himfelf in active life. O! into what a confternation is the finner ftruck, when he is awakened out of his lethargic fecurity, and his eyes are opened to fee himfelf in a juft light! He had flattered himself that he had a good conftitution of foul, and that little or nothing ailed him; but now, he is furprised to fee the ftrong fymptoms of fpiritual death upon him.

Suppofe fome of you, who have come here to-day vigorous and healthy, fhould fuddenly difcover the fpots of a plague broken out all over you, how would it ftrike you with furprize and horror! Such is the furprize and horror of the awakened finner; thus is he alarmed and amazed. So clear are his views of his entire and univerfal depravity and imminent danger, that he is utterly aftonifhed he was fo ftupid as never to discover it before. Now alfo he has a deep fenfe of the evil of fin: he not only fees himself univerfally difordered, but he fees, he feels the diforder to be deadly: fin now appears to him the greatest evil upon earth, or even in hell. O! how worthy of the fevereft vengeance from a righteous God! how contrary to the divine purity! how bafe, how ungrateful a violation of the moft ftrong and endearing obligations! how deftructive to the foul, not only according to the penalty of the divine law, but in its own native tendency! During the progrefs of the Christian life he feels himself recovering a little, though very flowly, while he follows the prefcriptions of his divine phyfi cian, and receives healing influences from him. He feels his enfeebled foul gathering a little ftrength; his vitiated taste gradually corrected; and the welcome fymptoms of returning health; but O! he is fenfibly. fick ftill. The cure is not complete in this world; but the remains of his old diforder hang upon him all his life, and he is fubject to many dangerous relapfes, in which it gathers new ftrength, and he is afraid it is incurable.

2. They that are whole are generally eafy and fecure, and unapprehenfive of danger: but the fick foui

is alarmed and anxious; and cannot be eafy, till it perceives fome appearances of recovery.

He that is whole is benumbed with a stupid infenfibility; but he that is fick is in pain from the disease of fin, which he fenfibly feels. The one can walk about, merry and thoughtlefs, with a hard depraved heart within him; the other is perpetually uneafy, and, like a fick man, has no tafte for any thing while he feels fuch a heart within him. If the one is anxious, it is with fome worldly care; if the other is anxious, it is chiefly for the recovery of his dying foul. The one can give himself up to business, or pleasure, or idlenefs, as a man in health, and at ease; the other is apprehenfive that his foul is in great danger; and, like a fick man, gives up to his eager purfuits, till he fees whether he is likely to recover. He is alarmed with the deadly confequences of fin, as it exposes him to the wrath of God, the lofs of heaven, and all the miseries of the infernal world. But this is not all that diftreffes him; he confiders fin in itself as a loathsome disease, and is pained with its present effects upon him. As a fick man is not only alarmed at the confequence of his disease, namely, death, but confiders it as a prefent pain, and as depriving him of the prefent comforts of life, fo the fick foul feels fin as a loathfome, painful disease, that now deprives it of the exalted pleafures of religion, and renders it incapable of ferving its God with vigour and life. This indifpofition of foul for the exercises of religion, is, in itself, a conftant uneȧsiness to him who is fpiritually fick. How ftrongly does St. Paul represent the cafe, when he cries out, O! wretched man that I am! who fhall deliver me · from the body of this death? Rom. vii. 24. The image seems to be that of a living man walking about with a rotten, naufeous carcafe tied faft to him, which oppreffes him, and he cannot, with all his efforts, caft it off; but it lies heavy upon him wherever he goes, which constrains him to cry out, "O! who fhall deliver me from this dead body ?" This is the character

of

of the foul fick of fin. But he that is whole hath little or no uneafiness upon this account. If he is alarmed at all, it is with the confequence of fin; his flavish foul fears nothing but the punishment. As for the dif ease itself, it is so far from giving him uneafinefs, that he is in love with it. It affords him fenfations of pleasure, rather than of pain, and he rather dreads a recovery than the continuance of the diforder. Sin has intoxicated him to fuch a degree, that holiness, which is the health of the foul, is difagreeable to him, and he would rather continue languishing than reco→

ver.

your

My brethren, you can easily distinguish between fickness and health of body; and you are very ready to do it. And will you not inquire what state fouls are in? whether they are fenfible of their fick nefs, and in a way of recovery? or whether they are stupified, or made delirious by the disorder, infenfible of their danger, and unfolicitous about their recove ry? I pray you examine yourselves in these particulars. 3. They that are whole are unwilling to apply to a phyfician, or to follow his prefcriptions; but to the fick a physician is moft welcome, and they will fubmit to his directions, however felf-denying and mortifying. This is the point my text has particularly in view, and therefore we must take particular notice of it.

They that are in health have no regard to a phyfician, as fuch they neither fend for him, nor will they accept of his help, if offered gratis: they look upon the best of medicines with neglect, as of no ufe or importance to them: the prescriptions proper to the fick they hear with indifference, as not being concerned. Thus it is with thousands, who imagine themselves whole in fpirit. The Lord Jefus exhibits himself to the fons of men under the character of a physician; the gospel makes a free offer of his affiftance to all fick fouls that will freely accept it. And what reception does he generally meet with? Why, multitudes VOL. III.

Bb

neglect

neglect him, as though they had no need of him. They may indeed pay him the compliment of profeffing his religion, because it happened to be the religion of their fathers and their country, but they have no eager defires after him; they are not in earneft, and laborious to obtain his affiftance; they do not invite him with the most affectionate intreaties to undertake their cafe; they do not beg and cry for relief from him, like blind Bartimeus, Mark x. 47. Jefus, thou Son of David, have mercy on us. In fhort, whatever regard they may profefs for him, they are not deeply fenfible of their abfolute need of him: they are not feelingly affected towards him, as towards a being with whom they have the nearest perfonal concern, a concern of the utmost importance and the reafon is, they are whole in their own apprehenfions; or if they feel fome qualms of confcience, fome fits of painful remorfe, they foon heal their own hurt flightly, crying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace. They make a medicine of their own prayers, tears, repentance, and religious endeavours, and with this they hope to heal themselves. Thus Jefus is neglected; they give him the name of a Saviour; but in reality they look to themselves for a cure. How is the gofpel, that makes the offer of relief from this heavenly phyfician, generally received in the world? Alas! it is neglected, as the offer of fuperfluous help. It is heard with that indifference with which men in health attend to the prefcriptions of a physician to the fick, in which they have no immediate concern. Bre thren, is this neglected gospel the only effectual mean for healing your dying fouls? Then what means the ftupidity and inattention with which it is heard? What means the general neglect with which it is treated? O! how affecting is it to fee a dying world rejecting the only restorative that can heal their disease, and preferve their lives! But alas! thus it is all around us.

Again, Jefus prefcribes to the fons of men the only means of their recovery. Particularly he enjoins them no more to drink poison; that is, no more to indulge themselves

themselves in fin, which is, in its own nature, the most deadly poison to the foul. And what can be more. reasonable than this? Yet this is what a ftupid world. principally objects againft, and multitudes rather die. than fubmit to it. A difordered, empoifoned conftitution of foul is to them the moft agreeable. This divine Physician likewife requires them to use the means of grace inftituted in the gofpel; to meditate upon their condition, and obtain a deep fense of their dif order; to read and hear the word with folemn attention, and self-application; to pray with frequency and importunity. These are his prefcriptions to all that. would recover under his hands. But how few obferve them in earnest! What a general neglect of the means. of grace prevails in our country, or what a careless attendance upon them! which is equally pernicious. Christ also enjoins them to fubmit to him as their Physician, to flatter themselves no longer that they. can heal themselves by means within their own power, but to apply his blood as the only healing balm to their wounded fouls. But, alas! they difregard this grand prescription; they will not fubmit to him; but, like an obftinate patient, will have their own way, though eternal death fhould be the confequence.

But this is not the cafe of the finner fpiritually fick: he will do any thing, he will fubmit to any thing, if it may but fave him from the mortal disease of fin. How ardently does he long after Jefus! With what cheerfulness does he put himself under his care! With what joy and gratitude does he hear the offer of free falvation in the gofpel! and how dear is the gofpel to his heart on this account! With what eager wifhful eyes does he look upon his Physician! How does he delight to feel himself under the operation of his hand! to feel him probe his wounds, and then apply the balm of his blood! With what anxiety does he obferve the symptoms, and inquire whether he is upon the recovery or not! and O! with what pleasure does he discover the figns of returning health! to feel a