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BY GARDINER SPRING, D. D., NEW-YORK.

THE ALARMING POWER OF SIN.

JEREMIAH, 13, 23. leopard his spots? to do evil.

Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the
Then may ye also do good, who are accustomed

THIS passage, like some others in the sacred writings, is not to be interpreted in the strictest sense. Of the same description is the declaration of Christ; "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." And yet rich men are saved; though the difficulties in the way of their salvation are many and great. So, in some instances, are men long accustomed to do evil, diverted from their courses of iniquity. But this is not usual. It is a truth which should affect the minds of every class of my audience, that,

THE LONG CONTINUED IMPENITENCE OF MEN AUGMENTS THE DIFFICULTIES IN THE WAY OF THEIR SALVATION.

This is the truth which I propose to illustrate in this discourse. And,

I. A most obvious thought which illustrates this general observation is, that the habits of men are strengthened and confirmed by indul

gence.

It is a common remark, that the influence of habit is one of the most powerful in our mental constitution. We cannot explain this phenomenon; the fact we know; and it is of vast importance that we should know it. A repetition of the same thoughts and actions is so apt to ensure their continuance, that it is one of the most difficult things in the world to check this habitual operation of the mind, and give it a different direction from that in which it has been wont to flow. Even habits which relate to matters of indifference, become inveterate, and are with great difficulty modified and overcome. Especially are they obstinate, when they are under the control of some prevailing disposition, and fall in with the natural inclination of the mind.

VOL. XI. No. 10.

Now, the habits which distinguish wicked men, are all governed by a heart alienated from God and holiness: nor is any other thought or purpose grateful to their mind, except those which subserve its depraved inclinations. The longer such a man continues in his sinful courses, the more fully his mind becomes trained in these habits of resistance to all that is good. His thoughts have become so familiar with sin, that his native sinfulness is invigorated and fortified; and to all the strength of natural corruption, he has added the growth and vigor of this moral training. His mind not only has by nature, a strong propensity to evil, an invariable tendency to depart from God; but from every step in his course has acquired increased facilities in this downward career, and is more and more inclined to depart by every act of departure thus repeated.

Here is the sinner's danger, who is accustomed to do evil. The course of his thoughts has so long preserved a downward tendency, that the channel has become deep, and the current cannot easily be led off. He has been so long enchained by the fatal power of habit, that he clanks his fetters and loves his bondage. Who has the energy to vanquish this most irresistible power? You might almost as well hope to persuade the wind or the storm, as such a man. Before the blasting, deadening influence of habit every effort, every thought, I had almost said, every hope of seriousness has withered. He is "hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." He is insensibly led on from one course of wickedness to another, till he is under a sort of necessity of sinning. He has taken so many steps in this downward road, and his progress has become so accelerated and impetuous that he cannot resist it."All things are possible with God." And yet, how much more difficult is it for such a man to become holy, than for men over whom this progressive and silent influence of habit has not yet obtained the guilty predominance! Such a man is the veriest servant of sin; and however sensible or insensible he may be of his servitude, he is probably enslaved beyond the hope of deliverance.

II. The influence of this world, as men advance in life, usually becomes more perplexing, and a greater hindrance to their conversion. The greatest outward obstacle with which men have to contend in the work of their salvation, is the influence of the world. Here are the perplexities of business. Here are the allurements of wealth. Here are the smiles of friendship. Here are the blandishments of pleasure. Here are the corrupting influences of public opinion. Here are the pernicious tendencies of fashion and vain amusements. Here every thing that is noxious to piety is nourished and strengthened. The world is a soil luxuriant in sin, and fed only by putrescency and death. While the eye is pleased, the ear regaled, and all the senses delighted, there is every thing to corrupt and destroy.

The man who is advanced even to the meridian of human life, is apt to have formed a thoroughly worldly character. His plans are on a larger scale; his connexions are more extended; his arrangements are more complicated than at earlier periods; and consequently his cares multiply, his toil increases, his time is occupied, and in the midst.

of all this overwhelming solicitude about the world, the concerns of eternity are lost sight of and forgotten. The spirit of the world takes deeper hold of him the longer he lives. He becomes more dissatisfied and more grasping. The love of money becomes so deeply imbedded in his heart, that it puts him well nigh beyond the reach of solemn and salutary impressions. If the young plead the pressure of care, and the want of time, and the influence of worldly associates, as a reason for their inattention to the concerns of religion, what shall be thought of these influences upon more advanced years? A multitude of men, who in their youth deferred the business of religion to a more convenient season, have seen with regret that the longer they have lived, and the more they looked for leisure and retirement, and the more they hoped to be removed from the influence of those who would ruin and destroy, --the more have their perplexities increased, and the more has every successive year contributed to throw obstacles in the path to heaven. A man in middle life may, now and then, feel powerful inducements to become pious; the grasp of the world may, for a short season, be partially relaxed; and he may withdraw himself for a little from his old companions, to think of the scenes of that invisible world to which he is hastening; but soon his courage and self-denial fail him, and he is soothed or frightened away from his purpose. Some golden bait, some earnest entreaty, some subtile stratagem, some unhallowed influence disheartens him, and he goes back again to the world. The world is still his idol. The men of the world are still his chosen companions. The pleasures of the world are still his selected joy. The concerns of time absorb the attention and exhaust the vigor of his mind. Having thrown himself into the current, he becomes weaker, and weaker, and though the precipice is near, he cannot now stem the tide and reach the shore.

Here is the danger of the men who are accustomed to do evil. They are immersed in sense. The moral atmosphere they breathe is poison. They are more and more endangered every hour they live. They have fallen into those "foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition." Conscience is laid asleep. The gates of that unearthly world seem closed upon them; the celestial city is almost hidden from their view. The glimpses of light they once enjoyed are dying away; and their eye fixes itself less and less on eternity.

III. As years increase, men become less interested in the subject of religion, and more obdurate and averse to any alteration in their moral character. The season of sensitiveness and ardent affection is gone by. The heart is no longer warm in any of its attachments. The moral perceptions have become inactive and heavy. The bosom is now rarely penetrated with the feelings of obligation, or any of those tender emotions which once invited or encouraged a religious influence. The mind loiters and the sluggish spirit becomes inactive and torpid. It possesses little of that unbiassed judgment, that teachableness which are the hope of earlier years; and not only is it more subject to prejudices and less docile, but more disposed to resist religious

instruction and turn from it in disgust. The Sabbath, the Bible, the sanctuary, the domestic altar, once so solemn and tender, by degrees lose their power to interest and affect them. Sermous, and prayers, and songs of praise, and Christian counsels that once addressed the youthful sinner with so much effect, have lost their persuasive influence. The heart has become listless and like adamant. Conscience has become so seared and hardened by its long-continued resistance of acknowledged obligations, that nothing rouses them. The ouly effect which the most powerful instructions or the best adapted means of grace are apt to have upon such a mind, is increasing insensibility and hardness, and greater boldness in iniquity. Men advanced in life have comparatively few convictions of their sin and danger; and those few they easily suppress; and pass carelessly along without God in the world, without the hope of his favor, or the fear of his wrath.

And with such a state of mind, they become more and more averse to any radical alteration in their character. Their enmity to God and their aversion to holiness become more deeply riveted. They often doubt whether there is such a thing as conversion. The name is an offence to them; and when they occasionally hear it mentioned, they perhaps turn it into ridicule. They cannot endure to be disturbed in their sins. When you urge the claims of piety upon them, they treat the whole matter with neglect and contempt. They have made up their minds to run the hazard of perdition, rather than be roused to the severe and dreadful effort of forsaking their sins.

Here too is the danger of men accustomed to impenitence. The scenes of eternity to such men have a melancholy and direful aspect. Every thing is conspiring to harden, deceive, and destroy them; and there is little probability that these augmented obstacles to their conversion will ever be removed. And they themselves deeply feel the weight of these powerful discouragements. Ask the sinner of forty, or fifty, or sixty years, whether his prospects are growing brighter; and he will tell you, that the longer he lives they are growing darker and darker. Clouds gather over his path. His sun is going down, and soon every beam of light will be withdrawn. This leads me to ob

serve,

IV. The thought of multiplied and long continued transgression is very apt to discourage all attempts at repentance.

This is a temptation by no means peculiar to advanced years, but for which there is in the nature of the case stronger reason than at any previous period. The man who has been accustomed to iniquity is often led to see how his habits of sinning have become confirmed by indulgence; how the influence of the world has excluded well nigh every thought of God and heaven; how his obduracy and aversion to holiness have increased; and he very naturally becomes depressed and discouraged by these reflectious. That guilty Deceiver, who "blinds the minds of them that believe not, and worketh in the children of disobedience," and employs all his power to ensnare and destroy, knows how to take advantage of their age, their character, and their condition, and not unfrequently suggests and gives these melancholy reflections a