1. OF the parties compared; Angells, and Men. These two we must first compare,I. The Parties compared. Men, with Angells. that we may the more cleerly see the greatnesse of the grace and benefit, this day, vouchsafed vs. No long processe will need, to lay before you, how farr inferior our Nature is, to that of the Angells: It is a comparison without comparison. It is too apparant, if we be layed toge­ther, or weighed together, we shall be found minus habentes, farr too light. They are, in expresse termes, sayd, (both, in the Old, and in the New Testament) to excell vs in power: Psal. 103 20. 2. Pet. 2.11. And, as in power, so in all the rest. This one thing may suffice; to shew the ods: That our Nature; that we, when we are at our very highest perfection, (it is even thus expressed, that) we come neere, or are therin like to, or as an Angell. Perfect beauty, in Saint Stephen: They saw his face, as the face of an Angell. Perfect wisedome, in David: Act 6.15. 2. Sam. 14.2 [...]. My Lord the King is wise, as an Angell of God. Perfect eloquence, in Saint Paul: 1. Cor. 13.1. Though I spake with the tongues of men, nay of Angells. All our excellencie, our highest and most perfect estate, is but to be, as they: therefore, they aboue vs farr.

But, to come neerer: what are Angells? Surely, they are spirits; Glorious spirits; Heavenly spirits; Immortall spirits. For their Nature or substance, Spirits: For their Quality, Heb. 1.14. Heb. 9.5. Mat. 24.36. Luk. 20.36. or pro­pertie, Glorious: For their Place, or abode, Heavenly: For their Durance, or continuance; Im­mortall.

And, what is the seed of Abraham, but, as Abraham himselfe is? And, what is Abraham? Let him answere himselfe; I am dust and ashes. What is the seede of Abraham? Let one answere,Gen. 18.27. in the persons of all the rest; Dicens putredini, &c. saying to rottennesse, Iob 17.14. thou art my mother and to the wormes, yee are my brethren. 1. They are spirits; Now, what are we, what is the seed of Abraham? Flesh. And what is the very harvest of this seede of flesh? what, but corruption, and rottennesse, and wormes: There is the substance of our bodies.Gal. 6.8.

2. They, glorious spirits: We, vile bodies (beare with it, it is the Holy Ghosts owne terme; Who shall change our vile bodies.) And not only base and vile, but filthy and vncleane: Phil. 3.21. Iob 14.4. ex im­mundo conceptum semine, conceived of vncleane seede: There is the metall. And, the moulde is no better: the wombe, wherein we weare conceived vile, base, filthy, and vncleane. There,Ps. 51.6. is our qualitie.

3. They, heavenly Spirits, Angells of heaven: that is, their place of abode is in heaven above. Ours is heere below, in the dust; inter pulices, & culices, tineas, araneas, & vermes; Our place is heere among fleas and flies, mothes and spiders, and crawling wormes. There, is our place of dwelling.

4. They, immortall spirits; that is their durance. Our time is proclaimed in the Prophet: Flesh, All flesh, is grasse, and the glorie of it, as the floure of the field; (From Aprill, to Iune. Esa. 40.6.) The scithe commeth; nay, the wind but bloweth, and, we are gone. Withering sooner then the grasse, which is short: Nay, fading sooner, then the flower of the grasse, which is much shorter:Iob 4.19. Nay (saith Iob) rubbed in peeces more easily, then any moth.

This we are, to them, if you lay vs together. And, if you weigh vs vpon the ballance, Men, by themselues. Psal. 62.11. Psal. 144.14. we are altogether lighter then vanitie it selfe: There is our weight. And, if you value vs; Man is but a thing of nought: There is our worth. Hoc est omnis homo; This is Abraham, and this is Abrahams seede: And who would stand to compare these with Angells? Verily, there is no comparison; They are, incomparably, farr better then the best of vs.

Now then: this is the rule of reason, the guide of all choice, Evermore to take the better and leave the worse. Thus would man do; Haec est lex hominis. Heer then commeth the mat­ter of admiration: Notwithstanding these things stand thus, between the Angells and Abra­hams seed: (They, Spirits, glorious, heavenly, immortall;) yet tooke He not them; yet, in no wise, tooke He them; But the seede of Abraham. The seed of Abraham, with their bodies, vile bodies, earthly bodies of clay, bodies of mortalitie, corruption, and death: These He tooke, these He tooke for all that. Angells, and not men; So, in reason, it should be: Men, and not Angells; So it is: And, that granted to vs, that denied to them. Granted to us, so base; that denied them, so glorious. Denied, and strongly denied; [...]; Not, not in any wise, not at any hand, to them. They, every way, in every thing els, above, and before vs; in this, beneath and be­hind vs. And we (vnworthy, wretched men that we are,) above and before the Angells, the Cherubim, the Seraphim, and all the Principalities, and Thrones, in this dignitie. This being [Page 4] beyond the rules and reach of all reason, is surely matter of astonishment: [...], &c. (saith S. Chrysostome,) this, it casteth me into an extasie, and maketh me to imagine, of our Nature, some great matter, 1. Sam. 3.18. I cannot well expresse, what. Thus it is. It is the Lord, let him doe what see­meth good in his owne eyes.

II. Wherein they are cō ­pared.And, with this, I passe over to the second point. This little is enough, to shew, what odds between the Parties heer matched. It wil much better appeare (this) when we shall weigh the word [...], that, wherin they are matched. Wherin, two degrees we obserued: 1. Ap­prehendit, and 2. apprehendit Semen.

I. In apprehen­dit, he took.1. Of apprehendit, first. Many words were more obvious, and offered themselves to the Apostle (no doubt,) Suscepit, or Assumpsit, or other such like: This word was sought for (certein­ly,) and made choise of (saith the Greeke Scholiast: And he can best tell vs, It is no com­mon word,O [...]cumen. in locum. And tell vs also, what it weigheth:) [...] (saith he) [...]: This word supposeth a flight of the one partie, and a pursuit of the other: A pursuit, eager, and so long, till he overtake; and when he hath overtaken, [...], appre­hendens, laying fast hold, and seizing surely on him. So, two things it supposeth; ¹ a flight of the one, and ² a hot pursuit of the other.

It may well suppose a flight. For, of the Ind v. 6. Gen. 3.8. Angells there were that fled, that kept not there 1 originall, but forsooke and fell away from there first estate. And Man fell, and fled too; and hid himselfe in the thicke trees, from the presence of God. And this is the first yssue. Vpon the Angells flight, he stirred not; satt still; neuer vouchsafed to follow them: Let them goe, whither they would; as if they had not been worth the while. Nay, He never assumed ought, by way of promise, for them: No promise, in the Old, to be borne and to suffer; No Gospell, in the New Testament, neither was borne nor suffered, for them.

But, when Man fell, He did all. Made after him presently, with Vbi [...]s: sought to re­claime him, What haue you done? Why haue you done so? Protested enmitie, to him, that had drawne him thus away:Gen. 3.9. Made his assumpsit of the Womans seede.

And (which is more,) when that would not serve, sent after him still, by the hand of his Prophets, to sollicit his returne.

And (which is yet more,) when that would not serue neither; went after him (Himself) in person: left his ninety and nine in the fold, and gott him after the lost sheepe: Neuer left, till he found him, Luk. 15.5. layed him on His owne shoulders, and brought him home againe.

It was much, even but to looke after us; to respect vs, so farr, who were not worth the cast of His eie: Much, to call vs backe, or vouchsafe vs an Vbies.

But more, when we came not for all that, to send after vs. For, if He had but onely been content, to give vs leave, to come to Him againe; but given vs leave, to lay hold on Him, to touch but the hemme of His garment; (Himselfe sitting still, and neuer calling to vs, nor sending after vs;) it had been favour enough: farr above that we were worth. But, not only to send by others,Psal. 40 7. but to come Himselfe after vs; to say, Corpus apta mihi, Ecce venio; Gett me a bodie, I will my selfe after him: this, was exceeding much. That we fled, and He fol­lowed vs flying.

2 But yet, this is not all; This, is but to follow. He not onely followed, but did it so, with such eagernesse, with such earnestnesse, as, that is worthy a second consideration. To follow, is some­what; yet, that may be done faintly, and a farr of: But, to follow through thicke and thinn; to follow hard, and not to give over; never to give over, till he overtake: that, is it.

And, He gave not over His pursuit, though it were long and laborious, and He full wearie; though it cast Him into a sweate, a sweate of bloud. Angelis suis non pepercit (saith S. Peter, 2. Pet. 2.4.) The Angells offending, He spared not them: Man offending, He spared Him, and to spare Him (saith S. Paul,) He spared not His own Son: Nor His own sonne spared not Himself; but fol [...]owed his pursuit, through danger, distresse, yea, through death it selfe. Followed, and so followed, as nothing made Him leave following, till He overtooke.

3 And, when He had overtaken (for those two are but presupposed, the more kindly to bring in the word: [...]:) When (I say) he had overtaken them, commeth in fitly and properly, [...]. Which is not every taking; not suscipere, or assumere: But, manum injicere, arri­pere, apprehendere; to seize vpon it with great vehemencie, to lay hold on it with both hands, as vpon a thing, we are glad we haue got, and will be loth to let goe againe. We [Page 5] know, assumpsit, and apprehendit, both, take; but, apprehendit, with farre more fervor and zeale, then the other. Assumpsit, any common ordinarie thing; apprehendit, a thing of price, which we hold deare, and much esteeme of.

Now, to the former comparison, of what they, and what we, (but specially, what we,) add this threefold consideration. 1. That He denied it the Angells, [...]: denied it peremptorily, [...]; Neither looked, nor called, nor sent, nor went after them: Neither tooke hold of them, nor suffered them to take hold of Him, or any promise from Him: Denied it them, & denied it them thus. 2. But, graunted it vs; and graunted it, how? That He followed vs first; and that, with paine: And seized on vs, after; and that with greate desire: We flying, and not worth the following: and lying, and not worth the taking vp. ¹ That he gave not leave for vs to come to Him: or, satt still, and suffered vs to returne, and take hold: (yet, this He did.) ² That He did not looke after vs, nor call after vs, nor send after vs only: (yet, all this He did, too.) ³ But, Himselfe rose out of his place; and came after vs; and with hand and foot, made after vs: Followed vs, with his feet; and seized on vs, with his hands; and that, per viam, non assumptionis, sed apprehensionis, (the maner, more then the thing it selfe.) All these, if we lay together, and, when we haue done, weigh them well, it is hable to worke with vs. Sure­ly, it must needs demonstrate to vs, the care, the love, the affection, He had to vs, we know no cause why; being but (as Abraham was) dust, and (as Abrahams seede (Iacob) saith,Gen. 18.25.32.10. lesse; and not worthy of any one of these: No, not, of the meanest of his mercies. Especially, when the same thing so gratiously graunted vs, was denied to no lesse persons, then the Angells, farr more worthy then we. Sure, He would not have done it for vs, and not for them; if He had not esteemed of vs, made more acompt of vs, then of them.

And yet, behold a farr greater then all these: Which is, apprehendit semen. He took not 2 the person, but he took the seed, (that is) the nature of man. Many there be,In Appre­hendit Se­men. that can be content to take vpon them the persons, and to represent them, whose natures, nothing could hire them once to take vpon them. But, the seed is the Nature; yea (as the Philosopher saith) naturae intimum, the very internall essence of nature is the seed. The Apostle sheweth, what his meaning is, of this taking the seed, when (the verse next afore, save one) he saith, that forasmuch as the children were partakers of flesh and bloud, He also would take part with them, Ver. 14. by taking the same. To take the flesh and bloud, He must needs take the seed: for, from the seed, the fl [...]sh and bloud doth proceed: which is nothing els but the blessed apprehension of our na­ture, by this days Natiuitie. Wherby, He, and we, become not only one flesh, (as man and wife do, by coniugal union:) but, even one bloud too, (as brethren, by naturall union: Ephes. 5.28.29.) Per om­nia similis (saith the Apostle, in the next verse after againe) sinne only set aside: Alike and sutable to vs in all things; flesh, and bloud, and nature and all. So taking the seed of Abra­ham, as that he became (himselfe) the seed of Abraham: So was, and so is truly termed,Verse 17. in the Scriptures. Which is it, that doth consummate, and knit vp all this point, and is the head of al. For, in all other apprehensions, we may let go, and lay down, when we will; but, this, this taking on the seed, the nature of man, can never be put of. It is an assumption, without a de­position. One we are, He and we, and so we must be; One, as this day, so for ever.

And, emergent, or issuing from this, are all those other apprehendings, or seisures of the persons of men, (by which, God layeth hold on them, and bringeth them back from error to truth, and from sinne to grace,) that have been, from the beginning, or shalbe to the end of the world. That, of Abraham himself, whom God layed hold of, and brought from out of Vr of the Chaldeans, and the Idolls, he there worshipped. That,Gen 1 [...].7. Act. 9.4. Luk. 22.62.62. of our Apostle S. Paul, that was apprehended in the way to Damascus. That, of Saint Peter; that in the very act of sinne, was seized on with bitter remorse for it. All those: and all these, wherby men dayly are layd hold of in spirit, and taken from the by-pathes of sinne, and error, and redu­ced into the right way; and so their persons recovered to God, and seized to his vse. All these apprehensions, (of the branches,) come from this apprehension (of the Seed:) they all have their beginning and their being, from this dayes taking, even Semen appr [...]hendit. Our receiving His Spirit, for His taking our flesh. This seede, wherewith Abraham is made the sonne of God, from the seed, wherwith Christ is made the soone of Abraham.

And, the end, why He thus took vpon him the seed of Abraham, was, because He tooke vpon Him, to deliver the seede of Abraham. Deliver them He could not, except He [Page 6] destroyed death, Ver. 14. and the Lord of death, the devill. Them, He could not destroy, vnlesse He dyed: Dy He could not, except He were mortall: Mortall He could not be, except He tooke our nature on Him, that is, the seede of Abraham. But, taking it, He became mor­tall, dyed, destroyed death, delivered vs; was (Himselfe) apprehended, that we might be lett goe.

One thing more then, out of this word Apprehendit. The former toucheth His love, whereby He so layd hold of us, as of a thing very precious to Him: This (now) toucheth our daunger; whereby, he so caught us, as, if He had not, it had been a great venture, but we had suncke and perished. One, and the same word, [Apprehendit] sorteth well, to expresse both his affection, wherby He did it; and out great perill, wherby we needed it. We had been (before) layd hold of, and apprehended, by one, mentioned in the 14. verse, he that hath power of death, even the Devill: We were in daunger, to be swallowed vp by him; we needed one, to lay hold on us fast, and to plucke us out of his jawes. So He did. And I would have you to marke: It is the same word, that is used, to Saint Peter, in like daun­ger, (Matt. 14.13.) when, being ready to sinke, [...], Christ caught him by the hand, and saved him. The same heere, in the Greeke; that, in the Hebrue, is used (Gen. 19.16.) to Lot and his daughters, in the like daunger; when, the Angells caught him, and by strong hand plucked him out of Sodom. One delivered, from the water; the other, from the fire.

And it may truly be sayd (in asmuch as, all Gods promises, as well touching temporall, as, eternall deliverances;1. Cor. 1.20. and as well corporall, as spirituall; be in Christ yea and Amen: Yea, in the giving forth; Amen, in the performing) that even our temporall delivery, from the daungers, that daily compasse us about; even from this last, so great, and so fearefull, as the like was never imagined before; all have their ground, from this Great apprehension: are fruits of this Seede, heere, this blessed Seede, for whose sake, and for whose truthes sake, that we (though unworthily) professe, we were by Him caught hold of, and so plucked out of it:Rom. 9.29. And but for which Seed, facti essemus sicut Sodoma, We had been even as Sodome, and pe­rished in the fire; and the powder there layed had even blowen us up all.

Heb. 8.9.And may not I add to this [apprehendit, ut liberaret,] the other (in the 8. Chapter following) apprehendit, ut manu duceret: to this [of taking us by the hand, to deliver us,] that, [of taking us by the hand, to guide us:] and so, out of one word, present Him to you, not only, as our Deliverer, but as our Guide, too? Our Deliverer, to ridd us from him, that hath power of death; Our Guide, to Him, that hath power of life. To leade us, even by the way of truth, to the path of life; by the stations of well doing, to the mansions in His Fathers house. Ioh. 14.2. Ioh. 14.3. Seeing, He hath signified, it is His pleasure not to let goe our hands, but to hold us still, till He have brought us, that, where He is, we may also be. This also is in­cident to apprehendit; but, because it is out of the compasse of the text, I touch it only, and passe it.

The reasons of this ap­prehendit.And, can we now passe by this, but we must aske the question, that Saint Iohn Baptists Mother sometime asked, on the like occasion? Luk. 1.43. Vnde mihi hoc? (saith she:) Vnde nobis hoc? (may we say:) Not, quòd mater Domini; but, quòd Dominus ipse venit ad nos; Whence commeth this unto us, that the Lord himselfe, thus came unto us, and tooke us, letting the Angells go? Angells are better then the best of vs; and, reason would, ever, the better should be taken: how then were we taken, that were not the better?

Sure, not without good ground, (say the Fathers,) who haue adventured to search out the Theologie of this point: such reasons, as might serve for inducements, to Him, that is pronus ad miserendum, naturally enclined to pitie; why, upon us, He would rather have compassion. And, diverse such I find: I will touch onely one or two of them.

First, Mans case was more to be pitied, then theirs, because man was tempted, by ano­ther; 1 had a tempter. The Angells had none, None tempted them; None, but themselves. Et levius est alienâ mente peccâsse, quam propriâ (saith Augustine.) The offense is the lesse, if it grow from another, then if it breed in ourselves: And, the lesse the offense, the more pardonable.

2 Againe, of the Angells, when some fell, other some stood; and so, they (all) did not perish. But, in the first man, all men fell; and so, euery mothers child had died, and no flesh been saved. For, all were in Adam; and so, in, and with Aadam, all had come to nought. Then com­meth [Page 7] the Psalmists question; Nunquid in vanum, &c. Psal. 87.47. What hast thou made all men for nought? That cannot be: So great wisedome cannot do so great a worke, in vaine. But, in vaine it had been, if God had not shewed mercie; And, therefore was Mans case rather, of the twaine, matter of commiseration. (This is Leo.)

And thus have they traveiled, and these have they found, why He did apprehend us, rather 3 then them. It may be, not amisse. But, we will content our selves, for our vnde nobis hoc? whence commeth this to us, with the answer of the Scriptures: Whence,Luk. 1.78. Esa. 9.7. but from the tender mercies of our God, wherby this day hath visited us? Zelus Domini (saith Esay,) The zeale of the Lord of Hosts shall bring it to passe: Propter nimiam charitatem (saith the Apostle:Eph. 2.4. Ioh. 3.16. Luk. 10.21.) Sic Deus dilexit (saith He, He himselfe;) And we (taught by him) say, Even so Lord, for, so it was thy good pleasure, thus to do.

All this while are we about taking the Seed: the Seed in generall. But now,III. The Choise. Why Abrahams Seed. why Abra­hams seed? Since it is Angells, in the first part, why not Men in the second, but Seed? Or, if Seed, to expresse our nature; why not the Seed of the woman, but the Seed of Abraham? It may be thought, because he wrote to the Hebrews, he rather used this terme of Abrahams seed; because, so they were, and so loved to be stiled, and he would please them. But, I find, the ancient Fathers go further; and, out of it, raise matter, both of comfort, and of direction: and that, for us, too.

1. Of comfort, first; with reference to our Saviour, who taking on Him Abrahams seed, 1. For our comfort must withall take on Him the signature of Abrahams Seed, and be, as he was, circumcised. There is a great matter dependeth even on that. For, being circumcised, He became a debtor, Gal. 5.3. to keepe the whole Law of God: which bond we had broken, and forfeited, and incurred the curse annexed, and were ready to be apprehended, and committed for it. That so, He, kee­ping the Law, might recover backe the chirographum contra nos, Col. 2.14. the hand-writing that was against us; and so, set us free of the debt. This Bond did not relate, to the Seed of the wo­man; it pertained (properly) to the seed of Abraham: therefore, that terme fitted us bet­ter. Without faile, two distinct benefits they are: ¹ Factus homo, and ² Factus sub lege; and, so doth Saint Paul recount them. Made man; that is, the Seed of the woman: and,Gal 4.4. made under the Law; that is, the Seed of Abraham. To little purpose, He should have taken the one, if He had not also undertaken the other, and, as the Seed of Abraham, entred bond for us, and taken our debt upon Him. This first.

2. And, besides this, there is yet another; referring it to the Nation, or People, whom He took upon him. It is sure, they were, of all other people, the most untoward; both, of the hardest hearts, and of the stiffest necks; and (as the Heathen man noteth them) of the worst na­tures. God himselfe telleth them so; It was, for no vertue of theirs,Deut. 9.6. or for any pure naturalls in them, that He tooke them to Him, for, they were, that way, the worst of the whole earth. And so then, the taking of Abrahams seed amounteth to as much, as that of S. Paul, 1. Tim. 1.15. (no lesse true, then worthie of all men to be receiued,) that He came into the world, to save sin­ners; and that, che [...]fe sinners, as (it is certaine) they were; even the Seed of Abraham, of all the Seed of Adam.

But, not for comfort onely, but for direction two, doth He use Abrahams name heere.2. For our Di­rection. Even, to entaile the benefit comming by it, to his Seed; that is, to such as he was. For, for his sake, were all nations blessed. And Christ, though He tooke the seed of the woman, Gen. 22.18. yet doth not benefit any, but the seed of Abraham; even those, that follow the stepps of his faith. For, by faith, Abraham tooke hold of Him, by whom, he was in mercie taken hold of:Gen. 15.7. Et tu mitte fidem & tenuisti (saith Saint Augustine.) That faith of his, to him, was accounted for righte­ousnesse. To him was, and to us shall be (saith the Apostle,Rom. 4.23.) if we be in like sort apprehensive of Him. Either, as Abraham; or, as the true Seed of Abraham (Iacob) was, that took such hold on Him, as he said plainely, Non dimittam te, nisi benedixeris mihi; without a blessing,Gen. 32.26. Rom 9.7. he would not let Him go. Surely, not the Hebrues alone; nay, not the Hebrues, at all, for all their carnall propagation: They onely are Abrahams seed, that lay hold of the word of promise. And, the Galatians so doing, though they were meere heathen men, (as we be,Gal. 3.6.) yet he telleth them, they are Abrahams seed, and shall be blessed together with him.

But, that is not all; there goeth more to the making us Abrahams seed, (as Christ himselfe, [Page 8] the true seed, Iohn 8.39. Rom. 4.12. teacheth both them and us.) Saith He; if ye be Abrahams sonnes, then must you do the workes of Abraham. Which, the Apostle well calleth, the stepps, or impressions of Abrahams faith; Or, we may call them, the fruits of this seed, heer. So reasoneth our Savi­our: Hoc non fecit Abraham; This did not He; if ye do it, yee are not His seed: This did He; do ye the like, and His seed ye are. So, heer is a double apprehension: ¹ one of S. Paul; ² the other of S. Iames;Iam. 2.22. Gal. 5.6. 1. Tim. 6.19. Work, for both hands to apprehend. Both, ¹ Charitas, quae ex fide; and ³ fides, quae per charitatem operatur. By which, we shall be able (saith Saint Paul) to lay hold of aeternall life; and so, be Abrahams seed heere at the first; and come to Abrahams bosome there, at the last. So have we a breefe of Semen Abrahae.

The Vse of the Text. ¹ For Meditatiō.Now, what is to be commended to us out of this Text, for us to lay hold of? Verily, first, to take us to our meditation; the meditation, which the Psal. 84. Psalmist hath, and which the Apostle, (in this Chapter,) voucheth out of him (at the sixt Verse.) When I consider (saith he) the Heavens, (say we, the Angells of Heaven,) and see those glorious Spirits passed by, and man taken, even to sigh with him, and say, Lord what is man, either Adam, or Abra­ham,) that thou shouldest be thus mindfull of him, or the seed, or sonnes of either, that thou shoul­dest make this doe about Him! The case is heer farr otherwise, farr more worth our conside­ration. There, Thou hast made Him a little lower: Heer, Thou hast made Him a great deale higher, then the Angells. For they, this day first, and ever since, daily have, and doe adore our Nature, in the personall Vnion with the Deitie. Look you (saith the Apostle;) when He brought His onely begotten Sonne into the world, this He proclaimed before Him, Let all the Angells worship Him: Heb. 1.6. and so they did. And upon this verie daies taking the seed, hath ensued (as the Fathers note) a great alteration. Before, in the Old Testament, they suf­fered David to sit vpon his knees before them:1. Chr 21.16. Since, (in the New) they endure not, Saint Iohn should fall downe to them,Apoc. 22.9. but acknowledge, the case is altered, now; and, no more superioritie, but all fellow seruants. And, even in this one part, two things present them­selves unto us: ¹ His humilitie, Qui non est confusus (as, in the eleventh Verse, the Apo­stle speaketh) who was not confounded, thus to take our Nature. ² And withall, the Honor and happinesse of Abrahams seed, vt digni haberentur, that were counted worthie to be taken,Luk. 20.35. so neere unto him.

² For Resolution.The next point: That, after we have well considered it, we be affected with it; and that, no otherwise,Ioh. 8.56. then Abraham was Abraham saw it, even this day, and but a farr of, and He reioyced at it: And so shall we, on it, if we be His true seed. It brought forth a Benedictus, and a Magnificat, from the true seed of Abraham; If it do not the like, from us, certainely it but flotes in our braines; we but warble about it: But, we beleeve it not, and therefore, neither do we rightly vnderstand it. Sure I am, if the Angells had such a feast to keepe, if he had done the like for them, they would hold it with all ioy and iubilee. They rejoyce of our good; but, if they had one of their owne, they must needs doe it after another manner; farre more effectually. If we do not, as they would do, (were the case theirs,) it is, because we are short, in conceiving the excellencie of the benefit. It would have (surely) due obser­vation, if it had his due and serious meditation.

Luk. 12.48.Further, we are to vnderstand this: That, to whom much is given, of them will much be re­quired; and (as Gregorie well saith) Cum crescunt dona, crescunt & rationes denorum, As the gifts grow so grow the accompts too: Therefore, that, by this new dignitie befallen vs, Necessitas quaedam nobis imposita est (saith Saint Augustine) there is a certeine necessitie layd upon us, to become, in some measure, suteable unto it; in that we are one; one flesh, and one bloud, with the Sonne of God. Being thus in honor, we ought to vnderstand our estate, and not fall into the Psalmists reproofe,Psal 49 13. that we become like the beasts that perish. For, if we do (indeed) thinke, our Nature is ennobled by this so high a conjunction, we shall henceforth hold our selves more deare, and at a higher rate, then to prostitute our selves to sinne, for every base, trifling, and transitorie pleasure. For tell me, men that are taken to this degree, shall any of them proove a Deuill (as Christ said of Iudas:) or ever (as these with us, of late) have to do with any divelish, Ioh. 6.76. Psal. 32.9. or Iudasly fact? Shall any man, after this assumption, be as horse or mule, that have no vnderstanding; and, in a Christian profession, live a brutish life? Nay then, Saint Paul tells us further, that if we henceforth walke like men, (like but even carnall or naturall men,2. Cor. 3.3.) it is a fault in us. Some-what must appeare, in us, more then in ordinarie men, who [Page 9] are vouchsafed so extraordinarie a favour. Some-what, more then common, would come from us, if it were but for this Daies sake.

To conclude, not onely thus to frame meditations and resolutions,¹ For Practise. Phil. 3.12. but even some pra­ctise too, out of this act of apprehension. It is verie agreeable to reason, (saith the Apostle) that we endevor and make a proffer, if we may by any meanes, to apprehend Him, in His, by whom we are thus, in our Nature, apprehended, or (as He termeth it) comprehended, even Christ Iesus; and be vnited to Him, this day, as He was to us, this day, by a mutuall and re­ciprocall apprehension. We may so, and we are bound so: verè dignum & justum est. And we do so, so oft, as we do (with Saint Iames) lay hold of, apprehend, or receive insitum ver­bum, the word which is daily grafted into us. For, the Word He is; and, in the word, Iam. 1.21. He is received by us. But, that is not the proper of this day, vnlesse there be another ioyned vnto it. This day, Verbum caro factum est; and so, must be apprehended, in both. But speci­ally, in His flesh, as this day giueth it, as this day would have us. Now,Ioh. 1.14. the bread which we breake, is it not the partaking of the bodie, of the flesh, of Iesus Christ? It is surely; and by it,1. Cor. 10.16, (and by nothing more,) are we made partakers of this blessed vnion. A little before, he said; Because the children were partakers of flesh and bloud, He also would take part with them; May not we say the same? Because He hath so done, taken ours of us, we also,Verse 14. ensuing his stepps, will participate with Him, and with His flesh which he hath taken of us. It is most kindly, to take part with Him, in that, which He tooke part in, with us; and that, to no other end, but that He might make the receiving of it by us, a meanes, whereby He might dwell in us, and we in Him. He taking our flesh, and we receiuing His spirit; by His flesh, which He took of us, receiving His spirit, which He imparteth to us; That, as He, by ours, be­came consors humanae naturae; so we, by His, might become consortes Divinae naturae, 2. Pet. 1.4. par­takers of the Divine nature. Verily, it is the most streight and perfect taking hold that is. No vnion so knitteth, as it. Not consanguinitie; Brethren fall out: Not marriage; Man and wife are severed. But, that which is nouri­shed, and the nourishment, wherewith, they never are, never can be severed; but remaine one, for euer. With this Act then of mutuall taking, taking of His flesh, as He hath taken ours, let us seale our dutie to Him, this day, for taking not Angells, but the Seed of ABRAHAM, Almighty GOD grant, &c.

IT is ever our first care, to begin with, and to settle the maine point of the mysterie: ¹ Na­ture,I ² Person and ³ Office: and after, to looke to our owne benefit by them.The Childbirth. 1. The Maine points. ¹ His Natures. To be­ginne with the Natures, of God, and Man: They be Mat. 16.18. super hanc petram: vpon them lyeth the weight of all the rest; they are the two shoulders whereon this Government doth rest.

We have two words, Child, and Sonne: neither, wast. But, if no more in the second, then in the first, the first had been enough: if the first enough, the second superfluous. But, in this Book, nothing is superfluous. So then, two diuers things they import.

Weigh the words. Child is not said, but in humanis, among men. Sonne may be,As Man. As God. Mat. 17.5. in divinis: from heauen, God spake it, This is my Sonne: May; and must be, heer.

Weigh the other two: ¹ borne and ² given. That, which is borne, beginneth then (first) to haue his being. That, which is given presupposeth a former being: for, be it must, that it may be given.

[Page 12]Againe, when we say borne; of whom? of the Virgin His Mother: when we say Given; by whom? by God His Father.

Esa. 7.11. Esay promised, the signe, we should have, should be from the deep heer beneath, and should be from the height above: both, a Child, from beneath; and a Sonne, from above. To conclude: it is an exposition decreed by the Fathers assembled in the Councell of Sevill: who, upon these grounds, expound this very place so: The Child, to import His Humane; The Sonne, Cant. 2.13. His Divine Nature.

All along His life, you shall see these two. At His birth: A Cratch for the Child; a Starre for the Sonne: A companie of Shepheards viewing the Child; A Quire of Angels cele­brating the Son. In His life: Hungry Himselfe, to shew the nature of the Child: yet feeding five thousand, to shew the power of the Sonne. At His death: dying on the Crosse, as the Sonne of Adam; at the same time disposing of Paradise, as the Sonne of God.

If you ask, why both these? For that, in vaine had been the one, without the other. Some-what there must be borne (by this mention of Shoulders:) meet it is, every one should beare his owne burden. The nature, that sinned, beare his owne sinne; not, Ziba make the fault, and Mephibosheth beare the punishment. Our nature had sinned, that there­fore ought to suffer: The reason, why a Child. But, that which our nature should, our nature could not beare; not the weight of Gods wrath due to our sinne: But, the Sonne could: The reason, why a Son. The one ought, but could not: the other could, but ought not. Therefore, either alone would not serve; they must ioyned, Child and Son. But that He was a Child, He could not have suffered: But that He was a Sonne, He had sunck in His suffering, and not gone through with it. God had no Shoulders; Man had; but, too weake, to susteine such a weight. Therefore, that He might be lyable, He was a Child; that He might be able, He was the Sonne: that He might be both, he was both.

2. His Person Gen. 3.22.This, why God. But, why this person, the Sonne? Behold, Adam would have become one of us; the fault: Behold, one of us will become Adam, is the satisfaction. Which of us would He have become? Sicut Dij, Scientes, the person of knowledge. He therefore shall become Adam: Gen. 3.5. Colos. 2.3. A Sonne shall be given. Desire of knowledge, our attainder; He, in whom all the treasures of knowledge, our restoring. Flesh, would have been the word; as wise as the word;Ioh. [...].4. the cause of our ruine: meet then, the word become flesh, that so, our ruine repaired. There is a touch given, in the name COVNSELLOR, to note out unto us, which Person; as well, as the Sonne.

3 One more; if these ioyned, why is not the Sonne first, and then the Childe; but, the Childe is first, and then the Sonne. The Sonne is farr the worthier, and therefore to have the place.Chap. 7.14. And thus too it was, in his other name Immanuel, (CHAP. VII.) It is not Elimanu; not Deus nobiscum; but, Nobiscum Deu [...]. We, in His name stand before God. It is so,Luk. 3.31. [...]8. in the Gospell: the Sonne of Dauid, first, the Sonne of God after. It is but this still, zelus Domini Exercituū fecit hoc: Vers [...] 7. but to shew His zeale, how deare He holdeth us, that He preferreth, and setteth us before himselfe; and, in His verie name, giue us the precedence.

The Person, briefely. The Child, and the Sonne: these two make but one Person, cleerely, for; both these have but one name, His name shall be called: and both these have but one payre of shoulders, Vpon His shoulders. Therefore, though two natures, yet but one Per­son, in both. A meet person, to make a Mediator of God and Man, as symbolizing with either, God and Man. A meet person, if there be division betweene them, (as there was, and great thoughts of heart for it) to make an Vnion: Ex vtroque vnum, seeing He was vnum ex vtro­que. Ephes. 2.14. Not man onely; there lacked the sholder of power: Not God onely; there lacked the shol­der of Iustice: But, both together. And so have ye the two Supporters of all, ¹ Iustice, and ² Power: A meet person, to cease Hostilitie, as having taken pledges of both heaven & earth; the chiefe nature in heaven, and the chiefe on earth: To set forward commerce betweene heaven and earth,Gen. 23.12. by Iacobs Ladd [...]r, one end touching earth, the other reaching to heaven: To incorporate either to other: Himselfe, by His birth, being become Sonne of man; by our New-birth giuing us a capacitie, to become the sonnes of God.

Ioh. 1.12. 3. His Office.His Office: The Kingdome on His shoulders. For, He saw, when the Child was borne, it should so poorely be borne, as (lest we should conceive of Him too meanely) He tells us, He commeth cam Principatu, with a Principalitie; is borne a Prince: and beautifieth Him [Page 13] whith such names, as make amends for the manger? That He is not only Puer, a Child, and Filius, a Sonne; but Princeps, a Prince.

Truth is, other Offices we finde besides. But, this you shall observe, that the Prophets spea [...]ing of Christ, in good congruitie, ever apply themselves, to the state of them they speake to; and use that Office, and Name, which best agreeth to the matter in hand. Heer, that which was sought, by Ahaz, was protection: that (we know) is for a King: As a King therefore, he speaketh of Him. Elswhere he is brought forth by David, as a Priest: and againe elswhere, by Moses, as a Prophet. If it be matter of sinne, for which sacrifice to be offered, he is a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek. If the Will of God, Psal. 110.4. if His great counseile to be reveiled, A Prophet will the Lord raise, &c. Heare Him. Deut 18.1 [...]. But heere is matter of delivery (only) in hand: heer therfore, he represented Him, Cum Principatu, with a Principalitie.

A Principalitie, not of this world. Herod need not feare it, nor envy it. If it had, His officers, as they would have seen Him better defended at His Death, so would they have seen him better lodged at His Birth, then in a stable with beasts: for, if the Inne were full, Luk. 2.7. the stable (we may be sure) was not empty. Of what world then? of that, He is Father; Futuri saeculi Of that He is Father; He is a Prince of the government, that guideth us thither.

Yet, a Prince He is, and so He is styled: borne, and given, to establish a gouernment: That none imagine, they shall live like libertines under Him; every man beleeve, and live, as he list. It is Christ, not Belial, that is borne to day: He bringeth a government with Him: they, that be His, must live in subiection under a government: els, neither in Child, nor Sonne; in Birth, nor Gift, have they any interest.

And this government is, by name, a Principalitie: Wherin, neither the popular confu­sion of many; nor the factious ambition, of a few, beare all the sway: but, where one is Soveraigne. Such is the government of heaven: Such is Christs government.

With a Principalitie, or Government; and that vpon His shoulders: Somewhat a strange situation. It is wisedome, that governes: That is, in the head; & there is the Crown worn: What have the shoulders to do with it? Certainly, somewhat, by thi [...] Description. The Shoulder (as we know) is the bearing member: and unlesse it be for heavy [...]hings, we use it not. Ordinary things we carry in our hands, or lift at the armes end: It must be very heavie, if we must put shoulders and all to it. Belike Governments have their weight; be heavie; And so they be: they need not only a good head, but good shoulders, that susteine them. But that not so much, while they be in good tune and temper; then, they need no great carriage: but when they grow un-weldy, (be it weaknesse, or waywardnesse of the governed;) in that case they need: And in that case, there is no Governor, but, at one time or other, he beares his government vpon his shoulders. It is a morall, they give, of Aarons appareile: He car­ved the 12. Tribes in his brestplate, next his heart; to shew,Exod. 28.29. Exod. 28.12. &c. that in care he was to beare them: But, he had them also engraven in two Onyx stones, and those set upon his very shoulders; to shew, he must otherwhile beare them in patience too. And, it is not Aarons case alone; it was so with Moses too. He bare his government as a Nurse doth her child, (as he saith Num. XI.) that is, full tenderly. But,Num. 11.12. when they fell a murmuring (as they did often,) he bare them upon his shoulders, in a great patience, and long suffering. Yea he complayned, Non possum portare, I am not hable to beare all this people &c.

It were (sure) to be wished, that they, that are in place, might never be put to it.Num. 11.1 [...] Beare their people only in their armes, by love; and in their breasts, by care. Yet if need be, they must follow Christs example and patience, heer; and even that way, beare them: not on­ly beare with them; but even beare them also.

Yet is not this Christs bearing, (though, this He did too:) There is yet a further thing. He hath a patience paramount, beyond all the rest. Two differences I find, betweene Him and others. 1. The faults and errors of their government, others do beare, and suffer (indeed,)1 suffer them; but, suffer not for them. He did both: Endured them; and endured, for them, heavy things: A strange Superhumerall, the print whereof was to be seen on his shoulders. The Chaldee Paraphrast translateth it thus, The Law was upon His shoulders: (And so it was too:) A burthen (saith Saint Peter) neither He nor the Apostles, Acts 15.10. nor their Fathers were hable to beare. This he did: and bare it so evenly, as He brake, nay bruised not a Commaundement. [Page 14] But, there is another sense, when the law is taken for the punishment due by the law. It is that, which our Prophet meaneth (in the 53. Chap.) when he saith,Esay 53.4. &c. Posuit super humeros, He hath layed vpon His shoulders, the iniquities of us all. And, not against His will: Come (saith He) you that are heavy loden and I will refresh you, Mat. 11.28. by loding my selfe; take it from your necks, and lay it on mine owne. Which His suffering, though it grew so heavy, as it wroong from him plentie of teares, Luc. 22.44. a strong cry, a sweat of bloud, (such was the weight of it;) yet would He not cast it of, but, there held it still, till it made Him bow downe his head and give up the ghost. Ioh. 19.30. If He had discharged it, it must have light upon us; (it was the Yoke of our burthen, as in the 4. verse he termeth it:) If it had light upon us, it had pressed us downe to hell; so in supportable was it. Rather then so, He held it still, and bare it; and did that, which ne­ver Prince did, dyed for his government. It was not for nothing (we see) that, of the Child borne, no part but the shoulders is mentioned: for, that (we see) in this Child, is a part of speciall imployment.

2 The other point of difference between Him and other Governors. When we say, [On His shoulders,] this we say; on no other shoulders, but His. For, others, (by Moses example, upon Iethroes advise,Exod. 18.23. and Gods owne allowance,) may, and do lay of, and translate their burthen, (if it be to heavy) upon others, and so ease it, in part: Not so, He: It could not be so, in His. He, and He alone: He, and none but He: Vpon His owne shoulders, and none but his owne,Esay. 63.3. bare He all. He trod the wine-presse, and bare the burthen Solus, alone; Et vir de Gentibus, and, of all the nations, there was not a man with Him. Vpon His only shoul­ders did the burthen only rest.

3 Now, from these two doth the Prophet argue to a third: to the poynt (heere) of prin­cipali intendment. That if, for his government sake, He will beare so great things; beare their weaknesses, Mat. 18.13.14. Levit. 16.8.9. Deut. 32.11. as the lost sheepe; beare their sinns, as the scape goate: He will, over the government it selfe, (as in Deut 32. he maketh the Simile,) stretch forth his wings, as the Eagle over her young-ones, and take them, and beare them between his pinnions; Beare them, and beare them through. They need take no thought: No man shall take them out of His hands;Ioh. 10.28. no man reach them of His shoulders. He had begun so to carry them; and through he would still carry them: At least wise, till this Child Immanuel were borne. Till then, he would: and not waxe weary, nor cast them of. And (like the scape goate) beare their sinns;Gal. 4.4. and (like the Eagle) beare up their estate, till the fulnesse of time came, and He, in it, with the fulnesse of all grace and blessing. And this poynt I hold so materiall; as, Puer natus, nothing, and Filius datus, as much, without Princeps oneratus: For, that is all in all, and, of the three, the chiefe.

II. The se [...]ond main point. The Benefit. To Vs.ANd now, what is all this to us. Yes; to us, it is; and that, twice over, for failing. We come now to looke another while into our interest to it, and our benefit by it. Nobis is acquisitivè positus: We get by it; we are gainers by all this.

To us; not to himselfe. For, a farr more noble nativitie had He, before all worlds, and nee­ded no more birth. Not to be borne at all; specially, not thus basely to be borne. Not to Him therefore; but to us, and our behoofe.

Heb. 2.16. To us, as in barr of Himselfe, so likewise of his Angells. Nusquam Angelos, not to the Angells was He borne, or given; but, to us He was both. Not an Angell in heaven can say Nobis. Luk. 1.31. &c. 2.11. Vobis, they can: The Angells said it twise. Nobis natus or datus, they can­not; but we can, both.

I Nobis exclusivè, and Nobis inclusivè. Esay speaks not of himselfe only, but taketh in Ahaz. Both are in Nobis; Esay, a holy Prophet; and Ahaz, a worse then whom you shall hardly reade of. Esay includeth himselfe, as having need, though a Saint; and excludeth not Ahaz, from having part, though a sinner. Not only Simeon the iust; but Paul the sinner, Luk. 2.25. 1. Tim. 1.15. of the Quorum, and the first of the Quorum.

Inclusivè: not only of Esay, and his Countrimen the Iewes; It is of a larger extent. The Angell so interpreteth it, this day, to the shepheards: Gaudium quod erit omni popu­lo, Luk. 2.12. Ioy that shall be to all people, Not the people of the Iewes; or the people of the Gen­tiles; but simply to all people. His name is IESVS CHRIST, halfe Hebrew halfe Greek: Iesus Hebrew; Christ, Greek: So sorted, of purpose, to shew, Iewes and Greeks have equall interest [Page 15] in him. And now, so is his Fathers name too, Abba, Father: To shew the benefit e­qually intended by him, to them, that call him Abba, that is the Iewes; to us,Mar. 14.36. Rom. 8.15. that call him Father, that is the Gentiles.

But yet, it is inclusivè of none, but those that include themselves;Rom. 3.22. that beleeve and therefore say, Nobis, to us He is borne, to us He is given. Which excludes all those, that include not themselves. Saint Ambrose saith well: Facit multorum infidelitas, ut non om­nibus nasceretur, qui omnibus natus est: Want of faith makes, that He, that is borne to all, is not borne to all, though. The Turkes, and Iewes, can say, Puer natus est: The Devill can say, Filius datus est, too: But neither say, Nobis; but Quid Nobis et tibi? They have not to do with Him; and for lack of it, of this, neither Child nor Sonne, birth nor gift doth availe them: We must make much of this word, and hold it fast; for, there­by, our tenure and interest groweth. Which interest groweth by a double right, (and therefore is Nobis twice repeated:) ¹ The one, of his birth, Natus: ² the other, by a deed of gift, Datus. Of which, the one (his Birth) referreth to himselfe: the other (the gift) to his Father: To shew the ioynt consent and concurrence, in both, For our good.Ephes. 5.2. Ioh. 1.11. Ioh. 3.16. So Christ loved us, that he was given: So God loved us, that He gave his Sonne.

By his very birth, there groweth to us an interest in him, thereby partaker of our nature, our flesh, and our bloud. That which is de nobis, He tooke of us, is ours: flesh and bloud is our owne; and, to that is our owne, we have good right.

His humanitie is cleerly ours; good right to that. But, no right to his Deitie. There­fore his Father, (who hath best right to dispose of him,Ioh. 3.16. Gal. 4.4.) hath passed over that by a deed of gift. So that, what by participation of our nature, what by good conveighance; both are ours. Whither a Child, He is ours: or whither a Sonne, He is ours. We gave Him the one; His Father gave us the other. So, both ours: and He ours, so farr as both these can make Him. Thus, God, Heb. 6.17. willing more aboundantly to shew to the heires of pro­mise the stablenesse of His Counseile, tooke both courses; that, by two strong titles, which it is impossible should be defeated, we might have strong consolation, and ride (as it were) at a double anchor.

I want time, to tell of the benefit which the Prophet (Verse III.) calleth the har­vest, or booty of his Nativitie. This it is in a word. If the tree be ours, the fruit is: If He be ours, His Birth is ours; His Life is ours; His Death is ours; His Satisfaction, His Merit, all He Did, all He Suffered is ours. Further, all that the Father hath is His, Heb. 1.2. Ioh 3.35. Mat. 21.18. 1. Cor. 3.22.23. Rom. 8 32. He is Heire of all; then, all that is ours too. Saint Paul hath cast up our accompt: Having given Him, there is nothing, but He will give us with Him: So that, by this Deed, we have title to all, that His Father, or He is worth.

And now, shall we bring forth nothing for Him that was thus borne? Our Dutie. Psal 116.12. 2. Cor. 9.14.15 Colos 1.12. Iam. 1.17. no Quid retri­bvam, no giving backe, for Him that gave Him us? Yes, thanks to the Father; for His great bounty in giving. Sure, so good a giving, so perfect a gift there never came downe from the Father of lights. And to the Sonne, for being willing so to be borne, and so to be burthened as He was. For Him to condescend to be borne, as Children are borne; To become a Child; great humilitie: Great, ut Verbum, infans; ut tonans, va­giens; ut immensus, parvulus: that the word, not be hable to speake a word; He, that thun­dereth in heaven cry in a cradle; He, that so great and so high, should become so little as a Child, and so low as a manger. Not to abhorre the Virgins wombe, not to abhorr the beasts manger, not to disdaine to be fedd with butter and hony; All, great humilitie. All great, and very great: But, that is greater, is behind. Puer natus, much; Princeps one­ratus, much more: That, which He bare for us, more; then that He was borne for us: For, greater is Mors crucis, then Nativitas praesepis: Worse to drinke vinegar and gall, Phl. 2.8. then to eate butter and hony; worse, to endure an infamous death, then to be content, with an inglorious birth.

Let us therefore sing to the Father (with Zacharie) Benedictus:Luc. 1.68.46.2.14. and to the Sonne (with the blessed Virgin) Magnificat: and (with all the Angells,) Gloria in Excelsis, To the Prince with His government on His shoulders.

Nothing but thanks? Yes; by way of duty too, to render, unto the Child, confidence; Pu [...]r est, ne metuas: To the Sonne reverence; Filius est, ne spernas: To the Prince, obedience; [Page 16] Princeps est, ne offendas. And againe; To Natus; is He borne? then cherish Him. (I speake of His spirituall birth, wherein, we, by hearing and doing His word, are (as himselfe saith) His Mothers. Mat. 12.49.50. To Datus; is He given? then keepe Him. To Oneratus: is He burthe­ned? favour Him; lay no more on, then needs you must.

This is good morall counseile. But, Saint Bernard gives us politique advise; to looke to our interest, to thinke of making our best benefit by Him. De Nobis nato & dato fa­ciamus id, ad quod, natus est & datus; utamur nostro, in utilitatem nostram; de Servatore nostro, salutem operemur: With this borne and given Child, let us then do that, for which He was borne and given us: Seeing He is ours, let us use that, that is ours, to our best be­hoofe; and even worke out our salvation, out of this our Saviour. His counseile is, to make our use of Him: but, that is not, to do with Him what we list; but, to employ Him to those ends, for which He was bestowed. Those are foure.

1 He is given us (saith Saint Peter) [...] for an example, to follow. In all; but (that which is proper to this day,1. Pet. 2.21.) to doe it, in humilitie. It is that, which the Angell set up, for a signe and sample, upon this very day. It is the vertue appropriate to His birth. As faith, to His conception, (Beata quae credidit;) So humilitie, to His birth, (et Hoc erit sig­num:) Fieri voluit in vitâ primum, quod exhibuit in ortu vitae, (it is Cyprian) That, He would have us, first to expresse in our life, that He first shewed us, in the very entrie of His life. And to commend us this vertue the more, Placuit Deo maiora pro nobis ope­rari, It hath pleased Him to do greater things for us, in this estate, then ever He did, in the high degree of His Maiestie: as, (we know) the work of redemption passeth that of creation, by much.

2 He is given us in pretium, for a price. A price, either of ransome, to bring us out de loco calignoso:2. Pet. 1.19. or a price, of purchase, of (that, where, without it, we have no inte­rest,) the kingdome of Heaven. For both, He is given; offer we Him for both. We speake of Quid retribuam; We can never retribute the like thing. He was given us, to that end, we might give Him backe. We wanted, we had nothing valuable; that we might have, this He gave us, (as a thing of greatest price,) to offer for that, which needeth a great price, our sinns, so many in number and so foule in qualitie. We had nothing worthie God; this He gave us, that is worthy Him, which cannot be but accepted, offer we it never so often.Mat. 7.7.8. Mat. 14.6.7. Let us then offer Him; and, in the act of offering, aske of Him what is meete: for we shall find Him no lesse bounteous, then Herod, to graunt what is duly asked upon His birth day.

3 He is given us (as Himselfe saith) as the living bread from Heaven: which bread is His flesh, Ioh [...] 6.53. borne this day, and after given for the life of the world. For, look how we do give back that He gave us, even so doth He give back to us that which we gave Him, that which He had of us. This He gave for us, in Sacrifice; and, this He giveth us, in the Sacrament; that the Sacrifice may, by the Sacrament, be truly applied to us. And let me commend this to you;Mat. 25.26. 1. Co. 11.24. He never bade, Accipite, (plainly, take,) but in this only: and that, because the effect of this Daies union is no wayes more lively represented, no way more effectu­ally wrought, then by this use.

4 And lastly, He is given us in praemium: (Not now to be seen, only in hope;) but heer­after, by His blessed fruition, to be our finall reward; when, where He is, we shall be; and what He is we shal [...] be; In the same place, and in the same state of glory, ioy, and blisse, to endure for evermore.

At his first comming, you see, what He had on His shoulders. At His second, He shall not come empty,Apoc. 22.12. Ecce venio &c. Lo I come, and my reward with me; that is, a Kingdome on His shoulders. And it is no light matter; but, (as Saint Paul calleth it) [...], an everlasting weight of Glorie. 2. Cor. 4.17. Glorie, not (like ours heer) fether Glorie; But, true; that hath weight, and substance in it: And that not transitorie, and soone gone; but everlasting, to continue to all eternitie, never to have end. This is our state in expectancie. Saint Augustine put all foure together, so will I, and conclude: Sequamur ¹ exemplum; offeramus ² pretium; sumamus ³ viaticum; expectemus ⁴ praemium: let us follow Him for our patterne, offer Him for our price, receive Him for our sacramentall food, and wait for Him as our end­lesse and exceeding great reward, &c.

1. Plenitudo temporis. Sap. 11.17. Ephes. 4.13.FIRST there is a fullnesse in Time. The terme, [Fullnesse,] carrieth our conceit to Mea­sure, streight, from whence it is borrowed: which, is then said to be full, when it hath as much, as it can hold. Now, GOD hath made all things in Measure: and if all things, t [...]en Time. Yea, Time it selfe is by the Apostle called, Mens [...]ra temporis, The Measure of Time. As then, all other Measures haue theirs; so the Measure of time also hath his fullnesse, when it receiveth so much, as the capacity will containe no more. So, Time is a measure: it hath a capacitie: That hath a fullnesse. That, there is such a thing as the fullnesse of time.

But, nothing is full at first: no more is Time by and by. Venit plenitudo, it commeth, not at once,2. Venit pleni­tudo. or straight waies, but by steps and paces, neerer & neerer: Fills, first a quarter, and then halfe, till at last it come to the brim. And degrees there be, by which it commeth. Ecce palmares posuisti dies meos, (Psalm. 39.6.) From which word [palmares] it is an obser­uation of one of the Fathers, a man may reade his time. In his owne hand, visi [...]ly, there is an ascent,Alcuin. the fingers rise still, till they come to the top of the middle finger; and when they be come thither, downe againe by like descent, till they come to the little, which is the lowest of all. So is it in our time. It riseth still by degrees, till we come to the full pitch of [Page 25] our Age, and then declineth againe, till we grow to the lower end of our dayes. But how­soever it may be (as it oft falls out) the descent is sudden, we go downe headlong without degrees, go away in a moment; yet, ever this holdeth; to our fullnesse we come not, but by degrees.

Now thirdly, this comming hath a Quando venit, a time, when it commeth thither.3. Quando ve­nit. As a time there is a great while, when we may say, Ioh. 7.6. Nondum venit hora, the time is not yet come, while the measure is yet but in filling: So at the last, a time too, that we may say, Ioh 12.23. Venit hora, the time is now come, when the measure is full: That is, A time there is, when time commeth to the full. As in the day, when the Sun commeth to the Meridian Line: in the moneth, when it commeth to the point of opposition with the Moone: in the yeare, when to the Solstice: In man, when he commeth to his full yeares: for that is the fullnesse of time the Apostle alledgeth in three verses before.

And, when is that When, that time thus commeth to his fullnesse? Quando misit Deus, when GOD sends it: for, Time receives his filling from GOD. Of it selfe, time is but an empty measure, hath nothing in it: Many dayes and moneths runne over our heads, Dies inanes, (saith the Psalmist:) Menses vacui, (saith Iob:) Empty dayes, Psal. LXXVIII. v. 33. Voyd moneths, without any thing to fill them, Iob. VII. v. 3.

That which filleth time, is some memorable thing of Gods powring into it,4. Quando. or (as it is in the Text) of His sending, to fill it withall. Misit Deus is it: and so commeth Time to be more or lesse full; thereafter as that is, which God sends to fill it.

Now, many memorable missions did God make before this heere; whereby in some mea­sure, He filled up certaine times of the yeare under Moses, and the Prophets: all which, may well be termed, The implements of time.

But, for all them, the measure was not yet full: filled perhaps to a certaine degree, but not full to the brimme: full it was not (seeing it might be still fuller) till God sent That, then which, a more full could not be sent.

And, That He sent, when He sent His Sonne, a fuller then whom, He could not send, nor Time could not receive. Therefore, with the sending Him, when that was, Time was at the top, that was the Quando venit, then it was plenitudo temporis, indeed.

And, well might that time, be called the fullnesse of time. For, when He was sent into the 1 world, in whom the fullnesse of the God-head dwelt bodily: Col. 2.9. Ioh 3.34. Ioh. 1.14. Ioh. 1.16. In whom the Spirit was not by measure: In whom was the fullnesse of grace and truth: Of whose fullnesse we all receive: When He was sent, that was thus full, then was time at the full.

And well also might it be called the fullnesse of time, in another regard. For, till then, all 2 was but in promise, in shadowes, and figures, and prophecies only, which fill not, God knowes. But when the Performance of those promises, the body of those shadowes, the substance of those figures, the fulfilling or filling full of all those prophecies came, then came the fulnesse of time, truly so called. Till then, it came not: then it came.

And well might it be called the fullnesse of time, in a third respect. For, then the Heire,3 (that is the World) was come to his full age: and so, that the fittest time, for Him to be sent. For to that, compareth the Apostle their estate then; that, the former times under Moses and the Prophets were as the Nonage of the world; sub Paedagogo, in the III. Chapter. Ver. XXIIII. [...], at their A. B. C. or rudiments, (as in the very last words before these.) Their estate then, as of Children in their minority, little differing from servants. For, all this while, nondum venit, the fullnesse of time was not yet come. But a time ther was, as for man, so for mankind to come to his full yeeres: That time came with Christs comming, and Christs comming with it, and never till then, was the fulnesse of time; but then it was.

And let this be enough, for this point; more there is not in the text. But if any shall fur­ther aske, why then, at that age of the world, the world was at his full age, iust then, and neither sooner nor later? I know, many heads have been full of devises, to satisfie mens cu­riosity in that point. But, I hold it safest, to rest with the Apostle (in the second verse) on GODS [...]. Let that content us. Then was the time, for that was Tempus praefinitum à Patre, the time appointed of the Father. For, even among men, though (the Father be­ing dead) the Law setteth a time, for the Sonne to come to his heritage: yet, the Father living, no time can be prefixed, but only when it liketh Him to appoynt; and the Father [Page 26] heer liveth;Acts 1.7. and therefore let his [...] stay us. The times and seasons He hath put in His owne power, it is not for us to know them. This is for us to know, that, with His appoyntment, we must come to a full point. So doth the Apostle, and so let us, and not busie our selves much with it, time is but the measure or caske, that where-with it is filled, doth more con­cerne us. To that therefore let us come.

2. GOD sent. The degrees are seven (as I sayd.) To take them, as they rise. Misit Deus. God sent. That standeth first; and, at it, let our first stay be. That, will fall out, to make the first de­gree. 1 For, even this, that GOD sent at all, Ipsum mittere Dei, this very sending it selfe, is a degree. It is so; and so we would reckon of it, if we knew the Sender, and who He is; the Maiestie of His presence how great it is, and how glorious, how farr surpassing all we can see on earth.

For Him, for such an one as He, to condescend, but to send; is sure a degree. For, e­nough it had beene, and more then enough, for Him, to be sent to; and not to send, Himselfe. To have sit still, and been content, that we might send to Him, and have our message and petition admitted, and not He send to us. That had beene as much as we could looke for, and well, if we might have beene vouchsafed but that. But it was He that sent: not we to Him first, nay, not we to Him at all, but, He to us.

He to us? And what were we, that He to us? Vs, (as else-where He termeth us) meere A­liens from Him, Ephes. 2.12. and His Houshold: Not that only, but Vs, in case of men, whom the Law had passed upon. (So is our estate described in the end of the Text.) For Him, to send to Vs, so great as He, to such as we; to thinke vs, tanti, so much worth, as to make any mission, or motion, or to disease any about vs; This, may well be the first. Be it then so; that to us, or for us, or concerning us, GOD would trouble Himselfe, to make any sending: A fullnesse there is in this. Full He was; a fullnesse there was in Him, (even the fullnesse of compassion in His bowels over our estate,) els, such a Sender would never once have sent.

2. His Sonne,GOD sent: Sent, and sent His SONNE: That, (I make no question,) will beare a second. Others He might have sent; and whosoever it had beene He had sent, it might well have ser­ved our turnes. If, sent by the hand of any His Servants, any Patriarch, Prophet, any ordi­nary messenger, it had beene enough. So, hitherto had beene His Sending. So, and no o­therwise, ever till now.

Then, if to send by any may seeme sufficient, to send His SONNE, must needs seeme full. For ever the more excellent the Person sent, the more honourable the sending: the greater He, the fuller it. Now, greater there is not, then His SONNE, His first, His only begotten SONNE,Col. 2.9. in whom the fullnesse of the God-head dwelt; In sending Him, He sent the greatest, the best, the fullest thing He had.

To heape the measure up yet more, with the cause of His sending, in the word [...] It was voluntarie. He sent Him not for need: but for meere love to us, and nothing els. There was no absolute necessitie, that He should have sent Him. He might have done what He intended, by the meanes and ministery of some besides. GOD could have enabled a Creature; a Creature enabled by GOD, and the power of His might, could soone have trod downe Sathan under our feet. But, if it had beene any other He had sent, His love and regard to us, had not shewed so full. It had beene Ostendit DEVS charitatem, but not, Ecce quan­tam charitatem ostendit DEVS.1. Ioh. 3.1. Whomsoever He had sent besides, His love had not been full: at least, not so full, as it should have been, if He had sent His SONNE. That therefore it might be full, and so appeare to us for full, Misit Deus Filium suum. Enough it was, in compassion of our estate, to have releeved us, by any: Men that are in neede to be relee­ved, care not, who they be that doe it. Enough then, for compassion: but not enough, to manifest the fullnesse of His love, unlesse, to releeve us, He sent His owne SONNE.

3. Made.This is full one would thinke: Yet, the Manner of His sending Him, is fuller still. Mi­sit Filium; Filium factum. Sent His SONNE; His SONNE made. Sent Him, and sent Him made: This is a third. For, if He would have sent Him, He should not have sent Him, made: but as He was, neither made nor created, but like Himselfe, in His owne estate, as was meet for the SONNE OF GOD, to be sent. To make Him any thing, is to marre Him, be it what it will be. To send Him made, is to send Him marred, and no better. There­fore, I make no doubt, CHRISTS sending is one degree, His making is another: So to [Page 27] send, as withall to make, are two distinct measures, of this filling. As He is, He is a Ma­ker, a Creator: If GOD make Him any thing, He must be a thing made, a Creature; and that is a great disparagement. So that, howsoever the Time is the fuller, for this; He is the emptier: [...], The fullnesse of time, is His emptinesse; The exalting of that, His abasing. And, this very Exinanivit seipsum, emptying Himselfe, for our sake,Phil. 2.7. is a pressing downe the measure: and so, even by that, still the measure is more full.

Yea, the very manner of this making, hath his encrease too, addeth to it still. In the word [...]: which is not every making, but making it His Nature. To have made Him a body and taken it upon Him for a time, till He had performed His Embassage, and then layd it of againe, that had beene much: But so to be made, as once made and ever made; so to take it, as never lay it of more, but, continue to still [...], it to become His very nature; so to be made is to make the vnion full. And to make the vnion with us full, He was content, not to be sent alone, but to be made; and that [...], to be made so, as never vnmade more. Our Man-hood becomming His nature, no lesse then the God-head it selfe. This is Filium factum indeed.

Made, and twice made, (for so it is in the VERSE,) ¹ Factum ex, and ² Factum sub; made of, and made under: Of a woman; under the Law. So, two makings there be; either of them, of it selfe, a filling to the measure, but, both of them maketh it perfectly full.

Made, first of a woman: that, I take cleerly to be one. For, if He, 4. Made of a wo­man. if the SONNE of GOD must be made a Creature: it were meet, He should be made, the best creature of all. And if made of any thing, (if any one thing, better then another) of that: made some glorious Spi­rit, Some of the orders of the Angells. Nay, made, but made no Spirit;Ioh. 1.14. Heb. 2.16. Verbum caro factum est, The WORD became flesh: Made, but made no Angell; Nusquam Angelos, He in no wise tooke the Angells nature upon Him.

But made man. First I will aske with DAVID, Domine, quid est homo? Lord,Psal. 144.3. what is man? And then, tell you His answer: Homo quasi res nihili, Man is like a thing of nought. And this he was made, this he became, made man, made of a woman: did not abhorre the Vir­gins wombe, (as we sing daily, to the high praise of the fullnesse of His humilitie, to which His Love brought Him for our sakes.) For, whatsoever els He had been made, it would have done us no good. In this then, was the fullnesse of His Love, as before of His Fa­thers, that He would be made, and was made, not what was fittest for Him, but what was best for us: not, what was most for His glory, but what was most for our benefit and behoofe.

Made of a woman. For, Man He might have been made, and yet have had a body framed for Him in Heaven, and not made of a woman. But when He saith, Factum ex mu­liere, it is evident, He passed not through Her, as water through a Conduit Pipe, (as fondly dreameth the Anabaptist.) Made of, Factum ex: Ex, dicit materiam. Made of her; She ministred the matter, Flesh of her flesh. Semen mulieris, The seed; and, Semen intimum sub­stantiae, that, is the principall and very inward cheefe part of the substance. Made of that,Gen. 3.15. made of her very substance.

And so have we heere now in one, both twaine His Natures. GOD send His Sonne, There His Divine: Made of a woman, Heer His Humane Nature. That, from the bosome of His Father, before all worlds; this, from the womb of His Mother, in the world. So that, as from eternitie, GOD His Father might say that verse of the Psalme, Filius meus es tu, Psal. 2.7. ho­die genui te, Thou art my Sonne, this day have I begotten thee: So, in the fullnesse of time, might the Virgin His mother, no lesse truly, Filius meus es tu, hodie peperi te, Thou art my Sonne, this day have I brought thee into the world.

And heer now, at this word, made of a woman, He beginneth to concerne us somewhat. There groweth an alliance betweene us: For, we also are made of a woman. And our hope is, as, He will not be confounded, to be counted inter natos mulierum;Heb. 1.11. Rom. 8.19. No more will He be, (saith the Apostle) to say, in medio fratrum; to acknowledge us, His Brethren. And so by this Time He groweth somewhat neere us.

This now, is full for the union with our nature, to be made of a woman. But so to be made of a woman, without He be also made under the Law, is not neere enough yet. For,5. Made vnder Lawe. if He be out of the compasse of the Law, that the Law cannot take hold of Him, factum ex muliere will do us small pleasure. And He was so borne, so made of a woman; As the verity [Page 28] of His conception, is in this factum ex muliere: So, the purity is in this, that it is but ex muliere, and no more; Of the virgin alone, by the power of the HOLY GHOST, with­out mixture of fleshly generation. By vertue whereof, no originall soile was in Him. Iust borne He was,1. Tim. 1.9. and Iusto non est lex posita, No law for the Iust, no law could touch Him. And so we, never the better, for factum ex muliere.

For, if one be in debt and danger of the Law, to have a Brother, of the same bloud, made of the same woman, both (as we say) lying in one belly, will little availe him, except he will also come vnder the Law, that is, become his Surety, and vndertake for him. And such was our estate.Col. 2.14. As Debtours we were, by vertue of Chirographum contra nos, The hand-writing that was against us. Which was our Bond, and we had forfeited it. And so, factus ex mu­liere, to us, without factus sub Lege, would have been to small purpose.

No remedy therefore, He must be new made; made againe once more. And so He was, cast in a new mold; and at His second making, made vnder the Law; Vnder which if He had not beene made, we had been marred; even quite vndone for ever, if this had not been done for us too. Therefore, He became bound for us also, entered bond anew, took on Him, not onely our nature, but our Debt; our Nature, and Condition both. Nature: as men, Conditi­on, as sinfull men; expressed in the words following, [Them that were vnder the Law:] for, that was our Condition. There had indeed been no capacitie in Him, to do this, if the former had not gone before, factum ex muliere; if He had not been, as we, made of a woman: But, the former was for this; Made of a woman He was, that He might be made vnder the Law: Being ex muliere, He might then become sub Lege, which before He could not, but then He might and did: And so, this still is the fuller.

And when did He this? when was He made under the Law? Even then, when He was circumcised. Gal 5.3. For, this doth Saint Paul testifie, in the third of the next Chapter; Behold, I Paul testifie unto you, whosoever is circumcised, Factus est debitor universae Legis, He becomes a debtor to the whole Law. At His Circumcision then, He entred Bond anew with us; and, in signe that so He did, He shed then a few drops of His blood, whereby He signed the Bond (as it were,) and gave those few drops then, tanquam arrham universi sanguinis effun­dendi, as a pledge or earnest, that when the fullnesse of time came, He would be ready to shed all the rest; as He did. For, I would not have you mistake, though we speake of this, [sub lege,] being under the Law, in the termes of a Debt, sometimes: yet, the truth is, this debt of ours was no money debt; we were not sub Lege pecuniariâ, but Capitala: and the debt of a Ca­pitall Law, is Death: And under that, under Death He went, and that the worst death Law had to inflict, even the Death of the Crosse, the most bitter, reprochfull, cursed death of the Crosse. So that vpon the matter, factus sub Lege, and factus in Cruce, come both to one; one amounts to as much, as the other. Well, this He did vndertake for us, at His Circumci­sion: and therefore then, and not till then, He had his name given Him, the name of IESVS a SAVIOVR.Lak 2.21. For then, took He on Him the Obligation to save us. And look, what then at His Circumcision He undertook, at His Passion He paid even to the full: and hauing paid it, delevit Chirographum, Col. 2.14. cancelled the sentence of the Law, that till then was of record, and stood in full force against us.

Howbeit, all this, was but one part of the Law; But He was made sub Lege vniversâ, vn­der the whole Law; and that, not by his death only, but by his life too. The one halfe of the Law, (that is, the Directive part,) He was made under that, and satisfied it, by the Innocency of His life, without breaking so much, as one iot or title of the Law: and so answered that part (as it might be, the Principall.) The other halfe of the Law, which is the Penalty: He was under that part also, and satisfied it, by suffering a wrongfull Death, no way deserved, or due by Him; and so, answered that (as it might be the Forfeiture.) So, He was made under both, vnder the whole Law. Satisfying the Principall, there was no reason, He should be lyable to the forfeiture, and penalty: yet, under that He was also. And all, that the whole Law might be satisfied fully, by His being vnder both parts; and so, no part of it light upon us.

These two then, (¹ Made of a woman, ² Made vnder the Law,) ye see, are two se­verall makings, and both very requisite. Therefore, Either hath a severall Feast, they di­vide [Page 29] this Solemnitie betweene them. Six dayes a peece, to Either; as the severall moities of this fullnesse of time. This day, Verbum caro factum, The word made flesh: That day,Ioh 1.14. Him that knew no Sinne, He made Sinne, (that is) made Him undertake to be handled as a Sinner, to be under the Law, and to endure what the Law could lay upon Him.2. Cor. 5.21. And so now, the thing sent is full: and fully sent, because made: and fully made, because made once and twice over: fully made ours, because fully united to us. Made of a woman as well as we: Made under the Law as deepe as we: Both ex muliere, and sub Lege. So of our nature (of a woman,) that of our condition also (under the Law:) So, fully united to us in nature, and condition both.

And so we are come to the full measure of His sending. And, that we are come to the full, ye shall plainely see, by the overflowing, by that which we receive from this fullnesse;Verse 5. which is the latter part of the verse, and is our fullnesse, even the fullnesse, of all that we can desire. For, if we come now to aske, For whom, is all this adoe, This Sending, This ma­king, over and over againe? It is for vs. So is the conclusion, vt nos, that we might from this fullnesse, receive the full of our wish. For in these two behind, ¹ Redemption, and ² Adoption; to be redeemed, and to be adopted, are the full of all, we can wish our selves.

The transcendent Division, of Good and Evill, is it, that comprehendeth all. And heer it is. Our desire can extend it selfe no further then to be rid of all evill, and to attaine all that good is. By these two, (being redeemed, and being adopted) we are made partakers of them both. To be redeemed from vnder the Law, is to be quit of all Evill. To receive the Adoption of children, is to be stated in all that is Good. For, all Evill is, in being vnder the Law, from whence we are redeemed; and, all Good, in being invested, in the heavenly In­heritance, whereunto we are adopted. Thus stood the case with vs: Aliens we were from GOD,Ephes 2 12. his Covenant, and his Kingdome: More then that, Prisoners we were, fast layed vp vnder the Law. From this latter we are Freed: of the former, we are seised: And what would we more?

Onely, this you shal observe, that in the Idiom of the Scriptures, it is vsuall; two poynts be­ing set downe, when they are resumed againe, to begin with the later, and so end with the for­mer. So is it heer, At the first, made of a womā, made vnder the Law. At the resuming, He begins with the later, made vnder the Law, That he might redeem them, that were vnder the Law And then comes to the former, made of a woman, made the Son of man, That we by adoption might be made the Sons of GOD. But, this we are to marke, it is He that is at all the cost and paine: & we, that have the benefit by it. At the redeeming it is, Vt Ille: At the receiving it is, Vt Nos.

Briefly of either: And first, of our Redeeming. 6. That he might redeeme them that were vn­der the Law. Redeeming (as the word giveth it) is a second buying, or buying backe of a thing, before aliened or sold. Ever, a former sale is presupposed before it. And such a thing there had gone before. A kind of alienation had formerly been, whereby we had made away our selves, (for, a sale I cannot call it, it was for such a trifle:) Our Nature aliened in ADAM, for the forbidden fruit; a matter of no moment. Our Persons like­wise; daily we our selves alien them, for some trifling pleasure, or profit; matters not much more worth. And, when we have thus passed our selves away,Rom. 7.14. by this Selling our selves vnder sin, the Law seizeth on us, and vnder it we are [...] (Chap. III. v. 23.) even lockt vp, as it were, in a Dungeon, tyed fast with the cords of our sins, (Pro. V. v. 23.) The sentence passed on us, and we waiting but for execution. What evill is there not, in this estate, and on every soule that is in it? Well then, the first Vt the first end is, To get us rid, from vnder this estate.

He did it: Not by way of entreaty, step in and beg our pardon: That would not serve. Sold we were, and bought we must be: A price must be layd downe for us. To get us from under the Law, it was not a matter of Intercession, to sue for it, and have it. No, He must Purchase it, and pay for it. It was a matter of Redemption.

And, in Redemption or a Purchase, we looke to the Price. For if it be at any easie rate, it is so much the better. But with a high price, He Purchased us; it cost Him deare to bring it about. Non auro, nec argento, Neither of them would serve; At a higher rate it was,1. Pet. 1.18, 19. e­ven Pretioso sanguine. His precious blood, was the price, we stood Him in. Which He pay­ed, when He gave His life a ransome for man [...].

It stood thu, betweene Him and vs, in this point of Redemption. Mat. 20.28. Heer are certaine malefactors vnder the Law, to suffer, to be executed: What say you to them? Why, I will [Page 30] become vnder the Law, suffer that they should, take vpon me their execution, vpon condi­tion, they may be quit. In effect so much, at his Passion. He said, Si ergo me quaeritis, (Ioan. XVIII. Verse VI.) If you lay hold on me, if I must discharge all, Sinite hos abire, Let those goe their way, Let the price I pay be their Redemption: and so it was. And so we come to be redeemed from vnder the Law.

And this is to be marked, that Them that were vnder the Law, and, We that are to re­ceive, are but one, one and the same persons both: But being so redeemed, then we are our selves. Till then, the Apostle speakes of us, in the third person, (Them, that were vnder the Law,) as of some strangers, as of men of another world, none of our owne. But now be­ing redeemed, the style changeth. He speaketh of us, in the first person vt Nos, that We: For, till now, we were not our owne, we were not our selves; but, now we are: Till this, it was the old yeare still with us; but with the new yeare, commeth our new estate.

7. That we might receive the Adoption of Children.Being thus redeemed, we are got from vnder the Law: and that is much. Till a party come to be once vnder it, and feele the weight of it, he shall never vnderstand this aright; but then he shall. And if any have beene vnder it, he knowes what it is, and how great a benefit to be got thence. But is this all? No, He leaves us not heer; but to make the mea­sure compleat, yea, even to flow over, He gives us not over, when He had rid us out of this wretched estate, till He have brought us to an estate, as good, as He himselfe is in. After our Redemption, we stood, but as Prisoners enlarged; that was all: But still we were as strangers; no part, nor portion in GOD, or His Kingdome: nor, no reason, we should hope for any. He now goeth one step further, which is the highest and furthest step of all. For further then it, he cannot go.

That we might receive the Adoption, (that is) from the estate of Prisoners condemned, be translated into the estate of Children Adopted. Of Adopted: for, of Naturall, we could not: That is His peculiar alone, and He therein onely above us, but els, fully to the ioynt fruition, of all that He hath, which is fully as much, as we could desire. And this is our Fieri out of His Factum ex muliere. We made the Sonnes of GOD, as He the Sonne of Man; We made partakers of His Divine, 2. Pet. 1.4. as He of our Humane nature. To purchase our pardon, to free us from death, and the Lawes sentence, this, seemed a small thing to Him: yet this is Lex hominis. 2. Sam. 7.19. Mans goodnesse goeth no farther; and gracious is the Prince, that doth but so much. For, who ever heard of a condemned man, Adopted afterward; or that thought it not enough and enough, if he did but scape, with his life? So farr then to exalt His boun­tie, to that fullnesse; as Pardon, and Adopt both, Non est Lex hominis haec; No such measure amongst men;Esa 9.7. Zelus Domini Exercituum, The zeale of the Lord of Hosts, was to performe this: The fulnesse of the God-head dwelt in Him, that brought this to passe.

For (to speake of adopting:) We see it daily; No father adopts, vnlesse He be orbe, have no child; or if he have one, for some deepe dislike, have cast him of. But GOD had a SONNE, The brightnesse of His Glorie; The true character of His Substance. And, no displeasure there was:Heb. 1.3. Mat. 17.5. Heb. 2.10. No, In quo complacitum est, In whom He was absolutely well plea­sed: yet, would He, by adoption, for all that, bring many Sonnes to Glory. Is not this full on His part?

We see againe, no Heire will endure to heare of Adoption, nay, nor divide his Inheri­tance, no not with his naturall Brethren. Then, that the Heire of all things, should admit joynt Heires to the Kingdome He was borne to;Heb. 1.3. Rom. 8 17. and that admit them, not out of such, as were neere him, but from such as were strangers, yea such as had been condemned men vn­der the Law; Is not this full on His part? To purchase vs, and to purchase for us, both at once? And not to do this for us alone, but to assure it to us: For, as his Father, (in this Verse,) sends Him; So, (in the next Verse,) He sends the Spirit of His Sonne, to give us seisin of this our Adoption: whereby we now call Him, the Iewes Abba, the Ge [...]tiles Pater, as Children all, and he our Father, which is the priuiledge of the Adoption, we heer receive.

And now, are we come to the fullnesse indeed. For this Adoption, is the fullnesse of our option: We cannot extend; We, our wish; or He, his love and goodnesse any further. For, what can we aske, or He give more, seeing in giving this, He giveth all He is worth? By this time, [...]zek. 47.3, 4, 5. it is full Sea: All the bankes are filled. It is now as, EZEKIELS waters that [Page 31] he saw flow, from vnder the threshold of the Temple: that tooke him to the ankles first, then to the knees, after to the loynes; at last, so high risen, there was no more passage.

1. From the fullnesse of His Compassion, He sent to release us: 2. From the fullnesse of His Love, He sent His Sonne: 3. In the fullnesse of Humility, He sent Him made: 4. Made of a Woman, to make a full vnion with our nature: 5. Made vnder the Law, to make the vnion yet more perfectly full with our sinfull condition: 6. That we might ob­taine a full deliverance, from all Evill, by being redeemed: 7. And a full estate of all the Ioy and Glory of his heavenly inheritance, by being Adopted. So, there is fullnesse, of all hands. And so much, for the fullnesse of the Benefit, we receive.

Now, for the fullnesse of the Duty, we are to performe this day. For, in the fullnesse of time, all things are to be full. Plenitudo temporis, tempus plenitudinis. And, seeing GOD hath suffered us to live, to see the year run about, to this plenitudo temporis: if it be so, on GODS part; meet also, it be so on Ours: and that we be not empty, in this fullnesse of time: It is not fit, if He be at the brinke, that we be at the bottom. But, as we be willing, to yeeld Him of ours againe; of our duty (I meane:) that it, to Him, in a measure, and proporti­on be like full; as his Bounty, hath been full above measure, toward us. That so from us, and on our parts, it may be plenitudo temporis, or tempus plenitudinis, the fullnesse of time, or time of fullnesse, choose you whither.

1. And, a time of fullnesse it will be, (I know) in a sense: of fullnesse of bread, of fullnesse of bravery, of fullnesse of sport, and pastime: and this it may be. And it hath been ever, a ioyfull time in appearance, for it should be so. With the ioy (saith Esay, a verse or two be­fore, Puer natus est nobis, vnto us a Childe is borne) that men rejoice with, in harvest: Esa. 9.3. Not to goe from our Text heer, With the ioy of men that are come out of prison; have scaped the Law; With the ioy of men, that have got the reversion of a goodly heritage. Onely, that we forget not the principall; that this outward ioy eat not vp, evacuate not our spiri­tuall ioy, proper to the Feast: that we have in minde, in the middest of our mirth, the cause of it, CHRISTS sending; and the benefits that come thereby. And, it shall be a good signe vnto us, if we can thus reioyce, if this our ioy can be full, if we can make a spirituall blessing, the obiect of our mirth. Beatus populus, qui scit iubilationem, Blessed is the people,Psal. 89.15. that can reioyce on this manner.

And, after our ioy-fullnesse, or fullnesse of ioy, our fullnesse of thankes, or thanke-fullnesse, is 2 to ensue: For, with that fullnesse, we are to celebrate it likewise. Our mindes first, and then our mouthes, to be filled with blessing, and praise, and thanks, to Him, that hath made our times, not to fall into those empty ages of the world, but to fall within this fullnesse of time, which so many Kings and Prophets desired to have lived in, but fell short of; and lived then,Luk. 1 [...].34. when the times were full of shadowes, and promises, and nothing els. How instantly they longed, to have held such a Feast, to have kept a Christmas, it is evident, by David's Inclina coelos, by Esaye's Vtinam disrumpas Coelos, Bow the Heavens, and Breake the Heavens: Psal. 144.5. Esa. 64.1. How much (I say) they longed for it: And therefore, that we make not light account of it.

To render our thankes then, and to remember to do it fully, To forget none: To Him that was sent, and to Him, that Sent; Sent his Sonne, in this; the Spirit of his Sonne, in the next verse. To begin with Osoulamini Fitium, it is the first duty enioyned us this day,Psal. 2.12. to kisse the Babe new borne, that when his Father would send Him, said, Ecce venio, so readi­ly: and when he would make Him, was content with Corpus aptasti mihi, Psal. 40.7. to have a body made Him, meet for Him to suffer in: who willingly yeelded to be our SHILO;Gen. 45. [...]0. to this [...] heere; yea to be not onely CHRIST, but an Apostle for us, (Heb. III. v. 1.) even the Apostle of our profession.

And not to Him that was sent and made alone: but to the FATHER that sent Him, and to the HOLY GHOST that made Him, (as by whom He was conceived.) To the FA­THER, for his mission; The SONNE, for his Redemption; The HOLY GHOST, for his Adoption; For, by Him it is wrought. He that made Him the Sonne of man, doth like­wise regenerate us, to the state of the Sonnes of God. And this for our thankfullnesse.

3. And, to these two, (to make the measure full) to ioyne, the fullnesse of duty, even whatsoever dutifull minded persons, may yeeld to a bountifull minded and a bountifull han­ded [Page 32] Benefactor. And with this to beginne, to consecrate this first day of this fullnesse of time: even with our service to Him at the full; which, is then at the full, when no part is missing: when all our duties of preaching, and praying, of hymnes, of offering, of Sacrament, and all, meet together. No fullnesse there is of our Liturgie, or publique solemne Service, without the Sacrament. Some part; yea, the cheefe part is wanting, if that be wanting. But our thanks are surely not full, without the Holy Eucharist, which is by interpretation, Thanks­giving it selfe.Psal. 116.12.13. Fully we cannot say, Quid retribuam Domino? but we must answer, Cali­cem salutaris accipiam, we will take the cup of salvation, and with it in our hands give thanks to Him, render Him our true Eucharist, or reall Thankesgiving indeed. In which Cup is the Bloud, not onely of our redemption, of the Covenant, that freeth us from the Law, and ma­keth the Destroyer passe over us: Mat. 26.28. but of our Adoption, of the New Testament also, which entitles us, and conueyes vnto us (Testament-wise, or by way of Legacie) the estate we have in the ioy and blisse of his heavenly Kingdome, whereto we are adopted. We are then made partakers of Him, and with Him of both these His benefits. We there are made to drinke of the Spirit, 1. Cor. 12.13. Ephes. 4.30. by which we are sealed to the day of our Redemption and Adoption both. So that, our freeing from vnder the Law, our investiture into our new adopted state, are not fully con­summate without it.

And what? Shall this be all? No, when this is done, there is allowance of twelve dayes more, for this fullnesse of time: that, we shrinke not vp our duty then into this day alone, but in the rest also remember, to redeeme some part of the day, to adopt some houre at the least, to bethinke our selves of the duty, the Time calleth to us for: that so, we have not IOBS dies vacuos, no day quite empty in this fullnesse of time. Heerof assuring our selves, that what we do in this fullnesse of time, will have full acceptance at His hands. It is the time of His Birth, 2. Cor. 6.2. which is ever a time, as accepted, so of accepting; wherein, what is done, will be ac­ceptably taken to the full: Fully accepted, and fully rewarded by Him, of whose fullnesse we al [...] [...]eceive: Ioh. 1.16. With this condition, of grace for grace, ever, one grace for another.

And so, growing from grace to grace, finally from this fullnesse, we shall come to be par­takers of another yet behind, to which we aspire. For, all this is but the fullnesse of time: But that, the fullnesse of eternitie, when time shall be runn out, and his glasse empty, Et tempus non erit amplius;Apoc. 10.6. which is, at His next sending. For yet once more shall GOD send Him, and He come againe. At which comming, we shall then indeed receive the fullnesse of our Redemption, not from the Law (that we have already,) but from Corruption, to which our bodies are yet subiect; and receive the full fruition of the Inheritance, wher [...]to we are heer but adopted. And then it will be perfect, compleat, absolute fullnesse indeed, when we shall all be filled with the fullnesse of Him that filleth all in all. Ephes. 1.23. For, so shall all be, when nothing shall be wanting in any:1. Cor. 15.23. for GOD shall be all, in all. Not, as heer He is, something, (and, but something) in euery one; but then, omnia in omnibus. And then, the measure shall be so full, Mat. 25.21. as it cannot enter into us, we cannot hold it: We must enter into it; Intra in gaudi­um Domini tui.

To this we aspire, and to this, in the fullnesse appointed of every one of our ti [...]es, Almighty GOD bring us, by Him, and for His sake, that in this fullnesse of time, was sent to worke it for us, in His person: and worke it in us, by the operation of His Blessed SPIRIT. To whom, &c.

IT is then the first report, the very first newes, that came (as this day) of that, which maketh this day, so high a Feast; The Birth of CHRIST.1. Dixit Angelus.

It came by an Angel then: No Man was meet to be the messenger of it. And looke how it came then, so it should come still; and none but an Angel bring it: as, more fit for the tongues of Angels, then of men. Yet since, GOD hath allowed sinfull men, to be the Reporters of it at the second hand; and the newes never the worse; for that Good newes is good newes and welcome, by any,2. Reg 7.9. though the person be but even a foule Leper that brings it. Yet, that the meannesse of the messenger offend us not, ever we are to remember this; Be the party who he will, that brings it, the newes of CHRISTS Birth, is a mes­sage for an Angel.

This had been newes for the best Prince in the Earth. That these Illis heer,2. Dixit illis. these parties were Shepheards, that this Message came to them, needs not seeme strange: It found none els (at the time) to come to: The Angel was glad to find any to tell it to; even to tell it the first he could meet withall: None were then awake, none in case to receive it, but a sort of poore Shepheards; and to them he told it.

Yet, it fell not out amisse, that Shepheards they were; the newes fitted them well. It well agreed, to tell Shepheards of the yeaning of a strange Lamb: such a Lamb, as should take away the sinnes of the world: such a Lamb, Ioh 1.29. as they might send to the Ruler of the world for a present, Mitte Agnum Dominatoriterrae: ESAY's Lamb.Esa. 16.1. Or (if ye will) to tell Shep­heards, [Page 34] of the birth of a Shepheard;Ezek. 34.23. EZEKIELS Shepheard: Eccesuscitabo vobis PASTOREM; Behold, I will raise you a Shepheard: the 1. Pet 5.4. Chiefe Shepheard, the Heb. 13 20. Great Shepheard, and the Ioh. 10.11. Good Shepheard, that gave His life for his flocke. And so, it was not vn­fit newes, for the Persons to whom it came.

3. Dixit, Evange­liz [...].For the Manner: the Angell delivereth it Evangelizando, Church wise, (and that was a signe, this place should ever be the Exchange for this newes:) Churchwise (I say) for he doth it by a Sermon, heere at this Verse: and then, by a Hymne or Antheme after, at the XIIII. Verse. A Sermon: the Angell himselfe calls it so, Evangelizo vobis, I come to E­vangelize, to preach you a Gospell: that first. And presently after he had done his Sermon, there is the Hymne, Gloria in excelsis, taken up by the Queere of Heaven. An Angell makes the one: A multitude of Angells sing the other. The whole Service of this day, the Ser­mon, the Antheme, by Angells, all.

4. Evangelizo gau­dium magnum.Now, the end of both Sermon and Antheme, and of the Angells, in publishing it, and of the shepheards, and us, in hearing it, is gaudium, Ioy, for the Benefit, and Honour; Gau­dium magnum, great Ioy, for the great Benefit, and great Honour vouchsafed our Nature, and us, this day. Ioy, is in the Text, and if ioy be in the time, it is no harme: We keepe the Text, if we hold the Time with Ioy, Forso the Angell doth warrant us to hold it.

The DivisionOf this Angelicall, or Evangelicall message, or (as not I, but the Angell calleth it) Sermon; these two Verses, I have read, are a part. Whereof the former is but an Ecce, exci­ting 1 them to heare it, by magnifying the message, as well worth their hearing, Be not a­fraid, 2 for behold I bring you good tydings, of great Ioy, which shall be to all people. The later, is the very message it selfe, That, there is borne, unto you, this day, a SAVIOVR, which is CHRIST, the LORD, in the City of David.

1 In the former, are these points. 1. Feare not, (it is no ill newes, I bring you) 2. Nay, it is good newes. 3. Good, for it is newes of Ioy. 4. Ioy, and that no ordinary, but great Ioy. 5. Not to some few, but to the whole people. 6. And not toti populo to all one people, but omni populo, to all people whatsoever. 7. And them, not for the present, but Quod erit omni populo, that is, and so shall be, to all, as long as there shall be any people, vpon earth. And, by vertue of this [Quod erit,] to us, heer, this day. Ecce, Behold, such is the newes I bring.

2. The Message it selfe.In the later, the Message it selfe. The summe whereof is, the Birth of a Childe, A Child is borne. Three things are proposed of Him. 1. This Child is a SAVIOVR. 2. A Saui­our, which is CHRIST. 3. Christ the LORD, Christus Dominus. For, every Saviour is not CHRIST,1. The Names. nor every Christ, CHRISTVS DOMINVS, CHRIST the LORD, or the LORD CHRIST. He, is all three.

Then have we besides, three circumstances, of the ¹ Persons, ² Time, and ³ Place. 1. The Persons, 2. The Circum­stances. for whom all this is: twice repeated; ¹ Evangelizo vobis in the first Verse, ² Natus vobis in the second. But this, I make some doubt of, whether it be a Circumstance or no: I rather hold it a principall part of the Substance, 1. The Persons. as, the very word of conveyance, whereby it passeth to us. And sure, there is no Ioy either in Evangelizo, the Message; or Natus, the Birth, 2. The Time. without it; without Vobis. But, if the Message, and the Birth it selfe both, be ours; then it is Gaudium magnum indeed. Specially, if we adde (2.) the Time when, not many daies hence,3. The Place. but even this very day. And (3.) the Place where, that it is in no remote Re­gion farr hence, but in the Citie of DAVID,3. Our duty reci­procall. even heer hard by.

And then lastly in a word; what our parts are to performe, to these two parts, ¹ this dayes Message, and ² this dayes Birth of our SAVIOVR, CHRIST, the LORD.

Be not afraid.

They were afraid.HEre is a stop, that the Message cannot proceed: For the sight of the Messenger, hath almost marred the hearing of the Message. The Parties, to whom it comes, be in such feare, as they be not in case to receive it. They were afraid, and that sore afraid (as is said in the Verse before) at the sight of the Angel, that came with the newes.

And this was not the case of these poore men onely: Others, and other manner of peo­ple were so,So were others as well as they. This Gospell of Saint Luke is scarse begun; we are yet but a [Page 35] little way in the second Chapter; and we have already, three Noli timere's in it: and all, as heere, at the comming of an Angell. ¹ Feare not Zacharie, (Chap. I. 13.) So, he was afraid. ² Feare not Marie, (Chap. I. 30) So, she was afraid. ³ And now, Feare not, these here, That it seemes to be generall, to feare, at an Angel's appearing.

What was it? It was not the feare of an evill Conscience: They were about no harme.Of what not. Zacharie was at Church at his Office; The blessed Virgin (I doubt not) blessedly emploied: These here, doing their dutie; watching over their flockes by night: Yet feared, all.Of what. What should the matter be? It is a plaine signe, our Nature is fallen from her originall: Heaven, and we are not in the termes we should be: not the best of us all.

Angels are the Messengers of Heaven. Messengers ever come with tydings;Why of the Angel. but whi­ther good or bad, we cannot tell. Here comes an Angell with newes from Heaven: what newes he brings, we know not, and therefore we feare, because we know not. Which shewes, all is not well betweene Heaven and us; that upon every comming of an Angell, we promise our selves no better newes from thence; but still are afraid of the messages and messengers that come from that place.

That the Message then may proceed, this feare must be removed. In a troubled water,Be not afraid. no face will well be seene: nor, by a troubled mind, no message received, till it be setled. To settle them then for it; no other way, no other word to begin with, but Nolite timere, feare not, and that is ever the Angells beginning. Such is our infirmity, ever he must be­gin with these two words, Noli timere, feare not: And so he doth seven times in this Gospell.

But, feare will not be cast out with a couple of words, till they see some reason to quiet them. And no better reason, then to shew, they have no reason to feare. For,1. For, no ill [...]y­dings. feare is the expectation of evill, and there is no evill toward them: and so they have no reason to feare; quòd trepidaverunt timore, vbi non erat timor. As if he should say;Psal. 53.5. Angells have come vvith weeping newes, as Iud. 11. ver. 5. If I were such an one, if I came with sad tidings, ye had reason, ye might feare. But now, your terrour groweth out of error. You are mistaken in me, I am no such Angell; I am Angelus Evangelizans, an Angell with a Gospell, one that comes with no bad newes. Feare not then. There is no evill toward.

No evill: and that were enough for feare not. But here is a further matter;2. But good tidings Not onely privativè, I bring no ill; but positivè, I bring you good newes. And good newes is Nolite timere, and somewhat besides, (that is) Feare not, but, Be of good cheere. They be two degrees plain­ly, though one be inferred of the other. Feare no ill, there is none to feare; there is no ill, nay there is good towards. For, good newes is good, in that, it represents the good it selfe to vs, before it come. It is but words: true: But such words made IACOB revive againe, Gen. 45.17. when he was more then halfe dead, even the good newes of IOSEPHS welfare. If I might but heare good tidings (saith David when his bones were broken) it would make me well againe: Psal. 51.8. Pro. 13 17. That SALOMON sayd well, A good messenger is a good medicine.

Specially this heere, which is so good, as it carrieth away the name from the rest, to be called The Gospel, or, The glad tydings, as if none so glad, nay, none glad at all without it. It is (saith the Apostle) odor suavitatis, a comfortable sweet savour.2. Cor 2 1 [...]. It is (saith the Wise man) dulcedo animae, & sanitas ossium, the sweetnesse of the soule, the very health of the bones. It is such (saith the Prophet) as the lipps are precious, and the feet beautifull, Pro. 16.24. Esay 52.7. Col. 1.20. of them that bring it, that a Saviour is borne, as by vvhom, things in heaven and things in earth, men and Angells (vvhich vvere in feare one of another) are set at peace, and love: 1. Ioh. 14.18. and Love ca­steth out feare, giveth the true Noli timere.

Good newes of Ioy: For, of good newes, there are more sorts then one.3. Tydings of ioy. Good newes it had been, if it had been but, Evangelizo vobis Spem. Newes of good Hope: that had been e­nough, for Nolite timere. This is more, it is of Ioy. I wot well, there is a Ioy in hope,Rom. 12 13. Ioh. 16.24. Gal. 4 4. Spe gaudentes, saith the Apostle: But that ioy is not full, till the fullnesse of time come. Nor it is not perfect, for it is allaied somewhat, with an unpleasing mixture, which is Spes differtur, and that (as the Wise man saith) áffligit animam: Hope deferred afflicteth the soule. Pro. 13 12. Gaudium Spei is nothing to Gaudium Rei: the hope de futuro, of a thing to come heerafter, nothing to the actuall fruition, of a thing present.

And indeed, till this dayes newes, it was ever Evangelium Spei: ever in the future tense, before. Even the very last before this, to the blessed Virgin, Ecce concipies, Thou shalt con­ceive: Luk. 1.31. [Page 36] Shalt. So it was yet to come. This, is the first in the present tense: Not, is to be borne, is to be sent, is to come, but, Natus est, Missus est, Venit, is borne, is sent, is come. Hodiè, even to day, takes no time: In the City of David, not farre hence, but even hard by. This is E­vangelizo gaudium: This is ioy indeede,

4. Of great Ioy.But even in Ioy, there be diverse degrees: All are not of one size: Some there are les­ser; some (as this heer) Gaudium magnum. The fire is, as the fuell is; and the Ioy is as the matter is. There is not like ioy to a shepheard, when his Ewe brings him a Lamb, as when his Wife brings him a Sonne; (yet that of a Lamb, is a Ioy, such as it is) But then, if that Sonne should prove to be Princeps Pastorum, the Cheefe Shepheard in all the land, that were some-what more: But then, if he should prove to be a CYRVS, or a DAVID, a Prince, then certainely it were another manner of ioy, Gaudium magnum in­deed. As the matter is, so is the Ioy. If great the Benefit, great the Person, then great the Ioy. And heere the Benefit is great, none greater, as much as the saving of us all, as much as all our lives and soules are worth; therefore great. And the Person great, none so great, (it is the LORD Himselfe) therefore primae magnitudinis, great even as He is. Indeed so great it is, that the Prophet bids us plainely, remember no more former things, nor regard matters of old:Esa. 45.18. This passeth them all, the Ioy of it puts them all downe: so that none of them shall once be mentioned with it. Therefore well sayd the Angell, Evangelizo Gau­dium magnum.

5. Ioy to the peo­ple.And great, it may be intensivè, in the parties themselves: yet not great extensivè, nor extend it selfe to many, not be gaudium m [...]gnum Populo. Yes, even that way also it is great; it is publique ioy, it is ioy to the people. And, well fare that Ioy where it is merry with all. It is added purposely, this, that they might not mistake, when he sayd, Evangelizo vobis, he brought them good newes; That though he brought it them; yet not th [...]m onely, it was not appropriate to them, it was common to others: They had their parts in it, but so should others have no lesse then they. And every good shepheard, will like it the better for that; will be pro grege, and still preferre the ioy of the whole flocke.

In other ioyes, it falles out as Esay tells, Multiply the Nation, and ye shall not encrease their ioy;Esay 9.3. for, that which one winnes, another loses: But, this Ioy, the Ioy of Puer natus est nobis, in it, they shall all reioice before Thee, as men make merry in harvest, and be ioyfull as men that divide the spoile. In Harvest; And a good Harvest all the Countrey is the better for. At a spoyle; wherein every one hath his share. That is gaudium Populi, And such is this. Well figured, in the place of His birth, an Inne, which is domus Populi, open to all Passengers that will take it up; Iuris publici, wherein every one hath right. Yea and the most com­mon part of the Inne. For, though they sort themselves, and have every one their severall Chambers;Luk. 2.7. in the stable all have interest; that, is common. And as the Place publique, so is the Benefit, and so is the Ioy Publique of His Birth: Christmas ioy right; All fare the better for this day. Salus populi is the best; and so is Gaudium populi too; and every good minde,6. Ioy to all people. will like it so much the better, that All the people have their part in it.

And this were much, toti populo, to the whole people, if it were but one: But it is omni populo (say Theophylact and Beda) that is, to All people, which is a larger extent by farr. And if ye speake of great ioy, this is great indeed, for it is vniversall, it is as great as the world is great: when, not the Iew onely but the Gentile, nor the Gentile but the Iew, not one people, but All, keepe a feast. And at this word, omni populo, Nec vox hominem sonat, It is not man that speaketh now, whose goodnesse commonly, when it is at the greatest, extendeth no further, but to one Nation: But with GOD, it is never great, till it come to omni populo. It is but a small thing (saith He by ESAY) to raise the Tribes of Iacob, or to restore the decayes of Israel: Esay 49.6. I will give thee a Light to the Gentiles, and a Salvation to the end of the world.

As we said of the Inne, even now, the place of his Birth: So say we heer, of the time of it.Luk. 1.1. It is well set downe by Saint Luke, to have been at the Description of the whole world; for, that was a meet time for the SAVIOVR of the whole world to be borne: The dew of whose Birth is of the womb of the morning, Psal. 110.3. (the Psalmist in passion of ioy misplacing his words,) the meaning is, his Birth from the womb, is as the morning dew, which watereth and refresheth the face of the whole earth:Iudg. 6.37. Not Gedeon's fleece alone, but the whole earth; [Page 37] Not one part, not the Iewes onely: No partition now, but Ephes. 2.14. vtraque vnam one of two: Nay, one of all: 1.10. all recapitulate in Himselfe, and from Him as a Center, lines of ioy drawen to all, and every part of the Circle.

And we may not passe by Quod erit, which shal be; which not onely is, but shalbe. 7. To all people that shall be. For by this word, we hold; It is our best tenure. Not onely to All that then were, (then had we been out:) but that were, or ever should be, to the worlds end. Omni populo, all people, is the latitude or extent: Quod erit, that shall be, is the longitude or continuance of the ioy. Quoderit, that it shall be a feast of ioy, so long as any people shall be, to hold a feast on the face of the earth. In a word, That same Evangelium aeternum, that S^t. IOHN saw in the Angells hand, we now heare from the Angels mouth,Apoc. 14.6. to be preached to every nation, kindred, tongue and people, that be, or shall be, while the world endureth.

So, if we read Quod erit, with omni populo. But some read gaudium, with quod erit;2. Ioy that shall be. gau­dium quod erit; and make a note of that: The ioy, quod erit, that is and shall be. For com­monly, all our earthly ioy, is gaudium quod est, & non erit, that is, for the present, but con­tinueth not; is, but shall not be; like the blaze of a brush faggot, Eccles. 7.8. all of a flame and out a­gaine suddenly, in a moment. Gaudium quod erit, the ioy that so is, as it shall be still, is grounded upon the ioy of this day, CHRIST and His Birth. Without which, our ioy, is as the ioy of men in prison, merry for a while, but within a while, sentence of death to passe upon them. Without which, Extrema gaudij luctus occupat, Pro. 14.13. the end of all our mirth. will be but mourning. All ioy els is, but shall not be within a while: At leastwise e­rit, quando non erit, A time shall be when it shall not be. Sed gaudium Meum, nemo tol­let a vobis; But My ioy, Mine, grounded on Me, none shall ever take from you;Ioh. 16 22. not sicknesse, not death it selfe. Other it shall, this is shall not; but, now ye shall, this Day, and ever [...]ore ye shall reioice in the holy comfort of it.

And this is the magnifying of the message. 1. No evill newes, Feare not. 2. Nay good, Be of good cheere. 3. Good newes of ioy. 4. Of great ioy. 5. Publique ioy, toti Po­pulo. 6. Vniversall ioy, omni populo. 7. Ioy to all, that are or shall be; And againe ioy, which now is, and shall be so for ever.

Now, upon all these He setteh an Ecce, and well he may; And, that is never set by the HOLY GHOST, but super res magnae entitatis, upon matters of great moment. But, up­on this Hill, upon the top of it, that hath so many ascents, a Beacon would do well. For looke, how many Ecces in the Scriptures, so many Beacons; And between them, as be­tween these, ye shall observe a good correspondence still. This Ecce heere, to the last Chap. 1.31. Ec­ce concipies of the blessed Virgin; That, to Esay's Esa. 7.14. Ecce concipiet Virgo; That, to David's Psal. 132.11. Ecce de fructu ventris tui; That, to Abraham's Gen. 2 [...].18. Ecce in semine tuo; and so up, till ye come to 3.15. Semen mulieris: There they first beginn, and take light one from another, till they come to the Ecce natus est hodiè, the Ecce of all Ecce's, the last and highest of them all. And as a Beacon serveth to call and stirre up men to have regard: so is this heer to excite them (and in them, us all) with good attention to heare, and to heed these so great good tidings. And indeed, who is not excited with it? whose eye is not turned to behold this Ecce? whose eare standeth not attent, to heare this Evangelizo? whose heart doth not muse, what manner of message this should be. Chap 1.29.

This it is then, Quod natus est. The Birth of a Child: that there is one borne this Day, 2. That there is borne, the cause of all this ioy.

There is ioy at every birth. Sorrow in the travaile (saith our Saviour;) but after the deli­verie, the anguish is no more remembred, for ioy, that a man is borne into the world.

But the greater he is that is borne, and the more beneficiall his birth, the greater a­do is made. And among men, because there are none greater then Princes, and great things are looked for at their hands, their Births are ever vsed to be kept with great triumph.Gen. 40 20. Mar. 6.21. Pha­raoh's, in the Old; Herod's in the New; both their Natus est's, daies of feasting.

Now of Him, that is borne heer, it may truly be sayd, Ecce maior hîc, Behold a greater is borne heer. One, whose birth is good newes, even from the poorest Shepheard, Mat. 12.24. to the richest Prince upon the earth.

Who is it? Three things are said of this Child by the Angel. 1. He is a SAVIOVR, [Page 38] 2. Which is CHRIST. 3. Christ the LORD. Three of His Titles, well and orderly infer­red one of another by good consequence. We cannot misse one of them; they be necessary all. Our methode, on earth, is to begin with great: In heaven, they begin with good first.

A SAVIOVR.First then a SAVIOVR, that is His name: IESVS, Soter; and in that name, His bene­fit, Salus, In Verrem IV. saving health, or Salvation. Such a name as the great Oratour himselfe saith of it, Soter, Hoc quantum est? Ita magnum est, vt latino vno verbo exprimi non possit. This name Saviour is so great, as no one word can expresse the force of it.

But we are not so much to regard the Ecce, how great it is, as Gaudium, what ioy is in it; that is the point we are to speake to. And for that; men may talke what they will, but (sure) there is no ioy in the world to the ioy of a man saved: no ioy so great, no news so wel­come, as to one ready to perish, in case of a lost man, to heare of one, that will save him. In danger of perishing, by sicknesse, to heare of one will make him well againe: By sen­tence of the Law, of one with a pardon to save his life: By enemies, of one that will rescue, and set him in safety. Tell any of these, assure them but of a Saviour, it is the best newes he ever heard in his life. There is ioy in the name of a Saviour. And even this way this Child is a SAVIOVR too. Potest hoc facere, sed hoc non est opus Eius, This He can do, but this is not His worke: a further matter there is, a greater Salvation He came for. And it may be, we need not any of these; we are not presently sicke, in no feare of the Law, in no dan­ger of enemies. And it may be, if we were, we phansie to our selves to be releeved some other way. But, that which He came for, that saving we need all; and none but He can helpe us to it. We have therefore (all) cause to be glad for the Birth of this SAVIOVR.

I know not how, but when we heare of saving, or mention of a Saviour, presently our mind is carried to the saving of our skin, of our temporall state, of our bodily life, and fur­ther saving we think not of. But, there is another life, not to be forgotten; and, greater the dangers; and the destruction there, more to be feared then of this heer; and it would be well, sometimes we were remembred of it. Besides our skinne and flesh, a soule we have, and it is our better part by farr; that also hath need of a Saviour; that hath her destruction, out of which; that hath her destroyer, from which she would be saved; and those would be thought on. Indeed our chiefe thought and care would be for that; how to escape the wrath, how to be saved from the destruction to come, whither our sinnes will certainely bring us.

Sinne it is, will destroy us all. And (to speake of a Saviour) there is no person on earth hath so much need of a Saviour, as hath a sinner: Nothing so dangerous, so deadly unto us, as is the sinne in our bosome; nothing, from which we have so much need to be saved, whatsoever account we make of it. From it, commeth upon us all the evill of this life: and from it, all the evill of the life to come: in comparison whereof, these heer are not worth the speaking of. Above all then, we need a Saviour, for our soules; and from our sinnes; and from the everlasting destruction, which sinne will bring upon us in the other life, not farr from us, not from him of us, that thinketh it farthest off.

Then, if it be good tidings to heare of a Saviour, where it is but a matter of the losse of earth, or of this life here: how then, when it commeth to the losse of Heaven; to the dan­ger of Hell, when our soule is at the stake, and the well doing or vndoing of it for ever? He that could save our soules from that Destroyer, were not the birth of such an one good newes trow? Is not such a Saviour worth the harkening after? Is he not? It is then because we have not that sense of our soules, and the dangers of them, that we have of our bodies: nor that feare of our ghostly enemies, nor that lively apprehension of the eternall torments of that place, and how neere we are to it, (nothing being betwixt us and it, but this poore puffe of breath which is in our nosthrills:) Our carnall part is quicke and sensible; our spirituall is dead and dull. We have not the feeling of our sinnes, that we have of our sicknesse: if we had, we would heare this newes with greater cheerefullnesse, and hold this Day of the birth of such a SAVIOVR, with ioy indeed. We cannot conceive it yet, this destruction is not neere enough to affect us.Ier. 30.24. But, in novissimo intelligetis planè, in the end, when the Destroyer shall come, and we shall finde the want of a Saviour, we shall plainly vnderstand this, and value this benefit and the ioy of it, as we ought; and finde, there is no ioy in the earth to the ioy of a Saviour.

[Page 39] There is borne a Saviour, is the first. The Angel addeth further,2. Which is CHRIST. A Saviour which is CHRIST. For, many Saviours had been borne, many had GOD sent them, that at di­verse times had set them free from diuerse dangers of their enemies; MOSES, from the Aegyptians; IOSHVA, from the Canaanites; GEDEON, from the Madianites; IEPTHA, from the Ammonites; SAMPSON, from the Philistims. And indeed, the whole story of the Bible is nothing els, but a Calender of Saviours, that GOD from time to time still stir­red them up.

But these all were but petie Saviours; there was one yet behind, that was worth them all. One, that should save his people from their Sinnes; Save, not their bodies for a time, Mat. 1.21. but their soules for ever, which none of those Saviours could do. One therefore much spoken of, wished for, and waited for, a Saviour which was CHRIST: when He came they looked for great matters, as said the Woman at the Wells side ▪ Ioh 4.25. For He was the most famous and greatest SAVIOVR of all. And this is He, A Saviour which is CHRIST. He, of whom all the Promises made mention, and He the performance of them all: of whom all the Types vnder the Law were shadowes, and He the substance of them all: Of whom all the Prophecies ranne, and He the fulfilling of them all: He, of whom all those inferiour Saviours were the figures and forerunners, and He the accomplishment of all, that in them was wanting. This is He: IACOB's Gen. 49.10. Shiloh, ESAYE's Esa. 7 14. Immanuel, IEREMIE's Ier. 23.5. Branch, DANIEL's Dan 9.29. Mes­sias, ZACHARIE's Zach. 6 12. Chap 1 27. Oriens ab alto, AGGEI's A [...]ge. 2.9. Desideratus cunctis Gentibus. The De­sire of all the Nations, then; and now, the Ioy of all Nations: a Saviour, which is CHRIST.

And what is meant by this terme CHRIST? A Saviour annoynted; or (as in another place it is said more agreeable to our phrase of speaking) a Ioh. 6.27. Saviour sealed; a Saviour under GODS Great Seale. That is, not as those other were, Saviours raised up of a sudden, upon some occasion; to serve the turne for the present, and never heard of till they came: but a Saviour in GODS fore-counsell resolved on, and given forth, from the beginning; pro­mised and foretold, and now signed and sen [...], with absolute Commission and fullnesse of power, to be the perfect and compleat SAVIOVR of all.

And to be it, ex Officio; His Office, His very profession, to be one, that all may have right to repaire unto Him, and find it at His hands. Not a Saviour incidently, as it fell out: but one, ex professo, Annoynted to that end, and by vertue of His Annoynting appointed, set forth, and sent into the world, to exercise this function of a SAVIOVR: Not for a time, but for ever, not to the Iewes, (as did the rest,) but even to all the ends of the earth. So runnes his bill,Mat. 11.23. Venite ad me omnes, Come all: and Ioh 6.37. Qui ad me venerit non ejiciam for as, of them that come to me, I will cast none out. 1. Tim 4.11. Servator omnium hominum, the Saviour of all men (and as the Samaritans said of him, Ioh. 4.42. Servator mundi. The Saviour of the world,) of Samaritans, Iewes, Gentiles: of Kings, of Shepheards and all.

And there is yet more particularitie in this word CHRIST: Three Offices did GOD from the beginning erect to save His people by; and that, by three acts, (The very Hea­then tooke notice of them,)¹ Purgare, ² Illuminare, ³ Perficere. ¹ Priests, to purge or expiate: ² Prophets, to illuminate or direct them; ³ Kings, to set all right, and to keepe all right, in that perfection, which this world admitteth. And all these three had their severall Annoyn­tings. Aaron the Priest, (Levit. 8.12.) Elisha the Prophet, (1. Reg. 19.16.) Saul the King, (1. Sam. 10.1.) In the Saviour which is CHRIST, His will was, all should meet, that nothing in Him might want, to the perfecting of this work. That He might be a per­fect Saviour of all, He was all. A Priest, after the order of Melchisedek, (Psal. 110.4.) A Pro­phet, to be heard when MOSES should hold his peace, (Deut. 18.18.) A King, to save His people, whose name should be IEHOVA Iustitia nostra, (Ierem. 23.6.) David's Priest, Mose's Prophet, Ieremie's King.

And these formerly had met double, two of them in some other; Melchisedek, King and Priest; Samuel, Priest and Prophet; DAVID, Prophet and King. Never all three, but in Him alone; and so, no perfect Christ but He: but He all, and so perfect. By His Priest-hood, to purge, expiate, & save us from our sins, being a propitiation to God for them: By his Prophecie, 1. Ioh. 2.2. to illuminate and save us from the by-paths of errour, guiding our feet in the way of peace. Chap. 1.79. By his Kingdome, protecting and conducting us through the miseries of this life, till He perfect us eternally by himselfe in the ioyes of His heavenly Kingdome. Rightly then, a Saviour which is CHRIST.

[Page 40]Now, as in the name SAVIOVR there was, so is there likewise Ioy in this Name CHRIST; and that, many wayes. 1. First, that we shall hang no more in expectation, We shall be no longer, Vi [...]cti sp [...]i; Hopes prisoners. He that should come, is come. The pro­mised SAVIOVR,Zach. 9.12. The Saviour, which is CHRIST, is now borne, and when spes becomes [...], then our ioy is full. 2. That now, there is a Saving Office erected; one Annoynted to that end, a professed Saviour, to whom all may resort. We shall not be to seeke, there is a Name given vnder Heaven, Act. 4.12. whereby we may be sure of salvation, the name of CHRIST. 3. That to this our saving, we have the ioynt consent and good will of all parties; in this Name CHRIST. CHRIST (that is) the Annointed, what person is He? The SONNE, the second Person. Annointed, by whom? By [...]he FATHER: Quem vnxisti, (Acts 4.27.) the first Person. Annointed, with what? With the HOLY GHOST, (Acts 10.38.) the third Person. So a concurrence of all Persons in this Name; all willing and well pleased, with the worke of our Salvation. 4. If we would be saved, we would be saved, vnctione, by oyle, not by vineger.Cant. 1.2. Et vnguentum effusum, Nomer Eius: And His Name is CHRIST, one that saveth by annoynting. 5. And if by Oyle, (there be hot Oyles) with a gentle b [...]ni [...]tive Oyle. And the Oyle which Hevseth, wherewith He is annoynted, is, the Oyle of gladnesse. Gladnesse therefore must needs go with this Name. Which Oyle of gladnesse is not for Himselfe, but for vs: not for His vse, but for ours. So he saith himselfe, in his first Sermon at Nazareth, upon his Text out of Esay 61.2. The annoynting (this Oyle of gladnesse) was vpon Him to bestow it upon us, and of us: Vpon them especially, that through a wounded conscience, were trou­bled with the spirit of heavinesse, to turne their heaviness into ioy. Glad then; that He is come, that by His Office is to save: and come with the good liking of all: to save us by Oyle: and that, the oyle of gladnesse.

3. Christ the LORD.And yet to make our ioy more full, the Angel addeth the third. A Saviour which is Christ; Christ the Lord. For neither is this all. He is not Christ only. We must not stay there. For, the Name Christ will agree, hath been and may be imparted to others besides. Many a King, in Scripture, hath had the honor to carry the Name of Christ, But with a difference. The King, Christus Domini, the Lords Christ: He, Christus Dominus, the Lord Christ, or Christ the Lord. Consider then, Heb. 7.4. how great this Child is, whose Annoynted, Kings themselves are. For if they be Christi Domini, the Lords Annoynted, His they are, for He is the Lord. The Lord absolute, without any addition; ye may put it to what ye will, Lord of men and Angels, Lord of heaven and earth, and all the Hosts of them, Dominus Christorum, and Dominus Dominorum, Lord paramount ouer all.

But why The Lord? Because this name of CHRIST will sort with men. Nay, as He is CHRIST (that is Annointed) He is man only. It is his name as man, for GOD cannot be Annointed. But he that should save us would be more then Man; and so, more then CHRIST. Indeed, CHRIST cannot save us. He that must save us must be the LORD. For,Heb. 7.28. such a Saviour it behooveth us to have, as might not begin the worke of our Salvation, and leave it in the middest, but goe through with it, and make an end too; which the for­mer Savio [...]rs could not do. Formerly, ever their complaint was, that their Saviours, their Christs dyed still, and left them to seeke: their Kings, and Priests, and Prophets dropt away still;Heb 7.23.24. for, they were not suffered to endure by reason of death. But this Saviour, this CHRIST, because he is the LORD, endureth for ever, hath an everlasting Priesthood, Kingdome and Prophecy, and so is able perfectly to save them, that come to GOD by him. This is one rea­son, why, hither we must come at the last, to Christ the LORD, and till we be at it, we be not where we should. Els, our Saviours will dye, and leave us destitute.

But, the maine reason is set downe by Esay, Ego sum, Ego sum, (saith GOD himselfe) & praeter me, Esay 43.11. non est Servator: It is I, I that am the Saviour, I am, and besides Me, there is no Saviour. None indeed, no true Saviour, but the LORD. All other are short, Vanasa­lus hominis, saith the Psalme, mans salvation is vaine, any salvation is vaine, if it be not the LORDS. 1. Those Christs, that were not the LORD, could save but the bodie, and not one of them quicken his owne soule: CHRIST, that is the LORD, can save soules and bodies, His owne and others both. 2. Those Christs, that were not the LORD, could save but from carnall enemies, with armes of flesh: He, from our ghostly enemies, even spiritiuall wickednesses in heavenly places, from Abaddon the great destroier of the bottomlesse pit. [Page 41] 3. They, that were not the LORD, could save but from worldly calamities, could but prune and take of the twigs, (as it were:) He, from sin it selfe, and so plucketh it up by the roots. 4. They, that were not the LORD, put it of but for a time, and after it came a­gaine, Temporall onely. He for ever, once for all: and is become Authour of eternall salva­tion, to all that depend on Him. And marke that word [eternall:] For,Heb. 5.9. none but the LORD can worke eternall salvation. 5. They all had need of a Saviour themselves, and, of this Saviour: He needs none, receives of none, imparts to all; as being not a Saviour onely, but Salus ipsa in abstracto, Salvation it selfe,Verse 30. Ioh. 1. (as Simeon calleth him) of whose fulnesse wee all receive. To save may agree to man: To be salvation, can agree to none but to CHRIST the LORD. To begin, and to end; to save soule and bodie, from bodily and ghostly enemies; from sin the root, and miserie the branches; for a time, and for ever; to be a Saviour, and to be Salvation it selfe: CHRIST, the LORD is all this, and can doe all this. Now then we are right, and never till now. A Saviour, which is Christ the LORD.

But the Name [LORD] goeth yet further: not onely to save us, and set us free from dan­ger, to deliver us from evill; but to state us in as good and better condition, then we forfei­ted by our fall; or els though we were saved, we should not save by the match. To make us then savers, and not savers onely, but gainers, and that great gainers by our salvation, He doth further impart also the estate annexed of this last title, even whatso [...]ver he is Lord of himselfe. And He is Lord of Life, (saith Saint Peter, Acts 3.15.) Life then He imparts. And He is Lord of Glorie, (saith Saint Paul, 1. Cor. 2.8.) Glorie then He imparts. And He is Lord of Ioy, (Intra in gaudium Domini, Enter into the ioy of the Lord, Mat. [...]5.21.) Ioy then He imparts. Life, and Glorie, and Ioy; and makes us Lords of them, and of whatsoe­ver is within the Name, and title of Lord. For, having thereto a double right, ¹ by Inheri­tance as the Sonne, (Hebr. 1.2.) ² And by purchase as a Redeemer (for, therefore He died, and rose againe, that He might be Lord of all, Rom. 14.9.) contenting Himselfe with the former, He is well pleased to set over the latter to us, and admit us with Himselfe into His estate of ioynt purchase of heaven, or whatsoever He is owner of; that, in right of it, we may enter into the Life, Glorie, and Ioy, of our Lord; and so be saved and be savers, and more then sa­vers every way. This also, is in the word Lord: this benefit further we have by it.

And now, if we will put together, Natus and Servator, Servator and Christus, Christus and Dominus, Dominus and Natus: Borne and Saviour, Saviour and Christ, Christ and the Lord, the Lord and Borne: take them which way ye will in combination, any of the foure, then have we His two Natures in one Person. In Servator, His God head: None but GOD is a Saviour. In Christus, His Man-hood: GOD cannot be Annoynted, Man may. In Do­minus, His Divine againe, the Lord from heaven. In Natus, His Humane nature, directly, borne of a woman. Both (ever) carefully ioyned, and to be ioyned togither. When Saint Mat­thew had begun his Gospell thus:Mat. 1.1. The booke of the generation of IESVS CHRIST the sonne of DAVID, one nature, His humanity: Saint Marke was carefull to begin his thus;Mark. 1.1. The beginning of the Gospell of IESVS CHRIST the sonne of GOD, the other nature, His Divinity. But Saint Iohn, he ioynes them, Verbum carofactum est, the Word became flesh. Ioh. 1.14. Verbum the Word, there is Dominus; and Caro the Flesh, that is, Natus.

And even this very coniunction is a new Ioy. For, that such an one, that the LORD would condescend to be borne, (besides the benefit,) there is also matter of Honour. Even that He, so great a person, would become such as we are, would so esteeme our Nature, as to take it upon Him; This certainely is a great dignity and exaltation of our Nature; And it is matter of new Ioy: That He would so highly value it, as to assume, associate, and vnite it into one person, with the Sonne of GOD. By this, we see, why a SAVIOVR: why CHRIST: why the LORD. A SAVIOVR, His name of benefit, whereby He is to de­liver us. CHRIST, His name of Office, whereby He is bound to undertake it. The LORD, His Name of power, whereby He is able to effect it. We see also why Man, and why GOD. First, So it should be; for, of right, none was to make satisfaction for man, but man. And in very deed, none was able to give satisfaction to GOD, but GOD. So that being to satis­fie GOD for Man, He was to be GOD and Man. Secondly, So we would wish it our selves: If we would be saved, we would be saved by one of our Nature, not by any stran­ger. He is borne, and so one of our owne nature. Againe, if we would be saved, we would [Page 42] be saved, by no inferiour, but by the best: He is the LORD, and so the very best of all. And so, our desire is satisfied every way.

This blessed Birth of this Saviour which is CHRIST the LORD, thus furnished in eve­ry point, to save us throughly, bodie and soule, from sinne the destruction, and Sathan the de­stroyer of both, and that both heer, and for ever; this blessed, and thrice blessed Birth, is the substance of this Dayes solemnity, of the Angels Message, and of our Ioy.

The Circum­stance of the Persons to whom.And now, to the Circumstances: and first of the Persons, vobis; I bring you good ty­dings; That to you is borne, &c.

We find not any word through all, but there is ioy in it: and yet all is suspended, till we come to this one word [vobis:] this makes vp all. This word therefore we shall doe well ever to looke for, and when we find it, to make much of it. Nothing passeth without it; it is the word of application. But for it, all the rest are loose; this girds it on, this fastens it to vs, Mat. 8.29. and makes it ours. But for it, we are but in their case, Quid nobis & tibi, What have we to do with thee? This Saviour CHRIST the LORD, in this good time and fit place, Quid ad nos? What are we the better? Omni populo, is somewhat too generall, and the hundreth part of them, shall not be benefited by Him. We would heare it in more parti­cularity. Why, vobis, for you it is, Borne for you: Yea, now ye say somewhat.

Evangelizo vo­bis, and Natus vobis.And twice it is repeated for failing, in either verse once. Evangelizo vobis, and natus vobis, that ye may know, the Message is yours and the Birth is yours; therefore, the message is sent to you, because the birth concerneth you. But yours they be, both.

The Vse we have of it.May we then be bold to change the person, and vtter it in the first, which he doth in the se­cond, and say Nobis? We may sure, Puer natus est nobis; Esay 9.6. ESAY hath said it before us. And thereby, lieth a mystery: The Angels they say, Vobis; The Prophets were men; men say, Nobis. Bid the Angel say, Nobis, he cannot, neither sing nor say it: Angelis he cannot, to Angels,Heb. 2.16. Verse 14. Nusquam Angelos: but Hominibus vnto men, he can and doth. And this is a speciall high Prerogative; that which the Angels can neither sing nor say, we can do both.

If then He be borne to us, it is to some end. ESAY tels vs, what it is, when he expoun­deth Natus, by Datus, Borne to us, by Given us. Borne, to be bestowed upon us. And if given us, bestowed upon us, then He is ours. Ours His Benefit, His Office, His Power: His Benefit to save us, His Office to vndertake us, His Power to assure us. Ours, His salvation, as IESVS; His annointing, as CHRIST; His Dominion, as the LORD. And if He be ours, then all His are ours: Luk. 15.31. Omnia Eius nostra sunt: His Birth ours, and if His Birth, all that fol­low His Birth, ours too.

Now then, seeing He and they be ours, will it not be well done, to make our entry, to take seisin of Him and them, and dispose them to our best benefit? And how can we do that bet­ter, Then, as GOD hath offered Him to us this day, that He was borne for us: so we recipro­cally this day, that He is borne, offer Him againe to GOD, as the best pleasing Oblation that we can offer Him. To day, as in the Temple alive, for our morning oblation: And when the time commeth of His death, offer Him as on the Crosse, slaine for our evening Sacrifice. So shall we, as Bernard wisheth us, vti nostro, in vtilitatem nostram, & de Salvatore salutem ope­rari, Employ, or make vse of Him for our best behoofe: draw His proper extract from Him, and work salvation out of this our Saviour.

Our duty reci­procall.Now, a word onely, what is to be done on our parts, and that respectively to these two points, what we are to returne to them; what to this Message, and what to this Birth.

To the Message, Evangelizo vobis, this we are to returne, this is due to a message, to heare it. And, that we do, and that is all: we come to the Sermon, we heare it, and little we do besides.1. To heare the message. But we heare it but heavily, with a faint affection (GOD knoweth:) we heare it not as an Ecce, as matter of high admiration: we heare it not as Gaudium Magnum, with that alacrity and cheerfulnesse we should. We heare it not as Nobis, as if it neerely touched us, but as a matter that little concerned vs, it skilled not much, whither we heard it or no. Many meaner things affect us more, but this should be the ioyfullest hearing that we ever heard.

2. To receive Him.And shall we not likewise performe some duty to Natu [...]est? yes even to that also. And not heare of Him, and let Him alone: heare his tydings, and let Himselfe go.

[Page 43]He was borne for us, and given us, Natus nobis, and Donatus nobis (both go together in the Prophet.) To a gift the duty that belongeth properly, is to receive it. If He be Natus Nobis, and Donatus Nobis, I trust we will take order, He be Acceptus à nobis. If borne us, and given us, it is our part then, we can do no lesse then receive Him. We evacuate the gift, disgrace both the Giver and it, if we vouchsafe not to accept of it.

How is that? how shall we receive Him? who shall give Him us? That shall one, that will say unto us within a while, Accipite, Take, This is my Body, by the offering whereof ye are sanctified. Take, this is my Bloud, by the sh [...]dding whereof ye are saved. Heb. 10.10: Both, in the holy Mysteries ordained by GOD, as pledges to assure us, and as Conduit pipes to conueigh into us, this and all other the benefits, that come by this our Saviour.

Verily, upon His memorable daies, (of which this is the first) we are bound to do some­thing in memory, or remembrance of Him. What is that? Will ye know what it is? Hoc facite, Doe this in remembrance of me.

Something would be thought on, to returne Him for all His benefits, and this day for this first, the fountaine of all the rest; His Birth: Some thanks would be rendred Him for it. And how can we do that better, then as we are taught by him, that studied the point of Quid retribuam, and resolved it thus; no way so well, as by Accipiam Calicem: I will take the cup of salvation. And so do it: So, with it taken into our hands,Psal. 116.12. give thanks to the name of the LORD. And when better then to day? Hodiè, as we are heer directed. What better Day then on this Day? the very Day He was bestowed on us. To deferr Him, no longer, then He did us. He deferred no [...]us at all, but assoone as He was borne, sent us word the same in­stant: and shall we deferr Him to heare of us another time; and not be as ready on our part to receive Him instantly, as He was on His, to bestow Himselfe, even presently, assoone as He was borne? Sure, somewhat would be done more then ordinary, this day of His Birth; the day it selfe is more then ordinarie.

And let this move us. If ever there be a day of salvation, Ecce hic est dies salutis, Behold, this is it, when a Saviour is borne unto us. If ever an accepted time, Ecce tempus acceptum, Behold, now it is, this is that time. The Birth day hath ever been a time accepted. Then, one King forgave the trespasse of his Servant, and received him to Grace. Another,Gen. 40.21. being pleased, was ready in his bountie to have given away the one halfe of his Kingdome. Our Sa­viour CHRIST, Our LORD, on His Birth day, will be no worse then they. His bountie,Mar. 6.23. then, no lesse then theirs.

Let us then make this so accepted a time in it selfe, twice acceptable, by our accepting: which, He will accetably take at our hands. Let us honour this day, with our receiving: which He hath honored by His first giving: Yeelding Him evermore, (but this day, the day of it, cheefly,) our vnfained heartie thankesgiving for this so good newes; for this so great a Gift; both of them this day vouchsafed us: in Him and for Him, who was Himselfe the gift, our SAVIOVR, CHRIST, the LORD. To whom, with the FATHER, and the HOLY GHOST, three Persons, one immortall, ever living, invisible, onely wise GOD; be all Honour, Glory, Blessing, Praise, and Thanksgiving, this day and for ever.

I. The compara­tive part and difference. GOD in times past spake to the Fathers; and His speech was [...], of many se­verall parcells; to severall persons; at severall times; some, at one time, some at another: And as the time grew, so grew their knowledge (peece and peece) of the great mysterie,1. In the Matter. this day manifested.

God in times past, &c. in many parts, spake, concerning His Person. First, one peece: Man, He should be; Gen. 3.15. of the Womans seed; That, should bruize the Serpents head; and, there was all: Gen. 3. Then another peece: Of what Nation He should be; Gen. 22.18. of the seed of ABRAHAM, (Gen. 22.) Then, another yet: Of what Tribe, Gen. 49.9 10.11. &c. of the Tribe of IVDA: (Gen. 49.) Then againe, a fourth peece, of what Family; Psal. 132.11.1 [...], &c. of the house of DAVID: (Psal. 132.)

So likewise GOD, in times past spake of His Offices. To MOSES, one peece: He should be Deut. 18.18. a Prophet: (Deuteron. 18.) TO DAVID another; He should be Psal. 110·4. a Priest: (Psal. 110.) TO IEREMIE, a third; He should be Ier. 23.5.6. a King, and his Name, IEHOVA justitia nostra: (Iere. 23.)

And, (not to hold you long in this) GOD, in times past, in sundrie parts, spake con­cerning this Dayes worke: That, came by peeces, too. One parcell, to Esay 9.6. Esai, of His Birth: (Esa. 9.) To Mic. 5.2. Mica, the Place of it: (Mic. 5.) To Dan 9.25.26, &c. Daniel, the Time of it, by weekes: (Dan. 9.) So you see, it was by peeces, and by many peeces, they had it. Well said the 1. Cor. 13.9. Apostle, that, Prophecying is in part: One may now, in a few houres, come to as much, as came to them in many hundred yeares. This, for the Matter.

2. In the Manner.Now, for the Manner. It was multiformis. GOD, &c. many manner waies.

One manner, by dreames in the night (Iob 33.) Another manner, by visions; And those againe of two manners:Iob 33.15· ¹ Either presented to the outward sense as Esay VI. ² Or, in an extasie,Esay 6.1. Dan. 10.7. &c. 1. Reg 19 12. represented to the inward; as Dan. X. Another yet, by Vrim, in the brest of your Priest. And yet another, by a small still voice, in the eares of the Prophet. I. Reg. 19. And sometime, by an Angel, speaking in him (Zach. I.) But, most what, by His SPI­RIT.Zach. 1.9. And, (to trouble you no more) very sure it is; that as, for the Matter, in many broken peeces: so, for the Manner, in many diuerse fashions, spake He to them.

But then, if, in [...], you understand Tropos, figures; Then were they yet many more. The Paschall Lamb: Exod. 12.4, [...], &c. (Exod. 12.) the Scape-goat: Levit. 16.10. (Levit. 16. The Red Cow: Num. 19 1, 2, &c. (Num 19.) and, I know not, how many, even a world of them. Many they were; and tropes they were; shadowed out darkly, rather then cleerly expressed. Theirs, was but candle-light, to our day-light; but Vespertina cognitio, in comparison of ours, whom the Day hath visited, sprung from on high. This, for the Matter, and Manner: Now, for the Men. Luk. 1.78.

[Page 55]GOD, in times past, spake by Prophets: and but by Prophets, He spake not,3. In the Men. from MO­SES, to Iohn Baptist (who was the Horizon of the Law and Gospell.) I will not stand, to runne through them all. And now, the Apostle, when he is to come to us in the last dayes; when he should oppose three more, to match the former three, he doth not; but, passeth by the two first, the Parts, and the Manner: leaveth out [...] and [...], and so insinuates thereby thus much; that, He hath spoken to us entirely, without reser­vation; and vniformely, without variation. But, those two he waiveth; and insisteth, onely on this last, (as the fairest marke of difference,) the Prophets, and His SONNE.

The Prophets were holy men; but, men. And, there is a nature more perfect,2. Pet. 1.21. Heb. 3.6. Mat. 21.35. then that of man; even the nature of GOD. And, in the House of GOD, they were faith­full Servants; but yet, Servants: and, that (we know) is but an vnperfect condition in comparison of a SONNE. To us in the last dayes is given, that, what we have, we have not from any Prophet, though never so excellent; but, from the Lord of the Prophets: Not from any Servant, though in never so great place; but,Mat. 21.38. from the SONNE: And, not from any of the sonnes of men; but, from His own Sonne, the SONNE of GOD. From His mouth we have received notice of GODS will: He Himselfe, ore tenus, imparted it to us.

But then, If any aske: Seeing, GOD, in times past, and GOD, in these last dayes, is the same GOD; He, that spake to the Fathers, and He, that, to us, but one Speaker: why not, by His SONNE, at first? I will give a reason, fit for this place. A Decorum was to be kept, and some kind of correspondence with State. That as, at the proceeding of a great Prince, before He himselfe commeth in sight, many there be, that go before Him, and those, of diuers degrees; and at last, Himselfe doth appeare: So, this Prince, that Sits in the Throne, should not start out at the first, and shew Himselfe; but be allowed His traine of Patriarks, and Prophets, to be His Ante­ambulones; and, in the fullnesse of time, Himselfe should come,Gal. 4.4. Ioh. 1.14.16. with the fullnesse of grace, and truth, and establish one entire vniforme way, to continue for ever.

From this Comparison, these are the points, we learne: We must ferri ad perfectio­nem. And, these are notes of imperfection: There be too many parts, and too many manners, in that, to be a perfect State. If the Matter were full, no more would be ad­ded: If the Manner were perfect, it would no more be altered. Never then, to rest in these. MOSES himselfe pointeth us, to one after him, by his Ipsum audite (Deut. 18.) Who is that? GOD Himselfe, in the Mount, tells us, by His Ipsum audite. And,Deut. 18.18. Mat. 17.5. when GOD said it, MOSES and ELIAS were there in the Mount, and resigned up both their severall audiencies: MOSES, for himselfe; and ELIAS, as well in his owne name, as in the name of all the Prophets.

This, against the Iewes; that will, no further then MOSES: that will rest in the Law. For, nihil ad perfectum adducit Lex, the Law brings nothing to perfection:Rom. 10.4. But Finis le­gis, CHRISTVS. And, all Prophecie hangs in suspense (as imperfect,) till the full­filling of it; which was done by CHRIST, to whom they all gave witnesse. Now, when that, is perfect, is come; that, that is unperfect, must away. Not to rest, in them, then: But, to CHRIST; and, never rest, till we come to Him.1. Co. 13.10.

And, as never to rest, till we come to Him: So, there to rest, when we are come to Him: As soone as His voice hath sounded in our eares, that they itch no more after any new revelations. For, in Him, are all the treasures of wisedome, and knowledge. Colos. 2.3.

GOD spake once and twice: A third time, He will not speake. This, is His last time: He will speake no more. Looke for no more peeces, nor phansie no more fashions:Psal. 62.12. Con­summatum est, there are no more, to looke for. He is the truth: and,Ioh. 19.30.14.6. he that hath found the truth, and seekes further, no remedie, he must needs finde a ly; he can finde nothing els. To gett us therefore to CHRIST; and never be gott from Him; but, there, hold us.

We cannot follow a better patterne, then the Apostle heere: We see, what hast he makes. For, (as if he were upon thornes, till he were with CHRIST,) without any Exordium, or preamble, heere, in the beginning of his Epistle, he hitts on the Point [Page 56] streight; as if, all time were lost, till he were there. Yea, having named the parts, and manners of the times past, for very hast to be at Him, he forgetts both parts and man­ners; only for desire, to be with Him, the sooner.

II. The Positive part.And (so, with him) I hast and passe to the second Positive part. Wherein being care­full, we should take perfect notice of Him; and fearing we would not weigh these words [by His SONNE] as were meet, but heare them sleightly, and passe them lightly over; the rest of the Text he spends, in making a cōmentarie of this word SONNE: That we may consider; how great this Partie is; and consequently, how much it imports us, to regard His speech, and to esteeme of His feast with no meane accompt. And, (to say [...]ruth) it was more then needfull, considering the meanesse of His birth to day; that He should thus proclaime His stile of eight titles, and, over the place of it, sticke them up, as so many scutcheons, to give us true notice of the greatnesse of the Partie.

But withall, his meaning was to describe CHRIST at all points: as (indeed) these eight conteine a perfect description, of His Natures, His Person, His Offices, His A­gencie.

1 His Natures, in the very beginning: Quem fecit, is Man; Per quem fecit, is GOD. Not, quem onely, Man alone; but, Per quem saecula, GOD also. But, for His Divine Nature, He is more full yet; That, He is His SONNE, the Splendor of His glorie, the Character of His substance, the Maker and Vpholder of the world and all in it.

2 His Person: in this word semetipso; He did it Himselfe, (that is,) in His owne per­son. Himselfe, is ever sayd of a Person,