110 MIRACLE OF MIRACLES.
to come by the ordinary way of propagation. He was to covaQfrom Adam, but not hj Adam; for he was to be sanctified by the Holy Ghost.^ Because he was indeed to be a sacrifice, and he must be without spot or sin himself, that was to ofier himself for the sins of others. Therefore the foundation and ground of his nature must be pure and clean ; and that is the founda- tion of all the purity of his life and conversation, and therefore a virgin.
This was typified in Aaron's rod, which budded though it had no root. No juice could come from a dry stick, yet by an almighty power the rod did bud. And so Moses's bush. It burned and did not consume. And that God that caused those things, caused a virgin to be a mother.
He enters into the womb of a virgin without any defilement at all, con- sidering the Holy Ghost, from the Father and the Son, did purge and purify and sanctify that mass whereof the blessed body of our Saviour was made. The virgin aflbrded the matter, but the wise framer was the Holy Ghost. She w^as passive, the Holy Ghost was the agent.
Now, when did the virgin conceive ? When upon the angel's coming to her and telling her ' that she was greatly beloved,' and that she should conceive ; she assented, ' Be it so as the Lord hath spoken,' Luke i. 38. "When she assented to the word, presently Christ was conceived ; her faith and her womb conceived together. When her heart did conceive the truth of the promise, and yielded assent thereunto, her womb conceived at the same time also.
Ohs. From hence learn something for ourselves : It had been to little pur- pose though a tirgln conceived Christ, unless Christ had been conceived like- ivise in her heart. And there is no benefit by virtue of this conception to others, but to such as conceive Christ in their hearts also.
To which end our hearts must be in some measure made virgin hearts, pure hearts, hearts fi.t to receive Christ.
We must assent to promises of pardon and of life everlasting : ' Be it as the Lord saith.' A Christian is a Christian, and Christ liveth in his heart, at the time of the assenting to the promise. So that if you ask, When doth Christ first live in a Christian's heart ? I answer, then, when the heart yieldeth a fiirm assent to the gracious promises made in Christ for the pardoning of sins and acceptation to the favour of God, and title and interest to life everlasting. For faith is the birth of the heart.
Christ was conceived in the womb of an humble and believing virgin. So that heart that will conceive Christ aright, must be a humble and believing heart : humble, to deny himself in all things ; and believing, to go out of itself to the promises of God in Christ. When God by his Spirit hath brought our hearts to be humble and believing, to go out of themselves and believe in him, rest upon him and his promises, then Christ is conceived in our heart.
' Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and hear a son.' Here is the birth of Christ as well as the conception. Christ must not only be conceived in the womb, but also brought forth, because God must be manifested in the flesh ; as St Paul saith, ' Great is the mystery of godliness, God manifested in the flesh,' 1 Tim. iii. 16. If he had only been conceived, and not brought forth, he had not been manifested. He was to do all things that befitted a Mediator.
And therefore he went along with us in all the passages of our lives. He was conceived as we are, remained in the womb so many months, born as weare born, brought into the light as we are ; away therefore with idle, monkish devices and fond conceits, that affirm the contrary !
THE FIRST SERMON. HI
He was like to us in all things, ' sin excepted ;' conceived, brought forth, hung upon the breast as we, an infant as we ; hungry, and thirsty, and suf- fered as we.
And as he was in all things like to us,, so in everything that was in him there was something extraordinary ; as he was a man like to us, so he was an extraordinary man. He was conceived, but of a virgin, which is extra- ordinary. He was born as we are, but there his star appeared, and the wise men came to adore and worship him. He was poor as we are, but there were beams of his Godhead appeared. When he was poor, ' he could command a fish to furnish him,' Mat. xvii. 27. He died as we die, but he made the ' earth to quake, the veil of the temple to rend,' when he triumphed on the cross, Mai. xxvii. 51. All which declared he was more than an ordinary person.
And so we must all conceive Christ, and bear Christ in our words and actions. It must appear that Christ liveth in us ; it must appear out- wardly to man what we are inwardly to God. Our whole outward life must be nothing but a discovery of Christ living in us. 'I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me,' saith St Paul, Gal. ii. 20; which should appear by word, conversation, and action. Our lives should be nothing but an acting of Christ living in our souls.