224. Of Inability to do Good S E x M. thefe habits of idlenefs and debauchery are VIII. as difficultly reformed as any other, and mul- `'Y ' titudes have perifhed by them. There are violent temptations to them ; cuftom bath as great a force as in any other cafe, and na- ture joineth with it, which it doth not in many ; thefe vices darken the underftanding and enervate the mind, yet even they have been actually overcome. No reafön therefore can be given why the mind may not, by a peremptory refolution, break through the op- pofition of any evil habit. The inftances I have mentioned are of reformation effected by the ftrength of tem- poral motives, by the feelings of pinching poverty, languifhing bodily diftempers, and by the fear of death ; and one would think the motives of religion as firong. However that be, what I aim at at prefent, is only to Phew the innate force of the mind itfelf, to conquer bad habits, whatever the confedera- tions are which determine it to exert that force. But that the event doth not altogether depend upon the ftrength of the motives which are oppofite to evil cuftoms, is evi- dent from the cafes already referred to, Sup - pofe two men placed in exactly parallel cir- cumftances, both, for example, in extreme want, as the confequence of floth or of riotous 4 living
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=