IV. Multitudes of souls are daily lost by rooted habits, and long- continued custom in sin. When men have been long settled in an evil way, they are difficultly reclaimed : Physicians find it hard to cure a cachexy, or ill habit of body ; but it is far more difficult to cure an ill custom and habit in sin. Jer. xiii. 23. *•' Can the leopard " change his spots, or the Ethiopian his skin ? Then may ye also do " good that are accustomed to do evil. The spots of a leopard, and the hue of an Ethiopian, are not by way of external, accidental ad- hesion ; if so, washing would fetch them off: But they are innate and contempered, belonging to the constitution, and not to be altered; so are sinful habits and customs in the minds of sinners : By this means it becomes a second nature as it were, and strongly deter- mines the mind to sin. J tencris assuescere midtum est. It is a great matter to be accustomed to this way, or that, said Seneca ; yea. Caput rei est, hoc vel illo modo, hominem assuejieri, — It is the very head or root of the matter to be so or so accustomed, saith Aristotle. Very much of the strength of sin rises from customary sinning. A brand that hath been once in the iire easily catches the second time. Every repeated act of sin lesseneth fear and strength- eneth inclination. A horse that took an ill stroke at first breaking, and hath continued many years in it, is very difficultly, if ever, to be brought to a better way. What men have been accustomed to from their childhood, they are tenacious of in their old age. Hence it is that so few are converted to Christ in their old age. It was recorded for a wonder, in the primitive times, that Marcus Caius Victorius became a Christian in his old age. Time and usage fix the roots of sin deep in the soul. Old trees will not bow as tender plants do. Hence all essays and attempts to draw men from the course in which they have walked from their youth, are frustrane- ous and unsuccessful. The drunkard, the adulterer, yea, the self- righteous moralist, are by long continued usage so fixed in their course, and all this while conscience so stupified by often repeated acts of sin, that it is naturally as impossible to remove a mountain, as a sinners will thus confirmed in his wickedness. However, let the trial be made, and the success left to him to whom no length of time nor difficulty must be objected or opposed.
The fourth way to hell shut up by tivo considerations.
1. Let it be considered, the longer any man hatJi been engaged
194 A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MA^^
in, and accustomed to the way of sin, the more reason and need thafe man hath speedily and without delay to repent and reform his course ; there is yet a possibility of mercy, a season of salvation left ; How far soever a soul is gone on towards hell, none can say it is yet too late. When Mr. Bilney the martyr heard a minister preaching thus, O thou old sinner thou hast gone on in a course of sin these fifty or sixty years ; dost thou think that Christ will accept thee now^ or take the deviFs leavings f Good God ! said he, what preach- ing of Christ is here ! Had such doctrine been preached to me in my troubles, it had been enough utterly to have discouraged me from repentance and faith. No, no, sinner, it is not yet too late, if at last thy heart be touched with a real sense of thy sin and danger. The word is plain, Isa. Iv. 7. " Let the wicked forsake his way, and the " unrighteous man his thoughts : and let him return to the Lord, '^ and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will '' abundantly pardon."
An abundant pardon thou needest; thy sins, by long-continued custom and frequent repetitions, have been abundantly aggravated ; and an abundant pardon is with God for poor sinners : he will abundantly pardon, but then thou must come up to his terms: thou must not expect pardon or mercy when thy sins have forsaken thee, but upon thy forsaking them ; yea, such a forsaking as in- cludes a resolution or decree in thy will to return to them no more, Hos. iv. 8. There must be a change of thy way, and that not from profaneness to civility only, which is but to change one false way to heaven for another, or the dirty road to hell for a cleanlier path on the other side of the hedge ; but a total and final forsaking of every way of sin, as to the love and habitual practice of it ; yea, and thy thoughts too, as well as thy ways. There must be an internal, as well as an external change upon thee ; yea, a positive, as well as a negative change ; a turning to the Lord, as well as a turning from sin ; and then hoAV long soever thou hast walked in the road towards hell, there will be time enough, and mercy enough to secure thy returning soul safe to heaven.
2. Canst thou not forbear thy customary sin, upon lesser motives than the salvation of thy soul ? And if thou canst, wilt thou not much more do it for the saving of thy precious, immortal soul ? Suppose there were but a pecuniary mulct, of an hundred pounds, to be certainly levied upon thy estate, for every oath thou swearest, or every time thou art drunk, wouldst thou not rather choose re- formation than beggary ? And is not the loss of thy soul a penalty infinitely heavier than a little money ? But, as the wise Heathen *
* These things seem cheap to us, which cost very dear, and which we could not }>ur- chase, though we ?;hould give our house for thera. Sen. Ep. 42.
A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MA^\ 195
observed, Ea sola emi putamuSy pro qidbus peainiam solvinus ; ea gratu'ita vocamus pro quibus nos ipao.^ impendimus : We reckon those things only to be bought, which we part with money for; and that we have those things gratis, for which v/e pay ourselves. Is nothing cheap in our eyes but ourselves, our souls ! do we call that gratis, that will cost us so dear? Darius threw away his massy crown when he fled before Alexander, that it might not hinder him in his flight. Sure your souls are more worth than your money, and all the enjoyments you have in this world. It had been an ancient custom among the citizens of Antioch, to wash themselves in the baths ; but the king forbidding it, they all pre- sently forbore, for fear of his displeasure : whereupon Chrysostom convinced them of the vanity of that plea for customary sinning. " You see, (saith he), how soon fear can break off* an old custom ; " and shall not the fear of God be as powerful to over-master it " in us, as the fear of man * ?"" O friends, believe it, it " is better " for you to cut off* a right hand, or pluck out a right eye, than " having two hands, or eyes to be cast into hell, where the worm " dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."
The fifth way of losing the soul opened.
V. The fifth way, by which an innumerable multitude of souls are eternally lost, is by the baits of sensual, sinful pleasures.