Merry Christmas from Draw Near With Faith!
(And the Book of Homilies)
Dear friends,
Best wishes for a joyous Christmas! To help you keep the feast today, I wanted to share the end of “An Homily or Sermon Concerning the Nativity and Birth of Our Saviour Jesus Christ” from the Second Book of Homilies, the official sermon collection put forth by the Elizabethan church:
But for the better understanding and consideration of this thing, let us behold the end of his coming, so shall we perceive what great commodity and profit his nativity hath brought unto us miserable and sinful creatures. The end of his coming was to save and deliver his people, to fulfil the law for us, to bear witness unto the truth, to teach and preach the words of his Father, to give light unto the world, to call sinners to repentance, to refresh them that labour and be heavy laden, to cast out the prince of this world, to reconcile us in the body of his flesh, to dissolve the works of the devil, last of all to become a propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. These were the chief ends wherefore Christ became man, not for any profit that should come to himself thereby, but only for our sakes, that we might understand the will of God, be partakers of his heavenly light, be delivered out of the devil’s claws, released from the burden of sin, justified through faith in his blood and finally received up into everlasting glory, there to reign with him for ever. Was not this a great and singular love of Christ towards mankind, that being the express and lively image of God, he would notwithstanding humble himself and take upon him the form of a servant, and that only to save and redeem us? O how much are we bound to the goodness of God in this behalf! How many thanks and praises do we owe unto him for this our salvation, wrought by his dear and only Son Christ, who became a pilgrim in earth to make us citizens of heaven; who became the Son of man to make us the sons of God; who became obedient to the law, to deliver us from the curse of the law; who became poor to make us rich; vile to make us precious; subject to death to make us live for ever. What greater love could we silly creatures desire or wish to have at God’s hands?
Therefore, dearly beloved, let us not forget this exceeding love of our Lord and Saviour, let us not show ourselves unmindful or unthankful towards him, but let us love him, fear him, obey him and serve him. Let us confess him with our mouths, praise him with our tongues, believe on him with out hearts and glorify him with our good works. Christ is the light, let us receive the light. Christ is the truth, let us receive the truth. Christ is the way, let us follow the way. And because he is our only master, our only teacher, our only shepherd and chief captain, therefore let us become his servants, his scholars, his sheep and his soldiers. As for the sin, the flesh, the world and the devil, whose servants and bondslaves we were before Christ’s coming, let us utterly cast them off and defy them as the chief and only enemies of our soul. And seeing we are once delivered from their cruel tyranny by Christ, let us never fall into their hands again, lest we chance to be in worse case than ever we were before. ‘Happy are they,’ saith Scripture, ‘that continue to the end.’ ‘Be faithful,’ saith God, ‘until death and I will give thee a crown of life.’ Again he saith in another place: ‘He that putteth his hand unto the plough and looketh back is not meet for the kingdom of God.’ Therefore let us be strong, ‘steadfast and unmoveable, abounding always in the works of the Lord.’ Let us receive Christ not for a time, but for ever; let us believe his Word, not for a time but for ever; let us become his servants, not for a time but for ever; in consideration that he hath redeemed and saved us, not for a time but for ever; and will receive us into his heavenly kingdom, there to reign with him not for a time but for ever. To him therefore with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all honour, praise and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
May you indeed marvel today that Christ “became a pilgrim in earth to make us citizens of heaven; […] became the Son of man to make us the sons of God; […] became obedient to the law, to deliver us from the curse of the law; […] became poor to make us rich; vile to make us precious; subject to death to make us live for ever” — and may that wonder overflow into thanks and praise.