sceleratus habendi At last the Iron-Age comes blustring in I' ch' latter times and fills the World with Sin All Shame and Truth and Faithfulnesse are gone Fraud and Deceipt Lords paramount alone Do rule By snares and violence men get Estates and all is Fish that comes to Net Which how truly it is verified every body may see if not as blind as Moles and may feel if not senslesse I shall now speak a word or two to some which raile at and preach down the Solemnity of this Time desire them to spend the time which they spend in burying Antiquity and lawful Customs in the Translating of many things which are not as yet translated and not to monopolize Knowledge I will name some places which are not as yet translated viz. Psal 56. To the Chief Musitian upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Why could not they have translated it Super Columbam mutam remotis The dumb Dove in a far Country And I am perswaded that they durst not translate one Word when they looked on their own Coats Zeph. 1.4 I will cut off the names of the CHEMARIMS with the Priests meeting with the Word now and then in Hosea they translated it Priests but here it being joyned with the word PRIEST my Blades plaid the honest I should have said the selfish men and never translated it at all Tremelius and Junius give it a very honest and true Version Nomen Atratorum cum Sacerdotibus The Names of Black-Coats with the Priests I commend this Scripture to the serious considerations of our Rigid Presbyterians and when they look upon it let them do as the Peacock doth when he looks on his leggs I desire the Reader of this Book not to give credit to every one that speaks against Antiquity nor to carp at that which they cannot mend for I dare say and will affirm that the Authour here of hath written herein nothing but what is true nothing contrary to the Will of God to whose Protection I leave him The Almighty bless him prosper his studies For such is the desire and hopes of him who craves leave to subscribe himself Your Humble Servant and true admirer of your Christian Ingenuity Sincerity and Courage T. J. Courteous Reader MAny of our late Divines bring such poor weak Arguments against the Celebration of Christ's birth-day that I am almost ashamed to repeat any of them much less then will I trouble my self to answer them they being so ridiculous that if it were possible they would cause corpus rationis vacuum to laugh them to scorne Two or three I will repeat the first is of a Divine that brought a Rubrick or Almanack into the Pulpit to bury this Day and reads Arguments out of it to the People and tells them a tale of a rub without a bottome I am sure this Gentleman might have looked in a Jack-Dawes Nest and have found as good Arguments there as any he found in his Almanack Another Divine saith It is not onely a bad time but it is the worst of all times and thinks This ignis fatuus of his giddy brain is sufficient to lead men from the Truth But Alas I will be so bold as to deny his Proposition and I am sure he cannot prove it for he hath no more skill in arguing then a Cow hath in dancing The third Divine saith It is the Devil's day and therefore ought to be buryed and never to be celebrated But I reply thus His Body will descend into Orcus and his Name will be buryed in Oblivion long before this Day will be buryed for I doubt not but it will be celebrated as it ought to be untill there will be a period put unto all things I wish all Christian Readers of this Book happiness in this World and a Crown of Glory in that to come T. J. A BOX OF Spikenard Newly Broken The Question propounded by Richard B. which was the occasion of this Treatise Quest WHether the Nativity of Christ commonly called christmas-Christmas-day ought to be celebrated R. B. denyeth it and endeavours to prove the contrary His Arguments are these 14 following Arg. 1. There is nothing in the World a Duty which God hath not made a Duty But God never made this a Duty Ergo it is no Duty Arg. 2. If I should observe this Day I am afraid lest I should deny the perfection of the Scriptures Arg. 3. I am fearful lest by doing so I should arrogate the making of a Day to my self for if I should do so much as in me lyeth I should make a Day to my self Arg. 4. I am fearful lest by so doing I should set up a Day against God Arg. 5. It is the Devil's policy to imitate God and when he will be holy he will be holyer then God and when he seeth God will have a Sabbath to be kept then he will set up a Day and he will have a Christmas Day to be kept and he will have his Pictures in the Church-windows and the Crosse made on the Childrens foreheads in Baptism Arg. 6. I am fearful lest I should be condemned for accusing God for want of Wisdom and so make my self wiser then God as though he knew not what should be done as well as I and so derogate from the Wisdome of God Arg. 7. I am fearful of being more inexcusable for my sin Arg. 8. It seemeth to me a vain and needlesse thing First because God hath set apart a Sabbath the Lords Day for this purpose to meditate upon God's love in redeeming the World Secondly Because I never heard a good Argument for it Arg. 9. It is an impossibility to keep it and God never made an impossibility a duty no man knoweth certainly on which day Christ was born Arg. 10. I observe God hides things purposely from us to see whether we will do any thing on our own heads Arg. 11. It hath not bin the practise of Christian Churches to observe it Arg. 12. In all doubtfull Cases a man ought to go on the surest side Now I am sure It is no sin not to keep it but am not sure It is no sin to keep it Arg. 13. This time ought not to be celebrated for there is more sin committed in these 12 Dayes then is in all the year after in Drunkennesse Gluttony c. Arg. 14. God blesseth his own Day the Sabbath but hath not blessed this with successe Here followeth the Answer of Thomas M. to the forerecited Questions and Arguments and herein the honour of Christ his Nativity is Vindicated or the Solemnity of his Birth-day which is commonly called Christmas-day avowed and averred i. e. justified and maintained to be lawful and good Even in this Answer to fourteen arrogant Arguments or weak Linsey-Woolsy Reasons which have been of late eventilated and divulged in writing to the contrary Answer to the first Argument You may remember that the first Argument runneth thus There is nothing in the World a duty which
serveth his Servant The onely true freedom is to serve the Lord For Godliness with Contentment is great Gain saith the Apostle 1 Tim. 6.6 yea it is profitable unto all things saith he having promise of the life which now is of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4.8 How then can you justify or affirm it to be a vain needless thing to spend this time in the publick Worship and Service of God namely in the duties of Piety and exercises of Religion in hearing of the Word in offering up Prayers Praises to God celebrating it lauding his holy and glorious Name with Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord Eph. 5.19 20. giving thanks alwaies for all things unto God and the Father in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ And especially and above all things giving thanks for this one thing I mean that inestimable benefit and unspeakable gift which God bestowed upon the World at this time And me thinks to this end and purpose we may very well encourage and stirr up our selves with the words of David and say as he doth Psal 69.31 32. I will praise the name of God with a Song and magnify it with thanksgiving this also shall please the Lord better than a Bullock which hath horns and hoofs yea this shall be as precious and odoriferous in his Nostrils and no less pleasing and acceptable in his sight than that right costly Spikenard which was spent to anoint our Saviour's feet withall although it be said of that That the whole House wherein our Saviour was at that time was filled and perfumed with the odour of the Oyntment Joh. 12.3 But the Reasons you alledge to prove it to be a vain and needless thing to observe this day are in the next place to be examined and considered the first whereof is this as you affirm it because God hath set apart a Sabbath the lord's-Lord's-day for this purpose to meditate upon God's Love in redeeming the World and this seems to be an indifferent good one yet you know or at the least cannot but know that the Sabbath or the Seventh day was at the first ordained sanctified and set apart onely in remembrance of the World's Creation as it appears in that passage or Conclusion of the fourth Commandment Exod. 20. For in six daies the Lord made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that in them is Wherefore the Lord blessed the Seventh day and hallowed it For this Commandment is hedged in on every side lest we should break out from observing it with a Caveat and speciall Memorandum before it Remember c. and with two Reasons after one drawn from the Equity of the Law and the other taken from the Law-giver's or the Law-maker's own Example Six daies shalt thou labour As if God should speak thus If I permit thee six whole daies to follow thine own business thou mayest well afford me one onely for my own Service but six daies shalt thou labour and do all thine own work therefore hallow the Seventh in doing my work Six daies shalt thou labour whereupon both Reverend Calvin and that learned Gentleman B. Babington who was once Bishop of this Diocesse a man of no mean Note but of good Report both for Life and Learning do observe That these Words Six daies shalt thou labour c. are a permission or a remission of God's right who might challenge all rather than an absolute Commandment For as Judicious Perkins hath also delivered it in his Golden Chaine for a sound Orthodoxal and undeniable Thesis Catenâ aureâ cap. 13 The Church upon just occasion may separate some week daies also to the Service of the Lord and rest from Labour Joel 2.15 Blow the Trumpet in Zion sanctify a Fast call a solemn Assembly And as daies of publick Fasting for some great Judgment so daies of publick Rejoycing for some great Benefit are not unlawfull but exceeding commendable yea necessary And you cannot in Modesty and I hope you will not for Shame deny this to be the Truth for besides the ordinary Sabbath among the Jews they had their Sabbaths and their new Moons and appointed Feasts yea Almighty God himself ordained in the old Testament divers and sundry Feasts to put his People in mind of his great Benefits bestowed upon them Amongst the rest there were three solemn Festivals every year namely the Passover the Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles as we read in the 16th of Deuteronomy The Passover was instituted in remembrance of the deliverance from Egypt's bondage Pentecost in remembrance of the Law given in Mount Sinui The Feast of Tabernacles in remembrance of Israel's dwelling in Tents forty years in the Wilderness Now as Hemingius observes in his Postil dom 1. post Epiph. instead of those three Jewish Feasts our Christian Church which may challenge as much Liberty as the Jewish if not more hath substituted Christmas in honour of Christ's Incarnation Easter in honour of Christ's Resurrection and Whitsuntide in honour of Christ's confirmation of the Gospel by sending unto us the Holy Ghost at that time So that we say according as St. Austin saith in his 108 Epist. cap. 1 Celebrantes Anniversariâ solemnitate Pascha reliquasque Christianas diêrum Festivitutes non observamus tempora sed quae illis significantur temporibiu i.e. In celebrating Easter and other Christian Feasts we do not so much observe the times as the things that are represented and signified unto us at those times If then it be granted as it cannot be denied according to your words that God hath set apart a Sabbath which is our Christian Sabbath and is called the Lord's Day because the Lord rose from death to life on that Day and that on this day in that respect we are to meditate on God's Love in redeeming the World if we must do this once every week in an ordinary course how much more may the Church and Spouse of Christ appoint and set apart one day in the year after an extraordinary manner to meditate and muse and think on his Love in redeeming her from the hands of all her Enemies for so indeed the holy Priest Zacharias tells us in his Song called Benedictus That this was the main End of our Redemption Luk. 1.74 that we being delivered out of the hands of our Enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness all the daies of our Life Whereupon I infer That if we must serve him all the daies of our life as he may justly challenge and require it at our hands in regard he hath redeemed us How much more ought we to meditate on his Love not onely once a week but also once in every year praise his most Holy Name after a more speciall and singular manner For at this time especially and particularly it may be said of Him as the Psalmist doth Psal 111.9 He sent Redemption unto his People He
stirred up Daniel Haggai Malachi Zachariah Ezra Nehemiah and other untill the coming of Christ himself who did alwayes exhort his People to be of good chear and to be of good comfort in the midst of all their afflictions and tribulations and still to hope against hope as our Father Abraham did Rom. 4 1◠So Zacharias in his Hymn openeth his mouth saying Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath Visited and Redeemed his People raysing up the horn of Salvation unto us as he speak by the mouth of all his Prophets which have been since the World began So St. Peter in his Sermon ad populum all the Prophets from Samuel and thenceforth as many have spoken have likewise foretold of these dayes and to Cornelius that pious and famous Captain of Casarea Acts 10.43 To him give all the Prophets witness That through his Name all that believe in Him shall receive remission of sins Now with what face can any man say That God hath not blessed this Day with successe seeing this Day hath produced so many good gracious effects glorious wonders and these not only in the Earth but also in the Heavens for if we will believe Venerable Beda it was so nato Domino stellae dederunt lumen in Custodiis laetatae sunt plus namque solit◠luxêrrent ei cum Jocunditate qui fecit illas quasi sign is sic conclamantes Hic est dominus noster non aestimabitur alius The Staris at His Birth did shine more clearly and chearfully then their custom was because their Maker was then born seeming to tell us This is the Lord our God and we must look for none other Here me-thinks alluding to that excellent saying in Job I cannot chuse but argue and inferr upon it Did the Starrs of the morning praise him the wise men of the East rejoyce and so the Shepheards and all the Children of God i. e. the Angels rejoyce and sing Job 38.7 And why then shall we be dumb and silent and not break forth into the like Exultation Jubilation and Rejoycing And have we not a warrant so to do Psal 33.1 Rejoyce in the Lord Oye Righteous for it becometh well the just to be thankful Rejoyce in the Lord alwayes and again I say Rejoyce Phil. 4.4 Yea let the heart of all them rejoyce that serve the Lord. Let us then here a little correct our Selves and recollect our Spirits as those four leprous men did who returned from the spoyl of the Syrian-Camp and say We do not well This Day is a Day of good tydings and should we hold our peace For mine own part let the Leprosie of those men cleave unto my skin if it be not as joyful a thing to me to record and recount to commemorate and congratulate the honour and happinesse and good success of this Day as ever it was to them to carry the happy news of the flight of Aram Rejoyce then O ye Heavens and be glad O Earth for on this Day Heaven and Earth were reconciled and God was made Man to make peace between God and Man Rejoyce O Grandfather Adam for on this Day that first promise made unto thee concerning Christ began to be fulfilled How that the seed of the Woman should break the Serpents head Gen. 3.15 Rejoyce father Abraham for on this Day in thy Seed All the Nations of the Earth are blessed Gen. 22.18 Rejoyce King David for on this Day God hath of the fruit of thy Body set a King upon thy Throne Psal 132.11 Rejoyce ye Prophets of the Lord for all your prophecyes on this Day were fulfilled Rejoyce ye that are sick for on this Day the Physitian of the World was borne Venit de coelo magnus Medicus Qui per totom ubique Jacebat agrotus saith St. Austin Rejoyce ye Virgins for a Virgin on this Day brought forth a Son Rejoyce ye Children for on this Day the great God became a little Babe Let all People Jews and Gentiles Bond and Free High and Low Rich and Poor one with another Let all rejoyce together for that He who was in the beginning without any beginning for He is that true Melchezedeck who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having neither beginning of Dayes nor end of Life Heb. 7.3 And therefore in this sense is Styled an everlasting Father Isa 9.6 because he is the Author of eternity to all Creatures for that He who was in the beginning before all beginnings and in a time when there was no time measured or limited out Gal. 4.4 yet in the fulness of time was made of a Woman and wrapped in Swadling-Clothes for that He who 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 2.7 the Word became Infans in cunis vagiens an Infant not able to speak one syllable so that He who was God did vouchsafe to become Deus nobiscum God with us yea and to dwell amongst us appearing in the shape of a Man for as the Apostle exellently expresseth both his humiliation and exaltation thus saying Phil. 2.7 8 9 10 11. Ipse sese exinanivit i. e. as Theodore Beza neatly expoundeth it Quasi ex omni seipsum ad nihil redegit i. e. He that at first made all things of nothing did afterwards make nothing of Himself for Man's sake He made Himself of no Reputation and took upon Him the form of a Servant and was made in the likeness of a Man and being found in fashion of a Man he humbled Himself and became obedient unto Death even the Death of the Cross Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him and given Him a Name which is above every Name That at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in Heaven of things in Earth and of things under the Earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father To which God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Ghost three in one and one in three one immortall invisible indivisible incomprehensible and one onely ever wise God be rendred and ascribed as of due belongeth all Honour and Glory Power and Praise and Obedience both now and for ever more Amen FINIS
remember And not forget His kindness towards Man But set forth 's praise with all the Might we can Did not the Augels do the same and sing A holy Carroll to our Heavenly King Did not the Shepherds Wise men of the East Praise Him bring presents of the best Even Gold Frankincense Myrrhe To come so far they did them selves bestir In so short a time I mean to come so far But they were guided by a glorious Star To Bethlem Town and to that very place Wherein that blessed Babe lay-full of grace Though mean in shew and laid but in a Manger Yet they acknowledg'd him though they were strangers And down they fell upon their bended knee And aid adore and worship him all three Opening their Treasures offering such a thing As did become a Man a God a King A Mystery for Myrrhe Frankincense Gold Do signify the Office of Christ threefold For both King Priest Prophet's He To rule pray for teach both thee me And this according to the Christian Poet Juvencus Aurum Thus Myrrham Regique Deoque Hominique Dona ferunt Liber ad Lectorem Si Natura negat facit Indignatio Versum AND is it News you look for O Sir There 's none I do but tell you of a thing done long agone Yet this is News for me-thinks 't is very strange To hear of such an uncouth prodigious Change That Christmas should be buried Is old England dead Alas This whimzy comes from a strange head Who would have all things new in spight of old Sure they would have a new Christ if they could A Christ without a Birth How strange is this Sure they are madd or else they dote I wis New Lords new Laws What would they have new Gods Or do they long to be scourg'd with new Rods. War was in the Gates und many a misery moe When Israel did the living God foregoe To worship dead Idols of wood and stone Whereas they should have worshipt God alone But mark their reason which is not worth a rush They all want shame or else they would blush Because they know not when Christ was born Therefore like Jews at 's Birth they scorn And scoff at us because that we do dance Before the Ark do Christ's Name advance But let them Michol-like disdain yet we With holy David will yet viler be The Article of his Birth-day they do deny Such Antichristian Tenet's I defy For born he was and of a Virgin pure And did for us the pains of Hell endure To bring us unto happiness and perfect bliss Wherein no sense of grief nor sorrow is Then cause have we for to observe this time And not to account it any fault or crime This Feast of Christ hath been highly kept of yore And never yet esteemed Popery before It is not Superstition to eat a Pye Sure he that tells you this tells you a Lye And doth dissemble with his glozing tongue These Round head Hypocrites do all the wrong All ancient customes be they ne're so good They esteem no more than Tales of Robbin-hood ' Cause Papists keep it therefore must not we ' Cause they are good to the poor wee 'l hidebounded be Oh no! Not so my Masters whatsoever betide Let us follow the Scripture for our onely Guide Which tells us 'T is better to give than to receive And he that saith not so doth us deceive Reader farewell I do defy All those which Christ's Birth-day deny To his Loving Friend Mr. T. M. IT being my hap not long since to find this Treatise of Yours even before the printing and publishing thereof in a Friend's House And being upon Inquiry informed touching the Quality of the Authour I wondred what man it was that had so much Christian Courage in him as to adventure to vindicate this Christian Duty of celebrating the Nativity of our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus contemning the clamorous Censures and the vain Objections and Argumenta mutilata of the weak multitude of Pretenders to Religion and Learning Therefore being much affected with your Christian valour in this kind and desirous to commend the same to posterity It is not in my power to do it more effectually than by adding this Epistle to your Treatise which if I were eloquent I should commend in the Superlative degree For although the valiant and learned Champions or rather railing Antagonists of our times evemunt quicquid in buccam venit and spit out their venome against it and strive tanquam pro aris focis to maintain that it is a meer vanity to observe the blessed time of Christ's Birth-day Yet if they will give me leave to speak I shall tell them That the most learned Arguments that their subtle brains can invent or produce are not sufficient to prove it a Sin to celebrate this time and besides I will tell them it is an Herculean labour and as hard a task as to fetch Cerberus out of Hell And although they give out the worst words they can rake out of the sink of their rotten brains against it yet I will tell them It is easier for them to drive a Spunge into a Milstone than to disswade many godly People from the due Observation of it Reader Whoever thou art be perswaded in thy self That the bonouring of this time is just honest commendable good and lawful And I prove it thus with a threefold Argument and you know that a Cord which is threefold or thrice doubled is not easily broken My Argument is this That which God and the Church of God and the ancient Fathers have commanded to be kept and celebrated ought to be kept and celebrated and the use of it is good pious lawful and commendable But God and the Church of God and the Fathers have commanded this day to be kept and celebrated Ergo. c. I prove that God hath commanded it out of Heb. 1.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And again when he bringeth the first-begotten into the World he saith And let all the Angels of God worship Him Psal 77.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Incurvate vos ei omnes Divi. Luke Chap. 2. ver 10.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Angel said unto them Fear not c. That the Church of God and the Fathers commanded it to be celebrated is exactly proved in the Answers of some of the 14 Arguments and I need not recite them here And I do believe that there is no man in this Nation who hath lived forty or fifty years but hath known Christmas day strictly observed and kept But alas We can expect no goodness if we cast but our eyes upon the age wherein we live It is most admirably deciphered by the Poet De duro est Ultima ferro Protinus irrupit venae pejoris in aevum Omne nefas Fugêre Pudor Verumque Fidesque In quorum subiêre locum frandesque dolique Insidiaeque vis amor
indeed a sweet and brief Compendium and Abridgment of the whole Gospel But also I referr you to the learned and authentick Creed of judicious Athanasius which is an accurate and compleat Exposition of the former who saith Quicunque vult salvari c. Whosoever will be saved it is necessary to his everlasting Salvation That he believe rightly in the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ For the right Faith is That we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God is God and Man And when did He become Man or when was God manifested in the Flesh but on this day And what fitter day can there be to confess this Faith than on the very same day he was born For this is to perform Opus diei in die suo And this hath been both done and authorized or allowed of also to be done by as ancient learned godly and zealous Doctors and Divines as ever the whole Christian World affoarded since the first appearance of Christ in the shape of Man even by those Chariots Horsemen of Israel who were the chief Orient and resplendent Lights of the times the Glory of the Churches and the only Diamonds Pearls and Ornaments of the places where they lived men famous and renowned in their Generations namely St. Cyprian St. Ambrose St. Augustine St. Bernard St. Chrysostome Basil Cyril Beda Theophylact Euthymius Ludolphus Erasmus cum multis aliis c. whose Sermons Homilies and Orations for this day's Solemnity are both extant and eminent and might be made also evident and apparant if need were sufficient to convince and stop the mouth of any peevish and perverse Antagonist or Gainsayer whatsoever To these we may add Dia Poemata the Divine Poems of those sweet mellifluous Christian Poets Palladius and Prudentius made in an honourable memoriall of our blessed Lord and Saviour's Nativity And what if we mentioned here the rate Prophecies and Praedictious of the Sybillaes of old who foretold us of these things and the very Heroicall Verses and stately Genethliacon's of Heathenish Poets who lived both before some of them and othersome also about the time of the Birth of Christ who received their Raptures and Enthusiasms not onely from Sybilla or Apollo but as some think and are bold to conjecture it from the Spirit of God This was it that made Virgil to raise up his Muse to a higher strain Eclog. 4. Sicelides Musae paulo majora canamus Jam redit Virgo redeunt Saturnia Regna Jam nova Progenies coelo dimittitur alto Aspice venturo laetentur ut omnia sêclo For now return the daies of Peace now the new Progeny is sent from Heaven behold all things shall then rejoyce and be glad Tully in Lib. Divinationis gives this Observation out of Sybil that she prophesyeth of a King to come Quem Regem colere debemus si velimus esse salvi which King we must worship if we would be saved And this King should abolish all false Religions whatsoever Now concerning all these if you should cavill and object against them or any of them and say What is this to the Scripture Then will I answer you as our Saviour answered the Pharisees finding fault with his Disciples for their crying Hosanna before him when he ridd into Jerusalem I tell you that if these should have held their peace the very stones would cry out and applaud Him Well then Have all these doted and delired in their writing concerning this thing namely the solemn Observation of this high and festival Time in honour of the World 's most gracious and glorious and blessed Redeemer and are you the onely wise man as it were that is now left upon the Earth to correct them and direct us have all these erred Even so will we And more sweet shall our Errour be unto us with these I speak especially of those ancient and reverend Fathers of the Primitive Church whom I named before who I dare say were all and every one of them as fearful to offend God in denying the Perfection of the Scriptures as you for the very life can possibly be more sweet I say shall our errour be unto us with these of whom we make no question but that they are all bound up in the bundle of life with the Congregation of the first-born than a new and recent device and purpose of burying the Anniversary remembrance of this day in the silent Night and darksome Grave of everlasting Oblivion obtruded unto us by you and such as you who take upon them to be the grand Reformers of these times and great Undertakers and principal Innovators of all ancient lawful and laudable Customes whatsoever Let others affect Novelty how they please for my own part I ever reverenced and admired Antiquity especially when I have found it in the way of Verity and If I were worthy to admonish our young upstart malapert Masters of these times I would wish them to remember what grave St. Austin saith in his 118 Epist cap. 5. Ipsa mutatio consuetudinis etiam quâ adjuvat utilitate perturbat novitate Auswer to the third Argument The words of the third Argument are these I am fearfull lest I should make a day to my self c. Sir I wonder whether your Lecture-day is not a day made to your self I doubt not but you have done as much as in you lyeth concerning your Lecture-day and both extoll and preferr it before the day of Christ's Birth For this day hapning not long since to be upon your Lecture-day you did not spare to speak it nor blush to give it out in the Pulpit as I was credibly informed by some that heard you That if that day had not hapned on your Lecture-day you had not then preached so that your day must by all means be observed and kept strictly and praecisely but our Saviour's day must be scornfully slighted and neglected as a day not scarce fit to be named much less to be celebrated and regarded with honour But I say Let his Birth-day be celebrated yea all praise and Glory be unto him who was born and died for our Salvation Amen Answer to the fourth Argument The fourth Argument is this I am fearfull lest by observing this day I should set up a day against God To this I answer If you observe and celebrate this day you set not a day up against God but for God for that which you do for Christ you do for God for we know that God and Christ are not divided but He and the Father are One they are his own words John 10.30 Ego Pater Vnum sumus hoc est substantialiter Idem in Personis Distincti In which few words both the Heresy of the Arrians and Sabellians is sufficiently confuted For as learned Athanasius observeth who for this was happily called the World's Eye because he did see so much and pierce so far into this unsearchable and ineffable Mystery we must neither
then this if if you will believe Josephus who is a credible Author and a sufficient Reporter of that which was true being testis oculatus an eye-witness of many things which he wrote of and saw them acted and done before his eyes this malicious crafty Fox Herod as he tells us lib. antiquit 10. put to death almost all the Nobility of Juda and burned the Genealogies of their Kings and Princes commanding a Pedigree to be drawn out for himself as descending from the Kings of Juda. This was a right Matchiavilian policy and a deep sleight and stratagem of Sathan to extirpate and eradicate the name of Christ and the name of Christians for being a People from under Heaven How then shall we think or believe it that he hath any will or desire to set up a Day for Christ or to have him worshipped or adored who set upon Christ in the Wildernesse and tempted Him by proffering the whole World and all the Kingdomes and Glory of it to Him if he would but sall down and worship Him So that you plainly see he had rather be worshipped himself then to have Christ to be worshiped All his chief aim is to have the Power and Kingdom of Christ to be lessened and diminished and his own Kingdome to be enlarged and advanced But what did our Saviour answer or how did he resist his temptation Why surely he defied him and put him from him with an Apage Satana Avoid Sathan or get thee hence Sathan For it is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him onely shalt thou serve Math. 4.10 As if he had said If thou wilt not worship and serve him in Faith and Love thou shalt be compelled to worship him in fear and trembling and for this end is he reserved in everlasting Chains under darkness unto the Judgment of the great day saith St. Jude in his Epistle at the 8. ver As for Christ we know that all Power is given unto Him both in Heaven and Earth Math. 28. And this was it that the Angel Gabriel intimated to the Virgin Mary when he saluted her with that first happy and ever-joyful news of bringing forth a Son He shall be great saith he and shall be called the Son of the Highest and the Lord shall give unto him the Throne of his Father David and he shall Raign over the House of Jacob for ever and of his Kingdom there shall be no end Semper regnabit quem mater virge generabit It was the answer which Octavius the Emperour received from the Oracle concerning his Successor And David himself foretold as much of him saying Psal 145.13 Thy Kingdome is an everlasting Kingdome and thy Dominion endureth throughout all Ages Answer to the sixth Argument The sixth Argument is this If I should celebrate this Day I am fearful lest I should be condemned for accusing God for want of wisdome c. To this I answer As our Saviour saith This is the condemnation or this is the cause of mens condemnation as Beza interprets the place that light is come into the World and men loved darknesse rather than light because their deeds are evil For in Him was life and the life was the light of men and the light shined in darkness and the darknesse comprehended it not John 1.4 5. i.e. The darkness that was in the Gentiles thoughts and cogitations and the Vail of blindnesse that was upon the hearts of the Jews 2 Cor. 4.15 when Moses was read unto them caused them that they could neither apprehend nor comprehend this light And therefore they are both censured and condemned by the Apostle for want of wisdome and for want of a discerning Spirit 1 Cor. 1.21 22 23 24. For after that in the wisdome of God the World by wisdome knew not God it pleased God by the foolishnesse of preaching or by that preaching which the wise men of the World counted foolishnesse to save them that believe for the Jews require a signe and the Greeks seek after wisdome but we preach Christ Crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishnesse but unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the Power of God and the wisdom of God because the foolishnesse of God is wiser then Men and the weakness of God stronger then Men. And therefore I wire you not for being careful and chary of accusing God for want of wisdom as they did and yet whereas you say further you are fearfull lest you should make your self wiser then God as though He knew not what should be done as well as you and so derogate from the wisdome of God and herein so far as I conceive your meaning you seem a little to derogate from the wisdome of God thinking your self not bound to keep this Day because God in his wisdome hath not directly revealed or particularly nominated and set down in the Rubrick and Ephemeris or in the Register or Calender of his Word what day his Son Christ was born and there injoyned and commanded it to be observed and kept which albeit he hath not done it immediately from his own mouth yet mediately or ministerially hath he done it by that heavenly Trumpeter of his the Angel Gabriel who particularly did Preach promulgate express and declare it openly in the Fields to those Shepheards of Bethlehem Luke 2. for this thing was not done in secret nor in a corner Now I proceed to the seventh Argument Answer to the seventh Argument The words of the seventh Argument are these if I should observe this day I am fearful lest I should be the more inexcusable for my Sins Sir This quirk or transcendent ambiguity as I may so call it is but petitio principii and no better than idem per idem i. e. no more then you have said in some of the former yet in this case I will not say to you as Christ said to Peter Mar. 14.21 when he adventuring presumptuously to walk upon the Water was afraid and his heart deceiving him or rather his Faith fayling him he began to sink immediately whereupon Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto him O thou of little faith wherefore didst thou doubt So wherefore do you sear lest if you should keep this Day I mean the Day of Christ's Nativity that then you should be the more inexcusable for your fins What do you conceit that your carefull and conscionable observing of this time shall add to the weight of your sins or increase the measure and number of your impieties What a strange and wonderful anxious and pensive surmising and prejudicate or preposterous misdeeming is this Wherefore as our Saviour cheared and comforted his Disciples against the Persecutions and Tribulations which they feared would befall them after his departure from them John 14.1 So let me with your leave a little rectifie and direct you in this point Let not your heart be troubled ye believe in God
believe also in me and I verily believe it and am strongly perswaded that in doing this thing which you say you are fearful to do lest you should be the more inexcusable for your sins you shall be so far from being accused and condemned for it that it shall rather be a means to excuse you and a help to hide and cover your sins at the day of Judgment and all the harm I wish unto you or my self or to any of the dearest and nearest Friends that I have in his World is that we had no greater Crime or Offence then this to answer for at the great and terrible Day of our general and common appearance For then should we be acquitted and dismissed with that sentence of absolution I mean with that joyful and comfortable and soul-reviving sentence of Venite Benedicti Come ye blessed And for your further satisfaction herein and better confirmation of that which I have affirmed and averred Let me give you a hint and instance of it in that one and remarkable example of Mary Magdalen who though she were a notorious Malefactor and a great and grievous Sinner Luke 7. as the History Evangelical effigiates and sets her forth unto us yet hearing that Jesus sate down to meat in a Pharisee's house she presnmed and made bold to go into the house and bringing an Alablaster-Box of Oyntment she stood at his feet behind him weeping and began to wash his feet with tears and did wipe them with the hairs of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the Ointment Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it he spake within himself being discontented saying This man if he were a Prophet would have known who and what manner of Woman this is that toucheth him for she is a Sinner And Jesus answering said unto him Simon I have somewhat to say unto thee and he saith Master say on There was a certain Creditor who had two Debtors the one owed five hundred pence and the other fifty and when they had nothing to pay He freely forgave them hoth tell me therefore which of them will love him most Simon answered and â—aid I suppose that he to whom he forgave most and he said unto him Thou hast rightly judged And he turned unto the Woman and said unto Simon Seest thou this Woman I entred into thy House Thou gavest me no water for my Feet but she hath washed my Feet with tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head Thou gavest me no kisse but this Woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kisse my Feet My Feet with Oyl thou didst not anoint but this Woman hath anointed my Feet with Oyntment Wherefore I say unto thee Her sins which are many are forgiven for she loved much but to whom little is forgiven the same loveth little Where the Argument is not as learned Fulk observeth and as the whole discourse of the Text makes it manifest from the Cause to the Effect but from the Effect to the Cause Many sins are forgiven her therefore she hath loved much for our Saviour had cast seven Devils out of her therefore she had good cause to love him much for to whom little is remitted he loveth little wherefore our Saviour preferrs and extolleth her kindnesse both above and before the entertainment of the Pharisees House So that if we in like manner do shew our love to Christ freely and chearfully in celebrating the memoriall of his Birth as she did in token of his Burial we shall not onely be excused but accepted as she was for as St. Mark relates the same story more briefly Mark 14. 4. When there were some that murmured at it and had indignation within themselves saying Why was this waste of the Oyntment made for it might have been sold for more then three hundred pence and have bin given to the poor But Jesus said by way of Apology for her Let her alone Why trouble you her She hath wrought a good work on me for you have the poor with you alwayes and whensoever ye will you may do them good but me you have not alwayes She hath done what she could she is come aforehand to anoint my Body to the Burying Verily I say unto you Wheresoever the Gospel shall be preached thorow out the whole World this also that she hath done shall be spoken for a memoriall of her i. e. for a memoriall of her love of that good work that she hath bestowed upon me Wherefore as St. Austin answers some who made a question How it was possible a Virgin should bring forth a Child Fides adsit nulla quaestio remanebit So I say to you Si amor adsit timor iste removebit if you love Christ in sincerity as you ought to do then this fear will soon remove and expell such timorous Niceties and frivolous Scrupulosities out of your mind for what saith the Apostle St. John There is no fear in love but perfect love casteth out fear because fear hath torment or fear hath painfulnesse 1 John 4.18 And let this suffice for the answering of the seventh Argument Answer to the eighth Argument The words of the eighth Argument are these It seems to me a vain and needless thing c. To this Argument I answer first in the words of the Roman Oratour Quaedam videntur non sunt some things seem to be that which they are not for according to the Opinion of the Philosopher Quandoque sensus fallitur circa proprium Objectum sometimes the sense is deceived about its proper Object as when a Man seeth a Bush a far off he takes it to be a Man which when he cometh neer it he finds it to be no such matter even as the Man in the Gospel having received a little glimpse and glimmering of his sight thought he saw men walk like Trees i.e. he took them to be as bigg as Trees because the Organ of his Eye being not sufficiently cleansed he could not otherwise discern them Mark 8.24 But it seems to you to be a vain and needless thing What Is it a vain and needless thing to serve God It seems there were some who both thought and spake so in Malachi's time Mal. 3.13 14. but their gross error and their madness was reproved by the Prophet even as St. Peter tells us that Balaam was rebuked for his Iniquity the dumb Asse speaking with Man's veice forbade the madness of that false Propher because he loved the wages of Unrighteousness went beyond his permission being blinded with the hope of Bribes and Rewards of Divination 2 Pet. 2.16 and Is it think you a vain thing unprofitable to serve the Lord as Eliphaz the Temanite saith Job 4.7 Who ever perished being innocent So who ever waited on the Lord and went away unrewarded He that serveth himself serveth a Fool He that serveth the Devil serveth his Enemy He that serveth the World
the last verse If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead Yet willingly would I add here one strange thing more or two which are no more strange then true as a Corollary and Appendix to the former which though they were not Synchronisms or things Contemporaneous with the Birth of Christ yet the People of our Nation and our own Countrymen can witnesse them to be true as I relate them The first is the Thorne at Glastenbury in Sommersetshire which was commonly called Joseph's Thorne which for many hundred years together even as it is to be thought since the first arriving of Joseph of Arimathea there which was within five years after the Death and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus as that antient Historian of our Nation the Golden-mouthed Gildas reporteth this Thorne constantly budded and shewed forth its green leaves fair fresh and flourishing on this Day every year to the great admiration of all Spectators that came of purpose to behold it and this was no other then a Miracle and may serve for our confirmation in the faith of Him who for our sakes was contented to wear Coronam Spineam a Crown of Thornes Or it may well be supposed that ir flourished on this Day to testifie the truth of his Nativity and to signifie the flourishing Estate of the Gospel by Him which shall prosper and flourish manger the head and hatred of all Gain-sayers And although this Thorne be now as they say cut down by some spightful and malignant Zoilus yet those sufficient men of our parts who with their eyes have seen it and beheld it will still talk of it and tell it to their Children not for an old Wives Fable but for truth and one Gentleman among the rest of good rank and quality in these Parts who is a man well affected and devoted to the power and purity of Religion for that Thorn's sake having seen it doth strictly and carefully and conscionably keep this Day and is resolved to observe and keep it so long as he liveth The other rare and strange thing are the three pitts of Durham commonly called Hell kettles which are adjoyning near unto Darlington whose Waters are somewhat warm these are thought to come of an Earth-quake which happened in the year of Grace 1179. whereof the Chronicle of Tinmouth maketh mention whose record is this That on Christmasday at Oxen-Hall in the Territories of Darlington within the County of Durham the ground heaved aloft like unto a high Tower and so continued all that day as it were unmoveable untill the evening and then fell with so horrible a noise that it made the Neighbourhood-dwellers much afraid and the Earth swallowed it up and made in the same place three deep pits which are there to be seen for a Testimony unto this Day Here then we may apply that of the Psalmist and say Tremble thou Earth at the presence of the Lord at the presence of the God of Jacob which turned the hard Rock into a standing Water and the flint stone into a springing Well Psal 114.7 8. But whilst I am relling you a story of a Thorne-Tree and of deep pits of Water you bring me into another difficult and thorny question and plunge me as it were in a deep pit of non plus or nil ultra and into such a quick and and quagmire of troublesome meditation that I shall hardly get out of it the Quaery is this ninth following Answer to the ninth Argument The ninth Argument is this It is an impossibility to keep it and God never made an impossibility a Duty and that no man in the World knoweth certainly what day Christ was born on To this I answer although I first ingenuously confesse according to that Adage Davus sum ego non Oedipus for it is true which Chrysostome saith Praestat probâ ignoratione detineri quà m falsa opinione mancipari It is easier to plow in the plain then in the ground new-stocked better to write on a paper free from writing than on that which is full of lines and more easie to reach the simple then him that is opinionated of his own knowledge Better it is for a man and more commendable to confess a little ignorance then to boast of too much knowledge wherefore as Beza on that place in 1 Cor. 11.10 For this Cause ought the Woman to have power on her head because of the Angels gives no other note but this Quid hoc sit nondum mihi liquet wherein he confesseth he did not understand as yet what the Apostle meant by these words So if we should here yield and acknowledge that we do not certainly know what day Christ was born on Vaux yet As a late Starrgazing Speculator takes upon him in his Almanack to define the year of Christ his coming to Judgment but dare not precisely set down the day and hour of his coming So perhaps we shall here endeavour pro Nosse Posse to calculate and discover unto you the year when our Saviour Christ was born if not the day And for this I shall referr you to the Rhemists Marginal note on the second of Luke which reports unto us that in the year from the Creation of the World 3199 from Noah's flood 2957 from the Nativity of Abraham 2015 from Moses and the coming forth of the People of Israel out of Egypt 1510 from David anointed King 1032 from the first Olympias 800 from the building of Rome 752 Hebdomada 63 according to the prophecy of Daniel c. 9. that is in the year 440 or thereabout in the sixth age of the World when there was universal Peace in all the World the eternal God and son of the eternal Father meaning to Consecrate and Sanctifie the World with his most blessed coming being conceived of the Holy Ghost nine Months after his Conception Jesus Christ the Son of God is born in Bethlehem of Juda in the year of Caesar Augustus 42 Usuard in the Martyrol * And then why should not the 25 of Decem. be as solemnly observed and kept as the 5 of Nov. December 25 according to the common ancient supputation But it may be you will object against this because it comes from the Rhemists you will mislike it and disdain it yet nevertheless I say because it is not thwarted nor contradicted by Calvin nor Beza nor Fulke nor any other of our late Protestant Writers I see no just Cause or Reason why we should reject it but rather receive it Fide historicâ and believe it for truth as it is faithfully and exactly related by them for a sufficient Author and ancient Chronologer or Reporter of that which was nothing else but a true story and cannot be denyed or disproved yet put the Case here that we neither do nor cannot certainly know the Day whereon Christ was born therefore shall it be thought a thing impossible to keep it Then by the same