Early Piety Exemplified, Sermon 1
THE WALK OF HOLY and HAPPY MEN.
GEN. V. 24.
foreign And Enoch walked with God.
BEhold, in theſe words the Picture of a great and a good Man, which indeed, like a well-made Picture looks upon, yea, more than ſo, ſpeaks unto us all; nor is it a common Picture for this alſo, that the Walk as well as the Face of the Perſon is repreſented in it. This Chapter contains a Catalogue of thoſe Antediluvian Patriarchs, in whom the Church of God, and the Line of Chriſt was continued from Adam to Noah. The ancient Heathens expreſſed their broken Traditions of our Noah in rude Notions of one Janus, a Man, a god, and I know not what, with two Faces on him, becauſe Noah had the Proſpect of two World… before him: We may all ſhare with Noah in this Priviledge; the Affairs of the Old World as well as of the New do arrive to our Notice; in this Chapter particularly we have a Muſter of renowned Men that lived before the Flood. Indeed about the moſt of them, there is little recorded beſides their Age and their End. Eccleſiaſtical Hiſtory relates, that a Perſon of Quality accidentally coming into a Meeting-houſe, where the Miniſter was reading the fifth Chapter of Geneſis, thoſe words recurring ſo often in it, And he Dyed! And he Dyed! they ſtruck to, they ſtuck in the Heart of him, and cauſed him that was a mortal to become a very ſerious Man: God grant that another clauſe in the Chapter may have this day as good an effect upon us all.
One of the Worthies in this Roll (Enoch by Name) can have no Report made of his Death; but inſtead thereof, we find a twofold Remark made upon him. Firſt, We have the Character of Enoch: 'Tis once and again ſaid of him, He walked with God; a peculiar ſanctity-he ſeems therein to be ſet forth as an Inſtance of. Secondly, We have the Bleſſedneſs of Enoch; 'tis ſaid, He was not, for God took him: A Tranſlation is intended by that Phraſe, as it is by the Apoſtle elſewhere explained. It ſeems that this notable Preacher of Truth; and Witneſs for God, at laſt withdrew from the ſight of Men: They asked, they wondred, what was become of him, and probably they ſought in all corners for him, 'till they underſtood that the Angels of God had carried him away. Not only the ſpirit, but the body too of this excellent man, has now been among the Angels in Heaven for ſome hundreds, above four thouſand Years.
But it is now time to Obſerve,
Doct. To walk with God is the ſingular Commendation of Holy and Happy Men.
Prop. I.
To Walk with God is the Commendation and Attainment of ſome that live … Earth: Here and there a Perſon is to be met withal, whoſe Priviledge it is to walk with God. It is to be enquired, What is it to walk with God? What is that rare, myſterious, laborious thing? in ſhort, we then Walk with God, when we maintain Communion with God in all the motions of our Lives. Every Man has a Walk in the World. The Life of Man is the Walk of Man. It may be ſaid unto each Man, as in Eccleſ. 9. 10. Man, Thou art going. A Walk is a progreſſive continued thing, made up of many ſteps: Thus a Life; 'tis made up of many thoughts, many words, many deeds. A Man is with God, when he ſees God, and owns God: Then therefore do's a Man Walk with God, when he lives in multiply'd Acts of Reſpect and Homage unto the Lord. It is the Command in 1 Pet. 1. 15. Be ye holy in all manner of Converſation; it may be rendered, Be Holy in every turn: While we Walk, we Turn every day, now to one Object, now to another: Well, when we are with God in every Turn, then we Walk with God. A Walk with God is in ſhort, that godly, that ſober, that righteous Life which the Word of God adviſeth us unto. It was the ſpeech of the Pſalmiſt, in Pſal. 26. 11. I will walk in mine Integrity; and in Pſal. 86. 11. I will walk in thy Truth; and in Pſal. 116. 9. I will walk before the Lord: All this is to Walk with God. We read in 2 Cor. 5. 7. of a Walk by Faith▪ and in Rom. 8. 1. of a Walk after the Spirit; and in Gal. 6. 16. of a Walk according to Rule; this is a Walk with God. Two things are comprized in it.
Firſt, In a Walk with God there is an uninterrupted performing of Worſhip to God. We ſhould be often with God in the Exerciſes of his Natural and Inſtituted Worſhip. There are certain Mountains of Devotion, of which we ſhould ſay as Peter in the Mount, It is good to be here! and we ſhould be ever now and then Converſing with the Almighty there; this 'tis to Walk with Him! There is the Duty of Praying to God, our Lives are to be filled with it: We ſhould (may I ſo ſay) Walk upon our Knees. To Talk much with God is to Walk much with him. The Walker with God may ſay with Paul in 2 Tim. 1. 3. I ſerve God, and without ceaſing I have my prayers Night and Day. There is again the Duty of Hearing from God, our Lives are to be fill'd with it. To Sit before God is to Walk with him. We ſhould often Go up to the Houſe of the Lord; that is, to take a Walk in his bleſſed Company. The Walker with God will upon every occaſion ſay, as the Pſalmiſt in Pſal. 85. 58. I will hear what God the Lord will ſpeak. There is likewiſe the Duty of Thinking on God, that is a Walking with him. We ſhould not for any long while together have God out of our Mind, then he will not be out of our Walk. The Walker with God may ſay as David in Pſal. 139. 17, 18. How precious are thy thoughts unto me, O God! when I awake, I am ſtill with thee. In a word, all the appointments of God, wherein he vouchſafes to us a Fellowſhip with Himſelf, our Walk it ſhould be, that is, our Courſe and our Trade to be therein waiting upon the Lord.
Secondly, In a Walk with God there is a continual Acting of Grace on God. A Walk with God lies in a ſenſe of God alwayes upon the Soul. We ſhould be able to ſay as he in Pſal. 16. 8. I have ſet the Lord always before me; ſo ſhall we Walk with the Lord. We are to Walk always under the Awe; and under the Eye of the great God. As now, the Walker with God will always be ſenſible of God as his laſt End. It was becauſe Aſaph did Walk with God, that he ſaid in Pſal. 73. 25. Whom have I but God? The Walker will always be ſenſible of God as his beſt good: It was becauſe Jeremiah did Walk with God, that he ſaid in Lam. 3. 24. The Lord is my portion, ſaith my Soul, I will hope in him. The Walker with God will always be ſenſible of God, as his only Helper. When a Man walks with God, he is perpetually ſaying as the Pſalmiſt in Pſal. 121. 2. My help cometh from the Lord, which made Heaven and Earth: His Ejaculations therefore particularly are innumerable: And the Walker with God cannot but be ſenſible of God as his omniſcient and omnipreſent Judge. It will be an apprehenſion always running in the Soul of ſuch a Man, which we have in Pſal. 139. 7. Whither ſhall I flee from the preſence of the Lord? In a Walk with God a Man has evermore his Heart within him, admiring and adoring the God of Heaven on ſuch accounts as theſe: Theſe Notions of God, theſe Viſions of God accompany ſuch a Man every where, and influence all his Walk: Thus does he Acknowledge God in all his ways. 'Tis ſaid in Prov. 23. 17. Be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long; even ſo maintain thou a ſenſe of the Lord all the day long: This 'tis to Walk with Him.
Prop. II.
They are both Holy and Happy Men that thus Walk with God: This is the Prerogative of them that have God with them in all their Walk.
1. The Walker with God is a very Holy Man: What is true Holineſs? Many miſtakes have there been about that glorious thing: A Man may be Orthodox in his Perſwaſions, and yet not be Holy: A Man may be very Auſtere and Severe in his Practices, and yet not be Holy: You may ſay of a Man, That he has a Righteouſneſs equal to that of the Scribes and Phariſees, and yet the Man may be a ſtranger to true Holineſs after all. O but when once it can be ſaid of a Man, He walks with God! then, then Holineſs is to be ſeen upon him.
To Walk with God, is to Walk like God. Now the more like to God any Man is or does, the more Holineſs there is in ſuch a Man. 'Tis the Attribute of God in Exod. 15. 11. O Lord, Thou art glorious in Holineſs: and in Heb. 1. 13. Thou canſt not look upon Iniquity. The Nature of Holineſs lies in a Dedication unto God: A thing Dedicated unto God, by the Diſpoſal of another, has a Relative Holineſs belonging thereunto. A Man Dedicated unto God by his own hearty Reſignation and Conſecration of himſelf unto the Lord, ſuch an one hath in him a real Holineſs. Well, the Walker with God is an Enoch: Enoch is in Engliſh as much as to ſay, A Dedicated Man: The Man that is with God, is alſo for God, and him alone: This is Holineſs in the Exaltation of it. The Holy Dr. Ʋſher being deſired to write about Sanctification, with Tears lamenting the defect of it in himſelf, gave this Deſcription of it,—It is for a Man to be in the offering up of his Soul continually, in the flames of Love, as a whole burnt-offering to God in Jeſus Chriſt: Now in a Walk with God, a Man is every day doing ſo. In fine, When Moſes had been with God in the Mount, we read in Exod. 34. 35. It made his Face to ſhine. A Man whoſe whole Walk is with God, muſt needs derive much Grace from God, a ſhine, a glory, a luſtre of Holineſs will be ſeen upon ſuch a Man.
2. The Walker with God is alſo a very Happy Man: The Pſalmiſt hath well determined where Happineſs is to be found, in Pſal. 73. 28. It is good for me to draw near to God: By the ſame Reaſon we may every one ſay, It is good for me to walk with God.
Happineſs properly lies in the Conjunction of a Thing with ſuch a good as the Appetites and Faculties of that thing are ſuited unto. Well, Walking with God cannot be without an having of God: God and Man do mutually poſſeſs each other in this bleſſed thing. Now the Soul is in conjunction with ſuch a good as anſwers all the boundleſs Cravings of it. The Soul of Man hath placed in it by the Hand of God, a reſtleſs raging deſire after an Infinite and an Eternal good: Until it find this, it pines, it frets, it is all on a light fire, like the Hart panting after the water-brooks: When it has got this, it is then at eaſe, and with a wonderful delight it cries out, This is all my Salvation, and all my Deſire. Behold then the Happineſs of a Walk with God; it hath no leſs than that vaſt thing Satisfaction in it. All Men are ſeeking after ſatisfaction every day; O but who finds this Pearl of great price? Where is it? The voluptuous Epicure, he thinks with Belſhazzar, It is to be found in Cups and ſenſual Reliſhes: The Covetous Muckworm he thinks with Achan golden Wedges will rive into the bowels of it: The Ambitious Hector he thinks with Haman, An high Chair of ſtate will help a man to reach unto it: And the contemplative Scholar he imagines That it is folded up in the leaves of his Books, which he knows no end of looking into: Theſe are all deceived. In the mean time the Walker with God ſays, I have found it. Enoch has it. For,
Firſt, A Walk with God brings a Man to the enjoyment of an Infinite good. The Man has God with him now, and one God is enough to ſupply all our Wants, to relieve all our Woes: It is ſaid in Phil. 4. 19. God ſhall ſupply all your Need. When an Immortal Soul has try'd all the Objects in the World, it yet gapeth and gaſpeth after more, it ſtill cries, Give, Give, after all: But there is enough in one God, enough to feed and fill that Soul, whoſe Deſire is enlarged like Heaven it ſelf. There is Infinite Truth in God, there is Infinite Good in God; he is the God of all Conſolation. The Jews have a Fable of their Manna, that whatever a Man had a mind to taſt, the Manna ſtill had the taſt of that thing: This is to be affirmed of our God; there is in God all that we can ask or think, yea, and infinitely more. He that walks with God, walks with him that ſaith as in Gen. 17. 1. I am the Alſufficient God, walk before me.
Secondly, A Walk with God brings a Man to the Enjoyment of an Eternal good. The Man has now the Portion of the Righteous; And what an one is that? We are told in Pſal. 37. 18. Their Inheritance ſhall be for ever. A virtuous young Man among the Primitive Chriſtians, when there was Muſick and Feaſting in his Fathers Houſe, retired from it, with ſuch Thoughts as theſe, Here are delicate things, but they are ſhortlived things, they will be at an end anon; I will therefore go to my God, who is the good part can never be taken away. Truly whatever Creatures we ſhould content our ſelves in the Preſence of, all thoſe Creatures are like the Moon in the Increaſe; they ſhine for a few Hours perhaps, but they go down and all is dark before the Morning. The Soul of Man is an Eternal thing, it ſhall ſtand like a Rock in the Sea of Eternity: The things of this World ſhall periſh, but thou, O Soul, ſhalt endure; they ſhall wax old like a Garment, but thy years have no end, O thou never-dying Soul. A Soul muſt have a more enduring ſubſtance than any thing here below, for the refreſhment of it, otherwiſe it is moſt wretchedly provided for; it will ſtarve, and languiſh, and periſh for evermore. Now he that Walks with God meets with that; all other things that we Walk withal, will take their leave of us: But God, our God hath ſaid, as in Heb. 13. 5. I will never leave thee nor for ſake thee.
So Happy is the Man that Walks with God. The excellent Miniſter of Nola, when the Barbarians plundered him of all he had in the World, he lifted up his Eyes to Heaven, and ſaid, Domine, ne excrucier ob Aurum & Argentum, tu es mihi omnia; Lord, I have All in Thee, ſo that I am ſtill Happy enough, though I have no Gold and Silver left unto me: This is the Bleſſedneſs of the Man that walketh with the Lord; his God and his Happineſs is with him, though the World be laid all in Aſhes before his Eyes.
ƲSE I.
A Great Rebuke hence falls upon ungodly Men: The Apoſtle could ſay, in Phil. 3. 18. Many walk, of whom I tell you weeping. Truly our Hearts are Flints, that we do not with Tears from our Eyes reflect on the Walk of the moſt of Men. Do they Walk with God? No: They have a Walk moſt oppoſite thereunto. Their Walk is that in Eph. 2. 2. They Walk according to the courſe of this World, according to the Prince of the Power of the Air. Their Walk is that in 2 Theſ. 3. 11. They walk diſorderly. Alas! How common is it for men to leave the Bleſſed God, and Walk with the World, yea with the Devil too inſtead of him? We read of ſome in Dan. 4. 37. that VValk in Pride. We read of ſome in Jer. 23. 14. that Walk in Lies. We read of ſome in 1 Pet. 4. 3. that walk in Laſciviouſneſs: Do theſe Walk with God? 'Tis declared of ſome, in Jer. 13. 10. that they walk in the Imaginations of their own Hearts. Are there not many of thoſe Walkers now before the Lord: Conſcience, do thine Office: Go and find out the Perſon that ſeldom Prays in his Family, and more ſeldom in his Cloſet: Find out the Perſon that has not God in all his Thoughts: Find out the Perſon that can indulge himſelf in thoſe abominable things which the Soul of the Lord hates: O tell that Man, that he doth not Walk with God, and ſet before him the diſmal Conſequences of this ungodly Walk. Conſider, O Man, the danger of all the wild, lewd Courſes, that vain Perſons do Walk and Run into.
Firſt, There is a Curſe which thou doſt Walk under. Hear the loud Voice of God, in Lev. 26. 23, 24. If you will not be Reformed, but will walk contrary to me, then will I alſo walk contrary to you. All the Imipety, all the Unrighteouſneſs of thy Walk is contrary to God. The Curſe of God therefore inflicts a Damage and a Miſchief upon thee, in all his Diſpenſations, that horrible Curſe accompanies thee like thy Garment, like thy very Shadow in all thy ways.
Moreover, Secondly, There is an Hell, which thou doſt Walk unto. Methinks that Speech of God is all Thunder, in Eccl. 11. 9. O Young man, walk in the wayes of thine Heart, but know thou, that for all theſe things, God will bring thee into Judgment. This, even this is the warning of the moſt High God, unto every Unreclaimed Sinner; Well, if that be thy Walk take it; but know thou, that the End of ſuch a Walk is Death, and Shame, and Ruine for Evermore. Know thou, that the Wrath, the Fiery Wrath of God comes upon the Children of diſobedience for ſuch a Walk as thine.
Now, Conſider of this, all you that forget God. The Pſalmiſt could ſay, as in Pſal. 119. 59. I thought on my ways and turned. Ah! Lord, That wandring Souls may thus think and Turn! Poor Soul! Thou art out of the way! O Stop! O Turn! come back from that hideous Walk, which leads down to the Congregation of the Dead! Come back into the Walk, that thrô the Narrow way leads to Life world without end. Hark! Thy God calls after thee: Return, Return, O Soul.
ƲSE II.
And a good Advice is hence therefore given to every Man.
O Walk with God! What? would not we gladly be as Enoch was? 'Tis ſaid of him by Moſes, He walked with God. When Paul comes to Paraphraſe upon it, he ſo expreſſes it, in Heb. 11. 5. He pleaſed God: O 'tis pleaſing to God, when he ſees Men Walking with him. The Lord hath ſhewed thee, O Man! the thing that is good; and what is it? It is, Walk humbly with thy God. 'Tis noted of Enoch, That God took him: Men in their laſt Wills uſually bequeath their Souls to God: But many a Man may do well to examine, Will he take it? will he take it? Except we are Walking with God while we Live, we ſhall not be taken by God when we Die. 'Tis only the Walker with God, who can expire with that Confidence, in Pſal. 49. 15. He will receive me. Let us Walk with God, and at our Diſſolution, we ſhall be Taken by him up to the matchleſs and endleſs Glories that are above; He will ſend his Angels, our Guardians now, and our Champians then, to take us unto the Rivers of Pleaſures at Gods right Hand for evermore. Doſt thou Walk with God? Behold, that is it that thy Walk tends unto. Soul, God and thou ſhalt never part. Yea, let us Walk with God, and we ſhall be taken by him, if the Deſtruction of the World ſhould now come upon it. There will a Day come, when ſwift Lightnings and hot Thunderbolts will conſume this lower World: God knows when this direful horrid Conflagration ſhall begin. But whenever it is, all that Walk with God ſhall becaught up to meet the Lord: He will take you into the Clouds from the reach of the Sulphureous Flames. Enoch foretold the coming of this Fiery Day: They that are like Enoch, ſhall even like Enoch with a Tranſlation eſcape the Terrors of it. O let us Walk as the People that believed theſe awful things.
RULE I.
Let us Tread in the Steps of the Lord Jeſus Chriſt, and we ſhall then walk with God: Part of his Errand into the World, was to ſet us an Example of ſuch a Walk. Now we are told, in 1 John 2. 6. We ought ſo to walk, even as he walked. O look upon the walk of him that kept cloſe to God, without one wry Step, one wrong Step, for above thirty Years together in the World. What a ſort of a Walk was His? We read in Act. 10. 38. He went about doing good. He walked in all manner of Piety and Charity: He Walked in a perpetual endeavour to pleaſe and ſerve His Father: Sic oculus, ſic ille manus, ſic ora ferebat; That was his Walk; and it is ſaid, in 1 Pet. 1. 21. He has left us an Example, that we ſhould follow his Steps. Of late Years among the Mahometans, even among the Barbarous Turks themſelves, there are ſprung up a vaſt Sect of Men, who are called, The good Followers of the Meſſiah. Theſe hold that Chriſt is God, and that he is the Redeemer of the World; and they are of ſuch Repute, that it is an Applauſe among them, You are the Follower of the Meſſiah. What ſhall be ſaid of us then, if we are not the Followers of our Bleſſed Jeſus? Verily, the Men of Arabia and Anatolia will condemn us in the Judgment of the Lord.
RULE II.
Let us Walk with Good men, and we do it with God himſelf. If our Conſcience be not fearfully ſtupified, it will tell us, What ſort of men have moſt of God among them. We are with God, when we Walk with ſuch as Walk after the Lord. Let us Walk with good Men in their Principles: It was wiſe Counſel, in Prov. 2. 12. 20. To deliver thee from the man that ſpeaks froward things, walk in the way of good men. There may happen a Controverſie in ſome Article of Religion, which perhaps thou haſt neither Time nor Skill to ſettle thy own Mind about. Obſerve now, which way the generality of ſober ſerious, praying People go: What gratifies good men is moſt likely to be the Truth of God: Doſt thou ſee which way the looſe, vile, carnal ſort of Men go? Then, Come not into their ſecret, O my Soul.
Let us Walk with good Men in their practices too: Look upon their Mortification, upon their Devotion, upon their Zeal, and be able to ſay, as in 2 Cor. 12. 18. Walked not we in the ſame Spirit? Walked nor we in the ſame Steps? There has been a famous Tribe of Scholars in the World, known by the Name of Walkers: 'Tis the Name that all Chriſtians may lay claim unto; they are Walkers. O be of their Society; ſay truly, I am a Companion of them that fear God.
RULE III.
Let us Eat well, that we may Walk well. 'Tis written of Elijah, in 1 Kings 19. 8. He did eat and drink, and went in the ſtrength of that meat [eighty Miles] unto the Mount of God. Would you engage in a Walk with God? Let me then ſay as the Angel to the Prophet, Ariſe, and Eat, for the walk is too great for thee. A twofold eating are we to be urg'd unto: Let us by a Contemplative Eating chew upon the Word of God. Never do any Men Walk with God, like them that can ſay, Meditation is ſweet unto me. 'Tis ſaid of Iſaac, He walked in the Fields to Meditate: And indeed, He walked with God, when he was alone at that Imployment.
We ſhould after a Sermon, retire to Ruminate thereupon. We ſhould in an Evening reflect upon God's Mercy to us, and our Carriage to him in the day foregoing: We ſhould often ſingle out ſome Text or ſome Truth to Exerciſe our Thoughts upon: This will ſtrengthen us for our Walk.
Again, Let us by a Sacramental Eating Feed upon the Bread of God. It is dreadful to ſee what multitudes do turn their backs upon the Table of the Lord. Alas! that ever Men ſhould break the Laws of God, yea and the Vows of God, as they do by this Omiſſion. Art not thou Baptized, and now Old enough to be Confirmed? Then as often as thou withdraweſt from the Supper of the Lord, he ſets that mark upon thee, There goes a Covenant-breaker out of Doors! Anſwer to this, Haſt thou a ſincere deſire to Walk with God, or no? If thou haſt not, how dareſt thou ſleep in that horrible Perilous Ʋnregeneracy? If thou haſt, then come hither: Come lamenting all thy Infirmities: Let thy weakneſs quicken thee; and not hinder. O come for thy Food; ſo thou ſhalt Walk and not faint; yea, Run and not be weary.
RULE IV.
Let us be with God, that we may Walk with Him. Be alwayes on God's ſide againſt Sins ſide: All other ſiding may be culpable, but this is Neceſſary, this is Praiſe-worthy: Indeed Sin, that calls like Jehu, in 2. King. 9. 32. Who is on my ſide? who? This is the outcry of Superſtition and Profanity; Who is on my ſide? who? But let me oppoſe that of Moſes hereunto, in Exod. 32. 26. Who is on the Lords ſide? Even ſo, Who is on the ſide of Godlineſs and Honeſty? Who is on the ſide of Holineſs and Sobriety? Who will bear a Teſtimony to all the Truths, and all the Wayes of the Lord? Let us all be on that ſide, and Walk accordingly.
RULE V.
Let us remember that we are Walking, and it will be with God.
Keep up the frame of Mortals, and the frame of Strangers in the World. O Remember as Joſhua, in Joſh. 23. 14. I am going the way of all the Earth: Remember thou art a Traveller. The Pſalmiſt ſays, in Pſal. 39. 12. I am a Sojourner with God. The way to be with God, is to remember, I am a Sojourner: O Remember this, I am walking on the Borders of Eternity, every day I am walking apace towards an eternal home. This will make our Walk more amiable than that of the three things which go well, or than that of the four things which are comely in their going.