The Blessed Birth-day celebrated in some religious meditations on the Angels Anthem. Lvc. 2. 14. Also holy transportations, in contemplating some of the most obserueable adiuncts about our Saviours Nativity. Extracted for the most part out of the Sacred Scriptures, Ancient Fathers, Christian Poets. And some moderne Approved Authors. By Charles Fitz-Geffry. The second Edition with Additions |
 |
|
| I. |
| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| V. |
| VI. |
| VII. |
| VIII. |
| IX. |
| X. |
| XI. |
| XII. |
| XIII. |
| XIV. |
| XV. |
| XVI. |
 | The Blessed Birth-day |  |
Behold a Mother, yet a Virgin still,
Whose wombe not lust, but liuely faith did fill.
Before, and in, and after birth a maid,
Of whom mong all her sexe it may be said,
Th'inioy'd by bringing forth that heavenly Boy,
A virgins honour, with a mothers ioy.
Behold a maid who in her wombe did beare,
A sonne: and him conceiued by the Eare,
Not by the womb. The Angels tongue the seed
Doth cast: she heares, beleeues, and so doth breed.
A liuing soule and flesh doth loade her wombe,
Which not from flesh, but from the spirit doth come.
God for a time in a maids belly dwells,
Whose belly not by flesh but spirit swels:
Man without man by heavenly overshade
Is of a woman, in a woman made.
Whose wombe not lust, but liuely faith did fill.
Before, and in, and after birth a maid,
Of whom mong all her sexe it may be said,
Th'inioy'd by bringing forth that heavenly Boy,
A virgins honour, with a mothers ioy.
Behold a maid who in her wombe did beare,
A sonne: and him conceiued by the Eare,
Not by the womb. The Angels tongue the seed
Doth cast: she heares, beleeues, and so doth breed.
A liuing soule and flesh doth loade her wombe,
Which not from flesh, but from the spirit doth come.
God for a time in a maids belly dwells,
Whose belly not by flesh but spirit swels:
Man without man by heavenly overshade
Is of a woman, in a woman made.
Behold a field which nere by man was tild,
Wheat whence is made the bread of life, doth yeild.
Thus ere the heavens did showres on earth distill,
A mist her pregnant wombe with fruit did fill.
Thus Gedeons fleece was moist when all was drie,
And dry when all about it moist did lie:
And thus on Aarons rod ripe Almonds grew
Not set in Earth, nor moistned with the dew:
And thus from Maries wombe, a Plant proceeded,
Which neither planting neither watring needed:
Thus Moses bush sent forth a flaming fume
And burning did not with the fire consume.
So did faiths fire the Virgins heart inflame,
And yet abolisht not her Virgin name:
Her swelling belly nothing did abate
Th'entirenesse of her maidenheads estate.
Wheat whence is made the bread of life, doth yeild.
Thus ere the heavens did showres on earth distill,
A mist her pregnant wombe with fruit did fill.
16
And dry when all about it moist did lie:
And thus on Aarons rod ripe Almonds grew
Not set in Earth, nor moistned with the dew:
And thus from Maries wombe, a Plant proceeded,
Which neither planting neither watring needed:
Thus Moses bush sent forth a flaming fume
And burning did not with the fire consume.
So did faiths fire the Virgins heart inflame,
And yet abolisht not her Virgin name:
Her swelling belly nothing did abate
Th'entirenesse of her maidenheads estate.
Never till now two Phenixes were seene
At once: For this the vsuall course hath beene,
(If all be true that Naturalists haue told)
The young ones birth brings death vnto the old:
One Phenix here an other forth doth bring,
And yet her selfe is sau'd from perishing:
The Mother there dies to produce an other,
But here the child must dye to saue the Mother,
The young one must himselfe of life depriue
Or else the mother-Phænix cannot liue.
At once: For this the vsuall course hath beene,
(If all be true that Naturalists haue told)
The young ones birth brings death vnto the old:
One Phenix here an other forth doth bring,
And yet her selfe is sau'd from perishing:
The Mother there dies to produce an other,
But here the child must dye to saue the Mother,
The young one must himselfe of life depriue
Or else the mother-Phænix cannot liue.
If thou O man doest aske how this may be;
The same which answered her must answere thee,
When of the messenger she did demand
How this with possibility might stand,
That she should haue a Manchild of her owne,
Who never man in all her life had knowne:
All things are possible with God: whose skill
And power to worke, are equall with his will.
He who at first to frame a man did need
Neither a Mothers wombe, nor Fathers seede,
Could he not now frame in a Virgins wombe,
A Child which from no Fathers seede should come?
Could not the same who first made man of earth,
Procure a Virgin to bring forth a birth?
He who a woman of a man could frame
Without a Womans helpe, could not the same,
A perfect man now of a Woman make,
One who no man should for his Father take?
Let this suffice: the reason of the deed
Doth from the doers will and power proceed:
Consider who it is that wrought the fact,
Once know the Author, doubt not of the act.
But for the Act the Author magnifie,
Joyning with th'Angels in their melodie:
Glory to God on high, on earth be peace,
And let good will t'wards Christians never cease.
The same which answered her must answere thee,
When of the messenger she did demand
How this with possibility might stand,
That she should haue a Manchild of her owne,
17
All things are possible with God: whose skill
And power to worke, are equall with his will.
He who at first to frame a man did need
Neither a Mothers wombe, nor Fathers seede,
Could he not now frame in a Virgins wombe,
A Child which from no Fathers seede should come?
Could not the same who first made man of earth,
Procure a Virgin to bring forth a birth?
He who a woman of a man could frame
Without a Womans helpe, could not the same,
A perfect man now of a Woman make,
One who no man should for his Father take?
Let this suffice: the reason of the deed
Doth from the doers will and power proceed:
Consider who it is that wrought the fact,
Once know the Author, doubt not of the act.
But for the Act the Author magnifie,
Joyning with th'Angels in their melodie:
Glory to God on high, on earth be peace,
And let good will t'wards Christians never cease.
| The Blessed Birth-day | |