to unsaint the Saints to deny them their proper titles to level them with the meanest of our Servants We might learn better manners from the Angel here manners I say if it were nothing else for we dare not speak so to any here that are above us and we think much to be Thou'd without our titles by that new generation of possessed men who yet with more reason may call the best man thou then we the Apostles Iohn or Thomas But to descend to a particular survey of these Titles here Thou that art highly favoured so our new Translation renders it Full of grace so our old one hath it from the Latin Gratia plena and both right for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will carry both Grace is favour God's Grace is divine favour high in grace high in his favour full of his grace full of his favour all comes to one Now there is Gratia Creata and Increata Created grace and uncreated grace Created grace is either sanctifying or edifying the gifts of the Holy Spirit that sanctifie and make us holy or the gifts that make us serviceable to make others so The first to serve God in our selves as Faith Hope Charity and other graces The second to serve him in the Church such as the gift of Tongues of Prophesie of Healing and the like of each kind she had her fulness according to her measure and the designation that God appointed her For sanctifying Graces none fuller Solo Deo excepto God only excepted saith Epiphanius And 't is fit enough to believe that she vvho vvas so highly honoured to have her Womb filled vvith the body of the Lord had her soul as fully fill'd by the Holy Ghost For edifying Graces as they came not all into her measure she vvas not to preach to administer to govern to play the Apostle and therefore no necessity she should be full of all those gifts being those are not distributed all to any but unicuique secundum mensuram to every one according to his measure and employment and not at all times neither so neither is she said to be less ful for vvanting them There is one fulness of the Fountain another of the Brook another of a Vessel one fulnes of the Sea another of the River another of the Pond and yet all may be full Christ himself is said to be full of the Holy Ghost and St. Stephen is said to be full and others said to be full yet Christ as the Sea or Fountain they as the Rivulets or Rivers and yet all as they can hold 'T is so in Earth 't is so in Heaven And vvith such a fulness as the Brooks or Rivers is our Virgin full and with no other Where any edifying Grace vvas necessary for her she had it as well as others more perhaps than others Where it vvas not necessary it vvas no vvay to the impairing of her fulness though she had it not as the banks of the Rivers rose or the Channel was enlarged so were those graces but inter mulieres among women at the end makes me incline to think the fulness of Apostolick endowments do not any way belong to her women not being suffered in the times of the Apostles but to teach their children or servants at home never thought so full of the Spirit as to be sent to blow it all abroad And indeed it is not said here full of the Spirit but full of Grace and that is commonly understood of sanctifying Grace of which it is very convenient that we believe none fuller than she and the original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will not inforce it much higher in the business of created grace But in respect of the increated Grace that is of Christ with whom she was now so highly favoured as to be with Child none ever so filled with Grace indeed This was a grace of the highest nature of which created nature was never capable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 well rendred highly highly favoured for 't is most highly can be imagined and this is her first title O thou that art highly favoured high in Gods grace and favour so high as to be made his Mother then sure made a fit receptacle for so great so holy a guest by the fulness of all grace and goodness From this follows the second Title Blessed blessed of God blessed of men blessed in the City and blessed in the Field Cities and Countreys call her blessed Blessed in the fruit of her body in her blessed Child Iesus Blessed in the fruit of her Ground her Cattel her Kine and her Sheep in the inferiour faculties of her soul and body all fructifie to Christ. Blessed her Basket and her Store her Womb and her Breasts the Womb that bare him and the Paps that gave him suck Blessed in her going out and in her coming in the Lord still being with her The good treasure of Heaven still open to her showring down upon her and the Earth fill'd with the blessings which she brought into the world when she brought forth the Son of God Blessed she indeed that was the Conduit of so great blessings though blessed most in the bearing him in her soul much more than bearing him in her body So Christ intimates to the woman that began to bless the Womb that is the Mother that bear him St. Luke xi 27. yea rather says he they that hear the word of God and keep it As if he had said she is more blessed in bearing the word in her soul than in her body But blessed she is Elizabeth by the Holy Spirit fell a blessing her when she came to see her And she her self by the same Spirit tells us all generations shall call her blessed ver 28. So we have sufficient example and authority to do it And I hope we will not suffer the Scripture to speak false but do it And 3. do it to her above all women Benedicta tu in mulieribus That 's her third Title Most blessed none so blessed none ever had Child so blessed none ever bore or brought forth Child as she Benedicta in mulieribus Blessed among women She indeed only blessed all others subject to the curse of in dolore paries of conceiving and bringing forth in sorrow She wholly free from that she a perpetual Virgin before and in and after Child-birth Christ came into her Womb insensibly came forth as it were insensibly too without groan or sorrow to her Blessed 2. among women they all henceforth saved by her Child-bearing notwithstanding she that is woman shall be saved in child-bearing 1 Tim. ii ie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by her child-bearing says a learned Commentator not their own but hers by the Child she bore and they therefore shall call her blessed Blessed 3. among women that is none more blessed then the best the highest of them none above the Mother of God none sure so good as she which now brings me to consider the grounds of all this honour
and lowly That 2. we may see he even studies to descend as low as possible that so even the meanest might come to him without fear That 3. we should henceforth despise no man for his parentage nor bear our selves high upon our birth and stock Our descent and Kindred are no such business to make us proud Christ comes as soon to the low Cottage as to the loftiest Palace to the Handmaid as to the Mistriss to the Poor as to the Rich nay prefers them here honours a poor humble Maid above all the gallant Ladies of the world For God thus to be made Man man of a Woman the eternal Being begin to be Infinity to be encompass'd in a Virgins Womb he whose goings out are from everlasting now to seem first to be brought forth but now lately born Riches it self the Son of Poverty so far to debase himself who indeed can sufficiently express this his generation also the poorness meanness contemptibleness humbleness of it His delight surely is to be with the lowly that thus picks and culls out low things You will say so 3. most if you consider his wrapping up as well as his coming forth He that measures the Heavens with his Span the waters in the hollow of his hand who involves all things all the treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge in whom all our beings and well-beings the decrees and fates of the world are wrapt from all eternity he now come to be wrapt and made up like a new-born child who can unwind or unfold his humility will our Master be thus dealt with as a Child thus handled like the common infant and shall we hereafter think much the best of us to be used like other men away with all our nicenesses henceforward and be content that our selves and ours should be in all things subject to the common fate of the sons of men Nor think we much 2. to be wrapt up and bound sometimes and denied the liberty of a stragling power to hurt our selves but ever thank the hand that binds us up and takes care of us when we either cannot or know not how to help our selves would undo our selves if we were left loose which in another English is too true too often left undone He that binds all things with his Word makes them up in his Wisdom and wraps them in the Mantle of his protection was content to be bound up as a Child when he was a Child as if he had wholly laid aside his power humbled himself to be under the power and discretion of a simple Woman Nurse and Mother To teach us again the humility of a Child to behave our selves in every condition and submit in it as it requires if Children to be content with the usage of children if Subjects with the condition of subjects if Servants of servants and the like The Clothes his dear Mother wrapt him in are 4. the very badges of humility 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a rag or torn and tatter'd Clothes such were the clothes she wrapt him in such he is so humble he will be content with even with rags What make we then such ado for clothes Iacob would bargain with God no further then for rayment to put on he covenanted with him not for fashion nor colour nor stuff nor trimming and our Blessed Lord here is content with what comes next But Lord to see what ado have we about our Apparel this Lace and that Trimming this Fashion and that Colour these Iewels and those Accoutrements this Cloth and that Stuff this Silk and that Velvet this Silver and that Gold this way of wearing and that garb in them as if our whole life were Rayment our Clothes Heaven and our salvation the handsom wearing them We forget we forget our sweet Saviours rags his poor ragged Swadling-clothes and our Garments witness against us to our faces our pride our follies our vanities at the best He that as Iob says Iob xxxviii 9. makes the Cloud the garment of the Sea and thick darkness a swadling-band for it he lets his own Swadling-bands be made of any thing his own Clothes of any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any torn pieces to give us a lesson not to be solicitous of what we should put on or wherewith we should be clothed but be content to be clothed as he does the Grass when and how he pleases 'T is no shame to be in rags and tatters if they be but Christs if they come by him not by our own ill husbandries and intemperances if for his sake or cause we are brought to them Clothes are but to cover shame and defend us from the cold they make not a man nor commend any to God Lazarus's rags are better wearing than Dives his Purple and fine Linen There is a part of humility as well as modesty that consists in Apparel and this part is here commended to us by our Saviours condition that howsoever the giddy Gallants of the world think of it the sober Christians of the Church should not think strange to see themselves in rags which our Lord hath thus rent and torn out to us 5. Well but though he was content to be wrapt in Swadling-clothes and those none of the handsomest neither may we not look for a Cradle at least to lay him in No matter what we may look for we are like to find no better than a Manger for that purpose and a lock of Hay for his Bed and for his Pillow and for his Mantle too A poor condition and an humble one indeed for him whose Chariot is the Clouds whose Palace is in Heaven whose Throne is with the most High What place can we hereafter think too mean for any of us Stand thou here sit thou there under my Foot-stool places of exceeding honour compared to this What not a room among men not among the meanest in some smoky Cottage or ragged Cell but among Beasts whither hath thy humility driven thee O Saviour of mankind Why meer pity of a Woman in thy Mothers case O Lord would have made the most obdurate have removed her from the Horses feet the Asses heels the company of unruly Beasts from the ordure and nastiness of a Stable But that we O Lord might see what we had made our selves meer Beasts as lustful as the Horse as sottish as the Ass as proud and untam'd as the Bulls as bent to earthly drudgeries and yokes as the Oxe and Heifer that thou wert fain even to come thither to find us out and redeem us This note will humble us if any can and make us not think much if God at any time deal with us as Beasts whip us and spur us beat us with the staff prick us with the goad feed us with hard meat like such things as they seeing we are now become like them as says the Psalmist Psal. xlix 12. 20. To descend from the Society of Cherubims and Seraphims and all the Host of Heaven to be the
whence all his other comings come to bless him in the highest with heart and tongue and hand to the highest we can go that he may also bless us for it in the highest That it might be done the better Holy Church has design'd four Sundays to prepare us for it wherein to tune our pipes and fit our instruments and voices to sing Hosanna in the right key the highest pitch to praise God as is fitting for Christs coming A business sure well worth the doing and some good time for it worth the observing if we either think him worth it that is here spoke of as coming or his coming worth it Indeed the coming in the Text is not the coming of that Feast that is now a coming but it is one of the ways prescribed by the Church for our better coming to the Feast by preparing with these multitudes some boughs and branches some Hosanna's and Benedictus's some provision of holy thoughts and divine affections for it They that went before and they that followed in the Text sung Hosanna for a lesser coming of Christs then that was in the flesh we may well do it for a greater especially making this in the Text a degree or note to ascend to that one coming to usher to the other the humility of his coming to Ierusalem a way to exalt the greater humility of his coming into the world And we have the multitudes before and the multitudes that follow all Patriarchs before rejoycing with Father Abraham at his day and all the Fathers since all that went before or follow'd since his coming former and later Christians for our example They all in their several Generations thought fit yearly to remember it and so long even four Advent Sundays together to prepare the multitudes and people for it that so by preaching to them the way and manner of all Christs comings they might 1. perfectly be instructed who it was and is that truly comes blessed in the name of the Lord and not be deceived by pretenders and pretences and 2. also truly and duly give the blessing where it ought sing the Hosanna when and where and to whom we should celebrate the memory of Christs coming right and Hosanna it as is meet Thus did all that went before and 't is fit they that come after should do as much unless they were wiser or better then all that went afore them And all will do it but those who are afraid to have their comings discovered to be no comings in the name of the Lord by the unlikeness of their comings afraid to lose their in nomine the name however to have the multitudes that follow them fall off from them if they should be taught by day or time or Text how far different their ways and comings are from the humble lowly comings and ways of Christ whose name they so much pretend to come in though their own name be the only name they truly come for Better example we have here before us and by Gods blessing we will bless with them follow them in blessing Christ both himself and coming in the time and manner all that have followed him ever did it And to do it the better and more according to Text and time let us consider I. Who they were that here blest Christ for his coming The multitudes that went before and that followed both of them says the Text. II. What was their way of blessing how they did it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says the Evangelist they cried cried it aloud III. Their Song of Blessing what they cried Hosanna to the Son of David Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord Hosanna in the highest When we have throughly considered these particulars there will remain nothing but a word of Exhortation to follow them that thus go before us as they cried it and sung it before so we still to cry it and sing it after them I begin with the persons that we may in the first place know whom it is we follow the multitudes that went before and that followed And that to the Letter is no more then those companies of people Men Women and Children who went out to Mount Olivet to meet our Saviour at his coming to Ierusalem when he came riding thither upon an Ass some of them before him some behind him crying out Hosanna Many they were it seems and not a single multitude neither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 multitudes in the plural several multitudes that did it and though it be no argument to prove any thing good or lawful because the multitudes do it yet when the multitudes do good 't is good to take some notice of it nay when so many do it it looks the better The Song of praise sounds never better then in the great Congregation and among much people The Musick never sweeter in the ears of Heaven then when the Choir is fullest a good note to teach us to fill Holy Assemblies to bear our parts in the Congregation And in this Congregation 2. the Musick it seems has all its keys and voices Men Women and Children all sing their parts no Sex or Age to think themselves exempted from bearing part in Gods Service though the Apostle will not suffer Women to preach and teach he will give them leave to sing and pray to answer the Responses Antiphones and Versicles the Hymns and Psalms the little Children too to learn betimes to lisp them out no better seasoning of their mouths then with Prayers and Praises to their Redeemer Nor 3. were these multitudes meerly the rout of people there were men of all conditions in them though it may be not many Iosephs or Nicodemus's yet some no doubt so many of the Rulers having had their sick Servants or Wives or Children healed by him There are none too good or great for Gods Service 'T is no disparagement to any mans honour to be among those multitudes that go out at any time to meet Iesus no dishonour to say Amen with the meanest in them to joyn with them in any part or point of Gods Service You may remember the nobility of the Bereans above the Thessalonians is by the Scripture Heraldry placed in this that they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures daily Acts xvii 11. in short were more religious and devout and earnest in the way of Christ to worship him then the other Nor 4. were these multitudes Choirs of Priests and Clerks or only Orders of Religious men it was a Congregation of Seculars though there were Priests and Apostles in it 't is St. Chrysostoms own note to tell us men are not to put off the work of Devotion and Religion wholly to the Priest and Clerk as if they only were to sing the Benedictus Hosanna's or Allelujahs and the multitudes only stand looking on or think men in some Religious Orders were only oblig'd to live orderly and like Christians all secular or lay-men
as the Apostle adviseth us Heb. iv 11. to enter into his rest Root we and build our selves upon him Root we our selves upon him by humility build we upon him by faith grow we up with him rooted and grounded in love and sprouting out in all good works rest we our selves upon him and make him our only stay and glory So when this Root shall appear the second time and blow up his Trumpet as he here set up his Ensign and our dead roots spring afresh out of their dust we also may appear with him with Palms and Branches in our hands to celebrate the praises of this Root and Branch of Iesse and enter joyfully into his rest into the rest of everlasting glory THE SECOND SERMON ON Christmas-Day St. LUKE â—i 7. And she brought forth her First-born Son and wrapped him in Swadling-clothes and laid him in a Manger because there was no room for them in the Inn. I Shall not need to tell you who this She or who this Him The day rises with it in its wings This day wrote it with the first Ray of the morning Sun upon the posts of the world The Angels sung it in their Choirs the morning Stars together in their courses The Virgin Mother the Eternal Son The most blessed among women the fairest of the Sons of men The Woman clothed with the Sun The Sun compassed with a Woman She the Gate of Heaven He the King of Glory that came forth She the Mother of the everlasting God He God without a Mother God blessed for evermore Great persons as ever met upon a day Yet as great as the persons and as great as the day the great lesson of them both is to be little to think and make little of our selves seeing the infinite greatness is this day become so little Eternity a Child the Rays of Glory wrapt in rags Heaven crowded into the corner of a Stable and he that is every where want a room I may at other times have spoke great and glorious things both of the Persons and the Day but I am determin'd to day to know nothing but Iesus Christ in Rags but Iesus Christ in a Manger And I hope I shall have your company along your thoughts will be my thoughts and my thoughts yours and both Christ's all upon his humility and our own This is our first-born which we are this day to bring forth for it is a day of bringing forth this we are to wrap up in our memories this to lay up in our hearts this the Blessed Mother this the Blessed Babe this the condition and place and time we find them in the taxing time the Beasts Manger the Swadling clouts all this day preach to us The day indeed is a high day the Persons high Estates but the case we find them in and the esteem too the day is lately in is low enough to teach us humility and lowliness at the lowest With this the day is great and the Persons great and the Text great too and time perhaps you think it is that it bring forth Come then let 's see what God hath sent us in it A Mother and a Child Swadling Clouts to wrap it and a Manger for a Cradle to lay it in and all other room or place denied it quite These are the plain and evident parcels of the Text in number five But the whole business is between two persons the Mother and the Child and it hath two consideratiens besides the letter a moral lesson and a Mystery The one sufficiently brought forth and laid before us a plain lesson of humility from all points and persons The other wrapped up and involv'd in the Swadling-clothes and Manger and want of Inn-room nay in the tender Mother her care and travel For each may have its mystery and the Text no injury nay hath its mystery and the Text injury if it be not so considered That 's the way that not one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one tittle of the Law or Gospel may fall to the ground or scrap or fragment may be lost We shall do so then Read you first that great Lecture of Humility which Christ this day taught us by his Birth and all the circumstances of it here so punctually exprest and then shew you a mystery in every circumstance For so great a business as this fell not out by chance nor the circumstances at hap-hazard but a reason of all there is to be given why Christ was born why of such a Mother at such a time under such a name in such a place why so wrapt and laid and no fit room allow'd him And when we have done so we will see whether he shall now meet better usage with us than in the Inn he did to day and learn you by his happy Mother how to wrap and where to lay him I begin to run over the words first as so many points of his humility And seven degrees it rises by seven particulars in them we take it from 1. His being brought forth or born 2. His Mother She. 3. His wrapping up 4. His clothes he was wrapt in 5. His laying in the Manger 6. The no respect he meets with in the Inn no room there for him And lastly the time when this was done In the days of the taxing then was this blessed Mothers time accomplished in the words just before and then she brought forth her First-born Son Thus the Et the And couples all and gives us the time of the Story that we may know where and how to find it in the Roman Records by the year of the Taxes The first step of his Humiliation was to be born and brought forth by a Woman the only begotten Son of the Immortal God to become the First-born of a mortal Woman The First-born of every Creature to become the First-born of so silly a Creature Lord what is man that thou shouldst become the Son of a woman But if thou wouldst needs become a Man why by the way of a Woman why didst thou not fit thy self of a Body some other way Thou couldst have framed thy self a humane Body of some purer matter than the purest of corrupted natures but such is thy humility that thou didst not abhor the Virgins Womb wouldst be brought forth as other men that we might not think of our selves above other men how great or good soever thou makest us But 2. if he would be born of a Woman could he not have chosen an othergates than she than a poor Carpenters Wife some great Queen or Lady had been fitter far to have made as it were the Queen of Heaven and Mother to the Heir of all the World But Respexit humilitatem ancillae it was the lowliness of this his holy Hand-maid that he lookt to it was for her humility he chose to be born of her before any other That we may know 1. whom it is that the eternal Wisdom will vouchsafe to dwell with even the humble
of blessing a day of Gods blessing us and our blessing of him again of Christs being presented for us and our presenting to him again of his presenting in the Temple and our presenting our selves in the Church to bless God and him for his presentation his presentation-day and our Candlemas our little candles our petty lights our souls reflecting back to this great light that was this day presented in the Temple and then darted down upon us The Shepherds blessed God in the morn of his Nativity the Wisemen upon Epiphany Simeon and Anna to day All conditions before all sexes to day ignorant Shepherds and learned Clerks poor Country-men and great Princes no condition out before and both Sexes in to day Sinners both of Jew and Gentile men that most stood in need of a Saviour before just and righteous souls to day that we might know there is none so good but stands in need of him one day or other that will want a Saviour if not at Christmas yet at Candlemas if not among sinners yet among the righteous either first or last Mary the blessed Ioseph the just Simeon the devout Anna the religious all in to day secular and religious of all sexes and orders all come in to day as at the end of Christmas like the Chorus to the Angels Choire to bear a part in the Angels Anthem to make up a full choire of voices to glorifie God for this great present which brings peace to the earth and good will among men And this day first is it given into our arms In all the former Festivals he is either in his Mothers lap or in his Cradle or to be sure not out of doors there only or within only is he to be seen This day first he comes abroad to be handled by us Before indeed he might be thought to concern us somewhat Now first are we made sensible of it when we may take him into our own arms and kiss him in the Prophet David's expression kiss this Son of the most high as he lies in our arms He was made man at his birth made under the Law at his Circumcision made manifest to the Gentiles at his Epiphany but all this while at a kind of distance from us This is the day of a nearer application to us when he is first made a present and offering for us for us who were none of us I am sure in any case to be presented for our selves not pure not clean not whole not holy enough any of us to be presented before God till he was first presented to make us accepted When he is 2. made a present and offering to us presented and offered to us to be taken embraced and offered up again by us to make all our offerings and our selves accepted in this beloved For this it is in the sum that we are this day to bless God as I hope we have done on other days for the other that this beloved of his would thus still again and again more and more undergo the condition of men make himself of no more account than an ordinary man be valued and redeemed at the ordinary rate of the poorest Child as this day he was That 2. he would let his Mother too be reckoned in the rank of the meanest women that were not able to offer beyond a pair of Turtles or young Pigeons and go for one that had need of Purification as well as other women as if she were no better than the rest after this great Child-birth though without the least spot or impurity in the whole business both of Conception and Child-birth In a word that he would thus condescend and descend too into our very arms to be offered for us and offered by us There are four remarkable passages of the day 1. The blessed Virgins Purification 2. Our blessed Saviours Presentation 3. Good Simeons Exultation And 4. Religious Anna's Gratulation There are but two of them in the Text Christs Presentation and Simeons Exultation The other two are not now within our compass some other time they may These two will at this time be enough especially being not only to consider what was done then but what must be still not only what by others but also what by us our own duty as well as Christs Parents and Simeons performances what they did for him then after the custom of the Law what we for him now after the Law is out of custom and fashion after the fashion and custom of the Gospel For does blessing or blessedness belong only to the Law do they not more to the Gospel certainly much more Simeon only was the Precentor began the Song which is to continue to the end of the world And though Simeon be departed according to his wish yet has the Church throughout it taken up the Hymn and sings it every evening as a perpetual memorial of this days Benediction So our blessing to continue as well as God's ours to him as well as his to us and his is such that it will never fail but extend the vertue of this days great present unto all generations I have already divided you the Text whilst I told you two of the great remarkables of the day were in it Christs Presentation and Simeons Gratulation Christs Presentation to God and his acceptation by man Christ presented in the Temple according to the Law Christ received into the arms according unto Faith The first of these in the 27. verse which runs thus And when the Parents brought in the Child Iesus to do for him after the custom of the Law There 's his Presentation The second of the points is in the 28. verse Then took he him up in his arms and blessed God There 's his Reception or Simeons Acceptation of him or Gratulation and Exultation over him Of each of these first in reference to them then afterward to our selves First to inform you what was done then to teach you what to do I begin with what was done and first with Christs Presentation where we are to pass thorow these particulars The presenters the presented the time the place the manner of presenting this great present The Presenters were the Parents the Presented was the Child Iesus the time was when the days of her purification were accomplished the place the Temple and the manner according to the custom of the Law all according to order and that also keep we now The presenters first in that first in order and first in fitness too Who fitter to present the Child then it s own Parents Ius liberorum the power over the Child is properly theirs Nature makes it so they give it being and therefore surely have most right to it when it is in being and whilst it is so till God by a second Law either take it to himself or dispose it to another for which it naturally almost leaves its Parents to increase it self Upon the first title of Gods claim to it they here bring it
only but their bodies for him to go over not only to cut down boughs to strew his way but to cut down every one that stands any way in his way if he would have it will within a few days upon a little change be as ready to trample upon that great one they so much honour and even cut his throat if he command any thing that pleases not their humour or crosses their private interests and designs This very multitude so eager to day to exalt Christ to the highest in their loud Hosannahs are as fair on Friday to exalt him to the Cross by their louder cryings He yet would suffer them to give him honour that you might know all earthly honour what it is But 4. he thus receives this honour from the multitude that he might provoke great ones by their example St. Paul tells us that Salvation was come unto the Gentiles to provoke the Iews to jealousie Rom. xi 11. that they might in a holy strife and indignation endeavour to outgo them 'T is the like intended here that we might think much that simple men and women should outstrip us the ignorant know more of Piety and Religion do more at least the poor and meanest bestow more much more on Christ than we with all our wit and wealth and greatness and honour And in this 5. appears as well his power as providence and wisdom that he should out of such stones as these raise up children unto Abraham that he should thus out of the mouths of babes and sucklings perfect his own praise make the Child as eloquent as the Orator the women as valiant in his service as the stoutest men the People understand that which the learned Doctors would not see Even so O Father for so it pleased thee to reveal those things to babes and sucklings and hide them from the wise St. Luke x. 21. his only doing it was neither their doing nor deserving and it is marvelous in our eyes an evidence of the freeness of his power that he can do what he pleases that he does what he lists no man can hinder him none able to contradict him This 6. shews his Omniscience and his truth that nothing that he foretels not a tittle of it shall fall any time to the ground He had foretold it by his Prophet Zech. ix 9. that the daughter of Sion should rejoyce and the daughter of Ierusalem shout for joy and here we have it to a tittle even their Sons and Daughters doing it a very great multitude it is and children and women in it Children in the Temple ver 15. and the whole City moved ver 10. all Sexes then that the Prophesie might be fulfilled to the last letter So punctual is he of his word Yet to fulfil it fuller 't is a very great multitude in the Text that we might know that he that was here met by so great a company was the Saviour of all as many as would come that would spread their garments to receive him make him any kind of entertainment though butstrew boughs and rushes for him that 2. the World might know that he was going to his Passion he went freely too he could as well have used these multitudes to preserve himself as thus strangely to do him honour made them have bespread him with Arms and Weapons as well as arms and boughs of trees strewd the way with their bodies in his defence as well as their Garments in his honour but he would suffer death and therefore would not suffer that To tell us 3. that he should be served hereafter by great multitudes and not by little handfuls of men and women this was but a forerunner of the great multitudes of those that should hereafter believe on him Upon such grounds as these it is that the Eternal Wisdom so uses this great multitude here to set forth his glory makes them do that which themselves yet do not understand to tell us he is a Saviour of the poor and needy as well as of the rich and wealthy That he does not 2. utterly refuse mans service though he know it is not to last long to teach us 3. all the glory and honour we receive from men is but transitory and quickly vanishing to provoke us 4. by their doings to a godly jealousie and contention to out-do them to ascertain us 5. of the exact performance of every 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his promises To intimate lastly to us that he is the Saviour of us willingly comes to suffer that he may be so that he may purchase a Church great multitude by it to himself Thus you have some kind of glimmering light why this great multitude are employed in this way of honouring him by the way And yet there is a mystery beyond it This multitude throngs together to inform us 1. how Christ would be serv'd and honoured with full Assemblies and Congregations The places where he comes he loves to see crouded with devout Worshippers to hear them encouraging and heightning one another with O come let us worship and fall down and kneel before God our Maker and by outward reverence gestures and expressions provoking one another to his service It instructs us 2. that there is neither man nor woman Master nor Servant old man or child poor or rich to be out in giving glory to him all sexes ages and conditions to flow together to do him service the very children to lisp it out they that have not a rag to cover shame may have a leaf to honour him they that cannot are not able to cut down a bough may strew it yet that cannot lift a branch may hold a twig do somewhat or other to his entertainment It preaches 3. to us that there is nothing readier to serve him than the poor in spirit that the spirit which most does him honour which is ever most ready to do it to him is the poor and humble Spirit such as ranks it self lowest thinks meanest of it self none so mean in the meanest multitude Here 's the spirit of this very great multitude the spiritual sense it speaks a serving Christ with a poor and humble spirit and bringing our selves and all ours our very children to speak or point out his praise to do it too in the great Congregation as the Psalmist speaks to praise him among much people And not only so but with much ceremony too so we read in the next particular some spread their garments in the way others cut down branches from the trees and strewed them in the way II. These Ceremonies neither of them were strange among the Iews in the days of joy or triumph or the inauguration of Kings and Princes When Iehu was anointed King 2 Kings ix 12. we find every man hasting to take his own garment and put it under him spreading them as carpets for him to walk on ver 13. And in the Feast of Tabernacles it was commanded them to take boughs of goodly trees
blessed Spirits now inhabite those everlasting hills To put all together Thither they ascended up like clouds by the secret and spiritual operation of divine grace there they dwell like clouds their souls like the upper part of the cloud light and glorious though their bodies like the lower darkned in the grave There they move like clouds in heavenly order Thence they descend like clouds in the still showers of their happy examples that in them as in a glass we may see the power of faith the glory of their Lord who has made earth ascend beyond its nature and dwell above it And yet for all this is it but Nubem still a Cloud not a Star The Saints shall shine as stars Dan. xii 3. and methinks it being Nubem Martyrum the Martyrs flames should rise better into stars than clouds Should and shall in the Resurrection till then Nubem still some degree of darkness at least a less degree of light And whatsoever to themselves for us perhaps 't is necessary it be a cloud For had we not need of this dark word When did not God on purpose cloud their glories from our eyes were it not for this nubem this cloud that covers them man as subject to superstition as prophaness would quickly find out some excellencies for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to fall down and worship Or if not necessary yet more convenient far For 1. a Star would only guide us a Cloud both guide and refresh us And 2. guide us better For Stars only appear in the night Clouds night and day we can see them so best follow them The Sun-beams put out star-light Prosperity cannot see a Star so small a glimmering ray A Cloud come it night or day in prosperity or adversity we perceive that presently so a cloud to teach us in all estates how to demean our selves like devotion in its ancient innocence Abrahams cloud when the days are calm and clear Iobs when the day is swallowed up in a tempestuous night So never destitute of a cloud 3. Clouds not Stars They are none but the Magi wise learned men can follow the Stars and their courses but every Peasant sees which way the Clouds move So if Stars they had been for none but wise learned men to follow now the poor Country man has a cloud to run by And yet how easily soever we perceive the track of the Clouds yet if there be a scatter'd multitude we are as easily distracted 'T were best to have but Nubem in the singular but one cloud 't is so Many drops but one cloud though the materials fetcht from several quarters The Martyrs all one Cloud to shew their unity all and each confessing witnessing one and the same truth for truth is but one So not St. Iudes clouds they not only empty no stillicidium Doctrinae in them no good to be learnt from them but clouds too in the Plural some moving this way some that way no constant course in division too one coursing against the other at such enmity is evil with it self 'T is only good and good men that keep together in nubem in peace and unity and by that you shall know them Be it a Cloud and but one Cloud the more probable still too small it may be to command the eye and then what are we the nearer Nubem not Nubeculam no diminutive will that do it If that will not tantam will So great a cloud Why how great So great that St. Paul ver 32. of the former Chapter tells them the day would fail him to shew them it all as if so great a cloud could not but shut up the day in darkness Our first Fathers of the World had no cloud to guide them nothing but natures dusky twilight This cloud begain to rise in the time of the Patriarchs but to appear in the time of Moses like Eliahs cloud at the red Sea went before him thence into Canaan covered the whole Land of Iudaea in the time of the Prophets So these Hebrews had cloud enough yea but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we have more Even those Hebrews to whom this Epistle was sent they are in the Cloud About that time this cloud rising in the East spread its wings presently into the West and had almost in an instant fill'd up the corners of the World so that if you now ask again how great so great I cannot tell you Primitive Christians they in the number you will not wonder at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if it become a cloud of Martyrs Indeed the Law of Moses had its Martyrs too Witness Isaiahs Saw the three Childrens fiery Furnace the emptied skins of the tortur'd Maccabees But since the time of Christ his servants have engrossed the name as if they only were the Martyrs and filled up tantam to the brim Their multitudes tireing the wit of cruelty and their patience overcoming it as if from the streams and rivers of their bloud heaven might now enskarfe it self in a scarlet cloud Well talk we may of Martyrum what we will yet if Nubem be not first they will be but Stultae Philosophiae all this while no better 'T is the order in the Text Nubem first then Martyrum First clouds lifted up to heaven in their thoughts and conversations and all in one the Sons of peace and unity if you can see Christ in the cloud then Martyrs if you will Schism and faction or discontented passion yield no Martyrs You shall know a Martyr by Nubem if that go first But taking Martyrs thus all are not Martyrs All died not for their faith but all are Testes Witnesses Witnesses of the Power Witnesses of the Mercy Witnesses of the Justice of God Of his Power in delivering them from sin of his Mercy in saving them from punishment of his Iustice in rewarding them with glory Witnesses to this curramus 1. to witness the possibility that this Race we are to speak of by and by may be run this Propositum the prize won for ab esse ad posse run the one they have and won the other long ago 2. To testifie the easiness that even the weaker Sex Sarah and Rahab the weakest age the three Children the army of Innocents have run it 3. To testifie the dignity that both King and Priest and Prophet David and Samuel and Daniel thought it worth the pains 4. To testifie the universal necessity all ages young and old all Sexes men and women all degrees high and low to run this race none excused And that you may not mistrust their testimony what is required to the best witness you have in them 1. That he knows what he speaks and what knowledge like theirs that speak by experience that now feel the reward of truth 2. That he will and dare speak it and these have fear'd no torments for it they are Martyrs of
Obedience This then is the sum of that part of Gods commendation from their Persons that Rechabites Princes by their Tribe Holy by descent women and children after so many ages past over Ionadab neither pleaded their Descent nor their honour nor their claim to the Covenant nor their Age nor their Sex nor the Abrogation of Laws for Antiquity but without any contrary Plea whatsoever generally submitted to all Obedience Thus says God for them What say we for our selves In Civil Affairs Laws they say are Cobwebs Great men great flies that easily break through them mean men little enough to slip out at any hole women do what they please children are not old enough for any thing but sin and disobedience In Ecclesiasticals it is worse Though it be a matter of Reverence enjoyn'd to God himself Great ones are too good Others too perverse Women too tender Children not of age All too weakly to bend the knee or bare the head in Gods service so that what was said of Moses that God talked with him as man doth with his friend I may invert and say Man now talks with God as man doth with his friend so fellow-like that though our Fathers had not commanded the contrary all the world would say There is nothing like Reverence or Obedience in this Let me ask now Had the Rechabites the Law of Nature to guide them and have not we Were not they a righteous off-spring as well as we Had not they the tenderness of Wives and Children to plead for weakness of constitution and complexion greater hinderances to their strict kind of life as well as we Could not they have pleaded antiquated Laws as truly we Yet says God You have done all that was commanded you done it when others have not not mine own people he may add now not my Christian people Thus our negligence commends their Obedience We that have no more to excuse our selves than they not so much our task being easier our helps greater yet we have not They have Let that be an addition to their first Commendation raised a little by comparison with us You Rechabites I may almost say now You only have obeyed I pass now to the second ground of the Approbation The Expression of their Obedience Three Acts there are of it 1. Obedistis 2. Custodistis 3. Fecistis you have obeyed kept and done what was commanded you The first belongs to the Inward the two other to the outward man I begin with the Inward For without that Outward Obedience is of short service no continuance Four Acts flow from it To 1. Hear to 2. Hearken to 3. Submit to to 4. Acquiesce in the Commands of our Superiours All point blank against those Four grounds of Disobedience 1. Vntractableness 2. Impatience 3. Pride and 4. Murmuring To hear that against Untractableness that will not so much as endure the hearing To hearken that against Impatience that will not take pains to hear it out To submâ—t that against Pride that will veil to none To acquiesce or rest in that against murmuring that is never content with any thing imposed upon it Let me but ponder the word as I go I shall find all those and not go from the word In all three Languages the word whence comes Obedience comes from Hearing In auditu auris obedivit is King Davids Psal. xviii 43. The first duty God ever requires Hear O my people The Rechabites stumble not here They hear their Father speaking even out of his dust They are far enough from Untractableness that hear so easily Promptitudo Obedientiae that 's the first commendation of their Obedience the Readiness of it Yet he will give you little that will not give you the hearing The Son in the Gospel that did not mean to go and the Son that meant not to go both went thus far heard their Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies more to attend and listen with a desire to it How this is you may understand out of Psal. xlv 11. Hearken O daughter and consider Hearken first then consider weigh and ponder the words then forget thine own people and thy Fathers house thy kindred and companions that alliance that uses by a kind of faction to draw too often from obedience those private and mutual interests that under a pretence of obedience beguile us of it To hearken then is to assent to in Gods own phrase 1 Sam. viii 9. to leave all private relations and intentions out of the meer desire of Obedience Thus the Rechabites hearkned neither to the tenderness of their Wives nor the cries of their Children nor their own commodities and conveniences to hearken to their Father This is Obedientiae Patientia the Approbation of their Obedience by their Patience This is a ready passage to the next To submit their judgments affections persons and estates to the will of their Father 'T is a hard Theme and I had best prove it to be Obedience before I venture to approve them for it The Latine and Greek words to obey sound nothing more than sub and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all under 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subditi estote subjicimini the soul it self under that submitted Let every soul be subject Rom. xiii 1. As if St. Paul had foreseen the distinction the Body not the Soul The Soul says he not the Body alone and therefore put them in mind of it Tit. iii. 1. As if every body knew it well enough no no body were no body could be ignorant of it only want one to remember them Put them in mind therefore Wherefore We may gather something from the Reason he adds For we our selves also were sometimes foolish disobedient deceived serving divers lusts Tit. iii. 3. First foolish then disobedient none else are so how wise soever they think themselves Yea and deceived for just it is that he that will not trust his Superiours judgment especially where his own is as well inferiour as himself should be deceived by himself or those who have no power over him but to deceive him And he that will not obey their will just it is he should be given up to serve his own lusts And so they are mark it when you will nataral brute beasts says St. Peter None more sensual proud devillish so St. Iames finds them Iam. iii. 15. than those that thus proudly cast off the yoke of submission and obedience Their bodies then and passions scorn to obey them who by their own disobedience have taught their inferiour powers to rebell 'T is no wonder then if that follow in the verse Living in malice envy hateful and hating one another I need call nothing else but the dismal experience of these last tumultuous rebellious times to witness it wherein Tongues and Pens and Actions too have so horribly exprest it And give me leave a little to reason with you Authority us'd to be a Logical Argument to guide our reason and have we lost our Logick too as
David professes so Psal. lxxxiv 3. Nay the very Sparrows he observes will build as near the Altars as they can and it may be for that kind of sensible and natural piety they particularly aâ—ove other creatures are said by Christ not to fall one of them to the ground without Gods more peculiar providence I shall make no further note upon this particular it is but implicitely implied though yet so necessarily in the Text They brought him in in whither Into the Temple it was and the very words immediately before in that very verse express it Yet being but so express'd so briefly and implicitely I take leave to be brief too because there is still so much of the Text and so little of the time behind And the point next behind is the manner and form of Christs presentation or the cause or reason why he was presented why they brought him in to do for him after the custom of the Law And three points of it there were to be observed upon such occasions to offer him to ransom him to offer for him He was the first-born and therefore to be offered and presented The first-born was Gods all the first-born are mine says he Numb viii 17. both of man and beast And Christ he is the first-born of every creature says St. Paul Col. i. 15. So in him they are offered all together man and beast all sanctified by him men that live like men and men that live like beasts Qui computruerunt sicut jumenta in stercore suo who wallow in their own dung in their own sins like the beasts that perish for the righteous and for the sinner both is he offered that both might have access to God through him That 2. man and beast too according to the letter might as the Psalmist says be saved that is blest and preserved through him He was the first-born 2. of his Father the first and only begotten Son of God so to be presented upon that title He was 3. the first-born of his Mother the first and only Son first born though not begotten there but first born was sufficient to entitle him to God The Apostle calls him 4. The first-born among many brethren Rom. viii 29. He our elder and we the younger brethren The same Apostle 5. calls him the first-born of the dead Col. i. 18. So that now being the first-born both by Father and Mother both in Heaven and Earth of quick and dead of every creature no great wonder to hear of his presenting to the Lord. Yet for himself neither was he offered but for us he needed no such sanctifying but for us to sanctifie us as the first-fruits to sanctifie the whole lump as the true Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world as the first-born in relation to his brethren to rule over us as a Prince and offer for us and bless us as a Priest the two appendices of a primogeniture Thus is he made to us our morning Sacrifice as he was after our evening offering when he was offered upon the Cross. Thus both offered for himself after the custom of the Law and for us in the interpretation of the Gospel But the custom of the Law was next to ransom him five shekels was his price the ordinary rate Numb xviii 16. a goodly price for the firstâ—born of God to be valued at O blessed Iesu how little hast thou made thy self for us of how little value How can we sufficiently value thee for thy thus undervaluing thy self And why should we now my beloved so overvalue our selves as to think no honour sufficient for us nothing too good for us no riches enough no respect answerable to our deserts If Christ be valued but at five shekels the best of us all of us the whole world of us and if there were a world of worlds were not all worth five farthings Let us but think of this and no disrespect or disesteem or slighting from the very meanest and unworthiest hand will ever trouble us again certainly Well ransom'd he was yet with it as little as it was but it seems it was but to pay a greater the price of his life to ransom us No ransom would redeem him the second time because his business was not to redeem himself but us He was redeemed now for a little but he was sold for less than thirty pence and yet would not be redeemed by any sum He made himself of no estimation again and again and dealt with himself as if he were not worth a ransom only that he might ransom us and set us high in God's esteem The ransom mony here was the Priests And holy Mary as poor as she was would pay her dues And Iesus would she should his Mother should and then sure all his brethren too would be therefore offered and redeemed 'T is a good example for Church duties when such pay them and may amount to a kind of precept for if he who is the great High-Priest himself and from whom it was not due pay as he did tribute afterward that he might not offend I can see little of Christ where the Church or Priest is robb'd or little Christianity where such offences are not heeded Christ would break no Law for he came to fulfil it nor Custom for you see he observes it did so all his life kept the Feasts kept the Customs He follows not Christ that does other who e're he follows Nay Christ himself commutes too breaks not the custom of commutation One of the most questionable points of custom is commutation to exchange one for another to pay with the purse instead of the person Yet such was law and Custom and Christ disputes it not nor is reason against it to change one thing for another when both are good one vow into another one penance into another where reason not covetousness respect to the condition or inability of persons not partiality make the exchange In such cases we are to submit not dispute or cry out as some do if for mony why not without it If God will not accept my person why my mony If I may have or do it for the payment of a little sum why is it not lawful to me without it 'T is answerable enough to reasonable men or devout Christians so God so Law so Custom will have it and it is no sin to do it There is yet one thing more to be done after the custom of the Law an offering to be offered a lamb and a Turtle Dove or young Pigeon for the rich or two Turtles or two young Pigeons for the poorer sort Lev. xii 6 8. And it was so done here 'T is thought by them that dare determine which that it was the latter the pigeons as cheaper and easier to be gotten where there was so much poverty as this child was born to Be it which it will it was the poors offering that from henceforth poverty might look chearful to the Christian that
was so horrid to the Iew become his happiness which was the others great affliction the poor womans offering that it might sanctifie poverty to the poor and offer it henceforward as an acceptable service unto God That 2. the Christian might hence know what to offer gemtus turturum columbarum a sorrowful and contrite heart bewail themselves like Turtles that have lost their mates and mourn sore like Doves offer up chast and harmless souls the chastity of the Turtle and the innocence of the Dove That 3. we might no more hereafter censure poverty even when it falls to the great mans share seeing Blessed Mary and Ioseph of the seed Royal both are become so poor that they can offer no more than this nay though they should have no more to offer than their own sighs and moanings That 4. we might learn now that God will accept even the least and poorest presents two Turtles two Pigeons two Mites where there is no more with convenience to be spar'd Yet somewhat he will have offered be it never so little that all might acknowledge his right none at all excepted Thus this offering concerns us but how it concerns the Child Iesus is to be enquired The one Turtle could not possibly the sin-offering to be sure but the other might It was a burnt-offering that a kind of thanksgiving only for his safe birth as well as for his Mothers safe deliverance It was to have been a Lamb could the womans poverty have reach'd it though the sin-offering for no woman at her purification had been above a Turtle it may be to tell 'um that they are to give thanks both for themselves and their Child great thanks more than double though they offer but little and single for their own natural imperfections a Lamb for them both though but a Turtle for themselves The Child 's original guilt to be purged with another kind of sacrifice better sacrifices than those Yet besides he taking on him our persons the sin-offering might also so far concern him as he concerned us And if so the greater sure is our obligation to him that he would not only take on him the form of a servant but go also under the fashion of a sinner that he would be brought into so dishonourable appearance to be thus done for after the custom of the Law not only offered himself but himself offered for as if he needed an offering to cleanse him But so it was not for that it was not that he thus submitted to the Law of offerings but for these ensuing reasons and so we consider the reason of the doing 1. To avoid scandal not to offend the Iews to teach us to be very scrupulous how we offend our brother that we use neither but our own right nor our Christian liberty with offence 2. To teach obedience not to dispute commands nor plead priviledges too much against Laws and Customs 3. To be a pattern of humility not to exalt or cry up our selves or think much to be accounted like other men 4. To shew his approbation of the Law and that however he might seem yet indeed he did not come to destroy the Law but to fulfil it 5. That he might thus receive the testimony of Simeon and Anna and be made manifest from his very beginning who he was that he might appear to the world what before he did only to the Wise men and the Shepherds to be a light to the Gentiles and the glory of his people Israel and to be this day so proclaimed by the spirit of Prophesie in both the Sexes 6. He was done for according to the Law that he might redeem us from the bondage of the Law offered as the first-born as a son of man that he might thereby make us the children of God 7. He that needed no offering for himself was thus offered that we might with holy Iob suspect the best and perfectest of our works and though we be never so righteous not answer nor know but despise our selves and make supplication to our judge Iob ix 15 21 28. Lastly He was thus presented to God that so he might be embraced by man that Simeon not for himself only but for us might take seisin of him and we be thus put in possession of a Saviour For so it follows as on purpose Then took he him up in his arms and blessed God We have done with Christs offering Come we now to our receiving his Parents presented him to God Simeon received him for us And these the particulars of the receiving Suscipiens suscipiendi modus susceptionis Tempus suscipientis benedictio The Receiver Simeon he 2. The manner of taking or receiving him took him up in his arms 3. The time then when he was brought into the Temple 4. The thanksgiving for it and blessed God But our receiving takes me from Simeons I must defer his till anon till after ours only I shall glance at it as I speak of ours For which I would to God we were all as well prepared as he for his The same man was just and devout waiting for the consolation of Israel and the Holy Ghost was upon him ver 25. I would I could say so of us here this day Sed nunquid hos tantum salvabis Domine says holy Bernard Wilt thou O Lord save only such and answers it out of the Psalm Iumenta homines salvabis Domine Thou Lord shalt save both man and beast Us poor beasts too wandering sheep at best but too often as unreasonable as sensual as groveling downward as any beast dirty and filthy as Sows churlish as Dogs fierce as Lions lustful as Goats cruel as Tygers ravenous as Bears Accomplish we but the days of our purification purifie we our hearts by Faith and Repentance bring we this gemitus columbae sorrow for our sins though we cannot this simplicitatem columbae innocense and purity the mourning of the Turtle though we cannot the innocence of the Dove and notwithstanding all shall be well 'T is Candlemas to day so called from the lighting up of Candles offering them consecrating them and bearing them in procession a custom from the time of Iustinian the Emperour at the latest about 1100. years ago or as others say Pope Gelastus Anno 496. or thereabouts to shew that long expected light of the Gentiles was now come was now sprung up and shined brighter than the Sun at noon and might be taken in our hands let the Ceremony pass reserve the substance light up the two Candles of Faith and good Works light them with the fire of Charity bear we them burning in our hands as Christ commands us meet we him with our lamps burning consecrate we also them all our works and actions with our prayers offer we them then upon the Altars of the Lord of Hosts to his honour and glory and go we to the Altars of the God of our salvation bini bini as St. Bernard speaks as in