2. The ways it brings about this cursed effect; - all in design of our
was the word to them formerly! What joy and delight they had in hearing it! How would they have run to partake of it, where it was dispensed in its power and purity, in the demonstration of the Spirit! Did they not call the Sabbath their delight? Did they not long after the converse of saints, and did they not undergo dangers to find it? And are they still like that? Are there not backslidings to be found amongst them? May it not be said, "Grey hairs on them, and they perceive it not?" Are not men ready to say, "' What a weariness is it!' Malachi 1:13. It is even a weariness to have to observe the ordinances. Why do we have to be so strict in the observing the Sabbath? Why do we have to listen to so many sermons? Why do we have to reflect on what is said? Unconsciously a great disrespect, even a contempt, of the excellent ways of Christ and his gospel is fallen on many professors.
(3.) May not the same conviction be farther carried on by an inquiry into the universal course of obedience and the performance of duties that men have been engaged in? Is there the same tender conscience of sin as was in days of old, the same care in private duties, the same love to the brethren, the same readiness for the cross, the same humility of mind and spirit, the same self-denial? The steam of men's lusts, which taints the air, will not allow us so to say.
We need go no farther than this wretched generation, to show the truth of the observation. The Lord give repentance before it is too late!
Now, all these backsliding, all these decays proceed from this root and cause; - they are all the product of indwelling sin, and all show the power of it: to prove it, I shall not need to go farther than the rule which out of James we have already considered, - namely, that lust or indwelling sin is the cause of all actual sin and all habitual falls in believers. This is what the apostle means in that place to declare. I will present now; -
1. That this shows a great efficacy and power in sin;
2. The ways it brings about this cursed effect; - all in design of our