November 6

"Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin."—Romans 6:11.

WHAT a great difference there is between the man of the world and the Christian! The one is dead to the pleasures of religion and the things of God, but alive to the world and the objects of time; the other is dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God. Let us notice

THE CHRISTIAN'S DEATH. "Dead indeed unto sin." He is not dead to the being of sin: it still lives in him, though he cannot live in it. Let us inquire in what sense he is dead to sin. To the dominion of sin. "For sin shall not have dominion over you," ver. 14. Though it has an existence in the soul, it has not a throne in the heart—it rages, but it does not reign. To the curse of sin. To this all are exposed by nature; but, by virtue of his interest in Christ, the believer is delivered from it. To the destroying power of sin. Those who are united to Christ are rescued from its calamitous influence, and shall be preserved blameless at his coming. If I am a Christian, sin may disturb, but it cannot destroy me. "The strength of sin is the law;" but I am not under the law, but under grace. To the final doom of sin. This is felt in the caverns of eternal darkness and despair, by those who die impenitent. But the Christian is delivered from it. How can he perish, when we are assured that "he which hath begun a good work in him, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ"! He may backslide from the ways of religion, but if a true Christian he shall be restored; the light within him may be obscured, but never can be extinguished. "The altar of prayer in his spiritual temple may lie in ruins, and the grass may grow on its steps; yonder holy images may be thrust out, or be scarcely recognized through the fading of their colors; and the poor heart, once so beautifully adorned, may be again like a deserted dwelling, where in the desolate chambers only night birds dwell, and wind and weather find on every side free admission; yet the lamp of conviction, 'Thou art the Christ,' still flickers solitary in the wasted halls over ruin and rubbish. The divine flame of this conviction still remains; that to-day, or to-morrow, sooner or later, it may light back the lost sheep into the arms of its Shepherd."