flesh and blood: hence was he endued with an human com- SERM. passion, and with a fraternal affection toward all men; LXXV. hence was he disposed to extend the benefit of his chari table and gracious performances unto them all. 10. Judea therefore must not ingross this angelical Gospel; it is of importance most universal and unlimited, reaching through all successions of time, and all extensions of place; filling all ages and all regions of the world with matter and with obligation of joy; hence even by Moses anciently (according to St. Paul's interpretation) were all nations upon this account invited to a common joy; Rejoice, said Rom. xv. he, O ye nations with his people. Hence, in foresight of Deut.xxxii. this event, the holy Psalmist (as the Fathers expound 43. hime) did sing, The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice, let Psal. xcvii. the multitude of isles be glad thereof: hence, Sing, O thou barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child-The Isa. xxxv.1. wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose-Sing unto the Lord a Isa. xlii. 10. new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, said the evangelical Prophet in regard to this dispensation; in fine, this angel himself did interpret his own words, when in concert with the heavenly choir he sang that anthem, Glory 1. xcvi. 1. Isa. liv. 1. be to God in the highest: on earth peace, and good-will to- Luke ii. 14. ward men whence we may collect that a peace diffused over the earth, and good-will extended toward all men, were implied in these tidings of great joy to all people. We then are all concerned in these tidings, and we may look on them as by this heavenly Evangelist imparted to us; whence our duty must be to listen with reverent attention unto them, seriously to weigh the purport of them, diligently to contemplate the reasons of that great joy, which effectually should be produced in us by them, as their proper and due result; to further which practice, let us take some prospect of this Gospel, whereby it may ap • Τὴν προτέραν τῷ σωτῆρος ἐπιφάνειαν προλέγει. Theodor. Totum ad Christum revocemus, si volumus iter rectae intelligentiæ tenere. Aug, in Ps. xcvi. 7. SERM. pear pleasant, and apt to kindle a sprightly joy in our hearts. LXXV. The matter of it is the nativity of our ever blessed Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus; for, To you, saith our angel, is born this day a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord; an occurrence fraught with all the greatest causes of joy imaginable; as importing innumerable, unexpressibly and unconceivably vast advantages thence springing to us. It doth minister occasion of rejoicing for all the blessings, which did flow from each of his salutary undertakings and performances; for all the mercies purchased by the merits of his obedience, and by the price of his blood; for all the graces issuing from his dispensation of the Holy Spirit; for all the benefits consequent on his illustrious resurrection, ascension, and glorification; as being a good entrance to them, yea, a great progress in them, and a certain pledge of their full accomplishment; for all the work of our redemption was in a manner achieved, when our Saviour did appear; his incarnation was the great step toward it, as being an act of the humblest obedience, and of the highest merit, that could anywise be performed, for satisfying the justice of God, and winning his favour toward us. His taking up life may well seem more meritorious than his laying it down, and the chief passion which he could ever undergo; his death was a passion, great as death could be; his life also was a continual passion, or exercise of huge patience: but his birth seemeth to be the greatest and strangest passion of all; involving the lowest submission and the deepest suffering. What nobler sacrifice could there be, than God's offering himself up to mortality, to infirmity, to slavery? What obedience can be thought of comparable to that which Heb. x. 7. he did express, when he said, Lo, I come to do thy will, O John vi. 38. God: I came down, not that I might do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. For him to descend from heaven, the region of light and bliss, into this gloomy and sad world; for him in a manner to divest himself of celestial majesty, and to assume the form of a servant; for him to be inclosed in a womb, and to come out wailing thence, to suck at a breast for life, to be carried in arms, and laid in a manger, to enter on a stage of being so very SERM. low and homely; for him, I say, the Lord of glory, thus LXXV. to empty and abase himselfd; may not this reasonably be Phil. ii. 7. deemed more than, after his becoming man, to sustain all 8. the grievances incident to our nature and state? Whence the very assumption of flesh was, saith St. Athanasius, the redemption of all mankinde. He was at least thence engaged in the way of acting and suffering whatever was needful for our recovery; and having gone so far, assuredly he never would flinch or recoil, but would go through with all; being come, he would shew himself come to purpose, leaving no part unfinished of his grand design. So that as they, who celebrate the birth of a prince, do mean thereby to express their joy for all the good, which they do hopefully presume to enjoy from his protection and conduct afterward in all his life; and as they, who welcome the sun-rising, do imply their satisfaction in the conveniences of his light through the whole ensuing day; so may the nativity of our Lord afford matter of rejoicing for all the train of mighty blessings which do succeed it. We may therefore now well consider him born to instruct us by his excellent doctrine, and to guide us by his perfect example; born to merit God's mercy and favour toward us, by an entire submission to God's pleasure in the whole conduct of his life, and in the final resignation of it; born to renew and sanctify our nature, to support and strengthen us in obedience to God's commandments, to succour us in temptations, to comfort us in distresses by his grace; born to rear himself from the grave for confirming our faith, and ensuring our hopes of salvation; born to ascend up above all the heavens to God's right hand, there effectually to intercede for us, thence liber 4 Εαυτὸν ἐκένωσεν, ἑαυτὸν ἐταπείνωσεν. *Η πρόσληψις τῆς σαρκὸς ἐλευθέρωσις ἦν πάσης τῆς ἀνθρωπότητα. Ath. Or. 3. c. Arr. p. 385. vid. p. 618. Λύχνον ἥψε τὴν ἑαυτοῦ σάρκα, &c. Greg. Naz. Οr. 38. Creatoris ad creaturam descensio credentium est ad æterna provectio. Leo M. de Nat. Serm. 5. SERM. rally to dispense all heavenly blessings to us. of happiness, to establish the covenant of grace, to void all the obstructions, and subdue all the enemies to our welfare well may we celebrate this birth, as by its virtue blessing the Patriarchs, enlightening the Prophets, inspir ing the Martyrs with faith and courage, enduing all the Saints, that ever have been, with grace, and crowning them with glory; so that in this day we have the passion, the pasch, the ascension, the pentecost, the memorials of every saint suggested to us f; the joys of all our festivals, do conspire or commence in this; which is the head and spring, which is the fruitful seed, which is the hopeful Greg. Nyss. morning of them all. Πάντα ταῦτα τῆς παρούσης ἡμέρας χάρις 10. 11. Ρ. ἐςιν αὕτη γὰρ ἦρξε τῶν ἐφεξῆς ἀγαθῶν. All these things, saith St. Gregory Nyssen, are the grace of this present day, for it began the goods which did in order succeed. 784. But waving the numberless benefits so consequent on the nativity, we shall only touch some of those which have a more formal and close relation thereto. I pass over the contemplation of that sweet harmony between the old and the new world; in which, to our comfortable satisfaction, the sweetest attributes of God (his goodness, his wisdom, his fidelity and constancy) do illustrate themselves, by completion of the ancient promises, prefigurations, and predictions touching this event. I forbear also to reflect on the happy alteration and amendment of the world, which our Lord's coming did induce, by comparing the state of things before it, with that which followed it; the consideration of which case very pleasant, and productive of joy. First then, 1. Let us consider, that the nativity doth import the completion of many ancient promises, predictions, and prefigurations concerning it; that whereas all former dis pensations of favour and mercy were as preludes or preambles to this; the old Law did aim to represent it in · Οὐκῶν καὶ τὰ τοῦ Πάσχα καλὰ τῶν περὶ τὴν γένεσιν εὐφημιῶν μέρος έτι. Greg, Nyss LXXV. 18. Gen. xlix. Deut. xviii. 15. vii. 37. Num. xxiv. its mysterious pomps; the chief of providential occurrences SERM, did intimate it; the Prophets often in their mystical raptures did allude to it, and often in clear terms did express it 8; the gracious designs of God, and the longing expectations of mankind being so variously implied in regard thereto; now all is come to be fulfilled, and perfected in most clear, most effectual, most substantial accomplishment; now is sprung up that seed of the woman, which, according to the Gen. iii. 15. first Gospel preached to Adam, should bruise the serpent's head; now is the mystical Isaac, the miraculous Son of promise, born; now is that grant to Abraham, In thy seed Gen. xxii. shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, made good; Gal. iii. 8, now is Shiloh come, of whom Jacob foreboded, unto him 16. the gatherings of the people shall be; now is that oracle of 10. Moses more than verified, A prophet shall the Lord your De God raise up unto you of your brethren, like to me; him Acts iii. 22. shall ye hear; now the Star is come out of Jacob, the vision whereof dazzled Balaam, and stopped him from cursing 17. that people, in which it should arise; now is that oath discharged to David, Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon Ps. cxxxiii. thy throne; now those illustrious predictions of Isaiah, Luke i. 33. There shall come forth a Rod out of the stem of Jesse-A Isa. xi. 1. virgin shall conceive, and bear a son; to us a child is born, 6. lix. 20. to us a son is given; and the government shall be on his Rom. xi. shoulders-There shall come out of Sion the deliverer, and Jer. xxiii. 5. shall turn ungodliness from Jacob, are fully accomplished; Zech. iii. 8. now the righteous Branch, of which Jeremiah and Zechariah vi. 12. spake, is sprouted forth; and Ezekiel's One Shepherd, Daniel's Ezek. Son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven; Micah's xxxvii. 24. Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from old; Hag- Dan. vii. 13. gai's Desire of all nations; Malachi's Angel of the Cove-Matt. ii. 6. nant, and Sun of Righteousness, have all in truth appeared: Hag. ii. 7. now is that glorious King and Captain arrived, whom the iv. 2. holy Oracles do so magnificently describe; whom Moses 8 Sapientia et benignitas Dei ac salutiferi operis mora capaciores nos suæ vocationis effecit, ut quod multis signis, multis vocibus, multisque mysteriis per tot fuerat secula pronunciatum, in his diebus Evangelii non esset ambiguum, &c. Leo P. de Nat. Serm. 3. 11. vii. 14. ix. 26. xxxiii. 15. xxxiv. 23. Mic. v. 2. Mal. iii. 1. |