a woman to strangle the child of her womb; for a man to blafpheme him who with one word can send him to hell: these are wickedneffes which we are amazed at, and wonder that any thing that carries the shape of a man can be guilty of fuch crimes. But then we do not confider, that human nature, as it is now corrupt, is the fame in all men.

We are all fubject to temptations; and if, by our repeated crimes, we fhould ever force the Spirit of God to leave us to ourselves, no man can tell, no man can forefee, what barbarous wickedness he shall at last be tempted to commit, nor what unwelcome, unlookedfor calamity he may bring upon himself, while he goes from fin to fin, till he meets with deftruction.

Now, from what has been faid, we may very justly make these following observations: Firft, That no man will continue long at one certain pitch of wickedness, but either he must reform and grow better, or he will still grow more depraved and vicious. Our fouls are very active beings, and we may truly fay of them what we commonly do of children, that we must be employed in what is good, or we shall certainly be doing mischief: for not only one evil habit begets another, but the more a man fins, the lefs capable he still makes himself of judging what fin is, and what will be the confequences of continuing in it. And the influences of God's Holy

Spirit,

Spirit, and the methods of his providence, have still lefs power upon his mind and foul, till he has quite forgotten God, till God has forfaken him, till he has filled up the meafure of his wickedness, and till he meets with deftruction.

Therefore, no man can be fecure of himself, who will continue in the practice of any, known vice; nor can he be fure that in time he fhall not be reconciled to the most abominable wickednefs; for no man can at firft force himself to do what in time, and by degrees, he may make eafy to his mind and practice. Whoever confiders fome paffages in the life of Solomon, will find a wonderful contradiction in his fentiments and his actions. And the first part of his life was fo very different from the laft, that those who do not confider how very fruitful fin is, and how apt to change the whole man, would hardly believe that one and the fame person was he who in fo pious a ftrain dedicated a temple to the God of heaven, and he who afterwards fell into the groffeft idolatry. But the steps he took were fuch as would effectually change him fo much for the worse. He went against the express command of God, in taking wives from amongst the idolatrous nations; he depended upon his own reafon and ftrength, believing that he could never forget and for fake that God who had after fo gracious a manner appeared to him;

and

and had given him fuch an uncommon share of wisdom.

But this effectually fhews, that neither the greatest share of wisdom, nor the best education, nor the greatest favours of God, are fufficient to fecure us, when once we leave the commands of God. For this Prince's advantages, that he had above others, made him careless; this brought him to intemperance; his ease and intemperance made him a slave to his lufts, and his wives; and these made him as great an idolater as any of those nations, which God, for that fin, had cast out of the land of Canaan; by which he brought upon himself, and entailed upon his family, fuch troubles as ended in the destruction of it.

And thus it will be with every man living, who knowingly allows himself in the practice of what God has forbidden him.

There is no man who did not sometime in his life count drunkenness a fin; and those that are yet undebauched cannot imagine what it is that can bewitch men to make them fond of a fin which disorders both body and mind: and yet how does custom prevail to draw in those who once abhorred the vice; and to how many other fins this leads is fo well known, that it need not here be mentioned.

The fame may be obferved of that too common fin of fwearing, which example and impunity have made fo eafy to too many, that they count it amongst the faults of human

frailty,

frailty, (though to a confidering man it is a moft horrid crime) for it leads men naturally to speak of God without fear and without reverence: this leads them to impiety, to atheism, and to damnation.

And indeed there is no fecurity, until a man has fo far gained upon himself, that he can be content to hear the voice of God within him, and to obey the dictates of his confcience; till he can refolve to put a stop to the very beginnings of vice, and knows for certain, that to allow of any one known fin, is but too fure a way to fall into another.

Therefore, it is ftrange to fee men confident that for themselves they fhall never do fuch things as others are blamed or punished for; when at the fame time they freely indulge themselves the liberty of fuch things as grieve the Spirit of God, by whom alone they are kept from the greatest villainies.

And this brings us to another obfervation from these words, That God does never fufpend his grace, while men continue worthy of fuch a mercy; that is, while there is any hopes (and God knows it very well) whether his grace will not be ftill abufed, and still defpifed,

The goodness and the juftice of God give us all the affurance imaginable of the truth of this; and the conftant methods of his providence fhew us, that he leaves no methods untried which become a merciful Father,

may

and

and a just Creator, to bring his children and creatures to their duty and happiness.

And therefore, though we have many ways provoked the justice of God, yet we are fure he has not given us up to ourselves, if we are forry for our miscarriages, and are refolved to take up for the time to come;—for such thought and fuch purposes come from the good Spirit of God, which never doth any thing in vain.

But then this is no reason why a man should ftill continue in fin, in hopes that the fame good Spirit will fome way or other preferve him from ruin; for, it is true, God doth wonderfully prevent us while there is any hope of a reformation; but when that is over, when we have wearied the patience and long-fuffering of God, (for he will not firive with us for ever) then we may expect to be given over to a reprobate mind.

This then is the ufe we are to make of this knowledge:

ift. We fhould always endeavour to live in the fear of God, that we may not confent to known iniquity. This was the holy Pfalmist's rule: I have fet God always before me, therefore I shall not fall; that is, he endeavoured to have it always in his mind, that God was ever prefent with him, faw all his actions, heard all his words, and knew the very thoughts of his heart.