SERMON XIII.

Upright walking fure walking.

PROV. X. 9.

He that walketh uprightly, walketh furely.

THE

HE world is much addicted to the politics; thes ER M. heads of men are very bufy in contrivance, and xIII. their mouths are 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 moft expedite and certain method of fecurity in all our tranfactions, will be entertained with acceptance? Such an one the great-1 Kings iii. eft politician and wifeft man for bufinefs (if we' may take God's own word for it) that ever was or will be, doth here fuggeft to us. For the practice couched in our text he otherwhere voucheth for a point of policy, telling us, that, A man of understanding Prov.xv.21. walketh uprightly 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, firft, in way of explication, briefly to defcribe the practice itfelf; then, in way of proof, by fome confiderations to declare, that fecurity doth attend it.

SERM.

For explication. To walk (as well in the style of XIII. 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.

בתום

He that

his upright

Prov.xiv. 2.

Uprightly, according to the original, might be rendered, in perfection, or with integrity and by the Greek tranflators in feveral places is fuppofed chiefly to denote fincerity and purity of intention.

In effect, the phrafe, He that walketh uprightly, doth import, one who is conftantly difpofed in his walketh in defigns and dealings to bear a principal regard to nefs, feareth the rules of his duty, and the dictates of his conthe Lord. fcience; 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 found reason, without being fwayed by any appetite, any paffion, any finifter refpect to his own private intereft of profit, credit, or pleasure, to the commiffion of any unlawful, irregular, unworthy, or bafe act; who generally doth act out of good principles; (namely, reverence 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 confiftent with them; who doth profecute his defigns by lawful means, in fair ways, fuch as honeft providence and industry, veracity and fidelity, dependence upon God's help, and prayer for his bleffing: in fhort, one who never advifedly doth undertake any bad thing, nor any good thing to ill purposes; nor doth ufe any foul means to compafs his intents.

For proof. That fuch an one doth ever proceed with much fecurity, from the following confiderations may appear.

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 enquiry, no curious intentnefs of obfervation, no fo

licitous

licitous care, or plodding ftudy, to difcern in any s ER M. cafe what is juft; we need not much trouble our heads XIII. 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 reafon prompteth, or which ordinary inftruction pointeth out to us: fo that ufually that direction of Solomon is fufficient, Let thine eyes look right on, and Prov. iv. 25. let thine eye-lids look ftraight before thee Turn not to 27. xvii. 24. the right hand, nor to the left.

xiv. 6.

The ways of iniquity and vanity, (if we may call them ways, which indeed are but exorbitances and feductions from the way,) ill designs and bad means of executing designs, 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 purfue 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, fo fixed and permanent, fo clear and notorious, that we can hardly miss them, or (except wilfully) fwerve from them. For they by divine wifdom were chalked out, not only for ingenious and fubtle 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 fubjects, confifting in perfons of meaneft capacity, and fmalleft improvement: being defigned to make wife Pfal. xix. 7. the fimple, to give the young man knowledge and difcre- xxii. 5. tion; to direct all forts of people in their duty, to- 1.4. ward their happinefs; according to that in the Pro- Pfal.cxix.9. phet, A high way shall be there, and it shall be called, Ifa.xxxv.8. The way of holiness—the way-faring men, though fools, a. LXX. fhall not err therein.

Prov.

130.

Οδός καθα

They are in very legible characters graven by the Rom.ii. 15. finger of God upon our hearts and confciences, fo la xxx. 21. that by any confiderate reflection inwards we may 31.

eafily

Pfal.xxxvii.

SER M. eafily read them: or they are extant in God's XIII. word, there written as with a fun-beam, so perfpicuoufly expreffed, fo frequently inculcated, that without grofs negligence or ftrange dulnefs 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 juftice and charity toward our neighbour, of fober temperance and purity toward ourfelves, is approved by reafon, is prescribed by God to us?

Prov. iv.19.

Jo. viii. 12.

Xxxv. 6.

Hence in the holy Scriptures, as bad ways are 13.15 called dark, crooked, rough, flippery ways; fo the Pial. lxxxii.good ways are faid to be clear, plain, direct, even 5. cxxv. 5 ways. The path of the juft, fay they, is as a shining xxii. 18. light. All the words of my mouth are plain to him that underftandeth, (or, that confidereth them.) My foot * Ileb. xii. ftandeth in an even place. The law of his God is in his Pal. v. 8. heart and none of his fieps fhall flide.

Jer. xxiii.

12.

$3.

Prov.iii. 23.

Deut. v. 32.

Luke iii. 5. Hence it is affirmed, that an upright man doth hardly need any conduct befide his own honesty. xxvii. 14. For, The integrity, faith Solomon, of the upright fhall 18. viii. 8, guide them; and, The righteoufnefs of the perfect shall di9. xiv. 6. rect his way.

+ Prov. iv.

Πάντα ἐνώ

πια τοῖς συν

, LXX.

Pial. xxvi.

xvii. 5.

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I.

But in cafe fuch an one fhould ever be at a stand or at a lofs, in doubt of his courfe, he hath always at 12. xxxvii. hand a moft fure guide to conduct or direct him. 31. It is but afking the way of him, or faying, with the xvii. 36. Pfalmift, Shew me thy ways, O Lord, teach me thy Prov. xi. 3, paths; Teach me to do thy will, and, lead me in the H. xxv. 4. way everlofting; O let me not wander from thy commandments: and then his ears, as the Prophet faith, cxliii. 10. fall hear a word behind him, faying, This is the way, cxxxix. 24 walk ye in it; then the words of the Pfalmift fhall 27.33-35. be verified, What man is he that feareth the Lord? Ifa.xxx.21. Him fhall be teach in the way that he shall choose. The Pfal. xxv.9.meek will be guide in judgment, and the meek be will xxxvii. 23.teach his way.

xvi. 11.

xvii. 5.

&c.

12.

10.

Hence is the upright man happily fecured from

tiring pains in the fearch, from racking anxieties ins ER M. the choice, from grating fcruples and galling regrets XIII. in the pursuit of his way.

II. The upright walker doth tread upon firm (Prov. xii. ground. He doth build his practice, not upon the 5.) perilous bogs, the treacherous quagmires, the devouring quickfands of uncouth, bold, impious paradoxes, (fuch as have been vented by Epicurus, by Machiavel, by others more lately, whofe infamous names are too well known, as the effects of their peftilent notions are too much felt ;) but upon folid, fafe, approved, and well-tried principles; viz. thefe, and the like coherent with them: That there is an eternal God, incomprehenfibly powerful, wife, juft, and good; who is always prefent with us, and ever intent upon us; viewing not only all our external actions, (open and fecret) but our inmoft cogitations, defires, and intentions, by the which our actions chiefly are to be eftimated that 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 pleafure; exacting punctual obedience to his laws, and difpenfing recompences anfwerable thereto; with impartial juftice rewarding each man according to the purposes of his heart and the practices of his life: that all our good and happiness doth abfolutely 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 confift with our duty to God, doth not fomewife conduce to our fpiritual intereft and eternal welfare: yea, that every thing not ferviceable to those purpofes is either a frivolous trifle, or a dangerous fnare, or a notable damage, or a woful bane to us :

that