A Brief REMEMBRANCER, OR, The Right IMPROVEMENT OF CHRIST'S BIRTH-DAY.
THe Glorious Day doth now begin to dawn;
Now is the Curtain of thick darkness drawn:
Now doth the Lord of all things condescend
To take up in a Stable, and be pen'd
Within a dirty Manger: Now thou'rt blest
Ignorant Inn with this most Glorious Guest.
And now the Saviour of the World's reveal'd
From Heaven to Shepherds watching in the Field.
The Glory of an Angel did surround them:
The Glory was so great, it did confound them.
Fear not, said he, perceiving them afraid,
Fear not all, be not at all dismay'd:
'Tis Joyful Tydings that I come to bring,
This Day is born your Sav'our and your King;
In
Bethlehem you'l find it as I said,
The Babe's wrapt up, and in a Manger laid.
And hardly had the Angel made an end,
But there whole Quires of Angels did attend
That King with
Hallelujahs to adore,
That sitteth on the Throne for evermore.
Glory to God on High, Peace on the Earth,
Good will to Men they Sung with holy Mirth.
Then ran the Shepherds to the Town, and saw
Mary and
Joseph, and the Babe in Straw.
They fill'd the Town with Fame; and their Relation
Fill'd all that heard the same with Admiration.
But
Mary pondr'd all things in her Heart:
And they with Joy and Praise to God depart.
Him at the Time prefixt they circumcis'd,
Naming Him
Jesus, as they were advis'd.
Some Five Weeks after that, his Parents went
Up to
Jerusalem him to present.
Now while they were i'th' Temple, came to them
Old upright
Simeon of
Jerusalem.
Who by the Spirit had been certifi'd
Of seeing God's Anoynted, ere de dy'd.
Fill'd with the Holy Ghost he came in hast,
And in his Arms that Holy Child embrac'd.
Now let thy Servant Lord (said he) decease
According to thy holy Word in Peace;
For I have seen the thing I waited for,
Now I have seen my LORD my Saviour.
Anna, a Proph'tess also thither came
To render Praise and Glory to his Name,
Affirming
Jesus to be Christ, to them
That waited for him at
Jerusalem.
The Wise-men from the East enquire for one
Born amongst them to sit on
Judah's Throne:
We've seen said they the Star of your Great King,
And came to worship with our offering.
Herod's Amaz'd with this strange suddain News,
With all the Learned Rabbies of the
Jews:
And having askt the
Hebrew Doctors, where
Messiah should be Born? 'twas made appear
That
Beth'lem was the Place: from
Bethlehem
Micah sends forth this Ruler over them.
Then
Herod, after private Conference
About the Star's appearing, sent them thence:
Desiring them to search and find him out,
Then to Return, and tell him where about.
But warn'd of God to flee the Tyrant, they
Returned home again another way.
But seeing he was mockt, in cursed Fury
Resolves the Death of every Child in
Jury.
But the all-piercing Eye this secret views,
And unto
Joseph swiftly sends the News.
Up (said the Angel) Take the Child, and's Mother;
This place is not secure, go seek another.
Herod hath Murd'rous thoughts, his rage is stir'd,
Go dwell in
Egypt, till I bring you word.
Joseph obey'd, and there he stay'd, till thence
God call'd his Son, as he had done long since.
Christ's four Houses.
His first House was the Blessed Virgin's Womb;
The next a Cratch, the third a Cross, the fourth a Tomb.
We often read our blessed Saviour wept;
But never laught, and seldom that he slept:
Ah sure his heavy Eyes did wake and weep
For us that sin, so oft, in mirth and sleep.
O thou that wert the King of Heav'n and Earth,
How mean was thy Attendance at thy Birth!
A Manger was thy Cradle, and a Stable
Thy Privy Chamber,
Marys Knees thy Table.
Thieves were thy Courtiers, & the Cross thy Throne.
Thy Dyet Gall; A wreath of Thorns thy Crown;
All this the King of Glory endur'd and more,
To make us Kings that Rebels were before.
Faith in this
Jesus is the substance of things not seen, and the Evidence of things hoped for: By which Faith
Abel offered,
Enoch was Translated,
Noah warned and prepared an Ark, to the saving of him, and his condemning the World;
Abraham by this Faith, when called obeyed, and was a Sojourner in the Land of Promise; Through Faith
Sarah conceived when she was past Age; After this
Abraham being tryed offered up
Isaac; By Faith
Isaac blessed
Jacob and
Esau concerning things to come; By Faith
Jacob when he was dying blessed the Sons of
Joseph; By Faith
Joseph when he dyed made mention of the departure of
Israel out of
Egypt. By Faith
Moses when he was born, was hid, and at Age refused to be called the Son of King
Pharaoh's Daughter, rather chusing to suffer affliction with God's
Israel in affliction; For the Esteem of the reproach of Christ, he forsook
Egypt, kept the Passeover, passed through the Red Sea. By Faith the Walls of
Jericho fell, and
Rahab the Harlot by Faith escaped. Faith upheld
Gideon, Barak, Sampson, Jephtha, David, Samuel, and the Prophets, who through Faith subdued Kingdoms, obtained Promises, stopped the mouths of Lions, quenched the violence of Fire,
&c. Women received their dead raised to life, others were tortured, others tryed with cruel mockings and scourgings, others were stoned, sawn asunder, tempted, slain with the sword; And others wandred about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the World was not worthy; they wandred in Desarts, and in Mountains, and in Dens and Caves of the Earth, and these all obtained a Good Report through Faith in this
Jesus.
Let the perished unbelieving
Israelites mind you of Infidelity, and the condition of faln Angels reserved in chains awake you, the suffering
Sodomites in eternal fire affright you to leave off these spots of feeding without fear, of drinking without measure: foam not out your own shame; Leave off ungodly Deedes, hard Speeches, rash Censures; Mock not at Piety, but hate the Garment spotted by the Flesh; Oh all you that pretend to keep Christ's time and to observe Christ's Day, be in love with Christ's Wayes and Worship, which is in Spirit and Truth.
Collected by
T. C.
Reader, there is Lately Extant Divine Examples of God's severe Judgments upon Sabbath-Breakers in their unlawsul Sports, Collected out of several Divine Subjects,
viz, Mr.
H. B. Mr.
Beard, and the Practice of Piety: A fit Monument for our present Times,
&c.