them still and delight in them as much as ever you did you that have been often in the Furnace of Affliction and yet your Dross is not separated from you I say take notice of the woful condition of incorrigible Sinners and consider what awaits you and will certainly be your portion unless by Repentance you speedily prevent it You unteachable and incorrigible Children whom no Admonitions or Chastisements will reduce to that Dutifulness humble Submission and Obedience which you owe to your Parents tremble at the thoughts of what may be coming upon you for your sin You who tread in the steps of Hophni and Phineas both in respect of your other sins and in respect of your obstinate carriage when you are reproved for them can you without horrour read or hear what the Spirit of God saith concerning them 1 Sam. 2.25 They hearkned not to the voice of their father because the Lord would slay them You whose lewd and ungodly Conversation hath been often reproved and condemned in the Ministry of the Word and yet you are still insensible of your danger and proceed still in your old ways and walk in the imagination of your heart to add drunkenness to thirst consider what befel such as you are Zech. 7.11 12. They refused to hearken and pulled away the shoulder and stopped their ears that they should not hear Yea they made their heart as an adamant stone lest they should hear the law and the word which the Lord sent by his Prophets therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of Hosts Therefore it is come to pass that as he cried and they would not hear so they cried and I would not hear saith the Lord of Hosts You whom no Counsels or Perswasions can prevail with to leave your lewd and graceless Companions You that notwithstanding all that can be said or done to keep you in and withhold you from your wicked Associates say still with that lewd and ungovernable generation There is no hope Jer. 2.25 No I have loved strangers and after them will I go Consider with fear and trembling what the Prophet said to Amaziah who stopt his Ears against good advice 2 Chron. 25.16 By this I know that God hath determined to destroy thee because thou hast not hearkened to my counsel I do not say God hath determined to destroy you also I take not upon me to be so well acquainted with God's secret purposes but this I say you are at present in the high-way to destruction and you have great cause to fear lest God destroy you as he hath done by other such incorrigible persons as you are If you still continue to be like others who have been destroyed for the same sins what reason have you to expect more favour than they had God is not changed he is still the same his hatred of sin his justice and severity against Sin is still as great as ever it was And so much concerning that Observation I come now to that which I chiefly intended Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots That is they cannot no Art or Labour can effect it Wash and rub the Skin of the Ethiopian while you will it will retain its natural hew you may sooner rub away the Skin than alter the colour of it and so for those spots with which Nature hath mark'd the Leopard you may by much tampering destroy the subject of them but the subject remaining you can never get out the spots And little less difficulty there is in removing those habitual Inclinations to sin which long custom hath produced The case is much alike to wash a Blackamoor white and to get him to do good that is accustomed to do evil So then 't is a Proverbial comparison by which is signified the extream difficulty of delivering a Man from those vicious impressions which custom in sin hath made upon him And that 's the thing which I purpose to treat of Custom in sin makes it very difficult to leave sin There needs little other proof hereof than our own Experience Though some vicious Persons who are taken in hand and dealt with betimes may be more easily drawn off from their sinful courses yet how rare a thing is it to see any man recovered who hath long been exercised in a trade of sin Shall you easily prevail with the intemperate or lustful or ambitious or covetous person to leave those paths of sin which have been long trodden by them So great is the force of custom in sin that men will by no Arguments be perswaded to forsake those long-continued sinful practices which are continually attended with so many visible and great inconveniences as one would think were sufficient to make any man weary of such courses Take for an instance but a wandring Beggar that necessarily undergoes many hardships and runs many hazards in that irregular and wicked course of life which he hath been wonted to and you shall in vain tempt him to leave it by the best provisions and accommodations which you can proffer him in any setled way of honest Imployment Or take a nearer instance in the same kind When almost do you ever see one of our poor people whose hands refuse to labour and who make a trade of begging from Door to Door I say when almost do you see any such Person reclaimed and brought to endeavour to get his Living in any honest and laborious Calling I deny not but 't is possible there maybe instances of some such that have been reduced to an orderly course of life but I believe such instances are very rare especially of those who have from their Childhood been addicted to that disorderly course as too many are the only Breeding and Education which their Parents give them being to teach them how to eat the Bread of idleness and live upon the Charity of others if that may be called Charity which is bestowed upon such people The grounds of this point are these 1. Custom begets a strong fixed and habitual Inclination to sin Hence a Man is ever in a readiness to yield to and comply with any Temptation to that sin unto which he hath been accustomed No sooner is occasion offered but it meets with a preparation of heart to embrace it Instead of preparing to resist Temptations when they begin to approach and offer themselves he that hath been accustomed to sin will meet them half way invite them to come on and bid them welcome instead of declining Temptations he will seek after them and studiously make provision for his Lusts For custom is now become another Nature to him and he seems to enjoy himself no longer than he is complying with it To be divorc'd and separated from such sins is a most grievous thing 't is as the pulling out of a right Eye or the cutting off of a right Hand 2. Custom in sin brings on delight in sin the actions that are natural are mostly
treacherous strongly inclined to evil and ready to comply with all Temptations Jer. 17.9 The heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked Having such a dangerous Inmate within our own Bosoms it stands us upon to walk circumspectly and to think our selves no longer safe than we keep a strict guard over our selves and carefully heed all our goings that we may never tread beside that narrow path which we are required to walk in 5. It concerns us to walk circumspectly in regard of the strict account we must hereafter give of all our ways Eccles 12.14 God will bring every work to judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil a 2 Cor. 5.10 We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad b Mat. 12.36 Of every idle word that men shall speak they shall give an account thereof at the day of judgment When they shall be accountable to God for their Omissions as well as for their Commissions Mat. 25.41 42 43. They who verily believe they must be called to so strict an account how can they think they can ever walk strictly and circumspectly enough Believing and expecting this great day of reckoning 2 Pet. 3.11 what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness As the Apostle speaks 6. It behoves us to walk circumspectly in regard of the high and everlasting concernment of our ways and walking while we are here Ab hoc momento pendet eternitas As we demean our selves so we must fare hereafter for ever As a Man soweth here so shall he reap hereafter Gal. 6.7 8. He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption and he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting A short time is here allotted us to be improved for our everlasting happiness in another World If this time be neglected it will not be long e're the things belonging to our peace will be hid from our Eyes There will thenceforth be no more offers of Mercies no more opportunities of making our peace with God There will be no more place to Eternity for redeeming time and correcting the Errours and Miscarriages of our heedless and uncircumspect walking O then how great should our care how exact should our circumspection be while the day of grace lasteth and while opportunity is afforded us of laying up a good Foundation for the time to come that we may lay hold of Eternal Life I come now to the uses of this point Is it the Duty of every Christian to walk circumspectly VSE 1. Then let no Man take offence at the strictness and circumspection of any who endeavour to conform themselves to the Rule as exactly as they can Let no Man judge so much Care and Circumspection to be needless Can any Man be too careful where the injunctions of care heedfulness circumspection and watchfulness are so many so peremptory and absolute and where our Concernment is so high and important and that upon so many accounts If any cannot bring their own Hearts to be willing to live by the Rule and to conform to it yet let them not condemn or censure others especially seeing the Holy Ghost hath noted it as a chief point of true Wisdom thus to walk and branded the neglect thereof with folly as we shall see afterwards But if any will yet be wise in their own Eyes and reproach the wisdom of God as foolishness let them hear what God saith concerning such Jer. 8.9 They have rejected the word of the Lord and what wisdom is in them Whatever for the present they may judge of the strictness of such as endeavour to keep in the narrow way that leadeth to Life the time is coming when they will be of another mind When they come to stand before the Tribunal of Christ to be accountable not only for all the more notorious Irregularities and Extravagancies of their Life but for every idle word O then they will acknowledge that the circumspection and watchfulness which they now deride and laugh at and look upon as folly would have stood them in some stead Then they will be convinced that the most circumspect Man is the wisest Man Then they will say of the sincerely pious and strictly conscientious person whom they now contemn as the Author of the Book of Wisdom brings them in speaking Wisd 5.3 4 5. They shall change their minds saith he and sigh for grief of mind and say within themselves This is he whom we sometime had in derision and in a parable of reproach We fools thought his life madness and his end without honour How is he counted among the children of God and his portion is among the saints VSE 2. Is it the Duty of every Christian to walk circumspectly Then how much do they fail and come short of their Duty who walk at all adventures and live by no Rule Who regard not at all how they walk or where they tread This is that despising of our ways which Solomon makes to be so dangerous and destructive Pro. 19.16 He that despiseth his ways shall die that is he that is of so loose careless and heedless a temper that he rambles up and down like a drunken man or a mad-man without any consideration or regard of his way that minds not considers not his way whether it be safe or dangerous but on he posts with full speed through Dirt and Stones over Bogs and Quagmires upon Pits and Precipices all is alike to him He that thus lives hand over head takes the ready course to destroy his own Soul This is noted concerning Jehu 2 Kin. 10.31 a man of a rash and precipitant Spirit that he took no heed to walk-in the Law of the Lord God of Israel with all his Heart And this is a part of the Character of the ungodly man Psa 50.17 that he casts God's Words behind him where it might be sure to be out of his Eye as not caring to look upon it or regard it for the regulating of his Life and the due ordering of his Conversation thereby Whithersoever the impetuous violence of such men's corrupt nature hurries them thither speed they without any regard either of their Duty or of the issues of their sinful courses Eccl. 5.1 They consider not that they do evil saith Solomon but rush into sin as the horse rusheth into the battle Jer. 8.6 Though God be in a readiness to meet them in their ways of sin and to withstand them as an armed man yet they go on daringly and presumptuously even running upon the thick bosses of his buckler as the foolhardiness of such rash and bold Sinners is described Job 15.26 VSE 3. Let us all be perswaded to walk more circumspectly to
chastning for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous nevertheless afterwards it yieldeth the peaceable Fruit of Righteousness to them that are exercised thereby Afflictions are spiritual Physick Now Physick we know at present often discomposeth and disturbs Nature and puts the whole Body out of Frame it makes the Patient sick before it cures him And so it is with the Physick of the Soul you cannot discern the Benefit of it till it hath done working It makes you sick for the present but afterwards you come to see it was a good Sickness that made way for Health and ended therein 7. In the mean time that you see not that you in some measure profit by your Afflictions and that they are by degrees doing you good is very much your own Fault 1. You have a Prejudice against your Afflictions you have an ill Opinion of those Courses which God takes with you for your Good and this much hinders the kindly Operation of them upon you as an ill Opinion of your Physician or his Prescriptions hinders the working of your Physick and deprives you of much of the Benefit thereof 2. While you are under these Prejudices and perverse Misapprehensions you do not apply your self to endeavour to profit by your Afflictions improving God 's Providences and doing what in you lies to further the Success of the Means which he applies and makes use of for the Cure of your Soul While your Prejudices continue and you are thereupon still sluggish and unactive how can you expect to be sensible of the Benefit of your Afflictions Cast off your Prejudices have good Thoughts of God's Methods of Cure firmly believe that the Course which he takes with you is the best and fittest to do you good arise and be doing what you can towards the promoting of God's Design in afflicting you search your Heart try your Ways endeavour to get a Sight of your Sins a true Hatred of them serious and firm Resolutions to forsake them renew these your Resolutions often still endeavour to confirm and strengthen them more and more and above all be earnest and uncessant in Prayer to God that he would be pleased to bless your Endeavours and then say if you see any Cause of complaining that your Afflictions are such as can never do you any Good The Ninth Sermon LAM 3.40 Let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. I Am now fallen upon the second part of the Text setting before us our Duty in time of Affliction Let us search and try our VVays and turn again to the Lord. The Duty is twofold First That we search and try our VVays And secondly That we turn unto the Lord. The former of these Duties as 't is first in the Order of the Text so 't is in Nature We must search after our Sins find them out and discover them and then turn away from them 'T is impossible that we should forsake them until we have a sight of them He who sees not his Sins what should he else do but still go on boldly and fearlesly in the practice of them What hath he to hinder him or reduce him I shall speak something of both these Duties and first of that which hath the first place in the Text. But before I come to speak of the Duty it self of searching and trying our Ways in time of Affliction in order to the finding out of those our Sins for which God hath laid his Hand upon us I shall speak a little in a more general way of that which is near of kin unto the Duty of the Text I mean of Self-reflection or a looking back upon our selves and a reviewing and consideration of our Thoughts Words and Ways And that which I shall say concerning it shall be touching the Excellency and great Usefulness thereof and touching the Mischiefs of the neglect of it I. As touching the Excellency of Self-reflection or reviewing of our Thoughts Words and Actions I need say no more than that 't is a Perfection which only Men and Angels are capable of All other Creatures even those of them which are most perfect in their Kind and seem to have as it were some Shadow and Resemblance of Reason in them yet fall short of this excellent Perfection They cannot review what they have done or take into consideration the Quality of their past Actions they cannot reckon with themselves and call themselves to an account of them And indeed they need not do it for they are under no other Rule or Law beside that of their Nature and those natural Instincts which God hath put into them by these they are ruled and swayed and according to these they act They are under the Command of no moral Law and consequently their Actions are not capable of moral Good or Evil. But Man being under a moral Law and accountable to his Creator for the Breaches thereof for the better regulating and ordering of his Thoughts Words and Actions according to the Prescriptions of that Law God hath endowed him with a Faculty of reviewing his Actions and of considering them with relation to the Rule to the end that where he finds he hath done well he may be comforted and encouraged and where he hath done ill he may be humbled and reformed Thus hath he a Tribunal within his own Breast before which he can as often as he pleaseth summon himself to appear demand an account of all that hath been done by himself whether good or evil At this Tribunal he can judg and pass Sentence acquit or condemn himself according to the moral Nature and Quality of his Actions Here he can rebuke and admonish as there shall be cause recal and reduce himself where he hath gone astray and lay stricter and severer Charges and Injunctions on himself of greater Care and Watchfulness for the future as in respect of his former Negligence and Remissness shall be necessary A most excellent and never-sufficiently-admired Faculty of Man's Soul What a rich Treasure have we herein if we knew how to value it and make use of it But alas how little Improvement do we make to our selves of this noble Faculty And this brings me to the second thing the great Usefulness of Self-reflection I have already in what hath been spoken on the former Head said something of the Usefulness of it in general I shall now descend to some Particulars and speak briefly to them 1st By reflecting on our selves and taking a view of our past Actions we come to know our selves We understand the State and Condition of our Souls what Case we are in and what Opinion we ought to have of our selves Hereby we come to be acquainted with our spiritual Concernments whether we be in the State of Nature or in the State of Grace whether we be in the Way to Heaven or in the Way to Hell Hereby we come to know what our Declinings and Decays what our Advances and Improvements in