IIO I. Ofthe NATIVITIE. Sermon 12, THe worke ·of the day_is invenietu, tofind Chrifl. We lhall not be the better for 11atuuj1,1f we.ftndeH1m not. FmdH1m we cannot, 1f (firil:) we find not asigne to find lum by. Erit vobis Sig~<r~m, and Hoc erit (faith the Angel!) aSigne ye !hall have; and this jhallbeit .-Yejhall.ftnd him frvadled andlaid in aManger. J. Signes never come amilfe; but,are (then) fonecelfarie, as we cannot milfethem, The Signe. when welbould milfe without them: when,noSigne,no invenictis: As,here. For,if a Signe ;if thisSigne had not beencgiven; noinvenietu: Chrifl had nor becnc formd. Not beeneformd; for, never had beene fought, infuch a place. Had not theAngell thither d1recred the Shepheards; had notthe Starre thither pointed the Magi, neither tone,nortotherwould ever,there have fought Him, A Nonefl invent«< had beene re– turned by both. And reafon: For,fome kind ofproportion there would be betweeneSignNm,and Signatum; And, jf the Signebe aplace (as here) betweene Locres, and Locattu, A chiefe Pet-{on, inachiefe Place; a LordandSaviour, fomethingLordand saviorer-like. ToJJethlehemthey will. Set theSigneby,let them alon·e,fay nothingro them :When they came thither, they would never goeto an Inne, or oflrie, but tO the very bell: houfe in the Towne. Or, if to anJnne,to the faireft Chamber in it: Or, to a Chamber, at the leafi: Never, to theflable; there to looke, in themanger, for Chriflru Dominus. Totheflable wegoeto lookefor anhorfe; To the Cribfor bos cogniYVit & ajinus; for one of them : N ever,thither,to feeke for the Savio11rofthe world. Nay, if in their fearch palling by,by hap,they had lighted upon fucha Birth; a child [o lying; it may be, they would have pitied the pooreBabe, and the Mother; but have ·goneon their way, andfought farther: Never (I darefay) tlken Him, for CHRIsT theLord. And,if one lhould have bid them, Sray, forthis is the child,the Angel! fpake of; they would have lhakcn him of, and f:tid, with asgreat skorne as , SJm. 1 G,, 7 • they, I. Sam.X. Ntmqnidpoterit ifle (alvarenos, what lhall this be our Savior~rtrow ~ For, invenietis is not all, tofindHim: but,jindingHim, to applietheAngells words unto Him; tobeleeve,of this Childthus there lying, that He lhould be ChriflthcSa– viottr, Gaudit~m omnipopnlo, the joy of the whole earth. It goes hard,this. We faid (when rimewas) this melfage was fo high, as no man meet to bring ir, but an Ange!t of heaven. We fay now, exaliocapite, this ognewasfo unlikely,no man was meet to give it, bur an Angel!only. And it was well,it was an Angel!: if it had beene any elfe, His Birthwould have feeind (as his Re[urrec1iondid)•i1p®-, a fai– ned tale: No mans Afjid4vit would have beene taken for it. What were the Shepheards liketothinkeofthis~ Sure, thanke him for Nattts eft, the newes of His Birth; but, not for HisSigne, Erit Signr~m,they like well: bur nor, Hoc erit. If Hee had given them no Signe, it would have troubled them: Now, the Signc giventroublest~e~ worfe. For,thisSigne,they k_now not whatt? make ofit_; It is fo poore a one, lt IS enough, to make them halfem the mmd tog1veover thm journey,asnor caring for invenietis, wherherrhey ftndHim or no: IfHis Signebeno better,as good loft, asfor~nd. Alwaies,this is out of theEvangelizo vobis; no part of it l for,no good newes,thus tofind Him. · And we, ifwe admit a conference with fief/, and bto11d, whenwe lay together the Signe, and ofwhom it isthe Signe; we find, to our thinking, agreatdifparagemenr, and(! know not how)thoughts arife in our hearts, as iffome better Signe would have done better. The meaning is, we would find Cu • IsT (faign;) but we would finde Him, in fome better phce. Halfe Ierveswceare all in this point; wee would have a Mefia< inflate. Hocerit, this it lhall be(faith theAngcll.) Shall be : but lhould it be this~ No: how fhould it be,let us fee; Why,tlus lhall bctheSigne; Ye lhall find the Child, not in.thefecleutscr crat6h, but in a crimfin mantle; inacradleof ivoric: That (lo) were fomewhat S4vio11r-like: Hoc erit Signum. Bur,
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=