2. Guard against relapses into sin —
[We may have repented of a sin, and for a long time for- saken it, and yet be in danger of falling into it again. Indeed our besetting sin, however repented of, will generally continue our besetting sin : and the power of divine grace will appear, not so much in taking away all temptation to it, as in enabling us to withstand and vanquish the temptation. The Spirit of God may form the contrary grace in our hearts, and even cause us to exercise it in a very eminent degree : but still we are not beyond the reach and influence of temptation. If we had all the strength of Abraham's faith, we might fall, like him, through cowardice and unbelief. Let us then watch in all things, but especially in those tilings wherein we have once been overcome : and let our falls be constant monitors before our eyes, to shew us our weakness, and to stimulate us to prayer. More particularly, if we imagine that we have so forsaken our sin as to be in no danger of committing it again, let us beware : " let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall."]
3. Be thankful to God for his protecting and preserving grace —
[If God had taken no better care of us than we have done of ourselves, how many times should we have dishonoured our holy profession ! Who that knows any thing of his own heart, is not conscious, that he has at some times tampered with sin ; and laid such snares for his own feet, that nothing but God's gracious and unlooked-for interference has preserved him ? While we were in our unconverted state, " God has withheld us " on many occasions, as he did Abimelech, " from sinning against him." And since God has been pleased to call us by his grace, we have frequently been rescued by his providence from dangers, to which the folly and depravity of our own hearts have exposed us. Let us then magnify the grace of God : and, if we are enabled to maintain a holy and consistent con- duct, let us say with David, " My foot standeth fast ; in the congregations will I praise the Lord."]
4. Strive to the uttermost to cancel the effects of your transgressions —
[Abraham by his prevarication had brought distress on Abimelech and all his household. But when he was humbled for his transgression, he prayed to God to remove his judg- ments from the persons whom he had so seduced. By this means, as far as in him lay, he counteracted and reversed the evil that he had done. It is but seldom that we can cancel in any degree the evil that we have committed : but, if any way whatever present itself to us, we should embrace it gladly, and