Fifty sermons preached at the parish-church of St. Mary Magdalene Milk-street, London, and elsewhere whereof twenty on the Lords Prayer / by ... Anthony Farindon ... ; the third and last volume, not till now printed ; to which is adjoyned two sermons preached by a friend of the authors, upon his being silenced.

A SERMON Preached on Christmass-Day.

PSALM LXXII. 6, 7.

He shall come down like rain upon the mowen Grass; [or, into a fleece of wooll;] as showers that water the Earth.

In his dayes shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace, so long as the Moon endureth.

THis Psalm conteins a Prayer and a Prophesie: A Prayer for King Solomon, who laid down his Scepter with his Life, and slept with his Fathers; and a Prophesie of Christ, whose Throne is for ever and ever; and of whose Kingdom there is no end. Take it as a Prayer, and it was heard. For God gave Solomon Wisdom and Un∣derstanding * 1.1 and largeness of heart, to judge his people with Righteousness, and the poor with judgment. Take it as a Prophesie, and it was fulfilled: For God sent his Son, who is Wis∣dom it self, to be the Shepherd and great Bishop of our Souls, and to be our King to lead us in the waies of Righteousness. Apply it to the Type, and the expressions are hyperbolical. Righteousness in the Text is not com∣pleat, nor abundance full; Peace not as lasting as the Moon, but as the Moon waxing and waning, and at last eclipsed and turned into bloud. That Do∣minion from the River unto the ends of the Earth takes in no larger compass * 1.2 than Judaea, or at most the Region from Tiphsah unto Azzah, so narrow a

compass of ground that St. Hierom was ashamed to bewray its dimensions. In a word; interpret it by the inscription, as a Psalm for King Solomon, and all generations make but forty years; all Kings are but Pharaoh, and Hiram, & some few other that were on this side the River Euphrates. All Na∣tions are not many Nations: and Solomons For ever, we know well, had an end. And as we find it in hyperbolical Speeches, ad verum mendacio per∣venitur; That we come not too short of the truth, the phrase is made to look beyond it. That we may conceive aright of the glory of Solomons Kingdom, David extends it from the River unto the ends of the Earth. That we may conceive some Peace, he tells us of abundance. He multiplies and dilates the bounds of his Empire, makes Judaea as large as the whole world; an Age, eternity; and that Scepter which did depart, everlasting. Literally this cannot be true of King Solomon. Hic Psalmus Solomoni ca∣nere dicitur quae tamen soli competant Christo; saith Cyril: This Psalm is sung to King Solomon, but the ditty is of Christ, and of him alone. Behold, a greater then Solomon is here; He shall have Dominion from sea to sea. This * 1.3 belongs to Christ alone; All Kings shall worship him Before whom do all * 1.4 Kings fall down, but Christ? And all Nations shall serve him. Whom shall all Nations serve but Christ? His name shall endure for ever: Whose name but Christs? All Nations shall be blessed in Christ; in Solomon, none at all. And here in my Text, He shall descend like the rain, cannot be true of So∣lomon: For he descended indeed, but not like rain, because he came not down from Heaven. Many things are spoken of the Type which more pro∣perly belong to the Antitype. Many things in this Psalm are spoken of So∣lomon which stretch beyond the line of truth, and for no other reason but this, because they belong to Christ, whose Type he bore, and in whom they were truly to be made good, and without any Hyperbole at all. So∣lomon did judge the people with righteousness; but Christ shall judge the whole world, and Solomon himself. Solomon was a King; but Christ is the King of Kings. Solomon passed all the Kings of the Earth in Wisdom; but Christ is Wisdom it self. Solomon did break in pieces the Oppressor; but Christ broke the jawes of the Destroyer of mankind, and took the prey out of his mouth. To him give all the Prophets witness; To him do all the Fa∣thers apply the words of my Text: The holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge him in her Hymns and Service for this great Feast of Christs Nativity, singing praises to the Lord our Strength, who came down like the rain into a fleece of wooll, (or, the mowen grass) as showers that water the earth. And we have seen it with our eyes, and fell it in our hearts, and it is the joy and glory of this high Feast, that in his dayes the righteous flou∣rish, and abundance of peace so long as the Moon endureth.

And now I may say of this Prophesie as our Saviour himself did of ano∣ther, This day was this Scripture fulfilled in Christ who is signaculum omnium * 1.5 Prophetarum, who was the great Prophet who was to come, and the seal of all the rest; in whom all Prophesies were at an end. And therefore we will but change the Tense, and not read it DESCENDET, he shall come down, (for the Jew himself will yield us thus much) but DESCENDIT: The fulness of time is come, and he is come down already. In quo quicquid retro fuit, demutatum est, saith Yertullian; In whom whatsoever was in times past is either changed, as Circumcision; or supplied, as the Law; or fulfilled, as the Prophesies; or made perfect, as Faith it self. The Subject of the Song is the same. Eaedem voces sonant, eaedem literae notant, idem Spiritus pul∣sat; The words that sound, the same; the letters that character him out, the same; the same Spirit, which inspires the Prophets, and now speaks to us. Only for the Feasts sake we will but change the time, the Future for the Present, and so express our thanks and joy: Which should as far

exceed the joy of the Prophets as Fruition doth Hope, and the present en∣joying of the benefit a sad and earnest expectation of it. And then there will naturally arise the handling of these points. 1. We shall consider the Incarnation of the Son of God as a Descent or Comming down; 2. The Man∣ner of this Descent. It was placidus & insensibilis, saith the Father, sweet and peaceable, without trouble, without noise, scarcely to be perceiv'd; not in the strong wind, to rend us to pieces; not in the Earth-quake, to shake us; not in the fire, to consume us; but in a still and small voice: not as Thun∣der, to make a noise; not as Hayl, to rattle on the house-tops; not as the Blast and Mildew, to wither us; but as the Rain falling sweetly on the grass, or on a fleece of wooll, and as the showers which water the earth, and make it fruitful. 3. We shall observe the Effect which this Descent produceth, or the Fruit which springs up upon the fall of this gracious Rain; First, Righ∣teousness springs up, and spreads her self, Justus florebit; So some render it; The righteous shall flourish. Secondly, After Righteousness Peace shews it self, even abundance of peace. And Thirdly, both these are not herbae solstitiales, herbs which spring up and wither in one day, but which will be green and flourish so long as the Moon endureth, which is everlastingly. And therefore we must Fourthly, in the last place observe 1. the Relation which is between these two, Righteousness and Peace; They are 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Where there is Righteousness, there is Peace; and where there is Peace, there is Righteousness. 2. The Order; Righteousness first, and then abundance of Peace. Take them all three, and you shall find a kind of subordination betwixt them, for no Peace without Righteousness, no Righteousness with∣out this Rain: But if the Son of God come down like rain, streight Righ∣teousness appears on the earth; and upon the same watering, and from the same root, shoots forth abundance of Peace, and both so long as the Moon endureth. Of these then in their Order briefly and plainly; and first of the Descent.

He that ascended is he also that descended first, saith the Apostle. And he * 1.6 came down very low: He brought himself sub lege, under the Law; sub cultro, under the Knife, at his Circumeision; sub maledicto, under the curse; sub potestate tenebrarum, under the power of darkness; down into the cratch, down into the world, and down when he was lifted up upon the Cross, (for that ascension was a great descent,) and from thence down into the grave, and lower yet, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, into the lowermost parts of the earth: Thus low did he come down. But if we terminate his Descension in his In∣carnation, if we interpret his Descent by NATUS EST, that he was born, and say no more, we have brought him very low, even so low that the An∣gels themselves must 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, stoop to look after him; that not the clearest Understanding, not the quickest Apprehension, nothing but Faith, can follow after to behold him; which yet must stand aloof off, and tremble, and wonder at this great sight. Hîc me solus complectitur stupor, saith the Father: In other things my Reason may guide me, Meditation and Study may help me; and if not give me full resolution, yet some satisfaction at least. But here, O prodigia! O miracula! O prodigy, O miracle of mer∣cy! 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, O the paradox of this strange Descent! This is a depth which I connot foard, a gulph wherein I am swallowed up, and have no light left me but my Faith and Admiration. Certe mirabilis des∣census, saith Leo, a wonderful descent, à coelo ad uterum, from his Throne to the Womb; from his Palace, to a Dungeon; from his dwelling place on high, to dwell in our flesh; from riding on the Cherubin, to hanging on the Teat. A wonderful Descent! Where is the wise? Where is the Scribe? Where is the Disputer of this World? That God should thus come down; that he that conteineth all things should be compassed by a Woman;

that he should cry as a child, at whose voice the Angels and Archangels tremble; that he whose hands meted out the Heavens, and measur'd the wa∣ters, should lye in the cratch; Deus visibilis, & Deus contrectabilis, as Hi∣lary speaks, that God should be seen and touched and handled, no Orator, no Eloquence, the tongues of Men and Angels cannot reach it. O anima, opus est tibi imperitiâ meâ; O my soul, learn to be ignorant, and not to know what is unsearchable. Abundat sibi locuples fides; It is enough for me to believe that the Son of God came down. And this coming down we may call his Humiliation, his Exinanition, his Low estate. Not that his Divine nature could descend 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, consider'd in it self; but God came down 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, in respect of that gracious dispensation by which he vouchsafed to dwell amongst us. For he assumed into the unity of his Per∣son that which before he was not, and yet remained that which he was. Ille quod est, semper est; & sicut est, ita est; For what he is, he alwaies is; and as he is, so he is, without any shew or shadow of change. But yet in the great work of our redemption he may seem to have laid his Majesty aside, and not to have exercised that Power which was coeternal with him, as in∣finite as Himself. And now it is no blasphemy, but salvation, to say, That he who created man was made a Man; That he who was the God of Mary, was the Son of Mary; That he that made the world had not a hole to hide his head; That he who was the Law-giver was made under the Law. And therefore in every action almost, as he did manifest his Power, so he exprest his Humility. A Star stands over him, when he lay in the Manger; He re∣bukes the Winds, who was asleep in the Ship: He commands the Sea, and Fishes bring tribute in their mouths; but at Caesars commands he submits and pays it: He strikes a band of men backward to the Ground, but yields as a man, and is bound, and led away as a sheep to the slaughter. And thus that Love which reconcil'd the World unto God, reconcileth these strange contradictions; a God, and a Man; a God that sleeps, that thirsts; vecti∣galis Deus, a tributary God; Deus in vinculis, a God in bonds; a God crucified, dead and buried. All which Descents he had not in natura, not in his Divine Nature. Neque enim defecit in sese, qui se evacuavit in sese, saith Hilary; For He who emptied himself in himself did not so descend as to leave or loose himself. But the Descent was in persona, in his Person, in re∣spect of his voluntary Dispensation, by which he willingly yielded to as∣sume and unite the Humane nature to Himself. And thus he was made of that Woman who was made by himself; and was conteined in her womb, whom the Heavens cannot contein; and was cut out of the land of the living, who was in truth, what Melchisedec was only in the conceit of men in his time, without father, and without mother, having no beginning of days, nor end of life: He was less then his Father, and yet his Fathers Equal; the Son of David, and yet Davids Lord; A case which plunged the great Rabbies among the Pharisees, who had not yet learned this wisdom; nor known this knowledge of the Holy. But most true it is, Non fallit in vocabulis Deus. God speaks of things as they are; nor is there any ambiguity in his words. He tells us he is God, and he tells us he is man: He tells us that his dwelling-place is in Heaven, and he tells us that he came down into the world: He tells us he is from everlasting, and he tells us he was born in the fulness of time. Et quod à Deo discitur, totum est; And what he tells us, is all that can be said. Nor must our Curiosity strive to enter in at the Needles eye, where he hath open'd an effectual Door. Indeed it was the Devils policie, when his Al∣tars were overthrown, when his Oracles were silenced, when he was dri∣ven from his Temples, when his God-head was laid in the dust, and when Pagans and Idolaters his subjects and slaves came in willingly in the days of Christs power, to strive dimidiare Christum, to divide Christ into halves;

and when Christ became the language of the whole world, to confound their language, that men might not understand one anothers speech. And like a subtle enemy, when he was beat out of the field, he made it his master-piece to raise a civil dissension in the City of God. Proh! quanta etiamnum pa∣titur Verbum! saith the Father; Good God! how much doth Christ yet suffer in his Church! He came into the world, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not: He comes down, but as a Phantasin, as a mear Creature; so Anius: as an adopted Son, so Phoci∣us: which is in effect to say he came not down at all. For if he be a meer creature, the Descent is not so low. And if he be adopted to this work, it is rather a rise then a Descension. And if he be but the Son of Mary made the Son of God, and not the Son of God made the Son of Mary, it is no De∣scent at all. I do not love to rake these mis-shapen Monsters out of their dust; but that I see at this day they walk too boldly upon the face of the earth, and knock, and that with some violence, to have admittance into the Church. And therefore it will behove us to take the whole armour of Faith, and to stand upon our defence; conservare vocabula in luce proprietatum, to preserve the propriety of words entire, to walk by that light which they cast, and not with those Hereticks 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to make use of those Phrases which speak Christ Man, and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to pass by those which magnifie him as God; but to joyn together 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, his good plea∣sure and his power; to say that he came into the world, and to say that he created the world; to say he was the scorn of men, and to say he was the Image of his Father; in a word, ipsi Deo de se credere, to believe God in that he speaks of himself. And then we may turn aside, and behold this great sight, and make it our glory and crown to say, Descendit Rex, not Solomon, but the King of Kings, the King of Glory, is come down. And so I pass from the Descent, or Coming down, to the Manner of it, Descendit sicut pluvia, &c.

The Manner of his Descent is as wonderfull, as the Descent it self. It is as full of wonder that he thus came down, as that he would come down; especially if we consider the place to which he came, the World; a Babylon of confusion, a Sodom, a Land of Philistines, of Giants, who made it as a Law to fight against the God of Heaven. We might have expected rather that he should have come cown as a Fire, to consume us; as a Tempest, to devour us; as Thunder, to amaze us; then as Rain, to fall softly upon us, or as a Shower, to water and refresh us: that he should have come down to blast and dig us up by the roots, rather then to yield us juice and life to grow green and flourish. Indeed we could expect no less: But his mercy is above all his works, and then far above our expectation, far above all that we could conceive, far above our sins, which were gone over our heads, and hung there ready to fall in vengeance upon us. And rather then they should fall as hailstones and coals of fire, he himself comes down like rain, and as showers that water the earth. Justice would have stay'd him, and for him sent down a Thunderbolt; but Mercy prevail'd, and had the better of Justice, and in this manner brings him down himself.

And here to shew you the manner of his coming down, we shall observe a threefold Descent; in uterum matris, into the Virgins womb; in mundum, into the World; and in homines, into the Souls of men. For as the Vir∣gins womb was thalamus Christi, the Bride-chamber of Christ, wherein the Holy Ghost did knit the indissoluble knot between his Humane nature, and his Deity, so the World was the place where he pitcht his Tent, and the * 1.7 Soul of man is the Temple of the Lord, where the same quickning Spirit by the operation of Faith makes up that eternal union and conjunction be∣tween the Members and the Head: And into all these he came down 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith St. Chrysostom: (and we find the very same words in the sixth

Councel of Constantinople) quietly and without any noise at all; like Rain, which we may know is fallen by the moistures of the Fleece or Grass, but not hear when it falls.

And first, thus he came down into the Virgins womb as upon the Grass, and made her fruitful to bring forth the Son of God; and as into a fleece of wooll, out of which he made up tegmen carnis, the vail and garment of his flesh; and so without noise, so unconceivably, that as it is an Article of our Faith, and the very language of a Christian, to say, He is come down, so it is a que∣stion which poseth the whole world, and none but himself can resolve the Quomodo, How he came down. For as he came down, and was made Man, not 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, or 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, not by any alteration or mutation of his Divine Essence; sine periculo statûs sui, saith Tertullian, without any danger of the least change of his state; not by converting the Godhead into Flesh, as Ce∣rinthus; nor the Flesh into the Godhead, as Valentius; no, nor by com∣pounding and mingling the Natures, so that after the union there should remain one entire Nature of them both; but by an invisible, inconceivable, ineffable union: So also did the blessed Virgin conceive and bring him forth without any pain of travel, without any breach of nature, without any alteration, and retained gaudium matris cum honore virginitatis, the joy of a Mother, and yet the integrity and honour of a Virgin. We may say, Peperit, non parturivit, She brought Christ forth, but did not travel. And Tertullian, where he conjures down that spectrum and Phantasm of Marci∣on, borrows his very words, and urgeth this for a truth, Peperit, & non peperit; virgo, & non virgo; She brought forth, and did not bring forth; a Virgin, and not a Virgin. She brought forth, saith he, because Christ did take of her flesh; and she did not bring forth, because she took nothing from man: A Virgin in respect of her Husband; and not a Virgin, in re∣spect of her Child. And so being busie in the confutation of one error, he seems to run unadvisedly upon another. But his meaning is more then this; That she was both a Mother, and yet a Virgin; and that Christ was born communi lege, as other men are, and not utero clauso, the Womb being shut. Which, whether it be true or false, I leave to those learned Chi∣rurgions and masculine Midwifes, the Schoolmen, to determine. I will say no more, but with the Father, Enormi & otiosae curiositati tantum deerit discere quantum libuerit inquirere, Vain and irregular Curiosity gains no ground in the search of those things which are too hard for it, and of which we have no evidence of Scripture: and all the profit she reaps is but this, to run forward apace, and to be struck blind in the way; to make great speed, and be further off. It is enough for us to believe and acknow∣ledge that she was a pure and immaculate Virgin, that the Holy Ghost over∣shadowed her, that she was that Fleece into which this gracious Rain fell sine soni verbere, without any noise or sound: that, as a Fleece, she was made both solid and soft; softned and made fine by the power of the Most High, to receive this heavenly Shower, to conceive that; and solid, to con∣ceive him without the division of parts, to receive him into her womb as sheep do the Rain into their Fleece, sine inquietudine, saith Ambrose, with∣out any motion or stirring; parerc, nec compunè, to bring him forth with∣out any compunction or conquassation of parts: to be soft, and prepared, and become a Mother; ••nd yet solid and entire still, and remain a Virgin. And further we need not carry the resemblance. And therefore in the next place we will bring Christ from the Womb into the World.

And here though I cannot say the World was all mowen grass, or as a fleece, or as earth, but rather as brass, or as the barren rocks, yet Christ came down into the World. And he came, not jaciens fulmina, saith Chrysostom, in Thunder and Lightning, with a Fire to devoure before him, or a Tempest

round about him; but in great humility, in silence: and, as his Kingdom, so his coming was not with observation. In a word, though he were the Lion of the tribe of Judah, yet he enters the world as a Lamb. For first, nasci se patitur, he condescends and suffers himself to be born, and is content to lye hid in the womb nine months, who might have taken the shape of a man in a moment. He grows up by degrees; and being grown up, he is not ambitious to be known. He is baptized by his servant; and being tempt∣ed by the Devil, nihil ultra verba conatur, he useth no other weapon then his Words. Was the Reed bruised? he broke it not. Did the Flax smoke? he quencht it not. Were Men ingrateful? he cured them. His hand that betray'd him was in the dish with him. So that as his Flesh was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the vail of his Divinity, so what he did and what he suffer'd were as so many curtains, or rather as a thick cloud, to obscure and dar∣ken his Majesty. You will tell me of the new Star; But whether did it lead the Wise men? To see a poor Infant in a Manger: And though the sign of the Star were glorious, yet the sign of the Cratch did obscure it. Of the Angels Anthem: But they were but a few Shepherds that heard it. Of the men of the East who came to worship him: But at the same time Herode the King did seek the Child to destroy him. Of his retinue: But they were Fishermen. Of the Angel that comforted him: But it was in his ago∣ny. Of the Earth shaking, and the Vail of the Temple rent: But it was at his Death. Certò latuit in infirmitate Majestas; his Majesty lay hid and was obscured in his Infirmity. And thus he temper'd and qualified his oe∣conomy amongst us; cast forth these radiations of Majesty, and yet ap∣peared as but under a cloud; had these tinctures and rayes of Greatness, and yet dulled and almost lost in Poverty and Ignominy and Scorn, and, in respect of the Many, quencht in the bloud which he shed. But now we need not wonder that he thus came in silence and great humility. For the whole world was an Hospital of diseased men, or rather a Prison of Slaves and Captives fetter'd in the chains and bonds of Iniquity: And should Christ have bow'd the Heavens and come down in glory? should he have shone in his Majesty? Should he have come in thunder and blackness of darkness? Certainly the sight would have been so terrible that Moses him∣self, even the best men living, would have trembled and shaken. Had all been glory, all with us had been misery. Had Christ come as God alone, we had been worse then the Beasts that perish, even companions of Devils. Nisi iram misericordia finivisset, saith the Father, If his Mercy had not stept in between his Majesty and us, and quencht that fire which was ready to burn, the Prisoners, nay the Prison it self, had long since been consumed and brought to nothing. Therefore Christ came not as a Judge, but as a Physician. For sick men are not cured with noise and ostentation. The Fleece was dry; and the gentle drops of Rain will wash and cleanse it: but a cataract, a deluge will drown the Sheep it self. The Earth was dry, and the Grass mowen, desecta & detonsa, cut down; nay, carrosa à locustis, so the Chaldee, bitten and gnawn of Locusts. And no Locusts compara∣ble to Sins, which devour not leaves only, but the very root. Now when Locusts swarm, commonly it is a drought. Therefore Rain and Showers are most seasonable, to make the Grass grow afresh. But Fire would con∣sume all. It is impossible, saith the Father, that our shackles should be knocked off, and we set at liberty, nisi in nostris fieret humilis qui omnipo∣tens permanebat in suis, unless he were made humble in our nature who was Omnipotent in his own; Impossible, that the mowen grass should grow up without Rain, or those who are dead in sins be received with a consuming fire.

I may add one Reason more, and that taken from the nature of Faith:

Which, if the object be plain and manifest and open to the sight, is no more Faith: And therefore that which she looks upon, is seen, but hidden; hath light, but clouded; is most probably, but not demonstratively true. For I do not believe that a Man is a living creature, or that the Sun shines; be∣cause the one is evident to my Understanding, the other open to my Sense. Fides non nisi difficultate constat; Faith cannot subsist unless it finds some difficulty to struggle with. And this is the merit, the dignity of our Faith: Though a cloud come between it and the object, to look through it; as A∣braham, though the body be dead, and the womb dead, yet against hope to be∣lieve in hope that he shall become the Father of many Nations; To believe the Promise of God when he useth those means for the tryal of our Faith, which are most like to extinguish it; To behold a Saviour through the thick cloud of Ignominy and Scorn; To see a God in a Cratch, on the Cross, and in the Grave; To be perswaded that he may be the Son of the Most High, though he come down as Dew, and not as a cataract; and descend like Rain, and not in Thunder. It was the unhappiness of the Jew to expect 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a most glorious Messias, and to think he should come into the World as Agrippa and Bernice his wife, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, with great * 1.8 pomp; that he should be a great Captain and Warrior, and should take the power of Damascus, and carry away the spoils of Samaria. And this antici∣pated conceit is that which hath made them siccatum vellus, as Hierom speaks, like Gideons fleece; dry, when there is dew in all the ground about * 1.9 them. It is true, saith Tertullian, he shall take the spoils of Samaria; but it is then, saith the Text, when he is a Child, before he know to refuse the evil, and chuse the good. And if the Jew would have consider'd his age, he might soon have discerned of what nature the War was he was to wage, and what Spoils they were he should bear away. For if he must take them by violence and dint of Sword, how should he bid defiance? Should he do it with the cry and tears of an Infant? Signum belli non tubâ sed crepi∣tacillo dabit? Shall he give signal to Battle, not with a Trumpet but with a Rattle? Shall he leap from the Teat to his Horse, and point out his E∣nemy not from the Wall but from his Mothers Breasts? Observate modum aetatis, & quaerite sensum perdicationis, saith the Father; Let the Jew re∣member his age, and then he will not be to seek what manner of War it was. We confess the child Christ was and is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a great Captain, and hath a Trumpet, and a Sword, and Arrows; and he soundeth his Trumpet, and girds his Sword upon his thigh, and makes his Arrows sharp; and he strikes with his Sword, and sends forth his Arrows; but yet he never sheddeth bloud. He rides in Majesty, but it is because of his meekness and gentleness; which are no Virtues, I think, at the Camp. His Trumpet is the Gospel; his Sword, the Word, which divideth asunder the soul and the spirit, and the joynts and the marrow; his Arrows, his Precepts, which fly very swiftly, pearcing every heart, and wounding every conscience. With these he pul∣leth down strong holds, casteth down imaginations, and fights against principa∣lities and powers. And the people fall under him: What? to be trod un∣der feet? No; but to worship him. He carries away the spoils of Samaria; and not only of Samaria, but of all the Nations of the Earth: Certè alius est ensis, cujus alius est actus; Certainly this is another manner of Sword then that which Joshua and David fought with. This is the Sword of the Lord, not of Gideon, and drawn to another end. For our Captain draws his Sword to make his Enemies Kings; woundeth, that he may heal; beats us to dust, that we may be exalted for ever; fights with us, that we may pre∣vail; and then rides in triumph, when we overcome and are crowned. And to this end he came down, not in majesty, but weakness; not in thunder, but in rain. He did in a manner divest himself of his honour which he had e∣verlastingly

with God; and he who was a King before all time, became a Preacher, an Instructer, a School-master to lead us to himself, and vouch∣safed to interpret his own Imperial command. No Servant so careful to execute the will of his Master as he was to perform the will of his Father. Hoc habet solicitudo ut omnia putet necessaria; His Care thought nothing too much. And therefore, though for so great a Prince it had been a sufficient discharge to direct or command, yet he will supererogate, and go many degrees above sufficiencie. For what he commands us, he himself is the first man that doth execute it. And though it be ad sanguinem, to suffer unto bloud, primus in agmine Caesar, still he is first. He is not only our Pilot to direct the stern, but also he doth manage the sail, and set his hand to the oar; yea, he himself is unto us both Sea, and Sun, and Pole, and Wind, and all; and he wins us more by his Example, then by his Precept. Thus Christ came; And thus to come down is certainly to come down like rain upon mowen grass. Exasperat homines imperata correctio: blandissimè jubetur ex∣emplis; There is something of Thunder and Hayl in a command; and it may make some noise, because it falls not upon a fleece of wooll, but on a stone; upon Man, who by nature is a stubborn creature: But we may be bold to say, Examples are showers, Guttae stillantes, stillicidia coelestia, drops and dew; and they fall gently and sweetly and effectually. And in this man∣ner Christ came down into the World like rain upon the mowen grass, (or, on a fleece of wooll) as showers that water the earth.

And now we come to the third degree of Christs Descent or Coming down; He cometh into the Souls of the Sons of men, to be shaped and formed in us, * 1.10 that we may be Christiformes, made like unto Christ, and bear an unifor∣mity and conformity unto him. And he observes the same SICUT still, and comes down in animam sicut in uterum, into our hearts as he did into the Virgins Womb, gently and insensibly, as the Rain doth into a fleece of wooll; using indeed his power, but not violence; working effectually up∣on our souls per suaviductionem, say the Schools, leading us powerfully, but sweetly, to that end his praedeterminate will hath set down. St. Cy∣prian well calls it illapsum gratiae maturantis, the fall of Gods ripening Grace, which falls like Dew or Rain upon the grass. Nescio quomodo tan∣gimur, & tangi nos sentimus; We are water'd with this rain, and we know not how; We feel the drops are fallen, but how they fell we could not discern. And we are too ready to ask with the Virgin Mary, How cometh this to pass? But the Angel, nay, God himself, telleth us, The Ho∣ly Ghost doth come upon us, and the power of the Most High overshadows us; and that Holy thing which is born in us shall be called the Son of God. Non deprehendes quemadmodum aut quando tibi prosit; profuisse deprehendes; That the power of Gods Grace hath wrought we shall find; but the retired pas∣sages by which it hath wrought are impossible to be reduced to demonstra∣tion. Res illic geritur, nec videtur. The Rain is fall'n, and we know not how. We saw not Christ when he came down; but it is plain that he is come down. And he comes down not into the Phansie alone: That common∣ly is too washy and fluid of it self, and brings forth no better a Christ then Marcions, a Shadow or Phantasme. Nor into the Understanding alone: For thither he descends rather like Light then Water; and he may be there, and the grass not grow. He may be there only as an absent Friend, in his picture. But he commeth down in totum vellus, into the whole fleece, into the Heart of man, into the whole man, that so he may at once conceive Christ, and yet be presented a pure and undefiled Virgin unto Christ, and be the purer by this new conception. And he cometh down in totam terram, upon all the ground, upon the whole Little World of Man, that so he may be like a well-water'd Garden, even a Paradise of God. A strange * 1.11 complaint the world hath taken up, yea rather not a complaint,

but a pretense, a very cloak of maliciousness to hide our sins from our eyes; That Christ doth thus come down but at pleasure, only sometimes, and but upon some men; some, who, like Mary, are highly favour'd by God, and call'd out of all the world, nay, chosen before the world was made. And if the earth be barren, it is because this Rain doth not fall. As if the Grace of God were not like Rain, but very Rainie indeed, and came down by seasons and fits; and as if the Souls of men were not like the Grass, but were Grass indeed, not voluntary but natural and necessary Agents. Thus we deceive our selves, but we cannot mock God. His Grace comes not down as a Tempest of Hayl, or as a destroying Storm, or as a Floud of many Waters overflowing, but as Rain or Drops. He poureth it forth every day, and renews it every morning. And he would never question our barrenness and sterility if he did not come down, nor punish our unfruitfulness if he did not send Rains. If before he came into the world this Rain might fall as it were by coasts, in Judaea alone; yet now by the virtue of his comming down it drops in all places of his Dominion. Om∣nibus aequalis, omnibus Rex, omnibus Judex, omnibus Deus & Dominus; As he came to all, so he is equal and indifferent to all, a King to all, a Judge to all, and a God and a Lord to all. And his Grace manat jugi∣ter, exuberat affluenter, flows continually, and falls down abundantly. Nostrum tantùm sitiat pectus & pateat; Let our hearts lye alwaies open, and the windows of Heaven are alwaies open: let us continually thirst after righteousness, and this Dew will fall continually. Let us prepare our hearts, let us make them soft as the Fleece; let us be as Grass, not Stubble; as Earth, not Brass; and the Son of God will come down into our hearts like rain into the fleece of wooll, (or, mowen grass) and like showers that water the earth.

And now we have shewed you this threefold Descent; We should in the next place contemplate the effect which this great Humility wrought, the Fruit which sprung upon the fall of this gracious Rain upon Gods In∣heritance: the Spring of Righteousness, and the Plenty of Peace, and the Aeternity of them both. But I see the time will not permit. For con∣clusion therefore, and as the present occasion bespeaks me, I will acquaint you with another Descent of Christ; into the blessed Sacrament; I mean, into the outward Elements of Bread and Wine. Into these also he comes down insensibly, spiritually, ineffably, yet really, like Rain into a fleece of wooll. Ask me not how he is there; but there he is. Eia fratres, ubi voluit Dominus agnosci? In fractione panis, saith St. Augustine: O my brethren, where would our Saviour discover himself, but in the breaking of bread? In his Word he seems to keep a distance, and to speak to us, saith the Father, by way of Letter or Epistle, but in the Sacrament of his Body and Bloud he communicates himself, that we, who could not see him in his flesh, may yet eat that flesh we cannot see, and be in some kind fa∣miliar with him. I need not busie my self in making the resemblance. Theodoret in one of his Dialogues hath made up the parallel between the Incarnation of Christ and the Holy Sacrament. In Christ there are two Natures, the Divine, and the Humane, and in the Sacrament there are two Substances, the heavenly, and the earthly. 2. After the union the two Natures are but one Person; and after the consecration the two Sub∣stances make but one Sacrament. 3. Lastly, as the two Natures are u∣nited without confusion or coalition of either in Christ, so in the Sa∣crament are the Substances, heavenly and earthly, knit so together that each continueth what it was. The Bread is bread still, and the Body of Christ is the body of Christ; and yet Christ is the Bread of Life, and the Bread is the body, and the Wine the bloud of Christ. It is panis

Domini, the Bread of the Lord, and panis Dominus, the Lord himself, who is, that living Bread which came down from Heaven. And to a believing * 1.12 Virgin soul Christ comes nearer in these outward Elements then Supersti∣tion can bring him, beyond the fiction of Transubstantiation: For as he by assuming our Nature was made one with us, made flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bones, so we by worthily receiving his flesh and his bloud in the Sacrament are made one with him, even partakers of the Divine Na∣ture. * 1.13 Per hunc panem ad Dei consortium preparamur, saith Hilary; By this Bread we are united to him here, and made fit to be with him for ever. And to drink this Cup, the Bloud of Christ, is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith Clemens, to be made partakers of the incorruptibility of God.

And now to conclude; This quiet and peaceable committing of Christ to us, should teach us the like behaviour one to another. For shall he come down like rain, and shall we fall like Thunder upon our Brethren? Shall he consider us as a Fleece of woll, or as Grass, and shall we make one another a mark and an anvil for injuries to beat on? Shall Butter and Honey be his meat, and shall we feed on Gall and Wormwood? Shall he not break a bruised reed, and shall we make it our glory to break in pieces the Cedars of Liba∣nus? Shall he come to save, and shall we destroy one another? Shall he come without noise, and shall we make it our study to fill the world with tumult and confusion? Shall he give eyes to the blind, and we put them out? Cloths to the naked, and we strip them? Leggs to the lame, and we cripple them? Shall he raise men from the dead, and we kill them? And if we do it, can we be so bold as to say we are Christians, or that Christ dwelleth in us of a truth? Will he abide in this region of blackness and darkness? in this place of noise and thunder and distraction? No: the humble and contrite, the meek and merciful is the place of his rest. He that came down in humi∣lity will not stay with the proud heart; he that came down in silence will not dwell in a Chaos, in confusion. Therefore put you on the Lord Jesus Christ; put on his Meekness, his Humility. As children of Christ, put on tender bowels and compassion: And let your bowels yearn over the poor, to re∣lieve him; over the weak, to strengthen him; over the injurious, to for∣give him. And let us be as Rain, to soften and quicken; not as Fire, to consume one another. And then He who thus came down into the Womb, thus into the World, thus into our Souls, thus into the Sacrament, in silence, with∣out noise or tumult, like Rain or Dew, having thus watered us, and distilled his graces upon us by virtue of this his first Advent, at his second Advent, when he shall descend with a shout and with the voice of the Archangel, though he come with more terrour, yet shall he let fall his dew as the dew of herbs, and drop upon our rottenness and corruption: And they that dwell in the dust shall awake and sing. And in those his dayes shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of Peace, not only so long as the Moon endureth, but in new Heavens and new Earth shall dwell Righteousness and Peace for evermore.

Notes

• * 1.1

  1 Kings 4. 29.
• * 1.2

  1 Kings 4. 24.
• * 1.3

  Vers. 8.
• * 1.4

  Vers. 11.
• * 1.5

  Luke 4. 21.
• * 1.6

  Eph. 4.
• * 1.7

  John 1. 14.
• * 1.8

  Acts 25. 23.
• * 1.9

  Judg. 6. 40.
• * 1.10

  Gal. 4. 19.
• * 1.11

  Jer. 31. 12.
• * 1.12

  John 6. 51.
• * 1.13

  2 Pet. 1. 4.