Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
Ver. 8. Heal the sick] God glorifies himself by the fruits of our sin and the effects of his own wrath. This great Alchemist knows how to extract good out of evil. He can make golden afflictions, 1 Peter 1:7, medicinal sicknesses, fetch his own honour out of the depths of our sufferings, as wine draws a nourishing virtue from the flesh of vipers, and as scarlet pulls out the viper's teeth.
Freely ye have received] And so have we in some sort, and in some sense; since no pains we take, no cost we are at, can possibly countervail so great a treasure as is concredited unto us.