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A42901
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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.
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Godden, Thomas, 1624-1688.
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1686
(1686)
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Wing G921; ESTC R28640
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15,433
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36
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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
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