A cabinet of choice jewels, or, A box of precious ointment being a plain…A cabinet of choice jevvels, or, A box of precious ointment being a plain…

Now all this Satan knows, and therefore he labours mightily to engage Hypocrites to live in the allowance of some one sin. O Sirs! remember that as one hole in a Ship will sink it, and as one stab at the heart will kill a man, and as one glass of poison will poison a man, and as one act of Treason will make a man a Traitor; so one ⟨p. 291⟩sin lived in and allowed, will damn a man for ever; one wound strikes Goliath dead, as well as three and twenty did Caesar; one Delilah will do Sampson as much mischief,¹ as all the Philistines; one wheel broken, spoils all the whole clock; one vein's bleeding will let out all the vitals, as well as more; one bitter herb will spoil all the pottage;² by eating one apple, Adam lost Paradise; one lick of honey endangered Jonathan's life; one Achan was a trouble to all Israel; one Jonah was lading too heavy for a whole Ship: So one sin lived in and allowed, is enough to make a man miserable for ever. One millstone will sink a man to the bottom of the Sea as well as a hundred; so one sin lived in and indulged, will sink a man to the bottom of hell as well as a hundred. I have read of a great Roman Captain, who as he was riding in his triumphant Chariot through Rome, had his eyes never off of a Courtesan that walked along the street, which made one say, Behold ho• this great Captain that hath conquered such and such Armies, is himself conquered by one silly woman! There is never an Hypocrite in the world, but lies under the conquest of one base lust or another, but lives under the reign and dominion of one sin or another. That soul that can in sincerity of heart appeal to a heart-searching God, that 'tis otherwise with him (viz. That he does not live nor allow himself in any one sinful way or practise) that soul, I dare assure in the Lord's name, is no hypocrite, Psal. 139, 23, 24.

Now all this Satan knows, and therefore he labours mightily to engage Hypocrites to live in the allowance of some one sin. O Sirs! remember that as one hole in a Ship will sink it, and as one stab at the heart will kill a man, and as one glass of poyson will poyson a man, and as one act of Treason will make a man a Traitor; so one