George Whitefield Sermon 2

Walking With God

Genesis 5:24, "And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took

him."

Various are the pleas and arguments which men of corrupt minds

frequently urge against yielding obedience to the just and holy commands of

God. But, perhaps, one of the most common objections that they make is

this, that our Lord's commands are not practicable, because contrary to

flesh and blood; and consequently, that he is `an hard master, reaping

where he has not sown, and gathering where he has not strewed'. These we

find were the sentiments entertained by that wicked and slothful servant

mentioned in the 25th of St. Matthew; and are undoubtedly the same with

many which are maintained in the present wicked and adulterous generation.

The Holy Ghost foreseeing this, hath taken care to inspire holy men of old,

to record the examples of many holy men and women; who, even under the Old

Testament dispensation, were enabled cheerfully to take Christ's yoke upon

them, and counted his service perfect freedom. The large catalogue of

saints, confessors, and martyrs, drawn up in the 11th chapter to the

Hebrews, abundantly evidences the truth of this observation. What a great

cloud of witnesses have we there presented to our view? All eminent for

their faith, but some shining with a greater degree of luster than do

others. The proto-martyr Abel leads the van. And next to him we find Enoch

mentioned, not only because he was next in order of time, but also on

account of his exalted piety; he is spoken of in the words of the text in a

very extraordinary manner. We have here a short but very full and glorious

account, both of his behavior in this world, and the triumphant manner of

his entry into the next. The former is contained in these words, `And Enoch

walked with God'. The latter in these, `and he was not: for God took him'.

He was not; that is, he was not found, he was not taken away in the common

manner, he did not see death; for God had translated him. (Heb. 11:5.) Who

this Enoch was, does not appear so plainly. To me, he seems to have been a

person of public character; I suppose, like Noah, a preacher of

righteousness. And, if we may credit the apostle Jude, he was a flaming

preacher. For he quotes one of his prophecies, wherein he saith, `Behold,

the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon

all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them, of all their ungodly

deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches,

which ungodly sinners have spoken against him'. But whether a public or

private person, he has a noble testimony given him in the lively oracles.

The author of the epistle to the Hebrews saith, that before his translation

he had this testimony, `that he pleased God'; and his being translated, was

a proof of it beyond all doubt. And I would observe, that it was wonderful

wisdom in God to translate Enoch and Elijah under the Old Testament

dispensation, that hereafter, when it should be asserted that the Lord

Jesus was carried into heaven, it might not seem a thing altogether

incredible to the Jews; since they themselves confessed that two of their

own prophets had been translated several hundred hears before. But it is

not my design to detain you any longer, by enlarging, or making

observations, on Enoch's short but comprehensive character: the thing I

have in view being to give a discourse, as the Lord shall enable, upon a

weighty and a very important subject; I mean, WALKING WITH GOD. `And Enoch

walked with God.' If so much as this can be truly said of you and me after

our decease, we shall not have any reason to complain that we have lived in

vain.

In handling my intended subject, I shall,

FIRST, Endeavor to show what is implied in these words, WALKED WITH

GOD.

SECONDLY, I shall prescribe some means, upon the due observance of

which, believers may keep up and maintain their WALK WITH GOD. And,

THIRDLY, Offer some motives to stir us up, if we never walked with God

before, to come and walk with God now. The whole shall be closed with a

word or two of application.

FIRST, I am to show what is implied in these words, `walked with God';

or, in other words, what we are to understand by WALKING WITH GOD.

And FIRST, WALKING WITH GOD implies, that the prevailing power of the

enmity of a person's heart be taken away by the blessed Spirit of God.

Perhaps it may seem a hard saying to some, but our own experience daily

proves what the scriptures in many places assert, that the carnal mind, the

mind of the unconverted natural man, nay, the mind of the regenerate, so

far as any part of him remains unrenewed, is enmity, not only an enemy, but

enmity itself, against God; so that it is not subject to the law of God,

neither indeed can it be. Indeed, one may well wonder that any creature,

especially that lovely creature man, made after his Maker's own image,

should ever have any enmity, much less a prevailing enmity, against that

very God in whom he lives, and moves, and hath his being. But alas! so it

is. Our first parents contracted it when they fell from God by eating the

forbidden fruit, and the bitter and malignant contagion of it hath

descended to, and quite overspread, their whole posterity. This enmity

discovered itself in Adam's endeavoring to hide himself in the trees of the

garden. When he heard the voice of the Lord God, instead of running with an

open heart, saying Here I am; alas! he now wanted no communion with God;

and still more discovered his lately contracted enmity, by the excuse he

made to the Most High: `The woman (or, this woman) thou gavest to be with

me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat'. By saying thus, he in effect

lays all the fault upon God; as though he had said, If thou hadst not given

me this woman, I had not sinned against thee, so thou mayest thank thyself

for my transgression. In the same manner this enmity works in the hearts of

Adam's children. They now and again find something rising against God, and

saying even unto God, What doest thou? `It scorns any meaner competitor

(says the learned Dr. Owen, in his excellent treatise on indwelling sin)

than God himself.' Its command is like that of the Assyrians in respect to

Ahab _ shoot only at the king. And it strikes against every thing that has

the appearance of real piety, as the Assyrians shot at Jehoshaphat in his

royal clothes. But the opposition ceases when it finds that it is only an

appearance, as the Assyrians left off shooting at Jehoshaphat, when they

perceived it was not Ahab they were shooting at. This enmity discovered

itself in accursed Cain; he hated and slew his brother Abel, because Abel

loved, and was peculiarly favored by, his God. And this same enmity rules

and prevails in every man that is naturally engendered of the offspring of

Adam. Hence that a averseness to prayer and holy duties which we find in

children, and very often in grown persons, who have notwithstanding been

blessed with a religious education. And all that open sin and wickedness,

which like a deluge has overflowed the world, are only so many streams

running from this dreadful contagious fountain; I mean a enmity of man's

desperately wicked and deceitful heart. He that cannot set his seal to

this, knows nothing yet, in a saving manner, of the Holy Scriptures, or of

the power of God. And all that do know this, will readily acknowledge, that

before a person can be said to walk with God, the prevailing power of this

heart-enmity must be destroyed: for persons do not use to walk and keep

company together, who entertain an irreconcilable enmity and hatred against

one another. Observe me, I say, the prevailing power of this enmity must be

taken away; for the in-being of it will never be totally removed, till we

bow down our heads, and give up the ghost. The apostle Paul, no doubt,

speaks of himself, and that, too, not when he was a Pharisee, but a real

Christian; when he complains, `that when he would do good, evil was present

with him'; not having dominion over him, but opposing and resisting his

good intentions and actions, so that he could not do the things which he

would, in that perfection which the new man desired. This is what he calls

sin dwelling in him. `And this is that Fronhma sarko", which (to use the

words of the ninth article of our church,) some do expound the wisdom, some

sensuality, some the affectation, some the desire, of the flesh, which doth

remain, yea, in them that are regenerated.' But as for its prevailing

power, it is destroyed in every soul that is truly born of God, and

gradually more and more weakened as the believer grows in grace, and the

Spirit of God gains a greater and greater ascendancy in the heart.

But SECONDLY, Walking with God not only implies, that the prevailing

power of the enmity of a man's heart be taken away, but also that a person

is actually reconciled to God the Father, in and through the all-sufficient

righteousness and atonement of his dear Son. `Can two walk together, (says

Solomon, [actually Amos 3:3]) unless they are agreed?' Jesus is our peace

as well as our peace-maker. When we are justified by faith in Christ, then,

but not till then, we have peace with God; and consequently cannot be said

till then to walk with him, walking with a person being a sign and token

that we are friends to that person, or at least, though we have been at

variance, yet that now we are reconciled and become friends again. This is

the great errand that gospel ministers are sent out upon. To us is

committed the ministry of reconciliation; as ambassadors for God, we are to

beseech sinners, in Christ's stead, to be reconciled unto God, and when

they comply with the gracious invitation, and are actually by faith brought

into a state of reconciliation with God, then, and not till then, may they

be said so much as to begin to walk with God.

Further, THIRDLY, Walking with God implies a settled abiding communion

and fellowship with God, or what in scripture is called, `The Holy Ghost

dwelling in us'. This is what our Lord promised when he told his disciples

that `the Holy Spirit would be in and with them'; not to be like wayfaring

man, to say only for a night, but to reside and make his abode in their

hearts. This, I am apt to believe, is what the apostle John would have us

understand, when he talks of a person `abiding in him, in Christ, and

walking as he himself also walked'. And this is what is particularly meant

in the words of our text. `And Enoch walked with God', that is, he kept up

and maintained a holy, settled, habitual, though undoubtedly not altogether

uninterrupted communion and fellowship with God, in and through Christ

Jesus. So that to sum up what has been said on this part of the first

general head, WALKING WITH GOD consists especially in the fixed habitual

bent of the will for God, in an habitual dependence upon his power and

promise, in an habitual voluntary dedication of our all to his glory, in an

habitual eyeing of his precept in all we do, and in an habitual complacence

in his pleasure in all we suffer.

FOURTHLY, WALKING WITH GOD implies our making progress or advances in

the divine life. WALKING, in the very first idea of the word, seems to

suppose a progressive motion. A person that walks, though he move slowly,

yet he goes forward, and does not continue in one place. And so it is with

those that walk with God. They go on, as the Psalmist says, `from strength

to strength'; or, in the language of the apostle Paul, `they pass from

glory to glory, even by the Spirit of the Lord'. Indeed, in one sense, the

divine life admits of neither increase nor decrease. When a soul is born of

God, to all intents and purposes he is a child of God; and though he should

live to the age of Methuselah, yet he would then be only a child of God

after all. But in another sense, the divine life admits of decays and

additions. Hence it is, that we find the people of God charged with

backslidings and losing their first love. And hence it is that we hear of

babes, young men, and fathers in Christ. And upon this account it is that

the apostle exhorts Timothy, `to let his progress be made known to all

men'. And what is here required of Timothy in particular, by St. Peter is

enjoined on all Christians in general. `But grow in grace, (says he), and

in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ'. For the new creature

increases in spiritual stature; and though a person can but be a new

creature, yet there are some that are more conformed to the divine image

than others, and will after death be admitted to a greater degree of

blessedness. For want of observing this distinction, even some gracious

souls, that have better hearts than heads, (as well as men of corrupt

minds, reprobates concerning the faith) have unawares run into downright

Antinomian principles, denying all growth of grace in a believer, or any

marks of grace to be laid down in the scriptures of truth. From such

principles, and more especially from practices naturally consequent on such

principles, may the Lord of all lords deliver us!

From what then has been said, we may now know what is implied in the

words, `walked with God', viz. Our having the prevailing enmity of our

hearts taken away by the power of the Spirit of God; our being actually

reconciled and united to him by faith in Jesus Christ; our having and

keeping up a settled communion and fellowship with him; and our making a

daily progress in this fellowship, so as to be conformed to the divine

image more and more.

How this is done, or, in other words, by what means believers keep up

and maintain their walk with God, comes to be considered under our second

general head.

And, FIRST, Believers keep up and maintain their walk with God by

reading of his holy word. `Search the scriptures', says our blessed Lord,

`for these are they that testify of me'. And the royal Psalmist tells us

`that God's word was a light unto his feet, and a lantern unto his paths';

and he makes it one property of a good man, `that his delight is in the law

of the Lord, and that he exercises himself therein day and night'. `Give

thyself to reading', (says Paul to Timothy); `And this book of the law,

(says God to Joshua) shall not go out of thy mouth'. For whatsoever was

written aforetime was written for our learning. And the word of God is

profitable for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in

righteousness, and every way sufficient to make every true child of God

thoroughly furnished unto every good work. If we once get above our Bibles,

and cease making the written word of God our sole rule both as to faith and

practice, we shall soon lie open to all manner of delusion, and be in great

danger of making shipwreck of faith and a good conscience. Our blessed

Lord, though he had the Spirit of God without measure, yet always was

governed by, and fought the devil with, `It is written'. This the apostle

calls the `sword of the Spirit'. We may say of it, as David said of

Goliath's sword, `None like this'. The scriptures are called the lively

oracles of God: not only because they are generally made use of to beget in

us a new life, but also to keep up and increase it in the soul. The apostle

Peter, in his second epistle, prefers it even to seeing Christ transfigured

upon the mount. For after he had said, chap. 1:18. `This voice which came

from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount'; he adds,

`We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye

take heed, as unto a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawn, and

the day-star arise in your hearts': that is, till we shake off these

bodies, and see Jesus face to face. Till then we must see and converse with

him through the glass of his word. We must make his testimonies our

counselors, and daily, with Mary, sit at Jesus' feet, by faith hearing his

word. We shall then by happy experience find, that they are spirit and

life, meat indeed and drink indeed, to our souls.

SECONDLY, Believers keep up and maintain their walk with God by secret

prayer. The spirit of grace is always accompanied with the spirit of

supplication. It is the very breath of the new creature, the fan of the

divine life, whereby the spark of holy fire, kindled in the soul by God, is

not only kept in, but raised into a flame. A neglect of secret prayer has

been frequently an inlet to many spiritual diseases, and has been attended

with fatal consequences. Origen observed, '`hat the day he offered incense

to an idol, he went out of his closet without making use of secret prayer''

It is one of the most noble parts of the believers' spiritual armor.

`Praying always', says the apostle, `with all manner of supplication.'

`Watch and pray', says our Lord, `that ye enter not into temptation.' And

he spake a parable, that his disciples should pray, and not faint. Not that

our Lord would have us always upon our knees, or in our closets, to the

neglect of our other relative duties. But he means, that our souls should

be kept in a praying frame, so that we might be able to say, as a good man

in Scotland once said to his friends on his death-bed, `Could these

curtains, or could these walls speak, they would tell you what sweet

communion I have had with my God here'. O prayer! Prayer! It brings and

keeps God and man together. It raises man up to God, and brings God down to

man. If you would there, O believers, keep up your walk with God; pray,

pray without ceasing. Be much in secret, set prayer. And when you are about

the common business of life, be much in ejaculatory prayer, and send, from

time to time, short letters post to heaven upon the wings of faith. They

will reach the very heart of God, and return to you again loaded with

spiritual blessings.

THIRDLY, Holy and frequent meditation is another blessed means of

keeping up a believer's walk with God. `Prayer, reading, temptation, and

meditation', says Luther, make a minister.' And they also make and perfect

a Christian. Meditation to the soul, is the same as digestion to the body.

Holy David found it so, and therefore he was frequently employed in

meditation, even in the night season. We read also of Isaac's going out

into the fields to meditate in the evening; or, as it is in the margin, to

pray. For meditation is a kind of silent prayer, whereby the soul is

frequently as it were carried out of itself to God, and in a degree made

like unto those blessed spirits, who by a kind of immediate intuition

always behold the face of our heavenly Father. None but those happy souls

that have been accustomed to this divine employ, can tell what a blessed

promoter of the divine life, meditation is. `Whilst I was musing', says

David, `the fire kindled.' And whilst the believer is musing on the works

and word of God, especially that work of works, that wonder of wonders,

that mystery of godliness, `God manifest in the flesh', the Lamb of God

slain for the sins of the world, he frequently feels the fire of divine

love kindle, so that he is obliged to speak with his tongue, and tell of

the loving-kindness of the Lord to his soul. Be frequent therefore in

meditation, all ye that desire to keep up and maintain a close and uniform

walk with the most high God.

FOURTHLY, Believers keep up their walk with God, by watching and

noting his providential dealings with them. If we believe the scriptures,

we must believe what our Lord hath declared therein, `That the very hairs

of his disciples' heads are all numbered; and that a sparrow does not fall

to the ground, (either to pick up a grain of corn, or when shot by a

fowler), without the knowledge of our heavenly Father'. Every cross has a

call in it, and every particular dispensation of divine providence has some

particular end to answer in those to whom it is sent. If it be of an

afflictive nature, God does thereby say, `My son, keep thyself from idols':

if prosperous, he does, as it were by a small still voice, say, `My son,

give me thy heart'. If believers, therefore, would keep up their walk with

God, they must from time to time hear what the Lord has to say concerning

them in the voice of his providence. Thus we find that Abraham's servant,

when he went to fetch a wife for his master Isaac, eyed and watched the

providence of God, and by that means found out the person that was designed

for his master's wife. `For a little hint from providence', says pious

Bishop Hall, `is enough for faith to feed upon.' And as I believe it will

be one part of our happiness in heaven, to take a view of, and look back

upon, the various links of the golden chain which drew us there; so those

that enjoy most of heaven below, I believe, will be the most minute in

remarking God's various dealings with them, in respect to his providential

dispensations here on earth.

FIFTHLY, In order to walk closely with God, his children must not only

watch the motions of God's providence without them, but the motions also of

his blessed Spirit in their hearts. `As many as are the sons of God, are

led by the Spirit of God', and give up themselves to be guided by the Holy

Ghost, as a little child gives its hand to be led by a nurse or parent. It

is no doubt in this sense that we are to be converted, and become like

little children. And though it is the quintessence of enthusiasm, to

pretend to be guided by the Spirit without the written word; yet it is

every Christian's bounden duty to be guided by the Spirit in conjunction

with the written word of God. Watch, therefore, I pray you, O believers,

the motions of God's blessed Spirit in your souls, and always try the

suggestions or impressions that you may at any time feel, by the unerring

rule of God's most holy word: and if they are not found to be agreeable to

that, reject them as diabolical and delusive. By observing this caution,

you will steer a middle course between the two dangerous extremes many of

this generation are in danger of running into; I mean, ENTHUSIASM, on the

one hand, and DEISM, and DOWNRIGHT INFIDELITY, on the other.

SIXTHLY, They that would maintain a holy walk with God, must walk with

him in ordinances as well as providences, etc. It is therefore recorded of

Zachary and Elizabeth, that `they walked in all God's ordinances, as well

as commandments, blameless'. And all rightly informed Christians, will look

upon ordinances, not as beggarly elements, but as so many conduit-pipes,

whereby the infinitely condescending Jehovah conveys his grace to their

souls. They will look upon them as children's bread, and as their highest

privileges. Consequently they will be glad when they hear others say,

`Come, let us go up to the house of the Lord'. They will delight to visit

the place where God's honor dwelleth, and be very eager to embrace all

opportunities to show forth the Lord Christ's death till he come.

SEVENTHLY and LASTLY, If you would walk with God, you will associate

and keep company with those that do walk with him. `My delight', says holy

David, `is in them that do excel' in virtue. They were, in his sight, the

excellent ones of the earth. And the primitive Christians, no doubt, kept

up their vigor and first love, by continuing in fellowship one with

another. The apostle Paul knew this full well, and therefore exhorts the

Christians to see to it, that they did not forsake the assembling of

themselves together. For how can one be warm alone? And has not the wisest

of men told us, that `As iron sharpeneth iron, so doth the countenance of a

man his friend?' If we look, therefore, into church history, or make a just

observation of our own times, I believe we shall find, that as the power of

God prevails, Christian societies, and fellowship meetings prevail

proportionably. And as one decays, the other has insensibly decayed and

dwindled away at the same time. So necessary is it for those that would

walk with God, and keep up the life of religion, to meet together as they

have opportunity, in order to provoke one another to love and good works.

Proceed we now to the third general thing proposed: to offer some

motives to excite all to come and walk with God.

And, FIRST, walking with God is a very honorable thing. This generally

is a prevailing motive to persons of all ranks, to stir them up to any

important undertaking. O that it may have its due weight and influence with

you in respect to the matter now before us! I suppose you would all think

it a very high honor to be admitted into an earthly prince's privy council,

to be trusted with his secrets, and to have his ear at all times and at all

seasons. It seems Haman thought it so when he boasted, Esther 5:11, that

besides his being `advanced above the princes and servants of the king;

yea, moreover, Esther the queen did let no man come in with the king unto

the banquet that she had prepared, but myself; and to-morrow am I invited

unto her also with the king'. And when afterwards a question was put to

this same Haman, Chap. 6:6. `What shall be done unto the man whom the king

delighteth to honor?' he answered, verse 8. `Let the royal apparel be

brought which the king used to wear, and the horse that the king rideth

upon, and the crown royal which is set upon his head; and let this apparel

and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king's most noble princes,

that they may array the man withal whom the king delighteth to honor, and

bring him on horseback through the street of the city and proclaim before

him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honor.'

This was all, then, it seems, that an ambitious Haman could ask, and the

most valuable thing that he thought Ahasuerus, the greatest monarch upon

earth, could give. But, alas, what is this honor in comparison of that

which the meanest of those enjoy, that walk with God! Think ye it a small

thing, sirs, to have the secret of the Lord of lords with you, and to be

called the friends of God? And such honor have all God's saints. The secret

of the Lord is with them that fear him: and `Henceforth(says the blessed

Jesus) call I you no longer servants, but friends; for the servant knoweth

not the will of his master'. Whatever you may think of it, holy David was

so sensible of the honor attending a walk with God that he declares, `he

had rather be a door-keeper in his house, than to dwell even in the tents

of ungodliness'. O that all were like-minded with him!

But, SECONDLY, As it is an honorable, so it is a pleasing thing, to

walk with God. The wisest of men has told us, that `wisdom's ways are ways

of pleasantness, and all her paths peace'. And I remember pious Mr. Henry,

when he was about to expire, said to a friend, `You have heard many men's

dying words, and these are mine: A life spent in communion with God, is the

pleasantest life in the world'. I am sure I can set to my seal that this is

true. Indeed, I have been listed under Jesus' banner only for a few years;

but I have enjoyed more solid pleasure in one moment's communion with my

god, than I should or could have enjoyed in the ways of sin, though I had

continued to have gone on in them for thousands of years. And may I not

appeal to all you that fear and walk with God, for the truth of this? Has

not one day in the Lord's courts been better to you than a thousand? In

keeping God's commandments, have you not found a present, and very great

reward? Has not his word been sweeter to you than the honey or the

honeycomb? O what have you felt, when, Jacob-like, you have been wrestling

with your God? Has not Jesus often met you when meditating in the fields,

and been made known to you over and over again in breaking of bread? Has

not the Holy Ghost frequently shed the divine love abroad in your hearts

abundantly, and filled you with joy unspeakable, even joy that is full of

glory? I know you will answer all these questions in the affirmative, and

freely acknowledge the yoke of Christ to be easy, and his burden light; or

(to use the words of one of our collects), `His service is perfect

freedom'. And what need we then any further motive to excite us to walk

with God?

But methinks I hear some among you say, `How can these things be? For,

if walking with God, as you say, is such an honorable and pleasant thing,

whence is it that the name of the people of this way is cast out as evil,

and every where spoken against? How comes it to pass that they are

frequently afflicted, tempted, destitute, and tormented? Is this the honor,

this the pleasure, that you speak of?' I answer, Yes. Stop a while; be not

over hasty. Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous

judgment, and all will be well. It is true, we acknowledge the `people of

this way', as you, and Paul before you, when a persecutor, called them,

have their names cast out as evil, and are a sect every where spoken

against. But by whom? Even by the

enemies of the most high God. And do you think it is disgrace to be spoken

evil of by them? Blessed be God, we have not so learned Christ. Our royal

Master has pronounced those `blessed, who are persecuted, and have all

manner of evil spoken against them falsely'. He has commanded them `to

rejoice and be exceeding glad', for it is the privilege of their

discipleship, and that their reward will be great in heaven. He himself was

thus treated. And can there be a greater honor put upon a creature, than to

be conformed to the ever-blessed Son of God? And further, it is equally

true that the people of this way are frequently afflicted, tempted,

destitute, and tormented. But what of all this? Does this destroy the

pleasure of walking with God? No, in no wise; for those that walk with God

are enabled, through Christ strengthening them, to joy even in tribulation,

and to rejoice when they fall into divers temptations. And I believe I may

appeal to the experience of all true and close walkers with God, whether or

not their suffering times have not frequently been their sweetest times,

and that they enjoyed most of God when most cast out and despised by men?

This we find was the case of Christ's primitive servants, when threatened

by the Jewish sanhedrin, and commanded to preach no more in the name of

Jesus; they rejoiced that they were accounted worthy to suffer shame for

the sake of Jesus. Paul and Silas sang praises even in a dungeon; and the

face of Stephen, that glorious proto-martyr of the Christian church, shone

like the face of an angel. And Jesus is the same now as he was then, and

takes care so to sweeten sufferings and afflictions with his love, that his

disciples find, by happy experience, that as afflictions abound,

consolations do much more abound. And therefore these objections, instead

of destroying, do only enforce the motives before urged, to excite you to

walk with God.

But supposing the objections were just, and walkers with God were as

despicable and unhappy as you would represent them to be; yet I have a

third motive to offer, which if weighed in the balance of the sanctuary,

will over-weigh all objections, viz. That there is a heaven at the end of

this walk. For, to use the words of pious bishop Beveridge, `Though the way

be narrow, yet it is not long: and though the gate be strait, yet it opens

into everlasting life'. Enoch found it so. He walked with God on earth, and

God took him to sit down with him for ever in the kingdom of heaven. Not

that we are to expect to be taken away as he was: no, I suppose we shall

all die the common death of all men. But after death, the spirits of those

who have walked with God shall return to God that gave them; and at the

morning of the resurrection, soul and body shall be for ever with the Lord;

their bodies shall be fashioned like unto Christ's glorious body, and their

souls filled with all the fullness of God. They shall sit on thrones; they

shall judge angels. They shall be enabled to sustain an exceeding and

eternal weight of glory, even that glory which Jesus Christ enjoyed with

the Father before the world began. `O gloriam quantam et qualem', said the

learned and pious Arndt, just before he bowed down his head, and gave up

the ghost. The very thought of it is enough to make us `wish to leap our

seventy years', as good Dr. Watts expresses himself, and to make us break

out into the earnest language of the royal Psalmist, `My soul is athirst

for God, yea, for the living God. When shall I come to appear in the

presence of my God?' I wonder not that a sense of this, when under a more

than ordinary irradiation and influx of divine life and love, causes some

persons to faint away, and even for a time lose the power of their senses.

A less sight than this, even the sight of Solomon's glory, made Sheba's

queen astonished; and a still lesser sight than that, even a sight of

Joseph's wagons, made holy Jacob faint, and for a while, as it were, die

away. Daniel, when admitted to a distant view of this excellent glory, fell

down at the feet of the angel as one dead. And if a distant view of this

glory be so excellent, what must the actual possession of it be? If the

first fruits are so glorious, how infinitely must the harvest exceed in

glory?

And now, what shall I, or, indeed, what can I well say more to excite

you, even you that are yet strangers to Christ, to come and walk with God?

If you love honor, pleasure, and a crown of glory, come, seek it where

alone it can be found. Come, put ye on the Lord Jesus. Come, haste ye away

and walk with God, and make no longer provision for the flesh, to fulfill

the lust thereof. Stop, stop, O sinner! Turn ye, turn ye, O ye unconverted

men, for the end of that way you are now walking in, however right it may

seem in your blinded eyes, will be death, even eternal destruction both of

body and soul. Make no longer tarrying, I say: at your peril I charge you,

step not one step further on in your present walk. For how knowest thou, O

man, but the next step thou takest may be into hell? Death may seize thee,

judgment find thee, and then the great gulf will be fixed between thee and

endless glory for ever and ever. O think of these things, all ye that are

unwilling to walk with God. Lay them to heart. Show yourselves men, and in

the strength of Jesus say, Farewell, lust of the flesh, I will no more walk

with thee! Farewell, lust of the eye, and pride of life! Farewell, carnal

acquaintance and enemies of the cross, I will no more walk and be intimate

with you! Welcome Jesus, welcome thy word, welcome thy ordinances, welcome

thy Spirit, welcome thy people, I will henceforth walk with you. O that

there may be in you such a mind! God will set his almighty fiat to it, and

seal it with the broad seal of heaven, even the signet of his holy Spirit.

Yes, he will, though you have been walking with, and following after, the

devices and desires of your desperately wicked hearts ever since you have

been born. `I, the high and lofty One', says the great Jehovah, `that

inhabiteth eternity, will dwell with the humble and contrite heart, even

with the man that trembleth at my word.' The blood, even the precious blood

of Jesus Christ, if you come to the Father in and through him, shall

cleanse you from all sin.

But the text leads me to speak to you that are saints as well as to

you that are open and unconverted sinners. I need not tell you, that

walking with God is not honorable, but pleasant and profitable also; for ye

know it by happy experience, and will find it more and more so every day.

Only give me leave to stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance, and to

beseech you by the mercies of God in Christ Jesus, to take heed to

yourselves, and walk closer with your God than you have in days past: for

the nearer you walk with God, the more you will enjoy of him whose presence

is life, and be the better prepared for being placed at his right hand,

where are pleasures for evermore. O do not follow Jesus afar off! O be not

so formal, so dead and stupid in your attendance on holy ordinances! Do not

so shamefully forsake the assembling yourselves together, or be so

niggardly or indifferent about the things of God. Remember what Jesus says

of the church of Laodicea, `Because thou art neither hot nor cold, I will

spew thee out of my mouth'. Think of the love of Jesus, and let that love

constrain you to keep near unto him; and though you die for him, do not

deny him, do not keep at a distance from him in any wise.

One word to my brethren in the ministry that are here present, and I

have done. You see, my brethren, my heart is full; I could almost say it is

too big to speak, and yet too big to be silent, without dropping a word to

you. For does not the text speak in a particular manner to those who have

the honor of being styled the ambassadors of Christ, and stewards of the

mysteries of God. I observed at the beginning of this discourse, that Enoch

in all probability was a public person, and a flaming preacher. Though he

be dead, does he not yet speak to us, to quicken our zeal, and make us more

active in the service of our glorious and ever-blessed Master? How did

Enoch preach! How did Enoch walk with God, though he lived in a wicked and

adulterous generation! Let us then follow him, as he followed Jesus Christ,

and ere long, where he is there shall we be also. He is not entered into

his rest: yet a little while and we shall enter into ours, and that too

much sooner than he did. He sojourned here below three hundred years; but

blessed be God, the days of man are now shortened, and in a few days our

walk will be over. The Judge is before the door: he that cometh will come,

and will not tarry: his reward is with him. And we shall all (if we are

zealous for the Lord of hosts) ere long shine as the stars in the

firmament, in the kingdom of our heavenly Father, for ever and ever. To

Him, the blessed Jesus, and eternal Spirit, be all honor and glory, now,

and to all eternity. Amen, and Amen.