[ 1267] Custome in Sin, causeth hardnesse in Sin.
LOok but upon a Youth when he comes first to be an Apprentice to some Ar∣tificer,* 1.1 or Handy-craft Trade, his hand is tencer, and no sooner is he set to work but it blis••ers, so that he is much pained thereby; but when he hath continued some time at work, then his hand hardens, and he goes on without any grievance at all: It is just thus with a Sinner, before he be accustomed to an evill way, Con∣science is tender and full of Remorse, like a queazy stomack, ready to keck at the least thing that is offensive: O, but a continued Custome, and making a Tr••de of sin, that's it that makes the Conscience to be hard and brawny, able to feel nothing; As it is in a Smiths forge,* 1.2 a Dogge that comes newly in, cannot endure the fiery sparks to fly about his ears; but being once us'd to it, he sleeps securely: So let wicked men be long used to the Devils Work-house, to be slaves and Vassails to sinne, the sparks of Hell-fire may fly about them, and the fire of Hell flash upon their souls, yet never trouble them, never disturbe them at all; and all this ariseth from a continued custome in a course of evill.