We pause over this precious name, as well we may, before we presume to enter upon it, or to say what immense blessings are folded up in it. Who, indeed, can undertake to say? Nevertheless, if what we propose be wholly scriptural, and supported by Scripture authority, we can never err. And though our discoveries go but a little way, yet even that little way is blessed, when God the Holy Ghost goeth before us, and His voice is distinctly heard directing. (Isaiah 30:21) Concerning this blessed name of our adorable Lord, we find that it was given by the Lord himself, and that it was declared to be the Lord's sign to the house of David. (Isaiah 7:14) "Therefore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." The Hebrew word Almah, virgin, strictly and properly speaking, a virgin, who hath never been seen by man. The word implies hidden, kept in, and secret. St. Jerome makes a nice distinction on this ground, between the ordinary word, Bethula, a young woman, and Almah, a virgin. In this memorable passage of Isaiah 7:14 the word is Almah. But while I consider this distinction highly important, I beg the reader yet more particularly to consider the blessedness of the name itself of Emanuel, God with us. Sweet consideration to the heart of the believer! For as God, it is evident, that all he did when upon earth, and all that he is doing now in heaven, was, and is effectual to all the purposes of salvation. The infinite dignity of his person gives an infinite merit to his work, and cannot fail, both in his blood and righteousness, to justify his people, and render them truly acceptable in the sight of God their Father, and fully secure to them the everlasting blessedness and glory of heaven. And as He is man and God in our nature, so does his nearness and dearness give an interest to his people in all that belongs to him; yea, all the blessings come home with a tenfold sweetness to our hearts, because he is Emmanuel, God with us. God in our nature, and we the "members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones."