Nativity of Jc[as Chrift. 'IJeniy Hoft; that is~ of AngeLs, thofc Heavenly _Cou~tiers, l eaving the glorious Pa.. bee of Heaven; as well they Jnight, when the.tr Kmg lay here below. And then they fecond him with this joyful Acclamation, Glory to£od itz the higheft, and ou earth Peace and Good-rvilt towArds Mm. In rhcfe words there is contain'd whatfoever God or Man can dcfire: What Jotham, in the Parable, fpake concerninE the Vme, 'Judges 9·. 13. is certainly true of this Tc::xt, It cheareth God and Man. God knoweth no h1gher de1ign than his own Glory, and Chrift coming into the World was for the accomplifhment of that; and M:1n can defire no greater Happioefs than what follows, Peace and Good·n1i/l; and both tbefe are born into the World together with Chrift. Now, by this Peace on Earth, may be meant either mutually from Men to Men, tha.t upon Chriftls Birth Men fhould be at Peace one with another: So Hiftory informs us, That about this time ']alff{.J's Temple was fhut up, and the whole. World was at Peace. Flomt the Roman Hiftorian t-ecords, That then there was e1ther a Peace or Truce in the whole World: And indeed, it was but fit that the War fhould ceafe, when the Prince of Peace was bOrn. Or elfc it may be meant of Peace and Goodwill from G 0 D to Man. Now Peace is not fo much as Good~will, for where there are not open Aas of Hoftility, yet there may be fecret Grudges and Difpleafure. All Sinners ftand in a double State of diftance to God; the one of op- })Ofition and defiance, the other of alienation and eftrangement. Peace deftroys the one, and Good-wiU the other. And in the Text God by his Angci proclaims both to the World, Peace to reconcile them, and Good-will to endear thrm, and both in the Lord 'Je/JM Chr;ft. And fo accordingly let us take notice, 57 I I. By whom this Heavenly Anthem is Sung. 11. What are the Contents of it. For the firft; lt is fa id, That an innumerable Company of the HeAvtnly Hofl praifid God. And we may wen wonder what fhould occalion fuch mighty Expreffions of Joy in thofe Bleifed Spirits. Is it a time of 'Joy, when the Great God is introducing himfelf into our Flcfu; when he is abafiug himfelf to Duft and .Ajlw; when the lnfit;ire God is retiring, and Pwinking up himfelf into a [mall Worm l ls it a time of Joy with them~ when the brightnefs of the Deity (from whofe Refteaions only they borrow all their fhining and luftre) is now eclipfed in a frail Body. Strange, that they fhould make this Day of Heaven's Humiiitation, their Fcftival and DaY of Thankfgivin'g! Yet poffibly we may give a threefold account of it. r. The Holy Angrls rejo)'ced at the birth of Chrift, becau[e it gave them occafioil to teftifie their dcrpeft Humility ~tnd Subjetfion. To be fubjed to Chrift whilft he fate upon .the Throne of his Kingdom, arrayed with unapproachable Light, comptrolling all the Powers of He:1ven with a beck, ,it was no more than his dreadful Majefty and his Infinite Glory exatl:ed frOm them: But tobe fubjed to him in a Cratch, as well as on the Throne, when he had, as it were, hid his Beams, and made himfelf reclufe in the Humane Nature; for the Angels are fubjca. to him when as the Apoftle fpeaks , Heh. 2. 8. We fee not yet all things put under him : This was not Obedience only , but in a fenfe it was a Condefcenfion. Some of the Scbooimen, thofe bufie Pryers into all the Secrets of Heaven, think that Pride which tumbled the Ap,oftate .Angels out of Heaven, was their difdaining to fcrve Chrift in his ftate of exinanition and abafei"nent, which they then by Revelation kne.w would c~rtainly come to pafs in the fulnefs of time; and that the reft of their Fellow:..Ange/J preferv'd their Station, by profefiing their ~heerful willingnefs to be common Servants to the Mediator, when he himfelf fhould appear in the form of a Servant. Now in the time of their Tryal, their King, whofe infinite EfiCnce gilds all the Un iverfe, doth now lye how fed in a St11ble, cradled in a Manger; there he I yes under all the Difhonours of Men, obfcure in his Birth, and fhortly mufr be expofed to Hardfhips, to the Affaults of the Devil1 to buffet· ings and cruel fcourgings, and at laft die as a Malefailor. This is that Stone of flumbling which bath long lain in the way both of 'jercs and Gentiles; this is the Scandal of the Cro{s which their Pride would never ftoop to: This is the fooliflme{s of the Gofpd which the Wifdom of the World did deride. What? For God to comman~ them to believe in fuch a contemptible Perfon as Jefw of Naz.areth: What were this but to deftroy their Reafon, that he might fave their Souls. They fcorn to own him in his meannefs for their Saviour, whom yet the Glorious .Angels C c c c c 2 [corn
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