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-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
the last verse If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead Yet willingly would I add here one strange thing more or two which are no more strange then true as a Corollary and Appendix to the former which though they were not Synchronisms or things Contemporaneous with the Birth of Christ yet the People of our Nation and our own Countrymen can witnesse them to be true as I relate them The first is the Thorne at Glastenbury in Sommersetshire which was commonly called Joseph's Thorne which for many hundred years together even as it is to be thought since the first arriving of Joseph of Arimathea there which was within five years after the Death and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus as that antient Historian of our Nation the Golden-mouthed Gildas reporteth this Thorne constantly budded and shewed forth its green leaves fair fresh and flourishing on this Day every year to the great admiration of all Spectators that came of purpose to behold it and this was no other then a Miracle and may serve for our confirmation in the faith of Him who for our sakes was contented to wear Coronam Spineam a Crown of Thornes Or it may well be supposed that ir flourished on this Day to testifie the truth of his Nativity and to signifie the flourishing Estate of the Gospel by Him which shall prosper and flourish manger the head and hatred of all Gain-sayers And although this Thorne be now as they say cut down by some spightful and malignant Zoilus yet those sufficient men of our parts who with their eyes have seen it and beheld it will still talk of it and tell it to their Children not for an old Wives Fable but for truth and one Gentleman among the rest of good rank and quality in these Parts who is a man well affected and devoted to the power and purity of Religion for that Thorn's sake having seen it doth strictly and carefully and conscionably keep this Day and is resolved to observe and keep it so long as he liveth The other rare and strange thing are the three pitts of Durham commonly called Hell kettles which are adjoyning near unto Darlington whose Waters are somewhat warm these are thought to come of an Earth-quake which happened in the year of Grace 1179. whereof the Chronicle of Tinmouth maketh mention whose record is this That on Christmasday at Oxen-Hall in the Territories of Darlington within the County of Durham the ground heaved aloft like unto a high Tower and so continued all that day as it were unmoveable untill the evening and then fell with so horrible a noise that it made the Neighbourhood-dwellers much afraid and the Earth swallowed it up and made in the same place three deep pits which are there to be seen for a Testimony unto this Day Here then we may apply that of the Psalmist and say Tremble thou Earth at the presence of the Lord at the presence of the God of Jacob which turned the hard Rock into a standing Water and the flint stone into a springing Well Psal 114.7 8. But whilst I am relling you a story of a Thorne-Tree and of deep pits of Water you bring me into another difficult and thorny question and plunge me as it were in a deep pit of non plus or nil ultra and into such a quick and and quagmire of troublesome meditation that I shall hardly get out of it the Quaery is this ninth following Answer to the ninth Argument The ninth Argument is this It is an impossibility to keep it and God never made an impossibility a Duty and that no man in the World knoweth certainly what day Christ was born on To this I answer although I first ingenuously confesse according to that Adage Davus sum ego non Oedipus for it is true which Chrysostome saith Praestat probâ ignoratione detineri quà m falsa opinione mancipari It is easier to plow in the plain then in the ground new-stocked better to write on a paper free from writing than on that which is full of lines and more easie to reach the simple then him that is opinionated of his own knowledge Better it is for a man and more commendable to confess a little ignorance then to boast of too much knowledge wherefore as Beza on that place in 1 Cor. 11.10 For this Cause ought the Woman to have power on her head because of the Angels gives no other note but this Quid hoc sit nondum mihi liquet wherein he confesseth he did not understand as yet what the Apostle meant by these words So if we should here yield and acknowledge that we do not certainly know what day Christ was born on Vaux yet As a late Starrgazing Speculator takes upon him in his Almanack to define the year of Christ his coming to Judgment but dare not precisely set down the day and hour of his coming So perhaps we shall here endeavour pro Nosse Posse to calculate and discover unto you the year when our Saviour Christ was born if not the day And for this I shall referr you to the Rhemists Marginal note on the second of Luke which reports unto us that in the year from the Creation of the World 3199 from Noah's flood 2957 from the Nativity of Abraham 2015 from Moses and the coming forth of the People of Israel out of Egypt 1510 from David anointed King 1032 from the first Olympias 800 from the building of Rome 752 Hebdomada 63 according to the prophecy of Daniel c. 9. that is in the year 440 or thereabout in the sixth age of the World when there was universal Peace in all the World the eternal God and son of the eternal Father meaning to Consecrate and Sanctifie the World with his most blessed coming being conceived of the Holy Ghost nine Months after his Conception Jesus Christ the Son of God is born in Bethlehem of Juda in the year of Caesar Augustus 42 Usuard in the Martyrol * And then why should not the 25 of Decem. be as solemnly observed and kept as the 5 of Nov. December 25 according to the common ancient supputation But it may be you will object against this because it comes from the Rhemists you will mislike it and disdain it yet nevertheless I say because it is not thwarted nor contradicted by Calvin nor Beza nor Fulke nor any other of our late Protestant Writers I see no just Cause or Reason why we should reject it but rather receive it Fide historicâ and believe it for truth as it is faithfully and exactly related by them for a sufficient Author and ancient Chronologer or Reporter of that which was nothing else but a true story and cannot be denyed or disproved yet put the Case here that we neither do nor cannot certainly know the Day whereon Christ was born therefore shall it be thought a thing impossible to keep it Then by the same
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
God hath not made a duty But God never made the Celebration of the Nativity of Christ a Duty Ergo it is no Duty Though this Argument is Scholastically and Syllogistically propounded yet I shall be so bold as to deny the Minor or second proposition and that for these Reasons for although it be not in words plainly expressed yet in sense it is significantly and sufficiently implyed and by way of necessary consequence may be deduced and gathered out of the first Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews at the 6. Verse When he bringeth forth his first begotten Son into the World He saith And let all the Angels of Gods worship him and for proof hereof to shew the sweet harmony and consent of both Testaments the Old and the New and that one and the same Spirit speaks in both For the same God is Author of both and the same Christ is Subject of both insomuch that each Testament is in other for in the Law there is an hidden Gospel and in the Gospel a revealed Law Being like the two Cherubius on the Mercy-Seat whose faces looked one towards the other Exod. 15.20 St. Paul alleadgeth that in Psal 97.7 And howsoever the ordinary reading of the Psalm is worship Him all ye gods yet the Apostle Interprets it of Angels directly saying according as Tremelius renders it out of the Original Incurvanto se bonorem exhibentes ei omnes Angeli Let all the Angels of God worship Him For so we find it to be true indeed and so it was at Christ's Birth and upon the very Day of his Nativity That one Angel first reports it to the Shepheards of Bethlehem and many other of those Celestial Choristers sing Praises to God for it Fear not said Gabriel for Behold I bring you good tydings of great joy which shall be unto all Nations For unto you is born this Day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord and suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the Heavenly Host praysing God and saying Gloria Deo in Excelsis c. Luke 2.13.14 Now I inferr from hence that these Angels came not about this Errand without some special Commission and Command from God and therefore it was a Duty Commanded and Given in charge to them Now if the Angels for whom Christ came not were to performe it How much more ought we Men to observe it for whose sake and for whose Salvation he was Incarnate and became Man for verily He took not on Him Naturam Angelorum sed Semen Abrahami Heb. 2.10 not the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham saith the Apostle Dubartas Wherefore the Angels As they are called by a Divine Poet The sacred Tutors of the Saints and the guard of God's Elect c So they may also be called Tutors and Instructors to us to instruct and teach us this Lesson and may be also exemplary Patterns and Precedents to us in the practise and performance of this Duty Answerable and agreeable hereunto is the plat-form of our grand Master and blessed Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus who hath taught us in the third Petition of that his most absolute and perfect Prayer to pray thus Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven wherein we are taught to pray as all the best Orthodoxal Divines do expound it that the will of God may be obeyed and done by us as Chearfully Speedily Faithfully Constantly and Continually as it is done by the Angels in Heaven And therefore as the Angels melodiously chanted it here on Earth at the Birth of Christ So let us likewise unanimously celebrate set forth his praise and say Glory be to God on High in Earth Peace good will towards Men. We blesse Thee we praise Thee we glorifie Thee we give thanks to Thee for thy great Glory These words were at first added to the Heavenly Carroll of the Holy Angels by that famous Bishop Hilary and used by him in his own Church Anno 340. So saith Cassander's Litturgy Cap. 22. And that this is a Duty expected and required from us upon good ground and special Reasons and Causes that should move us hereunto grave St. Austin tells us wittily and profoundly This Quaery hath a sufficient Quaery Quia verbum caro factum est habitavit intra nos Because the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us vidimus Gloriam and we faw his Glory saith St. John as of the onely begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth John 1.14 Wherefore as those Persian Sages who were both Wisemen and Kings being led by the guidance and assistance and direction of a Starr to the place of Christ's Birth and there did adore and worship Him and presented gifts unto Him Gold Frankincense and Myrrh Math. 2.10 and this their coming made to the greater condemnation of the Jews and to shame their blockishness and blindness their sluggishness carnality and infidelity who standing hard-by saw not so much as they who came from far according to that speech of Leo Veritas illuminat magos Infidelitas obcoecat magistros So it is to be feared lest the Lord for our contempt of Christ and the unspeakable benefits that we have received by his first coming in the flesh lest the Lord I say for our ingratitude and for our carelessenesse and carnality take his Word from us Christians as he did his King â—om from the Jews and give it to such as we think to be most alien from God and his Gospel even to Moors and Tartars Turks and Infidells who perhaps may bring forth better fruits of Obedience and Thankfulness than we have done and so rise up in Judgment at the latter day and condemn us for if wisemen brought up in Gentilism and Idolatry come to Christ and believe what excuse then belongs to the Jews So if Infidels and Pagans believe and obey What shall become of us Christians who want both Faith and Obedience Thus much for the answering of the first Argument Answer to the second Argument The Words of the second Argument are these If I should observe this day I am fearfull lest I should deny the Perfection of the Scripture for in the Scripture all things are contained which are necessary to Salvation and all things which are needfull to be believed and done by a Christian man for the attainment of Salvation But the Celebration of Christ's Nativity is not contained therein Ergo If I should observe this I should deny the Perfection of the Scriptures To this I answer That the Article of our Faith touching Christ's Incarnation and Manifestation in the Flesh is both commended and commanded in the Scripture and I refer you or any other indifferent Man not onely to our Apostolicall Creed which although it be not Protocanonical Scripture yet as Ambrose speaks it is the Key of the Scripture and as Augustine terms it a plain short absolute summ of all holy Faith It is
confound the Persons with Sabellius nor divide the Substance with Arrius for there is one Person of the Father another of the Sonne another of the Holy Ghost but the God-head of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost is all One the Glory equal the Majesty co-eternal such as the Father is such is the Son c. And therefore the Glory Honour and Worship that is done to the One is done to the other or is both due and ought to be done to the other How then can it be otherwise that the least Homage Honour and Duty that is done to Christ on this day is accepted of God if it be done in Faith and Obedience Why then do you say That by keeping this day you are fearful lest you should offend God and set up a day against Him It may be you will object and say here as you do in your thirteenth Argument that God is in many places much dishonoured by the great Abuse and Disorders that is committed at this time To this I briefly answer by the way according to that true and well-known Rule The Abuse of any good thing cannot abrogate or take away the right and lawful Use of it and therefore why should you fear when there is no such just cause at all to fear Remember what Christ saieth Luk. 9.48 Whosoever shall receive me receiveth Him that sent me and in the same place and upon the very same occasion when John told Him saying Master we saw one casting out Devils in thy name and we forbade him because he followeth not with us But Jesus said For bid him not for there is no man which shall do a Miracle in my Name that can lightly speak evill of Me for he that is not against us is for us And I am verily perswaded in my Soul and Conscience that whosoever is truly really and sincerely addicted and devoted to Christ neither can nor will speak a word amiss against the due Festivity and Solemnity of this day thus as the Apostle speaks Rom. 14.5 One man esteemeth one day above another another esteemeth every day alike Let every man be perswaded in his own mind he that regardeth a day regardeth it to the Lord and I am perswaded if any man regard this day as he ought to do the Lord will both regard reward him for so doing Answer to the fifth Argument The fifth Argument is this It is the Devil's policy to imitate God and when he will be holy he will be holier then God c. Sir This Argument is as strange stuff as ever I have either seen felt heard or understood for although the antecedent part cannot be much misliked it being taken pro concesso confesso for a thing granted and confessed to be true that it is the Devils policy to imitate God for in many things he is God's Ape as some Divines compare him seeking to counterfeit and resemble him as an Ape doth a Man in such gestures and tricks which he useth and where God will have his Church he will have his Chappel and he will have his Exorcisms and Charms and Spells instead of God's-spell i. e. the Gospel but your Sequel or Subsequent is a meer new fangled Parodox and a Proposition or rather a Supposition which is not onely absurd but ridiculous not onely erroneous but also blasphemous and may be ranked and reckoned amongst those evil-surmisings and perverse disputings which are mentioned by the Apostle 1 Tim. 4.5 and are utterly condemned by him but let us examine what you say in the latter part viz. That when the Devil will be holy he will be holier then God And is that possible But you instance for an example thus When he seeth God will have a Sabbath to be kept then will he set up a Day and he will have a Christmas day to be kept ô monstrum horrendum what a horrible terrible secret is this Is Saul among the Prophers is Sathan among the Saints of God Is it possible or it is probable or is it any way likely to be true That he that was even like the great Turk an Enemy to Christ and all Christendom should so far be a friend and favourer of Christ as to be a prime and forward Erector Abettor and Setter up of a Day for the celebrating and setting forth of his Praise and Honour Alas if this be so in what a lamentable and pittiful case are we and how have we and our forefathers been led hoodwinckt as it were and blindfolded all this while and have been taken in the snare of the Devil and be Captive by him at his will 2 Tim. 2.26 We have sure served a very ill Saint all this while if like the People of Callicut we have worshipped the Devil in observing that Day which you affirm he hath set up but I say it is not so Good Sir for toto erras coelo you are fouly and grosly deceived in this point Shall you or any man alive make me believe that ever the Devil had any desire or inclination this way to propagate or promote the Cause of Christ or of his Gospel who was ever an Adversary bonis incoeptis in germine and whose continual and daylie practise is suffocare Dei filios dum parvuli sunt to smother and murder the Children of God while they are little ones Was it not he who stirred up Pharoah at the first and moved him to command and charge the Midwives to drown the male-children of the Hebrew Women so soon as they were born Exod. 1.22 And was it not this Merchant or Factor or rather that old Serpent called the Devil and Sathan who went about the same designe at Christ's birth did not he instigate Herod to send his Men of Warr and to kill all the young Children of Bethlehem from two years Old and under intending thereby to murder Christ in Infancy and Childhood wherefore as devout Bernard cryeth out in the like Case so may we ô malitia Herediana nascentem persequi Christum nascentem persequi religionem O Herodian malice to persecute Christ and his Religion in their minority to destroy the Sprigg lest it become a Tree and break the Egg lest it prove a Dove O divelish malice indeed for as Expositors upon the place aptly observe and apply it thus Herod represents the Devil Apoc. 12.4 who stands before the Woman in the Wildernesse great with Child ready to devour her Babe Gen. 3.15 He knew that the seed which should break his head was to be born of the Jews and therefore caused Pharoah to murder all the Hebrew Males Exod 1. And stirred up Haman to destroy the whole Nation of the Jews Esther 3. And Athalia to kill all the sons of David 2 King 12. And so soon as the noise was of Christ's Birth Herod was troubled and all Jerusalem with him Math. 2. And he sent incontinent to cut the throats of all the Children in Bethlehem yea more
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
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
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
stirred up Daniel Haggai Malachi Zachariah Ezra Nehemiah and other untill the coming of Christ himself who did alwayes exhort his People to be of good chear and to be of good comfort in the midst of all their afflictions and tribulations and still to hope against hope as our Father Abraham did Rom. 4 1◠So Zacharias in his Hymn openeth his mouth saying Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath Visited and Redeemed his People raysing up the horn of Salvation unto us as he speak by the mouth of all his Prophets which have been since the World began So St. Peter in his Sermon ad populum all the Prophets from Samuel and thenceforth as many have spoken have likewise foretold of these dayes and to Cornelius that pious and famous Captain of Casarea Acts 10.43 To him give all the Prophets witness That through his Name all that believe in Him shall receive remission of sins Now with what face can any man say That God hath not blessed this Day with successe seeing this Day hath produced so many good gracious effects glorious wonders and these not only in the Earth but also in the Heavens for if we will believe Venerable Beda it was so nato Domino stellae dederunt lumen in Custodiis laetatae sunt plus namque solit◠luxêrrent ei cum Jocunditate qui fecit illas quasi sign is sic conclamantes Hic est dominus noster non aestimabitur alius The Staris at His Birth did shine more clearly and chearfully then their custom was because their Maker was then born seeming to tell us This is the Lord our God and we must look for none other Here me-thinks alluding to that excellent saying in Job I cannot chuse but argue and inferr upon it Did the Starrs of the morning praise him the wise men of the East rejoyce and so the Shepheards and all the Children of God i. e. the Angels rejoyce and sing Job 38.7 And why then shall we be dumb and silent and not break forth into the like Exultation Jubilation and Rejoycing And have we not a warrant so to do Psal 33.1 Rejoyce in the Lord Oye Righteous for it becometh well the just to be thankful Rejoyce in the Lord alwayes and again I say Rejoyce Phil. 4.4 Yea let the heart of all them rejoyce that serve the Lord. Let us then here a little correct our Selves and recollect our Spirits as those four leprous men did who returned from the spoyl of the Syrian-Camp and say We do not well This Day is a Day of good tydings and should we hold our peace For mine own part let the Leprosie of those men cleave unto my skin if it be not as joyful a thing to me to record and recount to commemorate and congratulate the honour and happinesse and good success of this Day as ever it was to them to carry the happy news of the flight of Aram Rejoyce then O ye Heavens and be glad O Earth for on this Day Heaven and Earth were reconciled and God was made Man to make peace between God and Man Rejoyce O Grandfather Adam for on this Day that first promise made unto thee concerning Christ began to be fulfilled How that the seed of the Woman should break the Serpents head Gen. 3.15 Rejoyce father Abraham for on this Day in thy Seed All the Nations of the Earth are blessed Gen. 22.18 Rejoyce King David for on this Day God hath of the fruit of thy Body set a King upon thy Throne Psal 132.11 Rejoyce ye Prophets of the Lord for all your prophecyes on this Day were fulfilled Rejoyce ye that are sick for on this Day the Physitian of the World was borne Venit de coelo magnus Medicus Qui per totom ubique Jacebat agrotus saith St. Austin Rejoyce ye Virgins for a Virgin on this Day brought forth a Son Rejoyce ye Children for on this Day the great God became a little Babe Let all People Jews and Gentiles Bond and Free High and Low Rich and Poor one with another Let all rejoyce together for that He who was in the beginning without any beginning for He is that true Melchezedeck who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having neither beginning of Dayes nor end of Life Heb. 7.3 And therefore in this sense is Styled an everlasting Father Isa 9.6 because he is the Author of eternity to all Creatures for that He who was in the beginning before all beginnings and in a time when there was no time measured or limited out Gal. 4.4 yet in the fulness of time was made of a Woman and wrapped in Swadling-Clothes for that He who 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 2.7 the Word became Infans in cunis vagiens an Infant not able to speak one syllable so that He who was God did vouchsafe to become Deus nobiscum God with us yea and to dwell amongst us appearing in the shape of a Man for as the Apostle exellently expresseth both his humiliation and exaltation thus saying Phil. 2.7 8 9 10 11. Ipse sese exinanivit i. e. as Theodore Beza neatly expoundeth it Quasi ex omni seipsum ad nihil redegit i. e. He that at first made all things of nothing did afterwards make nothing of Himself for Man's sake He made Himself of no Reputation and took upon Him the form of a Servant and was made in the likeness of a Man and being found in fashion of a Man he humbled Himself and became obedient unto Death even the Death of the Cross Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him and given Him a Name which is above every Name That at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in Heaven of things in Earth and of things under the Earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father To which God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Ghost three in one and one in three one immortall invisible indivisible incomprehensible and one onely ever wise God be rendred and ascribed as of due belongeth all Honour and Glory Power and Praise and Obedience both now and for ever more Amen FINIS