WHEN the worlds Redeemer was born in Bethlem, a solemn Em­bassey was sent from Heaven, to acquaint poor Shepherds, that the Messias had then began his Reign. About the same time, a Star was appointed to summon from remoter Countries, three crown'd Heads, to pay Adoration to this new-born King. In the Shepherds, who were near at hand, he was dis­covered to the Jews, to whom he was first sent, and amongst whom, he was to be born: In the wise Men, who came from forrein parts, he was made known to the Gentiles, who were at a dreadful distance from God and Heaven. Manifestatus est, Judaeis in pastorum propinquitate gen­tibus Serm. 3. de Epiph. [Page 2] in magorum longinquitate, says St. Augustin. The Shepherds were invited to this honour, be­cause the meanest and poorest sort of men: the Wise men, because as St. Augustin observes, Ma­gicians (tho' in this differing from many other Fa­thers, who say the word Magi signifies philoso­phers) but St. Augustin will have them Magicians, & consequently enormous sinners. These passa­ges were a Preludium to the Doctrine our Savi­our afterward preach'd and practis'd, in choos­ing the meanest and most contemptible things in this world, and labouring chiefly for the Sal­vation of sinners; to the end St. Augustin says, Ut nullus magnus superbiret, nullus infirmus despera­rer: That the Great Ones here on earth, might not swell with pride; and that no sinner, how hainous soever, should be dejected and cast into despair.

By this, our Saviour proved himself the great Corner-stone, Lapis Angularis, as the scrip­ture Ephes. 2. 14. calls him, uniting to the same head, and in the same faith, the heretofore so opposite peo­ple Jews and Gentiles, and with them raising one Spiritual building, the Catholick Church com­posed of them both, fecit utraque unum. Here the old feuds between Jews and Gentiles, that had so long divided the world, were at last end­ed, and the Prophesie of Esay made good; That 11; 22. 62. 25. the time should come when the Lamb and Woolf [Page 3] should peaceably feed together in the same Pasture; and the Lyon and the Oxe eat quietly in one Manger. Lupus & Agnus pascentur si­mul, Leo & Bos comedent paleas: That is, the Jews and Gentiles, heretofore as irreconcileable as ravenous Wolves with the innocent Lambs, as hungry Lyons with Sheep or Oxen, this day are reconciled at the Manger of our new born Jesus, joyfully united in the same Faith of the true Messias there present, by which their souls were nourish'd and made able to seek after eternal Glory. Here was verified to the latter, what the same Prophet affirms: puer parvulus minabit eos; the mentioned savage and ravenous crea­tures, shall forget their natural cruelty, their bloody antipathy, and become so gentle, as to be joyned together in the same yoke, with what they used to devour; render'd so tame, that an infant-child shall lead them.

God's mercy never appeared so astonishing, as in this miraculous call of the Gentiles to the true Faith; man's weakness never can prove more fatal, than by abusing so signal a favour: Hap­py we Gentiles, who were called after so ad­mirable a manner; thrice unhappy Gentiles, if we abuse so infinit a blessing. The prodigy of mercy that ever most astonished the world, was the calling us Gentiles upon this happy day [Page 4] to the true Faith, as I shall prove in my first part. The greatest misery man can fall under, is not to correspond with so undeserv'd a Grace, as I shall shew in my second Part. These two Points make the division of my discourse, and the Subject of your favourable attention, which I shall crave, after we have invok'd the assis­tance of the Divine Spirit, begging the Virgin Mother to joyn with us in so necessary a Peti­tion. Ave Maria.

The Birth of our Great Messias, and the mi­raculous discovery of it made to the Jews, was a gracious effect of his ever to be ador'd mercy; yet we may in some measure truly term it an act of Justice; because in this, we find fulfilled several Divine promises, made by God in recom­pence of that signal faith, and absolute obedi­ence, so eminent in many of his Loyal servants. First to an Abraham; Benedicentur in semine tuo om­nes Gentes, quia obedisti voci meae. And in thy seed all Nations shall be blest, because thou hast obey'd my Gen. 22. 18. voice. And then likewise to Jacob, that the Roy­al Scepter shall not depart from the Race of Juda, till the Messias appear'd, Non auferetur Sceptrum Gen. 49. 10. de Juda, donec veniat qui mittendus est. And often to David in consideration of his good Govern­ment, his Saintly life, his zeal in his Makers Service. By these promises we find the Pro­phets [Page 5] rais'd to a pious impatience, for the arrival of that happy moment; propter Sion non tacebo, & propter Hierusalem non quiescam Esay. 62. 1. donec oriatur ut splendor Justitiae ejus. For Sion and Jerusalem I will never rest till the bright Sun of Justice its Saviour shall rise as a Fire, as a burn­ing Lamp. At other times they beg of the Hea­vens to shower him down; and somtimes beseech him to break through them; so impatient were they for his appearance: These zealous petitions, these languishing sighs after the Worlds Redeemer, deserv'd some little consideration in the Court of Heaven, merited in some manner, as Di­vines observe, the actual appearance of this Ce­lestial Comforter: Therefore God Almighty told them at last for their comfort, Propter miseriam Psal. 11. 5. inopum, & gemitum pauperum, nunc exurgam, dicit Dominus: For the miseries of my afflicted and disconso­late people, for the sighs of my poor servants who have long languished to see and feel the effects of my saving Providence, I will now come to their assistance.

Although they were often a rebellious Nati­on, they were the Children of an Abraham, Isa­ac and Jacob; Names sacred both in Earth and Heaven, for whose sakes alone, God had spar'd them, in the worst of times: and therefore, when Moses their Prophet and Governour, stood in need of a favourable audience, they [Page 6] generally petitioned in the name of these great Men, to whom God had tyed himself by oath, as Moses minds him, after their Apostacy, in Exod. 32. 13. adoring the Golden Calf, Quibus jurasti per te­metipsum. Although it be true, that they too too often fail'd, yet they and their Ancestors, were the only people, that had brought down the worship of the True God from mans crea­tion; never wanting in the height of their dis­orders, some faithful servants of Heaven, true worshippers of the only divinity; as appears by the answer made to the Prophet Elias, when he 3. Reg. 19. 3. thought piety at the lowest ebb: so among both living and dead, they never wanted powerful ad­vocates to plead their Cause, to interpose be­tween the People and their offended Maker. Some had fail'd, others had still faithfully serv­ed him; some blasphemed his holy Name, others sung his praises day and night: when there was one of the race of Jacob so weak, that Maccab. 1. 2. he sacrific'd to Idols, by the command of An­tiochus, there was a Mattathias so zealous, as to immolate the unfortunate wretch, upon the same Altar, and so repair'd the Insolence. When there was a Zimri so impious, as to defile himself Numb. 25. 8. with an unfortunate Midianite, there was a Phi­neas so replenish'd with the zeal of the Lord, that he could not suffer the indignity, but sacri­fic'd [Page 7] upon the place, the two Criminals to the divine Justice. Perfodit ambos simul, kill'd them both; and so by his zeal sav'd the race of Israel. Nay, at the very time the Messias appear'd, al­though there was a monstrous Herod, then a Jew by Profession, that thirsted after the Blood of this innocent Lamb; there was at the same time an old Simeon, replenished with the holy Ghost, who expected with impatience the happy mo­ment, desiring to live for no other end, but that he might only see this sweet Babe, and imbrace him in his arms; after which happens, he ask'd for his own dismission from this world. Nunc dimitte tuum servum Domine: Begging his Luke. 2. 29. Life might be clos'd with that Exstacy of Love, with which he was wrapt at that charming pas­sage. In fine, although few honoured him, as Redeemer, when first born; yet we find within the precincts of Judaea, a band of pious Shepherds, a Prophetess Anna, a faithful Joseph and Mary, that gave him the honour and adoration due to his Divine Majesty. From hence we may con­clude, that although the Jew's Call to believe in, and adore the true Messias, was an effect of God's infinite Bounty and Mercy, yet it was in some measure proper and convenient.

After this, dear Christians, should I lay before you the sad condition of the Gentiles, [Page 8] when our Saviour came to redeem the world, as 'tis described by St. Paul, 'twill appear the Rom. 1. most deplorable, that unfortunate man was ever condemned to, they knew the eternal Power, the invisible Majesty, of an incompre­hensible God, by the creatures he had made; yet they were so sensless and stupid, Stulti facti sunt, as to give the supream worship due only to this adorable Divinity; to Birds, Beasts, Cro­codiles, and Serpents: and so prefer'd the last, and most despicable of Creatures, before the All-Puissant and eternal Creator. Servierunt Cre­aturae, Ver. 25. potius quam Creatori. And therefore, St. Paul says, God justly deliver'd them over to the Tyranny of the most ignominious of Passi­ons, in Passiones ignominiae; men and women 26 perverting the order of Nature, by the most infamous, and monstrous wayes, that hu­man corruption could invent; most unhaman­ly revenging themselves upon one another, and this as the chastisement, and just reward of their Idolatryes, and other Crimes; Mercedem quam oportuit Erroris sui in temetipsis recipientes: so [...]7. abandon'd by their Maker, whom they had first forsaken, he delivered them over to a reprobate sence, that they might act more like brute Beasts, than reasonable Creatures; Ut faciant 28. ea quae non conveniunt; defil'd and infamous by [Page 9] all sorts of iniquity; Avarice, Impurity, Pride, Sedition, Murder, Theft; envious malicious enemies to mankind, and hateful to God, De­tractores 30. Deo odibiles; void of all Sence, of all Modesty, of all good Nature, of all Fi­delity, without Pity, without Mercy, Insipien­tes 31. absque faedere, absque misericordia. Such monsters of Vice, that scarce any thing above Hell, could be an Emblem of them, as appears by what St. Peter saw in his vision, that told him, they Acts. 10. were not excluded from the Gospel; they were then laid before him, as brute Beasts, Serpents, savage Creatures, as the greek Text relates it. Nay, they were so despicable to the Jewish Nation, that God Almighty, did not think any thing could more mortify the Israelites, than to tell them, their Crimes had lessened them so in the sight of God, that the very Gentiles should be prefer'd before them. Provocabo eos in eo, qui Deut. 32. 21. non est Populus: I will provoke them to jealou­sy, and envy, in seeing those abandoned wretches, prefer'd before them, who were ne­ver treated as yet, but as People design'd for slaughter: In Gente stulta irritabo ill [...]s; I will provoke them to rage and fury, in seeing such Sots and Ideots, become my favourites; a Peo­ple, with whom he had never vouchsafed to treat, to whom he had never made the least [Page 10] promise of mercy: Promissionis spem non habentes. Ephes. 2. 12. The sacred History is fill'd with the formidable effects of his Justice; as when the Israelites were commanded to murder whole Countyes, Man, Woman, and Child, without any distinction of age, sex, or condition: whole Kingdoms, massacred by one another; the Caldeans by the Persians, the Persians by the Grecians, the Gre­cians by the Romans; and this for the space of some thousands of years, without any account of particular Persons, for whose Salvation we have ground to hope. Then if we proceed far­ther, and cast an eye over the vast Continent of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, we shall find all these vastly extended Countryes, Infamous by all the abominations, that reprobate man could invent; scarce a Creature so despicable in whole nature, as Crocodiles, and Serpents, that by some or other was not treated as a God. The detestable disorders of this nature, were not only found in some corner of the World, but in all nations where the Sun gave light; except that poor spot of Ground call'd Palestine: this not for a year or two, but for thousands of years, without affording any servants of the true God, that might mediate for the rest; verifying to the letter in whole Empires, what David said of the Jews, by exaggeration: Non est qui faciat Psal. 52. 4. [Page 11] bonum non est usque ad unum. In innumerable King­doms, not one, that we can name; and in the whole worlds of Gentiles, we have certainty of none's salvation, but of one poor single Job, a­mong so many millions, from the days of Abra­ham, till the coming of the Messias: as for all our unfortunate forefathers near home, in Bri­tany, France, Germany, and all Europe, we can­not name one nor have any good reason to af­firm, that Heaven had one true servant amongst them; all Pagans, all Idolaters, all justly for their Crimes, hated by the Almighty, and ex­cluded from Heaven.

This is the real Description, and true Cha­racter of the Gentiles for so many Ages. What must we then say of that Mercy, which takes such Monsters into favour, instructs them in the true Faith, puts them in the certain Way, that leads to Heaven: This is the highest instance of an infinite Mercy, that the world ever ad­mir'd; it seems the great Master-peice, by which he procures his Mercy to be above all his Works: to indulge such as once faithfully serv­ed him, though so unhappy as sometimes to run astray; to bless that Race, whose Ancestors have been Loyal, to preserve a Country which never wanted some true Servants of God, al­though many fail'd in their Duty, seems wor­thy [Page 12] a Divine bounty; but to court such as had never been Loyal, to take whole Nati­ons into favour, whose forefathers to a man (for what appears to us) had been false and treacherous, to pour his benedictions upon vast Kingdoms, that had never produc'd (that we know of) one truly obedient Creature; this seems, according to our comprehension, act­ing above the rules of Mercy.

That expression of St. Paul, That God's Rom. 5. 20. Grace never so overflow'd, as when iniquity ran at the highth, was never so verified to the letter as in the transactions of this day; Ubi abundavit delictum superabundavit & gratia. A Phy­sitians Skill never appears so admirable, as in Curing a desperate Disease; God's mercy's ne­ver so Adorable, as in pardoning where there seems not to have been the least induce­ment. The Gentiles crimes and abomina­tions, had cried out to Heaven for Vengeance; during many Ages, they had infected the whole Universe, they had debauched whole Nations, perverted the use of all Creatures, prophan'd all the Elements, stood at defiance with God and Heaven, almost ever since the Creation; their Understanding's buried in darkness and blindness, their Hearts harden'd and stupified [Page 13] with sin and sensuality, their whole Nature's perverse and malitious in the highest degree; Therefore, that Grace that must clear and illu­minate these clouded and dark Understand­ings, that must soften these obdurate and stony Hearts, that must rectifie these crooked and depraved Wills, that must change the Nature of such habitually perverse Wretches, that must make them hate what they lov'd and ador'd; honour and imbrace what they hated and ab­hor'd; that Grace which works these miracles, is justly called a miraculous and prodigious Grace; a superabundant Grace; Superabunda­vit & Gratia; likewise that mercy that can forget so many thousands of years provocations of his Majesty, that can remit so many mili­ons of Blasphemies and Idolatries, with which whole Lives have been prophan'd; whole A­ges have been defil'd; this mercy that par­dons such abominations, those Graces that Re­form and Sanctify such Perverse and Malitious Souls, and fix them wholly upon God and Hea­ven; such Graces must surpass all the favours ever bestowed on man, since the mention'd enormities exceed all the crimes ever com­mitted against God: Ubi superabundavit iniqui­tas, superabundavit & Gratia.

It was, dear Christians, upon this day we were made happy, by that inconceavable Mer­cy, and prodigious Grace; when that propiti­ous Star invited us Gentiles to the Sacred Crib of our New-Born JESUS, where we were made partakers of those saving truths, for want of which our unfortunate Ancestors were mise­rably lost. It was in these three Kings, as St. Leo observes, that the whole body of the Gen­tiles (notwithstanding their rebellions and enor­mities Serm. 3, de Epiph. of so old a date) were honour'd and bless'd with a gratious admittance, both to be­lieve in, and adore then present, the only true God and Author of all things: Adorant in tri­bus magis, omnes populi, universitatis Authorem; and now the knowledg of the true Messias, the so-long-unknown way to Heaven, the Ado­ration of the true God was no longer the pre­rogative of the race of Jacob, a priviledg of the Country of Judea, but a benediction extended to the whole world: Non in Judaea tantum Deus, se in toto orbe sit notus.

Now it was, that Abraham began to multi­ply his Race, by the numerous addition of the Gentiles, call'd the sons of Promise; and we heretofore the undutiful children, who in our Ancestors shamefully degenerated from so saint­ly a Parent; enter this day upon the Possession [Page 15] of that glorious title, of the sons of Abraham, by inheriting his Faith; Intret in Patriarcharum familiam Gentium plenitudo, sayes St. Leo. The whole body of the Gentiles begin this day to be incorporated in the holy family of the Patriarchs: Electi generis dignitatem, fides omnibus facit esse communem. One Faith communicated to Jews and Gentiles, has rendred the dignity of being the Chosen people of God common to them both. Oh, inconceaveable Mercy! Oh ever to be ador'd Bounty! we, who as St. Paul observes out of the Prophet Hosea, Rom. 9. 25. were never yet honour'd so far, as to be own'd a people belonging to God, regarded by Pro­vidence, are this day honour'd both with the Title, and advantage, of being call'd and trea­ted as his Chosen People; Vocabo non plebem meam plebem meam. We, the Object of Hea­vens hatred for so many thousands of years, call'd the detested people of God; this day changed the dreadful quality of Enemy to God, into that of Friend and Favorite of Heaven, Vocabo—non dilectam, dilectam. We that seem'd excluded from any share in his Mercies, mark'd out, by his justice, for chastisement, and slaugh­ter; without hopes of Pity of Pardon, are this day the Object of his Love and Mercy; Vo­cabo—non misericordiam; consecutam, misericordiam consecutam. [Page 16] We, who, as the same Apostle ob­serves, had no title to claim any share in the Messias; Eratis sine Christo; never included in a­ny Ephes. 2. 12. treaty or covenant made with God, Hospi­tes testamentorum: So utterly abandon'd in all appearance, that he calls us people, for whom Providence seem'd not concern'd: Sine Deo in hoc mundo; without a God in this world. After these great and innumerable calamities, and scour­ges; after this fatal and long Oblivion of God and Heaven; after so many Ages being desti­tute of all efficacious means to Salvation; af­ter those seeming irreconcileable feuds of so antient a date, that divided us from the peo­ple of God, we are now miraculously united with his dearest Servants and Friends, in the same Faith, in the same Hope, in the same Messias; who is the common peace-maker between us both, ipse enim est pax nostra; who Epkes. 2. 14. has happily united us both, in one Church, in one Mystical Body; Qui fecit utraque unum. The antient separation, that kept us at such a distance both from God's people, and his King­dom; that dreadful wall, that hindred all communication with God and his Servants, is this day broken down; Medium parietem ma­ceriae solvens: No more distinction of Jew and and Gentile; Mercies are equally extended to [Page 17] them both; the so long hidden way to Hea­ven is now laid open to all; Jew and Gen­tile have free access by CHRIST to the Eternal FATHER, being directed by the same divine Spirit. Per ipsum habentes accessum Ver. 18. ambo, in uno spiritu ad patrem. These illegiti­mate children, these sons of bondage and sla­very; these dogs, as our Saviour himself styl'd them, shall be now call'd as they are, sayes St. Paul, Vocabuntur filii Dei vivi; Fellow Rom. 9. 26. Osee 1. 10. Ephes. 2. 19. Citizens with the Saints, and domesticks in the same House of God. Nay, he added, that we now are honoured, in being part of that sacred Structure, in which God himself pleases to reside, by his divine Spirit; Vos coaedificamini in Ver. 22. habitaculum Dei, in Spiritu. Those hearts that were defiled with all Impurities, those Powers that were prophan'd with all Enormities, those Souls that were possess'd by the Father of Darkness, deform'd, and hideous, as become his habitation; are now more Beautiful than the rising Sun; so enrich'd with all the orna­ments of Grace and Vertue; so happily beau­tifi'd and adorn'd, as to be chosen for that agreeable Mansion where God himself resides. Vos coaedificamini in habit aculum Dei. Did ever the divine Mercy work such wonders as in making such Enemies worthy to be his bosom Friends? [Page 18] Such hideous Monsters, Angels of Light; such sons of darkness, shining pillars in the Heaven­ly Hierusalem? This, without dispute, dear Christians, is the most eminent act of Bounty and Mercy, ever performed in the behalf of Man: But if abus'd by our Ingratitude, will make us the most Unfortunate of Creatures; as I shall prove in my Second Part.