A Preparation for CHRISTMAS, OR The Pious Soul sighing out an Oblation of Praise and Wonder on that Miracle of Divine Love The Incarnation of Her SAVIOUR.  
To which is Added A HYMN on the same Occasion.  
By R. B.  
LONDON, Printed for G. Widows at the Green Dragon in St. Paul's Churchyard, 1674.   

A Christian Meditation on CHRITSMASS, etc.  
IS the wonderful Nativity of my blessed Saviour this day commemorated by a solemn Festival, and shall my stupid Soul not endeavour by some awakening Meditations, to blow the sparks of her gratitude into flames of Love and Wonder for such a Miracle of mercy?  
Festivals; 'tis true, are proper seasons of Mirth and Gladness, nor does Religion delight in that Sour look and unsociable posture wherein sly Hypocrites represent her; 'tis possible the Conduit on some occasions may lawfully run waist, and since a good Conscience is a continual Feast, there is no doubt but we may be Merry with it; yet certainly he who only minds his Good Ch●er in this days Solemnity speak; himself more an Epicure than a Christian, and may be said to celebrate Bacchus his drunken Revels, rather than the Birth of the Holy Jesus.  
This was that glorious Moment which God in infinite mercy had promised our first Parents immediately after their unhappy Fall from primitive Innocence, and which the Church had now sighed for, near four thousand years, wherein was born the expectation of Nations, and the long longed for Redeemer of the World, did (as his Prophetic Harbingers had foretold) rend the Heavens, and come down from Mansions of Glory in the vesture of Humanity; Thou, Oh my dearest Lord! that by the virtue of the highest, were conceived in the womb of an Inviolate Virgin, of all women the m●st blessed, and yet more blessed by being thy Daughter and thy Servant, than in being thy Mother.  
Thou at whose Birth the whole Choir of Heaven did sing Hallelujahs, and Angels in kindness to mankind, made haste to acquaint ever Shepherds with the blessed News; But on my God why wouldst thou be first made known to the meanest condition of men? Why were they sent to see their Saviour, not in some gorgeous Palace but in the ailest Room of a common Inn? And (instead of a Cradle decked with rich Embroideries) lying in a despicable Manger? Way didst thou not choose for the place of thy blessed Mother's Delivery, either Athens the Learned, or Rome the Imperial, or Jerusalem the holy City? Or since poor Bethlehem to verify thy Prophet's prediction, must receive that Honour; Why didst Thou not send Millions of Cherubins and Seraphins before thee for thy glorious Harbingers?  
No my God It was thy Will, it was thy Will (which is the highest of Reasons) by thy low beginning in the Flesh to confound all Pride, and reach the glories of the Earth to Blush. Disobedient Adam had destroyed us by Ambition, and thou wilt Save us by thy Humility: He thinking to become like God, had precipitated us all into an Abyss of Death and Misery, and thou, the God of Compassions by becoming like to Man, hast restored us to Life Eternal.  
Yet thu● privately born, and thus homely received, denied admittance into the Inn, and forced by worse than brutish men, to take up a lodging amongst Beasts; Behold a new Star descending to Illustrate thy Obscurity, and conduct the wise men of the East (now wise indeed) with their choicest presents to Adore thee: On strange appearance in the Heavens! and yet one more strange and glorious on the Earth! Did ever Hippocritus, Ptotomy, the famous▪ Tresmegist or the greater Moses, or all the Egyptian Stargazers ever contemplate before such a Planet? So Irregular! so Excentrical, and yet constant to its designed end▪ as if the Celestial lights has forsaken their proper ●●●ions and natural positions to welcome the Lord of all Nature into the World! Thus, oh my Lord! didst thou descend to Earth, that thou mayst raise us to Heaven, Envelloping thyself in clouds of Obscurity, to Crown us with Light and Immortality, participating of humane Nature, that we might partake of that Divine, and clothing thyself with our Flesh, that we might be invested with thy Spirit.  
In the whole course of thy precious Life, what shall I first, what shall I most admire? All is Wonder, all Amazement, and forces my nonplussed Reason in a holy Ecstasy to that Sanctuary of thy servant Paul; Oh the Height! oh the Depth! etc. Shall I first celebrate Thy ever blessed Name, for convincing the great Doctors of the Law at twelve years of thine Age? When thy divine Essence began to Blaze, which had lain before as it were slumbering in the vail of thy Humanity? Or shall I pass from this miracle of Knowledge to thy miracles of Charity, in healing the Blind, the Lame, the Deaf, the Dumb? Or shall I more contemplate the Acts of thy Power, in checking the unruly Winds unto a calm; walking on the Waves, raising the Dead, and casting forth unclean Spirits! Or shall I remain Stupifyed (as all the Learnedest part of the World was, which lay grovelling in the contemplation of inferior Causes) that at thy coming, all their false Oracles; and prophetic Delusions were strucken mute, and no more answers could be had from Delphos or Hammon? Or shall I run my thoughts from thy Cradle to thy Cross, and consider how at thy passion all Nature did suffer, the Earch shaking; Graves opening; and the Heavens by a Preternatural Eclispe of the Sun all over Enveloped with an affrighting Darkness? Or lastly; after thou hadst Triumphed over Death and Hell (whose Keys are in thy Hand alone) shall I glorify thy Assumption into the highest Heavens?  
Yes, blessed Lord! all this and much more there is than the whole World can contain if it were Written; Yet one thing remains even after thy glorious Departure, for the comfort of our Souls, that thou hast dispensed thy saving Doctrine, not by Eloquent Sophists, or subtle Schoolmen (such as have since distracted and torn thy Church in pieces) but by the simplest and seemingly contemptible Instruments, so that it must needs be thy Divine truth since it was impressed by no humane means: How should we have known, or how should we have apprehended thy eternal Generation? If thou hadst not been pleased to vouchsafe a silly Fitherman to lean on thy Breast, and inspire him to tell us, That In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  
Therefore to Thee, Thou Incarnate Word! do we with an humble confidence, Address ourselves disowning all other Mediators; Thou only true Messiah! The wisdom of the Father in whom all Prophecies are accomplished, and the Will of God, and Desires of Men fulfilled; teach us to contemplate thy Nativity, not vainly or Superficially as we do a curious Picture or pleasant History, but to improve the same to the advantage of our Souls; Let the meditation of thy Birth, inflame us with desires to be born again, and may we read in thy Incarnation, the true model of our own Regeneration. Look down upon us thy unworthy Creatures, from thy Throne of Glory: Teach us thy Love, but such a Love, as doth fear to offend thee; teach us thy Fear, but such a Fear as first doth love thee; And endue us with thy Grace, whilst by thy Permission we walk on this Globe which thy blessed Feet have trodden, to Solemnize this Day of thy Nativity, not with vain Delights or wanton Jollities, but with Hymns of Joy, and Meditations of like Comfort.   

A Hymn for CHRISTMAS.  

HAil sacred Tide.  
Wherein a Bride:  
A Virgin which is more,  
Brought forth a Son  
The like was done  
ne'er in the World before.   

Let none upbraid  
This Blessed maid  
Nor yet to her Address,  
Worship which She  
Must blush to see,  
And modestly wish Less,   

Her womb most   
Nine Months embraced  
Him whom nor Earth nor Air  
Nor the vast mould  
Of Heaven, can hold;  
Cause he's Ubiquitair.   

Oh! would he Deign  
To come and Reign,   

I'th' centre of my heart  
And make it still  
His Domicil,  
And residence in part.   

But in s● foul a Cell  
Can he abide to dwell?  
Yes, when he please to move,  
His Harbingers to sweep the Room,  
And with rich Odours it perfume,  
Of Faith, of Hope and Love.    
FINIS.