THE second general point is the necessity of the holy life.
Doct. 2. Those that would live with God hereafter must learn to please God ere they depart hence.
In the pursuance of this point I shall examine -
1. What it is to please God.
2. The necessity of pleasing God ere we depart hence. Where (1.) The necessity of the thing itself; and there I shall show what respect and ordination the holy life hath to eternal glory. (2.) The necessity of the time, or the necessity of pleasing God, ere we flit out of the present life.
First, What it is to please God - 'He had this testimony, that he pleased God.' It is a phrase by which the apostle interprets that place in Genesis, chap. v. 24, 'And Enoch walked with God.' In the Septuagint it is euèrestèse tooi theooi, Enoch 'well pleased God;' so that to please God is to walk with God. The only difference between them is that the one relates to God, the other to ourselves. Pleasing of God implies his gracious acceptation, and walking with God implies our duty. Elsewhere the phrases of pleasing God and walking with God are joined in scripture; as Col. i. 10, 'That you may walk worthy of the Lord unto all well-pleasing.' Walking notes the fixing and the holding of a settled course in our lives, that our intention and main scope must be to please God; so 1 Thes. iv. 1, 'We beseech you,' saith the apostle, 'as ye have received of us how you ought to walk, and to please God, so you would abound more and more.' Walking notes the course of life, and pleasing on our part notes the aim of the believer; all his care is to approve himself to God. On our part, it notes our endeavours; on God's part, the success of our endeavours, his gracious acceptation. By this collation of places, we find that pleasing of God is all one with walking with God; but because I intend to handle the phrase in the full latitude of it, I must make it yet more comprehensive; for by the context you will find that it not only implies 'walking with God,' but, which is another distinct phrase of scripture, 'coming to God,' as you may see, ver. 6, for after he had said, 'Enoch had this testimony, that he pleased God,' he adds, 'For he that cometh to God,' &c., as if pleasing God and coming to God were all one. So that the whole duty of man in the present life is comprised in this phrase of 'pleasing God;' and it is explained by these two parts - by 'Coming to God;' and when we are come, 'to walk with God.' I shall inquire -
1. What it is to 'come to God?'
2. What it is to 'walk with God?'
First, What it is to 'come to God?' It is a usual phrase by which faith is set out in scripture. Coming and believing are all one: John vi. 35, 'He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth in me shall never thirst,' - where coming and believing are put as terms of the same import and signification. Now this coming to God implies several acts of the soul, which must be explained with analogy and respect to outward motion. In every motion there are two bounds and stages from which we come, and to which - Terminus a quo, et ad quem.
1. That which we come from is the curse and misery of our natural condition, or else we can never please God; as the apostle proveth, Rom. viii. 8, 'They that are in the flesh cannot please God.' Mark the distinctness of the phrase,' en sarki ontes, they that 'are in the flesh;' they that grow upon the old root, and are in their unregenerate state and condition. There is a great deal of difference between being in the flesh, and having the flesh in us. The children of God, as long as they live in the world, have a mixed principle, they have flesh in them; but they are not so properly said to be in the flesh, for that notes an absolute immersion in the carnal state, as being in the faith notes a state of believing: 2 Cor. xiii. 5, 'Examine yourselves whether you be in the faith;' so being in the flesh notes a corrupt and carnal state. Now they that are thus in the flesh can never please God, that is, can never be accepted with him; so that out of this state we must come if we would perform this great duty. Now this coming out of the flesh is done by several acts, several progresses and tendencies, by which the soul comes from the curse and misery of the carnal state.
[1.] By a sensibleness of our distance from God in such a condition. There is no coming but presupposeth a sense of absence. Guilty creatures are at a vast distance from God. There is a great gulph between us and heaven, an unpassable gulph; therefore the natural state is expressed by the prodigal's 'going into a far country,' Luke xv. 13. There is a distance and departure from God; therefore it is said, Eph. ii. 13, 'You were sometimes afar off, but now are made nigh by the blood of Christ;' afar off, not only out of the church, but out of the state of grace. Naturally we are all at a great distance in our minds and affections from God, and God is at a great distance from us; heaven is closed up against the access of a guilty creature. Among other things this is one of the fruits of Adam's fall and disobedience; Adam did not only lose the image of God, but the fellowship of God; therefore ever since, the soul and God are at great distance and elongation. So the psalmist expresseth it: Ps. lviii. 3, 'The wicked are estranged from the womb, they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.' There is a strangeness between us and God, and we cannot come mutually to converse together. Now actual sins make the breach wider and greater: Isa. lix. 2, 'Your iniquities have separated between you and your God;' they make us careless of communion with God, and they make God resolved against any fellowship, or having any communion with us. Fallen man, at length, is not only come to be like the beasts, but like the devils; he puts on not only the brutish disposition of the irrational creatures, but the disposition of Satan himself; for the devils cannot endure the thoughts of God - 'The devils believe and tremble,' James ii. 19. They hate their own thoughts of God; therefore they cannot endure the presence of Christ, but cry out, Mat. viii. 29, 'Jesus, thou Son of God, art thou come to torment us before the time?' This was the language of the devils; the presence of God was a bondage and a torment to them. So it is with guilty sinners; they cannot endure the presence of God, they speak just like the devil, Job xxi. 14, 'Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.' Carnal men hate the thoughts of God. Now the first work of the Holy Ghost is to make the soul to be sensible of this distance and alienation from God.
[21 There must be also a sense of the misery of such a condition. Men care not for God till they are sore pinched and urged with their own wants. When the prodigal was in a far country (by which the state of nature is represented), there with riot he spent his substance; but 'when he began to be in want,' then he thinks of returning to his father, Luke xv. 14. Men do not desire to recover their communion with God till they are thoroughly bitten with a serious remorse; God sends his hornet and stings their consciences, then they think of running to God. All the addresses to Christ in the days of his flesh began in the want of the creatures; the blind and lame and deaf, some possessed with devils, their maladies and miseries brought them to Christ, else there would not have been so great resort to him. So it is here; men never come to Christ till they are displeased with their natural state. Look, as Joab neglected to give Absalom a visit till he burned his cornfield, 2 Sam. xiv. 30, 31. Joab had never come if he had not set his barleyfield on fire; so the Lord lets in some sensible displeasure into the soul, and they begin to see the misery of a state of distance and alienation from God; and then they think of returning to God, and cry out, Oh, that they might be united to God! Look, as it is with believers in point of heaven, where there is the nearest communion with God; - we are apt to neglect breathing and panting after heaven when it is well with us in the world; but when the world is crucified to us, a dead and useless thing, oh, then, woe is me that my pilgrimage is prolonged! as David, when he was driven from his own palace, and was forced to wander up and down, then he says, 'Woe is me that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!' Ps. cxx. 5; - so also it is with sinners in point of communion with God in grace; they do not think of returning to God and making up the breaches, and removing the distance between God and them, till God hath made them weary of their carnal state, by letting some sense of his displeasure light upon their consciences.
[3] There must be a sense of our inability, to return and come to him. Man is a proud creature, and loth to be beholden; he would be happy and sufficient to himself; we would eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel; and if we could heal our own wounds we would never return to God. Conviction usually endeth in hypocrisy, when the soul is not wrought off from its own strength. If men can heal conscience, and dress up a form of religion, there they rest; men stay in themselves till this be done. We are all by nature absent from God, and the scripture showeth us our inability to return. The state of fallen man is resembled by the wandering of sheep: Isa. liii. 6, 'All we like sheep have gone astray.' Of all creatures, sheep are most apt to stray, and most unable to return. Swine and dogs know the way home again, but sheep do not: so it is with the soul. Saith Austin, Domine, errare per me potui, redire non potui; Lord, I could go astray, and wander by myself, but I knew not how to return. It is Christ's office to bring us to God; God hath set up a mediator to make up our distance from God. It is Jesus Christ alone that must carry the strayed lamb home upon his own shoulder, as the Holy Ghost alludes to that similitude, Luke xv. 5. We can never go to God upon our own feet, but we must be carried home upon the shoulders of Christ; therefore conviction will never be successful till it brings the creature to come and lie down at God's feet as utterly undone, and to say, Jer. xxxi. 18, 'Turn us, Lord, and then we shall be turned.'
2. The next bound and stage in this motion is, to whom we do return, and that is to God; to God, through Jesus Christ, for other-wise he can never be well pleased with us. He hath proclaimed from heaven he will never be pleased with his creatures till they become one with Christ Mat. iii. 17, 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' And Christ himself, when he professeth the quality of his offices, saith, John xiv. 6, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life.' Now the several tendencies of the soul towards God are a serious purpose to come to God, an earnest desire, and a constant waiting.
[1.] A serious purpose and practical decree issued forth in the soul. As the prodigal, when he was humbled with want, resolves, Luke xv. 18, ' I will arise, and go to my father;' so there is a resolution, I will arise, and go to God. All grace is founded in this practical decree. So David professeth his own shyness, that for a long time he kept off from God, and there was a distance between him and God; but at length he took up a serious purpose and determination that he would go and humble himself to God: Ps. xxxii. 5, 'I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord,' &c. The soul, being inclined by grace, resolves to come to God through Christ. The scripture ascribeth much to this prothesis, and settled resolution, that 'with full purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord,' Acts xi. 23. Our own wants and needs will make us full of anxious traverses, but the resolution and decree of the soul comes from grace; for herein lies the formal essence of faith, a resolved casting of the soul upon Christ, which is the issue and result of all those anxious and serious debates that were wont to be in the soul, by which, in the prophet's language, Jer. xxx. 21, 'The heart is engaged to approach to God;' when there is a charge laid upon the soul, by which the soul is engaged to come into his presence.
[2.] There is an earnest desire of enjoying communion with God in Christ: Ps. lxiii. 8, 'My soul followeth hard' - or maketh hard pursuit - 'after God;' and the pursuance of the soul is by desires they are evidenced to be gracious, because they are not only after ease and comfort. Such desires may arise from self-love, but after a constant communion with God: Ps. xlii. 1, 'As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God;' not only after the sweetness and refreshment of grace, but after intimate converse with God: Ps. xxvii. 4, 'One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord,' &c. And they are after grace as well as after comfort: Ps. cxix. 5, 'Oh that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!' All the endeavours of a natural man are to go away from God; but when a soul is touched with grace, it can never have enough holiness, and enough grace, and enough communion with God.
[3.] Constant and industrious waiting. Many times God makes the soul wait long; he hath waited long upon us, and therefore he makes us to wait long ere we receive the sensible effects of grace. Therefore this coming to God is described by an industrious and constant waiting; as Benhadad's servants watched the king of Israel for the word 'brother,' 1 Kings xx. 33, so the soul waits upon God for one glimpse of his love. David expresseth this earnest waiting by the waiting of a sentinel or watchman for the dawning of the day: Ps. cxxx. 6, 'My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning; I say, more than they that watch for the morning.' Look, as the weary sentinel that is stiff and wet with the dews of the night waits for the dawning of the morning, when he may be taken off from his charge and duty; so doth the poor soul wait for the first dawning and breaking out of the rays of grace upon the soul. Now this is not only done by a christian at his first conversion, but after coming and renewing his accesses to God by Christ.
Secondly, What it is to 'walk with God?' That is the original expression, from whence this of pleasing God is taken, Gen. v. 22. Now, what is the meaning of that? Some read it, Vacavit Deo - he sequestered himself, to converse with God from the distraction of worldly affairs; others render it, Ambulavit in timore Dei, - he walked in the fear of God; the Targum of Jerusalem, He served, or laboured in the truth before the Lord. Others apply it to public office and service in the church, as if it were proper to those that were employed in the function of the priesthood: certainly in such a restrained sense it is taken, 2 Sam. xxx. 35. But this would be a sense too restrained, especially since it is here explained by the apostle by pleasing God. Therefore it notes any solemn profession of religion, or consecration and dedication to God's service; for I find this phrase applied to persons that were of eminent and great holiness, especially in an evil and corrupt age, as here to Enoch, when men degenerated, and a flood was threatened. So it is applied to Noah - 'Noah was a just man, and perfect in his generation; and Noah walked with God,' Gen. vi. 9, contrary to the corruptions and manners of his age. So it is applied to Levi; when the Lord speaks of the privileges of the house of Levi, he saith, Mal. ii. 6, 'He walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many from iniquity;' that is, he held on God's side against the revolt and rebellion of the other tribes that had gone away after the calves in Dan and Bethel. It noteth a consecration of our lives to God's service, and special communion with him. The metaphor seems to be taken from two friends that agree and resolve to go a long journey, that they will keep the same way and course, as the Lord himself explains his similitude, Amos iii. 3, 'Can two walk together except they be agreed?' In the context God threatens the alienation and estrangement of his presence from them; for, saith God, You and I have gone hand in hand together; but now, if you take different courses, we must needs part: as two travellers, whose journey is not the same, cannot long travel together; so saith God, If you will take that path, I must break off communion with you, and withdraw my presence. Thus you find that he that by solemn vow and agreement with God hath set up his resolution to sequester and consecrate himself to the service of the Lord, is said to walk with God.
Now there are many parallel expressions, that differ only in sound as, walking before God; so saith God to Abraham, Gen. xvii. 1, 'Walk before me, and be thou perfect.' It notes the very same thing. Thus Hezekiah, Isa. xxxviii. 3, 'I have walked before thee with a perfect heart.' The parallel phrases in the new testament are 'walking in Christ,' Col. ii. 6; and 'walking in the truth,' 2 John 4. In the general it notes special strictness and communion with God in the course of our lives; more particularly, I shall show you negatively what it doth not imply; then positively, what it doth imply.
1. Negatively, what it doth not imply.
[1.] Not such a strictness as to abridge ourselves of the holy use of the necessary comforts of this life. I ground this upon that place, Gen. v. 22, 'Enoch walked with God, and begat sons and daughters.' The holy and pure use of the creatures may stand with the strictest rules of profession. There may be a walking with God without monkery, and a sequestration of ourselves from worldly affairs. Enoch had a body as others had, and he needed the refreshment and support of meat, drink, and sleep, and the modest use of conjugal society, and yet walked with God; that is, in all these comforts he enjoyed God.
[2.] It doth not imply such a strictness and exactness as is wholly exempt from infirmities; for we read in scripture that Noah was one that walked with God, yet Noah was overcome with drink, Gen. ix. 21. Alas! in our journey many times carnal affections creep upon us, and bewray themselves by some indecent and impure actions, yet the Lord pardons them out of grace; though he be displeased with our sins, yet he accepts of our company still, accepts of our persons with Christ. On God's part the society and fellowship is not broken off, because they are interested in Christ; and on the believer's part the godly do not break off communion with God, because they recover themselves by repentance; there is a vigilant custody over their ways, but treacherous nature will be tripping now and then, and draw us to inconveniences. Alas! what then? The people of God are restless till they rise again, and recover the sense of God's favour; and when they stumble, they do not lie in the mire of sin, but endeavour to rise and keep on their journey; their constant purpose is to walk in a constant communion with God.
2. Positively, what is walking with God? There are two terms in the scripture; there is 'walking;' and then walking 'with God.'
[1.] Walking, that doth imply a way, and some motion in that way.
(1.) There must be a way. If we walk with God, it must be in his own ways. Now there are several ways of God; there are ways in which God walks to us, as Ps. xxv. 10, 'All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth.' It is meant of the ways of his providence and dispensations to us; they are all stamped with the character of mercy and truth. And then there are ways in which we walk to God, and with God, and those are spoken of: Isa. ii. 3, 'He will teach us his ways.' And what is that way? that is his revealed will in the word. All our steps are but acts of obedience, conformed to the will of God; our whole course is a declining of evil and doing of good. We walk alone when we go out of the broad path and road of duty: Ps. cxxv. 5, 'They that turn aside to crooked ways shall be led forth with the workers of iniquity.' When they are in any crooked deviations of spirit, which are constant and allowed, they are none of those that God will keep company with. God holds communion with us in all his ways. It is a mistake to think our communion with God is only when we are practising duties of the first table, in the exercises of religion; then we do more intimately converse with him in meditation, prayer, and hearing. This is indeed the heaven of a christian; but God holds communion with us also in the necessary duties of our calling - in the shop, as well as in the closet. A man walks with God, it is true, as travellers sometimes may sit down and refresh themselves, but all the day they keep company. That is somewhat like communion with God in ordinances; but all the day we should keep God company. It is the dotage of foolish men to think all the world must be turned into a cloister, or we can have no company with God. We are indeed to sequester ourselves from the distractions of the world, but not from the employment of the world. There must be an even hand, that we may converse with God in worship, and in the duties of our calling: piety must not make us lazy, nor yet frugal diligence profane.
(2.) Walking doth not only imply choice of a way, but motion. In this motion there are two things - diligence and progress. (1.) An active diligence. Speculation doth not make us christians; no, nor a naked profession. We have a race to run; God cannot endure idlers, and those that merely dress up a profession. Deeds speak louder than words in God's ear; therefore there must be much spiritual diligence to prevent what is displeasing to God, and to practise what is acceptable. Treacherous nature is always apt to draw back and fly out, therefore we had need make a solemn covenant with our mind, will, and senses; with our mind, that we may not think evil, and provoke God with our thoughts; and with our wills, that we do not consent to evil; with our senses, that they may not be inlets to a temptation - all must be under the coercion of a severe discipline: Prov. iv. 23, 'Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.' Christianity was never made for idle ones and lazy persons; as a bird in the air must always be moving on the wing, so we must be always in our flight and motion. There must be a constant diligence to guard the heart, to bring it to a serious performance of the duties of religion, and to keep it upright in duty. (2.) A progress. He that walks makes more steps than one; so a christian is in a continual journey, and God is in his company. Now we must make a continual progress. It is said, Ps. lxxxiv. 7, 'They shall go from strength to strength, till they appear before God in Zion.' The original word is, they shall go on from troop to troop; for it is an allusion to the solemn journey to the temple thrice a year. This was their ambition, who should outreach one another. When they had overtaken one troop, they strove to overtake the other troop; so in their solemn journey to heaven they shall gather new strength and courage, till they come to the triumphant church, and appear before God in Zion. A christian in his journey is like a man going up a sandy hill, if he doth not go forward, he goes backward; so we go backward when we do not make effectual progress; or like a man rowing against the tide, if he do not ply the oar, he goes backward - if there be not an effectual progress, there will be a sensible decay.
[2.] I come to show what this term 'with God 'implies.
(1.) The company and presence of God. He must needs be present with us that walks with us. How can God be absent from any? The apostle saith, Acts xvii. 27, 'He is not far from every one of us.' We are not so near to ourselves as God is to us. Who can keep his breath in his body for a moment if God were not there? God is present with us; but the meaning is this, that we must be present with God. Usually, we are at too great a distance in our minds and affections; therefore walking with God implies actual thoughts of his presence; he must be represented as the beholder of all our thoughts, words, and actions. The world is a great theatre, and the spectators are God and angels. I confess we little think of it; there is a fond levity in our minds. As to us, the world is like a hill of ants; you stand by, and they run up and down, and do not think of your presence and being there; so the Lord stands by and observes all our motions, and we run up and down like busy ants, and do not think of God's presence; there is a great hurry and clutter of business, and few thoughts of God. It is a description of carnal men: Ps. lxxxvi. 14, 'They have not set thee before them.' There are some have never any thoughts of God; they have nothing before their eyes but the world and worldly business. As it is storied of the panther, when she is hunted she hides her head, and when she doth not see the hunters, she thinks she is not seen by them; so we do not think of God, and therefore vainly imagine that he doth not think of us. In heaven, indeed a man doth nothing else but think of God; the divine essence is impressed there upon our minds, it is a part of our glory: Ps. xvii. 15, 'When I awake, I shall be satisfied with thy likeness;' we shall endlessly lose ourselves in the contemplation of the divine perfections. Now for the present faith serves instead of vision. God must be acknowledged as present with us, as certainly present as those outward objects with which we do converse, or as a man is whom we see with our bodily eyes. The soul hath its object and its senses as well as the body. There is a commerce between spirits; they see and hear, and converse with one another; so must our souls with God and holy angels. A christian can never be alone; by thoughts his soul converseth with God; they see him whom the world cannot see. We see that according to the different ranks of beings they have different objects: the beasts have eyes and senses to see external objects, and they judge by sight according to the form and outward appearance of things. Men have reason; that is higher than sight. Reason corrects sense in many things; as a star to sense seems but like a spark or spangle, reason can judge it to be greater - as big as the world. Christians have a higher light; they have faith to see him that is altogether invisible. Now this is the great advantage of religion; to see God by us, with us, and in us; nothing makes a man more holy than this. It is said, 3 John 11, 'He that doth evil hath not seen God;' that is, he doth not think of God's presence; he is as if he had no God to see him. Now, because it is impossible in the present life to have perpetual actual thoughts and considerations of God's majesty and goodness, there must be set times to represent the truth and glory of his being to the soul, till at length it be habituated to us; and when it is habituated upon every temptation, there will be actual discourses about his presence, especially when you are tempted to secret sins; as Job speaks of his unclean glances, chap. xxxi. 4, 'Doth he not see my ways, and count all my steps?' When there is an inward impure thought arising in the heart, it will be checked by this, Is not this liable to God's eye? as Joseph, when he was tempted to sin by the advantage of privacy, Gen. xxxix. 9, 'How can I do this wickedness, and sin against God?' Is any place private to God? The majesty of God will always run upon the thoughts, upon every temptation.
(2.) Familiarity. A beggar may be in the presence of a prince, but cannot be said to walk with him, for that noteth a social communion; a servant may be in company with his master, but he waits upon him, doth not walk with him. But now God hath taken all his saints into the honour of his friends; he is ours in covenant; we do not walk with him as with a stranger, at a distance, and with wary reservation, as with another man's God, but with our friend - with our God, with our confederate in Christ, one that is in covenant with us. There is abundance of intimate converse and familiarity between God and believers: 1 John i. 3, 'Truly,' saith the apostle, 'our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.' How? by walking in the light: ver. 7, 'If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, then have we fellowship one with another;' that is, we with God, and God with us, as two friends and companions would walk together. There is the familiarity of discourse. It is not a mute, silent walk, but such as is full of sweet and interchangeable discourses, many sweet dialogues between God and us. Sometimes God, and sometimes we begin the conference; sometimes God speaks to the soul, and the heart answers God. God speaks to us by the injection of holy thoughts, by the motions and actual excitations of his grace: and the soul again speaks to God by prayer, meditation, and pious addresses: Ps. xxvii. 8, 'When thou saidest, Seek ye my face; my heart said, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.' The heart, moved and inspired by the spirit, gives God an answer. Sometimes, again, we begin the conference; we ask counsel of God in doubtful matters, when the soul is engaged with many anxious traverses, and knows not what to do. Now God answers us by the whispers of his Spirit; as the Israelites, Judges i. 1, 'Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites?' In all difficult and uncertain matters they make God their counsellor; and then the Lord leads them by his Spirit, and gives them an answer by casting powerful and overswaying considerations into their minds; as David saith, Ps. xvi. 7, 'My reins instruct me in the night-season.' In the silence of the night, when we are free from the hurry of distractions, then God inwardly speaks to us by our own hearts and by our own consciences, and sometimes we crave his help as well as his counsel. There is not a day passeth but there is some occasion offered to confer with God for christians that mind their work and their souls. Carnal men feel no impulses to prayer; they are not only strangers to God, but to their own souls. God and they are unacquainted, and they and themselves are unacquainted; for if men did not converse (Qu. 'Did converse ? ' - ED.) with themselves, and mind the state of their souls, they would find there are many doubts need to he assailed, many wants to be supplied, many corruptions to be weakened and mortified. But when they leave off conference with themselves, no wonder they are so careless of holding conference and communion with God; when they and themselves are brought together, they will not be quiet till they and God are brought together. David speaks of sevenfold addresses in one day: Ps. cxix. 164, 'Seven times a day do I praise thee.' Oh, what a spirit are they of that can pass whole days and whole weeks and never speak a word to God, never give God a visit! Can these be said to walk with him? Now all our communion and speaking with God does not lie in prayer only; for look, as wants put us upon prayer, so blessings upon praises. The vapours and showers do maintain a mutual commerce between the earth and the air; the earth sends up vapours, and the air sends down showers; so it is here - blessings and praises maintain a mutual communion between God and us; God sends down the shower of blessing, and then we send up the vapour of praise, so that the soul lives in a holy sweet way of communion with him.
(3.) The fear of God. There must be a humble reverence if we keep God company. We are in the presence of the 'great king,' as the prophet calls him, Mal. i. 14; it is his pleasure to hold familiarity with us, but we must never forget our distance; there must be a constant fear and a reverend respect to God. It is a profanation to think of him without reverence, as well as to speak of him without reverence. Our familiarity with God must not be rude and careless, but such as becomes the distance that is between God and us: Micah vi. 8, 'What doth the Lord require of thee, but to walk humbly with thy God?' When we converse with God, we must not forget ourselves; we must remember the distance between infinite purity and a poor spotted creature. The angels and blessed spirits that enjoy the highest way of communion with God, they stand in dread of his presence. Fear is a grace in heaven as well as love; the angels clap their wings and cover their faces, and cry, 'Holy, holy, holy,' &c., Isa. vi. 2, 3. Those immaculate spirits are abashed at the glory of his holiness, and do not only praise, but fear him; for fear is an essential respect that is due from the creature to the godhead. It is true, faith is a grace which suits with our present estate, therefore it vanisheth in heaven, where we have full enjoyment; but fear is a necessary respect of the creature to the supreme majesty; there is a reverent and aweful, but a delightful dread in the angels; they have higher apprehensions of his holiness than we have, therefore reverence him the more. We have but low thoughts of that which is his chiefest glory, his holiness, therefore we do not reverence him as the angels do. Now if the angels are abashed at his presence, despicable dust and ashes have more cause to fear. Why? because we have sin in us, and are not out of danger of punishment. But angels are out of danger of punishments; they do not fear God for his commutative justice, but only reverence him for his holiness; but here we have sin in us, and can never have an absolute assurance of God's favour, therefore we have more cause to stand in dread. We may sadly reflect upon this, because we are guilty of such a negligent security, and we converse with God rather as an idol of our own fancy than a king of glory; there is not a reverent respect upon the soul. Oh, consider, there is practical atheism in irreverence! It is hard to say which is worse, to deny God, or not to fear him; an atheist makes him nothing, and a careless person makes him an idol - Malo de me dici nullum esse Plutarchum, quam malum esse Plutarchum; and in the issue it is all one to deny his being and not to acknowledge his perfection, and to behave ourselves suitably. It is worse to behave ourselves to God as if he were a weak God, than absolutely to deny his being; but, alas! we never tremble but when he thunders, and when God shows himself terrible in some instance of judgment and vengeance. Alas! it is much for us, in our prayers and supplications, to be aweful in our special addresses to God, and yet fear is a grace that is never out of season and exercise: Prov. xxviii. 14, 'Happy is the man that feareth always;' not that perplexeth himself with scruples and terrors - that is a torment, not a blessedness - but that bears a constant reverent respect to God's presence. So again, Prov. xxiii. 17, 'Be thou in the fear of God all the day long.' In secret and in company, in the shop and in the closet thou art still in God's company, and still God is to be feared. But you will say, This is very hard, to keep the soul under an actual awe and trembling, and in the fear of God; therefore there must at least be a habitual awe; that is, a reverent and serious constitution of spirit, so that a man would not do anything that is unseemly in God's sight.
(4.) A care of obedience, or a holy ambition to please God and approve ourselves to him. Now in this pleasing of God there must be
1st. An avoiding of whatever is grievous and displeasing to him. He that seeth God to be always present certainly he will be afraid to displease him; he will be always reasoning and discoursing thus in his soul, How will God like this with whom I am present, and before whom I am? You know the question of Ahasuerus concerning Haman, when he threw himself upon the queen's bed, Esther vii. 8, 'Will he force the queen before my face?' so, should I go about to grieve God before his face? to betray his cause, and comply with his enemies when he looks on? It is impudence to sin before any looker-on, - before a man, or before a child; but this in the presence of the just, powerful, and avenging God. Would a man ease himself, or void his excrements, before a prince? The comparison is not too homely, for this is the type which God gave his ancient church. There was a law, that if they went aside to ease themselves, they should cover their filth with a paddle, 'for the Lord walketh in the midst of the camp,' Deut. xxiii. 12 - 14. God would teach them by this similitude to avoid whatever is unseemly in his presence. There must be constantly manifested a respect to his presence; so Joseph: Gen. xxxix. 9, 'How shall I do this wickedness, and sin against God?' Sin is, on our part, a departure and a going out of God's presence; and as to God, it makes him to break off the journey - 'Can two walk together except they be agreed?' Amos iii. 3. He cannot walk with us, and draw nigh to us, if we turn aside to those crooked paths.
2dly. There must be a constant care of those things God likes of, not only a declining of evil, but a doing of good. Take one disposition that is very pleasing to God. When your hearts are carried out wholly to spiritual things, then God delights to hold company and communion with such. When Solomon desired wisdom, and passed by riches and honour, it is said, 'The thing exceedingly pleased God,' 1 Kings iii. 10; so when the bent and strength of your desires are carried after spiritual blessings, that you may be wise to salvation, the thing is very pleasing to God.
3dly. This pleasing of God implies the uprightness of our aim, that the man is as good as the action. The main intent of the soul must be to please God, as his will must be the rule of your life; so his glory must be the end of your lives: Gen. xvii. 1, 'Walk before me, and be thou perfect.' God can look into the bottom of the heart; he weighs the spirits, and knows what are the inward propensions, the inward inclinations, the proposal we make to ourselves; so Hezekiah: Isa. xxxviii. 3, 'I have walked before thee with a perfect heart.' The heart must be sincere and rightly set, the aim must be to please God; negatively, it must not be to please ourselves, or to gratify the flesh in the conveniences of the present life, in outward profits and delights: Rom. viii. 12, 'We are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.' A man that walks with God must dissolve the natural contract and agreement that is between him and the flesh; we are come under the bond of the new contract to please God. Look, as Jesus Christ, when he came to purchase this communion and this society with God, it is said, Rom. xv. 3, 'He pleased not himself;' so when we come to enjoy this communion, we are not to please ourselves, and so also our aims must not be to please men. He is nothing in christianity that doth not count the judgment of man a small thing, 1 Cor. iv. 3. When we give up ourselves to walk with God, we must remember we are not to seek for the humour of men: 1 Peter iv. 3,' That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh, to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.' Men of sociable, sweet dispositions are loth to displease those with whom they do converse; and so they are mightily prone to carnal compliance. The apostle disclaims this, Gal; i. 10, 'If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Jesus Christ.' The Pharisees were angry when Paul revolted from their confederacy, when he that was their prime instrument turned preacher of the gospel. Company and humouring of men many times is a mighty snare to sordid spirits, but if it be done out of worldliness, it is worse; many men would please God so as they may not infringe their secular interest. Oh, consider, God will never walk with us as long as mammon is in company, when the bent of the heart is set that way: the world is to be our servant, not our fellow. When we walk with God we must have no other companion but God alone. Walking with God is usually a counter-motion to the times. Enoch, and Noah, and Levi, walked contrary to the times; it is an owning of God when others forsake him. But then, affirmatively, the great aim must be pleasing God alone; he is our companion. This must be the aim and scope of our lives, to please God; we must study to please him, and give him content in all things.
Quest. But if you will ask, Whether an actual intention of pleasing God in every good action he always necessary?
Ans. it is very convenient, but not absolutely necessary. A son is careful to please his father, though he doth not always actually think of it: there is a general and habitual intention, though in every act of duty the thought be not continued. Many good actions may proceed from the force of the habitual intention, when the actual intention or thought ceaseth; as an arrow from the aim of the archer, when his eye is taken off from the mark; or rather, a man that journeys to such a place doth not always think of his journey's end; but we should retain it in our thoughts as much as we can, that the heart may be more upright, and for the prevention of evil and carnal reflections: Rom. vii. 21, 'When I would do good, evil is present with me.' in short, a purpose of humouring the world or displeasing God cannot stand with grace.
(5.) A continual dependence upon God and a confidence of his assistance: Gen. xvii. 1, 'Walk before me;' it is different from the phrase of Enoch walking with God; that is, maintain a courage and confidence becoming my presence. A man may trust himself in God's company and defence. They that are always in the king's presence are sure of his favour and defence if they be in distress; God is at hand, and they may cast themselves into the bosom of providence in all dangers and troubles, and wait for the divine help. Usually we torment ourselves with unnecessary cares and fears about the event and success of things: a man that is in God's presence may refer himself to his care and protection. That this is plainly intended in this exposition, is clear by what is said in Acts ii. 25, 'I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for here he is at my right hand, that I should not be moved.' When a man walks with God, whenever he enters into the combat and list, God will be his second, ready to fight for us, in its, and by us. To open that expression, 'He is at my right hand.' When a man is at the right hand of God, that notes honour and glory put upon the creature; but when God is at the right hand of man, that notes help and aid. If the world offers foul play in our christian course, it is in God's presence; our second will come to our rescue. He that walks with God walks safely; when the devil is at our right hand, God is there to check the devil. The way to heaven is a dangerous journey, it lies through a howling wilderness; we shall meet with wolves and bears in the shape of men, and therefore woe be to him that is alone; but now when we have such good company, we may adventure freely, when God himself is our guide and leader.
(6.) Contentation. You must give up yourselves to God's disposal to shorten or lengthen out the journey as he shall see cause; for you walk with God, and follow the Lamb wheresoever he goes; so as, wherever God leads you, you must follow. Heaven is the place of rest, but for the time of our translation we must not be our own carvers. It is good to groan and long for home, but still we must wait God's leisure; it is he that appoints the way and the stages of the journey. It is said of David, Acts xiii. 36, 'After he had served his own generation by the will of God, he fell asleep.' The will of God doth determine how long David was to serve him. We have a wise companion, and he knows the way to glory better than we, and he knows by what methods to bring us to glory. When God hath no further work to do by us, then he will give us our wages: Job xiv. 14, 'All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come;' our time is appointed, therefore we must wait. The walk in paradise is more pleasant than in the garden of the church; but the time of change is appointed; if it comes sooner than we expect, it is no loss; if it comes later, we must he contented. They that walk with God in earth cannot be separated from him in heaven, therefore it is no loss; for if you change place, you shall not change your company; you shall be nearer to him, and have sweeter communion with him, and you shall walk with him in a more glorious way. The heavenly state is described thus, Rev. iii. 4, ' They shall walk with me in white;' that is, in perfect joy and innocency, without sin and without temptation. Our garments here are often defiled, black, and spotted; but there 'they shall walk with me in white.' When we walk with God in the upper garden of paradise, there we shall have the same company in a better way; or, suppose the Lord should leave you to be harassed and worn out with the troubles of the world, if it come later, yet we must wait. The wise God knows when we are fittest for glory, and when glory is fittest for us: Job xiv. 5, 'His days are determined, and the number of his months are with thee; thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;' days and months to a precise time, all are defined by God. We live not at our own pleasure, nor at the pleasure of any creature; therefore though your pilgrimage be prolonged, you must be contented. Consider the precedent, Gen. v. 22, 'Enoch walked with God three hundred years:' he spent three hundred years in communing with God - a long age, and, as matters then went, very degenerate. But consider, the way should not be very tedious when we are in God's company; therefore when in trouble, we must refer ourselves to our guide, and with meekness, quietness, and contentation, we must follow him.
Use, Let me exhort you to come to God, and to walk with him; you have all the encouragement in the world to do both.
1. Come to God. You may come, and you must come; you may come, you ate invited - 'Come to me,' saith Christ, Mat. xi. 28. Though you are poor, guilty sinners, harassed and worn-out with your own fears and dissatisfactions, you may come, and you must come; either you must come to Christ, or lose eternal life: and it is very sweet to come to Christ. All good is in the chiefest good; the nearer we are to God, the nearer to the centre of rest and happiness; therefore every day and in every duty make nearer accesses and approaches to God by Christ.
2. When you are come to God, walk with him. Consider what encouragement you have: God is our companion, the Son is our saviour, and heaven is our patrimony; the way is safe, and the end is glorious. It is a great honour when a great man will take you into his company and walk with you. The Lord hath put this honour upon all his saints, that they shall walk with him in a way of federal communion.
Hebrews
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