6. Now if we desire to have our souls moulded to this holy frame, and have Christ formed in our hearts, we must carefully avoid all sinful practices. There can be no treaty of peace, till we lay down these weapons of rebellion wherewith we fight against heaven; nor can we expect to have our distempers cured, if we be daily feeding on poison. Every wilful sin gives a mortal wound to the soul, and puts it at a greater distance from God. And we can never hope to have our hearts purified from corrupt affections, till our hands are cleansed from vicious actions. _We must know what things are sinful._ 7. And, first, Let us inform ourselves well what those sins are from which we ought to abstain. And here we must not take our measures from the maxims of the world, or the practices of those whom in charity, we account good men. Most people have very light apprehensions of these things, and are not sensible of any fault, unless it be gross. And those who are more serious, many times allow themselves too great latitude. Alas! how much pride, and vanity, and passion; how much weakness and folly doth every day show itself in their converse and behaviour! It may be they are humbled for it, and striving against it, but the progress is so small, and their failings so many, that we had need to chuse an exacter pattern. Every one of us must answer for himself, and the practice of others will never warrant and secure us. It is the highest folly to regulate our actions by any other standard, than that by which they must be judged. If ever therefore we would _cleanse our way_, it must be _by taking heed thereto according to the word of God_¹. And that _word which is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow_², will certainly discover many things to be sinful, which pass for very innocent in the eyes of the world. Let us therefore imitate the psalmist, who saith, _Concerning the works of men, by the words of thy lips, I have kept myself from the path of the destroyer_³. Let us acquaint ourselves well with the holy laws of our religion: let us consider the discourses of our blessed Saviour, (especially that divine sermon on the mount) and the writings of his holy apostles; where an unbiassed mind may clearly discern those bounds by which our actions ought to be confined: and then let us never look upon any sin as light and inconsiderable, but be fully persuaded, that the smallest is infinitely heinous in the sight of God, and prejudicial to the souls of men: and that if we had the right sense of things, we should be as deeply affected with the least irregularities, as now we are with the greatest crimes. ¹ Psalms cxix. 9. ² Hebrews iv. 12. ³ Psalms xvii. 4. _We must resist temptations._