Sermons on Isaiah 11:1-10, Sermon 3
Soul-healing vertue in Chriſt to the broken in heart. SERMON III.
PSAL. 147.3.
He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.
THe holy Prophet ſtirreth up his own heart, and the hearts of others from the conſideration of the glorious attributes and works of the Lord, to praiſe his great Name: and amongſt theſe works for the manifeſtation of his compaſſion and mercy toward poor mourning ſinners; becauſe he healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds: This our bleſſed Lord applyeth to himſelf as a work of mercy, common to him with the Father, Luk. 4.18. He hath ſent me to heal the broken-hearted.
As in healing the diſeaſes and wounds of the body, there be theſe three conſiderable, 1. The Phyſician. 2. The Patient. 3. The Cure it ſelf: So it is in healing the diſeaſes of the ſoul, and wounds of the ſpirit of man. We have all theſe three, in theſe words, 1. The Phyſician is the Lord himſelf, Jehovah, He. 2. The Patient, The broken in heart, and wounded in ſpirit. 3. The Cure, He healeth.
The Lord God, is the ſoveraign Phyſician, who according to his good pleaſure healeth all diſtempers: He healeth a diſtempered civil State, by reſtoring civil Peace, Pſal. 46.9. Pſal. 147.14. A diſtempered Church, by reſtoring Unity, Peace and Love, Iſa. 30.26. Jer. 30.17. Jer. 32.39. He healeth breaches in families, by reſtoring domeſtick Peace and Amity; He healeth diſtempers through bodily diſeaſes, Ezod. 15.25. 2 Kings 20.5. He healeth Souls diſtempered, through the guilt and ſting of an evil conſcience, Pſal. 103.3. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diſeaſes. Jer. 3.22. Return ye backſliding Children, and I will heal your backſlidings. In all our diſtempers, it is our wiſdom and duty to go to God, and to his Son Jeſus Chriſt, the Soveraign Phyſician for healing ſick Souls. Pſal. 61.2. From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher then I. Pſa. 60.2. Thou haſt made the earth to tremble; thou haſt broken it: heal all the breaches thereof, for it ſhaketh: eſpecially when the ſoul is in an high fever and diſtemper of grief and fear, through bypaſt ſins, Pſal. 41.4. I ſaid, Lord be merciful unto me; heal my ſoul, for I have ſinned againſt thee. We ſhould uſe the outward means ordained by God, for healing our ſouls; ſuch as are the hearing of the Goſpel, receiving the holy Sacrament of the holy Supper, and daily Prayer: theſe are, through Gods bleſſing, ſtrengthning and healing Ordinances: but we muſt not reſt on the outward performances, or on the abilities of the Miniſter thereof; as if there were any Intrinſecal vertue in them, for healing a ſick and fainting Soul: The Word was preached by Chriſt himſelf, and yet no healing followed, Matth. 23.37. Luke 19.42. The Sacrament of Baptiſm was miniſtred by Philip the Evangeliſt to Simon Magus, and yet there was no healing of that gall of iniquity in his heart: when a people look too much to the inſtruments, who preach the Word, or miniſter the Sacraments, it provokes our jealouſie, God many times to withhold aſſiſtance from the Miniſters, and a bleſſing from the outward means to the people: for all theſe outward Ordinances are but empty ciſterns, till they be filled by an influence of power and life from himſelf, Joh. 6.63. It is the ſpirit that quickeneth, the fleſh profiteth nothing. The outward Ordinance, without the Lords ſpecial preſence and bleſſing, is like the ſtaff of Eliſha, in the hand of Gehazi, they do not quicken a dead ſoul, nor awake the ſleepy and ſecure ſoul, 2, Kings 4.31. Therefore inuſing the outward means for healing our ſouls, we ſhould go by Prayer to the great Phyſician himſelf, that by his Spirit he would go along with the outward Ordinances.
If thou go to him, thou needeſt not deſpare of healing, for in his own due time he will heal all that come to him, Jer. 17.14. Heal me, O Lord, and I ſhall be healed. There is no ſoul-diſeaſe incureable to him, though in it there were a complication of infirmities and diſtempers, Iſai. 1.16, 18. Waſh ye, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes, ceaſe to do evil: Though your ſins be as ſcarlet, they ſhall be as white as ſnow, &c. Though thy ſins were inveterat through cuſtom from thy child-hood, like the Lunatick child, Mark 9.21. Though incurable through all the counſel of friends, like the diſeaſe of that ſick woman, Luke 8.43. Therefore come your ſelves to him, and let parents bring their ſtubborn children in their prayers to Him the great Phyſician, who can heal perverſe ſpirits, and make crooked things ſtraight, even when parents and friends has deſpared of their recovery from their ſoul-diſtempers and evil wayes: In all diſtempers and wounds of ſpirit from outward grievous afflictions, come to this Soveraign Phyſician; though creatures neither can, nor will heal thee; yet he will come near to the afflicted, who under affliction bodily, are moſt afflicted in their ſpirit for their ſins, Pſal. 27.10. Jer. 30.17. Hoſ. 2.14. I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderneſs, and ſpeak comfortably unto her. When the godly are in a deſolat, and wilderneſſe-like condition, and few or none to comfort: then the Lord, in an acceptable time, comes in to the ſoul with comfort: all the moral Inſtruments of our comfort and healing, are but as an Apprentice who can do nothing without their maſters ſecret information and direction: therefore the broken-hearted would come to Jeſus Chriſt, who had a calling from the Father, (Luke 4.18.) to bind up and heal the broken in heart: he healed Inveterat bodily diſeaſes, as one of twelve years, one of eighteen, and one of thirty eight years, for the comfort of all poor humbled ſinners, who formerly have accuſtomed themſelves to do evil. He is a skilful Phyſician to apply ſeveral Medicines for healing ſeveral diſeaſes: He has Corroſives to awake theſe who are in a ſpiritual Lethargy; even the ſpirit of burning and judgement, Iſai. 4.4 He has ſharp afflictions as a ſcourge to tame and daunt proud and vain men, who are in a ſpiritual Phrency, and diſtempered with an heady conceit of their own righteouſneſs, Job 36.8, 9. If they be bound in fetters, and be holden in cords of affliction; then he ſheweth them their work, and their tranſgreſſions; that they have exceeded. He has Lenatives and Reſtauratives to poor fainting Souls; even the ſweet promiſes of the Goſpel, Iſa. 57.11. Matth. 5.3, 4. Matth. 11.28. Though this great Phyſician, the Lord Jeſus Chriſt, in the Humane Nature, be locally in Heaven, yet he can heal broken hearts on earth, by the vertue and preſence of his Spirit, through the power of hi… Interceſſion at the Fathers right hand, 1 Joh. 2.1, 2. If any man ſin, we have an Aduocat with the Father, Jeſus Chriſt the Righ…eous; and he is the Propitiation for our ſins. He healed the Centurions ſick ſervant at a diſtance, Matth. 8. And the Son of that Noble man, (Joh. 4.51.) at a diſtance alſo: As the Sun in the Firmament, though at a diſtance from the Earth, doth quicken and revive the Creatures by the influence of light and heat; ſo the Sun of Righteouſneſs, the Lord Jeſus Chriſt, doth by the influences of his Spirit and Vertue, quicken and revive a ſoul fainting under the burden of ſin.
2. The Patient under Gods Cure, is the broken in heart, or, wounded in ſpirit, The broken heart, is called alſo in Scripture a contrite ſpirit, Pſ. 51.13. Iſ 57.15. When the heart that was ſometime whole and hard like a ſtone, is broken into pieces, like a grain bruiſed between the upper and nether milſtone: ſo the heart of a truly humbled ſinner, is cruſhed between the ſenſe of divine juſtice, diſpleaſed with its ſins; and the ſenſe of divine love manifeſted in the Goſpel: it is called a bruiſed ſpirit, Iſa. 42.3. When the heart is bruiſed and bowed down ſo with the burden of many and manifold ſins; that from the deep ſenſe of greif and ſhame for them, they have not the confidence to look up to God, Pſal. 40.12. Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, ſo that I am not able to look up, &c. It is called a wounded ſpirit, Prov. 18.14. becauſe the Lord of hoſts, provoked by our ſins, doth juſtly wound the guilty conſcience with pain, that the wounded ſpirit can get no reſt. Pſal. 38.3. There is no ſoundneſs in my fleſh, becauſe of thine anger: neither is there any reſt in my bones, becauſe of my ſin. It is called a ſoft and tender heart, ſenſible of the danger and vileneſs of ſin; Joſiah his heart, was tender and humbled at the hearing of the Law, 2 Chron. 34.27. A rent heart, Joel 2.12. When the love of ſin is emptied out of the heart by repentance; as water out of a rent veſſel: and it is called an heart of fleſh, plyable and yeelding to walk in the commandments of God, Ezek. 36.26, 27.
The neceſſity of a broken heart, is evident from the text, becauſe it is the broken heart only that God healeth. 1. God taketh ſpeci-notice of the broken in heart, Pſal. 56.8. Ezek. 9.4. 2. He preſerveth the broken in heart in the midſt of common calamities, Pſal. 34.18. Ezek. 9.4. For if they be taken away with the common calamity, yet they get their ſouls for a prey. Good Joſiah, is ſaid to have been gathered to his grave in peace, 2 Chron. 34.28. Although he was ſlain by the bloody ſword of an enemy. 3. It is evident from the contrary evil of an hard heart; becauſe man's wilful hardning of himſelf in his evil wayes againſt warnings from the Word of God, from the rod of God upon himſelf or others, and from the ſharp checks of a guilty conſcience, doth provoke God judicially to harden him, by giving him up to a Conſcience paſt feeling, to commit ſin with greedineſs, and ſo to obſtruct their own healing, becauſe not the hardned, but the broken in heart, are healed, Mat. 13.15. For this peoples heart is waxed groſs, &c. Leſt at any time they ſhould ſee with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and ſhould underſtand with their heart, and ſhould be converted, and I ſhould heal them. For when wicked men do wilfully harden themſelves in their evil wayes, it is juſt with God to withdraw his former common reſtraints, ſuch as were the checks of a …emording Conſcience, and a panick fear of wrath to come; thereafter he caſts the bridle on their neck: then do they run wild in their own imaginations, when they are given up in the juſt judgement of God to walk in the counſels of their own hearts; Pſal. 81.11, 12.
The means and helps for breaking of the heart, that in all men is naturally hard, are, 1. A laying to heart the ſevere threatnings of God againſt ſin, Jer. 23.29. Is not my word like an hammer? Many men hear the word of threatning, but are ſtill hardned, their heart is not broken; becauſe the threatning is not ſaid to heart by Faith. The old world, (Mat. 24.39.) though they knew the threatning of the deludge by the preaching of Noah, yet they knew not, that is, they laid it not to heart, till the flood came: The hammer breaks not the hard ſtone, until it be laid to it with ſome pith; but when it is laid to heart, it doth in ſome meaſure begin the work of heart-breaking, Jonah 3.5. They believed God in his threatning, and proclaimed a faſt, which was a proclamation of their ſorrow for their ſins: Faith to the threatning, worketh fear in the heart, and fear breaks the heart with preſent ſorrow, from a preſent apprehenſion of the wrath to come; this was the cauſe of Ahab his ſorrow and legal humiliation, 1 Kings. 21.27. but in the children of God, this fear and brokenneſs of heart, is ſo ordered in the wiſdom and mercy of God, that it prepareth them for the comforts of the Goſpel in Jeſus Chriſt; as Noah moved with fear and apprehenſion of the threatned deludge, prepared an ark to the ſaving of himſelf and his houſe, Heb. 11.7. In like manner the children of God, warned and wakened by the threatning of the Law, flee in to Chriſt, the only Ark and propitiation, that covereth believers from the curſe of the Law and eternal wrath, 1 Joh. 2.1, 2. If any man ſin, we have an Advocat with the Father, Jeſus Chriſt the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our ſins. 2. Sad afflictions, laid home with conviction to the Conſcience, is a mean oft-times ordered by God to break an hard heart, as is ſeen in Manaſſeh, who was humbled by his fetters, and in the Prodigal, who was humbled by great famine and want: the unjuſt reproaches of enemies, contrary to their intention (like that man, who opened the Apoſtem in the body of his enemy, by a dart thrown at him) are ordered by God to break the heart of his children with ſorrow for by-paſt ſins: the reproaches of vile Shimei, calling David a bloody man in the matter of Saul, wherein he was moſt innocent; yet it did break his heart with ſorrow in remembrance of the matter of Ʋriah. 3. A particular confeſſion of our ſins, is a mean bleſt of God to the breaking of the heart: when we conſider the circumſtances of their number and greatneſs againſt infinit Majeſty, infinitly juſt, who will not clear the guilty, when we conſider the Omniſcience and Omni-preſence of God, that we have done this and the other evil in his ſight, and ſo have been ſhamleſs in our ſinning; as the vile adultereſs, is ſhameleſs by intertaining the adulterer in the preſence of her husband: when we conſider our wilfulneſs and obſtinacy in ſinning againſt the light of our own conſcience, as theſe men did, Act. 7.51. When we conſider our relapſes, like the Sow to the puddle, & the Dog to the vomit, after many promiſes and reſolutions in the day of affliction to the contrair: when we conſider our baſe ungratitude, not only neglecting to render to the Lord according to his benefits beſtowed upon us; but alſo our rendring to him evil for good, and ſo deſerving, that evil of puniſhment ſhould never depart from us, Prov. 17.15. 4. A particular regiſter & remembrance of Gods former mercies in doing us good all our dayes, by providing for us, and preſerving us from many viſible and inviſible dangers; when we call to remembrance his patience and long-ſuffering in bearing with us in our ſins: this brake the hard heart of the Prodigal, when he remembred the former bounty of his gracious father. Luk. 15.17, 18. 5. A ſerious and frequent meditation of death and judgement, will be a mean to break an hard heart, a… a man drowned in debt, not aquainted with any that will be ſurety for him; and knoweth aſſuredly, the rude Meſſenger will take him perſonally at the Term, arreſt him, and preſent him to the Judge; then the irrevockable ſentence will come forth, Take him, bind him hand and foot, &c. It broke the heart of Pauls companions, that he ſaid, they ſhould ſee his face no more, Act. 20.38. So the fear of the day of death and of judgement, ſhould break the hard heart, when they conſider if they go on and die in their ſins, they ſhall be ſeparate from God for ever, and never ſhall ſee his face. Therefore break thine heart with ſorrow for bygone ſins, break off thy courſe of iniquity by righteouſneſs; make thine aquaintance in time with Jeſus Chriſt the Surety and Mediator of the New Covenant, and pray with Hezekiah, Lord, I am oppreſſed, undertake thou for me. If now he be thine Advocat, thou needeſt not be afraid of that day of judgement, becauſe thy Advocat will be thy Judge: repent of thy ſins, and by faith make application to him as thy Advocat and interceſſour at the Fathers right hand: be of good courage, he that ſpeaketh for thee now, will not ſpeak againſt thee in that day. 6. Look oft by Faith and frequent meditation upon Chriſt crucified: this is a ſpecial Medicine and Lenitive to ſoften the hard heart, Zach. 12.10. This look to him by faith, is like the blood of the goat, which breaketh the hard Adamant; look on him wounded for thy tranſgreſſions, both in his body and ſpirit: ſhall the innocent Cautioner be wounded, and ſore diſtreſſed? and ſhall not the Principal debtor be wounded with ſorrow for the debt he himſelf contracted? ſhall our ſpotleſs Cautioner ſuffer ſhame and reproach? and ſhall not our hearts be broken with grief and ſhame for our ſins, which put the innocent Lamb of God to open reproach? Pſal. 22.6, 7. Pſal. 69.20. 7. Pray to God for a ſoft and broken heart, it is promiſed in the New Covenant, Ezek. 36.26, 27. Pray for the influence and inſuperable operation of the grace of God upon thy hard heart, that thou may know in thy ſelf what is the exceeding greatneſs of his power to them who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, &c. Epheſ. 1.19. The influence of his overpowering and overcoming grace, will be as Aqua-fortis, to cut and divide an heart of iron: we are like little children within the houſe, that can ſhut the door of the heart upon our ſelves, but cannot open it: Therefore we muſt cry to him, who both opens the dark underſtanding (Luk. 24.45.) and alſo the heart and affections, Act. 16.14. that he would open our hard hearts by his preveening grace, and by his ſubſequent grace, he would keep them open, and enlarge them by love toward himſelf, and his holy Commandments.
3. The cure of the broken in heart, he healeth them, and bindeth up their wounds. God healeth theſe that are of a broken heart with ſorrow under great afflictions, upon their perſons or outward eſtate, Hoſ. 6.1. Come and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath ſmitten, and he will bind us up. The Lord healeth theſe that are thus wounded, by giving them patience and ſtrength in the inner-man to bear the viſitation of the Lord in the day of their trouble, Pſal. 138.3. In the day when I cryed, thou anſweredſt me, and ſtrengthendſt me with ſtrength in my ſoul. Sometimes he comforts them with inward peace and joy; that exceeds the pain they have from outward tribulation, 2 Cor. 1.4, 5. Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, &c: For, as the ſufferings of Chriſt abound in us, ſo our conſolation alſo aboundeth by Chriſt: and ſometimes by delivering them in their greateſt extremity, 2 Cor. 1.9, 10. But we had the ſentence of death in our ſelves, that we ſhould not truſt in our ſelves, but in God which raiſeth the dead: who delivered us from ſo great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we truſt that he will yet deliver us.
The Lord healeth alſo, in a more ſpecial manner, thoſe whoſe hearts are broken with ſorrow for their ſins: This is the healing we ſhould deſire moſt, as David did in the time of his great ſickneſs, Pſal. 41.4. I ſaid, Lord be merciful unto me, heal my ſoul, for I have ſinned againſt thee. Our greateſt care ſhould be of ſoul-health, 1. Becauſe our care ſhould be greater to have the ſoul healed, than the body or outward eſtate: This was David's firſt and greateſt deſire in the time of ſore ſickneſs, Pſ. 39.8, 13. he firſt prayes for deliverance from his ſins, and then, with ſubmiſſion, for deliverance from his bodily diſeaſe, Deliver me from all my tranſgreſſions: O ſpare me, that I may recover ſtrength before I go hence, and be no more. The ſoul is more precious than the body; as men are more careful to have an Apoſtem in the inward and noble parts healed, than a ſcratch in the skin of the body; ſo our firſt and greateſt care ſhould be, to have the diſeaſes of our ſouls healed. 2. If the ſpirit be healed, and if a man have peace with God and his own conſcience, he will be able patiently to bear the infirmities of the body; But, a wounded ſpirit who can bear? Prov. 18.14. As a man having an Ulcer in his back, is much diſquieted, even with a little burden: but if the back be ſound and whole, he can walk quietly under a great burden: So when there is no health nor peace in the conſcience, a very ſmall affliction doth diſquiet and perplex our hearts: but when we have inward health and peace in the conſcience, we are able through the Lord, who ſtrengtheneth us, to walk patiently and quietly under a great affliction, Pſal. 23.4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the ſhadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me, thy rod and thy ſtaff they comfort me. Pſal. 138.7. Though I walk in the midſt of trouble, thou wilt revive me. 3. Unleſe ye have a care of your ſouls-healing in this life, there is no coming to perfect ſoul-health and ſalvation in Heaven: as the Lepers, under the Law, were not admitted into publick meetings, till firſt they were cleanſed and healed; ſo no unclean thing ſhall enter into the New Jeruſalem, Rev. 21.27.
That we may the better underſtand what this ſoul-healing is, and how the cure is performed, we would conſider, that ſin in Scripture is compared oftentimes to ſickneſs, Iſai. 1.5. and in many places to leproſie. 1. In bodily ſickneſs, there is a privation and want of health, ſo in ſin, there is want of Original Righteouſneſs, which was the ſound conſtitution of man in the ſtate of innocency. 2. In bodily ſickneſs, there is a colliſion of humours, like contrary waves, making a commotion in the body; ſo in our corrupt hearts, there is a contrariety of unruly luſts, one deſiring this viſible and ſenſual good, and another luſt, carried after another ſinful object. 3. In ſickneſs there is conſumption, and a tendency unto death, unleſs it be preveened; ſo in ſin, there is a tendency unto eternal death, unleſs it be preveened by the pardon of our ſins in the blood of Chriſt. 4. In ſickneſs bodily, men oftentimes become weaker and weaker; ſo unleſs they be reſtored by ſanctification, ſinners grow worſe and worſe, 2 Tim 3.13 Evil men and ſeducers ſhall wax worſe and worſe, deceiving and being deceived.
Therefore, by healing, is meant ſpecially theſe two, 1. The forgiving of ſin to theſe who are broken in heart with ſorrow for it, Iſa. 33.24. And the inhabitant ſhall not ſay, I am ſick, to wit, unto the ſecond death: the people that dwell therein, ſhall be forgiven their iniquity. 2. The ſanctifying of a broken-hearted man, and healing him by degrees, from in-dwelling corruption, which many times over-maſtered him: theſe two acts of ſoul-healing, are ſet down, Pſal. 103.3. Bleſs the Lord, who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diſeaſes. By the remiſſion of ſin, the ſoul is healed, and recovered from a ſtate of guiltineſs and obligation to puniſhment eternal; and by ſanctification, it is recovered from pineing away in iniquity.
The impediments of ſoul-healing, are, 1. Waywardneſs and frowardneſs of men, who cannot endure to have their wounds touched and ript up by the word of reproof, Prov. 1.30, 31. They would none of my counſel; they deſpiſed all my reproof: therefore ſhall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. They cannot endure amputation and mortification of their ſinful luſts, which are as a gangren'd hand or foot, therefore they are not healed; but chooſe rather to pine away in their beloved luſts, than to have them cut off, and ſo to have their ſouls ſaved. 2. Hardneſs of heart, and ſtupid ſecurity, without apprehenſion of the danger, and vileneſs of their ſins, makes them carleſſe to ſeek to the Lord for healing their ſouls, Mat. 13.15. For this peoples heart is waxed groſs, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have cloſed, leſt at any time they ſhould ſee with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and ſhould underſtand with their hearts, and ſhould be converted, and I ſhould heal them. 3. Willfull rejecting of the counſel and direction of the great Phyſician of our ſouls, given to us by his faithfull Miniſters, Jer. 51.9. We would have healed Babylon, but ſhe is not healed. Mat. 23.37, 38. O Jeruſalem, Jeruſalem, &c. how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not? Behold your houſe is left unto you deſolat, &c. 4. A falſe conceit and imagination of our own righteouſneſs and ſoul-health, is a great impediment to the healing of the ſoul, as the Phrenetick man, who thinks himſelf whole, ſeeketh not the Phyſician for healing, Matth. 9.12. They that be whole need not a Phyſician, but they that are ſick; that is, they that are ſenſible of their ſouls diſtemper through the malady of ſin, are ſenſible alſo of a neceſſity to be healed.
The outward means of Soul-healing, are the Word, ſpecially the Goſpel-promiſes, Pſal. 107 20 He ſent his Word and healed them. Iſai. 57.15 Thus ſaith the high and lofty One, &c. I dwell in the high and holy place; with him alſo that is of a contrite and humble ſpirit, to revive the ſpirit of the humhle, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. Iſai. 61.1 The Lord God hath ſent me to bind up the broken hearted. Pſal. 51.17. The ſacrifices of God are a broken ſpirit: a broken and a contrite heart O God, thou wilt not deſpiſe. The Sacrament of the Lords Supper, is an outward mean for healing a broken heart; becauſe it is a viſible ſign and ſeal of our Communion of Chriſts Body broken for us, and of his blood ſhed for us; and his offering of his Body, and our receiving of it by Faith, is the ſpecial mean to heal the broken heart by the vertue of his Body broken for us: Prayer is a mean bleſſed of God for healing a broken heart: Moſes (Num. 12.13.) cryed unto the Lord in behalf of his leprouſe ſiſter Miriam, ſaying, heal her now, O God, I beſeech thee. And (2. Chron. 30.18, 19, 20.) Hezekiah prayed to the Lord for healing and forgivneſs to the People, who had prepared their hearts to eat the Paſſeover, but had not been punctually cleanſed according to the purification of the Sanctuary conform to the Law cerimonial: And it is ſaid, the Lord hearkned to Hezekiah, and healed the people.
The inward means of healing the Soul, are ſpecially two. 1. Repentance, Jer. 3.20. Return ye backſliding Children, and I will heal your backſlidings. Jer. 4.14. O Jeruſalem, waſh thine heart from wickedneſs, that thou mayeſt be ſaved. Repentance cleanſeth the wound, and leteth out the malignant humor. 2. Faith is a ſpecial mean for Soul-healing; it is as the hand that applieth the healing-plaiſter; it applies the blood of Chriſt, wherewith the Soul is cleanſed, Act. 16.31. Believe on the Lord Jeſus Chriſt, and thou ſhalt be ſaved. As the Haemoroiſe Woman, when ſhe touched Chriſt, was healed by the healing vertue that came out of him; ſo when a humble broken-hearted ſinner doth lay hold on Chriſt, and the promiſe made in him, healing vertue comes from him, whereby guilt and obligation to eternal puniſhment, is taken away in our Juſtification, and the fever of corruption is much abaited, by the work and power of Sanctification.
The manner of Gods healing the broken-heart, is, 1. Freely without any merit in man procuring the ſame; for, Who hath firſt given to him, and it ſhall be recompenſed to him again? Rom. 11.35. To this purpoſe ſaith the prophet, Iſai. 43.25. I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy tranſgreſſions for mine own ſake, &c. 2. He healeth powerfully; ſo that when he puts to the hand of his invincible grace for healing, no diſtemper of the will can reſiſt him; for he takes away willingneſs to reſiſt, and ſo he begins his healing in cureing the malignancy of the will, Jer. 17.14. Heal me, O Lord, and I ſhall be healed. Jer. 31.18. Turn thou me, and I ſhall be turned. This efficacy of Gods grace in healing Souls, is called the exceeding greatneſs of his power to usward, who believe, according to the working of his mighty power. It is a power, exceeding and overcomming the power of our corruption, at the time when God is pleaſed … exert it. 3. God heals the Soul gradually in …eſpect of indwelling corruption: although (as is moſt probable) God juſtifies a ſinner at once from the guilt of all his ſins, actually forgiving him all his bypaſt ſins, and giving him a right and claim through Chriſt unto the remiſſion of ſins to come: Yet the healing of the ſoul, from the vilneſs of indweling corruption in the courſe of Sanctification, is by degrees; for ſo long as the children of God are on Earth, there is in them grace and corruption, and each of them luſteth one againſt another, Gal. 5.17. 4. He healeth perfectly and fully all his Patients, at the end of their life, from all ſtain of Sin, and di…temper of Conſcience, through the ſtirring of inward corruption: as the Jewiſh Women were fully purified after Child-birth, before they were preſented in the Temple; ſo our bleſſed Lord and Phyſician, after our new Birth and Regeneration, doth purifie us in the courſe of Sanctification; and at death, having cloſed the courſe of our purification, doth after death, preſent us faultleſs before the preſence of his glory with exceeding joy, Jud. Epiſt. 24.
Obj. One poſſibly may ſay, my heart is broken with ſorrow for my ſins, and yet their is no healing of my ſoul, nor peace and quietneſs in my Conſcience; I may ſay, as Jer. 4.14, 19. I looked for the time of healing, and behold trouble. Anſ. God is debtor to none for healing; he healeth the broken in heart, but not becauſe their heart is broken: The diſtemper is meerly from our ſelves, but our healing is from his free Grace; with ſome ſinners he deals more roughly than with others, according to his Wiſdom and good Pleaſure, Iſai. 28.27. Paul is caſt down to the ground, but the heart of Lydia is gently opened; ſome are ſooner cured and comforted, to preveen deſpair; others are keept long under cure and exerciſe of Conſcience, to preveen pride and preſumption
Therefore wait upon the Lord thy Phyſician, with all patience and ſubmiſſion. 1. Becauſe he hath promiſed to heal the broken in heart, and in zeal to the glory of his Truth, he will perform his promiſe, Heb. 10.36. Ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promiſe. Our patience is the thing he willeth, and after the proof of our patience, we ſhall receive the good promiſed, he doth not heal us to our ſenſe, at the firſt; David had not health and peace in his Conſcience at the firſt, upon the breaking of his heart for theſe two heinous ſins, Pſal. 51.8, 12. The Lord in his wiſdom, ſuſpendeth healing and comfort, after the heart is broken, to the end in time coming we may be more careful to keep a good Conſcience, which is the box wherein the precious Jewel of Peace and inward Joy, is preſerved from rubbs and defilments. 2. Conſider, the more patient thou art, thy inward pain will be the leſs: a ſick man from his Impatience, that he is not healed ſo ſoon as he expected, doth both increaſe his pain and offend his Phyſician; and afterward when God gives to his impatient Children, any caſe from trouble, they are aſhamed of their former Impatience; whereas patience and ſubmiſſion to God about the time, manner, and meaſure of our healing and delivering, will preveen the ſhame that ariſeth from our impatience in times of trouble, and delayed relief, Rom. 5.4, 5. Patience worketh experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not aſhamed. 3. Conſider that our wiſe God, to manifeſt his Soveraign Dominion and free Grace, doth ſometimes heal at the fi…ſt, even groſs offenders, as the Publican Luke 18. And the notorious Thief, Luke 22. Sometimes he doth keep leſſer offenders, for a long time under pain and terrour of Conſcience: In rich mercy he pitieth ſome of his Elect, that are in an high rageing Fever of ſin, and like to periſh in it: As alſo in his Wiſdom he keepeth leſſer offenders, for a long time under exerciſe and diſeaſe of Conſcience, leſt they ſhould think little of leſſer ſins, which oft-times prove an inlet to greater ſins. 4. Conſider his Wiſdom, who knoweth well, when and how, to deliver his own Children out of tryals and troubles, 2 Pet. 2.9. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the Godly out of temptations. 5. Conſider his Faithfulneſs, 1 Cor. 10.13. God is faithful, who will not ſuffer you to be tempted above that ye are able: but will with the temptation alſo make a way to eſcape, that ye may be able to bear it. Limit not the holy One of Iſrael to means or times: The Phyſicians of our bodies will not take it well, to be limited by their patients to this or that time of healing: but wait thou on him at all times in the uſe of the lawful means, and wait for him in hope; who can tel, but he will heal and comfort thee, in thy greateſt extremity, with unexpected and abounding conſolations? Iſai. 41.17, 18. When the poor and needy ſeek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thriſt, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Iſrael will not forſake them; I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midſt of the valleys; I will make the wilderneſs a pooll of water, and the dry land ſprings of water.
Queſt. How ſhall I know, if I be in the way of recovery, from the fever of my corruption, and in the way to perfect Soul-health, and Salvation? Anſ. 1. As the recovery of ſome health in the body, is known by the beating of the pulſ, when it is more equal and regular than it was formerly; ſo if thou be in the way of Soul-health; whereas thy former motions and wayes, were unequal, thou was once much for the leſſer duties of the firſt Table, as the Phariſies were in their preciſe payment of Tithes, but they neglected the ſubſtantial duties of the ſecond Table, as Mercy, Faith and Judgement: At other times, thou ſeemed very zealous of the duties of the ſecond Table, as the deputy Gallio was of the Emperours honour and ſervice; but as for the matters of God and true Religion, he accounted them but trifles, and cared not for them: but if thou be in the right way to per…ect Soul-healing, the reſpect of thine heart, will be equal and uniform toward all the Commandments of God, Pſal. 119 6. Then ſhall I not be aſhamed, when I have reſpect to all thy Commandments, Act. 24.16. And herein do I exerciſe my ſelf, to have alwayes a conſcience, void of offence toward God and toward men. Though thou may fail ſometimes out of Infirmity, and Inadvertence; yet the diſpoſition and inclination of thy will, is found in all thy wayes to honour God, Heb. 13.18. Pray for us; for we truſt we have a good conſcience, in all things willing to live honeſtly. 2. As in a begun recovery of b…dily health, the former fever and thirſt is in ſome meaſure abaited; ſo it will be with thee, if thou be in the way to Soul-health: whereas ſometime thou didſt drink-in Iniquity with greedineſs, as the Ox doth water, thou was inſatiable in thy ſinful deſires; even when thy body was wearied in thine Iniquity, thy will was not wea…ied of it: but now if thou be in the way of recovery and ammendement, thy former deſire after ſin, will be much abaited, and thou wilt hate even wandring and ſtragling motions, Pſal. 119.113. I hate vain thoughts, but thy Law do I love. 3. As natural appetit groweth in theſe that are in the way of recovery to bodily health, and their right taſt begins to be reſtored: ſo whereas formerly the good Ordinances of God, were loathſome to thee in the time of thy rageing Fever in ſin, as Manna was to the people of Iſrael, in their feveriſh ſits of Impatience and Diſcontentment: Now, if thou be in the way to Soul-health, the Word of God will be ſweet to thy Soul, Pſal. 119.103. How ſweet are thy words unto my taſt! Yea, ſweeter than honey to my mouth. Thy former ſins will be bitter to thee as wormwood; as a man ſcunners much afterward at the Diſh, which did overſet and diſtemper his ſtomach, ſo thou wilt abhore thy former evil wayes, which did diſtemper thee, and bring pain to thy Conſcience, Ezek. 36.31. Then ſhall ye remember your own evil wayes, and your doings, that were not good, and ſhall loath your ſelves in your own ſight, for your iniquities, and for your abominations. Rom. 6.20, 21. For when ye were the ſervants of ſin, ye were free from righteouſneſs: what fruit had ye then in thoſe things, whereof ye are now aſhamed? 4. The man in the way of recovery from bodily ſickneſs, begins to have a ſtomach to digeſt groſſer meats; whereas in the time of ſickneſs, he tarrowed at every thing: So if thou be in the right way to Soul-health, begun peace in thy Conſcience, will make thee digeſt even great afflictions and wants, 2 Sam. 23.5. Although my houſe be not ſo with God; yet he hath made an everlaſting Covenant, ordered in all things, and ſure: for this is all my ſalvation, and all my deſire; although he make it not to grow. Heb. 3.17, 18 Although the Fig-tree ſhall not bloſſom, neither ſhall fruit be in the Vins, &c. yet I will rejoyce in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my ſalvation. 5 The ſick man in the way to recovery, gets …me ability to walk; our bleſſed Lord ſaid, J…h 5.8. to the man that was healed, Take up thy bed and walk. So, whereas formerly thou was wallowing in the m…re of vile ſins, or lying in the bed of ſluggiſhneſs, and carnal ſecurity: Now if thou be in the right way to perfect Soul-health, thou wilt endeavour to walk in the wayes of God, as Manaſſeh did. 2 Chron. 33.16. and as Zacheus did, Luke 19.8.
Queſt. Ye will ask, what direction give ye us, after we are in the way of ſoul-recovery, that we may not relapſe into our former fits and ſoul-diſtempers? Anſw. 1. Be thankful to the great Phyſician, who hath begun in thee the courſe of Sanctification to heal thy ſoul: Hezekiah was thankful to God, after his recovery from his bodily diſeaſe, and went up into the houſe of the Lord, to worſhip and praiſe him: If thou be unthankful to thy Phyſician, thou cannot with any confidence in new troubles and diſtempers, go to him for help and relief. 2. Keep a good dyet; be thou of a ſober and humble ſpirit, both under the ſenſe of former mercy recovering thee, and alſo under the ſenſe of the dregs and reliques of corruption dwelling in thee; which will not be perfectly cured till the hour of our death; a man in the way of recovery, abſtains from ſuch meat, as would provoke his old diſeaſe, and diſtemper him again; ſo abſtain thou from evil company and all occaſions, that would caſt thee into a new fever of trouble in thy Conſcience; as the holy Patriarch Judah did abſtain from going to Thamar any more, Gen. 38.26. And as the holy Apoſtle Peter went out of the high Prieſts hall, where he had been tempted to deny his Lord, Luk. 22.62. 3. Be thou watchful and circumſpect after thy begun recovery, as Hezekiah was, Iſa. 38.15. What ſhall I ſay? he hath both ſpoken unto me, and himſelf hath done it: I ſhall go ſoftly all my years in the bitterneſs of my ſoul. As a man who is recovering of a broken leg, walks at leaſure and circumſpectly, eſpecially in rough wayes, wherein are many ſtumbling-blocks: Remember often what our Lord ſaid to the ſick man that was healed, Joh. 5.14 Behold thou art made whole; ſin no more, leaſt a worſe thing befal thee. Be not ſecure, but follow the advice given by the Prophet to the King of Iſrael, after his victory againſt his enemies, 1 Kings 20.22. Go ſtrengthen thy ſelf, and mark and ſee what thou doeſt; for at the return of the year, the King of Syria will come up againſt thee. Much more ſhouldeſt thou watch againſt thy ſpiritual enemy, for thou knoweſt not how ſoon he may return with a violent temptation and aſſault upon thee. 4. Be careful to keep acquaintance and daily correſpondence with God in thy devotion and ſpiritual duties; as a man healed of bodily ſickneſs, is careful to keep good correſpondence with the Phyſician that healed him, and when at any time he is afraid of a new fit of his old diſeaſe, he doth acquaint him; ſo do thou by prayer, make daily application to God who hath begun to heal thy ſoul, Mat. 26.42. and at thy firſt apprehenſion of the riſing of any luſt or noiſom humour in thy ſoul, cry to him, as Paul did, 2 Cor. 12.8, 9. and thou ſhalt get a gracious anſwer as he did, My grace is ſufficient for thee. To God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghoſt, be immortal praiſe, &c. Amen.