has merit and efficacy to save him from his base ingratitude, as well as from his other sins. He will look upon every one of our Lord's wounds as a fountain opened for the purifying of sin and uncleanness; for every sin is of a polluting nature, and wants cleansing. Nothing can be so loathsome in the eyes of an hely God as sin. A leper covered over with sores and ulcers is not more offensive in our sight than he that is defiled with the leprosy of sin is in the sight of God. He is not only of purer eyes than to behold it, but he also rejects the sinner for it, as filthy and abominable altogether: and he will be rejected for ever, unless he be convinced of the defiling nature of sin, and desire to be cleansed from its pollution. When these desires come from the Holy Spirit, he wal strengthen them, until the sinner, being justified by te lood of Christ, be made clean and righteous a.ogether. But this point comes more particularly to ce treated of in the

Obird place, under the consideration of the won

property of the fountain mentioned in the text - could cleanse and take away the pollution of sins of the deepest dye. The fountain is the blood of Jesas Christ, which is able to cleanse from sin by the Ovine ordinance and appointment. The ever blessed Fruity have given it an almighty power, in order to is answering a.. the purposes of cleansing; and theretove & is called by the apostle "the blood of the eversug covenast because the eternal Three entered me a covenant, and by an eternal purpose decreed to dong many sors unto glory, through the obedience we divisalding of Jesus Christ. He being a peso in De Gottend co-equal and co-eternal with The Nichen undertook, as their representative, to vibey the law 302 ter, and to suffer the penalties, to and de deve, sad so die the death which they devis 20 stir all the demands which his ANY IN, you them. The Father accep

Liiga dar sustituta and was well pleased with Au ok lạ xia evez botre be came in the flesh;

does this total corruption more evidently discover itself than in their entire blindness and insensibility of their dangerous condition. They are poisoned, and yet they know it not; nay, they are so unwilling to know it, that when we inform them of it, they are highly offended. They cannot bear to be told of it— no, not by the ministers of the gospel, whose office and duty it is. We are sure to stir up their rage and hatred, if we discover to them the workings of this poison in their hearts; and if we appeal to the effects of it in their lives, and refer them to the plentiful streams of iniquity which are continually flowing from the corrupt fountain of the heart, then they cannot bear us; they are like the deaf adder, that stoppeth her ear, which will not hearken to the voice of the charmers, charming never so wisely. They are resolved not to be disturbed about their sins, and therefore they will not hear of their sickness or of their danger. They had rather die of their malady than be made uneasy about it. Let sin do its worst in the next life, in the present they will enjoy it; and in sweet security too, if they can. Is not this an astonishing degree of infatuation? Is it not one of the strongest delusions of the devil, that he should make those very men insensible of their spiritual maladies, who are exquisitely sensible of the least bodily malady, whose fears are all alarmed at the thoughts of their dying to this world, but who have not the least concern about their dying from God and glory? Are any of you, my brethren, in this case? Are you easy about the state of your souls, having never been in any distress about original and actual sin? Did you never feel yourself so sick of both that you were afraid you should perish everlastingly? If not, consider what it is that keeps you in this fatal security. Are not you sinners? for all have sinned. And has not sin poisoned both body and soul? And is not this one of the sad, stupifying effects of its poison, that while there is but a step between you and death, yet you have no concern about your being healed?

Are these things so? If they be, may the Almighty God awaken you to a sense of your danger! O that he may set home and fix such a conviction of sin upon your consciences, that, feeling your malady, you' may earnestly seek the great Physician's help, and may happily find that there is balm in Gilead! which

is the

Second particular I was to consider. Glory be to God, who has not left us without remedy! Our disease is dangerous, but there is balm in Gilead, which can heal perfectly and eternally. The country of Gilead was famous for a precious balm which grew there. "Go up to Gilead, and take balm," says the prophet Jeremiah, xlvi. 11. Its healing virtue is described by him, chapter li. 8, where, speaking of the downfal of Babylon, he says, "take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed." This sovereign medicine, which then grew in Gilead, could assuage the pain of wounds and heal them, and thereby was a type of the gracious remedy which God had provided for the healing of the wounds of sin, namely, the most precious blood of the Lamb of God, applied and effectual by the Holy Spirit: for as this cleanses away all the pollutions, so it heals all the diseases of sin. The scripture has treated largely of its healing virtue, but it is no where more forcibly recommended than in the parable of the good Samaritan. Our Lord says, "a certain man went down from Jerusa lem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead." This certain man was Adam, whose possession was in a paradise of peace and rest, and there he was innocent, safe, and happy: but he left this blissful state of his own accord, contrary to God's express commandment, and he fell among thieves, Satan and his angels, who drew him into sin, and stripped of his raiment, robbed him of his righteousness, in which his soul had hitherto appeared in immaculate purity before God. This spotless robe they took away, and left poor fallen man naked and

wounded. They wounded his body with those pains and diseases which bring it down to the dust, from whence it was taken; and they wounded his soul in all its faculties, his understanding with darkness, his will with a vicious choice, and his affections with worldly-mindedness, so that he placed his love upon the creature instead of the Creator; they wounded his conscience with guilt, and with fear of death and of hell. And they departed, leaving him half dead :" for his soul, the better part, was separated from God, and already dead in trespasses and sins, and the body was dying. When man was fallen into his helpless state, the patriarchal dispensation took place from Adam to Moses, under which the first born was priest, and had a right to offer up the appointed sacrifices; but these could not give life to the sinner, and therefore the priest came and looked upon him, and passed by on the one side, being unable to raise him up from the death of sin. Next succeeded the levitical dispensation from Moses to Christ: the Levite came and looked upon him and passed by on the other side, being unable, by any of the legal rites and ceremonies, to raise fallen man to his former righteousness and perfection. "But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was." ritan signifies a keeper, and it here stands for the Keeper of Israel, whose compassions fail not: "for when he saw him he had compassion on him." His love disposed him to use his power for the sinner's recovery; he was almighty, and he resolved to use his almighty power to heal him. He went up to him and applied the balm of Gilead-"he bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine;" wine, the established type of the most precious blood of the Lamb of God, and oil, the known emblem of the salutary influence of the Holy Spirit. Pour these into the deepest and most dangerous wounds of sin, and they will infallibly work a perfect cure; for the blood has a divine virtue to heal, being appointed and ordained of God for that very purpose. It cleanseth us, says

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