a sad epitaph is this to be on a man's grave-stone, — ' Here lies one that cut his own throat, — this is the man that would not be reclaimed ! He saw hell before him, and yet would leap into it, notwithstanding the entreaties of Christ, by his Spirit and ministers to the contrary.' And the oftener thou hast attempted to do it, and God hath been staying thy hand by his gracious solicitations, the greater will be thy shame and confusion before God, men, and angels, at the last day. God hath set a brand upon those acts of cruelty, which a man com- mits upon himself, above all others. It wovild show a man to be of a harsh, currish nature, that could see his horse in his stable, or hog in his sty, starve, when he hath meat to lay before him ; more cruel still to hear his servant cry out for bread, and denied it ; yet more horrid if this were done to a child or wife ; but of all (because nature cries loudest for self-preservation) the greatest violence that can possibly be done to the law of nature, is to forget the duty we owe to our own life. What is it then for a sinner to starve his soul by rejecting Christ, the bread of life, and to let out his soul's blood at this wide sluice! This is a matchless cruelty ! Indeed, that which makes the self-murder of the body so great a crime is, because it doth so imminently hazard the destruction •of the soul. O how vuiworthy then art thou to have so noble a guest as thy soul dwelling in thy bosom, who preparest no better lodging than hell for it in another world ! — that soul whose nature makes it capable of being preferred to the blissfid presence of God in heaven's glory, if thou liadst not bolted the door against thyself by thy impenitency. But, alas! this, which is the worst murder, is most common. They are but a few monsters, that we now and then hear of, who lay violent hands upon their bodies, at the report of which the whole country trembles; but you can hardly go into any house in which you shall not find some attempting to make away with their souls; yea, that carry the very knife in their bosoms, (their beloved sins, I mean,) with which they stab them: even those that are full of natural affections to their bodies, so as to be willing to spend all that they are worth, with her in the gospel, on physicians when the life of it is in danger, yet so cruel to their dying souls, that they turn Christ, their physician, out of doors, who comes to cure them on free cost. In a word, those that discover abundance of wisdom and discretion in ordering their worldly affairs, you would wonder how rational they are, what an account they will give why they do this, and why that,^ — when it comes to the business of heaven, and the salvation of their souls, they are not like the same men ; so that, were you to judge them only by their actions herein, you could not believe them to be men. And is it not sad that the soul, which furnisheth you with reason for the dispatch of your worldly business, should have no benefit itself from that very reason which it lends you to do all yoiu* other business with ! This, as one well saith, is as if the master of the house, who provides food for all his servants, should be himself kept by them from eating, and so remain the only starved creature in the house. And is not this the sad judgment and plague of God, that is visibly seen upon many, and those that go for wise men too? Are not their souls, w^hich give them understanding to provide for back and belly, house and family, themselves starving in the meantime ? being kept by the power of some lust from making use of their understanding and reason so far, as to put them upon any sei'ious and vigorous endeavour for the salva- tion of them.
EPHESIANS VI. 17.
And the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Here we have the sixth and last piece in the Christian's panoply brought to our hand. A ' sword,' and that of the right make, ' The sword of the Spirit.' The sword was ever esteemed a most necessary part of the soldier's furniture, and, therefoi'e, hath obtained a more general use in all ages, and among all nations, than any other weapon. Most nations have some particular weapons proper to themselves, but few or none come into the field without a swoi'd. A pilot without his chart, a scholar without his book, and a soldier without his sword, are alike ridiculous. But above all these, how absurd is it for one to think of being a Christian without knowledge of the word of God, and some
AND TllK SWOKD or J'HE SPIRIT. 559