the Manger from the Manger to the Crosse from the Crosse to the Grave from the Grave to Heaven again from whence we look for and expect his second coming David sang of this his alacrity Psal 20. The King is glad of thy strength O Lord and exceeding joyfull of thy Salvation Quia verbum caro factum est habitavit in nobis because saith Augustine on those words The Word was made flesh and dwelt in us the Day of Christ's Nativity was his Day of Festivity his Birth Day was his Mirth Day for then his Mother Crowned him with the Crown of his Incarnation which was the Day of his Espousals or the Day of the joy and gladness of his heart as it is so called Cant. 3.10 This is a great Mystery saith Paul but I speak concerning Christ and the Church sine dubio magnum est pietatis mysterium And without controversy great is the Mystery of godliness How God was manifested in the Flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the VVorld 1 Tim. 3.16 and received up in Glory and He being thus ascended and received up into Glory for the Heaven must receive Him in regard of his bodily presence untill the times of restitution of all things saith Peter Act. 3.21 And thus leaving his Spouse the Church as a VViddow as He hath enjoyned and Commanded her in the Gospel to think upon his Love and oftentimes to remember him and his Death especially as often as she receiveth the blessed Sacraments of his Body and Blood So she for her part thinks it meet not onely to Commemorate his Death but sometimes also especially once a year to Congratulate and Solace her self in remembrance of his Birth That happy and joyful Marriage day which was once Solemnized betwixt her and that great King of Glorie's Son who now sitteth at the right hand of his Father in Heaven even as I have also observed it to be the fashion and condition of many good and honest Couples whilst they live on Earth together to keep a solemn remembrance every year of their Wedding day even untill their Dying day So should every good Christian and faithful Soul keep a due and perpetual remembrance of her Loving Lord and gracious Head and Husband Christ Jesus As it is reported of that famous Artemisia That to shew her love to her dead Husband Mausolus she took the ashes of his Urne or Pitcher and mingled them with her Drink and so intombed his dead Carkasse within her living Body And it is said of blessed Ignatius after his Martyrdome that these words were found written upon his heart so it were to be wished that they were also ingraven and imprinted in Ours Amor mens crucifixus my Love Christ Jesus was crucified for me But perhaps here you will object and say that this is Symbolica Theologiae and that it is not Argumentativa i. e. that it is an Argument Rhetorical rather than Dialectical What say you then to Theologia miraculis confirmata which in the third place I shall alleadge namely the strange accidents and wonderful effects that happened at the Birth of Christ or rather those rare and singular miracles that were acted and done near about the time of his Nativity For a little before this was it that made a young Babe while he was yet in the Womb of his Mother to Spring and Sprout and leap therein for joy yea Luk. 1.44 this was it that made an old man that was dumb before to speak and to praise the Lord with a song and say Luke 1.6 8. Blessed be the Lord c. And this was it that moved another old man after he had seen the Lord Christ to hold him in his arms and desire life no longer He was so much ravished and overjoyed with the sight of his Saviour that he presently chanted out Cantionem Cygneam that swanne-like song Lord now it is enough and I am abundantly satisfied because thou hast fulfilled my desire in performing thy promise to me that I should not see Death before I had seen thy Son To these we may add the apparition of that glorious Starr which shewed it self unto the Wise men of the East about the time of his Nativity which was not an ordinary Starr but extraordinary and miraculously created at this time for this very end and purpose not onely to signifie but to dignifie and set forth the Birth of Christ Math. 2. for said they We have seen his Starr in the East that is the Starr which he hath newly made to testifie unto the World that he is born It differed from other Starrs in Place and Motion in Lustre and Brightnesse Haec stella quae solis rotam vincit decore ac lumine saith Prudentius of this Starr it hath another way then the way of the Starrs from the East to the South from Persia to Palestina it appeared not when other Stars appeared It shined in the day Other in the Night it did appear was hid it was hid and did appear It shewed it self before they entred Jerusalem and hid it self while they were there but so soon as they left Herod and the City it did shew it self and went right forwards in a straight course towards Bethlehem no otherwise then the Cloud and Pillar of fire went before the People of Israel at their departure and going out of Egypt into Canaan It kept not the ordinary course of the Starrs nor any proper way for it went that way which the wise men would go and when they would stand still then that stood still yea it did not keep aloft like other Starrs but it descended to shew the Messiah the Messah so poor so base and contemptible Whereupon it is that St. Austin calleth it magnifica lingua caeli the stately congue of heaven appointed by God as it were to reveal and preach unto the wise men that Christ was that Starr of Jacob prophesied of by Balaam Numb 24.17 that he was Stella illa splendida matutina that bright Morning Starr Revel 22.16 and that he was Oriens ab alto that day-spring from high that came to visit us and to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet in the way of Peace as that holy Priest Zacharias telleth us comfortably in his song Luke 1.75 Wherefore as the Roman Orator speaks so will I here say Nihil horum era vultusque movernunt and as the Roman Poet elegantly Quid satis est si Roma parum so will I be bold here to speak it Quid satis erit illi cui non sufficient ista If these things will not serve to convince you I know not what will Mark 16. â—6 For if neither the VVord nor Miracles nor the VVord confirmed by Miracles will prevail and work upon us to make us believe then I say as it is in the 16 of Luke at
serveth his Servant The onely true freedom is to serve the Lord For Godliness with Contentment is great Gain saith the Apostle 1 Tim. 6.6 yea it is profitable unto all things saith he having promise of the life which now is of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4.8 How then can you justify or affirm it to be a vain needless thing to spend this time in the publick Worship and Service of God namely in the duties of Piety and exercises of Religion in hearing of the Word in offering up Prayers Praises to God celebrating it lauding his holy and glorious Name with Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord Eph. 5.19 20. giving thanks alwaies for all things unto God and the Father in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ And especially and above all things giving thanks for this one thing I mean that inestimable benefit and unspeakable gift which God bestowed upon the World at this time And me thinks to this end and purpose we may very well encourage and stirr up our selves with the words of David and say as he doth Psal 69.31 32. I will praise the name of God with a Song and magnify it with thanksgiving this also shall please the Lord better than a Bullock which hath horns and hoofs yea this shall be as precious and odoriferous in his Nostrils and no less pleasing and acceptable in his sight than that right costly Spikenard which was spent to anoint our Saviour's feet withall although it be said of that That the whole House wherein our Saviour was at that time was filled and perfumed with the odour of the Oyntment Joh. 12.3 But the Reasons you alledge to prove it to be a vain and needless thing to observe this day are in the next place to be examined and considered the first whereof is this as you affirm it because God hath set apart a Sabbath the Lord's-day for this purpose to meditate upon God's Love in redeeming the World and this seems to be an indifferent good one yet you know or at the least cannot but know that the Sabbath or the Seventh day was at the first ordained sanctified and set apart onely in remembrance of the World's Creation as it appears in that passage or Conclusion of the fourth Commandment Exod. 20. For in six daies the Lord made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that in them is Wherefore the Lord blessed the Seventh day and hallowed it For this Commandment is hedged in on every side lest we should break out from observing it with a Caveat and speciall Memorandum before it Remember c. and with two Reasons after one drawn from the Equity of the Law and the other taken from the Law-giver's or the Law-maker's own Example Six daies shalt thou labour As if God should speak thus If I permit thee six whole daies to follow thine own business thou mayest well afford me one onely for my own Service but six daies shalt thou labour and do all thine own work therefore hallow the Seventh in doing my work Six daies shalt thou labour whereupon both Reverend Calvin and that learned Gentleman B. Babington who was once Bishop of this Diocesse a man of no mean Note but of good Report both for Life and Learning do observe That these Words Six daies shalt thou labour c. are a permission or a remission of God's right who might challenge all rather than an absolute Commandment For as Judicious Perkins hath also delivered it in his Golden Chaine for a sound Orthodoxal and undeniable Thesis Catenâ aureâ cap. 13 The Church upon just occasion may separate some week daies also to the Service of the Lord and rest from Labour Joel 2.15 Blow the Trumpet in Zion sanctify a Fast call a solemn Assembly And as daies of publick Fasting for some great Judgment so daies of publick Rejoycing for some great Benefit are not unlawfull but exceeding commendable yea necessary And you cannot in Modesty and I hope you will not for Shame deny this to be the Truth for besides the ordinary Sabbath among the Jews they had their Sabbaths and their new Moons and appointed Feasts yea Almighty God himself ordained in the old Testament divers and sundry Feasts to put his People in mind of his great Benefits bestowed upon them Amongst the rest there were three solemn Festivals every year namely the Passover the Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles as we read in the 16th of Deuteronomy The Passover was instituted in remembrance of the deliverance from Egypt's bondage Pentecost in remembrance of the Law given in Mount Sinui The Feast of Tabernacles in remembrance of Israel's dwelling in Tents forty years in the Wilderness Now as Hemingius observes in his Postil dom 1. post Epiph. instead of those three Jewish Feasts our Christian Church which may challenge as much Liberty as the Jewish if not more hath substituted Christmas in honour of Christ's Incarnation Easter in honour of Christ's Resurrection and Whitsuntide in honour of Christ's confirmation of the Gospel by sending unto us the Holy Ghost at that time So that we say according as St. Austin saith in his 108 Epist. cap. 1 Celebrantes Anniversariâ solemnitate Pascha reliquasque Christianas diêrum Festivitutes non observamus tempora sed quae illis significantur temporibiu i.e. In celebrating Easter and other Christian Feasts we do not so much observe the times as the things that are represented and signified unto us at those times If then it be granted as it cannot be denied according to your words that God hath set apart a Sabbath which is our Christian Sabbath and is called the Lord's Day because the Lord rose from death to life on that Day and that on this day in that respect we are to meditate on God's Love in redeeming the World if we must do this once every week in an ordinary course how much more may the Church and Spouse of Christ appoint and set apart one day in the year after an extraordinary manner to meditate and muse and think on his Love in redeeming her from the hands of all her Enemies for so indeed the holy Priest Zacharias tells us in his Song called Benedictus That this was the main End of our Redemption Luk. 1.74 that we being delivered out of the hands of our Enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness all the daies of our Life Whereupon I infer That if we must serve him all the daies of our life as he may justly challenge and require it at our hands in regard he hath redeemed us How much more ought we to meditate on his Love not onely once a week but also once in every year praise his most Holy Name after a more speciall and singular manner For at this time especially and particularly it may be said of Him as the Psalmist doth Psal 111.9 He sent Redemption unto his People He
observe the Birth-day of Christ To this I say you deserve a sharp rejection and a serious and severe reprehension For it is a meer falshood and a grosse and manifest untruth and I wonder that a man of your account Countenance and gravity should suffer such an unjustifiable thing to fall either from your tongue or pen for I say contrarium hujus argumenti est verum credat Judaus Apella non ego believe it who will for I cannot otherwise be perswaded but you speak herein that which is contrary to truth for besides that it is well known among the Learned especially by those who are conversant in the large Volumes and accurate writings of the Ancient Fathers It hath been the annuall and constant Practice of the Primitive Church to observe it especially in the time August 118. Epist cap. 7. and since the time of Constantine the Great who gave peace to the Church and commanded this Festivall time among divers others to be observed Witnesse August con Aimant c. 16.118 Epist and in divers of his Sermons de Tempore especially in his second and fourth Sermon de Tempore Witnesse Fulgentius de dup Nat. Christi witnesse Ambrose de Incarnat Domini witnesse Bernard in his first Sermon in Nat. Domini for that ingenuous and Religions man that witty and Godly Father of the Primitive Church preaching on this day in that his first Sermon and towards the latter end of it uttered these words and said Brevitas temporis cogit me contrahere coarctare Sermonem meum the shortness of the time constraineth me to shorten my Sermon at this time ne cui vestrûm sit mirum si brevis esse laboro Let none quoth he wonder if my words be short seeing on this day God the Father hath abbreviated his own Word For whereas it was so long and so large that it filled Heaven and Earth Jer. 23.24 it was on this day so short that it was laid in a Manger I wish here unfainedly with the same devour Bernard in his Sermon in Natalem Domini that as the Word was made flesh so our stony Hearts may be made flesh also that we might alwayes meditate on his Sacred Message and his Heavenly Gospell Unto you this day is born in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord For all our sound comfort stands in happinesse and all our happinesse is in the Fellowship and Communion with God and all our Fellowship and Communion with God is by Jesus Christ for so that good Divine St. John tells us in his 1 Epist cap. 2.3 Wherefore also St. Austin useth a most excellent acclamation to this purpose in his ninth Sermon de Tempore which as it is probable he also preached on this day ô beatum vagitum Infantuli beati oh the blessed crying of a blessed babe by which every faithfull servant and Son of God escapeth eternal howlings in Hell ô splendidum Gloriosum praesepe Oh famous and glorious Manger in which our Souls Manna lay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the bread of life that came down from Heaven on which if a man once c. ô quà m dites sunt panni tui Oh how Rich and Honourable are the rags which have made plaisters for our sores even for our sins I will shut up this passage with a Hymn of Prudentius Mortale corpus sumpsit immortalitas Vt dum caducum poytat aeternus deus Transire nostrum possit ad coelestia And what say you now to these things before said Can they not yet perswade you to yield that it was the practise of Christian Churches in Antient times to observe it Yet put the case or suppose it was not you cannot yea I hope you will not deny but it hath been the practise of these our Churches of Great Brittain I mean the Churches of England Scotland and Ireland for divers Centuries or hundreds of years to observe it for they are both Christian and reformed Churches and therefore unlesse you mean by Christian Churches the old Brownists of Amsterdam or the new Anabaptists and Antipaedobaptists of England and other the like proud and phantasticall and Pharisaicall Sectaries and Separatists that are amongst us in these Giddy and unsetled times of ours who think there is no true Christian Church but what is of their choosing planting and erecting who like the Jews of old cry Templum Domini or like the Papists who will have no Church to be a true Church but their Church at Rome who stand upon their Pontificatibus and are all for the justification of their own Opinion saying as those Justiciaries of old did Esay 65.5 Stand by thy self or stand far off me come not near me for I am Holier then thou c. And here I could tell you a thing which perhaps also you are not ignorant of that the late upstart Seraphicall illuminated Independents as it is commonly thought are likely to jostle and thrust the proud rigid Fantasticall and Pharisaicall Presbyterians out of their places even as they have cunningly supplanted and undermined the Reverend Bishops and their conformable Clergy out of theirs neque enim lex justior ulla est Quam necis artifices c. Indeed I never heard nor read of any Christian Churches but have observed this day and therefore howsoever such factious and Schismaticall Wild-brain'd Zelots of our time refuse to do it and both write and speak against it yet we know that all the Antient Fathers of the Primitive Church did celebrate it with great Solemnities as Mr Fisher in his Vindication of our Gospell Festivalls hath wittily observed in his fifth Section even Cyprian Basil Nazianzene Ambrose Epiphanius Jerome Chrysostome Fulgentius alledging and producing their very words which they preached on this day and proving it withall punctually plainly and directly that it was the 25th day of December that Christ was born on And further to confute your palpable Errour he tells us there That the Churches of Helvetia Bohemia Leye Sunday a Sab. pag. 173. Dr. Rayn Confer with Hart. c. 8. S. 2. Bremen Auspurg the Churches of Savoy Poland Hungary Scotland France and the Low-Countries do allow the Feasts that belong to Christ his Nativity Circumcision Passion c. The Churches of Denmark Sweden and all other Lutheran-Churches do solemnly observe the Feast of the Nativity of Christ and on that day use proper Hymns of Thanksgiving made by Martin Luther himself Perth Assembly refuted pag. 85. the Church of Geneva doth celebrate the day of his Nativity wherefore as he saith here for a Conclusion seeing we are compassed about with so great a Cloud of Witnesses we must according to the truth affirm That the Celebration of this Feast is confirmed by the judgment of the Christian Church in all ages So we conclude against you that your eleventh Assertion is a meer falshood and manifest untruth and no more to be credited or believed then that vain fancy and fond surmise
And from thence this Rod and this Power of his shall streth forth it self throughout all the World and this Power chiefly consisteth and standeth in the Preaching of his Word and by this Rod and by this Scepter of thy Kingdom which is a right Scepter be thou Ruler in the middest of thine Enemies thy People shall come willingly at the time of assembling thine Army in holy beauty i.e. by thy Word thy People shall be assembled into thy Church whose Increase shall be so abundant so plentiful and so wonderful as the drops of the Dew of the Morning For it is said The Youth of thy Womb shall be as the Morning Dew or as the ordinary Reading of the Psalm is In the Day of thy Power shall they offer thee Free-will-Offerings with a Holy Worship the Dew of thy Birth is of the Womb of the Morning Which howsoever some Interpret it of the Birth of Christ yet Junius and Tremelius do understand it to be innumera illa multitudo electorum quae comparebit in ecclesia tanquam stillans ros à coele sub auroram depluens That innumerable multitude of the Elect which shall be as visible and apparent and as abundant in the Church as the dew which distilleth from Heaven and lyeth on the face of the Earth in the morning as we know the Elect else-where in the Scripture are compared to the Starrs of Heaven Gen. 22.17 and to the sand which is upon the Sea-shore for multitude the Prophet Haggai hath also foretold of these things speaking of the peace and plenty and glory of the Church of God that should be by the Kingdome and coming of Christ Thus saith the Lord of Hosts saith he Yet a little while and I will shake the Heavens and the Earth and the Sea and the dry Land and I will move all Nations and the desire of all Nations shall come and I will fill this House with Glory saith the Lord of Hosts The desire of all Nations shall come i. e. Christ for in Him are all things that can be desired and all Nations ought to look for and desire Him and therefore in this sense He is called Rex gentium the King of Nations because all Nations ought not onely to seek and desire Him Jer. 10.7 but also to serve Him and obey Him And doth not also the Prophet Zachariah say as much For he prophesied much about the time as Haggai did and was sent of the Lord to help him in the labour and to confirm the same Doctrine even when the time of the 70 years Captivity prophesied by Jeremiah was expired and he paralleleth or compareth that time of their deliverance from Captivity to this happy time of our spiritual deliverance from the thraldome and Captivity of Sin and Sathan saying Zach. 9.9 Kejoyce greatly O Daughter of Zion shout for joy O Daughter of Jerusalem Behold Thy King cometh unto thee He is just and having Salvation He is meek and lowly Riding upon an Asse and upon a Colt the foal of an Asse And I will cut off the Chariot from Ephraim and the Horse from Jerusalem and the Battle-bow shall be cut off and He shall speak peace unto the Heathen and His Dominion shall be from Sea even to Sea and from the River i. e. from the River Euphrates even to the Ends of the Earth Here is success enough if we observe it for His Dominion shall be from Sea to Sea that is from the Red Sea to the Sea called Syriacum and by these places which the Jews knew well enough he meant an infinite space and compass over the whole World As for Thee also i. e. as for Thee Oh Daughter of Zion and Daughter Jerusalem by the blood of my Covenant i. e. the blood of Christ Thou shalt be saved and by this blood I have loosed or I have sent forth the Prisoners out of the pit i. e. not the pit of purgatory or Limbus patrum as the Papists would have it understood but out of the bottomless pit of Hell wherein there is no water i. e. no Comfort no Cooling no refreshing at all for they that are there are alwayes scorched and tormented in these infernal eternal and unquenchable flames without any hope of ease or end at all as it may appear by the confession of Dives Turn ye then to the strong hold ye Prisoners of hope even to Day do I declare that I will render double unto Thee that is double Benefit and prosperity in respect of that which your Fathers enjoyed from David's time to the Captivity as some Interpâ—eâ— the place or as others think by double in that place may well be understood a double deliverance not onely a Temporal and Corporal but a Spiritual and Eternal deliverance no onely a deliverance from 400 years bondage in Egypt Act. 7.6 or from 70 years Captivity in Babylon but from the everlasting bondage Captivity and Thraldome of Sin and Sarban Wherefore comfort ye my People doth your God say by the mouth of the Prophet Isaiah Isa 40.1 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto Her that Her warfare is accomplished i. e. That the time of Her affliction is ended and that Her iniquity is pardoned for She hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins i. e. as some understand it sufficient correction for all Her sins insinuating that the Lord will afflict his People no more so long or so sharply because his Loving-kindness hath overcome his heavy displeasure so saith Jerome and Calvin the word double ought to be taken for enough or full as it is used by the same Prophet or as some interpret it Isa 61.7 double grace for double grief as Jerusalem had a double punishment one in her Soul another in her Body so now she shall have by Christ a double blessing vix in this World Collation of grace and in the World to come possession of glory or a double favour First in that her travail is ended Secondly For that her sin is pardoned or double that is as Vatablus and Arcularius expound it many benefits a certain number being put for an uncertain which is an usuall Hebraism in the old Testament for the sufferings of Christ are a sufficient propitiation for all her sins 1 Joh. 2.2 and for the sins of the whole World yea where sin abounded there grace super-abounded saith Paul Rom. 5.20 For that place in Esay before alleadged is a direct prophesie concerning the coming of Christ in the flesh and the happy success of this Day as both Musculus and Hyperius and Calvin do expound it and the coming of Christ in the Flesh you know is the consolation of Israel and comfort of Jerusalem for so it is called Luke 2.25 and this comfort the God of all comfort will have proclaimed unto Jerusalem by the mouth of all his Prophets and Preachers which have bin since the World began and so we find in holy Writ that he
stirred up Daniel Haggai Malachi Zachariah Ezra Nehemiah and other untill the coming of Christ himself who did alwayes exhort his People to be of good chear and to be of good comfort in the midst of all their afflictions and tribulations and still to hope against hope as our Father Abraham did Rom. 4 1◠So Zacharias in his Hymn openeth his mouth saying Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath Visited and Redeemed his People raysing up the horn of Salvation unto us as he speak by the mouth of all his Prophets which have been since the World began So St. Peter in his Sermon ad populum all the Prophets from Samuel and thenceforth as many have spoken have likewise foretold of these dayes and to Cornelius that pious and famous Captain of Casarea Acts 10.43 To him give all the Prophets witness That through his Name all that believe in Him shall receive remission of sins Now with what face can any man say That God hath not blessed this Day with successe seeing this Day hath produced so many good gracious effects glorious wonders and these not only in the Earth but also in the Heavens for if we will believe Venerable Beda it was so nato Domino stellae dederunt lumen in Custodiis laetatae sunt plus namque solit◠luxêrrent ei cum Jocunditate qui fecit illas quasi sign is sic conclamantes Hic est dominus noster non aestimabitur alius The Staris at His Birth did shine more clearly and chearfully then their custom was because their Maker was then born seeming to tell us This is the Lord our God and we must look for none other Here me-thinks alluding to that excellent saying in Job I cannot chuse but argue and inferr upon it Did the Starrs of the morning praise him the wise men of the East rejoyce and so the Shepheards and all the Children of God i. e. the Angels rejoyce and sing Job 38.7 And why then shall we be dumb and silent and not break forth into the like Exultation Jubilation and Rejoycing And have we not a warrant so to do Psal 33.1 Rejoyce in the Lord Oye Righteous for it becometh well the just to be thankful Rejoyce in the Lord alwayes and again I say Rejoyce Phil. 4.4 Yea let the heart of all them rejoyce that serve the Lord. Let us then here a little correct our Selves and recollect our Spirits as those four leprous men did who returned from the spoyl of the Syrian-Camp and say We do not well This Day is a Day of good tydings and should we hold our peace For mine own part let the Leprosie of those men cleave unto my skin if it be not as joyful a thing to me to record and recount to commemorate and congratulate the honour and happinesse and good success of this Day as ever it was to them to carry the happy news of the flight of Aram Rejoyce then O ye Heavens and be glad O Earth for on this Day Heaven and Earth were reconciled and God was made Man to make peace between God and Man Rejoyce O Grandfather Adam for on this Day that first promise made unto thee concerning Christ began to be fulfilled How that the seed of the Woman should break the Serpents head Gen. 3.15 Rejoyce father Abraham for on this Day in thy Seed All the Nations of the Earth are blessed Gen. 22.18 Rejoyce King David for on this Day God hath of the fruit of thy Body set a King upon thy Throne Psal 132.11 Rejoyce ye Prophets of the Lord for all your prophecyes on this Day were fulfilled Rejoyce ye that are sick for on this Day the Physitian of the World was borne Venit de coelo magnus Medicus Qui per totom ubique Jacebat agrotus saith St. Austin Rejoyce ye Virgins for a Virgin on this Day brought forth a Son Rejoyce ye Children for on this Day the great God became a little Babe Let all People Jews and Gentiles Bond and Free High and Low Rich and Poor one with another Let all rejoyce together for that He who was in the beginning without any beginning for He is that true Melchezedeck who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having neither beginning of Dayes nor end of Life Heb. 7.3 And therefore in this sense is Styled an everlasting Father Isa 9.6 because he is the Author of eternity to all Creatures for that He who was in the beginning before all beginnings and in a time when there was no time measured or limited out Gal. 4.4 yet in the fulness of time was made of a Woman and wrapped in Swadling-Clothes for that He who 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 2.7 the Word became Infans in cunis vagiens an Infant not able to speak one syllable so that He who was God did vouchsafe to become Deus nobiscum God with us yea and to dwell amongst us appearing in the shape of a Man for as the Apostle exellently expresseth both his humiliation and exaltation thus saying Phil. 2.7 8 9 10 11. Ipse sese exinanivit i. e. as Theodore Beza neatly expoundeth it Quasi ex omni seipsum ad nihil redegit i. e. He that at first made all things of nothing did afterwards make nothing of Himself for Man's sake He made Himself of no Reputation and took upon Him the form of a Servant and was made in the likeness of a Man and being found in fashion of a Man he humbled Himself and became obedient unto Death even the Death of the Cross Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him and given Him a Name which is above every Name That at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in Heaven of things in Earth and of things under the Earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father To which God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Ghost three in one and one in three one immortall invisible indivisible incomprehensible and one onely ever wise God be rendred and ascribed as of due belongeth all Honour and Glory Power and Praise and Obedience both now and for ever more Amen FINIS