Nativity of Jefos Chrift. was both /116ther and Nurfe, and inftead of a CradL-e, rocked Chrift in aA-ftmgcr; anct though her Heart yearned, yet fue had no fofter Pillo\'1 tn lay under him, than .Straw or Hay. Nor, Secondly, Doth his Ltfe repairc the mcannrfs ofhis Birth: No, He is a M a, of Sorrows, acqu~tinted 1virh Grieji from firft to laft; He becomes fubjca to his P:1rcnrs, he puts tdmfclf under the dominion of his own Creatures;, He follows his .Eather's Occupation, Mark 6. 3· /J not this the Carpenter? As in fcorn, they fa id, _Hr that formed rbr Heavens and the Earth, Icams himfeif to make Houfes. There was nothing of outward Pomp or Grandeur in his Life; !fa. 53· 2· He harh no form nor comelitufs, and when we Jball fee him, there_ is no beauty that we /hould dcfirehim, fdth the Prophtt. He was maintained by the .Alms of a few poor well~d i fpofed Women; tempt~;:d by the Devil, pcrfccutcd by the 'Jews, betrayed by his own Followers. This was the courfe of his L1[t. And, Thirdly, Then if you confider his Death, that wasj}Mm~ful, bloody, and accurfed: We fee him on the Croft hanging on the foarnefs of his Hands and Feet; We fee him pierced to the Heart by a RuJfittn Soldier; We fee him crowned wirh Thr~rw, and the preciom Blood trickling from the Head, to meet thofe other Rivers that were running from his Side and Feet : We fee him for fa ken of his Difcipler ; and what is more, we hear him complaining of being forfaken of God too, 0 blejfed Sa-viour! What Eyer can refrain from weepmg? What Heart from Mreding! Is this the entertainment that the World giver tQ thee the drareft Pledge that God hath Dr can fend ? IJ thit to/ welcom to it l Is this thy departure tmt of it? Shall we mock .r:nd fcourge, crucifie, piercr, and murder thee? And wilt thou by All theft Outrager committed againft to/ JClJ, accomplifll our SabatiQn ? 0 viEforious Love! 1lat can pardon when abuftd, and exalt m by being abll[ed, gfqrifie UJ by being defpifod? Yet God will have it fo, that his Gocdwi/1 may be cornmended by the Affronts, and by1the Indignites that peeviih Mankind puts upon it. Thirdly, The infinite Good~ will of Gqd, in fending 'JefosChrift intQ the World, appears to be glorious and great, if you confider the Per[on tq whom he 1VM fent, The fallen Atzge/J Itood in as much need of a Saviour , as we, and Chrift was as well able to fave them, as tofaw tu; and they would ha\'C ferved God with more inlargcd Capacities than we can poffibly do: But however, asfoon as thofe Glorioru Spirits finned, God threw them down to Hell, where they are fhackled up in Chains of maffic DarkndS for ever, never to have any Releafe: 0 moft dreadful Severity towards them! 0 tm- [peakable Love tcwards w! God paiTeth by the Angels, and recovers vile Mankind, and raifeth them up out of the Duft, tha.t they might fill up thofc void .Places of the Angels, that left their firft ftation. This is that which makes the Devil rage, and this is that which makes that Old Serpent to gnaw his Tongue with anguifh, that he fhould be caft down from Heaven like Lightning, and fuch vile Worms as Men are advanced to his Place and Honour. Tn1l y, nothing puts a greater Accent upon Love, than when it is laid out upon thofc which arc mofi: unworthy, with a purpofe thereby to make them worthy. Thus is the Love of God in fending Chrifl expreJTed; he comes and find us un· worthy, and he comes that he might make us worthy. Now here, Firfi: confider, This Love is pitchd upon loathfom ~md deformrd Crtl!turcs, that fo it might make them comely and beautiful. And this advanceth the free Love ofGod, in fending Chrift into the World. You may fee an elegant Comparifon of Man in the Itatc of Nature, Ez. .ek. t6. 5, 6. where the Prophet compares him to a poor forjalcen Infant, fwathed in hio own black t~nd ciotttred Blood, all ralP and ulcerated, cajt into the open Field, ~elplc[s [o1· its weaknef;, and loath{om for its deformity, whofe very Mouth was t·ho(tked up '171 the filth in n;hich it wall01vs. This i!~ the very Emblem of that Condition that we our fe\ves are in, in our natural and unregenerAte ftate; we were cart Out to the loathing of our perfons, and we had rolled our felvcs in our ownfiirh, anclimpqrmr, that we cannot help our felves; fa choakcd up with our own blood, that we cannot ask it of God. A leptrQus pcr[M that fucks his own Sores, a11d hath nothing to f~ed on but the Corruption that illllcs thence, is not a more ruthful and a more piteous SpeC\acle than a Man is by nat11re in his unregmeratc cor1dirion, whofe Sout is alliVounds and Bruifer, and putrefied Sores, and our Food nothing elfe 6ut rottennefs and flench that breaks out from us. Thus l have reprefented a fad and wretched SpeE/acle before your Eyes. Whofe Bowds would not )'tarn to read this Defcription that the Proph~r makes, and which Ddddd I 577
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=