wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold the angel of the Lord appeared unio him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife; for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost: and she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus; for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord more hearty and cheerful obedience to him; for hereby he hath verified his own saying, that his "yoke is easy and his burden is light." He hath taken off all the rigour and hardship of it, and put such a sweetness and comfort into it, that renders his yoke rather an ease than a clog, and his burden not only light, but delightful; so the Psalmist assures us, "great peace have they that keep thy law, and nothing shall offend them." And elsewhere, "in keeping thy commandments there is great reward." Lastly, Christ's receiving us into the adoption of sons may teach us to cherish all filial love and duty to him, and to behave ourselves as becometh the sons and children of God; acting suitably to so great a privilege, and doing nothing unworthy of so high a relation. As God beareth towards us the bowels of a father, so let us bear towards him the duty of children; a son honoureth his father, and a servant his master." And we find God Almighty justly claiming the duty of both; "If I be a father, where is my honour; and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the Lord of hosts." Mal. i. 6. In a word, we must endeavour to please him in all things, and to avoid whatever may offend him: so shall we receive the inheritance of sons, and hear that happy sentence; "Come, ye blessed children of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Dr. Hole. (25.) The Epistle for this day hath told us, that "when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman:" the Gospel proceeds in explaining that work of wonder, and acquaints us particularly with the uncommon manner of his being so made. As therefore our meditations, on the day of his nativity, were fixed upon he glories of his divine, so those of this day more properly confine themselves to the reality of his human, nature. Those shewed us "God of the substance of his Father, begotten before the by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which, being interpreted, is, God with us. Then Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife; and knew her not till she had brought forth her first-born son; and he called his name Jesus. (25.) The Circumcision of Christ. (26.) ALMIGHTY God, who madest thy blessed Son to be circumcised, and obedient worlds;" these shew us "man of the substance of his mother, born in the world; but both together give us a just idea of that one Christ, who is God and man, perfect God and perfect man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting." Dean Stanhope. 2. From the angel's direction that his name should be called Jesus, we may learn the honour that is due to that holy name. The apostle calls it “a name above every name;" it was given from heaven, and brings salvation with it here on earth; yea (6 there is no other name given under heaven, by which we can be saved, but only the name of the Lord Jesus." And therefore the Apostle hath commanded, that to the name of Jesus all things in heaven and earth and under the earth should bow and obey." Dr. Hole. 3. Let us remember the happy privilege, which we have, as members of his household, who came to save his people from their sins." The knowledge of his power and influence, as a Saviour, is calculated to inspire us with a never failing hope. It speaks comfort to the penitent. It consoles the trembling and afflicting. It calms the fears of conscience. It gives peace and security in good days. It confirms the confidence of faith. It lifts the heart above the trials and the griefs which may befal us. It furnishes a sure stay amidst the changes of this transitory life. Let us then, with the venerable Joseph, who received the angel's message and injunction, and complied with them, so store the word of truth in our hearts, and comply with its directions. The name of Jesus will then be to us a name of trust, and a certain refuge of security and good hope. Archdeacon Pott. (26.) This feast is celebrated by the Church to commemorate the active obedience of Jesus Christ in "fulfilling all righteousness," which is one branch of the meritorious cause of our redemption; and, by that means, abrogating the severe injunctions of the Mosaic establishment, and putting us under the to the law for man; (27.) grant us the true circumcision of the Spirit, that, our hearts and all our members being mortified from all worldly and carnal lusts, we may in all things obey thy blessed will, through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. The Epistle. Rom. iv. 8. BLESSED is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? For we say, that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. easier terms of the Gospel. This feast is older than St. Bernard's time, who has some homilies upon it. Dr. Nicholls. The institution of the feast of the Cireumcision is more ancient than our ritualists in general seem to have thought, as appears from Gregory's Sacramentary and in the sixth century at latest a special and appropriate service was provided for it. But as the octave of Christmas fell on the same day, and as the octave was observed with extraordinary solemnity, the day received its denomination most generally from the octave, and not from the circumcision. If this festival be considered merely as the commemoration of "the circumcision of our Lord," its institution, or at least its revival, commenced with our Reformation, or rather at the publication of our English Liturgy; and was first observed on January 1, 1549-50. Shepherd. The proper services are all very suitable to the day. The first lesson for the morning gives an account of the institution of circumcision; and the Gospel, of the circumcision of Christ: the first lesson at evening, and the second lessons, and Epistle, all tend to the same end: namely, that, since the circumcision of the flesh is now abrogated, God hath no respect of persons, nor requires any more of us than the circumcision of the heart. Wheatly. (27.) Our Saviour assures us, that it became him to "fulfil all righteousness," (Matt. ii. 15:) that is, he was bound, as the Messiah, to submit to all God's ordinances, and consequently to circumcision, and the other legal institutions. And this he did for the sake of mankind, that, by performing a sinless obedience in all things, he might be an all perfect sacrifice to atone for our sins. Dr. Bennet. (28.) The best practical use to be made of this passage will be to consider what this rite represented, as necessary, not only to the persons formerly using it, but to us also who have the happiness of being exempted from the carnal ordinance itself, and all the servile consequences of it. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had, yet being uncircumcised; that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also: and the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had, being yet uncircumcised. For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect. (28.) 1. The first is a readiness, and willing disposition, to know the will of God, and to submit to it when known. This I collect from that exhortation of Moses, "Circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked," (Deut. x. 16;) joined with the reproof of St. Stephen, who calls the Jews "uncircumcised in heart and ears," (Acts vii. 51,) by reason of their inflexiole opposition to the doctrine of our blessed Saviour and his apostles. The foreskin to be taken away, in this sense, is all that prejudice and self-conceit, all that carnal or worldly reasoning, which obstructs the efficacy of truth upon our hearts and lives. For want of this circumcision, the Jews, who had the covenant in the flesh, were yet out of it, as to its real advantages and spiritual importance. And, without the same, the Christian who disowns and disdains all marks of Judaism upon his body, is yet, in spirit, and to all the purposes of sin and reprobation, an errant Jew still. Secondly, This true circumcision of the Spirit imports the weaning ourselves from the world, and setting our affections upon God and goodness. Thus much I infer from that other passage of Moses, "The Lord thy God shall circumcise thy heart, that thou mayest love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul," Duet. xxx. 6. So that, in this respect, "the first and great commandment," (Matt. xxii. 38,) as our Saviour calls it, the foundation and the substance, the beginning and the complement, of the whole moral law, was shadowed in, and contained under, this most significant ordinance. Covetousness and injustice, worldly-mind edness and vanity, luxury and love of pleasure, strait ness of hand and heart, and unmercifulness to the poor and distressed; in a word, all those corrupt principles and dispositions which argue that we do not love God, or that we do not love him better than the world, or that we do not love our neighbour for his sake, are so many sure symptoms of an "uncircumcised" spirit. These then must be pared The Gospel. St. Luke ii. 15. AND it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them. And when eight days were accomplished for the off, and cast away; and the pious, the devout, the strictly honest, the cheerfully liberal, the tender and compassionate, the kind and condescending Christians, they only are the seed of Abraham, they only heirs of that covenant, made to that glorious father of the faithful. (29.) From the narrative contained in this day's Gospel, we may learn to magnify the great condescension of the Son of God, in giving the poor shepherds next to his parents the first sight of him. There were no doubt many great persons at that time in or near the city, whom the fame of this birth had drawn thither; yet God did not think fit to send an angel with this joyful news to any of them, but honoured the poor shepherds with the first view of him. Dr. Hole. These were persons, simple, and mean, and humble; persons, likely to be more apprehensive of the mystery, and less of the scandal, of the poverty of the Messiah. And the lesson to be derived from this circumstance is, that none are fit to come to Christ, but those who are poor in spirit, despisers of the world, and simple in their hearts, without craft and secular designs. Bp. Jeremy Taylor. From the condition, in which the shepherds found our blessed Saviour, we may learn a lesson of humility. He, for whom heaven is too strait, whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain, lies in the strait cabin of the womb; and, when he would enlarge himself for the world, is not allowed the room of an inn. The many mansions of heaven were at his disposing; the earth was his, and the fulness of it; yet he suffers himself to be refused of a base cottage, and complaineth not. What measure should discontent us, wretched men, when thou, O God, farest thus from thy creatures? How should we learn both to want and abound from thee, which abounding with the glory and riches of heaven, circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb, (29.) The same Collect, Epistle, and Gospel shall serve for every day after, unto the Epiphany. The Epiphany, (39.) or the Manifesta= tion of Christ to the Gentiles The Collect. O GOD, who by the leading of a star didst manifest thy only begotten Son to the Gentiles; mercifully grant that we, who know thee now by faith, may after this life have the fruition of thy glorious Godhead, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. wouldst want a lodging in thy first welcome to the earth? Thou camest to thine own, and thine own received thee not: how can it trouble us to be rejected of the world, which is not ours? What wonder is it, if thy servants wandered abroad destitute and afflicted, when their Lord is denied harbour? Bp. Hall. (30.) The Church celebrates this feast to shew our gratitude to God in manifesting the Gospel to the Gentile world, and vouchsafing to them equal privileges with the Jews, who had been all along his peculiar people. The first instance of this di vine favour was in declaring the birth of Christ to the wise men of the East. Matt. ii. 9. The ancient Church called this feast "Epiphaneia," or the Appearance or Manifestation, and it was the common name for this and for Christmas-day. And as that was the greater, this was the lesser Epiphany. This festival was observed in the time of Nazianzen, whose sermon upon "the holy Lights" is upon this day. Epiphanius and Chrysostom have likewise sermons upon it. St. Austin, in his time, speaks of it as universally celebrated by the Catholic Church, and neglected by none but the schismatical Donatists. Dr. Nicholls. This feast is called in Latin Epiphaniæ, Epiphanies, in the plural: because upon this day we celebrate those glorious apparitions or manifestations, all which are said to have happened upon the same day, though not of the same year. The first manifestation was of the star, mentioned in the Gospel, the Gentiles' guide to Christ. The second Epiphany, or manifestation, was of the glorious Trinity at the baptism of Christ, mentioned in the second lesson at Morning Prayer. Luke iii. 22. The third was of Christ's glory or divinity, by the miracle of turning water into wine, mentioned in the second lesson at evening Prayer. John ii. Bp. The Epistle. Eph. iii. 1. FOR this cause, I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles; if ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which is given me to you-ward: how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery (as I wrote afore in few words, whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy Apostles and Prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ, by the Gospel whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God, given unto me by the effectual working of his power. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known, by the church, the manifold wisdom Sparrow. For which reason this lesson, contrary to common usage, is taken from one of the Gospels, and not from an Epistle. Shepherd. The first lesson contains prophecies of the increase of the Church by the abundant access of the Gentiles, of which the Epistle contains the completion, giving an account of the mystery of the Gospel's being revealed to them. Wheatly. (31.) The Epistle for the day declares to us the great "mystery of godliness," how "God manifest in the flesh," who was first preached to the Jews only, was afterwards "manifested to the Gentiles" also, and "thereby preached and believed on in the world." The practical use to be made of this great mercy is, 1. To acknowledge and adore the infinite love of God to the Gentiles, of whose race we are, "in turning them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God." Herein the love of God to mankind appeared, in that "he would have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth," (1 Tim. ii. 4.) "God so loved the world," (saith our Saviour,) "that he sent his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John iii. 16.) He now makes no distinction between Jew and Gentile, for they are all one in Christ Jesus. He came first indeed to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel," whom he gathered into his fold, and made them his own peculiar; but he had of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord; in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. (31.) The Gospel. St. Matt. ii. 1. WHEN Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born king of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea: for thus is it written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda; for out of thee shall come a Governor that shall rule my people Israel. Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go, and search diligently for the young child, and when ye have found him, bring me "other sheep." (he tells us,) "that belonged not to this fold," meaning the Gentiles; them also he brought in, "that there might be one fold, and one flock, under the great Shepherd and Bishop of our souls." Hence he is said to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, as well as the glory of his people Israel." 2. We may learn hence to make a right use and improvement of this great and undeserved favour to us Gentiles, and that is, "to walk in the light, as he is in the light," and to make it so "shine before men, that they may see our good works, and glorify our Father, which is in heaven ;" who hath called us, miserable sinners, "who lay in darkness and in the shadow of death," to be the children of God, and hath exalted us to everlasting life. Let not this then "be our condemnation, that light is come into the world, and we love darkness rather than light; because our deeds are evil;" but let us "walk as children of light and of the day, casting off the works of darkness, and putting on the armour of light," to defend us from all iniquity. This is the sense of those many precepts, to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called, and to let our conversation be as becometh the Gospel of Christ; which requires us to lead our lives by the light we have received, and to increase in grace and virtue, as we do in knowledge, otherwise it will only increase our guilt, and heighten our condemnation. Dr. Hole word again, that I may come and worship him also. When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star which they saw in the east went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. And being warned of God in a dream, that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way. (32.) The First Sunday after the O LORD, we beseech thee mercifully to (32.) God, who is the universal parent of all men, at the nativity of the Messiah gave notice of the event to all the world, as they were represented by the grand division of Jews and Gentiles to the Jewish shepherds, by an angel; to the eastern magi, by a star. For the Gospel is of universal dissemination, not confined within the limits of a national prerogative, but catholick and diffused. As God's love was, so was the dispensation of it, "without respect of persons:" for all, being included under the curse of sin, were to him equal and indifferent, undistinguishable objects of mercy. And Jesus, descended of the Jews, was also "the expectation of the Gentiles," and therefore communicated to all: "the grace of God" being like the air we breathe; and "it hath appeared to all men," saith St. Paul: but the conveyances and communications of it were different in the degrees of brightness. The angel told the Shepherds the story of the nativity plainly and literally: the star invited the wise men by its rareness and preternatural apparition to which also, as by a foot path, they had been led by the prophecy of Balaam. And thus, in one view and two instances, God hath drawn all the world to himself by his Son Jesus; in the instances of the shepherds and the eastern magi, Jews and Gentiles, learned and unlearned, rich and poor, noble and ignoble; that in him all nations, and all conditions, and all families, and all persons might be blessed: having called all by one star or other, by natural reason or by the secrets of philosophy, by the revelations of the GosDel or by the ministry of angels, by the illuminations of the Spirit, or by the sermons and dictates of spiritual fathers: and hath consigned this lesson receive the prayers of thy people who call upon thee; and grant that they may both perceive and know what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil the same, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. The Epistle. Rom. xii. 1. I BESEECH you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the 66 to us, that we must never appear before the Lord empty," offering gifts to him by the expenses or the affections of charity; either the worshipping or the oblations of religion; either the riches of the world, or the love of the soul. For, if we cannot bring gold with the rich men from the east, we may with the poor shepherds come and "kiss the Son, lest he be angry:" and in all cases come and “ serve him with fear and reverence" and spiritual rejoicings. Bp. Jer. Taylor. (33.) From Christmas to Epiphany, the Church's design is, to set forth Christ's "humanity," to make Christ manifest in the flesh, which the offices do, as we have seen; but from Epiphany to Septuagesima, especially in the four next Sundays after Epiphany, she endeavours to manifest his glory and "divinity," by recounting some of his first miracles, and manifestations of his deity; so that each Sunday is in this respect a kind of Epiphany. Bp. Sparrow. The offices of the Sundays, which follow the Epiphany, until Septuagesima Sunday, are of the same argument with the Epiphany itself: all belonging to the manifestation of Christ, and to the end for which he was made known to the sons of Bp. Overall men. The design of the Epistles is to excite us to imitate Christ as far as we can, and to manifest ourselves his disciples by a constant practice of all Christian virtues. Wheatly. The Gospel of this day mentions Christ's manifestation to the doctors of the Jews, astonishing all his hearers with his miraculous answers; withal declaring, that he was both God and man: man, in being made subject to his reputed father and his |