354 Direlfiotts aneni ftlvei in a cloud of c~res and bufinefs, ~md, trauh!et! about many things, forget the one thfng needful. . Lajiiy, If you are advanced unto old age, go ,for· ward and view your fins in their period. 'Vhatever infir1nities do attend it, the fins of it mull: be fearch'd . o).lt and repented of too: for it will not excufe a man, before a holy God, th~t he is an aged finner. The corruption of nature, the longer it bath kept its ground, is the more hateful, and will be the more humbling {o a gracious foul. · Thus you'll have your ,whole life before you, in parcels. And th~t you may, with the greater difiincr• nefs, review any perrod thereof, which you have fully \"lafi, or of which you have pafi a great· part; you may difiinguifh the fame into Ieff~r periods, accor• . rling to the more notable events, turns, or changes that were in it, ·and re'view them feparately ; as for inftance; the time before you went to fchool, by it• felf, the time of your being at it; by itfelf; and fo in other cafes. ~_ But for a more full and particular view ofyeur fins do you proceed in the order of the ten commandments. T4e holy Jaw, qonfidered in its fpirituality and vafi: extent, is the proper- means for found cpnvicrion: __, 'tis the finner's looking-glafs, whereby to difcern the· vafi: multitude of fpots and defilements, in order to his humiliation. Rom. vii. 7· ' I had not known fin, but by the law: for I had not known lufi, except 'the la-w had f:1id, Thou !halt not covet.' Wherefore, by no means negleCt in this review, to go thro' the ten com– mandments: and paufe upon every one of them, con– fidering the duties re'quirecf therein, and wherein you bave been guilty by omiffion of them, and the fins forbidden therein, and wherein you have been guilty by commiffion of them ; guilty in both kinds, in thought, ·word, ·and deed. This would be a proper means to iliew you the mult~tude of your tranfgref· fions. iut
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