upon the conscience, as they are further very provoking and grievous, and make a fatal breach between the offender and Almighty God; these therefore require a very particular repentance, and a more especial sorrow and humiliation. They are very easily remembered, being few in comparison, and of such a kind as cannot easily be forgotten; and therefore a man ought, in his confession of, and humiliations for, sins of that nature, to be as particular and distinct as possible: but sins of infirmity are too many to be recounted, or even to be observed, and very slight in comparison; and therefore it is that they neither require, nor indeed admit of any thing more than a general repentance.

But there is a further difference between the repentance proper to wilful sins, and the repentance required for human frailties. A man must not be content merely to confess and to declare his sorrow for wilful sins; but he must renounce and forsake them, and never rest satisfied till he has divested himself of them. But as to sins of infirmity, the case is different: they are such as a good man may be content to live with and die with; and that, because he never can entirely remove them from him. They are inseparable from flesh and blood, are interwoven into our very frame, and are as natural and necessary, in some degree at least, as it is to be weak or frail, unthinking or unobserving; or, as it is to be liable to forgetfulness, fatigue, weariness, and the like. We are never to expect to get above every infirmity, or to correct every failing. The best of men cannot do it; the greatest of God's saints have not and therefore it is that we say of this case, that it is not necessary for our repentance to be completely practical. We may express our sorrow and concern even for the sins of infirmity which we fall into: but as we can never hope to gain the entire mastery over them, or to get above them; so neither is it required of us, in order either to our peace here or happiness hereafter. But then,

2. Besides a general repentance, though not completely

practical, for sins of this kind; we should further add our devout prayers to God, to make us every day less and less liable to them, and not to impute them. The prayer of the holy Psalmist in this case is very observable, though a very short one: "Who can tell how oft he offendeth? "O cleanse thou me from my secret faults!" So the words run in our old translation, Psal. xix. 12. The secret faults are well interpreted here to mean sins of infirmity, as opposed to known presumptuous sins, which he prays to be kept from in the verse next following. When he prays to be cleansed from secret faults, we may understand two things: first, to be acquitted, pardoned, justified, through the mercy of God, not imputing to him those smaller offences; and secondly, to be more and more strengthened by God's grace to conquer the infirmities he laboured under. Upon the whole, it is a petition for pardon of past sins, and for greater degrees of perfection for the future: and such a prayer may well become every good man now, with regard to sins of infirmity. He ought to beg pardon of God for them, as they are really sins: and it is of near concernment to us, to pray to God daily for his grace to enable us to arrive to still higher and higher degrees of perfection. The greater perfection we attain to, the more secure are we against falling back; and not only so, but we thereby become qualified for a higher and nobler reward. Even sins of infirmity, the more numerous they are, and the oftener they occur, so much the more dangerous are they; and if they be not carefully watched against, they may gradually sink us into an ill state, may pave the way to wilful, deliberate sins. For this reason principally we ought to pray against them, and to implore God's mercy and assistance, that he may please to pardon and forgive what is past, and to guard and strengthen us for the time to come.

3. The third and last article of our conduct, is to use our best endeavours along with our prayers, to guard, as much as possibly we can, even against those smaller sins, lest they should lead to greater.

Sins of infirmity, if indulged, if consented to, if suffered to rest upon us, are no longer sins of mere infirmity, but grow up into wilful, deliberate sins. Their very name and nature supposes some unavoidable weakness, and not wilfulness, to have the principal hand in them. They are infirmities, because, though we strive against them, and do our best to avoid them, yet we are surprised into them, and overcome by them. When we have done, and still continue to do, as much as lies in our power to correct our failings, and to fill up our defects; we may then very fairly give the name of infirmities to what remains: but if we use not the proper means to correct and amend, so far as may be, such our failings; those very failings will be imputed to us as wilful and deliberate sins. For the purpose: wandering and distraction in prayer may, in the general, be justly reckoned among the sins of infirmity: but if a man tamely suffer such a habit to grow upon him, and take no pains to prevent or lessen it; if he neither strive against it, nor so much as endeavour to correct it, in such measure at least as it may be corrected; to him it shall be imputed as a wilful sin, and shall no longer pass under the soft name of human frailty. So again: angry and passionate words, upon some occasions, exceeding the bounds of moderation and meekness, may be rightly enough numbered among the sins of infirmity: but yet, if a man frequently fall into such irregular heats; if he choose so to do, and use not his best endeavours to subdue his passions, and to reform his tongue; to him such intemperate sallies will be imputed as presumptuous sins, and not sins of infirmity. The same is the case in all other sins called sins of infirmity; they are no otherwise such, but as a man has done his best to correct them, and yet sinks under them: it is therefore absolutely necessary for every good man to labour, strive, and endeavour what he can, against every the smallest sin, or slightest offence, (as it is thought,) because it is this striving and endeavouring against it which at length renders it slight and pitiable in the sight of God: for this is our apology, this our plea,

for our committing sins of that kind; that we did what we could to avoid them; and at length fell into them by surprise, by inadvertency, by weakness, when we did not intend it, when we intended otherwise.

Upon the whole then, we are obliged constantly to watch, pray, and endeavour against all kinds of sins, sins of infirmity as well as others; and that in order to stand clear of wilful sin, and to preserve our peace with God. Venture not upon any sin, under the notion of its being a small sin only: for it is not small if it be wilful, or if it be readily and fully consented to. Wilful disobedience, even in a slight matter, is no slight thing. The wilfulness shown in it makes the offence grievous: and however small the matter of it may seem, the contempt is great, and is itself a high crime. Let us therefore make it our conscientious care to avoid, as much as possible, all sins whatever, great and small, and to approach every day nearer and nearer to religious perfection. And may God enable us, by his grace, to get ground of our infirmities, and to improve daily in every good word and work.

SERMON XI.

The Nature and Danger of presumptuous Sins.

PSALM xix. 13.

Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.

THESE are the words of pious David, the undoubted author of this religious song or psalm. In the verse going before, he had put up his petition for pardon of all the failures and errors of his life past, even of such as had escaped his notice, or had slipped out of his memory: "Who "can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret "faults." But besides those slighter offences, he was aware also of the offences of a more heinous kind; and therefore immediately subjoins a prayer against them likewise: "Keep back thy servant also from presumptu"ous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then "shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression."

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The words, as they run in our new translation, are not difficult to understand, and so will need the less opening. Indeed the words of the original have been thought capable of a very different version, and consequently of as different a sense: but I shall not take notice of niceties of that kind, which would be both dry and useless. The sense which they bear in our translation is a very good one, and is judiciously preferred before any other. I pro