s sacred presence were
continued to it. To be dead to sin, is to be so minded, that the
atmosphere of sin (if I may so speak) oppresses, distresses, and
stifles us,--that it is painful and unnatural to us to remain in it.
To be alive with Christ, is to be so minded, that the atmosphere of
heaven refreshes, enlivens, stimulates, invigorates us. To be alive,
is not merely to bear the thought of religion, to assent to the truth
of religion, to wish to be religious; but to be drawn towards it, to
love it, to delight in it, to obey it. Now I suppose most persons
called Christians do not go farther than this,--to wish to be
religious, and to think it right to be religious, and to feel a respect
for religious men; they do not get so far as to have any sort of love
for religion.

So far, however, they do go; not, indeed, to do their duty and to love
it, but to have a sort of wish that they did. I suppose there are few
persons but, at the very least, now and then feel the wish to be holy
and religious. They bear witness to the excellence of virtuous and
holy living, they consent to all that their teachers tell them, what
they hear in church, and read in religious books; but all this is a
very different thing from acting according to their knowledge. They
confess one thing, they do another.

Nay, they confess one thing _while_ they do another. Even
sinners,--wilful, abandoned sinners,--if they would be honest enough to
speak as they really in their hearts feel, would own, while they are
indulging in the pleasures of sin, while they idle away the Lord's Day,
or while they keep bad company, or while they lie or cheat, or while
they drink to excess, or do any other bad thing,--they would confess, I
say, did they speak their minds, that it is a far happier thing, even
at present, to live in obedience to God, than in obedience to Satan.
Not that sin has not its pleasures, such as they are; I do not mean, of
course, to deny that,--I do not deny that Satan is able to give us
something in exchange for future and eternal happiness; I do not say
that irreligious men do not gain pleasures, which religious men are
obliged to lose. I know they do; if they did not, there would be
nothing to tempt and try us. But, after all, the pleasures which the
servants of Satan enjoy, though pleasant, are always attended with pain
too; with a bitterness, which, though it does not destroy the pleasure,
yet is by itself sufficient to make it far l