THE NECESSITY OF DEATH

     In all ages the principle of evil has been pitted against the principle of good; the flesh has lusted against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh, because they are contrary the one to the other. This war will continue until virtue shall triumph and enter into eternal joy, "where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest," and until the wicked and their folly shall be 'turned into hell" with "all the nations that forget God."

     Carnality is the fruitful source of all that is wretched in man, and all that is sinful in the world. Ever since it established itself in the hearts of our first parents and caused them to doubt God and to partake of the forbidden tree, it has been breeding riot and misery in every place.

     Carnality is Cain, ever lifting up murderous hand against the holy Abel, because its own works are evil and its brother's good. May it be cast out from among men, a vagabond forever, and may every one that sees it slay it by the help of the Spirit of God!

     Carnality is the Sodomites, who cannot tolerate the presence of one just Lot, but it shall be consumed by the fire of divine hatred for sin.

     Carnality is Ishmael, son of the bond woman, who persecuted Isaac, son of the free woman, until God commanded Abraham to cast out the bond woman and her son. So He commands you.

     Carnality is Achan, who stole the Babylonish garment and the wedge of gold and hid them in the midst of his tent, and by his wickedness caused the undoing of the armies of the Lord until Joshua commanded that he, with his family, should be stoned to death and then piled the stones over them as a memorial and a warning.

     Carnality is Korah, Dathan and Abiram, who were jealous of the power of Moses, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their followers.

     Carnality is Nadab and Abihu, who offered strange fire before the Lord. Be careful that your prayers are not polluted as were theirs or you may share in their reward.

     Carnality is Delilah, holding in her lap the head of Samson, and by her lecherous fawning deceiving him into evil, and robbing him of his power.

     Carnality is Absalom, standing in the gate, and by his deceitful wiles stealing the hearts of Israel from their rightful king. May Joab (Joab means, Voluntary -- our wills) decree its death and may it be driven through with the javelin of the HOLY Spirit!

     Carnality is Judas, while professing to be the friend and follower of grace, sopping in the same dish, yet plotting its sale and crucifixion, selling the Lord for thirty pieces of silver, and betraying Him with a hypocritical kiss.

     Carnality is Simon the sorcerer, attempting to buy the gifts of the Holy Ghost that it may use them for unholy purposes.

     Carnality is the strong man armed, that must be cast out of the palace before the rightful Master can dwell secure.

     Carnality is the unholy leaven of the Scribes and Pharisees, which taints the pure doctrines of grace. God commands that the old leaven shall be purged out

     Carnality is a vicious robber or murderer, which is kept from further depredations by bolts, bars, prison walls or death.

     Carnality is an infectious disease, which must be guarded against like small-pox or yellow fever.

     Carnality is a den of serpents, delighting in the filth and slime of pride, jealousy, lust, deceit, envy, anger and every vile passion.

     It is the agglomeration of

     the guilty, trembling Agag of the soul, the only remedy for whose vileness is for our Samuel to hew him to pieces before the Lord.

     In these days of softness and self-indulgence anything is preferable to death. The cry is for an easier route, a sort of chloroform route, in which the seeker can go to sleep and awake in Canaan, or spread his wings and fly over Jordan. The flesh revolts from destruction. No matter how much the seeker for holiness desires to be clean, the dissolution of the self-life is necessarily accompanied with pain. Life is sweet. Men die hard. In like manner the carnal mind refuses to die till it is forced to the cross.

     No wonder when the nature and extent of the plague is known! Deep are the wounds sin has made. Dark strata of ugly pollution oppose the deep searchings of the Spirit, determined to prevent or at least to hinder the workings of grace. The heart shrinks back from the light, and, like our guilty parents, seeks cover. But as the piercing light penetrates the soul, one after another of the vile tendencies are brought forth and shown up, to some extent, in the light that God sees them.

     Then the soul sees how pride has woven itself in every act, in the gestures of the body, the movements of the hands, in the words, actions and thoughts; and how that in the most holy duties and most sacred moments, spiritual pride has flaunted itself in the face of God.

     It sees how jealousy has scanned other men's successes depreciatingly, and even robbed God of the glory due unto His name. How envy would put down all others and place itself in every desirable position, climb the hill of God, tear Christ from His throne and appropriate divine honors.

     It beholds impatience as the root from which springs murder; left to itself it would again drag Christ to the cross, pierce His hands and feet, and cry out in the judgment hall, "Away with Him! Crucify Him!"

     Lust is beheld as the same principle that populates the house of ill fame, and ravishes innocent virtue, saturating the being with its slimy breath.

     All these, and more, are seen, peering out through the eyes, listening at the ears, rolling from the tongue, moving in the hands and feet, clinging to the heart, sapping at what vitality the soul may have, warped and woven through and through the soul, and, in spite of strong cries and tears for deliverance, a tenacious clinging to life, an unwillingness to submit to death.

     From the earliest dawn of childhood these principles governed the life, more or less regulated by education or selfish self-restraint. It makes little difference to the devil how much self-restraint is used if the corrupt nature is not bound by grace.

     After regeneration, although corrupt nature is held in check by grace, yet the heart beholds its enemy as

     As he views the fact that these principles have hindered him and kept him from mounting into God as he should have done, so blind to the Spirit's leadings and deaf to His voice, he is constrained to say in fact, if not in words:

     Unbelief, that flings the lie in the face of Almighty God, with all of its camp followers, infidelity, discouragement, melancholy, despondency, sloth, indifference, connive to throttle the grace of God, and again gain the supremacy.

     When the carnal nature is shown up in this light, it is not necessary to talk death. The seeker sees that death is the only thing that will avail. Holy vengeance cries out from the depth of his heart: "Death and only death for him,

     When we examine the matter from this point of view, it is easy to see that the necessity for death arises from the inherent evil nature which still remains in the soul, and that the slaying power of Almighty God is the only remedy.