us pray for persevering grace. It was Da- vid's prayer, Ps. cxix. 117., "Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe;" and it was Bcza's prayer, " Lord, perfect what thou hast begun in me." That we may hold on a Christian course, let us labour for throe persevering graces. Faith keeps from faint- ing; faith gives a substance to things not seen, and makes them to be as it were pre- sent, Heb. xi. As a perspective glass makes those things which are at a distance neai to the eye, so dotli faith : heaven, and glo- ry seem near. A Christian will not be weary of service, that hath the crown in his eye. The second persevering grace is hope. Hope animates the spirits : it is to the soul as cork to the net, which keeps it from sinking. Hope breeds patience, and patience breeds perseverance. Hope is compared to an anchor, Heb. vi. 19. The Christian never sins, but when he casts a- way his anchor. The third persevering grace is love. Love makes a man that he is never weary. Love may be compared to the rod of myrtle in the traveller's hand, which refresheth him, and keeps him from being weary in his journey. He who loves the world, is never weary of following the world ; he who loves God will never be weary of serving him ; that is the reason Avhy the saints and angels in heaven are never weary of praising and worshipping God ; because their love to God is perfect, and love turns service into delight. Get the love of God in your hearts, and you will run in his ways, and not be weary.
SERMON V.
James iv. 17. " To him that hnoweth to do good, and doth it not, to him it is sin.'*
X HE apostle, in the former verses, had met with a sin common in those days, a sinful boasting among men, ver. 13, 14., *' Go to now, ye that say, to-day or to-mor- row, we will go into such a city, and buy and sell, and get gain ; whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow," — you may be in your graves before to-morrow, — " for what is your life ? It is even a vap- our." A vapour being an exhalation, it
cannot continue long : as it is raised by the sun so it is dispersed by the wind ; such is your life, — a vapour, — a short breath, — a flying shadow, — it appears for " a little time, and then vanisheth." Well might they say, what need we be taught such a plain lesson ? Who knows not all this, that life is a vapour, and that we ought not to boast what we will do to-morrow ? The a- pbstle seems in the text to meet with them
ON KNOWING GOD AND DOING GOOD.
G4t
by w.iy of answer, do ye know all this ? Then the {jrcator is your sin that you do it not, " to him that knowoth to do p)od, and doth it not, to him it is sin." I shall only explain this phrase, " to him it is sin ;'' that is, it is an heinous sin, — it is sin with a witness; every infirmity, every thiiif; that falls short of the rule is sin, much more, that whieh contradicts the rule. This man's sin hath an emj)hasis, it is a crimson sin, and it sliall have a p^reater pu- nishment; he that '" knew his Lord's will, and (11(1 it not, shall he heaten with many strij)es," Luke xii. 47. If he that sins \g- norantly be damned, then he that sins knowingly shall be double damned.
L Doctrine implied, that we ought to know to do good ; know our duty.
2. That we ought not only to know to do good, but to" do it.
3. Tliat he that knoweth to do good, and doth it not, is of all others the most guilty.
L Doctrine implied, that we ought to know to do good ; we ought to be well-in- formed of those things which are to be done by us, in order to salvation. The word written is a rule of knowledge, and the word preached is a commentary upon the word written ; and both of them are to en- rich our understanding, and to nurse us up in the knowledge of that which is good.
The reasons why we should know to do good, are,
1. Knowledge is our lamp and star to guide us in the truth. It shews us what we are to do, and what we are to leave un- done. If we do not know that which is good, we can never practise it.
2. Knowledge is the foundation of all grace : of faith, — " They that know thy name, will put their trust in thee," Ps.ix. 10.; and of love, — Phil. i. 9., " This I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more, in knowledge ;" and of perseverance, — the apostle joins these two, such as are unlearned, will be unstable.
3. The chief work in conversion consists in knowledge, Rom. xii. 2., " Be ye trans- formed by the renewing of your mind." The mind being renewed, the man is trans- "ormed. The first part of God's image consists in knowledge, Col. iii. 10.
4. There is nothing in religion, though never so excellent, can do us good \\'ithout knowledge.