from heaven, He replied that “ the Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save.” This Bee of ours was then without any sting. He had ina manner laid it aside whilst He exercised mercy without judgment in the case of those who treated Him with so much cruelty and indignity. But, my brethren, “trust not in iniquity,” sin not in hope. The time will come when our Bee shall resume His sting, aye, and with exceeding ferocity shall plunge it into the sinner’s very vitals; “for neither doth the Father judge any man, but hath given all judgment to the Son.” Now, however, our Little One eateth butter and honey by uniting in Himself the divine mercy with the good of human nature, in such a way that He is made a true Man without any participation in human sin, and a God of mercy, dissembling judgment.

These observations, as I hope, have enabled you to understand what that rod is which was to “ come forth out of the root of Jesse,” and what the Flower Which was to “rise up out of his root,” on Which, it was predicted, the Spirit of the Lord should rest. For the rod signifies Mary, the Virgin Mother of God, and the Flower represents her Son. Truly a Flower is the Virgin’s Child, “a Flower, white and ruddy, chosen out of thousands,” a Flower on Which “ the angels desire to look,” a Flower Whose fragrance gives life to the dead, and, as He calls Himself, ‘‘ the Flower of the field,” not of the garden. For the field produces its flowers without the co-operation of man, unsown by human hand, unploughed, unprepared by human labour. Thus, my brethren, thus beyond a doubt, flourished the holy Virgin’s womb; thus inviolate, thus intact and unspotted,* as a field of unfading greenness, it produced its divine Flower, a Flower Whose beauty shall never see corruption, the splendour of Whose glory shall never grow dim. O glorious Virgin! O Rod sublime “from the root of Jesse”! To what a dizzy height dost thou lift thy sacred crest! Even to Him Who sitteth on the throne, even to the Lord of Majesty ! Yet this should not astonish us, seeing that thou hast struck so deep the roots of thy humility. O truly celestial plant, singularly holy, precious above all! Verily thou art the tree of life, which alone has been reputed worthy to bear the fruit of salvation. Thy craft has been exposed, O malignant serpent, thy deceit has been discovered. Two charges thou didst bring against thy Creator; thou didst slanderously accuse Him of falsehood and envy. With regard to both thou art now thyself convicted of lying. For they to whom thou didst say, “ No, you shall not die the death,” did die, as a matter of fact, shortly after, whilst “ the truth of the Lord remaineth for ever.” And, as touching the second charge, tell me now, if thou canst, what tree, or what fruit of any tree, could God out of envy have forbidden man, to whom He has not denied even this chosen tree “ from the root of Jesse,” or the noble Fruit Which crowns it ? “He That spared not even His own Son, but delivered Him up for | us all, how hath He not also with Him given us all things ? ”

You have already perceived, I suppose, that the Virgin herself is the royal road by which the Saviour came to us, issuing forth from her womb “‘ as a Bridegroom from the bride-chamber.”’ Therefore, my dearest brethren, walking faithfully in this way (concerning which I made some remarks in the preceding sermon also, if you remember), let us endeavour by it to ascend to Jesus, Who by the same has descended to us; let us strive, I say, to go by Mary to share His grace Who by Mary came to share our misery. Through thee, O most blessed One, Finder of grace, Mother of life, Mother of salvation, through thee let us have access to thy Son, so that through thee He may receive us Who was given us through thee. Let thy integrity excuse before Him the foulness of our corruption ; let thy humility, so pleasing to God, make amends and obtain pardon for our pride; let thy abounding charity cover the multitude of our sins ; let thy glorious fecundity supply in our behalf for a fecundity of merit. O thou who art our Lady, our Mediatrix, and our Advocate, reconcile us to thy Son, commend us to thy Son, present us to thy Son. Grant, O most blessed One, by the grace thou has found, by the prerogative thou hast merited, by the mercy thou hast obtained, that He Who vouchsafed to make Himself, by thy consent and co-operation, a partaker of our poverty and infirmity, may make us by thy intercession partakers of His own glory and happiness, Jesus Christ, thy Son and our Lord, Who is over all things, God blessed for ever. Amen.