September 19

inflicted upon the Ammonites, after taking the city from its brave defenders. Who can bear success and gratification without injury? "Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation." Wherefore keep yourselves in the love of God. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God."

SEPTEMBER 19.—"The sin which doth easily beset us."—Hebrews 12:1.

By this we are to understand, according to Owen, what our divines call indwelling sin. Sin reigns in the children of disobedience. But this is not the case with the godly; sin shall not have dominion over them, for they are not under the law, but under grace. But though it is dethroned in them, it is not as yet destroyed. It still exists and exerts itself. And it may well be called "the sin which so easily besets us," being always near us to assail us in the world, the family, the church, the closet; yea, always in us, working our departure from the living God, vexing our peace, spoiling our performances, and rendering us susceptible of injury from external influences—"The sin," says the Apostle, "that dwelleth in me;" "another law in my members wars against the law of my mind;" and the effects of which make me groan, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death." This, as the principle of corruption, and the source of all other evils, we should seek to subdue and destroy. And whoever would see this subject practically and evangelically treated should read the admirable work of Owen, on "the mortification of sin in believers."

But there are various ways in which the same innate depravity may operate. Isaiah speaks of our all going astray, but says, "We have turned every one to his own way." And the expression of the Apostle has given rise to the notion of some particular sin to which we are more exposed or addicted than to another: and thus we often hear of a man's besetting sin, and easily besetting sin. And it is undeniable, that by outward circumstances, or natural temperament, some are more inclined to peevishness and fretfulness, some to anger and revenge, some to pride and vanity, some to intemperance and sensuality.

We should imagine that every one must be acquainted with his own peculiar propensity, especially after some course of years. But what is habitual is naturalized; we are blind to our own faults; self-love covers a multitude of sins, and this among the rest. Yet in many cases a man's ignorance, owing to the power and prevalence of the evil, must be mere affectation.

A man's easily besetting sin is—that to which he is most frequently tempted—and which he is most anxious to conceal—and the discovery and reprehension of which most mortifies and offends him.

Such a sin, unsearched after, unbewailed, unopposed, is incompatible with "simplicity and godly sincerity." If we regard the