in Scripture to be rescued out of the snare of the devil, and to be turned from the power of Satan unto God; so, on the other hand, the farther men advance in the ways of sin, so much the farther they depart from God, from under the influence of his grace, and the care and protection of his providence.

And thus, by passing from one degree of sin to another, the sinner becomes hardened in his wickedness, and insensibly slides into that state, in which, without a miraculous grace of God, he is like for ever to continue. For the mind, after it has been accustomed to evil, and is once grown old in vice, is almost as hard to be rectified, as it is to recover a body bowed down with age to its first straitness. The Scripture speaks of some that commit sin with greediness, and that drink up iniquity as an ox drinketh up water, with a mighty appetite and thirst; and they who have brought themselves to this pass, are almost under a fatal necessity'of sinning on. I do not believe that God hath predestinated any man to ruin; but, by a long course of wilful sin, we may in a sort predestinate ourselves to 'it; we may choose wickedness so long till we have brought ourselves under all imaginable disadvantage of contributing any thing towards our own recovery; being bound in the chains of our own wickedness, and held in the cords of our sins: nay, like Samson, not only bound by those lusts which we have embraced, but

likewise robbed of all our strength whereby we should break loose from them. God grant that none of us may ever have the woful experience of it; but I am horribly afraid it is too true, that a sinner may arrive to that confirmed state of impiety as almost totally to lose his liberty to do better. Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? It is the Scripture comparison to set forth how hard a thing it is for a man to be brought to goodness that has been long accustomed to do evil. He who is thus deeply engaged in a bad course will scarce ever have the resolution to break loose from it, unless he be violently forced by some severe affliction, by a sharp sickness, by a terrible calamity, or by the present apprehensions of death, and the terrors of a future judgment. Nor will these be effectual to change such a person without an extraordinary degree of God's grace; which, considering the greatness and the continuance of his provocations, he has very little reason to hope God should ever bestow upon him. Wretched man! that hast brought thyself into this miserable state, out of which there is but just a possibility left of thy being rescued; that hast neglected thy disease so long till it is almost too late to apply remedies; that hast provoked God so far, and sinned to such a prodigious height, that thou hast reason almost to despair both of his assistance for thy repentance, and of his mercy for thy pardon. I speak not this to discourage even the

greatest of sinners from repentance. Though their case be extremely difficult, yet it is not quite desperate: For those things which seem impossible with men, are possible with God. But I speak it on purpose to stop sinners in their course, and to discourage men from going on in sin till they be hardened through the deceitfulness of it, and have brought themselves by insensible degrees into that dangerous and difficult state which I have been representing to you.

II. I come in the second place to the work of exhortation commanded in my text. And here I shall address myself to two sorts of per

sons:

1. To those who are yet innocent of great crimes Vice may easily be discouraged at first: it is like a slight disease, which, in the beginning, is easy to be cured, but is dangerous when neglected. The first approaches of sin are usually very modest, but if they be not discountenanced, it will soon make bolder attempts. All vice stands upon a precipice, and every compliance with temptation is going down the hill: while we keep our standing we may command ourselves; but if once we put ourselves into motion downward, we cannot stop when we please. If we give way to presumptuous sins, they will quickly get dominion over us. It is absurd for a man to think of setting bounds to himself in any thing that is bad; to resolve to sin in number, weight, and measure, with great temperance and discre

tion, and government of himself; to resolve that he will commit this sin, and then give over; entertain but this one temptation, and after that admit of no more. Our corrupt hearts, when once in motion, are like the raging sea, to which we can set no bounds, nor say to it, hitherto shalt thou go and no further. Sin strangely gains upon men, when they once give way to it. Complying with a small crime marvellously disposes a man for a greater. As there is a connexion of one virtue with another, so vices are linked together, and one sin draws many after it. When the devil tempts us to commit any wickedness, he does as it were lay a long train of sins, and if the first temptation take, they give fire to one another. Let us therefore resist the beginnings of sin, because then we have most power, and sin has the least.

2. Let me apply myself to those who are already engaged in a wicked course, and endeavour to persuade them to make haste out of this dangerous state, lest they be hardened at length through the deceitfulness of sin. And there is no other way to get out of such a state but by repentance; that is, by a real change and reformation of our lives; for herein the nature of true repentance consists. Without this change, all our sorrow, and fasting, and humiliation for sin, will signify nothing. There is an excellent passage of the son of Sirach to

this purpose, He that washeth himself after the touching of a dead body, if he touch it again, what availeth his washing? So is it with a man that fasteth for his sins, and goeth again, and doth the same things; who will hear his prayer, or what doth his humbling himself profit him? There is this plain difference between trouble for sin and repentance: sorrow only respects sins past, but repentance prevents them for the future: and God therefore requires that we should be troubled for our sins, that we may resolve to leave them.

And to oblige us to a vigorous and speedy resolution in this matter, let us consider that we have engaged too far already in a bad course, and that every day our retreat will grow more difficult; that by delays we make work for a sadder and longer repentance than that which we now so studiously decline: let us consider likewise that our life is concerned in the case; that except we repent and turn we shall die; and that the evil day may overtake us while we are deliberating whether we shall avoid it or not; that vice is so far from being mortified by age, that by every day's continuance in it we increase the power of it; and so much strength as we add to our disease, we certainly take from ourselves; and this is a double weakening of us, when we not only lose our strength, but the enemy gets it and employs it against us. The deceitfulness of sin