hings I mention
to put you in remembrance of what condition you are in, in this world, and
what posture you should be in. Watch, I say, and when ye have done all,
stand with your loins girt, and though you cannot possibly escape all sin,
yet certainly it is not in vain thus to set against it, and keep a watch
over it, for by this means you shall escape more sin and sin less, as he
that aims at the mark, though he do not hit it, yet shall ordinarily come
nearer it, than he that shoots only at random, and as the army that is
most vigilant and watchful, though they cannot prevent all losses and
hazards, yet commonly are not found at such a loss, as those who are
proud, confident, and secure.

Now, as it is supposed, that sin is ordinarily incident to the child of
God, so it is especially to be caveated, that he despair not in his sins,
for it is imported in this provision, that the believer is in great hazard
upon new lapses into sin, either of daily incursion, or of a grosser
nature, to be discouraged. As there is so much corruption in any man's
heart, as will turn the grace of God into wantonness, and incline him upon
the proposal of free grace to presume to take liberty to the flesh, so
that same corruption, upon another occasion, works another way, upon the
supposal of new sins, aggravated with preceding mercy and grace in God,
and convictions and resolutions in him, to drive him into despondency and
dejection of spirit, as if there were no pardon for such sins. And indeed,
it is no wonder if the soul be thus set upon, if we set aside the
consideration of the infinite grace of God, that far surpasseth the ill
deserts of men. To speak of the very nature of the thing itself, there is
no sin in its own nature more unpardonable than sin after pardon; nothing
so heinous, aggravated with so many high circumstances, which mingleth it
with the worst ingredients, as this sin, after so much grace revealed in
the gospel, to the end that we may not sin. Sins washed so freely, in so
precious a fountain, and yet to defile again, sins forgiven so readily and
easily, the debt whereof, in justice, the whole creation was not able to
pay, and yet to offend so gracious a Father, a soul being thoroughly
convinced of the vanity, folly, and madness of sin, of the deceitfulness
and baseness of its pleasures, and set in a posture against it, as the
most deadly enemy; and yet, after all this, to be foiled, deceived, and
insnared--here, I say, ar