txhvaxy of trhe trheolocjical ^mimry PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY A donation from Stephen Golwell BX 5133 .A6 N5 1841 y.l Andrewes, Lancelot, 1555- 1626. Ninety-six sermons f Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/ninetysixsermons01andr I I NINETY-SIX BY THE RIGHT HONOURABLE AND REVEREND FATHER IN GOD, LANCELOT ANDREWES, SOMETIME LORD BISHOP OF WINCHESTEU. rUlU,ISIIKn BY HIS MAJESTY'S SPECIAL COMMAND. V O L. I. SERMOm OF pm^ AUG 5 1971 .1 () H N OXFORD : HENRY PARKER. MDCCCXLI. OXFORD : PRINTED BY I. SHRIMPTON. PBIITGETOK THBOLOGIG&L EDITOR'S PREFACE. A FEW words only will suffice to put the reader in' posses- sion of all that it is important for him to know with respect to the present volume. The text has been carefully reprinted from the second edition published in 1631, and it has throughout been collated with the editions of 1641 and 1661 ; but with the exception of a few verbal inaccuracies and obvious misprints, which have been corrected, it has not been deemed advisable, or indeed found necessary, to make the slightest alteration either in the style or in the arrangement of the author. Much labour has been bestowed upon the marginal refer- ences to Scripture, many of which were found on examination to be exceedingly erroneous, and it soon became apparent that unless they were revised throughout, the reader would experience no ordinary difficulty in discovering the passages to which he was directed. They have accordingly been sub- mitted to a rigid scrutiny, and the result has been such, that the editor is led to hope but few inaccuracies have escaped his observation. It must however be borne in mind, that in many cases the reference to Scripture is very slight, and vi editor's preface. almost imperceptible without the aid of the Vulgate, where a word or a phrase appears to have attracted the Bishop's attention, and to have been marked by him more from its allusion, than from its actual relation, to the passage in question. Indeed, one or two instances might be named, where the allusion is so slight as to be scarcely traceable, but even here it has not been thought advisable to remove the reference ; it is suffered to remain as it is found without alteration. But besides these, there are other instances, and those not a few, where quotations from Scripture occur with- out any reference whatever. Here however, in all cases of the least importance, the reader is referred to the sacred author quoted, and whenever this has been done, the refe- rence itself is inclosed in brackets, to shew that for it the present editor is himself responsible. The editor regrets that he has not been equally successful with all the quotations which are given from the Fathers, and other writers. Wherever any reference whatever is given to any part of their works, it has invariably been sought out and verified, but sometimes, where a Father of the Church is merely cited by name, and no particular Treatise is mentioned, it has been found impossible to discover the passage, especially where the quotation is made from such voluminous writers as Augustine and Chrysostom, and the sentiment is such as might have been expressed by a Christian writer of almost any age and country. In all cases however of importance, where the citation is not used merely by way of illustration, but in support of some primitive doctrine or usage, the greatest pains have been taken to find the passage, and in scarcely any instance of this nature has the result been otherwise than successful. It may be added, that when the exact passage quoted cauuot with certainty be ascertained, editor's PRE1\\CE. vii the reader is occasionally referred to a parallel sentiment from the same author, which may perhaps after all have been the passage intended. With respect to the quotations generally, and particularly those from Scriptui'e, it will be found that they are scarcely ever given in the exact words of the author referred to, but that the sense or substance of a passage is for the most part rather quoted from memory, than given with that exactness which is usual in the present day. This remark will be found to apply not merely to English, but to Latin and Greek quotations, and it would perhaps be difficult to point out many instances to the contrary. The quotations from Scripture, whenever they appear to amount to more than a passing allusion, are distinguished by double commas, while translations from the Latin, Avitli the exception of those from the Vulgate, are marked as semi-quotations, and are invariablj^ distinguished by single ones. As to the texts which head the separate Sermons, they are for the most part taken from the Genevan Bible, the variations from which will be found in a note below Beneath, at the ^ The variations are given in italics — Sermons of the Nativity. Serm. I. Heb. ii. 16. For He in no sort took on Him the Angels' nature, but Hetooko?; Hbn the seed of Abraham. Serm. II. Esay ix. 6. No variation. Serm. III. 1 Tim. iii. 16. The same. Serm. IV. Galat. iv. 4, 5. God sent forth, &c. avA made, &c. that He iniglit redeem them which were, &(;. the adoption of llic sons. Serm. V. Luke ii. 10, 11. I bring you glad tidings . . . that shall be to all the people, that is, that unto you is bom this day in the city of David, a Saviour Which is Christ the Lord. Serm. VI. John i. 14. And that Word, &c. Serm. VII. Heb.i. 1—3. Ver. 1 unto us. Ver. 3. . . . the brightness of the glory. Serm. VIII. John viii. 56. No variation. Serm. IX. Esay vii. 11. The same- vin editor's preface. beginning of every Sermon, is given the English authorised translation by way of marking the difference, if any, between the two Versions, and as the Vulgate was sometimes but not always added, though constantly refei:;red to, it is now given in every instance, marked, as is usual with all extraneous matter, with brackets, wherever it was not cited by the Bishop himself. The present mode of punctuation and orthography has for the most part been adopted throughout. Some few proper names however, such as Esay, Jeremy, Zachary, Osee, Aggai, Zachee, and a few others, have been retained, as it was thought that, if altered, too great a change would have been made in their pronunciation, and that consequently they would not harmonize so well with the general style of the author. With respect to the Sermons themselves, one or two observations may not perhaps be deemed irrelevant. They are for the most part exegetical and practical, almost exactly answering to the description of a Sermon given by Serm. X. Micah v. 2. No variation. Serm. XI. Ps. Ixxxv. 10, 11. The same. Serm. XII. Luke ii. 12— 14. Ver. 14. , . . in the high Heavens . . , Serm. XIII. Luke ii. 14. ... peace z« earth. Serm. XIV. Mat. ii. 1,2. No variation. Serm. XV. Mat. ii. 1, 2. Where is that King. Serm. XVI. Ephes. i. 10. ... gather together in one . . . Serm. XVII. Ps. ii. 7. I will declare the decree: that is, He hath said unto me, &c. Sermons of Repentance and Fasting. Serm. I. Ps. Ixxviii. 34. When He slew them, theysoughtHim, andthey returned, and sought God early. Serm. II. Dent, xxiii. 9. No variation. Serm. III. Jer. viii. 4 — 7. The same. Serm. IV. Joel ii. 12, 13. The Lord saith. Serm. V.&VI. Mat. vi. 16. No variation. Serm. VII. Mat. iii. 7, 8. The same. Serm. VIIL Mat. iii. 8. Bring forth fruits, therefore, wortliy amendment of life or repentance. editor's preface. IX Bisllop Cosin'^. The}^ explain and they enforce a portion of Holy Writ, and they do it with such clearness and strength of reasoning, and with so powerful an appeal to the conscience, that they could hardly fail to have impressed the most careless and irreverent of those who heard them. As to the charge*^ that they abound in puns and quibbles, and that as they had a tendency to debase the English language, so they were cal- culated rather to excite a smile than to strike conviction, it is sufficient to reply that the Sermons themselves have only to be read to refute the accusation. It is true, indeed, that a play upon words may occasionally be detected in the course of the present volume, but almost always, where this occurs, it would seem intended to fix the attention, and to impress a forcible passage so strongly upon the memory that it cannot easily be forgotten. The Sermons on the Nativity are seventeen in number, and were preached at intervals during a space of about twenty years before King James the First, at Whitehall. They will be found to embrace some of the very highest and most important doctrines of the Incarnation. The Eternal Gene- ration of the Son of God — His Glory with the Father before the world was — His Coeternity, Coequality, and Consub- stantiality with Ilim — His Miraculous Conception — His supernatural Birth in the fulness of time — The union of the two Natures in One Person — The great objects of His mission, and man's consequent obligations; — all these points, and other topics of a kindred nature, are treated in a manner the most forcible and satisfactory that can In liis Regni Anglice Rcligiu Calho- See tlie Biogiaph. Britan. Art. Jn- lica, prisca, casta, defcccntii. itrcives, and the authorities quoted there. X editor's preface. Avell be imagined^ and it will be seen that there is a Catholic spirit which pervades the wholCj and \'ividly recals to the imagination the productions of the first and purest ages of the faith. The Sermons on Fasting are eight in number, and were preached on various occasions between the years 1598 and 1624, before Queen Elizabeth and King James the First, on Ash-Wednesday, at TMiitehall and Richmond, with the exception of the last, which was merely prepared for preach- ing but was never actually delivered. This series will be read with interest in the present day, and the genuine sons of the Church will be pleased to find that the great duty of abstinence is distinctly asserted, and proved to have been enjoined not merely under the Law, but under the Gospel dispensation, and that from Apostolic times. These then are particularly well adapted to the present self-indulgent age, and it is hoped that their perusal may have the effect of opening the eyes of some to the real views of the Church Catholic, and so, we would hope, of our own branch of it, upon this important subject. But while we admire the strength and eloquence by which the following Discourses are so peculiarly marked, we must not forget how much they unquestionably owed to the manner in which they were delivered. It is universally allowed by all his contemporaries, that the Bishop's mode of delivery was the happiest that could well be conceived, and not only happy, but absolutely inimitable ; and therefore our opinion of their merits, however high it may be raised, will still fall short of the deliberate judgment of those who heard from the pulpit what we must be content to read in our closets ; and while we esteem the writings, and revere the memory of one who was ISUITOR's PRKl'ACE. xi every way so distinguished as Bishop Andrewes, we may per- haps be permitted to say in conclusion to the reader what the Athenian orator was so anxious to impress upon his audience, Quanta magis admiraremini, si audissetis ipsum. J. P. W. Magdalen College, The Feast of the Circumcision, 1811. TO HIS MOST SACRED MAJESTY CHARLES, BY THE GRACE OF GOD, KING OF GREAT BRITAIN, FRANCE, AND IRELAND, DEFENDER OF THE FAITH, &c. Most gracious and dread Sovereign, We here present to your most sacred Majesty a book of Sermons. We need not tell whose they are, the Sermons are able to speak their author. When the author died, your Majesty thought it not fit his Sermons should die with him. And though they could not live with all that elegancy which they had upon his tongue, yet you were graciously pleased to think a paper-life better than none. Upon this your Majesty gave us a strict charge, that we should overlook the papers, as well Sermons as other Tractates, of that reverend and wor- thy Prelate, and print all that we found perfect. There came to our hands a world of Sermon-notes, but these came per- fect. Had they not come perfect, we should not have ventured to add any limb unto them, lest mixing a pen far inferior we should have disfigured such complete bodies. Your Majesty's first care was for the press, that the work might be public. Your second was for the work itself, that it might come forth worthy the author ; which could not be, if it came not forth as he left it. In pursuance of these two. xiv EPISTLE DEDICATOR V. we have brought the work to light, and we have done it witli care and fidelity; for as the Sermons were preached, so are they published. When he preached them, they had the general approbation of the Court, and they made him famous for making them. Now they are printed, we hope they will have as general liking of the Church, and enlarge and endear his name, to them that knew not him. We know there is a great prejudice attends the after- printing of dead men's works. For the living may make the dead speak as they will, and as the dead would not speak did they live. And many worthy authors in all professions have had such unsuitable pieces stitched to their former works as make them speak contrary to themselves, and to their known judgment while they lived. As if they had seen some vision after death, to cross or recall their judgment in their life. We would be loath to suffer under the suspicion of this. And therefore in a full obedience to your INIajesty's command, as we have printed all that we could find perfect and worthj'^ his name ; so have we not added or detracted in the least, to alter or divert his sense. That so the work may not only be his, but as himself made it; and the honour your Majesty's that so carefully commanded it ; and the faithfulness ours in our obedience to your Majesty, and our love to his memory. And now will your Majesty graciously be pleased to give us leave to commend this work to your protection, which would have needed none, had not your Majesty commanded it to be public. For public view is as great a search as many eyes can make. And many eyes can see what two cannot, be they never so good. And among many eyes, some will ever look asquint upon worth, and malign that which they cannot equal. And if ever any man's patience and temper could prevent this evil eye, we hope his may; and yet, even whilst we hope the best, we humbly beg your Majesty's protection Eph.o. 16. against the worst, "because the days are evil." EPISTLE UEDlCATOliy. XV We have but two things to present to your Majesty. They ai'c the person to your memory, and this his work to your eye. For the person, we can add notliing to him. To name him, is enough to all that knew him ; and to read him, Avill be enough to them that knew him not. And though virtue have but its due when it is commended, yet we conceive not how praise may make virtue better than it is, especially when the person in whom it was is dead to all encouragement or comfort by it. And yet though virtue can- Patero. not thus be bettered, it may be righted thus. For, Vivomm [c.m!ad' , . . . J-/T- •7- T ■ 1 • fill- edit. ut magna aamiraho, ita censura difficilis ; 'It is easy to admire Par.i675.] the living, and we do it, but it is hard to censure them any way.' Both because there will be no preferring one before another without offence ; and because, as we know not what may come upon them before death, so the censure may be so good as they will never deserve, or so bad as though they do deserve they will not bear. It was Bibulus' case. ' The Ad Attic admiration of men had carried him up to Heaven,' no lower Bibulus place would serve him. Yet when it came to a wise man's admiia"™ censure, he professed, 'he knew no ground for that admiration, cocio est, and less worth in him for such a height.' But when men have scio.*^ paid all their rights of nature to death, and are gone into their silence, then where admiration ceaseth, censure begins. Now if the censure be heavy (as it is too oft upon the best) yet then it should be sparing for humanity's sake. For that humanity which forbids the rifling of a grave, bids forbear him that is shut up in it, and cannot answer. But if the censure be good, you may be bold with the grave ; and you cannot praise any so safely as the dead, for you cannot humour them into dangei", nor melt away yourself into flattery. The person therefore whose works these are, was from his youth a man of extraordinary worth and note. A man, as if he had been made up of learning and virtue. Both of them so eminent in him, as it is hard to jxidge, which had prece- xvi EPISTLE DEDICATORY. dency and greater interest. His virtue, whicli we must still judge the more worthy in any man, was comparable to that which was wont to be found in the primitive Bishops of the Church. And had he lived among those ancient Fathers, his virtue would have shined even amongst those virtuous men. And for his learning, that was as well, if not better known abroad, than respected at home. And take him in his latitude, we which knew him well knew not any kind of learning to which he was a stranger, but in his profession admirable. None stronger than he, where he wrestled with an adversary. And that Bellarmine felt, who was as well able to shift for himself, as any that stood for the Roman party. None more exact, more judicious than he, where he was to instruct and inform others. And that, as they knew which often heard him preach, so they may learn which will read this which he hath left behind him. And yet this fulness of his material learning, left room enough in the temper of his brain, for almost all languages, learned and modern, to seat themselves. So that his learning had all the helps language could afford ; and his languages learning enough for the best of them to express. His judgment in the mean time, so commanding over both, as that neither of them was suffered idly or curiously to start from, or fall short of, their intended scope. So that we may better say of him, than it was some- Paterc. times said of Claudius Drusvis ; ' He was of as many and as Hist, lib.2. . , 1 , 11- • 1 . 1 [c.97.init.] great virtues as mortal nature could receive, or mdvistry make perfect.' And since we are both taught, and see it by Ps. 49. JO. experience, that " wise men also die, and perish together as well as the ignorant and fooHsh,'' and though they leave their riches, yet cannot dispose their wisdom to others ; it is fit we should be conversant in the writings of wise and religious men, that we may in part learn that in their works, which the dying authors had not power to bequeath unto us. EPISTLE DEDICATORY. XVU These works then coming from so grave, learned, and religious an author, have but two things to do in tlieir publishing to the world. The one is, to teach the world what a treasure they have of them ; and the other to tell this Church, what a jewel she lost when she lost their author. The work is a body of Sermons. To them he had been most bred, and in them he most excelled. And he was not a greater preacher in his age, than he was both great and frequent in his younger and stronger time. As for the body of the work itself, were it not that we like not to disparage any man's endeavours by comparing, we Avould say the Christian world hath not many such bodies of Sermons, as we here present, under your Majesty's favour, to the view and use of this Church. And if another nation had them they would as highly value them. And here we humbly beg leave to tell your Majesty, that these Sermons are in this, like their author, mixed of religion and wisdom. It is an excellent thing for a man to speak wisely and eloquently both at once ; but where these perfections meet not, there, saith St. Augustine, Dicat sapienter ^"g"®** quod non potest eloquenter ; ' let the preacher, of all men, Christ. 4. 28* speak that wisely which he cannot utter eloquently.' And if St. Augustine in his time found that fit, out of all doubt it is necessary now that men of our profession set themselves to preach with more wisdom than eloquence. With Christian and religious wisdom ; which alone knows how to preserve truth and peace together. For as all other Churches in the world are most happy when these meet, so is this too. But too many among the people choose rather to have their humour fed than their souls edified, and carry partial ears even to the house of that God Who is "no accepter of persons." Actsio.34. To settle therefore the peace of the one, and to abate the humour of the other, nothing certainly, under God, would be of greater efficacy than condones sapientes, ' wise and discreet b XVm EPISTLE DEDICATORY. Sermons/ whicli j^et may be as zealous and devout as any other. For he that is zealous according to knowledge, is not less zealous for his knowledge' sake. And true wisdom, which is not true if it be not Christian, carries no water about it to quench zeal, but only to sprinkle it, that it may burn within compass, and not fire that house which it intended but to warm. We have neither purpose nor commission to step aside here, and complain of the times. All times have somewhat amiss in them, else preachers should have the less work. And if these times have more than many others which our fore- fathers have seen, we must needs be sorry there is so much work for preachers ; and more, if they which live by the Gospel of peace, should make any. For after the building up of the "faith of Christ," their chief work should be to beat down those strongholds which any sins have built up in the hearts of men to pollute or defame Christianity. And true preachers inThren.i. indeed are, as St. Jerome speaks, maxilla Ecclesice, ' the [Com. S. , Hieron. in jawbones of the Church,' which by preaching beat down the Lam. L. 1. _ C.I.Beth.] carnal life of man. Now all hatred, contention, variance, all sedition and disobedience to lawful authority is, as it is Gal. .5. 20. reckoned by the Apostle, "among the works of the flesh." And therefore since all preachers are the jaws of the Church, and the sins of the people are, as it were, to be ground inter maxillas, 'between these jaws,' before the people themselves can be made fit to nourish the Chiircli, or the Church them ; how can this be done, especially done as it ought, if the jaws be weak or fallen, and cannot do their office ? But our hope is, that God will so bless your Majesty in your government, your people in their loyalty, the preachers in their wisdom added to zeal and diligence, that the hearts and hands of all sorts of men shall be joined together to preserve God's worship in truth, your Majesty's throne in honour, the Church in religious devotion, and all your people in obedience EPISTLE DEDICATORY. XIX and union : the only means to make both your Majesty and your people happy in this life, and blessed in that which is to come. And we humbly desire men of all sorts to think seriously of this ; that if the public suffer either in Church or State, no man's private pleasure or profit can stand firm unto him. No man's. And Cicero had reason enough to laugh at the folly of those men, qui amissd Republicd piscinas suas Ad Attic. fore salvas sperare videnticr, 'which in his time seemed to con- Edit. ^ . Oxon. ad ceive such a windy hope, that their fish-ponds and places of A"- ] pleasui'e should be safe, when the Commonwealth was lost.' These Sermons, when they were preached, gave great con- tentment to the religious and judicious ears of your royal father, of ever-blessed memory, the most able prince that ever this kingdom had to judge of Church work. And therefore we hope that the printing of them shall be as acceptable to your Majesty, as the preaching of them was both to yom'self and him. We conceive, if your liking had not continued to them, your Majesty would not have commanded us the printing of them. And we assure ourselves, since the lines are the same, the press which hath made them legible hath made no blot upon your gracious favours. We have been only servants, as we are many ways bound to be, to your Majesty's command, in making them ready for the press, but authors of nothing in them. And we heartily pray that the publishing of them may be honour to your Majesty, good to the Church, and means of comfort and salvation to them which read them. And in these and all other prayers for your Majesty's long life and happy government, we humbly beseech you to conceive of us, as we are, and ever shall be. Your Majesty's most loyal and humbly devoted subjects and servants, GUIL. LONDON. JO. ELIENS." " Bishops Laud and Buckeiidgjo. b 2 LECTOR, SI CHRISTIANUS ES, SISTE : MORiE PRETIUM ERIT NON NESCIRE TE, QUI VIR HIC SITUS SIT; EJUSDEM TECUM CATHOLICS ECCLESI^ MEMBEUM, SUB EADEM EELICIS KESURRECTIONIS SPE, EAMDEM D. JESU PR^STOLANS EPIPHANIAM, SACRATISSIMUS ANTISTES LANCELOTUS ANDREWES, EONDINI OBIUNDUS, EDUCATUS CATJTABRIGI^, AUL^ PEMBROCH : ALUMNOE : SOCIOE : PR^FECTOR : UNUS, ET NEMINI SECUNDUS : LINGUARUM, ARTIUM, SCIENTIARUM, HUMANORUM, DIVINOEUM OMNIUM INFINITUS THESAUEUS, STUPENDUM OEACULUM : ORTHODOXY CHRISTI ECCLESI^. DICTIS, SCEIPTIS, PBECIBUS, EXEMPEO INCOMPARABILE PROPUGXACDLUM : REGIN^ ELIZABETHS A SACRIS, D. PAULI LONDON. EESIDENTIARIUS, D. PETRI WESTMONAST. DECANUS : EPISCOPUS CICESTRENSIS, ELIENSIS, WINTONIENSIS ; REGIQUE JACOBO TUM AB ELEEMOSTNIS, TUM AB UTRIUSQUE REGNI CONSILIIS, DECANUS DENIQUE SACELEI BEGII : IDEM EX INDEFESSA OPERA IN STUDIIS, SUMMA SAPIENTIA IN REBUS, ASSIDUA PIETATE IN DEUM, PROFUSA LARGITATE IN EGENOS, RARA AMCENITATE IN SUOS, SPECTATA PROBITATE IN OMNES, iETEENUM ADMIEANDUS : ANNORUM PARITER ET PUBLICS FAM^ SATUR, BED BONOEUM PASSIM OMNIUM CUM LUCTU DENATUS, (CELEBS HINC MIGEAVIT AD AUREOEAM CCELESTEM, ANNO REGIS CAROL! 11°. .CTATIS S. LXXl". CHRISTI MDCXXVl". TANTUM EST, LECrOR, QUOD TE MffiRENTES POSTEBI NUNC VOLEBANT, ATQUE UT ES. VOTO TUO VALEAS, DICTO SIT DEO GLORIA. PEIITGETOIT THSOLOGICiiL CONTENTS. SERMONS OF THE NATIVITY PREACHED UPON CHRISTMAS-DAY. SERMON I. (Pagel.) Preached before King James, at Whitehall, on Tuesday, the Twenty-fifth of December, a.d. mdcv. Hebrews ii. 16. Fo/' He in no wise took the Angels ; but the seed of Abraham He took. SERMON II. (Page 18.) Preaclied before King James, at Whitehall, on Wednesday, the Twenty-fiftli of December, a.d. mdcvi. Esay ix. 6. For'v.nto us a Child is born, and unto us a Son is given ; and the government is upon His shoulder ; and He shall call His name Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince o f Peace. XXIV CONTENTS. SERMON III. (Page 32.) Pleached before King James, at Whitehall, on Thursday, the Twenty-fifth of December, a.d. mdcvu. 1 Timothy iii. 16. And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness, which is, God is manifested in the Jlesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of Angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up in qlorii. SERMON IV. (Page 45.) Preached before King James, at Whitehall, on Monday, the Twenty-fifth of December, .\.D. MDCIX. Galatians iv. 4, 5. When the fulness of time was come, God sent His Son, made of a woman, made under the Law. That He might redeem them that were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. SERMON V. (Page 64 ) Preached before King James, at Whitehall, on Tuesday, the Twenty-fifth of December, a.d. mdcx. Luke ii. 10, 11. The Angel said unto them. Be not afraid ; for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. That there is born unto you this day a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord, in the city of David. SERMON VI. (Page 85.) Preached before King James, at Whitehall, on Wednesday, the Twenty-fifth of December, mucxi. John i. 14. And the Word ivas made flesh, and dwelt among us, {and we saw the glory thereof as the glory of the only-begotten Son of the Fo.ther,)full of grace and truth. CONTENTS. XXV SERMON VII. (Page 102.) Preached before King James, at Whitehall, on Friday, the Twenty-fifth of December, a.d. mdcxii. Hebrews i. 1 — 3. At sundry times aiid in divers manners, God spake in the old time to our Fathers, by the Prophets : In these last days, He hath spoken to us by His Son, Wliom He hath made Heir of all things ; by Whom also He made the worlds ; Who, being the Brightness of His glory, and the engraved Form of His Person, and bearing up all things by His mighty word, hath by Himself purged our sins, and sitteth at the right hand of the Majesty in the highest places. SERMON VIII. (Page 118.) Preached before King James, at Whitehall, on Saturday, the Twenty-fifth of December, a.d. mdcxiii. John viii. 56. Your Father Abraham rejoiced to see My Day : and he saw it, and ivas glad. SERMON IX. (Page 135.) Preached before King James, at Wliitehall, oii Sunday, the Twenty-fifth of December, a.u. mdcxiv. Isaiah vii. 14. Behold, a Virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and she shall call His name Immanuel. XXVI CONTENTS. SERMON X. (Page 153.) Preached before King James, at Whitehall, on Monday the Twenty- fifth of December, a.d. mdcxv. Micah V. 2. And thou Bethlehem Ephratah art little to he among the thou- sands of Judah ; yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me That shall be the Ruler in Israel ; Whose goings forth have been from the beginning, and frun everlasting. SERMON XL (P:.ge 175.) Preached before King James, at Whitehall, on Wednesday, the Twenty-fifth of December, .\.d. mdcxvi. Psalm Ixxxv, 10, 11. Mercy and Truth shall meet ; Righteousness and Peace shall kiss 07ie another. Truth shall bud out of the earth ; and Righteousness shall look down from Heaven. SERMON XIL (Page 196.) Preached before King James, at Whitehall, on Friday, the Twenty-fifth of December, a.d. mdcxviii. Luke ii. 12—14. And this shall be a sign unto you ; ye shall find the Child swaddled, and laid in a cratch. And straightway there teas icith the Angel a multitude of Heavenly soldiers, praising God, and saying. Glory be to God on high, [and peace upon earth, and towards men good-icill.'\ SERMON XIII. (Page 215.) Preached before King James, at Whitehall, on Saturday, the Twenty-fifth of December, a.d. mdcxix. Luke ii. 14. Glory be to God in the high Heavens, and peace upon earth, and towards men good-will. CONTHNTS. XXVll SERMON XIV. (Page 233.) Preached before King James, at Wliitehall, on Monday, the Twenty- fiftli oi December, .\.d. mdcxx. Matthew ii. 1,2. When Jesus then was born at Bethlehem in Judea, in the days of Herod the King, behold, there came wise men, from the East to Jerusalem, saying, Where is the King of the Jews that is born 7 For we have seen His star in the East, and are come to worship Him. SERMON XV. (Page 249.) Preached before King James, at Wliitehall, on Wednesday, the Twenty-fiftli of December, a.d. mdcxxii. Matthew ii. 1, 2. Behold there came ivise men from the East to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is the King of the Jews That is born ? For we have seen His star in the East, and are come to worship Him. SERMON XVI. (Page 265.) Preached before King James, at Whitehall, on Thursday, the Twenty-fifth of December, a.d. mdcxxiii. Ephesians i. 10. That in the dispensation of the fulness of the times. He might gather together into one all things, both which are in Heaven, and which are in earth, even in Christ. SERMON XVII. (Page 284.) Preached before King James, at Whitehall, on Saturday, the Twenty-fifth of December, a.d. mdcxxiv. Psalm ii. 7. / will preach the Law, lohereof the Lord said to Me : Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee. XXVlll CONTENTS. SERMONS OF REPENTANCE AND FASTING, PREACHED ON ASH-WEDNESDAY. SERMON I. (Page .305.) Preached before Queen Elizabeth, at Whitehall, on Wednesday, the Fourth of March, a.d. mdxcviii. Psalm Ixxviii. 34. When He slew them, then they sought Him ; and they returned and enquired early after God, SERMON II. (Page 321,) Preached before Queen Elizabeth, at Richmond, on Wednesday, tlie Twenty-first of February, a.d. mdxcix. Deuteronomy xxiii. 9. When thou goest out with the host against thine enemies, keep thee then from all wickedness. SERMON III. (Page 336.) Preached before Queen Elizabeth, at Whitehall, on Wednesday, the Seventeenth of February, a.d. mdcii. Jeremiah viii. 4 — 7. Thus saith the Lord : Shall they fall and not arise ? shall he turn aioay and not turn again ? Wherefore is this people of Jerusalem turned back by a perpetual rebellion? they gave themselves to deceit, and would not return. I hearkened and heard, but none spake aright : no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done 7 Every one turned to their race, as the horse rusheth into the battle. Even the stork in the air knoweth her appointed times ; and the turtle, and the crane, and the swallow, observe the time of their coming; but My people knoweth not the judgment of the Lord. CONTENTS. XXIX SERMON IV. (P!ii!(- 35(i.J Preached before King James, at W liiteliall, on Wediiestlay, the Tenth of" February, a.d. mdcxix. Joel ii. 12, 13. Tfierefore also now, saith the Lord, Turn you unto Me with all your heart, and with fastiny, and with weeping, and with mourning. And rend your heart, and not your clothes, and turn unto the Lord your God. SERMON V. (Page 375.) Preached before Khig James, at 'Whitehall, on Wednesday, the Fourteei.lli of February, a.d. mdcxxi. Matthew vi. 16. Moreover when you fast look not sour as the hypocrites ; for they disfigure their faces that they might seem unto men to fast : verily I say unto you, That they have their reward. SERMON VI. (Page .398.) Preached before King James, at Whitehall, on Wednesday, the Sixth of March, A.D. MDcxxii. Matthew vi. 16. Moreover when you fast look not sour as the hypocrites ; for they disfigure their faces that they might seem unto men to fast : verily I say wito you, That they have their reward. SERMON VII. (Page 417.) Preached before King James, at Whitehall, on Wednesday, the Twenty-sixth of February, a.d. mdcxxiii. Matthew iii. 7, 8. O generations of vipers, who hath forewarned you to flee from the anger to come ? Bring forth therefore fruit worthy amendment ofUfe. XXX CONTENTS. SERMON VIII. (Page 435.) Prepared to be preached on Wednesday, the Tenth of February, a.d. mdcxxiv. Matthew iii. 8. Bring forth fruits, therefore, worthy amendment of life, or repentance. SERMONS OF THE NATIVITY PREACHED UPON CHRISTMAS-DAY. PREACHED UEFORE THE KING'S MAJESTY, AT WHITEHALL, ON TUESDAY, THE TWENTY-FIFTH OF DECEMBER, A.D. MDCV. BEING CHRISTMAS-DAY. Hebrews ii. 16. For He in no wise took the Angels ; but the seed of Abraham He took. [Nusqxiam enim Angelas apprehendit ; sed semen Abrahce apprehendit. Latin Vulg.] \^For verily He took not on Him the nature of Angels ; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham. Engl. Trans.] And even because this day He took not the Angels' nature upon Him, but took our nature in "the seed of Abraham;" therefore hold we this day as a high feast ; therefore meet we thus every year in a holy assembly ; even for a solemn memorial that He hath, as this day, bestowed upon us a dignity which upon the Angels He bestowed not. That He, as in the chapter before the Apostle setteth Him forth, That is "the brightness of His Father's glory, the very character of His sub- stance, the Heir of all things, by Whom He made the world ; " He, when both needed it — His taking upon Him their nature — Heb. i. 3. and both stood before Him, men and Angels ; " the Angels He took not," but men " He took was made Man, was not made an Angel ; that is, did more for them than He did for the Angels of Heaven. Elsewhere the Apostle doth deliver this very point posi- tively ; and that, not without some vehemency ; " Without all iTim.3.i6. question great is the mystery of godliness : God is manifested in the flesh." Which is in effect the same that is here said; but that here it is delivered by way of comparison. For this speech is evidently a comparison. If he had thus set it down, ' Our nature He took,' that had been positive ; but setting it down 2 Of the Nativity. SERM. thus, ' Ours He took, the Angels' He took not,' it is certainly '- comparative. 1. Now the masters of speech tell us that there is power in the positive, if it be given forth with an earnest assevera- tion ; but nothing to that that is in the comparative. It is nothing so full to say, * I will never forget you,' as thus to say isa. 49. 15. it ; " Can a mother forget the child of her own womb ? well, if she can, yet will not I forget you." Nothing so forcible to Lu. 21.33. say thus, 'I will hold my word with you;' as thus, "Heaven and earth shall pass, but My word shall not pass." The com- parative expressing is without all question more significant ; and this here is such. Theirs, the Angels', nusquam, ' at no hand' He took, but ours He did. 2. Now the comparison is, as is the thing in nature whereunto it is made ; if the thing be ordinary, the comparison is accord- ing ; but then is it full of force, when it is with no mean or base thing, but with the chief and choice of all the creatures ; as here it is, even with the Angels themselves ; for then it is at Job 35. 11. the highest. 1. That of Elihu in Job, that God "teacheth us more than the beasts, and giveth us more understanding than the fowls of the air;" that is, that God hath been more gracious to us than to them, being made of the same mould that we are ; that yet He hath given us a privilege above them — this is Ps. 147.20. much. 2. That of the Psalmist, "He hath not dealt so with every nation ;" nay, not with any other nation, in giving us the knowledge of His Heavenly truth and laws ; even, that we have a prerogative, if we be compared with the rest of man- kind; — more than the beasts, much; more than all men besides, much more. 3. But this here, nusquam Angelas, &c., that He hath given us a preeminence above the Angels themselves, granted us that that He hath not granted the Angels — that is a comparison at the very highest, and farther we cannot go. 3. One degree yet more; and that is this. As in comparisons making it skilleth much the excellency of the thing where- withal it is compared, so doth it too the manner how the comparison is made, the pitch that is taken in it. It is one thing to make it in tanto, another, in toto. One thing when it is in degrees — that more, this less ; this not so much as that, yet that somewhat though — another, when one is, the other is not at all. So is it here; Assumpsit; non assumpsit; 'us Of the Nativity. 3 He did take ; the Angels, ovhrjirov, not in any wise not in a less, or a lower degree than us, but them 'not at all.' So it is with the highest, and at the highest. So much is said here, and more cannot be said. The only exception that may be made to these comparisons is, that most-what they be odious ; it breedeth a kind of dis- dain in the higher to be matched with the lower ; especially to be overmatched with him. We need not fear it here. The blessed Spirits, the Angels, will take no offence at it ; they will not remove Jacob's ladder for all this; or descend to us, Gen.28.12. or ascend for us, ever a whit the slower, because He is become "the Son of Man." There is not in them that envious John 1.51. mind that was in the elder brother in the Gospel, when the Lu. 15. 28. younger was received to grace after his riotous course. When the Apostle tells us of the "great mystery," that "God iTim.3.i6. was manifested in the flesh," immediately after he tells that He was "seen of the Angels;" and lest we might think they saw it, as we do many things here which we would not see, St. Peter tells us, that desiderant j)rospicere, that with 'desire iPet. 1.12. and delight' they saw it, and cannot be satisfied with the sight of it, it pleaseth them so well. And even this day, the day that it was done, an Angel was the first that came to bring news of it to the shepherds ; and he no sooner had delivered Luke 2. 9. his message, but "presently there was with him a whole choir Luke 2. 13. of Angels," singing, and joying, and making melody, for this eijSoKia iv dvOpcoTroif, this "good-will of God towards men." Luke 2.14. So that, without dread of any disdain or exception on the Angels' parts, we may proceed in our text, I. Wherein first, of the parties compared; Angels, and Men. I. The Di- ll. Then, 1. of that, wherein they are compared, ' assump- i^'°"'2. tion,' or 'apprehension;' in the word 'taking:' 2. And not every 'taking,'but apprchensio seminis, 'taking on Him the seed.' HI. Lastly, of this term, "Abraham's seed;" the choice of in. that word, or term, to express mankind by, thus taken on by Him. That He saith not, ' but men He took ;' or, 'but the seed of Adam,' or ' the seed of the woman He took ;' " but the seed of Abraham He took." I. Of the parties compared; Angels and Men. These I. two we must first compare, that we may the more clearly see lomparcci! the greatness of the grace and benefit this day vouchsafed us. ^^™^[^'*'' B 2 4 Of the Nativity. SERRi. No long process will need to lay before you, how far inferior '■ our nature is to that of the Angels ; it is a comparison with- out comparison. It is too apparent ; if we be laid together, or weighed together, we shall be found minus hahentes, 'far too light.' They are in express terms said, both in the Old Ps.103.20. and in the New Testament, "to excel us in power;" and as 2 Pet. 2. 1 1. . . 'in power, so in all the rest. This one thing may suffice to shew the odds ; that our nature, that we, when we are at our very highest perfection — it is even thus expressed — that we come near, or are therein like to, or as an Angel. Perfect Acts 6. 15. beauty in St. Stephen ; " they saw his face as the face of an 2 Sa. 14. 20. Angel." Perfect wisdom in David; "my Lord the King is wise, as an Angel of God." Perfect eloquence in St. Paul; 1 Cor. 13.1. " though I spake with the tongues of men, nay of Angels." All our excellency, our highest and most perfect estate, is but to be as they ; therefore, they above us far. But to come nearer; What are Angels? Surely, they are Heb. K 14. Spirits ; — Glorious Spirits ; — Heavenly Spirits ; — Immortal l\Jat.24.36. Spirits. For their nature or substance. Spirits ; for their Lu 20 36 ■ • " * quality or property, glorious ; for their place or abode, heavenly ; for their durance or continuance, immortal. And what is " the seed of Abraham" but as Abraham himself is ? And what is Abraham ? Let him answer hira- Gei).i8.27. self; "I am dust and ashes." What is "the seed of Abra- ham ?" Let one answer in the persons of all the rest ; Job 17. 14. (/zcews putredini, &c., "saying to rottenness. Thou art my mother ; and to the worms, Ye are my brethren." L They are Spirits ; now, what are we — what is " the seed of Abra- Gai. 6. 8. ham?" Flesh. And what is the very harvest of this seed of flesh ? what, but corruption, and rottenness, and worms ? There is the substance of our bodies. 2. They, glorious Spirits ; we, vile bodies — bear with it, Phil. 3. 21. it is the Holy Ghost's own term; "Who shall change our vile bodies" — and not only base and vile, but filthy and unclean : Job 14. 4. ex immundo conceptum semine, ' conceived of unclean seed.' There is the metal. And the mould is no better; the womb Ps. 51. 5. wherein we were conceived, vile, base, filthy, and unclean. There is our quality. 3. They, Heavenly Spirits, Angels of Heaven ; that is, their place of abode is in Heaven above. Om*s is here below Of the Nativity. 5 in the dust, intei' puUces, et culices, tineas, araneas, et vermes ; Our place is here ' among fleas and flies, moths and spiders, and crawhng worms.' There is our place of dwelling. 4. They, immortal Spirits ; that is their durance. Our time is proclaimed in the Prophet : flesh ; " all flesh is grass, isa. 40. 6. and the glory of it as the flower of the field ;" — from April to June. The scythe comcth, nay the " wind but bloweth and [Ps. 103. we are gone ;" withering'sooner than the grass which is short, ^^'^ nay " fading" sooner than the " flower of the grass," which is much shorter; nay, saith Job, "rubbed in pieces more easily Job 4. 19. than any moth." This we are to them, if you la}' us together. And if you Men, by weigh us upon the " balance," we are " altogether lighter than selves, vanity itself;" there is our weight. And if you value us, "^^^ ^• " Man is but a thin"; of nought ;" there is our worth. Hoc Ps. 144. 4. est omnis homo ; this is Abraham, and this is " Abraham's seed ;" and who would stand to compare these with Angels ? Verily, there is no comparison; they are, incomparably, far better than the best of us. Now then ; this is the rule of reason, the guide of all choice, evermore to take the better and leave the worse. Thus would man do ; Hcbc est lex hominis. Here then cometh the matter of admiration : notwithstanding these things stand thus, between the Angels and " Abraham's seed ;" — they. Spirits, glorious, heavenly, immortal; — ^yet "took He not" them, yet "in no wise took He them; but the seed of Abra- ham." " The seed of Abraham," with their bodies, " vile bodies," earthly bodies of clay, bodies of mortality, corrup- tion, and death ; — these He took, these He took for all that. Angels, and not men ; so in reason it should be. Men, and not Angels ; so it is : and, that granted to us, that denied to them. Granted to us, so base ; that denied them, so glorious. Denied, and strongly denied ; ov, ovBtjirov, " not, not in any wise, not at any hand," to them. They, every way, in every thing else, above and before us ; in this, beneath and behind us. And we, unworthy, wretched men that we are, above and before the Angels, the Cherubim, the Seraphim, and all the Principalities, and Thrones, in this dignity. This, being beyond the rules and reach of all reason, is surely matter of astonishment ; Tovto, &c., saith St. Chrysostom, ' this it cast- sol't.^n"^' locum. 1 6 Of the Nativity. SE^RM. eth me into an ecstacy, and maketh me to imagine of our '- nature some great matter, I cannot well express what.' Thus 1 Sa. 3. 18. it is; "It is the Lord, let Him do what seemeth good in His own eyes." II. And with this, I pass over to the second point. This little they are enough, to shcw what odds between the parties here compared, matched. It will much better appear, this, when we shall weigh the word eTrikafju^dverat,, that wherein they are matched. Wherein two degrees we observed; 1. Apprehendit, and 2. Apprehendit semen. In appre- 1. Of apprehendit, first. Many words were more obvious, took." ^ and offered themselves to the Apostle, no doubt ; suscepit, or assumpsit, or other such like. ' This word was sought for, cer- tainly, and made choice of,' saith the Greek Scholiast ; and he can best tell us it is no common word ; and tell us also what it (Ecumen. weigheth ; ArfKol Se, saith he, on rjfMei<; i(f)€vyofiev, 6 8e iSLco/ce, Koi BocoKMv e(f)9acre, Kal (fiOda-wi €7re\d/3eT0 : ' This word suppose th a flight of the one party, and a pursuit of the other — a pursuit eager, and so long till he overtake ;' and when he hath over- taken, eirCkaix^avofievo'^, apprehendens, 'laying fast hold, and seizing surely on him.' So two things it supposeth; 1. a flight of the one, and 2. a hot pursuit of the other. I. It may well suppose a flight. For of the Angels there were Juile,ver.6. that fled, that kept not their original, but forsook and fell away Gen. 3. 8. from their first estate. And man fell, and fled too, and " hid himself in the thick trees" from the presence of God. And this is the first issue. Upon the Angels' flight He stirred not, sat still, never vouchsafed to follow them ; let them go whither they would, as if they had not been worth the while. Nay, He never assumed aught by way of promise for them ; no promise in the Old, to be born and to suffer ; no Gospel in the New Testament, neither was born nor suffered for them. But when man fell. He did all ; made after him presently. Gen. 3. 9. with Ubi es ? sought to reclaim him, ' What have you done ? Gen. 3. 14. Why have you done so ?' Protested enmity to him that had drawn him thus away, made His assumpsit of " the woman's seed." And, which is more, when that would not serve, sent after him still, by the hand of His Prophets, to solicit his return. And, which is yet more, when that would not serve neither. Of the Nativity. 1 went after him Himself in person; left His " ninety-and-nine Luke is. 5. in the fold," and got Him after the "lost sheep;" never left till He "found him, laid him on His own shoulders, and brought him home again," It was much, even but to look after us ; to respect us so far, who were not worth the cast of His eye; much to call us back, or vouchsafe us an Uln es ? But more, when we came not for all that, to send after us. For if He had but only been content to give us leave to come to Him again ; but given us leave to " lay hold" on Him, to "touch but the hem of His garment" — Himself sitting still, [Mat.9.21.] and never calling to us, nor sending after us — it had been favour enough, far above that we were worth. But not only to send by others, but to come Himself after us; to say, Corpus apta Milii, Ecce venio ; " Get Me a body, I will Myself Ps. 40. 7. after Him ;" — this was exceeding much, that we fled, and He followed us flying. But yet this is not all ; this is but to follow. He not only 2. followed, but did it so with such eagerness, with such earnest- ness, as that is worthy a second consideration. To follow is somewhat; yet that may be done faintly, and afar ofi"; but to follow through thick and thin, to follow hard, and not to give over ; never to give over till He overtake — that is it. And He gave not over His pursuit, though it were long and laborious, and He full weary ; though it cast Him into a "sweat," a "sweat of blood." Angelis suis non pepercit, [Lu.22A4.'\ saith St. Peter, "The Angels offending, He spared not2Pet. 2. 4. them :" man offending. He spared him, and to spare him, saith St. Paul, " He spared not His own Son." Nor his own [Rom. 8.32.] Son spared not Himself; but followed His pursuit through danger, distress, yea, through death itself. Followed, and so followed, as nothing made Him leave following, till He over- took. And when He had overtaken, for those two are but pre- 3. supposed, the more kindly to bring in the word eVeXa/Sero, when, I say. He had overtaken them, cometh in fitly and pro- perly eTriXa/ji^dveTai. Which is not every ' taking,' not susci- pere or assumere, but manum injicere, ari'ipere, apprehendere ; ' to seize upon it with great vehemency, to lay hold on it with both hands, as upon a thing we are glad we have got. 8 Of the Nativity. S E R M. and will be loath to let go again.' We know assumpsit and ^ apprehendit both ' take ;' but apprehendit with far more fervour and zeal than the other. Assumpsit, any common ordinary thing ; apprehendit, a thing of price which we hold dear, and much esteem of. Now, to the former comparison, of what they, and what we, but especially what we, add this threefold consideration ; 1. That He denied it the Angels, ou: denied it " peremptorily," ovhrj'jrov; neither looked, nor called, nor sent, nor went after them ; neither took hold of them, nor suffered them to take hold of Him, or any promise from them ; denied it them, and denied it them thus. 2. But granted it us; and granted it, how? That he followed us first, and that, with pain ; and seized on us after ; and that with great desire ; we flying, and not worth the following; and lying, and not worth the taking up. 1. That He gave not leave for us to come to Him ; or sat still, and suffered us to return, and take hold : yet this He did. 2. That He did not look after us, nor call after us, nor send after us only : yet all this He did too. 3. But Himself rose out of His place, and came after us, and with hand and foot made after us — followed us with His feet ; and seized on us with His hands ; and that, per viavi, non assumptionis, sed appre- hensionis, the manner more than the thing itself. All these if we lay together, and when we have done, weigh them well, it is able to work with us. Surely it must needs demonstrate to us the care, the love, the affection. He had to us, we know no cause Gen.18.27. why; being but, as Abraham was, "dust;" and as Abraham's seed, Jacob, saith, " less," and not worthy of any one of these ; Gen.32.io.no, not of the "meanest of His mercies." Especially, when the same thing so graciously granted us was denied to no less persons than the Angels, far more worthy than we. Sure He would not have done it for us, and not for them, if He had not esteemed of us, made more account of us than of them. 2. And yet, behold a far greater than all these ; which is, ajjpre- in appre- heiidit semeii. He took not the person, but " He took the seed," men. that is, the nature of man. Many there be that can be con- tent to take upon them the persons, and to represent them, whose natures nothing could hire them once to take upon [Comp. them. But the seed is the nature ; yea, as the philosopher Hooker, . , . . , , -1 c • saith, naturoe intimum, ' the very mternal essence oi nature is Of the Nativity, 9 the seed.' The Apostle sheweth what his meaning is of this Eccl. Pol. ' taking the seed,' when the verse next afore save one he saith, 6xf. Eciit. that " Forasmuch as the children were partakers of flesh and '^^^^ blood, He also would take part with them by taking the same." Heb.2.i4. To take the flesh and blood, He must needs take the seed ; for from the seed the flesh and blood doth proceed; which is nothing else but the blessed ' apprehension' of our nature by this day s nativity. Whereby He and we become not only " one flesh," as man and wife do by conjugal union ; but even Eph.5. 28, one blood too, as brethren by natural union ; per omnia similis, saith the Apostle, in the next verse after again, sin only set aside; "Alike and suitable to us in all things," flesh andHeb.2. 17. blood, and nature and all. So taking " the seed of Abraham ;" as that He became Himself " the seed of Abraham ;" so was, and so is truly termed in the Scriptures. Which is it that doth consummate, and knit up all this point, and is the head of all. For in all other ' apprehensions' we may let go, and lay down when we will ; but this — this ' taking on the seed,' the nature of man — can never be put off'. It is an ' assump- tion' without a deposition. One we are. He and we, and so we must be ; one, as this day, so for ever. And emergent or issuing from this, are all those other ' apprehendings,' or seizures of the persons of men — by which God layeth hold on them, and bringeth them back from error to truth, and from sin to grace — that have been from the beginning, or shall be to the end of the world. That of Abra- ham himself, whom God laid hold of, and brought from out of Ur of the Chaldeans, and the idols he there worshipped. Gen. 15. 7. That of our Apostle St. Paul, that was ' apprehended' in the Acts 9. 4. way to Damascus. That of St. Peter, that in the very act of Lu. 22. 61, sin was ' seized on' with bitter remorse for it. All those, and all these, whereby men daily are laid hold of in spirit, and taken from the bye-paths of sin and error, and reduced into the right way; and so their persons recovered to God, and seized to His use. All these ' apprehensions of the branches' come from this 'apprehension of the seed;' they all have their begin- ning and their being from this day's ' taking,' even semen appre- hendit ; our receiving His Spirit, for ' His taking our flesh.' This seed wherewith Abraham is made the son of God, from the seed wherewith Christ is made the Son of Abraham. 10 Of the Nativity. SERM. And the end why He thus took upon Him "the seed of Abraham" was, because He took upon Him to deliver " the seed of Abraham." DeUver them He could not, except He Heb.2.i4. destroyed "death, and the lord of death, the devil." Them He could not destroy, unless He died ; die He could not, ex- cept He were mortal ; mortal He could not be, except He took our nature on Him, that is, " the seed of Abraham." But taking it. He became mortal, died, destroyed death, delivered us ; was Himself ' apprehended,' that we might be let go. One thing more then out of this word apprehendit. The former toucheth His love, whereby He so laid hold of us, as of a thing very precious to Him. This now toucheth our danger, whereby He so caught us, as if He had not, it had been a great venture but we had sunk and perished. One and the same word, apprehendit, sorteth well to express both His aflFection whereby He did it, and our great peril whereby we needed it. We had been before laid hold of and ' appre- hended' by one, mentioned in the fourteenth verse, he that hath " power of death, even the devil ;" we were in danger to be swallowed up by him, we needed one to lay hold on us fast, and to pluck us out of his jaws. So He did. And I would have you to mark, it is the same word that is used to St. Peter in like danger, when, being ready to sink, eVeXa/Sero, Christ Mat.14.31. "caught him by the hand," and saved him. The same here Gen.iaifi. in the Greek, that in the Hebrew is used to Lot and his daughters in the like danger, when " the Angels caught him, and by strong hand plucked him out of Sodom." One de- livered from the water, the other from the fire. And it may truly be said, inasmuch as all God's promises, 2Cor.i.20. as well touching temporal as eternal deliverances, and as well corporal as spiritual, be "in Christ yea, and Amen" — yea, in the giving forth. Amen in the performing — that even our temporal delivery from the dangers that daily compass us about, even from this last ^ so great and so fearful as the like was never imagined before ; all have their ground from this great * apprehension,' are fruits of this Seed here, this blessed Seed, for Whose sake and for Whose truth's sake that we (though unworthily) profess, we were by Hira caught hold of, and so plucked out of it ; and but for which Seed, facti essemus sicut ' [The Gunpowder Conspiracy.] Of the Nativity, 11 Sodoma, "We had been even as Sodom," and perished in the Rom. 9. 29. fire, and the powder there laid had even blown us up all. And may not I add to this, apprehendit ut liberaret, the other in the eighth chapter following, apprehendit ut manu duceret ; Heb. 8. 9. to this of 'taking us by the hand to deliver us,' that 'of taking us by the hand to guide us ;' and so out of one word present Him to you, not only as our Deliverer, but as our Guide too? Our Deliverer, to rid us from him that hath "power of death;" our Guide, to Him that hath 'power of life,' To lead us even by the way of truth to the path of life, by the stations of well- doing to "the mansions in His Father's House." Seeing He John 14 2. hath signified it is His pleasure not to let go our hands, but to hold us still till He hath brought us, "that where He is, John 14.3. we may also be." This also is incident to apprehendit, but because it is out of the compass of the text I touch it only, and pass it. And can we now pass by this, but we must ask the ques- The rea- tion that St. John Baptist's mother sometime asked on the jppre- like occasion ? Unde mihi hoc ? saith she ; Unde nobis hoc ? Lukt'i 43. may we say. Not, quod mater Domini, but quod Dominus Ipse venit adnos ; 'Whence cometh this unto us, that the Lord Himself thus came unto us and took us, letting the Angels go.' Angels are better than the best of us, and reason would ever the better should be taken; how then were we taken, that were not the better? Sure, not without good ground, say the Fathers, who have adventured to search out the theology of this point; such reasons as might serve for inducements to Him that is pronus ad miserendum, ' naturally inclined to pity ;' why upon us He would rather have compassion. And divers such I find; I will touch only one or two of them. First, Man's case was more to be pitied than theirs, because 1. man was tempted by another — had a tempter. The Angels had none — none tempted them ; none but themselves. Et levius est aliend mente peccdsse quam projjria, saith Augustine ; ' the offence is the less if it grow from another, than if it breed in ourselves;' and the less the offence, the more pardonable. Again, Of the Angels, when some fell, other some stood, ^^^^^ ^ and so they all did not perish. But in the first man all men Leon, in fell, and so every mother's child had died, and no flesh been .ser.'4^2.et in Pass, 12 Of the Natifity. s E R M. saved, for all wei'e in Adam ; and so, in and with Adam, all had come to nought. Then cometh the Psalmist's question, Edtt. Par. Nimqidd in vanum, ^'c? " What hast Thou made all men for Ps's'g. 47 nought?" That cannot be, so great wisdom cannot do so great a work in vain. But in vain it had been, if God had not shewed mercy; and therefore was man's case rather of the twain matter of commiseration. (This is Leo.) 3. And thus have they travailed, and these have they found, why he did 'apprehend' us rather than them. It may be, not amiss. But we will content ourselves for our uyide iiobis hoc ? 'whence cometh this to us?' with the answer of the Scriptures. Luke 1.78. Whence, but from " the tender mercies of our God, whereby isa. 9. 7. this day hath visited us ? " Zelus Domini, saith Esay, " the Eph. 2. 4. zeal of the Lord of Hosts shall bring it to pass." Propter John 3.16. nimium charitutem, saith the Apostle; Sic Deus dilexit, saith Lu. 10. 21. He — He Himself; and we taught by Him say, "Even so. Lord, for so it was Thy good pleasure thus to do." III. All this while are we about "taking the seed," — the seed in Thechoice. ggjjgj.jj|_ j3^j^ now, wh}' "Abraham's seed?" Since it is Angels iiam's^' '^^ '■^^ ^"-^^ part, why not men in the second, but seed? Or, if seed." "seed," to express our nature, why not "the seed of the woman," but " the seed of Abraham ?" It may be thought, because he wrote to the Hebrews, he rather used this term of " Abraham's seed," because so they were, and so loved to be styled, and he would please them. But I find the ancient Fathers go farther, and out of it raise matter both of comfort and of direction ; and that, for us too. For our 1. Of comfort, first, with reference to our Saviour, Who comfort. j-g]jjj^g W\m "Abraham's seed," must withal take on Him the signature of Abraham's seed, and be, as he was, circumcised. There is a great matter dependeth even on that. Gal. 5. 3. For being circumcised. He " became a debtor to keep the whole Law of God;" which bond we had broken, and forfeited, and incurred the curse annexed, and were ready to be appre- hended and committed for it. That so. He keeping the Law Col. 2. 14. might recover back the chirographum contra nos, " the hand- writing that was against us," and so set us free of the debt. This bond did not relate to " the seed of the woman," it pertained properly to " the seed of Abraham ;" therefore that term fitted us better. Without fail, two distinct benefits they Of the Nativity. 13 are: 1. Factus homo, and 2. Factus sub lege; and so doth St. Paul recount them. " Made man," that is, " the seed of Gal. 4. 4. the woman;" and "made under the Law," that is, "the seed of ^ Abraham." To httle purpose He should have taken the one, if lie had not also undertaken the other, and, as " the seed of Abraham," entered bond for us, and taken our death upon Him. This first. 2. And besides this, there is yet another ; referring it to the nation, or people, whom He took upon Him. It is sure they were of all other people the most " untoward ;" both of the " hardest hearts," and of the " stiffest necks ;" and as the Deut. 9. 6. heathen man noteth them, of the worst natures. God Him- [Tac.Hist. self telleth them so ; it was for no virtue of theirs, or for any ^ ^'^ pure naturals in them, that He took them to Him, for they were, that way, the worst of the whole earth. And so then the taking of "Abraham's seed" amounteth to as much as that of St. Paul, no less true than "worthy of all men to be received," iTim.1.15. that He "came into the world to save sinners," and that chief sinners, as it is certain they were ; even " the seed of Abraham," of all the seed of Adam. But not for comfort only, but for direction too, doth He use 2. Abraham's name here. Even to entail the benefit coming by direction, it to his seed, that is, to such as he was. For, " for his sake Gen.22.i8. were all nations blessed." And Christ, though He took " the seed of the woman,'^ yet doth not benefit any but " the seed of Abraham," even those that follow the steps of his faith. For by faith Abraham took hold of Him by Whom he was Gen. 15.6. in mercy taken hold of : Et tu mitte fidem et teimisti, saith St. Augustine. That faith of his to him was " accounted for Rom. 4. 3. righteousness." To him was, and to us shall be, saith the Apostle, if we be in like sort 'apprehensive' of Him. Either as Abraham, or as the true " seed of Abraham," Jacob, was, that took such hold on Him, as he said plainly. Nan dimittam Te, Gen..32.26. nisi benedixeris viihi ; "without a blessing he would not let Him go." Surely, not the Hebrews alone ; nay, not the Hebrews at Rom. 9. 7. all, for all their carnal propagation. They only are "Abraham's seed" that lay hold of the word of promise. And, the Galatians so doing, though they were mere heathen men, as we be, Giii. 3. 9. yet he telleth them they are " Abraham's seed," and shall be blessed together with him. 14 Of the Nativity. SERM. But that is not all; there goeth more to the making us ^- — " Abraham's seed," as Christ Himself, the true Seed, teacheth John 8. 39. both them and us. Saith He, " If ye be Abraham's sons, then must you do the works of Abraham," which the Apostle well ^ Rom.4. 12. calleth "the steps" or impressions of "Abraham's faith;" or we may call them the fruits of this seed here. So reasoneth [Joh.8.40.] our Saviour: Hoc non fecit Abraham; "This did not he;" if ye do it, ye are not " his seed." ' This did he ; — do ye the like, and his seed ye are.' So here is a double ' apprehension ;' 1. one of St. Paul, 2. the other of St. James — work for both Jam. 2. 22. hands to apprehend. Both 1. charitas qua ex fide; and Gal. 5. 6. 2. fides qu(B per charitatem operatur. By which we shall be iTim.G.i2. able, saith St. Paul, "to lay hold of eternal life;" and so be "Abraham's seed" here at the first, and come to "Abraham's bosom" there at the last. So have we a brief of semen Abrahce. The use of Now what is to be commended to us out of this text for us the Text. i i i i /r. tt -i n i- • 1 For Me- ^° '^J ^old of ? V erily first, to take us to our meditation ; chtation. meditation which the Psalmist hath, and which the Apostle in this chapter voucheth out of him at the sixth verse. Ps. 8. 3. "When I consider," saith he, "the Heavens" — say we, the Angels of Heaven — and see those glorious Spirits passed by, and man taken, even to sigh with him, and say, " Lord, what is man," either Adam or Abraham, " that Thou shouldest be thus mindful of him, or the seed, or sons of either, that Thou shouldest make this do about him !" The case is here far otherwise — far more worth our consideration. There, " Thou hast made him a little lower ;" here, ' Thou hast made him a great deal higher than the Angels.' For they, this day first, and ever since, daily have and do adore our nature in the personal union with the Deity. Look you, saith the Hub. 1. 6. Apostle, " when He brought His only-begotten Son into the world, this He proclaimed before Him, Let all the Angels worship Him ;" and so they did. And upon this very day's " taking the seed," hath ensued, as the Fathers note, a great 1 Chron. alteration. Before, in the Old Testament, they suffered David 21. 16. . . . . to sit upon his knees before them ; since, in the New, they Rev. 22. 9. endure not St. John should fall down to them, but acknow- ledge the case is altered now ; and no more superiority, but all fellow-servants. And, even in this one part, two things Of the Nativiti/. 15 present themselves unto us ; 1. His humility. Qui non est con- fusus, as in the eleventh verse the Apostle speaketh, " Who [Hcb.2.11.] was not confounded" thus to take our nature. 2. And vrithal, the honour and happiness of "Abraham's seed/' ut digni huhe- rentur, that were ' counted worthy to be taken so near unto Lu. 20. 35. Him.' The next point : that after we have well considered it, we 2. For re- be affected with it ; and that no otherwise than Abraham was. "Abraham saw it," even this day, and but afar off, "and he Johns. 56. rejoiced at it ;" and so shall we on it, if we be His true seed. It brought forth a Benedictus, and a Magnificat, from the true seed of Abraham ; if it do not the like from us, certainly it but floats in our brains — we but warble about it; but we believe it not, and therefore neither do we rightly understand it. Sure I am, if the Angels had such a feast to keep, if He had done the like for them, they would hold it with all joy and jubilee. They rejoice of our good; but if they had one of their own, they must needs do it after another manner, far more effectually. If we do not as they would do, were the case theirs, it is because we are short in conceiving the excel- lency of the benefit. It would have (surely) due observation, if it had his due and serious meditation. Farther, we are to understand this; that "to whom much Lu. 12.48. is given, of them will much be required ;" and as Gregory well [[nEyang. saith, Cum crescunt dona, crescunt et rationes donorum, 'As the " gifts grow, so grow the accounts too ;' therefore, that by this new dignity befallen us, Nccessitas qucEdam nobis imposita est, saith St. Augustine, ' there is a certain necessity laid upon us ' to become in some measure suitable unto it ; in that we are one — one flesh and one blood — with the Son of God. Beina; thus " in honour," we ought to understand our estate, and not fall into the Psalmist's reproof, that we " become like the beasts Ps. 49. 12. that perish." For if we do indeed think our nature is ennobled by this so high a conjunction, we shall henceforth hold our- selves more dear, and at a higher rate, than to prostitute our- selves to sin, for every base, trifling, and transitory pleasure. For tell me, men that are taken to this degree, shall any of them prove a devil, as Christ said of Judas? or ever, as these John 6. 7o. with us of late, have to do with any devilish or Judasly fact ? Shall any man, after this ' assumption,' be as " horse or mule Ps. 32. 9. 16 Of the Nativity. SERM. that have no understanding," and in a Christian profession Hve a brutish life ? Nay then, St. Paul tells us farther, that if 1 Cor. 3. 3. we henceforth " walk like men," like but even carnal or natural men, it is a fault in us. Somewhat must appear in us more than in ordinary men, who are vouchsafed so extraordinary a favour. Somewhat more than common would come from us, if it were but for this day's sake. 3. For To conclude ; not only thus to frame meditations and resolu- practice. ^{q^is, but even some practice too, out of this act of ' appre- Phil. 3. 12. hension.' It is vei-y agreeable to reason, saith the Apostle, that we endeavour and make a proffer, if we may by any means, to 'appi-ehend' Him in His, by Whom we are thus in our nature ' apprehended,' or, as He termeth it, ' compre- hended,' even Christ Jesus ; and be united to Him this day, as He was to us this day, by a mutual and reciprocal ' appre- hension.' We may so, and we are bound so ; vere dignum et justum est. And we do so, so oft as we do with St. James lay Jam. 1.21. hold of, 'apprehend,' or receive insitum verbum, the "word which is daily grafted into us." For "the Word" He is, and in the word He is received by us. But that is not the proper of this day, unless there be another joined unto it. This day, John 1. )4. Verbum caro factum est; and so must be 'apprehended' in both. But specially in His flesh, as this day giveth it, as this day lCor.10.16. would have us. Now "the bread which we break, is it not the partaking of the body, of the flesh, of Jesus Christ?" It is surely ; and by it and by nothing more are we made partakers of this blessed union. A little before, He said; Heb. 2. 14. " Because the children were partakers of flesh and blood, He also would take part with them" — may not we say the same? Because He hath so done, taken ours of us, we also ensuing His steps will participate with Him, and with His flesh which He hath taken of us. It is most kindly to take part with Him, in that which He took part in with us ; and that, to no other end, but that He might make the receiving of it by us a means whereby He might " dwell in us, and we in Him ;" He taking our flesh, and we receiving His Spirit ; by His flesh which He took of us receiving His Spirit which He imparteth 2Pet. i.4. to us; that, as He by ours became consors humance naturce, so we by His might become consortes Divinoe iiaturce, " par- takers of the Divine nature." Verily, it is the most straight and Of the Nativity. 17 perfect ' taking hold' that is. No union so knitteth as it. Not consanguinity ; brethren fall out. Not marriage ; man and wife [Gen. 45. are severed. But that which is nourished, and the nourish- ^^'^ ment wherewith — they never are, never can be severed ; but remain one for ever. With this act then of mutual ' taking,' taking of His flesh, as He hath taken ours, let us seal our duty to Him this day, for taking not " Angels," but " the seed of Abraham." Almighty God, grant, &c. c A SERMON rnEACHED BEFORE THE KING'S MAJESTY, AT WHITEHALL, ON WEDNESDAY, THE TWENTY-FIFTH OF DECEMBER, A.D. MDCVI. BEING CHRISTMAS-DAY. EsAY ix. 6. For unto us a Child is born, and unto us a Son is given ; and the government is upon His shoulder ; and He shall call His Name Wonderfid, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlast- ing Father, the Prince of Peace, [Parvulus enim natus est nobis, et Filius datus est nobis, et /actus est principatus super humerum ejus : et vocabitur nomen ejus, Admira- bilis, Consiliarius, Deus, fortis. Pater futuri saculi, Princeps Pacis, Latin Vulg.] [jPor unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the govern- ment shall be upon His shoulder; and His Name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Engl. Trans.] s E R M. The words are out of Esay ; and, if we had not heard him named, might well have been thought out of one of the Evan- gelists, as more like a story than a prophecy. " Is born," " is given," sound as if they had been written at, or since the birth of Christ ; yet were they written more than six hundred years before. There is no one thing so great a stay to our faith, as that we find the things we believe, so plainly foretold, so many years before. "Is born," "is given?" nay — 'shall be;' speak like a Prophet: nay — "is;" loquens de futuro per modumprcBte- riti ; 'speaking of things to come as if they were already past.' Rom.4.17. This cannot be but of God, " Who calleth things that are not, isa. 41. 23. as if they were," and challengeth any other to do the like. It is true, miracles move much ; but yet even in Scripture we 2Thes.2.9. read of "lying miracles;" and the possibility of false dealing Of the Nutivitij. 19 Icaveth place of doubt, even in those that be true. But, for one, six hundred years before he is born, to cause prophecies, plain direct prophecies, to be written of him ; that passeth all conceit; cannot be imagined, how possibly it may be, but by God alone. Therefore INIahonict and all false prophets came — at least boasted to come — in signs. But challenge them at this ; not a word, no mention of them in the world, till they were born. True therefore that St. John saith ; "The Rev.19. lo. testimony," that is, the great principal testimony, " of Jesus, is the spirit of prophecy." It made St. Peter, when he had recounted what he himself had heard in the Mount, (yet as if there might be even in that, deceptio sensus,) to add, Habe- mus etiam Jirmiorem sermonem propheticB, "We have a word of 2Pet. i.H). prophecy besides;" and that Jirmiorem, the "surer" of the twain. This prophecy is of a certain child. And if we ask of this place, as the Eunuch did of another in this Prophet, " Of whom speaketh the Prophet this ?" we must make the Acts s. .34. answer that there Philip doth, " of Christ ; " and " the testi- mony of Jesus is the spirit of this prophecy." The ancient Jews make the same. It is but a fond shift to draw it, as the latter Jews do, to Ezekias ; it will not cleave. It was spoken to Ahaz, Ezekias' father, now King ; and that, after the great overthrow he had by the kings of Syria and Israel, in the fourth of his reign. But it is deduced by plain supputation out of the eighteenth of the second of Kings : Ezekias was nine years old, before Ahaz his father came to the crown. It was by that time too late to tell it for tidings then that he was born ; he then being thirteen years of age. Beside, how senseless is it to apply to Ezekias that in the next verse ; that " of His government and peace there should isa. 9. 7. be none end," that " His throne should be established from thenceforth for ever;" whereas his peace and government both had an end within few years. To us it is sufficient that the fore-part of the chapter is by St. Matthew expressly applied to our Saviour; and that Mat. 4. i."". this verse doth inseparably depend on that, and is alleged as the reason of it ; " For, unto us." Of him therefore we take it, and to Him apply it that cannot be taken of any, or applied to any other but Him. But how came Esay to speak of Christ to Ahaz? Thus: The occa „ sion of this ^ ^ jirophecy. 20 Of the Nativity. s E^R M. Ahaz was then in very great distress ; he had lost in one day '- — eighty thousand of his people ; and two hundred thousand of them more, carried away captives. And now the two Kings were raising new power against him : the times grew very much overcast. And this you shall obsers'e. The chiefest prophecies of Christ came ever in such times; that St. Peter did well to resemble the word of prophecy to a candle in 2 Pet. 1.19. loco caliginoso, "a dark room." Jacob's of Shiloh, in Egypt, a Gen.49.10. dark place ; Daniel's of Messias, in Babylon, a place as dark Han. 9.24, Egypt; this of Esay, when the ten tribes were on the point Jer.3i. 22. of carrying away, under Hoshea. That of Jeremy, "a woman shall enclose a man," when Judah in the same case, under Jechonias. Ever in dark times, who therefore needed most the light of comfort. But what is this to Ahaz' case ? He looked for another mes- sage from him, — how to escape his enemies. A cold comfort might he think it, to be preached to of Immanuel. Indeed, he so thought it ; and therefore he gave over Esay, and betook him to Shebna, who wished him to seek to the King of Ashur for help, and let Immanuel go. Yet for all that, even then to speak of Christ, being looked into, it is neither imper- tinent, nor out of season. With all the Prophets it is usual, in the calamities of this people, to have recourse still to the fundamental promise of the Messias. For that, till He were come, they might be sure they could not be rooted out ; but must be preserved, if it were but for this Child's sake, till He were born. And yet, if they could believe on Him ; otherwise Isa. 7. 9. it is no match : Nisi credideritis. Then, thus the Prophets argue : He will not deny you this favour, for He will grant you a far greater than this, even His own Son, and by Him a far greater deliverance ; and if He can deliver you from the devouring fire of hell, much more from them ; and if give you peace with God, much more with them. So, teaching those that will learn, the only right way to compass their own safety is by making sure work of " Immanuel, God with us." To the 1 Tim. 4.8. true regard of Whom God hath annexed the " promises as well of this, as of the other life." All are as lines drawn from this 2 Cor. 1.20. centre; all in Him "yea and Amen." Which all serve to raise Ahaz up, and his people, to receive this Child, and " to John s.TjG. rejoice in His day," as their "father Abraham" did. Of the Nativity. 31 mam ;s is na- Thus the occasion you have heard. The parts, ad oculum. The di- * evidently,' are two; I. a Child-birth, and II. a Baptism. I. The Child-birth in these, " For unto you," &c. II. The Baptism in these, " His Name," &c. In the former; I. First of the main points, the Natures, I. 1,2. Person, and Office ; 1. Natures in these, " Child" and " Son." 3. Person in these, " His shoulders," " His name." 3. Office in these, " His government." II. Then of the deriving of an interest to us in these, — " to us," two times. And that is of two sorts: 1. By being "born;" a right by His birth. 2. By being " given ;" a right by a deed of gift. In the latter, of His Baptism, is set down His style, con- 11. sisting of five pieces, containing five uses, for which He was thus given ; each to be considered in his order. I. It is ever our first care to begin with, and to settle the I- - -r ° „ , „ „ „ TheChild mam pomt 01 the mystery ; 1. JNature, 2. Person, and 3. Office; birth, and after, to look to our own benefit by them. To begin with ^' the natures, of God and Man : they be super hanc petram ; f upon them lieth the weight of all the rest, they are the two 'ures. / , ,. ^ 11 Mat.l6.I8. shoulders whereon this government doth rest. We have two words, " Child," and " Son ;" neither waste. But if no more in the second than in the first, the first had been enough ; if the first enough, the second superfluous. But in this Book nothing is superfluous. So then, two diverse things they import. Weigh the words: "Child" is not said but in humanis, As Ma,n. 'among men.' "Son" may be in divinis, 'from Heaven;' God spake it, " This is My Son." May, and must be, here. Mat. 17. 5. Weigh the other two; 1. "born," and 2. "given." That which is born beginneth then first to have his being. That which is given presupposeth a former being; for, be it must, that it may be given. Again, when we say " born ;" of whom ? of the Virgin His mother ; when we say " given ;" by whom ? by God His Father. Esay promised the sign we should have should be from the "deep" here "beneath," and should be from the " height isa. 7. 11, above;" both "a Child" from "beneath," and "a Son" from "above." To conclude ; it is an exposition decreed by the Fathers assembled in the Council of Seville, who upon these [j^'^-H'^p A.D.619.V 22 Of the Nativity. s E R M, grounds expound this very place so ; the Child, to import His ' human ; the Son, His divine nature. [Vid. All along His life, you shall see these tvpo. At His birth ; Epist.°ad ^ cratch for the Child, a star for the Son ; a company of Fiavi^an. shepherds viewing the Child, a choir of angels celebrating the Son. In His life ; hungry Himself, to shew the nature of the Child ; yet " feeding five thousand," to shew the power of the Son. At his death ; dying on the cross, as the " Son of Adam at the same time disposing of Paradise, as the " Son of God." If you ask, why both these ? For that in vain had been the one without the other. Somewhat there must be borne, by this mention of shoulders; meet it is every one should bear his own burden. The nature that sinned bear his own sin ; not Ziba make the fault, and Mephibosheth bear the punishment. Our nature had sinned, that therefore ought to suffer ; the reason, why a Child. But that which our nature should, our nature could not bear ; not the weight of God's wrath due to our sin : but the Son could ; the reason, why a Son. The one ought, but could not; the other could, but ought not. Therefore, either alone would not serve ; they must be joined. Child and Son. But that He was a Child, He could not have suffered. But that He was a Son, He had sunk in His suffering, and not gone through with it. God had no shoulders ; man had, but too weak to sustain such a weight. Therefore, that He might be liable, He was a Child ; that He might be able. He vv as the Son ; that He might be both. He was both. 2. His per- This, why God. But why this Person the Son ? Behold, Gen. 3.22. "Adam would" have "become one of Us" — the fault; behold, one of Us will become Adam, is the satisfaction. Which of Gen. 3. 5. Us would he have become ? Sicut Dii, scientes, ' the Person of knowledge.' He therefore shall become Adam ; a Son shall be given. Desire of knowledge, our attainder; He in "Whom Coios. 2.3. all the treasures of knowledge," our restoring. Flesh would have been the Word, as wise as the Word — the cause of our J ill. 1. 14. ruin; meet then the "Word become flesh," that so our ruin repaired. There is a touch given in the name " Counsellor," to note out unto us which Person ; as well as the " Son." 3. One more ; if these joined, why is not the " Son" first, and Of the Nativity. 23 then the "Child;" but the "Child" is first, and then the " Son." The Son is far the worthier, and therefore to have the place. And thus too it was, in His other name Immanuel. isa. 7. 14. It is not Elimanu; not Deus nobiscum, but nobiscum Deus. We, in His Name, stand before God. It is so in the Gospel ; the " Son of David" first; the " Son of God" after. It is but Lu. 3. 31. this still, zclus Domini exercituum fecit hoc ; but to shew His ^- Isa. 9. 7. zeal, how dear He holdcth us, that He preferreth and setteth us before Himself; and, in His very name, giveth us the precedence. The Person, briefly. The " Child," and the " Son ;" these two make but one Person clearly ; for both these have but one name, " His Name shall be called :" and both these have but one pair of shoulders, " Upon His shoulders." There- fore, though two natures, yet but one Person in both. A meet person to make a Mediator of God and man, as sym- bolizing with either, God and man. A meet person, if there be division between them, as there was, " and great thoughts [Jud. 5. of heart" for it, to make an union; ex utroque ununi, seeing £ph. 2. h. He was unum ex utroque. Not man only ; there lacked the shoulder of power. Not God only ; there lacked the shoulder of justice ; but both together. And so have ye the two Sup- porters of all, 1. Justice, and 2. Power. A meet person to cease hostility, as having taken pledges of both Heaven and earth ; the chief nature in Heaven, and the chief on earth ; to set forward commerce between Heaven and earth by Jacob's ladder, "one end touching earth, the other reaching to Gen. 28. 12. Heaven ;" to incorporate either to other ; Himself by His birth being become the " Son of man ;" by our new birth giving us a capacity to become the "sons of God." Jnh. 1. 12. His office ; " The kingdom on His shoulders," For He 3. His saw when the Child was born, it should so poorly be born, as, lest we should conceive of Him too meanly. He tells us He Cometh cum principatii, ' with a principality,' is born a Prince ; and beautifieth Him with such names as make amends for the manger. That He is not only Puer, " a Child ;" and Filius, "a Son ;" but Princeps, "a Prince." Truth is, other offices we find besides. But this you shall observe, that the Prophets speaking of Christ, in good con- gvuity ever apply themselves to the state of them they speak 24 Of the Nativity. SE^RM. to, and use that office and name which best agreeth to the — ~" matter in hand. Here, that which was sought by Ahaz, was protection ; that we know is for a King ; as a King therefore he speaketh of Him. Elsewhere He is brought forth by David as a Priest ; and again elsewhere by Moses, as a Prophet. If Ps. no. 4. it be matter of sin, for which sacrifice to be offered. He is "a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek." If the will of Deu.18.18. God, if His great counsel to be revealed, "A Prophet will the [Act.7.37.] Lord raise, &c. hear Him." But here is matter of delivery only in hand ; here therefore he represented Him cum princi- patu, ' with a principality.' [John 18. "A principality, not of this world." Herod need not fear ^ ^ it, nor envy it. If it had, his officers, as they would have seen Him better defended at His death, so would they have Lu. 2. 7. seen Him better lodged at His birth, than in a stable with beasts ; for if the inn were full, the stable, we may be sure, was not empty. Of what world then ? of that He is Father, futuri scBculi. Of that He is Father, and He is a Prince of the government That guideth us thither. Yet a Prince He is, and so He is styled; "born" and "given" to establish a "government," that none imagine they shall live like libertines under Him, every man believe and live as he list. It is Christ, not Belial, that is born to-day ; He bringeth a government with Him ; they that be His must live in subjection under a government ; else neither in Child nor Son, in Birth nor Gift, have they any interest. And this "government" is by name a principality ; wherein neither the popular confusion of many, nor the factious am- bition of a few, bear all the sway; but where One is Sovereign. Such is the government of Heaven, such is Christ's " govern- ment." With a principality, or government, and that upon His shoulders ; somewhat a strange situation. It is wisdom that governs ; that is in the head, and there is the crown worn ; what have the shoulders to do with it ? Certainly somewhat by this description. The shoulder as we know is the bearing member, and unless it be for heavy things, we use it not. Ordinary things we carry in our hands, or lift at the arms' end; it must be very heavy, if we must put shoulders and all to it. Belike, governments have their weight — be heavy ; and Of the Nativity. 25 so they be; they need not only a good head, but good shoulders, that sustain them. But that not so much while they be in good tune and temper; then, they need no great carriage; but when they grow unwieldy, be it weakness or wa3'ward- ness of the governed, in that case they need ; and in that case, there is no governor but, at one time or other, he bears his government upon his shoulders. It is a moral they give of Aaron's apparel ; he carved the twelve tribes in his breast-plate Ex. 28. 29. next his heart, to shew that in care he was to bear them ; but he had them also engraven in two onyx-stones, and those set upon his very shoulders, to shew, he must otherwhile bear them Ex. 28. 12, in patience too. And it is not Aaron's case alone ; it was so with Moses too. He bare his government as a 'nurse doth her child,' as he saith; that is, full tenderly. But when Numb. 11. they fell a murmuring, as they did often, he bare them upon his shoulders, in great patience and long-suffering. Yea he complained, Non possum portare, "I am not able to bear all Numb. 11. this people," &c. It were sure to be wished that they that are in place might never be put to it. Bear their people only in their arms by love, and in their breasts by care. Yet if need be, they must follow Christ's example and patience here, and even that way bear them ; not only bear with them, but even bear them also. Yet is not this Christ's bearing, though this He did too; there is yet a farther thing, He hath a patience paramount, beyond all the rest. Two differences I find between Him and others. 1. The faults and errors of their government, others I. do bear, and suffer — indeed suffer them ; but suffer not for them. He did both ; endured them, and endured for them heavy things ; a strange superhumeral, the print whereof was to be seen on His shoulders. The Chaldee Paraphrast trans- lateth it thus, ' The law was upon His shoulders ;' and so it was too. A burden, saith St. Peter, neither he, nor the Apostles, nor their "fathers, were able to bear." This He did, and bare Actsis. 10. it so evenly as He brake, nay^ bruised not a commandment. But there is another sense, when the Law is taken for the punishment due by the Law, It is that which our Prophet meaneth when he saith, Posuit super humeros, " He hath laid isa. 6.3. 6. upon His shoulders the iniquities of us all." And not against 26 Of the Nativity. s E^R M. His will ; " Come," saith He, " you that are heavy laden, and I jyj^f jj 28 will refresh you," by loading Myself ; take it from your necks, and lay it on Mine own. Which His suffering, though it grew lleb. 5. 7. so heavy as it wrung from Him plenty of tears, a strong cry, a Lu. 22. 44. sweat of blood, — such was the weight of it ; — yet would He not Joh. 19.30. cast it off, but there held it still, till it made Him " bow down His head and give up the ghost." If He had discharged it, it must have light upon us ; it was the yoke of our burden, as in the fourth verse He termeth it : if it had light upon us, it had pressed us down to hell, so insupportable was it. Rather than so. He held it still and bare it ; and did that which never Prince did — died for His government. It was not for nothing, we see, that, of the Child born, no part but the shoulders is mentioned ; for that, we see, in this Child, is a part of special employment. 2. The other point of difference between Him and other governors. When we say, " On His shoulders," this we say ; E,\. 18.23. on no other shoulders but His. For others, by Moses' example upon Jethro's advice and God's own allowance, may, and do lay off and translate their burden, if it be too heavy, upon others, and so ease it in part. Not so He. It could not be so in His. He, and He alone ; He, and none but He : upon His isa. 03. 3. own shoulders, and none but His own, bare He all. He " trod the wine-press," and bare the burden solus, " alone et vir de gerdibus, "and of all the nations, there was not a man with Him." Upon His only shoulders did the burden only rest. 3. Now from these two doth the Prophet argue to a third, to the point here of principal intendment. That if, for His government sake. He will bear so great things; bear their weak- Mat. 18. nesses, as the lost sheep; bear their sins, as the scape-goat ; He Le'v.\l3.8,9. ^ill, over the government itself, (as in Deut. 32. he maketh Deu.32.n. j-j^g simile,) stretch forth His wings, "as the eagle over her young ones," and take them, and bear them between His pinions — bear them, and bear them through. They need take no thought ; " No man shall take tlieiu out of His hands," no Joh. io.2f. man reach them off His shoulders. He had begun so to carry them, and through He would still carry them ; at least-wise, till this Child Immanuel were born. Till then He would ; and not wax weary, nor cast them off. And, like the scape-goat. Gal. 4. :. bear their sins ; and like the eagle, bear up their estate, " till Of the Nativity. 27 the fulness of time came," and He, in it, with the fulness of all grace and blessing. And this point I hold so material; asPuer natus, nothing, and Filius datus, as much, without Princeps oneratus ; for that is all in all, and of the three the chief. And now, what is all this to us ? Yes ; " to us," it is ; and ii. The se- that, twice over, for faihng. We come now to look another cond main while into our interest to it, and our benefit by it. Nobis is ^h'" bene- acguisitive positus ; we get by it; we are gainers by all this. " To us ;" not to Himself For a far more noble Nativity " To us." had He before all worlds, and needed no more birth. Not to be born at all ; specially, not thus basely to be born. Not to Him therefore ; but to us, and our behoof " To us," as in bar of Himself, so likewise of His Angels. Nusquam Angelas, not to the Angels was He "born," or Heb.2. 16. "given ;" but "to us" He was both. Not an Angel in Heaven can say nobis. Vobis, they can; the Angels said it twice. Lu. 1.31, Nobis natus or datus they cannot; but we can, both. Lu! 2. 11. Nobis exclusive, and nobis inclusive. Esay speaks not of i. himself only, but taketh in Ahaz. Both are in nobis ; Esay, an holy Prophet ; and Ahaz, a worse than whom you shall hardlj'^ read of Esay includeth himself, as having need, though a saint; and excludeth not Ahaz from having part, though a sinner. Not only Simeon the just, but Paul the Lu. 2. 23. sinner, of the quorum, and the first of the quorum. iTim.i.ij. Inclusive : not only of Esay, and his countrymen the Jews ; it is of a larger extent. The Angel so interpreteth it this day to the shepherds : Gaudium quod erit omni populo, " Joy Lu. 2. 10. that shall be to all people." Not the people of the Jews, or the people of the Gentiles, but simply " to all people." His name is Jesus Christ, half Hebrew, half Greek ; Jesus, Hebrew; Christ, Greek; so sorted of purpose to shew Jews and Greeks have equal interest in Him. And now, so is His Father's name too, "Abba, Father;" to shew the benefit equally Mar. i4.3(i. intended by Him to them that call Him Abba, that is, the Jews ; to us that call Him Father, that is, the Gentiles. But yet, it is inclusive of none but those that include them- selves — " that believe," and therefore say, nobis, ' to us Rom.3.22. He is born, to us He is given.' Which excludes all those that include not themselves. St. Ambrose saith well, Fncit midtorum infidelitas nf non omnibus nasceretur qui ji^ lij"''^' lib. 3"]" 28 Of the Nativiti/. SERM. omnibus natus est; 'Want of faith makes, that lie, That is II . ■ '- — born to all, is not born to all, though.' The Turks and Jews can say, Puer natus est; the devil can say, Filius natus est, too; [Mat. 8. but neither say Jiobis ; but. Quid nobis et Tihi ? They have not to do with Him ; and for lack of it, of this, neither Child nor Son, Birth nor Gift, doth avail them : we must make much of this word and hold it fast ; for thereby our tenure and interest groweth. Which interest groweth by a double right, and therefore is nobis twice repeated. 1. The one, of His birth, natus ; 2. the other, by a deed of gift, datus. Of which, the one. His birth, referreth to Himself ; the other, the gift, to His Father ; to shew the joint consent and concurrence in Epi). 5. 2. both, for our good. " So Christ loved us, that He was given;" Joh. 3. 16. " so God loved us, that He gave His Son." By His very birth there groweth to us an interest in Him, thereb}' partaker of our nature, our flesh, and our blood. That which is dc nobis, He took of us, is ours ; flesh and blood is our own ; and to that is our own we have good right. His humanity is clearly ours; good right to that. But no right to His Deity. Therefore His Father, Who had best Joii. 3. 16. right to dispose of Him, hath passed over that by a deed of Gal. 4. 4. gift. So that, what by participation of our nature, what by good conveyance ; both are ours. Whether a Child, He is ours ; or whether a Son, He is ours. We gave Him the one ; His Father gave us the other. So both ours ; and He ours, Htb.6. 17. so far as both these can make Him. Thus, "God, willing more abundantly to shew to the heirs of promise the stable- ness of His counsel," took both courses ; that, by two strong titles, which it is impossible should be defeated, we might have strong consolation, and ride (as it were) at a double anchor. I want time to tell of the benefit which the Prophet calleth Lsu. 9. 3. the " harvest" or booty of His Nativity. This it is in a word : if the tree be ours, the fruit is ; if He be ours. His birth is ours, His life is ours. His death is ours ; His satisfaction. His merit, all He did, all He suffered, is ours. Farther, all that the Heb. 1. 2. Father hath is His, He is Heir of all ; then, all that is ours Mat" 8 ?s ^^"^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ account. Having given Him, 1 Cor. 3. 22. there is nothing but He will give us with Him ; so that by Rom.8..32. t^is deed we have title to all that His Father or He is worth. Our duly. And now, shall we bring forth nothing for Him That was Of the Nativity. 29 thus born? No Quid retrihuam — no giving back — for Him Ps.1i6.12. That gave Him us? Yes — "thanks to the Father for His 2Cor.9. i.'i. great bounty in giving." Sure, so good a giving, so perfect a Coi. 1. 12. gift, there never came down " from the Father of hghts.'' And Jas. 1. 17. to the Son, for being wilHng so to be born, and so to be burdened as He was. For Him to condescend to be born, as children are born ; to become a child — great humility ; great, ut Verbum, infans; ut tonans, vayiens ; ut immensus, parvulus ; 'that the Word not be able to speak a word; He that thundereth in Heaven cry in a cradle ; He that so great and so high should become so little as a child,' and so low as a manger. Not to " abhor the Virgin's womb," not to abhor the beasts' manger, not to disdain to be fed with " butter and honey ;" all, great humility. All great, and very great ; but that is greater is behind. Puer natus, much; Princeps oneratus, much more; that which He bare for us, more than that He was born for us : for greater is mors crucis than nativitas prcBsepis ; worse phii. 2. 8. to drink vinegar and gall,than to eat butter and honey ; worse to endure an infamous death, than to be content with an inglorious birth. Let us therefore sing to the Father, with Zachary, Benedic- Lukei.fia tus ; and to the Son, with the blessed Virgin, Magnificat ; and, Luke 1.46. with the Angels, Gloria in excehis, to the Prince with His Luke 2. 14. "government on His shoulders." Nothing but thanks ? Yes,*by way of duty too, to render unto the Child, confidence; Puer est, nemetuas: to the Son, rever- ence; Filius est, nespernas: to the Prince, obedience; Princeps est, ne offendas. And again, to natus ; Is He born ? then cherish Him. I speak of His spiritual birth, wherein we, by hearing and doing His Word, are, as Himself saith. His mothers. To datus ; Is He given? then keep Him. To Mat. 12. oneratus ; Is He burdened ? favour Him, lay no more on than needs you must. This is good moral counsel. But St. Bernard gives us [s. Bern, politic advice ; to look to our interest, to think of making our com.'^ best benefit by Him. De nobis nato et dato faciamus id ad ^"JTj quod natus est et datus ; utamur nostro in utilitatem nostram, de Servatore nostro saJutem operemur : ' with this born and given Child, let us then do that for which he was born and given us ; seeing He is ours, let us use that that is ours to our best 30 Of the Nativity. SERM. behoof, and even work out our salvation out of this our '■ — Saviour.' His counsel is to make our use of Him ; but that is not to do with Him what we list ; but to employ Him to those ends for which He was bestowed. Those are four : 1 i>tn ■>! given us, saith St. Peter, et? vTToypafifMov " for an ex- ample," to follow. In all ; but — that which is proper to this day — to do it in humility. It is that which the Angel set up for a sign and sample, upon this very day. It is the virtue appropriate to His birth. As faith to His conception, beata qucE credidit ; so humility to His birth, et Hoc erit sigmim. [^'iJ. Am. Fieri voluit in vita primum, quod exhibuit in ortu vita, (it is Dom.^aii Cyprian;) that ' He would have us first to express in our life, ed'^^Feii' ' that He first shewed us in the very entry of His life.' And p. 25.] to commend us this virtue the more, Placuit Deo majora pro nobis operari, ' It hath pleased him to do greater things for us in this estate' than ever He did in the high degree of His Majesty ; as, we know, the work of redemption passeth that of creation by much. 2. He is given us in pretium, ' for a price.' A price either of 2 Pet. 1.19. ransom, to bring us out de loco caliginoso or a price of pur- chase of that, where without it we have no interest — the Kingdom of Heaven. For both, He is given; offer we Him for both. We speak of quid retribuam ? we can never retribute the like thing. He was given us to that end we might give Him back. We wanted, we had nothing valuable ; that we might have, this He gave us as a thing of greatest price to offer for that which needeth a great price — our sins, so many in number, and so foul in quality. We had nothing worthy God ; this He gave us that is worthy Him, which cannot be iMat.7.7,8. but accepted, offer we it never so often. Let us then offer Him, and in the act of offering ask of Him what is meet; for wc i\iyt. 14. shall find Him no less bounteous than Herod, to grant what is duly asked upon His birth-day. 3. He is given us, as Himself saith, as "the living Bread from John 6.51. Heaven," which Bread is His "flesh" born this day, and after "given for the life of the world." For look how we do give back that He gave us, even so doth He give back to us that which we gave Him, that which He had of us. This He gave for us in Sacrifice, and this He giveth us in the Sacrament, that the Sacrifice may by the Sacrament be truly applied to Of the Natwitij. 31 us. And let me commend this to yon ; He never bade, accipitc, plainly "take," but in this only; and that, because Mat. 2n.2G. the effect of this day's union is no ways more lively represented, 24^"' ' ' no way more effectually wrought, than by this use. And lastly. He is given us in prccmium ; not now to be 4. seen, only in hope, but hereafter by His blessed fruition, to be our final reward ; when, ' where He is, we shall be,' and what He is, we shall be ; in the same place, and in the same state of glory, joy, and bliss, to endure for evermore. A.t His first coming, you see what He had "on His shoulders." At His second. He shall not come empty, Ecce venio, i^c. "Lo, I come, and My reward with Me;" that is, a Rev.22. 12. "kingdom on His shoulders." And it is no light matter; but, as St. Paul calleth it, alcoviov l3dpo<;, "an everlasting 2Cor. 4. 17. weight of glory." Glory, not (like ours here) feather-glory, but true ; that hath weight and substance in it. And that not transitory, and soon gone ; but everlasting, to continue to all eternity, never to have end. This is our state in expectancy. St. Augustine put all four together, so will I, and conclude ; Sequamur 1. excmiilum ; offeramus 2. pretium: sumamus 3. viaticum ; expecteinus 4. prcemium ; ' let us follow Him for oiu' pattern, offer Him for our price, receive Him for our sacra- mental food, and wait for Him as our endless and exceeding great reward,' &c. A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE KING'S MAJESTY, AT WHITEHALL, ON THURSDAY, THE TWENTY-FIFTH OF DECF,MBER, A.D. MDCVII. BEING CIIRISTMAS-DAY. 1 Timothy iii. 16. And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness, which is, God is manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of Angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up in glory. [Et manifeste magnum est pietatis sacramentum, quod manifestatum est in came, justificatum est in Spiritu, apparuit Angelis, pradica- tum est Gentihus, creditum est in mundo, assumptum est in gloria. Latin Vulg.] \_And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness : God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of Angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. Engl. Trans.] " The mystery" here mentioned is the mystery of this feast ; and this feast the feast of this mystery ; for, as at this feast, " God was manifested in the flesh." In that it is a great mystery, it maketh the feast great. In that it is a mystery of godliness, it should make it likewise a feast of godliness. Great, we grant; and godly too, we trust. Would God, as godly as great, and no more " controversy" of one than of the other ! The manifestation of God in the flesh the Evangelists set down by way of an history ; the Apostle goeth farther, and findeth a deep mystery in it ; and for a mystery, commends it unto us. Now there is difference between these two ; many : this for one ; that a man may hear a story, and never wash his hands ; but a mystery requireth both the hands and heart to be clean, that shall deal with it. Of tJie Nativity. 33 Speaking of it then as a mystery, the Apostle doth here The divi- propound two things ; I. First, that it is one ; " without con- i troversy," &c. 11. Then, what it is; "God manifested," &c. III. And out of these, a third will grow necessarily; (because mysteries will admit a fellowship,) how to order the matter, that we may have our "fellowship in this mystery." Eph. 3 9. In the first part, four things he affirmeth ; 1, that it is a "mystery;" 2. a "mystery of godliness;" 3. that it is a "great" one ; 4. a "great" one, "without controversy." Then doth he, as it were, rend the veil in sunder, and shew li. us what it is : I.God, "manifested;" 2. manifested, "in the flesh." Which mystery, how it may concern us, will be our third III. and last consideration. And that two ways : 1. by the opera- tion of it, in us ; 2. by the initiation of us, into it. A mystery it is : presented to us in that term by the . ^■ . ^ . • ^ "'A mystery Apostle, to stir up our attention. Omnes homines naturd scire it is." desiderant, ' all men even by nature love to be knowing.^ The philosopher hath made it his ground, and set it in the front of [Arist. , . ^ , . „ • 1 I -1 , Met. init.] his metaphysics. 00 saith philosophy. And even to this day, saith divinity, doth the "tree of knowledge" still work in the sons of Eve ; we still reckon the attaining of knowledge a thing to be desired, and be it good or Gen. 3. 6. evil, we love to be knowing, all the sort of us. Knowing ; but what? Not such things as every one knoweth that goeth by the way; vulgar and trivial. Tush, those are nothing. But, metaphysics, that are the arcana of philosophy; mysteries, that are the secrets of divinity ; such, as few besides are ad- mitted to. Those be the things we desire to know. We see it in the Bethshemites ; they longed to be prying into the Ark of iSam.6.19. God. They were heathen. We see it in the people of God too; they pressed too near the mount: rails were fain to be Ex. 19. 12. set, to keep them back. It is, because it is held a point of a deep wit, to search out secrets; as in Joseph. At least of special Gen.41.45. favour, to be received so far, as Vobis datum est nosse mysteria. Luke a 10. All desire to be in credit. The mention of mysteries will make us stand attentive. Why then, if our nature like so well of mysteries, Ecce ostendo vobis mysterium, " Behold I shew i Cor. 15. you a mystery," saith the Apostle, A " mystery of godliness." The world hath her mysteries in 2. D 34 Of the Nativiti/ SERiM. all arts and trades, (yea, mechanical, pertaining to this life;) which arc imparted to none, but such as are Jilii scientice. tery'of" ' apprentices to them.' These have their mysteries ; have them, nay, are nothing but mysteries. So they delight to style themselves by the name of such and such a mystery. Now 1 Tim 6.1). Pietas est qumtus, and ad omnia utilis, "a trade of good re- turn ;" to be in request with us ; whether we look " to this life iTim.4. 8. present," saith he, "or to that to come." Therefore, to be allowed her mysteries ; at least, as all other trades are. The 2Thes.2. 7. rather, for that there is mysterium iniquitatis. And it were some- what hard, that there should not be mysterium pietatis, to en- counter and to match it ; that " Babylon " should be allowed the Rev. 17. 5. name of a " mystery," and Sion, not. It were an evident non Rev. 2. 24. sequit^ir, that there should be -profunda SatancB, " deep things of iCor.2.io. Satan;" and there should not be "deep and profound things of God and godliness, for the Spirit to search out." But such there be — mysteries of godliness. And we will, I trust, stand affected, as in all other trades, so in this, to be acquainted with these ; and, as the Apostle speaketh, to pierce ad interiora Heh. 6. 19. velaminis, "to that which is within the veil;" to the very "mystery of godliness." 3. It is not only a " mystery of godliness;" but a "great" one. mystery. The Apostle, where he saith, " If I knew all mysteries," giveth 1 Cor.13.2. us to understand, there be more than one ; there is a plurality of them. And, here in this place, telleth us, they be not all of one scantling ; there is magis and minus in them ; some little, some great. 1. Some great, if you will, according to Eph.3. 18. all the dimensions, length and breadth, &c. 2. Or, great, 2 Pet. virtute, non mole, 'of greater value, more precious than other.' 3. Or, great, a third way, that is, gravida mysteriis ; 'one mystery, but hath many mysteries with it.' That such there are, and that this here is one of them : " Great." Now, that which leadeth us to make account of mysteries, will likewise lead us to make great account of great mysteries; such as this is. 4. Yet have we not all — one point further. It is a "great" onf!^^** one — a " great one, without controversy." For even of those contro°"' mysteries that are great, all are not great alike. Many great versy." there are; yet is not the greatness of all generally acknowledged, in confesso. Doubts are made, questions arise about them ; all are Of the Nativity. 35 not manifeste magna. We see, in our days, how men languish about some points, which they would have thought to be great; and great controversies there be, and great books of controversies about them. Well, howsoever it is with other, it is not so with this. This is 6fi6X.oyov/j,4vcos , taken pro con- fesso, " great ;" " great without controversy ;" the manifesting of God in the flesh is a mystery manifestly great. Being then one of the mysteries of religion ; a great one among them ; so great, as though questions grow about the greatness of others, none may about this; I hope there will be no more question, or controversy of our account, and our great account of it, than there is of the mystery itself, and the greatness of it. But before we go any further, to remove the veil, and shew what it is, let us pause here awhile, till we have rendered thanks to God, and said with Nazianzen, XdpLs tS> ^aKaplw 0ea>, &c. Now yet, blessed be God, That, among divers other mysteries, about which there are so many mists and clouds of controversies raised in all ages, and even in this of ours, hath yet left us some clear and without controversy ; manifest, and yet great; and again, great, and yet manifest. So great, as no exception to be taken ; so manifest, as no question to be made about them. Withal, to reform our judgments in this point. For a false conceit is crept into the minds of men, to think the points of religion that be manifest to be certain petty points, scarce worth the hearing. Those, yea, those be great, and none but those, that have great disputes about them. It is not so; Ta fj,eu dvajKaia, &c. Those that are necessary He hath made plain ; those that [are] not plain not necessary. What better proof than this here ? This here a mystery, a great one, (religion hath no greater,) yet manifest, and in confesso, with all Chris- tians. Zachary's prophecy and promise touching Christ, wherewith he concludeth his Benedictus, (we hear it every day,) shall not deceive us, for this mystery ; He came " to guide Luke i our feet into the way of peace." A way of peace then there shall be, whereof all parts shall agree, even in the midst of a world of controversies. That there need not such ado in complaining, if men did not delight rather to be treading mazes, than to walk in the ways of peace. For, even still, such a way there is, which lieth fair enough, and would lead D 2 36 Of the Nativity. SERM. US sure euough to salvatiou; if leaving those other rough ^^-j^-^^ labyrinths, vpe vk^ould but be "shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace." Yea further, the Apostle doth assure us, that if whereunto we are come, and wherein we all agree, we would constantly Phil. 3. \n. proceed by the rule ; those things, wherein we are " otherwise minded," even them would God reveal unto us. That is, He maketh no controversy but controversies would cease, if con- science were made of the practice of that which is out of contro- versy. And I \yould to God it were so ; and that this here, and such other manifeste magna were in account. With the Apostle himself it was so. He sheweth plainly what reckoning he made 2 Cor. 12.2. of this plain mystery ; in that having been "ravished in spirit up to the third heavens, and there heard wonderful high mysteries, past man's utterance ;" yet reckoned he all those nothing, in comparison of this plain mystery here, nay 1 Cor. 2. 2. " esteemed himself not to know any thing at all," but this. And as he esteemed it himself, so would he have us. It is his express charge, we see (in the verse next before,) where [1 Tim. 3. he tells his Bishop Timothy how he would have him, his Priests, and Deacons, occupy themselves in his absence. This he commends to them ; wills them to be doing with this mystery. That you may know what to do, saith he, what? do but deal with this point ; throughly deal with it. Howsoever it is manifest, it is great ; great regard to be had to it, great pains to be bestowed about it. And even so then let us do, and see now another while this mystery, what it is. II. " God is manifested in the flesh." Being one of the mysteries ra>'stery^is godliuess, it Cannot be but God must be a part, and a chief man'ifested P^'^' ^^^> God's being a part maketh it great. For, in the great must that needs be, whereof He is a part, of ' Whose ' greatness there is no end.' And mark first, that it is not 1. aliquid Dei, but Deus ; not any thing divine, or of God ; but God Himself. Divers things, divers "invisible things of God" had been formerly made manifest ; His eternal power, wisdom, providence, in and since the creation. They be no mysteries. But this is ; that not the things of God, but God's own self ; Heb. 1. 3. not the dTravyda-fiaTa, ' the beams of His brightness;' but the very character of His Substance, the vei'y Nature and Person of God. This is a great mystery. )5.] God. Rom. 1. 20, Of the Nativity. 37 Of God, the Prophet Esay saith, Vere Dens absconclitus es 2. tu ; God is, of Himself, a mystery, and hidden ; and (that mm°u which is strange) hidden with light which will make any eyes jsf*45' j5 past looking on Him. But a hidden God our nature did not iTim.e.iG. endure. Will you hear them speak it plainly? Fac nobis deos, " make us visible gods, who may go before us," and we Ex. 32. 1. see them. Mystical, invisible gods we cannot skill of. This we would have ; God to be manifested. Why then, " God is manifested." "Manifested;" wherein? Sure if God will condescend to be 3. manifested, there is none but will think it is meet to be, and fe^ecihi it would be, in the most glorious creature that is under or ^^'^ flesh." above the sun ; none good enough. Yea, in what thing soever, be it never so excellent, for God to manifest Himself in, is a disparagement too. What say you to flesh ? is it meet God be manifested therein? "Without controversy" it is not. Why, what is flesh? It is no mystery to tell what it is; it is Gen.1e.27. "dust," saith the Patriarch Abraham. It is "grass," saith the isa. 40. 6. Prophet Esay ; fanum, "grass cut down, and withering." It is " corruption," not corruptible, but even corruption itself, saith 1 Cor. 13. the Apostle Paul. There being then, (as Abraham said to him,) lu. 16. 26. ■yaafxa yikr^a, ' so great a gulph, so huge a space, so infinite a distance,' between those two, between God, and dust; God, and hay; God, and corruption ; as no coming of one at the other; sileatomnis caro, "talk not of flesh." Were it not a proud desire, Zeth.2.13. and full of presumption, to wish things so remote to come together? to wish that the Deity, in the flesh, may be made manifest? Yet we. see, wished it was, by one in a place in reasonable express terms; "O that thou wert as my brother. Cant. 8. 1. that sucked the breasts of my mother !" That is, O that He might be "manifested in the flesh I" O that He might be! and SO He was. Not only manifest, at all; (that is great:) but manifest in the flesh ; (that is greater.) For if gold mixed though it be with silver is abased by it; what if it be mixed with the rust of iron or dross of lead ? This must needs be great, in itself ; but greater, with us ; with us especially, that make such ado at any, though never so little disparagement ; and that if any, though not much our inferior, be ranked with us, take ourselves mightily wronged. We cannot choose but hold this mystery for great, and say with St. Augustine, Deus ; 38 Of the Nativitij. SERM. quid gloriosius? Caro ; quid vilius? Deus in came; quid '■ — mirahiliiis 9 ' God ; what more glorious ? flesh ; what more base? Then, God in the flesh; what more mai-vellous ?' Mani- But I ask further, "manifested in the flesh?" what flesh? or igno- ' how manifested ? In what flesh ? What ! in the pride and mintam. ^gj^^j-y q^j. nature ? No ; but in the most disgraceful estate of it that might be. And how manifested? Ad gloiiam, 'for As a child. His credit or glory?' No; but ad ignomiiiiam, 'to His great contempt and shame.' So to have been manifested, as in the Jiat. 17. 2. holy mount, " His face as the sun ;" His garments as "light- ning;" between Moses and Elias, in all glory, and glorious manner — this had not been so great an impeachment. Was that the manner? No ; but how? In clouts, in a stable, in a manger. The God Whom " the heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot contain," in a little child's flesh not a span long ; and that flesh of a child not very well conditioned, as Ezek 16. you may read in the sixteenth of Ezekiel. So, to-day; but after much worse. To-day, in the flesh of a poor babe, crying in the cratch, in medio animalium ; after, As a con- in the rent and torn flesh of a condemned person, hanging on person. the Cross, in medio latronum, in the midst of other manner persons than Moses and Elias ; that men even hid their faces at Him ; not, for the brightness of His glory, but for sorrow and shame. Call you this manifesting ? Nay, well doth the Heb.10.20. Apostle Call it the "veil of His flesh;" as whereby He was rather obscured, than any way set forth ; yea eclipsed in all the darkest points of it. Verily, the condition of the flesh was more than the flesh itself ; and the manner of the manifesta- tion far more than the manifestation itself was. Both still make the mystery greater and greater. The man- And now to weigh the word " manifested" another while ; nfan?festa- because that may seem to be terminus diminuens, ' a qualified tion. term,' rather abating than any way tending to make great the mystery ; in that a thing may be manifested, and not be that for which it is manifested; be manifested for one thing, and be another. Would to God we had not too plain examples of these, even in that we are about, in godliness itself ; that there were not, that manifested themselves iv fiopcfjcoa-ei, "in the 2 Tim. 3.5. vizor or mask of godhness," but be nothing less. Well, this, how or wheresoever it may be with men, with God it is not ; Of the Nativiti/. 39 lie is not like to us; and howsoever, not here in this. For first, it is not in the shadow, show, or shape of flesh ; but in very flesh itself. Then, it is not, saith the Greek Scholiast, <^avdeU, but av€po)del<; : (pavdelt, which importeth but 'an apparition, transitory, for a season, and then vanisheth again j' but (f>avepcodei<;, 'a manifestation;' such as is (say they) permanent, which passeth not, but lasteth for ever. And to put all out of question, that here is nihil personatum, but even persona, He that here is said to be, " God manifested in the flesh," is in another place said to be Verbum caro factum, "the Word made John 1. 14. flesh." So manifested, that made; so taking our nature, as His and it are grown into one person, never to be severed, or taken in sunder any more. And, in sign thereof, that flesh, wherein He is manifested in the beginning of the verse ; in the end of the verse, in the very same flesh, He is " received up into glory;" and in the same shall appear again at His second manifestation. And yet to go further; I say that this word "manifested" is so far from being terminus dirninuens, that it doth greatly ampliate and enlarge the mystery yet still. To be, and to be manifested ; esse, and videri ; did de, and esse in, are two things. And, as in some cases, it is more to be, than to be manifested ; so in some other, it is more to be manifested, than to be ; and namely, in this here. More for God to be manifested, than to be in the flesh. It is well known, when a great high person doth fall into low estate, he careth not so much for being so, as for appearing such ; manifest him not, and you do him a pleasure. More it is for him to be made known, than to be that he is. O it is naturally given us, to hide our abasing, what we can. Our misery must be kept in a mystery, and that mystery not manifested in any wise. "Blow a trumpet in Sion," if any good come to us; joei 2. i. but whist, " let it not be heard in Gath, nor in Ascalon," if 2Sam.i.20. any evil fall upon us. Not so much as Naomi, we see, but Ruth 1.20. when she was fallen into poverty, she could not endure to be called by that name ; no, her name was Mara, as if she had been some other party ; so loath was she to have her misery made manifest. Humility intrinsical is not so much; it is the manifesting our humility that poseth us. That David 2Sam.6.20. should have been humble in heart before God, and His Ark ; 40 Of the Nativity. SERM. that Michal could have borne well enough. This was the III. . . o . grief; that David must make it manifest, "uncover him- self, wear an ephod," and thereby, as she thought, mightily disgrace, and make himself " vile in the eyes of his servants." That was it she took so ill; not to be, so much; as to be manifest ; that same manifesting marred all. And why would John)9.39. Nicodemus come to Christ, but not but by candlelight, but that to be seen manifestly to come, was with him a far greater matter than to come. By all which it appeareth, that in case of abasement to seem is more than to be ; did de than esse in ; and so here nosci more than nasci. And I make no ques- tion, but we may reckon these two as two distinct degrees. 1. He abhorred not to become flesh. 2. He abhorred not to Acts26.26. have it manifestly known. It was not done, this, in a corner, in an out-corner of Galilee ; but in the City of David. His Mat. 2. 10, poor clouts manifested by a star; His shameful death pub- [Luke 23. lished by a great eclipse ; yea that it might be manifest ■*^1 indeed, (as itfolloweth after in the verse,) He would have it preached over all the world. But when we have done and said all that ever we can, if we I Cor. 13.2. had all mysteries, and no love, the Apostle tells us it is nothing. We can have no mystery, except love be manifest. So is it. Two Tit. 2. 11. several times doth the Apostle tell us, 1. apparuit gratia; Tit. 3. 4. 2. apparuit amor erga homines. At the opening of this mys- tery, there appeared the 1. grace of God, and the 2. love of God toward mankind. Velatio Deitatis, revelatio charitatis ; 'as manifest as God was in the flesh, so manifest was His love vinto flesh.' And then, because great love, a great mystery, Joh. 3. 16. Dilexit goeth never alone, but with sic ; so Christ : ecce 1 Joh. 3. 1, quantum charitatem ; so St. John. Sure, how great and apparent humility, so great and apparent love. And His humility was too apparent. So we have " God manifested in I Joh. 4. 8. the flesh," Deus charitas ; for, if ever He were love, or shewed it, in this He was it, and shewed it both. God, that is " love," was " manifested in the flesh." The end To make an end, one question more. To what end ? Cui manifesta- bono ? ' who is the better for all this ?' God, that is manifested ; or the flesh, wherein He is manifested ? Not God ; to Him there groweth nothing out of this manifestation. It is for the good of the flesh, that " God was manifested in the flesh." Of the Nativity. 41 1. For the good present: for we let go that of the Psalmist now, " Thou that hcarest the prayer, to Thee shall all flesh Ps. 65. 2. come ;" and much better and more properly say, ' Thou that art manifested in the flesh, to Thee shall all flesh come ; with boldness entering into the holy place, by the new and Heb. lo. living way prepared for us through the veil, that is. His flesh.' ' " ' 2. And for the good to come ; for we are put in hope that the end of this manifesting God in the flesh will be the mani- festing of the flesh in Him, even as He is ; and that which is the end of the verse be the end of all, " the receiving us up into His glory." To this haven ariseth this mystery of the manifestation of it. The end of this second part is but the beginning of the Hi- 1 • 1 , ■ 1 • • 1 •, How this third. Jb or, hearing that it is so great, and or so great avail mystery rising by it, that it is qucestus muHo uherrimus, 'a trade so bene- eth us"!"' ficial ;' it makes us seek how to incorporate ourselves, as in By the the third of the Ephesians he speaketh ; how to have our part of it hi°us. and fellowship in this trade or mystery. And that may we do, Eph.3.6,9. saith he in the same place, si operetur in nobis, that is, 'if it Eph. 3. 7. prove to us, as it is in itself, a mystery.' I know it were a thing very easy for a speculative Divine to lead you along, and let you see that this mystery is the substance of all the ceremonies, and the fulfilling of all prophecies ; that all Moses' veils, and all the Prophets' visions, are recapitulate in it. But it is a point of speculation ; we hear those points too often, and love them too well : points of practice are less pleasing, but more profitable for us ; namely, how we may get into the partnership of this mystery. There is this difference between a ceremony and a mystery. A ceremony represents and signifies ; but works nothing. A mystery doth both. Beside that it signifieth, it hath his operation ; and work it doth ; else, mystery is it none. You may see it by the mystery of iniquity ; that doth operari, ' was 2Thes.2.7. at work' in the Apostles' time ; and it is no way to be ad- mitted, but that the " mystery of godliness" should have like operative force. If you ask, what it is, to work? It is to do, as all other agents; ut assimilet sibi passim, 'to make that it works on like itself ;' to bring forth in it the very same quality. This the rather, for that this day being a birth-day, and the mystery of 42 Of the Nativity. SERM. it a birth or generation; in that, we know, the natural and III. . most proper work is sid simile procreare, ' to beget and bring forth the very hke to itself.' And what should the " mystery 1 Tim. 4. 7. of godliness" beget in us, but godliness? What the "mystery of godliness," in this chapter, but the exercise of godliness, in the next? To shew, we must make St. Basil's daKrjTLKa of it; for his oo'K'rjrtKa, and St. Paul's i i , i Law." if He be out of the compass of the law, that the law cannot take hold of Him, factum ex midiere will do us small plea- sure. And He was so born, so " made of a woman." As the verity of His conception is in this factum ex midiere, so the purity is in this, that it is but ex muliere, and no more ; of the Virgin alone, by the power of the Holy Ghost, without mix- ture of fleshly generation. By virtue whereof, no original soil was in Him. Just born He was, and Justo non est lex posita, iTim. 1. 9. "no law for the just" — no law could touch Him. And so, we never the better, for factum ex muliere. For if one be in debt and danger of the law, to have a brother of the same blood, made of the same woman, both (as we say) lying in one belly, will little avail him, except he will also come " under the law," that is, become his surety, and undertake for him. And such was our estate. As Col. 2. 14. debtors we were, by virtue of chirographum contra nos, " the hand-writing that was against us." Which was our bond, and we had forfeited it. And so, f actus ex muliere, to us, without factus sub Lege, would have been to no small purpose. No remedy therefore. He must be new made ; made again once more. And so He was, cast in a new mould; and at His second making, " made under the Law ;" under which if He had not been made, we had been marred; even quite undone for ever, if this had not been done for us too. There- fore He became bound for us also, entered bond anew, took on Him, not only our nature, but our debt; our nature, and Of the Nativity. 55 condition both. Nature, as men ; condition, as sinful men ; ' expressed in the words following, " them that were under the Law for that was our condition. There had indeed been no capacity in Him to do this, if the former had not gone before, factum ex muliere ; if He had not been, as we, "made of a woman." But the former was for this; "made of a woman" He was, that He might be " made under the Law;" being ex muliere, He might then become sub Lege, which before He could not, but then He might and did; and so, this still is the fuller. And when did He this ? When was He " made under the Law." Even then, when He was circumcised. For this doth St. Paul testify, in the third of the next chapter, " Behold, I Paul testify unto you, whosoever is circumcised," factus est Gal. 5. 3. I debitor universes Legis, "he becomes a debtor to the whole Law." At His Circumcision then, He entered bond anew with us ; and in sign that so He did, He shed then a few drops of His blood, whereby He signed the bond (as it were,) and gave those few drops then, tanquam arrham universi sanguinis effun- dendi, ' as a pledge or earnest,' that " when the fulness of time came," ' He would be ready to shed all the rest ;' as He did. For I would not have you mistake ; though we speak of this, sub Lege, being " under the Law," in the terms of a debt, some- times ; yet, the truth is, this debt of ours was no money debt ; \ we were not sub Lege pecuniarid, but capitali ; and the debt ' of a capital law is death. And under that, under death He went, and that the worst death law had to inflict, "even the death of the cross," the most bitter, reproachful, cursed death of the cross. So that upon the matter, factus sub T^ege, and factus in cruce, come both to one ; one amounts to as much as the other. Well, this He did undertake for us, at His circum- cision; and therefore then, and not till then. He had His Name given Him, the name of Jesus, a Saviour. For then took He Luke 2. 21. on Him the obligation to save us. And look, what then at His Circumcision He undertook, at His Passion He paid even to the full ; and having paid it, delevit chirographum, " can- celled the sentence of the Law," that till then was of record, and stood in full force against us. Howbeit, all this was but one part of the Law ; but He was made sub Lege universa, ' under the whole Law ;' and that, not 56 Of the Natioity. SERAJ. by His death only, but by His life too. The one half of the '- — Law, (that is, the directive part,) He was made under that, and satisfied it, by the innocency of His life, without breaking so much as one jot or tittle of the Law ; and so answered that part, (as it might be the principal.) The other half of the Law, which is the penalty — He was under that part also, and satisfied it, by suffering a wrongful death, no way deserved, or due by Him ; and so answered that, (as it might be the forfeiture.) So, He was made under both, under the whole Law. Satisfying the principal, there was no reason He should be liable to the forfeiture and penalty ; yet under that He was also. And all, that the whole Law might be satisfied fully, by His being under both parts ; and so no part of it light upon us. These two then, 1 . " Made of a woman," 2. " Made under the Law," ye see, are two several makings, and both very requisite. Therefore, either hath a several feast, they divide this solemnity between them. Six days apiece, to either ; as the several moieties of this "fulness of time." This day. Job 1. 14. Verbum caro factum, "the Word made flesh;" that day, "Him 2Cor.5.2i. ^Yia.t knew no sin. He made sin," that is, made Him under- take to be handled as a sinner, to be " under the Law," and to endure what the Law could lay upon Him. And so now the thing sent is full ; and fully sent, because made ; and fully made, because made once and twice over; fully made ours, because fully united to us. " Made of a woman," as well as we ; " made under the Law," as deep as we ; both ex muliere, and sub Lege. So of our nature " of a woman," that of our condition also "under the Law." So, fully united to us in nature, and condition both. And so we are come to the full measure of His sending. And that we are come to the full, ye shall plainly see by the Gal. 4. 5. overflowing, by that which we receive from this fulness; which is the latter part of the verse, and is our fulness, even the ful- ness of all that we can desire. For if we come now to ask. For whom is all this ado, this sending, this making, over and over again ? It is for us. So is the conclusion, ut nos, that we might from this fulness receive the full of our wish. For in these two behind, I. Redemption and 2. Adoption ; to be redeemed, and to be adopted, are the full of all we can wish ourselves. Of the Natimly. The transcendent division, of good and evil, is it that com- prehendeth all. And here it is. Our desire can extend itself no farther than to be rid of all evil, and to attain all that good is. By these two, (being redeemed and being adopted,) we are made partakers of them both. " To be redeemed from under the Law," is to be quit of all evil. " To receive the adoption of children," is to be stated' in all that is good. For all evil is, [' i.e. set- in being "under the Law," from whence we are redeemed \ confirm- and all good, in being invested in the Heavenly inheritance, ^^-^ whereunto we are adopted. Thus stood the case with us, 'aliens we were from God, His covenant, and His Kingdom.' Eph.2. 12. More than that, pi'isoners we were, fast laid up under the Law. From this latter we are freed ; of the former we are seized ; and what would we more ? Only, this you shall observe, that in the idiom of the Scrip- tures, it is usual, two points being set down, when they are resumed again, to begin with the latter, and so end with the former. So is it here. At the first, " made of a woman, made under the Law." At the resuming, He begins with the latter, " made under the Law, that He might redeem them that were under the Law." And then comes to the former, " made of a woman," made the Son of man, "that we by adoption might be made the sons of God." But this we are to mark, it is He that is at all the cost and pain ; and we that have the benefit by it. At the redeeming it is, ut ille ; at the receiving it is, ut nos. Briefly of either. And first, of our redeeming. Redeem- 6. ing (as the word giveth it) is a second buying, or buying back might re- of a thing, before aliened or sold. Ever, a former sale is pre- [he™ that supposed before it. And such a thing there had gone before, ^g^^j,""' A kind of alienation had formerly been, whereby we had made Law." away ourselves, (for a sale I cannot call it, it was for such a trifle;) our nature aliened in Adam for the forbidden fruit, a matter of no moment. Our persons likewise ; daily we our- selves alien them, for some trifling pleasure or profit, matters not much more worth. And when we have thus passed our- selves away, by this "selling ourselves under sin," the Law Rom.7.i4. scizeth on us, and under it we are (TxrjKeKKeicrfjbkvoi, even Gal. 3. 23. *' locked up," as it were, in a dungeon, " tied fast with the cords Prov.5.22. of our sins ;" the sentence passed on us, and we waiting but for 58 Of the Natioitij. SERM. execution. What evil is there not in this estate, and on every '■ — soul that is in it ? well then, the first ut, the first end is, to get us rid fi-om under this estate. He did it; not by way of entreaty, step in and beg our pardon ; that vFould not serve. Sold, we were, and bought we must be ; — a price must be laid down for us. To get us from under the Law, it was not a matter of intercession, to sue for it and have it. No, He must purchase it and pay for it. It was a matter of redemption. And, in redemption or a purchase, we look to the price. For if it be at any easy rate, it is so much the better. But with a high price He purchased us ; it cost Him dear to bring it ] Pet. 1. about. Non auro, nec argento ; neither of them would serve : at an higher rate it was, even pretioso sanguine, " His precious Blood was the price we stood Him in." Which He Mat.20.28. paid, when " He gave His life a ransom for many." It stood thus between Him and us, in this point of redemp- tion. Here are certain malefactors under the Law, to suffer, to be executed. What say you to them ? Why, I will become " under the Law," suffer that they should, take upon Me their execution, upon condition they may be quit. In effect, Joh. 18. 8. so much at His Passion He said. Si ergo Me guceritis, "If you lay hold on Me," if I must discharge all, sinite hos ahire, "let these go their way." Let the price I pay be their redemption: and so it was. And so we come to be " redeemed from under the Law." And this is to be marked, that " them that were under the Law," and " we that are to receive," are but one, one and the same persons both ; but being so redeemed, then we are our- selves. Till then, the Apostle speaks of us in the third person, " them that were under the Law," as of some strangers, as of men of another world, none of our own. But now being re- deemed, the style changeth. He speaketh of us in the first person, rd nos, 'that we.' For till now, we were not our own, we were not ourselves ; but now we are. Till this, it was the old year still with us ; but with the new year cometh our new estate. "That we Being thus redeemed, we are got from under the Law; and ce'/ve'tiie that is much. Till a party come to be once under it and feel of "hi'id- ^'^^ weight of it, he shall never understand this aright ; but diun." Of the Nativity. 59 then he shall. And if any have been under it, he knows what it is and how great a benefit to be got thence. But is this all ? No, He leaves us not here ; but to make the measure complete, yea even to flow over, He gives us not over, when He had rid us out of this wretched estate, till He have brought us to an estate as good as He Himself is in. After our redemption, we stood but as prisoners enlarged ; that was all : but still we were as strangers ; no part nor portion in God, or His Kingdom ; nor no reason we should hope for any. He now goeth one step farther, which is the highest and farthest step of all. For farther than it He cannot go. " That we might receive the adoption," that is, from the estate of prisoners condemned, be translated into the estate of children adopted. Of adopted : for of natural we could not. That is His peculiar alone, and He therein only above us ; but else, fully to the joint fruition of all that He hath, which is fully as much as we could desire. And this is our Jleri out of His factum ex muliere. We made the sons of God, as He 2 Pet. 1.4. the Son of man ; we made partakers of His divine, as He of our human nature. To purchase our pardon, to free us from death, and the law's sentence, this " seemed a small thing" to 2Sam.7.l9. Him; yet this is lex hominis. Man's goodness goeth no farther; and gracious is the prince that doth but so much. For who ever heard of a condemned man adopted afterward ; or that thought it not enough and enough, if he did but scape with his life ? So far then to exalt His bounty, to that fulness ; as pardon, and adopt both, non est lex hominis hesc, " no such measure amongst men ;" zelus Domini exercituum, " the zeal isa. 9. 7. of the Lord of Hosts," was to perform this ; " the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in Him," that brought this to pass. For, to speak of adopting, we see it daily ; no father adopts, unless he be orbe, have no child ; or if he have one, for some deep dislike have cast him off. But God had a Son, "the Heb. 1.3. brightness of His glory, the true character of His substance." And no displeasure there was ; no, in Quo complacitum est, " in Whom He was absolutely well pleased;" yet would He, jiat. 17. 5. by adoption, for all that, " bring many sons to glory." Is not Heb. 2. 10. this full on His part ? We see again, no heir will endure to hear of adoption, nay, nor divide his inheritance ; no, not with his natural brethren. 60 Of the Nativity. SERM. Then, that "the Heir of all things" should admit "joint- '- — heirs" to the Kingdom He was born to ; and that admit them Heb. I. 2. Rom. 8. 17! not out of such as were near Him, but from such as were strangers ; yea, such as had been condemned men under the law — is not this full on His part? To purchase us, and to purchase for us, both at once? And not to do this for us alone, but to assure it to us. For as His Father (in this verse) [Gal. 4.6.] sends Him, so (in the next verse) " He sends the Spirit of His Son," to give us seisin of this our adoption ; whereby we now call Him, the Jews Abba, the Gentiles Pater, as children all, and He our Father, which is the privilege of the adoption we here receive. [III.] And now are we come to the fulness indeed. For this adoption is the fulness of our option ; we cannot extend ; we, our wish ; or He, His love and goodness, any farther. For, what^an we ask, or He give more, seeing in giving this. He giveth all He is worth? By this time it is full sea; all the banks are filled. It is now as Ezekiel's waters that he saw Eztk. 47, " flow from under the threshold of the Temple that took him to the ancles first, then to the knees, after to the loins ; at last, so high risen, there was no more passage. 1. From the fulness of His compassion. He " sent" to re- lease us. 2. From the fulness of His love, " He sent His Son." 3. In the fulness of humility, " He sent Him made." 4. " Made of a woman," to make a full union with our nature. 5. "Made under the Law," to make the union yet more per- fectly full with our sinful condition. 6. "That we might obtain a full deliverance from all evil, by being redeemed." 7. " And a full estate of all the joy and glory of His Heavenly inheritance, by being adopted." So, there is ful- ness of all hands. And so much for the fulness of the benefit we receive. [IV.] Now, for the fulness of the duty, we are to perform this day. For, " in the fulness of time," all things are to be full. Pleni- tudo temporis, tempus plenitudinis. And seeing God hath suffered us to live, to see the year run about, to this plenitudo temporis ; if it be so on God's part ; meet also, it be so on ours ; and that we be not empty, in this " fulness of time." It is not fit, if He be at the brink, that we be at the bottom. But, as we be willing, to yield Him of ours again ; of our duty, I Of the Nativity. Gl mean ; that it, to Him, in a measure and proportion be like full ; as His bounty hath been full above measure towards us. That so from us, and on our parts, it may be plenitudo tem- poris, or tempus plenitudinis, "the fulness of time," or 'time of fulness,' choose you whether. 1. And a time of fulness it will be, (I know) in a sense; of fulness of bread, of fulness of bravery, of fulness of sport and pastime ; and this it may be. And it hath been ever a joyful time, in appearance ; for it should be so. "With the joy," isa. a 3. (saith Esay, a verse or two before Puer natus est nobis, " unto i us a Child is born,") "that men rejoice with, in harvest." Not to go from our text here ; with the joy of men that are come out of prison, have escaped the law ; with the joy of men that have got the reversion of a goodly heritage. Only, that we forget not the principal; that this outward joy eat not up, evacuate not our spiritual joy, proper to the feast ; that we have in mind, in the midst of our mirth, the cause of it, Christ's sending, and the benefits that come thereby. And it shall be a good sign unto us, if we can thus rejoice, if this our joy can be full, if we can make a spiritual blessing the object of our mirth. Bcatvs popiilus qui scit juhilationem, " Blessed is the Ps. 89. 15. people that can rejoice on this manner." 2. And after our joy-fulness or fulness of joy, our fulness of thanks or thank-fulness is to ensue ; for with that fulness we are to celebrate it likewise. Our minds first, and then our mouths, to be filled with blessing, and praise, and thanks to Him, That hath made our times not to fall into those empty ages of the world, but to fall within this "fulness of time," which " so many Kings and Prophets desired to have lived in," but Lu. lo. 24. fell short of ; and lived then, when the times were full of shadows, and promises, and nothing else. How instantly they longed to have held such a feast, to have kept a Christmas, it is evident by David's Inclina Coelos, by Esay's Utinam dis- Ps. 144.5. rumpas Ccelos, "Bow the Heavens," and "Break the Ilea- isn. 64. i. vens :" how much, I say, they longed for it; and therefore, that we make not light account of it. To render our thanks then, and to remember to do it fully, I. to forget none ; to Him that was sent, and to Him that "sent :" I "sent His Son," in this; "the Spirit of His Son," in tlie next verse. To begin with Osculamini Filium, it is the first 62 Of the Nativity. SERM. duty enjoined us this day, to "kiss the Babe" new born, That, ^^^^ when His Father would send Him, said, Ecce venio, so readily; Ps. 40. 7. and when He would make Hira, was content with Corpus aptasti Mihiy to have a body made Him, meet for Him to Gen.4!).io. suffer in ; who willingly yielded to be our Shilo — to this airkcTTeiXe here ; yea, to be not only Christ, but an Apostle Heb. 3. 1. for us, even " the Apostle of our profession." And not to Him that was sent and made alone ; but to the Father that sent Hira, and to the Holy Ghost that made Him, (as by Whom He was conceived.) To the Father, for His mission ; the Son, for His redemption ; the Holy Ghost, for His adoption ; for by Him it is wrought. He that made Him the Son of man, doth likewise regenerate us, to the state of the sons of God. And this for our thank- fulness. 3. And to these two (to make the measure full) to join the fulness of duty, even whatsoever dutiful-minded persons may yield to a bountiful-minded and a bountiful-handed Bene- factor. And with this to begin, to consecrate this first day of this fulness of time, even with our service to Him at the full ; which is then at the full, when no part is missing: when all our duties of preaching, and praying, of hymns, of offering, of Sacrament, and all, meet together. No fulness there is of our Liturgy, or public solemn Service, without the Sacrament. Some part ; yea the chief part is wanting, if that be wanting. But our thanks are surely not full without the Holy Eucharist, which is by interpretation, thanksgiving itself. Fully we can- Ps. 116. not say, Quid retribuam Domino ? but we must answer, Calicem salutaris accipiam, " we will take the Cup of salvation," and with it in our hands give thanks to Him, render Him our true Eucharist, or real thanksgiving indeed. In which Cup is the Blood not only of our redemption, of the covenant, that freeth us from the I^aw, and maketh the destroyer pass over us ; but Mat,26.28. of our adoption, of the New Testament also, which entitles us and conveys unto us, (testament-wise or by way of legacy,) the estate we have in the joy and bliss of His Heavenly Kingdom, whereto we are adopted. We are then made partakers of Him, and with Him of both these His benefits. We there 1 Cor. 12, are made " to drink of the Spirit," " by which we are sealed Eph. 4. 30. to tlie day of our redemption" and adoption both. So that, Of the Nativity. 63 our freeing from under the Law, our investiture into our new adopted state, are not fully consummate without it. And what ? Shall this be all ? No, when this is done, there is allowance of twelve days more, for this " fulness of time ;" that we shrink not up our duty then into this day alone, but in the rest also remember to redeem some part of the day, to adopt some hour at the least, to bethink ourselves of the duty the time calleth to us for; that so, we have not Job's dies vacuos, "no day quite empty" in this fulness of time. Hereof assuring ourselves, that what we do in "this fulness of time" will have full acceptance at His hands. It is the time of His birth, which is ever a time, as accepted, so of accepting; 2 Cor. 6. 2. wherein, what is done will be acceptably taken to the full : fully accepted, and fully rewarded by Him, " of Whose fulness Joh. 1. lo. we all receive ;" with this condition " of grace for grace," ever one grace for another. And so, growing from grace to grace, finally from this "fulness" we shall come to be partakers of another yet behind, to which we aspire. For all this is but " the fulness of time." But that, the fulness of eternity, when time shall be run out and his glass empty, et tempus non erit amplius ; Rev. 10. 6. which is at His next sending. For yet once more shall God send Him, and He come again. At which coming, we shall then indeed receive the fulness of our redemption, not from the Law (that we have already,) but from corruption, to which our bodies are yet subject; and receive the full firuition of the inheritance, whereto we are here but adopted. And then it will be perfect, complete, absolute fulness indeed, when we shall all be filled with the "fulness of Him that Eph.i. 23. fiUeth all in all.'' For so shall all be, when nothing shall be wanting in any ; for " God shall be all in all." Not as here 1 Cor. is. He is, something, (and but something) in every one; but then, omnia in omnibus. And then, the measure shall be so full as it cannot enter into us, we cannot hold it. We must enter into it; Intra in gaudium Domini tui. Mat. 25.21. To this we aspire, and to this, in the fulness appointed of every one of our times. Almighty God bring us, by Him, and for His sake. That in this " fulness of time " was sent to work it for us, in His Person ; and work it in us, by the operation of His blessed Spirit. To Whom, &c. A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE KING'S MAJESTY, AT WHITEHALL, ON TUESDAY, THE TWENTY-FIFTH OF DECEMBER, A.D. MDCX. BEING CHRISTMAS-DAY. Luke ii. 10, 11. The Angel said unto them. Be not afraid ; for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, ichich shall be to all people. That there is born unto you this day a Saviour, Which is Christ the Lord, in the city of David. [Et dixit illis Angelus : Nolite timers: ecce enim evangelizo vobis gmidiiim magnum, quod erit omni populo : Quia natus est vobis hodie Salvator, Qui est CJiristus Dominus in civitate David. Latin Vulg.] \_And the Angel said unto them, Fear not : for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, ichich shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviotir, Which is Christ the Lord. Engl. Trans.] SERM. There is a word in this text, and it is hodie, by virtue '- whereof this day may seem to challenge a special property in this text, and this text in this day. Christ was boi'n, is true any day ; but this day Christ was born, never, but to-day only. For of no day in the year can it be said, hodie natus, but of this. By which word, the Holy Ghost may seem to have marked it out, and made it the peculiar text of the day. Then it will not be amiss, donee cognominatur hodie, as the Heb. 3. 13. Apostle speaketh, "while it is called to-day," to hear it. To-morrow, the word hodie will be lost ; this day, and not any day else, it is in season. Let us then hear it this day, which we can hear no day besides. It is then the first report, the very first news that came, as this day, of that which maketh this day so high a feast; the birth of Christ. Of the Nativity. 65 It came by an Angel then ; no man was meet to be the i. messenger of it. And look, how it came then, so it should y^lus. come still ; and none but an Angel bring it, as more fit for the tongues of Angels than of men. Yet since God hath allowed sinful men to be the reporters of it at the second hand ; and the news never the worse ; for that good news is good news and welcome, by any, though the person be but even a foul leper that brings it : yet, that the meanness of the 2 Kings 7. messenger offend us not, ever we are to remember this ; be the party who he will, that brings it, the news of Christ's birth is a message for an Angel. This had been news for the best prince in the earth. That ^. .„. '■ , Dixit mis. these illis here, these parties were shepherds, that this mes- sage came to them, needs not seem strange. It found none else, at the time, to come to. The Angel was glad to find any to tell it to ; even to tell it the first he could meet withal. None were then awake, none in case to receive it, but a sort of poor shepherds ; and to them he told it. Yet it fell not out amiss, that shepherds they were. The news fitted them well. It well agreed to tell shepherds of the yeaning of a strange Lamb; such a Lamb as should " take away Joh. i. 29. the sins of the world;" such a Lamb as they might "send to isa. 16. 1. the Ruler of the world for a present," mitte Agnum Domi- natori terrce : Esay's Lamb. Or, if ye will, to tell shepherds of the birth of a Shepherd : Ezekiel's Shepherd. Ecce suscitabo Ezek. 34. vobis Pastorem, " Behold, I will raise you a Shepherd:" "the fpet.5. 4. Chief Shepherd," " the Great Shepherd," and " the Good ^;;^\lf{ Shepherd, that gave His life for His flock." And so it was not unfit news for the persons to whom it came. For the manner: the Angel delivereth it evanqelizando, 3. . . Dixit 'church-wise,' (and that was a sign this place should ever be evan- the exchange for this news.) Church-wise, I say ; for he doth oei^^o- it by a sermon, here at this verse ; and then, by a hymn or anthem after, at the 14th verse. A sermon ; the Angel him- self calls it so, evangelizo vobis, " I come to evangelize, to preach you a gospel :" that first. And presently after he had done his sermon, there is the hymn, Gloria in excelsis, taken up by the choir of Heaven. An Angel makes the one ; a multitude of Angels sing the other. The whole service of this day, the sermon, the anthem, by Angels, all. 66 Of the Nativity. SE^RM. Now the end of both sermon and anthem, and of the 4; Angels, in pubhshing it, and of the shepherds, and us, in hear- ^eUzo f/dudium, "joy," for the benefit and honour; gaudium 'gaudhim mamum, " great joy," for the great benefit, and great honour, magnum. /.i i ^ • ^ t!)- - i vouchsared our nature, and us, this day. "Joy is m the text, and if joy be in the time, it is no harm. We keep the text, if we hold the time with joy ; for so the Angel doth warrant us to hold it. The iii- Of this angelical or evangelical message, or, (as not I but the Angel calleth it,) sermon, these two verses I have read are I- a part. Whereof the former is but an ecce, exciting them to hear it, by magnifying the message, as well worth their hear- ing, " Be not afraid, for behold I bring you good tidings of II. great joy, which shall be to all people." The latter is the very message itself, " that there is born unto you this day a Saviour, Which is Christ the Lord, in the city of David." I. In the former are these points. 1. "Fear not," it is no ill news I bring you. 2. Nay, it is "good news." 3. Good, for it is "news of joy." 4. Joy, and that no ordinary, but " great joy." 5. Not to some few, but " to the whole people." 6. And not toti j^opulo, ' to all one people,' but omni populo, " to all people whatsoever." 7. And them, not for the pre- sent, but guod erit omni populo, " that is, and so shall be, to all, as long as there shall be any people upon earth." And by virtue of this quod erit, to us here this day. Ecce, "behold," such is the news I bring. II- In the latter, the message itself. The sum whereof is the The mes- sage itself, birth of a Child, a Child is born. Three things are proposed I- of Him. 1. This Child is "a Saviour." 2. "A Saviour, The names. Which is Christ." 3. " Christ the Lord," Christus Dominus. For every saviour is not Christ, nor every christ Christus Dominus, " Christ the Lord, or the Lord Christ." He is all three. „ 2. Then have we besides three circumstances, of the L Per- The cir- cum- sons, 2. Time, and 3. Place. 1. The persons, for whom all stance!,, ^j^.^ .^^ twice I'cpeated ; 1. evangelizo vobis in the first verse, 1ms ' ^* vobis in the second. But this I make some doubt of, whether it be a circumstance or no. I rather hold it a princi- pal part of the substance, as the word of conveyance, whereby it passeth to us. And sure, there is no joy either in evan- Of the Nativity. 67 gelizo ' the message,' or natiis ' the birth,' without it ; without vobis. But if the message, and the birth itself both, be ours; then it is gaudium magnum indeed. Specially, if we add 2. the time when, not many days hence, but even this very 2. da3^ And 3. the place where, that it is in no remote region far hence, but " in the city of David," even here hard by. The place. And then lastly in a word ; what our parts are to perform, ni. ■, , • 1 , 1 ^ , • 1 , Our duty to these two parts, 1. this days message, and 2,. this day s reciprocal. birth of our " Saviour, Christ the Lord." "Be not afraid." Here is a stop, that the message [i. ] cannot proceed. For the sight of the messenger hath almost marred the hearing of the message. The parties to whom it comes be in such fear, as they be not in case to receive it. " They were afraid," and that " sore afraid," (as is said i. in the verse before,) at the sight of the Angel that came with were afraid." the news. And this was not the case of these poor men only. Others, and other manner of people were so, as well as they. This So were r~\ ^ ^ -T ^ • 1 1 i-i Others. (jrospel 01 St. Luke is scarce begun ; we are yet but a little way in the second chapter ; and we have already three 7ioli timeres in it; and all, as here, at the coming of an Angel. 1. "Fear not, Zachary." (chap. 1. 13.) So he was afraid. 2. "Fear not, Mary." (chap. 1. 30.) So she was afraid. 3. And now, " Fear not," these here ; that it seems to be general, to fear at an Angel's appearing. What was it ? It was not the fear of an evil conscience. They Of what were about no harm. Zachary was at Church at his office. The blessed Virgin, I doubt not, blessedly employed. These here doing their duty, "watching over their flocks by night." Yet feared, all. What should the matter be ? It is a plain of what, sign our nature is fallen from her original. Heaven and we are not in the terms we should be ; not the best of us all. ■ Angels are the messengers of Heaven. Messengers ever why of come with tidings ; but whether good or bad, we cannot tell. Angel. Here comes an Angel with news from Heaven: what news he jjrings we know not ; and therefore we fear, because we know not. Which shews, all is not well between Heaven and us ; that upon every coming of an Angel, we promise ourselves no better news from thence ; but still are afraid of the messages and messengers that come from that place. F 2 68 Of the Natioity. SE^M. That the message then may proceed, this fear must be — — removed. In a troubled water no face will well be seen: nor by " Be not _ ... afraid." a troubled mind no message received, till it be settled. To settle them then for it ; no other way, no other word to begin with, but nolite timere, " fear not," and that is ever the Angel's beginning. Such is our infirmity, ever he must begin with these two words, noli timere, " fear not ;" and so he doth seven times in this Gospel. For no fg^r will not be cast out with a couple of words, till ill- tidings. I they see some reason to quiet them. And no better reason, than to shew they have no reason to fear. For fear is the expectation of evil, and there is no evil toward them ; and so Ps. 63. 5. they have no reason to fear; quod trepidaverunt timore ubi non erat timor. As if he should say; Angels have come with weeping news, as Judges 2.1. If I were such an one, if I came with sad tidings, ye had reason, ye might fear. But now, your terror groweth out of error. You are mistaken in me, I am no such Angel ; I am Aiigelus evangelizans, ' an Angel with a Gospel,' one that comes with no bad news. " Fear not" then. There is no evil toward. But "good ■^'^ evil; and that wei'e enough for "fear not." But here tidings." is a farther matter; not only privative, 'I bring no ill;' but positive, " I bring you good news." And good news is nolite fanere and somewhat besides, that is, "fear not;'' but be of good cheer. They be two degrees plainly ; though one be inferred of the other. Fear no ill, there is none to fear ; there is no ill, nay there is good towards. For good news is good, in that it represents the good itself to us, before it come. It is Gcn.45.27. but words. True. But such words made Jacob "revive again," when he was more than half dead, even the good news of Ps. T)!. a Joseph's welfare. "If I might but hear good tidings," saith David, when his bones were broken, " it would make me well pp>.i3.]7. again." That Solomon said well, "A good messenger is a good medicine." Specially this here, which is so good as it carrieth aw^ay the name from the rest, to be called the Gospel, or the glad tidings, as if none so glad, nay none glad at all without it. 2Cor.2.i5. It is, saith the Apostle, odor suavitatis, "a comfortable sweet Pro. 16.24. savour." It is, saith the Wise Man, dulcedo animce, et sanitas ossium, " the sweetness of the soul, the very health of the Of the Nativity. 69 bones." It is such, saith the Prophet, "as the hps are precious, and the feet beautiful, of them that bring it," that isa. 52. 7. a Saviour is born, as by Whom " things in Heaven and things Coi. 1.20. in earth," men and Angels (which were in fear one of another) " are set at peace, and love ;" and "love casteth out iJoh.4.i8. fear," giveth the true noli timei-e. Good news of ioy : for, of good news, there are more sorts 3. 1 ^ 1 • 1 • 1 1 , , "Tidings than one. (rood news it had been, 11 it had been but evan- of joy." gelizo vobis spem. 'News of good hope ;' that had been enough for nolite timerc. This is more, it is of joy. I wot well there is a joy in hope, Spe gaudentes, saith the Apostle ; but that Ro. 12. 12. joy is not full, "till the fulness of time come." Nor it isJ0h.i6.24. not perfect; for it is allayed somewhat with an unpleasing mixture, which is spes differtur, and that, as the Wise Man saith, ciffligit animam, "hope deferred afflicteth the soul." Pro. 13.12. Gaudium spei is nothing to gaudium rei ; the hope de futuro, of a thing to come hereafter, nothing to the actual fruition of a thing present. And indeed, till this day's news, it was ever evangelium spei ; ever in the future tense before. Even the very last be- fore this, to the blessed Virgin, Ecce concipies, "Thou shalt Luke 1.31. conceive :" " Shalt." So it was yet to come. This is the first in the present tense ; not, ' is to be born,' ' is to be sent,' ' is to come,' but natus est, missus est, venit, " is born," " is sent," " is come." Hodie, even " to-day," takes no time ; " in the city of David," not far hence, but even hard by. This is evangelizo gaudium. " This is joy indeed." But even in joy there be divers degrees. All are not of 4. one size. Some there are lesser ; some, (as this here,) gaudium joy."^'^"^''' magnum. The fire is, as the fuel is ; and the joy is, as the matter is. There is not like joy to a shepherd, when his ewe brings him a lamb, as when his wife brings him a son ; (yet that of a lamb is a joy, such as it is.) But then, if that son should prove to be princeps pastorum, ' the chief shepherd in all the land,' that were somewhat more. But then, if he should prove to be a Cyrus, or a David, a prince, then certainly it were another manner of joy, gaudium magnum indeed. As the matter is, so is the joy. If great the benefit, great the person, then great the joy. And here the benefit is great, none greater ; as much as the saving of us all, as much as all 70 Of the Nativity. I SERM. our lives and souls are worth; therefore creat. And the V. . . . '■ — person great, none so great (it is the Lord Himself) there- fore primcB magnitudinis, ' great even as He is.' Indeed so great isa. 43. 18. it is, that the Prophet bids us plainly, "remember no more former things, nor regard matters of old." This passeth them all, the joy of it puts them all down ; so that none of them shall once be mentioned with it. Therefore well said the Angel, Evangelizo gmidium magnum. "Joy to And great it may be intensive, in the parties themselves; the peo- yet not great extensive, nor extend itself to many, not be gandium magnum populo. Yes, even that way also it is gi'eat ; it is public joy, it is "joy to the people." And, well fare that joy where it is merry with all. It is added purposely, this, that they might not mistake, when he said, Evangelizo vobis, " he brought them good news;" that though he brought it them, yet not them only; it was not appropriate to them, it was common to others. They had their parts in it, but so should others have no less than they. And every good shepherd will like it the better for that ; will be pro grege, and still prefer the joy of the whole flock. Isa. 9. 3. In other joys, it falls out as Esay tells, " multiply the nation, and ye shall not increase their joy ;" for, that which one wins, another loses : but this joy, the joy oi Puer natus est nobis, in it " they shall all rejoice before Thee, as men make merry in harvest, and be joyful as men that divide the spoil." " In harvest ;" and a good harvest all the country is the better for. " At a spoil ;" wherein every one hath his share. That is gaudium populi. And such is this. Well figured, in the place of His birth, an inn, which is domus populi, 'open to all passengers' that will take it up ; juris publici, ' wherein every one hath right.' Yea, and the most common part of the inn. For though they sort themselves, and have every one their several chambers; in the stable all have interest; that is Luke 2. 7. common. And as the place public, so is the benefit, and so is the joy public of His birth : Christmas joy right. All fare the better for this day. Salus populi is the best; and so is gaudium popidi too ; and every good mind will like it so much the better, that all the people have their part in it. Joy " to And this were much, toti populo, ' to the whole people,' if it vie/^" were but one ; but it is omni populo, (say Theophylact and Of the Natioitt/. 71 Beda,) that is, " to all people," which is a larger extent by far. [Theo- And if ye speak of great joy, this is great indeed ; for it is b'.j'.' j^,' universal, it is as great as the world is great ; when not the Jew only, but the Gentile ; nor the Gentile, but the Jew ; not one people, but all; keep a feast. And at this word omni popiilo ; nec vox hominem sonat, ' it is not man that speaketh now,' whose goodness commonly, when it is at the greatest, extendeth no farther, but to one nation ; but with God it is never great, till it come to omni populo. " It is but a small isa. 49. G. thing (saith He by Esay) to raise the tribes of Jacob, or to restore the decays of Israel ; I will give thee a light to the Gentiles, and a salvation to the end of the world." As we said of the inn, even now, the place of His birth ; so say we here, of the time of it. It is well set down by St. Luke, Luke 2. 1. to have been at the description of the whole world ; for that was a meet time for the Saviour of the whole world to be born, " the dew of Whose birth is of the womb of the morn- Ps. 110.3. ing" (the Psalmist in passion of joy misplacing his words,) the meaning is, " His birth from the womb is as the morning dew," which watereth and refiresheth the face of the whole earth ; not Gideon's fleece alone, but the whole earth ; not one part, Juclg.6.37. not the Jews only; no partition now, but utraque unum, " one Eph, 2. 14. of two ;" nay, one of all; all recapitulate in Himself, and from Him as a centre, lines of joy drawn to all, and every part of the circle. And we may not pass by quod erit, "which shall be;" ". [1.] which not only is, but shall be. For by this word, we hold ; people it is our best tenure. Not only to all that then were (then had ^^^^ we been out;) but that were, or ever should be, to the world's end, Omni populo, " all people," is the latitude or extent ; quod erit, " that shall be," is the longitude or continuance of the joy. Quod erit, that it shall be a feast of joy, so long as any people shall be, to hold a feast on the face of the earth. In a word, that same evangelium ceternum that St. John saw in the Angel's hand, we now hear from the Angel's mouth, " to Rev. 14. 6. be preached to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people," that be, or shall be, while the world endureth. So, if we read quod erit, with omni j)ojmlo. But some read [7.] 2. gaudium, with quod erit; gaudium quod erit; and make a note shaift^c. of that ; the joy, quod erit, " that is and shall be." For com- 72 Of the Nativity, S E R M. raonly, all our earthly joy is gaudium quod est, et non erit, " that ' — is for the present, but continueth not ;" is, but shall not be ; Eccl. 7. 6. like the blaze of a brush faggot, all of a flame and out again suddenly, in a moment. Gaudium quod erit, " the joy that so is, as it shall be still," is grounded upon the joy of this day, Christ and His Birth. Without which, our joy is as the joy of men in prison, merry for a while ; but within a while, sentence of death to pass upon thera. Without which, extrema gaudii Pro. 14. 13. lucttis occupat, "the end of all our mirth will be but mourn- ing." All joy else is, but shall not be within a while ; at least- wise, erit quando non erit, a time shall be when it shall not be. Joh. 16.22. Scd gaudium Meum nemo toilet a vobis ; "but My joy," Mine, grounded on Me, " none shall ever take from you not sick- ness, not death itself Other it shall, this it shall not ; but, now ye shall, this day, and evermore ye shall rejoice in the holy comfort of it. And this is the magnifying of the message. 1. No evil news, "fear not." 2. Nay "good," be of good cheer. 3. " Good news of joy." 4. " Of great joy." 5. " Public joy," toti populo. 6. " Universal joy," omni populo. 7. " Joy to all," that are or shall be ; and again, "joy which now is, and shall be so for ever." Now upon all these He setteth an ecce, and well He may ; and that is never set by the Holy Ghost, but super 7-es magnce entitatis, ' upon matters of great moment.' But, upon this hill, upon the top of it, that hath so many ascents, a beacon would do well. For look, how many ecces in the Scriptures, so many beacons; and between them, as between these, ye shall observe a good correspondence still. This ecce here, to the Luke 1.31. last, Ecce concipies of the blessed Virgin ; that, to Esay's Ecce Isa. 7. 14. concipiet Virgo ; that, to David's Ecce de fructu ventris tui ; Gen 22 18 that, to Abraham's Ecce in semine tuo ; and so up, till ye come Gen. 3 15. to semen mulieris. There they first begin, and take light one from another, till they come to the Ecce natus est hodie, the ecce of all ecces, the last and highest of them all. And as a beacon serveth to call up and stir up men to have regard ; so is this here to excite them (and in them us all) with good atten- tion to hear, and to heed these so great good tidings. And indeed, who is not excited with it? whose eye is not turned to behold this ecce ? whose ear standeth not attent to hear this Of the Nativity. 73 evangelizo? whose heart doth not muse, "what manner of Luke 1.29. message this should be ?" This it is then, quod natus est. The Birth of a Child. H- « That " That there is One born this day," the cause of all this joy. there is There is joy at every birth. " Sorrow in the travail," saith our Saviour; "but after the delivery, the anguish is no more [John I6. remembered, for joy that a man is born into the world." ^' But the greater he is that is born, and the more beneficial his birth, the greater ado is made. And among men, because there ai*e none greater than princes, and great things are looked for at their hands, their births are ever used to be kept with great triumph. Pharaoh's in the Old ; Herod's in the Gen.40.20. New; both their iiatus ests, days of feasting. Maike. 21. Now of Him that is born here, it may truly be said, Ecce Mat. 12.42. major Mc, " Behold a greater is born here." One, whose birth is good news, even from the poorest shepherd, to the richest prince upon the earth. Who is it? Three things are said of this Child by the Angel. 1. He is "a Saviour." 2. "Which is Christ." 3. " Christ the Lord." Three of His titles, well and orderly inferred one of another by good consequence. We cannot miss one of them; they be necessary all. Our method, on earth, is to begin with great ; in Heaven, they begin with good first. First then, "a Saviour;" that is His Name, Jesus, Soter ; 1. and in that Name, His benefit, Salus, ' saving health or salva- viour. " tion.' Such a name as the great Orator himself saith of it, Jn VeiTem Soter, hoc quantum est? Ita magnum est, ut latino uno verho ex- 6.3. Orat 7! primi non possit. ' This name. Saviour, is so great, as no one ^'^'^ word can express the force of it.' But we are not so much to regard the ecce, how great it is, as gaudium, what joy is in it ; that is the point we are to speak to. And for that, men may talk what they will; but sure there is no joy in the world to the joy of a man saved ; no joy so great, no news so welcome, as to one ready to perish, in case of a lost man, to hear of one that will save him. In danger of perishing by sickness, to hear of one will make him well again ; by sentence of the law, of one with a pardon to save his life ; by enemies, of one that will rescue, and set him in safety. Tell any of these, assure them but of a Saviour, it is the best news he ever heard in his life. There is joy in 74 Of the NutivUij. SE^IVI. the name of a Saviour. And even this way, this Child is a ^ Saviour too. Potest hoc facer e, sed hoc non est opus Ejus, ' This He can do, but this is not His work ;' a farther matter there is, a greater salvation He came for. And it may be, we need not any of these ; we are not presently sick, in no fear of the law, in no danger of enemies. And it may be, if we were, we .fancy to ourselves to be relieved some other way. But that which He came for, that saving we need all ; and none but He can help us to it. We have therefore, all, cause to be glad for the Birth of this Saviour. I know not how, but when we hear of saving, or mention of a Saviour, presently our mind is carried to the saving of our skin, of our temporal state, of our bodily life, and farther saving we think not of. But, there is another life, not to be forgotten ; and gi'eater the dangers ; and the destruction there more to be feared, than of this here; and it would be well, sometimes we were remembered of it. Besides our skin and flesh, a soul we have, and it is our better part by far; that also hath need of a Saviour; that hath her destruction, out of which; that hath her destroyer, from which she would be saved ; and those would be thought on. Indeed our chief thought and care would be for that ; how to escape the wrath, how to be saved from the destruction to come, whither our sins will certainly bring us. Sin it is, will destroy us all. And (to speak of a Saviour,) there is no person on earth hath so much need of a Saviour, as hath a sinner. Nothing so dangerous, so deadly unto us, as is the sin in our bosom ; nothing, from which we have so much need to be saved, whatsoever account we make of it. From it, Cometh upon us all the evil of this life; and from it, all the evil of the life to come ; in comparison whereof, these here are not worth the speaking of. Above all then, we need a Saviour, for our souls ; and from our sins ; and from the everlasting destruction, which sin will bring upon us in the other life, not far from us, not from him of us, that thinketh it farthest off. Then, if it be good tidings to hear of a Saviour, where it is but a matter of the loss of earth, or of this life here ; how then, when it cometh to the loss of Heaven, to the danger of hell, when our soul is at the stake, and the well-doing or undoing of it for ever ? He that could save our souls from that destroyer. Of the Nativiti/. 75 were not the birth of such an one good news trow ? Is not such a Saviour worth the heai'kening after ? Is He not ? It is then because we have not that sense of our souls, and the dangers of them, that we have of our bodies ; nor that fear of our ghostly enemies, nor that lively apprehension of the eternal torments of that place, and how near we are to it, (nothing being betwixt us and it, but this poor puff of breath which is in our nostrils.) Our carnal part is quick and sensible ; our spiritual is dead and dull. We have not the feeling of our sins, that we have of our sickness ; if we had, we would hear this news with greater cheerfulness, and hold this day of the birth of such a Saviour, with joy indeed. We cannot con- ceive it yet, this destruction is not near enough to affect us. But 171 novissimo intelligetis plane, "in the end," when the Jor. 30. 24. destroyer shall come, and we shall find the want of a Saviour, " we shall plainly understand this," and value this benefit and the joy of it, as we ought ; and find, there is no joy in the earth to the joy of a Saviour. " There is born a Saviour," is the first. The Angel addeth 2. farther, "A Saviour Which is Christ." For, many saviours Christ/' had been born, many had God sent them, that at divers times had set them free from divers dangers of their enemies ; Moses, from the Egyptians ; Joshua, from the Canaanites ; Gideon, from the Midianites ; Jephtha, from the Ammonites; [ju.c.ii.] Sampson, from the Philistines. And indeed, the whole story [Jn n i-] of the Bible is nothing else, but a calendar of saviours, that ''^ God from time to time still stirred them up. But these all were but petty saviours ; there was One yet behind, that was worth them all. One, that "should save His Mat. 1. 21. people from their sins ;" save, not their bodies for a time, but their souls for ever, which none of those saviours could do. One therefore much spoken of, wished for, and waited for, a Saviour which was Christ. When He came they looked for great matters, as said the woman at the well's side ; for He Joh. 4. 25. was the most famous and greatest Saviour of all. And this is He, "a Saviour which is Christ." He, of Whom all the promises made mention, and He the performance of them all ; of Whom all the types under the Law were shadows, and He the sub- stance of them all ; of Whom all the prophecies ran, and He the fulfilling of them all ; He, of Whom all those inferior 76 Of the Nativity. SERM. saviours were the figures and forerunners, and He the accom- V . . ... '- — phshment of all, that in them was wanting;. This is He ; Gen. 49.10. ' o ' isa. 7. 14. Jacob's " Shiloh," Esay's " Immanuel," Jeremy's " Branch," Jor. 23. 5^ Daniel's " Messias," Zachary's oriens ab alto, Aggei's deside- Zech.6.12. cunctis gcntibus. " The desire of all the nations," then; and Hag. 2. 7. now, the joy of all nations; a Saviour, Which is Christ. And what is meant by this term Christ ? a Saviour anointed ; or (as in another place it is said, more agreeable to our phrase Joh. 6. 27. of speaking) a Saviour " sealed ;" a Saviour under God's Great Seal. That is, not as those other were, saviours raised up of a sudden, upon some occasion ; to serve the turn for the present, and never heard of till they came ; but a Saviour in God's fore -counsel resolved on, and given forth from the beginning; promised and foretold, and now signed and sent, with absolute commission and fulness of power, to be the per- fect and complete Saviour of all. And to be it, ex officio ; His office. His very profession, to be one, that all may have right to repair unto Him, and find it at His hands. Not a Saviour incidentally, as it fell out ; but one, ex professo, anointed to that end, and by virtue of His anointing appointed, set forth, and sent into the world, to exercise this function of a Saviour ; not for a time, but for ever ; not to the Jews, as did the rest, but even to all the ends Mat.11.28. of the earth. So runs His bill, Venite ad Me omnes, "come Joh. 6. 37. all ;" and, qui ad Me venerit non ejiciam foras, " of them that come to Me, I will cast none out." Servator omnium hominum, iTim.4.10. "the Saviour of all men," (and as the Samaritans said of Him, Joh. 4. 42. Servator muiidi, " the Saviour of the world,") of Samaritans, Jews, Gentiles ; of Kings, of shepherds, and all. And there is yet more particularity in this word Christ: three offices did God from the beginning erect to save His people by; and that, by three acts (the very heathen took notice of them) 1. Purgare, 3. Illuminare, 3. Perficere. 1. Priests, to purge or expiate; 2. Prophets, to illuminate or direct them ; 3. Kings, to set all right, and to keep all right, in that perfection which this world adraitteth. And all these Lev. 8. 12. three had their several anointings. Aaron the Priest, Elisha 1 Kings 19. j-j-jg Prophet, Saul the King. In the Saviour Which is Christ, iSam.10.1. His will was, all should meet, that nothing in Him might want, to the perfecting of this work. That He might be a Of the Nativity. 77 perfect Saviour of all, He was all. "A Priest, after the order Ps. no. 4. of Melchizcdek ;" a Prophet, to be heard when Moses should Dcu.iais. hold his peace; a King, to save His people, "whose name should Jer. 23. 6. be Jehova Justitia nostra" David's Priest, Moses' Prophet, Jeremy's King. And these formerly had met double, two of them in some other ; Melchizedek, King and Priest; Samuel, Priest and Prophet ; David, Prophet and King. Never all three, but in Him alone ; and so, no perfect Christ but He ; but He all, and so perfect. By His Priesthood, to purge, expiate, and "save us from our sins, being a propitiation to God for 1 John 2. 2. them ;'" by His prophecy, to illuminate and save us from the by-paths of error, "guiding our feet in the way of peace ;" Luke 1.79. by His Kingdom protecting and conducting us through the miseries of this life, till He perfect us eternally by Himself in the joys of His Heavenly Kingdom. Rightly then, " a Saviour Which is Christ." Now, as in the name Saviour there was, so is there likewise joy in this name Christ ; and that, many ways : 1 . First, that we shall hang no more in expectation, we shall be no longer Vincti spei, "Hope's prisoners." He that should come iszcch.9.12. come. The promised Saviour, the Saviour Which is Christ, is now born, and when spes becomes res, then our joy is full. 2. That now there is a saving office erected; One anointed to that end, a professed Saviour, to Whom all may resort. We shall not be to seek, " there is a name given under Heaven," Acts 4. 12. whereby we may be sure of salvation, the Name of Christ. 3. That to this our saving, we have the joint consent and good-will of all parties ; in this name Christ. Christ, that is, the Anointed, what Person is He ? The Son, the second Person. Anointed, by whom ? By the Father {Quern unxlsti) Acts 4. 27. the first Person. Anointed, with what? With the Holy Ghost, the Third Person. So a concurrence of all Persons in Actsio.ss. this Name ; all willing and well-pleased with the work of our salvation. 4. If we would be saved, we would be saved, unctione, ' by oil,' not by vinegar. Et unyuentum ejfusum Nomen ejus ; " and His Name is Christ, one that saveth by anointing." Cant. 1. 3. 5. And if by oil, (there be hot oils,) with a gentle lenitive oil. And the oil which He useth, wherewith He is anointed, is the oil of gladness. Gladness therefore must needs go with this 78 Of the Nativity. SE^M. Name. Which oil of gladness is not for Himself, but for us; not for His use, but for ours. So He saith Himself in His first Isa. 61. 1. sermon at Nazareth, upon His text out of Esay. The anoint- ing (this oil of gladness) was upon Him to bestow it upon us, and of us ; upon them especially that through a wounded conscience were troubled with the spirit of heaviness, to turn their heaviness into joy. Glad then, that He is come, that by His office is to save; and come with the good liking of all : to save us by oil ; and that, the oil of gladness. " ciuist And yet to make our joy more full, the Angel addeth the the Lord, "third. "A Saviour Which is Christ; Christ the Lord." For neither is this all. He is not Christ only. We must not stay there. For the name Christ will agree, hath been, and may be imparted to others besides. Many a king, in Scripture, hath had the honour to carry the name of Christ; but with a difference. The king, Christus Domini, ' the Lord's Christ ;' He Christus Dominus, "the Lord Christ," or "Christ the Heb. 7. 4. Lord." Consider then, how great this Child is. Whose anointed, kings themselves are. For if they be christi Domini, 'the Lord's anointed;' His they are, for He is the Lord. The Lord absolute, without any addition ; ye may put it to what ye will. Lord of men and Angels, Lord of Heaven and earth, and all the hosts of them, Dominus Christorum, and [Rev. 17. Dominus Dominorum, "Lord paramount over all." But, why the Lord ? Because this name of Christ will sort with men. Nay, as He is Christ, that is, anointed, He is man only. It is His name as Man, for God cannot be anointed. But He that should save us would be more than Man ; and so, more than Christ. Indeed, Christ cannot save us. He that ileb.7. 26. must save us must be the Lord. For "such a Saviour it behoveth us to have," as might not begin the work of our salvation, and leave it in the midst; but go through with it, and make an end too; which the former saviours could not do. Formerly, ever their complaint was, that their saviours, their christs died still, and left them to seek : their kings, and Heb. 7. priests, and prophets, dropped away still; "for they were not suffered to endure by reason of death." But this Saviour, this Christ, because He is the Lord, " endureth for ever, hath an everlasting Priesthood," Kingdom, and Prophec}', and so " is ^leb. 7. able perfectly to save them that come to God by Him." This Of the Nutivitij. 79 is one reason, why hither we must come at the last, to Christ the Lord, and till we be at it, we be not where we should. Else, our saviours will die, and leave us destitute. But the main reason is set down by Esay, Eyo sum, ua.. -xa. n. Ego sum, saith God Himself, et j)r(eter Me non est Servator ; " It is I, I that am the Saviour, I am, and besides Me there is no Saviour." None indeed, no true Saviour, but the Lord. All other are short, Vanasalus hominis, saith the Psalm, "Man's [Ps.60.ii.] salvation is vain," any salvation is vain, if it be not the Lord's. \. Those christs, that were not the Lord, could save but the body, and not one of them quicken his own soul ; Christ, that is the Lord, can save souls and bodies. His own and others both. Those christs, that were not the Lord, could save but from carnal enemies, with arms of flesh; He from our ghostly enemies, even "spiritual wickednesses in heavenly places," from [Eph. 6. Abaddon, the great destroyer, of the bottomless pit. 3. They, that were not the Lord, could save but from worldly calamities, could but prune and take oft' the twigs, as it were ; He, from sin itself, and so plucketh it up by the roots. 4. They, that were not the Lord, put it off" but for a time, and after it came again, temporal only. He for ever, once for all ; and is become "Author of eternal salvation," to all that Heb. 5. o. depend on Him. And mark that word " eternal;" for none but the Lord can work eternal salvation. 5. They all had need of a Saviour themselves, and of this Saviour ; He needs none, receives of none, imparts to all ; as being not a Saviour only, hui Salus ipsa in abstracto, "Salvation itself," as Simeon calleth Luke 2.30. Him, "of Whose fulness we all receive." To save, may agree John i.ie. to man ; to be salvation, can agree to none but to Christ the Lord. To begin and to end ; to save soul and body, from bodily and ghostly enemies ; from sin the root, and misery the branches ; for a time, and for ever; to be a Saviour, and to be salvation itself ; Christ the Lord is all this, and can do all this. Now then we are right, and never till now. " A Saviour, Which is Christ the Lord." But the name " Lord" goeth yet further; not only to save us and set us free from danger, to deliver us from evil ; but to state us in as good and better condition than we forfeited by our fall ; or else though we were saved, we should not save by the match. To make us then savers, and not savers only, 80 Of the Nativity. SERxM. but gainers, and that great gainers by our salvation, He doth further impart also the estate annexed of" this last title, even whatsoever He is Lord of Himself. And He is " Lord of Acts 3. 15. life," saith St. Peter; life then He imparts. And He is 1 Cor. 2.8. "Lord of glory," saith St. Paul ; glory then He imparts. Mat. 25. And He is Lord of joy, {intra in gaudium Domini, "enter into the joy of the Lord ;") joy then He imparts. Life, and glory, and joy ; and makes us lords of them, and of whatsoever is within the name and title of Lord. For having thereto a Heb. 1. 2. double right, 1. by inheritance, as the Son, 2. and by Rom. 14.0. purchase, as a Redeemer (for "therefore He died and rose again, that He might be Lord of all ;") contenting Himself with the former. He is well pleased to set over the latter to us, and admit us with Himself into His estate of joint-purchase of Heaven, or whatsoever He is owner of ; that in I'ight of it we may enter into the life, glory, and joy of our Lord, and so be saved and be savers, and more than savers every way. This also is in the word "Lord;" this benefit farther we have by it. And now, if we will put together natus and Servator, Servator and Christus, Christus and Dominus, Dominus and natus; 'born and Saviour, Saviour and Chi'ist, Christ and the Lord, the Lord and born;' take them which way you will in combination, any of the four, then have we His two natures in one Person. In Servator, His Godhead ; none but God is a Saviour. In Christus, His Manhood ; God cannot be anointed, man may. In Donwius, His Divine again, " the Lord [1 Cor. 15. from Heaven." In Natus, His human nature, directly, born ' of a woman ; both (ever) carefully joined, and to be joined Mat. 1. 1. together. When St. Matthew had begun his Gospel thus : "The Book of the generation of Jesus Christ the Son of David," one nature. His humanity; St. Mark was careful to Mark 1. 1. begin his thus: "The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God," the other Nature, His divinity. But John 1.14. St. John, he joins them, Verbum caro factum est, "the Word became flesh." Verbum " the Word," there is Dominus ; and caro "the flesh," that is, natus. And even this very conjunction is a new joy. For that such an one, that the Lord would condescend to be born, besides the benefit, there is also matter of honour. Even that He, so Of the Nativity. 81 great a Person, would become such as we are, would so esteem our nature, as to take it upon Him ; this certainly is a great dignity and exaltation of our nature. And it is matter of new joy, that He would so highly value it, as to assume, associate, and unite it into one Person, with the Son of God. By this we see why "a Saviour;" why "Christ;" why "the Lord." " A Saviour," His name of benefit, whereby He is to deliver us ; " Christ," His name of office, whereby He is bound to under- take it; "the Lord," His name of power, whereby He is able to effect it. We see also why Man, and why God. First, so it should be; for of right none was to make satisfaction for man, but man ; and in very deed none was able to give satis- faction to God, but God. So that being to satisfy God for man. He was to be God and man. Secondly, so we would wish it ourselves. If we would be saved, we would be saved by one of our nature, not by any stranger. He is born, and so one of our own nature. Again, if we would be saved, we would be saved by no inferior, but by the best. He is the Lord, and so the very best of all. And so, our desire is satisfied every way. This blessed birth of this " Saviour, Which is Christ the Lord," thus furnished in every point to save us throughly, body and soul, from sin the destruction, and Satan the destroyer of both, and that both here, and for ever; this blessed and thrice blessed birth is the substance of this day's solemnity of the Angel's message, and of our joy. And now to the circumstances ; and first of the persons, The cir- vohis ; " I bring you good tidings, that to you is born," &c. of Mic*ppr" Wc find not any word through all, but there is joy in it ; ^"^^^ and yet all is suspended, till we come to this one word, vobis ; this makes up all. This word therefore we shall do well ever to look for, and when we find it, to make much of it. Nothing passeth without it; it is the word of application. But for it, all the rest are loose ; this girds it on, this fastens it to us, and makes it ours. But for it, we are but in their case. Quid nobis et Tihi, " What have we to do with Thee ?" Mat. 8. 29. This "Saviour Christ the Lord," in this good time and fit place, quid ud nos ? " what are we the better?" Omni populo, is some- what too general, and the hundredth part of them shall not be benefited by Him. We would hear it in more particularity. 82 Of the Nativity. SER M. Why, vobis, " for you it is," born for you. Yea, now yc say '■ — somewhat. Evange- And twicc it is repeated for failing, in either verse once. and natus Evangelizo vobis, and natus vobis, that ye may know the io6i».^ message is yours, and the birth is yours ; therefore the message is sent to you, because the birth concerneth you. But yours they be, both. The use May we then be bold to change the person, and utter it in of it. the first, which he doth in the second, and say, nobis ! We isa. 9. 6. may sure, Puer natus est nobis ; Esay hath said it befoi'e us. And thereby, lieth a mystery. The Angels they say, vobis : the Prophets were men ; men say, nobis. Bid the Angel say, nobis, he cannot, neither sing nor say it ; Aiigelis he cannot, Heb. 2. 16. 'to Angels,' Nusquam Angelas ; but hominibus "unto men," he Luke 2. 14. doth. And this is a special high prerogative; that which the Angels can neither sing nor say, we can do both. If then He be born to us, it is to some end. Esay tells us what it is, when he expoundeth natus, by datus, "born to us," by "given us." Born, to be bestowed upon us. And if given us, bestowed upon us, then He is ours. Ours His benefit, His office. His power. His benefit to save us. His office to undertake us. His power to assure us. Ours, His salvation, as Jesus ; His anointing, as Christ ; His dominion, as the Lord. And if He be ours, then all His are ours; Lu. 15. 31. Omnia Ejus nostra sunt; His birth ours, and if His birth, all that follow His birth, ours too. Now then, seeing He and they be ours, will it not be well done, to make our entry, to take seisin of Him and them, and dispose them to our best benefit? And how can we do that better, than, as God hath offered Him to us this day, that He was born for us ; so we reciprocally this day, that He is born, offer Him again to God, as the best pleasing oblation that we can offer Him. To-day, as in the Temple alive, for our morning oblation; and when the time cometh of His death, offer Him as on the Cross, slain for our evening sacrifice. So [S. Bern, shall we, as Bernard wisheth us, uti Nostro in utilitatem Dom. nostram, et de Salvatore salutem operari, 'employ, or make use id°fin.] of Him for our best behoof ; draw His proper extract from Him, and work salvation out of this our Saviour.' Our'duty Now a word only, what is to be done on our parts, and reciprocal. Of the Nativity. 83 that respectively to these two points, what we are to return to them ; what to this message, and what to this birth. To the message, Evangelizo vobis, this we are to return, i. To hear this is due to a message, to hear it. And that we do, and sage!"*^^ that is all ; we come to the Sermon, we hear it, and little we do besides. But we hear it but heavily, with a faint affection, God knoweth ; we hear it not as an ecce, as matter of high admiration ; we hear it not as gaudium magnum, with that alacrity and cheerfulness we should. We hear it not as nobis, as if it nearly touched us, but as a matter that little concerned us, it skilled not much whether we heard it or no. Many meaner things affect us more, but this should be the joyfullest hearing that we ever heard. And shall we not likewise perform some duty to natus est? 2. To re- Yes, even to that also. And not hear of Him, and let Him h/itk alone ; hear His tidings, and let Himself go. He was " born for us, and given us," natus nobis and donatus nobis (both go together in the Prophet). To a gift the duty that belongeth properly, is to receive it. If He be natus nobis, and donatus nobis, I trust we will take order. He be acceptvs a nobis. If " bom for us, and given us," it is our part then, we can do no less than receive Him. We evacuate the gift, disgrace both the Giver and it, if we vouchsafe not to accept of it. How is that ? how shall we receive Him ? who shall give Him us? That shall One, That will say unto us within a while, Accipite, "Take, this is My Body," "by the offering whereof [Matt. 26. ye are sanctified." "Take, this is My Blood," by the shed- Heb.toio ding whereof ye are saved. Both, in the holy mysteries ordained by God, as pledges to assure us, and as conduit pipes to convey into us, this, and all other the benefits, that come by this our Saviour. Verily, upon His memorable days, (of which this is the first,) we are bound to do something in memory, or remembrance of Him. What is that? Will ye know what it is? Hoc facite, [Luke 22. "Do this in remembrance of Me." Something would be thought on, " to return Him for all His [Ps. iie. benefits," and this day for this first, the fountain of all the '^'^ rest ; His birth. Some thanks would be rendered Him for it. And how can we do that better, than as we are taught by him, G 2 84 Of the Nativity. s E R M. that studied the point of quid retribuam, and resolved it thus ; — ^ no way so well, as by accipiam Calicem, " I will take the Cup ' of salvation." And so do it : so, with it taken into our hands, "give thanks to the name of the Lord." And when better, than to-day, hodie, as we are here dii'ected ? What better day, than on this day, the very day He was bestowed on us ? To defer Him no longer than He did us. He deferred not us at all; but as soon as He was born, sent us word the same instant ; and shall we defer Him to hear of us another time ; and not be as ready on our part to receive Him instantly, as He was on His, to bestow Himself ; even presently, as soon as He was born ? Sure, somewhat would be done more than ordinary, this day of His birth ; the day itself is more than ordinary. And let this move us. If ever there be a day of salvation, ecce hie est dies salutis, behold this is it, when a Saviour is born unto us. If ever an accepted time, ecce tempus \acceptum, behold, now it is, this is that time. The birth-day hath ever Gen.40.2i. been a time accepted. Then, one king forgave the trespass Mark 6. 23. of his servant, and received him to grace. Another, being pleased, was ready in his bounty to have given away the one half of his kingdom. Our Saviour Christ, our Lord, on His birth-day, will be no worse than they. His bounty, then, no less than theirs. Let us then make this, so accepted a time in itself, twice acceptable, by our accepting ; which He will acceptably take at our hands. Let us honour this day, with our receiving; which He hath honoured, by His first giving; yielding Him evermore (but this day, the day of it, chiefly,) our unfeigned hearty thanksgiving for this so good news ; for this so great a gift; both of them this day vouchsafed us; in Him and for Him, Who was Himself the gift, our " Saviour, Christ the Lord." To Whom, with the Father, and the Holy Ghost, three Persons, one immortal, ever-living, invisible, only wise God, be all honour, glory, blessing, praise, and thanksgiving, this day and for ever. A SERMON PBEACHED BEFOUE THE KING'S MAJESTY, AT WHITEHALL, ON WEDNESDAY, THE TWENTY-FIFTH OF DECEMBER, A.D. MDCXI. BEING CHRISTMAS-DAY. John i. 14. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, {and we saio the glori/ thereof, as tlie glory of the only-hegotten Son of the Father,) full of grace and truth. \_Et Verbum cnro factum est, et habitavit in nobis : et vidimus gloriam ejus, gloriam quasi unigeniti a Patre plenum gratia, et veritatis. Latin Vulg.] \_And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, {and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. Eng. Trans.] There is in the Old Testament, in the tenth of Ezekiel, Ezek. lo. and in the New, in the fourth of the Revelation, a vision of R*ev.4.6 7. four sundry shapes, a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle. It hath been usually received, to apply these four to the four Evangelists, and of them, the eagle to St. John. The nature of the eagle is, by God Himself, described by two properties ; Job 39.27. 1 . clevare ad ardua, no fowl under heaven towereth so high ; 2. and ubicunque fuerit cadaver statim adest ; none so soon Wat. 24. 28. or so suddenly down upon the body, as he. Both these do lively express themselves in St. John ; and no where more lively, than in this Gospel. Wherein, as an eagle in the [Vid. clouds, he first mounteth wonderfully high, beyond Moses and Tract' lfj. his in principio, with an higher in principio than it ; beyond Joann.] Genesis and the world's creation: that "the Word was then Gen. 1. 1. with God, and was God." This may well be termed the '■ eagle's flight ; so exceeding high as the clearest eye hath much ado to follow him. Yet so far as they can follow him, the very philosophers have been driven to admire the penning of 86 Of the Nativity. SERRI. this Gospel. But after this, as an eagle again, {ubi corpus, LuTlTlf? oquila,) down he cometh directly from the height of Heaven, and lights upon the body of His flesh, the mystery of His incarnation ; and tells us, that He that " in the begin- ning was apud Deum, and Deus" He, " in the fulness of time," was apud homines, and homo. He dwelt not long aloft; he knew it was not to purpose ; Verbum Deus is far above our reach. Verbum caro, that concerns us. No time, but it con- cerns us; but this time, above others. This feast is held, this assembly met, for no other end, but to celebrate the contents of the text, that the Word, being made flesh, this day, came to dwell among us. The di- Two parts there be in the text, sensibly parted by a paren- vibion. ^ t^iesis. I. That without the parenthesis, is, that he would have us believe, Verbum caro, ^c. 11. That within is the affi- davit, vidimus, ^c. In the former three things are affirmed of 1.2. 3. the Word. 1. Factum e nobis; 2. habitavitin nobis ; Z. plenum pro nobis; 1. that the Word was made flesh of us; 2. dwelt with us ; 3. was full for us. II Then foUoweth the affidavit of these. That St. John, iJohni.2. jjjj^j other more besides, saw; and so spake no more than they knew ; nor testify no more than they had seen. The best proof that can be. They saw (though not the Word Himself, yet) His glory: we saw His glory. And that glory such as would suit with none but Him ; and so, every way sufficient to demonstrate Him the only Son of God. And, after all this, one more there is, without which, His making, dwelling, and seeing, were to little purpose ; that is, that as He came not obscurely, but was seen ; so He came not Johni. 14. empty, but "full of grace and truth." This fulness was not for [Joh.1.16.] Himself, but for us; et de plenitudine Ejus omnes accepimus. There is not any thing that concerneth this mystery, but is within this text. His two natures, " the Word," and " flesh :" 1. "Word," divine; 2. "flesh," human. The union of them in factum est; union into a Person, in habitavit ; habitare, est personcB. 3. Then, His office also, ia-Krjvwcre, which is not only habitavit, but castrametavit in nobis; not only, took a house, but "pitched a pavilion in us;" not on\y,factus incola, ' made our neighbour,' but made a champion, for us, to under- take our quarrel, and to fight a combat. 4. And last, the Of the Nativity. 87 benefit; "made," that He might "dwell;" and "dwell," that He might impart to us, and we derive from Him, that whereof He was full, and we were empty ; we had need, and He had store; "grace and truth." All reducible to these three : I. Quod Verbum, caro ; I. H. Quid Vei'bum, carni ; HI. Quid caro, Vei'bo. I. ' That the Word became flesh ;' the mystery. 11. ' What the Word did for flesh ;' the benefit. HI. ' And, what flesh is to do to the Word again ;' the duty. We are in a deep point, and a dang-i^rous. It will not be i. amiss to pause a little on the three terms, Verbum, caro, and lumfcaro factum est. "The Word." 1. There be that take this name Ttht'""' to be given Him, as who should say; He, of Whom so many Word." excellent words are spoken, all along this book ; so many words of promise, and prophecy, and all of Him ; so, the word, objective. 2. Others ; for that He discloseth to us all 2. God's counsel, even as the word openeth the mind of man ; by Whom as His word, we know whatsoever we know of the Father's mind ; so, the word, effective. 3. A third ; for that 3. He Cometh, not only as Jesus, to save us ; but as the Word, to teach us; we, as to honour Him; so, learn His word, as the way to our salvation ; so, the word, prcBceptive. 4. These are all well, and true all ; but, all short. We may 4. have use of then ; but there is a farther matter, than all these. Word," Tliis Word, as we find in the aflidavit, is " the Only-begotten only'be! of the Father." These two are one and the same ; but need gotten of , . .... the to be set m two terms, that what is wantmg m the one may be Father." supplied by the other; (so high is the divine nature above our reach, as no one term is able to express it ; it is well, if divers will do it.) In this they agree; as the Son is, to the Father; so is the word, to the mind. The Son, Proles parentis ; To shew the wwd, proles mentis. They proceed, both. The Son from ^ecHng' the Father, the word from the mind; and so note out unto us a party proceeding, a second Person, from the first ; from Him that begetteth, the Son; from him that speaketh, the word ; against Sabellius. The Son referreth to a living nature ; the Word addeth farther an intellectual nature. Generare est viventium, loqui intclligentium ,• that there is in Him not only the nature and life, but the wisdom of the Father. 88 Of the Nativity. SERM. Both proceed. The Word sheweth the manner; the Son, the truth of His proceeding. With us the son is not begot, but by flesh, by propagation ; the Word therefore requisite, to shew, His proceeding was after no carnal manner ; but, as the word from the mind. A better term could not be devised. For there is not in all the world a more pure, simple, incon- crete procreation, than that, whereby the mind conceiveth the word within it, by dixit in corde. For, in itself, and of itself, doth the mind produce it, without help of any mixture of ought, without any passion, stirring, or agitation at all. Such was the issue of the Word eternal. But then, lest we might imagine God's Word to be, to Him, no other than ours is, to us, not of our substance ; He makes amends for that, and tells us He is " the Only-begotten," and so of the substance of His Father, ("very God, of very God,") as all begotten sons be. The Word, to shew His proceeding pure, and merely spiritual ; the Son, to shew, that for all that, it is true and substantial. Truly consubstantial with the Father, as the Son ; but in all clean and pure manner conceived, as the Word. The Son, though He be consubstantial, yet the Person of His Father may have a being long before Him. The Word makes amends for that. For the mind's conceiving and the mind cannot be severed a moment: if one be eternal, both are. So then, as the Son, He is consubstantial ; as the Word, He is coeternal. But, He begins with the Word. His care being, first to tell us of the pureness of His generation, before of His generation itself; but after, by little and little, unfoldeth Himself and tells. He is so the Word, as the Son also. Indeed, it was best beginning with the Word. That term the heathen wise men, the philosophers, would never stumble at, but brook it well enough ; as (indeed) they did, not with approbation only, [Tertui. l^ut With high admiration, read and magnify the beginning of ^Euseb ' '^'^ Gospel. Witness Tertui. in Apol., Euseb. in Prsepar., in Prffipar. August. de Civit. 10., and Theodoret. It was conform to their ]4J]9.] reason, Quod Deus ah ceterno intelligit, and that JVou? and ctv^^x!^*^ ^670?, ' the conceiving of the mind,' and ' the mind' must ^^t^^?-'^ needs be coeternal; the mind never without it; as the Pro- [Theodor. ' ' _ Serm. 2. phet saith, Egre.tsus Ejus a diebus ceternitatis. This for the cipio.] Word, of much more, that might be said of it. Mic. 5. 2. Of the Nativity. 89 As the Word and the Only-begotten refer to One ; so doth Became caro, and in nobis, flesh and in us; that is, sucli flesh as is in j. c'aro. us, human flesh. 1. To express the union fully, a better I. word could not be chosen. It is a part, for the whole ; and the worser part, for the whole, of purpose. For, in this case, our nature is best set out, by the worser part. For, this we know ; if the worse be taken, the better will not be left behind. If He abhor not the flesh, of the spirit there will be no ques- tion. More forcible it is, to say, " He was made flesh," than, " He was made man ;" though both be true. He vouchsafed to become man, nothing so much, as to become flesh, the very lowest and basest part of man. Besides, from the flesh, as from Eve, came the beginning 2. of transgression, longing after the forbidden fruit, refused the Word quite ; so, of all other, least likely to be taken. The Word not refusing it, the rest have good hope. But there is a kind of necessity to use the term flesh. If 3. He had said ' man,' man might be taken for a person. He took no person, but our nature He took. Flesh is no person, but nature only ; and so best expresseth it. And if soul, it might have been taken, as if He took not the flesh, but mediante anima ; but, so He did not, but as immediately, and as soon, the flesh, as the soul, in one instant both. Yet one more. It will not be amiss to tell you ; the word 4. that is Hebrew for flesh, the same is also Hebrew for good tidings (as we call it, the Gospel). Sure, not without the Holy j„ pj^j Ghost so dispensing it. There could be no other meaning ; but that some incarnation, or making flesh, should be gene- rally good news for the whole world. To let us know, this good tidings is come to pass. He tells us, The Word is now become flesh. Thus, why flesh ; now, why the Word, flesh. Caro Vcr- 2. Veriu bum was our bane. Flesh would be the Word ; nay, wiser rile than the Word, and know what was evil, better than it. \^caro ^J^"^ Verlum our bane ; then Verbum caro our remedy. flesh." Surely, if the Word would become flesh, it were (so) most 2. kindly. The Word was Pars Icesa, 'the Party that was most offended.' If He would undertake it; if He, against Whom the offence was, would be Author of the reconciliation, there were none to that. It were (so) most proper. 90 Of the Nativity. SE^M. But, in another respect, He were fit too. He had said above, " all things were made by Him ;" a kind of meetness John 1. 3. there were, ut per quem facta omnia, per eumdem refecta, ' He 16 'i7 ' '^^^ ^^^^ made them should restore them ; He that built, repair.' So is best, ever. ^ 4. And indeed, sic oportet implere omnem justitiam, " that were ■ the way to fulfil all justice." If the Word would take flesh. He might make full amends for the flesh's fault, in rejecting the Word. So is justice ; that, flesh for flesh ; and not the flesh of oxen and sheep; but even that flesh that sinneth (our flesh) should suffer for it, and so suffering, make satisfaction to justice. 3. Why then, jfac^MOT est caro, "the Word is made flesh." This est faro""* Doakes up all. For, factum est, ergo est ; ' He is made flesh, mad?" therefore, is flesh.' Fieri terminatur ad esse, ' the end of making is being.' And jjer modum naturce (so is ijeveTO, the Greek word:) 'this being is natural;' et nativitas est via adnaturam, ' and nativity is the way to nature.' So, to be born ; as this Luke 3. 6. day He was. Venit per carnem, sanat per verbum, " that all flesh may see the salvation of God." " Made" it was ; against Manicheus holding that He had no true body; as if factum had been Jictum, or making were mocking. Made it was; but, how made ? Not convertendo, ' the Word converted into flesh,' as Cerinthus ; or ' flesh converted into the Word,' Verbum caro facta est, as Valentinus ; for the Deity cannot be changed into any thing, nor any thing into it. Nor made conciliando, as friends are made, so as they continue two several persons still; and while the flesh suffered, the Word stood by and looked on, as Nestorius. That is cum came, not caro ; ' made with flesh,' not ' flesh ;' and never was one person said to be made another. Nor made, by compounding : and so a third thing produced of both, as Eutyches. For so, He should be neither of both, Word nor flesh, neither God nor man. Heb.2. 16. But "made" He was; St. Paul tells us how; assumendo, "by taking the seed of Abraham." His generation eternal, as Verbum Deus, is as the inditing the word within the heart. His generation in time, Verbum caro, is as the uttering it forth with the voice. The inward motion of the mind taketh unto it a natural body of air, and so becometh vocal : it is not changed into it, the word remaineth still, as it was ; yet they Of the Nativity. 91 two become one voice. Take a similitude from ourselves, [vide Our soul is not turned into nor compounded with the body ; |prni.20.2. yet they two, though distinct in natures, grow into one man. "it^ ^'^.^^ J ' c> ' o susceptio- So, into the Godhead was the manhood taken ; the natures nem hu- , . , „ . , . . , . militatis preserved, without contusion ; the person entire, without clivi- nostra: sion. Take the definition of the fourth General Council, nufione""'" Sic factum est caro ut maneret Verhum ; non immutando quod l^^J'l^^^^' erat, sed suscipiendo quod non erat ; nostra auxit, sua wow ciinans, ut minuit ; nec Sacramentum pietatis detrimentum Deitatis ; ' He quod erat, was so made flesh, that He ceased not to be the Word ; never qJe quod changing that He was, but taking that He was not ; we were ^o" erat, the better, He was never the worse ; the mystery of godliness Vid. eti. was no detriment to the Godhead, nor the honour of the 26.' T. 2^^ creature wrong to the Creator.' \uUt And now, being past these points of belief, I come to that Par- i*>7a.] which I had much rather stand on, (and so it is best for us ;) that which may stir up our love to Him, That thus became flesh for us. First, comparing /ac^MWi with dictum. For, if we were so 1. much beholden for verhum dictum, "the word spoken," the [Heb.2.2.] promise ; how much more, for Verhum factum, ' the perform- ance ?' If for factum carni, ' the word that came to flesh how then for factum caro, 'became flesh?' Then, taking factum absolutely. The Word " by Whom all 2. things were made," to come to be made Itself. It is more for John i. 3. Him,^er/, 'to be made' any thing, than facer e, 'to make' another world, yea many worlds more. There is more a great deal, in this factum, est, than in omnia per Ipsum facia sunt; in ' He made/ than in "All things by Him were made." Factum est, with what He was made. For, if made ; made 3. the most complete thing of all that ever He had made : made John 4. 24. a Spirit, for God is a Spirit; some degree of nearness between ^^-^ ^ i them ; but what is man, that He should be made him ; or the son of man, that He should take his nature upon Him! If man, yet the more noble part, the immortal part, the soul ; what else ? There are some points of His image in that. It understandeth, it loveth, hath a kind of capacity of the word. So hath not the flesh. It is res hruta, 'common to them with us ;' neither able to understand, or love, or in any degree capable of it. Make it the soul, "the precious soul," Prov.6.26. 92 Of the Nativity. SERM. (so calleth it Solomon ;) not the body, "the vile body," (so the — Apostle calleth it.) Of the Word He said ever, vidimus yloriam [John i. Ejus, " we saw the glory of It." Of the flesh we may say, vidimus sordes ejus, 'we daily see that comes from it,' as non est villus sterquilinium, ' on the dung-hill worse is not to be seen.' Set not so precious a stone in so base metal. 5. But this is not all. If He must be made ; for love of God, make Him something wherein is some good ; for " in our flesh" Rom. 7. 18. (St. Paul saith) "there dwelleth no good;" yea, "the very Rom. 8. 7. wisdom of the flesh at flat defiance with the word." Make it somewhat else. For there is not only a huge distance, but main repugnancy between them. Yet, for all this, non potest Johnio.35. solvi Scriptura ; " the Word was made flesh." I add yet farther; what flesh? The flesh of an infant. What, Verbum inj'ans, the Word an infant? The Word, and not be able to speak a word ? How evil agreeth this ! This He put up. How born, how entertained ? In a stately palace, cradle of ivory, robes of estate ? No ; but a stable for His palace ; a manger for His cradle ; poor clouts for His array. This was His beginning. Follow Him farther, if any better afterward ; what flesh afterward ? Sudans et algens, in cold and heat ; hungry and thirsty ; faint and weary. Is His end any better ? that maketh up all : what flesh then ? isa. 53. 5. Cujus livore sanati, black and blue ; bloody and swollen ; rent and torn ; the thorns and nails sticking in His flesh ; and such flesh He was made. A great factum certainly, and much to be made of. To have been made caput Angelorum had Heb. 2. 7. been an abasement ; to be minoratus Angelis is more ; but, to Isa. 53. 3. be novissimus virorum, "in worst case of all men," nay, "a worm Ps. 22. 6. and no man ;" so to be born, so arrayed, and so housed, and so handled ; there is not the meanest flesh but is better. So to be made, and so unmade ; to take it on, and lay it off", with so great indignity : weigh it, and wonder at it, that ever He would endure to be made flesh, and to be made it on this manner. What was it made the Word thus to be made flesh ? Non est lex hominis ista, ' flesh would never have been brought to it.' It was God, and in God nothing but love ; Johns. 10. dilexit, with sic,- charitas, with an ecce ; fecit amor, ut Verbum 1 Johns. I. caro ficret; Zelus Domini exercituum fecit hoc. Love only did 2 Kings 19. Quid sit, possit, debeat, non recipit jus amoris, 'That only Of the Nativity. 93 cares not for any exinanivit, any humiliavit se, any emptying, humbling, loss of reputation ; love respects it not, cares not what flesh He be made, so the flesh be made by it.' " And dwelt." Factum est is the word of nature ; hahitavit, 2- . . Ihwitavit, of person ; habitare est personcB. And, two there are not. It is " and not hahitaverunt ; therefore, but one person. ' "'^ And hahitavit is a word of continuance ; that which was i. 2. begun in factum, is continued in hahitavit. Not only made, but made stay, made His abode with us; not appeared and was gone again straight; but, for a time took up His dwelling; foetus caro, f actus incola. And this word concerns this day properly. This is the day, the first day of hahitavit in nobis. Incarnate He was in the Virgin's womb; His taking flesh could not be seen. But this draweth after it a vidimus ; dwelt and was seen visibly. And this leadeth us to a third : conversatus est. Factum, 3. and factum familiare ; that He withdrew not Himself into some solitary place, but was Verhum prope nos, " near us," near Rom.io.s. neighbours to us. Habitu inventus ut homo, " in His habit, Phil. 2. 7. and in His habitation, found as a man." One might ask Him, as they at verse 38, ubi hahitas, " Sir, where dwell you ?" and He invited them to come and see. And ia-KrjvoxTe is not every dwelling, but a dwelling in 4. crKTjvr], ' a tent,' that is, but for a time. Not a house, to stand j^'eltras^' for ever; but a tent, to be taken down again. Which, as it '"^tcnt. sheweth His tabernacle, of the nature of ours, mortal; so withall, that He came but of an errand, to sojourn till He had done it. A work He had for which He was sent; that being done, He laid His tabernacle off again. And, even that work itself, is in aKTjvwcrai ; for it is a word 5. militare. Soldiers dwell in tents. As if He were now factus pjtcticd ' caro, incola, miles; as if some battle were toward. And indeed '"^ . ' as a sol- from the beginning, the very third of Genesis, there was war dier. proclaimed between the woman's Seed and the serpent's. An Gen. 3. 15. enemy we had, strong and mighty ; had, and have still ; not one, but many, a whole camp of them. They had prevailed, and led us away "captive under the law of sin." Dux nobis Rom. 7.23. opus est, ' a champion we stood in need of,' to rescue us. And here we have One now, even Dux Messias, as Daniel callcth Dan. 9. if,. Him. He, as this day, came into the camp, set up His pavi- 94 Of the Nativity. SERM. lion amoiiff us. The Tabernacle of God was with men. He VI . . '- — might not stay eight days in the camp, but He must take Sacramentum militare ; so He did. And the ceremony of it [' Vid. was to be stricken, and to bleed' some small quantity. So He Veget. de , , , i j Re Mil. was, at His Circumcision ; and after. He performed the battle c.'s." His Passion. Where, though it cost Him His life, yet the Eph. 4. 8. victory fell on His side ; " captivity was led captive," and we were delivered. His tent was but a forerunner to His combat. This for His dwelling. Now the affidavit. The affi- As the word habitavit pointeth us to this first day of the Vidimus, feast, and His tent to the middle day, when He undertook we saw. quarrel ; so vidimus now is proper to the last day, the day of manifestation, or Epiphany. He dwelt ; and not invisibly or obscurely, but so as He might be and was seen. Even this very first day, vidimus, might the shepherds say, ' we saw' His angels and heard them sing, and then went to Bethle- hem and saw Himself. Vidimus, might the wise men say ; Mat. 2. 2. " we saw His Star in the East," and we are come to see Him- self. This they might say, and truly ; for these things were Acts26.26. not done in obscuro. But, as we said, this clause is the affi- davit, it is inferred as a proof. You tell us of His making, and His dwelling; quomodo constat? How shall it appear? Joh. 19.35. Vidimus is the best proof that can be. " He saw it, was an eye-witness of what He testified." 2. And it is not vidi, but vidimus ; more eyes than one. Not not fid!,' he alone, others more saw it, besides him. " In the mouth T^i8 ° three witnesses ." Peter, James, and he, (vidimus) 16.] were in the holy Mount together, and saw Him transfigured. Mati7.i,2. Nay, a whole " cloud of witnesses," one hundred and twenty, I John 1.3. TT- 1 • TT p ' • • 1 • 1 Heb 12 1 Hira taken up into Heaven out or tneir sight, in the Acts 1. 9. Mount of Olives. Well might He say, vidimus. 3. And that not per transennam, ' at a blush,' passing by ; but ^9€a(r<£^*€- jj^^j ^ g-gjjj.^ looked well upon Him, at leisure; did it saw it in- thoroughly, for a good time together. It is not opav, but tentively. 0^^^^^0^^^ ^^le word whence a theatre is derived : as men with good heed behold things there, so did we, intentively, all the acts and scenes of His life. 4. But I ask, what saw they ? The flesh peradventure ; the giorjv"'' ^ord they could not see. He is God ; and " God hath no Joh. 1. 18. man ever seen." True; that they could not; yet His glory Of the Nativity, 95 they might, and did. Which glory was an infallible demon- stration of His Presence, there. "Through the veil of His Heb. 10.20. flesh," such beams He cast, as behind those clouds they might know there was a sun ; as, that way only, could He be made visible to the eyes of flesh, which otherwise could not behold Him. But it may be it was some wrong, this ; but such, as was 5; seen in Moses', or in Stephen's countenance. He answers unigeniti that, and tells us. It was not, quasi servi, ' like a servant ;' nay, nor quasi filii, ' like any adopted sons but, this glory was every way such, as well might it beseem the Word, or only Son ; but could agree to no creature, though never so glorious. To none but Him ; and so being proprium quarto modo, might be a medius terminus, in a demonstration. And if you ask, what that glory might be ? With a word, to 6. say to the wind and storm, Obmutesce ; and to diseases, Volo, ^o,^'was! Mundare: and to death itself, Tibi dico, Surge. His miracles, Mark 4.39. ' . . . . Mat. 8. 3. they shewed His glory, is expressly said in the next chapter, Luke 7.14. ver. ll.b The star at His birth, the eclipse at His death, the glory of His changing in the Mount ; but above all. His glo- rious Ascension, and receiving up into Heaven. All which they saw, as being in the theatre all the while, from the epi- tasis to the very catastrophe. Therefore he tells us here, and again in his Epistle, he writes nothing but "what he saw and iJoh. 1.1. beheld, and even his hands had handled of the Word of Life." We may believe him ; he and his contestes suffered many things for the truth of their witness; and the whole world since hath believed this their affidavit. Now are we past the parenthesis. But what, is all that a vidimus ? nothing but a mask, to be The con- seen ? came He only to make a glorious show to them all ? "*'Fun"of No ; but as He came not obscure, but was seen ; so He came ^^^^ not empty, but full, and was felt of them that saw Him not. Vidimus is not all : a verse after there is accepimus ; to see His glory they receive of His fulness : they, and we. Many are the perfections, whereof He is full. Two only Full of here chosen out, as two streams, 1. Grace, and 2. Truth, fmthbot'h. With them He cometh, with the fulness of them : not of one ^ [" This beginning of miracles did forth His glory ; and His disciples be- Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested lieved on Him." — John 2. 11.] 96 Of the Nativity. SERM. of them, but of both. Grace referreth to the Son; truth to — ^ — the Word. Grace is to adopt us; truth to beget us anew ; for, Jas. 1. 18. " of His own will He hath begotten us, by the Word of truth." 2. And these do very fitly follow after glory. Glory of itself terrifies, and makes stand aloof ; grace invites. And His glory is such as is full of grace. His mercy, as great as His Majesty full out. A blessed thing it is, when these two meet ; and they that are in glory are full of grace, too. It is not so with every one that is in glory ; but though there be grace, unless there be truth too, all is nothing. For grace, because it is plausible, and pleaseth the people, it is affected ; there is a taking on grace in face and phrase, but when all is done, it wanteth sound truth. That is right grace, that hath truth joined to it. Verbiim gratiae, and verbum charitatis both, and it is both. Yea, verbum caro, His word is not wind, it hath flesh on it. His truth is, as it were, the flesh of His grace. Thus may be the consequence. 3. But of these two choice is made, as of those our nature stood most in need of. Out of grace we were ; and without grace, as sinners, and in errors wandering up and down ; as even the best of our nature did at His coming into the flesh. This is the state He found us in, when He came among us. Eph. 1. 6. Against xhe fiv&t, gratijicavit nos in Dilecto, " He brought us in grace again, through His beloved Son." Gratiam pro gratia, Joh. 1. 16. (He saith after straight,) " For the grace His Son had with Him, He received us to grace." Against the latter, He brought us truth, to set us in the Joh. 14. 6. right way. Via, Veritas, et Vita. Veritas between both. Via et Veritas, or Veritas Vice, ' the true Way ;' Vita et Veritas, or Veritas Vita, the true Life (that is) Life eternal. We cannot be without either. 4. This for our need. But, within a verse after, I find these two set in opposition to the Law, and the Law to them ; as if St. John pointed us whereto we should refer them. The Law Joh. 1. 17. full of rigour, many threats, and curses in it. Christ bringeth the word of grace, opposeth to that. The Law full of empty Col. 2. 17. shadows and ceremonies, which truth is set against ; Corpus Heb. 10. 1. autem Christus, " Christ the very Body," to Lex habens um- bram ; so, requisite to quit us of the Law. The Law, the Word, that married flesh. Of tlie Nativity. 97 The bringing of these two together is a great matter; and together they must be. Grace, take it from truth, and it is fallax, ' but a vizor,' but a mere illusion. Truth, sever it from grace, and it is ingrata, 'but an unpleasing thing.' Grace and truth kept in sunder, and never met before ; but when the Word and flesh met, then "did they meet and kiss each Ps. 85. lo. other," saith the Prophet, and doth with a whole Psalm cele- brate this meeting. They must meet, and grace be first; as here. We shall 5. never endure the severity of His truth, unless grace come first: before, and allay it. But when grace hath brought us to Him, then truth, truth will hold us with Him. By grace we shall accomplish what truth requireth at our hands; that so, receiving grace, and walking in truth, we may come to the thii'd, and reward of both, glory. "Full" of them; and the word would not be passed. We find 6. others full of grace, as His blessed Mother, and as St. Stephen, both. Theirs reacheth not to us. None of them have more than ^"^f^' 55 serves for themselves. For, the Spirit is given them, but, by measure ; but plenitudo vasis, in them, 'the fulness of a vessel ;' if ye take any thing out, to pour into another, it is the less for it. But, His is plenitudo fontis, ' the fulness of a fountain,' John 3. .34. which is never drawn dry ; qui implet abyssum, et non mino- ratur, ' fills a great pool, and itself never the less.' Of which fulness they all received, and He never the emptier. We shall not need to go to any other storehouse, or help to supply or fill up Christ with any other, as if He were but half full. He is full, full of both. Our care is to be, to make ourselves fit vessels, and there is all. Thus fur, quod Verbum factum caro. Now, quid Verbum carni, ll. the benefit, and (that which the benefit ever draweth with it,) Vnium the duty, quid caro Verbo? 1. Factus caro henefaciet can*?, ^g""^'''^ ' being made flesh He will be a benefactor to it.' " No man ever hated his flesh," and no more can He us, who are ' flesh of His flesh,' or rather. He of ours. He seeth us daily in Him- Eph.a. 29. self, He cannot look upon His flesh, but He must think upon us. And God the Father cannot now hate the flesh, which the Word is made ; which is now taken into one Person with His only Son, and united to the Deity itself. If He love the Word, He must love it too, for the Word is become it; H 98 Of the Nativity. SERM. either love both, or hate both. But, love it certainly; for, as VI « '- — this day, "when He brought His Son" clothed with it "into the world. He gave express commandment, all His Angels should worship Him" so clothed, and our flesh in Him: a new dignity which is this day accrued to our nature, to be adored of the blessed Angels. Our nature questionless is set in high favour with God: God send our persons so too, and all shall be well. 1- Besides, good hope we now have, that He being now flesh, Ps. 63. 2. all flesh may come to Him, to present Him with their requests. Time was, when they fled from Him ; but ad factum carnem, jam veniet omnis caro. For since He dwelt amongst us, all may resort to Him : yea, even sinners ; and of them it is said, Luke 13. 2. Hic recipit peccatores, et comedit cum eis; " He receiveth them, receiveth them even to His table." 2. A second hope, that seeing He hath made our flesh His Tabernacle, He will not suffer this of ours, the same with that of His, to fall down quite and come to nothing; the same. He dwelleth in Himself, not to perish utterly ; but repair it again, Ps. 16. 9. and raise it out of the dust. So that insuper caro nostra re- quiescet in spe, "our very body may rest in hope," to be restored Phil. 3. 21. again, and "made like to His glorious Body." 3. A third ; that where it was, " Flesh and blood shall not iCor.15.50. inherit the Kingdom of God," it is reversed; flesh and blood shall ; for flesh and blood already doth. It is, that St. John is about, to infer the former verse out of this, viz. "to them gave John 1.12. He power to be made the sons of God:" for. Ex quo hoc verum est, Filium Dei Filium hominis fieri potuisse, non est incre- dibile, &^c. ' Since sure it is, that the Son of God is made the Son of man, it is not incredible, but that the sons of men may be made the sons of God.' Not incredible, nay securitas nobis data est, 'a kind of bond is entered, security given.' Seeing this verse is true, so is the last, dedit potestatem, " He gave power;" and well might. Why? For "the Word is made flesh," and therefore flesh may have reciprocal hope to be regenerate by the Word, and adopted through grace, and so exalted to the glorious dignity of the sons of God. And because grace and truth do this, we shall fail of neither of them. He is full ; and not for Himself. He needs them not. He hath them for us, and hath sufficient. Neither Of the Nativity. 99 shall be wanting, if we be not wanting to ourselves. His grace shall prevent us, and His truth follow us, all the days of Ps. 23. g. our life. So we see quid Vcrbum carni, what He hath done for us: ill. now our duty reciprocal, quid caro Verho, what we for Him rcrlL'^.'"" again. If the Word become flesh, we to take order, that flesh of ^""^ ^"'^^ ours, that the Word hath taken, we take it not and make it una caro with you know whom, or may read. God forbid ! Know iCor.G.io. ye not, "the Word is become flesh?" That flesh is then so to be preserved, that, as he saith, ' We saw the glory,' so may we, 'We saw His flesh, as the flesh of the only-begotten Son of God.' Kept with such care, and in such cleanness, as it might beseem His flesh to be kept. And as much may be said for habitavit ; the house would be somewhat handsome, as handsome as we could, that is to receive Him. We blame them, that this day received Him in a stable ; take heed we do not worse ourselves. But the Fathers press a farther matter yet, out of Verbum caro factum ; that we also are (after our manner) verbum carnem facere, 'to incarnate the word.' We have a word, we may do it to, which is the type or abstract of the very Word, or wisdom of God ; and that is the word which is preached unto us. That word we may, and are to incarnate, according to this day's pattern. That we so do. That word is then incarnate, quando verbum in opus, Scripturas in operas convertimus, ' when we do what is spoken, or written ; and turn the vocal word into a real work.' The word, with us, turneth to nothing but wind. To give it St. John's flesh, and St. James' vidimus, Jas. 2 18. make it both be felt and seen. Especially, since our Saviour Himself saith, "He reckoneth of this as His second birth ; and ]\ra(. 12. of every one that so doth esteemeth as His Mother." That is the duty properly belonging to this day, the day of His birth. And to look also to habitavit, as well as factum est. Fit ^■ sometimes, sometimes somewhat 'is done;' but non habitavit, it vanisheth again, it hath no state in us, it continueth not in us, nor we in it. That it be not only, but remain. By faith factum est; dwell, by perseverance, the true freehold indeed. And that this we may, to provide for the fourth ; to use 4. n 2 100 Of the Nativity. s E R M. means, to draw from Him that, whereof He hath such plenty, '- — " grace and truth. The breasts that are full have as great pleasure in being drawn, as the child that draweth them. Assure ourselves, it is so here. There is majus desiderium deplendi in Him, than replendi in us; more in Him to part with, than in us to receive. And what means are those ? To go to the word and flesh together. The word itself doth well ; and, of the twain, the word hath less cause to complain. But, this, at other times. But, at this now, we are not to con- tent ourselves with one alone ; but, since He offereth to com- municate Himself both ways, never restrain Him to one. The word we hear is the abstract of Verbum ,• the Sacrament is the antitype of caro, His flesh. What better way, than where these are actually joined, actually to partake them both? Not, either alone, the word or flesh ; but the word and flesh both, for there they are both. If we regard habitavit, this is a sure Joh. 6. 56. way, we have a plain text for it; Qui manducat carnem, in Me manet et Ego in Illo, " He abides in Me, and I in Him." If it be grace and truth we respect, how may we better establish our hearts with grace, or settle our minds in the truth of His promise, than by partaking these the conduit-pipes of His grace, and seals of His truth unto us ? Grace and truth (now) proceeding, not from the Word alone, but even from the flesh thereto united ; the fountain of the Word flowing into the cistern of His flesh, and from thence deriving down to us this grace and truth, to them that partake Him aright. But, setting them aside, the day, "the Word was made flesh," it is most kindly that a memorial be kept, as well of the flesh as the Word. On the feast of their union, they would be united ; the day, they were joined by Him, they would not be sundered by any ; but we to celebrate both, in honour of both. For, judge with yourselves, how inconvenient it is to keep a feast in honour of His taking flesh, and even that day abandon His flesh, and never once take it. Verbum et caro, if ever, to be joined, this day, the day of their joining. Accordingly then, as well by the act, to testify and represent the Word's making flesh, as to procure He may dwell in us; and dwelling replenish us with His grace and truth. And lastly, that we may hold this feast aright, and do the duty that properly belongs to it, let us by both do honour to both, that from both Of the Nativity. 101 we may receive the fruit of both ; grace, to enable us ; truth, to guide us, to the hope of glory. Not to that in the parenthesis ; that is but vidimus quasi ; but to the other, vide- himus sicut est, " to see Him as He is," and, by seeing, to be i Joh, 3. 2. transformed into the same image of glory. A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE KING'S MAJESTY AT WHITEHALL, ON FRIDAY, TJIIi TWENTY-FIFTH OF DECEMBER, A.D. MDCXII. BEING CURISTMAS-DAY. Hebrews i. 1 — 3. At sundry times and in divers manners, God spake in the old time to our Fathers, hy the Prophets : In these last days, lie hath spoken to us by His Son, IFIiom He hath made Heir of all things ; hy Whom also He made the worlds ; Who, being the brightness of His glory, and the engraved Form of His Person, and bearing up all things hy His mighty tvord, hath by Himself purged our sins, and sitteth at the right hand of the Majesty in the highest places. [^Midtifariam, mtdtisque modis olini Deus loquens patribus in Pro- plietis, Novissime diebtis istis locutus est nobis in Filio, Quern constitidt Hercdcm universoriim, per Quern fecit et sacida ; Qui cum sit Splendor gloria;, et Figura suhsfatities Ejus, portansquc omnia verbo virtutis Sues, purgationem peccatorum faciens, scdct ad dexteram majesiatis in excelsis. Latin Vulg.] '[God, Who at sundry times and in divers maniiers spake in time 2}ast unto the Fathers by the Prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, Whom He hath appointed Heir of all things, by Whom also He made the icorlds; Who being the Brightness of His glory, and the express Image of His Person, and upholding all things by the word of His jyowcr, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat dotvn on the right hand of the Majesty on high. Engl. Trans.] SERM. Et erunt novissimi primi, saitli our Saviour, "And the last vii . Maf iiTsi) ^'^^^^ first." And this text tells us of a great prerogative of these last days, above the first. Of which last days, this is the first day : the day of Christ's birth. For, make a partition Of the Nativity. 103 of the two times, oUm, and dies novissimi; and this day will be found to end olim, and to begin dies novissimi; to be the first day of these last days ; the very Kalends of Christianity, from whence we begin our era, or Christian computation. The dignity of this day, and ours in it, is here set out The sum two ways. First, by a case of comparison : of comparison, vl'simll between the times past, and these now ; between the Fathers and us. The point wherein is God's speaking, speaking to both ; but in a more excellent manner, and by a far more excellent Person, to us, than to them. The end ; that so we might know, know and acknowledge, qu? iv KaTOTrrpca "as in a perspective saw it." glass;" yet see it they did. It is but vidit, vidit in genere. 1 CoV. is. Any sight, any descrying will serve to verify the text. I say '^j^^^Oj^ not, they did precisely know the very day of the month; I ^•,^;] would not so be understood. But this they did; they knew rpou.G.v.] and saw in genere such a day there should come ; and then, come when it would, or what day of the year it would, all joy they wished to that day, for the joy it was to bring them. This was enough for them in their estate ; and more particular notice had they had of the month and day, this I am sure, they would never have scraped it out of their Kalendar. "He saw it." But then, if you ask, how he saw it? Sure, How he not (as they were mistaken, in the text) as if Abraham could not see His day, unless Christ had been in the flesh, in the days of Abraham. That is one kind of seeing indeed. For so Simeon saw, "for mine eyes have seen." But this text Lukc2.30. must be true; vidit Abraham. Then, another there is beside. This is sure, what Simeon saw, the same saw Abraham. What Simeon saw, I say; but, not, as Simeon saw. The same Christ, 128 Of t/ie Nativity. s E R M. both ; and the same day ; though, not both, in the same man- VIll. ner. But let me tell you, this of Abraham's was the better. And if Simeon had not seen Him in the same manner Abraham Luke2.30. did, for all his viderunt oculi, he had been never the nearer. No more than were the Jews here, that hurled stones at Him, and so saw Him ; but to no benefit, no matter of exultation at all; of condemnation, rather. [Plat, de Then, if not with his eyes, how ? Yes ; with his eyes too, ix^citeii though not of the body. Which to conceive, we are to take stein^]' notice, that there is in every man of us two men : (Plato had Rom. 7. 22. Seen so much and set it down, and it is thought the Apostle 2Cor.4.i6. tQo]^ it; from him;) 1. an outward, and 2. an inward man. Now if there be an inward man, we must allow him senses as a man ; he must have eyes. So he hath ; " having the e^^es of Eph. 1. 18. your understanding lightened." Here are eyes ; by them did Abraham ; and even by them (and by no other do) we see Him. Those e3'es many have beside, but see Him not, for want of light. By what light saw he ? He was a Prophet ; and as a Prophet he might be in the Spirit and have the vision clearly represented before him, in luce Projjhetia. But without all Gal. 3. 9. question a " faithful" man he was, and so, certain it is he saw it in lumine Jidei, ' the light of faith,' which " faith is the clear- Heb. 11.1. ness or evidence of things not seen;" (ye know the place;) not seen; nay even of things invisible. In the 27th verse of Heb.11.27. the same chapter it is said, " Moses was as if he had seen the Roni.4.11. Invisible." By faith, that was; and in Abraham " the father of the faithful," the same faith was. Both saw, by the same light, and by it Christ was as verily pi'esent unto them, as if they had seen Him this day in the manger with the shepherds; or, with Simeon, had had Him in their arms, and beheld Him. Thus he, and thus we. For it is all the light, he had, or we have, to see Him by. But where was this, and when ? The text is enough, so it was, if we rest not in that, but would know what the Fathers have conceived of the place and time. This they hold; that Gen.i8.io. he saw His birth at the valley of Mamre; and he saw His Gen. 22. 9, pgggj^jj in the mount of Moriah. But, this day he saw at [Gen.18.2.] Mamre. Then was Christ in Person there, one of the Three ; [Gen. 18. made Abraham the confession we before spake of. Then Of the Nativity. 129 is twice mention made of the time of life, which is this time, if ever any. Then Isaac was delivered as a gage ; and then was his first feast of joy ; down went his fat heifer ; so all met at the time just. And so certainly he then saw it there, as after (we see) he sware his servant on his thigh. His thigh became ad sancta Dei evangelia ; he bade his servant " lay his hand on his Gen. 24. • 2 3 thigh, and sware by the God of Heaven." Et quid vult Deus ' Coeli ad femur Abrahas ? ' What hath the God of Heaven [Vid. to do with Abraham's thigh?' saith St. Augustine; and his Qu»st.^62. answer is, nisi quia, ' but only because he saw certainly the Enar^ln Son of God was from thence to take flesh ;' semen Abrah(B de ^f-^'t'^ ' , et72.init.] femore AbrahcB ; and so, to make us this blessed day. And this of Christ's visus ; and now of Abraham's gavisus, the end of his sight and desire both. He that was glad he should see it, must needs be glad, when Abraham's he did see it. \i exultavit, uivideret; then ut vidit, ut exultavit ! ^EUgmhus when he saw, how glad a man was he, now his desire was ac- complished ! And "the desire accomplished," saith Solomon, Pro. 13.12. "is a tree of life;" and "the tree of life," we know, "is in Gen. 2. 9. the midst," is the very centre of all the joys of Paradise. [Rev. 2. 7.] Now we cannot possibly take a view of these his joys better than out of the promise ; which was the very list or brief of all he was either to see, or to joy in. We begin with the blessed joy of Benedicentur omnes gentes Gen. 26. 4. in semine tuo. Benedicentur, " shall be blessed." And that is of two sorts. 1. Blessed from ; and 2. blessed with : and either hath his joys. Blessed from; from pulvis et cinis, "dust of the grave, and 1. 2. ashes of the furnace." His soul blessed from the clibanus fumans, which he saw. Moreover also " His flesh should Ps. 16. 9. rest in hope ;" hope of rising again from the dust. Else how could God be called "the God of Abraham?" " God is not Mat.22.32. the God of the dead, but of the living." Abraham then being dead should live again, and then Nunc dimittis may he say, no Luke 2.29. less than Simeon. These two joys first. And these two fit well the words of joy in the verse. 1. Exultavit, that is a motion of the body ; for the body's deliverance from dust. 2. Gavisus, that is a fruit of the spirit; for the spirit's redemption from the furnace. These are his two first joys. K 130 Of the Nativity. SERM. Then two more, in blessed with, or concerning. Concern- — ing first his two gages, Isaac and Canaan : Isaac, of Christ ; ^* Canaan, of the Kingdom of Heaven. And this joy was surely great; and if the joy of the pledge or gage were great, far greater was the joy of the inheritance itself which he so greatly desired. For both, he was, saith the Apostle, and Heb.11.13. "he bare himself like a stranger here upon earth;" shewing [Heb. 11. thereby that he sought for another, a better, "an abiding City, whose Builder is God," and that in Heaven. For that it was no earthl}' thing which was the object of his joy, nothing but Heaven ; thence it may appear, that when God pro- Gen.13.16. mised him, "his seed should be as the dust of the earth," it never moved him ; it was no object, that, of his faith or desire ; not so much as a credidit follows upon it. But after, in the fifteenth chapter, when God bade him look up, and told him, Gen.i5.5,fi. "they should be as the stars of Hefiven ;" then presently fol- [Rom.4.3.] lows, Credidit Abraham Deo, he caught hold of that; "believed" that, straight; and "it was counted to him for righteousness;" even that his faith, touching no dust of the earth, but touch- ing Heaven and Heavenly blessings. And these are the two next joys, of blessed loith ; and these two answer the two sights; ut videret, the pledge; and et vidit, the inheritance. 6. Now these four, had they been granted to himself, and to his own house, well might it have been gavisus with him ; how much more then, that it should by him, have his extent, and Gen. 26.4. Stretch to omnes familicB, omnes gentes, "all kindreds, all nations of the earth ; " be gaudium omni -popido, " be a day of joy to both hemispheres;" the joy of generality ; that all the world should be the better for him ? And this, his fifth, the joy of omnes gentes. 6. And glad might he have been, to have received all these, by whomsoever; yea, though a mere stranger. That all these then should come to him, not by any strange party, but by one to come out of his own bowels ; that his Seed should be his Saviour, and out of his root should rise his Redeemer; all his joy should grow from the fruit of his own body ; that He, That Heb. 2.16. nusquam angelos, "in no wise them,'' would take on Him "the seed of Abraham ;" this may, I doubt not, be reckoned for the sixth, even the joy of in semine tno. 7. Now, to in semine Abraha, add in sinu Abrahce, and so have Of the Nativity. 131 we seven complete; that "his bosom" should be the receptacle of all that should enter into bliss. Whosoever there enter- tained, in sinu Abrahte it is to be. This is the last; that semen Lu. lo. 23. Abrahce shall bring us to sinus Abrahoe, and make us partakers of his Heavenly joys there. But we must begin with in semine, to-day ; that after in his good time, i7i si7Ut may follow. And this for gavisus est, and for Abraham. Now to ourselves. And the first point is, whether we will The refe- be out with the Jews, or in with Abraham, in the fellowship of us. this day's joy. In, with Abraham, we sure. If all be well d'etre, weighed, we have greater cause to desire the day than he ; we have more need of it, I am sure. Dust, as he ; but more in danger to be made ashes than he, by Manasses' argument, in his prayer. The benefit of his day, and the like, they do nothing so much concern the just, such as Abraham, as they do sinful Manasses, and such as he. And such are we ; and ever, the more sinner, the more it imports him to love the dawning of this day. Greater cause we have than he. And for our sight, we have that clearer than he by much. 2. Our For, though we see, as he; and he, as we; both by the light of faith ; yet he, in the faith of prophecy, yet to come; we, in the faith of history, now past; and there is great odds between these two. We have the record of human writers, many; but of Divine, all; that this day is come and gone; even of such as saw Him with the eyes both of the inward and outward man. The greater cause, and the better sight : then is our joy also 3. Our joy. to abound, and be above his. So it should, sure. And we would seem as if it so were ; we multiply the days, and where he had but one, we hold twelve together, as if we would ex- ceed him, twelve to one, in this joy. Being then so bound, joy agreeth well with us at this time. The text invites us to it, the whole strain from the first word to the last. It begins with exultavit, and ends in gavisus est. Only, that from whence we take our joy, from thence we take the rules of it; which be three. 1 . One of the two parts, exultavit and gavisus est. 2. One of the end, diem Bleum. And 3. the last of our pattern, sicut Abraham pater noster, to express it as he did. 1. Here be two sorts; 1. One, exultation, a motion of the r,,.<,[r"iie K 2 " 132 Of the Nativiti/. S K R 1\T. VIII. That e.r- vltavit exceed not yavi- sus est. [Heb.10.5.] [Joh.1.14.] Lu. 10.42. 2, The second : that it be lor diem Meum. Exod.32.e body. 2, The other, joy, a fruit of the spirit: I am foi" both. I speak not against cxultovit ; let the body have his part. Reason would, the body and the flesh should be allowed their parts, since all the joy is for corpus aptasti Mihi, and that Verbum caro factum est, " the Word is become flesh ; " that Christ hath gotten Him a body. But let not exultavit be all, whole and sole. Then, we joy but by halves; we lose half our joy, and the better half ; for the joy of the spirit is the better part, when all is done. The flesh fades daily; so do the joys of it : the spirit's is " the better part that shall not be taken from ns." That of the spirit should exceed the joy of the outward man, as far as et vidit, to which it is joined, doth exceed ut videret. It should so. Well, in the meanwhile, I would they might but part equally ; at least, not to stay so long, not to make so large allowance of time and cost for the flesh, as we leave little or nothing for the spirit's part. Sure somewhat would be done ; some special use of this feast, that may tarry by us, when these of the flesh we shall either have forgotten, or remember but with small joy. Time will come, that one lesson in this kind, learned this day, and laid up well, will do us more pleasure, than all the sports we shall see, the whole twelve days after ; that we come not behind Abraham half in half. Our next caveat would be, that we look this our joy be for diem Meum, and that our joy in diem be for Meum. For Meum is here the substantive, it is Christ ; and diem but an accident or adjective to it. That is, that we joy in it, as it is His, Christ's. As His ; do we not so ? As whose else ? To speak plainly, the common sort generally all, some few except, wish for it and joy in it, not as it is Christ's, but as it is somewhat else; that is, as it is a time of cheer and feasting, as it is a time of sports and revelling. Exultavit ut videret, what? why, that we shall now fare well. Look you, that is it ; as it is dies epuli, not Christi. What farther? that we shall now see pastimes ; that is, as it is dies ludi, not Christi. Put both to- gether; "down they sat to feast, up they rose to play;" so have you the golden Calf's holiday right. As it is dies vitidi, not Christi. This is not diem, for Meum : in very deed, this is to desire Him, for the day; not the day, for Him. Christ's day is not desired for Christ, Christ is the least part of His ov.'n Of the Nativity. 133 feast. If it be but matter of the belly, the Jews here could have been entreated to have kept this day, so as dies epuli. For before, at the sixth chapter, when their bellies were filled, then, and never but then, "This is the Prophet, This is He John 6.14. that should come into the world." This was all they then made ; all that many now do make of Christ's coming into the world ; that they may fill their bellies. Never care for bene- dicentur, no more than Esau; but for bene vescentur ; and if bene vestientur too, then all is well. Or, if it be but shows and matter of sight, Herod he was glad to see Christ too. And it is the same word which is here, glad, and very glad, \iav ix^^pV- ^^^^ ^hy was it ? Be- cause " he hoped to have seen him done some strange feats." Lu. 23. a This pertaineth rather to Sarah's laughter, than Abraham's joy. There is a difference between Sarah's laughter, and Abraham's joy. Take heed, that we change not Abraham's joy, into Sarah's laughter. Now last, sicut Abraham. He is propounded here to us as The third our pattern ; we to express our joy, as he did his, upon the sicut day of his sight at the plain of Mamre. So we shall begin right. Two things he did ; first, he got them, the Three, to 1. turn in to him. The same would Christ do to us, this day. Gen. is.a That our joy may be suitable, to turn in hither. The begin- ning of the joy of His day would be in His house ; so the place and the time would agree well. So He saith Himself, Liit as the object of two, sight and taste ; gustate ct videte, both. Ps~34~tr ■^"'^ "'^y "''^ ^^^^ ^"^^ leave the other ; but, since both he oifered, receive both. For we are come hither for this cause ; here then shew your joy in His feast-day, by par- taking His feast on His day, the only feast, of all the rest, for which the soul is the better. Thus shall we with joy keep this day aright. And here now, one day calls another ; this day of His calls to mind another day of His, called so in twenty places, " His [See2Tim. day," and called "that day" in plain reference to this. So to iTircs.5.2. joy this day, as, that day, we may joy also. As this, His day, 2Pet.3 10.] [jecause it is the day of His first coming ; so that, His likewise, because it is the day of His coming again. A day, howsoever we do with this, which we must all see ; Abraham, the Jews, we, and all. Only, that we see that day with joy ; that we so demean ourselves, in this, as that also may prove a festival with [Joh.7.37.] us, even "the last and greatest day of the feast" now begun in this. All will be, how to make that a day of joy, to us, when we see it : to have that day rise clear and cheerful to us, will be the joy of all joys. For, here, first as " we see but in part," so we can joy but in part. As our sight, so our joy, imperfect. But 1 Cor. 13. there, "we shall see as we are seen ;" our sight being perfect, so shall our joy be; perfect sight, and perfect joy. And besides, that is another manner of day, than this, or any day here ; a day that shall never go down ; no more shall the joy of it. And it shall not endure for twelve days, or be a feast of a fortnight; but shall be from month to month, from jubilee to jubilee, for ever and ever. To the joy of which feast, or to the feast of which joy, by &c. A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE KING'S MAJESTY, AT WHITEHALL, ON SUNDAY, THE TWENTlf-FIFTH OF DECEMBER, A.D. MDCXIV. BEING CHEISTMAS-DAY. Isaiah vii. 14. Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and she shall call His name Immanuel. Ecce Virgo concipiet, et pariet Filium, et vocabitur nomen Ejus Immanuel, [^Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. Engl. Trans.] Of all the writers of the Old Testament, the Prophet Esay hath the honour to be the first that is vouched in the New. And, of all the places, this place the honour to be the first of all ; even in the first Evangelist St. Matthew, and in the very first chapter of him. We may well think, St. Mat- Mat. i. 23. thew would be careful to make choice of a very prime and pregnant place, to set it as it were in the front of his Gospel. This is much honour, St. Matthew doth it. But the Angel Gabriel doth it more, who takes this verse Lu. 1. 31. as it stands, word for word, and makes it serve for his annun- ciation or message to the Blessed Virgin without any altera- tion ; not so much as the ecce left out. The tenor of it is all about a Child to be born, a Child with an ecce ; in Whom, and in Whose birth, God should be with us ; so with us, as never before. On Whose so being with us, depends all our well or evil being here, and for ever. For better not be at all, than be without Him ; and having Him, we need nothing else ; for in Ipso omnia, " in llim is all." Coi. 1. 17. The Eunuch's question falls fitly in here ; " Of whom speaks Acts 8. 34. the Prophet this?" Who is His mother? Who the Child? St. Matthew will be as good to us, as St. Philip was to him ; 136 Of the Nativity. SERM. who, where he enrols it, tells us, who the mother, the blessed IX . . '- — Virgin ; who the Child, our blessed Saviour. Who else ? No virgin ever bare child but she ; no child ever nobiscum Devs, and so Deus, but He. There is none other to lay claim to it, but they. The di- Ecce hath in it two powers. 1. One for the ear ; to awake it to some matter more than ordinary, 2. Another for the eye j to direct it by pointing to some certainty ; as here to two certain persons, the mother and the Child. And shews us I- two strange sights in them, mater, virgo ; and Deus, homo ; 'a virgin to become a mother;' 'God to become man.' A virgin to bear ; God to be born. In both, and in either of 1. 2. 3. them, three points are offered to us. I. Ecce concipiet; 2. Ecce pariet ; 3. Ecce vocabit nomen. Our Saviour Christ's first triplicity: 1. The mystery of His holy Incarnation, in concipiet; 2. His holy Nativity, in pariet; 3. His Circum- cision, in vocabit nomen. And every one of these three makes a several feast. Ecce concipiet, the Annunciation ; et pariet, this feast of the birth of our Lord; et vocabit nomen, New- year's day, when His name was given. But we apply it to this feast. So doth St. Matthew, in his Mat. 1. 18. impeximus of it, to the birth of Christ. " The birth of Christ," saith he, " was on this fashion ;" and then brings in this record out of Esay. As if this ecce did in particular point at this day. As, in truth, we stand not much upon His conceiving (now He is born specially, as born He is,) ecce pariet is the point. For then, we see Him, take Him in our arms ; then. He is " with us" indeed. And when was that? Ecce pariet, saith the text; Ecce peperit, saith the day, this very day. This is the chief. But finding them here all, we will deal with them all. 1. Christ as embryo, in His conception. 2. Christ as apTL- 'yevmjTov ^pe(]>o<;, a new-born babe, but yet avht. Never stood still, till it came thither: and ^'''t- 2.9. ^ . I's. H7. 4. there it stood directly over the place, as much to say as, " Lo, there He is born." And in this will we rest ; since Micah and Matthew, Prophet and Apostle, Priest and people. Christians and Jews, Heaven and earth are all with us ; all testify, this text pertains to Christ's birth ; and so to this day properly. It is of a place ; and place and time are held weighty circum- stances, specially in matter of fact or story : Uhi et Quando, material questions. The Apostles asked them both ; Ubi Dornine? "Where Lord?" Quando, et quod erit siynum? Lu. 17. 37. " When, and what shall be the sign ?" Mar. 13. 4. Of the time when, some other time may give occasion, if 1. it so please God. Now, of Udi Dornine ? the place where. There we are to-day ; whereto, this is a direct answer, Beth- lehem is the place. That, first. But then secondly, this circumstance leads us farther, to 2. matter of substance. The place of the birth, to the birth itself ; and the birth, to the Party born : Who is here set forth, as a person. He comes forth once and again ; He leads. He feeds; all, acts of a person entire. Thirdly, this Person is here said to have two comings forth. 3. 1. Egreditur ex te, one. 2. Eyressus Ejus ah (Rterno, the other. In which two are expressly set down His two natures. 2. Ex te, from Bethlehem, on earth ; thence. He came according to His manhood. 2. A diehus (Bternilatis, "from everlasting, or from eternity ;" thence. He came according to His Godhead. And last, to make it a full and complete Christmas in text, 4, besides His place, Person, and natures, in these two comings forth ; here is His office also, to be 'Hyovfievos 6aTi<; iroifxavel, (so doth St. Matthew turn ^^yo the Prophet's word ; I follow Mat. 2. 6. no other ; for, sure I am, I cannot follow a better translator :) Dux, qui pascet. One to 1. lead us, and to 2. feed us, and so to conduct us from Bethlehem (where this day we come first acquainted with Him,) to the state of eternity, whence He came out, to bring us in ; there to live and reign with Him for ever. So, I. of the Place ; II. Person ; III. Natures ; and IV. office The di. of (Jhrist. I. The place of His birth, Bethlehem ; with her 156 Of the Nativity. SERW. two epithets or twins as it were, \. Parvula, "little;" and '■ — Y 2. Ephratah, "fruitful." II. Then, of His Person, That did come jJJ- forth. III. After, of both His natures ; 1. As man, from Beth- IV. lehem ; 2. As God, from everlasting. IV. Last, of His office. 1. To be our guide, to lead us, saith Micah ; 2. Dux, qui pascet ; lead us, and feed us, saith Matthew, both. And, so ]\Iat. 2. 6. leading and feeding us, to conduct and bring us to the joys and joyful days of eternity, whither, without Him, we can never come ; and, whither till wc come, we shall never be as we would be, that is, truly happy indeed. This is His office. And, as His office to lead, and to feed us ; so, our duty, to be led and to be fed by Him. That follows of itself. The man- Et tu Bethlehem. A word of the character or manner of speech*-^*^ the speech. For this verse hath no dependance at all on that ^Ith went before. The Prophet breaks off the discourse he was in, Uhem. and breaks into this of Bethlehem here, all of a sudden. This we call an Apostrophe, and it is one of the figures that be stirrers of attention. For this we find, that while one goes on still with a tale in a continued tenour of speech, attention grows dull ; and no readier way to awake it, as the masters of that art tell us, than suddenly to break off the point we were in hand with, and turn us to quite another matter; which with the strangeness will affect the hearer, and make him listen afresh, whether he will or no. 1. The Prophet doth so, in this. He was, but the verse before, mustering garrisons and laying siege to Jerusalem ; and in the midst of his tale, falls from that, and presently is at Bethlehem ; tells us of anew matter; about a Child to be born there. This must needs move attention. Any Apostrophe will do it, more or less. 2. But of all, none to that which is framed in the second per- son; as this is. For it is not a speech of or concerning Bethle- hem, in the third person, (as that of Esay, " Behold, a Virgin;" so here, ' Behold, out of Bethlehem shall come :') not enun- tiative. But it is a speech, to Bethlehem, in the second person ; et tu, " and thou Bethlehem, out of thee shall there come ;" annuntiative, which hath more vigour in it. If Esay had said, ' And thou Virgin shalt conceive,^ it had been more effectual, than " Behold a Virgin shall conceive ;" more a great deal. 1 Of the Nativity. 157 But more specially yet ; if, in the second person, vvc turn our 3. speech ad inanhnata, to things that can neither hear nor un- derstand. Not, that we hold them capable of that which is spoken ; but that, if in any degree they were so, it is such as surely would move them. Such is the Prophet's here; turns him to the town-walls of Bethlehem ; makes a set speech to them ; tells them of all this matter ; " And thou Bethlehem," to thee be it spoken, " out of thee shall there come." And this is very forcible, and full of life ; for it intends, that if the very walls and stones in them could hear, or could rejoice, there is good cause they should do both ; in that there should come out of them One, for Whom, Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah, nay, all the world should be the better. Weigh it well, and you shall find there is more in this et tii, than is, or can be, in any ecce of them all. And this for et tu, the manner of the speech. For the matter : it is an answer to the question, uhi natus The mat- cst, of the wise men, " Where is He that is born ?" Born He was, that they knew ; where born, that they knew not. The ggfi,^g^^''' star told them one; the Prophet, the other. Etclaritasclaritatem hem. clarijicat, and a clear star is made more clear, by a prophecy as clear, or clearer than it. For very clear it is, the prophecy, without all circuity, noting, naming, and in a manner pointing to it ; " And thou Bethlehem." And because there were two Bethlehems, one in the tribe i. of Zebulon, another in the tribe of Judah ; he saith it was /^',^''''' " Bethlehem Ephratah" which is that in the tribe of Judah, as f^f]"]";^ St. Matthew, rather giving the sense, than standing on the [iciir.4.4.] words, cites it. There can be no error : Rachel's sepulchre 2- 6. was there by, "Rachel was buried by Ephratah : Ephratah, the Gen.35. 19. same is Bethlehem," (Moses tells us more than a thousand years before.) As plain this as plain may be. No oracle of Delphos ; without any equivocation at all. We have the place. Now, what manner place is it ? Et tu 2. J Bethlehem, parvula. Parvula, this " little" doth a little trouble hem,'^' us. Why, it is a sorry poor village, scarce worth an Apostro- P"-rv(i. phe ; specially, to turn from Jerusalem, to turn to it. And as little likelihood, that so great a State as the Guide of the whole world should come creeping out of such a corner. Locus, et locatiim ever are equal. That birth is sure too big 158 Of the Nativity. SERM. for this place. The Prophet dissembles it not; saw what flesh '- — and blood would except straight ; as (ever) they carry a conceit against some places and persons. And can any great matter John 7. 52. come from them? What, from Bethlehem? What, out of John 1.46. Q^ijigg 9 Nay, if so great a State, lie would come from another manner place than that. Et tu Jervsalem, from Jerusalem, Da- mascus, Caesarea; from some stately city, much better be- seeming Him. These are dictata carnis. First, He denies not, " little" it was ; and not oKiyo^, but okLyi(Tro<;, not parva, hut parvula ; "diminutively little." So little, saith the Prophet, that it was not to be reckoned vna de millihus, not "one of a thousand," for the meanness of it. And the Evangelist makes it rather worse, than better; for the Mat. 2. 6. Prophet's word parvula, he turns i\a-)^laT7], that is minima, even the " very least of all." This he confesses; but then joins this issue, that though the tu be little, the ex te may be great. Ex te parvd egredietur non Parvus. As little as it is, no little Person shall come out of it. Though it be not una de millibus, for the meanness, as saith Micah; notwithstanding. He That is to come out of it may be Cant. 5. 10. and is, electus Unus de millihus, " One of a thousand," for His choice, for His excellency. Though it, not worthy to be " one of the thousands of Judah," it should send forth One, That should rule the thousands of Judah, and the ten thousands of Israel. And not of Israel only, after the flesh, (but a handful in comparison of them He should lead,) but " the Israel of God," His faithful chosen people, all the world over. Indeed, He had answered the objection, before He made it, in Ephratah ; that, " little" it was, but "fruitful," and not a little fruitful. Which two counterpoints make, in shew, a conflict or con- tradiction between the Prophet and the Evangelist. The Mat. 2. 6. Prophet saith, " Thou art the least ;" the Evangelist, citing Him, saith the clean contrary, " Thou art not the least." Bethlehem, minima, et non minima ; " least" and " not least ;" how may both be ? Well enough, both ; so, both be not said, regard had to one and the same thing. " Least," saith Micah, and saith true; for the compass of the territory, " least ;" for the small number of the inhabitants, " least ;" for the thinness and meanness of the buildings, as Luke 2. 7. was seen at Christ's Birth, not able to give lodging to any Of the Nativity, 159 number; so, "least." But then again, " not least," saith St, Matthew, and saith truly too. Not, in regard of any of the three now mentioned ; but of another, able of itself alone to weigh them all down ; in that it should yield Alumnum iam gi-andem, ' so great a birth' as the great Messias of the world. One, Whose only coming forth of it was able to make it, not the least, nay the greatest and most famous of all the dwell- ings of Jacob; of the whole land ; nay, of the whole world, then. And thus, not " the least." Though minima, for the tu ; non minima, for the ex te ; non minima, if it were but for Him, and for nothing else. What shall we make of this ? Nothing, but what cometh from it of itself, without straining. That, with God, it is no new thing ; (nay very familiar, as even the heathen have ob- served; so familiar, as God seems to take delight in it,) to bring maxima de minimis ; ' great out of little,' Christ out of Bethlehem. Which is plain, even in nature. How huge an oak, from how small an acorn ! But that asks great time. From how little a grain of mustard-seed, the very BethleJiem Mat.13.32. minima, " the least of all seeds," how large a plant ! of how fair a spread ! and that, in a little time, a month or two at most. But we are not in nature now ; in this very point here of guides and rulers, therein too it hath been no unusual thing with Him, out of small beginnings, to raise mighty states. Their first guide, Moses, whence came he ? out of a basket Exod.2.3. of bulrushes, forlorn and floating among the flags ; taken up, even by chance. The great beginner of their monarchy; and not of theirs alone, but the two beginners of the two mighty monarchies of the Persians, and Romans, Cyrus and Romu- lus, from the shepherd's scrip, from the sheepcot, all three ; those great magnalia, from parva mapalia. And as the king- doms of the earth from a sheepcot ; so His own, of the Church, from a fisherboat. We may well turn to them, with this Apo- strophe : And thou sheepcot, out of thee have come mighty Mat. 4. is. monarehs. And thou fisherboat, out of thee, four of the chief and principal Apostles. "Even so Lord," saith our Saviour, "for so is Thy plea- Mat,ii.2G. sure." And since it is His pleasure so to deal, it is His farther pleasure, (and it is our lesson out of this Bethlehem minima, even this,) ne minima minimi, ' that we set not little by that 160 Of the Nativity. SERM. which is little,' unless we will so set by Bethlehem, and by — ^ Christ and all. He will not have little places vilified. " Little Gen.19.20. Zoar" will save the body; " little Bethlehem," the soul. Nor Zech.4.10. have, saith Zachary, dies parvos, "little times" despised; unless we will despise this day, the feast of humility. Nor Mat. 18. c. have " one of these little ones" offended. Why ? for Ephratah may make amends for imrvula ; ex te, for tu. This is on God's behalf. On Christ's yet farther, (to stay a little upon this " little.") For though there want not divers other good congruencies, why Christ should come from Beth- [1] lehem, rather than from another place. 1. For that, it was Job. 7. 42. the town of David ; and He was the Son of David ; and so a place not unmeet for Him to come from, even in that respect, being sedes avita. Out of thee came David, and well there- fore out of thee shall come David's Son; David's Son, and David's Lord, both. 2. The surname of Ephratah puts me in mind of another ; Ps. 1.32. 6. " Lo, w^e heard of it at Ephratah," saith the Psalm, there, the Luke2.ii. first news of the Temple. And, ' Lo, we heard of Him at Ephratah' to-day by the Angel, there the first word of the Lord of the Temple. The Temple was the type of the Church; and that was heard of, at Ephratah first ; and no ways incongruent, that where the Church, there the Head of the Church ; Christ, and Christ's Church both at one place. 3. There is a third, in the very name of Bethlehem, that is, " the house of bread." For He That was born there was [John 6. "Bread." But that will be more proper anon at Qui pascet. But these, though they agree well, yet none of them so well, as this, that it was minima ; the very miniminess, as I may say, of it. For in so being, it was a place well suiting with His estate now, at His egredietvr ex te, which was the state of humility ; eminent in His, if ever in any birth. Bethlehem was not so "little," but He as "little" as it. Look, what Apostrophe Micah made to the town, may we make to Him; and that, with better reason; AndThou Bethlehemite,Thou wert as little, among the sons of men, as ever was Bethlehem, among the villages of Judah. So, novissimum oppidorum, as Micah Isa. 53. 3. calls it, suits well with novissimus virorum., as Esay calls Him. And it was not the place alone, but, all were little, then. The time, in solstitio brumali, ' the deep of winter,' when the Of the Nativity. 161 days are at the shortest and least. And the people, He came of, " little." Amos saith, " Who shall raise up Jacob, for Amos7.2.5. he is small?" Small, ever; but never so small, never so low- brought, as at His coming forth. Then, at the lowest, and the very least; as being then brought under the bondage of a stranger ; and he, one of " the children of Edom, " that cried, " Down with them, down to the ground." One, that Ps. 137. 7. made Rachel mourn in her grave (her grave was there hard Mat. 2. 18. by) for the slaughter of the poor innocents, within a while after. So, place, and time, and people, and all, " little ; " and He Himself less than all. For even in the place, Micah hath not said all ; for He is less yet. If "little Bethlehem" offended; what could have been said, if he had gone farther, (and yet not farther than St. Luke ?) And thou, the stable, in the inn at Bethlehem, and thou the manger, in the stable, ex te egredietur, "out of thee shall He Luke2. 7. come." These are beyond Bethlehem parva ; less yet : yet thence did He come too, at His entrance into the world. And all these, nothing, to His going out ; another manner of dimi- nution, there, than all these. Such was His humility, on this feast of humility. And O thou little Bethlehem, and O thou little Bethle- hemite, how do you both, (both place and person,) confound the haughtiness of many, that yet would be called Christians, and even near Christ Himself. There is in both of you, if it were well taken to heart, enough to prick the swelling, and let out the apostumed matter of pride, from a many of us, whose look, gesture, gait, and swelling words of vanity are too big for Bethlehem ; whose whole carriage and course is, as if they were to be saved by one that came out of the great city Nineveh or grand Cayre, rather than out of the little hamlet of Bethlehem. But, all this was done, to bring that virtue in credit. I find no reason rendered of it, but this; that, by what manner of place He made choice of to be born at, He would teach us, what manner of spirits He doth affect, to take up His residence, and to rest in. "The High and Excellent" saith Esay, "That in- isa. 57. is. habits eternity, He also will rest with the lowly ;" with those that be no higher than Bethlehem, in their own eyes. "To isa, 66.1,2. them He looks ;" "gives grace to them 3" "to them He reveals M 1G2 Of tlie Nativity. SERM. what He keeps from the great ones of this world." And, when '■ — He shall sit in all His glory. He shall say, Quod minimis his, Mat. 25. et Mild. Say it forward, affirmative and say it backward, negative; Quod non minimis his, nec Mihi ; " What to these minims, to Me ; " " what not to them, not to Me neither." To end this point then. For little Bethlehem's sake, to love the virtue that is like it ; and for the virtue's sake, to honour it. Honour it, there is a star over it, there is a Saviour in it. Honour it, for That which conies out of it ; for the fruit it yields. More good comes forth out of that poor town, {mihi, saith the Prophet, "to me;" nobis, may we say, "to us all,") than from all the great and glorious cities in the world. What good, Nazianzen tells us ; Bethlehem honora parvam, quce te inducit in Paradisum, ' it gives us our introduction to Paradise — Bethlehem;' it gives us a Guide, to-day, if we will follow Him, will bring us thither, to our original happiness; nay, farther than so, to the days of eternity. And, Him we must follow, and it we must honour (even this virtue,) if ever we mean to come there. II. This for the place. Now for the Person, That cometh from son*^ this place. For being in speech of a place, he continues in local terms fit for a place, egredietur ex te. Egredi is *to come forth;' and that is, properly, from or out of a place. And the rather he doth it, because withal, it is a term that fitteth His Job 1. 21. birth well. So, the Scripture saith, " Naked came I forth," Gen.38.28. that is, was I born. " The child that first comes forth," that is, the first is born. This word is twice repeated. 1. Once, "out of Bethlehem," 2. Another, "from everlasting," ah cBterno. These two set out to us His two comings forth, that is. His two Nativities ; (nativity is nothing but a coming forth.) Those two, His two natures; since iiativitas est ad naturam via, 'Nativity is but the way that leads to nature.' 1. Egredietur ex te, as the Son of man, as David's Son; 2. Egressus Ejus ah cBterno, as the Son of God, as David's Lord. III. Egredietur ex te. Egredietur is the tense of the time to tures. come. To come, when Micah wrote this, and in the future ; from^Beth- ^ome, when St. Matthew cited it, and in the prajter: I'i'^f'"' . " When Jesus was born at Bethlehem." But future and Mat. 2. 1. prseter, both, are in time : so, this His birth in time. But the other hath neither future nor prseter, neither mood Of the Nativity. 163 nor tense ; nay, no verb at all. It is expressed by a substan- tive ; to shew His subsistence before all time, from all eternity. 2. Ex is a place. Out of it He came ; so, in it He was. And this birth local, as, before', temporal. So was not His other. [' e. it That hath no ex ; that is ab, ah cuterno. For, as eternal, no before^so place contains Him ; He is every where ; fills both Heaven and earth. 3. Te ; that place is Bethlehem, a place upon earth. According to which it is said, " There shall come a root out of Jesse," (Esay's term, chap. 11. ver. 1.) and out of it "a isa. ii. i. branch;" (Jeremy's, chap. 23. ver. 5.) thence, germen, " a Jer. 2.3. 5. flower" or "blossom," (Zachary's, chap, 6. ver. 12.) and from Zech.6.12. it this fruit of Ephratah, the fruit of the virgin's womb. Luke j. 42. "Root," "branch," "blossom," and "fruit," all of the earth, earthly. But there came forth, at the same time, a star too ; to shew He had another more high and heavenly being. For this of Bethlehem was not His first flight, as we say; ^ ^- ^ the other, though it stand behind in the verse, was before that, from ever, by far. Ex utero, ante luciferum : ante luciferuni, " before the ps.'7fo. 3. star of His birth ; nay, before any morning star came forth," ^^j^J,gyg{ He was come forth. A principio, saith Micah : and it is St. John's In principio, the two first words of his Gospel, long passim.] before Moses' In principio, the two first words of Genesis. But, to leave no place to doubt of his meaning, he glosseth his a principio with ah ceterno, that is, " from everlasting." By which very words, " from eternity," Arius' error of erat quando non erat falls to the ground. For, nunquam erat, quando non erat (Bternitas : ' never was there, call it what you will, when eternity was not.' For, as "everlasting," forwards, is to quando tempus non erit amplius, " there shall be no more time ;" so, [Rev. 10. "everlasting," backward, is to quando tempus non erat adhuc, ' when there was yet no time at all.' Now, let it not trouble you, that this His eternal is the 1. plural number, "outgoings;" as if they were more than one. It is but the Hebrew phrase. They use, to express the super- lative, ever by the substantive of the plural member; to call that man '"it^N blessings, whom they mean to be most blessed. So that, "outgoings," which is but one ; but, so high, after such a manner, so past our reach, as Esay asks, Generationem isa. 33. 8. Ejus quis enarrahit, "Who shall declare His generation?" M 2 164 Of the Nativity. SERM. no one, no singular will reach it; and so it is expressed '- — plurally. 2. So use they also, to note out continuance. And so, it sets out to us the continual emanation, or proceeding of Him Heb. 1. 3. from His Father w? airav'yaafjba, the Apostle's word, as a "beam of brightness" streaming from Him incessantly. Never past, " His generation ;" but, as the schoolmen call it, actus Ps. 2. 7. commensuratus aternitati. For hodie genui Te is true of every day ; yet, because it hath coexistence with many revolutions of time, (though it be indeed, in itself, but one drawn out along, yet) according to the many ages it lasteth, it seemeth to multiply itself into many; and so is expressed plurally. 3. Though, (the principal sense always saved,) we may refer this ])lural to both His "outgoings;" both, as Son of God, before all times, and as Son of man, "in the fulness of time." For, this latter, though executed in time, had his outgoing (that is, the decree for it went forth) ah ceterno. Even, that " out of Bethlehem" He should come ; be " the Son of man ;" " the Saviour of mankind," and their " Guide" to eternity. Even that way also, in a sense, it may be said ; as man He came forth a principio, a diebus ceternitatis ; a principio, for the efficacy ; ab atcrno, for the decree. From the beginning there went virtue forth of Him, which wrought, even then, when He was but forthcoming, as we say, and not yet come forth. His Rev. 13. 8. life. His death, ab origine mundi. So, for the efficacy, a prin- Eph. 1. 4. ^ip-Q^ fyj, j_|^g deci'ee; that was gone forth, from before the foundations of the world, from all eternity. IV. So now have we this Party, twice come forth ; compound of His office. Bethlehem, and eternity. And now we have Him, what shall we do to Him? But first, what shall He do to us? With God, Officium fundatur in henejicio ; 'He first doth for us, before He require ought of us.' This He shall do for us ; He shall be to us, 'pc'ID is the word of the text ; St. Matthew [Mat. 2. 6.] turns it ' Hyovfievof;. 1. Which, in the first and native sense, is a Guide for the waj'. Dux vice, to lead us: 2. In a second, is a Captain, Dux militicB, to guard us. 3. And to these two, by way of paraphrase, St. Matthew adds, "OaTi<; Troi/xavei, Qui pascet, "a Guide That shall feed us." 1. To lead us in the way. 2. To guard us in the way. 3. To feed us in the way. In these three, His office. From a place. He came to be our Of the Nativity. 165 • Guide, to a place. Still he holds on with his local terms he began with. For a guide serves properly, to bring one to a place. There is, in that word, both the office. He to perform to us ; and the benefit, we to receive by Him guiding. And it implieth also our duty to Him again. For if He to lead, we to be led by Him ; " He is become the Author of eternal Heb. 5. 9. salvation," saith the Apostle, " to them as will obey Him, and be guided by Him," and to none other. Will ye see, first, the necessity of both those " His comings forth," for this office, to be our Guide ? Ecjredietur ex te, first. He was to be of us, being to guide us ; for, being of us, He would the better understand our wants, and have the more Heb.4. 15. compassion on them. Therefore, if a Prophet; " A Prophet Deu.i8.i8 shall the Lord raise up unto you, from among your brethren ;" Moses' egredietur ex te. If a Prince ; " your noble Ruler shall be Jer. 30. 21. of yourselves, even from the midst of you ;" — Jeremy. So he, egredietur ex te. If a Priest; then " to be taken from men, Heb. 5. i. and be ordained for men, in things pertaining unto God the Apostle's egredietur ex te. To' every one of these ; and ['be] these three be the three great guides of mankind. And again ; as meet He should come forth " from eternity," if thither He to bring us. None can bring to a place, so well, as He that hath been there. There He had been ; had " inha- isa. 57. 15. bited eternity," saith Esay. Thence He came ; and coming thence, best knows the way thither again. So, neither of His " outgoings" more than needs. Now, to our " Guide." Where the terms of way, and of walking, and leading, meet us so thick, are so frequent, all along the Scripture ; as, plain it is, our verylife is held as a journey ; and we, as the schoolmen term us, viatorcs, ' in state of way-faring men' or travellers, all, from our coming into the •world, to the going out of it again, still going on, in the way, or out of the way, the one, or the other. If so : in a journey two things we have to look to; 1. our quo, and 2. our qua. 1. quo, our end, 'whither;' 2. qua, our way, 'by which.' St. Thomas said well, "Lord, we know not whither Thou Joh. 14.5. goest; and how then can we know the way?" Right; for ignoranti quern portum petat nullus secundus est ventus, ' no wind is good for him that knows not for what port he is bound.' He that knows not whither he goes, wanders, 166 Of the Nativity. SERM. and is never in his way; is never in it, for he hath none to '- — be in, 1. First then, quo, 'whither?' Now the end of the verse is our journey's end, " eternity." Where if we may arrive, happy we ; that is agreed on presently. So is not the way thither, 2- But yet, this, I take, is agreed ; that if it be a ready way, we care the less for a guide ; but if hard to it, then dux nobis opus, ' we need one,' And sure, the way is not ready to hit ; not so easy, a fool may find it. It is but a foolish imagination so to ween of it. By-ways there be divers ; many cross paths and turnings in and out; and we like enough to miss it, if we venture on it, without a guide. If there be not one, to call to us, ever and Isa.30. 21. anon, as Esay 30. 21. Hcbc est via, ambulate in ed, "This the right way, keep it;" if not, you go you know not whither. The first point then is, to find our own want, to think we are in case to need a guide. For if we need none, this text is superfluous ; " and thou Bethlehem," and Thou Christ, ye may both well be spared. If we be able to go the way, without a guide, to be guides to ourselves ; nay to be guides to our guides, then : (the world is come to that, now.) Well, he was a wise man and a great counsellor, that said, Acts 8. 31. when time was, " How can I, without a guide ?" and the wise Mat. 2. 2. jj^gp^ j}jjg feast, were not so well persuaded of their own skill, but they sought and took directions. Let us follow them. To get us one then. And not any one, but one that is skilful in the way : no one thing need we so to be advised of, as this. For strange it is, but true it is ; even they, that be blind themselves, will take upon them to be guides to others. Mat.15.14. You know who said, Si ccecus ccecum. That si was no vain si, no idle supposition ; usque hodie, it is done daily. But the end, there, is in foveam, a place we would not come to ; and God keep us from it ! [I.] One then that is skilful. And where shall we have any so skilful as This, This of ours ? He cannot but be so. It is sure ; there were no better guide, than the way itself, if the way could speak to us, and tell us when we were right or wrong in Joh. 14. 6. it. Now He, " He is the Way ;" the Way and the End both. As God, He is the End; the fruition of the Godhead, the end of our journey. As man, He is the Way ; both Way and Of the Nativity. 1G7 Guide too. His doctrine, our guide; Ilis example, in tlic whole tract of His life, the very way thitlier. ' Nothing remaineth, but that wc now set forward in this way. For as we daily sing in the Benedictus, He came, not to whet our wits or to file our tongues, but to " guide our feet Luke 1.79. into the way." And, into what way ? Not of questions and controversies, whereof there is no end, about which we languish all our life long ; but " into the way of peace," even of those duties, about which there is no disagreement. Look but to this feast, (it is St. Augustine's note,) didicerunt Maqi, et ahie- [Vid. , c ; .mi • I August. runt ; docuerunt ocrwcE, et remanserimt, 1 he wise men they Serm. 199. learnt the way, and they went; the Scribes they taught the Tn Ep.^'^ '* wa}', but they tarried still behind.' O do as did the wise men, ^• dimittunt Scribas inaniter lectitare, ipsi perrjunt fideliter adorare, ' Let the Scribes sit still, and scan and read lectures of the way ; on went the wise men on their way, and performed their worship, the end of their journey ;' and so let us. This for dux vice. And this would serve for the way ; if there were nothing but 2. the way, if that were all. But if there be enemies beset the way, to stop our passage ; then will not dux, " a guide," serve our turn; wc must have dux, " a captain," then : (the second A Captain sense of the word rj^ovfievo^,) one to guard us, and to make u".^"'"'^ way for us. For, we are not only to be led, surely, without error ; but safely, without danger also. Such a guide we behove to have, as will see us safe at the place we would be at. And Bethlehem breeds such. Out of little Bethlehem came he, that fetched down great Golias. And again, out of it, this day, 1 Sam. 17. He That " shall tread down Satan under our feet." Dux 3Ies- ,y 20 sias, Captain Messias, as the Angel in Dan. 9. 25. calls Him. Dan. 9.25. And, for Qui pascet, we may not miss that neither. For, say, 3. we be guarded from enemies ; yet shall we go our journey but evil, if we faint by the way, for hunger or thirst, and have not feed us. to relieve us. He is not a good guide, that, in that case, cannot lead us, where we may be purveyed of necessary food, for our relief. It is all one, to perish out of the way, by error ; and to perish, in the way, by want of needful refreshing. St. Matthew therefore, to make Him a complete Guide, by way of supply adds. Qui pascet ; such an One as shall lead moi'c pastoritio, ' as a shepherd doth his flock ;' not, lead them the way only ; but 1G8 Of the Nativity. SERM. lead them also to "good green pasture, besides the waters ^^-^^-^ of comfort ;" see they want nothing, Dux Qui pascet, or Pas- tor Qui ducet : choose you whether, for lie is both. Of all the three, the name of the place He was born in seems to favour this most; to be ominous toward Qui pascet. Beth is a house ; lehem bread ; and Ephratali is plenty ; " bread," " plenty." And there was in Bethlehem a well of such water 1 Chron. as King David, we read, longed for it, the best in all the country. Bethlehem then, sure, a fit place for Qwe j5a5ce; to be born in : and Qui pascet as fit a Person to be born in Bethle- Isa. 3. 7. hem. He is not meet to be ruler, saith Esay, that saith in domo mea non est panis. He can never say, that Bethlehem is his house; and that is domus panis; and in domo panis semper est panis. Never take Him without bread, His house is the house of bread, inasmuch as He Himself is Bread ; that, in the house or out of it ; wheresoever He is, there is Bethlehem. There can no bread want. These three abilities then are in Christ our Leader. 1 . Skill to be a Guide ; 2. valour to be a Captain ; 3. and for Qui pascet, Bethlehem, the house of bread, is His house. Of which, 1. skill serves for direction; 2. strength, for defence; 3. food, for refreshing. 1. Luce sacerdotalis scienticB, ' by the light of His priestly Mai. 2. 7. knowledge;' so. He guides us; "For the priests' lips are to preserve knowledge." 2. And brachio regalis potentice, ' by the arm of His royal power ;' so, He guards us ; for power pertains to the prince principally. Gen.14.18. 3. And for Qui pascet, He is Melchizedek, King and Priest ; ready to bring forth, as he did, bread and wine. But in an- other manner far, than he did. The bread and wine, Melchi- zedek brought forth, were not his body and blood ; Christ's are. Both Qui pascet, and Quo pascet. As before, Dux et Via, "the Guide and the Way ;" so, now, here. Pastor et Pabulum, " the Feeder and the Food," both. You may see all this represented in the shadows of the Old Testament. There is a book there called Exodus, of Israel's egredietur out of Egypt. Therein, they had Moses for their guide ; and he led them to the borders of the Holy Land, and Heb. 7. 19. there he left them ; to shew, " the law brought nothing to per- Of the Nativity. 169 fection." Then comes Joshua, whom the Epistle to the He- Heb. 4. 8. brews calls Jesus, the figure of ours here, and by his con- duct they were led, and put in possession of the land of promise. All this but in type of another Testament, " after to be Jer. 31. 31. made," saith Jeremy ; and "upon better promises," saith the lleb. 8.6. Apostle ; namely, our spiritual leading, through this vale of vanity, to the true land of promise, " the Heavenly Jerusalem, Gal. 4. 26. that is from above ;" whither This our Jesus undertakes to bring all those that will be guided by Him. Observe but the correspondence between the type and the i. truth. Moses, when he came to lead the people, found them, how ? " scattered over all the land of Egypt, to seek stubble Exod.5.i2. for brick," to build him a city, that sought the ruin of them all. Our case right ; the very pattern of it ; when our Guide finds us wandering in vanity, picking up straws, things that shall not profit us; "seeking death in the error of our life," till we Wis. 1. 12. be so happy as to light into His guiding. Secondly, Moses was to them not alone dux vice, 'a guide 2. for the way but when enemies came forth against them, dux viiliticB, ' a captain for the war.' Christ was so too ; and far beyond Moses. For He made us way with the laying down of His life. So did neither Moses, nor Joshua. Would die isa. 53. 12. for it, but He would open us a passage to the place He under- took to bring us to. Was Dux, a Guide, in His life ; Dux, a Captain, in His death. Thirdly, Moses, when they fainted by the way, obtained in 3. their hunger manna "from Heaven ;" and in their thirst "water joh. 6. 32. out of the rock for them." Christ is Himself the "true iC()r.io.4. Manna;" Christ, the spiritual Rock. Whom He leads. He feeds ; carries Bethlehem about Him. Plain, by the ordaining of His last Sacrament, as the means to re-establish "our hearts with grace," and to repair the iieb. 13.9. decays of our spiritual strength ; even " His own flesh, the Job. 6. 33. Bread of life ;" and " His own blood," "the Cup of salvation." p^' Bread, made of Himself, the true Granuin frumenti, " Wheat Job. 12. 24. corn." Wine, made of Himself, "the true Vine." Went under John 15. 1. the sickle, flail, millstone, and oven, even to be made this Bread ; " trod, or was trodden, in the wine-press alone," to isa. 63. 3. prepare this Cup for us. 170 Of the Nativiti/. SERM. And in this respect, it may well be said, Bethlehem was '■ never Bethlehem right; had never the name truly, till this day, this birth, this Bread was born, and brought forth there. Before it was the house of bread ; but of the bread that perish- John6. 27. eth ; but then, of the "Bread that endureth to everlasting life." That it might seem, inter alia, to have been one of the ends of His being born there, to make it Bethlehem veri nominis, 'Beth- lehem truly so called.' nei^Tir- ^'"^ office. Now, all the doubt will be, how He leading, can perform this office to us ; go before us and be our Guide, seeing He is now in Heaven, at His journey's end ; and we, in earth, by the way, still. No matter for that. He hath left us first the way traced by the steps of His blessed life ; which we keeping us to, sure we are, we cannot go amiss. And then, Ps. 77.20. as before He came in the flesh, "He led them by the hand of Moses and Aaron," (guides chosen and sent by Him ;) so doth He us now, by the hands of those, whom the Apostle, three Heb. 13. 7. several times in one chapter, calleth by this very name, 'Hyou- Heb 13^4 f^^^°^^' '^^^ "guides;" by whom He leads us, if He lead us at all. And other leading we are not to look for any ; only to pray, they may lead us right ; and then all is well. And they cannot but lead us right, so long as they but Rev. 14.4. teach us to "follow the Lamb whither He goeth." For their office is but to lay forth before us the way traced by the steps that He went. Those steps, when all is done, are ever our best directions. And I mean to do but so now. As here, not to go a step out of the text, there are four or five of these steps, as many as we shall well carry away at once. And these they be. The main point is ; it is a place, and so to be gone to. We take this from the shepherds, directed thither by the Angel, Luke 2. 15. to resolve of transeamus usque Bethlehem, " that we get us to Bethlehem." There is the rendezvous, to-day ; there He will be first seen and saluted ; there He begun with us ; there we to begin with Him ; where He set forth, there our setting forth to be also. Indeed, there is no finding Him but there, this feast. There the shepherds found Him, this day, the first; there the wise men on twelfth-day, the last. But thither Luke 2. 12. they came both; both the shepherds, directed by the Angel; Mat. 2. 9. jj^g ^jgp guided by the star. The shepherds; in Of the Nativity. 171 them, the Jews. The wise men ; in them, the Gentiles. The shepherds ; in them, unlettered persons. The wise men ; in them, the profoundest clerks. The shepherds ; in them, mean men. The wise men ; in them, great states'. Be what we will [';'. e. Per- be, at Bethlehem to begin, all. Thither to go to Him ; thence her?as' to set out after Him. Transeamiis usque Bethlehem. fnTIense How shall we do that? What, shall we go in pilgrimage to the place ? We learn a shorter course of the Apostle, " The Todd's righteousness of faith," saith he, " speaketh on this wise ; say Rom.^lo.'' not thou in thy heart, " Wlio shall go over the sea for me? that were to bring Christ again into earth. But, what saith it? The word is near thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart." And this it is. Bethlehem hath here two twins : an epithet, a virtue or two. Get but them, get but your souls possessed of them, it will save you a journey. You shall never stir hence, but be at Bethlehem, standing where you do. Parvula is the first; you know, Bethlehem is " little." i. By hu- And look, what little and low is, in quantity; that is little in pa;Wa. our own eyes, and lowly in quality. Get that first, humility : it is the Bethlehem of virtues ; where He, in great humility, was found, this day. If we begin not there, we lose our way, at the first setting out. For this is sure ; where eternity is the terminus ad quern; there humility is the terminus a quo. Humility, in the first comma of the sentence, where eternity is the period, as in this verse it is. And even here now at the first, is Christ like to lose a great part of His train. The Pharisees are gone : all too big for Bethlehem, they ; and with them, all that are rt, [li'ya, " some great matter," in their Acts 8. 9. own sight. Touching whom we may use the Apostrophe ; " And thou Bethlehem" art too " little," for these great con- ceits. None of them will come out of thee, or come at thee by their will. Every one of them is a cunning guide, himself; and no guide, they, but sequuntur spiritum suum, "their own Ezek.i3.3. bold spirit : " bid Bethlehem farewell ; at it, they come not. Well, parvula is the first. The next station is to the next virtue, and that is Ephratah, 2. By fruit- "fruitfulness ;" so it signifies: little it is, but fruitful. Fruit- Ephrata. ful, first, that it brought forth Him ; for He hath brought forth, seen come of Himself, saith Esay, lung(eviim semen, "a lsa.53. lo. lasting seed ;" the fruit whereof, to this day, " shaketh like Ps. 72. 16. 172 Of the Nativity. SE^M. Libanus, and as the green grass covereth all the earth." I ■ mean, the Christians, that were, are, or ever shall be. How great an Ephralah of how little a beginning ! It is not only little, but Ephratah too ; and, by that, know it. For indeed, good heed would be taken, that we go not to the wrong Beth- lehem ; not to Bethlehem Zebulon, that is Bethlehem on the sands,(solay Zebulon, by the sea,) "Bethlehem the barren;" but to "Bethlehem Judah," "Bethlehem Ephratah," that is, "Beth- lehem the fruitful." That is, to humility to add fruitfulness, I mean plenteousness in all good works. Else it is not Ephratah ; Lukes. 8. not right. Not right repentance, unless it be Ephratah, "bring iThes.1.3. fruits of repentance;" nor faith, without "the work of faith;" nor love, "without the labour of love;" nor any other virtue, without her Ephratah. Ephratah is not the surname of humility only, but even of the rest too : repentance Ephratah, and faith Ephratah ; et sic de cateris, if they be true. Else be Hos. 10. 1. they but vites frondosce, "leaves and nothing else ;" simulachra virtvlum, and not virtues indeed ; of Zebulon, not of Judah; and so, not the right. 3. In good Fruitful then ; and of what fruit ? That is in the very Be[hfe- name itself, of Bethlehem. Not the fruit of the lips, a few good hem. words, but " the precious fruit of the earth," as St. James ■ calleth it; lehem, "good bread;" that fruit. Such fruit as [Acts 24. St. Paul carried to the poor saints at Jerusalem, " alms and Rom. 15.28. offerings." That is the right fruit ; cum sicjnavero fructum hunc ; "it hath the seal on it," for right. Such as the Phihppians sent him, for supply of his want; whereby he knew they were alive again at the root ; in that they thus fructified, yielded Phil. 4. 18. this fruit, of a "sweet odour, and wherewith God was highly pleased," as there He tells them. Ps. 132. (!. It was not, sure, without mystery, that the Temple was first heard of at Ephratah, at this "fruitful" place. No more was it, (that which the Fathers observe) of the trees, that were used about it. Not a post of the Temple, not a spar, nay not so much as a pin, but was made of the wood of a fruit-bearing tree ; no barren wood at all, in it. No more was it, that the 2 Sara. 24. Altar of the Temple was founded on a threshing-floor, (Araunah's,) where good corn was threshed. All to shew, it would be plenteous in feeding and clothing, and such other Mat 25. 35. pertaining to this of Ephratah. Which, however they be with Of the Nativity. 173 us, will be the first and principal point of inquiry at the day Mat.25.36. of doom ; even about feeding and clothing, and other works of mercy. Now if we could bring these two together ; make a conjunc- 4. tion of them in Gemini, it were worth all. For, I know not how, but if there be in us ought of Ephratah; if we happen to f"*'^^"^- ~ ' I r liem par. be any thing fruitful, but in any degree, away goes parvula "ida et straight. Straight, we cease to be little; we begin to talk Qf^^'""'"- merit, and worth, and I wot not what. Indeed, if we be all barren and bare, it may be, then, (and scarce then neither, but peradventure then) we grow not high-minded. But so, we fall still upon one extreme or other. If fertile, then proud ; if humble, then barren. We cannot get, to be humble, yet not fruitless ; or to be fruitful, yet keep our humility still. Not Ephratah and pai-vula together. But that is the true Bethlehem, and " there was He born.'' And thus far, I hope, Ps. 87. 4. we have been led right, and are in our way. But leading is not all. Here is Qui pascet too, and we may His man- not pass it. For to that He leads us also ; Dux Qui pascet. We "eedhfo-. followed a false guide, at first, that led us to the forbidden gacra^ fruit, the end whereof was morte moriemini. This, now, will ment. . Bethle- lead us to a food of the nature of the Tree of Life, even the hem. Bread of life ; by eating whereof, we shall have life in ourselves, joilne.^s' even life immortal. That is His food He leads us to. And if we would forget this, both the Person and the place (the Person, Qui pascet, " That shall feed ;" and the place, Beth- lehem, " the house of bread,") would serve to put us in remem- brance of it. Even of the breaking of bread, which the Church, as this day, ever hath, and still useth, as the Child-house feast. We speak of the transeamus usque Betlilehem, "going thither." That may we, even locally, do, and never go out of this room; inasmuch as here is to be had the "true Bread of life, that John 6.51. came down from Heaven." Which is " His flesh," this day born, which "He gave for the life of the world," called by John 6.32. Him so, the true Bread, the Bread of Heaven, the Bread of^'*^'' life : and where that Bread is, there is Bethlehem ever. Even stride loqiiendo, it may be said, and said truly, the Church, in this sense, is very Bethlehem, no less than the town itself. For that, the town itself never had the name rightly, all the while there was but bread made there, bread (panis hominum) ' the 174 Of the Nativiti/. SERM. bread of men.' Not, till this Bread was born there, which is X. „ ^. Pauls Anqchnim, as the Psalm calleth it, " and man did eat Ps.78. 2o. A . . Angel's Food." Then, and never till then, was it Bethlehem ; and that is, in the Church, as truly as ever in it. And accord- ingly, the Church takes order, we shall never fail of it. There shall ever be, this day, a Bethlehem to go to; a house, wherein there is bread, and this bread. And shall there be Bethlehem, and so near us, and shall we not go to it ? Or, shall we go to it, to the House of Bread, this Bread, and come away without it ? Shall we forsake our Guide leading us to a place so much for our benefit ? Lu. 17. 37. Ubi Domine, was the Apostle's question ; and his answer Uhi corjms, ibi aquilce, " where the body is, there the eagles will be." Let it appear, we are so ; for here is the " body." Else do we our duty to Him, but by halves. For, as our duty to Dux is to be led ; so our duty to Qui pascet is to be fed by Him. To end. And thus, ducendo pascit; and pasce7ido ducit ; 'Leading He feeds us, and feeding He leads us,' till He bring us, whither ? Even to a principio, back again to where we were at the beginning ; and at the beginning, we were in Paradise. That our beginning shall be our end. Thither He will bring us; nay, to a better estate than so ; to that where- unto, even from Paradise, we should have been translated, to the state of eternity, to the joys and joyful days there ; even to glory, joy, and bliss eternal. To which He bring us, even our blessed Guide, That, this day, was in Bethlehem born, to [1 John 2. that end, " Jesus Christ the righteous !" A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE KING'S MAJESTY, AT WHITEHALL, ON WEDNESDAY, THE TWENTY-PIFTU OP DECEMBER, A.D. MDCXVI. BEING CHRISTMAS-DAY. Psalm Ixxxv. 10, IL Mercy and Truth shall meet ; Righteousness and Peace shall kiss one another. Truth shall bud out of the earth ; and Righteousness shall look down from Heaven. Misericordia et Veritas obviaverunt sibi ; Justitia et Pax osculatw sunt. Veritas de terra orta est ; et Justitia de Ccelo prospexit. [Mercy and Truth are met together ; Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth ; and Righteousness shall look down from Heaven. Eng. Trans.] T HAVE here read you two verses out of this Psalm, which is one of the Psalms selected of old by the primitive Church, and so still retained by ours, as part of our office or service of this day ; as being proper and pertinent to the matter of the feast, and so to the feast itself. For the meeting here specified was to be at the birth of the Messias: so saith Rabbi Moses, and other of the Jews. Was, at the birth of our Saviour : so say the Fathers with uniform consent, and co nomine, have made this a Christmas-day Psalm. As his manner is, the Psalmist, in it, under one, compriseth the type and the truth, both ; by those things which befell the people of the Jews, the Church typical, shadowing out those things which were to befall the Antitype of it, Christ and His Church. For, prima et propria intentione, it cannot be denied, but the Psalm was first set, according to the letter, upon the turning back of the captivity of Babel. But the Prophet 176 Of the Nativity. siERM. knew wellj that was not their worst captivity, nor should be — — — their best delivery. There was another 3'et behind, concerned them more, (if they xmderstood their own state aright,) which was reserved to the Messias, to free them from. To that, he points. Even that, the Apostle complains of, wherein " the Rom. 7. 23. soul is led away captive under sin and Satan," the very true Babel indeed, as which bringeth with it everlasting confusion; from which Christ, the true Zerubbabel, is to set us free : us and them, both. The sum. There is a meeting here. A meeting at a birth. A birth, that did them in Heaven, Righteousness by name, good to be- hold. The meeting, in ohviaverunt ; the birth, in orta est ; the pleasure to behold it, in prospexit de Coelo. Prospexit is to see with delight, as when we look into some pleasant prospect. A meeting qualified, for the manner. For they do not meet, and pass by ; but meet and salute as friends, with an osculatcB sunt, a sign of love begun, or renewed. This meeting is of four. Four, which of themselves, ^rqpr/e loqueiido, arc nothing but attributes, or properties, of the Divine nature ; but are here by the Psalmist brought in, and represented to us, as so many personages. Personages, I say, inasmuch as they have here personal acts ascribed to them. For to meet, to kiss, to look down, are all of them acts per- sonal. And look, how the Psalmist presents them, so we treat of them ; in the same terms, the text doth. At a birth, at orta est, these four meet here ; at orta est Veritas, " the birth of Truth ;" de terra, " from the earth." For two ortus there were ; and this, not His antescecularis ortus de Coelo, ' His birth before all worlds from Heaven ;' but His ortys de terra, ' His temporal birth from the earth.' Lastly, the birth of this birth, as I may say ; the effect it wrought. Of which, more there are in the neighbouring verses. Here in these, (besides the meeting occasioned by it,) there is but one ; that such a spectacle it was, as it drew Righteousness itself from Heaven, to look at it. Time was, when Righteousness would not have done so much ; not have vouchsafed a look hitherward ; therefore respexit nos Justitia is good news. That then, and ever since, she has beheld the earth, and the dwellers in it, with a far more favourable regard than before. And all, for this birth's sake. Of the Nativity. 177 And when was all this ? When He that saith of Himself " 1 am the Truth," when He was born upon earth ; for orta Joh. I4. 6. est Veritas, and natus est Christus will fall out to be one birth. What day soever that was, this meeting was upon it. And that was, this day, of all the days of the year. The meeting, and the day of this meeting, here all one : and the birth of Christ, the cause of both. So being this day's work; this day, to be dealt with most properly. Onward we have here four honours of this day, every one of the four giving it a blessing. 1. It is the day of ortus Verita- tis, ' Truth's birth 2. and the same, the day of occursus Misericordia;, ' the meeting here mentioned ;' 3. and of oscu- lum Pads, ' the kiss here expressed ;' 4. and of prospectus Jus- titicB, ' Righteousness' gracious respect of us.' These, from each of them in several. And generally, the day of reconciling them all. Holding us to these, we are to speak of the 1. Meeting, the The divi- 2. Parties, the 3. Birth, and the 4. Effect here specified to j come of it. [I.] Of this meeting, in Christ ; then, [H.] in Christianity, not to be broken off by us, but to be renewed, and specially this day. Here is a meeting; and that is no great matter, if it be no I. i. more. How many meet we, as we pass to and fro daily, and "i<^ct- how little do we regard it ? But that meeting; is casual. Notcasual. Somewhat more there is, in set meetings. It was not by But of hap : not obviaverunt, simply; but ohviaverunt sihi, Sibi shew- eth they had an intent ; they came forth, on both sides ; not to meet any fifth person, but to meet one another. But not every set meeting is memorable ; this is. I find a And that Psalm here made, in remembrance of it. And (lightly) songs ^1™'"^" be not made, but de raro contingentibus ; not of ordinary, but of some special great meetings. The greatness of a meeting groweth three wayp, 1. By the parties, who ; 2. the occasion, whereon ; and 3. the end, whereto they meet. All three are in this. The parties, in the first verse ; the occasion, and end, in the second. The occasion, a birth ; an occasion oft of making great persons meet; and the end that comes of it, that Righteousness, who is to be our Judge, and to give the last sentence upon us, beholds us with an aspect that promises favour. N 178 Of the Nativity, s E R M. The occasion, and the end, we shall touch anon. Now, of the XI. . . ^ — parties. If the parties great, the meeting great. The con- parties, junction of the great lights in Heaven, the interview of great States on earth, ever bodes some great matter. Who are the parties here ? Four, as high, as excellent attributes, as there be any in the Godhead. Or, (to keep the style of the text,) four as great States, as any in the Court of Heaven. The man- These meet : and in what manner? Great states meet other- their while, in a pitched field. Not so hei'e. This is an ohviaverunt, meeting, ^yj^j^ osculatoi sunt: they run not, one at another, as enemies ; they run one to another, and kiss, as loving friends. And that which makes it memorable indeed is, that these parties, in this manner, thus meet, who (if all were well known) were more like to turn tail, than to meet. One to run from another; nay, one to run at another, to encounter ; rather than run one to another, to embrace and kiss. Not meet at all ; at least, not meet thus, standing in such terms as they did. Not Mercy Mercy and Peace, if they two had met ; or Truth and or''i>utii ' Righteousness, they two, it had not been strange. But for and Righ- j]^Qsg ^]Jf^(; seem to be in opposition to do it, that is it, that teousness ; _ _ . makes this meeting marvellous in our eyes. Will ye stay a little, and take a view of the Parties? Four but Mercy they are. These four, 1. Mercy, and 2. Truth, 3. Righteous- Rl^hTcou^- ncss, and 4. Peace. Which quaternion, at the first sight, ivace"'^ divides itself into two and two. Mercy and Peace, they two pair well ; they be collectanccn, as Bernard saith of them in one [S. Bern, place, ' bed- fellows,' sleep together; collactanea, as in another s'emi'T"' pkice, 'sucked one milk, one breast' both. And, as these two; so the other two. Truth and Righteousness, seem to be of one complexion and disposition, and commonly take part together. Rom. 13. 4. Of these, Mercy seems to favour us; and Peace, no enemy to us, nor to any ; (seeing we must speak of them as of persons) mild and gentle persons, both. For Righteousness, I know not well what to say : gestat gladium, and, I fear, non frnstra. Nor of Truth, who is vera, and severa, ' severe' too, otherwhile. These, I doubt, are not like affected. The reason of my doubt. One of them, Righteousness, it is told, here, for great news, that she but " looked down hitherwards, from Heaven." Before then, she would not have done that. A great sign it is of heart-burning, when one will not do so much Of the Nativiti/. 179 as look at another : not endure his sight. We cannot promise ourselves much of her. No, nor of Truth. One was so bold, in a place, to say, omnis liomo mcndux, and feared no challenge Rom. 3. 4. for it. By that, it seems, all stands not well with her, neither. So then ; two, for us ; two, against us. For their order. Mercy is first, and Peace last. With both Their nr- ends, we shall do well enough. God send us to do but so HrJt,i''eacc with the midst ! Yet this is not amiss, that they, which flivour us less, are in the midst; hemmed in on both sides, closed about, with those that wish us well ; and, they between us and them. On the one side, Mercy, before ; on the other. Peace, behind. Another; that in this double meeting, Mercy sorts not her- Their self, goes not to Righteousness ; nor Righteousness to her, Mtn'y^and but to Peace. A kind of cross meeting, as it were, there is : T'utii. the better hope of accord. Mercy and Righteousness have no symbolizing quality at all; no hope of them ; but. Truth with Mercy, hath. There is Truth as well, in the promise of Mercy ; as, in the threat of Justice. And it stands yet better, between the other two, Righte- Righte. ousness and Peace. Melchizedek, which is by interpretation a"jpcace. " King of Righteousness," the same is "King of Salem, that is, '■ ^■ of peace." He, That " is after the order of Melchizedek," iieb.G.20. King of both, like enough to set accord between them two : both of them His lieges. This, for the view of the Parties. These meet here ; but what is ohviaveriint, without osculat(E The occa- sunf? Better, let them stand in sunder still, and never meet. There seems to be two meetings implied. One ohviaveriint, without ; and another, with osculates sunt. Before they met here, they were parted, the one from the other. For they that meet come from divers coasts. Before this meeting, they have been in divers quarters, one from the other, and not come together thus, a good while. Their distance, in place, grew from their distance in affec- tion, estranged one from the other. That they meet not, 1 will not say ; but that they meet not thus, ever before. Else, what remarkable thing were there in this meeting, or worth the composing of a Psalm, if it had been familiar with them, thus to meet every other, nay, any other day ? How came they then asunder, that it should be a marvel to see them meet ? Since, naturally, they are not strangers ; all N 2 180 Of the Nativity. SERM. four, in the bo?om of God from all eternity: attributes all four of His undivitled Essence. So, not divided, of themselves: severiiiK ; Hot of thcniselves, then. That they were divided, it was about "hem °'" us ; the quarrel ours, that made them part company. Thus I selves. gather it ; if at Christ's birth they met ; at Adam's fall thev But fr. m , , rr. 1 1 1 , Adam's parted ; u when i ruth was born on earth, they came together ; when Truth perished from the earth, they fell in sunder. That was when the first lie was told, and believed, and that was Gen. 3. 4. iiequaquani morieviini, by Adam, and thereby God much wronged. So that Adam's cause it was, and so ours, that first divided Heaven ; yea the very attributes in God (we see,) and so, in a sort, God Himself So they parted first. It could Cul. I. 20. not be said by the Apostle that Christ " pacified all things in Heaven and in earth," if there had not, in Heaven, been somewhat to be taken up. So their For all this yet, I deny not but they might and did meet ing was in oncc before. But it was an ohviaverunt, without an osculataz tion sunt; never, both these, till now. Out of Christ, and before His birth, they met in opposition ; in Christ, and at His birth, did these four lights come to meet, and to be in conjunction, now. They met before, ohviaverunt ; but instead of osculatcB, it was altercates sunt. While Mercy and Peace would have Adam's and our case relieved. Righteousness and Truth would by no means endure it. The plea is drawn up and reported at large by Bernard*, in his first Sermon upon the Annuncia- Mercy's tion. Mercy began : for out of her readiness to do good, she is here, she is ever foremost. Her inclination is, or rather she herself is an inclination, to pity'such as are in misery, and, if she can, to relieve them ; yea, though they deserve it not. For, (which is the comfort of the miserable sinner,) she looks not to the party, what he is, or what he hath done, or deserved ; but what he suffers, in how woeful and wretched a case he is. And Ps. 89. 47. her plea is, nunquid in vanvm ? " What hath God made all Ps. 30. 9. iTicn for nought ?" " What profit is in their blood ?" It will Ps. 74. 18. make God's enemies rejoice. Thither it will come, if God Ps. 77.7,8. cast them clean off. What then, " will He cast them off for ever, will He be no more entreated ? Hath God forgotten to be gracious?" With these and such like pii susurri, as he " [Vid. S. Bern, ill Annun. beatae Ma- " Non cessabat Pax non ei Misericor- riae, Serm. 1. ab eo quod scriptum est dia" usque ad finem.} Of the Nativity. 181 calls thciTij did slie enter into God's bowels, and make them yearn, and melt into compassion. And certainly, if there were none to stand against us, there were hope, Mercy had prevailed. But truth must be heard too, and she lays in just matter of Truth's exception; pleads, Deus erat Verhum ; what is God but Ilis juh. i. l. Word ? and Ilis word was, as to Adam, morte morieris ; so to his sons, anima qua peccaverit, "the soul that sinneth, that Gun. 2. 1 7. soul shall die," God may not falsify His word ; His word is Ez. is. 20. the truth. Falsify the truth ? That may not be. And then steps up Righteousness, and seconds her. That Righte- ■ ■ ousncss God as He is " true in His word," so is He " righteous in all seconding His works." So, to reddere suum cuique, " to render each his own," to every one, that is his due ; and so to the sinner, stipendium peccati, " the wages of sin," that is "death." God Rom. 6.23. forbid, the Judge of the world should judge unjustly ! That were, as, before, to make truth false, so, here, to do right wrong. Nay, it went farther, and they made it their own cases. What shall become of me, said Righteousness ? What use of justice, if God will do no justice, if He spare sinners? And what use of me, saith Mercy, if He spare them not? Hard hold there was, inasmuch as, perii, nisi homo moriatur, said Righteousness, ' I die, if he die not.' And peril, nisi misericor- diam consequatur, said Mercy, ' if he die, I die too.' To this it came ; and in those terms brake up the meeting, and awa^' The fir-st they went one from the other. Truth went into exile, as a bi"k"i'iup. stranger upon earth; — Terras Astrcea reliquit, she confined (Ovid. Met. herself in Heaven; where, so aliened she was, as she would not so much as look down hither upon us. Mercy, she stayed below still. Ubi enim Misericordia esset, [Fiufr. de saith Hugo well, si cum misero non esset ? ' Where should AnnoUit"^' Mercy be, if with misery slic should not be?' coshiu"] As for Peace, she went between both, to sec if she could make them meet again in better terms. For without such a meeting, no good to be done for us. For meet they nmst, and that in other terms, or it will go wrong with us; our salvation lies a bleeding, all this while. The plea hangs, and we stand, as the prisoner at the bar, and know not what shall become of us. For, though two be for us, there arc two against us, as strong and more stiff than they. 182 Of the Nativity. SERM. So that much depends upon this second meeting; upon the '- — composing or taking up this difference. For these must be at peace between themselves, before they be at peace with us, or we with God. And this is sure ; we shall never meet in Heaven, if they meet no more. And many means were made for this meeting, many times ; but it would not be. Where staj'ed it ? It was not long of Mercy, she would be easily entreated to give a new meeting : no question of her. Oft did she look up to Heaven, but Righteousness would not look down. Not look ? not that ? small hope, she would be got to meet, that would not look that way-ward. Indeed, all the question is of her. It is Truth and she that hold off ; but specially she. Upon the birth, you see, here is no mention of any in particular, but of her ; as much to say as, the rest might be dealt with ; she only it was, that stood out. And yet she must be got to meet, or else no meeting. No meet- All the hope is, that she doth not refuse simply, never to Justice meet more ; but stands upon satisfaction ; else, Righteousness satibfied. gj^Qyjj rightcous. Being satisfied ; then, she will ; re- maining unsatisfied; so, she will not meet. All stands then on her satisfying ; how to devise, to give her satisfaction to her mind, that so she may be content, once more, not to meet and argue, as ere-while, but to meet and kiss ; meet in a joint concurrence to save us, and set us free. And indeed, hoc opus, ' there lies all ;' how to set a song of these four parts, in good harmony ; how to make these meet, at a love-day ; how to satisfy Justice, upon whom all the stay is. Not in And this, say I, no religion in the world doth, or can do, but cii^rfstian'^ the Christian. No choir sing this Psalm, but ours ; none religion, jjjake justice meet, but it. Consequently, none quiet the con- science soundly, but it ; consequently, no religion but it. With all religions else, at odds they be ; and so, as they are fain to leave them so; for, means in the world have they none, how to make them meet. Not able for their lives to tender Justice a satisfaction, that will make her come in. The Ps. 85. 0. words next before are, " that glory may dwell in our land." This glory doth dwell in our land indeed. And great cause P^. 10 0. have we all highly to bless God, That hath made "our lot to fall Of the Nativity. 183 in so fair a ground." That wc were not born, to inherit a lie ; that we were born, to keep this feast of this meeting. For, bid any of them all but shew you the way, how to -satisfy Justice soundly, and to make her come to this meeting ; how God's word may be true, and His work just, and the sinner find mercy and be saved for all that : they cannot. The Christian only can do it, and none else. All beside, for lack of this, pass by the wounded man, and let him lie still and Lu. lo. bleed to death. >j . • • Bid the Turk. All he can say is, Mahomet's prayer shall be upon j'ou. Mahomet's prayer, what is that ? Say he were (that he was not) a just man, a true prophet ; what can his prayers do, but move Mercy ? But, God's justice, how is that answered ? Who shall satisfy that ? Not prayers ; Justice is not moved with them ; hears them not ; goes on to sentence, for all them. He can go no farther; he cannot make Justice meet. Bid the Heathen. He says better yet, than the Turk. They saw, "that without shedding of blood"' there was no satisfying Justice; and so, "no remission of sin." To satisfy her, sacri- Heb. o. 22. fices they had, of beasts. But "it is impossible," as the Apostle well notes, "that the blood of bulls or goats should satisfy for iicb.io. 4. our sins." A man sin, and a beast die ! Justice will none of that. What then, will ye go as far as some did, "the fruit of Mic. 6. 7. my body, for the sin of my soul?" Nor that neither. For if it were the first-born, the first-born was born in sin ; and sin, for sin, can never satisfy. This meeting will not be there. Bid the Jew. He can but tell you of his lamb, neither. And while time was, that was not amiss ; while it stood in reference to St. John Baptist's Lamb, "the Lamb of God," this day Job. 1. 29. yeaned ; as having the operation, the working, in the virtue of That. That being now past, there is no more in the Jews', than in the Gentiles' sacrifice. Beasts, both ; both, short of satis- fying. So, for all that these can do, or say, no meeting will there be had. Only the Christian religion, that shews the true way. There is One there thus speakcth to Justice; "Sacrifice and Ps. 40. sin-offerings Thou wouldst not have ; then said I, Lo, I come." He, "of Whom it was written, in the volume of the book, that He should do that feat;" corpus autcm aptasti Mild, "make 184 Of the Nativity. s^ERM. Him a body to do it in," and He will do it. Give Him an — '—^ — ortus est, let Him be but born, He will make them meet straight ; Justice, and all. For all the vA'orld sees, if order cpuld be taken, that He, that the Son of God, the Word and Truth eternal, would say, " Lo, I come ;" would take our Eph. 5. 2. nature upon Him ; and in it "lay down His soul an offering [Is. 53.10.] fQi- gin ;" there were good hope of contenting Justice, and that the meeting would go forward. Deus sanguine in suo, " God with His blood ;" w4iat sin in the world would not that serve for? What justice, in Heaven or earth, would not that satisfy? Slat. 16.26. If ye speak of an expiation, a ransom, an avraXKayiia (Christ's own word) a perfect " commutation," there it is. This had, Justice will meet, embrace, kiss Mercy, shake hands, join Job 33. 24. now friends ; Inveni enim in quo repropitier, "I have found that now, wherewith I hold myself fully content and pleased." This way ye shall make them meet ; or else, let it alone for ever. Ver. 11. "Truth shall bud out of the earth ; and Righte- ousness shall look down from Heaven." X The And this is it, the Christian religion sets before us ; how the Veritas Son of the Most High God of Heaven and earth took on Him "tie terra nature, that, in our nature, for our nature. He might make to God (even stando in terminis justitice suce, as the schoolmen speak, 'standing on the terms of His most exact strict justice,') a complete, full, every way sufficient satisfaction. And this, lo, makes the meeting;. This honour hath the Christian religion above all other ; this glory doth dwell in our land ; that these four, by Christ's birth, in it, are brought not only to obviave- runt sihi, but even to ct osculatcp. sunt. And if this be the glory, be not they the shame of Christian profession, that cherish in their bosoms, and entertain with stipends such as are come to this (phrcnzy I will call it,) to say, what needs any satisfaction ? What care we, whether Justice meet or no? that is, in effect, what needs Christ? Can- not God forgive offences to Him made, of His free goodness, of His mere mercy, without putting His Son to all this pain ? Fond men ! if He would quit His justice, or waive His truth. He could; but His justice and truth are to Him as essential, as intrinsically essential, as His mercy ; of equal regard, every way as dear to Him. Justice otherwise remains unsatisfied ; Of the Nativity. 185 and satisfied it must be, either on Ilini, or on us. For with beasts or prayers it will not be : and it will hold off, till it be. If Justice be not so met with, it will meet with them ; and they had better "meet a she-bear robbed of her whelps," Piov.17.12. than meet Justice out of Christ's presence. To us, they meet, this day, at the Child-house. For these great lights could not thus meet, but they must portend some great matter, as it might be some great birth toward. The astro- logers make us believe, that in the horoscope of Christ's Na- tivity there was a great trigon of, I wot not what, stars met together. Whether a trigon or no ; this tetragon, I am sure, there was these were all then in conjunction, all in the ascendant, all above the horizon at once, at orta est " the birth of" Veritas "the truth," de terra "from the earth;" the occa- sion of drawingr these four too-ether. Veritas will fit Christ well. Who, of Himself said. Ego sum Christ the Veritas, " I am the Truth." So is He : not that of the former Veritas verse, which is but Veritas secunda, the truth spoken or uttered Truth : IS r. 14. 6. forth ; He the Veritas prima, " the first Truth," within. That depends upon this. Then are the words uttered true, when there is an adequation between them and the mind. So, 'the first Truth' He is. The first and last both. For now, by His coming. He is the And Vtri- adequation of the Word and the Work, the Promise and the cunda too. Performance. That way, He is Truth too: the truth of all types, the truth of all pro])hecies ; for "in Him are all the 2Cor.i.20. promises yea and Amen : " yea, in the first truth ; Amen, in the last. That actual verifying is the truth, when all is done : and, that He is, by His birth. And, as the truth fits His nature, so doth earth, man. Of Christie whom, God; "earth thou art;" to whom, the Prophet thrice Gem's. 19. over; " Earth, hear the word of the Lord ;" by whom, the wise jer. 22. 29. man, Qiud superhis? " Why should earth be proud?" Ger- EccIus. 10. minet terra Salvatorcm, "I>et this earth bring forth a Saviour," j, be the terra promissionis, the blessed Virgin, who was, in this, the land of promise. So was this very place applied by ni"'.^,''^^ Irenaeus in his time, who touched the Apostles' times ; so, by J-^' t- Lib^ Lactantius ; so, by St. Ilierom and St. Augustine. Those four [s.August. meet in this sense, as do the four in the text. Quid est Veritas 8a"vui'.y4^] de terra orta ? est Christus de foemind natus. Qiud est Veritas? ^'J^'fiiPs* So.vul.84.] 186 Of the Nativlti/. SE^RM. Films Dei. Quid terra? Caro nostraK 'What tlic truth? j-i g Christ. What the earth ? our flesh.' In those words they find ubi supra.] this feast, all Christ's For orta est, it is double ; therefore, dc terra is well added, double. Another ortus he had, de Coelo ; to wit. His heavenly Divine i.deCceio. fjjjture which, as "the day, sprung from on high;" and He, in regard of it, called oriens, by Zachary, in the New Testament. Lu. 1. 78. But this here is de terra,- for the word properly signifies 2 Dc tcr/'ct- • "the shooting forth of a sprig out of the ground:" and He, Zech. 3. 8. in regard of this ortus, called " the Branch," by Zachary, in the Old. Orta de. 2. And there is more in orta. For, it is Rabbi Moses' note, that is properly when it springeth forth of itself, as the field flowers do, without any seed cast in by the hand of man; so, saith he, should the Messias come : take His nature not only in, but de, 'of the earth. Not bring it with Him from Heaven, the error of the brain-sick Anabaptist, but take it of the earth ; Gal. 4. 4. be " the woman's seed," " made of a woman," " out of the loins Isa. 11. 1. of David;" Vi}-(/a de radice Jesse," the root of Jesse nothing more plain. Orta cat. 3. And yct more from orta est. For that, the truth, while it is yet unaccomplished, but in promise only, it is but (as the seed under ground,) hid and covered with earth, as if no such thing were : as soon as ever it is actually accomplished, as this day, then does it spring forth as it were, is to be seen above ground ; then orta estde terrd^ in very deed. 4. Tlie Of the eflPect. Now births are, and have been, divers times, the ending of great dissensions: as was this here. For, by this birth, took end the two great houses ; an union of them by it. On Truth, First, by this, truth is gained ; Truth will meet now. That gaiiied. truth will Come to this Truth, tanquam minus dignum ad magis dignum, ' as the absti-act to the archetype.^ And Truth, being now born of our nature, it will never, we may be sure, be against our nature ; being come of the earth, it will be true to his own country ; being made man, will be for man now, all he can. By this means, one of the opposites is drawn away from the other ; got to be on our side. It is three to one, now Righte- ousness is left all alone ; and there is good hope, she will not Of the Nativity. 187 stand out long. For, lo, here is good news; first, that respexit dc Ccelo, "she yet looks down from Heaven, now." So as this birth in earth, you see, works in Heaven ; and by On Right- 1 T- 1 I 1 oousness. name, upon Kighteousness, there, ror, though there were none in Heaven, but it wrought upon them ; yet the Psahn mentions none, but Righteousness. For, of all, she the least likely; and if she be wrought on, the rest there is no doubt of. How can there ? they are all won to us already. With Righteousness, it works two ways; first, "down she i- Sho looks." Whether it was, that she missed Truth, to see what down, was become of her, and not finding her in Heaven, cast her eye to the earth. But there, when she beheld Verbum caro John 1. 14. factum, " the Word flesh," the truth freshly sprung there, where it had been a strange plant long time before, aspexit and respexit, she looked and looked again at it. For, a sight it was, to move, to draw the eye ; yea a sight for Heaven to be a spectator of ; for the Angels to come down and look at ; for Righteousness itself to do so too. TlapaKvy^at is the Angels' word in St. Peter; ScaKv^jrac is the Septuagint's word here, i Pet. 1.12. Both mean one thing. The Greek word is to " look," as we say, "wishly" at it, as if we would look Bia, even "through it." The Hebrew word, that is, as if "Righteousness did beat out a window so desirous was she, to behold this sight. And no marvel ; for what could Righteousness desire to see, and satisfy herself with, that, in Him, was not to be seen ? A clean birth, a holy life, an innocent death ; a Spirit and a mouth without guile; a Soul and a body without sin. In Him, she beheld them all. Them, and whatsoever else might yield her full satisfaction. " Lay Judgment to the rule and Righte- ousness in the balance," nothing oblique will be found in Him, nothing, but straight for the rule ; nothing minus habens, but full weight for the balance. Thus, when " Truth, from the earth ;" then, " Righteous- ness, from Heaven." Then; but not before. Before, Righteous- ness had no prospect, no window open this way. She turned away her face; shut her eyes; clapped to the casement; would not abide so much as to look hither, at us, a sort of forlorn sin- ners; not vouchsafe us once the cast of her eye. The case is now altered. Upon this sight, she is not only content, in some sort, to condescend to do it, but she breaks a window through 188 Of the Nativity. SERM. to do it. And then, and ever since this orta est, she looks XI. '- — upon the earth with a good aspect ; and a good aspect in these celestial lights is never without some good influence withal. Down she then, within a verse after, not only "down she looks," comes. ' . . Ts. 85. 13. but " down she comes." Such a power attractive is there, in 1. To meet. , . , . , 4 i • 1 • -i nr 2. To kiss, this birth. And coming, she doth two things. 1. Meets first ; for, upon the view of this birth, they all ran first, and "kissed the Son." 2. And that done. Truth ran to Mercy, and embraced her; and Righteousness to Peace, and " kissed" her. They that had so long been parted, and stood out in difference, now meet, and are made^friends ; howsoever before removed, ui ortu Veritatis, ohviavenint sihi ; howsoever before estranged, now osculatce sunt. And at that birth of His well met they all, in Whom they Lu. 1. 78. meet all: the Truth He is; and per viscera MisericordicB He lCor.1.30. came, "through the tender mercies of our God;" and He is Eph. 2. u. made to us Righteousness; and He is our Peace. All meet in Him ; for indeed all He is ; that no marvel, they all four meet, where He is. That is all four. And at this meeting, Righteousness, she was not so off-ward before, but she is now as forward ; as forward as any of the rest. Mark these three. 1. Lets not Peace prevent her, as Mercy did Truth ; but, as Mercy to Truth, first ; so she first to Peace : as forward as Mercy every way. 2. Nay, more forward than Mercy : for Mercy doth but meet Truth, and there is all ; but she, as more affectionate, not only "meets Peace," but "kisses her." And indeed Righteousness was to do more, even to kiss, that it might be a pledge of forgetting all former unkindness ; that we may be sure she is perfectly reconciled now. Ps. 80. 13. 3. And one more yet, to shew her the most forward of them all, out of the last verse. At this meeting, she follows not, draws not behind, she will not go with them ; she is before, leaves them to come after, and bear the train ; she, as David, is before the Ark ; puts St. John Baptist from his office, for the time ; Righteousness is his forerunner : " Righteousness shall go before," tread the way before Hiin ; the foremost now of all the company. By all which, ye may know, what a look it was, she looked with from Heaven. Of the Nativity. 189 Thus ye see, Christ by His coming "hath pacified the things in Heaven." A peace of Hosannah is Tpax in Ccelis. Coi. i. so. There cannot be pax in terris, till there it be, first. But no sooner there it is, but it is peace in earth straight, which, ac- cordingly, was this day proclaimed by the Angels. So, by the 1 virtue of this birth. Heaven is at peace with itself ; and Heaven Lu. i. 1 1. jA with earth is now at peace. So is earth too, with itself, and a fulfilling of the text by this meeting is there, too. The Jews, they represent Truth ; to them it belongeth properly. For, Truth was, where were eloquia Dei, " the Rom. 9. i. oracles of God ;" and they w-ere with the Jews. The Gentiles [liom. s. they claim by ]\Iercy, that is their virtue. Where was Mercy, " but where was Misery ? and where was INIisery, but with them that "lay in darkness in the shadow of death?" And that Lu. i. ra was the Gentiles' case, before this orta est. But when " the partition wall was broken down," and the two met in one, then also, in a sense, Mercy and Truth met together. So, these two. And so the other two likewise. For, Righteousness, she was where the Law was, (for that the rule of Righteousness) where the Covenant of the Old Testament was, "Do this and live," (the very voice of Justice.) But Peace was, where Christ was, in the Gospel. Ipse est Pax nostra, for " He is our Peace ;" Peace, and Peace-maker both. Qui fecit utrumque union. That hath made the Law and the Gospel, the Old Testament and the New, to be bound together now both in one volume. Thus we have done with Christ. I would now apply this it. meeting to ourselves another while. For, I ask ; did this hold ; mccUm' did these meet only in Christ? Do they not in Christianity chris- .J J tiaiiity. likewise? Yes, there too. With Christ came Christianity; look, what in His birth, now ; in the new birth of every one, that shall be the better by it; even the same meeting of the very same virtues, all. Mercy and Truth first to meet. Truth of confession ; con- fession of our sins ; which if with fig-leaves we seek to cover, and confess not, " there is no truth in us." And, some truth ijohni. 8. there is to be, at least this truth, or no meeting with Mercy. But, when this truth cometh forth, Mercy meeteth it straight. Will ye see the meeting? Peccavi, said David ; there is Truth. TranstuUt Dominus peccatum, saith Nathan; there is Mercy; 2 !^ain. 12. vs. I 190 Of the Nativity. SERM, Mercy and Truth met together. Homo in terris, per Vcritatem ■ : — stimulatus, peccdsse se confitebatur ; et Dens in Coelis, per Mise- [Hug. . Bern. . . ' . . in Aiiiiuii. thing is mercy, if it be quite devoid of justice? We call it Ser.n. 1.] foolish pity. And how harsh a thing justice, if it be utterly without all temper of mercy ! Summa injuria then, that is, 'injustice at the highest.' Mercy, take Truth away, what hold is there of it? Who will trust it? Truth, take Mercy from it, it is severity, rather than verity. Then Righteousness, with- out Peace; certainly wrong is much better; better than per- petual brabbling. And Peace, without Righteousness ; better a sword far. This, if you sunder them. But, temper these together, and how blessed a mixture ! Set a song of all four, and how heavenly a melody I Entertain them then all four: 1. hope in Mercy; 2. faith in Truth ; 3. fear of Righteousness ; 4. love of Peace ; Oquam jncEcJara concordia ! Ohow loving a knot I how by all means to be maintained ! how great pity to part it ! Tha time A little of the time now, when this meeting would be. No meeUiig time amiss; no day in the year, but upon entreaty, they will be got to meet. Yet if any one daj' have a prerogative more than another, of all the days in the year, on this day most kindly ; the day we hold holy to the memory of this meeting ; the day of orta est, the occasion of it. In remembrance of the first meeting then, they are apt and willing to meet upon it again ; forward, ever, to meet, the day, they first met of them- selves. But Christ this day born, this day to meet of coui'se. One special end, that He was born, was, that at His birth, this meeting might be. If to-day then they should not meet, that were in a sort to evacuate Christ's birth; if there should be a Veritas orta, without an ohviaverunt sibi ; so that if we procure it not, we had as good keep no feast at all. What is then the proper work of this day, but still to renew this meeting on it ? For, Christ's birth we cannot entertain, but all these we must too; necessary attendants upon it, every one. They be the virtues of His Nativity, these. At His birth, Christ bethought Himself of all the virtues which He would have to attend on Him, then ; and these He made choice of, then, and for ever, to be the virtues of this feast. The sooner and the better to procure this meeting, the Church meets us, as Melchizedek did Abraham, " with bread Of the Nativity. 195 and wine but of a higher nature than his, far ; prepares ever this day a love-feast, whereat they may the rather meet. Where, Truth from the earth may look up to Heaven, and con- fess ; and Righteousness from Heaven may look down to earth, and pardon ; where we may shew Mercy in giving, where need is ; and offer Peace in forgiving, where cause is ; that so, there may be an ohviaverunt, a "meeting," of all hands. And even so then let there be. So, may our end be as the end of the first verse, in peace ; and as the end of the second, in Heaven ! So, may all the blessings that came to mankind by this meeting, or by the birth of Christ, the cause of it, meet in us and remain upon us, till, as we now meet together, at the birth ; so we may then meet in a " perfect man, in the measure Eph.4. 13. of the fulness of the age of Christ as meet now, at the Lamb's yeaning ; so meet then, at the Lamb's marriage ; " be caught up in the clouds then to meet Him," and there to reign for 1 Thes. 4. ever with Him, in His Kingdom of Glory ! o 2 A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE KING'S MAJESTY, AT WHITEHALL, ON FRIDAY, THE TWENTY-FIFTH OF DECEMnF.P, A.D. MDCXYIII. BEING CHRISTMAS-DAY. Luke ii. 12 — 14. And this shall be a sign unto you; ye shall find the Child swaddled, and laid in a cratch. And straiyhtivay there was ivith the Angel a multitude of Heavenly soldiers, praising God, and saying, Glory be to God on high, [ayid peace upon earth, and towards men good-will.'\ Et hoc erit vobis sigmim : [jnvenietis Infantem pannis involutum, et posiium in prasepio. Et subito facta est cum Angela multitudo militia Cailestts laudantium Deum, et dicentium : Gloria in altissimis Deo, et in terra pax hominibus bona voluntatis. Latin Vulg.] And this shall be a sign unto you ; ye shall find the Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the Heavenly host, praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men. Engl. Trans.] SERM. Of these three verses the points be two; 1. the Shep- ^- — herds' sign, and 2. the Angels' song. The sign is a remain of Angelus ad pastoi'es, ' the AngePs speech to the shepherds.' We called it, as the Angel himself called it, a sermon ; evangelizo, the word he useth, is to "preach." Of which sermon there are two parts; 1. His birth, the verse before, 2. His finding, in this. For this is a double feast; not only the feast of His Nativity ; but the feast of His Inven- tion also. Therefore the Angel makes not an end, with "unto Of the Natioiti/. 197 you is born but tells them farther; it is not enough, Christ is born ; but to take benefit by His birth, we are to find Ilim. Natus est His part, Invenietis ours. Of natus est somewhat hath formerly been said. Invenietis now follows; and follows well. For what is natus est, without invenietis ? Such a one there " is born." What shall we be the better, if we " find" Him not ? As good not born, as not known : to us, all one. Nobis nascitur, cum a nobis noscitur. Born He may be, before ; but, nobis natus, ' to us He is born, when to us He is known,' when we find Him ; and not before. Christus inventus is more than Christus natus. Set down invenietis then first. Invenietis leads us to Hoc erit signum. For how shall they find Him without a sign? So come we from Christus natus, to Christus signatus. Natus, " born," to be found ; Signatus, 'signed or marked,' that He may be found. Born He is, that they know : and when, they know ; hodie. And where, they know ; in Bethlehem. To Bethlehem they will ; but when they come there, how then? In such resort, the town so full of strangers, as " no room in the inns," whither should they [Lu. 2. 7.] turn them ? What could they wish, but O quod erit signum ! Natus est ; O that He were signatus! O that we had a sign to find Him by ! Their wish is honest and good : and pity any that seeks The I'i- Christ should want a sign, to find Him by. The Angel will ^'*"'J'' not suffer that; but before he end his speech, he takes order for their sign ; and this it is. When ye come to Bethlehem, never search in any house, or chamber; in a stable, there shall you find a " Babe swaddled and laid in a manger;" you [Lu.2. would little think it, but that is He. And so signo dato, 'this sign given,' the sermon ends. For, to find Christ is all: all, in all. A sermon would have an anthem of course ; it hath so. And one suitable, if it might be. An Angel preached it, and no man ; it would be a choir of Angels, and not of men, to sing it. So it is Gloria in excelsis ; all the Fathers call it hymnum Angelicvm, ' the Angels' hymn or anthem.' This is set down in the two latter verses. The 1. choir 11. that sing it, in the former; the 2. song itself, the ditty of it '' so, in the latter. 1. The choir : in it five. 1. Who? That 198 Of the Nativity. SERM. there were certain Heavenly personages first. 2. In what — — habit? that in the habit of soldiers to see to. 3. What number? that a great multitude of them, 4. What they did? that they took up this hymn and fell on praising God. 5. And fifthly, when ? that they did it instantly, upon the speech ended. [2.] The song: that consists of three strains. There are in it 1. God, 2. earth, and 3. men; these three first. And then, three to these three; 1. glory, 2. peace, 3. good-will. Each sorted to other; 1. glory, to God; 2. peace, to the earth; 3. to men, a good-will. So have you the sign and the song ; the one to balance or counterpoise the other ; the song to sing away the sign ; to make amends for the manger. The sign, very poor and mean ; the song, exceeding high and heavenly. Paiipertas in imis, the sign, 'poverty at the lowest;' Gloria in excclsis, the song, "glory at the highest." That well might Leo ask, Quis est iste Puer, tarn parvus, tarn magnus ? ' What Child is this so little, and so great withal?' Tarn parvus, ut in prcBsepi jaceat ; tarn magnus, ut Ei concinant Angeli; 'so little, as He lies in a cratch ; so great though, as He hath Angels to sing to Him ; ' the whole choir of Heaven, to make Him melody. It is a course this, the Holy Ghost began it here, at His birth, and after observed it all along, Sociare ima summis, et insolita solitis temperare ; 'to couple low and high together, and to temper things mean and usual, with others as strange every way.' 3- Out of these we shall learn, 1. First, what our duty is, to find Christ. The Angel presupposes this ; that, being born we will not leave, till we have found Him ; till we can say, (it John 1.41. was the first word of the first Apostle) Evpr']Ka/j,ev, " We have found," found the Messias. Invenietis ; by all means "to find" Christ. 2. Then, how to find Him, at what sign. 3. And last, when we have found Him, how to salute Him, with what words to praise God for Him. For Him ; both for His birth ; and for His invention. All considered. His invention to us no less behooful than His Nativity. And, this day to be no less solemnized, for invenietis His ' finding,' than for natus est, " His very birth itself." It is more often found in the first Fathers, by the name of Tlieophania, ' His appearance' or being found; than by the name Gcnetlilia, ' of being born into Of the Natioiti/. 199 the world.' The Angels' evangeUzo reachcth to both ; their gloria in excclsis is sung for both. The work of the day is invenietis, to " find" Christ. We shall I. not be better for natus est, if we find Ilirn not. Find Him we cannot, if, first, we find not a sign to find Ilini by. Erit vohis signum, and hoc erit, saith the Angel, " a sign 3'e shall have ;" and "this shall be it;" "ye shall find Ilini swaddled and laid [Lii-2.ii'.] in a manger." Signs never come amiss ; but are then so necessary, as we i. cannot miss them, when we should miss without them ; when, '''^''="' no sign, no invenietis ; as here. For, if a sign ; if this sign had not been given, no invenietis; Christ had not been found. Not been found ; for never had been sought, in such a place. Had not the Angel thither directed the shepherds ; had not the star thither pointed the Magi, neither the one nor the other would ever there have sought Ilim. A non est inventus had been returned by both. And reason ; for, some kind of proportion there would be, between signum and signatum; and, if the sign be a place (as here) between locus, and locatus. A chief Person, in a chief place ; a Lord and Saviour, something Lord and Saviour- like, To Bethlehem they will. Set the sign by, let them alone, say nothing to them. When they came thither, they would never go to an inn, or ostrie, but to the very best house in the town. Or, if to an inn, to the fairest chamber in it ; or, to a chamber, at least ; never, to the stable ; there to look in the manger for Christus Dominus. To the stable we go to look for a horse ; to the crib for hos cognovit et asinus ; for one isa. i. 3. of them ; never, thither, to seek for the Saviour of the world. Nay, if in their search passing by, by hap, they had lighted upon such a birth; a Child so lying ; it may be, they would have pitied the poor Babe, and the mother ; but have gone on their way, and sought farther. Never, I dare say, taken Him for Christ the Lord. And, if one should have bid them, 'Stay, for this is the Child the Angel spake of;' they would have shaken him off, and said with as great scorn as they, 1 Sam. 10. Numpiid poteritiste salvare nos, "What shall this be our Saviour 1 '^iim. 10. trow?" For, invenietis is not all, to "find" Him; but finding Him, to apply the Angels' words unto Him ; to believe, of this Child thus there lying, that He should be Christ the Saviour, 200 Of the Nativity. SERM. ffaiideum onmi populo, "the joy of the whole earth." It goes — hard, this. [Serm. V. We said (when time was.) this messase was so high, as no mit.J .... " ^ man meet to brmg it, but an Angel of Heaven. We say now, ex alio capite, this sign was so unlikely, no man was meet to give it, but an Angel only. And it was well, it was an Angel. If it had been any else. His birth would have seemed, as His [Lu.24.li.] Resurrection did, Xf/po?, "a feigned tale;" no man's affidavit would have been taken for it. What were the shepherds like to think of this? Sure, thank Him for natus est, the news of His " birth ;" but, not for His sign. Erit signum, they like well ; but not, hoc erit. If He had given them no sign, it would have troubled them. Now, the sign given troubles them worse. For, this sign, they know not what to make of it ; it is so poor a one, it is enough to make them half in the mind to give over their journey, as not caring for inveidetis, whether they find Him or no. If His sign be no better, as good lost as found. Always, this is out of the evangelizo vohis ; no part of it; for, no good news, thus to find Him. And we, if we admit a conference with flesh and blood, when we lay together the sign, and of Whom it is the sign ; we find, to our thinking, a great disparagement, and (I know not how) thoughts arise in our hearts, as if some better sign would have done better. The meaning is, we would find Christ fain ; but we would find Him, in some better place. Plalf Jews we are all in this point ; we would have a iSIessias in state. Hoc erit, "this it shall be," saith the Angel. " Shall be ;" but should it be this ? No : how should it be ? Let us see. Why, this shall be the sign ; ye shall find the Child, not in these clouts or cratch, but in a crimson mantle ; in a cradle of ivory. That, lo, were somewhat Saviour-like ; hoc erit signum. But in vain take we upon us to teach the Angel ; we would have we know not what. W^e forget St. Augustine's distingue tewpora ; as the time is, the Angel is right ; and a fitter sign could not be assigned. W^ould we have had Him come in })owcr and great glory ? and so He will come ; but not now. He that comcth here in clouts. He will come in the clouds, one day. Cut now. His coming was for another end ; and so to be in another manner. His coming now was, (as we say in the Of the Nativ 'Uij. 201 Collect,) "to visit us in great humility; and so, His sign to [Coli. , T I St. Sund. be according. in Adv.] l^ixy then I say, first go to the nature of a sign : if Christ i. had come in His excellency, that had been no sign, no more than the sun in the firmament shining in his full strength; hoc non erit signum. Contrary to the course of nature it would be, else it is no sign. The sun eclipsed, the sun in sackcloth; that is signwn in sole, "the sign indeed." And that Lu. 21.25. is the sign here : " the Sun of Righteousness," entering into Mai. 4. 2. His eclipse, begins to be darkened in His first point, the point of His Nativity. This is the sign, say I ; and that had been none. I say again ; it is not only signum, that is not all, it is 2. signum vohis. We shall do well to look to vobis. There is a matter, in that : for whom this sign was given ; (not the per- sons so much, as the condition.) For, if He had been so glo- riously born, such as these should never have been suffered to come near Him. But this is a sign for you : you, that keep sheep, and such other poor people ; you have a Saviour too. He is not the Saviour of great states only ; but, even of poor shepherds. The poorest of the earth may repair to Him, being no other place but this ; and by this sign to find Him : and so, hoc erit signum vobis. I say thirdly, Vohis, and take in ourselves too. So, hoc erit 3. signum. For, what praise or thanks had it been for us, to have believed in Him, born in all glorious manner? But, being thus born, with this sign, if now we do it, tovto xdpihrist on the Cross. The cratch is a sign of the Cross. They that write de re rusticd, describe the form of making a cratch cross-wise. The scandal of the cratch is a good preparative to the scandal of the Cross. To be swaddled thus, as a child, doth that offend? What then, when ye shall sec 202 Of the Nativity, SERM. Him pinioned and bound as a malefactor? To lie in a XII '- — manger, is that so much? How then, when ye shall see Him [Horat. hang on the cross ? But so, — primo ne discrepet imum ; ' that His beginning and His end may suit well and not disagree,' i^--] sic oportuit Christum nasci, ' thus ought Christ to be born,' and this behoved to be His sign. 5. But then, to remove this scandal, I say fifthly : that the less glorious, the more glorious; the less glorious His sign, the more glorious He. And even in this respect of His glory. He was to be born under this sign. Had He come in the power and great glory we spake of, what great matter had it been for Him, then, to have done things powerful and glorious? But coming in this sort, these same pcnini and prcesepe were an evident sign of the power of His might, in nothing so manifest, as in this, that from so poor a beginning, He was able to advance so glorious a work. It was much, from a babe Exod. 2. 3. floating in the flags of Nilus, in a basket of bulrushes, Moses, to gather himself a people, even the nation and kingdom of the Jews, and to deliver his law. It was infinitely much more, from this Babe, here, lying in the cratch, to work the bringing in of the Gentiles, and the turning about of the whole world, [Uora. I. and to publish His Gospel, " the power of God to salvation." Herein, is power : from His cratch, to do this. There to lay Him ; and there lying, to make so many nations come and adore Acts 8. 33. Him, as since He hath. That if ever "in His humility. His judgment were exalted';" if His " power were ever made per- avvay.E.V.] fect in weakness if ever He shewed, that infirmum Dei fortius 1 Cor. 1.25. est hominibus, "God, at the weakest, is stronger than men in all their strength ;" hoc erit sigmim, " in this sign it was." A sign, cum externa rejicit, quod sihi sufficit ; ' in that He casts from Him all outward signs and means, that He is, of Himself, all sufficient;' et nulla indiget nisi se, 'and needs no power but His own.' His cratch and He will bring this work to pass. His gloria ill excelsis will be hoc ipso excelsior ; ' His glory on high, so much the higher, for this.' Ever; but now, more than ever; and in all His signs; but in this, more glorious, than in any, nay than in all of them. And so hoc erit signum, "this shall be the sign;" shall be, and should be, both. 6. But I waive all these, and say sixthly : make of the sign Of the Nativity. 203 what ye will ; it skills not what it be ; never so mean. In the nature of a sign, there is nothing, but it may be such ; all is in the thing signified. So it carry us to a rich signatum, and worth the finding, what makes it a matter, how mean the sign be ? We are sent to a crib ; not to an empty crib ; Christ is in it. Be the sign never so simple, the signatum, it carries us to, makes amends. Any sign, with such a signatum. And I know not the man so squeamish, but if, in his stable, and under his manger, there were a treasure hid, and he were sure of it; but thither he would, and pluck up the planks, and dig and rake for it, and be never a whit offended with the homeliness of the place. If then Christ be a treasure, (as in Him are "all the treasures of the wisdom and bounty of God,") Colos.-2. 3. what skills it, what be His sign ? With this, with any other, Christ is worth the finding. Though the cratch be not worth the going to, Christ is worth the going for. He is not worthy of Christ, that will not go any whither, to find Christ. Lastly, I would fain know, why should the shepherds, why 7. should any be ashamed of this sign ? the Angels are not. Non erubescit quis quod prcedicat, ' no man proclaims or preaches of that ; makes a hymn of that he is ashamed of.' And indeed, why should the Angels be ashamed to report it, seeing Christus non est confusus, " Christ is not ashamed" to [See Heb. . . .1 ' 2. ii.l wear it ? And if He be not, so to be found, never let us be, so to find Him. I conclude then. They that will have a Saviour without such a sign, best stay for the Jews' Messias, or get them, for their sign, to somebody else. The Angel hath none ; the Gospel knows none but this. We must take Christ as we find Him ; cratch and all. The invention of the cratch, and the invention of Christ fall both upon one feast ; this day, both : no severing of them. All which, I trust, by this shew plainly, the sign was well assigned by the Angel, And so, I hope, we will not let the shepherds go alone, but go along with them too, for company, to find Christ, in hoc signo, ' by this sign.' But the cratch is gone, many years ago. What is our sign now? Why, what was this sign a sign of? There needs no straining at all ; of humility, clear ; signum humile, signum humilis. Not always so; not with us; where the highest minds will use the lowest signs ; but, with Christ, with such 204 Of the Nativitij. SERM. in whom is the mind of Christ, there is no odds at all. Ye XII ' — may strike a tally between the sign and the siynatum. Humility, then: we shall find Him, by that sign, where we find humility, and not fail; and where that is not, be sure we shall never find Him. This day, it is not possible to keep off of this theme ; we cannot but we must fall upon it ; it is so woven into every text, there is no avoiding it. But of all, into the sign, most of all. Such a sign, of such humility, as never was. Mat. 12.38. Signs are taken for wonders. "Master, we would fain see a sign," that is, a miracle. And, in this sense, it is a sign, to wonder at. Indeed, every word here is a wonder. To ^pe^o Of the Nativiti/. 207 (Ui; the contrary as \o\v,factus est sicut jumenta, "as low as they ;" lie in their cratch. It is strange, this point of Christ in the cratch, how tedious, how harsh it is to be stood on. Harsh ; but to none more, nay none so much, as to the proud ; and they, of all other, have least cause to be offended with it : it is they that were the cause of it. They should not, one would think, be offended with their own doing ; it is long of them, all this. If there they find Him, it is they, and none but they, that there laid Him. If He be otherwise than He should, their pride is to blame for it. But for it, we had found Him in a better place. And fie upon pride, say I, if it were but for this only ; enough to make us loathe this vice, that laid this so great a disgrace (as we count it) upon the Son of God. But marvel not if this be signum contra to them, a 'sign against them;' they are against it. Well said Bernard, /?« [S.B?in. in f . ^ . ,.. . Nat. Dom. signvm positum est prcesepe 1 uum Domine, sea in signum cm a serm. 4. multis contradicitiir ; 'Thy cratch, O Lord, is set for a sign; but for a sign which of many is spoken against' (done against I am sure ;) alluding to that of Simeon at the 34th verse after, Lu. 2. 34. that Christ " should be a sign (and if Christ, His cratch sure) to be spoken against" by many "whose pride," saith the Hos. 5. rj. Prophet, "testifies to their faces." You may take up the edges of their garments, and shew it them ; yea that even this day come hither, to make a show of it, as it were to affront this sign, and the Angel that gave it ; come to celebrate the feast of humility, in excess of pride. Should the Angel ever have persuaded one of these to have gone into the stable, and have sought their Saviour there ? Never. Do but look upon them ; you would think they had some other Saviour by themselves, that lay in an ivory cradle, and never looked to be saved by Him That this day lay in a manger. Sure it is no good sign to be ad oppositum to this sign. If signnm vuhis, to the one ; signum contra vos, to the other. For if humility be the sign of finding Christ ; pride must needs be the sign of losing Him ; and whoso loseth Him is himself even the child of perdition : and therefore look to this sign, well. But humility is not all we find in this sign. The philoso- pher saith, signs are either indicant or co-indicant. Indicant it 208 Of the Nativity. SERM. is, of humility : co-indicant of that wliich, in Him, and on His XII • ^ • — part, (as pride on ours,) was the cause that made Him stoop to this humihty, and that was His love. He left ghriam in ex- celsis for evhoKia iv av6pu>TT0Lhild in a cratch, that, lo, is new; a new thing; a new song, and, if you will, a new sign too. For, never the like seen before. Before, in Job, job 38. 7. their praise was for the creating; they had that only, then, to praise Him for ; now, for the restoring of all things. For the birth of the world then ; for the new birth of it now, by the p 2 212 Of the Nativity. SERM. birth of Ilim, by Whom the world at first was made, and now, XII. '■ — (lie perderet quod cotididit,) made again, created anew, and many a new creature in it. To Him, sitting in the throne, sing they isa. 6. 3. their Sanctus, (For to Christ was the Sanctus sung, saith Joh. 12.41. John directly in his twelfth and forty-first.) Now, to Him, here lying in the manger; which is great odds: but indeed to both; in imis Pucro; in excelsis Deo: for He was both. And His being both was an Ecce signuni, if .ever there were any upon earth. y^^l^-^ And lastly, all this e^ai^vr}<;, that " instantly :" no pause between ; between Amen and Hallelujah. No sooner the speech ended, but straight, as if the word cratch had been their rest, immediately took they up the hymn, and begun it. A plain sign, that one of these did depend on the other. This the anthem, that properly belongs to that sermon ; and back again, this the sermon, that requireth this anthem ; and both to the Child in the manger. The ditty meant by Him, and none but Him. For Him, this glory ; by Him, this peace ; - through Him, this good-will. Glory, peace, and good-will, from Him, all three. And mark, that the word "cratch" is the last word, in the sermon; and the word "glory," the first, in the song ; and nothing comes between, to part these two. Nothing, to part humility below, from glory on high. Even as He 2Cor. 4. 6. drew "light out of darkness," so doth He glory on high, from humility below, by a sequence. Which when we hear, and hear it from the mouths of Angels, sure we are, all that before seemed to tend to His disgrace were but the Anspicia of His glory; all that beneath appear in ignominia in imis is pro- nounced gloria in excelsis, and for such celebrated by the whole choir of Heaven. And this for the choir, and for this time. But I ask ; do the Angels praise God for this birth ? Ut quid illis concio, vel cantio, ' what do they preaching of Him, or praising God for Him?' For them, all this is not; they put it not in the first, but in the second person, Vohis. Here is now Lu.2. 10.11. Vohis, the third time. 1. Evangelizo Vohis, saith the Angel first : 2. Natus est Vohis, saith he second : and now Erit Vohis signum, third. 1. Vohis, the news: 2. Vohis, the birth: 3. and Vohis, the sign : all three. And who are these Vohis? In the song it is expressly set down, in hominihus, " for men." Of the Nativity. 213 What mean the Angels then, to make this ado, with laudan- tium, and dicentium, and it concerns not them at all ? What then ? the blessed Angels, they rejoice and sing at the good of others, " at the conversion but of one poor sinner :" Hoc AnrjeU- Lu. \b. 7. cum est. As, on the other side, the devil's manner is, to howl, and to grieve at others' good ; if Christ come to save men, to cry. He is come to torment them : Hoc est diuholicum. Mat. 8. 29. But well; from this yet, that the Angels thus sing (whom in their own particular it concerns not.) I rise to make this inference ; that they, whom it concerns, are to do it with far greater reason ; and that is, ourselves, to whom solely and wholly this birth, and the benefit of tliis birth redounds. Shall they, for us, and not we, for us, for ourselves ? Shall we be in at the other three, 1. at the news, 2. at the birth, and 3, at the sign ; and be out at this of laudantium Deum? No, I trust. The choir of Heaven did it, but to set us in ; we, to bear a part ; and it should be a chief part, since the best part of it is ours. They but took it up ; we to keep it up, and never to let it go down, or die on our hands, but from year to year, as we have occasion, still to renew it. The Angels began here ; the shepherds they follow, and praise God, " for that they had heard and seen ;" the sermon they had heard, the Lu. 2. 20. sign they had seen. We, to come in at our turn, and to do the like. You say well, for that wc have heard, we may ; but, not for any sign, we. Yes, for that too. The Sacrament we shall have besides, and of the Sacrament we may well say. Hoc ei-it signum. For a sign it is; and by it, invenietis Ihicrum, "ye shall find this Child." For finding His flesh and blood, ye cannot miss, but find Him too. And a sign, not much from this here. For, Christ, in the Sacrament, is not altogether unlike Christ in the cratch. To the cratch we may well liken the husk or outward symbols of it. Outwardly, it seems little worth, but it is rich of contents ; as was the crib, this day, with Christ in it. For what are they, but iirftrma ct erjena [Gai.4.9.] elementa, " weak and poor elements," of themselves ? yet, in them find we Christ. Even as they did, this day, in prazsepi jumcnloriim, panem Angelorum, ' in the beasts' crib the food of Angels;' which very food our signs both represent, and present unto us. 214 Of the Nativity. S E R M. Let me say this farther ; it is the last word in the Sacra- '- — ment, "this is a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving;" and the whole text resolves into laudantium Dcum, " to praise God ;" and not to praise Him alone, but to praise Him with this hymn of the Angels. Now, being to praise Him with the Angels' hymn, it behoves, to be in or as near the state of Angels as we can ; of very congruity, to be in our very best state, when they and we to make but one choir. And when are we so ? If at any time, at that time when we have newly taken the holy Sacrament of His blessed Body and most precious Blood ; when we come fresh from it. And, as if there were some near alliance between this song of the Angels, and these signs; to shew that the signs or Sacrament have a special interest in this hymn ; therefore is it, that even then, upon the administration of it, hath the Church ordered this very hymn, ever to be sung or said, whatever day it fall, in the whole year. For then sure of all other times, are we on earth most near to Angelic perfection ; then, meetest to give glory unto God ; then, at peace with the whole earth ; then, a good-will and purpose in us, if ever. But, as the time falleth out, we have more inducements than one. The day itself is one most proper; for, it is the very day, this hymn was first sung on. And, the celebration of the Sacrament, that is another; but the Sacrament now falling on the day, a double. Either of these, of itself apart; but together, much more. For, the Sacrament, that comes at other times ; the da}', but once a year. On this day, they both meet; and never but on this ; not to slip it then ; but then, when it is most proper, most kindly, then to do it. I would to God, we were as meet to do it, as the Sacrament is to do it at, and as the time is to do it on. But as we may, let us endeavour to do it. So inuring ourselves to record it, as oft as we may, especially, (when most meetly we may,) here "on earth" among men ; that in His good time we may be counted worthy to do it " on high," with the Angels in the bliss of Heaven. A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE KING'S MAJESTY, AT WHITEHALL, ON SATUKDAT, THE TWENTY-FIFTH OF DECEMBER, A.D. MDCXIX. BEING CHRISTMAS-DAY. Luke ii. 14. Glory be to God in the high Heavens, and peace upon earth, and Or,in men. towards men good-ivill. Gloria in altissimis Deo, et in terra pax, hominibus bonce voluntatis Vel, in ho- . , minibus, [yel, in homines bona voluntas.) [^Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men. Engl. Trans.] The anthem of the choir of Heaven foi* this day. For, having heard the Angel's sermon at twice ; L Of the Nativity, 2. Of the Invention of Christ ; and seen the choir of Angels set, with their nature and condition ; there remains nothing but the anthem, to make up a full service for the day. This is it. St. Luke, besides that he is an Evangelist, hath the honour farther, that he is the Psalmist of the New Testa- ment : four hymns more hath he added to those of the Old. Of which four, this is so much the more excellent than the rest, in that it is not of any man's setting, though never so skilful; the ditty and it are both angelical; from the Angels both. That we praise God with the tongue of Angels, whensoever we praise Him with this, with Gloria in excelsis. The sum of it is ; that though, all days of the year, and for The sum. all benefits ; yet this day, and for this now above all, God is highly to be glorified ; more highly than in others ; nay, most highly then; for, it is in altissimis, " the highest of all." That Heaven and earth and men are to join in one concert; 216 Of the Nativity. SKRM. Heaven and earth first; Heaven on hie;h, earth beneath to XIII . — — '— take up one hymn ; both in honour of His birth, both are better by it ; Heaven hath glory, earth peace, by means of it. Heaven hath glory ; Itetentur Cceli. Earth, peace ; exultet Ps. 96. 11. terra, at Thy Nativity, O Lord. Warranted by this song; at Thy Nativity, O Lord, let the Heavens rejoice for the glory ; let the earth be glad for the peace, that come to them by it. And men, hominibus, though they rest, and come in last after both, yet they to do it as much ; nay, much more than both, for God's good-will toward them, which brought all this to pass in Heaven and earth both ; restoring men to God's favour and grace, and all by means of this Child, their Recon- ciler to God, that hath been; their Pacifier on earth, that is; their Glorifier in Heaven, that shall be. They therefore, if any; nay more than any. And now, if ever; nay more than ever, to bear their part in this glorious hymn at the cratch side. Ita canunt in Nativitate quce per Nativitafem, ' Thus sing they at His Nativity, of those things that came by His Nati- vity.' Came to Heaven, to earth, to men. Glory to Heaven ; peace to earth ; grace and favour to men. The (livi- To take a song right, it behoveth to know the parts of it. And they are easily known; they divide themselves into the number blessed above all numbers, because it is the number of the blessed Trinity ; and the mystery of the Trinity do the Fathers find in the parts of it. 1. In God on high, the Eph. 2. 14. Father ; 2. In peace. Ipse est Pax nostra, the Son ; 3. And in good-will, the Holy Ghost, the essential love and love-knot of the Godhead ; and, this day, of the manhood and it. Being Ode natalitia, if we consider it as a nativity, they that calculate or cast nativities, in their calculations stand much upon triplicities, and trigons, and trine aspects. And here 1. they be all: a triplicity of things. 1. Glory, 2. Peace, 3. and 3^ Good-will. A trigon of parties; 1. God, 2. Earth, and 3. Men. And a trine aspect, referenda singula singulis ; 1. To God, glory; 2. to earth, peace; 3. to men, favour, grace, or good-will. But if, (as it is most proper,) we consider the parts, as in a song, the three will well agree with the scale in music. 1. In excelsis, on high, lujpate ; 2. on earth, ncte 3. and men, Of the Nativity. 217 howsoever they come in last, they make 7nese, ' the mean.' Most fitly ; for they, (as in the midst of both the other,) par- take of both ; 1. their soul, from on high ; 2. their body, from the earth. Not the Heathen but did confess the soul Divinm [Hor.Sat.2. 2. 79.] particidam aurce. And, for the body, there needs no ])roof that earth it is ; " earth to earth" we hear, we sec before our [Burial , Service.] eyes every day. Of these three parts then, asunder. And after, (as the na- ture of a song requireth,) of their 1. conjunction, 2. order, i. and 3. division. 1. Conjunction ; glory on high, and in earth 5! peace. 2. Then, the order or sequence ; but, first glory ; then peace. 3. And last, the division, sorting them suum cuiqiie, 'each to his own.' 1. To God, glory; 2. peace, to the earth ; 3. evSoKi'a to men. 4. Last, of the singing of the hymn, 4. 1. When, the time ; 2. and by whom. There are in this hymn, (as the Greeks read and we with I- The them,) three rests. The ground of which three, are three par- several ties. 1. In excelsis Deo, "God on high;" 2. In terra, "earth;" fj^Mlsofthe 3. and hominibus, " men." To these three, other three ; ill 1. " glory," 2. "peace," 3. "good- will," as it were three streams By the having their head or spring in Christ's cratch, and spreading themselves thence, three sundry ways, having their influence into the three former; one of these into some one of them. Glory upward, in excelsis; peace, downward to the earth ; good- will, to men, in the midst between both, compound of both. You will mark : the Child here is God and Man. God, from on high; Man, from the earth. To Heaven, whence He is God, thither goeth glory ; to earth, whence Man, thither peace. Then, as God and Man is one Christ ; and as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man ; so, Christ consisting of these two brings evhoKiav " the fulness of God's favour," the true and real cause of both; yielding them peace, while here on earth, and assuring them of glory, when there on high ; as thither on high, we trust to be delivered, after our time here spent in procuring Heaven glory, and earth peace. Thus, three rests. But, let me not keep from you, that the Latin hath but two 2. rests, and of the Greek some likewise. To two they reduce LaJps all, and well. The places are but two; 1. "on high," 2. and "in earth." The persons but two; 1. God, 2. and men. So, 218 Of the' Nativity. SERM. the parts to be but two; 1. glory on high, to God; 2. peace, '— on earth, to men. But then what shall become of good-will? Good-will is a good word ; would not be lost or left out. No more it shall. And indeed, the diverse reading of that one word makes the parts to be either two, or three. The Greeks read it in the nominative case, evBoKia, which refers to men ; then there must needs be three ; there are two besides. The Latins seem to have read it in the genitive, evBoKias; but a but one letter more. And so they make it of the nature of a limitation, "peace on earth to men." What, to men ^ro- miscue, good and bad, elect and reprobate? No, but to such as pertain to His evSoKia, God^s heneplacitum. His " good-will" and purpose ; to the children of it. Ev8oKta, or eySoKta?, nominative or genitive, let it not trouble you. " To men, a good-will ;" or, " to men'of good- will;" no great matter, whether; so long as evBoKM refers to God, and to His "good pleasure;" not, to men, or any will of theirs. And that so it is to be referred, I will use no other [Vid. witness but Cardinal Tolet himself ; who in his readings at Com* in Rome, and in the Pope's own Chapel, and upon this very Lu. 2. 14.] place, confesseth as much, that so is the native signification of the word ; and so, and no otherwise to be taken here, but in that sense. And in that sense being taken, it goes well. Glory from us, to Him ; peace from Him, to us. From men on earth, to God on high, glory; from God on high, to men on earth, peace. jNIen, I say, toward whom He is now appeased, and with whom now He is well-pleased ; and both, for this Child's sake here in the cratch, iv a> evSoKrjae, in Whom He is so abso- Mat. 3. 17. lutely well-pleased, as, of the fulness of His favour we all " receive. God spake it once, and twice. 1. Once at His Baptism ; 2. and again in the Holy Mount. And hoc erit signum, this may be a sure sign, that He is well-pleased with our nature, that He hath in this Child taken it, and united it to His own ; which, if He had not been highly well-pleased. He would never have done. What greater good- will can there be than this? It passeth the greatest, even that of marriage, union of nature, unity of person. Then riseth there another doubt, what verb toput to her e For never a verb there is at all. Whether some indicative. Of the Nativity. 219 glory is or shall be ; and then, it is an hymn of gratulation, and agreeth well with laudantium, a praise to God, that these now are. Now, hath God glory ; now, earth peace. Men are now received to favour and grace. Thus ; or whether sit or esto, in the optative ; and then, it is votum bene ominaimn, 'a vow or wish,' that glory may be to God ; and so to the rest. I say again here, (as before I said ; it skilled not then, whether nominative or genitive ;) it skills not now, whether indicative or optative. Tehilla, a praise it is, and tephilla, a wish it may be, do commence. Either is well ; but both are best ; for both are most true. By way of gratulation. Glory now is, or shall be to God, i. for this birth. Before it was not ; at least, not so, as after, o/gratu- Before it was gloria in excelsis, but Deo was left out. All Qio°y"js to nations (in a manner) worshipping the Host of Heaven, the God. superior bodies ; deifying the creature, passing by the Creator quite. Excelsa, they did ; but Deum in excelsis, they did not. But, by this birth now, down should all idolatry go ; as down it went, wheresoever Christian religion took place. From the creature, there, all to the Creator. To none on high, but God on high. The point of glory much mended; God more glory, than before. And the earth more at peace, if you take peace in things 2. spiritual, matters concerning the soul. One only I will men- gg'^rth? tion. There was, (as out of Varro St. Augustine reckons them,) no less than two hundred sixty and odd several opinions, [s. Aug. and that of the wisest then on the earth, touching man's xix? sovereign good, or chief end. The very highest point, and that did most concern them ; and, least peace, most variance in it. This mist also was scattered, and that point well cleared, by Him that was the " Way and the Truth." That this evBoKia John u. 6. here is it ; the favour of God it is, and the assurance of it, and nothing but it makes a man truly happy, when all is done. As for the point of God's good-will and favour, that was a never in kind, till this day. Many favours, much good-will wiiitowa'rd before; never so, as when God and man, the Godhead and manhood meet both in one. God never so pleased, as when lie was pleased to assume it into one Person with Himself, uniting both with the straighlcst union that can be. Never 220 Of the Nativity. S E R M. that, till this day, when, for evSoKia iv uv6p(OTroL<;, " good-will ^ — toward men," He forsook cjloriam in cxcdsis, to come into the cratch for them. So that, for God's favour, the gratulation is most just; more than both the rest. Bishop Bi'adwardine did join a good issue. Let that be the religion, let that pi-evail, as best and most true of all other, that is Deo honorabilior, 'brings more honour to God;' pad amicabilior, ' best friend to the earth's peace and homini favorabilior, ' most favourable to man,' as shewing God better affected to him, and making men better affected to God, better one to another. That religion is Christian religion. None sings this hymn in time, in true note, but it ; all other arc out. So that, we have a compendium of true religion, and three notes of it, out of the three notes of the song in this anthem. And this, if it be the indicative ; or by way of gratulation. II. But I confess, it is more usual, per modum voti, ' by way of wish.^^ wish ;' by sit, than by est. Sit doth better become the Church militant; est is more fit for the Church triumphant. " Glory be to God, peace be to the earth," &c. Exoptando that these may be so ; and, so being, continue still, and be daily more and more. And so taking it, to the triplicity again. [1.] First, glory we wish to God. "On high" stands in the to'cod on midst, you may either cast it to the first word glory, "glory on high. high," and then the point, that is, "high glory;" or, with the point, after glory, and cast "on high" to God. A third variety, but easily reconciled, if we take in both ; " glory on high, to God on high." One " on high," may serve for the reason, why we wish glory to God; for God hem^ Altissimus, Gen.14.18. « the Most High," as Melchizedek first styled Him ; and glory being the altitude, or highest pitch we can fly or perform ; by good reason, we wish Him That is highest the highest thing we have. But, not every glory do wc wish, but wish it Him at the 1 Cor. 15. highest. All glor}' is high ; yet is there one glory higher than another. If any be so, that they wish to God, the very height of it, even glory in altissimis, as high as it can go. Now, the more He is glorified, the higher His glory. Higher, if by Heaven and earth, on high and below, by men and Angels: than by either alone. Of the Nativity. 221 This then they wisli, when they say, "glory be in the highest ;" that high and low, Heaven and earth, men and Ps. 148. ^ > a ... ] 13 Angels would do their parts, to make His praise glorious, glorious at the highest. On earth, sound it out far and wide, all the world over, to the ends of the earth; and lift up our Ps. 150.4, voices, and help them with instruments of all kinds, and make ^' them to be heard up to the very Heavens, that so it may be in altissimis, indeed. Yea, that all creatures, in both, ravished with the consideration of the great favour and good-will of God, in this day's birth testified, would take occasion to fill their mouths with the praise of His goodness, in resolving; His wisdom, in contriving; His mercy, in promising; His truth in performing the work of this day, the blessed birth of His Son. For the work of the day, to make the day of the work a glorious day ; causing it to be attended with a number of days, according to the number of the months of the year; as no feast else. Glorious in all places, as well at home with carols, as in the Church with anthems. Glorious in all ages ; even this day, this year, as on the very day on which He was born. Glorious in habit, in fare ; but specially, as we see the Angels here do, with the service of God, the most solemn service, the highest, the most melodious hymns we have ; and namely, with this here of the choir of Heaven. In a word : all the ways we can ; all the ways, God can have any glory from us, to let Him have it ; and have it even at the height, in altissimis. And good reason we should so wish : Christ lost His glory, by being thus in the cratch. We took some from Him ; to wish Him some for it again. That was ignominia in infimis ; to wish Him gloria in altissimis, in lieu of it. Again, we get glory by it ; our nature, so. For the glory, we get by God here below, to return some glory to God there on high. This is votum glorice ; this wish we, when we wish gloria in altissimis. The next is votum pads; they wish peace may be upon earth. 2. 1. Even Augustus' peace, first, (that is the first cometh to our carti^ '" minds, when we hear that word,)the shutting of Janus; for that also was a blessed fruit of this birth. Esay foretold it ; there should then be a bridge from Ashur to Egypt, and from Isa. 19. 23. 222 Of the Nativity. s E R M. Canaan to them both ; that is, from every nation to other, to XIII -» — '■ — traffic, and to trade together. That; but not only that, but the taking down also of the Eph. 2. 14. "partition wall," which formerly Moses had set up, between the Jew and the Gentile ; the making of them both one in the body of His flesh ; St. Paul's peace. And yet farther. For, both these are "peace upon earth," of earth with earth. Augustus can, the world can give that peace, though many times they will not. But He speaks in a [John 14. place of the "peace which the world cannot give," that is, ^^'^ peace with Heaven. That there should not be Esay's bridge Gen.28.12. Only, but Jacob's ladder set up from Bethel to Heaven ; a peaceable intercourse with that place, by the Angels "descend- ing and ascending" between us and them. And farther yet, peace at home with ourselves, and with Ps. 116. 7. our own consciences. " Turn again to thy rest, O my soul;" for, in finding Him, we shall find rest to our souls. And last, (to answer (jloria in oUissimis,) pax in novissimis, peace at the parting, which is worth all ; Simeon's peace, a Luke 2. 29. good nunc dimittis in pace, "a departing hence in peace." And all, by means of viderunt oculi, the sight of the salvation" of this day. All these are in voto pads. 3. The third is, there may be in God a "good-will toward tow^rcT'^' men." And good-will is a kind of peace, but somewhat more, with an extent of prorogation; a kind of peace peculiar to men, which the other parts of the earth are not capable of. So, a farther matter to men, than bare peace ; even BoKeiv ev, to 'think well,' to bear good-will, to be well pleased with men. And what greater wish can there be than in Quo complacitum Mat. 3. 17. est? Christ hath no more, than ev w evBoKrjaa. It is His high glory, that for His, and this His birth's sake, which we now celebrate, that which is verified of His Person is verified of both His natures; of Him, not only as Son of God, but even as Son of man too. And, what is verified of Him as Son of man, may be verified also of the sons of men, of all mankind. This wish is at the highest, and more cannot be wished, than that this favour, to-day begun, may still and ever continue to us all. So have you now tlie three parts of the Angels' wish, summa votorum, "glory be to God," &c. What is now to be done ? Three things more ; to see the Of the Nativity. 223 1. connection copulative, 2. the sequence, 3. and the division. i. 1. The connection copulative, (a blessed couple,) Glory and nection Peace. 2. The sequence : but, first Glory, and then Peace, ci^^ry'^and' 3. The division, which to which. 1. One, to God ; 2. the peace. other, to earth ; 3. the third, to man. Glory and Peace are coupled together with an "and:" " and in earth peace ;" that Glory would not be sung alone, but Peace together with it. We will not, we may not skip the copulative; that couples together high and low. Heaven and earth, and in them God and man ; but, (that which I respect specially,) Glory and Peace must be sung together. If we sing Glory without Peace, we sing but to halves. No Glory on high will be admitted, without Peace upon earth. No gift on Ilis Altar, (which is a special part of His glory,) but "lay down Mat. 5. 24. your gift, and there leave it, and first go your way and make peace on earth and that done, come again, and you shall then be accepted, to give glory to Heaven ; and not before. And O that we would go and do the like, have like regard of His glory, that He hath of our peace. But this knot of Gloria et Pax is against those that are still ever wrangling with one thing or other; and all for the glory of God forsooth, as if these two could not join ; God could not have His glory, if the Church were at peace ; as if, (no remedy) the Angels' et must out. Glory and Peace ; but Glory first, and then Peace. There 2. is much in the order. Glory to be first, else you change the quence: clef ; the clef is in Glory ; that, the key of the song. That is fole pjac'e. to be first and before all ; Peace to give place to her ; Glory is the elder sister. And no Pax in terris, unless it be first considered, how it will stand with Gloria in excelsis. To set Peace before Glory is to set earth above Heaven. Keep the order then; each in her place. So goeth the song; the Child born is God and Man ; God, from on high ; Man, from the earth. Coelestem primo, dein et terrestrem celehraiit; ' they keep the right order in singing of Him we to do the like : Heaven's part ever to be first. But then, next after His glory, nothing more dear, more precious, nay nothing so dear, so precious to us then, as peace. Set Glory safe, and then by all means inquire Pacem, saith the Psalmist, "seek Peace." If she hide herself, seek ps. 34. 14. 224 Of the Nativity. SERM. her out, et persequci-e cam, "and pursue her;" if she % away, — '— follow her hard. Peace is not sought ; no man follows her, to make any pursuit; they know not the value of Peace, that lose her so easily, that follow her so faintly. Nay, instead of pur- suit, persecute her and drive her away, and make the chasing her away the seeking of God's glory. The second thing in the world is Peace ; only one, one only before it, the glory of God. 3. But the air of the song is in the division, wherein each is ^on ofYiie sorted to his own ; God, to His ; the earth, to hers ; men, to song- theirs. Justice's division, (which makes peace in Heaven and earth,) scored here out so plainly, as it is easily seen, which pertains to which. And we by all means so to distribute and deal them ; and by all means to preserve and hold up this division. Else, we change the note, which is as much as the whole harmony is worth. 1. Glory Now, in this partition. Glory goes whither ? Up " on high." To whom there? To God, and to none but God. The place and the person are both set forth. " On high," there is the place. " To God," there is the Person. Earth is not the place of glory : it is in excclsis, " on high." Earth is not on high. Here below it is, as it were the cellar or vault of the world ; where though there be excelsa and excelsi, ' high places' and ' high persons' both, yet the word is ev v-^laroi^, in altis- Ecci. 5. 8. simis; and altissimi they be not; "there be higher than they." And, as earth is not the place, so man is not the person ; for man is upon earth, and is earth. No glory to man then; especially, none this day, of all days. Glory to him, for what ? For entertaining Christ, and lodging Him in a stable ? Con- fusion rather ; somewhat to be ashamed of, nothing to glory of. Had men deserved it, some to them ; now, let God above have the glory of this day. Yet, conceive it aright ; we wish it, as our duty ; not as any longing of His. It were a silly conceit to imagine of God, as if He were avidior f/lori(S, 'did hunger or thirst for our glory.' What is He the better for it? Only, nothing we have but that; and so, either that or nothing ; for, nothing but that can He receive from us. But, we have nothing to render Him for all His goodness, for His evBoKia, but So^a. Give it Him iTim.1.17. then; but give it entirely: give it none but Him. Soli Deo, Of the Nativity. 225 saith St. Paul ; Soli, saith St. Jude ; Soli, let us all say. [jude "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us;" (it is David, as if he ""''^^J^, ' ' _ ^ rs. iio. 1. were afraid to touch any part of it.) No; but, as Paul and Barnabas, rend our clothes, if any "divine honour" be forced Actsi4.i4. upon us. Yet, glory, we may, I grant ; but not this, here : gloria in altissimis, if we sing to any but Him, we sing a false note. Men do so, now and then ; but the Angels are never out ; and thus sing they, and set out glory for God's part. Let "earth" be content with "peace:" peace is her por- 2. ■ . . "On earth tion ; and a blessed portion, if she may well hold it ; a fair peace." portion^ a rich wish. For I would fain know, what could be said more to the praise of this portion, than is here in this song ? First, that in general it reacheth to the whole earth ; i- not to men alone, though they have their share too ; in what- soever good Cometh to the earth, but it reacheth to all on earth ; omni animantium or vegetantium generi, ' to all the beasts, all the green things on the earth;' all are the better for it. Secondly, what more for the credit of peace, than that it is 2. votum militai'e, ' it comes from the mouths of soldiers ' that were there in their military habit. Even they sing of peace, and praise it, and wish it, where they wish any good ; and know not what better thing to wish to the earth, than it. It is the earth's happiness, peace ; it flourisheth by it. " Before, was the earth as the garden of Paradise," saith the Prophet ; Joel 2. 3. "behind, it was a waste and barren wilderness, all spoiled and burnt up." Thirdly, that it is votum Angeliciim, ' an Angel's wish,' 3. peace. They, being Heavenly Spirits, wish not any thing at any time, but Heavenly ; so that a Heavenly thing peace. And so it is, as Nazianzcn here well observed, pugnas et fs. Greg:. dissidia nescire Deum et Angelo.i, 'no broils, no brabbles in orat. 12. Heaven; nothing but peace, there.' And a kind of Heaven '^"^''■'^^'^■^ there is upon earth, when there is peace upon earth ; and justly are they blessed, and rightly are they "called the [Mai. 5 a] children of God," the most blessed that are, or shall be at any time, that are the procurers of it. This, lo, is the Angels' division, they sing. But here we are like to have no little ado to maintain this; as we said before, hide signo a mnltis conti-adicitnr, ' as the sign. 226 Of the Nativity. SERM. so the song is gainsaid of many.' The devil doth all he can, to mar the Angels' music, to bring in his, his own black sanc- XIII Luke 2. 34. tus, to procure contempt to God's " glory on high,'^ to bring ['i.e.tumuit God's glory as low as he can, to make garboiles' upon earth, or uproar.] n J .... ^ . ' to work men all evil-will, mischief, and malice that he can. And first, to make a confusion in this division, persuades earth not to stand content with the Angels' partition, but earth, forsooth, must have glory, must be dealing with Heaven's part. It is well said "to God on high ;" there be certain gods, here below, aspire to glory. And glory we would allow, but no glory will serve, unless gloriam altissimis be sung to it. Simt Gen. 3. 5. Dii cannot be gotten out of us. We cannot yet get Dominus Deus noster Papa out of the gloss % no, not now, after it is re- formed. And King Herod would be content to be made more Actsi2.22. than a man, and to hear . . . Nec vox hominem sonat. And 1^332^" we beneath are too ready to sing it, otherwhile; to deify those that are on high, and give that belongs to " God on high,^' to gods below. Now, that earth is thus willing to entitle herself to Heaven's part, this brings all out of tune. But, in tune, or out of tune, to die for it, have it we will. Actsi4.l4. What the Apostles rent their clothes to put from them, we would rend our skins to pluck to us. So greedy are we, to be held for gods upon earth. Nay, earth is content to thrust from her her own part, that is, peace, to invade God's part, that is, glory ; Et dum gloriam usurpant, pacem turbant, ' to usurp glory, they lose peace ;' we can dispense with that, shift God's glory how it can, rather than our own should suffer the least disgrace, away with peace, moveatur terra, 'let all the world be on a welter.^ What comes of this? Pacem contemnentes et gloriam appe- tentes, et gloriam perdunt ct pacem : even this peace, their own part, they set light by; glory, God's part, they gape after, and lose glory and peace both by the means ; and when they have brought all to confusion, set down by their losses. For first, by seeking glory, glory is lost. The heathen man well ob- served ; Glory is one of those things, that to seek them, is the very next way to lose ; and to neglect them, the way to gain them ; Quoirendo amittitur, no readier way to miss it, than « The gloss of Zenzelinus. — See a in the 78th number of the British Ma- letter on the subject by Mr. Maitland, gaziiie. Of the Nativity. 227 eagerly to seek it. And again, by seeking glory, peace is lost clear. Yielding glory to God doth bring with it pacem in terris ; diverting it from Him doth iake pacem de terris. In very deed, " peace upon earth," as it stands after it, so it hath a dependance upon God's glory; comes, as it were, in exchange for it. Da gloriam et accipe pacem, saith God; 'let men on earth send glory up to God on high, and God on high will send down peace to men on earth,' and will not fail : Heaven's peace, for earth's glory. Whereby we see, if we miss " peace on earth" at any time, what it is long of. It is that, which makes the Angels here keep on their armour still : upon glory detained from God, or transferred whither it should not, they are up in arms straight, have power to take peace from the earth, till the point of glory be set right again. The setting right of which point is the way to recover it. Let Heaven, let God be well served with their part, peace will not long be away. It is coupled to it, you see, it followeth close, Et pax in terris. So much for that division. " To men a good-will.'^ For, besides earth^s peace, wherein Good-will they enter common, men have a part by themselves, which is men. their prerogative. And first, I would have you to note, that i. here it is entered first into the music of Heaven. In the Angels' hymn in Esay, in the Old Testament, men are out Isa. 6. 3. there ; no mention at all, not a word of them, in that. Heaven is in, and earth ; but no men there. In the Angels' hymn here, in the New Testament, here men are in; that all may know, that for this Child's sake now made Man, men are now come into the Angels' song ; to be a part, and a principal part there, who before were left out. A principal part, I say ; for mark again ; they have never 2. an et, they stand by themselves. For both those former resolve into this of men ; they, the epitome of Heaven and earth ; the parties, from whom this glory, to whom this peace is principally intended to come. Glory to God ; glory and peace : why both ? for God hath received men to grace : men are now in favour again. But Heaven, and earth, and men, and all, resolve into the free grace and good-will of God. How shall they perform either peace or glory, but if there be toward them first ? and secondly, but if there be in them this third of good-will ? Q 2 228 Of the Nativity. SERM. Thence issues God's glory; thence the earth's peace. The '■ — fountain of both, that : nay of Christ and all. For Him this glory ; for Christ : through Him, this peace ; through Christ. But Christ Himself, whence ? Whence, but from the " good- will of God toward men ?" From whence also, the good-will in men, to God, and one to another, if any be in them. That if we go higher yet, even of this birth God's good-will was the cause ; and, because His will was, men should be restored, therefore His will was, Christ should be incarnate and born. Can we go any higher? are we not in altissimis? Verily, as we said, the humility of the sign was so deep, we could not sound it ; so may we now, that the sublimity of this point is so high, we cannot reach it. There is a part of divinity that dazzles ; if we look too long on it, we may well lose our sight. Toward Then to iv av6pco7roL<;, last. It may be turned two ways, it in men. will bear both; (and, for my part, I wish no word ever narrowed by a translation, but as much as might be, left in the latitude of the original tongue.) l.^Ev avdpcoTrocs will bear et? av6p(airovjrlaToi<;, and no less properly. And, no hurt, if we turn it so, in hominibus; provided in or erga homines go first, be sung before it. In hominibus so ever, as coming from in homines. For then, Donum magnum bonce voluntatis Dei, bona voluntas in hominibus ; it is Augus- tine : ' of the good-will of God towards men, a special gift it is : this good-will in men,' to God and man both. The best way is, where there are two, to take in both : so we shall be sure, to leave out neither. 1. But to- Yet, in their sequence. To or toward men then first, but first'.' to or toward them for this Child's sake. In Whom He "is so well-pleased," as, for His sake. He is pleased, first to re- ceive men to pardon, though grievous sinners, and so utterly unworthy of it. Secondly, He is pleased to reward their works also, other- wise, (but for this good-will in God in accepting them,) that might justly be excepted to, for their many imperfections; to take them well in worth, though they want worth ; and to vouchsafe them a reward, and that a high reward; for "it is Lu. 12. .■?2. your Heavenly Father's good pleasure to give you a kingdom." Of the Nativity. 229 Thirdly, beyond both these, He is farther pleased, in some case to accept even of this evSoKia, at our hands ; and though skill and power both fail, and be wanting; yet a willing mind if there be, if there be but that, "a man is accepted, according to that he hath, not according to that he hath not." Mary 2Cor.ai2. Magdalene's quod potuit fecit ; the poor widow's qiiod hahdt Mar. 14. 8. dedit, and God wot, it was but two mites, yet well taken Mar. 12.44. though : one evhoKia by another. That He placeth not ac- ceptance, neither in evyvwaia, ' deep capacity of wit nor in evSvvaa-ia, ' great ability of power ;' but in evBoKia, ' readiness of good-will,' an honest true meaning, an unfeigned hearty desire ; ut si sit actionis irifirmitas, at si sit voluntatis integritas, ' though there be weakness in the act, yet if there be soundness in the will,' out of His "good-will toward men," He will accept this good-will in men. Nehemiah's " desire to fear Him ;" Neh. 1. 11. Ezekias' "setting his heart to seek;" the servant's but preparing 2 Kings to do his master's will. And even in David's secundum cor ,, Luke II. meum, his honest true heart was fairest flower in his garland. 42, 47. And this, if it were well weighed and digested aright ; if 14^^™' Christ, if all that comes by Christ, (and that is " all in all,") be by His free grace and favour ; if men were but rightly con- ceited in this point, it would soon bring them out of conceit with their own I wot not what ; it would make them truly humble. And it is the humble man that gives God the true glory, that sings this song right, when all is done. The glory that comes to God is ho^a ho evhoKiav, the first word for the last. With glory it begins, with good-will it ends ; and with good-will it begins, and with glory ends; as the "first shall Mat. 19.30. be last, and the last first." But, when we have fixed bona, voluntas in honiines, what 2. Then in hurt will it do, to wish bona voluntas in hominibus ? Sure, none. Bona voluntas in homines is to work this bonam voluntatem in hominibus, and that by very course of kind. For suum simile, grace to beget his own like, is most natural ; bene placitum Dei, to beget bene placitum Deo, Who out of His good pleasure " worketh in us both to will and to do ;" and Whose Phil. 2. 13. only work it is, Ut respondeat bonce voluntati Dei bona voluntas hominis. What harm then, if the Angel should wish it or commend it to men, in whom if it be, it comes from that of God merely. 230 Of the Nativity. SF. HAi. and from no other. Veril}', what is praiseworthy in God — ■ cannot but be so in men too. Summn relir/ionis est, assijnilari Ei quern colis, ' to be come like to Him we worship is the pitch of all religion.' Now an evBoKia at the second hand there is in men. Rom. 15.26. The word itself is ascribed to them of Achaia towards Rom. 10.1. the poor saints at Jerusalem; to St. Paul towards the Phil. 1. 15. Jews ; to the Philippians towards St. Paul ; and in other places. 1. In men To wish then in men tliis evBoicia toward God ; which, towards . . . i ^ i i • God. where it is, makes men to ooKeiv ev, ' have a good conceit or opinion' of God ; which will bring forth a good affection to God. It is well observed, it is not ayadf] d€\rjat,<;, (which is properly Greek for 'good will,') but evSoKia, which is rather a ' good thinking,' if we go to the very nature of the word ; but it will come all to one. Only, the affection, that begins in the opinion, is noted for good : and the opinion, that is bred in the affection, not so. From that good conceit of Goil, accepting well whatsoever it pleaseth Him to send ; if good, receiving it thankfully ; if otherwise, taking it patientlv ; ever praising God for all. But no ways entertaining of Him that opinion, for which they cannot but love Him the worse, if as of a tyrant sentencing men to death only for his pleasure, before they have offended him at all. That would prove no evBoKia, as it may be handled. And the Apostle tells us, the evBoKia, that is in 2 Thes. 1. God, is evBoKia dyadcoavvrj'i ; it is not but regulate by His goodness, for which ever may there be glory ascribed to Him! 2. In men Then, to wish it in men towards men ; an evSoKLa also, men. which, where it is, breeds an inclination to Bofceiv ev, ' to take Rom.i2.i8. all in the better part;' and if possibly we can, and "as much as in us lieth, to have peace with all men." Which if it were on earth, would make Heaven on earth. Peace is not said (as glory) to be ev, but eVi; and eVt is over: for indeed it doth but hover aloft over the earth, would light, but cannot other- while. The raven can, but the dove cannot, for want of this bona voluntas in hominibus, or these homines bona voluntatis. It finds them not well willing to peace, while every one stands more for his own reputation, or other ends, than either Of the Nativity. 231 for Churches' or country's peace. Banish the opposites of evBoKia, envy, malice, and peace will be no stranger Rom. 10.2. upon earth. It would then be iv yrj where it is eVt (y^? ; ^- the same preposition in both. All depends upon the cadence, evSoKia: perform that well, and it will be music for an Angel. And, now ye have heard all the parts, what shall we do with this song? Sing it. But we have no Angels to sing it, and it will be music for an Angel. Angels it would be, as at first it was ; but, when it is not, it will please them well, that men sing it, whom it most concerns. But if by men, of very congruity, an Angel's song would be, by men, when in some degree they drew something near to the Angels' estate. At least, when nearer than at other times. And when is that, that men on earth come so? At what time? Sure, if ever men do rise above themselves, and approach in any sort near to those blessed spirits ; if ever they be in state with Angels and Archangels to laud and magnify His glorious Name ; if in all their lives they be in peace and charity, the bond of perfection, the bona voluntas we speak of ; if at any time it be in men, and they homines bonce voluntatis ; upon the taking of the Sacrament it is : at that time, then, or never, they lift up their hearts in true devotion. So, then in best case, that in all our lives to sing it ; if Christ "dwell in our hearts" by faith; if we be "temples of the Holy Ghost." And that we might be in that case, and so sing it, the Church is never unprovided, this day, of this means of ele- vating our minds ; and it is opera pretium, 'worth the while,' if it were but for that ; and there may be joy among the Angels in Heaven, to hear their hymn kept still alive. Though there is another congruity for the Sacrament ; that the " great 1 Tim. 3. mystery of godliness," which is " God manifested in the "'' flesh," might not be celebrated without the mystery of His flesh ; that the day He came among us to be partaker of flesh and blood, we also might be partakers of the flesh and blood which He took from us, to give them us again. But otherwise, this day, in this hymn, and this hymn, in this day, continually have a special interest. Time in music is much. And if we will keep time with the Angels, do it when they do it, this day they did it ; and what fitter time 232 Of the Nativity. s r.RM. to sing it, than the day it was first sung, the day of the first — - singing of it, Canticum did, in die cantici ? When should the * hymn of Christ's birth be better sung, than on Christ's birth day?' But, because it is not vox, but votum ; the voice is not all, but the heart's desire and wish it is that God chiefly respecteth ; to add that. And what should we wish from our hearts, but that the Angels may have their wish ; every one may have his due, as it is here set out. And, for that Nihil cequius est, quam ut pro quo quis oretpro eo lahorct, 'what we wish for we should not stand wishing only, but endeavour withal it may come to pass, that it be our labour too,' with all our endeavours to procure the glory of Heaven, and the peace of the earth ; to find peace in the good-will of God, and to give Him all glory for it, Who hath appointed peace our portion here, and glory our hope laid up there. Assuring ourselves, that the same evBoKla that was able to bring the Son of God from Heaven into earth, shall have the like power to lift up the sons of men from earth to the glory of Heaven ; there with the blessed Angels, to sing this glorious hymn eternally. No more of wish then but of fruition, and so of everlasting gratulation. A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE KING'S MAJESTY, AT WHITEHALL, ON MONDAY, THE TWENTY-FIFTH OF DECEMBER, A.D. MDCXX. BEING CHRISTMAS-DAY. Matthew ii. 1, 3. When Jesus then ivas horn at Bethlehem in Judea, in the days of Herod the King, behold, there came wise men, from the East to Jerusalem, saxfiny, Wliere is the King of the Jews That is born ? For we have seen His star in the East, and are come to worship Him. Cum ergo natus esset Jesus in Bethlehem Judce, in diebus Herodis Regis, ecce magi ab Orients venerunt Jerosolymam, dicentes, Ubi est Qui natus est Res Judaorum ? Vidimus enim stellam Ejus in Oriente, et venimus adorare Eum. [Now tvhen Jesus teas born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the King, behold, there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is He That is born King of the Jews ? For we have seen His star in the East, and are come to worship Him. Engl. Trans.] We pass now this year from the shepherds and the Angels, to the wise men and their star. This star, and their coming, no less proper to this day, than those other were. For, though they came not to Jerusalem this day ; yet, this day, venerunt ab Oriente, " from the East they came." They set forth, this very day. For they came when " Jesus was born ;" and, this day, was He born. Howsoever the star brought them not to their journey's end, till twelve days hence ; yet, this day, it first shewed itself : how soon Jesus was born, vidimus stellam, it appeared straight. For which very appearing, you shall find, the Fathers of the East Church do call this first day Ta iiri^dvia, as well as the last. This first, wherein His star appeared, and they began their journey. That last, wherein 234 Of the Natioity. s E R M. He appeared Himself, and their journey was at an end. " First, and last, an appearing there was. One begins, the other ends the feast. We pass from one of them, to the other ; but from the less, to the greater : for, of the twain, this is the greater. Greater, in itself: greater, to us. Two ways greater, in itself. The other (of the shepherds,) a poor one : poor and mean. This (of the wise men,) a sign of some state : high and Heavenly. isa. 7. 11. God bade Ahaz ask a sign ; " ask one from here below, or one from the height above." He would ask neither, but God gave both. From below, hoc ei-it Signum, " you shall find the Luke 2. 12. Babe in a manger :" low enough. That we have done withal. Now, from above, ecce vidimus Stellam, the sign from Heaven ; His new star. Besides, (to speak uprightly,) one might in some sort com- plain of the privateness of the Angels' appearing. Somewhat obscure it was ; few privy to it ; passed over in the night between the Angels and them. And, upon it, three or four shepherds got them into the stable ; and, what there they did, no man could take notice of. More famous, and more manifestation-like was this here. A new light kindled in Heaven, a star never seen before. The world could not but look up at it, and ask what it meant. Ps. 19. 4. Nothing appeareth there, but "the sound of it goeth out into all lands, and the news of it to the utmost parts of the earth." This made another manner venerunt. Upon this came there to Jerusalem not a rout of shepherds, but a troop of great persons. And not from a heath, or sheep-common hard by ; but, from afar, " from the East," twelve days' journey off. All Jerusalem rang of it. The King, Priests, and people busied with it. To this day, remembered in all stories. It cannot be Acts26.26. forgotten ; " For this was not done in a corner." This was indeed a manifestation. Better, in itself, thus. And, for us, better : for us all. For we all hold by this. It [I i. e. a was a brack ' in the former ; the sermon was made, and the breach.] anthem sung, and none at it but the shepherds. And what were they ? Jews. What is that to us ? This Scripture James4. 6. offereth "more grace." These here that "came from the East," first, they were Gentiles. Gentiles; that concerns us, for so are we. We may then look out, if we can see this Of the Natioity. 23.5 star. It is ours, it is the Gentiles' star. We may set our course by it, to seek and find, and worship Ilim, as well as they. This is for us all. But there is yet more grace offered to some in particular. The shepherds were a sort of poor simple men, altogether unlearned. But, here come a troop of men of great place, high account in their country ; and withal, of great learned men : their name gives them for no less. This, lo, falls somewhat proper to this place and presence, that will be glad to hear it. It is fuiistum et salutare Sydus to such ; that wealth, worth, or wisdom shall hinder none, but the}' may have their parts in Christ's birth, as well as those of low degree. It is not only Stella (jent/um, but Stella mayorum; *the great men's, the wise men's Star,' this. So, quoad nos, 'for us,' it fitteth well. And, quoad se, 'of itself,' it is fit every way. This star leads us to another star; isa. ii. i. even "the root and y;eneration of David, the bright morning; ' . . r , " Ps. 1 10. 3. Star." He of Whom Zachary saith, in the Old Testament, Ecce zech.e. 12. Vir, Oriens iiomen Ejus ; yea, Oriens ab alto, saith Zachary in Luke 1.78. the New; visits those of the East, whence the day springeth; [Rev. 22. takes them that are nearest Him ; and His rising works upon the place first, that bears His name. " The wisdom of God, Prov.8.22. the beginning of all His ways," is found by wise men, of all other, because they be wise, most fit to find Him. Two verses I have read. In the former, after the matter of Thedivi- the feast first remembered, "When Jesus was born," accom- ^'""'j panied with the two circumstances of place and time, the place where, " Bethlehem Judah ;" the time when, " the days of Herod the King:" there is a memorable accident, that then happened, set down ; a venerunt, "a coining or arrival" at Jeru- salem. And they, that so came, were a company of magi, "from the East." And this, lo, hath the ecce on the head of it, Ecce, venerunt vtayi ab Oriente, " Behold, there came," &c. as the special point in the text ; and so, we to make it. In the latter, is set down their errand. Both the 1. occasion, II. and the 2. end ; best expressed by themselves, out of their own dicentes. 1. The occasion; vidimus stellam, they had "seen His star." 2. The end; venimus adorare, they are "come to worship Him." Viderunt, venerunt, adordrunt. That they may come to their Jinis ultimus, they must have a 236 Of the Nativ/fi/. SERM. medius Jinis ; that is, to worship, they must find Him where ~ — He is. So they ask, Ubi est ? Not, whether He be born ; but " where He is born." For, born He is, they are sure, by the same token they have seen His star. His star is up ; that is risen ; there- fore He is risen too. So the star in Heaven kindled another star in earth, (St. 2 Pet. 1.19. Peter calls it the "Day-star which riseth in the heart," that is faith,) which shined, and manifested itself, by their labour in coming, diligence in enquiring, duty in worshipping. Christ's birth made manifest to them by the star in Heaven. Their faith ("the star in their hearts") made manifest to Christ, and to all, by the travel of it, which shewed it mani- festly. That (upon the matter) there falls a threefold manifestation; you may call them three stars if you please. 1. The star in Heaven. 2. The day-star in their hearts. 3. And Christ Himself, " the bright morning Star," Whom both the other guide us to ; the Star of this morning, which makes the day the greatest day in the year. The sum of all riseth to this ; that God hath " opened a Actsi4.27. door of faith to the Gentiles ;" and, among them, to wise men and great men, as well as to the simpler sort. But with this condition; that they say with them, venite adoremus ; and so come, and seek, and find, and worship Him ; that is, do as these did. The "When Jesus was born." That "when" is now. His matter. birth is the ground of the feast, and the cause of our venimus, 'our coming together.' Where this we note first : it is the very first time, the first " was born" in the Bible ; " was born" never till now. Here, the tide turns ; the sense changes from "shall be" to " was." A blessed change. And the day is blessed, on which it happened. Before He was born, it was so sure He should be born, as isa. 9. 6. Esay said, Puer natus est nobis. But for all that, there is some odds between Esay's natus est, and St. Matthew's. That was but virtually; as good as born; this, actually born indeed. Heb. 13. a " Jesus Christ yesterday, and to-day, and the same for ever." " The same," yet not altogether after the same manner. There is as much between Jesus Christ, " yesterday," not Of the Nativity. 287 come ; and Jesus Christ, "to-day," cum natus esset ; as is be- tween a state in reversion, and one in being. The Fathers aptly resemble their case, that were the ante- nati before Christ, and ours that came after, to the two men that " carried the great cluster of grapes upon a staff between Num. la them." Both carried ; but he that came behind saw that he carried; so did not he that went before. The post-nati sure are of the surer hand. And so, for cum natus esset, the day and time, to hold a feast, for " when Jesus was born." Weighty circumstances are ever matter of moment; in a story specially. Three there are in the first verse. 1. The The cir- place. 2. The time. 3. The persons. 4. I add a fourth, stances, out of the second verse, the occasion. The place, ubi, " Beth- lehem Judah." The time, quando, " the days of Herod the King." The persons, quihus, " wise men from the East." The occasion, whereupon, a new star appearing. Every one of the four having a several prophecy running of it; and every prophecy, a filling of it, in these words. The place. He was born in Bethlehem Judah ; " And thou Bethlehem Judah," saith the Prophet Micah, "out ofMicah5.2. thee shall He come." And now, come He is. The time. " The da3's of Herod the King." " The sceptre shall not quite depart from Judah, till Shiloh come," said old Gen.49.10. Father Jacob in his prophecy. Shiloh then is now come. For the sceptre is in Herod's hand : his father, an Edomite ; his mother, an Ishmaelite : Judah clean gone. The persons. Magi ah Oriente, " Kings from the East." Ps. 72. lo. The Kings of Arabia and Saba shall come and bring gifts, saith David. And Esay specifies them, gold, myrrh, incense, isa. m. 6. These Kings are come : here they are ; they, and their gifts, both. The occasion, whereupon. " A star risen." "A star shall rise of Jacob," saith Balaam, no very good man, yet a true Num. 24. Prophet in this ; and his prophecy true, and for such recorded in the book of Moses. This " Star" is this morning up to be seen. Prophecies of all four ; and all four accomplished. Of the place, of Bethlehem, out of Micah, it hath formerly 1. been treated. I but touch it and pass it, now. It was the ubi!^ * place where David himself was born. And what place more meet for the Son of David, to be born in ? It was the place 238 Of the Nativity. s E R M. where was heard the first news of the Teraple. And where XIV '- — could the " Lord of the Temple" more fitly be heard of? It is interpreted domus panis, " the house of bread.'' What place John 6.51. more proper for Him Who is "the living Bread that came down from Heaven," to give life to the world? It was the Micah5.2. least and the lowest of all " the thousands of Judah." What little and low is, in things natural ; that lowliness and humility is, in spiritual. This natural birth-place of His sheweth His spiritual. Humility is His place: humility, as I may call it, the Bethlehem of virtues: where you find it, "Lo, there is He born." So born in us, as born for us. Pass we Christ's ubi ; and now, to His quando. Christ's ^^^^ time. The days of Herod the King. And those quando. were evil days ; days of great affliction, to that land. Judah's "sceptre" clean broken; not "a lawgiver left between his feet." Edom, that is Herod the Edomite, cried, " Down with Ps. 137. 7. them, down to the ground." Not so much as a sort of silly babes, but barbarously slain in their mother's arms : enough Jer. 31. 15. to make Rachel mourn, as she \a,y in her grave. Dismal days certainly. Why, then comes Shiloh ; when man's help farthest off, then God's nearest. When it is dark, then rises the star. What one prophecy of Him, but came even so; even, at such a time, when they were most out of heart, and needed comfort Gen.4910. most? Jacob's, when they were in Egypt, "the house of Num. 24. bondage." Balaam's, when in the waste and barren wilder- 17. ° ness, " among fiery serpents." Esay's, when they were ready Dan. 9. 25. to be overrun with the two. Kings of Syria and Israel. Daniel's, Hag. 2. 7— when in Babylon, the land of their captivity. Aggai's, when they built the wall, with the trowel in one hand, and the sword in the other. As His prophecies came still, so came He. His 2Pet.].i9. prophecies, saith Peter, as a candle ; Himself, as a star: in the dark, both. For all the world, like the time of the year His birth fell in ; in the sharpest season, in the deep of winter. As humility. His place ; so, affliction. His time. The time and place fit well. For the time of affliction makes the place ; makes humility. Which place Christ is born in. I pass this also, and come to the third ; of the persons. 3. For there stands the ecce upon it. Which ecce points us to 9u(6»l.* it, as to the chief point of all ; as, indeed, it is. And our chief Of the Nathnti/. 239 endeavour, to include ourselves, to have our parts in this vene- runt, in coming to Christ. Here is a coming, venerunt. And they that come, magi. In which comers we consider four points ; the}' sustain four persons. 1. Of Gentiles; 2. Gentiles from the East; 3. great persons, great princes : for so we may be bold to call them, as the prophecy calls them, Kings; 4. of great learning and wisdom ; so macfi their name gives them. " To Bethlehem came the shepherds." Nothing to us, 3.Gentiies. they were Jews. But, thither came these too, and they were Gentiles ; and, in this ' Gentiles,' we. So come we in. " Then hath God also to the Gentiles set open a door of faith." At Acfsi4.27. which door we enter ; we with them, and they with us : for they and we Gentiles both. The star is stella Gentium, 'the Gentiles' star;' and so, ours; and we to direct our course by it. All that ever write call them Primitias Ge7i- tium, 'the first-fruits;' Antesignanos, the 'standard-bearers' to all the Gentiles, that came in after. Upon this, I beg leave to stand a little, since it is our tenure, we hold by. And, that God would thus do, call the Gentiles in, there was some little ecce still, some small star-light from the beginning. By way of promise. So much promised, by the Patriarchs, i. Noah ; that " Japhet should at the last dwell in the tents of Gen. 9. 27. Shem." Abraham; that "in his seed," not any one nation, but "all the nations of the earth be blessed." Jacob; that Shiloh's Gen.22.i8. coming should be, expectatio, say some, and some, aggregatio Gen.49.10. gentium. All nations look for Him ; all be gathered to Him. By way of figure. As much was shadowed in the Law, the 2. Tabernacle, and the Temple ; all, "figures of things to come." Heb. 10. 1. The Law : where was it given ? Was it not in " Sinai, a Gal. 4. 25. mountain in Arabia," saith the Apostle, and so upon heathen ground? I trust, we may have leave to come upon our own ground. And by whom? Was it not by Moses? And we claim to him by alliance. His wife was the daughter of the Priest of Midian : so, of a heathen woman ; and his children, Exod.2.2). heathen of half blood. The Tabernacle : was not the silk, and gold, and riches it was made of, the spoils of Egypt, and so heathen stuff? Ex. 12. 36. The Temple : was it not founded upon the threshing-floor ^ ^' 240 Of the Nativity. s E R M. of Oman the Jebusite. a heathen man ? So on heathen soil, XIV. . . . r-T- — and (EdiRcium cedit solo. The timber and materials of it, came 1 Chron. ' 21. 18. they not from Hiram's country, a heathen king ? And the lo^'"^i3 chief workman in it, the son of a man of Tyre, heathen also ? So the heathen were never wholly out. Fewer "they came," they made their proffers. Some ecce, some little star still. 3. Now the Prophets, when they came, had we not hold there too? At the same time that God gave Moses to the Jews, Num. 24. who wrote of Christ, did He not likewise give Balaam to the Gentiles, who, in the mountains of the East, prophesied of Christ's star, here ? Great odds, I know, between the men ; none between their prophecies ; both, alike true ; both their places alike in the library of the Holy Ghost. After that, Jonas. Howsoever his book stand in the volume of the Prophets, yet, when time was, it was shewed, that, in time, he was the first of the sixteen Prophets ; before, and ancient to them all. And this was a fair star, that His first Prophet of Jonahi.2. all God sent to Nineveh, the great city of the Gentiles then; and sent him, before He sent any of the other fifteen to His own people then in shew, the people of the Jews. But, even of them He sent to the Jews, saith not Esay Isa. II. 10. directly, "the root of Jesse should be as a standard, all the nations gather unto Him?" Saith not God there, it was too [Isa.49.6.] poor a service for Christ to do to Him, to draw to Him a sort of silly shepherds ; He would give Him, " as a light to lighten Isa. 43. 6. the Gentiles," to bring them, even the very best of them, Isa. 42. 6. "from the ends of the earth?" That "light to lighten the Gentiles" was this star, here ; Simeon had it revealed to him, whereto this star referred, and what it meant; for it lighted Luke 2.32. them indeed. And this, standing the first Temple. And Hag. 2. 8. saith not Aggai, standing the second Temple, " the desire of all nations should come," meaning Christ ; the desire, not of one nation alone, but even of all ? So, the Prophets will not be against this vencrunt ; thev are all for it. 4. And was not also this venerunt daily sung in their choir, Ps.87.4,5. the Psalm of the Nativity? "I will think upon Eahab (that is Egypt) and Babylon, among such as shall know Me. Behold ye the Philistines also, and them of Tyre, with the Morians ; lo, there was He born." " Born" in all those places; that is. His birth concerns them all: all their interest in it. In the Of the Nativity. 241 Psalm of His Passion: "All the ends of the earth shall re- I's. 22. 27. member themselves, and shall tm-n unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of nations shall worship before Him." In the Psalm of the Resurrection ; that He should then become "the Head-stone of the corner," and join both Jews and Ps. 118.22. Gentiles in one coin or angle. And, in the Psalm of His Ascension ; that the " princes of the nations should be joined to the people of the God of Abraham." And, in the Psalm Ps. 47. a of His Exaltation ; " that all Kings should kneel before Him, Ps. 72. 11. all nations do Him service." That which then was thus promised, to, and by the Patriarchs, shadowed forth, in the figures of the Law, the Temple, and the Tabernacle ; that which was foresaid by the Prophets, and foresung of in the Psalms; that was this day fulfilled. Venerunt, here " they are come ;" and venimus, " we," in them, and with them. Who, not only in their own names, but in ours, make here their entry ; came, and sought after, and found, and worshipped, their Saviour, and ours, the Saviour of the whole world. A little wicket there was left open before, whereat divers Gentiles did come in. Many a venit there was. Venit Job, Job 1. i. in the Patriarch's days: venit Jethro, in Moses'; Rahab, Exod.ift.s. . . ^ . Josh. 2. 1. Joshua's ; Ruth, in the Judges' time ; Ittai, the King of Gath's Ruth 1. 4. son, in David's ; the Queen of Sheba, in Solomon's ; the widow 2Sam.i8.i. of Sarepta, in Elias' ; Naaman, the Syrian, in Elisha's time. io!^i"°° Each of these, in their times, had the favour to be let in. This J^^g"^^ was but a venit ; a little wicket, for one or two. Now a vene- 2 Kings runt ; the great gate set wide open, this day, for all : for these ^" here, with their camels and dromedaries, to enter, and all their carriage. In the setting down His genealogy, the chapter before, that Salmon espoused Rahab the Canaanite ; that Booz likewise Ruth the Moabite ; it is plain, that (Christ descended (accord- Mat. 1. 5. ing to the flesh) of heathen. Descending of heathen, He will never disdain them, of whom He is descended ; never shut them out, but invite them to His child-house; as we see this day b}'^ His star, He did. And (if you mark it) of His first sermon, the widow of Sarepta and Naaman the Syrian were the theme ; which Luke 4. . 2t> 27 made. His sermon was not liked. Yet, that theme He chose R 242 Of tJie Nativity. ^xiv^^' P"^P°^^^y- Queen of the South, and the men of jyj^jj J, Nineveh much in His mouth : He mentioned them wilUngly. 42.41. And, to end this point; He tliat at His birth now received Joh.i2. 20. these of the East; a Httle before His death, in hke sort, received Grecians from the West, to see and to salute Him. And, straight upon it, upon the receiving them, brake out and said, Joh. 12.23. "The hour is come now that the Son of Man is glorified;" when East and West are come in, both. I have a little stood on this, because it is the ecce point. I conclude : the place He was born in, an inn, which is for all Luke 2. 7. passengers of what country soever ; the time He was born in Luke 2. 1. (of the tax, when "all the world came up to be taxed);" the very star which, as the nature of stars is, is common to all coasts and climates, peculiar to none ; all shew, that from all coasts they may now come ; that the Gentiles are now to be (as the Apostle in three pregnant terms delivers it,) uvaawiM, (TVfifieTo^a, a-vjK\7]pov6fj,a, "fellow-members, fellow-partners, and fellow-heirs of one body ;" co-partners and co-heirs of Christ and His birth. This for stella Gentium, ' the Gentiles' star ;' so both theirs and ours. 2. There came Gentiles ; and they came from the East. This from the '^^y seem to set us back again ; for we are of the West, the East. contrary climate. That is no matter. For, in that " they came from the East," there lieth yet farther hope for us ; even from that point of the compass. For that is not only Gentiles, Gal. 2. 15. but "sinners of the Gentiles:" sinners, and that chief sinners. For so were they of the East ; greater, far greater sinners than the rest. For tell me, what sin was there that came not from Gen. 11.3. thence ? There was the tower set in hand, that should have confronted God ; and of it came Babel, and from it, con- fusion. 2. Thence came all tyranny and oppression among Gen. 10. 9. men, from Nimrod, that hunted and ranged over men, as over beasts in a forest. 3. Thence all idolatry and worship of false gods ; both in earth, from Belus' tomb, first ; and in Heaven, Acts 7. 43. from the " star of their god Rempham," which St. Stephen Num.23. 7. speaks of 4. Thence, "from the mountains of the East," the 2Pet.2.i5. posterity of Balaam, false Prophets, that love "the wages of unrighteousness ;" and, from them, all that naught is. And if in all these it did, it cannot be denied, but that the whole world received their infection that way, from the East. Of the Nativity. 243 And herein "appeared the grace of God, which bringeth Tit. 2. ii. salvation to all men," and to all sinners, as fair and clear as the star itself ; that, thence, out of the mountains of the East, God calleth these to seek, and guided them to find Christ; that, whence the poison first came, thence might come the triacle' : and that as they were the first that went out, so they t' '-e. anti- ,,,,'„,•'. uin. 24. Among His Prophets, I find Amos, a herdman. True ; but Dar° I' e' ^"^^ Esay and Daniel, both nobly descended, and of the blood royal. In His descent, there are Booz and Jesse, plain country- Mat. i. 6. men; but there are David and Solomon too, and a list of Kings withal ; that so, there may be a mixture of both. It is true, St. Paul saith, " You see your calling ; not many mighty, iCor.1.26. not many noble after the flesh." "Not many," he saith; 'not any ' he saith not ; he should then have spoken contrary to his own knowledge. Some pertained to this star, went by it. Acts 13. 7. The Lord Deputy of Cyprus ; the great Judge in Areopagus ; Acts 17. Jivers of the nobler sort at Berea; and divers of "Caesar's Phil. 4.22. household" came in, and had all their calling, by and from Him. Acts 8. 27. As likewise, the great Lord Treasurer, by St. Philip; and 2Joli. 1. "the elect lady," by St. John. Those all were of this troop here ; under this star, all of them, stella magnatum. To con- clude, from our Saviour Christ's own mouth : as there is in Heaven room for poor Lazarus; so, that room was in the boso m of one that was rich, that is, of Abraham ; a great man, yea a great prince in his time. 4. 1 . Stella gentium ; 2. Stella peccatorum de gentihus ; 3. Stella Wise men. magnatum. But yet all this while, we have not touched Stella magorum ; not yet dealt with magi, the very word of the text, and the chief person they represent. For, beside that the}' were great states, they were also great learned men ; and being both, they are styled rather by the name of their skill and learning, than bj" that of their greatness ; to point us to the quality in them we are principally to regard. You shall not need startle, when you hear the word magi, as if they were such as Simon Magus was. Of later times, it sounds not well, this name ; of old, it was a name of great [' c. Nep. honour, as was the name of Tyrannus^ and Sophistes"^ ; all in fin. v?rg. the like case. Evil and unworthy men took them up after, ^^^^ their first reputation. But, originally, Magus^ PVid.cic. was a title of high knowledge. N D I '^3 1 ['Vid Wet ^ ^^^•> heathen knowledge, and comprehend in it this in Lu. 2.] very knowledge, that they were well seen in the course of Of the NutivUij. 245 Heaven, in tlic stars and bodies celestial. Their vidlnnis stellarii shews as mueh. "The stars God hath given for signs," Gen. 1. 14. saith the Book of Genesis : even, the ordinary. And, if them; the extraordinary, such as this, much more. For, signs they are, open the signature who can. This learning of theirs made them never the farther from Christ, vpesee ; it did them no hurt, in their coming to Christ. No more than it did Moses, that " he was well learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," saith St. Stephen. Nor no more Acts 7. 22. than it did Solomon, that " he passed all the children of the i Kings 4. . 30. East, in their own learning." No more than it did Daniel, j 4 that " he was brought up and well seen in the cunning of the Chaldeans." No more these ; than the gold and spoils of Egypt did the Tabernacle hurt, that was hung all over with them. They that are seen in these learnings of Egypt, of Chaldea, of the East, are not thereby barred at all. This is their star, their guide ; a guide apt and proper for them, that knew the stars ; for them that were learned. Christ applieth Himself to all; disposes all things: what every one is given to, even by that Christ calleth them. St. Peter, Andrew, James, and John, fishermen, by a draught of fish. These, that were studious in the stars, by a star for the purpose. And note, that the apparition to the shepherds was no sooner over, but this star appeared presently, if not the very same hour; that is, both at once. In like manner, Christ, at first, to shew the glory of His greatness, took and employed fishermen, such as had no bringing up in schools. But it was not long after, but learned men came in apace ; learned men of all sorts ; Zenas, in law ; Luke, in physic ; Apollos, with his Tit. 3. 13. eloquence; Dionysius, with his philosophy; St. Paul, with his TToWa ypd/xfjLara, " much learning" (which he had at Tarsus, Actsi7.34. as famous a University for Asia as Athens was for Greece). Which learning, for all Festus' fancy, "turned not his brains," Acts26.24. nor did them anv hurt at all. There is no star, or beam of it ; there is no truth at all, in human learning or philosophy, that thwarteth any truth in Divinity; but sorteth well with it, and serveth it, and all to honour Him, Who saith of Himself, J^ffo sum Veritas, "I am Johni4.fi. the Truth." None that will hinder this venerunt, keep back any wise man, or make him less fit for coming to Christ. 246 Of the Nativity. SERM. So, you see your calling; all four. 1. Gentiles may come; — — 2. Sinners of the Gentiles may come, yea though they be peccatorum primi, ' of the primer sort ; ' 3. Men of place ; 4. Men of gifts, learned and wise may come. In magis insunt omnes hi, all are in veneriint magi. The star goes before them, guides them all to Christ. Theappii- It remainetli, that, what we may do, we vA'ill do; that is, "come." For, farther than venerunt, we are not like to come, at this time. And, though we go no farther, it skills not, so we do but that — "come;" even that will serve. For it is all in all. We shall go in the company of wise men, that is once. And if the shepherds were too homely to sort with, these are company for the best ; they were company for Cyrus, and Darius, and all the great Monarchs of Persia. Ecce venerunt it is, in the text ; and indeed, not only the persons, ecce magi, but their very coming deserved an ecce. It is an ecce venerunt, theirs, indeed, if we weigh it well, whence they came, and whither. Whence ? from the East, their own country. Whither ? to Jerusalem, that was, to them, a strange land : that was somewhat. They came a long journey, no less than twelve days together. They came an uneasy journey, for their way lay through Arabia Petrsea, and the craggy rocks of it. And they came a dangerous journey, Ps. 120. 5. through Arabia Deserta too, and the black " tents of Kedar" there, then famous for their robberies, and even to this day. And they came now, at the worst season of the year. And all, but to do worship at Christ's birth. So great account they made ; so highly did they esteem their being at it, as they took all this great travel, and came all this long journey, and came it, at this time. Stayed not their coming, till the opening of the year, till they might have better weather and way, and have longer days, and so more seasonable and fit to travel in. So desirous were they to come with the first, and to be there, as soon as possibly they might; broke through all these diffi- culties : Et ecce venerunt, "And, behold, come they did." And we, what excuse shall we have, if we come not? If so short and so easy a way we came not, as from our chambers hither, not to be called a way indeed? Shall not our non venerunt have an ecce, ' Behold, it was stepping but over the threshold, and yet they came not?' Of the Nativiti/. 247 And these were wise men ; and never a whit the less wise, for so coming ; nay, never so truly wise, in any thing they did, as in so coming. The Holy Ghost recordeth them for wise, in capite lihri, ' even in the beginning of the New Testament,' Of Christ, when lie came into the world, that is, when He was born, the Psalm saith, " In the beginning of the Book it was writ of Him, He said," Ecce venio, "Lo I come : " of these, Ps. 40. 7. in the same words, when they came to meet Him so born, it is said here, in the beginning of the Gospel, Ecce veneriint, " Behold they came." And we, if we believe this, that this was their wisdom ; if they and we be wise by one Spirit, by the same principles ; we will follow the same star, tread the same way, and so come, at last, whither they are happily gone before us. Nay, not only that " come but this withal ; to think and set down with ourselves, that, to come to Christ is one of the wisest parts that ever these wise men did ; or we or any else can do in all our lives. And how shall we that do ? I know not any more proper way left us, than to come to that, which Himself by express order hath left us, as the most special remembrance of Him- self, to be come to. When He came into the world, saith the Psalm, that is at His birth now. He said, Ecce venio, " Lo, I come." What then ? " Sacrifice and burnt-offerings Thou wouldst not have, but a body hast Thou ordained Me." Mark, Ps. 40. 6. saith the Apostle, " He takes away the first, to establish the Heb.10.10' second," that is, to establish His body, and the coming to it. By the " offering," breaking, and partaking of which " body, we are all sanctified, so many as shall come to it. For "given it is, for the taking away of our sins." Nothing is Mat. 26. 28. more fit, than at the time His body was ordained Him, (and that is to-day,) to come to the body so ordained. And in the old Ritual of the Church, we find, that on the cover of the canister, wherein was the Sacrament of His body, there was a star engraven; to shew us, that now the star leads us thither ; to His body, there. And what shall I say now, but according as St. John Rev. 22. saith, and the star, and the wise men say, "Come." And He, Whose the star is, and to Whom the wise men came, saith "Come." And let them that are disposed, "Come." And 248 Of the Nativitij. s E R M. let whosoever will, take of the " Bread of Life, "which came XIV — '■ — down from Heaven," this day, into Bethlehem, the house of John 6. 35. . ' 41. bread. Of which Bread, the Church is, this day, tlie house ; the true Bethlehem, and all the Bethlehem we have now left to come to, for the Bread of life ; of that life, which we hope for in Heaven. And this, our nearest coming that here we can come, till we shall, by another venite, come, unto Him, in His Heavenly Kingdom. To which. He grant, we may come. That this day came to us in earth, that we thereby might come [iJoh.2.1.] to Him, and remain with Him for ever, " Jesus Christ the Righteous." A SEllMON PREACHED BEFORE THE KING^S MAJESTY, AT WHITEHALL, ON WEDNESDAY, THE TWENTY-FIFTH OF DECEMBER, A.D. MDCXXII. BEING CHRISTMAS-DAY. Matt. ii. 1, 2. Behold there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is the King of the Jeics That is born ? For we have seen His star in the East, and are come to loorship Him. \^Ecce magi ab Orients venerunt Jerosolymam, Dicentes, Ubi est Qui natus est Rex Judaorum ? vidimus enim stellam Ejus in Oriente, et venimus adorare Eum. Latin Vulg.] \_Behold, there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is He That is born King of the Jews? for we have seen His star in the East, and are come to worship Him. Engl. Trans.] There be in these two verses two principal points, as was observed, when time was; I. The persons that arrived at Jerusalem, 2. and their eiTand. The persons, in the former verse ; whereof hath been treated heretofore. Their errand, in the latter; wherewith we are now to deal. Their errand we may best learn from themselves, out of their dicentes, &c. Which, in a word, is to worship Him. Their errand, our errand, and the errand of this day. This text may seem to come a little too soon, before the time ; and should have stayed till the day it was spoken on, rather than on this day. But, if you mark them well, there are, in the verse, four words, that be verba diet hujus, ' proper and peculiar to this very day.' 1. For first, natus est is most proper to this day of all days, the day of His Nativity. 2. Secondly, vidimus stellam ; for on this day it was first seen ; appeared first. 3. Thirdly, venimus; for this day they set 250 Of the Nativity. SERM. forth; began their journey. 4. And last, adorai-e Eum for '■ " when He brought His only-begotten Son into the world, Heb. 1. 6. He gave in charge. Let all the Angels of God worship Him." And when the Angels to do it, no time more proper for us to do it, as then. So these four appropriate it to this day ; and none but this. The The main heads of their errand are 1. Vidimus stellam, the occasion ; 2. and Venimus adorare, the end of their coming. But for the better conceiving it, I will take another course, to set forth these points to be handled. I. Their faith first : faith ; in that they never ask ' Whether He be ;' but " Where He is born ;" for, that born He is, that they stedfastly believe. II. Then, " the work or service" of this faith, as St.Paiil calleth fpetV? '*' "the touch or trial," Bo/clfiiov, as St. Peter; the ostende Jam. 2. 18. milii, as St. James; of this their faith in these five. 1. Their ^- confessing of it, in venerunt diccntes. Venerunt, they were no sooner come, but dicentes, they tell it out ; confess Him and 2. His birth to be the cause of their coming. 2, Secondly, as confess their faith, so, the ground of their faith ; vidimus enim, for they had "seen" His star; and. His star being risen, by it 3- they knew, He must be risen too. 3. Thirdly, as St. Paul Rom. 4. 12. calls them in Abraham's, vestigia Jidei, "the steps of their faith," in venimus, "their coming;" coming such a journey, at 4. such a time, with such speed. 4. P'ourthly, when they were come, their diligent enquiring Him out by ubi est? (for here is the place of it,) asking after Him, to find where He was. 5. 5. And last, when they had found Him, the end of their seeing, coming, seeking ; and all, for no other end, but to worship Him. Here, they say it; at the 11th verse, they do it, in these two acts; 1. procidentes, their "falling down;" 2. and obtvleriint, their "ofi'ering" to Him. Worship Him with their bodies ; worship Him with their goods : their worship, and ours ; the true worship of Christ. The text is of a star : and we may make all run on a star ; that so, the text and day may be suitable, and Heaven and 2Pet.l.i9. earth hold a correspondence. St. Peter calls faith "the day- star rising in our hearts ;" which sorts well with the star, in the text, rising in the sky. That, in the sky, manifesting itself from above, to them; this, in their hearts, manifesting itself from Of the Nativity. 2.-51 below, to Ilim, to Christ. Manifesting itself, by these five: 1. by ore Jit confessio, "the confessing of it;" 2. by^c/cs Rom.io.io. substantia, " the ground of it;" 3. by vestigia Jidei, " the steps y ,!' of it," in their painful coming; 4. by their uhi est? "careful enquiring ;" 5. and last, by adorare Eum, " their devout wor- shipping." These five, as so many beams of faith, the day- star risen in their hearts. To take notice of them. For every one of them is of the nature of a condition; so as, if we fail in them, non lucet nobis stella Ikbc, ' we have no part in the light, or conduct of this star.' Neither in stellam, " the star itself ;" nor in Ejus, "in Him Whose the star is;" that is, not in Christ neither. We have now got us a star on earth, for that in Heaven ; and these both lead us to a third. So as, upon the matter, three stars we have; and each, his proper manifestation. 1. The i. first, in the firmament ; that appeared unto them, and in them, to us: a figure of St. Paul's ^Erreipavq xdpL^, "the grace of tu. 2. ii. God appearing, and bringing salvation to all men ;" Jews, and Gentiles and all. 2. The second, here on earth is St. Peter's 2. Lucifer in cordibus ; and this appeared in them, and so must 2Pet.i.i9. in us. Appeared 1. in their eyes, vidimus; 2. in their feet, venirnus ; 3. in their lips, dicentes uhi est; 4. in their knees, procidentes, "falling down ;" 5. in their hands, obtulerunt, "by offering." These five, every one a beam of this star. 3. The 3. third in Christ Himself, St. John's star. " The generation and root of David, the bright morning Star, Christ." And [Rev. 22. He, His double appearing. 1. One, at this time, now, when He appeared in great humility ; and we see, and come to Him, by faith. 2. The other, which we wait for; even "the blessed hope, and appearing of the great God and our Saviour," in Tit. 2 13. the majesty of His glory. These three : 1. The first, that manifested Christ to them ; 2. The second, that manifested them to Christ ; 3. The third, Christ Himself, in Whom both these were, as it were, in con- junction. Christ " the bright morning Star" of that day, which shall have no night; the beatijica visio, 'the blessed sight' of which day is the consummatum est of our hope and happiness for ever. Of these three stars, the first is gone; the third yet to come; the second only is present. We, to look to that, and to the 252 Of the Nativity. SERM. five beams of it. That is it, must do us all the good, and '■ — bring us to the third. I. St. Luke calleth faith the " door of faith." At this door let Their faith. US enter. Here is a coming ; and "he that cometh to God," Actsi4.27. (^and so, he that to Christ,)" must beheve, that Christ is;" so do these. They never ask, an sit ; but, ubisit? Not, ' whether,' but " where He is born." They that ask uhi Qui natus ? take natiis for granted ; presuppose, that born He is. Herein is faith : faith of Christ's being born, the third article of the Christian Creed. And what believe they of Him ? Out of their own words here ; 1. first that natus, that "born" He is; and so, Man He is : His human nature. 1. And, as His nature, so His office, in natus est Bex, " born a King." They believe that too. 3. But, Jud(Borum may seem to be a bar ; for then, what have they to do with " the King of the Jews?" They be Gentiles, none of His lieges; no relation to Him, at all: what do they seeking, or worshipping Him ? But, weigh it well, and it is no bar. For, this they seem to believe : He is so Rex Judceorum, " King of the Jews," as He is adorandus a Gentibus, ' the Gentiles to adore Him.' And, though born in Jewry, yet. Whose birth concerned them, though Gentiles, though born far off in the " mountains of the East." They, to have some benefit by Him and His birth ; and for that to do Him worship, seeing officium fundatur in benejicio ever. 4. As thus born in earth, so a star He hath in Heaven of His own : stellam Ejus, " His star ;" He the owner of it. Now we know, the stars are the stars of Heaven ; and He, that Lord of them. Lord of Heaven too ; and so, to be adored of them, of us, and Rev.22.16. of all. St. John puts them together; "the root and genera- tion of David," His earthly ; and " the bright morning star," His Heavenly or Divine generation. Hcec est fides Mago- rum, this is the mystery of their faith. In natus est, man ; in stellam Ejus, God. In Rex, "a King," though of the Jews, yet the good of Whose Kingdom should extend, and stretch itself far and wide, to Gentiles and all ; and He, of all to be adored. This, for corde creditur, the day-star itself in their hearts. Now, to the beams of this star. II. Next to corde creditur is ore fit confessio, "the confession" Itt^ih^iJ of this faith. It is in venerunt dicentes, they came with it in faith. Of the Nativity. 253 their moutlis. Venerunt, they were no sooner come, but they i. Their , „ . „ , . ri 1' 1 confession, spake OT it so ireely, to so many, as it came to Herod s ear, and diccntes. troubled him not a httle that any King of the Jews should be worshipped, beside himself. So then, their faith is no bosom- faith, kept to themselves, without ever a dicentes, without sa}'- ing any thing of it to any body. No ; credidi, propter quod locutus sum ; " they believed, and therefore they spake." The Ps.iiG. lo. star in their hearts cast one beam out at their months. And though Herod, who was but Rex factus, could evil brook to hear of Rex natus, must needs be offended at it; yet they were not afraid to say it. And though they came from the East, (those parts to whom and their King the Jews had long time been captives and their underlings,) they were not ashamed neither, to tell^ that One of the Jews' race they came to seek ; and to seek Him to the end " to worship Him." So, neither afraid of Herod, nor ashamed of Christ ; but professed their errand, and cared not who knew it. This for their con- fessing Him boldly. But, faith is said by the Apostle to be vTroaratJi^, and so, 2. Their there is a good " ground and eKe0 Of tilt Nufivifi/. s F H M. resolved ? Where these did. Tliey said it to many, and oft ; bat gat no answer, till they had got together a convocation of Scribes ; and they resolved them of Christ's ubi. For they, in the East, were nothing so wise, or well seen, as we, in the West, are now grown. We need call no Scribes together, and get them tell ns " where." Every artisan hath a whole Synod of Scribes in his brain, and can tell where Christ is, better than any learned man of them all. Yet, these were wise men ; best learn where they did. And how did the Scribes resolve it them ? Out of Micah. As before, to the star they join Balaam's prophecy ; so now again to His orietur, that such a one should be born, they had put Micah 's et tu Bethlehem, the place of His birth. Still helping, and giving light, as it were, to the light of Heaven, by a more clear light, the light of the Sanctuary. Thus then, to do. And, to do it ourselves ; and not seek Christ, fier alium ; set others about it, as Herod did these, and sit still ourselves. For so, we may hap never find Him, no more than he did, 5. Their And now we have found " where," what then ? It is neither o" !mr« seeking nor finding, venimus nor invenimus : the end of Eum. cause of all is in the last words, adorare Eum, " to worship Him." That is all in all; and without it, all our seeing, coming, seeking, and finding is to no purpose. The Scribes, they could tell, and did tell, whei'e He was ; but were never the nearer for it ; for they worshipped Him not. For this end, to seek Him. This is acknowledged: Herod, in effect, said as much. He would know, where He were, fain ; and if they will bring him word where, he will come too and worship Him, that he will. None of that worship. If he find Him, his worshipping will prove worrying ; as did appear, by a sort of silly poor Mat. 2. 16. lambs that he worried, when he could not have his will on Christ. Thus he, at His birth. Luke23.ii. And, at His death, the other Herod, he sought Him too; but it was, that he and his soldiers might make themselves sport with Him, Such seeking there is otherwhile. And such worshipping; as they in the judgment-hall worshipped Him with Ave Rex, and then gave Him a bob blindfold. John 19.3. The world's worship of Him, for the most part. Of the Nutiviti/. 261 But, we may be bold to say, Herod was " a fox." These mean Lu. 13. 32. as they say ; to worship Him they come, and worship Him they will. Will they so ? Be they well advised, what they promise, before they know, whether they shall find Him in a worshipful taking, or no ? For, full little know they, where, and in what case, they shall find Him, What, if in a stable, laid there in a manger, and the rest suitable to it ; in as poor and pitiful a plight, as ever was any ; more like to be abhorred than adored of such persons ? Will they be as good as their word, trow ? Will they not step back at the sight, repent themselves of their journey, and wish themselves at home again ? But, so find Him, and so finding Him, worship Him for all that? If they will, verily then great is their faith. This, the clearest beam of all. " The Queen of the South," who was a figure of these Kings Mai. i?.42. of the East, she came as great a journey as these. But when she came, she found a King indeed. King Solomon in all his royalty. Saw a glorious King, and a glorious court about him. Saw him, and heard him ; tried him, with many hard questions, received satisfaction of them all. This was worth her coming. Weigh what she found, and what these here : as poor and unlikely a birth, as could be, ever to prove a King, or any great matter. No sight, to comfort them ; nor a word, for which they any whit the wiser ; nothing worth their travel. Weigh these together, and great odds will be found between her faith and theirs. Theirs, the greater far. Well, they will take Him, as they find Him ; and, all this notwithstanding, worship Him for all that. The Star shall make amends for the manger ; and, for stella Ejus, they will dispense with Eiim. And what is it to worship ? Some great matter, sure, it is, that Heaven and earth, the stars and Prophets, thus do but serve to lead them and conduct us to. For, all, we see, ends in adorare. Scriptura et mundus ad hoc sunt, ut colatur Qui creavit, et adoretur Qui inspiravit ; ' the Scripture and word are but to this end, that He, That created the one, and inspired the other, might be but worshipped.' Such reckoning did these seem to make of it, here. And such, the great treasurer of the Queen Candace. These came from the mountains in the East; he from the uttermost part of illthiopia came, and Acisf 27. 262 Of the Nativity. s E^R M. came, for no other end, but only this, to worship ; and — — '■ — when they had done that, home again. TuTiti est adorare. Worth the while, worth oar coming, if, coming, we do but that ; but worship, and nothing else. And so I would have men account of it. To tell you what it is in particular, I must put you over to the eleventh verse, where it is set down, what they did, when they worshipped. It is set down in two acts irpoa-Kwelv, and irpoa^epeiv, " falling down," and " offering." Thus did they ; thus we to do ; we to do the like, when we will worship. These two are all ; and more than these, we find not. We can worship God but three ways : we have but three things, to worship Him withal. 1. The soul, He hath inspired ; 2. the body, He hath ordained us ; 3. and the worldl}' goods, He hath vouchsafed to bless us withal. We, to worship Him with all, seeing there is but one reason for all. If He breathed into us our soul, but framed not our body, (but some other did that,) neither bow your knee, nor uncover your head, but keep on your hats, and sit even as you do hardly. But, if He hath framed that body of yours, and every member of it, let Him have the honour both of head and knee, and every member else. Again, if it be not He, That gave us our worldly goods, but somebody else; what He gave not, that withhold from Him, and spare not. But, if all come from Him, all to return to Him. If He send all, to be worshipped with all. And this, in Rom. 12. 1. good sooth, is but rationahile obsequium, as the Apostle calleth it. No more, than reason would, we should worship Him with all. Else, if all our worship be inward onl}'; with our hearts, and not our hats, (as some fondly imagine) we give Him but one of three; we put Him to His thirds; bid Him be content with that. He gets no more but inward worship. That is out of the text, quite. For, though I doubt not but these here per- formed that also ; yet, here it is not. St. Matthew mentions it not ; it is not to be seen ; no vidimus on it. And the text is a vidimus ; and of a star; that is, of an outward visible worship, to be seen of all. There is a vidimus upon the worship of the body, it may be seen : procidentes. Let us see you fall down. So is there, upon the worship with our worldly goods, that Of the NatiLHt)/. 263 may be seen and felt: offerentcs. Let us see, whether, and what you offer. With both which, no less than with the soul, God is to be worshipped. "Glorify God with your bodies, iCoi-.(i.'2o. for they are God's," saith the Apostle. " Honour God with Pro. 3 9. your substance, for He hath blessed your store," saith Solo- mon. It is the precept of a wise King ; of one, there ; it is the practice of more than one, of these three, here. Specially, now ; for Christ hath now a body ; for which, to do Him worship with our bodies. And, now. He was made poor, to make us rich ; and so, offermtes will do well, comes very fit. To enter farther into these two would be too long ; (and indeed they be not in our verse here ;) and so, for some other treatise, at some other time. There now remains nothing, but to include ourselves, and bear our part with them, and with the Angels, and all who this day adored Him. This was the load-star of the Magi ; and what were they? Theapi)ii. Gentiles. So are we. But, if it must be ours, then we are to go with them; vade, etfac similiter, "go, and do likewise." Lu. 10.37. It is Stella gentium ; but idem agentium: ' the Gentiles' star ;' but * such Gentiles as overtake these and keep company with them.' In their dicentes, " confessing their faith freely ;" in their vidi- mus, "grounding it throughly;" in their venimus, "hasting to come to Him speedily;" in their ubi est? "enquiring Him out diligently ;" and in their adorare Eum, " worshipping Him devoutly." Per omnia, doing as these did ; worshipping, and thus worshipping; celebrating, and thus celebrating the feast of His birth. We cannot say, vidimus stcllam ; the star is gone long since ; not now to be seen. Yet I hope for all that, that venimus adorare, " we be come thither to worship." It will be the more acceptable, if not seeing it, we worship though. It is enough, we read of it in the text ; we see it, there. And indeed, as I said, it skills not for the star in the firmament, if the same Day-Star be risen in our hearts, that was in theirs ; and the same beams of it to be seen, all five. For then, we have our part in it, no less; nav, full out as much as they. And it will bring us, whither it brought them, to Christ. Who, at His second ap- pearing in glory, shall call forth these wise men, and all that have ensued the steps of their faith: and that upon the reason 264 Of the Nativity. s E R M. specified in the text ; for, I have seen their star shining and '- — shewing forth itself by the Hke beams ; and, as they came to worship Me, so am I come to do them worship. A venite, then ; for a venimus, now. Their star I have seen, and give them a place above among the stars. They fell down : I will lift them up, and exalt them. And, as they offered to Me ; so am I come to bestow on them, and to reward them with the endless joy and bliss of My Heavenly Kingdom. To which, &c. A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE KING'S MAJESTY, AT WHITEHALL, ON THURSDAY, THE TWKNTY-FIFTH OF DECEMBUR, A.U. MIJCXXIII. BEING CHRISTMAS-DAT. Ephesians i. 10. That in the dispensation of the fulness of the times, He vdght yuther together into one all things, hotli which are in Heaveny and which are in earth, even in Christ. In dispcnsatione plenitudinis temporum, instaurare omnia, in Christo, qua in Ccelis, et qua in terra sunt, in Ipso. [That in the dispensation of the fulness of times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in Heaven and which are on earth, even in Him. Engl. Trans.] Seeing the text is of seasons, it would not be out of season itself. And though it be never out of season to speak of Christ; yet even Christ hath His seasons. "Your time is always," saith He. So is not Mine ; I have My seasons. One John 7. 0. of which seasons is this; the season of His birth, whereby all were "recapitulate in Heaven and earth:" which is the season of the text. And so, this, a text of the season. There is (for the most part) in each text some one predo- minant word. That word, in this, is the Avord dvaK€cj)a\ai- waaadai, here turned " gathering together into one again." To know the nature and full force of it, we may consider it three ways: L as it is properly taken; 2. as it is extended ; 3. as it is derived. 1. As it is taken properly. So, it signifies " to make the foot of an account." We call it the foot, because we write it below at the foot. They of old writ theirs above, over the head, and so called it Ke(f)a\acov (in cupite libri Scriptuni est de Fs. 40. ". me) the sum in the top. 266 Of the NatiiHty. s ERM. 2. As it is extended. So, it is "the short recapitulation of XVI . '— a long chapter;" the compendium of a book or of some dis- course. These are all like the foot of an account, and are usually called the sum of all that hath been said. 3. As is derived. So shall we have the native sense of it. It comes of Ke(j)aXaiov, and that of K€(f>aX.t], Greek for 'a head.' Best expressed in the word ' recapitulate ;' that is, to reduce all to a head. Each of these is a gathering together into one, as we read. Which of the three, you take ; nay, take them all three, you cannot do amiss. They be all true ; all tend to edify. Christ is the 1. sum of our account; 2. the shutting Col. 1. 18. up of our discourse; .3. "the Head of the body" mystical, ^ph. 4. 15, this gathering here is. We shall make no good audit without Him ; no, nor good apology. Whatsoever be the premises, with Christ we must conclude. As we do the year with Christmas, so conclude all with in Christo. The divi- The old division is, ut res, ita tempora rerum. Here it holds : here are both seasons, and things ; things, for sea- sons ; and seasons, for things. I. Two parts here be. 1. Seasons, first; seasons, more than one. 2. Here is a fulness of them. 3. Here is a dispensa- tion of that fulness. 4. And that by God ; " that He," that is God— "that in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might." This is the first part. II. The "things." For first, here are "all things; things in Heaven, things on earth ;" all, in both. 2. Of these, a collec- tion or gathering them all together; or rather, a recollection or gathering them together again. 3. A gathering them all into one ; all into one Ke(pd\aiov, one " sum ;" or all to one w-ec^aA,?), one "head." And these two are one; and that one is Christ. You observe, that as the things answer the seasons, and the seasons them ; so doth the fulness answer the gathering, and the gathering, it. 1. To fill the seasons, to make a fulness of them, here is a gathering. 2. A gathering, whereof? Of all in Heaven, and all on earth ; a great gathering sure, and able to fill the seasons full up to the brim. 3. But, this is not a gathering at the first hand, but a gathering again; that is, a-new at second-hand. 4. A gathering, whereto ? " To one ;" one, either one sum, or one head, (both are in the body of the word,) and these two are one, and that one is Christ, 5. A gather- Of the Nativity. 267 ing, how? that is in the word too: by way of contracting or rccapituhition. 6. And when? When God dispensed it; and that is at (Jlirist's birth. 7. Now last, what we are the better by this gathering, what fruit we gather by or from it, wliat our share is in this sum, which is summa dividenda. 8. And then how we may be the better for it ; if we divide, as God ; and when God did it. 9. As God ; gather things in Heaven, first. 10. When God; and that is, this season of the year, the gathering time, with God, and with ns. So shall we dispense the season well. Find the things, they will bring you to the season ; find the fulness of things, you shall find the fulness of seasons. Find the gathering, you shall find the fulness ; find Christ, and you shall find the gathering, for the gathering is full and whole in Christ. So, upon the point, find (Christ and find all. And this is the first day, we can find Him ; for this day, was He born, and so first to be found by ns. We have heretofore dealt with " the fulness of time ;" and I. now are we to deal with the fulness of season. Time and pnra. the season are two, and have, in all tongues, two different words, ^^''^o"^- . o ' ' [Serm.IV.] to shew they differ. In Hebrew, pt and ny ; in Greek, At Christl j^ovos and /catpo? ; m l^Ktm, tempus anii tempestivum. 1^09.^^ And, differ they do, as much as a time, and a good time. It is time alway, all the year long; so is it not season, but when the good time is. Time is taken at large, any time. Season, not so ; but is applied to that with which it suits, or for which it serves best. Here, it is applied to gathering: the season of gathering. These seasons be Kaipwv in the plural ; for, ut res, ita tempora rerum ; ' as the things to be gathered are many, so are the seasons, wherein they are to be gathered, many likewise.' Each, his several season, to be gathered in. Now, as ' the things,' res, have their autumn of maturity, 2. Their so tempora, ' the seasons' have their fulness ; and when the things are ripe, and ready to be gathered, then is the season full. Now, of these seasons and their fulness there is " a dispensa- a The Ah- tion," an mconomia, the word in the text, which is a word of i^^"^"^'"^"- husbandry ; a great part whereof consisteth in the skill of seasons; of taking them, when they come, allotting the thing to the season, and the season to it. 268 Of the Nalioity. S E R M. Which dispensation is here ascribed to God ; that He, tliat -^-1^^ — isj that God "in Whose hands our times are," saith the Psalm, Dispenser, and our seasons, both. He that can make them full, by giving [Ps3i 13] kindly seasons; or empty, by making them unseasonable ; Ps. 104. and having made them full, is to dispose of them of very right. Ps' ^43 There is none of these but is sensible in the course of the 15, 16. year, in things upon earth. But, are there seasons for the things on earth and their fulness, and are there not also seasons for the things in Heaven, and for the filling of them ? All, for relief of the bodily wants here belov(r; none, for the supply of spiritual necessities above ? All, for the body, and never a season for the soul? If we allow them to the world, shall we not to the Church, the dvaKe^a\ai(aaL<; or ' abridgment' of the world ? If it be sensible in the natural things, though not so easily discerned, yet it is as certain in the main revolution of annus magnus, ' the great periodical year' of the world's endurance. It can never enter into any man, to think, that the great CEconomus or ' Steward of this great household,' the world, should so far forget Himself, but, if for all matters He " had Eccl. 3. 1. appointed a season," then for the greatest matter. If, for every purpose under Heaven ; then for the highest purpose of all, that, as we see, concerneth all the things in Heaven and earth, both. Above salus populi this salus mundi, ' the saving the whole world.' Shall not these have their seasons, and the seasons their fulness there, and that fulness the due dis- pensation (of all other) most worthy of God, the greatest work of the greatest Person? Set this down then, to begin with: there are seasons, as in our common year of twelve months; so, in the great year, whereof every day is a year, by Daniel's, 2 Pet. 3. 8. nay, " a thousand years," by St. Peter's calculation. And, which be the seasons, and when, in the common Mar. 4. 28. year? Our Saviour sets them down. 1. The season, " when the earth bringeth forth the blade ;" 2. when, " the stalk 3. when, " the ear ;" 4, when, " the full corn in the ear." And when the ear is full, and full ripe, the season is full ; then, is the season of fulness, the fulness of season. Then, "the Ps. 12'.). 7. reaper fills his hand, and he that bindeth up the sheaves, his bosom." "Then, are the barns filled with plenty, and the Of the Nativity. 2G9 presses run over with new wine." And, when all is full, then, Piov.3. lo. to gathering we go. Such like seasons do we find in anno magna. 1. The time of nature, all in the blade ; 2. of Moses, in the stalk ; 3. of the Prophets, in the ear. 4. And, when the full corn ? When, but at this great gathering here mentioned? When all in Heaven, and all in earth gathered, that I think was the ful- ness of things, plenitiido rerum ; and the fulness of seasons, plenitiido temporum, may be allowed for it. This sets us over to the second part, from the seasons to ll. the things; from the fulness of seasons, to the gathering of the things, things. And first, whereof, of what things? Of ra iravra, "even all." "All j" and, to shew the extent of it, subdivided into "all in Heaven, all in earth ;" and that, I trow, is "all." It was not amiss, he should thus sever them, and express things in Heaven by name ; else, we should little have thought of gathering things there so high. No farther than earth, we; there, is all our gathering; and there onl}'. The Apostle Col. 3.1,2. points up to Heaven, swsum corda, " to lift up our hearts, to set our affections on things there, above ;" to gather them. There is a gathering of them, also. Of which gathering into one, I know not, what the things in Heaven have ; the tilings in earth, I am sure, have good cause to be glad. In Heaven is all good, and nothing but good. In earth, to say the least, there is much evil. Yet ii))on the reckoning, Heaven is like to come by the loss ; we on earth are sensibly gainers by it. It is a good hearing for us, that both these shall be thus gathered together. For, if Heaven and earth be so gathered, it is, that Heaven may advance earth higher; and no meaning, that earth should draw it downj hither. Magis dignum semper ad se trahit minus digmim, is the old rule. But well: between them both here is a great gathering 2. The toward ; well expressed by the Apostle in the terms of a sum. For, it is summa summarum, ' a sum indeed Heaven and earth, and the fulness of them both. All these to be gathered; and well. Gathering, God favours; for it ends in unity, to gather into one ; and unity God loves, Y{\mse\{ hc'xn^ princiimlis unitas. God favours it sure ; Him- self is the gatherer. Scattering God favours not ; that tends 270 Of the Nativity. SRRM. to division, and division upon division. Gathering is good '— for us; unity preserves; division destroys. Divisum est (be it Mat. 12.25. house or be it kingdom,) ever ends in desolabitur. God aPet^a'g "^'^''S^it^ "ot in destruction," "would have none to perish." The kite, he scatters; the hen, how fain would she gather! ,3. Gather- But stay awhile, and take with us what kind of gathering, iiio dofun- ^^j. 'a gathering ;' but dvaKedXaiov, and they both serve, and suit well. The body: the head is, as it were, the sum of all; all 1. sense, 2. motion, 3. speech, 4. understanding, all recapitulate into the head. This of head or sum fitteth it best. For (to speak properly,) many hea])s, flocks, piles there may be ; head there can be but one. De rat'ione capitis est, unurn esse. And so, of a sum ; but one true sum, were there never so many, so divers ways cast. So then, into one, that is not enough ; it is not co-aduna- tion will serve. It is recapitulation, and, in that word, there is caput ; it is dvaKef^aXaiwa-i'^, and in that word there is Kecj^aXrj, such a reducing all to one, as that, one be the head. A headless gathering, the Apostle cannot skill of. And indeed, say there were an entire body, and every mem- ber in his right place, and all strictly knit together; yet, if the head should hap to be away, as good the members all in sunder, for all were to no purpose. So ; a head or no- thing. This gathering then, you see, is to the chief member; to the member that wears the crown. Thither, upward, the true gathering goes. There is an union downwards; as of Samson's jud. 15. 4. foxes, that were together by the tails ; that is not the right ; but, by the head. The oxen, that plough, are joined together by the head ; the foxes, that are tied by the tails, they set all on fire. The unity of the head God send us ! that is the true unity. 272 Of the Nativity. SERM. And yet are we not where we should. We may gather upward too, and make a head, and not the right head. That, to a head, is not enough, if it fall out to be a wrong head, Isa. 7. 9. suppose Romely's son. Hiimano capiti, §t. Do but paint, saith ^Hof^de^ the Poet, any body with a wrong head, it will but move init.] laughter and scorn. The right, the own head it would be. A strange head will not suit, nor do us any stead. The right head, then. And, which is the right head ? he adds ; Recapitulati in Christo : it is Christ. There, lo, is the right head now. To That, let all gather. And now we are arrived at Christ, we are, where we should; our gathering is at the best. All in Heaven ; all in earth, gathered together, together again; again into one; one sum, whereof Christ is the Foot; one body, whereof Christ is the Head. Gather then, and be gathered to Him ; gather then, and be gathered with Him. " He that gathereth not with Lu. 11.23. Him scattereth." And so were all, all scattered without Christ ; till He came with His ava, and got them again together. The seasons were all empty; the things, all on heaps. Things in Heaven, from things in earth ; Angels, with Gen. 3.24. "drawn swords at men." Things on earth, from things in Jud. 13.22. Heaven ; men, at but the sight of an Angel, ready to fall down dead. The members, from the head; the head, from the members; the members, one from another : neither union with Jei . 5. 25. the head, nor among themselves. Peccata vestra, it was sin that divided between God and them ; and, divided once and divided ever, divided in semper divisihilia, ' till they were quite past all division ;' no longer divided now, but even scattered. The case of the world, then. Scattered, in point of religion. Gods scattered all over; Jcr. 2. 28. " as many gods as cities." All the hosts of Heaven ; all the beasts and creeping things of the earth. [S. Aug. Scattered, in point of morality, or moral philosophy. I Dei,xix.i.] know not how many scattered opinions Augustine reckons de Summo Bono, the chief jioint of all. The Jews scattered from the Gentiles, and the Gentiles Eph. 2. 14. from the Jews : a main wall between. The Gentiles scattered from themselves grossly; all in Of the Nativiti/. 273 fractions, they. Nothing of a body, never a head ; and yet many heads, but never a right one among them all. No, not the Jews themselves j for "the Tabernacle of David'' was then down, and the ruins of it scattered into many sects, as the Prophet Amos complains, and St. James allcgeth it Amos9.li. out of him. In a word : the whole world then was but a Acts is. 16- mass of errors, a chaos of confusion, Tohu and Bohu; "empty in3 inn and void" of all saving grace or truth. Well likened to them that were scattered at the tower of Babel, where no man Gen. 11.7. understood another ; or to the people that wore"" scattered all over the land of Egypt, to gather stubble, to pick up straws." Exod.5.12. All then wandering hither and thither, and "seeking death, in Wisd.). 12. the error of their life." By all which, you see, what need there wasof this gathering, this avaK€^a\a((oa-i<;. Now then, if, "for the divisions of Reuben, there were great Jud.5. 15. thoughts of heart," as it is in Deborah's song, for but one tribe scattered from the rest; shall there be no thought or course taken for these ; such, so general, so many, not divisions but plain dispersions, scatterings all abroad? Great pity, that all these should lie thus loose and ungathered, as if they were not worth the taking up. He That in John 6. took order for the broken meat, for the fragments, willed them to be gathered, iva /j-r'] ti airoX.rjTac, "that nothing might be lost," John c. 12. no, not of them: He, certainly, were no good CEconomus, if He would let all these be lost for lack of gathering. But could not this gathering be absque Christo, in some other ? It appears, no. Seasons there were more than one, but all empty ; proffers were made in them, but nothing full, nor any thing near full. A season of the Law unwritten, Then came the Patriarchs. But they had much ado, to keep themselves from scattering ; they gathered none. A season of the Law written. Then, the Priests and Levites; but the gathering little the fuller, for them. Then came all the Prophets : to no great purpose they neither; some few proselytes they made; that was all. But in the end, all these, (as they in the parable of the wounded man,) "passed by, looked on him," but let him lie; little was Luke ki done, till the good Samaritan came. The things in Heaven and earth, (the generality of them, so) in not much better case for all these, could not be recapitulate in the Patriarchs, T 274 Of the Nativity. SERM. Moses, the Prophets. So that, to this plunge it was come, Pg '^^ that the Psalmist even asked God, " Wherefore hast Thou Heb. 10.37. made all men for nought?" It was for Ilim to come. Qui venturus erat. It was time ; more than time, when that which was the only known way, when one was scattered from God, how to gather I Sara. 26. him to God again, which was, " Let Him smell a sacrifice;" 19. when that grew out of season, when that failed. And that it Ps. 40. 6. did. " Sacrifice, burnt-offering, burnt-offerings for sin," (sin that made all the scattering,) noluisti, that is plain, " Thou wouldst not;" (it is Christ now speaketh) "then said I, Lo, I come." I, of Whom it is written, ev K€(f)a\lSi, " in the top or front of the book, that I should fulfil Thy will," and gather these together again ; " lo, I come to do it." By this £cce venio of His, a way was found, those that were thus distracted and scattered before, how to bring them together again. What way was that? It follows in the same place, what He meant by Ecce venio. He goes it over again ; Ps. AO. 0. " No sacrifice Thou wouldst ;" no : corpus autem aptasti, " but a body hast Thou ordained Me." The incorporating Christ, the ordaining Him a body; that is the "new and living way, Heb. 10.20. through the veil, that is Ilis flesh." W^ith that He comes this day, and gathers all again. .5. The . How, or in what manner, that ? The manner is set down relnpHu- the word : by way of recapitulation. We are not to con- lando. ceive, there was such " a great sheet," as St. Peter saw, " let Acts 10.11. down from Heaven," and that all these were put into it, and so gathered. No : it was recapitulando, ' by reducing to less room,' as we do many diffused matters, to a few heads, as we contract great maps to a small compass ; as great plots, to a small module ; for, that is properly to recapitulate. There arc two words in the verse set it out well; 1. 7rXy']pco/xa, 2. and Keat<;, of the great one, a compendium of all the creatures. And so he is, of both. He participates with the Angels, and so with things in Heaven, by his soul; he parti- cipates with the elements, and so with things on earth, by his body. The poet had it by the end; Fei-tur Prometheus, [Hm- of, That to the making of man's body, there went a piece of^"'^' ''^^ every of the creatures. So, there was in man a kind of re- capitulation, before. But, that was not full : yet lacked there one thing. All in Heaven were not gathered into man. Of God we say. Qui es in Ccelis. He was one of the things in Heaven, and He was out all the while. But, if He could be gathered in too, then were it a full gathering indeed. All, in Heaven, recapitulate into One, that is, God ; all, in earth, recapitulate into one, that is, man. Gather these two now, and all are gathered; all the things, in either. And now, at this last great recollection of God^and man; and in them, of Heaven and earth; and in them, of all in Heaven and earth; are all recapitulate into the unity of One entire Person. And how? Not so, as they were gathered at first ; not as the Ke(f>aXaL(oa-L "but what agreement hath Christ with Belial?" 2. And then, that these words Filii/s Meus Tu are a law ; and so as a law by Christ preached. So as in the very Gospel itself, all is not Gospel : some law among it. The very Gospel hath her law. A law evangelical there is, which Christ preached; and as He did, we to do the like. Whereof, more is to be said by and by. In the mean time, it is not without danger to let any such conceit take head, as though Christian religion had no law- points in it, consisted only of pure narratives : believe them, and all is well : had but certain theses to be held, dogmatical points, matters of opinion. And true it is, such points there be ; but they be not all. There is a law besides, and it hath precepts ; and they to be preached, learned, and, as a law, to be obeyed of all. Look but into the grand commission by which we all preach, which Christ gave at His going out of the world ; Mat.28.io. " Go," saith He, "preach the Gospel to all nations, teaching them" — what? " to observe the things that I have commanded you." Lo, here is commanding, and here is observing. So the Gospel consists, not only of certain articles to be believed; but of certain commandments also, and they to be observed. And what is that, but prcedicabo legem ? Now I know not how, but we are fallen clean from the term " Law ;'' nay, we are even fallen out with it. Nothing but Gospel now. The name of Law we look strangely at ; we shun it in our common talk. To this it is come, while men seek to live as they list. Preach them Gospel as much as you will ; but, hear ye, no prcedicabo legem, no law to be preached, to hold or keep them in. And we have gos- pelled it so long, that the Christian Law is clean gone with us; we have lost it; if praedicaho legem here get it us not Of the Natirihj. 289 again. But got it must be: for as Christ preachetli, so must we ; and law it is, that Christ preacheth. I shall tell you, what is come by the drowning of the term, "Law." Religion is even come to be counted res precaria. No law — no, no; but a matter of fair entreaty, gentle persua- sion ; neither jura, nor leges, but only cotisnlta patrum, 'good [llor.^Ep. fatherly counsel,' and nothing else. Consilia Evangelica were a while laid aside ; now there be none else. All are Evan- gelical counsels, now. The reverend regard, the legal vigour and power, the penalties of it are not set by. The rules, no reckoning made of them, as of law-writs, none ; but only, as of physic bills, if you like them, you may use them ; if not, lay them by. And this comes of drowning the term, " Law." And all, for lack of prcedicabo legem. I speak it to this end ; to have the one term retained, as well as the other, to have neither term abolished ; but with equal regard, both kept on foot. They are not so well advised, that seek to suppress either name. If the name once be lost, the thing itself will not long stay ; but go after it, and be lost too. They that take them to the one term only, are confuted once a month. For, every month, every first day of every month, this verse faileth not, but is read in our ears. And here, a law it is. And so was the (Christian religion called, in the very best times of it, Christiana lex, ' the Christian law;' and the Bishops, Christianoe legis Episcopi, ' the Bishops of the Christian law.' And all the ancient Fathers liked the term well ; and took it upon them. To conclude. Gospel it how we will : if the Gospel hath not the legalia of it acknowledged, allowed, and preserved to it; if once it lose the force and vigour of a law; it is a sign it declines, it grows weak and unprofitable : and that is a sign Heb. 8. 13. it will not long last. We must go look our salvation by some Heb. 7. la other way, than by Filiiis Mens Tu : if Filius Mens Tu (I say not, be not preached, but) be not so preached, as Christ preached it; and Christ preached it, as a law. And so much for legem. Now of this law, three things are here said; first, legem 1. turns back upon pradicaho. And this privilege it hath, that Ugem. it is materia predicabilis, a law which may ; nay, a law which * is to be preached.' And that, laws use not to be ; not to be u 290 Of the Nativity. SERM. preached. To be read upon at times privately; but, to be preached, not any law, but this. But this is : and it serves for a special difference, to sever it from other laws, and make it a kind by itself. Even this, that it is to be preached. To be preached ; and that, even to Kings themselves, that make laws ; to judges themselves, that are presumed to be best seen in the law ; yet they to learn, they to be learned, in this law. Erudimini, is the word, qui judicatis terram, in the tenth verse after. _ 2. And the reason is : for this is a law, de qua dixit Deus. De qua « 1 • . . dixit And so is none else. And that is a second difference. There " ' is a law de qua dixit homo, quam sanxemnt homines, 'which men among themselves make for themselves,' as by-laws are made. This is of a higher nature. This, God Himself made ; is a law of His own making. De qua dixit, or rather edixit, for so is "^"O^ Amar ; which God enacted first, and then gave command- ment, it should be preached. And to whom ? Dixit ad Mr. Who is that ? Christ. First, and before all others to be preached by His Son. His preach- ing. He thought it worth, and gave it Him in charge ; and accordingly, we see. He performed it, and professed prce- dicaho, that He will " preach it." ^ 3 But the third is a reason, why it could not be otherwise; edixit. why it could not but be preached. Because (as I told you out of the vei'y body of the word) it is not a law at large ; but a statute law. And the nature of that law is, without pub- lishing, it cannot be known. God hath His Law in the same division that man hath his; His statute and His common law. " The law of nature, which Rom. 2.15. is written in the hearts of all men," that is the common law of the world. Of that, every man is to take notice at his peril. But this law here is no part of that law ; Filius Meus Tu is not written in the heart ; it must be preached to the ear. No light of nature could reveal it, from within ; preached from without it must be. And so, and no otherwise, come we to pn the knowledge of it. The very word gives it for such, which is properly ' a statute ' (as this is) enacted and decreed in the Eph. 3. 5. High Court of God's Council above, and reserved " to be Rora.10.14. 1'evealed in the latter times;" and of that we cannot "hear [iPet.i..5.] without a preacher :" and the preaching thereof was committed Of the Nativity. 291 to Christ, He began, and we follow. And so much for prcedicaho legem, de qua dixit Dominus ad Me: the matter at large. And now to His text, wherein is the letter of the law itself. I reckoned up to you five particulars in this law. 1. Filius, ii. a " Son." 2. Filius Meus, " My Son," that is, the Son of God. 3. Filius Meus genui ; " the Son of God begotten." 4. Hodie genui; the Son of God "begotten this day." 5. And fifthly, dixit genui, that is, dicendo genuit, " begotten by saying," as the Word should be. Of " a Son," first. Which plainly sheweth, it is not the old ; ]. /■,/. it is a new law, this. The old runs. Ego sum Dominus, which must needs imply, servus Meus tu. This is, Filius Meus Tu (in another style,) which necessarily doth imply, Ego sum Pater Tuus, A Father to be the giver of it. According to the former. He saith Ego sum Dominus, and we say, Dominus meus Tu. According to this latter, He saith Filius Meus tu, and we say, Pater meus Tu. This, the better by far; as far as the condition of a son is better than that of a servant. And indeed, the main difference between the two laws is but this : Do it, saith the one, servus Meus tu, the unperfect law of fear iJoh.4.i8. and servitude, Do it, saith the other,jff/m5 Meus tu, the "per- H^b. t. k;. -,„,,,.,,, Jam. 2. 12. feet law or love and liberty. Of a Son. Whose Son ? Filius Meus. And He that 2. Filius speaks it, that saith Meus, is God; and so, He, to Whom it is spoken, " the Son of God." And the Son of God is a high title, and of a special account. Solomon, before his crown or sceptre, prized that speech of God ; " I will be his Father, and sSam.T u. he shall be My son. But nothing makes it more clear than this place. The last verse. He saith, Po^w? Te Regem," Ihave set Thee a King:" that He speaks not of, thinks it not fit. But here now, Filius Meus Tu, this, lo, preach He will; this He thinks worth the preach- ing. Filius Meus Tu, rather than posui Te Regem, to be "the Son of God," than to be "a Prince in Sion." The Son of God ; and " the Son of God begotten." For 3. Cc««i. sons of God there be, that are not begotten ; that come in another w^ay, that come by adoption. To beget is an act of nature, and is ever determined, in the identity of the same nature with him that did beget. And this putteth the difference. u 2 29:^ Of the Nativity. SRRfti. Otherwise, God speaks of Angels, as of His sons; "whei* X. VI I • all the sons of God praised Him." Speaks it of Israel His Hos, 11. 1. people ; "out of Egypt have I called My son." Speaks it Ps. 82. 6. of rulers and governors ; " ye are all the sons of the Most High." To every of these, as much in effect is said, as Jilius Mens tu. But to which of them all, " to which of the Angels said He at any time, genui 1e, I have begotten thee?'' Not to any. Filii they were, but not geniti, none of them all. So, Jilius Mens tu is communicated to others ; but genui te, to no creature, either in Heaven or earth. Of none is genui to be verified in proper terras, but of Christ, and of Christ only. Hodie " Begotten ;" and " this day begotten ;" genui, and hodic genui; for begotten He had been before. Another begetting besides this. Two genuis. A genui before hodie ; ex utero ante luciferurn genui Te, " said the Loi'd to my Lord," in the hundred Ps. 110. 3. and tenth Psalm. Twice begotten He was. This day begotten, and begotten ante luciferurn, " before there was any morning- star ;" and so, before there was any day at all; and so, before any quod cognominatur hodie, any time that " is called to-day." We are to take notice of both these generations. 1. of Cliristus ante luciferurn, and of 2. lucifer ante Christum. To take notice of both ; but to take hold of this latter. For, that ante luciferurn was not for us ; His second begetting. His liodie genui. His this day's begetting is for us, is it we hold by. Not Mic. 5. 2. by His " going out from everlasting ;" not by His olim, ante luciferurn, ante secula genitus : none of these. Hodie genitus is the law, that we are to preach ; that is, not His eternal, but His hodiernal generation. Not as God, of the substance of His Father, begotten before all worlds ; but as Man, of the sub- Gal. 4. 4. stance of His mother, born in the world; " when in the fulness of time God sent His Son, made of a woman." And that was the hodie genui of this day. 5. Now the speculative Divine pierceth yet deeper ; he finds a fenu^ farther mystery in these two words, dixit genui, that is, saith he, dicendo genuit. He said He begat, that is, by His very saying He begat. Wherein the very manner of His begetting is set forth unto us. There is a very near resemblance betwixt dixit, and genui ; betwixt begetting, and speaking. To beget is to bring forth ; so is to speak to bring forth also : to bring forth a word, and Of the Nativity. 293 Christ (you know) is called the Word. Now when we speak, either we do it within, to ourselves, or without, to others. Either of which two may well be compared to a like several beffettinj;. When we think a word in our thought, and speak it there, i. within, to ourselves, fas it were in silence,) and never utter it: this (it" you mark it well) is a kind of conceiving or ge leration ; the mind,"within, of itself engendering a word, while yet it is but in notion, kept in, and known to none, but to ourselves. And such was the generation of the eternal Word, the Son of God, in the mind of His Father before all worlds ; and even to that doth the Apostle apply the genui of this verse. And Heb. i. 5. this is the first begetting, or speaking. Now, as the word, yet within us in our thought, when time 2. comes that we will utter it, doth take to itself an airy body, (our breath|by the vocal instruments being framed into a voice,) and become th audible to the outward sense; and this we call the second begetting or speaking : right so, the eternal Word of God, by Domiiins dixit, by the very breath of God, the Holy Spirit, (which hath His name of spiro, 'to breathe,') corpus autem aptasti Mihi, had a body framed Him, and with Heb. 10.5. that body was brought forth, and came into the world. And so, these words, genui Tc, this very day, the second time, verified of Him. Genui, and dixit genui, "said, and by saying, begot Him ;" for, how soon the Angel's voice sounded in the blessed Virgin s ear, instantly was He incarnate in the womb of His mother. Of both which words dixit, and genui, we can spare neither. 1. There is good use of both. Of genui ; to shew the truth of the identity of His nature and substance, with His Father That begat Him, and with His mother that bare Him. For to beget, is when one living thing bringeth forth another living thing, of the same nature and kind itself is. But (I know not how) the term of begetting, the vei'y men- 1. tion of that word, carrieth our conceit to a matter of carnality; therefore is the word dixit well set before it, to shew, this genui was not by any fleshly way; to abstract it from any mixture of carnal uncleanness. That the manner of it was only as the word is purely and spiritually conceived in the mind. The one word, genui, noting the truth ; the other 294 Of the Nativity. s K u M. word, dixit, the no way carnal, but pure and inconcrete manner - of His generation. And so I have gone over the five terms of this law, or, if you please, the five points of His text. III. The hardest is yet behind : for it v?ill not sink into our heads, how this should be called a law. It seems nothing less; rather a dialogue between a Father and his Son. But a law sure it cannot be. A law runs in the imperative ; this is merely narrative : declares somewhat, enjoins nothing ; gives not any thing in charge, as laws used to do. Joh. 10.35. Sed non potest solid Scriptura, "God must be true in all Rom. 3. 4. jjjg sfiyings," Christ may not preach false doctrine. A law He hath called it ; and we may not give it any other name. There be that think, this verse is but the preamble, and that the body of the law doth follow, and reacheth to the end of the Psalm. But the better sort are of mind, that even this verse, taken by itself, contains in it a law full and whole. Let us see then, whether we can find it so. We pitched upon the Apostle's division of the law, into lex fidei, and lex fuctoi um. If both these be found in it, we may well allow it for a law. We will begin with lex fidei : what we are to believe of Him. Of Him, that is, of these three; 1. of His Person; 2. His Natures ; 3. and His Offices. And then to come to lex factorum. 1. First, what He doth for us, the benefit of this law. 2. And then, what we are to do for Him again, our duty out of this law. The former of which, the benefit, is the Gospel of this law. The latter, the duty, is the law of this Gospel. J ^p.j. Of His Person first. That He is, of Himself, a Person sub- K Of His sisting. Plain, by the two Persons that are in the text. Ego Person. j , gj.gj. ^j^j second Person in grammar ; and the same, the first and second Person in Trinity. Here is. Ego (jemd, the Person of the Father ; and Filius Mens Tu, the Person of the Son. Here is one begets ; and (sure it is) nemo f/ciwrat scipsian, 'none begets himself;' but he, whom he be- gets, is a person actually distinguished from him that begets him. But, of these two Persons, this you will mark. That the iJohii 1 1) first that is named, is Filius Mens Tu. He stands first in the Of the Nativity. 295 verse before genui Te. We hear of FiUus, before ever we hear of genui; for that is the Person we hold by. By nature, genui Te should go before Filius 3[eus ; but quoad nos, Filius Mens is before genui; to shew there is no coming to the Father, but by Him ; no interest in the Father, but from and through Him. This for His Person. And, in His Person, we believe two natures, set down here 2. Of His in the two words, hodie and genui. If you do observe, there is somewhat a strange conjunction of these two words. One is present, hodie ; the other is perfectly past, genui. In propriety of speech it would be a present act, for a present time ; or it would be an act past with an adverb of the time past ; and not join a time in being, hodie, with an action ended and done, genui. The joining of these two together, the verifying them both, of one and the same person, must needs seem strange. And indeed, could not be made good, but that in that one party, there are two distinct natures. To either of which, in a different respect, both may agree, and be true, both. Some little difference there will be about the sorting of the two words : which to refer to which. But that will easily be ac- corded, for they will both meet in the end. There be, that, because hodie, the present, is yet in fieri, and so not come to be perfect, understand by it His temporal generation, as Man, which is the less perfect, as subject to the manifold imperfections of our human nature, and condition. And then, by genui, which is in factum esse, (and so done and perfect,) understand His eternal generation as the Son of God, in Whom are absolutely all the perfections of the Deity. There be other, and they fly a higher pitch, and are of a contrary mind : for whatsoever is past is in time, say they, and so genui is temporal ; and that hodie — that doth best ex- press His eternal generation ; for that nothing is so properly affirmed of eternity itself, as is hodie. Why ? For, there, all is hodie ; there is neither heri, nor eras: no 'yesterday,' nor 'to- morrow.' All is " to-day," there. Nothing past, nothing to come : all present. Present (as it were) in one instant, or centre; so in the hodie of eternity. ' Past and to come' argue time; but, if it be eternal, it is neither; all there is present. "To-day" then, sets forth eternity best, say they, which is 296 Of the Nativity. s E R M. still present, and in being. But genui (that, being past) cannot '■ — be His eternal at any hand, but must needs stand for His temporal. But whether of these it be ; genui, His eternal, as perfect, and liodie, as not yet perfect. His temporal ; or vice versa, hodie represent eternity best, and genui time, as being spent and gone ; between them both, one way or other, they will shew His begettings. You may weave hodie with genui, or genui with hodie, and between them both, they will make up the two natures of Him That was the hodie genittis of this day. Concerning whom, we believe ; as first, that He is one entire person, and subsists by Himself; so, second, that He consists of two distinct natures, eternal, and temporal. The one, as perfect God; the other, as perfect Man. 3. Of His Now, for His offices. Them we have likewise in the two Offices. words, prcBdicabo and legem. Prcedicaho ; by that, it is plain. He doth "preach." And that seems strange ; for the last news we heard of Him (in the verse before) was, that He was " set a King in Sion." And the word legem imports as much : for laws, with us, are the King's laws. A King to preach? Let that alone for the Priests. That Deu.33.10. is their office; "they shall teach Jacob His judgments, and preach to Israel His law." But, preach He will, as He saith. So Mens Filius will prove a Priest, as it seems ; a Priest, indeed. And, which is yet more strange, by virtue of these very words, Filius Meus Tu. No words, one would think, to prove Him a Priest by ; and we should hardly believe it, but that in Heb. 5. 4. the Apostle deduceth His Priesthood from these very words ; " No man," saith he, " taketh unto him this honour," that is, the honour of the Priesthood, "but he that was called of God, as was Aaron." And then he adds, " No more did Christ, He took not this honour upon Him, to be our High-priest ; but He, that said to Him, Filius Meus Tu, hodie genui Te, He gave it Him." So, that by virtue of these words, Christ was consecrate a Priest ; as by virtue of the other, posui Te Regem, " He was set a King in Sion." And the place, Sion, suits well with both. For Mount Sion had two tops. On the one, was the Temple built; on the other, was the King's palace situate. The one for prcedicabo the other for legem. In the one, as King, he makes a law ; in Of the Nativity. 297 the other, as Priest, preacheth it. Y ivst, posui regem ; suul then, prcedicuho legem. And indeed, the Kings, that were His types, were mixed of both, Melchizedek — him the Apostle stands on at large, in Heb. 7. And if this Psalm be David's, as questionless it is, for his it is avowed to be ; why then, he preached too. Acts 4. 25. And for Solomon, it is too evident; we have his book of the Preacher. The like may be said of Ezekias, and the rest, by whom this King here was in any sort represented. And by virtue thereof, they all had a greater care of publishing this law, here, than of any of their own laws ; as, on the con- trary, Ahab and his race had more care of " the keeping the Mic. 6. 16. statutes of Omri," than they had of the laws of God. We believe then, for His offices ; that He is both King and Priest. Hath a kingdom to rule ; hath a diocese to preach in. His kingdom, " the heathen, to the uttermost parts of the earth;" His diocese as large. His auditory, all States, even the highest, Kings and judges; for prcBdicabo legem concerns them all. And this, for lex Jidei what it binds us to believe of Him. Now, for lex factorum. First, what shall be done to them, 2. that live by and under this law ? They speak of laws of factorum. grace: this is indeed a law of grace, nay it is the law of'- What ^ ... • ^ ^ n i doth grace ; not only as it is opposite to the law ot nature ; but even for us. because it offereth grace, the greatest grace that ever was. benefit. For what greater grace or favour can be done to any, than to have these words, Filius Mens Tu, said unto Him ? This law doth it; "for to them that receive it, it giveth power to be Joh. i. 12. made sons of God." The words seem to be spoken to one person only ; but (as laws of grace use to be) are to receive ampliation, and to be extended, to the most benefit. Dixit ad Me. Said He it to Him, and said He it, to Him i. alone, and said He it to no other, but to Him ? No ; for He gave it Him in charge to preach it ; and to preach it is to say it to others. Therefore it is, dixit ad Me, ut ad alios, per Me ; 'it was so said to Him, as that by Him it might be said to others.' PriBdicaho makes it plain. Pratdicaho. When Christ doth preach. He is not to be un- 2. derstood to preach to Himself : no man doth so at any time ; 298 Of the Nativity. SERM. but to others more or less, that may be, or should be the XVII. ^ better for His preaching. For, what needed it be preached, if it concern none but Him ? if none to have benefit, but He ? if they that hear it preached shall receive no benefit by it ? a. So say we, of legem. This law was not made for Christ: it needed not for Him any law. He was Filius Mens Tu (f)vcrec, Kal ov vofico, needed no law to make Him that, which by nature He was. The law was for others, which, by this law, were to be made that, which, by nature, they were not, that is, " the sons of God." 4. Take the very words. You see. His text is not in the first person, Filius Tuus Ego: His text is, Jllius Mens tu. And who is that tu ? It cannot be Christ Himself by common intendment. The Father saith to Him, " Thou art My Son." But, to whom is it, that Christ saith, Thou art My Son ? For ^filius Mens tu is His text : that. He must preach on ; He may not go from the words, or change the tenor of His text. Who is then that son ? To whom applieth He His text? To some other certainly. lkb.2. 10. The Apostle saith, " He was set and sent, that He might bring many sons unto God, to whom God also might say, ^lius Meus Tu. And Himself likewise saith of Himself in isii. 8. It*, the Prophet ; " Behold, here am I, and the children which God hath given Me." The birth. And who be those children ? Those, whom He shall re- generate, and beget a-new by His prceclicabo legem, " the im- I Ptt. 1.23. mortal seed;" for, "of His own good-will begat He us, by j;im. 1. 18. Yi ord of truth, that we might be the first-fruits of His creatures." These are the children that are here meant. Of whom it shall be said, quod, per Filium,Jilii, 'that in and by this Son, they shall be His sons, all.' And what was said to Christ, shall be said to them and every of them, filius Meus tu. Fs. 87. 3. Of Sion, saith the eighty-seventh Psalm, " It shall be said. He was born in her." And that is true, for so He was. But he goes on farther, and saith, " He did remember Himself of Rahab, and Babylon, the Philistines' and the Morians' land, for, lo, there He was born." " Born there ?" How can that be ? Yes, born there, and here, and every where, where by this pradicabu legem, He begets children to God. The power and Of the Nativity. 299 virtue of His birtli reached even thither. Every place that receiveth His law, wherever it he, even there He is born. This for His birth. To this birth there belongs a birth-right. They talk much The biitl of the law, as of a birth-right ; but, lo, this here is a birth-right ^ ' ' indeed ; and that, veri nominis ; and amounts to more than a child's part. And it grows out of the double title, or interest, which He hath to all that is given Him. For, as He is twice a Son, twice begotten, 1. ante luciferum, and 3. hodie ; so hath He a double right grows to Him, expressed in two distinct words (in the next verse,) 1. one of inheritance, 2. the other of possession, or purchase ; for Ahuzza is true Hebrew for a pur- n;nK chase. Of which two, one contents Him ; His title as Heir. The other He transcribes and sets over to us, which is that of His purchase, as hodie genitus. But we need not so much as go to the next verse for it. Filius Mens Tu will serve ; which was said twice to Him. 1. Once at His Baptism, Hie est Filius Mens. And so it is Mut. .3. i likewise at ours, to us ; for, therein we are made members of Christ, and the children of God. 2. And again, Hie est 5iat. 17. Filius Mens, at His transfiguration in the mount. And we keeping the law of our Baptism, the same shall be said to us likewise, the second time ; and when time comes, we shall also be " transfigured into the glorious Image of the Son of God." Piiii. 3.2 And this is, lex factorum on His part; this shall be done for us by Him. This we called the gospel of this law. And what shall be done by us for Him ? which is the law what we of duty on our part required; and which we called the law of',";,!", this gospel : implied in the two first words, pratdicabo, and ^^^'y- legem. Either word hath his condition. First, if he preach, that we bestow the hearing of Him. And then legem, that we know it is a " law" He j)reacheth ; and therefore so, and no otherwise than so, to hear it. Hear Him preach? That we be entreated to, easily. Mx.Prtedi that be all, we will never stick with Him for that. Nay, God's blessing on His heart ! for, as the world goes, we are now all for preaching. But take legem, with you too. It is so prcedicaho, as it is 2. LKjem. legem. Preached, and so preached, as it is law, His sermons are so many law-lectures ; His preaching is our law to live 300 Of the Nat'wity. SF, H M. by; and law binds, and leaves us not to live as we list. And — if that Avhich is preached be law, it is to be heard, as a law ; kept, as a law; to be made our lex factorum, as well as lex jidei. If we hear it otherwise, if we hear it not so, if we lose legem, we may let go prmlicaho too, and all. And here now, we break. As a law? Nay, none of that. The hearing we will give Him ; but soft, no law, by your leave. Our case is this : so long as it is but praedicabo, but preaching, we care not greatly, though we hear it ; but if it once come to legem, to be pressed upon us as a " law:" farewell our parts : we give Him over : for law binds, and we will not be bound. Upon the point, we are fast at prcsdicabo, and loose at legem. Leave Christ His book to preach by ; but keep the law in our own hands. But (to be short,) if we hear it, not as law ; hear it not, but as news ; if we bring our ser- Ps. 90. 9. mons " to an end, as a tale that is told ;" if that be all, we forfeit all that follows, all our part and portion in Jilius Mens, and hodie genui, and all. By legem Now, if you ask, what law it is, is here meant ? No other, is meant, but the law of these words, Jilius Mens tu ; for JiUus Mens tu, in the body of it, carrieth the law ; that con- tains all filial duties, which is the perfectest law, when all is done. For, the law of a son is more than all laws besides. For besides that it is lex factorum, that a son will do any thing that is to be done ; he will farther do it, out of filial love and affection, which is worth all. And this law, indeed, is worth isa. 2. 3. the preaching. It is exibit de Sion lex, " the law that came from Sion." The " law of Sinai," that begins with Ego sum Dominus ; it is Gal. 4. 24. a law of servitude ; a law for the bond-woman and her brood. Never preach it ; at least, not to children. That law is to give place, and in place thereof, is to come the law of Sion, which Gal. 4. 28. we preach ; the law of the free-woman, and " the children of promise ;" the law of love, of filial love, proceeding, not R()m.8.i5. "from the spirit of bondage," but from "the spirit of adop- tion." [Conf. There is lex factorum in both ; but, as Gregory well ex- Reg. Past, presseth it, Si servus es, metue plagas, ' if thou be bond, as c^is!]^ Ismael, do it out of servile fear, for fear of the whip.' Si mer- Of the Nativity. 301 cenaritis, expccta mcrcedcm, ' if thou be an hireling, as Balaam, do it out of mercenary respect.' Sed, si JiUns Mens tii ; then do it, out of true natural affection ; perform all duties of a kind son to liim That said, genui te, as did Isaac the son of the free-woman, to Abraham that begot him, "even to theGen.22. 9. laying down of his life." None to Timothy, saith St. Paul, "none like minded to him ; for, as a son with his father, so Phil. 2. • • • 20 22 hath he laboured with me in the Gospel." *' So," that is, so freely, so sincerely, so respectfully, as a loving, kind, natural son could do no more. And that is lex factorum, indeed. And so much for lex factorum on our part : what we do for him : the filial duties, the law of this Gospel. We lack nothing now, but the time. And, as legem is the 1. The condition ; so, hodie is the time. We are willed by the Apostle ^^Hodie. to insist upon this word, hodie, to call upon men for this duty, j^^^j'^* while it is called " to-day." Not to defer, or to put off, or make a morrow matter of it. We are all inclined to be rrastiai or perendini, ' for to-morrow, or next day,' or, I know not when ; but not to be hodierni. Hodie is no adverb with us : for, where shall we find one, but will take days for any matter of duty ? To look to this hodie, and not deceive our- selves ; for no time but hodie hath any promise : witness, hodie, si vocem, " to-day if you will hear His voice :" which every Ps. 93. 7. day sounds in our ears. But, hodie genui is more than hodie : for every day in the 2. year, while it lasts, is hodie, " to-day ;" but every day is not genui. hodie genui. There is but one of them in the whole year ; and that is this day. This day then to take ; of all other hodies, not to let slip the hodie of this day. A day, whereon this Scripture was fulfilled ; whereon dixit et factum est, " He said [Ps 33.9.] it and did it whereon this Son was born, and given us ; a day, whereon as it is most kindly preached ; so it will be most kindly practised of all others. And so, I hold you no longer ; but end. Praying to Him, That was the hodie genitus of this day. Him, That was begotten, and Him, by Whom He was begotten ; that we may have our parts, as m prcedicabo, "preaching;" so likewise in legem, " the law ;" in both, legem fidei, " to believe aright," and legem factorum, "to live according ;" that we, per- forming the filial duties required, may obtain the filial rights 302 Of the Nativity. SERM. promised, and may be in the number of those, to whom first, . — and last, filius Mens tu shall be said, to our everlasting Ephes. 1.6. comfort, and "to the praise of the glory of His grace," through Christ our Lord. SERMONS PUEACIirCD lIl>ON ASH- WEDNESDAY. A SERMON PHEACHED BEFORE QUEEN ELIZABETH, AT WHITEHALL, ON THE FOURTH OF MARCH, A. I). WDXrVIII., BEING ASH-WEDNESDAY. Psalm Ixxviii. 34. When He slew them, then they sought Him ; and they returned, and enquired early after God. Cum occideret Eos, quarebant Eum : et revertebantur, et diluculo veniebant ad Etm. \_When He slew them, then they sought Him; and they returned and enquired early after God. Engl. Trans.] This Psalm is a calendar, or roll of reports, how, from Moses to David, the Jews carried themselves to God, in matter of religion. And this verse a report, how, in the matter of repentance, expressed here under the terms of seeking and turning to God. Wherein, this they did, this was their fashion : while He spared them, they sought Him not; "When He slew them, then they sought Him." Cum, 8fC. These words then are a report. A report ; but such an one, as when St. Paul heard of the Corinthians, he could not commend it. " What shall I say ? Shall I praise you in this ? No; I praise you not." Neither iCor.i 1.22. he them, for that ; nor I these, for this. Rather, as old father Eli said to his sons; Non est bonus sermo hie, quern audio dc lSara.2.24. vubis, " this is no good report I hear," cum occideret, 8fc. Whether good, or whether evil, it pertaineth to us. For, to us of the Gentiles hath St. Paul entailed whatsoever well or ill befell the dissolved Church of the Jews. These, "all these lCor.10.11. came unto them for examples, and are enrolled, to warn us that grow nearer and nearer to the ends of the world." X 306 Of Repentance and Fasting. SERM. Both pertain unto us; the Scripture hath both; and, in it, draweth out our duty to us in both, in good and evil reports ; as it were, in white work, and black work. And we to have use of both ; yet not of both reports alike, but diversely, as our instructions upon them are diverse. For we are not so much to regard the bare report, as the instruction of it. For which cause, Asaph hath entitled this Psalm, not Asaph's report, but [Maschil Asaph's " instruction." v^daAug. Now, we have here our report. May we find what our inloc] instruction is touching it? We may. Asaph expressly hath set it down in the eighth verse before. That this and other [Ps. 78.8.] errors of theirs are here upon the file, ne Jiant sicut patres eo- rum, " that we should not be like our forefathers, a cross and crooked generation." Not like them, in other indignities ; and among other in this cum occideret, S^c. Never to seek God, but when He kills us. In which foul indignity, our age is certainly as deep as ever was that ; and we need Asaph's instruction, no less than they. For, as if there were no use of religion, but only cum occi- deret, so spend we all our whole time, in the search of other things. Not caring to ask, or seek, or confer about the state of our souls, even till occideret come. And then, peradventure, sending for Asaph, and hearing him speak a few words about it, which we would fain have called seeking of God. I can say little to it ; I pray God, it prove so ; but sure, I fear it Dan. 5. 27. will be found minus liahens, " far short of it." Which is so usually received, that, take a survey, not one of an hundred ever think of it, before. So securely practised, as if we had some supersedeas lying by us, not to do it till then. As if there were no such Scripture as this upon record ; " which turned to their destruction," and must needs lie heavy upon us, when we shall remember it. Cum occi- deret, Sfc. Now sure, this course must needs be prejudicial to our souls ; and a number perish in it daily before our eyes. Yet we sit still, and suffer this custom to grow and gather head. Neither delivering their souls, or at least, our own, by telling them seriously, this is not the time ; and, then, to seek is not the seeking God will allow. That this is a ne Jiant, "such a thing as should not be done in Israel." That it is upon record Of Rcj/entonce (uul Fasfiiif/. 307 TTpo? ivTpoTTiju, to tlicir disgrace and destruction. And it cannot be to our comfort or commendation, to do the Hke. Out of which their destruction, Asaph frameth an instruction for us; and (as it is well said, and fitly to this day,) ex cinere JudcBomm lixivium Christiu7ioi-um, 'of the Jews' ashes maketh a lye ' for Christians,' to cleanse us from this foul indignity. Ut [' Liter, videntes cadeiitcs, videant ne cadant, 'that heeding their fall, we pregnated take heed we fall not ;' that is, seek, not as they sought, lest we lYn'e'^saUs' perish, by like example of seeking too late. from'The Therefore, that we set ourselves to seek, before this cum ashes of come ; that is, in a word, seek God, as by repentance and the Wehster.] fruits; so by undelayed repentance, and the timely fruits of it; and be not like the Apostle J ude's Siv8pa (j^divoTrcopiva, our Jude ver. seeking all summer, withered and dry, and beginning to shoot out a little, about Michaelmas spring. Of which kind of shooting, fruit can never come. This is the sum. The words consist of two parts. Two parts ; but these The divi- two evil matched, or, as St. Paul, " unequally yoked together." ^ g For, where our chief actions, (of which, I take it, our seeking of God is one,) should have the chiefest time ; here is the first and best of our actions sorted with the last and worst part of our time. Qucerehant JEum, with cum occideret. x\nd not only missorted, but misplaced. For cum occi- deret, " His killing" standeth before "our seeking ;" whereas our seeking should be first, and His killing come after. This was never God's Jiant ; they must have a ne Jiant. Of these two then. First by way of report, jointly ; that i. de facto thus it is: thus, they; and thus, we seek. Then if we take them in sunder, and (as Jeremy saith) "se- ii. parate the precious from the vile ;" qucerebant Eum, the flower jer. 15.19. of our actions, from cum occideret, the dross, dregs, and very refuse of our time, — consider them apart, and shew, 1. That this time is not the time; 2. and that this seeking, thus sorted and thus placed, is no seeking, nor ever shall find. There- fore, with Asaph's instruction, to settle our seeking upon some other time ; and to resolve to begin it before. Two powei's there are in cum ; 1. a privative, of all times i. before; 2. a positive, of that instant time then. No time ^.'^^^rto' before, we seek ; at that instant time, then, we do. On which .i"'"*'y ; \. cum uc- two consisteth theatrnm vitce, 'the very theatre of our Wt'e.' cideret. X 2 308 Of Repentance and Fasting. SERM. Our case, before that time, is lively expressed in the words ^ immediately precedent ; " They spend their days in vanity, and their years in turmoil in the world." Our case, then, at that time, in these words, cum occidcret eos. Yea, by implica- tion, they are both in this verse ; by what they do now, is im- plied what they did before. 1. Now, " they sought Him :" so that, before, they lost Him. 2. Again, then, " they turned to so that, before, they turned away, and not once looked toward Him. 3. Now, " they rose up early :" so that, before, they put it ol? till twilight. 4. Now, " they remembered so that, before, they forgat Him clean ; no speech, no question ; nay, no thought about Him. 1. Thus it was, saith Asaph, under Moses. While His hand was not upon them, they regarded Him not, as not worth the seeking ; perdebant Eum, it was their losing time. But, " when He slew them," they fell to seek ; and well was he that might find j qucerebant Eum, it was their seeking time. 2. Before, qucerebant alia, ' they found themselves other mat- ters more meet to seek.' Then, qucerebant Eum, " they gave over all, to seek Him, only." 3. Before, He sought them ; and they gave Him good leave so to do. Then all is turned out and in. As He, them, before ; so they, Him, now. And is it not thus with us, that are now in theatro, ' upon the stage ?' Yes indeed; and more, if more may be. This is but vetus fabula per novos histriones, ' the same play again by other actors.' For, in public ; when, in the days of safety, [Amos 6. plenty, and peace, we are in the sixth of Amos, and are best at ease when qucerebant is farthest from us; but if war, famine, Joel 2. 15. or contagion come, then we run to the second of Joel, " Sanc- tify a fast," and call for the Ark, and grow all godly on a sud- den. What is this but cum occideret? And, in private, when while youth, and strength, and health doth last, while the evil day is far off, we are even at cessare fac Sanctum Israel a isa. 30. i\. nobis, "cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from us;" but when distress, danger, or death come, when Rabshakeh is Isa. 37. 3. before the walls, then we cry, " Now is the day of tribulation and anray for, may so come to pass ; Moses doth here, out of his own experience, bestow an advice upon us. (And Moses could skill what belonged to war, as one that forty years together was never out of camp.) Which advice is, that among our military points we would reckon the abatement of sin for one ; that now this time of our going forth, we would go forth against sin too, and keep us from it, as we would keep us from our enemy. If we could be but persuaded to reform our former custom of sin, it would cer- tainly do the journey good. That therefore, with other courses, some remembrance, some regard be had of this ; that at this time, sin do not so overflow among us, be not so very fruitful as before time it hath. And this is an use of Divinity in war. And as this an use of Divinity, in war ; so have we withal an use of war, in Divi- nity. For Moses telling us, that " when our forces go forth against the enemy," that we, then, at that time, are in any wise " to keep us from wickedness ;" by sorting these thus together, doth plainly intimate, that when the time of war is, then is a fit time, a very good opportunity, to draw from sin, and to return to God. These former years, this time of the fast, and this day, the first day of it, both ministered an occasion to call for an abstinence from sin ; this day, and this time, being set out by the Church's appointment to that end. Now, besides that ordinary, of other years, God, this year, hath sent us another, the time of war ; and that a very seasonable time too, wherein to repent and retire from sin. As if He should say ; L2Cor.6.2.] If you would forsake sin, now you may do it ; for " behold, now is an acceptable time," and a fit season. This time to concur with that time ; and both to cooperate to the amend- ment of our lives. And what shall I say ? O that one of them, the former or the latter, or both might prevail so much with us, that as the forepart, this day is fulfilled in our ears, so the latter part might be fulfilled in our lives ; that it might not be singly regarded, that is thus doubly commended ; that the fast at hand might keep us; or the war at hand might keep us; or both might keep us ; that we might be kept from sin. That either Joel's trump proclaiming a fast ; or Amos' trump pro- Of lifpciituuce (ind Fiisthit/. 323 claiming war, niight serve to sound this retreat, niiglit serve to awake us from that now more than sleep, even almost that lethargy of sin, which the security of our so long peace hath cast us in. This is the sum. These, the double use, 1. of war in divinity ; that our going forth might procure the giving over sin. 2. Of Divinity in war ; that our giving over sin might procure good speed to our going forth, even an honourable and happy return. The parts are two ; (for the verse parteth itself by " when" The divi- and "then.") These two; 1. the going forth of the host; 2. the keeping from sin. To express them in the terms of the jj present business; 1. the former, the commission authorizing to go. 2. The latter, the instruction directing so to go, that we may prosper and prevail. In which latter will come to be considered these three points; 1. The conjunction and cohe- rence of these two. 2. The consequence. 3. The contents of the latter ; how to keep us from sin. " When thou goest forth," &c. In the first is the com- i. mission, which is ever the corner-stone of all proceedings. If mission, we take the verse entire, both parts together, it riseth thus ; If they which go to war must keep themselves from sin, then is war no sin, but lawful ; and, without sin, to be undertaken. Or, if we take the first part by itself ; in saying, " when thou goest," he implieth, a time will come, when they may go forth. For vain were the supposal, and far unworthy the wisdom of God's Spirit to say, " when ; " if never any such time would come ; if there were no time for war, of God's allowance. We cannot better pattern it, than by the Gospel of this day, " when ye fast, be not like hypocrites," by all Divines resolved Mat. 6. ig. thus. Fast ye may sometimes; and then fasting, look you fall not into hypocrisy. And as in that, so in this : go ye may, sometimes ; only, when ye go, see ye " refrain from sin," and then go and spare not. Out of which match of these two, fast and war, we may rise higher. It is no less usual with the Prophets, to say sanctificate prailium, as Joel 3. than to say , sanctificate Jejunium, "sanctify Joel 3. 9. a war," as well as "a fast." And in another, consecrate manus Joei 2. js. vestras hodie Domino, "consecrate your hands this day unto the Ex. 32. 29. Lord." Which sheweth, war is not so secular a matter, but Y 2 324 Of Repentance and Fasting. S E R M. that it hath both his lawfulness and his holiness : and that II. '- — the very hands may be sacred or hallowed by fighting some Heb.ii.4. battles. And therefore, in the Calendar of Saints we have 7. nominated^ not Abel, Enoch, and Noah alone, men of peace and devotion, who spent their time in prayer and service of God; but Gideon, Jephtha, Samson, worthies and men of Heb. 11. war, "who," saith the Apostle, " throur sins past ; it may be, if we could get ourselves to do it in kind, if set them before us and look sadly, and not glance over them apace ; think of them, not once; but, as Ezekiah did, recogitare, "think Imi. s^. 15. them over and over;" consider the motives, the base motives; l^^"'^'^ and weigh the circumstances, the grievous circumstances ; and tell over our many flittings, our often relapsing, our wretched continuing in them : it would set our sorrow in passion, it would bring down some j some would come: our bowels would turn, our repentings roll together; and lament we would the death of our soul, as we do otherwhile the death of a friend; and for the unkindness we have shewed to God, as for the un kindness we do, that man sheweth us. But, this will ask time. It would not be posted through, as our manner is : we have done straight. It is not a business of a few minutes; it will ask St. Peter's 'xcopfjaac, " retired 2 Pet. 3. 9. place," and St. Paul's a')(o\dt,eiv, "vacant time." It would icor. 7. 5. ask a Nazarite's vow, to do it as it should be done : even •a sequestering ourselves for a time, as they did: in other respects, I grant ; but among others, for this also, even to perform to God a votive repentance. This I wish we would try. But, we seek no place; we allow no time for it. Our other affairs take up so much, as we can spare little or none B b 370 Of Repentance and Fasting. s E^R M. for this; which, the time will come, when we shall think it the weightiest affair of all. And yet it may be, when all is done, none will come though. For, w^ho hath tears at command ? Who can weep when he lists ? I know it well, they be the overflowings of sorrow; not of every son-ow, but of the sensual parts; and being an act of the inferior parts, reason cannot command them at all times, they will not be had. " wPt'h ^^^y "^^^ ^'^^ Prophet hath here put an avTL- mouniing." fiaWofjuevov in stead of it : (for so do the Fathers all take it:) "Mourn." If weep we cannot, mourn we can; and 1 Cor. 5.2. mourn we must. Et vos non hwistis, saith the Apostle; he saith not, et vos non jievistis, 'and you have not wept;' but, "and you have not mourned ;" as if he should say. That you should have done at the least. Mourning they call the sorrow which reason itself can yield. In schools, they term it Dolorem appretiativum, ' valuing what should be ;' rating what the sins deserve, though we have it not to lay down ; yet what they deserve, we should ; and, that we can. These, and these sins I have committed, so many, so heinous, so oft iterate, so long lain in; these deserve to be bewailed even with tears of blood. 2. This we can ; and this too, wish with the Prophet, (and Jer. 9. 1. so let US wish,) " O that my head were full of water, and my eyes fountains of tears,^' to do it as it should be done I This we can. Ps. 114. 8. 3. And pray we can, that He Which " turneth the flint stone into a springing well," would vouchsafe us, (even as diy as flints,) gratiam lachrymarum, as the Fathers call it, some small portion of that grace to that end. Though weep we cannot, yet wish for it, and pray for it, we can. 4. And complain we can, and bemoan ourselves, as doth the Prophet, with a very little variation from him ; " My leanness, Isa. 24. 16. my leanness," saith he, " woe is me I" 'My dryness, my dry- ness, may each of us say, woe is me ! The transgressors have offended, the transgressors have grievously offended. Grievously offend we can; grievously lament we cannot; my dryness, my dryness, woe is me !' Nay, we need not vary, we may even let leanness alone, his own word. For, dry and lean both is our sorrow, God wot: God help us I this mourn Ave can. Of Repentance and Fasting. 371 5. And lastly, this we can ; even humbly beseech our mer- ciful God and Father, in default of ours, to accept of the " strong crying and bitter tears, which, in the days of His flesh, [Heb.5.7.] His blessed Son in great agony shed for us ;" for us, I say, that should, but are not able to do the like for ourselves : that what is wanting in ours, may be supplied from thence. These, by the grace of God, we may do, in discharge of this point. These let us do, and it will be accepted. And so now to the last, " Rend your hearts you see, first 4. and last, to the heart we come. For indeed, a meal may be rending missed, a tear or two let fall, and the heart not affected, for all J^gg^^g that. Esau wept; Ahab gave over his meat; their hearts Gen.27.38. both swelling and apostumate still. To shew, that though 2^'"^^^'' these be requsite, all ; yet that the passion of the heart is caput posnitenticB ; to the heart He cometh again always, to verify, that, in both and in all, quod cor nan facit nan Jit, 'if it be not done with the heart, if the heart do it not, nothing is done.' As in conversion, the purpose of amendment must proceed from the heart; so in our contri- tion, the sorrow, the anger, for our turning away, must pierce to the heart; some cardiaque^ passion to be ; the heart ['/.e.heart- to suffer. And what nmst it suffer ? Contrition : it should even conteri, be ' ground to powder.' " A contrite heart," it should be. If not that, not contritum, yet cor confractum, " a broken heart," Ps. 51. 17. broken in pieces, though not so small. If neither of these ; yet with this qualifying here, cor conscissum, with some rent, or cleft. Solutio continui, somewhat there is to be opened ; not only that the apostumate matter may breathe forth, but much more, (which is the proper of this part,) that feeling the smart there, we may say, and say it with feeling, quod malum Jer. 2. 19. et amarum, that an "evil thing it is, and a bitter, to have turned away and forsaken the Lord." Some such thing is the heart to feel, or else nothing is done. Now this "rending" (if we mark it well,) doth not so properly pertain to the passion of sorrow; but rather to another; even to that of anger. "Their hearts rent for Acts 7. 54. anger," it is said. And, it easily appeareth; for we use violence to that we rend. Ephraim's smiting his thigh, the jer. 3i. 19. Publican his breast : both, the acts of anger, rather than heavi- lu. is. 13. B b 2 372 Of Eepentauce and Fasting. s E R M. ness. The Apostle puts into his repentance indignation and — ^ — I'evenge, no less than he doth sorrow. To say truth, they are to go together. Sorrow, if it have no power to revenge, grows to be but a heavy dull passion ; but if it have power, indignation and it go together. One cannot truly be said to be grieved with the thing done, but he must be angry with the doer ; and we, if we be sorry indeed for our Job 42. 6. sin, will be angry with the sinner. So was Job : " Therefore I abhor myself." " Myself," saith he ; not so much the sin, which was done and past, and so incapable of anger ; as myself, for the sin. Which if it be indignation indeed in us, (and not a gentle word,) will seek revenge some way or other : " Grind to powder, break in pieces,'' at least make a "rent." Contritio, confractio, consrissio, compunctio, sovaewh&l it will be. But, when we return to enquire, whether and which of these two acts hath in it the very true essence of repentance ? In conversion 1 find it not. Why? For " after I converted, I Jer.3].i9. repented," saith Jeremy ; and Nihil prius aut posterius seipso, "nothing is after itself." Conversion then is not it. And when we seek for it in this latter ; first, in sorrow it is not ; 2 Cor.7.10. Why? For tristitia operatur pcenitentiam, saith the Apostle: mark that operatur, " works" it; therefore is not it; for nihil sui causa. It remains then, of force, that it is in this now of indignation. So that now, and not before, are we come to the [2 Cor. 7. essence of it indeed. And, set down this ; that djavafCTTja-is, "indignation," is the essential passion; and €KBUr]o-i<;, "re- venge," or this "rending" here, the principal and most proper act of a true turning unto God. Now, if you ask, how or which way we can come to make a rent in the heart, since no hand may touch it and we live ? the meaning is not literal ; but that the heart, by reflecting on itself is able to make such an impression on it, as the Prophet ma}' well call ' a rent in the heart.' As first, even by good moral respects, wherewith the very heathen set themselves in passion against vice. That it is a brutish thing ; so against the nobleness of reason : that a shameful ; so against public honesty : that ignominious ; so against our credit and good name : that pernicious, as shutting us out pf Heaven, (whither we would come,) the greatest loss, and poena damni; and pressing us Of Repentance and Fasting. 373 down to liell, (which we foinest would fly,) the greatest torment, and p€e?ia se?isiis ; for even the heathen believed the joys and pains of another world. And yet we, for all this, so evil advised as to commit it. But these are but war dvOpwirov, ' drawn from man the Christian man's is to be et? Qeov, his eye to God. Who, with great indignation, cannot but abhor himself, for the manifold indignities offered to God thereby ? To the law of His justice, to the awe of His Majesty, the reverend regard of His Pre- sence, the dread of His power, the long-suffering of His love ; that (being a creature of so vile and brittle consistence) he hath not sticked, for some lying vanity, some trifling pleasure or pelting profit, to offend so many ways at once ; all, odious in themselves and able to make a rent in any heart, that shall weigh them aright. Sure, if we take the impression right, so God may work with us, as these may work in us, a just indignation; which, if once it be in fervour, what the hand can come to, it will smite; and would the heart also, if it could reach it. And, if it be in kind, it will award the body to fast, and the mind to spend some time in these meditations. And this is the act of "rending," as the Prophet ; of "revenge," as the Apostle; and [Joel 2. 13. these two, between them both, in Joel and in Paul, make up the full power and consummatum est of our conversion and contrition both. It remains, that we set not the Church to teach us that, which we never mean to learn ; but that we intend and en- deavour to do as we have been taught And, to do it now. For, as in a circle, I return to the first ni- word " now," which giveth us our time, when we should enter " Now our first degree : "now therefore." And, when all is done, we ^^^'■•^f'"'^- ' shall have somewhat to do, to bring this to a nunc, to a time present. But besides that, "now" at this time, it is the time that all things turn ; now is the only sure part of our time. That which is past is come and gone. That which is to come may peradventure never come. Till to-morrow, till this even- ing, till an hour hence, wc have no assurance. " Now there- fore." Or, if not "now," as near "now," with as little distance from it as may be ; if not this day, this time now ensuing. For, though no time be amiss, to turn in ; yet seeing many 374 Of Repentance and Fasting. s E R M. times go over our heads, and still we cannot find a time to do IV • • ^ — It in, the Church, as I said, willing to reduce the difFusedness of our repentance at large, to the certainty of some one set time, hath placed this "now" upon the time now begun, and commends it to us for the time of our turning to God. And we, by a kind of form which we perform, by the altering of our diet to a less desireful, by oftener resort hither to sermons, than at other times, every week twice; these make, as if we did agree ; seem in a manner to promise, as if we would perform somewhat "now," that we have not all the year before. Sure, the Christian Church ever looked otherwise, had another manner face : going in the street, you should have seen by men's countenances, what time of the year it was : more grave, more composed, than at other times. Perform it then ; and when our turn is done, God shall begin His, et poenitentiam suam gratificabitur nostrte, ' our re- pentance shall beget His.' If we turn from the evil we have done. He will turn from us the evil that should have been done to us. Where there was Commination read, with many curses ; He shall turn them away, and instead of them, shall leave a blessing behind Him. We shall turn His very style, which at first was ad Me, and in the end is ad Dominum Deum vestrum ; and so make a change in Him. 2Ci)r. 7. 9. In nullo detrimentum patiemini, saith the Apostle, "we shall be no losers by it." A less sorrow shall turn away a greater, by a great deal. Weigh the endless sorrow we shall escape by it, it admits no comparison. The contristation is but Trpo? 2 Cor. 7. 8. wpav, saith he, " for an hour ;" the consolation is " for ever and ever" Mat.5.4-6. To this Ingentes there belongeth a heati, "blessed they that thus mourn." To this "hunger and thirst," a saturabi- mini. It is so set by the Church, the time of it, that our Lent shall end with an Easter, the highest and most solemn feast in the year ; the memory of Christ's rising, and the pledge of our blessed and joyful resurrection. To which, &c. A SERMON PRKACHED BEFORE KING JAMES, AT WHITEHALL, OK THE FODBTEENTH OF FEBRCARY, A.D. MDCXXI. BEING ASH-WEDNESDAY. Matthew vi. 16. Moreover, when you fast, look not sour as the hypocrites ; for Or he not they disjigure their faces, that they might seem unto men to hypocTites. fast : verily I say unto you, That they have their reward. Cum autem jejunaiis, nolite fieri sicut hypocritce tristes ; exterminant enim fades suas, ut appareant hoinintbus jejunantes : Amen dico vobis, quia receperunt mercedem suam. Moreover when ye fast, he not, as the hypocrites, of a sad counte- nance : for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you. They have their reward. [Engl. Trans.] The Lessons, which this day have been, and yearly, as upon this day, are read in our ears, do all speak to us of fasting. The lesson of the Old Testament: "Turn to Me with fasting." Joel 2. I2. The lesson of the New, as you have heard : " Wl^en you fast, &c." All, either, as the Epistle, telling us what we should do, "fast;" or, as the Gospel, taking it for granted, that we will fast, and teaching us how to fast, so as we may receive a reward for it at God's hands. These being the lessons, this the tenor of them ; by them there is intimation given us, that the matter of these lessons, that a fast is at hand ; that this " when" is " now." How in our practice it will fall out, I know not ; but certainly, in the Churches meaning, " now." Who would not, we may be sure, look out an Epistle for us beginning with "Turn to Me," cum jejunio, " with fasting;" and a Gospel beginning with cum jejunatis, " When ye fast, &c. ;" but when she presumeth, we mean to fast, to dispose ourselves that way. It were all out of 376 Of Repentance and Fasting. SERM. season to seek and select Scriptures, what to avoid, how to — behave ourselves, in our fasting, if we mean no such matter; if it shall be with us, as yesterday and the day before it was, and no otherwise. This being the Churches intent; this, her time; and this, her text ; what she commends to us, we commend to you, that you would take notice of it, and prepare yourselves for it accord- ingly; that the Epistle be not sent, and the Gospel brought you, and both in vain. The Church thus reaching it forth, I took this text ; and I took it the rather, (if it might be,) to stop the mouths of them that malign it ; at least to remove from it the slander of any untrue imputation. They preach it, they print it, and (no Rev. 9. 3. remedy,) so they will have it, that the "locusts" must needs mean us here. Why ? The locust is all belly, and we all for the belly; liostes jejuniorum, ' the professed enemies of fasting, and of all abstinence.' That we, the Preachers, entertain you with nothing but with discourse about " the mystery of godli- ness ;" but never with exhortation to the exercise of it. That you, the hearers, fall sad, and, as the hypocrites here in the text, look sour, not at the act, but at the A^ery name and men- tion of fasting, at the reading of a text that tends that way, as it might be, of this, now. Sure, for fasting, how we practise it, every one is to answer for himself ; but that we preach it, I take, this day, you all to witness. Joel shall bear record with his cum jejunio; and now Christ with His cum Jejunatis, that we call for it. If it come not, it is not our fault, it is not for want of calling for. We speak to a thing that hath no ears ; but, we speak though ; Ezek.3.\9. Uberamus animas nostras, "we deliver our own souls," and we deliver our Church from that false slander of theirs. The sura. To follow then, whither the Scripture leads us, we are to understand, that as the moral Law of God, in the chapter before ; and as alms and prayers, in this chapter, going through the Pharisees' hands, had gathered much dross; so had the exercise of fasting, likewise. It is the manner of the world, [John 16. and so it is of the "prince of the world," to sophisticate ever ^'■•^ the best things with hypocrisy, with superstition, with a thou- sand devices more. Our Saviour then, as He had done to the other of the Law, to alms and prayers; so, here now He comes Of Repentance and Fasting. 377 to fasting; and comes "with His fan in His hand," to do to Mat. 3. 12, it, as He had done to them before ; to sever " the precious [Jer.is.ia] from the vile;" the "corn" in His floor, from the "chaff." Cum jejunatis is His floor ; nolite. His fan ; hypocrisy, the chaff" to be blown away. His purpose is, He would have all stand and continue in force ; as the Law itself, so the lawful and laudable practice of alms, prayer, and fasting, all three. And it is, as if He should say; That you give alms, pray, and fast, I like it well ; do so still. Only, take this caveat from Me, "When ye fast, beware Luke 12.1. of the sour leaven of hypocrisy, in your looks ;" and of the love of videamini ah hominibus, " to be seen of men," in your Mat. 6. 5. hearts, and all is well ; fast on and spare not. To God it is, you fast ; and " God your Heavenly Father shall see it in secret, and shall reward you for it openly." The parts arise of their own accord ; and at the first view. The divi- give forth themselves, two. 1. For fasting, one. 2. Against hypocrisy, the other. As it were a blast of the trumpet of Sion, to the former ; a retreat, from the latter. Cum jejunatis is set down, to be kept ; nolite esse sicut is fanned away, to be left; "the leaven of the Pharisees," which is hypocrisy, is cast out. In the former, we are to do two things, to settle the duty in I. both words, 1. in jejunatis, first, "fasting" itself. 2. After, in cum, the "time when." In the latter, two things more ; 1. the act of separation and n. casting out the "old leaven," first. 2. And then the danger, if we do it not. The separation ; " that we be not like hypo- crites," or, "not like sour hypocrites." Not like them, in two things. 1. Not in making it our labour to compose our out- side or countenance ; 2. not in making it our end, iit videa- mini, " to be seen of men." But, what if we do? Then followeth the punishment; " you have received your reward." A gentle punishment, (one would think,) to receive a reward; but a punishment, and a grievous one, when we shall weigh how silly a thing it is they receive, men's breath ; and how great a one they lose by it, God's reward. Thus stand the parts. Of which, the former, I fear, will take up this time, cum jejunatis only, and no more. 378 Of Repentance and Fasting. ■s E R M. Cum jejunatis. Two questions there be ; 1 . one, about — — jejunatis, whether we will "fast" at all; 2. the other, about Jejunatis, cum, "when" we will do it. Best get us a fast first; and get fasting." " US a time after. If the thing, if fasting itself be loose, the time will be to seek : God knows, when. The first thing then we are to do, is to possess men's minds with a true conceit touching it. Men seem but faintly persuaded of it, as it were 2. Com- no needful part of a Christian man's duty. "When ye fast;" mauded. ^^^^^ when we fast :" what make you of this ? This leaves us to ourselves ; "when" is no precept, to enjoin it. Take it right; here is cum jejunio in the Epistle : cum jejunatis in the Joel 2. 15. Gospel. The precept is in Joel, " turn to Me with fasting ;" and, within a verse after, " sanctify Me a fast ;" that is a pre- cept, I am sure. Here, it stands thus : what Joel imposeth, Christ supposeth ; implies the thing out of the Prophet, and supplieth the manner how from Himself 1. By the But if we Stand upon a precept, we may go higher than li" 8 ''0 "^"^^j even ad legem, saith Esay, go "to the Law itself," and there is one ; nay, there are more than one. One, for a standing fast every year, enjoined with a severe pain ; he that Num. 29.7. fasted it not was to be cut off from the people of God. One, Num. 30.2, for a voluntary fast ; for whatsoever is votive is voluntary of itself, but whoso took it on him by vow was bound to per- form it. One, for both integrale, 'an entire fast^ from all, upon Lev. 16. 29. the Kipparim day; and another for portionale jejunium, the Num.6..3,4. Nazarites' fast, from some and not from other. The Law Ex.24. 18. will be for it: the Law itself was given at a fast to Moses; " a fast of forty days." 2. By the The Prophets are for it too ; under them, and by their Prophets, direction, to the standing fasts in the Law, you have five more Est. 4 16. ' _ ^ , ' •' . . Zac. 7. 5. added. One in Esther ; four in Zachary ; all enjoined. 8. 19, &c. jj. ^ygQi; ttien, as now it does; the common sort, by their good-wills, would neither have holy-day nor fasting-day. In Amos 8. 5. Amos they complain of the Sabbath, Quando transibit ? " When will it be over?" They thought it as long as any two days, that they might be at vendamus merces, opening their Zac. 7. 3. shops and "selling their wares." In Zachary they shrug at their fasts, What, and must we fast still? Yet more fasting? have we not fasted enough, and have done it thus and thus long ? A sign, they would have been rid of their fasting. of Repentance and Fasting. 379 Willingly, had the shambles open, as well as the shops. But it would not be, they could not obtain it ; the Prophet held them to it, and would not release them. But this is Old Testament. When the New came, what 3. By then ? I had rather you heard St. Augustine than myself ; Himself. Ego, saith he, animo revolvens, ^fc. ' I going over in my mind the writings of the Evangelists and Apostles in the New Tes- [s. Aug. tament,' video jejunium esse prceceptum, ' see fasting is com- p. n.""*" manded, there is a precept for fasting.' So, fasting is in pre- '^Ben^F^t cept there, if we will trust St. Augustine's eyes. And we I'OO.] may; He that, in this place, saith, cum jejunatis, "when ye fast;" saith, in another, turn jejunahunt, "then they shall fast:"' Mark2.20. and that amounts to a precept, I trow. Here you see cum jejunatis a part of the Gospel, a head in Christ's first and most famous Sermon, His Sermon in the Mount. So that, if there should be a meeting about it, (such as hap- pened in the holy Mount at the transfiguration of Christ,) of Moses for the Law, Elias for the Prophets, Christ for the Gospel, famous all three for their fasts, and for one kind of fast, all, (the fast we now begin,) all would be for it; at no time to be left, but in all three estates to be retained; to have the force of a precept in all. But laws and their precepts do often sleep and grow into And prac- disuse. How \s jejunatis for practice? Hath it been used, and I'^^'j^.ig^ when hath it? The fast of Ai, under Joshua; at Gibeah, under the Law. the Judges ; at Mizpah, under Samuel ; at Hebron, under j°j \^2& David ; of Jeremy, before the Captivity ; of Daniel, under it- 2 Sam. of Zachary, after it; at Jerusalem, of the Jews, at the preach- 5^r*g 9 ing of Joel ; at Nineveh, of the Gentiles, at the preaching of Dan. 1. 18. Jonas ; all these shew "when," and that it was no stranger with 7 5. God's people, so long as the Law and Prophets were in force. Joel 1. 14. And what was it, when the Gospel came in? At Antioch, 2°"[jndef where "the Disciples were first called Christians," we find theGospei. them at their fast ; the Prophets of the New Testament there, as well as the Prophets of the Old. Our Saviour said to them, " When He was gone they should fast." So they did. Mar. 2. 20. St. Paul for one; he did it "oft." And for the rest they 2Cor.n.27. approved themselves for Christ's Ministers, (inter alia, by this proof for one,) " by their fasting." And, what themselves did 2 Cor. 6.6. 380 Of Repentance and Fasting. SERM. they advised others to do; even to a-)(6kdi,€iv, "to make thetn — \ — a vacant time to fast in." So that, where the Church for this 1 Cor, 7. 5. day, (otherwise than her custom is on other days,) hath sorted us an Epistle out of the Old Testament, and a Gospel out of the New, (both use to be out of the New,) she did it for this end, to shew that fasting hath the wings of both Cherubin to cover it; both Testaments, Old and New; Joel, for the one; Christ, for^the other. So at all hands to commend it to us. Sure, in the prime of Christianity, it cannot be denied, it was in high esteem, " fasting," in frequent practice, of admirable performance. Which of the Fathers have not Homilies yet extant in the praise of it? What story of their lives, but reports strange things of them, in this kind ? That, either we must cancel all antiquity, or we must acknowledge the constant use and observation of it in the Church of Christ. That Christ said not here, Cum jejunatis, for nothing. They that were under grace went far beyond them under the Law, in their cuw, and in \\\gvc jejunatis, both. The Precept then or practice it wanted not. Neither did they ont."'^ want a ground. It was then holden, (and so may yet for aught that I know,) that when we fast, we exercise the act of more 1. virtues than one. First, an act of that branch of the virtue of temperance that consists, not, in the moderate using, but in abstaining wholly. Abstinence is a virtue. Sure I am the Gen. 3. 6. primovdiale peccaturn, the ' primordial sin' was not abstaining. 2. Secondly, an act or fruit of repentance ; there is poena in pceni- tentia, in the very body of the word; something penal in penitence ; and of that penal part is fasting ; and so an act of 2 Cor.7.ii. justice corrective, reduced to St. Paul's vindicta, or his castiyo iCor.9.27. (.Q^py^g meum. Thirdly, an act of humiliation, to humble the soul, which is both the first and the most usual term for fasting, in the Law and Prophets. For sure, keep the body up, you shall but evil, you shall have much ado to bring or keep the 4. soul down, to humble it. Fourthly, "They that are Christ's,'^ Gal. 5. 24. saith the Apostle, "have and do crucify the flesh with the lusts of it." Fasting is one of the nails of the cross, to which the flesh is fastened, that it rise not, lust not " against the spirit ;" at least, fasting, we fulfil not the lusts of the flesh. Fifthly ; nay, they go farther, and out of Joel's Sanctifcate Lu. 2. 37. jejunium, and out of Luke 2. .37, where the good old widow is Of Repentance and FusVauj. 381 said to have "served God" (and the word is Xarpevco,) "by Ijike2..'i7. fasting and prayer," (not by prayer onl3 but by fasting and prayer,) they have not doubted, but that there is sanctity in it, nor to entitle it an act of the service of God; that we serve God by it. Sixthly, and serve Him with the chief service of 6. all, even of sacrifice. For sure, they are all of one assay, these three ; alms, prayer, and fasting. If the other two, if alms be a sacrifice ; (" with such sacrifices God is pleased;") if prayer be Heb.13.i6. one ; (one, and therefore called "the calves of our lips;") no Hos. 14. 2. reason, to deny fasting to be one too. If " a troubled spirit be Ps. 51. 17. a sacrifice to God," why not a troubled body likewise ? (and it troubles us to fast, that is too plain ;) since we are to " offer R< m. 12.1. our bodies as well as our souls, both a sacrifice to God ;" as our soul by devotion, so our body by mortification. And these three, to offer to God our 1. soul by prayer, 2. our body by abstinence^ 3. our goods by alms-deeds, hath been ever counted teryemina Iwstia, ' the triple or threefold Christian holocaust, or whole burnt-offering.' Seventhly, and lastly, 7. the exercise of it, by inuring ourselves to this part of true Christian discipline, serves to enable us to have ventrem moratum, 'the mastery of our belly' against need be. The Fathers call it daK7)cri<;, and those that used it d(7Kr]ra<; : Acts24. ifi. ... 1 Cor. 9 *^7 St. Paul gave it the word first, and saith he took it himself Use is much ; for, if before we need, we be not used in some sort, at times, to abridge ourselves, but still fill and farce ' our [' i e. glut- bodies, weeks, months, years together ; habituate ourselves in nu"]*"^'^ it; what need soever there should be, what occasion though never so pressing ; (suppose God should call us to " fast," as Esay 22. 12; say, the days should come, of the loss of the isa. 22. 12. Bridegroom,) we should not be able, for our lives, to break Mat. 9. 14, ourselves of that, which all our lives long we have been accus- tomed unto. But, as it is said of Dionysius lying at a siege and forced to keep order, he fell sick because he kept order and surfeited not still, (that having been the corrupt custom of his former life,) so should we. Or, for lack of it, grow as impatient as Esau, rather than lose our broth, sell our birth- Gen. 25.30. right. Or, as they in Numb. 11.5. not part with our " flesh- pots " to die for it, but sit by them, and die by them, and so with them also be buried " in the graves of lust," , The want of which inuring, you see what it hath brought 382 Of Repentatice atul Fastijir/. S E R M. US to. We are so evil able to do it, as we are scarce able to — ^ hear of it. Our Saviour, when He speaks of fasting, points at Mat. 9. 17. this. Having been so long at our " old wine," vpe cannot away nor relish " new." We see the experience, in our preaching it. Our bottles are so used to the old, that they leak with the new ; as fast as we pour it in, it runs out again. We must pro- vide us new vessels ; else, all we speak of this theme will be spoken into the air. But I forget myself. 1. To come to the text : Cum jejunatis, " When ye fast to work out of it a little. 1 say first, this very " when" shews Christ's liking of it ; that there is a time allowed. Else would He allow it no cum, no " when," no time at all. For, videtene Lu. 21. 34. quando, not a moment for riot, or for any thing, God hath not required. And, if for no " idle word," for no idle act (we may be sure,) is there any cum allowed. 2. Again, " When ye fast ; " this " when" is a presupposing at least ; and qui supponit ponit. For can any man fancy, that Christ would presuppose aught that were not required of us by God ? to be asked by the Prophet, or rather by God Isa. 1. 12. Himself, Quis ista gucesivit de manibus vestris? "Who ever required of you to do any such thing?" 3. Nay, His manner of the delivery, this breaking into it with a cum autem, " but when you fast" (as fast you will I make no doubt) ; here, " but when" is plain positive ; nay, it is of the nature of a postulatum ; takes it as granted, lays it for a ground. This, say I, is a precept, and more than a precept; more binding. Ever more forcible is that which is presumed, than that which is enjoined. One, we are confident, will be yielded to straight : needs no injunction. The other, we must use our authority, and well if we so get it. 4. The very things he consorts it with, to wit, alms and prayer, (for, them and this He marshals in one and the same rank, cares for them all alike, rewards them all alike,) and they, I trust, are in precept ; yet, they are no otherwise but [!\rat. 6. 2. presupposed, even as this is, " When ye give alms,'' " When ^•^ ye pray." 5. Then, the pains He takes with it, to fan it, to purge the old leaven from it, to rectify and reduce it to the right manner and end. He would never have taken these pains, but that He held it worth His pains ; but that He would have us use it. Of Repentimce and Fasting. 383 and use it not seldom. For, things seldom to happen the law takes no order for. The parties to whom lie speaks this ; they be Ilis Disciples. 6. Whereby it will fall out to be, not a duty only, but a Chris- tian duty; because they were Christians, the first Christians of all, to whom this cum jejunatis here is spoken. It is for them too ; they are not exempted from it. Nay, He likes it so well, as He goes about to prepare even 7. hypocrites, and to frame them fit for it. A sign, it was not their double fast, but their double face, that is their dis- sembling first, and then their disdain of other. He found fault with. And, to conclude, the double pi'omise He annexeth ; first, 8. to answer their complaint, "Why do we fast, and Thou seest it isa. 58. 3. not, punish ourselves, and Thou regardest it not?" that they shall never need to fear, their fasting shall be begged for con- cealed ; though it were never so secret done, though not a man on earth see them, lie from Heaven will cast His eye on them and regard them. And second, as He shall not want an eye to see, so neither 9. shall He a hand to reward them for it: they shall not fast for nothing. " His Heavenly Father That sees them in secret shall reward them openly the upshot of all. All these, 1. the manner He delivers it in ; 2. the parties He delivers it to ; 3. the things He matches it with ; 4. the honour He doth it ; 5. the care He shews of it ; 6. that He frames His Disciples ; 7. that He frames even hypocrites for it ; 8, 9. the double promise He assureth upon it ; all these are as so many passings through the furnace. Would He do all this, and not hold it a duty required by God, and accept- able to Him ? Have we a precept, a practice, a promise ; a flat precept, constant practice, and an ample promise, and doubt we yet whether we should do it or no ? No sure. As long as these words shall stand in St. Matthew, jejunatis must stand, and have a cum, a time " when" allowed for it. And now to that cum let us come. Allowing jejunatis, the thing, we cannot but allow it a li. time " when," For there is a time when, for " every thing ^\meio^ under the sun." Only, when that " when" shall be, we shall f*"'"'?- Eccl. 3. I not so easily agree. We would fain have our fast, loose ; be 384 Of Repentance and Fasthiy, SE RM. left to ourselves for the time : this " when" to be when our- V. selves please. And, when will it be ? Indeed, the practice of the world would make one think this " when" to be without a " then a time, as they say, in nubibus. A case but put ; " lohen," that is, when we list, and not else. As if Christ had said ; If ever you do, if at any time you feel yourself disposed, then to observe this caution. Otherwise, left to our own liberty, when that shall be, and whether it shall be or no. If this should be so, I have hit upon a very happy text. For, if this be all, it is no sooner said than done ; done every where all this land over. Nay, we may say with the young Lu. 18. 21. man in the Gospel, " All this have we done from our youth up." For, when we fast, we look not sour, we disfigure not our faces, we never seek to be seen of men. I say when we fast ; for, the truth is, we fast not at all ; but when we fast, all this is kept. That if this should be the meaning, we have done, before we begin. To destroy a text is not so evil, as to make a text destroy itself; which, by this sense, will come to pass. But if this sense be senseless, this gloss, (as a viper) eats out the bowels of the text. We must then resolve, this is no case put; it is a ground laid. No hypothetical fast, If you shall ; but categorical, " When you do." For except it be, all that follows is to no purpose. To what purpose is it, to direct what not to do, what to do in our fast, if we never mean to fast ? for Christ to set us down instructions how to carry ourselves, in that, we never mean to go about ? Plain dealing were, to tell Him, we will use His counsel in some other matter ; as for fasting, we find ourselves no way disposed to it. But, by the grace of God, we are not so far gone yet. We see. His will is, we should do it; and take a time to do it we will, and when is that? " When ye fast :" when fast ye ? A time we said there is, if " for all things under the sun," then for that. Let us speak but after the manner of men, go to it but fTertullde natura tenus, as saith Tertullian, and nature itself will teach etie'q.]^ us " when." Mark but when nature will yield to it; when and in what case, the natural man will fast, without eye to God, or Christ, or religion at all. So shall we be within the Apostle's, iCor.ii.u. " Doth not nature itself teach you?" Of Repentance and Fasting. 385 The time of fear is a time of fasting with the natural man, i. nec est cibi tcmjmsin pcriculo for ' in time of danger men have [^m"'^'^* no mind of meat.' They in the ship with St. Paul, when t' ey i. When in fear. looked every hour to be cast away, the tempest was such, j^i xertuii. there was, saith St. Luke, ttoXA,?) aciLTLa, "no spending o{<^^i^^n. victuals," all that while. Will we naturally fast for fear of the Acts 27.21. wreck of our ship, and not be afraid as much of the wreck of our souls by sin, and fast for that? Doth not nature teach us this? There is one "when." When the natural man is in any inward grief of heart, it 2. will take away his stomach, he will fast. Semper moeroris grief. sequela jejtmium, ut Icetitice accessio sagina, saith Tertullian, [Tertull. 'fasting foUoweth mourning, as feasting doth mirth.' The c.*^ /.]''"" time of mourning is one of Solomon's times ; why that is our Eccl. 3. 4. time of fasting. Fasting and mourning, Joel joins them both, joel 2. 12. The afflicted soul, in his prayer, "My heart was smitten with Ps. 102. 4. heaviness ; " how then ? " So that I forgat to eat my bread." Our Saviour Christ shews it best: He was asked, " Why fast not your Disciples?" He answers not. How can they fast? (as He should, for that was their question ;) but, how " can they Mat. 9. 14, mourn, while the Bridegroom is with them ?" As much to say as, if they could mourn, they would not fail but fast certainly. So, we see, did Hannah, et non capiebat cibos. isam. 1. So, we see, did David, for the death of Jonathan : and again ' , ' . . ® 2 Sam. 1. when his child lay a dying; mourned and fasted for both. 12; 12. 16. Upon sorrow for the death of a friend, or a child, can we fast then, dictante natura ; and can we not do as much for our sins, the death of our souls ? Doth not nature teach us that ? Nor, for the death of Christ neither, which our sins were the cause of? There is another, a second " when." Thirdly, anger him throughly, the natural will to his fast. .3. Ahab, for cursed heart that he could not have his will, Naboth an<^er" would not let him have his vineyard, to bed he goes, and no 1 Kings 21. meat would down with him. Could he, out of his pure naturals, for cursed heart, leave his meat and fast ; and can- not we do the like for just indignation at ourselves; for pro- voking God's anger, with the cursed thoughts of our heart, and words of our mouth, and deeds of our whole body ? can- not we be got to it ? Will not nature teach us this ? A third " when." c c 386 Of Repentance and Fasting. SERM. Fourthly, the natural man, when he is in the fervour of — his desire, (if it be an earnest desire,) he will pursue that he When in a desires SO hard, as he will forget his meat quite. Not a man desfre.^ SO hardy as to " eat any thing till sunset," saith Saul, when i^Sam. 14. he had his enemies in chase ; such was his desire of victory. What speak we of victory ? we see Esau so eager in follow- [Gen. 25. ing his sport, that he came home at night so faint, and he paid dear for his supper ; yet felt it not all day, while he was hot on his game. Did we hunger and thirst for the recovery of God's favour, (as did Saul for his victory, or Esau for his sport,) we would not think it much to fast as they did. Will not nature teach us this neither ? A fourth " when." Put the natural man into any of these passions kindly, you shall need proclaim no fast for him, he will do it of himself Now, mark these four well ; 1. fear, 2. sorrow, 3. anger, 2Cor.7.ii. 4. desire, and look into 2 Cor. 7. 11. if they be not there made, as it were, the four elements of repentance, the consti- [•i.e.essen- tutive ' Causes of it. 1. Fear, the middle point, the centre of it. 2. Sorrow, that works it. And if sorry for sin, then of necessity 3. angry with the sinner, (that is ourselves,) for committing it. It is there called indignation, and no slight one, but proceeding ad vindictam, to be wreaked on ourselves for it. 4. And desire is there too, and zeal joined with it to give it an edge. These four, the proper passions all of repent- ance, and these four carry every one, as we say, his fast on his back. Much more, where they all meet, as, in true earnest repentance, they all should. It is sure, God planted these passions in our nature, to be bestowed chiefly upon their chief objects. And their chief objects are : 1. Of fear, that which is most fearful, the wrath of God. 2. Of anger, that which most certainly procureth it, that is, our sin. 3. Of desire, that, than which nothing is more to be desired, God's favour. 4. Of sorrow, that we have most cause to be sorry for, the loss of it. There then to shew them, there to bestow them ; which if we did in kind, we need never take thought for a cum to our jejunatis. For grief of heart, for worldly loss, for bodily fear of drowning, for bitter anger we can do it ; why not, for the grief of our grievous offences ? for fear of being drowned in Of Repentance and F' was forty days, in the famous repentance oi Nmeveh ; happy j^n 3 4 394 Of Repentance and Fasting. se;rm. for the issue; recommended by Christ's own mouth, and pro- ^ — pounded to us as a pattern. Other set time, save this, she found not ; she took the same then : she could not tell how, or when to take a better, than that of God's own giving. The rather, that Moses, Elias, and Christ Himself, had hit upon the same number in their fast. It is not nothing that it con- taineth, though it be but an imperfect expressing of the [IgTiat. ad pattern of so worthy authors ; of Christ's specially. Ignatius Ep!''spur. hath said it before me : I dare say it after him. ad fin.] Yor the season ; the Prophet hath said it, if we know not .pi,g when to lay our fast, our "returning to God," lay it with the season : stork, and the swallow : take their time, do it cum hirundinibus, in the J ? 3 7 spring. rather than fail. Jer. 8. 7. g^j. ijggj^jgg ^j^^j-, the Church hath laid it most conveniently Against ' ... Easter. to end with the feast of Christ's rising, and so to go imme- diately before it ; that against that time, (as the Fathers in the [Vid. first great Council of Nice wish it,) all being restored, and all Vit'^Con-'' prepared by it, we may of all hands celebrate that high day, stant.3.i8.] ^jjj bring to "God a pure offering:" the ver}"^ words of the Council. Then, to end with that high feast, that the saying of Zachary may be fulfilled, that our fast shall be to us Zae. 8. 19. " turned into high feasts ;" as that is the highest and greatest of our religion ; for which cause this fast is called jejunium Paschale, with reference to it ; for Easter and Lent stand upon one base : both stand and fall together. 3. A.S to the manner of our abstinence. It is sure, the fast in manner, kind was in these three, 1. Panem non comedit, 3. potum non bibit, 3. ad vesperam ; 'neither eat nor drink at all till night.' But non onines capiunt sermonem hunc, 'all are not capable of this saying;' yet he that can, let him. But for them that cannot, the Church, (as a tender indulgent mother unto all,) that she may win somewhat, is content to remit of the rigour of this ; turns her on all sides, to lay no more on us than we can endure, if she can find ought in Scriptures to relieve us. And that doth she three ways. 1. Daniel's 1. Non panem, 'no manner meat,' none at all; nay, not no manner meat at all : too hard that. What say you to non talem, not altogether none, but not such or such meat ? Non panem Dan. 10. 3. desiderabilem, " no dainty alluring meats," and namely, no flesh. Now we do alter the quality yet. Daniel's fast we Of Repentance and Fasting. 395 termed it, on which the Church did ground her ^rjpocjiayia, [Vid. Ter. and ours may ground her eating of fish, (say what we will,) a jun. c.«i.' less pleasing diet, and less desired by us. '^"•l 2. Again, Non comedit, 'Not eat at all not altogether any?' 2. Tobias' That were too strict. What say you to No7i tantum ? To " some, but 'not so much ?' Before, altered the quality; here, abates of the quantity. Not in that quantity, not so much, not so oft as at other times. To cut off one meal, if both you cannot ; They call it Toby's fast, Quando derclinquebatur Tob. 2. 4. prandiitm, he left his dinner. Dinner or supper, all is one, so one be left; nec ventrem cibo oneres duplicato, (it is St. Hierome,) 'and we do not double ballast our bellies.' And these two we call portionale jejuniiim ; takes not away all, takes some and leaves some; leaves us an honest portion, leaves us a meal ; some kind and some measure only abridged. 3. Not usque ad vesperam, not ' till night, forbear;' too long 3. Come- that. What say you to (as before not so oft, so here) not so pete?"'* soon, as at other times? Put off the time of our repast; make our molestus cliens break his hours a little ; if not ad vesperam, as near vesperam as we may. Cornelius' fast they call it; he was " fasting at the ninth hour," that is, our three at after- Acts lo. 3. noon ; till then. Peter's fast they find, and that is the lowest ; he was "fasting till past the sixth hour;" till then. Thus Acts lo. 9. indulgent she is ; for these are not without example in Scrip- ture, we see, nor unknown to antiquity. But, for antiquity, then, they pressed forward as much as they could ; and we draw backward all that ever we can. These then, or as many, or as much of these as we can ; so to make some manner show, some countenance toward it ; that, if not keep pace with the ancient Church, yet not to give them over clean ; not to fall behind them so far, till we lose the sight of them quite, and so fall to abandon cum jejunatis altogether. And thus much for this cum, this very time, and the manner of jejunatis, our fasting in it. And, now we have found us a time for our fast, God send us to get a fast for our time, jejunatis for our cum. For this cum is now come. Here then is the place and time to answer Christ's " When ye fast ;" to ask. When fast we ? Every one to enter into his own heart, and convent himself about the taking of these times, how oft we have taken them. How oft ? 396 Of Repentance and Fasting, SERM. I would it were come to that. I fear, it must be, whether we V. '- have taken them at all or no ? Whether any of them ? And if this question should be put us, I report me to our con- sciences, a many of us, whether it would not appose us to tell, when this " when" last was. But if, as I doubt, we have not taken them ; then I ask. Why have we not ? Have we no sins to be censured? Are we in no fear of wrath to come ? Our case sure is fearful, if we fear not. Are our souls so very humble, our bodies so in subjection, we need it not ? I marvel, it should be so ; it should be needful for St. Paul; his body should need chastening; ours none. What, is the Bridegroom alway with us ? He with us, and we with Him always? Do we never part? Doth that time never come? Never, all our life long? Yes, yes; we want no times, nor we want no causes ; we want wills. Whereof sure we should do well to bethink ourselves better, lest we be out of the Gospel quite. Christ cannot say to us, " When ye fast," if we fast not at all. Somewhat would be done sure, if it were but to make Christ speak to some purpose. Somewhat ; or all that hath been said, and all that shall be, is to no purpose. No use of it, of a caution, how to do that, we have no meaning ever once to do at all. I should now come to the cautions ; and (if God will) so I will ; but at some other time. But as our times are inclined to leave sensuality to our own (which we would fain have called Christian) liberty ; we had need to bend, and to spend our whole exhortation, not so much against hypocrisy, as for fasting, to keep life in it. As our age falls out, that is not so necessary. Time was, when fasting was in credit ; and when a thing is in request, then is counterfeiting to be feared, then take heed of hypocrisy. But now, when little is attributed to the true, then, should I think, there needs little fear of the false. So that it were not altogether without reason, as the world goes, not to stand on the latter so much, but even let it go ; and, so men would fast, let their countenances be as pleased them ; let them look as sour as they list. Should I say so, I might well enough, for auy fear, fasting will now be made matter of vain-glory. But that were to extend my commission : I dare not; but leave it as Christ hath Of Repentance and Fasting, 397 left it, and say with the Apostle, Quod accepi a Domino, " What iCor.ii.23. I have received of tlie Lord," that, and no other thing ; and, as I have received it of the Lord, so, and no otherwise, deliver I it unto you ; and persuade, exhort, entreat, and even beseech you to do it ; but not as hypocrites : and back again, not as hypocrites to do it ; not so ; yet in any wise to do it ; to fulfil, to make good Christ's cum jejunatis. Jejunatis, you know what tense it is. In the present tense He hath put it, for at the present time He requireth it. It is not cum jejunabitis, or cum jijunaturi estis, when you shall fast, but when you do. He speaks, as if He would have us fall in hand with it presently, and make no future fast of it. The cum is already come ; and we to do it, now it is come ; to make answer to Christ's " When you fast," with, Now we fast, now we are at it, this day, commonly called caput jejunii, ' the head of it ;' to which head I trust we will allow a body, and so make a fast of it. And even so then, let us do. And He That saith it will see it, and seeing it, will see it shall not go " without a reward" at His hands; see, that any hunger or thirst, for Him and upon His word suffered, shall be satisfied at His Heavenly table, at the great Easter-Day, the day of the last resurrection ; where there shall be no fasting any more, but a feast with all joy and jubilee for ever. A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE KING JAMES, AT WHITEHALL, ON THE SIXTH OF MARCH, A.D. MDCXXII. BEING ASH-WEDNESDAT. VI. Matthew vi. 16, Or be not Moreover when you fast look not sour as the hypocrites ; for hypocriies. ^^^^V disfigure their faces that they might seem unto men to fast : verily I say unto you. That they have their reicard. Cum autem jejumtis, 7iolite fieri sicut hypocritee tristes; exterminant enim fades suas, ut appareant hominibus jejunantes : Amen dico vobis, quia receperunt mercedem suam. [Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance : for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you. They have their reward. Engl. Trans.] SERM. Our last year's endeavours were out of the two first words. Cum jejunatis, " When ye fast," to settle a true conceit, what every good Christian man is to hold, both jejunatis, "fasting itself," and of cum, the time " when." And that not without great need ; the most part seem so faintly persuaded of fasting, as if it were no needful part of a Christian man's duty ; and, of the time, as if Christ's cum did never come. And this we did, as for liberasti animam tuam, " to deliver our own souls ;" so to deliver the doctrine of our Church from a malicious slander cast on it, as if it favoured any way the filling or farcing ourselves at this no less than at other times ; and did not require and enjoin a more strict and penitential kind of life, at this time, than all the year beside. Wherein, if God have so blessed our endeavours, that these two points be settled, we may then go forward to the rest ; that is, " Be not like hypocrites." If we resolve that Christ's " when" shall have a " then," and then, fast we wiU. Of Ixi'pentunce and Fusthuj. 399 The next point is a caveat, what we are to take heed of, when we fast ; that we fast in secret, make no show of it ; our fast be to God and not to men; that we fast not for vain- glory, as hypocrites do. I confess, I proceed to this second part, as to that, wliereof there is not so much need ; and, but that I take myself bound to prosecute the text I have begun, I would choose rather to spend the hour in speaking again for the duty, to have it done ; than to deal with the caution, what to eschew in the doing. We cannot get men to it, to fast; what need we then spend any speech, how they should not do it, when they do it not ? We divided the text into two parts ; one, for fasting ; the other, against hypocrisy. As our times are, there is more need to speak for fasting, than against hypocrisy. And yet against that too: (God forbid, that, or any vice should be favoured!) but not against hypocrisy, in fasting. There is little fear of that. Men "fast not like hypocrites," when they fast not at all. But you will be pleased to call to mind, how we then left, and wherewith we concluded the last year. That we must not think any thing more than needs, in any speech of Christ's. That "what we have received of the Lord," that, and no other thing; and as we have received it of the Lord, so and no other- wise are we to deliver it unto you. And, from Him have we received both cum Jejunatis, and 7ie siiis ; the one as well as the other. And so, we set forward to ne sitis sicut, the caution ; yet so, as our first caution ever be, we omit not to fast. Not, at other times ; but not at this specially, when the Church, or rather, God, by the Church, her ancient order and custom calls us to it. For when are we to look to all this ? what time ? Why, " when we fast :" that "when" is still to be kept in mind; to that we must come. That, the ground of all ; thither we must return again in the end. We say then, cum jejunatis is the good seed-corn which The sum Christ Himself hath sown. All besides is but chaff to be sion.^'^'" blown away. And now He takes His "fan in His hand," to fan away this " chaff." For quid palece ad triticum, saith God in Jeremy, wheat and chaff, what should they do Jcr. 23. 28. 400 Of Repentance and Fasti?ig. SERM. together? These must be severed; one to be laid up in the '- garner, the other to be burnt with unquenchable fire. I. 1. The " fan" in these words, Nulite fieri sirnt, " Be not like." The "chaff" is in the word hypocrites. First then, hypocrisy in general to be avoided. II- 2. But, here is a special kind, sicut hypocrita tristes, "not sour, like hypocrites ;" or, " not like sour hypocrites." Not like them. III. 3. Not like them, wherein ? In two points upon which the fan goes. 1. Not like them, in their sicut. 2. Not like them, in their ut. Not, in their manner how; not, in their end why. 1. Not in their manner how. Why, what do they ? they are all for the countenance ; and that they disfigure. In making it their labour, to have it appear in their countenance. 2. And, why do they so ? that so, "men may know them for fasters." In making it their end, to " be seen of men." These two He fans away. 4. But, what if one could find in his heart to fast, and yet would have men see it, and commend him for it, ad quod damnum, 'what hurt will come of it?' One would think, none ; Christ says Amen to it. They make it their " reward, to be seen of men." Why, it shall be their reward, they shall be seen of men: that is all they would have to come. Why, this, one would never think a punishment; but it is one. And think it not a small one, for, though it seem no great harm to receive a reward of praise; yet when we shall lay together, how poor a thing it is they receive, man's praise ; and how great an one they lose by the means, God's reward ; they had better be without it. For, when they have that, there is all : all that shall come of their fasting ; acceperunt suam, amiserunt meam, "they have received their reward," they have lost mine; and Christ to say Amen to it ; this, say I, is sure a heavy punishment. Therefore look to it. And when the chaff is blown away, and the floor purged ; Lii. 12. 1. when the old leaven which is hypocrisy is cast out; of the rest, we are to make our sweet-bread, now against the great feast of our Passover, we make ready for. I. When we have got past the two first words; when the thing Be 'not is won, and the time ; and we resolved, that fast we will ; and like." when we will ; and we set ourselves seriously to it ; what, is all Of Repentance and Fdsting. 401 safe ? Will the devil be gone his way ? Shall we hear no more of him, as soon aS he sees us so set ? No indeed ; but hovers about us still, as if there were yet somewhat for him to do. Our blessed Saviour, when the " Spirit led Him into the wilderness," and He fell to His fast, it is said, that "then, the tempter came to Him :" so, we must make reckoning, he will Mat. 4. 3. to us. It is exceeding behoveful for us, to take notice of this: as they say, to know the length of the devil's chain ; that, neither full nor fasting, we are out of his reach, but he will be busy with us in them both. Attends our feasts, to make " our table a snare ;" attends our fasts, " to turn them," as Ps. 69. 22. well as our prayers, " into sin." Eating, he is busy with Ps. 109. 7. us, to make us eat like Esau. Fasting, no less busy, to make Gen.25.30. us fast like the Pharisee. And look what in this, in the rest. Lu. is. 12. Both alms and prayer too are subject to it. Therefore, in and through all, whether we give alms, pray, or fast, to have an eye to him, in all. Praying, fasting, giving alms, he leaves us not; gives us not over, till he have corrupted the manner; perverted the end; till, one way or other, he have set them awry. His first assay is, 7ie honum, ' we do not that which is good,' we fast not at all: his second is, ne honum bene, 'we do it not as we should,' by putting to it a wrong sicut, an undue manner ; or a wrong ut, an undue end ; that so, we may do what God commands us, for the devil's end. Sure, it is not enough to be exercised in doing good ; we must look to both the sicut, the manner how we do it ; and to the ut, the end why we do it ; or he mayhap go beyond us ; and both spoil them, and spoil us of our reward for them. But then again, take heed, ye be not caught here ; and, for doubt ye may do it amiss, be brought not to do it at all, but let all alone. That is another of his tricks ; for his method or manner of proceeding, in this point, is well worth our observ- ing ; nosse Imc solus est. It is one of the profunda Satana, as Rev. 2. £4. the Kevelation calls them, the " deep fetches, or policies of Satan." For, would any man think, he would use this text, these very words of our Saviour, " Be not like hypocrites," to draw men from fasting? He doth. For, finding here, fasting and hypocrites thus close together ; and so, that hypocrites use to fast; he persuades some, (and such as ween themselves no fools,) to think, they cannot fast, but they must ipso facto D d 402 Of Repentance and Fasting. SERM. prove hypocrites. Sets up this for a scarecrow, to raise up a '- — vain fear in them, and so to chase them from it. Will ye fast? God's Lord take heed what you do; do it not. Why? Ne sitis sicut hypocrites ; for, and you do, " you will be taken for an hypocrite." And mark the double taking of ne sitis: ne sitis, "be not like," saith Christ : ne sitis, ' lest you be like,' saith he. Now, the belly is apt and easy enough to apprehend any fear in this kind; any opposition, or exposition, any thing that makes for it. Nay, hereby he prevails with them, not only to give over fasting themselves ; but draws them farther to grow jealous, lest every one that fasts be not tainted that way; and lest every one that preaches for it be not justly to be suspected, as that way given ; as having in him some sparks of a Phari- see. Thus doth he. And will you see how compendious a way he deviseth, to rid us clean of all hypocrisy ? Thus : to keep no Lent ; not to fast at all ; and so, he will warrant us, we shall be sure to be clear from being any hypocrites. So, to avoid hypocrisy, he voids fasting quite. Mat. 12.24. But what is this, but to "cast out devils by the power of Beelzebub," one devil with another? To cast out hypocrisy by gluttony? To cast out superstition, with the "profane- Heb. 12.16. ness of Esau," who, rather than offend his belly, cared not what became of his birthright? To bring in ne jejunetis, 'fast not ;' under colour of 7ie sitis hypocritce, " not being like hypo- crites." To cast out ne sitis hypocritcB, ' be no hypocrites,' with sitis epicuri, * die not in debt to your bellies.' The devil's only way, to rid hypocrisy, by engrossing epicurism. But alas ! what will this avail us ? what is gotten by this ? Small ease will it be, God knows, for any, not to be comdemn- Mat.24.51. ed as an hypocrite, seeing he that "fell to eat and drink with good fellows," (in the twenty-fourth chapter after,) had " his portion given him with hypocrites," as good a trencherman as he had been, all his life-time. So that, both come into one room, both lie together, and fry together in one place of torments. And thither it is he would bring us,'he cares not, whither way. This is his first assay: and much hurt he hath done this way. Of Rf]>entunce and Fasting. 403 I know not how, but fasting is laid aside : in a manner clean gone : few or none keep it. How is it gone ? What is pre- tended, or given out for it? But for fear of doing that, which persons do that are superstitiously given ; fear of being like them. For no fear of hypocrisy, now : sicut hypocritas. is now gone. But, by this one precedent, this one ne sitis sicut, he can make more. As now, in place of " Be not like hypo- crites," is come a fear of ' Be not like Papists ;' we shall be like Papists, if we do. And, not to fast is made a super- sedeas to all Popery ; as if that alone were enough, to make us truly Reformed. This is all our fear now. But, ibi trepidaverunt timore, uhi non erat timor, " There Ps. 14. 5. were they afraid where no fear was." This is but a scarecrow neither. 1. First set down this ; we must do something that hypocrites and superstitious persons do, or we must give over alms too, and prayer, as well as fasting ; for they have a like ne sitis upon them. You shall find hypocritce in at all three. 2. Then the second ; we may do what hypocrites do, and yet not do it as they do it. And it is the sicut, the manner, not the thing itself, that Christ here excepts to. So that fear is at an end. 3. Lastly, these words being directed by Christ, and by Him spoken to His Disciples, by the grace of God, all be not hypocrites or superstitious that fast; for Christ's Disciples were neither. We may fast then like Christ's Disciples ; we may be of their number. And indeed the truth is ; Christ's Disciples are only truly seized of it. Hypocrites do but en- croach upon it, or rather on the outside of it, as doth the wolf upon the sheep's clothing. But neither is the sheep to leave or lay down his fleece ; nor the Christian man, his fast ; because otherwhile, the wolf is found in the one, or the hypocrite at the other. In three short words Christ teacheth us a way to answer both. His 7ie sitis sicut will make both fly away, as chaff before the fan, and cum jejunatis never be stirred, but lie still. Do the hypocrites fast, to be seen, do they ? and do the Papists fast, with opinion of merit? Why, "Be not like hypocrites," but yet fast; nor be not like Papists, no more than like hypocrites, yet fast though. Christ's nc sitis will serve for these, and for as many as the devil can devise. Fast not like them ; fast D d 2 404 Of Repentance and Fasting. SERAI, like Christ's Disciples, and all is well. And this, for his first '- way of turning Christ's cum jejiuiatis into ne jejunetis, upon fear of being like hypocrites, if we so do. But if, this way, he succeed not, to keep us from it, but fast we will ; then comes he about, with a new stratagem. And that by way of good wholesome counsel ; that if we will needs fast, we would do it to some purpose ; that is, do it so, as we may be known to do it, in any wise. For to what purpose will it be to do it in tenebris? It is no work of darkness ; or, as good in a blind corner, where no man can take notice of it; as if we were ashamed to be seen about so good a work. Nay, in any wise, take heed of concealment of your fast, of "hiding it Mat. 5. 15. under a bushel." And, good reason ; they be M orks of light, all three, alms, prayer, and fasting; and so love to be brought to light, to be set on a candlestick, and to be seen. Therefore, as before, in our alms, he had devised we should call our alms- Mat. 6. 2. folk about us with a " trumpet and, as in prayer, that we Mat. (5. 5. should do it in choice places, where folk may come by, and see us at it ; and to be a good deal longer than oi'dinary, that so, we may seem somewhat singular, and to have more in us than our fellows ; so, here now, when it is fasting-day with us, to get us a fasting-day-face at any hand. For that, except we be somewhat altered in countenance, no man will look at us, or mark us ; there will be no notice taken of it ; and so, as good not fast at all ; but if it appear in our faces, we shall both get reputation to ourselves, and our profession shall receive credit besides. Thus doth he meddle his chaff ; mould in his 1 Cor. 5. 7. sour leaven into Christ's nova conspersio ; to make us do what God would have us, for his own ; to do God's work for the Joel 1. 14; devil's end. " Sanctify Me a fast," as I told, shews there is sanctity in it ; a holy duty it is, and he seeks to breed moths in it. For so the Fathers call hypocrisy tineam sanciitatis, ' the moth that frets in sunder all that holy or good is and so, by that means, make it a mere moth-eaten fast. Thus, whithersoever we turn ourselves, he meets with us still. These are his designs ; this doth he, diversis itineribus, 'by contrary ways' seek to circumvent us. First, down he sits in his court, and offers us a license, not to keep Lent; to keep what diet we will ; and if we refuse it, threatens us, he will get us presented for hypocrites. But, if that move us Of Repentance and Fust'uKj. 405 not, but \vc stand out resolute for all his scarecrow, then, out he comes in a new style ; falls to commend us, as good orderly men ; but withal to advise us friendly, to do all so as may be for our best behoof ; which is, to have it seen in any wise. And, (that which is strange,) scares us with that, in the begin- ninsc, which he brings us to in the end : even, to do that in hypocrisy, that before he wished us in no wise to do, for fear of hypocrisy. So as, upon the matter, now it is come to sitis hypocrite, though not in so broad terms ; but, so is his mean- ing. Do it like hypocrites, to be seen. This is the proper place : here now comes Christ with His , ^\ „ ^ . „ . . The chaff, fan, and "severs the precious from the vile," with ne 2. Not like sicut. And think it never a whit the worse for this ne sitis. |iypo"^'"''es in general. Alms hath the same before ; and so hath pra3'er the very [Jer.i5.i9.] same : and many a ne sitis belong to these, and to every good duty. They are not the worse ; the better rather, for the fan- ning ; i\\ey are rid by it of much refuse stuff. And even to this of fasting, there belongs more " Be not likes," than one. Not like the Manichees, that thought the creatures unclean. Not like them, whose fast is a commutation of gluttony. Not like them, that fast to save charges. Not like them, that make it an opus operatum ; and so it be done, it skills not how, with them; it skills not ^ox anj sicut. Not like any of these. One ne sitis serves them all, sends them all going one after another, as many as come. Ne sitis to them all, and to every, or any of them all. And so, you shall not need give over your fasting for any of them all. I would fast, but for being like one of these : why, be not like one of these, and yet fast notwithstanding. Not like any one of these. But specially, saith Christ here, not " like hypocrites." Why, not like them? For, then, the Pharisees fasted and their disciples ; and John fasted, and Mar. 2. I8. his disciples ; there was, then, fasting on all hands. And then is the time of hypocrisy ; then, doth it abound most, when things are in request, when most used ; then, is most danger of counterfeiting. And hypocrisy is but a kind of counterfeit- ing, as I shall shew you. Therefore, as those times were, "Be not like hypocrites." Not like them ? aud them, of all other, one would choose to be like ; they of all others are most like to fast ; they look as if they fasted ; they carry their fast in their face, tliey. Why, 406 Of Repentance and Fasting. SERM. that Christ likes not; the carryino; it in their face: tells us VI. . 'Jo ■ plainly they be not the men we take them for : no true fasters they ; they be but hypocrites. Hypo- Hypocrites? What is that? We must needs stay a little, is, sfase- to Search out the true sense of that word ; they be so baited, piajers. ^.j^^ Gospel through; there be so many woes cried against them. The word hypocrite is neither English nor Latin, but as a denizen. Originally, it is a known Greek word ; and is, in that tongue, the ordinary and proper name for those whom the Latin term histriones, and we in English ' stage-players ;' such as in disguised attire and hair present themselves on a stage, and there oft represent those, whom, God knows, they are far from ; but yet outwardly take upon them their persons, as if they were. And the ground of the word is, they are therefore called hi/pocritcB, for that, to give a true judgment of them, you must vTTOKpiueiv, 'judge them, not by their player's coat above, but by that they are underneath in their own,' when their gorgeous and gay attire is off. That may be gallant and brave ; they themselves are, it skills not what ; peradventure, he that played the Souldan, but a Sowter. The word, in the tongue Christ spake, is as much to say as one ina vizor, assum'nis valtwn, a 'fa^e taker ;' one that hath got him a taken-on-face, which is none of his own, nor nothing like it: as in plays and shows the manner is. But we hold us to the word hypocritce. The native sense of the word you see ; and it is as if he had said in plain English, When ye fast, be not like these same stage-players. So it signifies, at the first. And at the second hand, all others, which do off of the stage that which they do upon it ; and in court, city, or country, carry themselves with other faces than their own, as these do on the stage, at play-houses. The heathen man long since observed, that Mundus scena ; [Vide that, in his conceit, ' the world for all the world was like a stage Fragment. Petron. or theatre scarce a true face m it ; all in a manner personate ; Shak?p. and the actions in the world not much unlike to their acting Like it°" their parts in the acts and scenes of a stage-play ; but our act2.sc.7.1 SjjyJqu]- Christ, He goes farther; He tells us hereof astranger matter. That there want not, that make His Church a very stage ; and play with religion, and play religion and every part Of Repentance and Fasting, 407 of it : so carrying themselves in things pertaining to God, as if they had some play or pageant in hand. It is but too true, this. If you will set up a stage, I will find you actors for it enow. Will you see alms played ? Out comes Judas sagely, with a sentence in his mouth, ut (juid perditio hcec ? " Alas, it would Mat. 26. s. have been better bestowed upon a many of poor people ; why should there be such waste upon Christ's head?" right, the supplication of beggars. Will you see prayer played ? Look upon the players in the twenty-third chapter after, that under colour of "a long Mat. 23.14. prayer," now and then prey upon the houses and goods of a sort of seduced widows; and make as good gain of their prayers, as Judas would have done of his alms. But sermons go away with it now: the Church is, then, full ; and (God knows) a few true hearers; the rest are but a sort of sermon -hypocrites. The scene is in the thirty-third of Ezek. 33. Ezekiel ; " O let us go hear the word ;" and the Prophet adds, " so was the fashion then," and for fashion, it was. And thither they come, and when they are come, here sit they, but their heart is elsewhere, wandering where it will. Either they attend not ; or, if they do, it is to make jests. Or, at the best, it is but as " they hear a song of one that hath a pleasing Ezek. 33. voice ;" and no more comes of the sermon than of the song. Or if you love the New Testament better, there have you, in the sixth of Mark, Herod sending for John Baptist oft, and Mar. 6. 20. hearing full devoutly, till, for a no}i licet tibi, in one of his ser- Mar. 6.28. mons, he made his head flj' off his shoulders. And in very deed, the marriage at Shechem and the circumcision for it; Gcn.34.13. Absalom's vow; Jehu's sacrifice; what were they but very 2Sam.i.5.7. plays, mere masks, imitations of him that is Rosciiis in scena, 2 Kings 10. 'the master hypocrite of all,' who (in the Old Testament) got him on a mantle, and played Samuel at Endor ; and (in 1 Sam. 28. the New) got him wings and bright raiment, and came forth "transformed into an angel of light?" To whose company 2C0r.11. 14. they belong, and whose they are, that get them St. Paul's 2 Tim. 3.5. fjb6p(^(t)(Ti.avi^co is Christ's word, ' defacing his face,' as you can hardly know it is he ; taking to himself a worse face far, than ever God made him. To lay on a little, I wot not what, to the end, to look the moi'e fair, the better coloured, of a clearer complexion, that is not strange ; but to affect a look more dim, more hollow, more evil-favoured; and to belcaven his face to that end, that passes ; that is anew kind of hypocrisy per sc, ' a kind by itself, that.' Yet such there be. There were, that " wore a coarse garment to de- Zec. 13. 4. ceive," saith Zachary ; so there is not only gay, but ragged hypocrisy. And there were, saith Christ here, that rough-cast their countenance, and that to deceive too. That there is not only fucus, but, fermentiim pietatis ; ' not only fleering, but lowering ; not only well-complexioned, but pale-coloured hypocrisy.' Such are they that play in Christ's fast here ; tristes, torvi, aiisteri, the word is crKudpcoTrol, which is properly ' the look of a wild beast,' (a lion or a bear robbed of their whelps,) grim and ghast; one would be afraid to look on them. Of Repentance and Fasting. 409 These would Christ have us not be like; as indeed who would be like them, but such hypocrites as they ? Not like them? Why, how do they? Exterminant vnltum. i. Not like We begin with vuUum. The hypocrite's whole labour is but their simt, his look. Blame him not; for he is nothing but look : nothing but face and case; but a very outside only. As for any inward matter, he never looks after. In which point, they suit well with players, whose names they bear. It is a very fit resemblance for them, that are nothing but resemblance. In the very true and lively person of a prince, the outward pomp or show is the less part, by far. The regal qualities, the princely virtues are they, we chiefly admire ; a religious heart, high wisdom, heroical courage, clemency, like that of God, without measure or end. In him that plays the King, it is quite otherwise. No royal quality is required at all ; no princely virtue needs, he never cares for them. But gesture and gait, the carriage of his countenance, to say his part, to pronounce and to act it well ; that is all that is cared for by him, or that is looked for at his hands. And even so it fares here; "contrition of spirit, a broken heart, Ps.5i.6.i7. unfeigned humility, truth in the inward parts ;" these are most requisite in the true fast. It skills not a whit for any of these, in the stage-fast ; so he can set his countenance well, have the clouds in his forehead, his eyes somewhat hollow, certain wrinkles in his cheek, carry his head like a bull-rush, and look like leaven; all is well. As for any inward accomplishment, he never takes thought for any. Vultum only is it ; he goes no farther. Only to be like, to be sicut ; as one, though indeed none. But, why do they take all these pains to disfigure them- 2. Not like selves? That do they, nt videantnr, " that they might be seen their Id, of men," and seem to men, appear to them in the likeness of such as fast indeed. The " leaven of hypocrisy," in their looks, is from the love of a videantnr in their hearts. Vain-glory, the ground of hypocrisyj ever. And here now, they match again. The hypocrite's end is as the player's end ; both, to be seen. You never see the play begin till the spectators be come, so many as they can get ; nor no more shall you see this fast acted, unless there be some to eye and to note it. He will not fast on the ground ; there must be a stage set up for him ; 410 Of Repentance and Fasting. SERM. where, I dare say, they wish the scaffolds full to see them; — ^ — the more, the better. Both match in videantw- ; and it must be ah hominibus, " of men." Angel's eyes, God's eyes, will not serve the hypocrite's turn. Other eyes then there must be entreated to gaze on them, or ye get no fast. Why, is there any harm in men's eyes, that they may not [Vid. see, nor we may not be seen of them? Vere oculi hominum, fri^sai^'^'' saith Bernard, basilisci sunt bonorum operum : ' now truly there Qui habit, jg \^ men's eyes venom, like that of the cockatrice, to infect Serm. 14. . . . circ. med.] our well-doiiig with a well-weening of ourselves.' O now I am seen ! 0 ego qtiantiis sum, mundo censore! 'O what a holy mortified man I am taken for ! ' It troubled alms before, this; it troubled prayer; and now, fasting; it troubles all. In all, this is the point, this is the ut, to be "seen of men.'' Not that it is unlawful to be seen well-doing ; you will easily put a difference between to be seen to do well; and to do well to be seen ; between facere et videri ; and facere, ut videai'e. Do, and be seen, may be casual, never thought on by us. Do to be seen, that is the ut, and that ut is it, the very end we do it for, and otherwise we should not do it. It happens otherwhile, many good people do well, and are seen so doing, as it falls out; but beside their purpose quite. But none, save this masked crew, sacrifice themselves and their fasts to the eyes of men ; and do, what they do, for no other end but that. You shall easily discern them. You shall not get one of them to do as Christ did, get Him " aside out of the way Mat. 4. 1. into the wilderness ;" fast there : no. Christ was not so well advised, to do it there, in a desert desolate place, where there was nobody to meet Him, or see Him at it. They be all for the eye, these ; a perspective fast, or not at all. Nothing out of Lu. 6. 16. sight ; never, by their good-will, where nobody to look on. Jejunium oculare, 6(f)da\fx,ovr)areLa, this. The heathen man said well ; £Jrgo iste, in tenebris, non servaret hominem, ' such a one would not be entreated to save a man's life in the dark, if he might ;' not, but by torch-light. For all is lost, he is clean undone, if nobody see or look upon him. Lu. 4 1. Well, if it were the " Spirit of God led Christ into the wil- derness" to fast there, like a hermit ; you may well know, what spirit it is, that sets one up a stage there to fast like an Of Repentance and Fasting. 411 hypocrite. To be seen then is their ut, the very butt they aim at. And, wherefore to be seen ? In the play, that they may have [Vid. Hor. a plaudite ; so plain, as they even crave it in their last words, fss.]''^'*' So, in this eye-serving fast, seen they must be ; and why must they be seen ? To be given out, for Such an one is a great faster. And why that? " That men, seeing that good work Mat. 5. 16. of theirs, might glorify God?" No indeed; but them: the earthly child ; not the " Heavenly Father." And, mark it, when you will ; there is no animal so ambitious, no chameleon so pants after air, as doth the hypocrite after popular praise : for it, he fasts; and so hungry and thirsty he is after it, as you shall hear him even beg for it. Honor a me coram populo hoc, i Sam. 15. saith one of them (it is Saul); "O grace me, for the love of^' God; seem to honour me in the people's eyes." Loquimini in aurihus popuU hujus, saith another (it is Abimelech) ; " O give Jud. 9. 2. it out in the people's ears, I am thus and thus." Mark : the "people's eyes," and the "people's ears ;" for hypocrisy is ever popular ; for their, for men's applause, all in all. Nay then, will ye hear them expostulate for it, and that even with God Himself? " Wherefore," say they in the fifty- isa. 58. 3. eighth of Esay, "fast we, and Thou seest it not?" So they would be seen. And, why do we pinch and punish ourselves, " and Thou regardest it not ?" So, they must be regarded, or they will not take it well. To be short; "the putting forth Mat. 6. 5. of the finger," as Esay there calls it; or as the Poet, Digito monstrari, ' to be pointed at,' and dicier Hie est, ' and said, Look ye, there he goes ;' to have it whispered, ' That is he ;' to [Pers. Sat. be magnified up and down the people's mouth, that is even the consummatum est of all this stage-devotion. Which very point makes the fast loose ; and indeed makes it to be no fast at all ; they exterm ine their countenances so long, that they extermine fast and all. This very ut videantur makes, that it seems to be, but is indeed none. For in the true fast, it is as David saith of his, " I sorrowed and my soul fasted ;" Ps. 69. lo. it is an humbling of the soul. Else, if it go no farther than the body, it is a fast without a soul. But these, though their stomachs be empty, yet their souls do feed and feast all the while. Nam est qucedam sagina laudis, saith the heathen man : "praise will feed and fill both." And it is our meat and 412 Of Repentance and Fasting. s E^R M. drink, (and so we call it) that we take delight in. And sure, ^^^^ if Esay be right, that one "may be drunk, and no cup come at his head it is like possible, one may surfeit, and yet no meat come in his belly : and, with pride both. As for meat and drink, the devil never takes any ; keeps a perpetual fast for that matter; but feeds on pride, as one doth on his meals; and surfeits that way, as much as any epicure. And even so, for aught I know, one may eat and drink no more than the devil, and yet be as proud as the devil ; why not ? So as, upon the matter, their fast is but even the devil's fast, and no better. Fasting then, being an act of humility, if tHe devil can make it matter of pride, hahetiir projwsitum, ' he hath what he would ;' he will give you good leave to fast and spare not. And even matter of pride he makes it. The Pharisees, whom Christ would have us non siciit, they were, in their own con- ceits, the non sicuts of the world. They tell it God, non siciit alii, " not like other men." Others did but fast once a week, Lu. 18. 12. if that ; they twice, and never missed. And in the Ecclesi- astical story, there is a rare example of it. He, that same John the Patriarch of Constantinople, that first took upon him the proud title of Universal Bishop, that very man was called and known by the name of 'Iwaw?;? o vrjaTevTrj'i, Joannes [Set over Jejunator, ' John the great Faster.' So, pride will grow of fast- Constan°*^ ing. Being then ordained to take down the soul, if he can tinopie in it to puflF it up, and so turn our fast into sin ; that is 682, and & r t ' ^ _ ' ^ died in even a fast of the devil's own choosina;. One, which (he is 595.] . . sure,) God will never look at. The Prophet gives the reason ; Zee. 7. .5, 6. "if we fast for men's eyes, we fast for men, not for God." If we fast for our own praise, we fast for ourselves, not for God neither. Now, what God should reward, should be done for God. And, with God, a righteous thing it is, to put men over to receive their rewards, at their hands, for vvdiom they fasted ; that they pay them their wages, that set them on work; for, at Eiis hands, they are likely to receive none, seeing, for Him they did it not ; He was not the id of their fasting. And this is the last point. As before, not like them in their sicut ; so not here in their ut neither; neither in their manner, nor in their end. III. Suppose now, one may be so in love with the praise of men, danger as he is altogether out of love with an invisible fast ; and must of it.. Of Repentance and Fasting. 413 needs look a little that way; what harm will come of it? "Verily , , , . they have, Amen aico vobis, quia rcceperunt niercedcm suam ; tins must &c.'" needs be their punishment ; for there is none other but this. And sure, as strange a punishment as you shall read of, to say " Amen" to that one desires ; to say, one " shall receive a reward." Can it be a punishment to receive, to " receive a reward," and a reward of our own desiring ? It is surely none. You do it, to be seen; you shall be seen: to be praised; why, 3'ou shall be praised : this is your end ; your end be it. You hunger and thirst for men's praise, fain you would have it; you shall have it, there it is, take it to you, much good do it you with it. Call you this a punishment, to receive a reward, to have one's desire ? Surely, it seems but an easy one, if it be one. True, if the reward be worth the while, first. And secondly, if by receiving it, we forfeit not one incomparably greater. But, in these two cases, 1. If the reward be but some slight thing, little worth : 2. and then, If by getting it, we lose another above all worth, then liave we no great cause to rejoice at our receiving ; then, instead of a reward, it is a punishment, say I ; and that an heavy one, whensoever both these cases meet. Now, both these cases meet here. First, it is but a poor i. thing they receive. Shall we value it, as it is? I mean this wani"^ goodly reward of popular praise, which they so itch after, prajge^^is What is the popularity, but a sort of men nothing judicial ? slight. Not one among a hundred. Not praising, but out of passion, lightly if that ; and not constant in that passion neither. Praise, if it be judicial, is somewhat worth ; and so worth the i. As not desiring. The popular is not so. Christ saith, " Thej have "^"^ ' always spoken all good of the false Prophets :" as for the true, Lu. 6. 26. they have ever followed them with all disgrace ; and then, what judgment is there in them ? Christ Himself, will ye hear their verdict of Him ? Some there was said, " He was a good man;" but some other (and the greater sum) said, "No, John 7.12. but a very seducer, a cozener of the people ;" and then, who can think there is any judgment in them ? In the nineteenth of the Acts, the whole multitude was together, and when Demetrius had set them in, for "two hours together they Acts 19. never left crying, Great is Diana ; and the most part of them 414 Of Repentance arid Faathig. SERM. never knew why they were come together," nor why they '- — cried so ; and then, what judgment is there in them ? No sure ; out of hghtness of mind ; out of passion it is, they praise or dispraise, magnify or vilify a man, for the most part, durable '^"^ ^^^'^ passion, or what it will) of any endurance ? will it hold ? No indeed ; sicut lima nmtatur, ' every new moon, a new mind ;' nay every quarter. No better witness of Mat. 21. 9. this, than our Saviour Himself, Who heard " Hosanna in the Mat.27.21. highest," and "not Him but Barabbas," both, within the space Job. 18.40. ^ sevennio;ht. St. Paul's was yet shorter: for he was first Acts28.4.6. ° ' a " murderer," and suddenly a God and no less, in a manner " with one breath." There is their constancy ; this, the hold you can have of it. No lock nor key to shut up our reward in ; no tenendum to our hahendum, to hold it when we have it. And who then would much esteem it. But, say there were both lock and key; yet what is praise but words ? and words but wind ? what is speech but breath ? breath, but air ? tenuisshnus fructus, ' a thin reward,' God wot. For what is more thin than air ? This is sure, no great reward. iCor. 4. 3. 3Iihi pro ininimo est; so Paul makes but a minim of it, we make so much of. 2. And yet even this, slight as it is, were it only to receive it, final ^^'^"^ and that were all, there were no great hurt in it. But, now reward, comes the hurt ; for when it shall come to this, that we are so to receive it as in full payment ; (for, so it is ; not 'i')(ovai, ' have it ;' but cLTri'x^ova-i, ' have it for all,' that ever they shall have ;) so to receive it, tanquam mercedem, as it shall be our last pay, our final and full recompense and satisfaction, for all that ever we have done ; then it goes hard. And that is it Christ meaneth ; and that is it every good mind feareth ; that here shall be all ; a few good words, a little warm breath, a blast of vain praise, of a sort of vain men. And when we have this, we have no more for ever to receive or look for, besides this. That, as Christ tells us, in the first verse of the chapter, this acceperiint infers an amiserunt; acce- perunt suum here, an amiserunt meum elsewhere. And that, where of all we would least be without it. That the receiving of this cuts us off from another, infinitely above and more worth than this. The reward we receive, nothing less to be regarded ; the reward we lose, the damage we incur, nothing Of Heyentnnce and Fasting, 415 more to be feared. Lay these together, mercedem juxta mer- cedem, we shall find it a punishment ; such a punishment, as no man would ever wish his very enemy more. Of this " Amen" here, of these words, " they have received their reward,^' you shall read in St. Gregory, that never did any saying so sound in his ears, so run in his head, reign in his heart, work upon his conscience, (as he deeply protests) as did these. This he took for one of the most fearful sayings in the whole Bible ; that what he did here receive, were it praise, or preferment, or what other earthly thing, it should be his last receipt, his final reward, his portion for ever, his Amen : for Amen is the last word, we know, that ends all. For so are we in a manner proceeded against, and deprived of all hope of farther reward, at the last great receipt of all. The praise of men, which we here sought and found, shall deprive us of hearing Euge serve hone ; one syllable whereof is more worth than all the panegyrics that ever were. And not only of that, but of Intra in gaudium Domini besides, much Mat.25.23. more to be esteemed than all the euges in the world, nay, than the world itself. That the winning of one shall be the losing of the other. And now judge, whether this receiving be not a loss in- valuable ; this reward, a punishment unsufferable ; this Amen, to be prayed against of all. Nay, whether there be any so penal a punishment, so heavy a censure : this shall be your punishment, that this shall be your reward ; and never more but this. For, do but ask; why do they this wrong to their faces? To seem to men to fast. And what then ? Then they shall be " commended of men." And what then ? Nay, there is all. And God comes to a point with them ; saith. Let them be commended for it : and they have no wrong, they making it their end, if God make it so too. To punish one by his own desires ; to say, as God doth in Osee, " Because Ephraim will have altars to sin, they shall be Hos. 8. ii. to sin ;" because you make this your reward, it shall be your reward, take it for your reward ; to say. So be it, to have our fast conclude with the hypocrites' Amen ; no more fearful punishment in the world. " Knowing then this fear, we persuade, exhort, entreat" Ja'tfon^' ''" 416 Of Repentance and Fast in//. SERM. men (and no otherwise than Christ here doth,) to fast. And — ~ — the cum is now come; now then to do it. Not to do it as these ; yet in any Avise to do it. To fast to God ; not to the world: to our own hearts, not to other men's eyes; to conscience, not to form. Not to set us up a stage to do it; but (with Christ) to do it apart, " in secret." And think not, if men see it not, it shall not be seen, be it never so secret ; that you shall do it without witness. Beside the witness, testis in corde, (set by the heathen man at a thousand Job 16. 19. witnesses,) there is, as Job calls him. Testis in Coelo, "One in Heaven Who sees it ;" needs no light to see it b}' ; Whose theatre is the dark, and beholds us as clearly when the candle is put out, as when it burns. Fast then, do it to be seen of Him ; and being done not for men, but for Him, Him shall you be sure of, to cast His eyes to look on it, to like it ; to regard it and reward it, both. So much doth Christ undertake in the verse following ; and that, in His Father's Name: and seals it with His "verily," that most certain it shall be so. Our secret fast shall have His open reward. It may be, even here upon earth, He will Isa. 58. 8. " make our light break forth as the morning." If here. He do not ; there, He will. The less earth answereth, the more Mat.25.2). Heaven reserveth. Euge serve bone, in that day, is another manner praise, if praise be it ; Litra in gaudium Domini, an- other manner reward, than earth hath any. Both together Geu. 15. 1. Merces magna nimis, Abraham's reward, an " exceeding iCor2. 9. great reward;" sed non ascendit in cor hominis, it exceedeth the heart of man, to think how exceeding great. Which reward Almighty God grant we may set before us, and seek it in all our doings ; so seek it here on earth, in this life, as we may there find it in Heaven, in the life to come, to our endless comfort and content, through Christ our Lord. A SERMON PIIEACHED BEFORE KING JAMES, AT WHITEHALL, ON THK TWKNTY-SIX TH OF FEURU \RY, A.D. MDCXXIII. BEING ASH-WEDNKSDAY. Matthew iii. 7, 8. O generations of vipers, who hath forewarned you to flee from the anger to come 9 Bring forth therefore fruit worthy amendment of life. Or le/ieiit- ance. Progenies viperaruin, quis demonstravit vobis fugere a ventura ira ? Facile ergo fructum dignum panitentia {pel, Proferte igitur frtictus dignos pcenitentia. [0 generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come ? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance. Engl. Trans.] To speak of repentance at the time of fasting, or of fasting at the time of repentance, is no way out of season ; as tree and fruit they stand. Of these fruits, fasting is one. And this, we now begin, a worthy fruit, ever from year to year rehgiously brought forth in the Church of Christ. That we go not from one, when we fall upon the other. The time of repentance will fall out to be a cum jejuiiatis. Repentance is here brought in, and presented to us, as a tree with fruit upon it. The tree of God's planting ; the fruit medicinable ; of the nature of a counter-poison ; against our bane taken by the fruit of another tree. The fruit of the forbidden tree had envenomed our nature ; the fruit of this cen. 3. 6. tree to expel it, to recover and cure us of it. Now, this metaphor of trees and fruit puts us in mind, that the manner of fruit-trees is, once a year, they bear fruit. All do so ; once at least ; and if all, this tree likewise, within the same compass, to bring forth hers. And though at no time repentance comes amiss ; good all the year long ; it may be taken every day (for, rejientance would be as familiar to us, as sin itself ; and as the one, so the E e 418 O f Repeiitance and Fasting. SERM. other, daily); yet at some time, more than other; and at this '■ — time, most proper, for then we have special use of it. That the body and the soul may keep time ; and, when we take physic for the body, we may do it likewise for the other. If all were well known, of the twain, the soul hath more need. This medicine is to be taken fasting ; as the rules of physic are, and as medicines use to be. Men come neither eating nor drinking to take physic ; when we will take that, we take nothing else. Thus, fasting is a friend to physic both of soul and body. When we repent, no man will advise us to do it upon a full stomach, but cum jejunatis. Of this tree and fruit, God (knowing the great need we have) hath a special care we be not without it ; that it be planted and growing still in our gardens ; and that it bear us fruit, whereof we have so continual use. As that in Paradise was termed the forbidden fruit ; so may this, as truly, the fruit bidden, it is so enjoined, so called for of us. And that, first called for, and before all other, as the first- Mat.22.36, fruits of the spirit returning to God. There was a first com- mandment in the Law ; this, I may justly say, was the first commandment of the Gospel. Go no farther, but even where we are, where the book opens; St. John is at it at first. It is his very first word, Mat. 3. 2. " repent," sermo iri apertione oris, ' the opening of his mouth.' So begins he ; and so begins Christ ; takes it up after him, Mar. 1. 15. word for word the same ; " Repent, for the Kingdom of Hea- ven is at hand ;" neither more nor less. It is the " first-fruit of their lips," both. And as our Saviour Christ began with it Mat. 10. 7. Himself ; so gives He it in charge to His Apostles ; they with it to begin likewise. Both when He sent them to preach to Lu. 10. 9. the Jews first ; and again after, when, at His Ascension, He renewed and enlarged their commission, and sent them " to all nations." That repentance first ; (first that,) and then, "remis- sion of sins," after, should be preached in His Name. Which was accordingly by them pursued. Ever, they stood on it, as the ground-work, the fundamental point of all the Heb. 6. 1. rest. So it is expressly termed, " the foundation of repent- ance from dead works." On which foundation, would God more cost were bestowed ; that while we are busy aloft on the scaffolds, in our high points, the groundsills of religion decay Of Repentance and Fustimj. 419 not for want of looking to. To lay them surely ; which St. John doth here, and we may all learn of him. For havins; beg-un above at the second verse with his Mat. 3. 2. pcenitentiam agite ; when he saw in the throng of his auditory divers Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, he knew where they would be straight we should have an agite; a repentance with a penitential face, and all acted. Repent ? Yes, in any wise, that they would, and could do it full well, and never trouble themselves with any such matter as fruit. This made him lay it a-new; to his agite to put a fa cite ; to agite pcenitentiam, a facite fructns. Else, he disclaims fruitless re- pentance. It is none of his ; it will do them no good ; it will never quit them of the " wrath to come." Where we see the good of repentance, what it is ; to free Mat. 3. 7. us from ira ventura propter peccata prceterita ; which theirs will never do ; which none will ever do, unless, beside pceniten- tiam agite, (that is, the act,) there be also fructum facite, matter of fact besides ; some real fruits. And St. John asks, Who did it? and marvels much that any should do it; teach them any other way, how to escape "wrath to come." Tells them directly, there is no other way ; but that they do but beguile themselves, while they vainly imagine to slip through God's wrath with this fruitless, formal, slight kind of repentance. If they will go to it indeed and do it, and so do it, as it may be available to rid them of " wrath to come," then must it not be barren, but " bring forth and that " fruit and that, not such slight and slender fruit as they commonly post it over with, but " worthy fruits," and such as may well beseem "repentance" indeed. The points we are to take into our consideration are ; The sum. 1. that there is " wrath to come 2. but it is yet but " to come." That it will come. There is no falling into it when it comes ; nor no abiding till it comes. Fly from it we must; and fly from it we may. It may be fled from, is in the text: we may be shewn a way how. Who shall shew it us? That will St. John here, who well can ; he was sent to prepare it. But, it seems, we may be shewed a wrong way too; the Pharisees' way ; but St. John's is the right. He that takes any other, the " wrath of God" will come on him, which is to come upon all impenitent sinners. E e 2 420 Of Repentance and Fasting. s E R w. All which may be reduced to these two heads, which St. John would have imprinted in them and us. 1. There is no division, flying God's wrath, but by a true repentance. 2. There is no true repentance, without fruits, and those worthy, and well- becoming it. " Bring forth fruits," therefore. Of which words there is not any one waste or to spare. Every one of them is verbum vigilans, as St. Augustine speaks, ' awake all never an one asleep among them. Each hath his weight. Nor never an one out of his place, but, as Solo- Pro.25. 11. mon speaks, "upon his right wheel," standing just where it I. should. We will take them as they lie. I. " Bring forth." II. II. " Bring forth fruit." III. " Brino; forth fruit therefore :" III ■ Wherefore ? That you may " fly the wrath to come." There, will that fall in. It is the only true way ; let no man teach IV. you any other way to fly it. IV. Then, " fruits of repent- ance." And if repentance bear fruits, then it is a tree. 1. Of the tree then first, that bears them. 2. Then, of the V. fruits it bears ; repentance's fruits. V. And last, that they be " worthy fruits of repentance." "Bring forth fruits therefore, &c." So fall they in order, of themselves. To order them otherwise were but to disarray them and do them wrong. I. " Bring forth." At which, at the very first, we shall have forth"" some sticking, as the world goes. All in carrying in ; little carry not bringing forth. For to take our age at the best, and our ordinary pi'ofessors in the prime of their profession, and this is our virtue ; we carry well in ; we are still carrying in ; but nothing, or as good as nothing comes from us, bring we forth. So, this word comes very opposite to our times. All our time is spent in hearing; in carrying in repentance seeds, and other good seeds many. All, in hearing in a manner; none, in doing what we hear ; none in bringing forth repentance, or any other good fruit. Acts 17.20. At Athens they said to St. Paul; nova quoedam infers auribus nostris. It is our case right, infers auribus ; but it is an infers without a prefers; any prefers at all. In at our ears, there goes I know not how many sermons ; and every day more and more, if we might have our wills. Infers auribus, into the ears they go ; the ear and all filled, and even farced with them; but there, the ear is all. iCor.i2.i7. It puts me in mind of the great absurdity, as St. Paul Of Repentance and Fasting. 421 reckons it. What, "is all hearing?" saith he. All hearing? Yes; all is hearing with us. But, that all should be hearing is as much as if all one's body should be nothing but an ear ; and that were a strange body. But that absurdity are we fallen into. The corps, the whole body of some men's pro- fession ; all godliness with some, what is it but hearing a ser- mon ? The ear is all ; the ear doth all that is done ; and but by our ear-mark, no man should know us to be Christians. They were wont to talk much of Auricular Confession ; I cannot tell, but now, all is turned to an auricular profession. And, to keep us to proferte, our profession is an in-ing profession. In it goes, but brings nothing out ; nothing comes from it again. But proferte, " bring forth," saith St. John, be not always loading in. And there is reason for it. As there is a time for exiit qui seminat seminare semen suum, in the Parable, Mat. 13. 3. wherein the sower goeth forth and carrieth with him good seed, and casts it in ; so is there a time too, saith the Psalm, Ps. 126. 6. for rediit messor ferens manipulos secum, that the "reaper comes back and brings his sheaves with him ;" the sheaves which the seed he carried in " brought forth." But, with us, it is otherwise. For a wonderful thing it is, how many ser- mons, and sermons upon sermons (as it were so many measures of seed,) are thrown in daily; and what becomes of them, no man can tell. Turn they all to wind ? or run they all thorough ? for fruit there comes none. Omnia te adversum, all Hor. Ep.l. in; nulla retrorsum, none out. It went hard, saith Aggai, when, "for twenty measures of seed there came but ten of Hag. 2. 16. grain ;" but half in half ; why, we would think ourselves happy, if that were our case. Nay it was worse with Esay, isa. 5. lo. an homer of seed yielded but an ephah of corn ; that was but one in ten. It were well with us, might one but say that ; for that were somewhat yet. To be wished, we might see more; but till more come, see but even that. Now that ground, saith the Apostle, that receives such a Heb. 6. 8. quantity of seed, and returns no more for it, is near a curse. And that tree, saith the Gospel, that was well leaved, and noMat.21.19. fruit found on it, was so near, that it had a curse. And those ears that have (I know not how many) sermons and lectures, and all in a manner sine fruciu, without any fruit that can be seen, are not far from it, from a curse. 422 Of Repentance and Fasting. SERM. Which I would not have drawn to be spoken any way '■ — against hearing; but against our evil-proportioned hearing; not to slake our devotion in receiving good seed ; but to make a conscience, in some degree to proportion our fruit to our seed : to reduce our inferte and our proferte to some analogy. For if there be an analogy of faith; so is there of hearing also. Sure, if the body thrive not with it, and yet be always hungry, it is no good sign. It is a disease which they call ^ovXifjula, or canina appetentia ; and would be looked to. Well ; there hath been old carrying in, and little else ; let us have some bringing forth another while. Be not always lading in ; " Bring forth" somewhat ; else we stumble at the very threshold of the text, and are not come to the first word of it, proferte, " Bring forth." II. " Bring forth fruit." With much ado, at last somewhat fonh"^ there comes. Forth they bring ; but what is it ? It is well leaves""* known, trees bring forth somewhat else, before fruit. And somewhat brought forth there is, but it is but leaves. Fruit it should be, leaves it is ; there is all our product. So that here, we shall be stayed again. Leaves come of the kernel, as well as the fruit ; so doth chaff of the seed, as well as good grain. What of that ? We plant not for leaves ; nor we sow not for Jer. 23. 28. chaff. We count that no bringing forth. Quid paleoe ad triticum ? saith the Prophet ; and quid foliis ad fructum, may we say ? It is not chaff or leaves ; fruit it is we are willed to bring forth." Hos. 10. 1. Vitis frondosa Israel we find in Osee, and ficus frondosa Mat.2i.i9. we have in the Gospel. A vine and a fig-tree, that brought forth, both ; and so passed the fii'st ; but stumble at this second: for fruit it was not; but as for leaves, well taken both ; store of them. And so, to many a tree shall Christ come among us, and find leaves possibly ; but that will not Mat. 3. 8. serve. It is "bring forth fruit." What became of Osee's vine, we may there read ; what, of the fig-tree, we all know. What the Will vou know what these leaves be ? St. Augustine tells eaves e. ^^^^ better ;) It is to hear a sermon, and to praise the preacher : there comes somewhat ; some leaves. His words are : Audistis, lauddstis ; Deo gratias : semen acce- pistis, verba reddidistis. Laudes vestrce gravant nos potius, et in periculum mittunt. Toleramus illas, et tremimus inter illas. Of Repentance and Fasting. 423 Tamen, fratres mei, laudes vestrce folia sunt; modo fructus quoEritur. 'You hear, and you commend/ saith Augustine; ' well, thanks be to God. Good seed you receive, good words you give back. These good words profit us not ; peradventure, do us hurt otherwhile. Bear with them we must ; tremble at them we should. Yet, when all is done, good brethren, good words are but leaves ; and it is fruit, fruit is it we preach for.' Not the fruits of your lips ; they be but leaves ; but fructus operis, that fruit. Now if you mark, what it is our best sermons bring forth, we shall easily observe, the most is a few good words of some point or other in the sermon, handled (peradventure) not amiss; and, hear you, well, if that; but if that, look for no more ; there is all. And this leaf, it lasts not long neither; fades quickly, as did the leaves of Jonah's gourd ; one day jon. 4. 7. green, the next dry. And is this the fruit of our labours ? Is not this the Pharisees' accepistis mercedem vestram ? If the fruit of our Mat. 6. 2. labours be but the fruit of men's lips, we are like to make but a cold reckoning of it, " to inherit the wind." As if we came Pro. 11.29. hither to bring forth a leaf of praise ; to preach art, and not spirit ; art, to draw from men a vain applause ; and not spirit, to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit, fructifying to newness of life by fructus facite; fruit, that may abound to your account and ours : yours, that did ; ours, that preached to have them done. The only true praise of a sermon is, some evil left, or some good done, upon the hearing of it. One such fruit, so brought forth, were a more ample commendation, than many mouths full of good words spent, and copies taken, and printing, and I wot not what. And sure it is, on whom a sermon works aright, it leaves him not leisure to say much, to use many words, but makes him rather full of thoughts. And when Acts 2. 37. all comes to nW, fructus factus, 'the deed done' is it. And it is no good sign in a tree, when all the sap goes up into leaves ; is spent that way ; nor in an auditor, when all is verbal that comes, and nothing else : no reality at all. St. John himself (in the next words following) tells us, the Mat. 3. 9. fruit he means, it is not dicentes ; and " begin not," saith he, " to say ;" for it is no matter of saying, either to yourselves, or 424 Of Repentance and Fasting. S E R Ri. to others. This is but a ffreen leaf : and, with the fruit, doth '- — not amiss ; without it, is little worth. It is not repentance in the leaves, but with the fruit, he calleth for. I will shut up this point with St. Augustine's prayer before one of his sermons : that God would vouchsafe, quod utili- ter meditatum est cor meum, ' what my heart hath profitably thought on,' to bring it thence into my tongue, and from thence into your ears, and from thence into your hearts, and from thence into your deeds ; that so, all may end in jwoferte fruc- tus, " bring forth fruits." III. Proferte frnctus igitur. Igitur every where you find, slip it forih'fVuit, you must not ; the whole weight of the sentence lieth upon Th^e'ioot There is in it the ground and reason wherefore ; and so is of reason, indeed the root all these fruits must grow from. And the Isa. 37.31. Prophet's rule is, to look to the "root downward," before to the " fruit upward." First then, to find a wherefore for this there- fore. " Therefore" is the known note of a conclusion : then must there be a syllogism : and here it is, quicunque vult, " who- soever of you will fly from the wrath to come, he is to bring forth fruit worthy of repentance ;" but you are all of this mind, that you would "fly from the wrath to come; bring forth fruit therefore." Flying We must then cast our eye back to this " flying from the wrath to wrath to come," which is the medius terminus or cardo, where- upon all the argument runs, and the very life of the whole inducement. There is " wrath to come ;" that must you "fly from;" fly from it you cannot, but by this igitur,- proferte fructus igitur. Many are the therefores, why we should repent, and of Rom. 2. 4. divers natures. "The goodness of God," saith the Apostle, " doth even lead us to repentance and well is him that will Mat. 3. 2. be led. But these here would not lead. St. John had used that before. Do it; " repent," and the "kingdom of Heaven is at hand," hrad by you. One would think, this would have done it ; have even led them to it. It stirred them not ; he is fain to lay Heaven by, and the life, joy, glory to come ; and to take him to hell, to the anguish, tribulation, torments there ; for all these are in the " wrath to come." So, to drive them (if it may be) to it, since leading will not serve. Strange ; but such is our indoles. The " kingdom of Of Repentance and Fasting. 425 Heaven" works not with us, as doth " wrath to come ;" so doth sin bewitch us. For the loss of Heaven, if that were all, we would never abstain from it; if no ira ventura, never care for the loss of Heaven. Repent, or you lose Heaven, will not; repent, or you must to hell, the place of " wrath to come," that bites soon ; that makes an igitur ; that will move us ; and to fly from it make us fly to repentance. St. John takes the course to shew us somewhat to come ; Venttira, K he chooseth ventura ; for the things present carry us and keep thing to us from repentance. Present good cheer, present sport and mirth, present good company, present twenty things else, the}' make us no fit soil for these fruits to grow in. But then, as God would have it, besides these present things, there are ventiu-a, some other to come, that would be thought on. For in all our jollity, before we venture too far, it will not be amiss to look to those ventura, and what will come of it. There is an ira ventura for peccata prceterita. Knowing the virtue of this piece of perspective, Moses doth wish but this, O si, O that men would but look Dnnns'?, look Deu.32.29. but that way, to the hindmost days, to the latter end ! There is somewhat there worth our sight. The Prophets do the like : Populus Mens dilexit talia (it is Jeremy) ; " My people, Jer. 5. 31. this sin they like, and that sin they love ;" Sed quid Jiet in novissimo, " but what will be the end of this ?" What will become of it at the last ? Yea, our blessed Saviour Himself, (and He should move us,) most earnestly with tears in His eyes ; " O that thou hadst known in this thy day !" and could lu. lo. 41, not speak out the rest for weeping. His meaning was, the ^" ventura, what was to come upon them. So much doth it import us, some time to open a window that way. The clapping it to, and the putting them from us out of our sight, makes us, we care not, never look after the tree, or the fruit. Ventura would much help forward this proferte fruclus igitur. These ventura, three of them, follow here close in the tenth what that and twelfth verses: 1. " the axe," 2. "the fan," 3. and the fire :" I will only touch them. The axe first ; for sure, our The axe. days be numbered ; there is a line stretched upon every one of our lives, and it is no long line neither, quia velox est 2Pet.i.i4. positio tabernaculi hujus, i\ic taking down of this tabernacle is not far hence death will come with liis axe, and down we 426 Of Repentance and Fastimj. SERM. go. For it is not, saith St. John, "laid to the branches, but — ^^-^ — to the root ;" and then we are past friiit-bcarine; for ever. Mat. 3. 10. „ ^ ^ ' . . ' t^rojerte jructus igitiir. 2. After the axe, comes the fan, to shew whether our brinsrina; The fan. . . o o Mat. 3. 12. forth be corn or chaff ; which is our doom after death. So long ago told of by old Enoch in his Maranatha, that the "Lord will come," come "to judgment;" et omnes stahimus, Jude ver. " and we shall all stand" before His judgment seat, and the fan go over us ; and there, by these fruits here, and by these fruits only, all shall go ; for none is in Heaven but by it. Sinners, both they in Heaven and they in hell ; only, this difference ; they in Heaven had these fruits, they in hell had them not. And then, seeing they will be all in all, Proferte fructus igitur. These two ventura, come they will to all, and to all alike ; we hear not of wrath yet. But here it comes. I go farther and ask, ventura, " to come ;" " to come," what ? Ira ventura, Lu. 12. 5. " wrath to come." Whose wrath ? His, Who " when He hath killed the body, can cast both body and soul into hell fire." 3. For after the fan comes the fire. The fan divides the corn The fire, chaff, sends each to his own place, the corn to the Mat. 3. 12. garner, the chaff to the fire; and "every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit," thither too. Proferte fructus igitur; Mat.23.33. else how will you escape " the wrath to come," saith St. John ? How will you "escape the damnation of hell," saith Christ? and mean the same thing. That of Christ is but a com- mentary of this of St. John. Ire and fire are but one thing. Now the noise of fire will startle any of us even at midnight, out of his dead sleep. Of any fire ; but much more of this ; Non est iste ignis sicut qui ardet in foco tuo, saith Augustine. ' This fire is another manner fire, than that on our hearths.' Why ? ours may be quenched ; that is, saith the twelfth verse, " unquenchable fire." " A worm ever gnawing, and Mar. 9. 44. never dying so doth our Saviour describe it; "a flame ever burning and never going out." Isa. 33.14. Now will I but ask the Prophet Esay's question, " Who of us can dwell in consuming fire ?" That is our fire, which, as it consumes, so will it be consumed itself ; but then, he comes over again. But "who is able to abide in everlasting burn- ings?" That can none do : Proferte f ructus igitur. This, lo, is the wrath, the very dregs of the wrath to come. But " who Of Repentance and Fasting. 427 regardeth the power of this wrath ?" They, I fear me, least, [Ps.90.li.] that shall feel it most, I have purposely stood upon this a little ; for that, as upon this day they were wont, by the ceremony of giving ashes, to put men in mind of this fire. For ashes were not given to put men in mind of their mortality ; dust had been more proper to have done that. Our mortality is grounded upon Pulvis es et in pulverem. But ashes, they come not without fire ; where they are, fire must have been first. And, so they most meet to represent fire, and make us think of it. The ashes, they be blown away ; but not the memory of them, I hope. Whatso- ever becomes of the ceremony, the substance would not be blown away after it. Sure, these ashes laid well to the root of the tree, it hath been thought, will make it bear the sooner. The present fear of future wrath for sins past will put some force into this iijitur ; if this will not, nothing will; this or nothing make the sap to ascend ; this or nothing bring them forth. Scientes igitur terrorem hum : you have seen the terror ; The com- shall I open you a " door of hope in the valley of Achor ? " tura, it^" All is not terror in ventura ; there is some comfort, that it is 5^"^^ ^xom but "to come," this wrath; it is yet "to come." So, while 2 Ccir.s.u. it is yet to come, there is time given us to take order for ^' it, before it come ; that the fruit may come before the wrath, and not the wrath before the fruit; for then we are gone for ever. There is another comfort ; that though the axe and the fan shall come upon all, and none fly from either of them, so shall not wrath. That shall not come upon all ; but all may, and some shall fly from it. Fly from it, I say, for there is no meeting it, no abiding of it when it comes ; no standing it out, but fly from it we must, saith the text; and fly from it we may. There is a right way, if we may be shewed it; and there is no right way but one ; and who will shew us that ? That will St. John teach us. He prepares it, and he is best able; and he knows no way but by proj'erle igitur. But if there be a flight, there is no flying it, not with By pro- the wings of an eagle ; not with the six wings of a seraphin ;-^"^'*' only the wings of repentance will fly from it. But, there is no 428 Of Repentance and Fasting. S E R M. flight intended: Proferte igitur will serve; only stand r.nd ^ — " bear this fruit," and it shall be a supersedeas to all " wrath to come." You need not fly ; you need not stir, no more than a tree ; but keep your standing, and bear your fruit, and it shall not come near you, but fly over you, as did the destroying Ex. 12. 23. Angel their houses in Egypt. "To come" it is, this wrath; fly from it we may : this is the way to do it. Yea, this is one way; but is there no way but this? It seems, there was somebody shewing some other way besides, that St. John was a little stirred, and asked, " Who hath shewed you it, who?" Whosoever he was, he had shewed them a wrong way. So that, even then, even in Christ's time and St. John's, some there were that took a fancy, they had foimd a nearer way to cut between, to fly this wrath, and yet let " tree and fruit" alone, and care for neither. And (as it follows) by a dicentes intra se, "said within themselves" (somewhat strange things men will say there); "fruits" are for them that have not " Abraham for their father, but we have Mat. 3. 9. him for our father;" and so took themselves privileged from fruit-bearing, by that. Christ shews them their folly ; have you so, have you "Abraham to your father? then do the John 8.39. works of Abraham :" that is, " bring forth the fruits" that he did. For Abraham himself brought forth these fruits ; went no other way but this, by proferte igitur. The same may be said to another dicentes intra se of some of us. We have "Abraham to our father;" so they: we have Christ to our Saviour ; so we : and make a short cut and step to Christ straight, and lay hold on Him by faith without any more ado ; thrust by St. John Baptist, him and his repentance both. Indeed, so some go, (but with more haste than good speed) that vainly imagine to come to remis- sion of sins, per saltum, over repentance' head. But it will not be ; Esay's' qui crediderit ne festinet, is good counsel in this sense ; not to cast away all, with making too much haste, but take St. John in their way. To him it is said, "Thou Lu. I. 76. shalt go before His face to prepare His way." And, but by that way he prepares, Christ will not be come to. If he prepare one way, and you go another, you will never come at Christ. Therefore; he wonders Quis ostcndit? "who had shewed them any other way." St. John knew it not ; Christ Of Repentance and Faslini/. 429 knew it not ; and I cannot tell what to say, but, they that go it, I pray God, it deceive them not. But for this, " of no other way," Christ Himself is more peremptory than St, John. See you any, hear you of any that perish? Nisi, S^c. "Unless you repent," and scape that Lu.i3.3.5, way, so shall you too: that is flat. There is no iron, no ada- mant binds so hard, as Christ's nisi. If any but Christ had said it, we might have sought some evasion ; now when it is He that tells us, there are but two ways, 1. Repent, or 2. Perish, choose you whether; repent here, for a time; or perish there under God's wrath for ever ; not to repent, and not to perish, is not possible. Which dilemma of Christ's (no way to be avoided) makes, of the twain to choose this fruit of repentance, rather than to fall into the "wrath to come;" to fly to the one, to fly from the other ; which otherwise we are of ourselves but coldly aflfected to. For, though it be somewhat bitter, this fruit, yet, sure we are, if it were ten times more, the bitter pains of ira Ventura are far beyond it. Now, the physic of the body and soul stand upon one maxim both, melior est modica amaritudo in faucibus, quam cuternum tormentum in viscerihus ; 'better the bitter electuary than a burning ague ; better a short dis- taste in the mouth, than a perpetual torment in the bowels.' Better repent Nineveh for forty days, than no Nineveh at Jon. 3. 4. forty days' end. Shall we conclude then with the Psalmist, " What man is Ps. 34. 12. he that would deliver his soul from the wrath to come ? " And they all began at once to say. That would I ; yea even they that shall not escape it will yet say. That would I. Why, by the bringing or not bringing forth of this fruit all goes ; depends the coming, or not coming of this wrath ; coming if you do not; not coming if you do bring them forth. Proferte fructus igitur. And now we have been at the root downward, to come upward to 1. the tree, 2. the fruits, 3. the worth of the fruits, (three points yet behind,) which will ask more time than is left; nay more than hath been already spent; and so the work of some other time. A word or two of proferte, and I have done. First, take it not, this proferte, by way of advice, or as the 1, Proferte, a precept. 430 Of Repentance and Fasting. s E R M. wish of a well-willing friend. No ; St. John delivers it quasi autlioritatcm habens, as a precept or injunction ; the word will Mark 1.22. ^^^.^.j^j^j. g^^^ this, belongs to authority (the Mat. 8. 9. Centurion will tell you so) ; and requireth obedience ; " Do this, and he doeth it." 2. Then, beside authority to enjoin us, there is reason to con- iffii{7f^ elude us. It is not made a proposition barely, " Do it is a conclu- ijegiJe a binding conclusion, "Bring; forth therefore:" whereto we in reason to conform ourselves, and conclude we will so bring them. 3. Last, besides both these, it binds the harder by the penalty Em'^fnjini'c- annexed to it, as you will avoid the " wrath to come and penalty ^ falling into it you fall from the fruition of Heaven to the dam- nation of hell. Which is poena pcenarum, the penalty of all penalties most penal. This is the three-fold cord that binds it about ; let some, or all of them prevail with us, to bring them forth. 4. But oft it falls out, when we are agreed of the thing, we are now : ' not so, for the time. Will we at all bring them forth ? If we h\ the pre- ^^^^> ^^'^ ^^^^ some time to do it in. Some time; yes, that sent tense, -y^rg g\i ^g^ee to. At what time then ? It is not proponite, or promittite, purpose or promise to do it, hereafter to bring them forth ; but proferte. What tense is proferte ? The present : do it then in present. It requires an act instantly to be done, bring them forth out of hand. This is a small note ; but it is no small matter, to get this small note borne well away; to get our repentance into the present tense. In the Nay, then it sits nearer ; for to tell you the truth as it is, ^oi^amt. word is not " bring forth" at this time, " now then it should be 'Trotelre, in the present ; but, it is not : it is Tronjaare, in the aorist, a tense the Latin hath not, nor our tongue neither. It signifies rather " have done bringing forth ;'' rather than ' bring forth presently.' And I would to God, we had even done so; had done bringing them forth; for then all fear were past. Ventura is " to come," but come it will ; and when we know not. Both are yet to come, for aught I see, wrath, and our fruit. If the fruit come before the wrath come, it is well; but if the wrath come, before the fruit come, where are we then ? We are past recovery. But, what speaks he to us, of having done ? We have scarce Of Repentance and Fasting, 4. '51 yet begun, scarce set the root that should bear this fruit. Well yet, this shews us it is time we were about it, seeing St. John saith, it is more than time we had done bringing them forth. But well, to take no advantage of that tense, we will be con- tent with the present, if we may obtain that. And so would he have it now ; for " now," saith he, " is the axe laid to the root;" now then, or not at all. Nay not now; this is not a time ; we have appointed other business which we cannot put off. Well, one question more will make an end ; if not at this time, at what time ? If not now, when ? But then this must be set down now before we stir hence ; and so set down, as if it be not now, it be as near now as may be, for fear ventura come not too soon, and take tree and all. This is sure ; the sooner the better, because the more likely ; the later the worse, because the less certain. But when we speak of the present, we shut it not up in That time , , . . . more than ipso nunc, in a day or two or three, rruits requu-e a time to a moment, bring them forth ; who ever heard of fruits brought forth on a sudden? Saw ever any man such a thing? (it is Esay,) " Shall the tree bring, or the fruit be brought forth at once ?" isa. 66. 8. A gourd or a mushroom may shoot up in a night ; so cannot fruit ; it asks time. I take it to be an error, and that of dangerous consequence ; teaching repentance, to think it a matter of no more moment than to be dispatched in a moment. Commonly, our repentance is too soon done. God knew it well; and therefore He allows a time for it: AppHca- Ecce dedi ei tempus, saith He to the Church of Thyatira, He Lent!" gave " a time to repent, to bring forth these fruits." What R«v. 2. 21. time might that be ? He never gave certain time, but to Jon. 3. 4. Nineveh; and that was "forty days." You know where we are now, and what that means. We are not against allowance of time, so it be not to slip the collar, to be still uncertain. But I like not his saying orav evKaipijao), yea, " when I find a convenient time," then. Act824.23. He that said it never found it; had it then, never found it after. But, if we mean as we say, would do it at " a convenient time," we cannot find so convenient a time as this. Take it first, as the time of the fast ; that time may seem to claim a 432 Of Repentance and Fasting. SERM. property in it. They go alwa3's together; in the Law, their — solemn repentance was ever at the time of their general Joel 2. 12^^^^* Prophets, Joel tells ns, the best "turning to God," that is, repentance, is cum jejunio. They that had not Jon. 3. 5. the law, as Nineveh, nature itself taught them to do it fast- ing; when they took this fruit, to taste nothing. In the Mat.n.18. Gospel, John Baptist, the preacher of repentance, "came neither eating nor drinking." And our Saviour, though He did both, yet this fast He kept, though not for any need He Joh. 13. 15. had of it Himself but (as in other) for exemplum dedi vobis, " to give us an example," and to point us that had need, what time to do it in. Which hath ever since from year to year been religiously observed ; both as a time of public penance, and as a time of general abstinence in the Church of Christ, convenient for the time of fast. And convenient for the time of the year. For if it will be Ps. 1. 3. the tree in the first Psalm, to " bring forth fruit in due season,'^ this way it fits our turn ; that season is at this season. It is now tempus proferendi ; when can we better say proferte fructus igitur? You can never " bring forth" at a better time. The season is now come ; and bringing forth [Virg.Ecl. will shortly be in season, of which the poet saith. Nunc omnis ^' ^'^'^ ager, nunc oninis parturit arhos, when the trees will fall in travail, and they and the earth both make proffer toward, and give pledges in their buds and blossoms, of fruit that is coming, and will follow in due time. We are made these offers, choose which we will ; if we will keep time with the Heavens, now the Heavens return again to their first degree ; it is turning time in Heaven. If with the Mat c. 26. fowls of Hcaven, (and them Christ bids us look to,) they know their times just, and just at this time make their return; the Jer. 8. 7. poor swallows and all: and so let us; that the Prophet Jeremy upbraid us not with them. So, whether we will go by Heaven and the fowls of Heaven ; or by earth and the fruits of the earth, they all invite us to the dispensation of this season. Yea, if we will give our souls leave to keep time with our bodies, the time we take physic for one, may be (if we will) allowed in like sort for the other ; the opening of the year for both. Equal need is of both ; if any odds, on the soul's side. Nay, it hath so fallen out, that repentance, fasting, and the Of Rapcntaiice and Fasting. very season of the year (for the most part) hit together. That of Nineveh the most famous; by the springing up of Jonah's gourd, we may guess, wliat time it was : we know what time it is when gourds spring. And for our Saviour Christ's, if we will take up His time, it is supposed. He laid His also much about this time. For when the people were baptized, then was Christ also with them, as St. Luke saith ; and imme- Lu. 3. 21. diately after His Baptism, He was "carried away into the wilderness," and there began His forty days' fast. Exemplum dedi vubis, a pattern for us; both for our fast, and for our time of it. It is true, the solemn fast in the Law was in Tisri, which answers our September; but then, take this withal; when it was so in Tisri, Tisri was with them their first month. So they also began their repentance with the beginning of the year. And take this beside, that in that first month, the trumpet's first blast of all was to assemble them to their Kipher, their great repentance-day, that was their first work of all. Now I shall tell you, how it was. Between the fast and the Sabbath, it is well known, there was near alliance, inso- much as the fast is called a Sabbath, and both are said to be sanctified. " Sanctify a fast," as well as " sanctify the Joel 2. 15. Sabbath." Their Sabbath was the seventh day ; their fast was the seventh month. And it may well be thought, by whom and when the Sabbath was removed from the seventh day to the first ; by the same persons, and at the same time, was the fast removed from the seventh month to the first, from Tisri to Nisan, the first month of all. Now Nisan is also called Abib of the first bringing forth of fruits in it. Now, in Nisan, was the time when their Paschal Lamb was slain and eaten. The same is also the time of the killing of ours ; of St. John Baptist's Lamb, " the Lamb of God ;" when John 1. 29. " Christ our Passover" was offered ; offered for us in sacrifice ; icor. 5. 7. offered to us in Sacrament; to whom St. John Baptist will point us to take special notice of Him, and of His time both. And we, now at this time, to set those sour herbs and see Ex. 12. 8. them come up, wherewith the passover is to be eaten ; which are nothing else but these "fruits of repentance." Now, to set them ; that, then, we may gather them to serve us for sauce F f Of Kepentance and Fdstiny. SERM. to the Paschal Lamb. Thus every way, we may say with 2 2 ^^^^ Apostle, Ecce, &^-c. " Behold this is the due season ;" Behold, now is the convenient time. Now then, " Bring them forth." And now, all that hath been spoken, would God it might bring forth but this ; that seeing the time serveth so well, we can no way except to it, we would not slip it. If we did but truly apprehend the words ira ventura, our eyes would not Ps.132.3,4. sleep, nor our eyelids slumber, nor the temples of our heads take any rest, till we had taken straight order with ourselves, for the " when," when it should be ; at what time we should not fail but to do it ; and nothing should let us, but perform it once to purpose, and seal to ourselves this fruit : that yet once we may assure ourselves, we are in good earnest, and that done it is, and such and such were the fruits we had of it. A time, whensoever it shall happen, which will be to us no less memorable than the day of our birth, or the day of our coming to any place or dignity. And as much joy and comfort shall we take in the remembrance of it, as of any of them. The rest and repose our spirits shall find upon the accom- plishment of it will be worth our pains, and abundantly recompense our going through with it. And when you come back again to St. John Baptist, and to bring him word you have " brought forth this fruit," he will then shew you Agnus Dei; and then is indeed the shewing of Him in kind, and the right time of seeing Him. And that sight shall be worth all ; we will think we never saw Him before. We shall be sure to fly the " wrath to come." Nay it shall fly from us ; by us, or over us, but from us sure wrath shall fly ; and instead of it, the " kingdom of Heaven" shall come near to us, and we to it. For " repent," and " it is at hand," say [Mar. 1. 4. St. John and Christ both. It is our daily prayer, it may come ; and this is the way to make it come. What shall I say? We shall sanctify thereby this time of fast; and as it hath ever been counted, make it an holy time ; and we in it shall have Rom.6.2'i. " our fruit in holiness, and the end everlasting life." A SERMON PREPARED TO BE PREACHED ON THE TENTH OF I'EBRUART, A.D. MDCXXIV. BEING ASIl-WEDNESDAT. Matthew iii. 8. Bring forth fruits, therefore, worthy amendment of life, ov repentance. Proferte fructus igitiir (lignos pceniientitB. [Bring fortk therefore fruits meet for repentance. Engl. Trans.] O this text three points we have gone through ; these three, 1. proferte, "bring forth," be not always carrying in; 2. proferte fructus, " bring forth fruit," leaves will not serve ; 3. proferte fructus igitur, " bring forth fruits, therefore :" wherefore ? That so you may " escape the wrath to come." There is no way to escape it, but that. Now we go on. " Bring forth fruits, therefore." What fruits ? " Fruits of repentance ;" fruits growing on a tree called repentance; for the fruits ever carry us to the tree that carries them. If we be to have fruit, it must be brought forth ; if brought forth it must be, there must be a tree to bring it forth. That tree is repentance. The reason, that St. John in his whole sermon runs all upon this metaphor of tree and fruits, and axe and root; that he brings in repentance as a tree, I have touched formerly. It seems to refer us, this tree, to another, the forbidden tree. Gen. 2. 1 7. That tree had fruit ; this tree to have so too. Tree for tree, fruit for fruit. The worthy fruits of repentance, for the unwortliy fruits of disobedience. The fruit of that tree was our bane ; the fruit of this to be our medicine. The fruit of that made ira venture to come ; the fruit of this will turn it away. It is true, the fruits of this tree of repentance, they were not prima intentionis, ' first or principally intended.' There was another a more excellent plant, called the tree of innocence; the fruit whereof was, ne j)eccetis, ' not to sin at all.' There F f 2 436 Of Repentance and Fastiiuj. \n\^' ^^^^^ ^^'^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^'^^ "'^^'■6 shall we find that ? Where grows the tree that bears that fruit ? Roin.3.23. Who is there that sinneth not? The forbidden fruit was no sooner taken, but that tree withered and died ; could never be got to grow in our nature since. No talking of that. That tree failing, it pleased God, of His great goodness, to graft upon a new stock this second plant, the plant of repent- ance ; to the end it might serve for a counter-poison : the fruit of it against the venom of the forbidden fruit. To the end also that it might serve to supply that other of innocency ; (they be Job 3.3. 26. Elihu's words in Job,) " to restore unto man his innocency." For quern poenitct peccasse ]jcene est innocens, (could the heathen man say,) the next degree to innocency is penitency. That if we cannot present God with the fruit of innocency, at the seat of His justice, yet with the fruit of repentance, we may, at the throne of His grace. And this tree will grow in our soil ; our soil will bear it, and with good tending, bring forth fruits, worthy fruits, which we may offer unto God, and He will take it in good worth. And this is the tree we must trust to, now ; and blessed be God, that so we may. The To keep us close to our metaphor. We say first, that division. ^ repentance, if it be right, is no log, no dry piece of wood ; a tree it is, hath life in it, vegetable life at the least, II. II. A tree, and that no barren tree ; such there be, that for all their root, bring forth no fruit at all. This tree is a bear- ing tree, you may say proferte to it. It will " bring forth." III. III. " Bring forth," and what ? That, it was set for. It was not set for shadow, nor for fuel : it was planted for fruit, and fruit it is to bring. IV. IV, But will any fruit serve ? No; trees there be that carry [Vid. Hor. fruit, but fruit of no worth ; porcis comcdenda, for swine per- Lp. 1.7.19.] jjjjpg^ j^yj^ ^Qj. jjjgn. Neither for meat nor medicine. Neither meet to be presented to God, nor useful for the service of men. So 1. a tree ; 2. a bearing tree ; 3. a fruit-bearing tree ; and 4. the fruit it bears worthy the tree that bears it. 1. If it be a dead stock, and no live tree. 2. If it be a tree, but bare and barren ; no proferte, " bring not forth." 3. If it bring forth, be it what it will, if it be not fruit. 4. If it be fructus and not dignos, "fruit," but such as is nothing "worth," it comes Of Repentance and Fasting. 437 not hence: St. John acknowledges it not. None of his tree, some bastard slip it is : none of his setting. Ilis lies fair before us. " Bring forth, therefore, &c." Of these four we are to proceed. 1. Of the tree, 2. the bearing of the tree, 3. the fruit it bears, 4. the worth of the fruit ; and a word, if you will, of the fruit-time, the time of all this: which will fall V. out to be at this very time. We are to treat of repentance, as a tree, first. To speak i- , . . 1 . , , „Ofthetree. properly, repentance is a virtue, a moral virtue, a branch oi justice, of justice corrective; and so should be delivered in moral terms, as in the Ethics other virtues use to be. It is not, though : you shall seldom find it so ; but most-what set out in the terms of some one passion of the mind or other. And why so ? For no other cause, but that we are so dead and dull when we are about it, (this business,) as if repentance were a very log, and no quick or live tree. Which cannot be ; repentance being from " dead works," and therefore cannot be Heb. 6. i. a dead thing itself, but have life in it. Mark it when you will, the Holy Ghost (as it were of purpose) still chooseth to express it under some term of passion, as sorrow, fear, anger, and the like, rather than the other way ; rather in pathetical than in ethical terms. And this he doth in a manner continually. For passions be quick ; there is life in them. Therefore, their terms he chooseth, to put life in us. To shew he would have us affectionate, when we are about this work ; and not so cold and so calm as we use to be. And indeed, these aflFections be the radical humour or sap ; if they go up, there is hope of some fruit : if down, and rise not, no proferte to be looked for. Now if affections give life, the quicker the affection, the more life it gives. And there is none quicker than that of anger. For which cause, when time was you may remem- [SeeSerra. ber we made it the chief ingredient into repentance. Even p anger at ourselves, we were so evil advised as to bring our- selves into the anger of God. Whose anger when it comes, quis poterit, who can, " who is able ?" that is, none can, none Rev. «. n is able " to abide." And why found wc it so ? Because most life and spirit appears in that ; fear and sorrow and the rest are but dull andheavy in comparison of it. And this I now mention therather, because the passion of 438 Of Repentance and Fasting. s E R M. anger, if you mark it, strikes upon ira ventiira in the text ; • — doth even in a manner lead us by the hand unto it. One anger, to another ; God's anger to ours ; God's to come, to ours for the present. For by our anger for the present, we turn away His to come. Our anger is a supersedeas to His. Or if you will have it in terms of justice, judging ourselves we shall not be judged of the Lord. But our anger, and generally all our affections are well compared to lime. Out of the water, where they should be hot, no heat appears in them ; in water, where they should be cold, there they boil and take on. Used there most, where they should be least; and again least, where they should be most. For take me a worldly man, and let him but over- reach himself in some good bargain, in matter of profit, you shall see him so angry, so out of patience with himself, as oft it casts him into some disease. There lo, is repentance in kind ; there is that which makes it a tree, the spirit of life. Ours (for the most part) towards God is dull and blockish, neither life nor soul in it. II. But we may not stand thus about the tree ; we are called ing^ofthe ou for proferte, lo bring somewhat forth; else how shall we know, it is a tree, and no log? Small odds or none at all, between a dead stock and a barren tree ; one brings forth as much as the other. It is the bringing forth, that makes the difference. Bringing forth is opposite to keeping in : we must have no kept-in repentance. Forth it must come, forth it must be brought. From whence? from within. Carrying in, before; keeping in, now ; all withins are against, utterly against proferte. St. John saw well which way the world would go. Men would have their repentance prove res intus peragenda, 'a matter to be sped, dispatched, shuffled up within, between their conscience and them, forsooth.' And then they would tell you great matters, what they are within. There, within, they have it, that they have ; where nobody can see what they Mat. 5. 15. have. Under the bushel much, but nothing on the candle- stick, that any man can see. So instead of pro ferte, we should have praferte, nothing but 'pretending.' Nay, no prarferte; proferte, saith St. John; no bosom repentance; bring it out, Of Repentance and Fasting. 439 shew it. For upon St. John's proferte is c^rounded St. James's Ostende mihi, "Shew me thy faitli ;" and it holds in rc-Jam. 2. 18. pentance too. Tell them not of a repentance under the ground; down in the root; within, in the hollow of the bark; they will not hear of it. Ut in poenitentia sola conscientia prceferatur ; sed ut aliqiio etiam externo acta administretur: ' not only a pretence or a fair show to be made of our conscience within ; but some outward thing to be done and executed upon it:' somewhat to be brought forth. Take heed of this error, as if repentance were a matter merely mental or inten- tional. It is not good notions in the brain, nor good motions in the mind will serve, these are but the sap within ; look to the branches, what see you there ? Look to proferte, what is brought forth. " Bring forth," then ; and what ? Many things doth a tree m. bring forth, and divers of them as forerunners to the fruit, ^'belrs.'' as boughs, and leaves, and buds, and blossoms. St. John mentions none of them ; passeth by them all ; stays at none, till he come to the fruits. That is it the tree was planted for. Not to make materials, not to give shadow, not for the green boughs, nor the gay blossoms, nor for any thing but for the fruit. The tree is for the fruit; and but for the fruit, there had been no tree. Fruit it was, for which it was first set, and for which it is let grow ; and when there is no longer hope of bringing forth fruit, " down with it," saith the Lord of the soil, "why troubles it the ground any longer?" And Luke 13. 7. then comes Ira ventura with his axe, lays it to the root, and down it goes, and into the fire it is cast ; and seeing it will not serve for fruit, makes it serve for fuel : the end of all unfruitful trees. Mark it well, this. It is the fruit of repentance; not repentance itself, but the fruit it is, is sought for. That is all in all. So, not only a bearing, but a fruit- bearing repentance. And good reason. For if the one tree, sin, if that have brought forth fruit, so must repentance, the other tree, do likewise. It is true, in sin, the sense, and so the soul, is first in fault. In at that gate it first comes; and out at that, it must first go. But sin hath her fruit in the body ; so is repentance to have hers too. Repentance is to be incorporate, and bring forth her fruits in the body. The sou! alone not to 440 Of Repentance and Fastbuj. s E R^M. be put to penance ; all laid upon it : the body to share, as in — the pleasure, so in the pain. Perhaps in the sin that lies smothering in the thought within, never comes in actum, there may be some question, whether repentance alone may not serve. But if it have brought forth the forbidden fruit, the body ; the body must have her fruit in repentance also. To both, said it is, said it must be, proferte igitvr fructus. That fruit And what be these fruits? To let go the metaphor, if you IS wor s. ^Y^yij l^i^oYv plain terms what fruits mean, St. Paul will tell you without any figure. He saith, he preached, " Men Acts 26.20. should tum to God, and do works worthy of repentance." Look ye. St. John's "fruits," St. Paul being his commenter, are nothing but " works." Both mean the same thing ; St. Paul's "works" are St. John's "fruits;" fruits and works are all one. In om/ii opere bono fructijicantes, it is the Col. 1. 10. Apostle's, "Every good work is a good fruit." To do a work then of repentance is to bring forth the fruits of repentance. There is no virtue at all but hath her proper act or work ; but not any virtue of them all so proper as repentance. For of repentance it is said, agere pcenitentiam ; so, it is not, of any besides. That in a work, it may seem to claim a property, above and before all the rest. And that it so requires an act, as, no act, no repentance. Now because we have taken up a distinction, that an act is but a thing transient, but a fact, that is permanent. Therefore, to make all sure, besides pceniten- tiam agere, you have qvce fructum iion fecerit. So both agere and facere, ' act' and ' fact,' both. And the fact, that is the fruit, that hath some reality in it. So some fruit is to come ; something to be done ; not thought or said, but done, actually done. 0{[\QY\\'\?,c,fingitur non agitur pcenitentia, (it is Augustine,) 'we do but dally, all is but counterfeit.' No serious repentance, if somewhat be not done. For, that somewhat is to be done, is so sure, as ye shall not find any man in the mind or way to repent, but ever his first question is, " What must I do?" And that, even by the very Acts 9. 6. instinct of reason. " Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do ?" Actsi6.30. St. Paul's first words, when he began. Quid oportet me facere? the gaoler's first words, (being now a convert,) to St. Paul, Of Repentance and Fasting. 441 when he began. As much as to say, Somewhat I am to do, if I knew what. Thrice together you have this cjuestion here immediately after. Quid faciemus? say the Pubhcans : Luke 3.10, "What shall we do?" say the soldiers: "What shall we ' do V say all the people to St. John, when they came to the " baptism of repentance." All agreeing in this, all implying, somewhat there was to be done, whatsoever it was : that the fruit of repentance is in the work. And what is that work ? I will answer first in general. In moral Divinity, (if we go that way,) the proper work of justice is to give to each his due. Of corrective justice, to do justice, to inflict correction, where it is due ; and to sin it is due. The difference only is ; correction (for the most part) is done upon others. In repentance, it reflects and is done upon ourselves. If you will put more life into it, and utter it more pathetically, go by the way of affections, anger is the pre- dominant affection, we said. The proper work of anger is to be avenged. " What, shall I not visit ? shall not my soul Jer. 6. 9. be avenged on such an indignity?" saith Indignation. As anger then the chief passion; so, that, the chief action. The Apostle therefore leaves not off, till he have asked, "Yea, but" quce vindicta? "what revenge? what punishment?" That 2Cor. 7.11. is his last question : comes not to his period till he have shut up all with that. For, till that be done, all is not done. That is the very consiimmatum est of all true repentance. To grow to more particulars. We sort the works of re- whatthesc pentance, as they may best answer and suit with the works of sin. Now all sins grow out of these three heads, and may ticularf^'^' be reduced to one of them, the I. spirit, the 2. flesh, 3. and ijoh.2.i6. the world ; and are corrected each of them by his contrary. In physic it holds, every thing is cured ; in justice it holds, every thing is best corrected, by his contrary. Now, it is contrary, much against each of these, to be depi'ived of that it loves and delights in. The spirit loves to be at liberty to ranoe and to scatter ^c • 1 i_ • ^ J • Prayer,&c. itselt m many manner thoughts ; or, if it fix, to do it upon some pleasing object. Confine the spirit, make it undertake some task of devotion, set it to pray, to read, to meditate, which is a dry object and nothing pleasing to it : fix it so. 442 Of Repentance and Fasting. SERM. and you punish it. For notliinof is more irksome. It is VIII ... : — vexatio spiritus. Fasting '^^^^ flesh, that loves to fare well, put it to fast; loves to &c. ' sleep and take her ease, put it to watch, or to lie hard ; loves vestiri rnollihus, gird it with sackcloth ; loves mirth and good company, make it retire and sit pensive : abridge it of these all or any, and you punish it more or less, I warrant you. Almf '^'^^ world and the worldling, they love to part with as little as they can. Charge them with any thing that shall be to them chargeable, it punisheth them shrewdly, and is to them a punishment. Thus then these three, they may be met with, each of them, if they have made a fault. For neglect of serving of God, with some task of devotion more than ordinary. For fulness of bread, with that truly sacra fames, the exercise of fasting. For looseness of life, with works tending to the taking down of the flesh, and making it less fleshly. For taking that which was others', to depart with that which was our own. For want of bowels, with works of mercy. In a woi'd, with suffering what we would not, for doing what we should not. So, punishing our evil concupiscence, in that it is so bent to; and making it leave that for which it left God. So the triplicity stands thus: For spiritual sins, prayer, and works of de- iCor.9.27. votion ; for fleshly, works pertaining to castigo corpus meum ; for worldly, alms, and works of charity and compassion. Let me shew you them briefly. For the first. Simon Magus went not through with his bargain ; did but think the Holy Ghost had been ware for his money; all was but thinking; went no farther than the spirit. St. Peter prescribes him what to do, to fall to prayer; "Pray," Acts 8. 22. saith he, " if it be possible this thought of thy heart may be forgiven thee." Prayer serves where it goes no farther than thought. 2. For the second. The King of Nineveh and his people, Jon. 3. 5. they fell to fasting on all hands. What was their sin? Nahum Nah. 1. 1. will best tell us that ; he wrote the " burden of Nineveh." This it was ; " because of the fornications of the harlot." For that kind of fleshly sin, that was the proper fruit. 3. For the third. Our example shall be the King of Babylon. He had been a mighty oppressor of his people. There have Of Repentance and Fasting. 443 ye now a worldly sin. " Break off thine iniquity with mercy Dan. 4.27. to the pool*," is Daniel's prescript to him. That is the right fruit for sins of that nature. All may be comprised under these three : 1. works of devotion, as prayer ; 2. works of chastisement of the body, as fasting; 3. works of mercy, as alms. These three, between them, make up the corrective or penal part of repentance. Prayer is a fruit of repentance. "For this cause," saith the i. Penitential Psalm, even for this, and for no other cause, "shall every one that is so disposed make his prayer unto Thee." ps. 325. The penitent Publican's first moving was, "he went up toLu. is. la, the Temple to pray." Let them pray and say, " Spare Thy ^ people, O Lord, and give not over Thine inheritance to be a reproach unto the heathen," saith Joel, in his repentance. " Let thetn cry mightily unto the Lord," say they of Nineveh jon. 3. 8. in theirs. And the prayers of David, Jonas, Manasses, for their own sins; of Daniel, Ezra, Nehemias, for the sins of the land ; and in a word, the Penitential Psalms shew this, that were chosen for no other end but to be a task for penitential persons. There is one fruit. Alms is another. A fruit, and so (by the name of "fruit") y. expressly called, Rom. 15. 28. For by mercy shewed, sins pro. 11.17. are forgiven, saith Solomon ; he that seeks mercy is to shew Pro. 16. 6. mercy. Daniel (you heard) did prescribe it to no less person than the King himself at Babylon. And the same at Jeru- salem was a fruit too ; witness Esay fifty-eighth, " break thy isa. 58. 7. bread to the hungry," made by him, there, a part of true repentance. And Zachee shewed as much in his own happy Lu. 19. 8. practice upon himself, of our Saviour Christ's high appro- bation. There is another fruit. Fasting is a third fruit ; and that a special one, and so hath 3. always been reputed. It appeareth by the three Kings. King David, who was a religious prince ; not only by him, 2 Sam. 12. but by King Ahab, who was scarce sound in religion. Nor j^'j^.^^ ^ by them only, but by the King of Nineveh, a heathen man, 21. 27. who, even by the light of nature, brought forth this fruit. ^' ^' We name it last, but it is indeed first : first in nature ; first quoad nos. First, in nature, as opposite to tlie first trans- gression, which was by eating. First, I am sure, quoad nos, Gen. 3. 6. speaking of us and our country. Excess that way, in fare and 444 Of Repentance and Fasting. SERM. fcedino;, hath been and is counted our nentile vitium, our VIII . . . . '— 'national fault.' So, no fruit, that our nation is more bound [1 Cor. 6. to bring forth than it. For esca ventri, awXventer escis, "meat 13.] for the belly, and the belly for meat," it no where reigneth so much. This is a third fruit. A fruit, which if we would frame ourselves to bring forth in kind, there would come with it both the other fruits besides. For if we could so fast as we should, it would abate lust certainly ; which otherwise, keep the body high, you shall hardly bring low : that fruit. And if we could so fast, it would mend our devotion much ; our prayers would not be so full of yawning as we find them : that fruit. And if we could so fast, there would be the more left to enable us to be so much the more plentiful in alms than we be : that fruit. So as a good increase or yield would come of this third fruit well brought forth. 2. What These three in special are chosen out ; but, in general, any works are ^^^^^ these. There is a way, how it is possible, there is not in general, a virtue of them all, but you may make the work of it a fruit of repentance. In moral matters it holds ever: Jinis dat formam, ' the end, that, gives the form,' and so the true essence to every work ; insomuch as the work is reckoned a fruit, not of that virtue from whence it proceeds, by which it is done ; but of that virtue to which it refers, for whose end it is done. Nay, it falls out often so, as an act of virtue, (as prayer, fasting, alms,) done for a vicious end, (suppose for vain-gloi-y,) loseth his own kind, and becomes the proper act of that vice it is done for. So powerful a thing is the end, in moralibus. Whereby it comes to pass, the work of any virtue, be it what it will, undertaken with a mind and intent, or as we say, aninio cnrrigendi, enjoined eo nomine, referred to that, alters the nature and becomes a work of justice corrective, and so a fruit of repentance. For, even in these three before remembered, so it goes. Alms, of itself, is a work of charity ; fasting, properly, an act of the virtue i'yKparela, ' abstinence ;' prayer, of his own nature, a work of religious worship. But, alms done some wa}'^ to amerce ourselves ; fasting done animo cast'tgandi corpus; prayer imposed as a task work, to spend so much time, to stand so long bent at it : all these thus referred still Of Repentance ami Fadbaj. 445 with an ej'e to that, change their nature and become acts penal, and so fruits of repentance. Of fruits, we said at first, two uses there are; first, to be Thouseof offered as a present: so Jacob sent them to the governor of '('"^["^IJ^*' Egypt. For the first ; we have, in all, but three things to "fti-ing. offer unto God, to present, to honour Him with; the 1. spirit or soul, 2. the body, and 3. our wordly goods. 1. The offer- ing of the soul is the pouring it out in prayer, and other works of that kind. 2. Of the body, the chastening it by exercises that way tending. 3. Of our goods, by distributing and doing good with them in alms and offerings. Supposing the sin-offering in the Law best to suit with repentance, as it doth. 1. "A sorrowful spirit is a sacrifice to Ps. 5i. 17. God," that we know ; 2. and no reason but a chastened body should be so likewise ; 3. and why the price and charges of the sacrifice should not come into the reckoning, I see not, which was part of their wordly state ; which being distributed and done good withal, in meat and drink offerings, this the Apostle calleth "a sacrifice wherewith Phil. 4.1 8. God is well-pleased." The first use of these fruits brought forth. The second use we spake of was, as they are medicinable. 2. This difference there is between the punishment of justice, and medicine, repentance. Justice otherwhiles destroys the delinquent ; so doth repentance never, but saves always. So it is more like the punishment of physic than of law. For physic, though it be a cure, yet a penance it is to the body, if we deal with it throughly, and go through with it. And repentance is the physic of the soul and body both. Sit obsecro sanatio, saith Daniel, " let there be a cure done," when he exhorted him to Dan. 4. 27. repent. Both are a cure ; as corrective of what is past, so preservative (or, if you will, you may call it corrective too) of what is to come. When the sinner is corrected, hath correc- tion given him for the former, he correcteth his ways, amends his life for ever after. Castlgo corpus serves for what hath JCor.9.27. been done ; in servitutum rcdifjo serves, that he do it no more. Both to wreak ourselves for so often offering so foul indigni- ties to Heaven and the God of Heaven, in our former bad course of life ; and to keep under the flesh, and hold the con- cupiscence in awe, that it run not again into the former riot. 446 Of Repentance and Fasting. SERM. This latter, we call "amendment of life;" which is not VIII. r ■ • , / I repentance, lor it pertains rather to irpovoLa than to fieravoia, (being yet to come,) but it never fails to follow it infallibly, insomuch as if it do not, nothing is done. For I report me to you ; let it be but known to the flesh that this same light or slight repentance shall not serve the turn, but to a round reckoning it shall come and make full account to taste of these fruits throughly, without hope of being dispensed with ; whether it will not take off the edge of our appetite, and make it more dull and fearful to offend? On the other side, let it be considered, whether this be not to lay the bridle on the neck of concupiscence to pour itself into all riot, if, sinning, it know it shall be dispatched with any repentance, never so short and shallow, as do no more so, and all is well ? Whether, I say, this will not make all the sap go down, as we shall never see fruit come ; nay, whether it be not to destroy fruit and tree and all ? Verily, they that for pure zeal and indignation at themselves for their sins never shed a tear, nor miss a meal, nor break a sleep, nor do, nor suffer, nor part with aught ; it may seem a question, whether they think not St. John here overseen in pressing that for so needful, which they can so easily dispense with. • But if when we come (o castiyo corpus, there we leave St. lCor.9.27. Paul; when to "neither eating nor drinking,'' there we leave Matn.i8. gj.^ John; and when to flevit amare, there we leave St. Peter; and when to TrivOof and KaT^cpeca, changing our " mirth into pensiveness," there we leave St. James; I marvel, what man- ner i-epentance we will leave before we have done, or what shall become of our fruits here. IV. In our repenting commonly we make such haste, as we take oHhis"'^*' away before the fruits come. But if there happen to come fruit. ^j^y^ jg j-jQj. j-^-g gygjj case? Our tears, if any, dry straight; our prayers, if any, quickly tedious; our alms, indeed pitiful; our fasts, fast or loose upon any the least occasion ; and so our 2 Cor. 7.10. repentance, if any, pcenitentia pcenitenda, "a repentance needing another, a new, a second repentance, to repent us of it." To repent us of our repentance, no less than of our sin itself. So that, if any fruit, fruit of no worth. And if the fruit be of no worth, no more is the tree ; unworth}' one, unworthy both. Of Repentance and Fustintj. 447 Thus we arc not yet where we should be, till wwio fnictus we have added dujnos. Nay then, if you fall to talk of worthiness, we shall have satisfaction up again. And had we not best then to ask first. Arc there any worthy? For, if there be none such, bid St. John beware how he talk of " worthy fruits ;" bid St. Paul Acts26.20. beware how he speak of " worthy works of repentance." If none such be, they did ill to clog the bill with any such word. But they knew well what they said; therefore such there be, sure, get them where we can. Only, when we say worthy, it would be understood cum How it is grano salts. How worthy? in what sense ? whither referred ? that we mistake not. I demand then first, Shall we put them into the balance, to weigh the worthiness of our fruits with the unworthiness of our sins, and the consequent of our sins " the wrath of God the dignity of the one with the indignity of the other, and think by their dignity to satisfy God's just indignation? I trow not. At this beam, no fruits of ours will hold weight: none, so found worthy; no, not if we could (I say not shed, or pour out, but) even melt into tears, and every tear a drop of blood. No ; non sunt condignce passiones, Rom.s. 18. saith the Apostle, " we can suffer nothing worthy our sins," but (that, we cannot suffer,) ira veiituru, " the wrath of God." The infinite incomparable high worth of Him, That in our sin is wronged ; the foul contempt that is therein offered, are far above the worth of any our fruits : weigh them down as any feather. Why, all Lebanon, saith the Prophet, is not sufficient to find wood ; nor all the " beasts upon a thousand hills" not Ps. 50. 10. enough for a sacrifice, " Tekel, Tekel, too light all." Take Dan. 5. 27. them out of the scales, away with them, non sunt digni, in that sense. In which sense, not the wicked prodigal child Lu. 15. 21. only, but even the good Centurion ; nay then, even St. John Mat. 8. 8. Baptist here himself, cry all, non sum dignus ; neither their Mat. 3. 11. fruits, nor they. The honour of dUjnos, in this sense, belongs to the fruits of no tree, but the tree of the Cross of Christ ; to His sufferings, and to none but His. Yet, I wot well, there hath been another manner estimate by some men of their own fruits ; but they weighed them with their own false weights, and made them a discharge both from poena and from culpa, and that toties quoties. Nay then, inventus 448 Of Brpentance and Fasting. SERM. est plus habens, they found a farther surplusage too of I know — liiL — not what besides. What of that ? Christ's caveat is here to take place : that weeding out the tares, we take heed we pluck not up together good corn and all. That to avoid certain worms, that may hap breed in the fruit, if it be not the better looked to, we beat not all the fruit off the tree, and leave it all naked and bare ; no fruits at all : and for fear of teaching a proud, teach a fruitless repentance. Well ; though not so compared, not this way, yet must we have fructus dignos. How worthy then? referred whither? As worthy as the possibility of our nature will reach to ; as pur soil will bear, or hath ever yielded ; as the saints and servants of God are reported to have brought forth in former ages : what say you to that dignos ? That indeed were somewhat worth, if it Ps. 119.83. might be had. They? they have become "like bottles in the Ps. 109.24. smoke," their "knees have grown weak through fasting," Ps. 6. 6. they have " all to wet their pillows with their tears they Lu. 19. 8. have " restored bribes, and that fourfold ;" given in alms at once, "half of all that ever they had." This were indeed somewhat worth ; but of this, I doubt our worthiness will be found short ; or rather I doubt not. I dare not put it upon this dignos neither. And yet, were there in us any portion of that heroical free spirit, of that Christian magnanimity that was in the fathers of our faith ; (the Apostle bears them witness that 2 Cor. 8. ?. " to their powers, nay and beyond their powers, they shewed themselves willing;") any never so poor fi'uit would not content us. But we, neither to our power, nor a great deal short of it, endeavour ourselves : any never so slight and slender will serve us well enough. I wonder what we think ? Do we think to post God off with any, it skills not what fruit? with wind-falls, with Isa. 5. 2. worm-eaten stuff ? Esay's "sour grapes?" Jeremy's "rotten jer. 24. 2. fj^g 9 " Nothing comes amiss. Hold we Him in so vile account, as any is good enough for Him ; it is well with Him Mai. I. 8. if He get any? Malachi tells us otherwise, "That he holds it in great scorn ; bids us "go offer such fruit to our Prince, and Zec.11.13. see if He will take it well." Zachary tells us so likewise; " A goodly price," saith he, " they value Me at." Goodly Of Repeiitdiicr (tnd Fdsi 'iiHj. 449 fruit, is it not, tiiey present Me with? Nay, sure, wc must have dignos too ; some worth there would be. Is there any other way to take our dignos by ? Compared with the Justice of God ; not so; nor with the great heroes of our nature ; not so neither. Nor indeed are they said worthy of either of these ; but how ? Only " fruits worthy of repent- ance j" that is, such as may well beseem persons as be truly penitent. Referred not to aught, but to repentance itself. Laying by sin, as it is an aversion from an infinite good ; (for so it is infinite ; admits no measure or degree ;) but consider- ing it, as it is a conversion to the creature, and that more or less ; so it falls within compass of more or less worthy. Say I this of myself? Saith not God's Law the same Lev. 6. 18. secundum mensuram cestimationemque delicti, and pro mensura Deu. 25.2. peccati ? Is it not a clause there, repeated more than once ? If there be a measure of the one, so is there of the other; if "an analogy of faith," of repentance too, why not? And to Rom. 12. c. that, we to apply ourselves, in the magis or minus dignos of our fruits. This is once ; repentance may be too much, one may go too far in it ; that will be granted, I know. And, if too much, then too little, and we may fall too short the other way (that, I am sure of). Which part we should offend on, to choose, a. There be two words, words of weight; one is St. Peter's, Of Repentance and Fastimj. 453 and that Is 'xcoprjcraL ek fierdvoiav, " to withdraw, go aside, to retire and be private, to sequester ourselves to our repent- ance the other is St. Paul's a^oXd^eiu Trpoaev^y Koi vrja-reba, i Cor. 7. 3. " to take us a time, nay to make us a time, a vacant time, a time of leisure to intend fasting and prayer," two fruits of repentance. I ask then. Did we never ^(Ofyfjaac, " withdraw ourselves" to that end ? What was the place where we so did ? Did we at any time a-)(o\dt,eiv, "take any such vacant time?" What was the time and when, when we so did? I doubt, ours hath been rather a flash, a qualm, a brunt, than otherwise ; rather a gourd of repentance, than any growing tree. A time there must needs be taken for this proferte. Now the time St. John gives is but while ira ventura, " the wrath to come," is in coming, /ra, ventura, are two words : in that it is "wrath," and " God's wrath," there is just matter of fear ; in that it is ventura, " to come," but to come, and not yet come, there is hope yet, some good may be done, before venit qu<2 ventura, ' that come that is to come.' If these fruits come, the wrath (when it comes) shall not come upon us, but pass by us, and not touch any fruit- bearing tree. To take a time then. Now there cannot be a fitter time than that the Church hath set us forth ; that is, now, at this time of the year. For now is the time of the year to plant in. In the picture of the months, in this next month at hand, you shall see nothing but men grafting and setting trees: it is the husbandry and business of the month ; wonderfully fitly chosen therefore, that this tree may keep time with the rest. And now is the time that the sap goes up ; so as there could not be a fitter time for St. John to call upon us. Look abroad, they begin now to " bring forth :" now best speaking for proferte. To which proferte, differte is clean contrary. Defer it not then, but take the time while it is in season. And with high wisdom in this time so set, that the time of our repentance, the forty days of it, end in the Passover, in the Ex. 12. 12. passing of ira ventura over us, as did the destroying Angel over the houses in Egypt. That the mortifying of sin might end in the rising of Christ in us. The use of fruit is fruition ; and this is the fruition in this life, even the fruits of the Spirit, fear and love and joy in the Holy Ghost. And in 454 Of Repentance and Fasting. s E R M. the life to come, the fruit of the tree of hfe in the midst of ^ — Paradise ; instead of ira ventura, vita ventura, gaudia ventura, ' the glory and joys eternal of the life to come.' To which life, glory, and joy, bring us Almighty God. END OK THE riRST VOLUME. oxford: printed by I. SHRIMPTON. Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Libtary 1 1012 01091 8987 DATE DUE lliMmflni'fiff ^Si&r«<8 kVlk J' CAYLORO PNINTCO IN U S A