I. 2. ~· 2· The Great Daty Firft., Think with your felves if your Natures be chang~d, your Cuctoms al~ fo mull: be changed. 'Tis a moft loathfom and monftrous Mixture to have a new Nature and yet old Sins. Every Principle will aCl' futably to it felf; if Grace be indeed in yo~ 'tw~ll n?t lie fl~ggifh and dormant ; no, 'tis an active, vigorous and ::ethereal Bemg, Jt w11l cc~ta10ly c~ang~ the Courfe and Cuftom of your Lives it will make ftrange. lnnoyatwns anttquatmg old C::uftoms, and bringing in ne\; ones. Now urge tlus agatnft a cuftoma:y Corrupuon : How can I think myNa~ tnre is changed, if ftill my Life and Afhons be the fame? I am not now the Man 1 was; and 'tis moft irrational, that I, regenerate, that I, fanCl:ified and renewed fhould obferve the Cuftoms and Ufages of my felf unrege-nerate, carnal and pro~ phane. And, . . . St&ondly, Confider that cuftomary and ordmary Sms Will call for, either extraor.. dinary Wrath, or at leaft more than cuftomary Repentance. Certainly redoubled ~ sins will be puniJhed with more than a finglc,Hell_; if th~y be pardon'd, 'twill cofl: many a Ihower of repentant Tears. Pcttr s thnce demal of his Mafter makes him weep bitterly. Thirdly, Cufromary Sins carry in them an high Contempt againfrGod himfelf. To fin through furprifal, inadvertency, or infirmity is incident to all Men, but to fin the fame Sin frequently, to make a cuftom of ir, muft needs argue that fuch a one llights and defpifeth God himfelf, he would elfe fear to provoke him the fe<ond time by the fame Sin. And, FDuYthly, Confider Cuftom in linning is the ready way to final Hardnefs aud Impenitency. •ris this that turns the Heart to Iron, and the Brow to Brafs. makes Men refolvcd to Sin, and impudent in finning. 'Tis this that Hoodwink; the U nderftanding, blun.ts t.he Edge of the Jharpett Gonvi(\:ions, feares the Con.. fcience, and brin'gs ~ thick ~nfenf1blenefs.u.pon that tender Faculty: This makes the groifeft and·the vileft WJCke~nefs famtlla~ to th~ Soul, f~ that many times Sim; of the horrideft and blackeft Gmlt are ruibt tnto Without either Fear or Regard. And, . . . 11 Fifthly, and Laftly, Cuftom tn ~m V.:I grow ~o a l!aturc of _finning, if not timely prevented by a fevere Moruficat10n. It will fo mfinuate Into the Affection• and wind and twifr it felf about every Faculty of the Soul, that what at firft wa~ but Ufe, will in procefs become Nature. You fee then what a great neceffity there is mightily to labour and ftrive againft thefe .cuftomary Sins, which are as a twifred Cord very hardly broken. If a Corruption bath once felled into a cuftom, 'tis not an ordinary Endeavour that can then remove it. That's the firtt thing. fr , 1· s· · 1· M ·fi · Serondly, As a cu omary, 10 a peen tar m requues a pecu 1ar ort1 cation. 'Tis in vain to ufe common and ordinary Attemps againft a proper Sin. And therefore D4vid dot~ exul~ a~d glor.y in t~is .as a great .Atchievem~nt, Pfal. 18. 23; I ktpt my [elf from mme Imqwry: Mtoe lmquaty ;_not mme by Ele~10n or Approbatton, as one pickt out from the reft to referve for h1mfelf; no, but mme by a too confta,nt and violent Bent and Inclination of my corrupt Heart. Now certain it is that every one bath his peculiar Sin, a Sin that he may truly call his own, that is fafter rivctted and dcepe~ rooted ; yea, deeper rooted in his Soul than others are. I fhall not now enquue whether thefe proper and peculiar Sins arife, either from. the Crafis and Temper of the Body, or from a Man's Education, or from his Profeffion and Calling; whencefoever they proceed, if we would 150 on vigorouily in the wor}': of Mortification; thefe are the Sins we mufr ef~ec1~lly fingle o.ut and deal agarnfr. Yea, but you will fiy, l1ow !hall I know whrch 1S my peculiar Srn, that fo I may fet my felf againlt it to mortifie it? To this l anfwer '· Were it as e~fi~ t<? fubdue _ it as it is to difcover it, a great part of the Ddliculcy of Chnfrramty would loon be at an end. It is a Sin cannot long lie hid, 'twill betray it felf, if not to the obfervation of ~ ther~ yet at leaft to the obfervation of a Man's own Confcience. If Confcience fhould ask you one by ~ne, what. is thine, and ~bin~, a~d thine Iniquity? Every one would filently wh1fper to himfelf, oh! Pnde Js mme, Hypocrifie is mine, Covetoufnefs and ·WorJdlinefs is mine, Uncleannefs is mine; and who among us is. there that could not give an anfwer? Yet for far&her SatisfaCl:ion, take t hefe parlrcularo. Firjl ,
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