THE NINETEENTH DAY.
On mortal sin.
CONSIDER, that there is not upon earth, nor even in hell itself, a monster more hideous, more filthy and abominable than mortal sin: a monster that is the first-born of the devil; or to speak more properly, is the parent both of the devil and hell. There was not in the whole universe a creature more beautiful, more perfect, more accomplished with all kinds of gifts, both of nature and grace, than was the bright angel Lucifer and his companions: yet one mortal sin, and that only consented to in thought, changed them in an instant to ugly devils, just objects of horror and abomination to God and man. What effect, think ye, will sin have upon man, who is but dust and ashes, if it blast so foully the stars of heaven? It was this monster, sin, that cast our first parents out of paradise, and condemned both them and their posterity, to innumerable miseries, and to both a temporal and eternal death. It was sin drowned the world with the waters of the flood; and daily crowds hell with millions of poor souls, to be the fuel of endless flames. Good God! deliver us from this cursed evil.
2. Consider, that sin is the death of the soul; for as it is the soul of a man, which gives life to his body, and consequently, that body is dead, from which the soul is gone; so it is the grace of God which is the life of the soul; and that soul is dead, which by mortal sin has lost her God and his grace; if, then, a dead carcase from which the soul is gone, be so loathsome and frightful, that few could endure to pass one night in the same bed with such a bed-fellow, how is it possible, unhappy sinner, that thou canst
