238

THE SINNER.

His Conflict.

WHEN sin entered into the world, death followed. The Scripture tells me of two deaths, the first and the second, this spiritual, that natural; the first, a separation of the body and the soul, is temporal; the second, a separation of the body and the soul from the favour of God, is eternal: the first, therefore, is terrible; the second, intolerable. If the first death so terrified the Lord of life, how terrible will the second be to me, the child of death? If every trivial grief disturbs my thoughts, if every petty sickness distempers my body, if the very thought of death dismays my soul, how horrible will death itself appear? Oh, when the silver cord shall be dis

solved, the golden bowl demolished, the pitcher at the fountain broke, the cistern-wheels stopped-how will the whole universe of my afflicted body be perplexed! Yet, were I to endure for every man that hath been, is, and shall be, a death as oft repeated as the seashore hath sands, all this were nothing to a minute's torment of the second death. O treacherous and soul-destroying sin, how hast thou thus betrayed me to eternal death, by thy false, momentary, and deceitful pleasures? How hast thou bewitched me with flattering smiles, and, with thy counterfeit delights, thus tickled me to death! Thou hast not only deprived me of a transitory life, but led me into the hideous jaws of an everlasting death. Thou hast not only divorced my miserable soul from her beloved body, but separated both soul and body from the favours of my God, and left them to the insufferable torments of eternity. O my soul,

can thy life be less than miserable, which being ended, is transported to so infinite a misery? How can thy death be less than terrible, which opens the gates to such eternal torments! What wilt thou do? or whither wilt thou fly ?-thy actions cannot save thee, nor thy flight secure thee. Death is thy enemy, who, taking advantage of thy lusts, hath strengthened itself through thy weak

ness.

REPAIR to thy colours, O my soul; the Lord of life is thy General; he hath foiled thy enemy, and disarmed him: -stand fast-he is conquered, if thou strive to conquer. Hark what thy General saith:

He that overcometh, shall not be hurt of the second death. Rev. ii. 11. Rev. ii. 7.

To him that overcometh I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.

Rev. iii. 21.

To him that overcometh I will grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

Rev. ii. 17.

To him that overcometh I will give to eat of the hidden Manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it.

His Soliloquy.

OUR life is a warfare, and every Christian is two soldiers; the army consists of good and evil motions; these under the conduct of the flesh; those. under the command of the Spirit: the two generals, God and the devil: the field, the heart: the word, on the one side, Glory; on the other side, Pleasure: the reward of both, eternity: on that

R

side, of happiness; on this side, of torment. How is thy heart, O my soul, like Rebecca's womb? how do two nations strive within thee? Cheer up;' take courage in the reward that is set before thee: so fight that thou mayest conquer; so run that thou mayest obtain: let not the policy of the enemy dismay thee, nor thy own fewness disanimate thee. Advance therefore, O my dull soul; fear not the fiery darts of Satan, nor be afraid of his arrow that flies by night: press towards the great reward, and let thy spirit resist to blood. Take courage from thy cause: thou fightest for thy Prince, thy God, and takest up arms against his enemy, and thy rebellious lusts. Is thy enemy too potent? fear not; art thou besieged? faint not; art thou routed? fly not. Call aid, and thou shalt be strengthened; petition, and thou shalt be relieved; pray, and thou shalt be recruited.