. To illustrate what
we mean by this application of our knowledge, let us suppose a person
placed in difficult circumstances, and that he is desirous of knowing
the path of duty, and the particular line of conduct which he should
pursue. If he is to trust to himself for the information required, it is
evident that he must either fall back upon his previous knowledge, and
the instructions he has already received; or he must go forward upon a
mere conjecture, or on chance, which is always dangerous. All knowledge
is given expressly for such cases, and especially Scripture knowledge;
the great design of which is, "that the man of God may be thoroughly
furnished to good works." But if the person has not been trained to make
use of his knowledge in this way and for this purpose, he will be nearly
as much at a loss as if his knowledge had never been received. Hence the
great importance of training the young early and constantly to draw upon
their knowledge for direction and guidance in every variety of situation
in which the parent or teacher can suppose them to be placed in future
life. By this means they will be prepared for encountering temptation,
which is often more than the half of the battle;--they will form the
habit of acting by rule, instead of being carried forward by fashion, by
prejudice, or by chance;--and they will soon acquire a manly confidence,
in deciding and acting, both as to the matter and the manner, of
performing all that they are called upon to do, in every juncture, and
whether the duty be important in the ordinary sense of that term or
otherwise.

For this special mode of applying knowledge, we have not only the
indications plainly given in Nature, which we have endeavoured to
illustrate, but we have also Scripture precept, and Scripture example.
Leaving the numerous instances in the Old Testament, we shall confine
ourselves to a few given by our Lord himself, and his apostles. For
example, he prepared his disciples for the temptations which the love of
worldly goods would throw in the way of their escape from the
destruction of Jerusalem, by enjoining them to "Remember Lot's wife."
Now let us observe how a teacher, in communicating the history of Lot's
wife for the first time, would have prepared these disciples for such a
difficulty in the same way. When they had read, that while fleeing for
her life, the love of her worldly goods made her sinfully look back, so
that she was turned into a pillar o