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 |
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 | The Blessed Birth-day |  |
Come Faith and fathome the profundities,
Of these so secret sacred misteries:
The line of Reason is too short to sound
This sea, which neither bottome hath nor bound:
All learning here is pos'd, all wit to seeke,
Doctors and dunces here are learn'd alike:
The wisest here no wiser are then fooles;
Christ in a Stall was borne not in the Schooles.
His byrth by th'Angell was not first made knowne
To Scribes and Rabbins, but to Sheapheards showne
People who in simplicity did liue,
Dispute they could not, but they could belieue.
Vnto his feast which was for all men fitted
The Wisemen were the last that were admitted:
Who humbly did fall downe when they were come,
Their humane wisdome they did leaue at home;
And this their great inviter more contented,
Then all the pretious presents they presented.
True wisdome doth her feast for none prepare
Saue such as of their owne first emptied are:
These shee dismisseth full, but such as come
Full vnto her shee sendeth empty home:
The simple she invites, it is her guise
To take the foolish and to make them wise.
Had not these Sages faith 'boue wisdome priz'd
To come so farre to Christ they had despis'd:
Had they not come their empty pailes to fill
At wisdomes well, they had beene empty still:
And had they not from him true wisdome gain'd,
For all their owne, they had but fooles remain'd.
Come we with them, and let Faith come with vs,
Which doth beleeue, adore, and not discusse,
A better present to our heavenly King
Then Gold, then Myrrhe, then Frankinsense wee bring:
All which faith offers, when it doth beleeue
The deed, and to the doer praise doth giue
For that whereof it can no reason render.
The true beleever is the best commender
Of Gods all wondrous works, most glory bringing
When with the blessed spirits hee fals a singing,
Glory to God on high, on earth be peace,
And let good will t'wards Christians never cease.
Of these so secret sacred misteries:
The line of Reason is too short to sound
This sea, which neither bottome hath nor bound:
All learning here is pos'd, all wit to seeke,
Doctors and dunces here are learn'd alike:
The wisest here no wiser are then fooles;
Christ in a Stall was borne not in the Schooles.
His byrth by th'Angell was not first made knowne
To Scribes and Rabbins, but to Sheapheards showne
People who in simplicity did liue,
Dispute they could not, but they could belieue.
Vnto his feast which was for all men fitted
The Wisemen were the last that were admitted:
Who humbly did fall downe when they were come,
Their humane wisdome they did leaue at home;
And this their great inviter more contented,
Then all the pretious presents they presented.
True wisdome doth her feast for none prepare
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These shee dismisseth full, but such as come
Full vnto her shee sendeth empty home:
The simple she invites, it is her guise
To take the foolish and to make them wise.
Had not these Sages faith 'boue wisdome priz'd
To come so farre to Christ they had despis'd:
Had they not come their empty pailes to fill
At wisdomes well, they had beene empty still:
And had they not from him true wisdome gain'd,
For all their owne, they had but fooles remain'd.
Come we with them, and let Faith come with vs,
Which doth beleeue, adore, and not discusse,
A better present to our heavenly King
Then Gold, then Myrrhe, then Frankinsense wee bring:
All which faith offers, when it doth beleeue
The deed, and to the doer praise doth giue
For that whereof it can no reason render.
The true beleever is the best commender
Of Gods all wondrous works, most glory bringing
When with the blessed spirits hee fals a singing,
Glory to God on high, on earth be peace,
And let good will t'wards Christians never cease.
| The Blessed Birth-day | |