. Infected with the most dreadful, fearful, soul-killing disease by James Smith. From the sole of your foot to the top of your head, no spot is uninjured, but only wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. They have not been cleansed or bandaged or soothed with oil, Isaiah 1.6.

The whole race of mankind, in consequence of the Fall, is infected with the most dreadful, fearful, soul-killing disease. You are infected with it yourself. It is in your nature, and its effects are manifested in your conduct. Its seat is in the heart, which has become deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

The malignant disease has spread over every faculty of the soul. The understanding is darkened, so that you cannot see your dreadful state. The conscience is defiled and no longer warns of evil. The will is powerfully biased to evil and chooses what God abhors. The affections are earthbound and set on forbidden things. The imagination has become sensual and only employed in evil. The reason is debased and calls darkness light and light darkness. The memory is depraved and has become a storehouse of iniquity. The whole soul is paralyzed, polluted and diseased.

Satan has got possession and endeavours to lead you to hell in a false peace. You are naturally unfit for heaven, at enmity with God, exposed to his wrath, cursed by his law, condemned by his word, traveling to perdition, and ripening for damnation. You cannot deliver yourself from sin's dominion, cleanse yourself from inherent defilement, or escape the righteous judgment of God by anything that you can do. You are without strength, blind to your everlasting welfare, and a hater of God. You were born a sinner, have lived transgressing, and dying in such a state will be banished into irremediable woe.

This is your state, reader, whoever you may be. This is your situation, however you may have lived. This is your condition, whatever you may think. Have you ever seen yourself in this situation? Have you ever felt this to be your case? Have you ever trembled on account of it and sought a remedy? If not, this is the very worst symptom of your disease. You are insensible of your wretched condition, under a spiritual derangement, and madness is in your heart.

But if you have discovered your malady, If you have felt sin to be really a dreadful disease, if you are seeking for a remedy, then I rejoice in being able to direct you to one that is provided, which may be obtained freely, and will certainly heal you. God, who is rich in mercy, for the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in sin, has devised a way in which He can manifest Himself as a just God and a Saviour. He has provided a suitable and glorious remedy for lost, ruined, and undone sinners.

This remedy will heal the wounded, cleanse the filthy, sanctify the unholy, justify the condemned, liberate the captive, and save the lost. It gives peace to the distressed, direction to the perplexed, Riches to the poor, sight to the blind, Hearing to the deaf, strength to the weak, Wisdom to the foolish, and life to the dead.