A brief remembrancer, or, The right improvement of Christ's birth-day. T. C. 1672 Approx. 8 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-IV TIFF page image. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2009-03 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). B01939 Wing C128A Interim Tract Supplement Guide C.20.f.4[178] 99885020 ocm99885020 182847 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. B01939) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 182847) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books; Tract supplement ; A4:2[179]) A brief remembrancer, or, The right improvement of Christ's birth-day. T. C. 1 sheet ([1] p.). Printed by E.T. and R.H. for William Miller at the Gilded Acorn in S. Pauls Church-Yard, near the Little North door, London, : 16[72]. Signed: Collected by T.C. "Licensed and entred [sic] according to order." Verse: "The glorious day doth now begin to dawn ..." Imperfect: cropped at foot affecting imprint; date of publication suggested by Wing. Reproduction of original in the British Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Jesus Christ -- Poetry -- Early works to 1800. Christmas -- Poetry -- Early works to 1800. 2008-03 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2008-05 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2008-06 John Pas Sampled and proofread 2008-06 John Pas Text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion A Brief REMEMBRANCER , OR , The Right IMPROVEMENT OF CHRIST'S BIRTH-DAY . THe Glorious Day doth now begin to dawn ; Now is the Curtain of thick darkness drawn : Now doth the Lord of all things condescend To take up in a Stable , and be pen'd Within a dirty Manger : Now thou' rt blest Ignorant Inn with this most Glorious Guest . And now the Saviour of the World 's reveal'd From Heaven to Shepherds watching in the Field . The Glory of an Angel did surround them : The Glory was so great , it did confound them . Fear not , said he , perceiving them afraid , Fear not all , be not at all dismay'd : 'T is Joyful Tydings that I come to bring , This Day is born your Sav'our and your King ; In Bethlehem you 'l find it as I said , The Babe's wrapt up , and in a Manger laid . And hardly had the Angel made an end , But there whole Quires of Angels did attend That King with Hallelujahs to adore , That sitteth on the Throne for evermore . Glory to God on High , Peace on the Earth , Good will to Men they Sung with holy Mirth . Then ran the Shepherds to the Town , and saw Mary and Joseph , and the Babe in Straw . They fill'd the Town with Fame ; and their Relation Fill'd all that heard the same with Admiration . But Mary pondr'd all things in her Heart : And they with Joy and Praise to God depart . Him at the Time prefixt they circumcis'd , Naming Him Jesus , as they were advis'd . Some Five Weeks after that , his Parents went Up to Jerusalem him to present . Now while they were i' th' Temple , came to them Old upright Simeon of Jerusalem . Who by the Spirit had been certifi'd Of seeing God's Anoynted , ere de dy'd . Fill'd with the Holy Ghost he came in hast , And in his Arms that Holy Child embrac'd . Now let thy Servant Lord ( said he ) decease According to thy holy Word in Peace ; For I have seen the thing I waited for , Now I have seen my LORD my Saviour . Anna , a Proph'tess also thither came To render Praise and Glory to his Name , Affirming Jesus to be Christ , to them That waited for him at Jerusalem . The Wise-men from the East enquire for one Born amongst them to sit on Judah's Throne : We 've seen said they the Star of your Great King , And came to worship with our offering . Herod's Amaz'd with this strange suddain News , With all the Learned Rabbies of the Jews : And having askt the Hebrew Doctors , where Messiah should be Born ? 't was made appear That Beth'lem was the Place : from Bethlehem Micah sends forth this Ruler over them . Then Herod , after private Conference About the Star's appearing , sent them thence : Desiring them to search and find him out , Then to Return , and tell him where about . But warn'd of God to flee the Tyrant , they Returned home again another way . But seeing he was mockt , in cursed Fury Resolves the Death of every Child in Jury . But the all-piercing Eye this secret views , And unto Joseph swiftly sends the News . Up ( said the Angel ) Take the Child , and 's Mother ; This place is not secure , go seek another . Herod hath Murd'rous thoughts , his rage is stir'd , Go dwell in Egypt , till I bring you word . Joseph obey'd , and there he stay'd , till thence God call'd his Son , as he had done long since . Christ's four Houses . His first House was the Blessed Virgin 's Womb ; The next a Cratch , the third a Cross , the fourth a Tomb. We often read our blessed Saviour wept ; But never laught , and seldom that he slept : Ah sure his heavy Eyes did wake and weep For us that sin , so oft , in mirth and sleep . O thou that wert the King of Heav'n and Earth , How mean was thy Attendance at thy Birth ! A Manger was thy Cradle , and a Stable Thy Privy Chamber , Marys Knees thy Table . Thieves were thy Courtiers , & the Cross thy Throne . Thy Dyet Gall ; A wreath of Thorns thy Crown ; All this the King of Glory endur'd and more , To make us Kings that Rebels were before . Faith in this Jesus is the substance of things not seen , and the Evidence of things hoped for : By which Faith Abel offered , Enoch was Translated , Noah warned and prepared an Ark , to the saving of him , and his condemning the World ; Abraham by this Faith , when called obeyed , and was a Sojourner in the Land of Promise ; Through Faith Sarah conceived when she was past Age ; After this Abraham being tryed offered up Isaac ; By Faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come ; By Faith Jacob when he was dying blessed the Sons of Joseph ; By Faith Joseph when he dyed made mention of the departure of Israel out of Egypt . By Faith Moses when he was born , was hid , and at Age refused to be called the Son of King Pharaoh's Daughter , rather chusing to suffer affliction with God's Israel in affliction ; For the Esteem of the reproach of Christ , he forsook Egypt , kept the Passeover , passed through the Red Sea. By Faith the Walls of Jericho fell , and Rahab the Harlot by Faith escaped . Faith upheld Gideon , Barak , Sampson , Jephtha , David , Samuel , and the Prophets , who through Faith subdued Kingdoms , obtained Promises , stopped the mouths of Lions , quenched the violence of Fire , &c. Women received their dead raised to life , others were tortured , others tryed with cruel mockings and scourgings , others were stoned , sawn asunder , tempted , slain with the sword ; And others wandred about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins being destitute , afflicted , tormented , of whom the World was not worthy ; they wandred in Desarts , and in Mountains , and in Dens and Caves of the Earth , and these all obtained a Good Report through Faith in this Jesus . Let the perished unbelieving Israelites mind you of Infidelity , and the condition of faln Angels reserved in chains awake you , the suffering Sodomites in eternal fire affright you to leave off these spots of feeding without fear , of drinking without measure : foam not out your own shame ; Leave off ungodly Deedes , hard Speeches , rash Censures ; Mock not at Piety , but hate the Garment spotted by the Flesh ; Oh all you that pretend to keep Christ's time and to observe Christ's Day , be in love with Christ's Wayes and Worship , which is in Spirit and Truth . Collected by T. C. Reader , there is Lately Extant Divine Examples of God's severe Judgments upon Sabbath-Breakers in their unlawsul Sports , Collected out of several Divine Subjects , viz , Mr. H. B. Mr. Beard , and the Practice of Piety : A fit Monument for our present Times , &c. Licensed and Entred According to Order London Printed by E. T. and R. H. for William Miller at the Gilded Acorn in S. Pauls Church-Yard , near the Little North door . 167●