it.
Temptation is very powerful, it is true, when it comes first; but, then,
its power lies in its own novelty; and, on the other hand, there is power
in the heart itself, divinely given, to resist it; but when we have long
indulged sin, the mind has become sinful in its habit and character, and
the Spirit of God having departed, it has no principle within it of
strength sufficient to save it from spiritual death. What being can
change its own nature? that would be almost ceasing to be itself: fire
cannot cease to burn; the leopard changes not its spots, and ceases not
to rend and devour; and the soul which has often sinned, cannot help
sinning; but in this respect awfully differing from the condition of the
senseless elements or brute animals,--that its present state is all its
own fault; that it might have hindered it, and will have one day to
answer for not having hindered it.

Thus, easy as it is to avoid sin first of all, at length it is (humanly
speaking) impossible. "Enter not into its path," saith the wise man; the
two paths of right and wrong start from the same point, and at first are
separated by a very small difference, so easy (comparatively) is it to
choose the right instead of the wrong way: but wait awhile, and pursue
the road leading to destruction, and you will find the distance between
the two has widened beyond measurement, and that between them a great
gulf has been sunk, so that you cannot pass from the one to the other,
though you desire it ever so earnestly[5].

Now to what do considerations such as these lead us, but to our Lord's
simple and comprehensive precept, which is the same as Solomon's, but
more impressively and solemnly urged on us by the manner and time of His
giving it? "Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation." To enter
not the path of the wicked, to avoid it, and pass by it, what is this but
the exercise of _watching_? Therefore He insists upon it so much,
knowing that in it our safety lies. But now, on the other hand, consider
_how_ many are there among us who can be said to watch and pray? Is not
the utmost we do to offer on Sunday some kind of prayer in Church to God;
or sometimes some short prayer morning and evening in the week; and then
go into the world with the same incaution and forgetfulness as if we had
never entertained a serious thought? We go through the business of the
day, quite forgetting, to any practical purpose, that all business has
snares in it