SERMON VII.

JEREMIAH VIII. 22.

IS THERE NO BALM IN GILEAD? IS THERE NO PHYSICIAN THERE? WHY THEN IS NOT THE HEALTH OF THE DAUGHTER OF MY PEOPLE RECOVERED?

THE prophet Jeremiah lived on the very eve of the desolation of his country by the Chaldeans, which he both predicted and saw accomplished. In the context, he anticipates the entrance of the Chaldean army into the land, at the northern border. "The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan : the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones, for they are come, and have devoured the land, and all that is in it, the city, and those that dwell therein." But, though he denounced, he could take God to witness, as every faithful minister can also do, that he had not "desired, the woeful day." Even those who suffered under the accomplishment of his predictions, could scarcely feel more keenly than he did, in the prospect of that event. "When I

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would comfort myself against sorrow," he says, my heart is faint in me." He sunk under the effort; "Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people, because of them that dwell in a far country. "Is not the Lord in Zion?" It might be asked, seeing he thus delivered her up to her enemies" is not her king in her?" The answer, returned as by the voice of God himself, was, "Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities?"

The people are next introduced, mournfully bewailing the disappointment of all the hopes of succour, which they had cherished during the summer season, whether from Egypt, or from any other quarter: "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved!" The prophet then again resumes: "For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt: I am black: astonishment hath taken hold of me." And then, in proverbial language, borrowed from the case of bodily diseases, and the well-known remedies for them to be found in the drugs and the physicians of Mount Gilead, he demands, "Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered? Was there no remedy to be found for the miseries of his people? Or was not their ruin rather to be ascribed to their own wilful

neglect, or unfaithful application, of the remedies which God had prescribed them? The latter was undoubtedly the fact. Had the people of Judah, as they had so often been called to do, truly repented of their sins, and "turned unto the Lord with their whole heart, and not feignedly;" he would certainly have "returned unto them," and revisited them with mercy; and all their past iniquity "should not have been their ruin.”

Such is the connexion and the meaning of the words in the mouth of the prophet.

But now mark how we bring a passage of this kind originally spoken concerning the Jews of old, fairly and legitimately bring it, to apply to ourselves. The case of the Jews in the time of Jeremiah, is but one among a thousand cases which come under the same common description, and to which the same principles apply. For what is the nature of that case? Here is "a hurt," and it is “not healed;" and therefore it proves fatal. And for what reason is it not healed? Not because there is no remedy; but because that remedy is not applied. This was the case of the Jews and I need hardly point out to you, that it is precisely one, in principle, with that of sinners who remain unsaved, notwithstanding all the provisions made by the gospel for their salvation.

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I proceed, therefore, as you will perceive I am fully warranted in doing, to apply my text to such cases; and to address to sinners, who yet remain under the guilt and the power of their sins-yea, and to Christian believers also, who do not obtain that peace and victory which they ought to find through the gospel-the demands of my text, "Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?"

It is not however to persons who have altogether hardened themselves against religious feeling; nor again to those who are well-satisfied with themselves, with their own state, and character, and prospects, that the words must be applied. Neither of these cases corresponds with that described in my text. The Jews felt their troubles and their dangers, but they were too indolent and undecided, or too averse to it, to apply the proper remedy. They made some efforts for recovery, but these were slight, and fell much short of what the case required. They fasted, but they did not turn from their sins; they offered sacrifices and worshipped at the temple, but they did not yield themselves up to the service of God in righteousness and holiness, and truth. They are charged therefore with "healing their wound slightly: they merely skinned it over, so to speak, and

made no sound cure, in consequence of which it broke out afresh, and was worse than before.

Now, something closely resembling this, is what numbers are continually doing, in the concerns of their souls, with regard to sin and salvation, I speak not (I repeat it) of persons utterly regardless of religion, but of those who attend the house of God, and read his word at times, and in their manner pray, at least when impelled to it by uneasiness and alarm; and who have their feelings, and their purposes, and their wishes, and who would fain attain peace and salvation, if it could be had upon easier terms, or terms different from those of the gospel.

1. In the first place there are persons whose religion is a religion of form and ceremony. They go through their routine of devotion. They attend the church: they read their chapters: they come to the sacrament at certain seasons, and as preparatory to so doing, they abstain from their accustomed pleasures and use their prescribed forms of devotion. But here, or nearly at this point, their religion ends. It is no principle of universal efficacy, seated in the heart, and thence spreading its influence over the whole life. It is essentially different from true Christianity. It has brought with it no conviction of utter ruin by sin; it has produced no" fleeing from the wrath to come;