Vol. I. pp. cxxv. for remarks of Fuller.
A MIRACLE
OF
MIRACLES:
OK,
Christ in our Nature.
Wherein is contained
The Wonderfull Conception, Birth,
and Life of Christ, who in the fulnesse of
time became man to satisfie divine Justice
and to make reconciliation between
God and Man.
Preached to the honourable Society of Grayes Inne, by that godly and faithfull Mi- nister of Jesus Christ, Richard Sibbes, D.D. Phil. 2. 5. He made himselfe of no reputation, and took upon him the forme of a servant, and was made in the likenesse of men.
LONDON, Printed by W. H. for John Rolhwell, at the Sign of the Beare and Fountaine in Cheapside, 1656.
G.
MIRACLE OF MIRACLES.
(FIRST SERMON.)
The Lord himself shall give a sign ; behold a virgin shall conceive, and hear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. — Isaiah VII. 14.
The Jews at this time were in a distressed condition, by reason of the siege of two kings, Resin and Pekah : the one the king of Syria, the other the king of Israel. Whereupon the prophet labours to comfort them, and tells them that these two kings were but as two fire-brands, that should waste and consume themselves, and then go out. For confirmation thereof, because he saw the heart both of king and people astonished, he biddeth them ' ask a sign of things in heaven or earth.' No, saith king Ahaz, 'I will not tempt God ; ' and making religion his pretence against religion, being a most wilful and wicked man, would not.
For he had framed an altar according to the altar which he had seen at Damascus, neglecting God's altar at Jerusalem as too plain and homely.
Man, unsubdued by the Sjyirit of God, admires the devices of men, and the fabric of his own brain.
And though this king was so fearful, that his heart, and the rest of their hearts, were ' as the leaves in the forest,' shaking, and trembling, and quaking at the presence of their enemies, and though he was surprised with fear and horror, seeing God his enem}^ and himself God's enemy, and that God intended him no good, yet he would go on in his own super- stitious course, having some secret confidence in league and affinity with other kings that were superstitious like himself. This, by the way.
We may learn by this wretched king, that those that are least fearful before danger are most haselij fearful in danger. He that was so confident and wilful out of danger, in danger, his heart was ' as the leaves of the forest.' For a wicked man in danger hath no hope from God, and therefore is incapable of any intercourse with him. He will trust the devil and his instruments, led with a superstitious* spirit, rather than God : as this king had more confidence in the king of Syria, that was his enemy, and so shewed himself after, than in God. It is the nature of flesh and blood, being not sanctified by God, to trust in this means and that means, this carnal help and that carnal help, ' a reed of Egypt,' yea, the devil and lies, rather than to God himself.
The prophet, in an holy indignation for the refusing of a sign to confirm * Cf. Acts xvii. 22.— G.
108 MIRACLE OF MIRACLES.
his faith that these kings should not do the church harm, breaketh forth thus : Know, 0 house of David, ' is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also ? ' God offers you a sign out of his love, and you dislike and contemn his blessed bounty. Therefore ' the Lord hims"^elf shall give you a sign.' What is that ? ' A virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.'
From the inference, we may see the conflict between the infinite goodness of God and the injiexihle stubbornness of man ; God's goodness striving with man's badness. When they would have no sign, yet God will give them a sign. His goodness overcometh and out-wrestleth in the contention man's sinful strivings, his mercy prevails against man's malice.
To come to the text itself. ' Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel.' It was not so much a sign for the present, as a promise of a miraculous benefit, which was to be pre- sented almost eight hundred years after the prophet spake these words, even the incarnation of Christ, a miracle of miracles, a benefit of benefits, and the cause of all benefits. He fetcheth comfort against the present dis- tress from a benefit to come. And to shew how this can be a ground of comfort at this time of distress, ' that a virgin shall conceive,' we must know that ' Christ was the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world,' Rev. xiii. 8. All the godly of the Jews knew it well enough, the Messiah being all their comfort. They knew that he was ' yesterday and to-day, and shall be the same for ever.' The church had in all times comfort from Christ. Prof ait antequam fait : he did good before he was exhibited in the world.
And thus the prophet applies the comfort to the house of David : ' A virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, who shall be of the family of David.' And therefore the house of David shall not be extinct and dissolved. The reason is strong. You of the house of David are in fear that your kingdom and nation shall be destroyed ; but know that the Messiah must come of a virgin, and of the house of David. And considering this mus certainly come to pass, why do ye fear, ye house of David ?