SERMON XIX. RESIST THE BEGINNINGS OF EVIL TEMPTATION.

Proverbs iv. 14, 15.

Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it and pass away.

This is one of those short, comprehensive, moral directions, with which the holy Scriptures abound, for our safe conduct in life; directions, that are seldom attended to with the earnestness, which their importance demands. Studied such words should be, with devout meditation and the spirit of prayer; imprinted on the memory, fixed in the heart. We are apt to trust too much to generalities in religion; we do not sufficiently concern ourselves with its individual precepts and practical admonitions. And I wish now to enlarge upon this point, before we enter into a consideration of the text; hoping that it may induce you, by God’s help, “to take heed how ye hear” such lessons of instruction.

For the attainment of a religious character, and the means of walking holily and uprightly in our course through life, doubtless the main thing is, to establish sound principles in the heart; and without such principles all the rules and helps in the world will prove of little avail; never to be depended upon in the hour of temptation and trial. Accordingly we find, in the word of God, these mainsprings of action continually insisted on, as of the highest necessity to be settled in the soul. A true, a right faith is inculcated, as the great foundation of all spiritual obedience; a vital faith in God, as our Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier; a faith in His revealed word, in all the great doctrines of life and salvation there propounded to fallen man; a faith in the necessity of obeying all the commandments therein delivered for the formation of our character and the regulation of our lives; a faith in the world to come, after the death of the body; a world depending, for happiness or misery, upon our choice and conduct here. The love of God and the fear of God are also laid down as most powerful principles of thought and action; as spreading an influence over the whole of our behaviour.

Still however, the establishment of these first principles is not of itself sufficient for the complete direction and government of our lives. So manifold and various are the temptations to which we are exposed; so numerous the trials we are called to bear, that particular instructions and commands are also needful for us, in order that we may be prepared to meet the different circumstances which are perpetually arising, in order that we may be taught how to reduce our principles to practice; and to apply the declaration of God’s will to our ordinary intercourse and experience with the world.

For this purpose, we find the old scriptures every where abounding with rules, for the performance of every duty, and the avoidance of every sin: for the immediate service and worship of God, for the discharge of every honest and honourable obligation we owe to our neighbour; for the correction of all those evil affections and passions, to which the corrupt heart of man is so lamentably prone. Nor in the new testament, where the foundation of faith is more clearly and broadly laid down, are such rules less frequent, or less urgently enforced. We might indeed expect, what actually is the case, that as a clearer and fuller revelation, that as a higher principle and view, would require a more holy and perfect observance, a greater purity and integrity and blamelessness of character, therefore the several duties demanded of us, in our walk with God, would be laid down and marked with the greater accuracy. Accordingly we do find, for this purpose, “line upon line and precept upon precept” repeated and urged with the greater fulness and particularity; that we may not, by any unholiness or deficiency in our conduct, disgrace that more glorious revelation, with which we have been favoured as believers in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Look at His own blessed discourses, especially His sermon on the mount; look at the epistles, which His servants, inspired by the Holy Ghost, have left for our guidance and government; and see what full instructions they contain, for our duty to God and our duty to man. It is wonderful, for how many cases they provide; for how many instances in our daily experience; how they teach us, on the one hand, the practice of every virtue, shew all the bearings of it and the steps that lead to it; how they caution us, on the other, against every besetting sin; how they point out the manner, in which it gains an influence over us, and cut it up by the root.

I have embraced the present opportunity of enlarging on this point, with a view of awakening your attention to, and inducing you to study and treasure up, the various scriptural rules for holy living: I have done this, because many suppose, that the fixing of a good principle—of faith, for instance,—is all that is requisite; if it were so, why should so many rules have been given in that holy book, in which there can be nothing unnecessary or superfluous? God, who knows the heart and all the ways of man, knew how wise and needful it was, to deliver express admonitions and exhortations to each individual duty; that our faith might not be vague and unprofitable, but abounding in fruit, in the fruit of holiness unto everlasting life.

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.

What I am here describing, has been the miserable experience of thousands of unwatchful and irresolute Christians; who have fallen into the snare, yea at last into the ruinous abyss of evil, from which they have never afterwards escaped, because they were too “wise in their own conceits” and too confident in their own strength, to take a warning against the peril of yielding to the first temptation; because they ventured into the borders of forbidden ground, and were insensibly led on to the fatal lengths, which they once held in abomination.

How many a youth have we known, trained from his earliest infancy in the holy principles of the gospel, the hope and the promise of his anxious parents, the joy of his family and friends, yet, from incautiously listening, on some unsuspected occasion, to the advice of an evil counsellor, and induced to make experiment of some unhallowed pleasure, thereby shaken in his integrity and thrown off his bias; prevailed upon to repeat the pressing indulgence; thence to proceed to others; till, in the end, the character has been totally changed,—marred, corrupted, ruined. It seemed but a little matter that first courted his consent; what, though sinful pleasures did surround him in his new scene and his new company, he, poor innocent youth, had no intention of joining in them; was determined to stand aloof. For a while he did so; and maintained the pious and virtuous and christian habits, in which he had been trained; the habits of prayer, and holy reading, and holy meditation, and uprightness of conduct: but he began to give way, to “fall from the stedfastness of his faith in Christ;” [358] one religious observance after another was broken in upon; one scruple after another overcome; till at last he was stripped of every portion of the garment of righteousness, and left “miserable and poor and naked,” with nothing to hide his wretchedness and shame; the dishonour of his father, the grief of his mother’s heart; disowned by his family, disowned by his God: a misery to himself; dying the death of a sinner. And whence came all this load of misery upon him?—on account of his first unguarded yielding.

This representation has been but too frequently verified: yet not to the young only has such heedlessness proved a snare and destruction. We may see its consequences ravaging around us almost every day; in persons of every age and condition. How many a sabbath-breaker has contracted his dreadful habit from a very small beginning of neglect? At the first he was tempted very occasionally to absent himself from the House of his God; to indulge now and then, extremely seldom, in worldly pleasure; or to engage, in a thoughtless hour, in the dispatch of worldly business; but his affection and reverence for the holy day by degrees grow colder, and the temptations became stronger: the Lord’s House was, in a great measure, forsaken; the Lord’s day became his day of dissolute pleasure; or his day of business and accounts, as best suited his condition; and hence followed, as it must of necessity, the total decay of religious principle and religious character.

Thus it is also, in a remarkable degree, with the vice of intemperance; no man proceeds to its abominable and fatal extremities all at once: but no man, whatever his principles may have been, is secure from its horrible influence, if he is once tempted habitually to depart from the holy rules of sobriety; however seldom the habit may be at first indulged. It is indeed especially true of this awful vice, that if the enemy once gains a footing in the heart, he seldom leaves it, till the heart is his own.

Thus it is, once again, with evil company of every description; it is ensnaring beyond all suspicion, and beyond all calculation: wicked or worldly companions infuse their venom, into the mind and the bosom, gradually and insensibly: even if they have no intention so to do, as in truth they too often have, their very presence and conversation and habits are so corrupting, that it is impossible for any one, who is familiarly acquainted with them, to escape the contagion; in fact, whoever seeks, or whoever tolerates such company, has a lurking disposition to evil, though it may be unperceived and unsuspected by himself. Flee from every approach to this treacherous and dangerous ground, as you would “flee from the wrath to come.”

From this statement, which indeed is but imperfect and feeble in comparison with the magnitude of the evil, against which I am seeking to warn you, my hearers; from this you may be better prepared, by God’s grace, to receive and value and apply the important admonition of the text: you will observe how particularly, how urgently, with what repetition, what varied forms of expression, the wise man delivers his charge; so delivers it the more, because he speaks feelingly, from dear-bought experience; because he himself had been lamentably ensnared, for want of attending to it in his own case.

Let us hearken to the counsel of this inspired and experienced guide: he says, “Enter not into the path of the wicked;” never be prevailed upon to set your foot on this forbidden ground; “go not in the way of evil men,” trust not yourself in their company or in any of their goings: further he says, “Avoid it,” avoid this ensnaring way; be at pains to keep clear of it; use your utmost watchfulness to discover it; go in another direction, in the way of the upright and holy. And, as if this caution were insufficient for his purpose, he adds, “Pass not by it;” suffer not yourself even to approach it, to look upon it; lest you be beguiled by its false charms, and unwarily led to desire them. Not willing yet to cease from admonishing, in order to make a yet deeper impression, he concludes, “Turn from it and pass away;” the instant you perceive it, turn round with the dread of danger; as you would if you discovered yourself on the edge of a precipice, in fear of falling headlong; turn at once, and pass decidedly and quickly away.

In obedience to these rules, my brethren, consists our great security, under the guidance of infinite wisdom and the support of almighty power: the grace of God is ever ready to be bestowed, ever at hand to “preserve us from falling;” but God expects and requires us, in the use of this grace, to employ every means of prudence, and to strive with a holy and unbending resolution: this grace is afforded for the very purpose, that we may so watch and work; and if we do not thus improve it, with circumspection and diligence, it will be withdrawn. Never so much as listen to any sinful proposal, to any doubtful invitation; stay not to reason upon it at all; turn away with holy jealousy; never suffer the eye to dwell upon a forbidden object, to dwell even for a moment; through the eye it may find a passage to the heart, and inflame it with unlawful and hurtful desire: resist at once; the first victory is the easiest, as well as the surest. Say to the temptation, as your Lord said to the tempter, “get thee hence, Satan;” “flee from him and he will flee from you”—“escape for thy life.”

And here I must add an observation upon the means, by which we may be enabled to follow this momentous advice of the wisest of men. We must “watch and pray, that we enter not into temptation;” [364] we must go forth into the world in the spirit of watchfulness and prayer; praying, not only that we may have the grace to watch, but also when the trial actually arises, when we are watching. In the presence of temptation, or if we do but perceive or suspect that it is coming, let the soul be lifted up to the “Lord of all power and might;” let the language of the heart, if not of the lips, be poured forth in pious aspiration to God; if it be but a word, a wish, or a thought, it will be clothed with strength, and minister a stedfastness to the mind and heart. We are thus animated by the assurance of divine support, and fixed in our holy determination of resistance to all evil. Much depends, for safety and success, upon this habitual spirit of devotion; it is our buckler and shield in every moment of conflict; without it, we are standing, in the feebleness of nature, before the mighty enemy of our souls; ready to “be taken captive by him at his will.” [365a] “Be ye therefore sober (that is, be serious) and watch unto prayer;” [365b] and thus “go forth conquering and to conquer.”