found Mary Ioseph in a rock without the town wals fast by them an infante lying in a maunger betwixt an oxe and an asse after that they had in their rustical maner maruailed inough thereat in some rude sorte they did their small deuotion vnto their Lord and then declared vnto the maiden mother howe they were sent vnto that sacred place by whom and for what cause likewise what musicke they hearde after the message was done vnto them but care of their flock excusing their short tariance they tooke their leaue in the best manner they could feeding the virgins thoughts with these words filled the world with wonder O happie shepheards honoured aboue the highest soueraignes in being chosen to bee beholders of this heauenly babe blessed bee the eyes which see what yee did see for many kinges and princes would haue seene what yee did see and haue heard what ye did heare and could not but tell vs good shepheardes tell vs what yee did see The king of glory the glory of heauen the heauen of Angels the Angels â—oy the heauens ornament glories truest image who was when no other thing was although that others were begotten before all worldes although borne after that himselfe had builte the world as old as the most auncient although an infant of an houre a prince of peace but a conquerour of mighty powers a mirrour of loue but a reuenger of wronges the God of might but become a man O heauenly sight but where good shepheardes did you see what you say and in what sort In Bethleem of Iuda or to say more true without Bethleem because in Bethleem was no room for him he lay a young tender and a most delicate infant in a rude rocke without the towne walles in the very sharpest time of winter without any succour but what hee receyued by the breath of an oxe and an asse which stood tyed to the maunger wherein he was laide for although his mother could not bee far from him yet had she not wherewithall to comfort him but rather wanted cherishing herself not being without some griefe to see her owne bowels lie shiuering for cold who coulde with a worde haue made the heauens to shake whom Angels could not without terror behold in heauen to lie trembling in a maunger O heauie sight that the corner stone vpon which the safety of the whole world was to bee founded hewed out of a rocke without mans hands shoulde now be so laide in a rocke as it seemeth to be left almost by all but by a rocke O hearts more hard theÌ„ the most stony rocke O heades more dull then the most senceles beast O Bethleem hadst thou been so poore as thou couldest not thou mightiest haue beene excused but thou wert so peeuish as thou wouldest not and therefore art thou iustly refused had humility aunswered for thine vnworthinesse to receiue so noble guestes happie hadst thou beene and thou hadst beene made worthy but a contrarie humor made thee swell so bigge as thou wouldest not haue any spare roome for thy Lorde and maker at what time both the oxe knewe his owner and the asse the maunger of his maister and sticked not by the instinct of nature to giue him entertainement and the institutor of nature vouchsafed it Succour heauenly Peeres your prince since that hee whome yee tooke delight to beholde in heauen is destitute of helpe in earth and disdained of such as yet knew not their owne dignity forget that he choose ratherâ— be a man then an angel â—or now doth hee feele that he hath taken vpon him a nature which cannot helpe it self and left an other which could haue helped others Be present worthie princes at this spectacle and giue diligent attendance vpon him and his mother who pittied him as much as yee did although shee coulde not profite him well might his wailing make her weepe being her owne most noble tender and sweete infant but all the helpe she could giue him was scantlie worth the hauing at that instant O hardie shepheards to hazard sheepe and selues rather then fore â—ow the sight of this little infante right worthie were yee to be lighted in the middest of the darkenesse with a more piercing light then eyther the sunne is by daye or your starre by night the fielde wherein you watched your flocke was lighted the senses wherewith yee watched your selues were lighted but your soules seemed to haue receiued the chiefest light which coulde so perfectlie knowe whome your senses see and for whose sake yee forsooke for the time your flocke except what ye saued to present vnto this infant but go shepheards go and shewe vnto the worlde whome yee haue seene in want O Ioseph thrise happie because it was thy happe to light whereas thou couldest not chuse but like Now doest thou see the Saint whome thou hast serued to be such as neither heauen nor earth can shew thee the like What sweet flowers haue budded in thy land what soueraigne fruite haue blossomed the time being now come that the husbandman would pruine euerie tree and trimme it for the last triall whether it would rather carrie fruite worthie his pheere or become fewell for a neuer wasting fire The mournefull voice of a sorrowfull Turtle is heard in thy land because in his owne it could not hauing lost his entirely beloued mate for the recouerie of whome he would refuse no martirdome Stand not therefore any longer wondring to heare him so grieuously lament but rather trie if by wayling with him thou mayest lessen his woes approach neere vnto this princely infant whome although thou wert not worthie to father yet must it bee thy worke to foster hardly didst thou conceiue of thy spouse when she conceiued this infant but happily didst thou receiue her when thou wert better enformed and now mayest thou see it waking of which thou wert warned sleeping that shee conceiued without sinne who was deliuered without pâ—ine O sweete office graunted thee with as sure a pattent to be a garde to grace a comfort to compassion a nurse to nature a supposed father to him to whom princes sue for fauour O trustie guardian of grace his truest gemme to haue the sole custodie of thy Prince his chiefest spouse to haue the sole conducting of thy prince his mother to haue the sole comforting of her when she was deliuered of thy prince both worthy of thy loue the one thy mate the other thy maker both worthy of thy seruice the one thy God the other his mother both wanting at this time thy helpe the one a tender infant the other a young maiden How vndoubtedly shal thy seruice be recompenced thy loue requited doubly for thy present good will shalt thou hereafter be presented with a crowne of glorie Continue then thine accustomed care toward thy spouse and her infant that thou mayest bee a sufficient witnesse to the worldes wonder as well of her motherly charitie as thou art of her
king Dauids messenger when hee sent to demaund her consent vnto him in marriage shee sayde vnto this Prince Embassadour Behold the handmaid of my Lord bee it done to me according to thy word Her consent obtained the Embassadour gaue her a farewell mixed with such ioy and reuerence as if hee had beene loth to detract time to be gone with so great good newes and yet could not but stay a while to doe his dutie but being of that agility that hee could passe so much space in a moment as is betwixt heauen and earth dispatched himselfe wirh that speede that in a trice hee both encreased a ioy in the place where hee was began another in the place from whence hee came Whereupon Loue who is impatient of delaye caused him from whom as well as from his father proceed infinit loue with all his might to pursue this matter the wole Trinitie working miraculously in the wombe of the Virgin gathering of her most pure bloud together framed therof in one instant a perfect body no sooner could that body enioy the soule which was created for it then the emperor his son vnited the whole vnto him a work as worthy praise as wonder so wonderful as reason hauing tyeâ—d it selfe in discourse of this worke leaueth off beginneth to do nothing but wonder for which cause one among the rest being wearied with ouer much musing began to refresh himselfe a little with his Muses In this maner Whom earth the sea the heauens doe worship praise adore King of this threefolde frame the wombe of Marie bore To whom Moone sunne and all do seruice in their turnes Chast bowels be are with fall of grace which from heauen comes Blessed such a mother within whose wombe is closde Her heauenly maker holding from being losde With ease the world and blest for that she had receiude By angels mouth addrest a message she belieude That she conceiuing by the helpe of holy Ghost He should within her lie Whom Gentils wished most But although others lost themselues in the consideration of this diuine mysterie the Virgin no doubt was so perfectly instructed in it that shee sound as much knowledge as she had felt comfort and her comfort was the more because her knowledge was so great and remembring that the higher shee was in calling the more lowly best beseemed her to bee in her carriage shee did alwayes with most humble thoughts attend vpon high conceits neither thinking at any time too well of herselfe for that shee should mother so worthy a prince nor yet so vnwary as to giue any cause why from thence forth hee should disdaine her to bee his mother Among other her comforts she remembred what the Embassador had said vnto her of her cosen Elizabeth whome before shee loued but now she longed to see and if the wayes presented themselues in her imagination very long her desire looked to bee preferred which was in heart also very great and the time of the yeare being both fit and pleasant to trauel in enuited her ernestly to the iorney to a citie called Hebron in the mountaines of Iuda liing southward from Ierusalem 22. miles one of the most famous cities in Palestina for antiquitie and of greatest renown because it was sometime the kings seat The inhabitants of this place were sometime such men or rather monsters as neither eye coulde without horrour beholde nor eare without feare heare speake here was Dauid who slew Goliah the Giant in a single combat with his sling annointed king and ruled all Israell by the space of seauen yeares a place also for this cause had in reuerence by all the worlde for that Adam the first parent of all mankind here is said to haue forsooke the world here also was Iacob the great Patriarke buried his father Isaack who was miraculously in this place coÌ„ceiued by Sara when shee was by natures course past childbearing from hence Abraham issued with 318. of his men and ioyned with him the 3. brethreÌ„ maÌ„bre who gaue name to the valley ioyning vnto it Aner and Escoll pursuing 4. kings conquerors ouerthrew them neare vnto mount Libanus and broght back all the spoile which they had taken out of the richest part of the country and was here also afterward buried A place notoriously 〈◊〉 froÌ„ the beginning of the world with an oak which continued there 400. years after the incarnation of the young prince we spake of it was one of the 46. cities which were allotted vnto the priests to dwel in Hether hastened the virgin if not so well accompayned as noble welthie parents could send their only daughter aswel for her gard as theit own credite yet neither was it likely she wold caresly of her selfe haue strayed so far alone nor her parents suffer her to go without some company being so far froÌ„ the basest blood in Palestina as they were of the best none of the poorest who coulde spare vnto the temple one third part of what they had an other to relieue the poore but her chiefest gard was inuisible and therefore it was inuincible for if euer any princes with child trauelling was choisely attended on least any hurt should befal vnto her or vnto that shee wente with much more was shee and euery thing so well ordered as she neither felt any inconuenience in long vneasie wayes being a yong maiden nor found any 〈◊〉 in her iorney by her burden being lately become a mother for it is not to be thoght that he which came to bring ease for his enemies would breede any paine in his best friendes But no sooner had shee set fooâ—e into her cosens house and saluted her but the child within her cosens wombe be wrayed who shee was and Elizabeth by diuine instinct cried out with a loud voice beginning where the Prince Embassador had ended his salutation and saide vnto her Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy wombe whence is this to mee that the mother of my Lord doth come vnto mee for beholde as the voice of thy salutation sounded in myne eares the infant in my wombe did leape for ioy blessed art thou which didst belieue because those things shall be accomplished which were spoken vnto thee by our Lord. The sunne although it appeare vnto vs to bee in a cloude because there is a cloude betwixt it and vs is not altogether depriued of his power but giueth some light and by his light life where it lighteth and the sonne of iustice hauing builte his glorious throne in the wombe of a virgin where hee did as it were ascend vppon a thinne cloude shall he lease his vertue and not rather worke not of any necessitie as a natural cause of such like qualited effects but voluntarilie as a liberal and free agent of supernaturall graces How may wee thinke woulde hee draw vnto him if hee were once exalted who drewe so mightilie being imprisoned for
before to brooke the fault which he found he held it not without cause the gretest happines he could haue in this worlde to enioy the loue of her whose vertue surmounted all who were vertuous were not vertue it selfe She was a yong maiden but of graue dedemeanor able to haue prouoked the best mortified to loue but she reproued euen in her face all maner of lust for whom her modestie drew to admire her her maiestie draue from thought of sinning by her although her pouertie sought to conceale it her properties shewed her princely desent Wherefore he thanked the heauens for his good hap began to thinke how he should make her amends of whom he had conceiued so hardly But when he came againe vnto her he stood stone still as though either his soule had forsaken him or his sences forgotten her if only sorrow for his suspition past ioy of his present resolution had fought the combat the quarrell might haue beene quickly ended poore Ioseph wold with teares either haue confessed vnto her his fault or haue congratulated his owne good fortune bâ—t a reuerence entring into the lists preuailed against both which made him as backward in his paces as loue could make him forwarde in his lookes wherefore shee perceyuing his eyes fixed so vpon her as if he meant they shoulde not straye and his heeles so fastened to the ground as if he had beene minded they should neuer stirre she beganne to be abashed at this so sodaine an alteration and blushed to thinke whether she had giuen him any iust cause of so strange a salutation but her conscience assuring her that shee had beene alwaies as forwarde in shewing him all manner of curtesie as she was free from suffering any maner of corruption she encountred him with such sweet piercing lookes as she encouraged him to prosecute his former professed loues but in such sort as ioy griefe and reuerence were moderators in his wordes countenance and behauiour He confessed his iealousie and suspition he had of her humblie craued pardon therefore vowing himselfe for his pennance vntill his dying day in sight of the world a true and faithfull spouse and in all his actions a most diligent and obedient seruant he vttered his intention to dismisse her and being so fully satisfied in the misterie wrought in her he was now become a suter vnto her that she wold vouchsafe to accept of him And she perceiuing that this worke could not possiblie proceed without his knowledge recounted vnto him what had chanced vnto her but with such humilitie lowlines of mind as was sufficient to haue perswaded a truth disswaded him from his determined purpose if he had before discouered his iealousie vnto her Wherfore after humble thanks to her Lord who in such sort had supplied her bashfull backwardnes she embraced her spouse who trembled for reuerence to touch her and she did not onely pardon his offence past but dispensed also with that pennance which hee had enioyned himselfe so farre foorth as it concerned her owne person but craued most careful attendance on him whome shee had conceiued Many wordes passed not betwixt them at this meeting because they both were willing that this his fault as it was quietly forgiuen so it should also be quickly forgotten but they could not parte without many ioyes because they both had their wish that this sacred conception as it cleared her from all suspected faultes so it should clense him from all superfluons fancies and they liued euer after with such contentment happinesse that they neither enuied at the statelie port of earthly princes nor desired the highest estate of the heauenly spirites yet coulde they not but wish euery day her time were expired that not onely they but the whole world also might enioye whome they expected for although a speciall choice was made of the Iewes yet were not the geÌ„tiles abandoned being each as nobly born as other and both as one They both had their Prophetes which did forshew his birth that both might take like profite by his death Among the Gentiles were Trimegistus Hidaspes and the Sibilles and the Iewes were not without those which foretolde both the time and the circumstances most iustlie The Gentiles vnderstood that about that time a king should be born by whome onely as the most eloquent Orator that euer spake in Rome saide all people should be saued but they vnderstanding no more then hee did what this saying ment some of them which thought well of themselues beganne to cast how they might bee kinges hoping that the Prophetes spake of them for this cause did Lentulus ioyne himselfe in Catalines conspiracie and Anthony boldly set a crown vpon Iulius Caesar his head when they sported themselues at their Lupercals at which Caesar seemed to grieue and the Senate to grudge and Caesar refusing the crowne Anthony to the dislike of all the Romaines set it vppon Caesar his Image others thougâ—t that Augustus Caesar was the man and the rather because hee was borne aboute such a time as vppon a strange accident coniecture was made a mighty prince should arise for the Image of Iupiter which stoode in the Capitoll and the image of the Wolfe which nursed Romulus and Rhemus as also many other Idols were either broken or melted yet was Aâ—gustus a fauourer of Idols and by sacrificing vnto them acknowledged himselfe rather a bearer of them out then a breaker of them down but whosoeuer was born that yeare by the Senates decree was murdered because the very name of a king was hated amongst them All thought the appeariâ—g of the sunne in a rainebow when the skie was rounde aboute then cleare at Caesar his returne to Rome from Apollonia was a confirmation of this Empire so likewise did they enterprite the flowing of oile by the space of one whole daye out of a well on the foreside of Tiber a famous riuer that runneth thorough Rome in a place hetherto permitted to the Iewes to inhabite and to liue according vnto their lawes but the well stoode in a Tauerne sometime vsed by aged soldiers to soiourne in when they had serued in the warres in defence of the common wealth for after that a souldier came to his threescore yeare hee had his certaine allowance vntill his death which commonly was spent in that place And when they sawe the sunne in the middle of three circles vpon one of which was a crowne burning made as it were of eares of corn they applied it to their Triumâ—â—â—â— that is to signifie that three men shoulde sitte vppon capitall matters on which onely two satte before and were called â—â—â—umuiri But Augustus Caesar who had searched their olde southsayers saw hee was to waite for a greater then eyther they or himselfe was or the Gods whome hee worshipped and Apollo whose sonne hee was accounted confirmed the same insomuch as hee refused the title of a Lorde and hauing great treasure brought vnto him
perfection should not only become an obiect to euery mans sense but accounted also as an abiect in euery mans sentence Lament O heauens your losse and earth ioy in your gaine if it bee to be iudged your gaine that he who was begotten a prince in heauen and in al points comparable to the mightiest Emperour should be borne in so poore an estate in earth at hee seemed a companion onely for the meanest begger Princes hauing choise of Pallaces remoue sometime from one vnto an other where they neither brooke the diminishing of their port nor abate the least portion of their pleasure but this Prince hath remooued himselfe from a large stately and a glorious pallace where hee had much companie most noble pure beautifull and sure vnto him vnto a narrow homely and base place where heâ— findeth small companie of such condition but for the most part poore impure deformed and false vnto him He remoued from a pallace at the building whereof was neither any noyse heard of any toole nor any noysomenesse complayned of for any toyle it was with one onely word made and made so firme that vnlesse that word be again vnsayde it is an eternall frame From hence hee remooued not to anie other Pallace any house no not to a poore mans cottage but to a caue not in Babilon not in Rome not in Hierusalem citties famous either for soueraintie or sanctitie no nor in Bethlehem which was the least of a thousande in Iudah but in a rocke without the towne walles â—either as if hee had meant to haue made an escape from the world or else if the world had made a scorne of him The Caruer was iudged passionate who wished his woorke transformed into his owne nature keeping the shape which hee had giuen it Runne Iewes and Gentiles beholde your creature who had power not onelie to wish but also for the loue of you to worke himselfe into your natures which argued a passion of more intention and also of more perfection in that the Caruer wished it more for his owne pleasure then for his workes preferment and what your Creator hath wrought was to his owne paine and onelie for his workes profite for the compassing of which he thought thâ—t this present condition place and companie so fit as hee woulde not haue accepted any other had it beene offered for a more wealthie condition woulde perchaunce haue obtained a more conuenient place and hauing a more conuenient place the virgin must haue had more companie or if she had refused them she would haue incurred a suspition either to haue offended by some shamefull fact or else in tended some crueltie against her selfe and her infant And companie being admitted vnto her labour the midwife at the least if not all the rest woulde haue beene priuie vnto this misterie which was as yet to be kept most secrete For the virgins labour was not such as other womens labourâ— are nor the childe in that maner borne that other childen are for neither did she feele anie pain in her deliuerie nor he leaue lesse integritie in her bodie then hee founde that kinde of paine beeing the rewarde onelie of sinne of which hee acquitte her and corruption of bodie not without concupiscence which neuer was acquainted with her so that in all poynts shee was as pure and perfect a virgin after this natiuitie as shee was the firste day after her owne Such a mother onelie became Gods sonne to haue and such a sonne was none but a uirgin worthie to conceiue So was the Oracle fulfilled which spake of a gate in the East which should euer bee shut through which no man shoulde passe because the Lorde God of Israel had entered by it and it shoulde remaine shut for the Prince who was therein to make his seate and to passe in and our thorow it So was the figure verified which being a bush flaming with fire and not consuming foreshewed a virgin should conceiue a childe in her wombe without any corruption So was the expectation both of heauen and earth in part satisfied because he now beganne to runne his race like a giant although hee seemed but a weake infant who tooke vpon him to right the earths wrongs and to repayre the heauens ruines But the higher powers the heauenly spirits not able to containe themselues from communicating the cause vnto the earth of her ioy which was not more sodaine then secret for no doubt al the world at this time reioyced although they knewe not whereat left theyr Princely pallace for a time and descended into a plaine neere vnto a tower whereabout Iacob once â—ed his sheepe a mile distant from Bethleem where they founde three poore shepheards verie prouidently watching ouer theyr flocke in a field where neither the cattell could lacke meate to fill them nor their keepers foode to refresh them beeing as fertile of Oliues to the ease of the one as it was of grasse to the vse of the other where one of the Princes saluted these shepheards but with a kinde of reuerence vnto that shape for their maister his sake who lately had vouchsafed it and was as perfect in a peasant as in a Prince beside that by their office and abilitie they made the representation of him the more liuely whom they entirely loued but the shepheards perceiuing a light beyond all their night obseruations to shine so bright and in the middest thereof a stately prince such as neither day nor night they had euer seâ—ne the like were so much affrighted therewith that the prince thought it high time to harten them againe and spake vnto in this manner Feare yee not for beholde I bring you newes of great ioy which shal be vnto all people for this day is borne vnto you in the cittie of Dauid a sauiour who is Christ our Lord this is your signe yee shall find the infant wrapped in clothes and laide in a maunger which said he ioyned himselfe vnto the rest of his company and for exceeding great ioy began to sing with them this or the like Canticle Chorus 1. All glorie and praise be to God on high 2. And peace on earth to men of a good will 1. Such glorie as endures eternally 2 Such peace as none but ill wild men can spill 1. Glorie to God the which shall neuer cease And vnto good wild men eternall peace 2. The heauens are full of glorie which is Gods The earth brings peace twixt those which were at ods 1. Glory peace the ornaments of heaueÌ„ The Lord of both to men in earth hath giuen 2. God will this glory shall continue still And peace twixt heauen earth if so meÌ„ wil Chor. 1-2 Glory be to him therfore who made this peace And blessed earth which gaue so good encrease The shepheardes when they had consulted vppon what they had hearde and leene they concluded to goe vnto Bethleem to trie the truth of those their gladde tidinges whether wheÌ„ they were come they
with the effusion of farre more holy bloud then eyther was sprinckled in Moyses tabernacle or shed in Salomons temple for the eight day after the natiuitie according to the law of the Iews hee who was aboue all lawes was circumcised in this rocke and thereby made subiect vnto the law the parents not being commaunded by the lawe nor accustomed to carrie their infants to the temple for the receiuing of that sacrament at which time also hee had this name Iesus giuen vnto him as the Angell called him before and after that he was conceiued in his mothers wombe notwithstanding that long before many other names were assigned him by the diuine Oracle as Admirable the Counsellor God the Mightie the Father of the world to come the Prince of Peace with manie other correspondent either to his person or some propertie which is in him yet none was significant as this and whatsoeuer is obscurely contained in them is manifestly declared in this For the sinne which slew mankind being infinit in respect that the partie offended was infinitelie more excellent then the offender it required a satisfaction infinitely good which man was not able to make whose nature is within certaine limits of perfection wherefore it was necessarye either that God who is onely infinite should of his mercie satisfie himselfe or else in iustice the sinner was to haue an infinite punishment which because the offender could not in any limited time sustaine it was to be changed for a limited punishment which should endure without limit and because God his owne nature was so superexcellent that it was capable of nothing but happinesse hee was to take such a nature as wherein he might best accomplish his gratious designement and because man knewe of himselfe howe to sinne hee thought it best in the same nature to teach him also how to satisfie He chose therefore to become a man but in such sort as he would bee but one yet God and man for if there had beene two God and a man which also had not beene God condigne satisfaction could not haue beene made vnto God for the sinne for neither was a pure man able to satisfie nor God in his owne nature subiect to suffer Hauing therefore decreed to make himselfe admirable in this vnion of two so different natures without the confusion of them hee thought it an vnworthie thing for him to begin to be a man by a carnall generation as other men doe and therfore chose a virgin in whom hee was not without miracle conceiued nor of whom without as strang a miracle he was borne after that her time came to bee deliuered for shee remained as well for his honour as her owne as perfect a virgin after his birth as shee was before He was a true and faythfull counseller vnto vs enforming vs nothing but what himselfe before performed euen to the effusion of his owne most precious blood in following our cause for vs instructing vs by exhortation and his owne example that the meane for vs to win heauen was wholy to weane our selues from the world He was true God being the onely sonne of God equal vnto his father in power goodnes and authoritie from whence proceeded his mightines both in word and worke to the redeeming of mankind ransacking of hell and in the end the ouerthrowing of death which done he would make al things new and therefore rightly might hee be called the father of the world to come restoring by himselfe onely that which the whole Trinitie had before created and thereby creating a new by grace what was thorough sinne come to nought He was also a Prince of peace for the obtaining of which hee came into the world to performe a single and bloudy combat that not without cause hee was proclaimed by that name so soone as hee was borne and the eight day after to conclude all in one he was called Iesus that is a Sauiour A name neuer heard before although like sound hath beene heard as Iosue the sonne of Naue was called Iesus who brought the Israelites into the land of promise after fortie yeeres wandring in the Desart and the high Priest who returned with them from Babylon after seuentie yeeres captiuitie was also called Iesus but neither these nor any other whose name sounded after the same maner although either as chiefe priests or Princes they brought their people into the holy land were other thē figures of this prince and therefore neither were their names the right name which this prince had it being giuen him by one who knew verte well the propertie of euery thing and either gaue or ratified their names giuen vnto them accordingly But the name it selfe discloseth some secret mysterie For who is not deaf and hath not his eares filled with a most sweete sound when hee heareth this holy name Iesus Who is not dumbe and hath not his mouth flowing with a most sacred sweetnes when he soundeth this holy name Iesus who is not dead and hath not all his senses furnished with a straunge delight when hee apprehendeth the name of Iesus who is not damned and hath not his soule deified◠by an infinite goodnes when hee engraueth this holy name Iesus A holy name was before but it was holy and terrible because hee whose name it was was a consuming fire A holie name is nowe but it is holie and mercifull because hee whose name it is is a most gracious redeemer insomuch as there is no other name giuen to men by which they may bee saued then the holie name of Iesus so gloryous in heauen so gratious in earth so regarded in hell that at the sounde thereof euerie knee boweth in heauen earth and hell Glorious in heauen because heauens storer gracious in earth because earthes restorer regarded in hel because hels restrainer glorious in heauen because a maintainer of maiesty gracious in earth because a mone◠of miserie regarded in hell because a maisterer of tyrannie Heauens honor earthes myrror helles terror A most sweete and soueraigne oyle flowing from the heauens aboue vnto the lower partes of the earth and refreshing all who were either oppressed with darknesse or oppugned with ouermuch daunger most nourishing a wasted light and most necessarie for a wounded limme And verie fitly did this sacred oyle flow vpon such a day as wherein no one glimse appeared of the light of nature nor any sprake was seene of the least good nurture Many feastes did the Gentiles keepe to one or other false gods honour and many sportes did they make according to each one his frailest humor For although that some seemed to tende to the exercise onely of their strength and wits yet were such most attended as made them both weake and wantons The games of Olympus were moste famous in Greece so called because they were at the foot of the mountain Olympus which was so hie that it gaue name vnto the heauens for it reached so far aboue the middle region of
long after it was blowne abroad that such a prince was borne and princes hastened to do their homage An old prophesie was in Arabia that a starre should rise in Iacob and a rod spring in Israel which should both strike the princes of Moab and destroy the sonnes of Seth with many other so great prerogatiues that the prophet sighed to thinke hee should not liue to see it and the king of Moab was frighted fearing that hee had liued to feele it for the Israelites comming out of the desart of Pharan towarde Palestina encamped themselues neere vnto the riuer Iordan so strongly in middle of the Moabites that Balaac the king of Moab had better courage to fight against them with shrewde wordes then with sharpe weapons and therefore vnderstanding that in Mesopotamia was one who did so forspeake people as they neuer after prospered sent speedily vnto him to come and curse the Israelites but Balaam so was the southâ—ayer called being taught before by diuine inspirations when he came to the top of the mountaine from whence Balaac shewed him the Israelites performed what God and the angell had enformed him and to the great preiudise of Balaac king of the Moabites hee pronounced many blessinges ouer the Israelites and prophesied of this yong prince as is before shewed Hereupon Makida the Queene of Sâ—ba Ethiopia Egâ—pt vnderstanding of Salomon his wisdome wealth worthines large dominions came with exceeding great pompe vnto Ierusalem to see him and presented him with 120. talents of gold many iewels and infinite store of frankencense being perswaded that he was the man who was meant by the prophesie in Arabia for Saba was a prouince in the south side of Arabia and tooke the name of Saba grand-child vnto Abraham by Iecsan whom Abraham had by Caethura as also Madian father vnto Epha and others whom he sent away out of Chanaan afterward called Palestina into the East countries as also he sent Ismael whom hee had by Agar southward not suffering any of them to haue part with Isaac in the lande promised vnto him yet did he not send them away emptie handed but bestowed vpon them great riches apparell and iewels which he had taken from the foure kings whom hee conquered in the rescue of his nephew Lot among which giftes some write that Abraham gaue vnto them mirrhe and frankencense not without some misterie then knowne vnto him and now openly shewed by three princes which came out of the East parts at this time vnto Bethleem of Iuda which iourney they did the more willingly take because probablie their ancestors were also Iewes for the Queene of Saba among other great fauours which she receiued of king Salomon was accepted for his wife and returned into her countrey with childe and carried with her twelue thousand Iewes of euerie tribe one thousand and did them that honor that after a while the chiefest in the countrey vaunted that their fathers were Iewes and â—he sonne which she had by Salomon she crowned king surrendering all her dominions vnto him and of that stocke vnto this day as some say remayneth the great monarch of those coastes commonly called Priest Iohn But the principall motiue of these three kinges their voyage was the sight of a starre which did penetrate so farre into their vnderstanding that by that extraordinarie light and what they had by the prophesie they resolued that the prince was now at the last borne of which had beene so great expectation for although they were men of great learning yet could not their skill attaine to the perfect meaning of the star which appeared vnto them without farther helpe then they could haue by Astronomie wonder they might to see so neere vnto them so bright a shining starre because it was much lower then where exhalations fiered doe appeare blasing like starres and comparable with the Sunne for brightnesse as it receyued no light from the Sunne as other starres doe so neyther did the brightnesse of the sunne drowne the clearnesse thereof as it doeth of other starres where it selfe doth shine and the greater might their wonder bee because that all such tokens as were commonly in all other extraordinarie starres or commets to signifie eyther diseases or death were so farre from this starre that it betokened nothing but health and life and that the authour of life had taken vpon him a new kind of life although perchance in some secondarie sort it might also pretend the death of the prince whose life it shewed as may appeare by some of the presentes which the kinges brought who were both warned by this starre to seeke him and warranted to finde him out yet was it no Angell as many haue thought but a starre as much superior to other starres in brightnesse as inferior in bignesse made of some former matter or created of nothing by him to whome all thinges are possible and afterward eyther resolued into that of which it was made or if created for this purpose the cause thereof ceasing the effect came againe to nothing but it kept such a course as the kinges following it were no more subiect to bee deceiued of their purpose then were the Israelites when trauelling from Egipt vnto the lande of promisse they were guided by a cloude which alway went before them in the daye time and a fierie pillar in the night for the starre neuer ceased to shine but to their greater light nor to conduct them but to their greater comfort wherefore not without the prouidence of the stars guide they entred Ierusalem where they were both confirmed in the truth of their former prophesie and comforted with the shortnes of their following iorney but not without the amasing both of Herod and all the cittie because the last thing which the Iewes had done was an oath sworne to accept Herod for their king which althougb hee had laboured both with curtesie and with crueltie for the space of thirty years little more or lesse hee neuer obtained it of the whole countrie vntill this time The three princes as soon as they came into the cittie demaunded boldely what they doubted not euery man knew a kinges seate fitting best a princes birth and such a birth being commonly celebrated with a publike triumph they demaunded for him by his title not knowing as yet his name where is hee who is borne king of the Iewes wee see his starre in the East and are come with presentes to adore him was it then any wonder that Herod was troubled who wrongfully entered into the soueraigntie and the Iewes touched deepelie who had rashly sworne themselues his subiectes the one hauing iust cause to feare that he should be put down as a tyrant and the others no hope but to bee punished as traytors and although Herod coulde haue beene very well contented neuer to haue heard any thing more concerning this matter yet feare in the ende first encreased a desire to know the rest then to deuise some mischiefe fot a