The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 234

a long, long time coming in, bl\t it <loes come in. Healing ie always a gradul\l work. "Nemo repente fuit 'sanctissimus,'" any more than "turpiesimus." A man cannot leap into heaven, as, thank God, he cannot leap into hell. Dut because healino- is only gradual, do we deny its existence? Dut we know there are vast multitudes m~re to be account.ed for than those we have as yet told of. (2) Therefore for this part wo say concerning them, wait. St. Paul had evidently pondered this problem, and he has taught us that there are due times and seasons appointed in the wisdom of God for tl:e nrn11ifrstation of Christ to men (cf. 1 Tim. ii. 6; Epb. i. 8-10 · Phil. ii. !) , Col. i. 20), but that in the "dispensation of the fuluess of times" it is' God's "good pleasure" to "ga:her together all things in Christ," all the living and all the dcnd. And it is impossible not to see how the heart of the holy apostle exults in the beatific ':is!on, the "breadth, and length, and depth! an~ height" of the glorious completed hvrng temple of the Lord God. Therefore, m view of revelations like these, we say that before the reality of the work of Christ and the Holy Ghost are denied, we are bound to wait. And if it be objected that the waiting has been and may be for so long, we reply that it is because men will not come unto Christ that they might have life. The remedy of redemption is not forced upon any soul. A man's soul is not saved by his will being crushed, by his ceasing to be a man and becomina a machine. We cannot but believe and know-the individual conversion of every true child of God demonstrates it-that God has ways and means to bring "the unruly wills of sinful men" into accord with his own, and this in perfect harmony with the moral freedom he has given man. How long and how <lrearlfully far the human will may go in resisting God we cannot tell, but we may not believe that it is greater than God himself and can exhaust all the Divine resources. The hunger and misery of the prodigal brought him "to himself," the consuming fire of the dread captivity which Jeremiah is foretelliug burnt out for ever the love of idolatry amongst Israel; and there are other like fires of God's holy love which may have like results. Therefore, we say, that until-if we may so speak-God has thrown up the case of sin and sorrow stricken humanity, we have no right to affirm that there is "no balm in Gilead," etc. In regard to sorrow, that bas a ministry of spiritual healing of its own, which has gone on ever since '' the Man of sorrows" became "acquainted with grief." As his messenger, Grief has gone about from house to house, from heart to heart, a veritable sister of mercy, though clad in coarse and unlovely garb. Up and down the streets of this weary world, and in and out every one of its homes, she perpetually goes; but no one ever meets her in the new Jerusalem, in the city of our God, for her ministry iH not needed there. Then as to death, we say that in all the drear, dark, hopeless power of it" C.:brist has abolished death." We can, and by every graveside we do-challenge death as to its sting, and the grave as to its victory. Therefore we say, and with glad hearts, that the health of the daughter of the people is recovered, or is recovering, for that there is both Balm in Gilead and a Physician there. Co!;'CLUSION. But whilst we bid the unbelie~er wait ere he pronounce with certainty that there is neither Balm nor Physician, we would earnestly and affectionately beseech him not to wait ere he has recourse to them. Disease does not become easier to cure by being allowed to go on 1;1ncbecke,l. It only gives the phrsician far more _trouble, and tLe patient far more pam. And the analogy hol<ls good m regard to the disease of sin. Come, then, to Christ now.-C. Ver. 22.-The balm of Gilead. There were those who treated the crimes and miseries of the natiou as a trifling matter; they sought to" heal lhe hurt slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there was no peace" (ver. 11). Not so the prophet. He is keenly alive to the dreadful evils of the time. He takes the sins and sorrows ,if the people on himself, makes them his own. Tender human sympathy, as well as Divine compassion breathes in the words," For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt." An'd it is not sorrow alone but "astonishment" of which he is conscious. "Why is not her health recovered?" Can it be that there is no remedy? The "balm of Gilead" is taken as the symbol of a healing moral power. Is it so, then, that the very nation that was called to diffuse a redeeming influence over all the world is unable to cure herself-has no medicine for her own diseases, or none to apply it? Such is the wonder with which a thoughtful, earnest spirit will often contemplate the en. vrn.1-22.) THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 232