Ans. Every grieving the Spirit of God is not that fatal sin. We grieve the Spirit when we sin against the illumination of it; the Spirit being grieved, may depart for a time, and carry away all its honey out of the hive, leaving the soul in darkness, Isa. 1. 10. But every grieving the Spirit is not the sin against the Holy Ghost. A child of God when he hath sinned, his lieart smites him; and he whose heart smites him for sin, hath not committed the unpardonable sin. A child of God having grieved the Spirit, doth as Noah, when the dove did fly out of the ark, he opened the windows of the ark to let it in again. A godly man doth not shut his heart against the Spirit, as a wicked man doth. Acts -vdi. 51. The Spirit of God would come in, he keeps him out ; but a gracious soul opens his heart to let in the Spirit, as Noah opened the door of the ark to let in the dove. Christian, is it not so with thee ? then be of good comfort, thou hast not sinned the sin against the Holy Ghost; that sin is a mali- cious despiting of the Spirit, which thou tremblest to think of.
Therefore, laying aside these arguments and disputes, whatever the diseases of the soul are, come to Christ for a cure, believe in his blood, and thou maycst be saved? You see what a skilful and able physician Christ is, what sovereign oils and balsams he hath, how willing he is to cure sick souls ; O then what remains, but that you cast yourselves upon his merits to heal and save you ! of all sins unbelief is the worst, because it cjists dis- paragement on Christ, as if he were not able to work a cure. O Christian, believe in thy
physician, John iii. 15. " That whosoever believeth in him shall not perish." Say as queen Esther, Esther iv. 16. "I will go in unto the king, which is not according to the law, and if I perish, I perish." So say. The Lord Jesus is a physician to heal me, I will adventure on his blood, if I perish, I perish. Queen Esther ventured against the law, she had no promise that the king would hold out the golden sceptre; but I have a promise which invites me to come to Christ : " He that comes imto me I will in no wise cast him out," John vi. 37. Faith is a healing grace: we read, when the Israelites were burying a man, for fear of the soldiers of the Moabites, they cast him for haste into the grave of Elisha; now the man, as soon as he was down, and had touched the dead body of the prophet, revived, and stood up on his feet, '2 Kings xiii. 21. So if a man be dead in sin, yet let him be cast in Christ's grave, and by faith touch Christ, who was dead and buried, he will revive, and his soul will be healed. Remember there is no way for a cure but by believing ; Christ himself will not avail us, Rom. iii. 25. " Whom God hatL set forth to be a propitiation through faith in- his blood." Faith is the applying of Christ's merits. A plaster, though it be ever so rare and excellent, yet if it be not applied to the wound, will do no good ; though the plaster be made of Christ's blood, yet it will not heal, unless applied by faith. The bra/en serpent was a sovereign remedy for the cure of those that were stung ; but if they had not look cd upon it, they received no benefit : So tho ugh there be a healing virtue in Christ, yet unless we look upon him by the eye of faith, we cannot be cured. Above all things labour for faith ; this is the all-healing grace ; this hand touching Christ fetcheth virtue from him.
Not that faith hath more worthiness than other graces ; but only it is influential, as it makes us one with Christ If a man had a stone in a ring that could cure many diseases, we say this ring heals; but it is not the ring, but the stone in that ring that doth the cure ; so faith saves and heals, not by its own virtue, but as it lays hold on Christ, and fetcheth down his sacred influences into- the soul. ^ ^
T.Vl
TPIE SOUL'S MALADY AND CUTIE.
t2. Tf Jesus Christ be a spiritual physician, let us labour to hasten the cure of our souls. Consider,
(1.) What a little time we have to stay here, and let that hasten the cure. Solomon saith, " There is a time to be born, and a time to die," Eccles. iii. 2. but mentions no time of living, as if that were so short that it were not worth the naming : the body is called a vessel, 1 Thess. iv. 4. This vessel is filled with breath, sickness broacheth it, and death draws it out. O hasten thy soul's cure, death is upon its swift march, and if tliat surprise you suddenly, there is no cure to be wrought in the grave, Eccl. ix. 10. " There is no work, nor device, nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest."