J. HE occasion of the words is set down in the context ; Levi was called from the receipt of custom (he was a custom-house man), but Christ called him, and there went out power wdth the word, " he left all, rose up, and fol- lowed him," ver. 28. Levi did not consult with flesh and blood, he did not say, " What shall I do for the hundred talents?" 2 Chron. XXV. 9. how shall I live and maintain my charge ? I shall lose many a sweet bit at the custom-house ; poverty is like to be my patrimony; nay, in case I follow Christ, I must espouse persecution ; he doth not reason thus; but having a call, he hastens away after Christ, " he rose up and followed him ; " and that he might give Christ a pledge and specimen of his love, he makes him a feast, ver. 29. " And Levi made him a great feast in his own house ; " a better guest he coidd not invite. . Christ always came with his cost; Levi feasted Christ with his cheer, and Christ feasted him with salvation. Well, Christ being at this feast, the Pharisees begin to murmur, ver. 30. " Why do ye eat and drink with publicans ? " The Pharisees, 1. were offended at him that he should go in and eat with publicans. The publicans were counted the worst of sinners ; sinners of the deepest dye ; yet the Pharisees were not so much offended at the sins of the publicans, as they had a mind to pick a quarrel with Christ. He who was the horn of salvation to some, was a rock of offence to these Jews ; others did feed on him, these did stumble at him. 2. They accuse Christ : for these words carry in them a charge and accusation, " Why do ye eat with publicans and sinners ? " The Pharisees impeached Christ for eating with sinners ; malice will never want matter of accusation. Though the devils proclaimed Christ's holiness, Luke iv. 34. " Let us alone, I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God." Yet the Pharisees tax him for a sinner : see what malice will do, it will make a man speak that which the devil himself will not speak. The devils justify Christ, the Pharisees accuse him. And Christ, who was
a Lamb without spot, could not escape the world's censm^es, no wonder if his people are loaded with the calumnies and censures oi the wicked.
But let us examine the matter of the charge they bring against Christ, and see how groundless it was. They indict Christ for going in with sinners.
First, Christ did nothing but what was according to his commission; the commis- sion he received from his Father, was, that he should come to save sinners, 1 Tim. i. 15.
Secondly, Christ went in with sinners, not to join with them in their sins, but to heal them of their sins ; to accuse Christ, was, as Austin saith, as if the physician should be accused, because he goes among them that are sick of the plague. This groundless ac- cusation Christ overhears, and in the text gives these envious Pharisees a silencing an- swer, " They that are whole need not a phy- sician, but they that are sick." As if Christ had said. You Pharisees think yourselves righteous persons, you need no Saviour ; but these poor publicans are sick and ready to die, and I come as a physician to cure them; therefore be not angry at a work of mercy ; though you will not be healed, yet do not hinder me from healing others. " They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick."
In the words there are two general parts :
1. The dying patients.
2. The healing physician.
1. The dying patients. Them that are sick. Whence observe,
Doct. 1. That sin is a soul-disease, Psal. ciii. 3. Isa. liii. 4. " He hath borne our griefs," in the Hebrew it is our sicknesses. Man at first was created in a healthful temper, he had no sickness of soul, he ailed nothing; the soul, in the Greek, had its eukrasia^ its perfect beauty and glory. The eye was clear, the heart pure, the affections tuned ^vith the finger of God into a most sweet harmony. God made man upright, Eccies.
THE SOUL'S MALADY AND CURE.
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vll. 29. ; but Adam, by eating the apple, fell Kick; and had died for ever, had not God found out a way for his recovery. For the ampli- fication of the doctrine, there are three things to be considered.
1. In what sense sin is resembled to sick- ness.
2. Wliat the diseases of the soul are.
3. That sin-sickness is the worst.
1. In what sense sin is resembled to sick- ness.
1. Sin may be compared to sickness for the manner of catching.
First, Sickness is caught often through carelessness; some get cold by leaving off clothes. So when Adam grew careless of God's command, and left off the garment of his innocency, he caught a sickness ; he could stay no longer in the garden, but lay bedrid ; his sin hath turned the world, which was a paradise, into an hospital.