prosperous voyage? Shall we
fail, or shall we succeed? Shall we founder and drown at sea, and sink
to eternal death? Or shall we, as the clergyman prayed for us when we
were baptized, so pass through the waves of this troublesome world, that
finally we may come to the land of everlasting life? Which shall it be,
my friends? Shall we sink, or shall we swim? Certain is one thing--that
we shall sink, and not swim, if we do not learn and keep the law, and
commandments, and testimonies, and judgments of God, concerning this our
mortal life. If we do not, then we shall go through life, without
knowing how to go through life, ignorantly and blindly; and the end of
that will be failure, and ruin, and death to our souls. If we do not
know and keep the Laws of God, the Laws of God will keep themselves, in
spite of us, and grind us to powder. Do not fancy that you may do wrong
without being punished; and break God's Law, because you are not under
the law, but under grace. You are only under grace, as long as you keep
clear of God's Law. The moment you do wrong you put yourself under the
Law, and the Law will punish you. Suppose that you went into a mill; and
that the owner of that mill was your best friend, even your father. Would
that prevent your being crushed by the machinery, if you got entangled in
it through ignorance or heedlessness? I think not. Even so, though God
be your best of friends, ay, your Father in heaven, that will not prevent
your being injured, it may be ruined, not only by wilful sins, but by
mere folly and ignorance. Therefore your only chance for safety in this
life and for ever, is to learn God's laws and statutes about your life,
that you may pass through it justly, honourably, virtuously,
successfully. And the man who wrote the 119th Psalm knew that, and said,
"Oh that my ways were made so direct, that I might keep thy statutes."

But moreover, you must learn God's commandments. He has laid down
certain commands, certain positive rules which must be kept if you do not
intend to die the eternal death. So says our Lord. "If thou wilt enter
into life, keep the commandments." "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart and soul, and thy neighbour as thyself." There the
ten commandments are, and kept they must be; and if you break one of
them, it will punish you, and you cannot escape. And the man who wrote
the 119th Psalm knew that, and said, "With my whole heart have I sought