But it is time now to turn to the text, which furnishes us with one of the most important cautions for our safe and christian government. It might be thought, that every true believer in that blessed Redeemer, who came “to cleanse him from all unrighteousness,” would have such a horror of sin, as effectually to secure him from its dominion; as to prevent us from the necessity of admonishing him against its fascination and its power; but such unhappily is far from being the case. Many, who make a considerable profession of the gospel, are betrayed into grievous inconsistencies; many, who set out with promising hopes and good resolutions, are led astray and overcome; many, for want of attending to the warning given in the text, for want of narrowly watching the beginnings of evil. Feeling a sincere and decided abhorrence of the grosser sins, they expose themselves without fear to slighter temptations; should they be, in some small matter, inveigled and led into the path of error, it is expected that they shall instantly perceive their danger; that they shall repent and be forgiven, and be more guarded and resolute for the time to come.
But they have not formed a proper estimate of the seducing nature of sin; they know not how the power of the tempter increases with every success: instead of their being alarmed and disgusted with the first commission, they become, from the corruption of their nature, the more captivated and seduced: it is easier for the enemy to draw them on to the second step, than it was to persuade them to the first; their conscience becomes more easily silenced and reconciled; they begin to think, that the strictness, for which they once contended, is not so requisite; they become accustomed to evil; make excuses for it; take delight in it; are flattered with the empty praises and congratulations of their new companions; and proceed by degrees to abandoned and ruinous lengths. The fact is, that they have been all the while provoking the Spirit of the Lord to desert them: He was grieved at their very first departure, from the path of innocence and integrity; it shewed a carelessness of the ways of God; it argued, that His fear and His love were declining in their heart: with every renewed commission of evil, the Spirit was more and more quenched, till at length He left them to themselves; weak, helpless, incapable of resistance; in the dominion of the enemy, slaves of sin.