he has contracted : his soul is bound with it as with a cord, and he cannot burst his bonds.
In a similar plight is he who has given himself up to the gratification of" his lusts and passions. They, at least as far as the mind is concerned, are increased by indulgence, so that every object calls forth desire, and " the eyes of the libertine are full of adultery, and cannot cease from sin^" His very soul, as it were, is sensualized, and, whether sleeping or waking, his imagination roves after the gratification of his lawless appetites.
Nor must I omit to mention the gamester, in whom the text is most awfully verified. Nothing can induce him to abandon his ruinous pursuits. Domestic ties of wife and children have no influence at all. The ruin of himself and family are all suspended on a card or die. Not even the experience of ruin will reclaim him. Let his losses be repaired again and again, and again and again will he return to the fascinating object, like the moth, and hover round it, till he is consumed.
I have mentioned these instances, as being more obvious and acknowledged: but the declaration is equally verified in the gay, the worldly, the profane ; yea, and in the superstitious and self-righteous also. They all " feed on ashes ; and a de- ceived heart hath turned them aside, so that they cannot deliver their souls, nor say. Is there not a lie in my right hand^ ? "]
2. As a warning given —
[In this view more especially the declaration in our text is introduced, to guard young men against the temptations to which they are exposed ''. And a most awful warning it is: it shews us how earnestly we should guard against our besetting sins. Every man has some " sin which more easily besets him"^," and by which he is more in danger of being enslaved. Now every man should find out what this peculiar temptation is ; and should watch and pray against it ; lest, by yielding to it, he provoke " God to give him over to a reproloate mind*^," and to say, " He is joined to idols ; let him alone*'." We should labour to say with David, " I have kept myself from my ini- quity s:" and, with Job, "Thou knowest I am not wicked," not deliberately and habitually wicked '^. We should dread lest that be inflicted on us which is spoken in the text ; a judgment far heavier than any other that can be inflicted on us even by God himself, as long as we continue in this present life ; because it is a certain prelude to everlasting misery, and the means of augmenting it every day and hour : for, if we are delivered over to our own lusts, we do nothing but " treasure
^ 2 Pet. ii. 14. b jgai. xliv. 20. <: ver. 20.
<! Heb. xii. 1. « Rom. i. 28. f Hos. iv. 17.
g Ps. xviii. 23. '> Job x. 7.