medicine; or, if acquainted with botn, he may be unable to stay the disease, for, like his patient, he is frail and weak, and his own strength may fail at the very time when he is most wanted. But not so with the true Physician. Heaven has given him every needed qualification. He knows the seat of the disorder; he possesses all the means to remove it, and, above all, he has the disposition. If we look at the history of this Physician, we shall find that there was no intellectual, moral, or physical defect beyond his reach. He 'went about all Galilee, * * * healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease, among the people.'* We behold him giving sight to those who were born blind; healing the obstinate leprosy; making those who wanted a limb, perfect; those who shook with the palsy, robust; nerving the withered arm with strength; restoring the insane and demoniac to reason, and raising the dead.† Indeed, the intellectual, moral, and physical departments of creation seemed to have all been within his power. To a maniac, he said, 'Come out of him, thou unclean spirit.' To the transgressor, 'Be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee.' To a Lazarus, 'Come forth;' and all was done instantaneously. There was no long, lingering process in restoring to health, as often occurs among earthly physicians: and all was done 'without money, and without *Matt. iv. 23. † 'A learned physician,' says Bp. Stillingfleet, 'undertook to make it evident from the circumstances of the history, and from the received principles among the most authentic physicians, that the diseases cured by our Saviour were all incurable by the rules of physic.'-Gul. Ader. de morbis Evang. in Orig. Sacr. L. ii. c. 10. price.' When Zeuxis, the Grecian painter, presented his inimitable paintings for nothing, his vanity prompted him to give this reason for his conduct: 'that his performances were above all price.' So, our great Physician, above the suspicion of pride, performed his mighty work of healing freely, and without reward; because it was impossible to propose any to him, which could either merit his favor, or claim his acceptance. Among the multitudes that he healed, no one was so insensible of the worth of the remedy, or the dignity of the Physician, as to make him so degrading an offer. Indeed, those whom he healed had nothing to give but what his own bounty had conferred! In no instance, therefore, did this Physician perform a miracle to enrich himself! An unanswerable argument against the assertion of the infidel, that Jesus was an impostor! What impostor ever lived, suffered, and died for the world, without regarding his own interest? Would to Heaven the world were full of such impostors ! But we are told that we must go to this Physician, or we cannot be cured. But it is the duty of the Physician to come to us and give the willing mind. Surely, we are not to understand the Physician to say to the lame, 'take up thy bed and walk,' and come to me and be healed. If the sick could have had health, if the blind could have seen, if the deaf could have heard, if the lame could have walked; in short, if there had been no disease, there would have been no need of a Physician. It was these very maladies which he came to remove. And shall the very disorders which he came to remove, be the very cause of failure? Shall sin, which brought the Physician from heaven, be the very thing which prevents his mission? If so, then sin, the lowest and most despicable object in the universe, gains the victory, and the Physician is defeated by the very cause which he came to remove. How will this accord with his ministry when on earth? Then, disease in every form fled before him, as the sun dispels the darkness of the morning. If our Physician fails, then wherein is he above the physicians among men? They are defeated by a lack of power or wisdom. And can this be said of the Physician whom Heaven has provided? Shall we say of him as was said in the case of the woman 'who had suffered many things of her physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but grew worse?' Indeed, then is our Physician 'of no value;' and there is no balm in Gilead, there is no Physician there! But we cannot pursue this subject to a great length, and we therefore present the words of an eloquent and lamented brother in the ministry, wherein he has touched this point in a most admirable manner. 'Will the need of a Saviour prevent our salvation? Were we not sinners, we could not be saved, and shall the possibility and the impossibility of salvation be the same thing? Or, in other words, shall our sinfulness prevent our release from sin? "The whole need not a physician, but they that are sick;" and why shall they not have a physician? You are careful to procure medical aid when your friends are in distress, and shall not God be as earnestly concerned for the health of the soul as you are for the health of the body? It may be urged, that the Saviour, the great Physician, has come, and that our moral disorders are unhealed because we have turned a deaf ear to his voice, and hardened our hearts against his counsel. It is replied, were not our souls infected with sin, we should not treat Christ in this manner. And shall conduct, which grows out of the nature of the malady, prevent the cure, when the physician is neither deficient in skill nor faithfulness? Should an earthly physician refuse to prescribe for the sick, because, in the delirium of their pain, they load him with the heaviest imprecations, no one would think him faithful or kind, as the cause of his refusal would, in amount, be the sickness of the patient. And shall Christ abandon the very sinners he came to heal, because, through the intensity of their moral disorder, they pointedly reproach and bitterly execrate his kindest intentions? Should this be the case, how would he be a faithful Physician, or how would he show as much regard to the souls as he did to the bodies of men? for when he was on earth, no curse or flattery of a maniac diverted him from performing a cure with readiness and mercy.'* In closing, our subject seems to require a word on the disposition of our Physician. What tenderness and kindness! Every word was love, and every look was affection. He had 'compassion on the ignorant, and on them that were out of the way.' He was experimentally acquainted with our frail nature, for he 'took part of the same.' He 'took our infirmities and bear our sicknesses.' He knew what was in man,' and therefore, he knew his trials, and could * 'Reasons for believing in Universalism;' a sermon delivered in Hartford. 1825. By Rev. John Bisbee. pity his weaknesses, and forgive his sins! Blessed Physician! I find, on looking at thee, new life, and returning health. I forget my weaknesses and my frailties. In looking at thee, I seem almost even now to be enjoying immortal health! God be praised. 'Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no Physician there?' 'Yes, there's a great Physician near; Such help as nature cannot give.' He has appeared in the midst of this pestilential world, and standing beside us, he is saying, with a smile of love, I am the Physician that healeth thee. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because *** he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted.' * * * And the great Physician will pursue his work till he heals 'all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.' Finally, we shall reach that bright and beautiful world where we shall not need the skill of our Physician, but where we shall adore him forever; for there 'the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick.' |