2. As man is thus corrupted and prone to worldly objects by natural inclination, so by inveterate custom. As soon as we are born we fol- low our sensual appetite, and the first years of man's life are merely governed by sense ; and the pleasures thereof are born and bred up with us, and deeply engraven in our natures ; and by constant living in the world, conversing with corporeal objects, the taint increaseth upon us, and so we are more deeply dyed and settled in a worldly frame, and we live in the pursuit of honour, gain, and pleasure, accord-
374 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. XL.
ing as the particular temper of our bodies and course of our interest do determine us : Jer. xiii. 23, ' Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots ? then may ye also do good that are accus- tomed to do evil.' Custom is as another nature, and hardly left. We find by experience, the more we are accustomed to any course of life, the more we delight in it, and are weaned from it with a very great difficulty. Every act disposeth the soul to the habit, and after the habit or custom is produced, then every new deliberate act adds a stiffness of bent or sway unto the faculty into which the custom is seated ; and the longer this evil custom is continued the more easilj'' are we carried away with temptations that suit it, and more hardly swayed to the contrary. Now this stiffness of will in a carnal course is that which the scripture calls hardness of heart and a heart of stone, for a man is ensnared by these customs ; and of all customs, covetous- ness or worldliness is the most dangerous. Why ? Because this is a sin of more credit and less infamy in the world, and this will multiply its acts in the soul most, and works incessantly : ' Having hearts exercised with covetous practices,' 2 Peter ii. 14.
Well, then, these lusts being born and bred up with us from our infancy, they plead prescription. Religion, that comes afterward, and finds us biassed and prepossessed with other inclinations, which by reason of long use is not easily broken and shaken off ; as upon trial, whenever we are called upon, or begin to apply ourselves to the ways of life, we shall be easily sensible of this stiffness of heart and obsti- nacy that bends us another way.
Thirdly, The heart being thus deeply engaged to temporal things, or things base and earthly, it cannot be set upon that which is si)iri- tual and heavenly ; for David propounds these things here as incon- sistent, ' To thy testimonies Lord, and not to covetousness.' If the heart be addicted to worldly things, it is necessarily averse from God and his testimonies ; for the habitual bent of the heart to any one sin is inconsistent with grace or a thorough obedience to God's will. That which the heart is inclined to hath the throne. Now, when we inquire after grace. Have I grace or no? have I the work of God upon my heart ? the question is not what there is of God in the heart, but whether that of God hath the throne. Something of God is in the heart of the wickedest man that is, and something of sin in the best heart that is ; therefore which way is the sway, the bent, the habitual and prevailing inclination of the soul ? what hath the dominion ? ' Sin hath not the dominion, for ye are not under the law, but under grace,' Eom. vi. 14. What hath the prevalency of the heart ? Though the conscience takes part with God, as it may strongly in a wicked man, yet which way is the bent of our souls ? And as all sin in its reign is inconsistent with grace, so much more worldly affections: Mat. vi. 24, ' No man can serve two masters,^ &c. It is as inconsist- ent as for a man to look two ways at once. And the Chaldee on this very text, ' Incline my heart to thy testimonies,' reads it, ' and not unto mammon.' You cannot be inclined to God and mammon : 1 John ii. 15, ' If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.' The world draws men from the love of God and from his ser- vice, and labour after temporal things deadens and hindereth us from
VeR. 36.] SERMONS uroN rSALM CXIX. 375
looking after things wliicli are eternal, and we lose the relish of things to come and things spiritual, the more the love of worldly things doth increase upon us. The schoolmen say of worldliness, it is that which most of all draws us off from God as our last end and chief good, and makes us cleave to the creature ; therefore it is called ' adultery ' and ' idolatry : ' adultery, James iv. 4, as it draws away our love, delight, and complacency from God ; and idolatry, Col. iii. 5, as it diverts our trust, and placoth it in wealth and subhiuary things. The glutton or sensualist's love is withdrawn from God, and therefore his belly is said to he his god, Phil. iii. 19. Interpretatively that is a man's God which is the last end of his actions, and upon Avhich all his thoughts, affections, and endeavours run most. But now covetousness is not only a spiritual fornication, and adultery which draws off our affections from God, but idolatry. Considering our relation in the covenant, it is spiritual adultery ; and above this, it is idolatry, because men think they can never be happy, nor have any comfortable being, un- less they have a great portion of these outward things.