Ps. lxxxiv. 11. The Lord God is a sun and a shield: the Lord will give grace and glory : no good thing will be with- hold from them that ivalk uprightly.
THE choice which every true Christian makes, affords matter of astonishment to the ungodly world. He prefers a life of godliness with all the odium attached to it, before all the pleasures and honours which he could possibly enjoy in the ways of sin. They, who look no further than to the concerns of time and sense, are amazed that so many sacrifices should be made without any visible recompence. Doubtless the choice of Moses must have been
deemed marvellously absurd in the palace of Pha- raoh"1; as that also, which David deliberately made, mast have been among his ungodly courtiers. But the reason assigned for it was sufficient to justify him in the eyes of every rational being b. His words lead us to shew,
I. The character of true Christians as here described —
" They walk uprightly " both towards God and man. Integrity in our dealings with man is an essen- tial part of true uprightness, yet it is far from being the whole of what is comprehended in that term. Many act honestly from a mere sense of ho- nour, while they pay no regard at all to their duties towards God. But sincere Christians act in a very different manner, they have respect to God in every thing, that they may approve themselves to Mm.
They search out their duty diligently —
[A child of God will not conclude hastily that he knows his duty. He is aware of the deceitfulness of sin, and the wickedness of his own heart. He knows that, if he blindly follow the dictates of an unenlightened conscience, he may commit murder itself under the idea of doing God service0. He therefore desires to have his judgment informed. For this
end he reads the Holy Scriptures and begs the Spirit
of God to guide him into all truth He is glad of in- struction and reproof from his fellow-creatures, that he may be preserved from error. And the one desire of his heart is, to
be freed from every undue bias and to fulfil in all things
the will of God.]
They perform it uniformly —
[Every true Christian labours to do unto others as he would have others do to him. But he does not rest satisfied with this. He strives to maintain the mastery over all his motives and
principles of action He endeavours to have his tempers
regulated according to the word of God, and the example of
his Lord and Saviour He moreover watches unto secret
prayer. He lives a life of communion with God and
of dependence on God He would not make any ex- ceptions or reserves He longs to be free both from
partiality and hypocrisy ; and desires rather to descend from a throne to the place of a door-keeper in God's house for the
a Heb.xi.24— 26. b ver.10, 11. " I had rather," &c." For ," &c. c John xvi. 2. Acts xxvi. 9.