Two Treatises, Treatise 2 · Chapter 2
CHAP. II. The Doctrines raiſed from the Text, and the Treatiſe devided into ſeveral parts.
THat 'tis the great excellency and commendations of a godly man, to walk with God: Or, That it is the higheſt teſtimony that can be given of a man that walks with God. Walking with God is a high excellency, and whoever hath this teſtimony hath the higheſt teſtimony that can be given unto a man in this world, that he walks with God. And therefore that's obſervable, that God mentions him twice, as if he loved to mention his poor creatures walking with him: at the 22. verſe; And Enoch walked with God. And then in the 24. verſe, And Enoch walked with God. Oh! as if God ſhould ſay, This is that that is the delight of my ſoul indeed. Yea, and that's obſervable in the teſtimony of Noah, in Gen. 6. 9. perhaps in the reading of it you may not obſerve that that I ſhal obſerve unto you now, Noah (ſaith he) was a juſt man, and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. He doth not ſay thus, Noah was a juſt man and walked with God: But mark, he repeats Noah twice, Noah was a juſt man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God: as if he ſhould ſay, This is the bleſſed man that lived in a wicked generation, and though that generation was ſinful and wicked, yet he kept cloſe with God; Noah was juſt and perfect, and Noah walked with God; Oh I take delight in this Noah: Conſider my ſervant Noah, Noah was thus, and Noah walked with God. There's a great Emphaſis in doubling of his name, and there can be no reaſon given of it, for the ſenſe would be perfect without it: as if he ſhould ſay, Noah was a juſt man and perfect in his generation, and walked with God; But for the putting of a ſpecial incomium upon Noah, Oh! Noah was a juſt man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. Oh! 'tis the excellency of a man to walk with God, and for God himſelf to own a man and to ſay, that he walks with him: Men may live in a practice of the duties of Religion, Eternal duties, and go very far that way, and yet be ſtrangers unto God, never know what it is to walk with God; they may have by-waies of their own in which their hearts do walk; as the Stars that have a motion turn about by the Primum Mobile, the firſt mover, one way, but they have a ſecret motion the other way themſelves: and ſo, though many in their external profeſſion ſeem to be moved one way, but ſecretly their hearts move another way, they do not walk with God all that while, they did pray, and reade, and hear, and come to Sermons and make great profeſſion, ſo as men might think they walked with God, but it was not ſo. As it is with a ſhip, you may be bound to ſuch a Port, and the ſhip and the ſails blow that way, and yet when the ſhip goes eaſt, a man may walk up and down in the ſhip weſt-ward: ſo in profeſſion, a man ſeems to be carried eaſt-ward, yet his private walks may be another way, to his own ends, to his own deſigns; but here's the honor of a man when God himſelf ſhall own him, as if God ſhould ſay concerning Enoch, I who am a God that am the Seer and Searcher of all mens hearts, and I obſerve the waies of my ſervant Enoch, and I ſee him not only in the outward profeſſion of godlineſs, but in the ſecret of his ſoul he walks with me, he hath no bye-walks at all, but he keeps himſelf cloſe with me and walks with me continually; Enoch walked with God.
This phraſe, Walking with God, we have expreſt in Scripture in divers other phraſes that are to the ſame purpoſe: as walking before God, Gen. 24. 40 The Lord before whom I walk, ſaith Abraham; and ſo God bad Abraham, Walk before me and be upright. And ſo in the 116. Pſal. 9. I will walk before the Lord in the Land of the Living. Remember how I have walked before thee, it's ſaid of Hezekiah. And ſometimes the ſame thing is expreſſed by walking after the Lord; in the 13. of Deut. 4. Ye ſhall walk after the Lord. As a child walking after his father, though he walks ſtep after ſtep, yet he may be ſaid to walk with him. And ſometimes by walking in the Name of the Lord, Micah, 4. 5. We will walk in the Name of the Lord our God. And then fourthly, by walking in the ſpirit of God, Gal. 5. 16. and here, walking with God.
Walking Before God.
Walking After God.
Walking in the Name of God.
Walking in the Spirit of God. Or,
Walking with God. They all come to the ſame purpoſe.
But for the opening of the point there are theſe Four things that I intend in the handling of it.
Firſt, What it is to walk with God, or to diſcribe the work of God in bringing the ſoul to walk with him, and the way of the ſoul in walking with God.
Secondly, To ſhew you the excellency that there is in this walking with God: what a bleſſed thing it is for a Chriſtian to walk with God.
Thirdly, Give you ſome evidences of a mans walking with God.
Fourthly, To give unto you ſome Rules how you may come to walk with God, to have your lives ſo as you may have this teſtimony even from God himſelf, that you do walk with him. Theſe are the Four things.
For the Firſt, The diſcription of walking with God, the work of God in bringing the ſoul to walk with him, and the way of the ſoul in walking with God.