Jeremiah VIII 22. Under the Old Testament dispensation, the Jewish nation were constituted the visible
church og God; but through their unbelief rebellion and hardness of heart, they were finally rejected, &
the converted Gentiles adopted in their place. In the time of Jeremiah, the displeasure of the
AlmightyXXXX against the Jewish people was rapidly approaching in a series of terrible calamities. In the
chapter from which our text is taken, the prophet bewails the astonishing stupidity & obstinancy of the
people. “For the hurt of the daughter of my people, says he, I am hurt_ I am black, and astonishment
hath taken hold on me-Is there no balm in Gilead? &c
Gilead was a place in Jewish history, noted for its balm or balsom. When Joseph was sold to the
Ishmaelitish merchants, we learn that they came from Gilead, “bearing spicery, & balm & myrrh, going
to carry it down to Egypt (Gen. 3 ch. 25” ) the word rendered balm was used as a common name for
those only substances which flowed out from certain trees spontaneously or by incision, and were
considered of great use in medicine & surgery. Such productions abounding in Gilead caused many
physicians to resort there. In view of these facts, the prophet laments in metaphorical language the
inveterate spiritual disease of his countrymen and their dreadful obstinancy in refusing the provisions
which God had made for their recovery. Alltho they were living in the midst of prophets, teachers, &
spiritual means for their recovery, they did not apply them for their moral improvements and would not
return to god from whom they had revolted.
The language of the text is but too applicable to us as a people. We abound with balm & physicians,
with means of grace, & teachers of religion & yet we are not reformed in our manners, nor delivered
from apprehensions of continued judgments from the almighty. We have abundant reason, for
humiliation, sorrow & repentance.
In the application of our subject on the present occasion, I shall call your attention to the spiritual
disease of many who profess the religion of the Bible, indicated by the prophet, as the “hurt of the
daughter of God’s people__ The moral & spiritual condition of the soul I shall endeavor to illustrate by
the health or disease pf the body_
1. The human system is considered to be in good health, when all its wonderful & complicated
machinery-when all its members, senses, & organs perform their functions with ease, harmony
& comfort- In like manner the soul is in health when all its powers & faculties perform their
office with freedom, ease & pleasure.
When this is the case the will is renewed & subdued to the will of Christ__ ___ ___ The heart
becomes the soil of plants of heavenly culture &c__ __ __
Such an individual has applied to the Great Physician ^received applied the balm of giled, &
realized the healing virtue of the atoning blood of Christ___ But such an individual is liable to
relapse & to contract the moral contagion of sin__
And there are very few professing Christians who do not loose their spiritual comfort to some
extent who do not relapse into sin in a greater or less degree_ hence the distinction which has
been made between venial & mortal sins. The former it is thought, will weaken but not destroy
sanctifying grace, while mortal sins, against light & knowledge, will grieve the Holy Spirit, &
destroy the life of god in the soul. And we fear fatal sins, against light & knowledge, will grieve
the Holy Spirit, & destroy the life of god in the soul. And we fear that many in the church have
fallen from grace by the commission of mortal offences, & become subject to the penalty of
deathIt becomes us therefore to examine ourselves as in the fear of god, that we may ascertain
whether we are in the faith, whether our souls are now healed and accepted in the sight of God.
1. In the first place, the body is said to be out of health when there is no relish for the
enjoyments or duties of life_ we have seen persons of this description __ __ __
In like manner the soul when it has become diseased has lost its relish for the pleasures and
duties of religion_ when first renewed, it was filled with righteousness & peace & joy in the
Holy Ghost.
2. The body is out health when there is no appetite for wholesome food __ ___ ___
In like manner, the soul has become diseased for the want of proper nutriment __ the
professing people frequently fill themselves with poisonous trash of the world__ __ __ until
they loose their appetite for the wholesome truth of religion__ __.
3. The body is out of health, when it has become weak and emaciated, attended with positive
pain & anguish__ when a man has broken down his health by the use of tobacco_ by the
use of intoxicating drink, by intemperate eating, & secret sinful indulgences_ when his
system is reduced to a mere skeleton & conscience begins to warn him of his danger, he
walks and sighs, & feels an inward worm that gnaws upon his troubled mind & he is ready to
wish that he had never been born__
How then are such persons to obtain relief from their moral disease & recover their spiritual
health? _ They must do their first (walks?) over again__ __
There is yet balm in Gilead, & the great physician is ready to apply the healing virtue of his
blood_ (the character of Christ)__
In view of these facts why is not the health of diseased & backsliden professors of religion
restored?
1. Too many are unwilling to admit that anything is the matter_ they are not sensible that they
are spiritually diseased & out of health Some are still satisfied with unwholesome food__
prejudice & don’t like the prescription
“Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good, that are
accustomed to do evil” Jer: XIII. 23v.
The peculiarities of the original language in which the Bible was &originally written have
occasioned great perplexity among commentators in fixing the meaning of many important
passages of scripture Hence we find that according to our idiom of the Hebrew language, the
word hate, frequently signifies to leve less. In the 29 ch. Of Gen: it is said “the Lord knew that
Leah was hated” but in the preceding verse ^applied to the message they said simply that Jacob
loved Rachel more than Leah. Upon the same principle it is written Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated” In this sense we must understand the words of our Lord, when he says “if any man
come to me, and hate not his father & mother, & wife, & children & brothers & sisters ,xxx his
own life also, he cannot be my disciple. The parallel passages in Matthews gospel will give the
ture ^meaning of the word hatex in this conversation. Christ is there represented as saying,
“He that loveth Father or Mother more than one is not worthy of one.”
We find also among the peculiarities of scripture language that a great moral difficulty is
sometimes represented under the idea of a natural impossibility.
Hence when the Saviour sd. To his disciples it ^is was easier for a camel to go through the eye of
a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven, his meaning was that it was
very difficult for a man of ^great wealth is to man the mammon of unrighteousness so to live in
the exercise of humility, charity faith and Christian obedience as to reach the kingdom of
heaven_ All things sd. Christ are possible with God_ intimating that it was a rich man might
be saved alltho’ but attended with great difficulty. A case of this kind is given in our text-the
prophet Jeremiah did not mean to say that it was as difficult for a person to reform who has
been long addicted to ( vices?) as for an Ethiopian to change his complexion, or a leopard the
color of his skin, but this strong language is used, to show the great ^moral difficulty involved in
thes abandonment of sinful habits which have gathered strength by (?) indulgences. This subject
will lead me to consider
I.
II.
The inveterate nature of habit &
Its dangerous (tend away?) when opposed to a virtuous and holy life
! the inveterate nature of habit. The word custom and habit are of similar import and mean nearly the
same thing-the former is generally applied to communities, and the latter to individuals. Hence we hear
of the customs of a neighborhood city, or country, and the habits of an individual. Our text is addressed
to person in then a collective capacity-hence was the Prophet, “Then may ye do good that are
accustomed to do evil”, but we shall give the subject ^ more particularly are in individual application_
The term habit implies any practice, indulgence or manner of life to which has become easy &
natural confusion by education, example, or request repetition
1. A particular manner of life may sometimes be established by the force of education & ^example
This remark applies ^especially particularly to those of tender years; for it is extremely difficult
to change the habits & manners of those who have passed the meridian of life by any system of
education that can be adopted. But in the morning of life the conduct character of persons
may be greatly affected xxxxx ^for good or for evil by the force of education. If good we plant
not vice will fill the mind. The peculiar character of mankind is generally determined for life by
early training & early associations Hence the farmer’s son contracts a taste for the peaceful
toils of agriculture, while the sailor boy becomes strongly attached to the bold adventures of the
ocean. And if either of you had been reared in France, and I in Mecca, it is likely you wd. Have
been a Roman Catholic and I a Mahometan_ (the case of Eglurse?)
2. But habit are more ^generally frequently contracted by frequent exercise, indulgence or
repetition, the bent of which may be derived from a great variety of ^physical & mental
causes____ Such as climate, ill health, intense application, and constitutional peculiarities.
We find that the blacksmith’s arm gathers nerve and strength by his repeated blows upon the
anvil –the eye sight of the silver smith watch maker becomes very keen by the frequent & ^
minute exercise of his sense of vision, and the mariner xxx displays great facility in
discerning ships they rise against the distant horizon___
We find (that)^by ^(frequent) temptation an individual will acquire the habit of winding up his
watch at a particular time_ he will become hungry at a certain hour of the day, and he will
become sleepy about the ^his usual hour of retiring at night whether it be 9, 12, or 3 O’clock.
By frequent indulgence an individual may form the habit of chewing tobacco taking snuff, or
smoking the pipe until he cannot restrain himself without great discomfort & inconvenience. In
this way an individual acquires the habit of idleness, the habit of fault finding, the habit of evil
speaking, the habit of swearing, the habit of Sabbath breaking, and the mindful habit
of drinking intemperance. The miser may count bend over his money, until he shall dream of
bank xxxx bags of gold, and the libertine in the force of habit may ^will(?) the power of self
government become a slave to his passions and appetites. Hence the wisdom and importance
of the old proverb “Be wise betimes, shun gambling crimes. If you would arrest the progress of
any habit which your judgment does not approve you should. Nip the evil in the bud.___ How
many have requested when it has been too late___ ____ ___
3. Habits, in the last xxx place have become strong, inveterate, stubborn, and almost irresistible by
long and repeated indulgence ^ when will suppose for XXX an illustration a dam might soon
be had been constructed across the James River, and the water has been constructed and the
water might be ^completely arrested in its progress but let the smallest rivulet find its way
across the containment and it will soon ^it will begin to wash away the xxx little pebbles that
obstruct its passage; but after a while, it xxxxx becomes a rapid torrent until ^at last the whole
obstruction is carried away by the ^strong & rapid flood which has been gathering force ^
perhaps for many (months?) You might find a strong man with the smallest a straw very small
thread, and he would scarcely feel that he was tied at all, but continue to wind the thread ten
thousand times, & he would find himself perfectly secure & powerless___
And thus it is by the long indulgence of habit the taste becomes (?)tialed_ the will is rebellious &
indeterminate the law of nature and reason and the soul is stupefied by the opiates of sin, and
the man^is taken captive by the devil at his will become a slave to habit. The swearer resolves to
take the name of the Lord in vain no more, but such is the inveterate nature of habit, that under
the influence of irritation he finds himself cussing & swearing, his determination to the contrary
notwithstanding_
The extortion resolves to do justly and love mercy, but such is his love of money, that his
conscience is again XXX disregarded, and again he will grind the face of the poor. This confirms
a drunkard was once a very moderate drinker_ and XXX in what he called the proper use of
spirits__ he took his bitters in the morning and his toddy just before ?, and occasionally a social
glass with an particular friend, and here he felt himself perfectly secure_ But after a while it was
whispered about that he got a little lively at a certain party and perhaps a little high up on the
4th of July, until at last he acquired the habit of drinking to excess, and has now become a
confirmed drunkard-and ther is but little hope of such a man’s recovery_ so will is present with
him &c_ ”Can the Ethiopean change his skin &c
And tus it is whith a course of general transgression_ Our transgression paves the way for
another-the heart becomes more callous and unfeeling, until the Holy spirit takes its everlasting
flight__ ___ __
Hence the ^great importance of XXXX virtuous habits & holy life ^ among these of tender age
At an early age-mankind form their habits for life generally between the age of ten & twenty
five, and we should fear to pass this limit without the most settled conclusions on the subject of
religion.
We find that the middle aged man has less idea of religion than he had in the days of his
youth__ _
But go to the aged man sinner who has lived in sin for more than half a century, whose
trembling limbs and furrowed cheek intimate his near rapid approach to the grave__ speak to
him on the subject of religion, & you will find him farther from God than he was many years ago.
He had lost his good intentions and the probability is he will die without hope and he driven
from the presence of God and from the glory of his power__