bear it? All the wrong that the soul ever did; all the forgotten deeds of night; all the long-concealed transgressions of other days; all the visions of an impure and licentious imagination that had seemed to have flown away for ever, seem now to come back and arrange themselves before the eye of the soul,—a dark and horrid brood, and the eye can neither close itself on them, nor can it turn away. This is conviction of sin,—the anguish which the wounded spirit feels at the remembrance of past deeds of guilt. (4.) This agony of spirit has one of two issues. In one case it leads to the true source of relief,-the balm of Gilead-the blood of the Redeemer, and the soul is made whole. The state of anguish becomes so intolerable that the soul can bear it no longer, and it gladly flees to pardoning blood. In the other case it leads to despair and to death. The anguish of remembered guilt becomes insupportable, and the wounded spirit, ignorant of a way by which peace can be found, or unwilling to accept of the peace which the gospel furnishes, seeks to fly from life as if to escape from the guilt that haunts it by day and by night. Under this heavy pressure the man closes his own life, and the wounded spirit rushes uncalled into the presence of God.

*

IV. It remains only, in the fourth place, to inquire whether for the wounded spirit there is no relief-whether a merciful God has appointed nothing which shall serve to relieve the anguish. Medicine is provided by his hands for the pains of the body; is there no medicine thus provided for the deeper sorrows of the soul? Long since this question was asked with deep solicitude by suffering man. Cicero, in the Tusculan Questions, inquires with earnestness "why it is that since so much care has been shown to heal the body, a like care has not been evinced to discover some remedy for the soul-for the diseased, the enfeebled, the troubled mind ?" He attempts to answer the inquiry. Philosophy," says he, "is the medicine for the soul." This is, indeed, the best answer that the world, unaided by revelation, could furnish, but we know that it does not meet the case. Philosophy may teach me to blunt my sensibilities, but that is not to impart consolation, or to heal the "wounds which sin has made" in the soul. I want some security that the wound is healed; I want something that shall make the wounded part live, not that which shall consign it to the torpor of death.

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What, then, are the remedies for a wounded spirit? How shall we be taught to bear it? With reference to the somewhat

* Lib. iii. § 1.

mixed causes of a wounded spirit, to which I have referred, I shall suggest in conclusion, and by way of a practical application, a few of those remedies, or a few considerations to those who thus suffer.

(1.) I have spoken of the wounds which the spirit feels from the envenomed tongue of slander, the efforts of others to injure our character and blast our reputation. To meet this, I need only suggest the following considerations :-(a) God will ultimately take care of a man's character, and give him the reputation which he ought to have, if he aims to do right, and to keep a good conscience. (b) It is possible for a man to have such a character that the calumniator cannot well injure it. A man who has been known for a dozen or twenty years in a community as a man of truth, and honesty, and industry, and straightforward dealing, and piety, is not likely to be permanently injured by the voice of detraction. The world does not judge thus hastily of the character of a man; and the community regards his character as too valuable to be sacrificed by the voice of a slanderer. I can tell you what man is likely to be injured by a slanderer, or what character is likely permanently to suffer by evil reports. It is the man whose life is one of crooked policy; who is timeserving and changeable; who is inconsistent in his walk; who makes a profession of religion, but who gives slender evidence of sincerity and piety; who is never seen in connexion with religion but at the communion table; who indulges in double-meaning and inuendoes in his conversation; who stands aloof from the cause of temperance, and speaks of the over-heated zeal of the friends of that cause; who can partake of a social glass with the world with as much joyousness and hilarity as those who make no pretensions to serious piety; and who is unsettled, unsteady, and vacillating in his plans. Such a man is just the one for the slanderer. The community is half prepared to believe the first suggestion of a departure from honesty and purity of life; and there is no way by which such a man can live down the calumny. But there are men against whose character you would not believe a word if an angel from heaven should proclaim it, and become the accuser. Have such a character, and your spirit need not be wounded by the voice of the slanderer.

(2.) I have spoken of those whose spirit is wounded by neglect and disappointment; by receiving a smaller measure of public favour and regard than they supposed themselves entitled to; by not being elevated to offices which they wished; by not receiving praises and commendations and appointments which they desired;

and by seeing laurels which they wished to entwine around their own brows encircle the heads of others. I admit that there is sometimes real cause of pain here, and that the world is sometimes slow to bestow the due measure of reward on those who deserve its smiles. But the remedy for a wounded spirit here is easy and simple. It is to be found in the consciousness of doing right; in an effort to please God. I may add further, it is to be found in a subdued frame of mind, and in moderated desires. He that will be willing to occupy the place for which he was designed by his Creator, content with the small measure of notice which is due to an individual, and willing that all others should occupy the place which God designed, will not usually find the world inclined to do him injustice. Water finds its proper level, and so does man. To be willing to occupy the place which God in his providence assigns us, however humble or low that place may be, is one of the ways to heal a spirit wounded by mortified pride.

(3.) I have spoken of the wounds which sin has made in the soul; of remembered guilt; of a troubled conscience. Compared with this, all other wounds are trifles; and for this, and for all other sorrows of the soul, arising from disappointment, and chagrin, and envy, and slander, the gospel has provided a remedy. I need not here state as a matter of information what this remedy is; it is alluded to only to persuade the wounded in spirit to apply to it. It is the mercy of God in the Redeemer; the healing balm of the gospel of peace; the forgiveness of sins, and the health and life that flow in upon the soul, so beautifully expressed in the language of Jeremiah: "Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered ?" Jer. viii. 22. It is this of which the Saviour spake when he said, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness," Isa. lxi. 1-3. It is this that is referred to when it is said of him, "A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench," Isa. xlii. 3. It is this of which David sang when he said, "Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name :- -who forgiveth

all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases," Psa. ciii. 1, 3. "He healeth the broken in heart; he bindeth up their wounds," Psa. cxlvii. 3. To many, perhaps very many of my hearers, I need not say one word to describe the way by which healing is thus imparted to a wounded spirit. They who are Christians will recognise what they themselves have experienced in the language of one who keenly felt the wounds which sin has made in the soul:

"I was a stricken deer, that left the herd

Long since. With many an arrow deep infix'd
My panting side was charged, when I withdrew
To seek a tranquil death in distant shades;
There was I found by One who had himself
Been hurt by the archers. In his side he bore,
And in his hands and feet, the cruel scars.
With gentle force soliciting the darts,

He drew them forth, and heal'd, and bade me live."

COWPER, Task, b. iii.

Wounded spirit! that same soft and gentle hand can remove every poisoned arrow with which sin has smitten thy soul, and that great Healer of mankind can make you also live. Nor have I any other remedy to mention, nor do I believe you would elsewhere find it. There are wounds in the soul made by sin, by conscious guilt, by remembered ingratitude and evil affections, which nothing earthly can heal, and which can be remedied effectually and for ever only by the healing balm of the gospel of Christ.

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'Deep are the wounds which sin has made;
Where shall the sinner find a cure?

In vain, alas, is nature's aid

The work exceeds all nature's power.
And can no sovereign balm be found?
And is no kind physician nigh,
To ease the pain and heal the wound
Ere life and hope for ever fly?
There is a great Physician near,—
Look up, O fainting soul, and live;
See in his heavenly smiles appear
Such ease as nature cannot give.
See in the Saviour's dying blood,

Life, health, and bliss, abundant flow;

'Tis only this dear sacred blood

Can ease thy pain, and heal thy woe."-STEELE.

SERMON XIV.

WHAT WILL GIVE PERMANENT PEACE TO A SOUL CONVICTED OF SIN.

JER. vi. 14.-"They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace."

LUKE vii. 48-50.-" And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also? And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace."

WHAT will restore peace to a guilty conscience? This is a great and grave question in philosophy and in religion. It is a question which there is abundant occasion to ask in our world; a question of interest to every man-for every man is a sinner. The answer to this question will introduce us to the provisions made in the gospel, and to the harmony of those provisions with the laws of our mental operations.

The immediate question before us now is, What will give permanent peace to a soul convicted of sin? That is, What is demanded by the laws of mind in order that a soul disturbed and agitated with the remembrance of guilt, and apprehensive of punishment, should find peace? This might be prosecuted as a mere inquiry of mental philosophy. It is my business, however, while I shall be compelled to regard it, in some measure, in this light, to prosecute it mainly with reference to the provisions made in the gospel to meet the case.

The natural division of the subject is this:-I. On what do men naturally rely in that state of mind to obtain peace? And, II. What is necessary in any true system of religion to furnish permanent peace? The consideration of the first will make it necessary to show the inefficacy of the methods resorted to by men without the gospel. The consideration of the second will prepare us to show that the gospel has revealed a plan which accords with the laws of our nature, and which is effectual. The first of these points is suggested by the text from Jeremiah : "They have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace." The second by the text in Luke-the case of the penitent female