May 19

should be the theme, the only theme of preaching; and every minister, faithful to his commission or usefulness, like Paul, should determine not to know any thing, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.—Then we may judge of the happiness of Christians who can realize him in all these glorious blessings as their own; and infer, how resigned, and glad of heart, and thankful, they should always live.—And what says the subject to those who despise or neglect him? What do they lose! What will be their doom! How intolerable! How unavoidable! And yet how righteous!

Let me therefore be wise enough to choose this good part, and seek after an interest in him. If ever I am saved, he must be all my salvation—May he be all my desire. May a union with him be not only my supreme, but immediate concern—knowing that the gracious opportunity afforded me is short and uncertain, and—that I cannot be happy too soon. He who has the Son has life; and is prepared for—every thing!

MAY 19.—“Noah walked with God.”—Genesis 6:9.

THE same thing is testified of Enoch; and will be exemplified in every partaker of divine grace. Two questions may be asked concerning it: the one regards the nature; and the other the excellency, of this walk.

Now as to the former of these, walking with God includes the following things. It supposes that we are on terms of concord and friendship—“How can two walk together, except they be agreed?” Here we see the necessity of a mediator. By the fall we had revolted from God, and our access to him was cut off. But Christ once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us unto God. He made peace by the blood of his cross; and we are accepted in the Beloved. But it is not enough that God is thus reconciled to us; we must also be reconciled to God; reconciled to his nature, to his law, to his gospel, to his government. As sinners we have no sentiments of affection, gratitude, or obedience, towards God, but feel a spirit of enmity against him—How then can we walk with him, till this alienation and aversion be subdued? This change is effected by the Holy Spirit. The love of God is shed abroad in the heart, and then our desire is to his name. What we dreaded to part with before, we then resign with ease: and what was once irksome in the performance, becomes delightful. His commands are not grievous; his yoke is easy, and his ways pleasantness and ease.—It also implies nearness. If you walk with any one, he must be with you. God is not far from any one of us: he is about our path and our bed, and is acquainted with all our ways. And as God is present with us, so we are present with him—“I am continually with thee.” By faith and reflection we bring ourselves consciously under his eye; feel, wherever we are, Hagar’s impression, “Thou God seest me;” and upon every temptation to sin, however secret, say with Job, “Doth not he know my ways, and count all my steps?”—It also takes in communion. We do not walk with God as a madman with his keeper, or a servant behind his master, or as a stranger in the distance of reserve. God is

our father and our friend; and when we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. Many a conference passes between us. Sometimes he begins. He addresses the soul, and the soul replies—"When thou saidst, Seek ye my face, my heart answered, Thy face, Lord, will I seek." At other times we begin. We have much to divulge and much to implore. And we are allowed to deal freely and familiarly with him; yea, we are required in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, to make known our requests unto God.—It also expresses mutual progress in the same direction. When we walk with another we recole, and advance together; we move towards the same place or object. When therefore we walk with God, we pursue the same end with himself. And what is this end, but his own glory? This is his aim in all his works, and in all his dispensations. And the Christian has the same bias and the same movement; and whether he eats or drinks, or whatever he does, he does all to the glory of God. Hence one moral maxim serves as a short and sufficient rule to govern his conduct—He will follow wherever the Lord goes, for he cannot lead him astray: but he will not be found where the Lord refuses to accompany him, or he cannot consistently invite his presence to go with him. Let us pass from the nature to the excellency of this course.

In walking with God there is honour. It is the dignity of man, that he alone, of all creatures in this world, is capable of it: but the Christian only actually enjoys it. In consequence of this, the righteous is more excellent than his neighbour. He is raised up from the dust and the dunghill, and placed, not only among princes, but in company with God himself. How would the poor deem themselves honoured if permitted to walk at liberty with their Sovereign! But such honour have all the saints—They walk with the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords.

In walking with God there is safety. Wo unto us if our adversaries find us away from him, for without him we can do nothing. But what confidence and courage should not his presence inspire? He is not only for me, but with me; he is at my right hand, therefore I shall not be moved. If the enemy assails me, it is in sight of my almighty helper. Yea, if I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for he is with me. When I first fled to him breathless, from a thousand dangers at my heels, he said to me, as David to Ahimelech: "abide with me, for he that seeketh thy life seeketh my life; but with me thou shalt be in safeguard."

There is pleasure in walking with God. For with him is the fountain of life, and in his light we shall see light. If the journey would prove discouraging, our intercourse with him relieves the tediousness of the road, prevents weariness, revives our droopings, and renews our strength. With him we can dispense with things, the loss of which would otherwise destroy all our peace and comfort. When the fig-tree does not blossom, and there is no fruit in the vine, we can rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God of our salvation. In all our personal and relative trials, his presence opens a retreat; and we enter where the wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary are at rest.

There is profit in walking with God. Where is the believer