block in the way of others, and bring guilt upon their own souls ''.
I may add further, that they will pray unto God to guide them. They know their privilege: they know that God has said, that, if they call upon him for direction, " they bhal! hear a word behind them," saying, "This is the way; walk ye in it;" when without such a direction " they would have turned to the right hand or to the left''." They therefore in" every difficulty betake them- selves to prayer ; and experience the truth of that promise, *' The meek he will guide in judgment; the meek he will teach his way ''."J
2. Principally, from the care and fidelity of God —
[God has promised that " he will keep the feet of his saints %" and that "none of their steps shall slide :" and this pro- mise he does, and will, fulfil. He fulfils it to them in a variety of ways. He " takes them, as a mother does her little child, by their hand, and guides them in their way*^:" and, when they are weak, " he strengthens them with might in their inward man^^:" and, when they would otherwise fall, he upholds them with his own almighty arms; agreeably to that express promise which he has given them ; " Fear thou not ; for I am with thee : be not dismayed ; for 1 am thy God : I will strengthen thee ; yea, I will help thee ; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness''." Thus is fulfilled that promise which is con- tained within a few verses of our text, " The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord : though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down : for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand'." We may wonder whence it is that the people of God in all ages have been enabled to maintain their stedfa^tness in such trying cir- cumstances : but t!ie true reason is, to be found in that inviolable engagement which God has entered into, that " they should hold on their way, and that their hands should wax stronger and stronger'':" and this ])romise he has fulfilled to them, giving them *' strength according to their day'," and enabling them " to do all things through his strength communicated to them""."]
Hence then we may see,
1 . Whence it is that so many professors of reli- gion dishonour their high and holy calling —
[It is a melancholy fact, that manv who profess godliness
are a disgrace to their profession And by their falls they
bring the very truth of God into disrepute. But whence is it that their walk is so inconsistent ? Is it from any want of power
or ^ 1 Cor. viii. 11 — 13. " Isai. xxx. 21. "^ Ps. xxv. Q. * 1 Sam. ii. g. ^ Hos. xi. 3.
s Eph. iv. IG. Col. i. 11. •" Isai. xli. 10.
' ver. 23, 24. '' Job xvii. Q. ' Deut. xxxiii. 25.
'" Phil. iv. 13.
126 PSALMS, xxxvii. 31. [858.
or fidelity in God to keep them ? No : it arises from this ; that they have taken up a profession upon false and insufficient grounds: they have got the law in their heads, and in their mouths, but have never truly received it into their hearts. None will shew more zeal for the tenets they have embraced than they, or talk more fluently respecting them : but they have never been ** cast into the mould of the Gospel." Their sentiments have been altered ; but their hearts are unchanged ; or, if changed at all, it is only in that they have adopted the spiritual lusts of pride and conceit, and false confidence, in the place of the carnal lusts of worldliness and uncleanness ; or, it may be, they have added the former to the latter, affecting only the conceal- ment of former evils, and not the utter extirpation of them. What then is to be expected from such persons, but that they will dishonour their profession? From such roots nothing can be hoped for, but bitter fruits. But let not the blame be cast upon religion. " They have a name to live, but they are dead." If ever they had received the law of God into their hearts, it would have produced its due effect upon their lives ; and not upon the outward deportment} only, but on every temper and disposition of their minds. Religion is, and must be, the same in all ages : if it transformed the saints of other days into the image of their God in righteousness and true holiness, it will do so still : and, if the conduct of any who profess it be unworthy of their high calling, let the blame attach where it ought, not on religion, but on those who make an hypocritical profession of it. Only let the law be in the heart, and we have no fear of the fruits that will appear in the life.]