Wednesday, October 24, 2007

The Great Physician has healed us



Men may alleviate suffering, they may console the afflicted and cheer the distressed, but they cannot heal the broken in heart, nor bind up their wounds. It is not human eloquence, or mortal wisdom, it is not the oration of an Apollos, nor the wondrous words of a prince of preachers; it is the “still small voice” of God which alone confers the “peace which passeth all understanding.” The binding of the heart is a thing done immediately by God, ofttimes without any instrumentality whatever; and when instrumentality is used, it is always in such a way that the man does not extol the instrument, but renders grateful homage to God. In breaking hearts, God uses man continually; repeated fiery sermons, and terrible denunciations do break men’s hearts; but you will bear me witness when your hearts were healed, God only did it.

You value the minister that broke your heart; but it is not often that we ascribe the healing to any instrumentality whatever. The act of justification is generally apart from all means: God only does it. I know not the man who uttered the words that were the means of relieving my heart: “Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.” I do not recollect what he said in the sermon, and I am sure I do not care to know. I found Jesus there and then; and that was enough for me. When you get your wounds healed, even under a minister, it seems as if it were not the minister who spoke; you never heard him speak like it in all your life before. You say, “I have often heard him with pleasure, but he has outdone himself; before, he spoke to my ear, but now to my heart." We are some of us rejoicing in the liberty of Christ, and walking in all the joy of the Spirit; but it is to God we owe our deliverance, and we are grateful neither to man nor book, so much as to the great Physician who has taken pity on us.

From a sermon entitled "Healing For The Wounded," delivered November 11, 1855.

Photo by GH; some rights reserved.

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