. unto us all, through Jesus Christ our Lord; to whom, with God the Father, and God the Holy Ghost, be for ever all honour and praise. Amen. SERMON V. UPRIGHT WALKING SURE WALKING. rules of his duty, and the dictates of his conscience; who, in every case emergent, is ready to perform that which upon good deliberation doth appear most just and fit, in conformity to God's law and sound reason, without being swayed by any appetite, any passion, any sinister respect to his own private interest of profit, credit, or pleasure, to the commission of any unlawful, irregular, unworthy, or PROV. X. 9. He that walketh uprightly base act; who generally doth act out of walketh surely. THE world is much addicted to the politics; the heads of men are very busy in contrivance, and their mouths are full of talk about the ways of consulting our safety, and securing our interests. May we not therefore presume, that an infallible maxim of policy, proposing the most expedite and certain method of security in all our transactions, will be entertained with acceptance? Such an one the greatest politician and wisest man for business (if we may take God's word for it) that ever was or will be, doth here suggest to us. For the practice couched in our text he otherwhere voucheth for a point of policy, telling us, that A man of understanding walketh uprightly : and here he recommendeth it as a method of security, He that walketh uprightly, walketh surely. Treating upon which aphorism, I shall, by God's help, endeavour, first, in way of explication, briefly to describe the practice itself; then, in way of proof, by some considerations to declare, that security doth attend it. For explication. To walk (as well in the style of holy Scripture, as in other writings, and even in common speech) doth signify our usual course of dealing, or the constant tenor of our practice. Uprightly, according to the original, might be rendered, in perfection, or, with integrity and by the Greek translators in several places is supposed chiefly to denote sincerity and purity of intention. In effect, the phrase, He that walketh uprightly, doth import, one who is constantly disposed, in his designs and dealings, to bear a principal regard to the с a 1 Kings iii. 12. בתים b Prov. xv. 21. good principles (namely, reverence to God, charity to men, sober regard to his own true welfare;) who doth aim at good ends, that is, at God's honour, public benefit, his own salvation, other good things subordinate to those, or well consistent with them; who doth prosecute his designs by lawful means, in fair ways, such as honest providence and industry, veracity and fidelity, dependence upon God's help, and prayer for his blessing: in short, one who never advisedly doth undertake any bad thing, nor any good thing to ill purposes; nor doth use any foul means to compass his intents. For proof. That such an one doth ever proceed with much security, from the following considerations may ap pear: I. An upright walker is secure of easily finding his way. For it commonly requireth no reach of wit or depth of judgment, no laborious diligence of inquiry, no curious intentness of observation, no solicitous care or plodding study, to discern in any case what is just; we need not much trouble our heads about it, for we can hardly be to seek for it. If we will but open our eyes, it lieth in view before us, being the plain straight, obvious road, which common prompteth, or which ordinary instruction pointeth out to us; so that usually that direction of Solomon is sufficient, Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eye-lids look straight before thee. Turn not to the right hand, nor to the left. reason The ways of iniquity and vanity (if we may call them ways, which indeed are but exorbitances and seductions from the way,) ill designs, and bad means of executing designs, are very unintelligible, very obscure, abstruse, and intricate; being infinitely various, and utterly un He that walketh in his uprightness, feareth certain: so that out of them to pick and the Lord. Prov. xiv. 2. e Prov. iv. 25, 27; xvii. 24; xiv. 6. k Hence it is affirmed, that an upright man doth hardly need any conduct beside his own honesty. For, the integrity, saith Solomon, of the upright shall guide them; and, The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way.' fix on this or that may puzzle our heads, | his God is in his heart: and none of his and perplex our hearts; as to pursue steps shall slide. any of them may involve us in great difficulty and trouble. But the ways of truth, of right, of virtue, are so very simple and uniform, so fixed and permanent, so clear and notorious, that we can hardly miss them, or (except wilfully) swerve from them. For they by divine But in case such an one should ever wisdom were chalked out, not only for be at a stand or at a loss, in doubt of his ingenious and subtle persons (men of course, he hath always at hand a most great parts, of refined wits, of long ex- sure guide to conduct or direct him. It perience,) but rather for the vulgar com- is but asking the way of him, or saying, munity of men, the great body of God's with the Psalmist, Show me thy ways, O subjects, consisting in persons of mean- Lord, teach me thy paths; Teach me to do est capacity, and smallest improvement: thy will, and Lead me in the way everbeing designed to make wise the simple, lasting; O let me not wander from thy to give the young man knowledge and commandments:" and then his ears, as discretion to direct all sorts of people the Prophet saith, shall hear a word bein their duty, toward their happiness; hind him, saying, This is the way, walk according to that in the Prophet, A high-ye in it; then the words of the Psalmist way shall be there, and it shall be called, shall be verified, What man is he that The way of holiness-the way-faring feareth the Lord? Him shall he teach men, though fools, shall not err therein.s in the way that he shall choose. The They are in very legible characters meek will he guide in judgment, and the graven by the finger of God upon our meek he will teach his way." hearts and consciences," so that by any considerate reflection inwards we may easily read them or they are extant in God's word, there written as with a sunbeam, so perspicuously expressed, so frequently inculcated, that without gross negligence or strange dulness we cannot but descry them. For who with half an eye may not see, that the practice of pious love and reverence toward God, of entire justice and charity toward our neighbour, of sober temperance and purity toward ourselves, is approved by reason, is prescribed by God to us? : Hence in the holy Scriptures, as bad ways are called dark, crooked, rough, slippery ways: so the good ways are said to be clear, plain, direct, even ways The path of the just, say they, is as a shining light. All the words of my mouth are plain to him that understandeth (or, that considereth them.) My foot standeth in an even place. The law of f Psal. xix. 7; cxix. 130; Prov. viii. 5; i. 4; Ps. cxix. 9. Isa. xxxv. 8. 'О¿òs κaðaρá.-LXX. Heb. xii. 13; Psa!. v. 8; Luke iii. 5; iii. 23; Deut. v. 32; xxviii. 14. Prov. Hence is the upright man happily secured from tiring pains in the search, from racking anxieties in the choice, from grating scruples and galling regrets in the pursuit of his way. II. The upright walker doth tread upon firm ground. He doth build his practice, not upon the perilous bogs, the treacherous quagmires, the devouring quicksands of uncouth, bold, impious paradoxes (such as have been vented by Epicurus, by Machiavel, by others more lately, whose infamous names are too well known, as the effects of their pestilent notions are too much felt ;) but upon solid, safe, approved, and well tried principles; viz. these, and the like coherent with them: That there is an eternal God, incomprehensibly powerful, wise, just, and good; who is always present with us, and ever intent upon us; viewing not only all our external actions (open and secret,) but our inmost cogitations, desires, and intentions, by the which our * Prov. iv. 18; viii. 8, 9; xiv. 6. Hávra ἐνώπια τοῖς συνιούσι, LXX. Psal. xxvi. 12; xxxvii. 31; xxvi. 1; xvii. 5; xviii. 36. Prov. xi. 3, 5. in Psal xxv. 4; xvi. 11; xvii. 5; cxliii. 10; cxxxix. 24; cxix. 10, 27, 33, 35, &c. Isa. xxx. 21; Psal. xxv. 9, 12; xxxvii. 23. (Prov. xii. 5.) : uated, if the common sense of mankind do not prove extravagant, if the main props of life and pillars of society do not fail; he that walketh uprightly doth proceed on sure grounds. III. The upright person doth walk steadily, maintaining his principal resolutions, and holding his main course, through all occasions, without flinching or wavering, or desultory or inconsistence and fickleness; his integrity being an excellent ballast, holding him tight and well poised in his deportment; so that waves of temptation dashing on him do not make him roll in uncertainty, or topple over into unworthy practices. Lust, passion, humour, interest, are things very mutable, as depending upon temper of body, casualties of time, the winds and tides of this vertiginous world : whence he that is guided or moved by them must needs be many-minded and unstable in all his ways: will reel to and fro like a drunken man, and be at his wit's end; never enjoying any settled rest of mind, or observing a smooth tenor of action. But a good conscience is very stable, and persisteth unvaried through all circumstances of time, in all vicissitudes of fortune. For it steereth by immoveable pole-stars, the inviolable rules of duty; it aimeth at marks which no force can stir out of their place; its objects of mind and affection are not actions chiefly are to be estimated that | And if God shall cease to be, if he will he, as governor of the world, and judge of not let go the reins, if his word cannot men, doth concern himself in all human af-deceive, if the wisest men are not infatfairs, disposing and managing all events according to his righteous pleasure; exacting punctual obedience to his laws, and dispensing recompenses answerable thereto; with impartial justice rewarding each man according to the purposes of his heart and the practices of his life: that all our good and happiness doth absolutely depend on God's favour; so that to please him can only be true wisdom, and to offend him the greatest folly; that virtue is incomparably the best endowment whereof we are capable, and sin the worst mischief to which we are liable: that no worldly good or evil is considerable in comparison with goods or evils spiritual that nothing can be really profitable or advantageous to us, which doth not consist with our duty to God, doth not some wise conduce to our spiritual interest and eternal welfare: yea, that every thing not serviceable to those purposes is either a frivolous trifle, or a dangerous snare, or a notable damage, or a woful bane to us that content of mind, springing from innocence of life, from the faithful discharge of our duty, from satisfaction of conscience, from a good hope in regard to God and our future state, is in our esteem and choice much to be preferred, before all the delights which any temporal possession or fruition can afford; and, that a bad mind is the sorest adversity which can befall us. Such are the grounds of upright prac-transitory; its hopes and confidences are tice, more firm than any rock, more unshakeable than the foundations of heaven and earth the which are assured by the sacred Oracles, and attested by many remarkable providences; have ever been avowed by the wiser sort, and admitted by the general consent of men, as for their truth, most agreeable to reason, and for their usefulness, approved by constant experience; the belief of them having apparently most wholesome influence upon all the concerns of life, both public and private; indeed, being absolutely needful for upholding government, and preserving human society: no obligation, no faith or confidence between men, no friendship or peace being able to subsist without it. Whence the practice built on such foundations must be very secure. fixed on the rock of ages. Whence an upright person in all cases, and all conditions (prosperous or adverse,) is the same man, and goeth the same way.* Contingencies of affairs do not unhinge his mind from its good purposes, or divert his foot from the right course. Let the weather be fair or foul, let the world smile or frown, let him get or lose by it, let him be favoured or crossed, commended or reproached (by honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report,) he will do what his duty requir eth: the external state of things must not alter the moral reason of things with *Terpaywvos. Justum et tenacem propositi virum, &c.-Hor. Od. III. 3, 1. • James i. 8. 92 Cor. vi. 8. P Psal. cvii. 27. Hence, a man is secured from diffidence in himself, and distraction in his mind, from frequently being off the hooks, from leading an unequal life, clashing with itself, from deluding and disappointing those with whom he converseth or dealeth, and consequently from the inconveniences issuing thence. IV. The way of uprightness is the surest for dispatch, and the shortest cut toward the execution or attainment of any good purpose; securing a man from irksome expectations and tedious delays, the which, as the Wise Man saith, do make the heart sick.t him. This is that which the Psalmist | not liable to the fate to which the Preachobserveth of him: He shall not be afraid er doometh him: He that diggeth a pit of evil tidings, for his heart standeth shall fall into it: and whoso breaketh a fast, and believeth in the Lord. His hedge, a serpent shall bite him? For inheart is established and will not shrink. stance, to grow rich, fraud, extortion, corAnd this the Wise Man promiseth to ruption,oppression, overreaching and suphim: Commit thy works unto the Lord, planting may seem the readiest and most and thy thoughts shall be established.* expedite ways; but in truth they are the farthest ways about, or rather no ways at all: for that which is got by those means is not our own; nor is the possession of it truly wealth, but usurpation, or detention of spoil and rapine, which we ought to disgorge. And however to the getting it there are often mighty difficulties occurring from men, there are commonly insuperable obstacles interposed by God; who hath expressly condemned and cursed those ways, declaring that, wealth gotten by vanity (or cozenage) shall be diminished; that he that oppresseth to increase his riches, shall surely come to want ; that he who (thus) hasteth to be rich, hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him; that as the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool. Whereas the plain way of honest harmless industry (joined with a pious regard to him who is the dispenser of all good things,) how slow soever it may seem, is the most speedy, because the only safe way to thrive; having, beside all secondary advantages, the security of those oracles: The hand of the diligent shall make rich: He that gathereth by labour shall increase: By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honour, and life." It in the Scripture is called the straight and the plain way." And as in geometry, of all lines or surfaces contained within the same bounds, the straight line and the plain surface are the shortest; so it is also in morality: by the right line of justice, upon the plain ground of virtue, a man soonest will arrive to any wellchosen end. In this way there are no bewildering intrigues and mazes, no crooked windings and turnings, no occasions forcing men to dance hither and thither, to skip backward and forward, to do and undo; which courses do protract business, and commonly do hinder from ever dispatch ing it. But a man acting justly and fairly doth continually proceed on in the direct open road, without retreat, excursion, or deflection; not turning aside (as the phrase is in holy writ) to the right hand or to the left. To clamber over fences of duty, to break through the hedges of right, to trespass upon hallowed enclosures, may seem the most short and compendious ways of getting thither where one would be: but doth not a man venture breaking his neck, or scratching his face, incurring mischief and trouble thereby? Psal. cxii. 7, 8; Prov. iii. 25. • Prov. xvi. 3. Prov xiii. 12. Is he u Luke iii. 5. ▾ Prov. iv. 27; Deut. v. 32; xxviii. 14. V. The way of uprightness is in itself very safe, free of danger, tending to no mischief; according to those sayings of the Wise Man: There shall no evil happen to the just: In the way of righteousness is life; and in the path thereof there is no death." He who designeth only that which is just and reasonable, who innocently and fairly prosecuteth his intent, can run no w Eccles. x. 8. Prov. xxiii. 10, 11; xiii. 11; xxii. 16; xxviii. 22, 20; xxi. 6. y Jer. xvii. 11. Prov. x. 4; xxviii. 19; xiii. 11; xxii. 4; Psal. cxii. 3. a Prov. xxviii. 18; xvi. 17; xiii. 6; x. 29; xii. 21, 28. great hazard, cannot fall into any extreme | protect him from evil. He may hopeful disaster, cannot irrecoverably sink into miserable disappointment." He probably will not receive much harm from men, or trouble from the world for, as he meaneth innocently, as he dealeth inoffensively (not violently assailing, or fraudulently circumventing, not any wise injuriously or maliciously abusing any man,) as he doth yield no just provocation or urgent temptation to oppose him; so he is not very likely to meet with obstructions or crosses thwarting his designs. He can hardly raise up adversaries, at least such as will prove very formidable, or very fierce and implacable toward him. He may be sure that few wise men, and no good men, will trouble him; but that such rather will afford their countenance and furtherance to his undertakings. But assuredly he shall have the favourable protection of Almighty God, who thoroughly knowing his heart, and observing the righteousness of his intentions and proceedings, will not suffer him to incur any notable, destructive, remediless calamity. His prayer, dictated by good conscience, Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, will certainly be heard; God having passed his word for it in numberless places of Scripture; particularly in those remarkable words of Isaiah: He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; he shall dwell on high; his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: his bread shall be given him, his water shall be sure. That is, a man who is constantly upright in his dealings, shall, by the divine providence, be infallibly and impregnably preserved from any grievous mischief, from any sore want, from any extreme distress. The way of uprightness is ever guarded with angels, ready to promote the affairs of the honest person, or at least to ly say to himself, as Abraham did to his servant, The Lord, before whom I walk, will send his angel with thee, and prosper thy way or he confidently may apply to himself that of the Psalmist, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. However, the sequel will be tolerable : whatever the success of his undertaking be, it can be no ruin, no slur, no heartbreaking to him. His conscience is safe, his credit is entire, his hopes are good; he is perfectly secure from being tainted with foul guilt, from being exposed to due reproach, from being stung with vexatious remorse, from being plunged into a gulf of desperation or disconsolateness. For, VI. The way of uprightness is fair and pleasant. He that walketh in it hath good weather, and a clear sky about him; a hopeful confidence and a cheerful satisfaction do ever wait upon him. It is joy, as the Wise Man saith, to the just to do judgment. Being conscious to himself of an honest meaning, and a due course of prosecuting it, he feeleth no check or struggling of mind, no regret or sting of heart; being thoroughly satisfied and pleased with what he is about, his judgment approving, and his will acquiescing in his procedure as worthy of himself, agreeable to reason, and conformable to his duty. He therefore briskly moveth forward with alacrity and courage; there being within him nothing to control or countermand him, to pull him back, to make him halt, to distract or disturb him. Nor hardly can any thing abroad dismay or discourage him. For he may reasonably hope for the good will of men, and cannot hugely dread their opposition. He may strongly presume upon the propitious aspect and favourable succour of heaven, which always smileth and casteth benign influences on honest undertakings.' He that hath chosen a good way, may with assurance commend his way to Gen. xxiv. 40. f Psal. xci. 11, 12. Prov. xxi. 15. b Prov. xxiii. 17, 18. i Prov. xi. 20. |