A SERMON Preached before the KING The first Sunday of ADVENT 1666. By HENRY KILLIGREW D. D. Master of the SAVOY And Almoner to his ROYAL HIGHNESS Printed by his Majesty's special Command LONDON Printed by Tho. Roycroft for Thomas Hacker 1666. A SERMON Preached before the KING The first Sunday of Advent 1666. Mat. 21. Ver. 9 Hosanna to the Son of David blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord hosanna in the highest THese words are the Acclamation of the people at our Saviour's entering in Triumph into Jerusalem and part of the Gospel appointed for this Day the first Day of the Church's Year as appears by the Cycle or Round of Collects begun this Day Christians with good reason observing yearly double sort of year an Ecclesiastical from the Advent of our Saviour as well as a Civil from the Return of the Sun For the Times and Seasons of the Church are measured her spiritual Growths fostered not by the Sun in the Firmament but by the Sun of Righteousness not by Planetary Motions or Influences but by the Star of Jacob whose Dawn or Rising upon the World we at this time solemnize Advent does not imply that Christ is come but coming not his Presence but his Approach Christmas is the high Celebrity of his actual Arrival this day only reports and noises abroad his drawing near Advent is to Christmas as John was to the Gospel vox clamantis the Herald or Harbinger that made way for it so Advent is the Harbinger to make way for the Queen-feast to succeed with more Majesty Royal Personages not only having Followers but Forerunners for greater State But how comes the Church to make choice of one of the last Passages of Christ's Life to proclaim his first coming into the World the Season of his Passion to introduce the Time of his Nativity Because this coming of Christ in Triumph into Jerusalem shows him who he was to be a King which was but named and styled at his Birth at his Nativity he was but designed to the Crown of Israel but here he is seen in the Throne his Star shone then but his Majesty now the Sages and Astrologers could only at that time discover the King but the People here could pronounce him to be the Son of David and rejoice in their Sovereign Again this last coming of Christ was more immediately to do the will of God and perfect the Work of man's salvation and accordingly Saint Paul ascribes to it by way of excellence and eminence Heb. 7. the fulfilling of that prophecy Then said I Lo I come to do thy will O God Christ did the Will of God in the whole Course of his Life but at the Time of his Death he accomplished it And the Church could not select a more proper portion of Scripture to usher in his Birth or to take off the Prejudices of the Poverty and Infirmity seen in it to convert I say the Stable into a Palace to disclose a helpless Infant to be the Omnipotent Son of God than this that makes both ends of Christ's Life meet that joins the Sceptre to the Cradle the Triumph to the Nativity the words of the Angel Luke 2. 11. Unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord with the words of the People here in my Text Hosanna to the Son of David blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord hosanna in the Highest We may observe in the words these two General Parts Christ's Entrance And the People's Reception of him In Christ's Entrance these four Particulars First Who it is that cometh the Person here spoken of the Son of David Secondly For what he cometh his Purpose which is more clearly set down at v. 5. To declare himself to be the King of Israel Thirdly How he cometh or the Manner and Equipage of his coming it was in Pomp and State as is seen verses 7 8. Fourthly From whom he cometh or his Commission He cometh in the Name of the Lord The People's Reception of him is with joyful Acclamations Hosanna to the Son of David blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord hosanna in the highest First Who it is that cometh the Person here spoken of the Son of David This was the whole Cities Question at verse 10 th' And when he came into Jerusalem all the City was moved saying Who is this But God had showed it before out of the mouths of Babes and Sucklings very Children properly so called and of the poor ignorant People who were as Children Their Understandings were first enlightened their Tongues entrusted to declare and welcome Christ as the Son of David the Messiah and Saviour of the World And this is most commonly the Method of God Almighty in making himself known unto men that which he hides from the Wise and Learned he reveals unto the Simple and Lowly The Holy Spirit for the most part taking up his Inn as wise Travellers do theirs not the fairest and most frequented but the more private retired where though there 's less Magnificence there 's also less Pride and more Accommodation and Regard So here he passes by the Potent Priest and Pharisee filled with Ambition and the conceit of their own Sanctity and Knowledge possessed with the love of Riches and the like and turns in to the humble vacant disinteressed Multitude whose Hearts were rasae tabulae so many fair Tables without blur without scroll and fit for any Inscription This Question Quis est hic Who is this was not a question of Ignorance but Malice of Persons Uninformed but full of Envy 'T was like that of his Countrymen of Nazareth Non hic est fabri filius Is not this the Carpenter's son They saw his words full of Grace and his works of Wonder that all his Performances were truly Divine but because Joseph was his reputed Father and Mary his Mother because his Breeding and Parentage were not equal to the Glories manifested in him they would not honour him as a Prophet but chose rather not to know him than to believe in him and to be offended at him than to confess him After the like manner the Priests and Pharisees here because our Lord came not such a Person and after such a Fashion as they had foolishly fancied their Messiah would come a mighty Prince environed with Armies powerful to promote them to Honour and Riches but a poor Prophet calling them to the like Poverty and Humility with his own to Righteousness not to Greatness to take up the Cross and not the Ensigns of Magistracy they would not acknowledge him but denied the Original because it resembled not a false Copy rejected the Eternal Son of God because he was not like the Bastard Child of their Carnal Brains And Who is this signifies not who is this that we have never heard of or seen Or who is this that usurps such honours which the Scriptures allow to no man no not to the Messiah But who is this that we abhor who is this our Aversion who is this that defrauds our Expectations that grows daily greater and makes out his Pretences in spite of our Opposition That Christ was to be the Son of David to descend of the Seed and Lineage of the ancient Kings of Judah that God out of the old Stock or Root of Jesse which now through length of time seemed decayed and doted sear and dead would cause to grow up a branch of Righteousness to execute Judgement and Justice in the Land was a truth asserted from all antiquity And not only Esay and Jeremy who in express terms speak it but as Saint Peter says all the Prophet's bare witness to it And the later Doctors in our Saviour's days universally allowed the Tradition as is seen by the answer of the Pharisees to the question our Lord asked them concerning himself What say you of Christ whose Son is he And they said the Son of David But then that Christ was this Son of David this Branch so long foretold and expected though his Extraction and Genealogy his words and works his life and death did quadrat and close with all the Accounts Predictions and Tipical Representations of the Messiah in the Law and the several Lines drawn from the mouths of so many Prophets of different ages exactly concentered in his Person yet none but the dispassionate and disinterressed would confess and acknowledge the Multitude here and the People again elsewhere or some more particularly inspired as the two blind Men mentioned Matt. 9 27. poor Bartimeus and the like who comparing the Miracles wrought by Christ with the Prophecies that went of him confidently made out this truth Jesus thou Son of David have mercy on us And here we cannot enough admire the bounty of God to his faithful Servants that do his will and seek him with their whole heart whom he does not only bless and prosper while they are alive but makes their Names and Memories illustrious by a renowned Posterity long after they are dead As he did not suffer David's Soul to see corruption even in the grave where all things perish so neither did he suffer his Glory to see corruption after so many ages when commonly all things are lost in oblivion but revived it by causing Christ to Spring from his Loins Christ indeed had an other higher and nobler Generation an Eternal such as no man can declare as the Prophet Esay says Who can declare his Generation This his Prime Generation was not from the Will of Man but from the Power of the Spirit he took Flesh of the Virgin but not by Propagation but by Adumbration and the Will of God And therefore in respect of any humane Parentage on the Father's side he was likened to Melchisedec who is introduced in Scripture without Parent without descent without Genealogy for so it became him that was to be the Preacher of Purity to the World that his very Generation should be also Pure Yet I say so much was God pleased with the Heroical Virtue of David so much was he a Man after his own heart that he ordained that that great Person the Second Person in the Trinity should be reckoned to him as his Issue that he that was indeed his Lord as our Saviour also alleges as a strange Event should notwithstanding become his Son he willed that the Son of his own Spirit should be esteemed the Son of his servant So true is that which God spoke to Eli of old and so exemplary a doctrine to all posterity Honorantes me honorabo those that honour me I will honour Ye see what is done to him whom God honoureth the very Saviour of the World counts it a piece of Nobility and Gentry as I may so speak to derive his Pedigree from David The second Particular I observed was The purpose of Christ's coming to show himself the King of Israel Thrice a year for three years together as the custom was for all Israel Christ had gone up to Jerusalem the chief City of the Jews and yet did never make any Overture never showed any Semblance as if he had been King of the Jews before this last time of his entry Nay hitherto he used all means to conceal his Title and Pretence rather than to declare it When they would have made him a King he conveyed himself invisibly out of the press and did a Miracle to avoid an Advancement How comes he therefore now voluntarily to assume what before he so solicitously refused How comes he to do a Miracle that he might appear a King when he formerly did a Miracle not to appear one Affects to have a Mounture whereon to ride charms the owner's Spirit that should surrender it hearing the Lord had need of it inspires the Multitude to proclaim what he forbade his Disciples to whisper takes the whole state of it upon him affirms it to Pilate when he asks him concerning it Affirms it I say though in a Ceremonious way of affirmation usual among the Jews Art thou the King of the Jews Thou sayest it says he Which was as much as if he had answered I am indeed that which thou sayst Only he makes here the Question itself go for the Answer and the Demander ask the truth in honour to him he makes the affirming of it as it were also to proceed from his mouth As in the case of a negative Answer the more Civil among us choose rather to return an Excuse for their dissenting than a flat No or Denial to the thing that was enquired I say it was very strange that Christ should thus voluntarily assume that Dignity which he had so obstinately refused but it was much stranger yet that he should assume it at the season he did at the Eve to his Passion when he began to see the Cross standing at the door in expectance of him Is this a time says the Prophet to his servant Gehazi to take money and to buy Vineyards when the Lords anger was upon the land and the enemy daily expected So was this a time to lay claim to a Kingdom when a man's Hour of Death approached To put on the Royal Ensigns when he was to suffer as a Criminal as if he would present himself to the Executioner after the manner the Sacrifices of old were brought to the Priests with Garlands and gilded Horns as Salvian says Ornatur ad poenam coronatur ad supplicium he was invested in royal Robes to be Crucified he was made a King to suffer Death This Hour in the World's judgement so Incongruous to accept a Crown was yet the Season that he made choice of and he refused all Advancement till he was upon the point to be liftedup on the Crosse. But as God says in the Prophet My thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways So we may say of Christ's Times and Seasons that they suited and accorded not with those of men but he had an Hour and Opportunity peculiar and particular for his Actions which differed from the Vulgar apprehension When his Mother prompted him to turn the Water into Wine My hour says he is not yet come Again when his brethren moved him formerly to go up to Jerusalem saith he Your time is always but my time is not always And the like thing may be said of his Non-acceptance of the Kingdom when the people offered it His Hour for that purpose was not yet come He had not fully yet Preached the Gospel through the Cities of Judea he had not cleared his Title to the Kingdom by Signs and Wonders fulfilled the Prophecies that were of him and the other intermediate Works enjoined him by the Father and he would not abruptly seize the Sovereignty till all was prepared for it usurp it till he had made out his Pretence rule over a people that knew him not to be their Prince and exact their obedience before they understood his Authority But when he had proved himself the Son of God than he first declared he was the Heir and Successor of David and well he might be allowed to be the King of Israel when he had showed himself to be the Lord of Heaven and Earth and all the Kingdoms of the World And this is God's Method in ruling the World he does not require from men before he has given to them he exacts not their Faith till he has first enlightened them demands not their Obedience till he has taught them his Laws and given them his Grace But after these things if they pay him not humble and ready submission if his Subjects refuse yet to acknowledge his Dominion he will cause the Rebels as 't is Luke 19 27. To be brought forth to Judgement and those that would not that he should reign over them shall be slain before him who could not brook his Sceptre shall feel his Sword and undergo his Vengeance But here in the next place we are to demand what Kingdom it is that Christ assumeth that the Prophets foretold and the People congratulate for we shall find that the Multitude here speak one thing and the Spirit in them means another The People hoped that Christ would presently show himself such a King as I lately said the Pharisees fancied one that should visibly ascend the Throne of David restore the temporal Kingdom only with greater Glory than in the Patriarches days as their words also plainly declare in the parallel place of Saint Mark where they cry Blessed is the Kingdom of our father David But Christ's coming at this time was with far other Designs to claim a Spiritual Kingdom in the Souls and Hearts of men Illa ut Dominetur in aula that he might bare sway in these Palaces Says the Psalmist A Sceptre of Righteousness is the Sceptre of thy Kingdom thou hast loved Righteousness and hated Iniquity Such a Sceptre as a Prophet might wield The People congratulate him as an Anti-Cesar a King that should deliver from the subjection of the Romans But what says he of his Coming For this purpose came I into the World to destroy the Works of the Devil to be an Anti-Lucifer and to lead this his Captivity captive And we are to look here upon the People's Joy from their imagination of an Earthly Kingdom as on the Infirmity and Feebleness of Natural men's Affections who count no Blessings worthy the congratulating but Temporal Secular Prosperity Worldly Greatness Outward Splendour the Complacency of the Senses and the like are the things only which transport and ravish Christ's Spiritual Sceptre his Dominion in the Soul a Crown of Immortality and Glory are looked upon as so many Melancholy Metaphors without reality without relish that Felicity is only  which the World admires and that held truly a Kingdom where Voluptuousness reigns But yet we are not so to take this Doctrine of Christ's Spiritual Kingdom as if he had no Temporal Kingdom at all for that Prophecy cited by Saint Peter Act. 2. 30. God has sworn with an oath to David that of the fruit of his Loins according to the flesh he would raise up Christ to sit on his Throne And again that the Kingdom of Christ should be of much greater extent than that of his father David Even over all the Nations of the Earth are to be interpreted literally if due regard be had to the time of their fulfilling Neither did Christ when his Disciples asked him of his Temporal Kingdom wholly disclaim it but checked their curious Inquiry after it 'T is not for you says he to know the Times and Seasons which the Father has kept in his own Power Therefore distingue tempora distinguish but the Times and the same thing which at one time is false at another may be true Christ at this Time when he entered into Jerusalem had no Temporal Kingdom but after he ascended into Heaven he had one Visible and Glorious even unto the eyes of men And though he professes in the Days of his Humiliation that he came not to be ministered unto but to minister yet after his Exaltation he claims the Ministration of all men even of the greatest Princes and that is fulfilled which the Prophet says All Nations shall do him service Says our Lord after his Resurrection All power is given to me both in Heaven and Earth He had this power originally before but then he first executed it in the Capacity of God and Man in the Capacity of the Son of David and the prophesied King of Israel And if we shall regard the Events in the World since the preaching of the Gospel we shall find that no one of the four which are usually called the four Universal Monarchies was ever so vastly so universally extended as the Monarchy of Christ's Kingdom but as Moses Rod devoured the Rods of the Magicians so I may say has Christ's Sceptre swallowed up all the Sceptres of the Kings of the Earth and as heretofore the Nations flowed so generally into the Roman Empire that it was not undeservedly said Orbem jam totum victor Romanus habebat the Victorious Romans have made themselves Masters of the whole World there being no Nation that was not subdued by them which they thought worthy to march against with an Army and if any were exempt 't was because they were also despised so much more may it be said of Christ's Empire That it comprises the whole World seeing that very Globe or Orb of the Romans itself is contained within the Globe or Orb of Christ's neither is there that Climate to be found in which there are not those that do bow the knee in adoration to the King Christ and erect the Cross in token of his Dominion It is enough when we can say that there is no Sun where there is no Church and if there be a People that know not Christ 't is because themselves are unknown They therefore who have so much doted on the fifth Monarchy and out of Scripture misinterpreted will bring down Christ again from Heaven to Reign a thousand years on a Temporal Throne upon Earth they seek for that in Future Ages which is already eminently performed in their sight and fulfilled in Story and it may be said to them of the Temporal Kingdom of Christ what he said once of his Spiritual That it comes not with Observation No not with the Observation of any thing that 's Future but rather is discerned to be now Currant and Instant upon us both by the Observation of what is past and what we daily see And however the Prophecies may seem to intimate some Secular Way of Christ's executing his Temporal Kingdom and that the Jews and others think they degrade the Messiah if they make him not an Earthly Prince yet no Grandeur of an Earthly Prince can reach to the Majesty of the Messiah as 't is spoken of in Scripture or fulfil those very Predictions they stand so much upon after so Glorious a Manner as Christ has fulfilled them Who undoubtedly did a more Wonderful and Illustrious thing in that he Reigned o'er the World after his Decease than if he had done it in the Days of his Flesh I say he did a more Wonderful and Illustrious thing in first Dying and after that Rising again and subduing and ruling the Nations of the Earth and being adored ever after as God than if for a few years only he had Domineered like a Caesar or a Xerxes and then Ingloriously have confessed his Mortality expired and given place to another And this is the High Prerogative of Christ which Saint Peter Act. 5. 30. so powerfully urges to convert his Unbelieving Crucifiers The God of our fathers says he raised up Jesus whom ye slew and hanged on a tree Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour And Christ being such a Prince or King as we have described Let us see in the next place the State and Majesty with which he came to claim his Kingdom Which is in the third Particular I observed The Manner Pomp or Equipage of his Coming If we read the Triumphs of the Ancient Romans nothing can be imagined more Magnificent more Stupendious They being the Works of a racked Invention and an immense Charge the Labour of many months and the Business of several days the Sun sometimes making his Course thrice about the World before the several parts of the well digested Pomp could be passed through the City The People were to behold Models of the Towns and Fortresses they had conquered the Habits Weapons and other Warlike Harness and Engines of the Enemy the vast heaps of their Treasure rich Vessels Pieces of curious Art wild Beasts if any such were found among them their Princes with their Wives and Children led in chains in a word whatever could heighten the Popular Joy by Wonder Pity or Contempt was presented a Spectacle to them After these followed their own Victorious Army Crowned with Laurel jovial singing and licentious the Consecrated Herd for Sacrifice with all the Trappings of a Pompous and Superstitious Religion In the last place the Happy Conqueror himself mounted high on an Ivory Chariot embossed with gold and drawn with Horses of a Matchless beauty sought out in remote Provinces and as Authors speak led at their bridles by White and Silken Querries Niveos ad fraena Quirites Now if to this Majestic Pomp we shall oppose that of our Saviour's entering into Jerusalem as 't is described in the Morning's Gospel it will show like a Mock-Triumph or Triumph in Burlesque Which was a thing resolved on and performed the same hour countenanced and conducted only by a Company of poor Fishermen his Disciples and a tumultuary Rabble of the Meaner Sort for rich Tapestry and Pieces of Needlework to adorn the Passage of the Triumph the Coats of these poor people and some Extempore Branches snatched from Palm-trees there at hand served to strew the Way instead of a Gorgeous Chariot the humble Conqueror came riding on a Ass as St. Chrysostom terms it the most abject and despicable of all the Beasts of Burden But yet notwithstanding the Poverty and Meanness of those Circumstances if we shall look into this Triumph of our Lord as well as look upon it consider it with the sharper Eyes of the Spirit as well as glance on it with the misty Eyes of the Body we shall find that with great reason it was ushered in verse 5. with an Admonition of Special Observation and Regard to be had to it Tell the daughter of Zion Behold thy King cometh unto thee meek and sitting upon an ass and a colt the foal of an ass and that it excelled in Glory the Triumphs of all the Princes of the World For though there was seen in it no Humane Invention or Cost yet it was Ordered and Contrived by the Wisdom of the Eternal God though 't was resolved on and performed in an Hour 't was prophesied of many Hundred Years before though no heaps of Gold or Antick-plate were carried in it for ostentation yet the Virtues and Miracles of the Conqueror his holy Life and Doctrine were born in a manner before him to the greater Admiration of the Beholders though no Models of demolished Cities or Kings led in fetters afforded a Spectacle of admiration and compassion yet the Kingdoms of Hell and the Grave were there showed despoiled and ransacked and Lucifer the Prince of Darkness himself led in Everlasting Chains And then the Joy of this Triumph was not the Mourning of many Nations and People beside but a Cause of Universal Jubilee to the whole World or yet to last only for a few days but to continue even when the Sun and the Moon shall no longer be The Triumphs of Princes and Great Captains are to boast their Glory and Magnificence but Christ's Entrance into Jerusalem was not to show a Triumph of the Vain things of this World but a Triumph over them not to Magnify the Opinion of Riches but to bring them into Contempt And this and the like Passages of his Life are not so much to be looked upon in the Story and Fact as in the Design and Purpose as Saint Chrysostom says of them they are a Rule of Christian Philosophy At his Birth when he was Worshipped by some Kings and feared by others he was content to be found in a Manger and in the days that he fed thousands with his Miracles he chose often times himself to suffer Hunger And this to teach the Great Ones of the World to practise Self-denial in their highest Affluence and Abundance to teach the Honourable to be Humble and the Mighty to be Meek to use their Power not for Pride and Ostentation but for the Benefit of their Inferiors to teach them to despise their Greatness when others admired it When the People envy or murmur at their Felicity flatter or adore it cry as Saint Augustine makes them speak Soli isti sunt soli isti vivunt these are the Men that Live these are the only Happy then to reflect on their Infirmities and the Unstableness of their Condition fear and cast down their Souls Outward Pomp and Magnificence was annexed to Kings to preserve Reverence and Awe in the Vulgar but not to puff up their own Spirits That Great Person that is Proud and Arrogant from the Contemplation of his Power and many Attendants shows a Plebeian Spirit in a Royal Fortune that is too High to be Courteous too much Exalted to do Good dazzles no man's Eyes with his Eminence but shows himself blinded by his Advancement Christ therefore easily condescended to take our Nature because he was the Son of God to suffer the Indignities of a Mean Condition and to be Rejected of the Jews because he was conscious to himself that he was above Contempt and digested here the Humble Circumstances of his Triumph because he came in the Name of the Lord Which brings me to my fourth Particular From Whom Christ Cometh or his Commission He cometh in the Name of the Lord To come in the Name of the Lord is by the Appointment or with the Authority of the Lord He was Vnctus Dei the immediately Anointed by God himself to the Kingdom he came to claim These Words Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord were first spoken by David of himself and his own Election and Anointing by God unto the Kingdom of Israel Psal. 118. 26. and so expounded by him before at verse 22. The stone says he which the Builders refused is become the head stone of the corner It is the Lords Doing and it is marvellous in our Eyes And after the like manner Christ's coming in the Lords Name is by his Ordering or Doing his Kingdom was God's Assignation and the People's saluting him the Messiah was but the divulging of the Divine Counsel nay as David's particular anointing by God to the Kingdom was but a Type of Christ's the Acclamations of the People here are but the very Echo of the Prophet's words there To come therefore in the Name of the Lord is not to come in the bare Pretence and Verbal Usurpation of his Name as false Prophets of old did and many thousands of false Teachers now adays do Who apishly imitating the Phrases of Gods True Messengers or but their Boldness and Rusticity their Astonished Countenance and the Dire Accent of their Voice groaning out these or the like words The Burden or Message of the Lord deceive Simple People and think they have great injury that all Learning and Authority submit not to their Counterfeit Mission And 't is little less than a Prodigy to consider how in this not Ignorant Age Multitudes are carried away with these gross Follies But that temper of men which our Lord complained of John 5. 43. is seen every where in this Nation I come in my Father's Name says he and ye receive me not if another come in his Own Name him ye will receive Christ showed the Broad-Seal of Heaven for what he pretended the Divine Power bearing him witness by Miracles But these Impostors bring nothing but Impudence and Ignorance to countenance their Proceedings neither are they seen to advance any thing but Schism and Sedition Profanation and Blasphemy And as Saint John in his time forbade the Faithful to show the acts of common Humanity to any one that brought another Doctrine than that which was taught by Christ says he Receive not such an one into your houses nor bid him God-speed So by his Example I may worthily advise that no man in these days receive those that by their False Interpretations and pretended New-Lights Pervert and Corrupt the Doctrine delivered by Christ no not so much as to admit such persons into their Houses or bid them God-speed lest they seem to be their Disciples and to partake of their Evil Deeds Such as these deserve only the Entertainment of the Whipping-Post and the welcome of a Hot Iron to boar their Tongues the Bough that Absolom met with in his Rebellion not the Boughs of Palms which were strewed in our Saviour's Way the Execrations and Maledictions of the People and not their Acclamations and Hosannas which brings me to my last Part the People's Reception of Christ It was with Joyful Acclamations Hosanna to the Son of David etc. The People's Reception of Christ Hosanna is as much as Salva quaeso O Lord save or give Salvation add Success or Prosperity to the Honour of thy King for this is not a Prayer of the People to Christ but their Prayer for him As we cry Vivat Rex Long live the King Praying for the Preservation of our Prince who is the Preservation of us all And so the Multitude here beseech God to save Christ who was their Saviour and indeed the Saviour of the World and not improperly For though Christ in his Divine Nature was above all Dangers and Necessities yet in his Humane he was Obnoxious to them and though he had the Power of a God yet 't was in the Weakness of a Man and even Humane Comforts and Good wishes in the days of his Flesh were well bestowed on him and well accepted by him And now in the Days that he is ascended to the Right hand of God and needs no more the Ministration of Men though we present him not with the same Contributions and Expressions of our Affection yet we do not desist from offering All Oblations to him though our Oblations be changed our Faith our Charity our Praises our Zeal for his Glory etc. are still due and still pleasing for though he lacks nothing yet for ever he loves Virtue and delights in Righteousness And this is the Foundation of all Religious Worship and the Encouragement of Devotion this makes the Church observe Holy Feasts the Commemorations of Christ's Benefits to her so solicitously to warn her Children long before of their Approach that they may not be o'ertaken with Covetousness Malice Ambition Sensuality Worldly Cares etc. when their Lord comes as the Jews were and so his Presence prove Uneasy and Importunate and they be tempted to cry with them Quis est hic Who is this 'T is Sin only that makes men Ignorant of Christ and Gild that makes his coming Unwelcome But certainly he that has deserved so well of us ought not to be held a Burden nor he that has bestowed on us so many Benefits to be forgotten Or if this move us not yet he that is so Mighty cannot safely be Despised and so Dreadful in his Judgements be cast out of our Thoughts St. Augustine has this plain Observation not remote to our present Concern We should be troubled says he if but a Friend or other Person that we reverence came to our Houses when they were in disorder and we have nothing Worthy to Entertain him And his Application of it is this Quicquid nonvis inveniri in domo tua quantum potes labora ut non inveniat Deus in anima tua What ye would not that Men should surprise in your Houses be much more careful that God when he comes surprise not in your Souls Let him not find a Sordedness there no nor yet an Emptiness let not his Reception be more Beggarly than that which he found in the Inn or more Unhandsome and Uncleanly than that in the Stable A Soul immersed in Lust and Sensuality is fouler than the Stalls of Brute Beasts and a Heart void of Virtue and the Graces of the Spirit is yet poorer than his Cradle of a Manger The Religious Monks of old were wont when they heard these words read And Christ was born in Bethlehem Juda to fall flat on their Faces on the ground in adoration and astonishment at the great Mystery of the Incarnation and Gods Wonderful Condescension therein to Mankind But in these days we hear this Gospel read like an Unconcerning Story without astonishment without adoration without thanks without the least Reflection and the Feast of the Nativity comes and goes like the Day of a Lord Mayor entering on his Office it serves to compute our Years and to digest the Events of our Annals but few consider the Benefits of the Holy Season or the Duties belonging to it few put away their Sins and adorn their Minds with the Graces of the Gospel few are Regenerate or Newborn at the Birth of Christ Men prepare for a time of Excess and Debauch forecast to have Richer Apparel and Choicer Provisions Money to play etc. and some will borrow or rob but they will have to supply these things And thus while the Flesh keeps Holiday the Soul still drudges in the Work of sin while our Houses are trimmed and our Posts bound with Laurel in token of Triumph and Deliverance we continue Ourselves in the Slavery of Vice and the Thraldom of the Devil And the Sun of Righteousness rises and sets upon us as the Sun in the Firmament on Rocks and Buildings to parch and harden us not as on Herbs and Trees to make us productive of Fruit. 'T is the saddest Prognostic of a Nation to be miserable when neither the Benefits nor Judgements of God work upon the hearts of the People but whether it be a Victory or a Loss a Plague or a Deliverance a Season of Temporal Blessings or a Season of Spiritual they receive all these Various Changes of God's Favour and Displeasure with one Fixed and Unmoved Affection to their Sins And though like the Deriders of God's Judgements which Saint Peter speaks of in his second Epist. and third Chapt. they blasphemously cry not aloud Where is the Promise of the Lords Coming etc. yet silently and secretly in their very holding fast of their Iniquities they try what will be the Issue of his Threats and Denunciations against sin and they Experiment as I may say their Destruction though they Invoke it not That this day may be the Advent to us not only of Spiritual Blessings but also of Temporal the drawing near of Peace or Victory as well as of Redemption of the saving of our Nation as well as of the Salvation of our Souls let us make a fit Reception in our Hearts for the Lord of Righteousness who now approaches And God who at this Season bestowed on us his Son How shall he not as the Apostle says with him also freely give us all things We have heard Christ's Kingdom is Spiritual and his Throne Planted in the Hearts of Men and I may say his Nativity is now also Spiritual and his Cradle ought likewise to be planted in the Hearts of men that he is then only truly Born into the world when we become Regenerate and seen again in the Flesh when we show forth the Works of Righteousness How little he regards the mere Outward Magnificence of his Feasts we may Collect from the Pomp which he affected when he was really born in Bethlehem Judah and when he made his present Triumphant Entrance into Jerusalem a Stable served him for the one and a Despicable Ass for the other He that had an Angel to foretell his Conception and a whole Host of them to congratulate his Nativity had he so pleased he could have fixed his Cradle in Herod's Bedchamber and have forced the Proud Tyrant to have fled into Egypt in his stead Again he could have Excelled Paulus Aemylius and all the Caesar's in the Splendour of his Triumph But his Birth was the Birth of Meekness of Innocence and of Mercy and when he entered in Triumph Humility road in State The Offices of the Church for this day best instruct us how to welcome our Lords Coming What in the Collect we pray let us set ourselves to practice To cast away the Works of Darkness now in this Mortal Life in which Christ came to visit us in great Humility What the People here do in my Text let us transcribe and imitate use their Acclamations and also their Ingeminations Hosanna to the Son of David and again Hosanna Reiterating and repeating these Aves and Good Wishes to Christ in our Souls a second third and fourth time Tautology is the Language of Joy a Hearty Affection is not satisfied with uttering Kind Words of Welcome unless it may utter the same often And as Princes accept of Acclamations from their Subjects as well as Panegyrihs continued and redoubled Shouts of Joy as well as Set-Orations nay esteem these Simple Expressions of a Loyal Heart before more Studied and Artificial Compliments So God prefers many times the Eruptions and Ejaculations of a Faithful Soul before a longer Prayer the lifting-up only of the Spirit before a Formal Psalm Holiness and Righteousness make the Esclat or Splendour in Christ's Feasts when men's Hearts are full of Grace than his Houses are hanged and his Tables pressed with rich Provisions 't was not the Curious and Busy Housewifry of Martha but the Pensive and Abstracted Faith of Mary that made the Entertainment at Bethany and if we will Treat our Lord acceptably it must not be from the Shambles or the Mercers with the Cooks or the Tailor's skill but with the Sacrifices of Obedience and the Adorn of the Holy Spirit Our Feasts upon Earth must resemble these they typify in Heaven where Righteousness is the Robe and the Contemplating and Glorifying of God the Cheer and the Rejoicing Glory be to God on high the Father Son and Holy Ghost from all Angels and all Men and all Creatures now and to all Eternity Amen FINIS ●● PAge 1. line ult add a. P. 5. l. 15. for private retired read private and retired P. 10. l. 22. for that should Surrender read that he should Surrender P. 19 l. 19 deal in P. 21. l. 18. for those read these P. 34. l. 18. for these read those