CONSIDERATION XXII
The Habit of Sin
"When the wicked cometh, then cometh also contempt." Prov. xviii 3.
First Point.
ONE of the greatest evils which the sin of Adam caused us, is the wicked inclination to sin. This made the Apostle weep when he found himself impelled by concupiscence towards those same sins which he detested. " But I see another law in my members .... bringing me into captivity to the law of sin." (Rom. vii. 23.) And therefore it happens with us, that being infected by this concupiscence, and with so many enemies who urge us on to do evil, that we find it so difficult to reach the blessed country without sin. Now, such being our frailty, I ask, What would you say of a traveller who would have to cross the sea in a storm in a shattered bark, and yet should wish to load it with a weight which, even were the bark a strong one, and there were no storm, would be enough to send it to the bottom? What would you predict concerning the life of such an one? Now, we say the same of the habitual sinner, who, having to pass over the sea of this life a sea which is very tempestuous and where many are lost in a weak and shattered bark, which is our flesh, and to which we are united, is willing to weigh it down with habitual sins. For in this one it is very difficult to be saved, because the evil habit darkens the mind, and hardens the heart, and by doing so, easily renders him obstinate, even to death.
