2'O O Inability to do Good S E R Nr, in the account which hath been given of evil VIII. habits, and the tendency of them to indifpofe men for doing good. Are not you fenfible that the predominant fin, by being often pra- Ctifed, hath got a deep root in your affections? according to Zophar's elegant fimilitude, yob xx. i 2. though wickednefs be fweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue ; though he (pare it andforfaketh it not, but keepeth it flill within his mouth. Another unhappy effect of this indulgence, which you will undoubtedly find in experience if you confider it, is, that your fenfe of the malignity of the fin, which you are accuftomed to, abateth ; you will by degrees think it lefs and lefs heinous, till at laft there appeareth in it little or no harm at all. What then ? can they who are fo accuf- tomed to do evil, not at all learn to do well; muff they be fuffered to go on in their evil ways without being urged to reform ; and is it in vain for them to take any Reps to- wards their own amendment ? If it be fo, they muff perifh; for, according to the plain tenor of chriftianity, any one fin obftinately perilffed in will deprive us of falvation ; and a thorough fubjehtion of mind to any one vicious habit, and continuing in the praEiice of it is what the gofpel calleth a Rate of unbelief,
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