αἰτίαν.

1 Tim. iii.

16.

Jer. xxiii. 6.

SERM. shrewdest malice can descry any fault or blemish; in LXXV. whom therefore God is thoroughly well pleased? x y aura Since we have Emmanuel, God with us-God maniMatt.ii.17.fested in our flesh-The Lord our righteousness, partaker of our infirmity, intercessor and advocate xxxiii. 16. for his own flesh and blood, ready to do and suffer whatever God pleaseth to require on our behalf, how can God be against us? Shall God and man persist at distance or disaffection, who are so closely related, who are indeed so intimately united in one person? Shall heaven and earth retain enmity, which have so Psal.lxxxv. kindly embraced and kissed each other; since truth hath sprouted from the earth, and righteousness hath looked down from heaven? Shall the war go on, when the great Mediator and Umpire of peace is Isa. ix. 6. come; preaching peace to them that are afar off, and to them that are near? Can death any longer reign over us, or our disgrace and misery continue, 1 Cor. ii. 8. now that the Prince of life, the Lord of glory, the Captain of salvation doth appear for our relief?

II.

Acts x. 36.

Eph. ii. 17.

Now then what can be more worthy of joy, than such a blessed turn of affairs? How can we otherwise than with exceeding gladness solemnize such a peace? a peace accorded with him, who in forces so infinitely doth overmatch us; who at his pleasure can utterly quell us; who with the greatest ease, with less than a word of his mouth, can dash us to nothing, or hurl us down into an abyss of remediless woe: how can we avoid being extremely satisfied at the recovery of his favour and friendship, which alone can be the foundation of our safety and welfare, which is the sole fountain of all good, of all comfort, of all felicity?

5. Our Lord's nativity doth infer a great honour,

LXXV.

19.

πατρὶ κατὰ

δὲ κατὰ

6.

Eph. ii. 22.

Eph. i. 21.

and a high preferment to us: nowise indeed could SERM. mankind be so dignified, or our nature so advanced as hereby no wisdom can devise a way beyond this, Eph. iii. 10, whereby God should honour his most special favourites, or promote them to a nearness unto himself. For hence we become allied to God in a most strait (Hos affinity, his eternal Son being made our brother : ««μ«, ñμïv hence as touching the blood-royal of heaven we do raga. Ath. in dignity o'ertop all the creation; so that what the P. 612.) Psalmist uttered concerning man is verified in the most comprehensive sense; Thou hast crowned him Psal. viii. 5, with glory and honour, and hast set him over the Heb. ii. 7, works of thy hands; thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet: for now the Son of man, being also the son of God, is the head of all princi- Col. ii. 10. pality and power, is the Lord of all things, is the Acts x. 36. sovereign prince of all the world, is placed far above Phil. ii. 9. all principality, and power, and might, and domi- 1 Pet. iií. nion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. This is a peculiar honour, to which the highest angels cannot pretend; for he took not the nature of angels, Heb. ii. 16. but he took the seed of Abraham; whence those noble creatures are become in a manner inferior to poor us; and, according to just obligation, willingly do adore our nature; for, when God brought his Heb. i. 6. firstbegotten Son into the world, he said, Let all . the angels of God worship him. Is not indeed our col. 5 flesh become adorable, as the true Shechinah, as the Totum corpus implet everlasting palace of the supreme Majesty, wherein tota divinithe fulness of the Godhead dwelleth bodily; as the Nat. Serm. most holy shrine of the Divinity; as the orb of inaccessible light; as more than all this, if more could be expressed, or if we could expound that text, the John i. 14.

1 4

22.

Η σὰρξ έθεσ

Ath. p. 597.

tas. Leo de

10.

iii. 34.

SERM. Word was made flesh, and dwelt in us? May not LXXV. our soul worthily claim highest respect, all whose

faculties (being endued with unmeasurable participations of the Holy Spirit) have been tuned to a perfect harmony with the all-wise understanding and the most pure will of God? yea, which hath been admitted into the nearest consortship, into the strictest union with the eternal Word; hath become an 1 Cor. i. 24. ingredient of him, who is the wisdom and the power

of God? It was a great dignity that man should be made according to the image of God; but it is a more sublime glory, that God should be made after Heb. ii. 17. the image of man, κarà Távτa óμowbeis, being made like to us in all things, bating only sin, which is no part of us, but an unnatural excrescence, or a deflection from our nature": how could we be so raised up to God, as by his thus stooping down to us? What can be imagined more honourable to us, than that God should deem us worthy of such condescension? This, this indeed is our exaltation, that God for us should express not only so vast charity, but so prodigious humility.

And is it not good matter of joy to be thus highly graced? When are men better pleased than when they are preferred; than especially, when from the Psal. cxiii. meanest state, from the dunghill, or from the dust, Sam.ii. 8. they are raised to be set among princes, and made

7,8.

n Qui cum origini humanæ multum dederit, quod nos ad imaginem suam fecit, reparationi nostræ longe amplius tribuit, cum servili formæ ipse se Dominus coaptavit. Leo de Nat. Serm. 4.

• Exultent ergo in laudem Dei corda credentium, et mirabilia ejus confiteantur filii hominum, quoniam in hoc præcipue Dei opere humilitas nostra cognoscit, quanti eam suus conditor æstimârit. Leo. Serm. 4.

LXXV.

to inherit the throne of glory? Wherefore this being SERM. our case, that we sons of earth, children of corruption, and brethren of worms, (in Job's style;) We Job xvii.14. exiles of paradise, we heirs of death and misery; we, that by our nature are the lowest of all intelligent creatures, that by our merits were debased beneath Psal. xlix. the beasts that perish, that we are assumed to such relations, that we are ennobled to such a pitch, that our nature hath mounted so high above all creatures, with what enlargement of heart should we entertain a dispensation so wonderful! how welcome should that day be which doth introduce it P!

6. Finally, if we survey all principal causes of joy and special exultation, we shall find them all concurring in this event.

12.

John xiv.

30.

Is a messenger of good news embraced with joy? Behold the great Evangelist is come, with his mouth full of news, most admirable, most acceptable: he, who doth acquaint us, that God is well pleased, that man is restored, that the adversary is cast down, Rev. xii. 1o. that paradise is set open, and immortality retrieved; that truth and righteousness, peace and joy, salva- Luke x. 18. tion and happiness are descended, and come to dwell on earth; he of whom the prophet told, How beau- Isa. lii. 7. tiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that Rom. x. 15. bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth; he who doth himself thus declare the drift and purport of his message; The spirit of the Lord God Isa. Ixi. 1,2. upon me, to preach good tidings unto the meek; 19.

is

P Hic infirmitatis nostræ suscipiens conditionem, propter quos ad inferna descendit, eosdem in cœlestibus collocavit. Leo de

Nat. 5.

Nah. i. 15.

Luke iv. 18,

LXXV.

SERM. he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord; to comfort all that

Psal. xlv. & lxxii.

mourn.

Is the birth of a prince by honest subjects to Isa. xi. 2. be commemorated with joyous festivity? Behold a Prince born to all the world! a Prince undertaking to rule mankind with sweetest clemency and exact justice; a Prince bringing with him all peace and Jer. xxiii. 6. prosperity; in whose days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; who shall protect us in assured rest and safety; shall secure us from all danger and mischief; shall achieve most gallant and glorious exploits in our behalf; shall vanquish all the enemies of our welfare; shall rescue us from the worst slaveries and mischiefs; shall settle us in a Luke i. 71, most free and happy state: he who bringeth salvation from our enemies, and from the hands of all that hate us; that, being delivered from the hands of our enemies, we might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life. Now therefore it is seasonable to Rev. xix. 6, cry out, Allelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent 7. xi. 15. reigneth; let us be glad and rejoice, and give ho

74, 75.

Col. ii. 15.

nour to him.

Isa. ix. 3. May victory worthily beget exultation? See the Rev. vi. 2. invincible Warrior doth issue forth into the field, Luke xi. 22. conquering and to conquer: he that shall baffle and (John vi. rifle the strong one, our formidable adversary; that shall rout all the forces of hell, and triumph over the powers of darkness; that utterly shall defeat sin, and slay death itself; that shall subdue the world, and lay all things prostrate at his feet; behold the

33.)