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to reprefent to himself thofe mifchiefs of it, and arguments against it, which could hardly have failed of deterring him from the leaft thoughts of giving way to it; through the want whereof it is, that the temptation becomes too powerful for him. In this cafe he is like a man that is unexpectedly feized and bound by an enemy, or a robber, against whom he could have defended himself, if he had had warning time enough to draw his fword, or take out his piftol; or like one half afleep, who inconfiderately does what he would by no means have fuffered himself to do at another time, when perfectly awake, and mafter of himself. Such are fudden immoderate acts of paffion, together with the lighter effects and confequences of them, which feem not to proceed fo properly from the actor himself, as from the furprize he acts in; I mean, fuppofing him to be one that earnestly ftudies to govern his paffions according to the rules of reafon and religion, and is only now-and-then hurried away by them against his will. Sixthly, Such again I account all unavoidable imperfections in the performance of our duty; not only our wandering and unfeasonable thoughts in our devotions, which I mentioned before, but moreover our want of due gratitude to God for all his mercies, of true humiliation for our fins, of love to God, of truft in his good Providence, and the like. When we have thefe virtues planted in our fouls, and do ftudy to cultivate and improve them to the best of our abilities, but cannot do it to that degree we carneftly defire we could, we may however comfort ourfelves with this confideration, that these and fuch-like defects and imperfections, if they be to be inferted in the catalogue of our fins, muft yet be put amongst thofe that are involuntary; fince we find by fad and long experience, that we are not able to get above them, tho' we ever fo heartily and watchfully endeavour it. Laftly, To thefe I only fubjoin fins of forgetfulness; when a man fully refolves to perform fuch a duty at

fuch

fuch a time, or in fuch a place; and has really con venience of doing it; but in the mean while fome unusual accident or occafion intervening diverts his mind, and puts this defign quite out of his thoughts for the prefent, fo that he remembers nothing of it till it is too late. This is a fault of the head, not of the heart or will; and will no doubt be interpreted by Almighty God, as the effect of our mortal feeble conftitution; and will therefore have an answerable allowance made for it. These are the most remarkable fins of infirmity; but I cannot fay they are all, nor that they are always fuch, because the nature of them may be much altered by circumstances; and if at any time indulged, they may by this means become highly criminal, wilful, and provoking fins. And now on the contrary, under the notion of wilful fins, I prefume, thefe at least are defervedly to be concluded, and to be lamented and bewailed as fuch: 1. All habitual fins, which tho' by the power of cuftom they are grown familiar, and have acquired a great measure of strength, and fo are hard to be overcome, yet are they highly aggravated by the frequent repetition of them; and, unless duly repented of, muft inevitably end in everlasting deftruction. Where, by habitual fins, I do not mean fuch defects and weakneffes as I mentioned before, which cleave faft to us, and are not to be fhaken off, by all the diligence we can ufe to get rid of them; but fuch irregular, unchriftian practices as any proceed in, without heartily striving against them, or trying the means prescribed in order to a conqueft over them. No fin is a fin of infirmity, that a man does not hate, and which he does not in good earnest fet himself to oppofe, and use his hearty endeavour to free himself from it. 2. All known and deliberate fins. It argues a ftrange depravity of mind, when finners fee the evil they are about to commit, and have time to weigh both the guilt and danger of it, and yet refolve not to be deterred from it. How small foever the fin may be in other refpects,

this

this deliberate choice of it implies a great degree of guilt, and moft certainly leaves no room to queftion whether it be wilful or not. 3. All fins not accompanied with an unfeigned repentance, as foon as they are taken notice of. Whenever a good man falls into an involuntary offence against God, he is no fooner made fenfible of his fault, but he is presently grieved for it, his foul is full of trouble, and he can have no rest, till he has humbled himself for it, and endeavoured, in the most submissive manner, to obtain its pardon. (a) Aristotle has noted it long ago, as a mark of an involuntary lapfe, that it is attended with forrow and repentance. And the obfervation holds good, as well on the contrary, and always will, that that action can have no difagreement with the will, that the actor can reflect upon with fatisfaction, or even with indifferency, and an unconcernednefs for it. For tho' a confeffion of fin, and forrow for it, is no infallible evidence of a true repentance, until accompanied with amendment; yet muft it be admitted, on the other hand, that a fin not attended with forrow, and selfabasement in the fight of God, upon the discovery of it, has fo far the approbation of the mind, that the offender can have no real averfion to it. And it muft therefore be owned for truth, that whofoever can reflect upon a fin thus committed, without a hearty regret, and remorfe of confcience, for having committed it, is no longer to be looked upon as an enemy to it. And by confequence, whether he confider it before, or not, his acquiefcence in it afterwards is a fufficient proof, that it is to be reckoned amongst his allowed and wilful fins. 4. Such fins whereto we knowingly expofe ourselves. It is not enough, that I refolve against my fins, but I muft refolve too against the known occafions of them. For fo long as I am content to put myself in the way of thefe, how firm foever my refolutions be, it is odds but I fhall foon be overcome. (α) Ακέσιον δὲ τὸ ἐπίλυπον καὶ ἐν μεταμελεία, Ad Nicom. 1. 3. c. 1.

For

For inftance: Let the drunkard ever so seriously refolve against intemperance, or the luftful perfon against his unlawful embraces, yet unless the one take care to withdraw from his wonted ill companions, and the other avoid the fociety of lewd women, they will be in apparent danger of returning to their former vicious courses, or at least of falling into fome of those acts of wickednefs they had been fo long accuftomed to. And whenever they do fo, how far foever they had been from defigning it, yet because they had foolishly laid the fnare for betraying themselves into fuch a fall, they are accordingly to reckon it amongst their wilful fins. So when one in a drunken fit commits an act of adultery, of robbery, or of murder, which he would have abhorred the thoughts of, had he been fober, and in his right fenfes; tho' his drunkenness was the real caufe of his wickedness, yet he is by no means to look upon it as a fin of weakness; because his drunkennefs, which occafioned it, was not fo. Had he acted the fame part in a fit of diftraction, his diftemper would have made it a fin of infirmity; because his want of a right understanding, which was the only cause of his mifcarriage, being an involuntary misfortune, and what he could no way avoid, he is not to be condemned, but pitied rather, for all the natural ill effects of that. But the cafe is very different in the inftance before us. For drunkennefs being a wilful fin, which the finner might and ought to have abstained from, and which he had not fallen into but through his own fault, he is therefore answerable for all the confequences of it, and this amongst the reft. And fo it is in other like cafes. The free choice of the finner, when in a capacity of making it, being the cause of the caufe, is conftrued likewise to be the cause of its effect, and fo makes that a wilful fin, which otherwife would not have been fo. 5. All fins committed against the dictates and admonitions of confcience, cautioning to abstain from them. Some, as has been al

ready

ready observed, lay it down as mark of a regenerate perfon, that he fins with reluctancy; and, as they are pleased to apply St. Paul's words, (b) what he would, he does not; and what he hates, that he does. Yet of such an one I may much more truly fay, notwithstanding his pretences to religion and the fear of God, as the Apostle speaks in the verfe immediately foregoing, that he is yet carnal, fold under fin. For I would: defire any one to tell me, what furer fign there can be of a corrupt mind, than that when a man fees the evil of fin, and has time to weigh and confider it, and finds his conscience ftart and recoil at it, and warn him against it, as he loves either God, or his own foul; what furer fign, I fay, there can be of a corrupt mind, than for a man to break through all these admonitions and reproofs, in order to the gratification of his lufts or paffions. If this is not a proof, that his wickedness is wilful and chofen, it is impoffible to tell what is.

Eufeb. What you affirm is fo reafonable, that I can fee no cause to question the truth of it.

Anchith. No doubt it is. Be pleased therefore to proceed.

Theod. With your leave then I fhall obferve to you, that though I cannot point to a diftinction, between fins of weakness and wilfulness, that fhall clearly and certainly hold in all cafes; nevertheless, I have fo far endeavoured to characterize each of them, as that I hope an honest-minded man may, by the help of what has been faid, be able to form a tolerable judgment, to whether fort his fins belong: which is all I can pretend to, in a point, wherein it is impoffible to have any itated general rule, that fhall ferve for all emergencies, and fuit with all cafes. And, for the farther knowledge of them, every one must be left to his own prudence, when he has first seriously. examined and tried his doings by thefe directions, and made an impartial inquiry, how much of wilfulness, or of weak nefs, furprize or ignorance, is in (6) Rom. vii. 15.

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them.