Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 174, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 July 1914 — Walking With God [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Walking With God

By REV. L. W. COSNELL

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TEXT -"And Enoch walked with God. ud bo was not; for God took htm.’* Genesis SM. ‘ -

The fifth, chapter of Genesis contains a Mat of men who reached remarkable agbs; yet, with one exception, it is written of each of them, "and he died.” This man, who walked with God, end did not die, is one of the most attractive figures In Scripture. He lived amid wicked people.

Enoch’s generation WAS ripening tor the flood, and every ImaglnatUnfj|j|g man’s heart was only dvil continually; yet he “walked with God.” He encourages us to walk thus even under difficult circumstances. Christ said to the church at Pergamos: “I know where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat Is: and thou holdest fast my name and hast not denied my faith.’’ ftoir.. cheering to bear of “saints in Caesar’s household,” and to know that Christ so lived at wicked Nazareth that the Father could say, “This is W beloved Sdn, In whom I am w«ll pleased.” He lived in the twilight of revelation. There was as yet no Bible, yet he “walked with God." How shall he rise up to condemn ns! He was married. Some have thought celibacy necessary to the highest holiness, but Enoch refutes the idea. We actually knew a mother who declared she conld not be a Christian until her children were larger and less exasperating! * But we are told “Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah," and it Is suggested that the coming of this little life Into his was the'beginning of his heavenly conversation. His Walk. He walked by faith (Hebrews 11:5}.' There is no record of him having revelations mqre than we have who slaw "walk by faith." "Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God,” and such a faith is basis enough tor walking with God. He pleased God (Hebrews 11:5). How indifferent this makes us to men’s opinions! "It is a small thing with me that I am judged of men’s judgment." How blessed to know we can bring joy to the heart of God and that we may "walk worthy of the ;Lord unto all pleasing" (CoL 1:10). He warned the wicked. Jude tells us that Enoch prophesied, saying. Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand ,of bis saints, to execute judgment upon aIL Those who walk with God long to bring to him “them that are without" Good men may, like Samuel Rutherford, lack the evangelistic gift, bat they will have the evangelistic heart which made Rutherford 1 It but one soul from An worth Meet me at God's right band. My heaven will be two heavens, j ' In Immanuel's land. He was progressive i i holiness. He walked with God, and pressed toward the mark for the prize. The perfection of Christians on earth Is very Imperfect, and even in heaven we shall still be -walking in white. | His Exit His strange departure proved immortality to be a fact, just as Elijah’s translation later assured Israel and as we are assured by Christ’s resurrection. r~- r Hfs departure was felL Hebrews says that Enoch “was not found," as If they had sought him. He was missed. It is still so when a saint panes. Witness the multitudes that gathered at the funerals of John Wesley and Catherine Booth and Jerry McAuley. He went out in the prime of life. He was taken when 365 years of age, and as compared with others of that day, this was Just the morning of Ufa, corresponding to the age of thirtythree now. We wonder when men are caught away just as their usefulness begins. But surely God does not deal unkindly with Ms friends. "To depart is to be with Christ, which is far better." "Taken away from the evil to come” —this might be written of Enoch and of many another saint His departure was easy. "He was not; for God took him,” or as Hebrews reads, “God had translated him.” The psalmist seems to apply the language of the text to death. Psalm 49:18 tells us, "He will deUver my soul from the power of the grave for he will take me;” and Psalm 73:2-4 reads, “Thou wilt guide me by thy counsel sod afterward take me to glory." As with the translated saint so with the dying, the Father will stoop down to the child who hai Ae«K W«CHHg With Whk and men will say, “He was not; for God took him.” Spurgeon bears witness, after ministering to many feeble saints, that he had not found one to whom dying grace was not given. Moreover, should we be sUve at IN Lord's coming, we shall be translated . - -Iterally as Enoch. iLJWJxS** r iW