230 THE NATURE AND POWER OF INDWELLING SIN.
to be dallied withal by foolish pretences, — it will be drawn off; Avliich is the effect aimed at.
[2.] The deceitfulness of sin makes use of corrupt reasonings, taken from the pressing and urging occasions of life. " Should we," says it in the heart, " attend strictly unto all duties in this kind, we should neglect our principal occasions, and be useless unto ourselves and others in the world." And on this general account, particular busi- nesses dispossess particular duties from their due place and time. Men have not leisure to glorify God and save their own souls. It is certain that God gives us time enough for all that he requires of us in any kind in this world. No duties need to jostle one another, I mean constantly. Especial occasions must be determined according unto especial circumstances. But if in any thing we take more upon us than we have time well to perform it in, without robbing God of that which is due to him and our own souls, this God calls not unto, this he blesseth us not in. It is more tolerable that our duties of holiness and regard to God should intrench upon the duties of our callings and employments in this world than on the contrary; and yet neither doth God require this at our hands, in an ordinary man- ner or course. How little, then, will he bear with that which evi- dently is so much worse upon all accounts whatever! But yet, through the deceitfulness of sin, thus are the souls of men beguiled. By several degrees they are at length driven from their duty.
[3.] It deals with the mind, to draw it off from its attendance unto this duty, by a tender of a compensation to be made in and by other duties; as Saul thought to compensate his disobedience by sacrifice. " May not the same duty performed in pid}lic or in the family suffice ?" And if the soul be so foolish as not to answer, ''Those things ought to be done, and this not to he left undone," it may be ensnared and deceived. For, besides a command unto it, namely, that we should personally " watch unto prayer," there are, as hath been declared, sundry advantages in this duty so performed against the deceit and efficacy of sin, which in the more public attendance unto it it hath not. These sin strives to deprive the soul of by this com- mutation, which by its corrupt reasonings it tenders unto it.
[4.] I may add here that which hath place in all the workings of sin by deceit, — namely, its feeding the sold with p>romises and pur- poses of a more diligent attendance unto this duty when occasions will permit. By this means it brings the soul to say unto its con- victions of duty, as Felix did to Paul, " Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee." And by this means oftentimes the present season and time, which alone is ours, is lost irrecoverably.
These are some of the ways and means whereby the deceit of sin
THE MIND DRAWN OFF FROM DUTY BY SIN, 231
endeavours to draw off the mind from its due attendance unto this duty, which is so pecuKarly suited to prevent its progress and joreva- lency, and which aims so directly and immediately at its ruin. I might instance also in other duties of the like tendency ; but this may suffice to discover the nature of this part of the deceit of sin. And this is the first way whereby it makes way for the farther en- tangling of the affections and the conception of sin. When sin hath wrought this effect on any one, he is said to be " drawn away," to be diverted fi'om what in his mind he ought constantly to attend unto in his walking before the Lord.
And this will instruct us to see and discern where lies the begin- ning of our declensions and failings in the ways of God, and that either as to our general course or as to our attendance unto especial duties. And this is of great importance and concernment unto us. When the beginnings and occasions of a sickness or distemper of body are known, it is a great advantage to direct in and unto the cure of it. God, to recall Zion to himself, shows her where was the "beginning of her sin," Mic. i. 13. Now, this is that which for the most part is the beginning of sin unto us, even the drawing off the mind from a due attendance in all things unto the discharge of its duty. The principal care and charge of the soul lies on the mind ; and if that fail of its duty, the whole is betrayed, either as unto its general frame or as unto particular miscarriages. The failing of the mind is like the failing of the watchman in Ezekiel ; the whole is lost by his neglect. This, therefore, in that self-scrutiny and search which we are called unto, we are most diligently to inquire after. God doth not look at what duties we perform, as to their number and tale, or as to their nature merely, but whether we do them with that inten- sion of mind and spirit which he requireth. Many men perform duties in a road or course, and do not, as it were, so much as think of them; their minds are filled with other things, only duty takes up so much of their time. This is but an endeavour to mock God and deceive their own souls. Would you, therefore, take the true mea- sure of yourselves, consider how it is with you as to the duty of your minds which we have inquired after. Consider whether, by any of the deceits mentioned, you have not been diverted and drawn away; and if there be any decays upon you in any kind, you will find that there hath been the beginning of them. By one way or other your minds have been made heedless, regardless, slothful, uncertain, being beguiled and drawn off from their duty. Consider the charge. Pro v. iv. 23, 25-27. May not such a soul say, " If I had attended more diligently ; if I had considered more wisely the vile nature of sin ; if I had not suffered my mind to be possessed with vain hopes and foolish imaginations, by a cursed abuse of gospel grace ; if I had not