he knew the children of the kingdom free, yet would pay tribute unto Cæsar; like the mother of him whom it behoved to fulfil all righteousness. And if she were so officious in ceremonies, as not to admit of any excuse in the very circumstance of her obedience, how much more strict was she in the main duties of morality! That soul is fit for the spiritual conception of Christ, that is conscionably scrupulous in observing all God's commandments; whereas he hates all alliance to a negligent or froward heart. The law of purification proclaims our uncleanness. The mother is not allowed, after her child-birth, to come unto the sanctuary, or to touch any hallowed thing, till her set time be expired. What are we, whose very birth infects the mother that bears us! At last she comes to the temple: but with sacrifices, either a lamb and a pigeon, or turtle, or (in the meaner estate) | two turtle-doves, or young pigeons, whereof one is for a burnt-offering, the other for a sin-offering: the one for thanksgiving, the other for expiation: for expiation of a double sin-of the mother that conceived, of the child that was conceived. We are all born sinners; and it is a just question, whether we do more infect the world, or the world us. They are gross flatterers of nature that tell her she is clean. If our lives had no sin, we bring enough with us: the very infant that lives not to sin as Adam, yet he sinned in Adam, and is sinful in himself. But, O the unspeakable mercy of our God! we provide the sin, he provides the remedy. Behold an expiation well nigh as early as our sin; the blood of a young lamb, or dove, yea, rather the blood of him whose innocence was represented by both, cleanseth us presently from our filthiness. First went circumcision, then came the sacrifice; that, by two holy acts, that which was naturally unholy might be hallowed unto God. Under the gospel, our baptism hath the force of both: it does away our corruption by the water of the Spirit; it applies to us the sacrifice of Christ's blood, whereby we are cleansed. O that we could magnify this goodness of our God, which hath not left our very infancy without redress, but hath provided helps whereby we may be delivered from the danger of our hereditary evils! Such is the favourable respect of our wise God, that he would not have us undo ourselves with devotion: the service he requires of us is ruled by our abilities. Every poor mother was not able to bring a lamb for her offering: there was no one so poor, | but might procure a pair of turtles or pigeons. These doth God both prescribe and accept from poorer hands, no less than the beasts of a thousand mountains. He looks for somewhat of every one, not of every one alike. Since it is he that makes differences of abilities, to whom it were as easy to make all rich, his mercy will make no difference in the acceptation. The truth and heartiness of obedience is that which he will crown in his meanest servants. A mite, from the poor widow, is more worth to him than the talents of the wealthy. After all the presents of those eastern worshippers, who intended rather homage than ditation, the blessed Virgin comes, in the form of poverty, with her two doves unto God: she could not without some charge lie all this while at Bethlehem; she could not without charge travel from Bethlehem to Jerusalem. Her offering confesseth her penury. The best are not ever the wealthiest. Who can despise any one for want, when the mother of Christ was not rich enough to bring a lamb for her purification? We may be as happy in russet as in tissue. While the blessed Virgin brought her son into the temple with that pair of doves. here were more doves than a pair. They, for whose sake that offering was brought, were more doves than the doves that were brought for that offering. Her son, for whom she brought that dove to be sacrificed, was that sacrifice which the dove represented. There was nothing in him but perfection of innocence: and the oblation of him is that whereby all mothers and sons are fully purified. Since in ourselves we cannot be innocent, happy are we, if we can have the spotless dove sacrificed for us, to make us innocent in him! The blessed Virgin had more business in the temple than her own; she came, as to purify herself, so as to present her son. Every male that first opened the womb was holy unto the Lord. He, that was the Son of God, by eternal generation before time, and by miraculous conception in time, was also, by common course of nature, consecrate unto God. It is fit the holy mother should present God with his own. Her first-born was the first-born of all creatures. It was he whose temple it was that he was presented in, to whom all the first-born of all creatures were consecrated, by whom they were accepted; and now is he brought in his mother's arms to his own house, and, as man, is presented to himself as God. If Moses had never written law of God's special propriety in the first-born, this Son of God's essence and love had taken possession of the temple: his right had been a perfect law to himself. Now his obedience to that law, which himself had given, doth no less call him thither, than the challenge of his pe culiar interest. CONTEMPLATION VI. HEROD AND THE WELL might these wise men have suspected Herod's secresy. If he had meant well, what needed that whispering? That which they published in the streets, he asks in his privy chamber: yet they, not misdoubting his intention, purpose to fulfil his charge. It could not, in their appre make their success known, that now both king and people might see it was not fancy that led them, but an assured revelation That God, which brought them thither, diverted them, and caused their eyes to shut, to guide them the best way home. He, that was the Lord of all creatures, ever since he struck the first-born of the Egyptians, requires the first male of all creatures, both man and beast, to be dedicated to him; wherein God caused a mira-hension, but be much honour to them to culous event to second nature, which seems to challenge the first and best for the Maker. By this rule God should have had his service done only by the heirs of Israel. But since God, for the honour and remuneration of Levi, had chosen out that tribe to minister unto him, now the first-born of all Israel must be presented to God as his due, but by allowance redeemed to their parents. As for beasts, the first male of the clean beasts must be sacrificed; of unclean, exchanged for a price. So much morality is there in this constitution of God, that the best of all kinds is fit to be consecrated to the Lord of all. Every thing we have is too good for us, if we think any thing we have too good for him. How glorious did the temple now seem, that the Owner was within the walls of it! Now was the hour and guest come, in regard whereof the second temple should surpass the first. This was his house, built for him, dedicated to him: there had he dwelt long in his spiritual presence, in his typical. There was nothing either placed, or done within those walls, whereby he was not resembled: and now the body of those shadows is come, and presents himself where he had been ever represented. Jerusalem is now everywhere. There is no church, no Christian heart, which is not a temple of the living God: there is no temple of God wherein Christ is not presented to his Father. Look upon him, O God, in whom thou art well pleased, and in him and for him be well pleased with us! These sages made a happy voyage; for now they grew into further acquaintance with God. They are honoured with a second messenger from heaven. They saw the star in the way, the angel in their bed: the star guided their journey unto Christ, the angel directed their return. They saw the star by day, a vision by night. God spake to their eyes by the star, he speaks to their heart by a dream. No doubt they had left much noise of Christ behind them. They, that did so publish his birth at Jerusalem, could not be silent when they found him at Bethlehem. If they had returned by Herod, I fear they had come short home. He, that meant death to the babe for the name of a king, could mean no other to those that honoured and proclaimed a new king, and erected a throne besides his. They had done what they came for: and now that God, whose busi. ness they came about, takes order at once for his Son's safety and for theirs. God, who is perfection itself, never begins any business but he makes an end, and ends happily. When our ways are his, there is no danger of miscarriage. Well did these wise men know the dif ference, as of stars, so of dreams: they had learned to distinguish between the natural and divine; and once apprehending God Under the gospel, we are all first-born, in their sleep, they follow him waking, and all heirs; every soul is to be holy unto the return another way. They were no subLord: we are a royal generation, a holy jects to Herod; his commands pressed them priesthood. Our baptism, as it is our cir- so much the less: or, if the being within cumcision, and our sacrifice of purification, his dominions had been no less bond than so it is also our presentation unto God. native subjection, yet, where God did counNothing can become us but holiness. O termand Herod, there could be no question God, to whom we are devoted, serve thy- whom to obey. They say not, "We are in self of us, glorify thyself by us, till we shall a strange country; Herod may meet with by thee be glorified with thee. us, it can be no less than death to mock him in his own territories;" but cheerfully put themselves upon the way, and trust God with the success. Where men command with God, we must obey men for God, and God in men; when against him, the best obedience is to deny obedience, and to turn our backs upon Herod. The wise men are safely arrived in the east, and fill the world full of expectation, as themselves are full of wonder. Joseph and Mary are returned with the babe to that Jerusalem, where the wise men had inquired for his birth. The city was doubt. less full of that rumour, and little thinks that he whom they talk of was so near them. From thence, they are, at least, in their way to Nazareth, where they purpose their abode. God prevents them by his angel, and sends them for safety into Egypt. Joseph was not wont to be so full of visions: It was not long since the angel appeared unto him, to justify the innocency of the mother, and the deity of the son: now he appears for the preservation of both, and a preservation by flight. Could Joseph now choose but think, "Is this the king that must save Israel, that needs to be saved by me? If ne be the Son of God, how is he subject to the violence of men? How is he Almighty, that must save himself by flight? or how must he fly, to save himself, out of that land which he comes to save?" But -faithful Joseph, having been once tutored by the angel, and having heard what the wise men said of the star, what Simeon and Anna said in the temple, labours not so much to reconcile his thoughts as to subject them; and, as one that knew it safer to suppress doubts than to confute them, can believe what he understands not, and can wonder where he cannot comprehend. O strange condition of the king of all the world! He could not be born in a baser estate; yet even this he cannot enjoy with safety. There was no room for him in Bethlehem; there will be no room for him in Judea. He is no sooner come to his own, than he must fly from them; that he may save them, he must avoid them. Had it not been easy for thee, O Saviour, to have acquitted thyself from Herod a thousand ways! What could an arm of flesh have done against the God of spirits! what had it been for thee to have sent Herod five years sooner unto his place! what to have commanded fire from heaven on those that should have come to apprehend thee, or to have bidden the earth to receive them alive, whom she meant to swallow dead! We suffer misery, because we must; thou, because thou wouldst. The same will that brought thee from heaven unto earth, sends thee from Jewry into Egypt. As thou wouldst be born mean and miserable, so thou wouldst live subject to human vexations; that thou, who hast taught us how good it is to bear the yoke even in our youth, might sanctify to us early afflictions. Or whether, O Father, since it was the purpose of thy wisdom to manifest thy Son by degrees unto the world, was it thy will thus to hide him for a time under our infirmity! And what other is our condition? We are no sooner born thine, than we are persecuted. If the church travail, and bring forth a male, she is in danger of the dragon's streams. What, do the members complain of the same measure which was offered to the Head? Both our births are accompanied with tears. Even of those whose mature age is full of trouble, yet the infancy is commonly quiet: but here life and toil began together. O blessed Virgin! even already did the sword begin to pierce thy soul. Thou, who wert forced to bear thy son in thy womb from Nazareth to Bethlehem, must now bear him in thy arms from Jewry into Egypt: yet couldst thou not complain of the way, whilst thy Saviour was with thee. His presence alone was able to make the stable a temple, Egypt a paradise, the way more pleasing than rest. But whither, then, oh whither dost thou carry that blessed burthen, by which thyself and the world are upholden? To Egypt, the slaughterhouse of God's people, the furnace of Israel's ancient affliction, the sink of the world. "Out of Egypt have I called my Son," saith the Lord. That thou calledst thy Son out of Egypt, O God, is no marvel. It is a marvel that thou calledst him into Egypt, but that we know all earths are thine, and all places and men are, like figures upon a table, such as thy disposi.. tion makes them. What a change is here! Israel, the first-born of God, flies out of Egypt into the promised land of Judea; Christ, the first-born of all creatures, flies from Judea into Egypt. Egypt is become the sanctuary, Judea the inquisition-house of the Son of God. He, that is everywhere the same, makes all places alike to his he makes the fiery furnace a gallery of pleasure, the lion's den a house of defence, the whale's belly a lodging chamber, Egypt a harbour. : He flies, that was able to preserve himself from danger, to teach us how lawfully we may fly from those dangers we cannot avoid otherwise. It is a thankless fortitude to offer our throat unto the knife. He that came to die for us, fled for his own preservation, and hath bid us follow him. "When they persecute you in one city, flee into another." We have but the use of our lives, and we are bound to husband them to the best advantage of God and his church. God hath made us, not as butts, to be perpetually shot at, but, as the marks of rovers, moveable, as the wind and the sun may best serve. 66 hearts. The command of their God, and the presence of Christ, makes amends for all. How long should they have thought it to see the temple of God, if they had not had the God of the temple with them! how long to present their sacrifices at the altar of God, if they had not had him with them which made all sacrifices accepted, and which did accept the sacrifice of their hearts! Herod was subtle in mocking the wise men, while he promised to worship him whom he meant to kill now God makes the wise men to mock him, in disappoint : It was warrant enough for Joseph and Mary, that God commands them to flee: yet so familiar is God grown with his approved servants, that he gives them the reason of his commanded flight: For Herod will seek the young child to destroying his expectation. It is just with God to him." What wicked men will do, what punish those which would beguile others they would do, is known unto God before- with illusion. Great spirits are so much hand. He that is so infinitely wise to know more impatient of disgrace. How did Hethe designs of his enemies before they are, rod now rage and fret, and vainly wish to could as easily prevent them, that they have met with those false spies, and tells might not be but he lets them run on in with what torments he would revenge their their own courses, that he may fetch glory treachery, and curses himself for trusting to himself out of their wickedness. strangers in so important a business! tant. : Good Joseph, having this charge in the night, stays not till the morning. No sooner had God said, Arise, than he starts up and sets forward. It was not diffidence, but obedience, that did so hasten his departure. The charge was direct, the business imporHe dares not linger for the light, but breaks his rest for the journey, and, *aking_advantage of the dark, departs toward Egypt. How knew he this occasion would abide any delay? We cannot be too speedy in the execution of God's commands; we may be too late. Here was no treasure to hide, no hangings to take down, no lands to secure: the poor carpenter needs do no more but lock the doors, and away. He goes lightly that wants a load. If there be more pleasure in abundance, there is more security in a mean estate. The bustard, or the ostrich, when he is pursued, can hardly get upon his wings; whereas the lark mounts with ease. The rich hath not so much advantage of the poor in enjoying, as the poor hath of the rich in leaving. Now is Joseph come down into Egypt. Egypt was beholden to the name, as that whereto it did owe no less than their universal preservation. Well might it repay this act of hospitality to that name and blood. The going down into Egypt had not so much difficulty as the staying there: their absence from their country was little better than a banishment. But what was this other, than to serve an apprenticeship in the house of bondage? To be any where, save at home, was irksome; but to be in Egypt so many years, amongst idolatrous pagans, must needs be painful to religious The tyrant's suspicion would not let him rest long. Ere many days he sends to inquire of them whom he sent to inquire of Christ. The notice of their secret departure increaseth his jealousy; and now his anger runs mad, and his fear proves desperate. All the infants of Bethlehem shall bleed for this one; and, that he may make sure work, he cuts out to himself large measures both of time and place. It was but very lately that the star appeared, that the wise men reappeared not. They asked for him that was born, they did not name when he was born. Herod, for more security, over-reaches their time, and fetches into the slaughter all the children of two years of age. The priests and scribes had told him the town of Bethlehem must be the place of the Messiah's nativity. He fetches in all the children of the coast adjoining; yea, his own shall for the time be a Bethlehemite. A tyrannous guiltiness never thinks itself safe, but ever seeks to assure itself in the excess of cruelty. Doubtless he, which so privily inquired for Christ, did as secretly brew this massacre. mothers were set with their children on their laps, feeding them with the breast, or talking to them in the familiar language of their love; when suddenly the executioner rushes in, and snatches them from their arms, and, at once pulling forth his commission and his knife, without regard to shrieks or tears, murders the innocent babe, and leaves the passionate mother in a mean between madness and death. What cursing of Herod! what wringing of hands! what condoling! what exclaiming! was now in the streets of Bethlehem! The O bloody Herod, that could sacrifice so | O Saviour, the humility of thine infancy many harmless lives to thine ambition! was answerable to that of thy birth. The What could those infants have done? If it more thou hidest and abasest thyself for us, were thy person whereof thou wert afraid, the more should we magnify thee, the more what likelihood was it thou couldst live till should we deject ourselves for thee. Unto those sucklings might endanger thee? This thee, with the Father, and the Holy Ghost, news might affect thy successors; it could be all honour and glory now and for ever. not concern thee, if the heat of an impotent Amen. and furious envy had not made thee thirsty of blood. It is not long that thou shalt enjoy this cruelty: after a few hateful years, thy soul shall feel the weight of so many innocents, of so many just curses. He, for whose sake thou killedst so many, shall strike thee with death; and then what wouldst thou have given to have been as one of those infants whom thou murderedst? In the meantime, when thine executioners returned and told thee of their impartial dispatch, thou smiledst to think how thou hadst defeated thy rival, and beguiled the star, and deluded the prophecies; while God in heaven, and his Son on earth, laugh thee to scorn, and make thy rage an occasion of further glory to him whom thou didst mean to suppress. He, that could take away the lives of others, cannot protract his own. Herod is now sent home. The coast is clear for the return of that holy family; now God calls them from their exile. Christ and his mother had not stayed so long out of the confines of the reputed visible church, but to teach us continuance under the cross. Sometimes God sees it good for us not to sip of the cup of affliction, but to make a diet-drink of it, for constant and common use. If he allow us no other liquor for many years, we must take it off cheerfully, and know that it is but the measure of our betters. Joseph and Mary stir not without a command: their departure, stay, removal, is ordered by the voice of God. If Egypt had been more tedious unto them, they durst not move their foot till they were bidden. It is good, in our own business, to follow reason or custom; but in God's business, if we have any other guide but himself, we presume, and cannot expect a blessing O the wonderful dispensation of God, in concealing of himself from men! Christ was now some five years old; he bears himself as an infant, and, knowing all things, neither takes nor gives notice of aught concerning his removal and disposing, but appoints that to be done by his angel, which the angel could not have done but by him. Since he would take our nature, he would be a perfect child, suppressing the manifestation and exercise of that Godhead whereto that infant nature was conjcined. Even so, BOOK II. CONTEMPLATION I.-CHRIST AMONG THE DOCTORS. EVEN the spring shews us what we may hope for of the tree in summer. In his nonage, therefore, would our Saviour give us a taste of his future proof; lest if his perfection should have shewed itself without warning to the world, it should have been entertained with more wonder than belief. Now this act of his childhood shall prepare the faith of men by fore-expectation. Notwithstanding all this early demonstration of his divine graces, the incredulous Jews could afterwards say, "Whence hath this man his wisdom and great works?" What would they have said, if he had suddenly leapt forth into the clear light of the world! The sun would dazzle all eyes, if he should break forth at his first rising into his full strength: now he hath both the day-star to go before him, and to bid men look for that glorious body, and the lively colours of the day to publish his approach; the eye is comforted, not hurt by his appearance. The parents of Christ went up yearly to Jerusalem, at the feast of the passover: the law was only for the males. I do not find the blessed Virgin bound to this voyage; the weaker sex received indulgence from God. Yet she, knowing the spiritual profit of that journey, takes pains voluntarily to measure that long way every year. Piety regards not any distinction of sexes or degrees; neither yet doth God's acceptation: rather doth it please the mercy of the Highest, more to reward that service, which though he like in all, yet out of favour he will not impose upon all. It could not be but that she, whom the Holy Ghost overshadowed, should be zealous of God's service. Those that will go no farther than they are dragged in their religious exercises, are no whit of kin to her whom all generations shall call blessed. The child Jesus, in the minority of his age, went up with his parents to the holy solemnity; not this year only, but in all |