MIRACLE OF MIRACLES.
(THE SECOND SEBMON.)
Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. — Isaiah VII. 14.
The occasion of these words we have heard. The church was in great dis- tress under two mighty kings, that threatened great matters ; but indeed were but two smoking firebrands, that went out of themselves. Ahaz, being a wicked king (and wickedness being always full of fears, fearful in trouble, though not before trouble, for they that be least fearful of trouble be most fearful in trouble), and God intending comfort to the church, the prophet bids him ask a sign. Ahaz, out of guiltiness of conscience and stubborn- ness together, would ask none. God intended to strengthen his faith, and he would not make advantage of the offer ; and therefore the prophet pro- miseth a sign, the grand sign, the sign of all signs, the miracle of all miracles, the incarnation of the Messiah.
Doct. By the way, I beseech you let me observe this : It is atheistical pro- faneness to despise any help, that God in his wisdom thinketh necessary to prop and shore*^ our weak faith withal. And therefore, when many out of confidence of their own graces and parts refuse the sacrament, — God know- ing better than ourselves we need it, — unless it be at one time of the year, and refuse the other ordinance of preaching, which God hath sanctified, they seem to know themselves better than God, who out of knowledge of our weakness, hath set apart these means for the strengthening of our graces. And as Ahaz, refusing God's help, provoked God by it, so these must know they shall not escape without judgment, for it is a tempting of God, and proceedeth from a bad spirit of pride and stubbornness.
How this promise of the Messiah could be a sign to them to comfort them, we spake at large. We will now deliver something by way of addi- tion and explication.
The house of David was afraid they should be extinct by these two great enemies of the church ; but, saith he, ' A virgin of the house of David shall conceive a son,' and how then can the house of David be extinct ? Secondly, heaven hath said it ; earth cannot disanul it. God hath said it, and all the creatures in the world cannot annihilate it. It was the promise made to Adam, when he was fallen. It run along to Abraham, and after- wards to the patriarchs ; so that it must needs be so. * That is, ' support.' — G.
118 MIRACLE OF MIRACLES.
It was the custom of the men of God, led by the Spirit of God, in these times, in any distress, to have recourse to the promise of the Messiah, as for other ends, so for this, to raise themselves up by an argument drawn from the greater to the less. God will give the Messiah, God will become man. * A virgin shall conceive a son ;' and therefore he will give you less mercies.
I note this by the way for this end, to teach us a sanctified manner of reasoning. Was it a strong argument before Christ's coming, the Messiah shall come, and therefore we may expect inferior blessings ? And shall not we make use of the same reason, now Christ is come in the flesh, and is triumphant in heaven ? ' God having given Christ, will he not give all things necessary whatsoever ?' Rom. viii. 32. Shall the reasonings before Christ's coming be of more force than these be, now Christ is come, and is in glory, appearing in heaven for us.
Beloved, it should be a shame to us, that we should not have the sancti- fied art of reasoning, to argue from the gift of Christ, to the giving of all things needful for us.
The ground of this reason is this. All other promises, whatsoever they are, are secondary to the grand fundamental promise of Christ. All pro- mises issue from a covenant founded in God-man. Now covenants come from love ; and love is founded in the first person, loved, and the founda- tion of all love. Therefore, if God giveth Christ the foundation of love, and out of love makes a covenant, and as branches of the covenant giveth many 'promises, then, having made good the main promise of all, Jesus Christ, will he not make good all the rest ? And therefore we should have often in our hearts and thoughts, the accomplishment of all promises in Christ, and from thence make use of the expectation of all inferior pro- mises ; for they issue from that love of God in Christ, which is fully mani- fested already.
We have spoken of the preface, ' Behold,' which is a word usually pre- fixed before all the passages of Christ; his birth, his resurrection, his coming again. And great reason.
For what do we usually behold with earnestness ? Rare things, new things, great things, especially if they be great to admiration, and that concern us nearly ; useful things, especially if they be present. And is any thing rarer than that, ' A virgin shall conceive, and bear a son' ? Then the incarnation of Christ. Never was the like in nature, never the like in heaven or earth, that God and man should be in one person. It is a rare thing, a new thing, it is great to wonderment ; and therefore in the ninth chapter of this prophecy, * His name shall be called Wonderful,' Isa. ix. 6, as in many other respects, so wonderful in his conception and birth.