Again, it hath force of a reason thus. The promise of our Messiah is the grand promise of all, and the cause of all promises ; for all promises made to the church, are either promises of Christ himself, or promises in him and for his sake, because he takes all promises from God, and con- veyeth them, and maketh them good to us. God maketh them, and per- formeth them in Christ and for Christ.
Now the reason stands thus, if God will give a Messiah, that shall be the * son of a virgin,' and ' Emmanuel,' certainly he will give you deliverance. He that will do the greater will do the less. What is the deliverance you desire to the promised deliverance from hell and damnation, and to the benefit by the Messiah, which you profess to hope for and believe?
_ The apostle himself, Rom. ii. 8, reasons thus : ' God, that spared not hjs own Son, but gave him to death for us all, how shall not he with him give us all things ? ' If God will give Christ to be Emmanuel and incarnate, he will not stand upon any other inferior promises or mercies whatsoever.
Obj. But you will say, this promise was to come ; and how could this confirm their faith for the present, that they should not be destroyed ?
Ans. I answer, In regard of his taking our nature, he was * to come,' yet Christ was always with his church before. They understood him in the 'manna;' he was the 'angel of the covenant.' They that were
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spiritually wise amongst the Jews, understood that he was the rock that went before them.
And again, it is usual in Scripture to give signs from things to come, as Isa. xxxvii. 30, 'The next year thou shalt eat that which groweth of itself,' &c., because where faith is, it maketh things ' to come ' all one as if they were present.
And so we should make this use of the grand promises of Christ to com- fort us against all petty matters and wants whatsoever. And to reason with the holy apostle, ' God spared not his only begotten Son, but gave him to death.' He hath given Christ, and will he not give things needful? Hath he given the greater, and will he stand with thee for the less ? This is a blessed kind of reasoning. And so to reason from other grand things promised. God shall raise my body out of the dust and the grave, and cannot he raise my body out of sickness, and my state out of trouble ? Cannot he raise the church out of misery ? So saith St Paul, 2 Cor. i. 9, ' God that raised Christ, restored me again, that had received the sentence of death,' When we receive sentence of death in our persons, look to him that raised Christ from the dead, and to the grand promises to come. They before Christ comforted themselves in times of all distress by the grand promise of Christ ' to come.' But now the Messiah is come. And which may much more strengthen our faith, he hath suffered, and given his body to death for us ; and therefore, why doubt we of God's good will in any petty matters whatsoever.
To come to the words more particularly, ' Behold, a virgin shall con- ceive, and bear a son,' &c.
You have diverse articles of our faith in these few words. As Christ's conception by the Holy Ghost, his being bor7i of the Virgin Mary,' &c. You have here the human nature of Christ, ' A virgin shall conceive, and bear a son.' And the divine nature of Christ, his name shall be called Emmanuel, which signifieth also his office, ' God with us ' by nature, and God with us by office, to set God and us at one. So you have divers points of divinity couched in the words, which I will only open suitable to the occasion.
* Behold.' This is the usual beacon set up, the usual harbinger to require our attendance* in all matters concerning Christ. And it hath a threefold force here. ' Behold,' as being a thing presented to the eye of faith. He mounteth over all the interim between the promise and the accomplishment, for faith know-eth no difference of times.
2. And then, it is to raise attention. ' Behold ;' it is a matter of great concernment.
3. And not only attention, but likewise admiration. f ' Behold,' a strange and admirable thing. For what stranger thing is there than that a virgin should conceive, that a virgin should be a mother, and that God should become man.
We had need of strong grace to apprehend these strange things. And therefore God hath provided a grace suitable, above reason, and above nature, and that is fiiith. Reason mocketh at this. The devil knoweth it and envieth it. The angels know, and wonder at it. The soul itself, without a grace suitable to the admirableness of the thing, can never apprehend it. And therefore, well may it be said, ' Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son.'
' Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear.' And why a virgin ? When God is to be born, it is fit for a virgin to be the mother. Christ was not * That is, ' attention.' — G. t That is, ' wonder.' — G.