ENOCH; OR, THE YOUNG MAN'S

WALK.

"Enoch walked with God."--Gen. v. 24.

THERE is often a striking adaptation in the names of persons whose history is recorded in God's word to their characters; the allpresiding mind of God seems to have influenced their parents in naming them. Enoch signifies instructed, or dedicated, and he was evidently taught of God, and consecrated to God. The Holy Spirit gave him a correct view of himself and the world, and revealed the glorious and gracious character of Jehovah to him. He knew God, he felt the need of God, he had faith in God, and, therefore he "walked with God." He was dedicated to God, not by any outward ordinance, but by the inward consecration of the Holy Spi rit, and other consecration is of little account except it be preceded by this.

"Enoch walked with God," then he was quickened by the Holy Spirit of God, for there is no fellowship between the living God and dead sinners. He was made alive unto God by the secret working and invincible power of the blessed Spirit.

We must be

born again, we must be generated anew, before we are capacitated to walk with God. Without this change we are neither capable of perceiving, desiring, or enjoying the society of the Most High. "Enoch walked

with God," then he was reconciled to God; for "how can two walk together except they be agreed?" But God and the sinner in his natural state, are not agreed upon any one point. Man is God's enemy. Hatred against God lurks and works in his heart. His carnal mind is enmity against God, and until this be changed and renewed, he cannot, he will not, walk with God. Nothing could be so irksome to him. There is nothing he dislikes so much as God's company, and the further from God the better pleased he is. Until God is seen in Jesus, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, until God is beheld as 66 gracious, merciful, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,"-until the love of God shines forth before the soul, and it perceives that God is love, there is no reconciliation, for only love will subdue our enmity and change the bias of our minds. "Enoch walked with God,"-then he was like-minded with God. If we walk together, we must be going the same road, and if we walk comfortably together, we must admire the same objects, sympathize with the same subjects, and have, to a certain extent, the same tastes. Godliness is godlikeness, and before Enoch

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could walk with God, he must have been a godly man, renewed in the spirit of his mind, and changed into the divine image and likeness. Sinners and God are going in opposite directions, aiming at opposite objects, and seeking opposite ends; so that is impossible for an unconverted sinner to walk with God, enjoy God, or arrive where God unfolds his glories, and feasts his saints. Enoch walked with God," then he became familiar with God. If we walk together long, and converse together freely, we shall be sure to become intimate; especially if our tastes, pursuits, and objects agree. The secret of true happiness is, being familiar with God. Rising every day, and feeling God is with me; communicating every desire, fear, hope and sorrow to him; going through the day as having God at our right hand, and lying down at night as under the shadow of his wing. So that it becomes natural to turn to God upon all occasions, to consult him, to confer with him, and to seek his approbation,

to turn everything into prayer or praise. We cannot walk closely with God without becoming familiar with God, and familiarity with God will extract the sting from our troubles, the poison from our fears, and the bitterness from death, Oh, to be growing familiar with God! "Enoch walked with God," then he was happy in the company of God. He had no wish to exchange it for the company of any of his creatures. As we walk by

the Lord's side, dive into the Lord's mind, become assimilated to the Lord's likeness, realize the Lord's smile, and enjoy the Lord's approbation, we become happy in the Lord's company. And if at any time we miss his presence, or lose the savour of his fellowship, we are something like the restless patriarch, who cried, "Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat; I would spread my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments." "Enoch walkwith God," then he daily aimed to please God. It is impossible to walk with God, but as we realize that it is our duty to please him, and to aim at this habitually. The man who walks as Enoch did, will ask, in reference to his motives, plans, pursuits, objects, society, and aims," Will this please God?" If he perceives that anything is likely to please him, he will encourage it; if not, he will discard it. No wonder that some of us know so little of the blessedness of close walking with God, when we are so little concerned to please him; and no wonder that we so seldom seek to please him, seeing we live and walk at such a distance from him. "Enoch walked with God," then he lived, moved, and acted as under the eye of God. This is a most holy principle, to do everything that we do in the world, in the family, and in the church, as immediately under the eye of God. look up in the midst of every action, and whisper, "Thou God seest me. Oh, to live

To

under this impression increasingly from day to day!

Here, then, is an example for young people, especially young men. Enoch was but young when he began to walk with God; but he pursued that course for more than three hundred years. Nor did he leave the world, or the family, or retire to some mountain or cave, to do it; no he did so in active life, as a man, a father, and a member of God's church. Enoch, my young friends, speaks to you. He says, "Seek divine teachings." It was because he was taught of God, and deeply taught, that he became so exemplary, so familiar with God, so pleasant in the sight of God, that at last he was translated, that he should not see death, and was not, for God took him home to be for ever with himself, without the pain or experience of dying. He says, also, "Dedicate yourself to his service." Enoch was dedicated to God; first his person, and then all that he had. Neither himself nor his property were common, all was the Lord's. He gave himself unreservedly to God, he consecrated all he had to the service of God, and he kept close to the Lord's side all through his wilderness' journey. He says, "Believe the divine testimony, that God is love." This lay at the root of his holiness, and was the source of his exemplary conduct. Had he not believed that God was love, he had never chosen his company, or become familiar with him in his daily walk.