our Houses when they were in disorder and we have nothing Worthy to Entertain him And his Application of it is this Quicquid nonvis inveniri in domo tua quantum potes labora ut non inveniat Deus in anima tua What ye would not that Men should surprise in your Houses be much more careful that God when he comes surprise not in your Souls Let him not find a Sordedness there no nor yet an Emptiness let not his Reception be more Beggarly than that which he found in the Inn or more Unhandsome and Uncleanly than that in the Stable A Soul immers'd in Lust and Sensuality is fouler than the Stalls of Brute Beasts and a Heart void of Vertue and the Graces of the Spirit is yet poorer than his Cradle of a Manger The Religious Monks of old were wont when they heard these words read And Christ was born in Bethlehem Juda to fall flat on their Faces on the ground in adoration and astonishment at the great Mystery of the Incarnation and Gods Wonderful Condescension therein to Mankind But in these dayes we hear this Gospel read like an Unconcerning Story without astonishment without adoration without thanks without the least Reflection and the Feast of the Nativity comes and goes like the Day of a Lord Maiors entering on his Office it serves to compute our Years and to digest the Events of our Annals but few consider the Benefits of the Holy Season or the Duties belonging to it few put away their Sins and adorn their Minds with the Graces of the Gospel few are Regenerate or New-born at the Birth of Christ. Men prepare for a time of Excess and Debauch forecast to have Richer Apparel and Choicer Provisions Money to play c. and some will borrow or rob but they will have to supply these things And thus while the Flesh keeps Holy-day the Soul still drudges in the Work of sin while our Houses are trimmed and our Posts bound with Laurel in token of Triumph and Deliverance we continue Our Selves in the Slavery of Vice and the Thraldom of the Devil And the Sun of Righteousness rises and sets upon us as the Sun in the Firmament on Rocks and Buildings to parch and harden us not as on Hearbs and Trees to make us productive of Fruit. 'T is the saddest Prognostick of a Nation to be miserable when neither the Benefits nor Judgments of God work upon the hearts of the People but whether it be a Victory or a Loss a Plague or a Deliverance a Season of Temporal Blessings or a Season of Spiritual they receive all these Various Changes of Gods Favour and Displeasure with one Fix't and Unmov'd Affection to their Sins And though like the Deriders of Gods Judgments which Saint Peter speaks of in his second Epist. and third Chapt. they blasphemously cry not aloud Where is the Promise of the Lords Coming c. yet silently and secretly in their very holding fast of their Iniquities they try what will be the Issue of his Threats and Denunciations against sin and they Experiment as I may say their Destruction though they Invoke it not That this day may be the Advent to us not only of Spiritual Blessings but also of Temporal the drawing neer of Peace or Victory as well as of Redemption of the saving of our Nation as well as of the Salvation of our Soules let us make a fit Reception in our Hearts for the Lord of Righteousnesse who now approaches And God who at this Season bestowed on us his Son How shall he not as the Apostle says with him also freely give us all things We have heard Christ's Kingdom is Spiritual and his Throne Planted in the Hearts of Men and I may say his Nativity is now also Spiritual and his Cradle ought likewise to be planted in the Hearts of men that he is then only truly Born into the world when we become Regenerate and seen again in the Flesh when we shew forth the Works of Righteousnesse How little he regards the meer Outward Magnificence of his Feasts we may Collect from the Pomp which he affected when he was really born in Bethlehem Judah and when he made his present Triumphant Entrance into Jerusalem a Stable serv'd him for the one and a Despicable Asse for the other He that had an Angell to foretell his Conception and a whole Host of them to congratulate his Nativity had he so pleas'd he could have fix't his Cradle in Herods Bed-Chamber and have forc't the Proud Tyrant to have fled into Egypt in his stead Again he could have Excell'd Paulus Aemylius and all the Cesars in the Splendor of his Triumph But his Birth was the Birth of Meeknesse of Innocence and of Mercy and when he enter'd in Triumph Humility rode in State The Offices of the Church for this day best instruct us how to welcome our Lords Coming What in the Collect we pray let us set our selves to practice To cast away the Workes of Darknesse now in this Mortal Life in which Christ came to visit us in great Humility What the People here do in my Text let us transcribe and imitate use their Acclamations and also their Ingeminations Hosanna to the Son of David and again Hosanna Reiterating and repeating these Ave's and Good Wishes to Christ in our Soules a second third and fourth time Tautology is the Language of Joy a Hearty Affection is not satisfi'd with uttering Kind Words of Welcome unlesse it may utter the same often And as Princes accept of Acclamations from their Subjects as well as Panegyrihs continu'd and redoubl'd Shouts of Joy as well as Set-Orations nay esteem these Simple Expressions of a Loyal Heart before more Studied and Artificial Complements So God prefers many times the Eruptions and Ejaculations of a Faithfull Soul before a longer Prayer the lifting-up only of the Spirit before a Formal Psalme Holinesse and Righteousnesse make the Esclat or Splendor in Christ's Feasts when Mens Hearts are full of Grace then his Houses are hang'd and his Tables prest with rich Provisions 't was not the Curious and Busy Hous-wifry of Martha but the Pensive and Abstracted Faith of Mary that made the Entertainment at Bethany and if we will Treat our Lord acceptably it must not be from the Shambles or the Mercers with the Cooks or the Taylors skill but with the Sacrifices of Obedience and the Adornings of the Holy Spirit Our Feasts upon Earth must resemble these they typifie in Heaven where Righteousnesse is the Robe and the Contemplating and Glorifying of God the Cheer and the Rejoycing Glory be to God on high the Father Son and Holy Ghost from all Angels and all Men and all Creatures now and to all Eternity Amen FINIS â—â— PAge 1. line ult adde a. P. 5. l. 15. for private retir'd read private and retir'd P. 10. l. 22. for that should Surrender read that he should Surrender P. 19. l. 19. dele in P. 21. l. 18. for those read these P. 34. l. 18. for these read those
allow to no man no not to the Messiah But who is this that we abhor who is this our Aversion who is this that defrauds our Expectations that grows daily greater and makes out his Pretences in spight of our Opposition That Christ was to be the Son of David to descend of the Seed and Linage of the ancient Kings of Judah that God out of the old Stock or Root of Jesse which now through length of time seem'd decay'd and doted seare and dead would cause to grow up a branch of Righteousness to execute Judgment and Justice in the Land was a truth asserted from all antiquitie And not only Esay and Jeremy who in expresse terms speak it but as Saint Peter says all the Prophets bare witnesse to it And the later Doctors in our Saviours daies universally allow'd the Tradition as is seen by the answer of the Pharisees to the question our Lord asked them concerning himself What say you of Christ whose Son is he And they said the Son of David But then that Christ was this Son of David this Branch so long foretold and expected though his Extraction and Genealogy his words and works his life and death did quadrat and close with all the Accounts Predictions and Tipical Representations of the Messiah in the Law and the several Lines drawn from the mouths of so many Prophets of different ages exactly concenter'd in his Person yet none but the dispassionate and disinterressed would confesse and acknowledge the Multitude here and the People again elsewhere or some more particularly inspir'd as the two blind Men mentionâ—d Matt. 9. 27. poor Bartimeus and the like who comparing the Miracles wrought by Christ with the Prophecies that went of him confidently made out this truth Jesus thou Son of David have mercy on us And here we cannot enough admire the bounty of God to his faithfull Servants that do his will and seek him with their whole heart whom he does not only blesse and prosper while they are alive but makes their Names and Memories illustrious by a renown'd Posterity long after they are dead As he did not suffer Davids Soul to see corruption even in the grave where all things perish so neither did he suffer his Glory to see corruption after so many ages when commonly all things are lost in oblivion but reviv'd it by causing Christ to Spring from his Loines Christ indeed had an other higher and nobler Generation an Eternal such as no man can declare as the Prophet Esay sayes Who can declare his Generation This his Prime Generation was not from the Will of Man but from the Power of the Spirit he took Flesh of the Virgin but not by Propagation but by Adumbration and the Will of God And therefore in respect of any humane Parentage on the Fathers side he was liken'd to Melchisedec who is introduc'd in Scripture without Parent without descent without Genealogy for so it became him that was to be the Preacher of Purity to the World that his very Generation should be also Pure Yet I say so much was God pleased with the Heroical Vertue of David so much was he a Man after his own heart that he ordained that that great Person the Second Person in the Trinity should be reckon'd to him as his Issue that he that was indeed his Lord as our Saviour also alledges as a strange Event should notwithstanding become his Son he will'd that the Son of his own Spirit should be esteemed the Son of his servant So true is that which God spake to Eli of old and so exemplary a doctrine to all posterity Honorantes me honorabo those that honour me I will honour Ye see what is done to him whom God honoureth the very Saviour of the World counts it a piece of Nobility and Gentry as I may so speak to derive his Pedigree from David The second Particular I observed was The purpose of Christs coming to shew himself the King of Israel Thrice a year for three years together as the custome was for all Israel Christ had gon up to Jerusalem the chief City of the Jewes and yet did never make any Overture never shewed any Semblance as if he had been King of the Jewes before this last time of his entry Nay hitherto he used all means to conceal his Title and Pretence rather than to declare it When they would have made him a King he conveighed himself invisibly out of the presse and did a Miracle to avoid an Advancement How comes he therefore now voluntarily to assume what before he so sollicitously refused How comes he to do a Miracle that he might appear a King when he formerly did a Miracle not to appear one Affects to have a Mounture whereon to ride charms the owners Spirit that should surrender it hearing the Lord had need of it inspires the Multitude to proclaim what he forbad his Disciples to whisper takes the whole state of it upon him affirms it to Pilate when he asks him concerning it Affirms it I say though in a Ceremonious way of affirmation usual among the Jewes Art thou the King of the Jewes Thou saist it says he Which was as much as if he had answered I am indeed that which thou sayst Only he makes here the Question it self go for the Answer and the Demander asking the truth in honour to him he makes the affirming of it as it were also to proceed from his mouth As in the case of a negative Answer the more Civill among us choose rather to returne an Excuse for their dissenting than a flat No or Denial to the thing that was inquir'd I say it was very strange that Christ should thus voluntarily assume that Dignity which he had so obstinately refused but it was much stranger yet that he should assume it at the season he did at the Eve to his Passion when he began to see 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Crosse standing at the door in expectance of him Is this a time says the Prophet to his servant Gehazi to take money and to buy Vineyards when the Lords anger was upon the land and the enemy daily expected So was this a time to lay claime to a Kingdom when a mans Hour of Death approacht To put on the Royall Ensignes when he was to suffer as a Criminal as if he would present himself to the Executioner after the manner the Sacrifices of old were brought to the Priests with Garlands and gilded Horns as Salvian says Ornatur ad poenam coronatur ad supplicium he was invested in royal Robes to be Crucified he was made a King to suffer Death This Hour in the Worlds judgment so Incongruous to accept a Crown was yet the Season that he made choice of and he refused all Advancement till he was upon the point to be lifted-up on the Crosse. But as God says in the Prophet My thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your waies my waies So we may say of Christs Times and
Greatness when others admired it When the People envy or murmur at their Felicity flatter or adore it cry as Saint Augustine makes them speak Soli isti sunt soli isti vivunt these are the Men that Live these are the only Happy then to reflect on their Infirmities and the Unstableness of their Condition fear and cast down their Souls Outward Pomp and Magnificence was annext to Kings to preserve Reverence and Awe in the Vulgar but not to puff up their own Spirits That Great Person that is Proud and Arrogant from the Contemplation of his Power and many Attendants shews a Plebian Spirit in a Royal Fortune that is too High to be Courteous too much Exalted to do Good dazles no mans Eyes with his Eminence but shews himself blinded by his Advancement Christ therefore easily condescended to take our Nature because he was the Son of God to suffer the Indignities of a Mean Condition and to be Rejected of the Jews because he was conscious to himself that he was above Contempt and digested here the Humble Circumstances of his Triumph because he came in the Name of the Lord. Which brings me to my fourth Particular From Whom Christ Cometh or his Commission He cometh in the Name of the Lord. To come in the Name of the Lord is by the Appointment or with the Authority of the Lord. He was Vnctus Dei the immediately Anointed by God himself to the Kingdom he came to claim These Words Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord were first spoken by David of himself and his own Election and Anointing by God unto the Kingdom of Israel Psal. 118. 26. and so expounded by him before at verse 22. The stone sayes he which the Builders refus'd is become the head stone of the corner It is the Lords Doing and it is marvellous in our Eyes And after the like manner Christs coming in the Lords Name is by his Ordering or Doing his Kingdom was Gods Assignation and the Peoples saluting him the Messiah was but the divulging of the Divine Counsel nay as Davids particular anointing by God to the Kingdom was but a Type of Christs the Acclamations of the People here are but the very Echo of the Prophets words there To come therefore in the Name of the Lord is not to come in the bare Pretence and Verbal Usurpation of his Name as false Prophets of old did and many thousands of false Teachers now adayes do Who apishly imitating the Phrases of Gods True Messengers or but their Boldness and Rusticity their Astonisht Countenance and the Dire Accent of their Voice groaning out these or the like words The Burden or Message of the Lord deceive Simple People and think they have great injury that all Learning and Authority submit not to their Counterfeit Mission And 't is little lesse than a Prodigy to consider how in this not Ignorant Age Multitudes are carry'd away with these grosse Follies But that temper of men which our Lord complain'd of John 5. 43. is seen every where in this Nation I come in my Fathers Name says he and ye receive me not if another come in his Own Name him ye will receive Christ shew'd the Broad-Seal of Heaven for what he pretended the Divine Power bearing him witnesse by Miracles But these Imposters bring nothing but Impudence and Ignorance to countenance their Proceedings neither are they seen to advance any thing but Schisme and Sedition Prophanation and Blasphemy And as Saint John in his time forbad the Faithful to shew the acts of common Humanity to any one that brought another Doctrine than that which was taught by Christ says he Receive not such an one into your houses nor bid him God-speed So by his Example I may worthily advise that no man in these daies receive those that by their False Interpretations and pretended New-Lights Pervert and Corrupt the Doctrine deliver'd by Christ no not so much as to admit such persons into their Houses or bid them God-speed least they seem to be their Disciples and to partake of their Evill Deeds Such as these deserve only the Entertainment of the Whipping-Post and the welcome of a Hot Iron to bore their Tounges the Bough that Absolom met with in his Rebellion not the Boughs of Palmes which were strew'd in our Saviours Way the Execrations and Maledictions of the People and not their Acclamations and Hosanna's which brings me to my last Part the Peoples Reception of Christ. It was with Joyfull Acclamations Hosanna to the Son of David c. The Peoples Reception of Christ. Hosanna is as much as Salva quaeso O Lord save or give Salvation adde Successe or Prosperity to the Honour of thy King for this is not a Prayer of the People to Christ but their Prayer for him As we cry Vivat Rex Long live the King Praying for the Preservation of our Prince who is the Preservation of us all And so the Multitude here beseech God to save Christ who was their Saviour and indeed the Saviour of the World and not improperly For though Christ in his Divine Nature was above all Dangers and Necessities yet in his Humane he was Obnoxious to them and though he had the Power of a God yet 't was in the Weaknesse of a Man and even Humane Comforts and Good wishes in the daies of his Flesh were well bestow'd on him and well accepted by him And now in the Days that he is ascended to the Right hand of God and needs no more the Ministration of Men though we present him not with the same Contributions and Expressions of our Affection yet we do not desist from offering All Oblations to him though our Oblations be chang'd our Faith our Charity our Prayses our Zeal for his Glory c. are still due and still pleasing for though he lacks nothing yet for ever he loves Vertue and delights in Righteousnesse And this is the Foundation of all Religious Worship and the Encouragement of Devotion this makes the Church observe Holy Feasts the Commemorations of Christs Benefits to her so sollicitously to warn her Children long before of their Approach that they may not be o'retaken with Covetousness Malice Ambition Sensuality Worldly Cares c. when their Lord comes as the Jews were and so his Presence prove Uneasie and Importunate and they be tempted to cry with them Quis est hic Who is this 'T is Sin only that makes men Ignorant of Christ and Guilt that makes his coming Unwelcome But certainly he that has deserv'd so well of us ought not to be held a Burden nor he that has bestow'd on us so many Benefits to be forgotten Or if this move us not yet he that is so Mighty cannot safely be Despised and so Dreadful in his Judgments be cast out of our Thoughts St. Augustine has this plain Observation not remote to our present Concern We should be troubled sayes he if but a Friend or other Person that we reverence came to