arifing from vicious Habits. 217 the apof}le fames calleth the Iuft of the heart. S ER M. It hath pleafed God fo to order our condition VIII. in this world, that we are tempted from"--v--3 within as well as without ; there are oppo- fite tendencies in our conftitution, and though we have fufficient motives to virtue, yet it is not to be pradrifcd without difficulty : But cuftomary indulgence fuper-addeth a great weight to appetite and paffion, and habit maketh fin much the more eafily to befet us, not only inclining us much more to the prac- tice of it, but darkening the mind and har- dening it into an infenfibility of evil. From what hath been faid, we may fee, which I principally intended to thew under this head, and is directly to the purpofe of the text, the tendency of evil habits to in- difpofe men for moral goodnefs, or to render them unqualified for, or unable to pradrife, the virtues contrary to thefe evil habits : And it confifteth in thefe two, inclining them to continue the ill practice they have been ac- cuftomed to, and defeating the beft means for their conviction and reformation. No habit leaveth a man in a frate of indifference, it putteth a ftrong bias upon his mind to ad according to its direction, as experience fhew- eth in innumerable inftances, and in the molt ordinary affairs, and even amufements of life ; how
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