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
hath commanded his Covenant for ever holy and reverend is His Name But in your second Reason you say That you never heard a good Argument for it Well be it so as you say yet I dare say that you say it not so much out of your Ignorance as through a misconstruction and sinister Interpretation of that which you have both heard and read concerning this thing Wherefore for answering you first Hoc tibi innotescere velimus we do you to wit or would have you to know and understand That albeit the gray-headed Antiquity and Authority of our dear Mother the Church of England and the uniform Discipline with Us established for some Centuries of years making and constituting it an antient and laudable Order and generally approved Custome may be a sufficient Plea Argument and VVarrant to perswade you or any other rational man to consent and conforme unto it for what saith grave St. Austin He that will have God to be his Father must acknowledge the Church of God for his Mother and then let every Member of this Church remember that good and wholesome advice of Solomon's Prov. 11.8 My Son hear thy Fathers Instruction and forsake not thy Mothers teaching For St. Austin tells us in his Epist 118. Extremae est dementiae seu insolentis insaniae ea negligere 〈◊〉 repudiare quae tota observat ecclesia It is extream folly and insolent madnesse to neglect and refuse to observe those things which the whole Church whereof we are born Members doth observe yet for your better satisfaction herein I have a desire and purpose to bring in a few Arguments which perhaps may be thought by some to be as good and strong and forcible for the keeping of this Day as any you have hi her to urged or may hereafter devise and produce against it The first that I shall propound and present to your quaint and curious and supercilious censure or to your Austere and Rigid consideration shall be the Legality and lawfulness of Ordering and Ordaining and setting apart of some dayes of publick Thanksgiving and holy rejoycing to the Lord for great Benefits and publick Blessings received which if this day of Christ his Incarnation and Manifestation in the flesh might be but set up and celebrated amongst the rest as it deserveth I am perswaded it would contend and strive so for the Superiority and Preheminence above the rest that it would even devour and swallow the rest up as Aarons Serpent did the Serpents of those Egyptian Magicians and Praestigiators or excell them and cast them down as the Ark did Dagon or as the Image of Christ when it was placed by the Senators at Rome in the Capitol threw down the Image of Jupiter Mars Mercury and others of their feigned heathenish gods as Ensebius and Nicephorus report it for truth and the Men of this Generation would soon condescend and yield to this motion and not deny nor gain-say this reasonable proposition if they were not too much like those blind and blinded Pharisees among the Jews who were for the most part culicem excolantes Camelum deglutientes apt and inclined to strain at a Gnat and swallow a Cammel Math. 23 24. For if it be lawful to give God thanks for Corporal and Temporal Deliverances How much more for our Spiritual and Eternal Deliverance by Christ from the thraldome of sinne and Sathan Again If it shall be thought lawful and allowable to praise God for the spilling of blood 2 Kings 6. and destroying of Mens lives which yet neither the Prophet Elisha 2 Chron. 2.8 nor the Prophet Oded would allow of how much more then shall it be lawfull and commendable to praise the Lord for the sparing and preserving of Mens lives and for the saving of their Souls and freeing or delivering both their Bodies and Souls from the everlasting pains and torments of Death and Hell For the Son of Man came to seak and save that which was lost and God sent not his Son into the World to condemn the World but that the World through Him might be saved Joh. 3.17 The second Argument which I shall here set down for the solemnity of this Day I will make bold to borrow from the words of St. Austin which I do not onely conjecture but presume were Preached and Delivered by him on the very Day we find them recorded in his Serm. 2. 4. de tempore Behold saith he all of us are bidden on this Day to a Marriage for Christ came out of the Virgins Womb as a Bridegroom out of his Chamber the Godhead was joyned unto the Flesh and the Flesh unto the God-head and these two were coupled together and after an ineffable manner in an ineffable Marriage made one The marriage-Chamber was the Virgins Womb which he abhorred not out of which that Sun of Righteousness Christ Jesus came in the day of his Birth as a Bridegroom out of his Chamber Psal 19.5 and as a strong man joyfull to run his race For the Son of God knowing that according to the eternall decree enacted in the Court of Heaven our Salvation could not be perfected before he was Incarnate Gal. 4.4 in the fulnesse of time came down sealing our Redemption with rejoycing of Spirit and gladnesse of heart exsuiting trium phing and preparing himself to the desired work of his mediatorship Long had the Church waited and prayed for this coming of Christ in the flesh Isa 64.1 O would God thou wouldest burst the Heavens and come down Cant. 8.1 O that then werst as my Brother which sucked the breast of my Mother partaking the same humane nature with me I would find thee without here below on Earth I would kisse thee and familiarly intreat thee without the reproach of the World Then I would lead thee and bring thee into my Mothers house though now I am penned up in the Straights of Judea I would bring thee into the Light and Knowledge of the Universal Church whose Daughter I am and herefore he was worthily called desideratus omnium gentium Hag. 2.7 the desired of all Nations but when he came he came merily with nimbleness of Spirit zeal of Piety fervency of Love as the Church espying him joyfully relates it It is the voice of my well-beloved Cant. 2.8 Behold he cometh leaping by the Mountains skipping by the Hills My well-beloved is like a Roe or Hart. He came flying on the wings of the Wind he out-leapt Gabriel the Archangel and came to the Virgin before him by the Testimony of the Angel himself Luk. 1.27 Hail Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee Behold Gabriel left Christ in Heaven but finds him in the Womb How so Volavit praevolavit super pennas vontorum he flew and out-flew him on the wings of the wind he sent his Messenger but like Ahinoaz got before him Will you see his Jumps He lept from Heaven into the Womb from the Womb to
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