one of the Sybils whether there were any where a greater person then himselfe saw in the Sunne a Virgin giuing an Infant sucke to whom afterwards hee dedicated an Altar and called it Aram Coeli the Altar of Heauen And thus yee see it proued that it was the fulnesse of time when he that as S. Ioh. saith full of grace truth was borne amongst vs. The Iewes expect yet a Messtas to come denying Iesus whom wee beleeue on to bee the Worlds Sauiour And the Turkes dare to compare him with their Mahomet But this doctrine of the fulnesse of time wherein Christ was born doth most plainly and forcibly confute them For sith all the promises and mercies of God sith the prophesies figures and desires of our famous forefathers and manie admirable Miracles met in the time of Christs Natiuitie and that neuer Mahomet had the like nor any Creature can haue the like wee are fully to bee resolued by this fulnesse of time the true Messtas to bee borne I could spend more time in discoursing vpon this time but that greater matters viz. The causes of Christs birth doe now offer themselues vnto mee in these wordes God sent his sonne Where the Efficient cause is God the formall cause his sending and the materiall cause his Sonne Christ himselfe God sent Who the Father the Sonne or the Holy Ghost Surely all three of them For know that opera a Trinitatis sunt in-diuisa and vnlesse in personall respects euermore in Essentiall actions what one doth they all doe as now in this worke of Christs birth the whole Trinitie shewed their industrie The Father sent mee saith Christ Ioh. 13. 20. Here the Father labours I went out from the Father and came into the World Here is the labour of the Sonne The Holy Ghost shall come vpon thee quoth the Angell Gabriel to the blessed Virgin when she was to conceiue Christ this is the labour of the Holy Ghost Thus the three persons being one GOD had each of them their action in CHRISTS Incarnation and that most fitly sith it being a worke of great power Wisdome and goodnes it was requisite that the Father with his power the Sonne with his Wisedome and the Holie Ghost with his Goodnesse should accomplish it What more powerfull a thing then to joyne two such extreamely distant Natures as the Creatour and the Creature together It is GODS especiall power in compound bodies to joyne the foure Elements together it is greater power to joyne our bodie to our created spirits that is to say our soules But to joyne all these to the increated spirit God this is a might aboue all measure Againe what more wise thing then that to the perfection and complement of the whole the beginning and the end of a worke should hang together And now note this mysterie The Word was the beginning of the VVorld for by it GOD made the World and Adam was the last Creature of the VVorld The Word then becomming Man the first and the last that is to say GOD and man were vnited together Againe what greater goodnesse can bee then that the Creatour should communicate himselfe to the Creatures It is his great kindnesse that God giues himselfe to his Creatures by his essence presence and power it is his greater kindnes that he giues himselfe to good men by his grace but that hee should giue himselfe to our nature by Vnion with it that is to say by assuming our Humanitic into his Diuinitie this surmounts all fauour that may bee said or thought vpon Thus I say the Fathers power the Sonnes wisdome and the Holy Ghosts goodnesse were all Actors in clothing Christ with our flesh To the doing whereof what moued them our merits no Brethren but their mercies according to that of Ioh. 3. God soloued the World that he sent his sonne c. Loue is manifested three wayes Dono passione opere in giuing suffering and working The Father shewed his loue when he gaue vs his Sonne the Sonne shewed his loue when hee suffered Death for our sinnes and the Holy Ghost shewes his loue in setting vs forward in good workes Thus the manifestation of the blessed Trinities power wisdome goodnesse and mercie are as it were the foure wheeles vpon which the Charriot of Gods prouidence brought Christ into this world Who came as sent God sent sayth my text Heere is a doubt worthie to be discust Christ was neuer separated from God his Father For when Saint Iohn saw him vpon earth hee yet acknowledged him to bee in the bosome of his Father secundum id 1. cap. vnigenitus quie st in sinis patris c. as also that hee was in Heauen secundumid tertio capite nemo ascendit c. qui est in coelo yea that hee was in the world before his birth sith hee made the World as it is cap. 1. and how then may it be said that God sent him when hee neuer went from him An Interpretation shall make euident all this Missio saith Thomas Aquinas commenting vpon this place fuit assumptio Carnis non depositio maiestatis Christ left not to bee God when hee became man but tooke more vnto his Godhead when hee became man viz. our Humanitie into his Diuinitie that through our visible nature assumed he might acquaint vs with his inuisible excelencies which els could neuer haue beene known of vs. As the Sun shining in his perfit brightnes can not be looked vpon but in a Cloud or mist hauing his beames refracted may bee beheld so God in his infinite and incomprehensible essence being considered of vs cannot be knowne of vs for he is too powerful an object for our weake vnderstanding but in our Nature by his sonne assumed hauing his glorie and Majestie contracted wee may take a full view of him And thus Christ his incarnating is his proper sending But why sent God his sonne the second person in Trinitie Wherefore had not the Father and the Holy Ghost come to be man aswel as the Sonne Brethren this is a high point in Diuinitie requiring judiciall and attentiue eares which if yee lend mee thus then I resolue yee Truely there wanted no power in any of those persons to performe this for they are all Omnipotent and able to doe what soeuer pleaseth them But yet why the sonne did it rather then the rest great reasons are to bee alleaged First It was meete that by what instruments God made the World by the same he should repaire the World But God by his sonne made the World as it is Heb. 1. and therfore as it is 2. Cor. 5. well was God in Christ by whom hee reconciled the World Secondly It was fit that hee who was the sonne in the Diuinitie should also bee the sonne in Humanitie least if the Father or the Holy Ghost had bin the sonnes of men they had then beene temporall sonnes to the Eternall sonne Thirdly the Father is of himselfe
our creation and recreation are As in the worlds sixth day God did make man so in the worlds sixth age hee did redeeme man In the worlds sixth day the first Adam was made in whom wee are deformed and in the worlds sixth age was the second Adam made in whom wee are reformed Here arise now two questions why God louing man so wel had not beene borne before or presently after mans fal sith Gratia ab officio quod mor a tar dat abest Secondly why God minding to die for the sinnes of all the world had not defer'd his comming to the end of the world Six is a number neyther diminute nor superabundant but perfect sith all his partes put together doe make the whole as 1. 2. and 3. make six so then in the number of perfection came the author of perfection By sixe staires did men ascend to Salomons throne and by six ages came the word to the throne of grace These scruples thus I remoue First for Christ to haue beene borne before Adam fel had bin an action superfluous For the end of his comming being vtinquit Euang. to seeke the lost Sheep of the house of Israel to bind vp the broken hearted to call sinners to repentance and by it to saluation what needed this seeker before man was lost what needed this Phisition before man was sick what needed this Sauiour before Adam was a sinner Againe for Christ to haue come presently after mans fall had beene also very inconuenient Man sinned by pride and by pride was throwne into calamitie from which if straightwayes hee should haue beene freed perhaps the spirit of loftinesse and insolencie might haue come vpon him againe God therefore sixe ages lest him in his miserie that he might know his fault knowing it be humbled for the same Farther it was meet that as the entrance of a King into a Citie so the comming of so worthie a person as the sonne of God into the World should bee foreshewed by the predictions of such worthie messengers as were the Patriarckes and Prophets which could not haue beene had Christ beene borne in the time of Adam As for the deferring of his birth to the end of the World These reasons disproue it First the testimonie of Abacuc 3. where it is said of God there the workes of his mercie should bee reuiued in medio annorum Againe why should Christ then bee borne on earth when men shall haue no faith to beleeue on him no Charitie to loue him and no Religion to worshippe him But these things shall happen in the latter daies as the Euangelists write and therefore the Worlds end is a season rather for Christ to come in iudgment to reuenge then in mercie to redeeme This for the age Now for the yeare It was the two and fortieth of the reign of Augustus Caesar the Roman Emperor in whose time that Christ was borne it was in regard of the manie resemblances that were between them As Augustus was a temporal so was Christ a Spiritual Monarch As Augustus was the second Emperour of Rome so was Christ the second person in Trinitie As Augustus was so called because hee did amplifie his Regiment so Christ was so called because he doth annoint vs his seruants as Augustus taxing the world receiued tribute from men and registred their names So Christ preaching vnto the world had obedience yeelded vnto him and noted such as serued him in the Booke of life As Augustus hauing vanquished his enemies planted peace among his people for in his dayes the Temple of Ianus was shut that else in the time of warre was wont euer to bee open so Christ hauing subdued his foes Death and the Deuill placed quietnesse in the conscience of his Childrē who before were distressed with many troubles from the age and the yeare come we to the Month and the Day Christ was borne on the fiue and twentieth day of December then being the shortest day of the yeare and Sunday as both by the fathers is testified and by calculation may be proued wherof note with me eyther the reasons or mystries December is the tenth moneth and in it was he borne that came to make satisfaction for our transgression of his Fathers ten Commandements December concludes the old yeare and giues way to a new and Christ now born gaue an end to the old Ceremonies of the Law and brought in in steed thereof the new ordinances of grace Ten degrees went the Sunne backward to signifie to sicke Ezechiah that he should not die and ten moneths in assuming our flesh did Christ goe back as it were for his Majestie to assure vs of his mercie the number of ten is the first Article compound of the figure 1. and a cipher 0. and in the tenth moneth was he borne whose person did consist of the figure of his Diuinitie and the cipher of his humanitie In the shortest day is the Sunne in his greatest and lowest South declination and when was the sonne of God euer farther from the Aequinoction of his glorie and lower in basenesse then when hee came out into the world clothed with our flesh In the shortest day the Sunne is said to be in his Tropick that is so called of the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to turne when so graciously as now in his birth did the sonne of God turne vnto vs saith Iohn Baptist of Christ Ioh. 3. me oportet minui illum autem crescere verified as in their qualities of dignitie and estimation So also in the times of their Natiuities Iohn Baptist was borne the longest day of the yeare and therefore being at the highest his time must decrease and Christ was borne in the shortest and therefore being at the lowest his time must needs encrease In the shortest Day the Sunne beginnes that returne that turnes joy and comfort to liuing thinges and Christ now put his first foot in that race that yeelds blessednesse and happinesse to all Christians in the shortest day the cold is greatest and therefore sayth Bernard Christ chose a time trouble some to his flesh that we should learne not to pamper ours on a Sunday GOD the Father in his power beganne the world and now on a Sunday GOD the sonne in his mercie began to redeeme the world Sunday was first made before any other time and Christ theron borne is called the first begotten of al Creatures On Sunday God made the light and on Sunday now produced was he that is the true light lightning euery one that comes into the world as also all those that sit in darknesse the shadow of death To proceed yet to more particulars What part of the day what houre was Christ borne in Luc. 2 records that it was in the night when the Shepheards were watching their flockes that though the Angell said to them there is borne this day to ye a Sauiour ye are to vnderstand it spoken not of the artificiall day that holds
from Sun to Sun but of the naturall day that containes the space of foure and twentie houres Thus in the time of darknesse was hee borne that came to dissolue the power of darknesse shining in darknesse when the darknesse could not comprehend him Nox is so called a nocendo because if men then walke without light they may easily hurt themselues and now as a Physition in the best opportunitie came the great helper in the time of hurting to shew that hee was strōger then the deuil Christ vāquished the deuil in his own time the Prince of the night in the night Farther touching the houre if we may beleue Cardanus that great Physition Astronomer it was about tenne of the clock and fifteene minutes For he in his Comment vpon Ptolemies quadripartite treating Christs Natiuitie makes the eleuenth degree of Virgo to ascend in prima domo which could not bee but at that time The Fathers write that hee was borne at midnight as Hierom and Bernard which of these opinions is truest I will not decide Mysteries there are in both of them If Cardan say true then it fitly fell out that the Sonne of a Virgin was borne when the heauenly figure Virgo did ascend If the Fathers say true then opportunately came he in medio noctis that was to be the medium betweene God and man The greatest obscuritie is at midnight and then therefore was produced the greatest light hee that was the brightnes of his fathers glorie Thus then in the sixth age of the World in the two and fortieth yeere of Augustus Caesars Reigne in the moneth of December in the fiue and twentieth and shortest day on Sunday betweene ten and twelue at night was our blessed Sauiour blessedly born Which season Saint Paul cals the fulnesse of time as because each part thereof as ye see is full of mysteries so by reason of other occasions that I am now to acquaint you with And first this then Whatsoeuer God eyther promised or the Patriarckes and Prophets eyther in their speeches foreshewed in their actions prefigured or affections desired that all at this time is fully fulfilled Now accomplished are Gods promises made to Eue that her seed should bruise the Serpents head Gen. 3. to Abraham that in his seed all Nations of the earth should bee blest Gen. 22. to Dauid that of the fruit of his loynes hee would set one on his seat that should rule as a King for euer Psal 132. Now fulfilled are the Predictions of the Patriarcks and Prophets of Iacob when he said Gen. 49. the Scepter shall not be taken from the Tribe of Iuda and a Captaine from his thigh till he come that is to be sent and hee shall be the expectation of Nations Of Moses when he said Deut. 18. A Prophet shall the Lord our God raise vp vnto yee among your brethren him shall yee heare Of Balam when he said Numb 24. a starre shall rise from Iacob and a staffe from Israel that shall strike the Moabites Of Esay when he said that a Virgin should beare a sonne and call his name Emanuel Es 7. Of Michea when he said Mich 5. And thou Bethleem Ephrata art but a little one in respect of thousands in Iuda and yet there shall come forth of thee one that shall bee the ruler of Israel and his comming forth is from the beginning and from the days of Eternitie Of Daniel when he said Dan. 9. that after certaine weekes of yeares expired the holy of holyes should be annointed Now fulfilled are the Figures of the Patriarcks and Prophets Actions Now Abraham came a stranger into Aegypt When Christ came as a Pilgrime where comming amongst his owne his owne receiued him not Now Moses was put into a Basket Ioseph throwne into the pit Hieremy into the Dungeon Daniel into the Lyons Denne when Christ was sent into this wretched World a place of perplexities Now the stone was cut from the Mountaine without hands when Christ was borne of his mortall Mother neuer being begotten by mortall father Now Aarons rod did bud and beare Almonds when a spotlesse Virgin did produce a Child Now a woman did compasse a man when hee was contained in a womans womb that doth himself cōprehend heauen earth Now a Riuer flowed to water Paradise when Christ was borne with his bloud to wash away the sinnes of the world Now the Mountaines did distil sweetnes when Heauen did let God to descend on earth Now Salomon made himselfe a Throne of Iuorie when Christ made himselfe a bodie of flesh in the Virgins wombe Now the Doue came from Noahs Arke when the sonne of God came from the bosome of his Father Now the bush burned and was not consumed when a Virgine brought forth a Son and was not corrupted mercy and truth met together when Christs Diuinitie and Humanitie met in one person to work our redemption Now the Sunne was couered with a Cloud when God clothed himselfe with our flesh Againe now fulfilled are the desires of the Patriarches and Prophets Abraham tooke great joy of this Day and now he saw it Ioh. 8. Expectabo salutare tuum saith Iacob Gen 49. I will wait for thy saluation O Lord and now behold his expectation satisfied Dauid cried out Psal 48. ostende nobis domine misericor diam tuam and now he might say as in Psal 47. suscepimus Deus misericor diam tuam in medio templi Begge no longer Moses to say to God as it is Deu. 18. mitte obsecro quem missurus es for now is he come amongst vs. Crie not longer out Esay as it is Es 64. Vtinam disrumperes coelos descenderes O that thou wouldest cleaue the Heauens and come downe for this day came hee out of a Virgins wombe The summe of this is this Now are Gods promises the Patriarches and Prophets predictions actions and affections fulfilled And therefore most excellently is it termed the fulnesse of time Againe now was the fulnesse of Gods Communication when he came to giue vs himselfe in his sonnes flesh wherein as it is Col 2. dwelt the fulnesse of the Godhead bodily Now was the fulnesse of mans Redemption when a Sauiour was borne to begin the gracious work therof in preseruing vs by his merits from sin death hell and the Deuill Now was the fulnesse of graces promotion We taking them out of his fulnes as Ioh. saith And who can denie this to be the fulnesse of time To this let me addo that the world was now ful of miracles Now the Angels sang in heauen and comforted shepheards on earth Now a strange starre guided the wisemen to Christ Now a wel-spring in Rome did runne with Oyle Now three Sunnes appeared shining first seuerally and then joyntly Now Augustus his aeternum palatium that was prophesied neuer to fall before a Virgin did beare a child was ruinated to the ground Now Augustus asking
wherein we were created aud thereby depirued of our Heauenly inheritance And now our Sauiour by being made of a Woman doth make vs to be true sonnes againe for hee by clothing himselfe with our nature becomming our brother as Paul termes him primogenitê° inter multosfratres by a consequent drawes vs in to be the sonnes of his father so giuing vs of his spirit to be the children of God as hee tooke of our flesh to bee the sonne of man he by our flesh counted the Virgin his Mother and we by his spirit as the Apostle sayth crie Abba Father Thus not onely to make vs freemen but also sonnes the sonne of God came The summe of this point is briefly this Christ came as Manna from Heauen to feede vs being hungrie as the cluster of Grapes out of the Vineyard to satisfie vs being thirstie as Oyle powred out to cure vs being wounded Hee came as our head that giues vs spiritual sense and motion as our Mediatour that being God and man best reconciles God and man as our foundation which we build our faith as our doore giuing passage to Paradise as our Shepheard feeding vs our sacrifice expiating vs our Priest praying for vs as our way in example life in reward Hee came as a man to make vs gods as a seruant to make vs Lords to earth to lift vs vp to Heauen He came mortall to make vs immortall poore to make vs rich and base to make vs glorious In a word He that was the bread was hungrie that we might be fed he that was the fountaine was dry that wee might be satisfied Hee that was joy was sad that we might be comforted and he that was the way was wearied that we might be directed to heauen And thus haue yee heard the circumstances of Christ his comming the Time Causes Manner End The Doctrine wherof for a conclusion let vs put to these vses First Sith in the fulnesse of time came he that was full of grace and truth let vs also fulfill our times that wee spend in godly labours In time of prayer deuout in time of preaching attentiue in time of prosperitie bountifull in time of pouertie patient in time of feasting temperate in all times vertuous and honest and then no time shal passe emptie of dutie Next sith God sent his Sonne Let vs acknowledge the benefit hereof how much we are bound to the Lord that so great a person as hee would bestow so great a gift on vs most vnworthie Creatures and withall prouide our hearts to haue such roomes in them as may be fit to enteraine so honourable a guest thus sent vnto vs let our repentance sweep cleane the chambers of our soules let a good conscience be his bedding and let graces and vertues be the ornaments of his lodging Next sith he was made of a Woman and vnder the Law let vs learne that sith he hath so dignified our nature as with it to cloth himselfe to haue a care that wee spot it not or defile it with sinne A poore maide married to a King ought to forget her base bringing vp and to forgoe her clownish qualities and our Nature married to God must vnloose the filthie actions of her corrupt generation and put on the new man to be like to Christ Further sith vnder the Law let vs remember what a heauie burden hee tooke on him to ease our shoulders and so be the more willing to beare any crosse that he shall lay vpon vs. Finally sith hee hath redeemed vs from the Law and makes vs adopted sonnes let vs carrie our selues as men that haue Christian libertie scourging Sinne Death Hell and the Deuill that with the chaines of slauish feare would stil keep vs captiue Last of all sith we are his sonnes by adoption let vs doe our dutie to our Heauenly Father Let vs loue feare and serue him with all our hearts soules and strength let vs bee taught with his precepts let vs be guided with his counsailes allured with his promises terrified with his threatnings but especially be wonne with his mercies Then as gracious sonnes will hee reward vs with the glorious inheritance of his Heauenly Kingdome To the which place hee that was borne for vs bring vs. Amen FINIS * Math. 11. 6. 3. Ep. Ioh. v. 9. Act. 8. 18. Matth. 26. 15. Mal. 1. 9. Ioh. 3. 30. Luc. 2. 8. 11. Gen. 3. Gen. 22. Psa 132. Gen. 49. Deut. 18. Num. 24. Esa 7. Mich. 5. Dail 9. Ioh. 8. Gen. 49. Ps 48. Ps 47. Deu. 18. Esa 64. Col. 2. Ioh. 1. 16. Ioh. 8. 42. 5. 36. 37. Rom. 8. 32. Ioh. 16. 28. Luc. 5. 35. Ioh. 3. 16. Ioh. 1. 18 Ioh. 3. 13. Ioh. 1. 3. Heb. 1. 2. Cor. 5. Rom. 8. 29. 1. Tim. 3. 2. Tim. 2. Heb. 2. Luc. 1. 48. Gal. 5. 18. 2. Cor. 2. Rom. 8.