serveth his Servant The onely true freedom is to serve the Lord For Godliness with Contentment is great Gain saith the Apostle 1 Tim. 6.6 yea it is profitable unto all things saith he having promise of the life which now is of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4.8 How then can you justify or affirm it to be a vain needless thing to spend this time in the publick Worship and Service of God namely in the duties of Piety and exercises of Religion in hearing of the Word in offering up Prayers Praises to God celebrating it lauding his holy and glorious Name with Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord Eph. 5.19 20. giving thanks alwaies for all things unto God and the Father in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ And especially and above all things giving thanks for this one thing I mean that inestimable benefit and unspeakable gift which God bestowed upon the World at this time And me thinks to this end and purpose we may very well encourage and stirr up our selves with the words of David and say as he doth Psal 69.31 32. I will praise the name of God with a Song and magnify it with thanksgiving this also shall please the Lord better than a Bullock which hath horns and hoofs yea this shall be as precious and odoriferous in his Nostrils and no less pleasing and acceptable in his sight than that right costly Spikenard which was spent to anoint our Saviour's feet withall although it be said of that That the whole House wherein our Saviour was at that time was filled and perfumed with the odour of the Oyntment Joh. 12.3 But the Reasons you alledge to prove it to be a vain and needless thing to observe this day are in the next place to be examined and considered the first whereof is this as you affirm it because God hath set apart a Sabbath the Lord's-day for this purpose to meditate upon God's Love in redeeming the World and this seems to be an indifferent good one yet you know or at the least cannot but know that the Sabbath or the Seventh day was at the first ordained sanctified and set apart onely in remembrance of the World's Creation as it appears in that passage or Conclusion of the fourth Commandment Exod. 20. For in six daies the Lord made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that in them is Wherefore the Lord blessed the Seventh day and hallowed it For this Commandment is hedged in on every side lest we should break out from observing it with a Caveat and speciall Memorandum before it Remember c. and with two Reasons after one drawn from the Equity of the Law and the other taken from the Law-giver's or the Law-maker's own Example Six daies shalt thou labour As if God should speak thus If I permit thee six whole daies to follow thine own business thou mayest well afford me one onely for my own Service but six daies shalt thou labour and do all thine own work therefore hallow the Seventh in doing my work Six daies shalt thou labour whereupon both Reverend Calvin and that learned Gentleman B. Babington who was once Bishop of this Diocesse a man of no mean Note but of good Report both for Life and Learning do observe That these Words Six daies shalt thou labour c. are a permission or a remission of God's right who might challenge all rather than an absolute Commandment For as Judicious Perkins hath also delivered it in his Golden Chaine for a sound Orthodoxal and undeniable Thesis Catenâ aureâ cap. 13 The Church upon just occasion may separate some week daies also to the Service of the Lord and rest from Labour Joel 2.15 Blow the Trumpet in Zion sanctify a Fast call a solemn Assembly And as daies of publick Fasting for some great Judgment so daies of publick Rejoycing for some great Benefit are not unlawfull but exceeding commendable yea necessary And you cannot in Modesty and I hope you will not for Shame deny this to be the Truth for besides the ordinary Sabbath among the Jews they had their Sabbaths and their new Moons and appointed Feasts yea Almighty God himself ordained in the old Testament divers and sundry Feasts to put his People in mind of his great Benefits bestowed upon them Amongst the rest there were three solemn Festivals every year namely the Passover the Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles as we read in the 16th of Deuteronomy The Passover was instituted in remembrance of the deliverance from Egypt's bondage Pentecost in remembrance of the Law given in Mount Sinui The Feast of Tabernacles in remembrance of Israel's dwelling in Tents forty years in the Wilderness Now as Hemingius observes in his Postil dom 1. post Epiph. instead of those three Jewish Feasts our Christian Church which may challenge as much Liberty as the Jewish if not more hath substituted Christmas in honour of Christ's Incarnation Easter in honour of Christ's Resurrection and Whitsuntide in honour of Christ's confirmation of the Gospel by sending unto us the Holy Ghost at that time So that we say according as St. Austin saith in his 108 Epist. cap. 1 Celebrantes Anniversariâ solemnitate Pascha reliquasque Christianas diêrum Festivitutes non observamus tempora sed quae illis significantur temporibiu i.e. In celebrating Easter and other Christian Feasts we do not so much observe the times as the things that are represented and signified unto us at those times If then it be granted as it cannot be denied according to your words that God hath set apart a Sabbath which is our Christian Sabbath and is called the Lord's Day because the Lord rose from death to life on that Day and that on this day in that respect we are to meditate on God's Love in redeeming the World if we must do this once every week in an ordinary course how much more may the Church and Spouse of Christ appoint and set apart one day in the year after an extraordinary manner to meditate and muse and think on his Love in redeeming her from the hands of all her Enemies for so indeed the holy Priest Zacharias tells us in his Song called Benedictus That this was the main End of our Redemption Luk. 1.74 that we being delivered out of the hands of our Enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness all the daies of our Life Whereupon I infer That if we must serve him all the daies of our life as he may justly challenge and require it at our hands in regard he hath redeemed us How much more ought we to meditate on his Love not onely once a week but also once in every year praise his most Holy Name after a more speciall and singular manner For at this time especially and particularly it may be said of Him as the Psalmist doth Psal 111.9 He sent Redemption unto his People He
of yours I mean the Fable and story you tell us of in your Saints Rest touching the raining down of Manna on the Leads of the Church at Bridgnorth when you preached there For some Gentlemen of worth in those parts have credibly reported it to be nothing else then the seeds of Hips and Hawes being the excrements of Rooks and Jack-dawes which they there had voyded Answer to the Twelfth Argument The twelfth Argument is this In all doubtfull Cases a Wise man ought to go on the surest side and I am sure it is no Sin not to keep it c. I Answer in this Allegation you seem to play the part of a Wise man but in my Opinion you are onely wise in your own conceit for my part this I am sure of First in respect that Christmas day being the day of our Lords Nativity is the Lords day Cant. 4.9 and by his spouse the Church is set a part to Gods publick worship and our Souls edification therefore it ought clearly to be esteemed above any other of the common Week dayes And for people on this day willfully and contemptuously to follow their ordinary though at other times lawfull vocations or Callings is in the first place a breach of the fourth Commandement for the day of Christs Nativity is a Sabboth or Rest to the Lord and God will have us to keep holy the Sabboth or rest-Rest-day Next it is a despising Perk. cases of Consc l. 1. c. 5. Sect. 5. and dishonouring of their Mother the Church which whosoever are guilty of not onely sin against the fifth Commandment but by our Saviour himself we are Injoyned to account all such as Revolters from the Christian faith Heathen men and Publicans Matth. 18.17 Lastly it is a ground and inlet to the violation of all order and decency in Gods Service which is expressely condemned in Holy Scripture and if to break Gods Commandements 1 Cor. 14.40 to contemn his Churches Authority to become Heathens and Publicans and to overthrow all order and decency in Gods Services be sins and Offences to God Then must we conclude that not to keep this day must needs be a sin and that to work or follow our vocations on Christmas day is a great and high offence or indignity offered unto God and his Church And how then are you sure it is no sin not to keep it but that your erronious Conscience tells you so and yet is it so nice and tender on the other side you are not sure it is no sin to keep it this is the other part of your Dilemma for this is called in the Schools Syllogismus cornutus or Syllogismus Crocodilinus Well sat verbum Sapienti If a word to the Wise may serve the turn then will I answer you in a word for although you are perswaded and sure in your strong Conscience that it is no sin not to keep it yet we on the other side in our weak Consciences are perswaded that it is a sin if we keep it not And therefore if you remember the Apostle's rule is Let not the stronger Christian despise the weaker Rom. 13.3 4. especially in such a Case as this Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not and let not him that eateth not judge him that eateth for God hath received him Who art thou then that judgest another man's Servant to his own Master he standeth or falleth yea he shall be holden up for God is able to make him stand One man esteemeth one day above another another esteemeth every day alike Let every man be fully perswaded in his own mind he that regardeth a day regardeth it unto the Lord and he that regardeth not the day to the Lord he doth not regard it He that eateth eateth to the Lord for he giveth God thanks and he that eateth not to the Lord he eateth not and giveth God thanks For none of us liveth to himself and no man dyeth to himself for the Kingdom of God is not Meat and Drink but Righteousness and Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost and he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of Men. Let us therefore follow after the the things which make for peace and things wherewith we may edify another for meat destroy not the work of God all things indeed are pure but it is evil for that man who eateth with Offence It is good neither to eat Flesh nor to drink Wine nor any thing whereby thy Brother stumbleth or is offended or is made weak You see how wary the Apostle is to advise us in and for things indifferent not to be offended one with another but to use all good Christian moderation and discretion not to abuse our Christian Liberty to the Scandal and Offence of our weak Brethren Answer to the thirteenth Argument The thirteenth Argument is That this day ought not to be celebrated because there is more Sin committed in these 12 dayes than is in all the year following viz. in Drunkenness c. Oh Sir This Argument and your last are the least and the weakest of them all therefore I shal more easily answer them briefly conclude To this 13th I say as I did before The Abuse of a thing that in it self is lawful and good cannot justly abolish or take away the lawful Use of it For the best things that ever God created have been abused through Man's Corruption even the whole Creature is subject unto Vanity that is to Destruction because of Man's sin Rom. 8.20 The holy Temple of our God hath been prophaned and defiled and made a den of Theeves and a Cage of unclean Birds and a very Stable for Barbarous Souldiers Horses to Lodge in in these late uncivil Warrs the holy Sabbath of our Lord hath been polluted his Word and Sacraments abused Yea because the Scriptures are in some places somewhat hard to be underâ—â—ood therefore those that are unlearned and unstable do wrest them and perven them to their own Destruction 〈…〉 Pâ—â— 3.16 And because of this must the Scriptures be rejected and not perused Because the good Creatures of God are abuse 〈◊〉 some ungodly and wicked Miscreants therefore must the Creatures be refused seeing every Creature of God is good and nothing ought to be refused 1 Tim. 4.4 especially if it be received with thankfulness for iâ— is land â—â—ed unto us by the Word of God 〈◊〉 prayer The like may be said of 〈◊〉 Sanctuary of our God of the Sabâ—â—… 〈◊〉 the Sacraments for unto the 〈…〉 things are pure but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure but even their minds and consciences are defiled Titus 1.15 But you affirm and that peremptorily that there is more sinne committed in these Twelve Days than in all the year after in Drunkenness and Gluttony And how are you sure of this for it is impossible that you should prove this to be true Can God be more dishonoured
Rule and Reason you may as well say It is impossible to keep the Sabbath day H. Wolphii Chronol lib. 2 p. 1. p. 92. For the Commandement doth not say remember to keep holy the seventh day next following the sixth day of the Creation or this or that seventh day but indefinitely remember that thou keep holy a seventh day And to speak properly as we take a day for the distinction of time called either a day natural consisting of twenty four hours or a day artificial consisting of twelve hours from Sun-rising to Sun-setting and withall consider the Sun standing still at noon in Joshua's time the space of a whole day Josh 10.12 13. and the same going back ten degrees viz. five hours 2 Kâ—ng 26.11 almost half an arificial Day in Ezekias time the Jews themselves could not keep this Sabbath upon that precise and just distinction of time called at the first The seventh day from the Creation therefore in such difficult and doubtful Cases the best way is to be ordered and guided and resolved by the Judgment and Discipline and Direction of the Church wherein we live for she is our Mother saith Calvin Lib. Instit 4. C. 1. Sect. 4. forasmuch as there is no other entry into life unless she conceive us in her Womb unless she bring us forth unless she feed us with her Breasts and keep us under her Custody and Governance untill such time as being unclothed of mortal flesh we shall be like unto Angels Again in his Lib. 4. Cap. 10. Sect. 30. He saith of the Church and Church-Ordinances that in outward discipline and Ceremonies the will of God was not to prescribe each thing particularly what we ought to follow because he foresaw this to hang upon the State of times and did not think one form to be fit for all Ages herein we must fly to those general Rules which he hath given that thereby all those things should be tryed which the necessity of the Church shall require to be commanded for order and comeliness And forasmuch as he hath therefore taught nothing expresly because these things both are not necessary to Salvarion and according to the manners of every Nation and Age ought diversly to be applyed to the edifying of the Church therefore as the profit of the Church shall require though it might be thought convenient as well to change and abrogate those that be used as to institute new yet I grant it indeed and must needs confesse it That we ought not rashly nor oft nor for leight and trivial Causes to run to Innovation but what may hurt or edifie Charity shall best be judge which if we will suffer to be the Governess all shall be safe And in the next Section at the latter end thereof It is alwayes meet saith he for the publike worship and service of God that there be both certain dayes and appointed hours and a place fit to receive all if there be regard had of the preservation of peace For how great an occasion of scandal brawling and contention should the confusion of these things be if it were lawfull for every man as he listeth to change those things which belong to common State forasmuch as it will never come to pass that one and the same thing shall please all Men it being an old and true saying difficillimum est omnibus placere if things be left as it were at randome and in the middest to the choice of every Man to do what he pleaseth to have a Psalm and a Doctrine and a Revelation and an Interpretation by himself as the Apostle speaketh with a kind of Indignation and Increpation of them that used it 1 Cor. 14.26 If any man therefore do Carp and Cavil against us and herein will be more wise then he ought let him see himself by what reason he can defend his own preciseness to the Lord. As for us That saying of Paul ought to satisfie us If any man seem to be Schismatical and contentious we have no such use we have no such Custome nor the Churches of God 1 Cor. 11.16 Where we may perceive that that good Man and faithful Pastor of Geneva though he liked not the Masse yet he preached Christ sincerely and maintained and defended his Church and laboured by all means to preserve Tunicam ejus inconsutilem his seamlesse Coat to be without brack or breach Sector Schism Rent or Division at all but still to continue pure and undefiled without spot or wrinkle or any such thing I will then conclude and shut up this passage with the witty Sentences of St. Austin Contrarationem nemo sobrius contra Scripturas nemo Christianus contra ecclesiam nemo pacificus senserii And if we will be the Children of the Church as we professe our selves to be then let us hearken what the wise man saith Ecclus. 3.1 The Children of wisdome are the Church of the Righteous and their exercise is Obedience and Love Answer to the tenth Argument The words are these I observe God hides things on purpose from us to see whether we will do any things on our own heads I answer This Argument is derived de profundis and drawn or fetched ab absconditis secretis 'T is true and we cannot much deny it For He hideth or concealeth from us his Decree of Election and final Dereliction or Reprobation Rom. 9.13 because he will have Mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardneth And this he doth because he would not have us like curious Bethshemites to pry into the Ark of his Secrets but rather to work out our own Salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2.12 as the Apostle St. Paul speaks and as the other Apostle teacheth and exhorteth us 2 Pet. 1.10 to give all diligence to make our Calling and Election sure And now is this to be understood why surely thus if I be not deceived sure to God I need not I cannot 2 Tim. 2.19 the Foundation of God stands sure enough of it self and the Gifts and Calling of God are without Repentance Rom. 11.29 i. e. Sine mutatione stabiliter fixa sunt saith St. Austin they are irrevocable immutable and unchangeable but Sure to my own Soul I may I must by all means labour and endeavour to make and effect it or else this Precept is in vain of giving all diligence to make our Calling and Election sure Secondly He hideth the hour of every particular man's death and the day of the generall Judgment from us and reserveth them in the private Cabinet of his own Foreknowledgeship Act. 1.17 For it is not for us to know the times and the Seasons which the Father hath reserved in his own Power And this he doth for this very end as an ancient Father of the Primitive Church hath told us truly and especially Ideò latet ultimus dies ut observetur omnis dies It is to make us careful and watchful every day
sceleratus habendi At last the Iron-Age comes blustring in I' ch' latter times and fills the World with Sin All Shame and Truth and Faithfulnesse are gone Fraud and Deceipt Lords paramount alone Do rule By snares and violence men get Estates and all is Fish that comes to Net Which how truly it is verified every body may see if not as blind as Moles and may feel if not senslesse I shall now speak a word or two to some which raile at and preach down the Solemnity of this Time desire them to spend the time which they spend in burying Antiquity and lawful Customs in the Translating of many things which are not as yet translated and not to monopolize Knowledge I will name some places which are not as yet translated viz. Psal 56. To the Chief Musitian upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Why could not they have translated it Super Columbam mutam remotis The dumb Dove in a far Country And I am perswaded that they durst not translate one Word when they looked on their own Coats Zeph. 1.4 I will cut off the names of the CHEMARIMS with the Priests meeting with the Word now and then in Hosea they translated it Priests but here it being joyned with the word PRIEST my Blades plaid the honest I should have said the selfish men and never translated it at all Tremelius and Junius give it a very honest and true Version Nomen Atratorum cum Sacerdotibus The Names of Black-Coats with the Priests I commend this Scripture to the serious considerations of our Rigid Presbyterians and when they look upon it let them do as the Peacock doth when he looks on his leggs I desire the Reader of this Book not to give credit to every one that speaks against Antiquity nor to carp at that which they cannot mend for I dare say and will affirm that the Authour here of hath written herein nothing but what is true nothing contrary to the Will of God to whose Protection I leave him The Almighty bless him prosper his studies For such is the desire and hopes of him who craves leave to subscribe himself Your Humble Servant and true admirer of your Christian Ingenuity Sincerity and Courage T. J. Courteous Reader MAny of our late Divines bring such poor weak Arguments against the Celebration of Christ's birth-day that I am almost ashamed to repeat any of them much less then will I trouble my self to answer them they being so ridiculous that if it were possible they would cause corpus rationis vacuum to laugh them to scorne Two or three I will repeat the first is of a Divine that brought a Rubrick or Almanack into the Pulpit to bury this Day and reads Arguments out of it to the People and tells them a tale of a rub without a bottome I am sure this Gentleman might have looked in a Jack-Dawes Nest and have found as good Arguments there as any he found in his Almanack Another Divine saith It is not onely a bad time but it is the worst of all times and thinks This ignis fatuus of his giddy brain is sufficient to lead men from the Truth But Alas I will be so bold as to deny his Proposition and I am sure he cannot prove it for he hath no more skill in arguing then a Cow hath in dancing The third Divine saith It is the Devil's day and therefore ought to be buryed and never to be celebrated But I reply thus His Body will descend into Orcus and his Name will be buryed in Oblivion long before this Day will be buryed for I doubt not but it will be celebrated as it ought to be untill there will be a period put unto all things I wish all Christian Readers of this Book happiness in this World and a Crown of Glory in that to come T. J. A BOX OF Spikenard Newly Broken The Question propounded by Richard B. which was the occasion of this Treatise Quest WHether the Nativity of Christ commonly called Christmas-day ought to be celebrated R. B. denyeth it and endeavours to prove the contrary His Arguments are these 14 following Arg. 1. There is nothing in the World a Duty which God hath not made a Duty But God never made this a Duty Ergo it is no Duty Arg. 2. If I should observe this Day I am afraid lest I should deny the perfection of the Scriptures Arg. 3. I am fearful lest by doing so I should arrogate the making of a Day to my self for if I should do so much as in me lyeth I should make a Day to my self Arg. 4. I am fearful lest by so doing I should set up a Day against God Arg. 5. It is the Devil's policy to imitate God and when he will be holy he will be holyer then God and when he seeth God will have a Sabbath to be kept then he will set up a Day and he will have a Christmas Day to be kept and he will have his Pictures in the Church-windows and the Crosse made on the Childrens foreheads in Baptism Arg. 6. I am fearful lest I should be condemned for accusing God for want of Wisdom and so make my self wiser then God as though he knew not what should be done as well as I and so derogate from the Wisdome of God Arg. 7. I am fearful of being more inexcusable for my sin Arg. 8. It seemeth to me a vain and needlesse thing First because God hath set apart a Sabbath the Lords Day for this purpose to meditate upon God's love in redeeming the World Secondly Because I never heard a good Argument for it Arg. 9. It is an impossibility to keep it and God never made an impossibility a duty no man knoweth certainly on which day Christ was born Arg. 10. I observe God hides things purposely from us to see whether we will do any thing on our own heads Arg. 11. It hath not bin the practise of Christian Churches to observe it Arg. 12. In all doubtfull Cases a man ought to go on the surest side Now I am sure It is no sin not to keep it but am not sure It is no sin to keep it Arg. 13. This time ought not to be celebrated for there is more sin committed in these 12 Dayes then is in all the year after in Drunkennesse Gluttony c. Arg. 14. God blesseth his own Day the Sabbath but hath not blessed this with successe Here followeth the Answer of Thomas M. to the forerecited Questions and Arguments and herein the honour of Christ his Nativity is Vindicated or the Solemnity of his Birth-day which is commonly called Christmas-day avowed and averred i. e. justified and maintained to be lawful and good Even in this Answer to fourteen arrogant Arguments or weak Linsey-Woolsy Reasons which have been of late eventilated and divulged in writing to the contrary Answer to the first Argument You may remember that the first Argument runneth thus There is nothing in the World a duty which
the Manger from the Manger to the Crosse from the Crosse to the Grave from the Grave to Heaven again from whence we look for and expect his second coming David sang of this his alacrity Psal 20. The King is glad of thy strength O Lord and exceeding joyfull of thy Salvation Quia verbum caro factum est habitavit in nobis because saith Augustine on those words The Word was made flesh and dwelt in us the Day of Christ's Nativity was his Day of Festivity his Birth Day was his Mirth Day for then his Mother Crowned him with the Crown of his Incarnation which was the Day of his Espousals or the Day of the joy and gladness of his heart as it is so called Cant. 3.10 This is a great Mystery saith Paul but I speak concerning Christ and the Church sine dubio magnum est pietatis mysterium And without controversy great is the Mystery of godliness How God was manifested in the Flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the VVorld 1 Tim. 3.16 and received up in Glory and He being thus ascended and received up into Glory for the Heaven must receive Him in regard of his bodily presence untill the times of restitution of all things saith Peter Act. 3.21 And thus leaving his Spouse the Church as a VViddow as He hath enjoyned and Commanded her in the Gospel to think upon his Love and oftentimes to remember him and his Death especially as often as she receiveth the blessed Sacraments of his Body and Blood So she for her part thinks it meet not onely to Commemorate his Death but sometimes also especially once a year to Congratulate and Solace her self in remembrance of his Birth That happy and joyful Marriage day which was once Solemnized betwixt her and that great King of Glorie's Son who now sitteth at the right hand of his Father in Heaven even as I have also observed it to be the fashion and condition of many good and honest Couples whilst they live on Earth together to keep a solemn remembrance every year of their Wedding day even untill their Dying day So should every good Christian and faithful Soul keep a due and perpetual remembrance of her Loving Lord and gracious Head and Husband Christ Jesus As it is reported of that famous Artemisia That to shew her love to her dead Husband Mausolus she took the ashes of his Urne or Pitcher and mingled them with her Drink and so intombed his dead Carkasse within her living Body And it is said of blessed Ignatius after his Martyrdome that these words were found written upon his heart so it were to be wished that they were also ingraven and imprinted in Ours Amor mens crucifixus my Love Christ Jesus was crucified for me But perhaps here you will object and say that this is Symbolica Theologiae and that it is not Argumentativa i. e. that it is an Argument Rhetorical rather than Dialectical What say you then to Theologia miraculis confirmata which in the third place I shall alleadge namely the strange accidents and wonderful effects that happened at the Birth of Christ or rather those rare and singular miracles that were acted and done near about the time of his Nativity For a little before this was it that made a young Babe while he was yet in the Womb of his Mother to Spring and Sprout and leap therein for joy yea Luk. 1.44 this was it that made an old man that was dumb before to speak and to praise the Lord with a song and say Luke 1.6 8. Blessed be the Lord c. And this was it that moved another old man after he had seen the Lord Christ to hold him in his arms and desire life no longer He was so much ravished and overjoyed with the sight of his Saviour that he presently chanted out Cantionem Cygneam that swanne-like song Lord now it is enough and I am abundantly satisfied because thou hast fulfilled my desire in performing thy promise to me that I should not see Death before I had seen thy Son To these we may add the apparition of that glorious Starr which shewed it self unto the Wise men of the East about the time of his Nativity which was not an ordinary Starr but extraordinary and miraculously created at this time for this very end and purpose not onely to signifie but to dignifie and set forth the Birth of Christ Math. 2. for said they We have seen his Starr in the East that is the Starr which he hath newly made to testifie unto the World that he is born It differed from other Starrs in Place and Motion in Lustre and Brightnesse Haec stella quae solis rotam vincit decore ac lumine saith Prudentius of this Starr it hath another way then the way of the Starrs from the East to the South from Persia to Palestina it appeared not when other Stars appeared It shined in the day Other in the Night it did appear was hid it was hid and did appear It shewed it self before they entred Jerusalem and hid it self while they were there but so soon as they left Herod and the City it did shew it self and went right forwards in a straight course towards Bethlehem no otherwise then the Cloud and Pillar of fire went before the People of Israel at their departure and going out of Egypt into Canaan It kept not the ordinary course of the Starrs nor any proper way for it went that way which the wise men would go and when they would stand still then that stood still yea it did not keep aloft like other Starrs but it descended to shew the Messiah the Messah so poor so base and contemptible Whereupon it is that St. Austin calleth it magnifica lingua caeli the stately congue of heaven appointed by God as it were to reveal and preach unto the wise men that Christ was that Starr of Jacob prophesied of by Balaam Numb 24.17 that he was Stella illa splendida matutina that bright Morning Starr Revel 22.16 and that he was Oriens ab alto that day-spring from high that came to visit us and to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet in the way of Peace as that holy Priest Zacharias telleth us comfortably in his song Luke 1.75 Wherefore as the Roman Orator speaks so will I here say Nihil horum era vultusque movernunt and as the Roman Poet elegantly Quid satis est si Roma parum so will I be bold here to speak it Quid satis erit illi cui non sufficient ista If these things will not serve to convince you I know not what will Mark 16. â—6 For if neither the VVord nor Miracles nor the VVord confirmed by Miracles will prevail and work upon us to make us believe then I say as it is in the 16 of Luke at
observe the Birth-day of Christ To this I say you deserve a sharp rejection and a serious and severe reprehension For it is a meer falshood and a grosse and manifest untruth and I wonder that a man of your account Countenance and gravity should suffer such an unjustifiable thing to fall either from your tongue or pen for I say contrarium hujus argumenti est verum credat Judaus Apella non ego believe it who will for I cannot otherwise be perswaded but you speak herein that which is contrary to truth for besides that it is well known among the Learned especially by those who are conversant in the large Volumes and accurate writings of the Ancient Fathers It hath been the annuall and constant Practice of the Primitive Church to observe it especially in the time August 118. Epist cap. 7. and since the time of Constantine the Great who gave peace to the Church and commanded this Festivall time among divers others to be observed Witnesse August con Aimant c. 16.118 Epist and in divers of his Sermons de Tempore especially in his second and fourth Sermon de Tempore Witnesse Fulgentius de dup Nat. Christi witnesse Ambrose de Incarnat Domini witnesse Bernard in his first Sermon in Nat. Domini for that ingenuous and Religions man that witty and Godly Father of the Primitive Church preaching on this day in that his first Sermon and towards the latter end of it uttered these words and said Brevitas temporis cogit me contrahere coarctare Sermonem meum the shortness of the time constraineth me to shorten my Sermon at this time ne cui vestrûm sit mirum si brevis esse laboro Let none quoth he wonder if my words be short seeing on this day God the Father hath abbreviated his own Word For whereas it was so long and so large that it filled Heaven and Earth Jer. 23.24 it was on this day so short that it was laid in a Manger I wish here unfainedly with the same devour Bernard in his Sermon in Natalem Domini that as the Word was made flesh so our stony Hearts may be made flesh also that we might alwayes meditate on his Sacred Message and his Heavenly Gospell Unto you this day is born in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord For all our sound comfort stands in happinesse and all our happinesse is in the Fellowship and Communion with God and all our Fellowship and Communion with God is by Jesus Christ for so that good Divine St. John tells us in his 1 Epist cap. 2.3 Wherefore also St. Austin useth a most excellent acclamation to this purpose in his ninth Sermon de Tempore which as it is probable he also preached on this day ô beatum vagitum Infantuli beati oh the blessed crying of a blessed babe by which every faithfull servant and Son of God escapeth eternal howlings in Hell ô splendidum Gloriosum praesepe Oh famous and glorious Manger in which our Souls Manna lay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the bread of life that came down from Heaven on which if a man once c. ô quà m dites sunt panni tui Oh how Rich and Honourable are the rags which have made plaisters for our sores even for our sins I will shut up this passage with a Hymn of Prudentius Mortale corpus sumpsit immortalitas Vt dum caducum poytat aeternus deus Transire nostrum possit ad coelestia And what say you now to these things before said Can they not yet perswade you to yield that it was the practise of Christian Churches in Antient times to observe it Yet put the case or suppose it was not you cannot yea I hope you will not deny but it hath been the practise of these our Churches of Great Brittain I mean the Churches of England Scotland and Ireland for divers Centuries or hundreds of years to observe it for they are both Christian and reformed Churches and therefore unlesse you mean by Christian Churches the old Brownists of Amsterdam or the new Anabaptists and Antipaedobaptists of England and other the like proud and phantasticall and Pharisaicall Sectaries and Separatists that are amongst us in these Giddy and unsetled times of ours who think there is no true Christian Church but what is of their choosing planting and erecting who like the Jews of old cry Templum Domini or like the Papists who will have no Church to be a true Church but their Church at Rome who stand upon their Pontificatibus and are all for the justification of their own Opinion saying as those Justiciaries of old did Esay 65.5 Stand by thy self or stand far off me come not near me for I am Holier then thou c. And here I could tell you a thing which perhaps also you are not ignorant of that the late upstart Seraphicall illuminated Independents as it is commonly thought are likely to jostle and thrust the proud rigid Fantasticall and Pharisaicall Presbyterians out of their places even as they have cunningly supplanted and undermined the Reverend Bishops and their conformable Clergy out of theirs neque enim lex justior ulla est Quam necis artifices c. Indeed I never heard nor read of any Christian Churches but have observed this day and therefore howsoever such factious and Schismaticall Wild-brain'd Zelots of our time refuse to do it and both write and speak against it yet we know that all the Antient Fathers of the Primitive Church did celebrate it with great Solemnities as Mr Fisher in his Vindication of our Gospell Festivalls hath wittily observed in his fifth Section even Cyprian Basil Nazianzene Ambrose Epiphanius Jerome Chrysostome Fulgentius alledging and producing their very words which they preached on this day and proving it withall punctually plainly and directly that it was the 25th day of December that Christ was born on And further to confute your palpable Errour he tells us there That the Churches of Helvetia Bohemia Leye Sunday a Sab. pag. 173. Dr. Rayn Confer with Hart. c. 8. S. 2. Bremen Auspurg the Churches of Savoy Poland Hungary Scotland France and the Low-Countries do allow the Feasts that belong to Christ his Nativity Circumcision Passion c. The Churches of Denmark Sweden and all other Lutheran-Churches do solemnly observe the Feast of the Nativity of Christ and on that day use proper Hymns of Thanksgiving made by Martin Luther himself Perth Assembly refuted pag. 85. the Church of Geneva doth celebrate the day of his Nativity wherefore as he saith here for a Conclusion seeing we are compassed about with so great a Cloud of Witnesses we must according to the truth affirm That the Celebration of this Feast is confirmed by the judgment of the Christian Church in all ages So we conclude against you that your eleventh Assertion is a meer falshood and manifest untruth and no more to be credited or believed then that vain fancy and fond surmise
in Twelve Days than in twelve Moneths Although a bare Denyall might serve here for a sufficient answer yet put the case that many men being at this time apt and addicted genio suo indulgere to give way to their unbrideled lusts and disordered affections in the free use of God's Creatures should be excessive in their Eating and Drinking and so exorbitant and extravagant in other vain Recreations and idle Gaming 's and Pastimes that God may hereby be somewhat dishonoured and this blessed time of his Son's Nativity abused men a little forgetting the right and proper End wherfore at first it was instituted and ordained Yet considering the many good and gracious and bountifull Deeds that heretofore have been done at this time the gallant Hospitality the free and generous House-keeping by our worthy noble and renowned Gentlemen and our rich honest able and sufficient Yeomen by relieving the Poor helping Widows and Fatherless Children cloathing the Naked feeding the Hungry visiting the Sick and those that were in Prisons Take but a Ballance or a pair of Scales and lay these many good Alms-Deeds and Works of Piety and Charity in one Scale and put the Evil Deeds that have been committed in the other Scale and I dare say the good deeds shall outweigh the bad Zac. 5.7 though they be as heavy as massa plumbi a Talent of Lead And this which I have here written hath more probability and likelyhood of truth in it than that which you affirm in saying there is more sin committed in these Twelve Days than in all the year after But you had spoken more properly and truly if you had said There are more good Deeds done by some good minded and charitably disposed Christians in these Twelve Days than in all the year after Yours is a false assertion and a gross absur'd asseveration and I verily think that you vent it to skar and deterr men from keeping any Christmas at all because some ignorant dissolute and deboist Fellows do spend this time idely and vainly in excessive eating and drinking ryoting and revelling c. But our pious Ancestors of famous memory were so addicted and devoted to the Reverence and religious Observation of this Time that they spent it in a sober civil and careful manner being thankful to God and rejoycing in the Lord for that ineffable and inaestimable Benefit and Blessing which he bestowed upon the World at this time and therefore they were willing and contented freely and cheerfully to part with their goods and impart them to the poor in plentifull manner And this they did for his sake alone who being rich for their sakes became poor that so they through his Poverty might be made rich as the Apostle elegantly expresseth it and setteth forth the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ in a most sweet and gracious and glorious manner 2 Cor. 8.9 But where is our Bounty or our Benificence Where is our Charity Liberality and Hospitality in these cold degenerate and Apostate times That witty Saying may here be verified How that one handful of old Friendship is better than an an armful of new Courtesy For all our Love and Charity in these daies is turned into nothing else but meer verball and external Complement so true is that of the Apostle Tit. 1.16 Men in these daies profess that they know God but by their works they deny him and therefore they are abominable and disobedient and to every good work reprobate Answer to the fourteenth Argument The fourteenth is this God blesseth His own day the Sabbath but hath not blessed this with success Int his your ultimum Refugium you think you have paid it home and bitt the verâ— Nail on the head But Good Sir What could you say If any man should ask you Why God hath not blessed this day For it hath been proved that this day is aequal and aequipollent with the Sabbath and if he hath blessed the one so questionless he hath blessed the other and sanctifyed it and set it apart for a holy Convocation and thankful Commemoration of the Birth and Nativity of his onely begotten Son and that in the 118 Psalm may fitly and properly be applyed unto it This is the day which the Lord hath made i. e. which the Lord hath magnifyed and advanced and fingled out and selected for a more peculiar end and purpose than other ordinary daies of the year are And this Interpreâ—ation of the Word that place in the 1 Sam. 12.5 6. doth well approve of and allow it This is then the day which the Lord hath made yea this is the day wherein the Lord Himself was made saith Eusebius Emissenus Therefore we will rejoyce and be glad in it Fear not said the Angel Gabriel to those Shepherds of Bethlehem for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy so that here good Tidings do attend it and great Joy doth accompany it which shall be unto all People for unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. And that the Lord hath blessed this day with success the goodly fellowship of the Prophets and their harmonious and unanimous consents shall bear me witness First That Evangelical Prophet Isaiah prophesyes of it saying Unto us a Child is born unto us a Son is given Datus ex Divinitate natus ex Virgine saith Eusebius Emissenus on the words excellently In that he is said to be born it betokens his Manhood in that he is said to be given it signifies his Divine Nature The Hypostatical Union of both doth make one and the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or one Immanuel i. e. God with us The Government is upon his shoulder his Name shall be called Wonderfull Counsellor the Mighty God the Everlasting Father the Prince of Peace the Increase of his Government and Peace shall have none End he shall sit upon the Throne of David and upon his Kingdom to order it and to establish it with Judgment and with Justice from henceforth even for ever The zâ—al of the Lord of Hosts shall perform this i.e. his singular Love and Care for his Elect shall effect it And doth not God blesse this day then with snccesse and doth not the Princely Prophet David also sing of this Alacrity and chant it to the Tune of his Harp and Viol and set forth the happy and prosperous successe of this Day and the flourishing Estate of the Church by the Kingdom and coming of Christ in the Flesh The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou at my right hand untill I make thine Enemies tpy Foot stool in Mat. 22.44 we find that Christ Himself giveth the Interpretation hereof and sheweth that this cannot be properly applied unto David but to Himself and this appeareth by the words that follow in that Psalm Psal 110.1 2 3. The Lord shall send the Rod of thy Power out of Zion For out of Zion hath God appeared in perfect Beauty Psal 50.2