Page:Spiritual Reflections for Every Day in the Year - Vol 2.pdf/129

 in their spiritual warfare, and so escape the miseries of the "second death."

As a "second death" is mentioned, it implies that there is a first death. There is a death of the body, and a death of the soul; the former is the first death—the latter is the second. "The second death," which is that of the soul, is very different to that of the body; the death of the body is annihilation, but the soul is an immortal substance, of a spiritual texture and quality that can never be extinct. The death of the soul is not extinction, but it is a spiritual death, which is a deprivation of all those divine principles of heavenly life and blessedness which the angels of heaven perpetually enjoy. Spiritual death is the loss of angelic happiness, and is the consequence of not overcoming in the world. Heaven is a state and place of the most refined happiness, and this happiness arises from the good and pure state of the angels: consequently, no one can enter heaven and enjoy its felicities, unless the inward state and disposition of the mind bears some resemblance to the state of heaven and its angelic inhabitants. Now, the only way for the mind of man to become regenerated, and to possess a similarity of state to the angels, is by a faithful reception of truth in the understanding, and the due application of it to the life. This is the way to overcome in the Christian warfare; this is the means whereby our evil affections and desires can be subdued, and the only way by which we can ESCAPE THE SECOND DEATH.