The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ
Preached on Christmas Day
Ezekiel Hopkins, 1633-1690
Luke 2:10-14, "Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: "Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"IN this chapter we have a most wonderful History of the Nativity of the Son of God: and it is described both by the mean entertainment that earth, and the glorious attendance that Heaven afforded him.
His own appearance was but despicable, but the appearance of his retinue was most magnificent and astonishing: he, who was the Ancient of Days, became a helpless infant: he, who was the light of the sun, comes into the world in the darkness of the night: he, who came that he might lay us in the bosom of the Father, is himself laid in the manger of a stable. The inn is full, and Joseph the carpenter, and Mary, though big with God, must take up with a stable; and she must lay her blessed burden among beasts and horses, far more hospitable than their owners.
But, though he be meanly welcomed on earth, yet Heaven makes abundant amends for all: a company of industrious shepherds, lying all night in the fields by their flocks, while they are watching their sheep, themselves find their own shepherd. While they thought of no apparition, but of some ravenous beasts to devour their herd, an angel is winged away with so great swiftness, that he scatters light round about the place, and tells them of the birth of Christ: but then he bids them search for him in a strange place; telling them that they should find the Lord of Life and Glory in an inn: and a strange circumstance it is, that a holy angel should call the shameful debasement of the King of Heaven tidings of great joy, and make it the matter of his jubilee, and triumph upon the delivery of his message. The text tells us, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host: that is, of angels, those heavenly courtiers, leaving the glorious palace of Heaven; as well they might, when their King lay here below: and then they second him with this joyful acclamation, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, and good-will towards men.
In these words is contained whatever God or man can desire. What Jotham, in the parable speaks concerning the vine, Judges 9:13, is certainly true of this text: It cheers God and man. God knows no higher design than his own glory; and Christ's coming into the world was for the accomplishment of that design. And man can desire no greater happiness than what follows, Peace and Good-will: and both these are born into the world, together with Christ.
Now, by this peace on earth, may be meant either mutually from men to men, that, upon Christ's birth, men should be at peace one with another: so history informs us, that, about this time, Janus' Temple was shut up, and the whole world was at peace: Florus, the Roman historian, records, that then there was either a peace or a truce in the whole world: and, indeed, it was but fit that war should cease, when the Prince of Peace was born. Or else it may be meant of peace and good-will from God to man: now peace is not so much as good-will; for where there are not open acts of hostility, yet there may be secret grudges and displeasure: all sinners stand in a double state of distance to God; the one of opposition and defiance, the other of alienation and estrangement: peace destroys the one, and good-will the other; and, in the text, God, by his angel, proclaims both to the world; peace to reconcile them, and good-will to endear them, and both in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so, accordingly, let us take notice,
By whom this heavenly anthem is sung.
What are the contents of it.
I. For the FIRST, it is said, that an innumerable company of the heavenly host praised God.
And we may well wonder what should occasion such mighty expressions of joy in those blessed spirits. Is it a time of joy, when the Great God is introducing himself into our flesh; when he is abasing himself to dust and ashes; when the Infinite God is retiring, and shrinking up himself into a small worm? Is it a time of joy with them, when the brightness of the Deity, from whose reflections only they borrow all their shining and luster, is now eclipsed in a frail body? Strange, that they should make this day of heaven's humiliation, their festival and day of thanksgiving!
Yet, possibly, we may give a Threefold account of it.
i. The holy angels rejoiced at the Birth of Christ, BECAUSE IT GAVE THEM OCCASION TO TESTIFY THEIR DEEPEST HUMILITY AND SUBJECTION.
To be subject to Christ, while he sat upon the throne of his kingdom, arrayed with unapproachable light, controlling all the powers of Heaven with a beck, was no more than his dreadful majesty and his infinite glory exacted from them: but, to be subject to him in a cradle, as well as on the throne, when he had, as it were, hid his beams, and made himself recluse in the human nature; (for the angels are subject to him when as the Apostle speaks, Hebrews 2:8. We see not yet all things put under him;) this was not obedience only, but in a sense it was a condescension. Some of the Schoolmen, those busy priers into all the secrets of Heaven, think that the pride, which tumbled the apostate angels out of Heaven, was their disdaining to serve Christ in his state of exinanition and abasement; which they then, by revelation, knew would certainly come to pass in the fullness of time: and that the rest of their fellow-angels preserved their station, by professing their cheerful willingness to be common servants to the Mediator, when he himself should appear in the form of a servant. Now is the time of their trial: their King, whose infinite essence gilds all the universe, does now lie housed in a stable, cradled in a manger: there he lies, under all the dishonors of men, obscure in his birth, and shortly to be exposed to hardships, to the assaults of the Devil, to buffetings and cruel scourgings, and at last to die as a malefactor. This is that stone of stumbling, which has long lain in the way both of the Jews and Gentiles: this is the scandal of the cross, which their pride would never stoop to: this is the foolishness of the Gospel, which the wisdom of the world did deride. What! for God to command them to believe in such a contemptible person as Jesus of Nazareth! what were this, but to destroy their reason, that he might save their souls? they scorn to own him, in his baseness, for their Savior; whom yet the glorious angels scorn not to own, even in his baseness, for their Lord and King. And, therefore, we find how ready they are to wait upon him, in the greatest instance of his abasement: when he was in the wilderness, among howling beasts, tempted by the Devil, that roaring lion, it is said, then angels ministered unto him: Matthew 4:11: when he was in an agony, and the heavy sense of God's wrath squeezed from him large drops of bloody sweat, an angel, it is said, strengthened him: Luke 22:43. And now the time is come, wherein they may express their fidelity and obedience, in the lowest estate of their Lord. And this is the first reason, why the holy angels rejoiced at the Birth of Christ, because now they have an opportunity of expressing their humility and subjection to their Lord and King.
ii. The angels rejoiced at the Birth of Christ, BECAUSE THE CONFIRMATION OF THAT BLESSED ESTATE OF GRACE AND GLORY, WHEREIN THEY NOW STAND, DEPENDED UPON HIS INCARNATION.
God, upon Christ's undertaking the great work of his Mediatorship, made over to him the whole world, as it were, by deed of gift: Matthew 28:18. All power, says Christ, is given unto me in Heaven and in earth. The government of all creatures is laid upon his shoulders: and, therefore, if there be so great a multitude of holy angels preserved in their blissful state beyond all danger of apostasy, it must only be ascribed to Christ as God-Man. Hence he is styled, Colossians 2:10. the head of all principality and power: they are members of Christ, as well as we: they are united to him by love, as we are by faith: they are part of the Church of Christ, as well as we: they are glorified saints, triumphing in Heaven; we, militant on earth, and aspiring thither. Ephesians 1:10. It is said, God gathers together in one all things in Christ, both in Heaven, and which are on earth, even in him: we and they are sheltered together under the same veil of Christ's flesh: and, as the saints on earth derive from Christ the grace of perseverance, which keeps them from drawing back to perdition; so also do the angels in Heaven. Once, when the Great God hurled the apostate spirits down into the burning lake, their own wills were then mutable, and their estate too: they might have conspired in the same rebellion, and partaken of the same destruction; but that, it is probable, the Mediator interposed to secure and confirm them: and therefore they rejoiced at the Birth of Christ, wherein they saw the Godhead actually united to the human nature; since the merit of this union, long before that, prevailed for their happy perseverance.
iii. The holy angels rejoiced at the Birth of Christ, FROM THE FERVENT DESIRE THEY HAVE OF MAN'S SALVATION.
Many thrones in Heaven are vacant: God has expelled thence many legions of devils: and it is the fancy of some, that the number of those, who shall be saved, is equal to the number of the fallen angels; as if they were appointed by God, to succeed in their places and dignities. Now the angels have an earnest desire to have these rooms filled; and to have more members added to their Heavenly Corporation: hence we find, Luke 15:10. There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents: the news of a sinner's conversion is entertained with applause: it makes a festival in Heaven, that now another man is made a free denizen of that holy city. And, if they thus rejoice at the conversion of a sinner, needs must they rejoice at the Incarnation of a Savior; since this is the root and foundation of our conversion, of our hope, and of all our happiness. Thus you see the reasons, why the holy angels rejoiced so exceedingly at the Birth of Christ.
That is the First particular propounded: by whom this joy is proclaimed, namely, a multitude of the heavenly host.
II. I might likewise have added, that the angels rejoiced at the Birth of Christ, because there is laid in it the great and wonderful design of God's glory; but that falls into the Second General, and that is, WHAT THIS ANGELICAL SONG CONTAINS IN IT.
It is set down in Three most amiable and excellent things, Glory, Peace, and Good-Will, which are here applied to their several objects; Glory to God, Peace on earth and Good-Will towards men.
i. To begin with the first, GOD'S GLORY.
Now God's glory is of two sorts, essential and declarative.
God's Essential Glory is nothing else, but the infinite perfections of his own nature: it is a constellation of all his inconceivable attributes, of wisdom, power, holiness, and the like, into his own ever blessed essence. And, thus, God was from all eternity: before ever there was creature made to admire him, he was infinitely glorious in himself.
The Declarative Glory of God is nothing else, but that visible splendor and luster, which reflects from the Essential Glory, upon the notice and intimation that the creatures have of it. Thus we are said, to give glory to God; not that we can contribute any thing to him, and set any jewels in his crown, which did not shine there before; but when we observe and admire those bright corruscations of his attributes, which appear in several ways that God takes to express them: then we glorify God, when we admire those strictures of God's Essential Glory, which appear in his attributes. So, here, when the angels sung, Glory to God in the highest; the meaning is, "Let Heaven and earth behold, with admiration, and acknowledge those attributes of God, which now shine forth in the Incarnation of his Son."
From the words thus opened, let me observe, that,
THE ABASING NATIVITY OF JESUS CHRIST, IS THE HIGHEST ADVANCEMENT OF GOD'S GLORY
This is a strange riddle to human reason; which is apt to judge it a most preposterous course, for God to raise his glory out of the humiliation and abasement, yes out of the very ruins, of his Son. "What if God had thrown open the gates of Heaven, and given all the world a prospect into that heavenly and glorious palace; there to have seen the throne of majesty and his glittering attendants, ten thousand flaming spirits ready to execute his will, cherubim and seraphims flying as swift as lightning within those boundless roofs; would not this have been more expressive of God's glory, than thus to cloister it up and immure the Deity in clay? to expose Him, who was God, to the miseries of wretched man, to an ignoble and cursed death? The cradle in which he lay, and the cross on which he hung, were not high places of any glorious appearance."
Thus may carnal reason urge, upon this score.
The Apostle, in 1 Timothy 3:16, speaking of the incarnation of Christ, calls it the mystery of godliness. It is a riddle, and a mysterious one: not only how it should be, that the Eternal and Infinite God should unite himself in oneness of person with frail and despicable flesh; but why it should be done.
Now, to give you some account of this, I shall briefly, in a few particulars, show you how much glory redounds to God hereby.
l. In the Birth of Christ, God glorified the riches of his Infinite Wisdom.
This was a contrivance, that would never have entered into the hearts either of men or angels. Heaven, at this very day, stands astonished at it: angels are continually looking into it, and confess their understandings infinitely too short to fathom it. 1 Corinthians 1:24. Christ is called the Wisdom of God. He is, first, the Essential Wisdom of God, as he is the Second Person of the Ever-blessed Trinity: he is the Intellectual Word, that was in the beginning with God, and was also God himself. He was likewise the Declarative Wisdom of God, as Mediator; God-Man united in one person. Let us a little put the difficult case concerning Man's salvation; that, withal, we may see whether it was not the contrivance of Infinite Wisdom. Justice and mercy lay in their different claims for sinful man: severe justice pleads the law and the curse, by which the souls of sinners are forfeited to vengeance; and therefore challenges the malefactors, and is ready to drag them away to execution: mercy interposes, and pleads, that, if the rigorous demands of justice be heard, it must lie an obscure and an unregarded attribute in God's essence for ever: it alone must be excluded, when all the rest had their share and portion. The case is infinitely difficult: call a bench of angels to debate the case: when all is said, we find no way to accommodate this difference: it is beyond their reach, how to satisfy justice in the punishment of sinners, and yet to gratify mercy in their pardon. Here now, in this gravelling case, is the wonderful wisdom of God seen: justice demands that man should die; says God, "My Son shall become man, and die under your hands: seize upon him, and pursue him through all the plagues and curses that my Law threatens: only, there, satisfy yourself on the Surety: my mercy shall forgive and save the principal." Think what a shout and applause Heaven gave at the decision of this great controversy. Oh the infiniteness of your wisdom, that could contrive means to reconcile such different interests, and twist your glory with them both! Oh, it is delightful for reason to lose itself in such a divine meditation: for it is an unfordable deep for the soul to enter into: it utterly swallows up all our apprehensions: we never find ourselves at such a ravishing ecstasy of loss, as when we trace out the intrigues and admirable ways of our recovery.
2. The Birth of Christ glorified the Almighty Power of God.
It was his Infinite Power, that spread abroad the heavens, that poised the earth in the midst of the air: and it would be a glorious expression of power, if God should draw up this globe of the earth to the heavens; or if he should let down the concave of Heaven to earth. This God has done, in the miraculous Birth of Christ: he has joined Heaven and earth together: he has made an inseparable union between them: he has caused Heaven and earth to meet in the midway: he has raised earth to Heaven, and stooped Heaven to earth. It is an effect of the Almighty Power of God, to unite himself to human nature, to frail flesh: this was to put forth his power, only to make himself weak. Is it not Almighty Power, that the infinite inconceivable Godhead should unite to itself dust and ashes; and be so closely united, that it should grow into one and the same person? The glory of God's power is hereby exceedingly advanced.
3: By the Birth of Christ, God glorified the severity of his Justice.
His Son must rather take flesh and die, than that this attribute should remain unsatisfied. And so strict was God, that, when he found but the imputation of sin upon his Son, justice arrests him. And, indeed, by this course the justice of God was more fully satisfied, than if it had seized upon the offenders themselves: for they are but finite, and cannot bear the utmost severity and infliction of divine wrath and vengeance: this, the Son of God can and has done; who, by virtue of the divine nature, underwent it all, and came triumphantly from under it all. So that God glorified the attribute of his justice more, by sending Jesus Christ into the world, to undergo the execution of that wrath that was due to sinners; than if he had taken particular vengeance upon sinners, and sent away every soul of them to Hell. No other sacrifice could avail to appease the Divine Justice, but that true and only sacrifice of the Son of God, who, through the Eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God. And therefore we find it expressed, Hebrews 10:5, Sacrifice and offering you would not, but a body have you prepared me: for, because the divine nature is altogether impassible, and not at all subject to grief, sorrow, or sufferings, it was therefore necessary that the Mediator between God and Man should be Man as well as God; for, by this ineffable union, the one nature suffers and the other supports, the one conflicts and the other conquers; and, for the payment of our debt, the one brings the ore, the other stamps it and makes it valuable. And, by this means, likewise, satisfaction is made unto justice in the same nature that sinned; for, as man offended, so man also is punished: the same, which made the forfeiture, makes the redemption. For, as by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead: 1 Corinthians 15:21 the same, which was shamefully foiled, does now most gloriously overcome: Hebrews 2:14. Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that, through death, he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the Devil.
4. By the Birth of Christ, the Truth and Veracity of God is eminently glorified; by fulfilling many promises and predictions, which were made concerning the sending of Christ into the world.
That primitive promise, Genesis 3 that the seed of the woman should break the serpent's head, which lay for many ages under types and figures, at the birth of Christ broke forth into accomplishment. All those prophecies, all those ceremonial resemblances, which, through the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit, went big with a Savior, when they had gone out their fall time, were safely delivered, and the veracity of God gave them all their expected issue in his birth. So we have it, Galatians 4:4. But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, etc.
5. The Birth of Christ glorifies the Infinite Purity and Holiness of God.
When God formed the First Adam, he drew upon him the lineaments of his own image: and, because holiness is the most illustrious part of this image, his Almighty Creator impressed upon him that best resemblance, that he might be a visible type of his infinite purity to all the world. But, sin having despoiled mankind of that glory, the best having but some few strictures and weak glimmerings of it restored unto them in their renovation; God was pleased to raise up a Second Adam, who should be not only sinless but impeccable, and to exhibit him unto the world as the most perfect representation of his own holiness. And therefore his birth must be miraculous, that it might be pure: his extraordinary conception preserved him from original sin; and the hypostatic union, together with the unmeasurable unction of the Holy Spirit, from all actual. And, though Jesus Christ was the greatest sinner in the world (as Luther, with no bad intent, made bold to call him) by imputation; yet had he no sin, either of nature or of practice, inherent in him. He has made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin: 2 Corinthians 5:21. And he did no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth: 1 Peter 2:22: and this, that he might be to us, not only an example of unspotted sanctity, but also a perfect idea of the infinite purity of God.
6. I might add, that, hereby, the Infinite Love and Pity of God are eminently glorified: but, this falling into another part of my text, God's good-will towards men, I shall make a transition thither; and shall leave this consideration, of the glory which God acquires to himself by the Incarnation of his Son Christ, under these particulars.
ii. The Second Part of this Angelical Song, is PEACE ON EARTH.
This Peace may be understood Three ways:
First. Either peace mutually between man and man: that, at the coming of Christ, men should be at peace with one another.
Or,
Secondly. Peace internally, with a man's self: peace in the region of his own spirit and conscience.
Or,
Thirdly. Peace with God: that his Sovereign Majesty, whom we have affronted and offended by our sins, is now at peace with us and reconciled to us.
In each of these three senses, may this Peace be understood, which these heavenly heralds proclaim; external, internal, and eternal peace: Peace on earth; that is peace to the inhabitants of the earth; peace with one another, peace in themselves, and peace with God: and all these procured and promoted by the Birth of Christ.
For Christ was sent into the world under a twofold σχεσις, or habitude:
As a Minister.
As a Mediator.
As he is a Minister of Peace, so he promotes it between men: and, as he is the Mediator of Peace, so he procures it between God and men: and, as he is both a Minister and a Mediator, so he effects it between man and himself, and fills the soul with joy and peace in believing.
It is the First of these, that I intend to treat of: and which, indeed, I judge to be most especially meant in the text; for the two latter, namely, Peace with God and Peace in our own Consciences, seem to appertain to the last clause of this heavenly anthem: the one being the same with God's good-will towards us; the other being its effect and consequent, upon the comfortable sense of it in our own breasts.
Christ's coming into the world, therefore, tends to the promoting of peace in it between man and man.
We find, in the records of history, that, about the time of our Savior's Birth, Janus' temple was shut up, and that there was an universal peace throughout the world. And Florus, speaking of those times, relates, that Continua totius humani generis, aut pax erat, aut pactio: that "There was either a peace, or truce, among all mankind." And, indeed, it was but fit that wars should cease, when the Prince of Peace was born. The divine wisdom so disposed of human affairs, that he, who was not to strive, nor cry.… nor cause his voice to be heard in the street, should then come into the world, when it was serene, and enjoyed halcyon days; when there were no strifes, nor wars, nor confused noises, nor garments rolled in blood.
The very name of Peace is sweet and lovely: it is the calm of the world, the smile of nature, the harmony of things, a gentle and melodious air struck from well-tuned affairs; a blessing, so excellent and amiable, that in this world there is but one preferable before it, and that is, Holiness. And, certainly, great glory does dwell in that land, where these two sister-blessings, righteousness and peace, do meet and kiss each other, as the Psalmist speaks, Psalm 85:9, 10. I know, that there are hot and turbulent spirits enough abroad, who are apt to suspect whatever is spoken on the behalf of peace, to be to the disadvantage of holiness: and, perhaps, some men's zeal may be such a touchy and froward thing, that, though an angel from Heaven, yes an innumerable multitude of them, proclaim it; yet they cannot believe there may be glory to God in the highest, while there is peace on earth.
Indeed, if peace and sanctity were incompatible, or if any unhappy circumstances should compel us to redeem the one at the price of the other; we ought rather to follow righteousness through thorns and briars, than peace in its, smoothest way strewed with roses. But there is no such inconsistency between them: for, certainly, that God, who has commanded us to follow both peace and holiness, Hebrews 12:14, supposes that they themselves may well go together. We may well suspect that zeal to be but an unclean bird of prey, that delights to quarry upon the dove; and those erratic lights, which make the vulgar gaze and the wise fear, to be but glaring comets, whose bloody aspects and excentric irregular motions threaten nothing but wars, ruin, and desolations. Righteousness does not oblige us, so soon as anything is passed contrary to our present judgments and persuasions, nay suppose it be contrary to the truth also, straight to furbish our weapons, to sound an alarm, and to kill others in defense of that cause for which we ourselves rather ought to die. This is not to part with peace for righteousness; but to sacrifice both peace and righteousness, to injustice and violence. The cause of God, of piety and religion, may frequently engage us to forego our own peace, as sufferers and martyrs; but never to disturb the public peace of our country, as fighters and warriors.
Now this public and civil peace is mightily promoted, by Christ's coming into the world as a Minister: for, since the work and office of a minister is to teach both by doctrine and example, Christ has both ways, as a perfect Minister of Peace, taught us to follow peace with all men.
For,
1. All the Precepts of his Doctrine do directly tend to the establishing of peace among men.
There are but Two things, which can be supposed to violate peace:
Doing of wrong unto others.
Revenging of wrongs done unto us, by others.
And both these, the doctrine of Christ does strictly prohibit.
(1) Christianity teaches us, not to offer any injury unto others.
It obliges us to the strictest rules of justice and equity; and, whatever is not correspondent with the most rigid observation of these, it utterly forbids and condemns. Our Savior has fixed and sealed the great standard of all natural righteousness: Matthew 7:12. Whatever you would that men should do to you, do you even so to them; and frequently presseth that brief summary of the Second Table, You shall love your neighbor as yourself: certainly, there can no place be left for wrongs and injustice, where our love to ourselves is made the measure of our love to others, and the care of our own welfare the very model and pattern of our care for theirs. Neither does Christianity restrain only the outward violent acts of injustice and rapine; but it looks inward, and lays a law upon our very thoughts and desires: it forbids us to think or judge hardly of another, to despise him in our hearts, or to be angry with our brother without a cause: so wonderfully accurate is the doctrine of Christ in this particular, that it not only prohibits us to wrong them really in their persons, but we must not so much as wrong the very shadow and idea of them in our minds: and, as well those, who nourish any secret grudge against them in their hearts, or seek by any clandestine artifices to undermine their credit and repute, as those, who are more openly and tumultuously injurious, break this peace, which the angels here proclaim, and which our Savior himself came to preach to the world.
(2) The doctrine of Christ forbids all private revenge, and retaliating of wrongs and injuries done unto us.
For, indeed, there is no other difference between him that does a wrong, and him that requites it, but only that the one is a little sooner wicked than the other. This our Savior frequently insists on; as that, which is the very genius of the Gospel, and the very spirit which it breathes: Matthew 5:38, 39. You have heard that it has been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That you resist not evil: but whoever shall smite you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. These and the following precepts must not, indeed, be understood literally; as that scoffing apostate Julian impiously derided them, who, when he had commanded some Christians to be buffeted, asked them, in scorn, why they did not turn the other cheek also: for neither our Savior himself, nor Paul, invited the injuries that were done them, but rather sharply reproved those who unjustly smote them. But the meaning is, that we ought patiently to bear the wrongs which are done us; and to be willing, rather to suffer a second injury, than to revenge the first. Yes, verse 44 our Savior raises his doctrine a strain higher; and not only forbids us to requite wrongs with wrongs, but commands us to requite injuries with courtesy: I say unto you, Love your enemies: bless them, that curse you: do good to them, that hate you: and pray for them, which despitefully use you, and persecute you. And Paul, who most exactly follows both our Savior's doctrine and example, urges the very same, Romans 12:20. If your enemy hunger, feed him: if he thirst, give him drink. This is all the revenge, which the Gospel permits: this is that excellent doctrine, which our Savior came to preach: this is that doctrine, which he has given us commission to declare and publish to the world, to guide our feet into the way of peace; that we might all be united, as by faith and obedience unto God, so in love and charity one to another. But, alas! may we not justly complain, that this excellent temper is rarely to be found among Christians, in these our days? would they not be ready to wonder at it, as some strange and unheard-of doctrine, if we should expostulate with them, as the Apostle does, 1 Corinthians 6:7? Why do you not rather take wrong? why do you not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? is it ever likely we should prevail with those, who are apt to do wrong and defraud others, to be content quietly to pass by the wrongs and injuries that others do them? will they part with their own right, who are so ready to invade the rights of others? And, yet, if this hard lesson be not learned by us, we frustrate one great and special end of Christ's coming into the world: he came to be a Minister of Peace; and has taught us neither to do wrong, nor to retaliate it: the first were sufficient to establish a general peace, were it but generally observed; but, in case others will break the peace and be injurious to us, Christ has strictly enjoined us the observation of the latter, that, though we cannot be quiet, yet we may be innocent.
Thus you see how the Doctrine of Christ tends to promote peace.
2. The Examples of Christ all tend unto peace.
His whole life was the very pattern of meekness and gentleness. When he was reviled, he reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but, with infinite patience, bears the indignation of God and the indignities of men. Yes, we find him very careful of giving any offence, both in matters civil and ecclesiastical: when tribute was demanded of him, though he pleads his right to be exempted, as being a descendant of the royal line; yet, Matthew 7:27. Lest we should offend them, etc. what! the Great God so cautious of giving offence to vile creatures, whom he was able to speak, to look into nothing! yes, he would rather work a miracle, than occasion an offence; and make the sea pay tribute to him, rather than he not pay tribute to the state: Lest we should offend them, go you to the sea and cast a hook, and take up the fish that first comes up; and when you have opened his mouth, you shall find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and you. Yes, and we find, likewise, that he accommodated himself to the received custom of the Jewish Church; and that, in a matter wherein there was the greatest appearance of reason that could be, to have dissented: he sits at the Passover with his disciples; although it be plain that the first institution of it was to eat it standing, with shoes on their feet, and staves in their hands: none of which rites our Savior observed; but defers so much to the authority and custom of the Church, and that a very corrupt one too, that he would not differ from them in a matter that was merely circumstantial, though they themselves differed from the primitive institution. Certainly, if so much could be objected against the rites and orders of our Church, as might have been objected against this custom of the Jewish Church, those, who now raise such great tragedies out of little matters, might, I will not say with more confidence and clamor, but doubtless with more show of reason, decry them as human inventions, sinful impositions, unwarranted innovations, and contrary to the word of God: and yet our Blessed Savior, in a peaceable condescension, conforms himself to the practice of the Church in which he lived; and, because the Romans' manner of discumbency of sitting was then the received custom among them, he likewise sits with his disciples. And, therefore, let me only, by the way, note to you, that this sitting of our Savior at his supper is most imprudently and unwarily urged against our kneeling: for their argument may be forcibly retorted against them, that, because Christ sat at his supper, therefore we ought to kneel: for, since there was so much to be said for standing at the Passover, out of the express Word of God and the primitive institution, and yet our Savior, out of compliance to the usage of the Church, chose rather to sit; how much more ought we, who have nothing left to determine the gesture, to conform ourselves to the usage of the Church in which we live, and whose members we are! for this is to conform ourselves, not indeed to the gesture, for so neither do our opposers themselves; but to the intent and design of Christ, which was peace and unity.
And thus you see how Christ was sent into the world to be a Minister of Peace; to preach it in his Doctrine, and to commend it to us by his Practice and Example. The Gospel is the Gospel of Peace: the precepts of it are all meek and peaceable: the ministers of it are ambassadors of peace: and the fruits of it, where it has its due effect, are joy and peace.
But, here, it may be objected, "How is it then that our Savior himself tells us, Matthew 10:34, 35. Think not that I came to send peace on the earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law? and one would think this is far enough from turning the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers. And do we not find it, by obvious experience, that religion has sowed more strifes and dissensions, and occasioned more tumults and uproars in the world, than ever tyranny or ambition did?"
To this I answer, We must distinguish, between the direct end of Christ's coming into the world, and the accidental issue and event of it. The end of Christ's coming, was to pacify the world; and to teach it a religion, which is pure and peaceable: but, accidentally, the event has proved quite contrary; for, religion being avowedly the dearest and most precious of all our enjoyments, men are apt to preserve it by undue and violent courses; and, because we can never think it secure enough, unless others embrace it too, we are generally very ready to impose our own sentiments upon them, and to judge that we do them no wrong while by any means we constrain them to what, in our own opinion, is most excellent, and the only truth which all ought to profess. And therefore those, who were zealous for their heathenish superstition and idolatry, embroiled the whole world in persecutions and blood, to suppress the growing doctrine of Christianity: and, among those, who profess Christianity itself, what heats and animosities, what endless controversies and perpetual contentions, are agitated! each sect and party blowing up the coals, until they have put both Church and State into a combustion; and differences about small and trival matters too often breaking forth into all the extremities of rage, war, and bloodshed. Yet this is not to be imputed to the religion of Christ, but to the pride and ignorance of men: their ignorance, in that they know not the truth; or their pride, in that they will not submit unto it.
The Gospel is free from all that blood, which has been rashly and unwarrantably shed in quarrels about it. It teaches us the way of peace perfectly; and, would all men be persuaded to submit their passions and their interests to its precepts, we might soon beat our swords into ploughshares, and our spears into pruning hooks; for the whole spirit of the Gospel breathes nothing else but love and obedience, condescension and yielding: love, to one another; obedience, to our superiors; condescension and yielding, either to the malice of our enemies, or to the weakness of our brethren.
But, alas! pride, and passion, and self-interest, and a stiff adherence to former apprehensions have, now-a-days, eaten out the meekness and patience of a Christian spirit. Each values himself by the boldness of his opposition. He, who can find most faults, and most bitterly inveigh against them, is the best man; and, whoever has but wit enough to make a quick and confident reply, begins now to think of setting up for himself to head a party, and control all orders both civil and sacred: and I wish they may never again attempt to write themselves Saints in the Rubric of their brethren's blood.
And yet, I pray, consider: what are all our dissensions about? Did we differ in any fundamental points either of faith or practice, we were then indeed to contend earnestly for them, and to resist unto blood; yet not the blood of others, but our own. But, when mere modes and circumstances, things altogether in themselves extraneous to religion, and by all parties acknowledged not to be necessary nor essential to it, shall yet be so eagerly contested, as if the whole weight of religion and the eternal salvation or damnation of men's souls turned upon those hinges, to the violation of charity, peace, and order; what can we think, but that God may be justly provoked to try whether we will be as zealous about the necessary and vital principles of religion, as we are hot and fiery about small indifferences and unconcerning circumstances? For my part, I shall always think that the power and savor of the Gospel has taken most hold on those, who are willing, for the preservation of such an inestimable blessing as peace, to comply with anything and to do anything but sin. So long as the doctrine of faith which we preach, the duties of obedience which we press, the ordinances of Jesus Christ which we administer, are the very same; since we profess the same Lord, the same Faith; the same Baptism, the same God and Father of all, what should hinder our coalition and union together in the bond of peace? What! shall we rend the coat of Christ in pieces, only because there are some loops and fringes sewed to it? shall we separate from communion, and crumble ourselves into endless fractions; perpetuate irreconcilable divisions and animosities, and run ourselves into that which is clearly sinful; to avoid what, at worst, is but dubitable? If any can as evidently prove out of the Word of God, that those debated forms and modes are sins; as it can be certainly proved out of the Word of God, that, to join in church fellowship and the communion of holy ordinances, to preserve the peace and unity of the Church, and to yield obedience to things required which are not in themselves unlawful, are duties, in comparison with which weighty matters of the law, all disputes about forms and circumstances are but mere trifles: I shall then yield; and confess, that they ought not to purchase peace, however desirable a blessing it be, at the loss of truth or the price of a sin. But, until this be done, if any can dispense with the express doctrine and command of Christ, of preserving peace and unity, and joining in all his public ordinances, rather than submit to those things which can never be evinced to be contrary to the command of Christ; yes, and which those, who most of all dissent, cannot but judge to be disputable: I must needs say, that such an one strains at a gnat, and swallows a camel; for conscience of a circumstance, neglects the substance; and, for fear of that which is but doubtful, does that which is undoubtedly sinful.
Let me then, by the affections of Christ, persuade you all to mind the same things, and to walk in the same way: and, since we are agreed in all fundamentals of faith and in all the substantials of worship, let not other things, on which no more stress is laid than that of decency and order, be pretended as an obstacle to a happy closure. But, if men will stumble at shadows, let them beware that they do not provoke God to take the substance of our religion quite from us, while we are so quarrelsome about the shape of it; and lest, while we strive to dress it up, each after his own garb and fashion, we lose not the body itself. Since we will needs be disputing, and opposing, and contradicting, though it be about a matter of nothing, may we not justly fear, that God will find out a full task and employment for our busy spirits, and put us upon the sad necessity of striving and contending about the very essentials of religion, and call us to shed our blood and lay down our lives for them? If ever such a time of trial should come upon us, which we have but too much cause to fear that God will hasten, because of our wanton dissensions; we shall then learn, to our costs, to put a difference between substantials and circumstantials, and shall look back with grief and shame upon our unreasonable and uncharitable divisions: yes, and then should we be heartily glad, could we but enjoy the liberty of the Gospel and the ordinances of our Lord Christ, under any form of administration now so hotly and furiously controverted among us. Certainly, the stake will reconcile us all: we shall there embrace, and not cry out of superstition and will-worship, and I know not what: the fire of martyrdom will purify all our intemperate heats; and, as our bodies, so our hearts, shall flame together in love and union, and together shall we ascend in that fiery chariot to the same Heaven: for, when the sheep scatter and separate; and, though their appointed pastures be fair and flourishing, will yet, out of wantonness, rather than necessity, stray into others; the Great Shepherd may justly send in those dogs or wolves to worry them, which will quickly make them run together again.
Since, then, the angels from Heaven have proclaimed peace on earth; since the Lord of angels, Jesus Christ himself, came down from Heaven to establish and promote peace on earth; beware that none of you, upon pretense of celebrating this great and joyful day, be guilty of violating either peace with men or peace with God. And, yet, what more common and ordinary, than now, in the time of this great joy, when the angels proclaim peace from Heaven; what more common, than for many, by rioting, and drunkenness, and reveling, and quarrels, to proclaim war against one another, against God, against Christ, against piety, religion, temperance, and all that is sacred and venerable! Certainly, Christ came not into the world to patronize men's debaucheries; or to give you a fair occasion to be guilty of gluttony and drunkenness, to revile, reproach, and quarrel with one another: no; these are some of the sins, which he came to destroy; and, if you will indulge yourselves in these abominations, I cannot proclaim Peace or Good-Will, to you, but war and wrath from the Almighty and Jealous God.
iii. I shall proceed to the INFINITE LOVE AND GOOD-WILL, that God has shown towards men.
Now I am entering upon a theme, enough to puzzle and nonplus, not only our expressions, but our apprehensions too; not only our apprehensions, but even our admiration itself. But, O Lord! we can neither keep silence, nor speak out your love: it is so great and so infinite, that it arrests our thoughts, and cramps our tongues, and leaves us no relief, but that expression of the Apostle; O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, etc. Romans 11:33. Oh, the boundless dimensions of the love of God, which passes knowledge! If the angels, who sang this song, Peace on earth, goodwill towards men, should themselves be questioned, how great good-will; even they must falter and stammer in it: they are continually prying into it; and there is infinitely more in it than they have seen, and yet they see infinitely more than they can relate.
And what do we here, then, this day? What is it, that I attempt, or you expect? Haste home, therefore, O Christians: yield up yourselves to be swallowed up with the thoughts and meditations of that, which we cannot comprehend.
And, that I may give you some hints for your meditations to fix on, I shall endeavor to illustrate the great and infinite Love of God in sending Christ into the world, from these considerations: From
The Person, that was sent.
The Manner and Circumstances of this sending.
The Persons, to whom he was sent.
The unspeakable Benefits, that do redound to men, by this free gift of God.
In all these, God's good-will towards men is admirably glorious, as I shall demonstrate to you.
1. If you consider the Person sent, this will exalt the goodness of God towards us.
And who is it? Is he an Angel? truly, if he were, herein divine love does infinitely advance itself, that God should spare one of his own retinue from his attendance on him, to give such a glorious servant as an angel is, for the redemption of such a rebellious worm as man! But who is not astonished? it was not an angel, but the Lord of Angels: not a servant, but a Son, is by the Father himself plucked from his own bosom, and sent with this message: "Haste, haste to the earth, for there are thousands of sinful and wretched creatures, sinning themselves to Hell; and must forever fall under the strokes of my dreadful justice: step you between them and it: receive you my wrath yourself: do you satisfy my justice; and die you yourself, to save them." When God tried Abraham's obedience, he aggravated his command by many piercing words, that must needs go to the heart of a tender father: Genesis 22:2. Take now your son, your only son … whom you love, and get you into the land of Moriah; and offer him up there for a burnt-offering, upon one of the mountains which I will show you, etc: this heightened Abraham's obedience, that, notwithstanding all these aggravations, yet he was willing to sacrifice his beloved son upon God's command. Truly, in the very same manner, God heightens and illustrates his own love towards us: he takes his Son, his only Son, the Son of his Eternal Love and Delights, and offers him up as a sacrifice for the sins of men.
And this greatly extols the love of God, that,
(1) He lay under no necessity of saving us at all.
As nothing accrues unto him by our happiness, so nothing would have been diminished from his Essential Glory by our eternal misery. For, as God created men and angels, not that we might supply his indigence but partake of his fullness; so he redeems us and preserves them, not that he might reap our services, but that we might enjoy his mercies. What says Eliphaz, Job 22:2, 3? Can a man be profitable unto God, as he who is wise may be profitable unto himself? Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that you are righteous? or is it gain to him, that you make your ways perfect? and if we cannot profit God by serving him, much less certainly by receiving rewards for it. We can contribute nothing to his essential happiness; for God is forever blessed in the contemplation and enjoyment of his infinite perfections. It was not to ease the solitude and tediousness of eternity, that therefore God created the world: for all the delight, which he takes in any of his creatures, is only as he views his own perfections in them; which being eternally in himself before the world was, he then possessed the same felicity as now, without receiving any addition or variation from anything that he has made. As it is no advantage to the sun, that so many eyes behold its light; but it would still be as bright and glorious in itself, although no creature were capable of receiving its rays: so is God infinitely glorious and blessed, in the excellencies of his eternal being and attributes; and would have been so forever, although he had never formed any creature to observe and adore the brightness of his, perfections. And, if God gain nothing by creating us, then certainly neither does he gain by saving us: all the tribute, that either angels or glorified saints pay unto him, is but love and praise; and these cannot suppose the person who receives them to be benefitted, but to be beneficial: it is true, Christ was sent to seek and to save those that were lost, Matthew 18:11; but, if this gracious design had never been laid and all mankind had perished forever, the loss had been only to themselves, not to God; whose justice would then have had that whole glory, which is now divided between his justice and his mercy. If, therefore, it be commendation of love to be wholly unselfish, nothing can more gloriously advance the love of God, than that he should give his Own Son for the redemption of such inconsiderable creatures, whose hatred and rebellions are but despicable, and their service and obedience unprofitable.
(2) But, as some affirm, God lay under no necessity of saving us in so chargeable a manner, by the death of his Son, but that he might have freed us from death by the absolute prerogative of his pardoning grace and mercy, without shedding the blood of Christ.
And do you think, that in Heaven, we should ever have complained for want of love in God to us, though he had brought us thither at a cheaper rate than now he does? But this, though it might have been sufficient for our salvation, yet was it not sufficient for God's design, in the manifestation of the riches and glory of his great love to us: and, therefore, God will not go the most saving way to work, in compassing our salvation; but that way, which shall be most for the enhancing of his love to us. Is it not greater love in God towards us to part with Christ out of Heaven, to break and bruise him, to make his soul an offering for sin and his blood a ransom for sinners; than if he had only, without any further circumstances, beckoned us up to Heaven? This, therefore, must be the method, which Divine Wisdom will take, because Divine Love dictates it to be the most advantageous to commend his love to sinners. Oh, the supererogating mercy of God, that is not only contented to do what is barely sufficient for our salvation; but, over and above, adds what may be most expressive of his own love and affections to us! John 3:16. God so loved the world, etc. God so loved the world: how? what, so as to save it only? no; but he so loved it, as he gave his only-begotten Son to save it. What, your Son, Lord, your Only Son! Why, the destruction of the whole world is not a thing so considerable, as one sigh, one groan, one tear, or one drop of blood from that Only Son of your, whom you gave to save the world! But, however, God is resolved notwithstanding, that not only a sigh, groan, or tear; but the life of his Son also shall go, rather as a manifestation of his love to sinners, than for any absolute antecedent necessity of such a sacrifice. And that is one thing, wherein this love and good-will of God to men appears, in that he gave them his Only Son, out of his own bosom, for their salvation.
2. Consider the manner and circumstances of Christ's coming into the world; and then also it will appear further, that there is in God an infinite love and good-will towards men.
And, here, I shall treat of these Two things:
That Christ was sent, as from the Father, freely.
And, as to Himself, ignominiously.
And both these do contribute much to the exalting of the Infinite Love of God towards fallen man.
(1) God's love is exalted, in that he sent his Only Son freely.
If men and devils had joined their forces; and made an assault upon Heaven; yet they could never have plucked the Son of God's love from his eternal embraces: that world, which he had given to Christ, which afterwards had power to assault, kill, and crucify him; yet, before he was given, had no power to bring him into the world. But God thinks it not enough, that this great gift comes from him freely and without compulsion: but he puts it a strain higher; and he gives Christ freely to us:
[1] Freely, in opposition to all Desert; not only without, but against all merit and desert in us.
Certainly, man could no more merit Christ out of Heaven, than he could have merited Heaven without Christ: when God, out of his infinite wisdom, foresaw that we would despise and reject his Son, first spill his blood and then trample upon it; did he so hate his Son, as to account this demeanor of ours meritorious of him? since we cannot merit the least good, how then could we merit so great a gift as Christ? Nay, which is more to the glory of God's free good-will, he bestowed Christ upon us, not only without any merit of ours, but without any merit of his also: it is free grace that endows us with any spiritual, with any eternal blessing: free grace does sanctify our hearts and save our souls: yet all this Christ has purchased for us, by the price of his own death: he is the merit of eternal salvation for us; yet it is free grace in bestowing it upon us: God will have a price paid him down for all other things of less value, that he may thereby set forth his own bounty, in parting with the greatest gift, his Own Son, without price: Christ merited all other things for us; but the greatest of all he never merited for us, that is, himself: God has put Heaven, and glory, and the everlasting enjoyment of himself upon sale, as it were; that so this great gift of his Son may appear truly estimable, and his bounty absolute and infinite: but though he gives all things besides Christ, upon the account of Christ's merits; yet he gives Christ freely, without any intervening merit.
[2] God's love is free in the gift of Christ, in that he prevents not only our deserts, but our Desires.
Begging of alms takes not off from the charity and bounty of the donor; yet God is not willing to have his bounty so much forestalled, as our requesting of it. As for the good things of grace and glory, the most importunate suiters are usually the best speeders: Ask, and you shall receive: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened. But in the giving of Christ to the world, he was found of them that sought him not. And, in all this, was the design of love laid in the heart of God, from all eternity, before ever there were either prayers or tongues to utter them. This was a design of infinite contrivance, the possibility of which it could never enter into our hearts, or the hearts of angels to conceive; and what we could not conceive in our thoughts and hearts, we could not beg with our mouths: but God, out of his own good-will to us, prevents both our works and our words, both the merit of our hands and the requests of our mouths; and freely bestows his Own Son to be our Savior, without either our deserving or desiring of him.
(2) As Christ was given freely, in respect of God; so very ignominiously, in respect of himself.
And this enhances the exceeding greatness of the love of God towards us: he was degraded in his birth, persecuted in his life, and accursed in his death. And, that he should thus deal with the Son of his Love, that he should abase and afflict him only to show his love to us, seems, at the first blush, to intimate, that God preferred such worms as we are, before the Son of his Bosom.
And, here, let us,
[1] Consider Christ, in his Birth.
And, here, what was it to be born of the royal line and stock of David? that family was now fallen to decay, when the heir-apparent of that royal family, was Joseph, who was forced for the sustaining of his life to turn mechanic: yet this family he chooses to be a member of, not when it was victorious and triumphant, but when it was sunk low, and did expire. He also chooses out a mean, poor virgin, to become his mother: she is thought but a fit match for a carpenter; and when she is grown big with him too, that is not without some suspicion; and when she was in travail, none did so much regard the entreaties of Joseph, nor the groans and pangs of Mary, as to afford her a better room than a stable; where she herself was both mother and nurse, and, instead of a cradle, rocked Christ in a manger; and, though her heart yearned, yet she had no softer pillow to lay under him, than straw or hay. Nor,
[2] Does his Life repair the baseness of his birth.
No; he is a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, from first to last. He becomes subject to his parents: he puts himself under the dominion of his own creatures: he follows his father's occupation; Mark 6:3. Is not this the carpenter? as in scorn they said: He, that formed the heavens and the earth, learns himself to make houses! There was nothing of outward pomp or grandeur in his life: Isaiah 53:2. He has no form nor loveliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him, says the Prophet. He was maintained by the alms of a few poor, well-disposed women; tempted by the Devil, persecuted by the Jews, betrayed by his own followers. This was the course of his life. And,
[3] If you consider his Death, that was shameful, bloody, and accursed.
We see him on the cross, hanging on the soreness of his hands and feet: we see him pierced to the heart by a ruffian soldier: we see him crowned with thorns; and the precious blood trickling from the head, to meet those other rivers that were running from his side and feet: we see him forsaken of his disciples; and, what is more, we hear him complaining of being forsaken of God too. O Blessed Savior! what eyes can refrain from weeping? what heart from bleeding? Is this the entertainment that the world gives to you, the dearest pledge that God has or can send? Is this your welcome to it? Is this your departure out of it? Shall we mock and scourge, crucify, pierce, and murder you? And will you by all these outrages committed against yourself, accomplish our salvation? O victorious love! that can pardon when abused, and exalt us by being abased, and glorify us by being despised! Yet God will have it so, that his good-will may be commended by the affronts and by the indignities, which peevish mankind puts upon it.
3. The infinite good-will of God, in sending Jesus Christ into the world, appears to be glorious and great, if you consider the Persons to whom he was sent.
The fallen angels stood in as much need of a Savior, as we; and Christ was as well able to save them, as to save us; and they would have served God with more enlarged capacities, than we can possibly do: but, as soon as those glorious spirits sinned, God threw them down to Hell; where they are shackled up in chains of massy darkness forever, never to have any release. O most dreadful severity towards them! O unspeakable love towards us! God passes by the angels; and recovers vile mankind, and raises them up out of the dust, that they might fill up those void places of the angels, that left their first station. This is that, which makes the Devil rage; and this is that, which makes that Old Serpent to gnaw his tongue with anguish: that he should be cast down from Heaven like lightning, and such vile worms as men are advanced to his place and honor. Truly, nothing puts a greater accent upon love, than when it is laid out upon those who are most unworthy, with a purpose thereby to make them worthy.
Thus is the love of God, in sending Christ, expressed; he comes and finds us unworthy; and he comes, that he might make us worthy. Now, here,
(l) Consider: This love is pitched upon Loathsome and Deformed Creatures, that so it might make them lovely and beautiful. And this advances the free love of God, in sending Christ into the world.
You may see an elegant comparison of man in the state of nature, Ezekiel 16:5, 6 where the Prophet compares him to a poor forsaken infant, swathed in his own blood, cast into the open field, helpless for its weakness, and loathsome for its deformity. This is the very emblem of that condition, in which we ourselves are, in our natural and unregenerate state: we are cast out to the loathing of our persons; and impotent, that we cannot help ourselves. Whose affections would not yearn to read this description, which the Prophet makes, and which I have briefly opened to you? Now is there anything of amiableness or loveliness in such an object as this, that God should part with his Son out of his own bosom? yet, says God, in the eighth verse, Now when I passed by you, and looked upon you, behold, your time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over you, and covered your nakedness: And then washed I you with water: yes, I thoroughly washed away your blood from you. Nay, further: our condition was such as the Prophet Isaiah describes it to be, Isaiah 1:6. From the sole of the foot even unto the head, there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores: sores, that deformed us; sores, that would have destroyed us: now that God should send his Blessed and Well-beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to bind up and cure the sores of such deformed creatures as we are, does not this speak his infinite love to us?
(2) This love is not only pitched upon deformed creatures, but also upon Froward, Peevish, and Rebellious Creatures.
Of all things in the world, nothing sooner provokes God's wrath, than a slighting and contempt of love. Now God foresaw how men would slight his Son: yet, notwithstanding, he sends him: He came unto his own, and his own received him not. I might enlarge on the history of our provocations, affronts, and injuries; all which God foresaw out of his own infinite wisdom: and yet, notwithstanding all, his good-will prevailed to send Jesus Christ, who he knew would be scorned and rejected by them to whom he was sent.
4. I might be large in illustrating this good-will of God, in sending Jesus Christ into the world, as drawn from those many great benefits, of which, by Christ's coming, we are made partakers.
Should I instance in temporal things, that would be an abatement to this love of God to us, and the purchase of Christ, whereby we receive pardon of sin, reconciliation of our persons, acceptance with God, sanctification, adoption, hope of glory here, and possession of glory hereafter: all, in and through Jesus Christ.
But I shall not insist upon these, but proceed to make some short APPLICATION.
You have heard somewhat, though infinitely short, of the good-will of God, in sending Jesus Christ into the world: do not you believe it to be true? why else do you solemnize this as a day of joy? Well, then, beware that you do not frustrate God's good-will towards you, in giving Christ to you, by your debaucheries and profaneness on this good day, which you celebrate as a memorial of that great gift. Believe it, and it is sad to consider, as Christ's birth has been the cause of the salvation of many a soul; so, it may be feared, that Christmas has been the damnation of many a soul: what through rioting, drunkenness, reveling, gaming, and such like excesses, the Name of Christ has been greatly dishonored, under a pretense of honoring his Birth. I have heard a story of a Turkish ambassador, long residing in one of the greatest courts in Christendom: when he returned home to his master, he was by him examined, what customs the Christians observe: he made this answer; That, for Twelve Days in the year, all the Christians ran mad: his observation was but too true, and too much to the disparagement of the Christian Religion. And we may well question, whether there be not more wickedness committed in many places these Twelve Days, than in the other Twelve Months after. What, Sirs, do you think that Christ came into the world only to give you an occasion to eat unto gluttony, and to drink unto drunkenness? are not these some of the sins, which he came into the world to destroy? and will you make his coming into the world to patronize them? Observe, then, a day; but take the Apostle's direction: He, that observes a day, let him observe it to the Lord: it is his rule, to observe it with a holy heart, with spiritual meditation, with heavenly affections. This is the only way to reap the benefit of God's good-will, in sending Christ into the world; and this is the only way to ascribe glory to God, for his good-will towards men.