8o The Nature and Neceffity Vol. II. may ofrighteoufnefs, thanafter they have known it, toturn from the holyCommandment delivered unto them. The condition _ of all impenitent (inners is very fad; but of Apoftates much worfe: notonly becaufe the Sins which they commit after- wards are much greater, receiving a new aggravation, which the Sins of thofe who are limply impenitent are not capable of; but likewife, becaufe fuch Perlons are ufually more wicked afterwards. For they that break loofe from fevere Pur- pofes and Refolutions of a better Courfe, do by this very thing ina great mea- fure fear and conquer their Confciences; and then no wonder if afterwards they give up themfelves to commit all iniquity with greedinefs. When after long abfti- nence men return toSin again, their Lufts are more fierce andviolent ; like a Man who, after long fatting, returns to his meat with a more, raging appetite. This our Saviour fers forth to us in the Parable of the unclean Spirits returning again and taking poffeffion of the Man, after he had left him, Matth. x2. 43, 44, 45. When the uncleanSpirit is gone out of a Man, he walketh throughdry places, Peeking refl, and findeth none. Then he faith, I will return into my Houfe from whence .1 came out : And when he is come, he findeth it empty, fwept, andgarni/ht. Thengoeth he, and taketh with himfelf f ven other Spirits more wicked than himfelf and the end of that Man is worfe than his beginning. The Moral of which is, that when a Man bath once left his Sins, if afterward he entertain thoughts of returning to them again, Sin will return upon him with redoubled force and ftrength, and his Heart will be fo much themore prepared and difpofed for the entertaining ofmore and greater Vices; and his leaving his Sins for a time will bebut likea runningback, that he may leap with greater violence into Hell and Defiru&ion. Befides, that fuch Perfons do the greateft injury to Godand the holy ways of Religion, that can be, by forfaking them after theyhave owned and approved them. For it will not be fo much regarded, what wicked men, who have always been fo, talk againft God and Religion ; becaufe they do not talk from Experi- ence, but fpeakevil of the things which they know not : whereas thofe who forfake theways of Religion after they have once engaged in them, do difparage Reli- gion more effeaually, and reproach it with greater Advantage; becaufe they pre- tend to fpeak from the Experience they have had of it; they have tryed both the ways of Sin, and-the ways of Religion, and after Experience of both, they return to Sinagain : Which, what is it but to proclaim to the World, that the ways ofSin and Vice are rather to be chofen than the ways of Holinefs and Vir- tue; that the Devil is a better Matter than God, and that a finful and wicked Life yields more Pleafure and greater Advantages, than are to be had in keeping the Commandments of God ? And this mutt needs be a high Provocation, and a hea- vy Aggravation of our Ruin. Let thefe Confiderations prevail with us, topurfue this holy Refolution, after we have taken it up, and to perfift in it. There re- mains only the VI. And loft particular which i propofed to be fpoken to, viz. , Toadd fome dire&ions for the maintaining andmaking good of this RefolutionofRepentance and Amendment; and they fhall be thefe three. t. Let usdo all in the ftrength of God, confidering our neceffary and effential dependance upon him, and that without him and the afiìftance of his Grace we can do nothing. We are not (as the Apoftle tells us) fufftcient of our felves, as of our felves; thatis, without the afIiiftanceof God's holy Spirit, to thinkany thing that is good; much lefs to refolve upon it. It is God that worketh inus both to will and to doof his goodpleafirre, that is, of his own goodnefs, as thefame Apo- file fpeaks, Phil. a. 13. Iris God that upholds sin Being, and from whomwe have all our Power as to natural Altions; but as to fpiritual things, confidering the great Corruption and Depravation of Humane Nature, we (land in need of a more efpecial and immediate affiflance. Ifwe knowany thing of our felves, we cannot but know what foolifhand igno- rantCreatures weare, howweak and impotent, how averle and oppofite to any thingthat is good. And therefore it is wife counfel in all Cafes, but chiefly in fpiri- tual
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