A SERMON OF The NATIVITY of our LORD Preached before the Queen Dowager IN Her Chappel at SOMERSET-HOUSE On Christmas Day 1686. By Thomas Godden D. D. Preacher in Ordinary to her Majesty Published by Her Majesties Command LONDON Printed by Henry Hills Printer to the King 's Most Excellent Majesty for his Houshold and Chappel 1686. A SERMON Preach'd before her MAJESTY THE Queen Dowager On Christmas day Anno 1686. LUKE 2. 15. Pastores loquebantur ad invicem transeamus usque ad Bethlehem videamus hoc verbum quod factum est quod Dominus ostendit nobis The Shepherds said one to another Let us now go even to Bethlehem and see this word which is made or this thing which is come to pass which our Lord hath made known to us THE fulness of time for the Redemption of Man being come a time when all things were in quiet silence and the Night was in the midst of her swift course the Omnipotent Word of the Eternal Father descended from his Royal Throne and took up his lodging in a Stable of Bethlehem No sooner was he arrived there but he presently dispatched an Angel to carry the news of his Birth to certain Shepherds who were at that time keeping the watches of the night over their Flocks in the Fields adjoyning The Messenger to shew that he was the Minister of the Sun of Justice clothed himself with a glittering Robe of Light and so great was the Brightness which enlightned the place that the Gospel calls it Claritas Dei the Brightness of God and those words of David may be said to have been then literally fulfilled Nox sicut dies illuminabitur that the Night should be as light as the Day The Shepherds terrified as well with the presence of the Angel who stood beside them as with the unusualness of the Light which shone round about them were ready to fall to the ground for fear when the Heavenly Ambassador bid them be of good cheer for that he came not to bring them tidings of dread and terror but of joy and great joy to them and to all People that on this Bright day there was born in Bethlehem the Saviour of the World And that their own experience might further satisfie them of the truth of what he had said he gave them a Sign by which if they would take the pains they might find the New-born Infant Hoc vobis signum This said he shall be to you a Sign you shall find the Infant wrapped in Swadling-clothes and laid in a Manger O King of Glory Is not this the day in which the Angels invite the Daughters of Sion to go forth and behold thee in the Diadem with which thy Virgin-mother Crown'd thee in the day of thy Espousals in her purest Womb And must a Manger be thy Cradle O Treasure of Heaven who would have sought for thee in a little Hay or Straw Who would have thought to have found thee in a Manger of Beasts Surely the Shepherds who were terrified with the Light must have been much more surprized with the seeming disproportion of the Sign had not a multitude of the Heavenly Host presently joyned themselves with the Angel praising God and saying Gloria in altissimis Deo Glory be to God in the highest and on earth peace to men of good will With this Canticle of Joy the Angels return'd into their former Heaven above and where may we think were the Shepherds Souls but in the new Heaven below in the Stable of Bethlehem and that their Bodies might be there too to pay a double homage to this New-born King Loquebantur ad invicem They said one to another Let us now go even to Bethlehem and see this word which is made which our Lord hath made known unto us And the resolution was no sooner taken but presently put in execution But give me leave devout Shepherds to ask you whither away so fast Were not you keeping the watches of the Night over your Flocks And will you now leave them in the open Fields Are you not afraid that they may go astray in your absence or the Wolves break in and devour them No we are going to find out the Lamb which is come to take away the sins of the world This Lamb will take care both of the Shepherds and the Flocks And should we sustain any loss for his sake it would still be our greater Gain Piously resolved indeed But have you forgotten what hapned of old to another of your Profession when God appearing to him in the Bush he said as you do now I will go and see this great Sight Have you forgotten I say how he was commanded not to draw near but to stand at a distance and put off his Shoes and how he turned away his Face that he might not see And are you not afraid to meet with the same prohibition he did Nothing less The Scene is now changed God in a Burning Bush is an Object of Terror indeed but God in Swadling-clothes and laid in a Manger is so great an Attractive of Love that we fear nothing but to lose time to go to see it They went therefore with haste and being admitted by the Sacred Virgin whose leave no doubt they would ask to see and adore their New-born Saviour the Evangelist says That they returned glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen as it had been said unto them This is the Summ of what is contain'd in the second Gospel of this Great Day What I have made choice of for the Subject of your present Entertainment is the Pious Resolution of the Shepherds to go to Bethlehem That we may enter with like Devotion into the consideration of this Great Mystery and return as they did glorifying and praising God for all we shall hear and see let us instead of asking leave of the Virgin-Mother to visit the Manger humbly beg her Intercession at the Throne of Grace for a Blessing upon my Endeavours saluting her with the words of the Angel Ave Maria. Transeamus usque ad Bethlehem c. The shepherds said one to another Let us now go even to Bethlehem and see this word which is made which our Lord hath shown unto us 'T is the Opinion of St. Cyprian and others of the Fathers that these Shepherds at the same time that the Angel made known unto them the Nativity of the Saviour of the World the so long expected Messias had their understandings illuminated by the Holy Ghost to know and believe that it was He of whom the Prophet Esay had foretold that his name should be called Emmanuel that is God with us and who should verifie those glorious Attributes given him by the same Prophet of Admirabilis Deus Fortis Princeps Pacis that is of Wonderful God Mighty and Prince of Peace Magisterio Spiritus Sancti intus edocti quem Parvulum vident confitentur Immensum And hence it is that whereas
the Words of my Text in the Original are capable of a double Translation that is of being rendred in English Let us see this Thing which is come to pass or let us see this Word which is made I have made choice of the latter with Venerable Bede as more suitable to the Intention of the Shepherds and more expressive of the Mystery we celebrate this day of the Word being made Flesh for our sakes Taking the Words therefore in this sence two things offer themselves at the first View to our Consideration The first is the Resolution of the Shepherds to go to Bethlehem Transeamus usque ad Bethlehem Let us now go even to Bethlehem The second the End they proposed to themselves in going thither which was to see the Word which was made And accordingly I shall divide my Discourse into these two Principal Parts In the first I shall let you see the Devotion of the Shepherds in so readily resolving to go seek their New-born Saviour In the second the End we are to propose to our selves in seeing this word which was made Flesh as the Creed declares for us men and for our Salvation For us men I say as the Object of our worship and then again for our Salvation as a Pattern drawn by God himself for our Imitation I begin with the first the Devotion of the Shepherds in their Resolution to go to Bethlehem The First Part. Devotion as it denotes a particular Virtue is defined by St. Thomas to be a Preparation or disposition of the Will by which a man promptly and readily tradit se gives himself up or as we use to say devotes himself to execute the things which belong to the service of God Some of these things are expresly commanded by God himself others intimated only or commended as pleasing to him And whereas there is this difference between them that every Command of God is a sign of his Will but every Signification of his good pleasure is not a Command 't is manifest that as the Perfection of Devotion on consists in a readiness to comply with both so it shews it self chiefly in the Execution of the latter And such was that of the Shepherds of my Text. They went to find out the New-born Christ without being commanded The Angel as you have heard gave them a Sign by which if they would take the pains they might find him which was that they should find him wrapped in swadling-clothes and laid in a manger But it is no where expressed in the Gospel that he bid them go We do not read that the Angel said unto them Ite Pastores Go to Bethlehem but only Hoc vobis signum This shall be to you a sign and yet they presently resolv'd to go And we need not go far to seek the Reason The Angel in the Proclamation he made of Peace upon Earth when he return'd to Heaven sufficiently signified them to be men of good will that is as holy David describes such Persons Men whose Wills are in the Law of God In lege Domini voluntas ejus and the Law of God in their wills Lex Dei ejus in corde ipsius And where the Will and the Law are thus reciprocally in each other in order to the Service of God a Command serves but for a Sign and a Sign becomes a Command 1. To Men of Good Will a Precept serves them but for a Sign to point out what they are to do And this is what the great Apostle St. Paul gives us to understand when he says that Lex Justo non est posita The Law is not made for the Just man but for such as are unjust and refractory And why not for the Just Man also if he cannot be just without the Observance of it But because as you heard before the Will of a Just Man is in the Law and not under the Law 'T is on thing says St. Austin to be in the Law and another to be under the Law He whose Will is in the Law Secundum legem agit acts indeed conformable to the Law But He whose will is under the Law Secùndum legem agitur is driven or forced by the Law The Law like a severe Adversary stands over him with threats and menaces to compel him to the performance of what it commands and therefore our Saviour as the same St. Austin expounds his words Matth. 5. 24. bids us to agree with this Adversary that is to conform our wills to his quickly whilst we are in the way of this life lest at any time and we know not how soon he deliver us to the Judge and the Judge to the Officer and we be cast into a Prison from whence there shall be no delivery till we have paid the uttermost farthing Nihil sic adversatur peccantibus ac praeceptum Dei Nothing so opposite to sinners as the Law of God because their Will is in the Sin they would commit and not in the Law Nothing so agreeable to the Just as the Law of God because their Will is in his Law that they may not sin To those the Law is a weight which lies heavy upon them and presses them down to these it is a weight also but such as that of Wings which bears them up and carries them Christi sarcina pennas habet to those it is a Curbing Bitt which restrains their licentious and irregular appetites to these a Gentle Bridle which serves only to turn them into the way they are to go To those it is a Rod of Iron which compels them for fear not to do what otherwise they would Reges eos in virga ferrea thou shalt rule them that is the Refractory in a Rod of Iron To these a Rod of Direction to point out to them what their Wills are ready to perform Virga directionis Virga Regni tui The Rod of thy Kingdom and such are the Just is a Rod of Direction In a word such is the force of Love that if it possess the Heart that which is a Precept to the unjust and refractory serves but for a Sign to men of Good Will But this is not all 'T is the Property of Love to dilate the Heart it possesses and render it so pliant to the motions of Grace and ready to execute what is pleasing to God that 2. To men of Good Will a Sign becomes a Command Their hearts like that of David are doubly ready Paratum cor meum Deus Paratum cor meum ready to do what God commands And again Ready to do what he signifies only to be his Good will and Pleasure Their Will as I said before is in the Law of God and the Law of God in their Will And what is the Product of this Happy Union but that the Will as consider'd in the Law changes a Command into a Sign because it performs it willingly and the Law as consider'd in the Will
Mercy and Goodness which is the same in them All. Pater as the same St. Leo goes on ut propitiaretur Filius ut propitiaret Spiritus Sanctus ut igniret The Father by communicating together with his Essence his Propension to accept of a Propitiation for the sins of mankind The Son by mutually concurring to make the propitiation and the Holy Ghost by as readily undertaking to execute what was the Good Will and Pleasure of Both. From all which it appears that tho the Son the decree of the Incarnation supposed receiv'd a Command from his Father to lay down his Life for the Redemption of Man as considered subsisting in our Humane Nature and in that consideration Inferiour to him yet the Sourse and Origin of his undertaking to make a Propitiation for our sins was not any Precept of which as consider'd subsisting only in the Divinity he was not capable being equal to his Father but a communication only he receiv'd in his divine Procession from him of his good will and pleasure that he should unite himself personally to our humane nature to redeem us And as he most willingly and readily concurr'd with this gracious design but in a manner infinitely transcending what the understandings of the Highest Angels are able to comprehend So as soon as he was born into the world he inspir'd the Shepherds to do the like He only gave them a Sign or Intimation by which they might find him and presently without delay they resolv'd to go seek him out Loquebantur Pastores ad invicem The Shepherds said one to another Let us now go even to Bethlehem Thus Dear Christian Auditors was this Divine Lover of our souls pleased both to prove and make known to us the devotion of the Shepherds when he came into the world And now that he has finished his dispensation upon Earth and is return'd to Heaven has he left us no Sign of his Good Will and Pleasure to provoke our Love to sollicite our affections and show our devotion to him Yes Corpus aptavit nobis he has left us also a Body the same Body which his Father framed for him and he gave to the Shepherds but in a different manner to them and to us to them as wrapped in Swadling clothes and laid in a Manger Hoc vobis signum To us cloth'd with the forms of Bread and Wine and laid upon the Altar Hoc nobis Signum And what greater Sign could he give us of his Love than to give us that very Flesh to be our Food which he had given for the Life of the World Admirable is the Reflection which St. Chrisostom makes upon this passage Mothers says he oftentimes put forth their Children to be nurs'd and fed by others But not so I and he speaks in the Person of Christ I feed you with my own Flesh I set my self before you for food so to breed Generous Spirits in you and fill you with hopes of future Glory since you cannot think but that I who have given my self to you here will do it in a much more excellent manner hereafter That I took Flesh and Blood upon me was out of the desire I had to become your Brother and now behold I give the same Flesh and Blood to be taken by you by which I became so nearly related to you These are the words of that Great Father and Light of the Church St. Chrysostom by which he declares the Faith of the Church of his time which was between the Third and Fourth of the four first General Councils to be the same which the Catholic Church professes at this day And now dear Christans that this Divine Lover of our Souls has left us so great a Sign and Pledge of his good Will and Love shall we not make hast with the devout Shepherds to go to Bethlehem Bethlehem in English signifies The House of Bread And St. Gregory observes that our Lord would have the Place in which he was to be born to be called long before by this name to signifie to us That He who appeared there in our Flesh is the Living Bread which came down from Heaven to nourish the Souls of his Elect to everlasting Life And now as I said that he has given us so incomparable a Sign of his Good Will and Pleasure shall we not make hast with the Shepherds to Bethlehem Shall we let this Holy Time pass over or rather shall we Trifle it all away in Pastime and Merriment without ever approaching to this Holy Table Such was the Fervour of the First Christians that they were wont to communicate every day And necessary it was in those times of Cruel Persecution to arm themselves daily with the Bread of Life against the fear of Death But no sooner was Peace restored to the Church in the beginning of the fourth Age but Piety began to languish So much more hard is it for Virtue to bear up against a Prosperous than an Adverse Condition which gave St. Chrysostom before that Age was ended cause to inveigh so frequently as he does against such as were present at the Divine Mysteries without communicating But the Malady went on increasing and Christians grew so tepid in the performance of this Duty that the Council of Agde in the beginning of the sixth Age thought fit to declare that those who did not communicate at the Three Great Feasts of the year Christmas Easter and Whitsontide were not to be believ'd to be Catholics nor reputed for such And the Council of Tours in the beginning of the Eighth Age found it necessary to admonish them anew to communicate if not oftner yet three times at least in the year viz. at the three aforesaid Feasts And if the Church in these later times as still more remiss have thought good to lay no farther obligation upon all the Faithful of both Sexes than of receiving once a year and that at Easter yet the Addition of the words ad minus that it must be done then at least sufficiently shows the desire she has that they would do it oftner and that a Command were not at all necessary to compel where there is so great an Attractive of Bounty to invite Lex Justo non est posita This Law was not made for the Just for men of Good Will who are led by the Spirit of Love but for such servile and degenerous Spirits as are acted only by fear of Punishment And it is much to be feared that those who in this matter will do no more than just what the Letter of the Law obliges would not do that neither but for fear of the Censure annexed O the Prodigious sloth and negligence of such careless Christians whom so great Signs and Pledges of their dear Saviours Goodness cannot draw without the necessity of a Precept to drive them to him What will they pretend for their excuse That they cannot that is will not leave their Sins Few will be
Charitatem Learn of me to love your Neighbours for my sake since I who am true God of true God have made my self man for yours Discite denique verum bonorum omnium hujus saeculi contemptum Lastly Learn of me a true and real contempt of all the Goods of this World since I who am the wisdom of God have despised and rejected them as false and counterfeit to teach you by my example the true way to Heaven These are the Lessons which this divine Word preaches to our Eyes from the Pulpit of his Cribb And if the Scholars of Pythagoras had so great a veneration for their Master that whatever he said they believ'd it because he said it quia ipse dixit Now that a greater than Pythagoras is here now that God himself is become both our Master and Pattern in his own Person shall we not much rather do what we see him do quia ipse fecit because he has done it and not only so but quia ipse factus est because himself was pleased to be made man that we might see him with our Eyes and learn from his Example the true way to Bliss And when shall we do it if we do it not now Holy David astonish'd as we may say to see the general depravation of Mankind in his time how their hearts were bent upon nothing but the Love of the things of this world as their only happiness calls upon them to bethink themselves of their Error in these words Filii hominum usquequo gravi corde Ut quid diligitis vanitatem quaeritis mendacium O ye sons of men how long will you let your hearts lye groveling upon the Earth Why will you set your affections upon vanity and seek after a lye meaning the transitory and deceitful goods of this world And St. Austin to extenuate as it were in some measure their fault subjoins Saltem usque ad adventum Filii Dei error vester duraverit that possibly this error of theirs might continue till the coming of the Son of God into the world But then considering the depraved lives of too many Christians he changes the Prophets usquequo and crys out himself Quid ultra graves corde estis O ye sons of men why are your hearts still possessed with this Error now that the Son of God is come in the Flesh to teach you the true way of Life Quando habituri finem fallaciarum si praesente Veritate non habetis O when will you make an End of suffering your selves to be cheated with the Fallacious Maximes and Fashions of the world if you do it not now that Truth it self has taken a Body and presents it self visible to your very Eyes to teach you by its own Example what you are to chuse and what to avoid Is it possible dear Christians that we can think that to be Good and desirable which He who is Truth it self has rejected and contemned or that to be vile and contemptible which He has made choice of and embraced If our Judgment and Conduct be not conform to his one of the two must follow Either that he was deceived or we are mistaken And no doubt but the mistake will be found to be on our side if we think to go to Heaven by any other way than that by which He went himself If He who was Innocent chose not only to walk upon Thorns in this World but wore them for a Crown upon his Head must we who are the Criminals expect to have the way strew'd with Flowers and our Temples crown'd with Garlands of Roses Let me tell you dear Christians that 't is as much an Article of our Faith to believe the way to Heaven as to believe Heaven it self And if He who has told us there is such a Place prepared for us as Heaven if we take the Right way to it has told us also that that way is no other than what himself calls The strait way viz. the mortifying of our sensual appetites renouncing the Pomps and Vanities of the World crucifying the Flesh with its inordinate desires bringing the body into subjection to the spirit by Praying Fasting and other Penitential Works giving what is above necessity and true Christian decency in Alms to the Poor denying our own Wills patiently bearing the Afflictions and Crosses which God sends meekly forgiving those that offend us and the like Christian Duties either we believe this to be the only way to Heaven or we do not If we do not why do we believe there is such a Thing as Heaven at all since He who has told us the one has told us the other also When he said of himself Ego sum via veritas vita I am the Way the Truth and the Life he placed Truth in the middle between the Way and the End as Equally engag'd for both But then again if we do believe the strait way and which himself made choice of to be the only way to Heaven why do we chuse to walk in the Broad and beaten Road of the world as if that would bring us thither Is it by pleasing the Senses pampering the Body mispending the time which God has given us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling in indulging to our own ease the best part of the day and throwing away the rest in vain and too often Criminal Conversations and Pastimes and the Riches He has bestowed upon us to secure our own Salvation by relieving his poor and necessitous Brethren in purchasing to our selves all that may conduce to the gratifying of our Fancies and the satisfying of our sensual appetites Is it I say by doing these things that we can think at last to arrive at Heaven O no we are convinc'd of the contrary both by the Doctrine and Practice of God himself made Man for our sakes And when shall we put an End to this fatal Cheat if we do it now Let us then no longer suffer our selves to be deluded with the vain and transitory things of this world But transeamus usque ad Bethlehem passing over let us with the devout Shepherds go to Bethlehem and see this Word which is made Flesh for our sakes which our Lord hath shown unto us Let us in a word see and do according to the Pattern which is shown us in the Manger purifying our hearts from all sinful affections and transcribing those Vertues of which this fair Original has given us so lively an Example into the Copy of our own lives So shall we be prepared worthily to receive him here under the Sacramental Veils in which he lies wrapped upon the Altar no less truly than he did in his Swadling-clothes in the Manger and be found worthy when he shall come the second time into the world with great Power and Majesty to behold him face to face in his Glory which God of his Infinite Mercy grant us all to whom in Unity and Trinity be all Honour and Glory now and for ever Amen FINIS Psa 138. 11. Stabulum visum est esse Coelum in Terra Epiphan Orat. de Deipera Exod. 2. Isai 9. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verbum quod semper erat videamus quomodo pro nobis factum sit Quod enim videre non poteramus dum erat verbum videamus factum quia Caro est Sum. 22. q. 82. a. 1 o. Psal 1. Psal 36. 31. 1 Tim. 1. 9. St. Aug. in Psal 1. De Sermon Dom. c. 21. St. Aug. In Psal 59. Froenum quo pulchrè agitur St. Chrisost Hom. 2. in 1 Tim. 1. In morali Psal 2. 9. Psal 44. 8. Num. 24. 17 Affirmationes de Deo sunt incompactae St. Dionys St. Tho. 1. p. q. 43. Serm. 3. Pentecost Hom. 61. ad Pop. Antioch Ego autèm non ita sed carnibus meis alo meipsum vobis appono vos omnes generosos esse volens c. Volui Frater vester fieri Vobis vicissim ipsam Carnem Sanguinem per quae Cognatus vester factus sum trado St. Greg. Hom. 8. in Evang. Conc. Agath An. 506. Conc. Turon 3. An. 813. St. Cyril Alex. l. 4. in Jo. c. 17. Rom. 1. 23. Serm. 147. S. Aug. l. 83. Quaest Q. 25 Serm 1. de Nat. Dom. Phil. 2. 3. Psal 4. 3. St. Aug. in Psal 4. Matth. 7. 14. Joh. 14. 6.