SERMON V.

UPRIGHT WALKING SURE WALKING.

PROV. X. 9.

He that walketh uprightly, walketh furely.

V.

THE world is much addicted to the politics; the heads SERM of men are very bufy in contrivance, and their mouths áre full of talk about the ways of confulting our fafety, and fecuring our interefts. May we not therefore prefume, that an infallible maxim of policy, propofing the most expedite and certain method of fecurity in all our tranfactions, will be entertained with acceptance? Such 1 Kings iii. an one the greatest politician and wifeft man for business (if we may take God's own 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: Prov. xv. and here he recommendeth it as a method of fecurity, He that walketh uprightly, walketh furely.

Treating upon which aphorifm, I fhall, by God's help, endeavour, first, in way of explication, briefly to describe the practice itself; then, in way of proof, by fome confiderations to declare, that fecurity doth attend it.

For explication. To walk (as well in the ftyle of holy Scripture, as in other writings, and even in common fpeech) doth fignify our ufual courfe of dealing, or the conftant tenor of our practice.

12.

21.

SERM.

V.

בתום

He that

walketh in

the Lord.

Uprightly, according to the original, might be rene dered, in perfection, or with integrity: and by the Greek translators in several places is fuppofed chiefly to denote fincerity and purity of intention.

In effect, the phrafe, He that walketh uprightly, doth his upright- import, one who is conftantly difpofed in his defigns and nefs, feareth dealings to bear a principal regard to the rules of his duty, Prov. xiv. 2. and the dictates of his confcience; who in every cafe emergent is ready to perform that, which upon good deliberation doth appear most just and fit, in conformity to God's law and found reafon, without being fwayed by any appetite, any paffion, any finifter refpect to his own. private interest of profit, credit, or pleasure, to the commiffion of any unlawful, irregular, unworthy, or base act; who generally doth act out of good principles; (namely, severence to God, charity to men, fober regard to his own true welfare ;) who doth aim at good ends, that is, at God's honour, public benefit, his own falvation, other good things fubordinate to thofe, or well confistent with them; who doth profecute his defigns by lawful means, in fair ways, fuch as honeft providence and induftry, veracity and fidelity, dependence upon, God's help, and prayer for his bleffing: in fhort, 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 fuch an one doth ever proceed with much fecurity, from the following confiderations may ap

pear.

I. An upright walker is fecure of eafily finding his way. For it commonly requireth no reach of wit or depth of judgment, no laborious diligence of inquiry, no curious intentnefs of obfervation, no folicitous care, or plodding study, to discern in any cafe what is just; we need not much trouble our heads about it, for we can hardly be to feek for it. If we will but open our eyes, it lieth in view before us, being the plain, ftraight, obvious road, which common reason prompteth, or which ordinary inftruction pointeth out to us: fo that ufually that di

V.

rection of Solomon is fufficient, Let thine eyes look right SERM. on, and let thine eye-lids look straight before thee.-Turn not to the right hand, nor to the left.

Prov. iv. 25.

xiv. 6.

The ways of iniquity and vanity, (if we may call them 27. xvii. 24. ways, which indeed are but exorbitances and feductions from the way,) ill defigns and bad means of executing defigns, are very unintelligible, very obfcure, abstruse, and intricate; being infinitely various, and utterly uncertain fo that out of them to pick and fix on this or that may puzzle our heads, and perplex our hearts; as to pursue any of them may involve us in great difficulty and trouble. But the ways of truth, of right, of virtue, are fo very fimple and uniform, so fixed and permanent, so clear and notorious, that we can hardly miss them, or (except wilfully) fwerve from them. For they by divine wisdom were chalked out, not only for ingenious and fubtile perfons, (men of great parts, of refined wits, of long experience,) but rather for the vulgar community of men, the great body of God's subjects, confifting in persons of meaneft capacity, and smallest improvement: being defigned to make wife the fimple, to give the young man Pfal. xix. 7. knowledge and difcretion: to direct all forts of people in xix. 130. their duty, toward their happiness; according to that the Prophet, A high way shall be there, and it shall be called, The way of holiness-the way-faring men, though fools, fhall not err therein.

Prov, viii. 5.

in i. 4.

Pf. cxix. 9.

Ifa. xxxv.

8.

Οδός καθα

Ifa. xxx.

31.

gá. LXX. They are in very legible characters graven by the finger Rom. ii. 15. of God upon our hearts and confciences, fo that by any 21. confiderate reflection inwards we may eafily read them : Pf. xxxvii. or they are extant in God's word, there written as with a fun-beam, so perfpicuously, expreffed, fo frequently inculcated, that without gross negligence or strange dulness we cannot but defcry them. For who with half an eye may not fee, 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 Prov. iv. 19, dark, crooked, rough, flippery ways; fo the good ways jo. viii. 12.

ii. 13. 15.

V.

Pfal. lxxxii.

b

SERM. are faid to be a clear, plain, direct, even ways: The path of the juft, fay they, is as a shining light. All the words of my mouth are plain to him that understandeth, (or, that 5. cxxv. 5. confidereth them.) My foot ftandeth in an even place. The law of his God is in his heart: and none of his steps fhall fide.

XXXV. 6.

lxxiii. 18.

Jer. xxiii.

12.

a Heb. xii.

13.

Hence it is affirmed, that an upright man doth hardly need any conduct befide his own honefty. For, c The inLuke iii. 5. tegrity, faith Solomon, of the upright shall guide them ; Prov. iii. 23. and, The righteoufnefs of the perfect shall direct his way.

Pfal. v. 8.

Deut. v. 32.

xxviii. 14.

But in cafe fuch an one should ever be at a ftand or at a

b Prov. iv. lofs, in doubt of his courfe, he hath always at hand a moft

18. viii. 8,

Πάντα ενώ

Pfal. xxvi.

xvii. 5.

d

9. xiv. 6. fure guide to conduct or direct him. It is but asking the TIX TOIS GUY- Way of him, or saying, with the Pfalmift, Shew me thy 180, LXX. ways, O Lord, teach me thy paths; Teach me to do thy 12. xxxvii. will, and, Lead me in the way everlasting; O let me not 31. xxvi. 1. wander from thy commandments: and then his ears, as the Prophet faith, shall hear a word behind him, faying, This Prov. xi. is the way, walk ye in it; then the words of the Pfalmift d Pf. xxv. 4. shall be verified, What man is he that feareth the Lord ? Him fhall he teach in the way that he shall choofe. The cxliii. 10. meek will he guide in judgment, and the meek he will teach

xviii. 36.

3, 5.

xvi. 11.

xvii. 5.

cxxxix. 24.

cxix. 10.

27.33. 35.

&c.

his way.

Hence is the upright man happily fecured from tiring * If. xxx. pains in the fearch, from racking anxieties in the choice, from grating scruples and galling regrets in the pursuit of his way.

21.

Pf. xxv. 9.

12.

xxxvii. 23.

5.)

II. The upright walker doth tread upon firm ground. (Prov. xii. He doth build his practice, not upon the perilous bogs, the treacherous quagmires, the devouring quickfands 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 peftilent notions are too much felt ;) but upón folid, safe, approved, and well-tried principles; viz. these, and the like coherent with them: That there is an eternal God, incomprehenfibly powerful, wife, juft, and good; who is always present with us, and ever intent upon us; viewing not only all our external actions, (open and fé

cret,) but our inmost cogitations, defires, and intentions, SERM. by the which our actions chiefly are to be estimated: that V. he, as governor of the world, and judge of men, doth concern himself in all human affairs, difpofing 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; fo 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 fin the worst mischief to which we are liable: that no worldly good or evil is confiderable in comparison with goods or evils fpiritual that nothing can be really profitable or advantageous to us, which doth not confist with our duty to God, doth not fomewife conduce to our fpiritual interest and eternal welfare: yea, that every thing not serviceable to those purposes is either a frivolous trifle, or a dangerous fnare, or a notable damage, or a woful bane to us that content of mind, fpringing from innocence of life, from the faithful discharge of our duty, from fatisfaction 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 poffeffion or fruition can afford; and, that a bad mind is the foreft adverfity which can befall us. Such are the grounds of upright practice, more firm than any rock, more unshakeable than the foundations of heaven and earth; the which are affured by the facred Oracles, and attested by many remarkable providences; have ever been avowed by the wifer fort, and admitted by the general confent 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 abfolutely needful for upholding government, and preferving human fociety; no obligation, no faith or con