Prov. V. 22. His oivu iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.
THE force of habit is well known : it operates as a second nature ; so constant is it in its exercise, and so imperious in its demands. There is this difference however in habits of piety, and habits of sin ; that the one are easily lost ; but the other are with great dif- ficulty overcome. Nor is this difficult to be ac- counted for; seeing that the one is against the course of nature, and the other conformable to all its pro- pensities : the motion of the one is a continual ascent ; the other is downward on a declivity. But it is not merely as a natural consequence that sin, when indulged, has so great a power : there is an additional influence given to it by God himself, as a judicial act, and as a just punishment for indulging it : so that in a judicial, no less than in a natural sense, our text is true : " His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself: and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins."
Let us consider, I. The declaration itself —
In a two-fold view it may be noticed ;
1. As a judgment inflicted —
[It is inflicted on the whole liiiman race. There is not a sinner in the universe who cannot from his own experience attest the truth of it. Every sin has a power to enslave the mind, and to lead captive him who has indulged it. But we will instance this in some particulars.
The man addicted to drinking previous to the formation of his habit, had perhaps no particular love to strong drink, or desire after it : but he has been drawn into company, he has there acquired a taste for conviviality, and at last, by repeated excesses, he has contracted such a thirst for intoxicating liquors, that he cannot deny himself the use of them, or use them in moderation. He can see his character sinking in the estima- tion of all the sober part of the community, his health im- paired, his fortvme injured, his family suffering, and his eternal interests sacrificed ; and yet he cannot cast off the habit which