In his description of the good man, the Psalmist happily combines a sound judgment with boldness and firmness as essential qualities of his character. "He will guide his affairs with discretion; surely he shall not be moved for ever. His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. His heart is established, he shall not be afraid." A sound judgment, and a firm and courageous heart, are here joined to give completeness and permanence to the good man's character. And it is this union or combination of qualities which supplement and regulate each other, that the apostle intends when he says, "Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge."

The practical bearing of such knowledge is difficult to express by any one word as a synonym. Our experimental knowledge of Christ, and our habitual intercourse of thought and feeling with Christ, should lead to a practical discrimination on questions of duty. Such knowledge is not what men of the world call prudence, which is exercised more in the cautious avoidance of evil to oneself, than in devising and executing that which is good. Mere prudence as distinguished from knowledge and wisdom, is hardly to be classed with the moral virtues; never rising higher than a certain intellectual keenness, it often sinks into timidity,

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or runs into craft and cunning. But this knowledge is a sound practical wisdom growing out of that inward critical discernment of truth and duty which comes by knowing Christ.

There are two or three words which somewhat approach to this meaning-discernment, discretion, discrimination; these all in their radical idea mean "to separate,' "to distinguish," to "make a difference," especially between the true and the false, the right and the wrong, in theory and in practice. This discrimination as to truths and motives duly exercised by the mind itself, and faithfully applied to our outward conduct, constitutes knowledge as a practical thing. In addition to faith and firmness, cultivate the faculty of discerning what is truth, and the skill to use this in action. So live in Christ, so know Christ by an inward experience, that you will act in outward things, as Christ would have you act.

II. HOW SHALL THIS KNOWLEDGE BE ATTAINED? How shall we gain that experimental acquaintance with Christ which shall guide the life in practical duty?

i. By the prayerful study of Christ as he is set before us in the Gospel. We must learn Christ from the Scriptures; for there is his

character transcribed in every feature, not merely as it appeared to men, but just as it was, and as the Divine artist, inspiring human pens, has caused it to be traced. But its beauties do not all come out to the unassisted eye; "they are spiritually discerned." In a true work of art, especially if it be an old picture, the determining qualities of tone, manner, finish, are not superficial, but require study and a practised eye. So in this one model character for the world, this portrait of a life so far beyond all human conception or delineation, while from any point the impression is that which perfection alone can give, yet not the whole of that perfection comes in any one impression. The mere tourist sauntering through a gallery of art recognizes in one painting a work superior to the rest; but the artist lingers before that picture and scans its every point, till, without the help of catalogue or cicerone, he discovers it to be a Titian, a Tintoretto, a Murillo, and feasts his soul upon those finer touches that reveal the master's hand. You must not look only, or read by catalogue and note-book, but must study; like that artist monk who studied his head of Christ with prayers and vigils and spiritual agonies, till the canvas caught his unearthly inspiration, and the pictured Christ was the

Christ within his soul. "An inch deeper and you find the emperor," said a wounded guardsman of Napoleon to the surgeon who was probing a wound just above his heart. The Christian should have the image of Christ transfixed upon his heart. Once introduced to Christ by faith, you must follow on to know the Lord. Prayer is the life element of such a study. When we enter into the closet to contemplate Christ, the Holy Spirit takes of the things of Christ, and shows them to us.

ii. We gain this knowledge by a diligent and teachable seeking after the will of Christ. The spirit of obedience helps to the knowledge of duty. It is wonderful what light arises upon practical questions, which seemed doubtful and complicated, the moment the mind resolves that it will do the right whenever found; that it will do the right, and take the consequences. Then it discovers that many of the prudential and intellectual perplexities supposed to exist in the question itself, were really the controversy of its own selfish interests and passions. This determination to do the will of Christ is like a signal rocket piercing the gloom of night from a ship on an unknown shore. Not only does it mark a pathway through the darkness, but answering signals come from off the shore, beacons are kindled, and a line of light

guides her into harbour. Yea, in the storm of doubt the Master comes walking on the sea, saying to the obedient and trusting soul, "It is I; be not afraid." "He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. If a man love me, he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him."

iii. We gain this knowledge by studying questions of right and duty in the closet. Most of our practical mistakes arise from impulse, or from excessive confidence in our own judgment, or from a susceptibility to mere outward impressions. How seldom do we take a question of practical religion or of personal duty, and study it as we study a business venture, a political campaign, a question of science. We glance at it, and go forward upon impulse. Upon first thought or feeling, we pronounce a mechanical, stereotyped judgment, or we talk about it and do as others say, taking their impulses and perhaps their prejudices for our guide. But instead of talk upon questions of any perplexity, we need to think and to pray. The place for calm, mature judgment is the place of secret prayer. That judgment which