Balm in Gilead

In New Brunswick, New Jersey in the 18th century there occurred a large awakening under the preaching of Reverends Frelinghuysen, Tennant, and Rowland. Rowland was once asked to preach in the Baptist church there. He preached divine law to such a degree that there were many present whose very souls were sinking under the weight of the law, and a number of them fainted in the service. Rev. Gilbert Tennant was present, in fact he was standing at the foot of the pulpit, and he saw the effect of Rowland's preaching. He interrupted the preacher and pleaded with him, "Brother Rowland, is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?" According to Gillies, Rev. Rowland immediately changed the tone and tenor of his sermon, and he sought to direct the people who were overwhelmed with a sense of their guilt to the Savior. But before this had taken place a number of people had been carried out of the church "in a state of insensibility". Indeed, there is an answer to the weight of guilt and sin . . . we must point our people to Jesus.