er, (16.) and come among us, and with great | might succour us; that whereas, through our sins and wickedness, we are sore let and hindered in running the race that is set before us, thy bountiful grace and mercy may speedily help and deliver us, through the satisfaction of thy Son our Lord: to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, be honour and glory, world without end. Amen. The Epistle. Phil. iv. 4. (17.) REJOICE in the Lord alway; and again preceding the Nativity of our Lord, the Church calls upon us to expect him with joy and to meet him with exultation. The Collect for the day prays God to afford us the powerful assistance of his grace; that we may not be retarded by the weight of our sins, but may run with patience the race that is set before us. The Epistle recommends to us several Christian graces, very suitable to the near approach of so great a solemnity; namely, joy, moderation, trust, thanksgiving, and prayer; to all which is added the gracious promise of God's blessing upon those who cultivate them. The Gospel gives us a further account of St. John the Baptist, in the discharge of his office as our Lord's harbinger, and in the witness which he bore to him. Dr. Hole, Dr. Nicholls. (16.) God is there said to "raise" or "stir up his power," when he exerts or shows it in a remarkable manner. See Ps. lxxx. 2; Deut. xxxiii. 2. Dr. Bennet. (17.) By "the peace of God" in this passage some suppose to be meant the reconciliation made with mankind in our blessed Saviour; a mystery far exceeding the comprehension, not of human only, but of all created and finite understandings. But the sense most apposite to the apostle's purpose seems to be, not only that peace, considered in itself, but a comfortable sense of, and firm persuasion, that we have a share in it; and that this will, even under the worst treatment, and heaviest afflictions, preserve the mind seriously affected with it, in such a state of undisturbed tranquillity as is not possible for any to conceive, whom their own happy experience hath not convinced. This sense seems to be much favoured by the just importance of that original word, which our translators render "keep." A military term, proper to garrisons; and .ntimating, that this inward peace is a strong guard, and impregnable defence, against all the tumults and tempests of a boisterous and uncertain world: such as will neither suffer our "hearts" to be overpowered, that is, our affections vitiated by immoderate fears, or hopes, or desires of earthly objects; nor our "minds" to be captivated, that is, our understanding and judgment to be imposed upon by I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. The Gospel. St. John i. 19. (18.) THIS is the record of John, when the Jews sent Priests and Levites from Jerusa false notions of temporal good or evil; but will set us above the world, and support and entertain us with spiritual consolations, the continual feast of a good conscience at present, and the prospect of bliss unspeakable and immortal afterwards. And as this steady composure and serenity of mind may be applied to all the duties, recommended in the Epistle of this day, as their effect and reward; so it is immediately annexed, and seems in a special manner to belong to that of a devout and thankful application to God by prayer. Most seasonable therefore and wise is the use, which our excellent mother, the Church, makes of these words; in dismissing her children after the most solema acts of worship, with this passage of St. Paul, in form of a blessing; imploring, that what he foretels and promises here, may be made good to the whole congregation. Most properly does she regard the distinction generally observed here between the "heart" and "mind," by begging that her children and members may be kept in the "knowledge and love of God," and "of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord" and most reasonably may it be expected, that this benediction will avail, since the nearer we approach to God our Saviour, by a spiritual com munion in prayers and sacraments, and all other holy ordinances, the better we shall know him; and the better we know him, the more we shall be sure to love him: and were that love entire, did he but reign in, and possess our hearts without a rival, we should then feel the best sense of that passage verified to the utmost, in a spiritual regard, and in our own particular case, that "the work of righte ousness is peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever." Dean Stanhope. (18.) "This record of John" is well worthy of attention particularly upon two accounts. 1. As it relates to himself, it sets him before us as an excellent pattern of true humility. . To those questions of the Jews, which had a tendency to ad vance him in honour and esteem with the people, he returns answers in negatives so direct and plain, as would admit of no ambiguity, no doubt at all. To those which concern his true character he is lem to ask him, Who art thou? And he confessel, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us: What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias. And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thon be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet? John answered them, content with such replies, as refer to a past prophecy concerning himself, and leave them to draw the consequences. The glorious things, spoken of John elsewhere, he might, without any breach of truth, have declared to those Jews of himself; but that eminent messenger, sent to prepare the way of the Lord, that figurative Elias, who came in the spirit and power of the Tishbite, that "prophet and more than a prophet," that excellent person, than whom "there had not risen a greater among them that are born of women," describes himself only in the character of a "voice crying in the wilderness;" the lowest of all characters, by which the ancient prophets had represented him. 2. The testimony, which he bore to our blessed Lord, is conceived in terms so respectful and magnificent, that whilst it still farther shews his humility by precluding all comparison between Jesus and him, it seems also to contain a clear intimation of our blessed Lord's divine nature and excellencies. "He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose." For what excellencies, less than divine, could justify that awful distance they express, between so eminent a person, and the holy Jesus? They are not words of compliment and form, but of strict truth and equity. And yet it will be very hard to understand them so, if the comparison be stated, only between one prophet and another, only between the prince and so venerable a harbinger: in short, if we understand them any otherwise, than thus, that even he that "was more than a prophet," and "than whom there had not risen a greater ever born of women," (Matt. xi. 9, 11.) was notwithstanding so many degrees inferior to him, whose way he came to prepare, because he was so the son of a woman, as to be more than man: the Son of God, and himself very God. And thus considered, the passage now before us, is so far from an affected strain of depressing himself, and magnifying his Master; that, could St. John have saying, I baptize with water; but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; hit is, who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose. These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing. The Nativity of our Lord, (19.) or the Birth day of CHRIST, commonly called Christmas-day. (20.) The Collect. ALMIGHTY God, who hast given us found any terms yet more lowly, they were still all far less than were due to that infinite distance, that essential greatness, between which, and the most exalted of all his creatures, there is no comparison nay not any manner of proportion, upon which a comparison may be founded. Dean Stanhope. (19.) This feast of our Saviour's nativity seems to have had its beginning in the first, or at least in very early, times of Christianity. We have no certain evidence of the exact time when it was first observed, yet it appears plainly to have been very early received all over the West. And the immemorial observation of it is an argument of its primitive institution. Dr. Nicholls, Nelson. Though the immemorial observance of this festival on the 25th of December, is not only an argument of its primitive institution, but a sufficient warrant for our conformity; yet those who differ from our communion account it superstitious, since, they say, we cannot be certain that our Saviour was actually born on this day. But not to insist on the authority of St. Chrysostom, and the concurrent sense of antiquity, as to the precise time of this miraculous birth, I shall only observe, that if we are mistaken in this particular, yet the matter of the mistake being of no greater moment than the false calculation of a day, it is certainly very pardonable in those who think they are not mistaken. And that as long as we who are supposed to be in this error, do not perform the business of the day with as much piety and devotion on a mistaken day, as we could on the true day, did we certainly know it, the excuse of blameless ignorance will wash away greater errors than this of the day, supposing it to be an error. G. NALLSON. And that no one may want an opportunity to celebrate so great a festival with a suitable solemnity, the Church both excites and assists our devotion, by an admirable frame of office fitted to the day. In the first Lessons she reads to us the clearest prophecies of Christ's coming in the flesh; and thy only begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and as at this time to be born of a pure virgin; grant that we, being regene rate and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit, through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen. The Epistle. Heb. i. 1. GOD, who, at sundry times, and in divers manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; who, being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than in the second Lessons, Epistle, and Gospel, shews us the completion of those prophecies, by giving us the entire history of it. In the Collect she teaches us to pray, that we may be partakers of the benefits of his birth, and in the proper Psalms she sets us to our duty of praising and glorifying God for this incomprehensible mystery. Wheatly. (20.) Mass was a word for festival, of Saxon origin, whence our Christmas: retained also in Candlemas, Martinmas, Michaelmas, &c. Todd. Dr. On this festival we commemorate the incarnation of the Son of God, that great mystery of godliness, the prime pillar of our religion, and the firm foundation of all our hopes and expectations. Hole. The Collect reminds us of the Son of God having taken upon him our nature, and been born of a pure Virgin; and teaches us to pray, that we, having been born again in our baptism into a spiritual life, and received the adoption of sons, may daily be renewed in the spirit of our minds, by the operation of the Holy Ghost. Dr. Nicholls. The Epistle for the day acquaints us, 1. with one great end and office of Christ's incarnation ; namely, to reveal to us the mind and will of his Father, which he did more fully and clearly than had been done by any or all of the prophets before. 2 It sets forth the high dignity and greatness of his person, being equal in glory and greatness to the Father, from whom he came. (ver. 3.) 3. It shews us his exceeding great pre-eminence above the angels in sundry instances and particulars; from the fourth to the tenth verse. 4. It concludes they. For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son? And again, when he bringeth in the first-begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. But into the Sou he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. And, Thon, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: they shall perish, but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed; but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail. (21.) with the eternity of his duration, shewing it to be before the worlds, which he made by his power; and that he will be after them when all things wil be destroyed. The Gospel represents him to us both in his divine and human nature: by the one he is equal with God, by the other he is made like unto men. Both of these are mentioned by St. Paul, (Phil. ii. 6, 7:) and are more largely set forth in this Gospel. As he is God, he is styled here "the Word, the Life, and the Light of the world;" which glorious titles are given to him in a way peculiar to him, and not to be affirmed of any other. As he is man, he is said to be "made flesh, and to dwell among us;" the Gospel begins with the one and ends with the other. -Dr. Hole. This was called in the first of Edward VI, The second communion;" for there was another before it: the one to set forth his nativity of the blessed Virgin Mary, for which the Epistle was Titus, ii, the Gospel, St. Luke, ii; the other to set forth bis eternal generation, which is that now continued by us, following the alteration made in the fifth of Edward VI. In the Church of Rome, and here in England aforetimes, they had three masses or ser vides of communion upon that day, whereof this i the last. Bp. Cosins. (21.) It was the object of the apostle in this chap ter to prove the just pre-eminence of the Christian dispensation above any other, by insisting e-p ciall upon the excellence of the person, by whom th revelation was imparted to us. "God spake in tim past to our fathers by the prophets;" but "to us i The Gospel. St. John i. I. IN the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness com prehendeth it not. There was a man sent from God whose name was John: The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that light, but was these last days he hath spoken by his Son." He therefore goes on to prove the dignity of this last messenger to be so far superior to that of any other, as to admit of no likeness, no comparison between them: that he hath excellencies peculiar to himself, and such as are communicable, not only to none, no not the best of the sons of men ; but to none, no, not the noblest creatures, of any other kind. In a word, that he is of a nature truly divine, of the same essence and eternity with God the Father; and his Son, in a manner and sense so proper and particular, as no other, however called such in Scripture, is, or must be understood to be. The result is that the Gospel claims a just preeminence above any other revelation of God's will to mankind; because not only the first and remote declarer, but the immediate publisher and dispenser of it, was a person truly and strictly divine. So that when God spoke to our forefathers by the prophets, it was by men, who in all points (their particular inspiration excepted) stood upon a level with those they spoke to: but when he spoke to us by his Son, he spoke by himself, and without the ceremony of an inferior messenger. An honour and advantage this to us, a kindness and condescension in him, which at all times deserves to be considered: but, at this festival especially, should be remembered with the most zealous expressions of wonder and praise. Dean Stanhope. The condition of the Person, whose nativity we this day celebrate, is of the greatest consideration. For he, that cried in the manger, that sucked the pap of a woman, that hath exposed himself to poverty and a world of inconvenience, is "the Son of the living God," of the same substance with his Fah, begotten before all ages, before the morning stars: he is God eternal. He is also, by reason of the personal union of the divinity with his human nature, the Son of God; not by adoption, as good men and beatified augels are; but by an extra rdinary and miraculous generation. He is "the heir" of his Father's glories and possessions; not sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came into his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (22.) : by succession, for his Father cannot die ; but by an equality of communication. He is "the express image of his Father's Person" according to both natures: the miracle and excess of his Godhead being, as upon wax, imprinted upon all the capacities of his humanity. And after all this, he is our "Savicur," that to our duties of wonder and adoration we may add the affections of love and union, as himself, besides his being admirable in himself is become profitable to us. Here then are concentred, in a mysterious and incomprehensible manner, the prodigies of greatness and goodness, of wisdom and charity, of meekness and humility: if we consider him in the bosom of his Father, where he is seated in a station of love and essential felicity and in the manger, where love also placed him, and an infinite desire to communicate his felicity to us. As he is God, his name is in heaven, and he fills all things by his immensity: as he is man, he is circumscribed by an uneasy cradle, and cries in a stable. As he is God, he is seated upon a superexalted throne: as man, exposed to the lowest state of uneasiness and need. As God, clothed in a robe of glory, at the same instant when we may behold and wonder at his humanity, wrapped in cheap and unworthy cradle bands. As God, he is encircled with millions of angels: as man in the company of beasts. As God, he is the eternal Word of the Father, eternal, sustained by himself, all-suf ficient, and without need: and yet be submitted himself to a condition imperfect, inglorious, indigent, and necessitous. And this consideration is apt and natural to produce great affections of love, duty, and obedience, desires of union and conformity to his sacred person, life, actions, and laws: that we resolve all our thoughts, and finally determine all our reason and our passions and capacities upon that saying of St. Paul, "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed." 1 Cor. xvi. 22. Bp. Jeremy Taylor. (22) From the representation which this day's Gospel contains of "the great mystery of godliness ALMIGHTY God, who hast given us thy only begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and as at this time to be born of a pure virgin; grant that we, being regenerate and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit, through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen. The Epistle. Gal. iv. 1. NOW I say, that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, God manifest in the flesh," (1 Tim. iii. 16,) many duties result. 1. Let us admire and adore the infinite love and goodness of God in this astonishing condescension, that he, who was one with the Father, and of the same divine nature with him, should stoop so low as to assume our human nature, with all its weaknesses and infirmities, for us men and for our salvation. 2. Let us contemplate the infinite power and unsearchable riches of divine wisdom in this transaction; that God should find out a way to reconcile sinners to himself by his Son's taking upon him sinful flesh, and thereby giving satisfaction in the same nature that offended; by which means justice and mercy met together, and righteousness and peace have kissed each other. 3. From the Word's having been made flesh and having dwelt among us, let us learn to preserve our nature more pure and undefiled from fleshly lusts, considering how highly that nature has been hon oured by an union with the Godhead. Lastly, let us celebrate this mysterious union of our nature with his in that holy sacrament of Christ's body and blood, ordained on purpose for a memorial of it. The Word was made flesh that he might make us partakers of his Holy Spirit, which is conveyed to us in that holy feast appointed for that end there we may spiritually behold that flesh torn, and that blood poured out, which he assumed merely to make our peace; and shall we refuse to remember and rejoice in that atonement? Rather let us take the cup of salvation, and call upon the uame of the Lord, who thus humbled himself for our exaltation; let us compass his altar with praises and thanksgivings, and offer ourselves to him, who thus freely offered and united himself o us; that being made one with him, we may forever dwell in him, and ne in us. Amen. Dr. Hole. (23.) This Sunday hath the same Collect with Christmas-day; and the Epistle and Gospel treat about the same business, the birth of Christ; for though he be Lord of all; but is under tu tors and governors, until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the ele ments of the world; but when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the we might receive the adoption of sons. And, Spirit of his Son into your heart, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son: and if a son, then an heir of God, through Christ. (24.) The Gospel. St. Matt. i. 18. we have not yet done with the solemnity of Christ- It was a custom among the primitive Christians to observe the octave, or eighth day after their principal feasts, with great solemnity, (the reasons whereof shall be given in speaking of the particular prefaces in the Communion Office hereafter;) and upon every day between the feast and the octave, as also upon the octave itself, they used to repeat some part of that service which was performed upon the feast itself. In imitation of which religious custom, this day generally falling within the octave of Christmas day, the Collect then used is repeated now and the Epistle and Gospel still set forth the mysteries of our redemption by the birth of Christ. Wheatly. (24.) The sum of this day's Epistle is as follows: The Son of God was made of a woman that be might be like us; and was made under the law, that we might be like him; that is, he became the Son of man, that we might be made the sons of God, and partook of our human nature, to make us partakers of the divine. Whence we may learn, 1. To magnify and adore the infinite love and condescension of our Saviour to mankind, that the Maker of all things should, for our sake, vouchsafe to be made himself, and that not only of a woman but under the law too; that he, who gave laws to the world, should subject himself to a law of his own making, and undergo the utmost rigour and severity of it, merely to deliver us from the curse and punishment of it. This is a mercy nevet enough to be acknowledged or admired, and may justly make us say with holy David, "What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits ?” 2. Christ redeeming us from the sentence and severity of the moral, as well as the burdensome yoke of the ceremonial law, should teach us the |