ut over and above that--you
yourselves shall die--your character will die, your manhood or your
womanhood will die, your immortal soul will die. The likeness of God in
you will die. Oh, my friends, there is a second death to which that
first death of the body is a mere trivial and harmless accident--the
death of sin which kills the true man and true woman within you. And
that second death may begin in this life, and if it be not stopped and
cured in time, may go on for ever. The black horse of which I spoke just
now, may get the mastery and drag us down, down, into bogs out of which
we can never rise--over cliffs which we can never climb again--down lower
and lower--more and more foolish, more and more reckless, more and more
base, more and more wretched. And then there will be no more use in
saying, "The Lord have mercy on my soul," for we shall have no soul left
to have mercy on.

This is the dark side of the matter--a very dark one: but it has to be
spoken of, because it is true; and what is more, it comes true only too
often in this world. God grant, my dear friends, that it may not come
true of any of you.

But there is also a bright side to the matter--and on that I will speak
now, in order that this sermon may end, as such gospel sermons surely
should end, not with threats and fear, but with hope and comfort.

"If ye through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall
live." If you will be true to your better selves, if you will listen to,
and obey the spirit of God, when He puts into your hearts good desires,
and makes you long to be just and true, pure and sober, kind and useful.
If you will cast away and trample under foot animal passions, low vices,
you shall live. _You_ shall live. Your very soul and self shall live,
and live for ever. Your humanity, your human nature shall live. All
that is humane in you shall live. All that is merciful and kind in you,
all that is pure and graceful, all that is noble and generous, all that
is useful. All in you that is pleasant to yourselves shall live. All in
you that is pleasant to your neighbours. All in you that is pleasant to
God shall live. In one word, all in you that is like Christ--all in you
that is like God--all in you that is spirit and not flesh, shall live,
and live for ever. So it must be, for what says St. Paul? "As many as
are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God." Those who let
the spirit of God lead them upwar