“The way of the wicked is as darkness; they know not at what they stumble: but the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” {347} The Lord revealeth Himself unto the righteous, day by day; they grow in wisdom, as in years: the nearer they approach to the completion of their hopes, to the end of their earthly pilgrimage, to their heavenly and eternal kingdom, the clearer will be their knowledge, and the more delightful their anticipations; even until that day, when the veil of the flesh shall be utterly removed, when they shall “see their God face to face, and know even as also they are known.” {348} SERMON XIX. RESIST THE BEGINNINGS OF EVIL TEMPTATION. PROVERBS iv. 14, 15. _Enter not into the path of the wicked_, _and go not in the way of evil men_. _Avoid it_, _pass not by it_, _turn from it and pass away_. THIS is one of those short, comprehensive, moral directions, with which the holy Scriptures abound, for our safe conduct in life; directions, that are seldom attended to with the earnestness, which their importance demands. Studied such words should be, with devout meditation and the spirit of prayer; imprinted on the memory, fixed in the heart. We are apt to trust too much to generalities in religion; we do not sufficiently concern ourselves with its individual precepts and practical admonitions. And I wish now to enlarge upon this point, before we enter into a consideration of the text; hoping that it may induce you, by God’s help, “to take heed how ye hear” such lessons of instruction. For the attainment of a religious character, and the means of walking holily and uprightly in our course through life, doubtless the main thing is, to establish sound principles in the heart; and without such principles all the rules and helps in the world will prove of little avail; never to be depended upon in the hour of temptation and trial. Accordingly we find, in the word of God, these mainsprings of action continually insisted on, as of the highest necessity to be settled in the soul. A true, a right faith is inculcated, as the great foundation of all spiritual obedience; a vital faith in God, as our Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier; a faith in His revealed word, in all the great doctrines of life and salvation there propounded to fallen man; a faith in the necessity of obeying all the commandments therein delivered for the formation of our character and the regulation of our lives; a faith in the world to come, after the death of the body; a world depending, for happiness or misery, upon our choice and conduct here. The love of God and the fear of God are also laid down as most powerful principles of thought and action; as spreading an influence over the whole of our behaviour.