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 WlLTTJIOU BE MADE WHOLE? 
 
 BY Sitv7. WM. HOWARD, 01? ALA. 
 
 This question was originally addressed 
 
 by our companionate Redeemer to a poor, 
 sick, helpless man, who had groaned un- 
 der an incurable malady thirty and eight 
 years. It is bow proposed to the brave 
 soldiers of the Southern Confederacy who, 
 enfeebled by sickness and wounded in 
 'battle, ai\c languishing in the Hospital, 
 far fa&w loved ones and all the comiorta 
 and endearments of home. 
 
 Tl; - anestiou does not refer to ysnr 
 bodity hijirmiii's. We have seen some of 
 the suffering and distress which this un- 
 holy war has occasioned, and the siglft 
 has deepiv affected our heart. We would, 
 if in our .power, speedily heal every wound 
 and remove every disease. * 
 
 Ami yet this language rupppses that 
 you are tick. . Morally and religiously you 
 are in a state of disorder and disease. 
 Nothing but the m< st wilful blindness 
 conceal Irorn your view the fearful symp- 
 toms of this spiritual disease. Your soul 
 has lost its appetite for proper and whole- 
 some food. The Woid of God, prayer. 
 
communion with the Father of Spirit* — 
 these constitute the proper nourishment 
 of the soul. - But } T ou have no relish for 
 these things. The very sense of loathing 
 which you feel when brought- in contact 
 with spiritual things, proves of itself, that 
 your spiritual health is wholly gone.. 
 
 Again, the restlessness and- uneasiness 
 of your soul is another indication of the 
 existence and prevalence of spiritual dis- 
 ease. " There is no peace, saith my God, 
 to the wicked." Ti is -declaration corre- 
 sponds wi h your actual experience. You 
 cannot rid yourself of conrious uneasi- 
 ness, and disratisfac'tion wlrch spreads its 
 infectious influence over all your pursuits 
 and enjoyments. An irritation like this 
 existing in the physical system, is a*t once 
 taken us an indication of a derangement 
 of the functions and of the presence of 
 disease. Ought it not to be equally so in 
 regard to the'loul? 
 
 Sin is the infection, which is working 
 destruction in your soul. The heart at 
 enmity to God, the affections estranged 
 from the iountain of life and j 03% thi . is 
 your despei ate malady. It has spread it- 
 self throughout your spiritual system, and 
 
 infected with its contaminating influence 
 
 ___.. ^ 
 
your every moral faculty. "The whole 
 head is' pick, and the whole heart faint ; 
 from the crown of the head to the sole 
 of the foot, there is no soundness; but 
 wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores.'! 
 And think of its dreadful termination, 
 "Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth 
 death." Separation now from the love of 
 God, and eternal banishment from his 
 presence hcrcjifcer. It is a deadly malady, 
 and tends infallibly to the everlasting de- 
 struction of its v;cLim. But you say, "I 
 fe^l that, I am safe; I perceive no ground 
 tor alarm." But remember, insensibility 
 • to danger by no means disproves the fact 
 of its existence. Look at your comrade 
 who lies on the next cot — the victim ot 
 that slow but unfailing der-troyer, con- 
 sumption! How confidently he looks for- 
 ward, even from the very brink of the 
 grave, .to the prospect of recovery! Tne 
 disease works its way effectually, yet 
 gradually and un perceived, until it has 
 sapped the very vitals of the system, and 
 though the course of [-reparation has been 
 long, yet the body fails at last suddenly 
 and unexpectedly into the tomb, and just 
 as imperceptibly, yet no Jess surely, does 
 that ^piiitual dis »a$e make progress, t<* 
 
 P4219 
 
which your soul is subject. Be Assured 
 "the end of these things is death." 
 
 But blessed be God, this disease dread- 
 ful as it is, is curable. True the case is der 
 sperate wlien considered in referen e to 
 human aid. No, outward appliances can 
 reach ihe seat 'of the disease, No opiates 
 you apply will be effectual in quieting 
 your troubled concience, relieving it of its 
 restlessness and anxiety and restoring it 
 to perfect tranquility and peace. But "Is 
 there," says God, "no balm in Gilead? 
 la there no physician there?" Yes, there 
 is a balm, a great and tried physician, 
 who says to every soul concious of this you 
 disease and anxious to be cured "I will 
 come and heal him." 
 
 Will you then, my dear friend, answer 
 this- question, practically now? Before* 
 put aside this tract, as Jesus asks you "Wilt 
 thou ; >e made whole?" will you honestly 
 and prayerfully reply "1 will?" You can 
 do this without rising from your bed, by 
 applying- to thi i physician, and crying 
 "ileal my soul, for I have sinned against 
 thee." lie has provided a remedy of uni- 
 versal efficacy. It is sufficient to meet the 
 necessities of the most desperate case! 
 " The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth 
 
from all sin." "Though your sins be as' 
 scarlet, they bhall be white as snow." The 
 woman who was a great and notorious 
 "sinner," applied to him, and the burden 
 of her sins was at once removed. Paul, 
 a blasphemer and persecutor, guilty as he 
 nvas* and desperate as was his condition, 
 yet proved the efficacy of the sovereign 
 remedy. None ever applied to Christ, 
 -submitted to his prescriptions and applied 
 his remedy, who has not found effectual 
 and permanent relief. "Virtue has gone 
 out" of him sufficient to heal the deepest, 
 to cleanse and purify the moot inveterate 
 wounds. 
 
 And he is just as willing as he is able 
 to serve. We may be poor, but his ser- 
 vices are offered without money and with- 
 out price. We may be wholly unworthy 
 of his favor; but he asks for nothing on 
 our part, 6ave a sense of our necessities. 
 Hi i offers are indiscriminate and free. 
 "Ho! every one that thirsteth, come ye to 
 the waters." "Look unto me and be ye 
 saved, all the ends of the earth."- - 
 
 Now, then, my sick friend w T ill you not 
 make a personal application to this Divine 
 Physician ! Remember that the time of 
 cure is limited and uncertain. "Now is 
 
 r> /i mi Q.Q 
 
the accepted time; behold, now is the day 
 of salvation." Now the question is pro- 
 posed "Wilt thou be made whole?" God 
 grant that you may answer it at once by 
 repairing to the footstool of mercy, there 
 seeking deliverance from the pcwer of 
 your sins, that the progress of the plague 
 Which is hurrying your soul to eternal 
 death may be stayed. 
 
 1, '.'And didst thou, Jesus, condescend, 
 To heal the sick, the lame, the blind, 
 And drive disease away? 
 
 % Didst thou regard the beggar's ciy, 
 And cause the blind to see? 
 Thou Sou of David, hear — 0, hear — 
 Have mercy, too, on me. 
 
 3. And didst thou pity mortal woe, 
 And sight and health restore? 
 0, pity, Lord, and save my soul, 
 Which needs thy mercy more. 
 
 4. Didst thou thy. trembling servant raise, 
 When sinking in the wave? 
 
 I perish, Lord ! save my soul 1 
 For thou alone canst save." 
 
 " What must. I Do to Inherit Eternal Life T\ 
 " Lite, life, eternal life,," tl\c most impor- 
 tant of all things to the guilty, t lie lost, the 
 dying. What must I do to inherit it? 
 ' " What must I do ?" Something must be 
 
done, and done eoort, and done in earnest, 
 
 or I perish, .If T remain idle, inactive, un- 
 concerned, a little longer, it may be too late. 
 
 " What must I do /" Not only is tome- 
 thing to be done, but I must do it. God 
 has wrought out a great salvation ; I nIRst 
 receive it at the hand of God. Nooneetsc 
 can Jo this for me. I must myself accept 
 the profered gift, or never be savjjd. 
 
 What must 1 do ?"' There is a necessity fn 
 the ease, 'urgent, pressing, inevitable. The 
 work must be done, or I am undone, forev- 
 er undone. Thinking, feeling intending, 
 resolving — all this i* not enough. What 
 God directs must be (lone, and done as he 
 directs, or I perish. • 
 
 And now, do yon ask in sincerity and 
 earnestness, V What' must I do? %1 By the* 
 grace of God, ami according to his truth, I 
 Will tell you. You must admit and feel that 
 yon are a wntterfguilty, polluted, condemn- 
 ed, lost, and so dead in sins as to Vein need 
 of eternal life.. You must realize that lite 
 is to be found in Christ. "In him is life," 
 John 1; 4 ; and lie "giveth .life unto the 
 world," John 6:33, And do you ask, 
 "How shaii I obtain it?" " lie * that he- 
 lieveth on the S< n hath everlasting life," 
 John 3:37. This, tken, is what you must 
 
do; you. must believe on Christ. You must 
 ^believe chat he is the Saviour, the only Saviour, an 
 -all-sufficient Saviour, able to save to the uttermost, 
 willing to save all that will come to him; ready 
 •afl$ wailing to save you, and to save you now. 
 
 And if. yon believe him thus to be a Saviour, and 
 .^re willing to be saved by him, you will accept him 
 as your Saviour, according to his word. You will 
 repent : that is, you will cease to do. evil, that you 
 may learn of Christ to do well ; sorrowing that you 
 have ever broken God's commands, and resolving' 
 ;and praying that you may do so no more. You 
 will believe: that is, you will a-eee-ive all that 
 Christ has said, and trust all that he has promised; 
 and give up yourself, and all that you have and are, 
 to him, for time and enmity. You will obey : that 
 i'Vycm will endeavor to do Christ's will, as. the Bi- 
 ble d >,ebres it: and to do it.sincei^ly, immediately, 
 uniformly, prayerfully, faith fuMy, to the end of life, 
 "relying on the Holy Spirit for strength, and on the 
 grace of God in Christ sJesus for. acceptance at the 
 iinal day. . Do this, and you shall " inherit eternal 
 life." Your sins shall be forgiven; your heart be 
 renewed: your hope rest on the true foundation : 
 though an outcast, you, shall be restored though, 
 deserving death, yqu.s.kdl inherit, through, graee 
 eternal Uie. 
 
P H 8.5