legall seruices God neuer purposed to burthen any of his creatures with deuotion How vaine is the ambition of any soule that would lode it selfe with the vniuersall charge of all men How thanklesse is their labour that do wilfully ouerspend themselues in their ordinary vocations As Zachary had a course in Gods house so he carefully obserued it The fauour of these respites doubled his diligence The more high and sacred our calling is the more dangerous is our neglect It is our honor that wee may be allowed to waite vpon the God of heauen in these immediate seruices Woe be to vs if wee slacken those duties wherein God honors vs more then wee can honor him Many sonnes of Aaron yea of the same family serued at once in the Temple according to the variety of imployments To auoide all difference they agreed by lot to assigne themselues to the seuerall offices of each day The lot of this day called Zachary to offer incense in the owter Temple I do not finde any prescription they had from God of this particular manner of designement Matters of good order in holy affaires may be ruled by the wise institution of men according to reason and expediencie It fell out well that Zachary was chosen by lot to this ministration that Gods immediate hand might be seene in all the passages that concerned his great Prophet that as the person so the occasion might bee of Gods owne choosing In lots and their seeming cusuall disposition God can giue a reason though we can giue none Morning and euening twife a day their law called them to offer Incense to God that both parts of the day might be consecrate to the maker of time The owter Temple was the figure of the whole Church vpon earth like as the holy of holiest represented heauen Nothing can better resemble our faithfull prayers then sweet perfume These God lookes that we should all his Church ouer send vp vnto him morning and euening The eleuations of our hearts should be perpetuall but if twise in the day we do not present God with our solemne invocations wee make the Gospell lesse officious then the law That the resemblance of prayers and incense might be apparent whiles the Preist sends vp his incense within the Temple the people must send vp their prayers without Their breath and that incense though remote â—â—n the first rising met ere â—â—hey went vp to heauen The people might no more goe into the holy place to offer vp the incense of prayers vnto God then Zachary might go into the holy of holies Whiles the partition wall stood betwixt Iewes and Gentiles there were also partitions betwixt the Iewes and themselues Now euery man is a Preist vnto God Euery man since the vaile was rent praies within the Temple What are we the better for our greater freedome of accesse to God vnder the Gospell if wee doe not make vse of our priuiledge Whiles they were praying to God he sees an Angell of God As Gedeons Angell went vp in the smoake of the sacrifice sâ—â— did Zacharies Angell as it were come downe in the fragrant smoke of his incense It was euer great newes to see an Angell of God but now more because God had long with-drawne from them all the meanes of his supernaturall reuelations As this wicked people were strangers to their God in their conuersation so was God growne a stranger to them in his apparitions yet now that the season of the Gospell approched he visited them with his Angels before hee visited them by his sonne He sends his Angell to men in the forme of man before hee sends his sonne to take humane forme The presence of Angels is no nouelty but their apparition they are alwaies with vs but rarely seene that wee may awfully respect their messages when they are seene In the meane time our faith may see them though our senses do not their assumed shapes doe not make them more present but visible There is an order in that heauenly Hierarchy though wee know it not This Angell that appeared to Zachary was not with him in the ordinary course of his attendances but was purposely sent from God with this message Why was an Angell sent and why this Angell It had bin easie for him to haue raised vp the propheticall spirit of some Simeon to this prediction the same Holy Ghost which reuealed to that iust man that he should not see death ere he had seene the Messias might haue as easily reuealed vnto him the birth of the fore-runner of Christ and by him to Zachary But God would haue this voice which should go before his son come with a noise Hee would haue it appeare to the world that the harbinger of the Messiah should bee conceiued by the maruelous power of that God whose comming hee proclaimed It was fit the first herald of the Gospell should begin in wonder The same Angell that came to the blessed Virgin with the newes of Christs conception came to Zachary with the newes of Iohns for the honor of him that was the greatest of them which were borne of women and for his better resemblance to him which was the seede of the woman Both had the Gospell for their errand one as the messenger of it the other as the author Both are foretold by the same mouth When could it be more fit for the Angell to appeare vnto Zachary then when prayers and incense were offred by him Where could hee more fitly appeare then in the Temple In what part of the Temple more fitly then at the Altar of Incense and whereabouts rather then on the right side of the Altar Those glorious spirits as they are alwaies with vs so most in our deuotions and as in all places so most of all in Gods house They reioyce to bee with vs whiles we are with God as contrarily they turne their faces from vs when we go about our sinnes He that had wont to liue and serue in the presence of the master was now astonished at the presence of the seruant so much difference there is betwixt our faith and our senses that the apprehension of the presence of the God of spirits by faith goes downe sweetly with vs whereas the sensible apprehension of an Angell dismaies vs Holy Zachary that had wont to liue by faith thought hee should dye when his sense began to be set on worke It was the weaknes of him that serued at the Altar without horror to be daunted with the face of his fellow seruant In vaine do we looke for such ministers of God as are without infirmities when iust Zachary was troubled in his deuotions with that where with he should haue bin comforted It was partly the suddennes and partly the glory of the apparition that affrighted him The good Angell was both apprehensiue and compassionate of Zacharies weaknes and presently incourages him with a cheerfull excitation Feare not Zacharias The blessed spirts though they doe not often vocally
giues them the reason of his commanded flight For Herod will seeke the yong childe to destroy him What wicked men will doe what they would do is knowne vnto God before hand He that is so infinitely wise to know the designes of his enemies before they are could as easily preuent them that they might not be but he lets them runne on in their own courses that he may fetch glory to himselfe out of their wickednesse Good IOSEPH hauing this charge in the night staies not till the morning no sooner had God said Arise then he starts vp and sets forward It was not diffidence but obedience that did so hasten his departure The charge was direct the businesse important He dares not linger for the light but breaks his rest for the iourney and taking vantage of the darke departs toward Aegypt How knew he this occasion would abide any delay We cannot be too speedy in the execution of Gods commands we may be too late Here was no treasure to hide no hangings to take down no lands to secure The poore Carpenter needs doe no more but lock the dores and away Hee goes lightly that wants a lode If there bee more pleasure in abundance there is more securitie in a meane estate The Bustard or the Ostridge when he is pursued can hardly get vpon his wings whereas the Larke mounts with ease The rich hath not so much aduantage of the poore in the enioying as the poore hath of the rich in leauing Now is Ioseph come downe into Aegypt Aegypt was beholden to the name as that whereto it did owe no lesse then their vniuersall preseruation Well might it repay this act of hospitalitie to that name and blood The going downe into Aegypt had not so much difficultie as the staying there Their absence from their country was litle better then a banishment but what was this other then to serue a prentiship in the house of bondage To be any where saue at home was irkesome but to be in Aegypt so many yeeres amongst idolatrous pagans must needs be painfull to religious hearts The command of their God the presence of Christ makes amends for all How long should they haue thought it to see the Temple of God if they had not had the God of the Temple with them How long to present their sacrifices at the Altar of God if they had not had him with them which made all sacrifices accepted and which did accept the sacrifice of their hearts HEROD was subtle in mocking the wise-men whiles he promised to worship him whom he ment to kill now God makes the wise-men to mock him in disappointing his expectation It is iust with God to punish those which would beguile others with illusion Great spirits are so much more impatient of disgrace How did Herod now rage and fret and vainly wish to haue met with those false spies and tells with what torments he would reuenge their trechery curses himself for trusting strangers in so important a busines The tyrants suspition would not let him rest long Ere many daies hee sends to inquire of them whom he sent to inquire of Christ. The notice of their secret departure increaseth his ielousie and now his anger runs mad and his feare proues desperate All the infants of Bethleem shal bleed for this one And that he may make sure worke he cuts out to himself large measures both of time and place It was but very lately that the star appeared that the wise-men re-appeared not They asked for him that was borne they did not name when he was borne Herod for more securitie ouer-reaches their time and fetches into the slaughter all the children of two yeeres age The Preists Scribes had told him the towne of Bethleem must bee the place of the Messia's natiuity He fetches in all the children of the coasts adioyning yea his own shall for the time be a Bethleemite A tyrannous guiltinesse neuer thinks it selfe safe but euer seeks to assure it selfe in the excesse of cruelty Doubtlesse he which so priuily inquired for Christ did as secretly brew this massacre The mothers were set with their children on their laps feeding them with the brest or talking to them in the familiar language of their loue when suddenly the executioner rushes in and snatches them from their armes and at once pulling forth his cōmission his knife without regard to shrikes or teares murthers the innocent babe and leaues the passionate mother in a meane betweene madnes and death What cursing of Herod what wringing of hands what condoling what exclaiming was now in the streets of Bethleem O bloody Herod that couldst sacrifice so many harmlesse liues to thine ambition What could those infants haue done If it were thy person whereof thou wert affraid what liklyhood was it thou couldst liue till those sucklings might endanger thee This newes might affect thy successors it could not concerne thee if the heat of an impotent and furious enuie had not made thee thirsty of blood It is not long that thou shalt enioy this cruelty After a few hatefull yeeres thy soule shall feele the weight of so many innocents of so many iust curses He for whose sake thou killdst so many shall thee strike with death and then what wouldst thou haue giuen to haue bin as one of those infants whom thou murtherest In the meane time when thine executioners returned and told thee of their vnpartiall dispatch thou smiledst to thinke how thou hadst defeated thy riuall and beguiled the starre and deluded the prophesies whiles God in heauen and his Sonne on earth laugh thee to scorne and make thy rage an occasion of further glory to him whom thou mentest to suppress He that could take away the liues of others cannot protract his owne Herod is now sent home The coast is cleare for the return of that holy family Now God calls them from their exile Christ and his mother had not stayed so long out of the confines of the reputed visible Church but to teach vs continuance vnder the crosse Sometimes God sees it good for vs not to sip of the cup of affliction but to make a diet-drinke of it for constant and common vse If he allow vs no other liquor for many yeeres we must take it off cheerfully and know that it is but the measure of our betters IOSEPH and MARY stirre not without a command their departure stay remoouall is ordred by the voice of God If Aegypt had beene more tedious vnto them they durst not moue their foote till they were bidden It is good in our owne businesse to follow reason or custom but in Gods businesse if we haue any other guide but himselfe we presume cannot expect a blessing O the wonderfull dispensation of God in concealing of himselfe from men Christ was now some fiue yeere old hee beares himselfe as an infant and knowing all things neither takes nor giues notice of ought concerning his remoouall and disposing but appoints
imployed in our diuine seruices and we are admitted to be coagents with our Ministers At last Zachary comes out speechles and more amases them with his presence then with his delay The eyes of the multitude that were not worthy to see his vision yet see the signes of his vision that the world might be put into the expectation of some extraordinary sequell God makes way for his voice by silence His speech could not haue said so much as his dumbnes Zachary would faine haue spoken and could not with vs too many are dumbe and need not Negligence Feare Partialitie stop the mouthes of many which shall once say Woe to me because I held my peace His hand speaks that which he cannot with his tongue and he makes them by signes to vnderstand that which they might read in his face Those powers we haue we must vse But though he haue ceased to speake yet hee ceased not to minister Hee takes not this dumbnes for a dismission but staies out the eight daies of his course as one that knew the eyes and hands and heart would be accepted of that God which had bereaued him of his tongue We may not streight take occasions of with-drawing our selues from the publique seruices of our God much less vnder the Gospell The Law which stood much vpon bodily perfection dispensed with age for attendance The Gospell which is all for the soule regards those inward powers which whiles they are vigorous exclude all excuses of our ministration The Annuntiation of CHRIST THE spirit of God was neuer so accurate in any description as that which concerns the incarnation of God It was fit no circumstance should bee omitted in that story whereon the faith and saluation of all the world dependeth Wee cannot so much as doubt of this truth and be saued no not the number of the month not the name of the Angell is concealed Euery particle imports not more certainty then excellence The time is the sixth month after Iohns conception the prime of the spring Christ was conceiued in the spring borne in the Solstice Hee in whom the world receiued a new life receiues life in the same season wherein the world receiued his first life from him and he which stretches out the daies of his Church and lengthens them to eternitie appeares after all the short and dimme light of the Law and inlightens the world with his glory The messenger is an Angell A man was too meane to carry the newes of the conception of God Neuer any busines was conceiued in heauen that did so much concerne the earth as the conception of the God of heauen in a wombe of earth No lesse then an Arch-Angell was worthy to beare this tidings and neuer any Angell receiued a greater honor then of this embassage It was fit our reparation should answer our fall an euill Angell was the first motioner of the one to Eue a Virgin then espoused to Adam in the garden of Eden A good Angell is the first reporter of the other to Mary a Virgin espoused to Ioseph in that place which as the garden of Galile had a name from flourishing No good Angell could be the author of our restauration as that euill Angell was of our ruine But that which those glorious spirits could not doe themselues they are glad to report as done by the God of Spirits Good newes reioyces the bearer with what ioy did this holy Angell bring the newes of that Sauiour in whom we are redeemed to life himselfe established in life and glory The first preacher of the Gospell was an Angell that office must needs be glorious that deriues it selfe from such a predecessor God appointed his Angell to be the first preacher and hath since called his Preachers Angels The message is well suited An Angell comes to a Virgin Gabriel to Mary He that was by signification the strength of God to her that was by signification exalted by God to the conceiuing of him that was the God of strength To a maide but espowsed a maide for the honor of Virginitie espoused for the honor of mariage The mariage was in a sort made not consummate through the instinct of him that ment to make her not an example but a miracle of women In this whole worke God would haue nothing ordinary It was fit that shee should be a maried Virgin which should be a Virgin-mother Hee that ment to take mans nature without mans corruption would be the sonne of man without mans seed would be the seede of the woman without man and amongst all women of a pure Virgin but amongst Virgins of one espoused that there might be at once a witnes and a guardian of her fruitfull Virginitie If the same God had not bin the author of Virginity and Mariage hee had neuer countenanced Virginitie by mariage Whither doth this glorious Angell come to finde the mother of him that was God but to obscure Galile A part which euen the Iewes themselues despised as forsaken of their priuiledges Out of Galile ariseth no Prophet Behold an Angell comes to that Galile out of which no Prophet comes and the God of Prophets and Angels descends to be conceiued in that Galile out of which no Prophet ariseth He that filleth all places makes no difference of places It is the person which giues honor and priuiledge to the place not the place to the person as the presence of God makes the heauen the heauen doth not make the owner glorious No blinde corner of Nazareth can hide the blessed Virgin from the Angell The fauors of God will finde out his children wheresoeuer they are withdrawne It is the fashion of God to seeke out the most despised on whom to bestow his honors we cannot runne away as from the iudgments so not from the mercies of our God The cottages of Galile are preferred by God to the famous pallaces of Ierusalem he cares not how homely hee conuerse with his owne Why should we be transported with the outward glory of places whiles our God regards it not We are not of the Angels dyet if wee had not rather bee with the blessed Virgin at Nazareth then with the proud dames in the Court of Ierusalem It is a great vanity to respect any thing aboue goodnes and to dis-esteeme goodnes for any want The Angell salutes the Virgin he prayes not to her He salutes her as a Saint he prayes not to her as a Goddess For vs to salute her as hee did were grosse presumption For neither are we as he was neither is shee as shee was If hee that was a spirit saluted her that was flesh and blood here on earth it is not for vs that are flesh and blood to salute her which is a glorious spirit in heauen For vs to pray to her in the Angels salutation were to abuse the Virgin the Angell the salutation But how gladly doe wee second the Angell in the praise of her which was more ours then his How
that talkes with the blessed Virgin could scarse haue bin able to expresse the ioy of her heart in the sense of this diuine burden Neuer any mortall creature had so much cause of exultation How could shee that was full of God be other then full of ioy in that God Greefe growes greater by concealing Ioy by expression The holy Virgin had vnderstood by the Angell how her cozen Elizabeth was no lesse of kin to her in condition the fruitfulnesse of whose age did somewhat suite the fruitfulnes of her virginitie Happinesse communicated doubles it selfe Here is no strayning of curtesie The blessed maide whom vigor of age had more fitted for the way hastens her iourney into the hill-country to visit that gracious Matron whom God had made a signe of her miraculous conception Only the meeting of Saints in heauen can parallell the meeting of these two Cosins The two wonders of the world are met vnder one roofe and congratulate their mutuall happines When wee haue Christ spiritually conceiued in vs we cannot be quiet till we haue imparted our ioy Elizabeth that holy Matron did no sooner welcome her blessed Cozen then her babe welcomes his Sauiour Both in the retired closets of their mothers wombe are sensible of ech others presence the one by his omniscience the other by instinct He did not more fore-runne Christ then ouer-runne nature How should our hearts leap within vs when the son of God vouchsafes to come into the secret of our soules not to visit vs but to dwell with vs to dwell in vs. The birth of CHRIST AS all the actions of men so especially the publike actions of publike men are ordered by God to other ends then their owne This Edict went not so much out from Augustus as from the court of heauen What did Caesar know Ioseph and Mary His charge was vniuersall to a world of subiects through all the Roman Empire God intended this Cension onely for the blessed Virgin and her son that Christ might bee borne where he should Caesar ment to fill his cofers God ment to fulfill his prophesies and so to fulfill them that those whom it concerned might not feele the accomplishment If God had directly commanded the Virgin to goe vp to Bethleem shee had seene the intention expected the issue but that wise moderator of all things that works his will in vs loues so to doe it as may be least with our fore-sight and acquaintance and would haue vs fall vnder his decrees vnawares that we may so much the more adore the depths of his prouidence Euery creature walks blindfold onely he that dwells in light sees whither they goe Doubtles blessed Mary ment to haue bin deliuered of her diuine burden at home and litle thought of changing the place of conception for another of her birth That house was honored by the Angell yea by the ouer-shadowing of the Holy Ghost none could equally satisfie her hopes or desires It was fit that hee which made choice of the wombe wherein his sonne should be conceiued should make choice of the place where his son should be borne As the worke is all his so will hee alone contriue all the circumstances to his owne ends O the infinite wisdom of God in casting all his designes There needs no other proofe of Christ then Caesar Bethleem and of Caesars then Augustus his gouernment his Edict pleads the truth of the Messias His gouernment now was the deep peace of all the world vnder that quiet scepter which made way for him who was the Prince of peace If warres be a signe of the time of his second comming peace was a signe of his first His Edict now was the scepter departed from IVDA It was the time for Shilo to come No power was left in the lewes but to obey Augustus is the Emperor of the world vnder him Herod is the King of Iudea Cyrenius is president of Syria Iurie hath nothing of her owne For Herod if he were a King yet he was no Iew and if he had bin a Iew yet he was no otherwise a King then tributary and titular The Edict came out from Augustus was executed by Cyrenius Herod is no actor in this seruice Gaine and glory are the ends of this taxation each man profest himselfe a subiect and payed for the priuiledge of his seruitude Now their very heads were not their owne but must be payed for to the head of a forreine State They which before stood vpon the termes of their immunitie stoope at the last The proud suggestions of Iudas the Galilean might shed their blood and swell their stomacks but could not ease their yoke neither was it the meaning of God that holinesse if they had bin as they pretended should shelter them from subiection A tribute is imposed vpon Gods free people This act of bondage brings them liberty Now when they seemed most neglected of God they are blessed with a Redeemer when they are most pressed with forreine soueraintie God sends them a King of their owne to whom Caesar himself must be a subiect The goodnes of our God picks out the most needfull times for our releefe and comfort Our extremities giue him the most glory Whither must Ioseph Mary come to be taxed but vnto Bethleem Dauids Citie The very place proues their descent He that succeeded Dauid in his throne must succeed him in the place of his birth So cleerely was Bethleem designed to this honor by the Prophets that euen the Preists and the Scribes could point Herod vnto it and assure him the King of the Iewes could bee no where else borne Bethleem iustly the house of bread the bread that came downe from heauen is there giuen to the world whence should we haue the bread of life but from the house of bread O holy Dauid was this the well of Bethleem whereof thou didst so thirst to drinke of old when thou saidst O that one would giue me drinke of the water of the well of Bethleem Surely that other water when it was brought thee by thy Worthies thou powredst it on the ground and wouldst not drinke of it This was that liuing water for which thy soule longed whereof thou saidst elsewhere As the heart brayeth after the water brookes so longeth my soule after thee O God My soule thirsteth for God for the living God It was no lesse then foure daies iourney from Nazareth to Bethleem How iust an excuse might the blessed Virgin haue pleaded for her absence What woman did euer vndertake such a iourney so neere her deliuery and doubtles Ioseph which was now taught of God to loue and honor her was loth to draw forth a deere wife in so vnweldy a case into so manifest hazard But the charge was peremptory the obedience exemplary Their desire of an inoffensiue obseruance euen of heathenish authoritie digests all difficulties We may not take easie occasions to withdraw our obedience vnto supreme commands yea how didst thou O Sauiour by
whom Augustus raigned in the womb of thy mother yeeld this homage to Augustus The first lesson that euer thy example taught vs was obedience After many steps are Ioseph and Mary come to Bethleem The plight wherein shee was would not allow any speed and the forced leisure of the ionrney causeth disappointment the end was worse then the way there was no rest in the way there was no roome in the Inne It could not be but that there were many of the kinred of Ioseph Mary at that time in Bethleem For both there were their auncestors borne if not themselues and thither came vp all the cosens of their blood yet there and then doth the holy Virgin want roome to lay either her head or her burthen If the house of Dauid had not lost all mercy and good nature a daughter of Dauid could not so neere the time of her trauell haue bin destitute of lodging in the Citie of Dauid Litle did the Bethleemites think what a guest they refused Else they would gladly haue opened their dores to him which was able to open the gates of heauen to them Now their in hospitalitie is punishment enough to it selfe They haue lost the honor and happinesse of being host to their God Euen still O blessed Sauiour thou standest at our dores and knockest Euery motion of thy good spirit tells vs thou art there Now thou commest in thy owne name and there thou standest whiles thy head is full of the deaw and thy locks wet with the drops of the night If wee suffer carnall desires and worldly thoughts to take vp the lodgings of our heart and reuell within vs whiles thou waitest vpon our admission surely our iudgment shall be so much the greater by how much better wee know whom we haue excluded What do we cry shame on the Bethleemites whilest wee are wilfully more churlish more vnthankfull There is no roome in my heart for the wonder at this humilitie He for whom heauen is too strait whom the heauen of heauens cannot containe lies in the strait cabbin of the wombe and when hee would inlarge himselfe for the world is not allowed the roome of an Inne The many mansions of heauen were at his disposing the earth was his and the fullnes of it yet he suffers himselfe to bee refused of a base cottage and complaineth not What measure should discontent vs wretched men when thou O God farest thus from thy creatures How should we learne both to want and abound from thee which abounding with the glory and riches of heauen wouldst want a lodging in thy first welcome to the earth Thou camest to thy own thy own receiued thee not How can it trouble vs to be reiected of the world which is not ours What wonder is it if thy seruants wandred abroad in sheeps skins and goats skins destitute afflicted when their Lord is denied harbour How should all the world blush at this indignitie of Bethleem He that came to saue men is sent for his first lodging to the beasts The stable is become his Inne the cratch his bed O strange cradle of that great King which heauen it selfe may enuie O Sauiour thou that wert both the maker and owner of heauen of earth couldst haue made thee a pallace without hands couldst haue commanded thee an empty room in those houses which thy creatures had made When thou didst but bid the Angels auoide their first place they fell downe from heauen like lightning and when in thine humbled estate thou didst but say I am he who was able to stand before thee How easie had it bin for thee to haue made place for thy selfe in the throngs of the stateliest Courts Why wouldst thou be thus homely but that by cōtemning worldly glories thou mightst teach vs to contemne them that thou mightst sanctifie pouerty to them whom thou callest vnto want that since thou which hadst the choice of all earthly conditions wouldst be borne poore and despised those which must want out of necessitie might not thinke their pouerty greeuous Here was neither frend to entertaine nor seruant to attend nor place wherein to be attended onely the poore beasts gaue way to the God of all the world It is the great mysterie of godlinesse that God was manifested in the flesh and seene of Angels but here which was the top of all wonders the very beasts might see their maker For those spirits to see God in the flesh it was not so strange as for the brute creatures to see him which was the God of spirits He that would be led into the wildernes amongst wilde beasts to be tempted would come into the house of beasts to be borne that from the height of his diuine glory his humiliation might bee the greater How can we be abased low enough for thee O Sauiour that hast thus neglected thy selfe for vs That the visitation might be answerable to the homelinesse of the place attendants prouision who shall come to congratulate his birth but poore shepherds The Kings of the earth rest at home and haue no summons to attend him by whom they raigne God hath chosen the weake things of the world to confound the mighty In an obscure time the night vnto obscure men shepherds doth God manifest the light of his Sonne by glorious Angels It is not our meannesse O God that can exclude vs from the best of thy mercies yea thus far dost thou respect persons that thou hast put downe the mighty and exalted them of low degree If these shepherds had beene snorting in their beds they had no more seene Angels nor heard newes of their Sauiour then their neighbours Their vigilancie is honored with this heauenly vision Those which are industrious in any calling are capable of further blessings whereas the idle are fit for nothing but temptation No lesse then a whole Chore of Angels are worthy to sing the hymne of Glory to God for the incarnation of his Sonne What ioy is enough for vs whose nature he tooke and whom he came to restore by his incarnation If we had the tongues of Angels wee could not raise this note high enough to the praise of our glorious Redeemer No sooner do the shepherds heare the newes of a Sauiour then they runne to Bethleem to seeke him Those that left their beds to tend their flocks leaue their flocks to inquire after their Sauiour No earthly thing is too deere to bee forsaken for Christ If we suffer any worldly occasion to stay vs from Bethleem wee care more for our sheepe then our soules It is not possible that a faithfull heart should heare where Christ is not labour to the sight to the fruition of him Where art thou O Sauiour but at home in thine owne house in the assembly of thy Saints Where art thou to be found but in thy word and sacraments yea there thou seekest for vs if there wee haste not to seeke for thee wee are worthy to want thee
be silent when they found him at Bethleem If they had returned by Herod I feare they had come short home Hee that ment death to the babe for the name of a King could meane no other to those that honored and proclaimed a new King and erected a throne besides his They had done what they came for and now that God whose businesse they came about takes order at once for his sonnes safety and for theirs God which is perfection it selfe neuer begins any busines but he makes an end ends happily When our waies are his there is no danger of miscariage Well did these wise-men know the difference as of stars so of dreames they had learn't to distinguish betweene the naturall and diuine and once apprehending God in their sleepe they follow him waking and returne another way They were no subiects to Herod his command pressed them so much the lesse or if the being within his dominions had beene no lesse bond then natiue subiection yet where God did countermand Herod there could be no question whom to obey They say not we are in a strange country Herod may meet with vs it can be no lesse then death to mocke him in his owne territories but cheerfully put themselues vpon the way and trust God with the successe Where men command with God wee must obey men for God and God in men when against him the best obedience is to deny obedience and to turne our backs vpon Herod The wise-men are safely arriued in the East fill the world full of expectation as themselues are full of wonder IOSEPH and MARY are returned with the babe to that Ierusalem where the wise-men had inquired for his birth The Citie was doubtlesse still full of that rumor and litle thinks that he whom they talke of was so neere them From thence they are at least in their way to Nazareth where they purpose their abode God preuents them by his Angell and sends them for safety into Aegypt Ioseph was not wont to be so full of visions It was not long since the Angell appeared vnto him to iustifie the innocency of the mother and the deity of the sonne now he appeares for the preseruation of both a preseruation by flight Could Ioseph now choose but thinke Is this the King that must saue Israel that needs to be saued by me If he be the son of God how is he subiect to the violence of men How is hee Almighty that must saue himselfe by flight or how must he flie to saue himselfe out of that land which he comes to saue But faithfull Ioseph hauing bin once tutored by the Angell and hauing heard what the wise-men said of the starre what SIMEON and ANNA said in the Temple labours not so much to reconcile his thoughts as to subiect them and as one that knew it safer to suppress doubts then to assoile them can beleeue what hee vnderstands not and can wonder where he cannot comprehend Oh strange condition of the King of all the world He could not be borne in a baser estate yet euen this he cannot enioy with safety There was no roome for him in Bethleem there will be no roome for him in Iudea He is no sooner come to his owne then hee must flie from them that he may saue them hee must auoide them Had it not bin easie for thee O Sauiour to haue acquit thy selfe from Herod a thousand wayes What could an arme of flesh haue done against the God of spirits What had it bin for thee to haue sent Herod fiue yeeres sooner vnto his place what to haue commanded fire from heauen on those that should haue come to apprehend thee or to haue bidden the earth to receiue them aliue whom shee ment to swallow dead We suffer misery because wee must thou because thou wouldest The same will that brought thee from heauen into earth sends thee from Iury to Aegypt as thou wouldst be borne meane and miserable so thou wouldst liue subiect to humane vexations that thou which hast taught vs how good it is to beare the yoke euen in our youth mightst sanctifie to vs early afflictions Or whether O Father since it was the purpose of thy wisdom to manifest thy Sonne by degrees vnto the world was it thy will thus to hide him for a time vnder our infirmitie and what other is our condition we are no sooner borne thine then wee are persecuted If the Church trauell and bring forth a male shee is in danger of the Dragons streames What doe the members complaine of the same measure which was offred to the head both our births are accompanied with teares Euen of those whose mature age is full of trouble yet the infancy is commonly quiet but here life and toyle began together O blessed Virgin euen already did the sword begin to peirce thy soule Thou which wert forced to beare thy Sonne in thy wombe from Nazareth to Bethleem must now beare him in thy armes from Iury into Aegypt yet couldst thou not complaine of the way whilest thy Sauiour was with thee His presence alone was able to make the stable a temple Aegypt a paradise the way more pleasing then rest But whither then O whither doest thou carry that blessed burthen by which thy selfe and the world are vpholden To Aegypt the slaughter-house of Gods people the furnace of Israels ancient affliction the sinke of the world Out of Aegypt haue I called my sonne saith God That thou calldst thy Sonne out of Aegypt O God is no maruell It is a maruell that thou calld'st him into Aegypt but that wee know all earths are thine and all places and men are like figures vpon a table such as thy disposition makes them What a change is here Israel the first borne of God flies out of Aegypt into the promised land of Iudea Christ the first borne of all creatures flies from Iudea into Aegypt Aegypt is become the Sanctuary Iudea the Inquisition-house of the Sonne of God He that is euery where the same makes all places alike to his Hee makes the fiery furnace a gallery of pleasure the Lyons denne an house of defence the Whales belly a lodging chamber Aegypt an harbour He flees that was able to preserue himselfe from danger to teach vs how lawfully we may flee from those dangers we cannot auoide otherwise It is a thankless fortitude to offer our throat vnto the knife He that came to dye for vs fled for his owne preseruation and hath bid vs follow him When they persecute you in one Citie flee into another We haue but the vse of our liues and we are bound to husband them to the best aduantage of God and his Church God hath made vs not as butts to be perpetually shot at but as the marks of rouers moueable as the winde sun may best serue It was warrant enough for Ioseph and Mary that God commands them to flee yet so familiar is God growne with his approued seruants that hee