de If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.-John, xiii. 17. CONSIDER, first, the necessity of knowing these things; and secondly, the necessity of doing them. In every art, trade, or profession, we must first know what we are to do, before we can do it. It is so in religion: but, God be thanked, the knowledge of religion lies in a very narrow compass. Though it takes up time to learn an art, or profession, yet the lowest amongst us may easily obtain sufficient knowledge of religion, for all the purposes of life. The great difficulty lies in the second point we are to consider-not in knowing these things, but in doing them. In every thing, as well as in religion, practice is the end of knowledge: without it knowledge is useless. But what is singular in religious practice, it is the best way of gaining religious knowledge. If you apply every little knowledge you gain, to practice, you will soon become a greater proficient in religious knowledge, than if you had applied yourself with the greatest attention to the knowledge of it, and left the practice of it out of the question. If any man will do God's will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God.-Besides, we are not so liable to error in practice, as we are in knowledge. Right and wrong are much clearer ideas, than truth and falsehood. A well-intentioned mind may be led into enthusiasm, or superstition; but cannot so easily be led into wickedness, H IV. Stand in awe, and sin not.-Psalm, iv. 4. THE HE occasion and primary intention of many of the psalms of David, are uncertain. It is of less moment however, as we may still apply to ourselves the instructive precepts, and noble strains of piety and devotion, with which they abound. The psalm before us is of this kind. The occasion is obscure the instruction distinct, and manifold. I have chosen the fourth verse to discourse on, Stand in awe, and sin not : from which words I propose to shew you the several ways, in which standing in awe prevents sinning: and you may consider, as I go on, in which of these ways you yourselves are restrained. There are some people indeed, whose wicked lives suffer no restraint-who stand in awe of nothing. These are totally excluded from the idea of the text. There are others who stand in some awe--but it is only of the laws of the land. Though they have no fear of God before their eyes, they stand stand dreadfully in awe of prosecutions and imprisonments; and differ only from the others in possessing less hardiness of temper. Others again have still a little more to say for themselves, and but a little. They are under no temptation of committing open acts of violence, and therefore want no restraint of law. But they stand greatly in awe of the opinion of the world. Their character is their idol; and through an attention to this, they refrain from many wrong actions, which draw upon them the contempt of mankind. Thus, without any sense of religion, they assume the appearance of decent moral men. Religion indeed we expect not from them; but their motive is so bad, that even their morality is worth little. There is another set of men, who have more religion than any of the former-for they have religion enough to be afraid of damnation; though not enough to take the proper steps to avoid it. They live in a continual strife, between conscience, and indulgence. There is something like religion here. It occasions a struggle. How that struggle may end, is yet to be seen; at present, as it does not lead them to act on a right motive, it is of little value. |