He gives it, saith one, as a reason why he conversed so much with Publicans and sinners, and so little among the Pharisees, because there was more work for him ; Christ came to be a physician to sick souls ; Pharisees were so well in their own conceit, that Christ saw that they would have little to do with him, and so he applied himself to those who were more sensible of their sickness.
In the words, we have an account of the temper and state both of,
1. The secure and unconvinced sinner,
2. The humbled and convinced sinner. And,
3. Of the carriage of Christ, and his different respect to both. First, The secure sinner is here described, both with respect to
his own apprehensions of himself, as one that is whole, and also by his low value and esteem for Christ, he sees no need of him ; " The whole have no need of a physician."
Secondly, The convinced and humbled sinner is here also de- scribed, and that both by his state and condition, he is sick ; and by his valuation of Jesus Christ, he greatly needs him : tkey that are sick need the physician.
Thirdly, We have here Chrises carriage, and different respect to both ; the former he rejects and passeth by, as those with whom he hath no concernment ; the latter he converseth with in order to their cure.
The words thus opened, are fruitful in observations. I shall neither note nor insist upon any beside this one, which suits the scope of my discourse, viz.
Doct. That the Lord Jesus Christ is the only physician for side souls.
The world is a great hospital, full of sick and dying souls, all wounded by one and the same mortal weapon, sin. Some are sense- less of their misery, feel not their pains, value not a physician ; others are full of sense, as well as danger : mourn under the ap- prehension of then- condition, and sadly bewail it. The merciful God hath, in his abundant compassion to the perishing world, sent a physician from heaven, and given him his orders under the great seal of heaven, for his office, Isa. lxi. 1, S. which he opened and read in the audience of the people, Luke iv. 18. " The Spirit of ;: the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach M good tidings unto the meek, he hath sent me to bind up the * broken-hearted," &c. He is the tree of life, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations : he is Jehovah Rophe, the Lord that
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healeth us ; and that as he is Jehovah Tzidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. The brazen serpent that healed the Israelites in the wilderness, was an excellent type of our great physician, Christ, and is expressly applied to him, John iii. 14. He rejects none that come, and heals all whom he undertakes ; but more particularly, I will,
First, Point at those diseases which Christ heals in sick souls, and by what means he heals them.
Secondly, The excellency of this physician above all others : there is none like Christ, he is the only physican for wounded souls.
First, We will enquire into the diseases which Christ the phy- sician cures, and they are reducible to two heads, viz.
First, The disease of sin ; in which three things are found ex- ceeding burdensome to sick souls.
3. The inherence of sin ; all cured by this physician, and how. First, The guilt of sin ; this is a mortal wound, a stab in the
very heart of a poor sinner. It is a fond and groundless distinc- tion that Papists make of sins mortal and venial ; all sin, in its own nature is mortal, Rom. vi. 23. " The wages of sin is death."" Yet though it be so in its own nature, Christ can and doth cure it by the sovereign balsam of his own precious blood, Eph. i. 7. " In u whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness " of sins, according to the riches of his grace.1' This is the deepest and deadliest wound the soul of man feels in this world. What is guilt but the obligation of the soul to everlasting punish- ment and misery? It puts the soul under the sentence of God to eternal wrath ; the condemning sentence of the great and terrible God; than which, nothing is found more dreadful and insupport- able : put all pains, all poverty, all afflictions, all miseries, in one scale, and God's condemnation in the other, and you weigh but so many feathers against a talent of lead.
This disease, our great physician, Christ, cures, by remission, which is the dissolving of the obligation to punishment ; the loos- ing of the soul that was bound over to the wrath and condemnation of God, Col. i. 13, 14. Heb. vi. 12. Micah vii. 17, 18, 19. This remission being made, the soul is immediately cleared from all its obligations to punishment. Rom. viii. 1. "There is no condem- nation." All bonds are cancelled., the guilt of all sins is healed or removed, original and actual, great and small. This cure is performed upon souls by the blood of Ckrisi ; nothing is found in
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heaven or earth, besides his blood that is able to heal this disease. Heb. ix. 22. " Without shedding of blood there is no remission ;w nor is it any blood that will do it, but that only which dropped from the wounds of Christ. Isa. liii. 5. " By his stripes we are healed." His blood only is innocent and precious blood, 1 Pet. i. 19. blood of infinite worth and value ; blood of God, Acts xx. 18. blood prepared for this very purpose, Heb. x. 5. This is the blood that performs the cure ; and how great a cure is it ! for this cure, the souls of believers shall be praising and magnifying their great Phy- sician in heaven to all eternity, Rev. i. 5, 6. " To him that loved " us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, fyc. to him u be glory and dominion, for ever and ever.*
Secondly, The next evil in sin cured by Christ, is the dominion of it over the souls of poor sinners. Where sin is in dominion, the soul is in a very sad condition ; for it darkens the understanding, depraves the conscience, stiffens the will, hardens the heart, mis- places and disorders all the affections ; and thus every faculty is wounded by the power and dominion of sin over the soul. Hoay difficult is the cure of this disease ! It passes the skill of angels or men to heal it ; but Christ undertakes it, and makes a perfect cure of it at last, and this he doth by his Spirit. As he cures the guilt of sin by pouring out his blood for us ; so he cures the dominion of sin by pouring out his Spirit upon us. Justification is the cure of guilt, sanctification the cure of the dominion of sin. For,
First. As the dominion of sin darkens the understanding, 1 Cor. ii. 14. so the Spirit of holiness which Christ sheds upon his people, cures the darkness and blindness of that noble faculty, and restores it again, Eph. v. 8. They that were darkness are hereby light in the Lord ; the anointing of the Spirit teacheth them all things, 1 John ii. 27.