I have read a lot of puritan writings, and Manton is among the best. One little phrase i read almost a decade ago (see boldface line in quote) has been very useful in pastoral counselling and has personally helped me greatly.

Thomas Manton (from his sermon on Psalm 119:3):

A man is known by his custom, and the course of his endeavors… If a man be constantly, easily, frequently carried away to sin, it discovers a habit of soul, and the temper of his heart. Meadows may be overflowed, but marsh ground is drowned with the return of every tide. A child of God may be carried away, and act contrary to the bent and inclination of the new nature; but when men are drowned and overcome with the return of every temptation, and carried away, it argues a habit of sin.

pdb