healing in his wings, difpenfing all about his pleasant rays SERM. and kindly influences: The dayspring from on high hath LXXV. vifited us; diffufing an univerfal light upon the fouls of men, Luke i. 78. whereby the night of ignorance is difpelled, the spectres of error are vanished, the mists of doubt are scattered; whereby we clearly and affuredly difcern all truths of importance to us, and worthy of our knowledge; concerning the nature and attributes, the works and providence, the will and pleasure of God; concerning ourselves, our nature and original, our duty and interest, our future state, and final doom: Our light is come, and the glory of the Ifa. Ix. 1. Lord is rifen upon us; the light of the world, the true light, 12. ix. 5. enlightening every man, by whose luftre all flesh may fee i. 9. the falvation of God, and which guideth our feet in the way i. 79. of peace, doth visibly shine forth upon us.

John viii.

Luke iii. 6.

16.

Never indeed did heaven with fo fair and ferene a countenance fmile upon earth, as then it did, when this (asp Rev. xxii. λαμπρὸς καὶ ὀρθρινός,) bright and morning far did fpring up above our horizon, bringing this goodly day; and with it fhedding life and cheer among us.

From this aufpicious day did commence the revocation of that fatal curse, by which we were expelled from paradife, adjudged to death, and committed to hell; from thence we became reinftated in a condition of hope, and in a fair capacity of happiness; from thence is to be dated a return of joy into this region of difconfolateness. In this nativity mankind was born, or did revive from manifold deaths; from a legal, a moral, a natural, an eternal death; from lying dead in irreparable guilt, and under an infuperable power of fin; from having our bodies irrecoverably diffolved by corruption, and our fouls immersed into that fecond more ghaftly death of perpetual incurable anguish.

s It is in effect therefore the birthday of the world; the

It is the birthday of the Church. Generatio enim Chrifti origo eft populi Chriftiani, et natalis capitis natalis eft corporis. P. Leo de Nat. Serm. 6.

Sicut cum Chrifto in paffione crucifixi, in resurrectione resuscitati, in afcenfione ad dextram Patris collocati, ita cum ipfo fumus in hac nativitate congeniti. Ibid.

SERM. beginning of a new, better, eternal life to men, (offered to LXXV. all, and effectually bestowed on those who will embrace

it,) which we now do celebrate. All reason therefore we have to rejoice most heartily and most abundantly: as the goods thence accruing to us are in multitude innumerable, in quality ineftimable, in duration immense; so in fome correfpondence should our joy be very intense, very effuse, very stable; the contemplation of them should infufe fomewhat of that unspeakable joy, whereof St. Peter 1 Pet. i. 8. speaketh; we should be filled, according to St. Paul's Rom. xv. expreffion, with all joy and peace in believing them; we Phil. i. 25. fhould hold faft, as the Apostle to the Hebrews adviseth, Heb. iii. 6. the confidence and rejoicing of hope, grounded on them, firm to the end.

Xaga avs

κλαλήτω.

13.

Rom. xii.

12.

fo

Having fo many, so great causes of joy, are we not very stupid, are we not ftrangely crofs and perverfe, if we neglect so pleasant a duty?

To conclude: Of all the days that rife upon us, this undoubtedly is the queen, crowned by God's own hand with sovereign bleffings; God hath avowed it to be the day of his peculiar making, and therefore of our special rejoicing; for thus of old the infpired Pfalmift did teach Pfal. exviii. and exhort us to keep Christmas: This is the day which the Lord hath made; let us rejoice and be glad therein. Matt. xxi. 9. 42. 1 Pet. ii. 7. A&ts iv. 11.

24.

SERMON LXXVI.

THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST FORETOLD IN
THE OLD TESTAMENT.

ACTS iii. 18.

But those things, which God before had fhewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Chrift should fuffer, he hath fo fulfilled.

MANY good arguments there are, different in kind, SERM. which confpire to perfuade the truth of our religion; LXXVI. fuch as are the intrinsic reasonableness, excellency, and perfection of its doctrine; the miraculous works performed in attestation thereto; the special favour of Providence declared in the support and propagation thereof: but upon no other ground do the Scriptures so much build its truth, and our obligation to embrace it, as upon the exact correfpondence and conformity thereof to all the ancient Scriptures, which did forefhew or foretell its revelation and introduction into the world; to those especially which defcribed the perfonal characters, circumftances, and performances of our Lord: to this our Lord, in his discourses and difputes with incredulous people, referred them; Search the Scriptures, faid he, becaufe in them ye expect to John v. 39. have eternal life; (that is, to find the true way of faving truth leading thereto;) and thofe are they which testify of me: by this he inftructed and convinced his Disciples; be- Luke xxiv. ginning from Mofes and from all the Prophets, he expound-37. 170. ed unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning him

xxii.

44.

24.

xiii. 27. XV.

14.

John i. 45.

23.

SERM. felf: and, Thefe (faid he to them presently before his deLXXVI. parture) are the words which I fpake unto you, while I was Luke xxiv. yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Mofes, and in the Prophets, and in the Pfalms, concerning me: this the Apostles, in all their preaching, (whereby they taught, proved, and perfuaded A&ts iii. 22, the Christian doctrine,) did chiefly infist upon; Moses, faith St. Peter, truly faid unto the Fathers, yea, and all the Prophets from Samuel, and thofe that follow after, as many as A&ts x. 43. have spoken, have likewise foretold of thefe days; and, To 15. xxiv. him, faith he again, give all the Prophets witness, that through his name whofoever believeth in him shall receive Acts xviii. remiffion of fins. And of St. Paul it is said, that he might28. xxviii. ily convinced the Jews-fhewing by the Scriptures, that Jefus was the Chrift; and—he expounded, and testified the kingdom of God, perfuading them concerning Jefus, both out of the Law of Mofes, and out of the Prophets: thus the chief Apostles and founders of our religion in their public discourses; and in their Epistles they observe the fame method; as particularly afferting Chriftian doctrines and duties by the teftimonies of prophetical Scriptures, fo generally affirming our religion to be chiefly grounded on 1 Pet. i. 10 them; of which falvation (faith St. Peter, concerning the falvation exhibited by the Gospel) the Prophets did inquire, and fearch diligently, who prophesied of the grace to come unto you; and (in regard to the conviction of others) he seems to prefer the attestation of this kind before the special revelation immediately made to the Apoftles; for having fpoken of it, he fubjoins, καὶ ἔχομεν βεβαιότερον τὸν προφητικὸν 2 Pet. i. 19. λóyov We have also a more fure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well, that ye do take heed, as unto a light that Shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the dayRom. xvi. ftar arife in your hearts. And St. Paul faith, that the myftery, which was kept secret fince the world began, was then made manifeft, and by the prophetical Scriptures, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to 2 Tim. iii. all nations, to the obedience of faith; and, The holy Writings, he telleth Timothy, were able to make him wife to the falvation, which is, by the faith of Jefus Chrift; that

25, 26. i. 2.

15.

is, they were able to fhew and perfuade to him the truth SERM. of Christianity, which promifeth falvation to all that LXXVI. heartily embrace it and obferve its laws.

Such a stress was laid upon this probation by the founders of our religion; and no wonder; for that it is not only extremely forcible in itself, but hath some particular uses, and fome peculiar advantages beyond others. The foreknowledge of future contingent events, (fuch as were many of those concerning our Saviour, depending upon the freeft acts of human will,) as it is for the manner of attaining it most incomprehenfible to us, fo it is most proper to God, and by all men fo acknowledged; future contingencies being fecrets which no man, no angel, no creature can dive into, they being not discernible in their causes, which are indeterminate; nor in themselves, who are finite. The prediction therefore of fuch events could not otherwise than proceed from his pleasure; neither could he yield it in way of favour and approbation to that which was not perfectly true and good: this way therefore doth absolutely confirm the truth and goodness. of Chriftian doctrine; it withal manifefts the great worth and weight thereof, as implying the particular regard and care God had of it, defigning it so anciently, laying trains of providence toward it, and preparing fuch evidences for the confirmation thereof; it together into the bargain maintaineth the truth of the Jewish dispensation, the fincerity of the ancient Patriarchs and Prophets, and the vigilant care the divine goodness hath always had over the ftate of religion, and toward the welfare of mankind; never leaving it deftitute of fome immediate revelations from himself. It had a peculiar aptitude to convert the Jews, who were poffeffed with a full persuasion concerning the veracity and fanctity of their ancient Prophets; and could not therefore doubt concerning the truth of that, which appeared conformable to that which they had foretold fhould be declared and difpenfed for their benefit. This probation also hath this advantage, that it fingly taken doth fuffice to convince; whereas others can hardly do it otherwise than in conjunction with one another, and