Page:The Works of Samuel Johnson ... A journey to the Hebrides. The vision of Theodore, the hermit of Teneriffe. The fountains. Prayers and meditations. Sermons.v. 10-11. Parliamentary debates.pdf/352

 *tion. This is the benefit of periodical worship. But he, to whom all days are alike, will find no day for prayer and repentance.

Many enjoyments, innocent in themselves, may become dangerous by too much frequency; publick spectacles, convivial entertainments, domestick games, sports of the field, or gay or ludicrous conversation, all of them harmless, and some of them useful, while they are regulated by religious prudence, may yet become pernicious, when they pass their bounds, and usurp too much of that time which is given us, that we may work out our salvation.

And surely, whatever may diminish the fear of God, or abate the tenderness of conscience, must be diligently avoided by those who remember what is to be explained,


 * The consequence of hardness of heart.

He that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief. Whether mischief be considered, as immediately signifying wickedness, or misery, the sense is eventually the same. Misery is the effect of wickedness, and wickedness is the cause of misery; and he that hardeneth his heart shall be both wicked and miserable. Wicked he will doubtless be, for he that has lost the fear of God, has nothing by which he can oppose temptation. He has a breast open and exposed, of which interest or voluptuousness take easy possession. He is the slave of his own desires, and the sport of his own passions. He acts without a rule of action, and he determines without any true principle of judgment. If he who fears always, who preserves in his mind a constant sense of the danger of sin, is yet often assaulted, and sometimes overpowered by temptation; what can be hoped for him, that has the same temptation, without the same defence? He who hardens his heart will certainly be wicked, and it necessarily follows, that he will certainly be miserable. The doom of the obstinate and impenitent sinner is plainly declared; it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Let us all, therefore, watch our thoughts and actions; and that we may not, by hardness of heart fall into mis