1st. Inadvertency. It doth not set itself to consider and attend unto its special concernmenta The apostle, persuading the Hebrews
THE MIND DIVERTED FROM PARTICULAR DUTIES BY SIN. 243
with all earnestness to attend diligently, to consider carefully, that they may not be hardened by the deceitfidness of sin, gives this rea- son of their danger, that they were " dull of hearing," chap. v. 1 1 ; that is, that they were slothful, and did not attend unto the things of their duty. A secret regardlessness is apt to creep upon the soul, and it doth not set itself to a diligent marking how things go with it, and ^hat is continually incumbent on it.
2dly. An unwillingness to he stirred up unto its duty. Prov. xix. 24, " A slothful man hideth his hand in his bosom, and will not so much as bring it to his mouth again." There is an unwill- ingness in sloth to take any notice of warnings, calls, excitations, or stirrings up by the word, Spirit, judgments, any thing that God maketh use of to call the mind unto a due consideration of the con- dition of the soul. And this is a perfect evidence that the mind is made slothful by the deceit of sin, when especial calls and warnings, whether in a suitable word or a pressing judgment, cannot prevail with it to pull its hand out of its bosom ; that is, to set about the special duties that it is called unto.
odly. Weak and ineffectual attempts to recover itself unto its duty. Prov. xxvi. 14, " As the door turneth upon its hinges, so doth the slothful man upon his bed." In the turning of a door upon its hinges, there is some motion but no progress. It removes up and down, but is still in the place and posture that it was. So is it with the spiritually slothful man on his bed, or in his security. He makes some motions or faint endeavours towards a discharge of his duty, but goes not on. There where he was one day, there he is the next ; yea, there where he was one year, he is the next. His endeavours are faint, cold, and evanid; he gets no ground by them, but is always beginning and never finishing his work.
Midy. Heartlessness upon the apprehensions of difficulties and discouragements. Prov. xxii. 13, " The slothful man saith. There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets." Every difficulty deters him from duty. He thinks it impossible for him to attain to that accuracy, exactness, and perfection which he is in this matter to press after; and therefore contents himself in his old coldness, ne- gligence, rather than to run the hazard of a universal circumspection. Now, if the deceit of sin hath once drawn away the mind into this frame, it lays it open to every temptation and incursion of sin. The spouse in the Canticles seems to have been overtaken with this dis- temper, chap. V. 2, 3 ; and this puts her on various excuses why she cannot attend unto the call of Christ, and apply herself unto her duty in walking with him.
[2.] It draws away the mind from its watch and duty in reference unto sin by surprisals. It falls in conjunction with some urging
244 THE NATURE AND POWER OF INDWELLING SIN.
temptation, and siirprisetli the mind into thoughts quite of another nature than those which it ought to insist upon in its own defence. So it seems to have been with Peter : his carnal fear closing with the temptation wherein Satan sought to winnow him, filled his mind with so many thoughts about his own imminent danger, that he could not take into consideration the love and warning of Christ, nor the evil whereunto his temptation led him, nor any thing that he ought to have insisted on for his preservation. And, therefore, upon a review of his folly in neglecting those thoughts of God and the love of Christ which, through the assistance of the Holy Ghost, might have kept him from his scandalous fall, he wept bitterly. And this is the common way of the working of the deceit of sin as unto particular evils : — It lays hold on the mind suddenly with thoughtfulness about the present sin, possesseth it, takes it up ; so that either it re- covers not itself at all to the considerations mentioned, or if any thoughts of them be suggested, the mind is so prepossessed and filled that they take no impression on the soul or make no abode in it. Thus, doubtless, was David surprised in the entrance of his great sin. Sin and temptation did so possess and fill his mind with the present object of his lust, that he utterly forgot, as it were, those considera- tions which he had formerly made use of when he so diligently kept himself from his iniquity. Here, therefore, lies the great wisdom of the soul, in rejecting the very 'first motions of sin, because by par- leys with them the mind may be drawn off from attending unto its preservatives, and so the whole rush into evil.
[3.] It draws away the mind hy frequency and long continuance of its solicitations, making as it were at last a conquest of it. And this happens not without an open neglect of the soul, in want of stirring up itself to give an effectual rebuke, in the strength and by the grace of Christ, unto sin ; which would have prevented its preva- lency. But of this more shall be spoken afterwards.