True Words for Brave Men

the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have

se words. They are of quite

ng to do a wrong one. We are pulled, as it were, two different ways by two different feelings, feel as if we were two men at once, a better man and a worse man struggling for the mastery. One may conquer, or the other. We may be like the

o well-or ought to understand, St. Paul's words: How often the good which he wished to do, he did not do, but the evil which he did not wish to do, he did. How he delighted in the law of God in his inward man; but he found another la

man's will, but drawn by two horses. The one horse he says is white, beautiful and noble, well-broken and winged, too, always trying to rise and fly upward wit

our nobler and purer desires may lift us up, and leave behind those lower and fouler desires which try to drag us down. Bu

s, longs and struggles to have its own way against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. First, there is a flesh in us-that is, a carnal animal nature. Of that there can be no doub

That he has lost his humanity, his sense of justice, mercy, and decency, and given himself up to his flesh-his animal nature, till the man in him is dead, and only the brute remains. Mind, I do not say that we are right in calling any human being a brute, for no one, I believe, is s

He who spends his life in cunning plots and mean tricks, stealthy, crafty, silent, false, he gives way to the "brute" in him, just as much as the fox or ferret. And those, let me say, who without giving way to those grosser vices, let their minds be swallowed up with vanity, love of admiration, always longing to be seen and looked at, and wondering what folks will say of them, they too give way to the flesh, and lower themselves to the likeness of animals. As vain as a peacock, says the old proverb. And shame it is to any human being so far to forget his true humanity, as to have that said of him. And

say, "He that liveth and believeth in me shall never die?" And why does St. Paul say, "If ye through the spirit do mortif

our 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 ho

of, because it is true; and what is more, it comes true only too often in thi

ak now, in order that this sermon may end, as such gospel sermons su

ou 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 upward instead of letting their own animal nature drag them downward, they are the sons of God. And how can a son of God perish? How can that which is like God and like Christ perish? How can he perish, who like Christ is fu

whether your better self, or your worse, the Spirit of God or your own flesh, shall be your master-whether you will rise step by step to heaven, or sink step by step to death and hell? And let no one tell you. That is not t

ginning at the end-that is just before you die. Common sense tells you that the only way to get to the end, is by beginning at

just. Try to be that. God will at the last day take you as He finds you. Let Him find you such as that-walking not after the flesh, but after the Spirit; and then, and then only, there will be no condemnation for you, for you will be in Christ Jesus. Do not-do not talk about making your peace with God some day-like a naughty child playing truant till the last moment, and hoping that the schoolmaster may forget to punish it. No, I trust you have received the Spirit. If you have, then look