progrefs of fin, and by what steps vice gains upon men, I fhall mark out to you fome of the chief and more obfervable gradations of it.

1. Men begin with leffer fins. No man is perfectly wicked on the fudden. Sunt quædam vitiorum elementa, Juven. "There are certain rudiments of vice," in which men are first entered; and then they proceed by degrees to greater and fouler crimes; for fin hath its infancy and tender age, and its feveral ftates of growth. Men are not fo totally degenerate, but at firft they are afhamed when they venture upon a known fin, though it be but fmall in comparifon. Hence it is, that at firft men are very folicitous to palliate and hide their faults by excufes; but, after they have frequently committed them, and they grow too vifible to be concealed, then they will attempt to defend and maintain them; and from thence they come by degrees to take pleasure in them, and in thofe that do the fame things.

2. After men have been fome time initiated in thefe leffer fins, by the commiffion of thefe they are prepared and difpofed for greater; fuch as lay wafte the confcience, and offer more violence to the light and reafon of their minds. By degrees a finner may grow to be fo hardy as to attempt thofe crimes, which at firft he could not have had the thought of committing without horror: like Hazael, who, when he was told by the prophet Elifha, what barbarous cruelties he fhould one day be guilty of towards the people of Ifrael, when he fhould come to be king of Syria, he abominated the very thought and mention of them: Is thy fervant a dog, that he should do this great thing? and yet, for all this, we know he did it afterwards. It is true indeed, when a finner is firft tempted to the commiffion of a more grofs and notorious fin, his confcience is apt to boggle and ftart at it; he doth it with great difficulty and regret; the terrors of his own mind, and the fears of damnation, are very troublefome to him; but this trouble wears off by degrees; and that which was at firft difficult, does, by frequent practice and long cuftom, become tolerable.

3. When a man hath proceeded thus far, he begins to put off fhame, one of the greateft reftraints from fin

which God hath laid upon human nature. And when this curb once falls off, there is then but little left to reftrain and hold us in. At first fetting out upon a vitious course, men are a little nice and delicate; like young travellers, who at firft are offended at every fpeck of dirt that lights upon them; but after they have been accustomed to it, and have travelled a good while in foul ways, it ceafeth to be troublefome to them to be dafhed and befpattered.

4. After this it is poffible men may come to approve their vices for if mens judgements do not command their wills, and reftrain their lufts, it is great odds, in procefs of time the vitious inclinations of their wills will put a falfe bias upon their judgements; and then it is no wonder if men come to boaft of their fins, and to 'glory in their vices, when they are half perfuaded that they are generous and commendable qualities. Thus much is certain in experience, that fome men have got -ten fo perfect a habit of fome fins, as not to know and take notice many times when they commit them: as in the cafe of fwearing, which fome men have fo accuftomed themselves to, that, without any confideration, they do of course put an oath or two into every sentence that comes from them. And it hath been obferved of fome perfons, that they have told an untruth so often, and averred it with fo much confidence, till at laft, forgetting that it was a lie at first, they themselves have in procefs of time believed it to be true.

5. From this pitch of wickedness, men commonly proceed to draw in others, and to make profelytes to their 'vices. Now, this fignifies not only a great approbation of fin, but even a fondness for it, when men are not con ́tent to fin upon their own fingle accounts, but they must turn zealous agents and factors for the devil; become teachers of fin and minifters of unrighteousness, and are factioufly concerned to propagate, together with their Atheistical principles, their lewd practices, and to draw followers and difciples after them.

And when they are arrived to this height, it is natural for them to hate reproof, and to refift the means of their recovery; and to quarrel against all the remedies that fhall be offered to them, and to count thofe

their greatest enemies, who have fo much courage and kindness as to deal plainly with them, and to tell them the truth. And then all the wife counfels of God's word, and the most gentle and prudent admonitions in the world, when they are tendered to fuch perfons, ferve only to provoke their fcorn or their paffion. And furely that man is in a fad cafe, that is fo difpofed, that, in all probability, he will turn the most effectual means of his amendment into the occafion of new and greater fins.

But that which renders the condition of fuch perfons much more fad and deplorable, is, that all this while God is withdrawing his grace from them; for every degree of fin caufeth the Holy Spirit of God, with all his bleffed motions and affistances, to retire farther from them and not only fo, but the devil, that evil spirit, which the fcripture tells us works effectually in the chil dren of difobedience, does, according as men improve in wickedness, get a greater and a more eftablifhed dominion over them. For as they who are reclaimed from an evil course, are said in scripture, to be refcued out of the fnare of the devil, and to be turned from the power of Satan unto God; fo, on the other hand, the farther men advance in the ways of fin, fo much the farther they depart from God, from under the influence of his grace, and the care of his protection and providence; and they give the devil, who is not apt to neglect his advantages upon them, greater opportunities every day. to gain the firmer poffeffion of them.

And thus, by paffing from one degree of fin to another, the finner becomes hardened in his wickedness, and does infenfibly flide into that, in which, without a miraculous grace of God, he is like for ever to continue. For the mind of man, after it hath been long accuftomed 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 firft ftraightnefs. The fcripture fpeaks of fome that commit fin with greediness, and that drink up iniquity as the ox drinketh up water; with a mighty appetite and thirft, as if they were not able to refrain from it: and, to exprefs to us the miferable condition of fuch perfons, it reprefenteth them as perfect flaves to their vices, that have fold themselves to

do

on.

do wickedness, and are led captive by Satan at his plea fure. And when men have brought themfelves to this pafs, they are almost under a fatal neceflity of finning I do not believe that God hath abfolutely predeftinated any man to ruin; but, by a long courfe of wilful fin, men may in a fort predeftinate themselves to it; and chufe wickednefs fo long, till it almost becomes neceffary, and till they have brought themselves under all imaginable difadvantages of contributing any thing towards their own recovery; being bound in the chains of their own wickednefs, and held in the cords of their fins: nay, like Samfon, not only bound by thofe lufts which they have embraced, but likewife robbed of all their ftrength whereby they fhould break loofe from those bonds. 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 finner may arrive to that confirmed state of impiety, as almoft totally to lofe his liberty to do better. He may attain to that perfection in vice, as to continue to be a bad man upon the fame account that the hiftorian extravagantly fays Cato was virtuous, quia aliter effe non potuit, Vell. Paterc. "because he could not "be otherwise." Can the Ethiopian change his fkin, or the leopard his fpots? It is the fcripture-comparison, to fet forth to us how hard a thing it is for a man to be brought to goodnefs that hath been long accustomed to do evil. He that is thus deeply engaged and intangled in a bad course, will fcarce ever have the heart and refolution to break loose from it, unless he be forced violently out of it by fome fevere affliction, by a fharp ficknefs, or by a terrible calamity; or by the prefent apprehenfions of death, and the terrors of a future judgement. Nor will these be effectual neither, to change fuch a perfon, without an extraordinary degree of God's grace; which, confidering the greatness and the continuance of his provocations, he hath very little reafon to expect or hope God fhould ever beftow upon him. Wretched man! that haft brought thyfelf into this miferable ftate, out of which there is but juft a poffibility left of thy being refcued; that haft neglected thy difeafe fo long, till it is almost too late to apply remedies; that haft provoVOL. I.

ked

ked God fo far, and finned to fuch a prodigious height, that thou haft reason almost to despair both of his grace and affistance for thy repentance, and of his mercy for thy pardon. I fpeak not this to difcourage even the greatest of finners from repentance. Though their cafe be extremely difficult, yet it is not quite defperate; for thofe things which feem impoffible with men, are poffible with God. But I fpeak it on purpose to stop finners in their course, and to difcourage men from going on in fin till they be hardened through the deceitfulness of it, and have brought themselves, by infenfible degrees, into that dangerous and difficult ftate which I have all this while been representing to you. I come now to the

:

Second thing I propounded; which was, from this confideration, to fhew what great reason and need there is to warn men of this danger, and to endeavour to refcue them out of it. The apoftle directs this precept to all Chriftians Exhort one another daily, left any of you be hardened through the decitfulness of fin; that is, left you be hardened by degrees, and finally ruined. And furely every man is concerned to do what in him lies to refcue his brother from fo imminent a danger. It is every one's place and duty, to endeavour to fave thofe whom he fees ready to perifh: much more does it concern those who are peculiarly fet apart for this work; I mean the minifters of God's holy word, whofe proper office and bufinefs it is, to exhort and warn every man day and night, who are fet as watchmen to the houfe of Ifrael, and whofe blood, in cafe any of them mifcarry through our neglect, shall be required at our hands. So that, if we believe the threatenings of God, which we declare to others; if we have any apprehenfion of the dreadful mifery of another world; if we have any fenfe of our own duty and fafety; if we have any pity for perifhing fouls; we cannot but be very importunate with finners, to look about them, and to confider their danger, and to bethink themselves feriously of the miferable event and iffue of a wicked life; we cannot but be earnest with them, to break off their fins, and to give glory to God by repentance, before darkness come, and their feet ftumble upon the dark mountains. When we are convinced more fully than we can defire, that mifery and deftruction are in