Luke 2:12 And this shall be a sign to you; You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. Make of the sign what ye will; it skills not what it be, never so mean. In the nature of a sign there is nothing, but it may be such; all is in the thing signified. So it carry us to a rich signature, and worth the finding, what matter how mean the sign be? We are sent to a crib, not to an empty crib; Christ is in it. Be the sign never so simple, the signature it carries us to makes amends. Any sign with such a signatnm. And I know not the man so squeamish, but if, in his stable and under his manger, there were a treasure hid, and he were sure of it, but thither he would, and pluck up the planks, and dig and rake for it, and be never a whir offended with the homeliness of the place. If, then, Christ be a treasure, as in Him are "all the treasures of the wisdom and bounty of God," what skills it what be His sign. With this, with any other, Christ is worth the finding. He is not worthy of Christ who will not go anywhither to find Christ. (Bishop Lancelot Andrewes.) Parallel Verses KJV: And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. |
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