(2.) Constant, abiding reverence of God will help the soul in this universal resignation, and humbling of itself. Now, this reverence of God is an awful spiritual regard of the majesty of God, as he is pleased to concern himself in us, and in our walking before him, on the account of his holiness, greatness, omniscience, omnipresence, and the like. So Heb. xii. 28, 29 ; Ps. lxxxix. 7, viii. 9.
Now, this reverence of God ariseth from three things, as is evi- dent from the description of it :—
[1.] The infinite excellenc}* and majesty of God and his great name. This is the apostle's motive, Heb. xii. 29, iv. 13. So Deut. xxviii. 58. The excellency of God in itself, is not only such as makes wicked men and hypocrites to tremble, whenever the thoughts
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of it seize on them, Isa. xxxiii. 14, but also it hath filled the saints themselves with dread and terror, Hab. iii. 16*. Nor is there any bearing the rays of his excellency, but as they are shadowed in Christ, by whom we have boldness to approach unto him.
[2.] The infinite, inconceivable distance wherein we stand from him. Thence is that direction of the wise man to a due regard of God at all times, Eccles. v. 2 : He is in heaven, whence he manifests his glorious excellency in a poor worm creeping on the mire and clay of the earth. So did Abraham, Gen. xviii. 27. What an inconceiv- able distance is there between the glorious majesty of God, and a little dust which the wind blows away and it is gone !
[3.] That this inconceivably glorious God is pleased, of his own grace, to condescend to concern himself in us poor worms, and our services, which he stands in no need of, Isa. lvii. 15. His eye is upon us, — his heart is towards us. This makes David break into that ad- miration, 1 Chron. xvii. 1 6 ; and should do so to us.
Now, what are the advantages of keeping alive a reverence of God in our hearts ; how many ways it effectually conduces to enable us to humble our souls to the law of his grace and providence ; what an issue it will put to all the reasonings of our hearts to the contrary, — I cannot stay to declare. And the improvement of these two graces, faith and reverence, is all that I shall at present recommend unto you for the end and purpose under consideration.
But I come, in the next place, to that part of this whole discourse which was at first principally intended.
SERMON IX.
We have at large considered the nature of this duty.
III. Let us now proceed to prove the proposition at first laid clown, and shut up the whole; viz., —
Humble walking with God is the great duty and most valuable concernment of believers.
" What doth the Lord thy God require of thee?" This is suffi- ciently asserted in the words of the text itself, which being so em- phatically proposed, stand not in need of any farther confirmation by testimony; but because this is a business the Scripture doth much abound in, I shall subjoin a single proof upon each part of the pro- position,— that it is both our great duty and most valuable concern- ment.
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For the former, take that parallel place of Deut. x. 12, 13. That which is summarily expressed in my text by walking humbly with God, is here more at large described, with the same preface, " What doth the Lord thy God require of thee?" It gives us both the root and fruit; the root, in fear and love; the fruit, in walking in God's ways and keeping his commandments. The perfection of both is, to fear and love the Lord with all the heart and all the soul, and to walk in all his ways. This is the great thing that God requires of professors.
A place of the same importance, as to the excellency of this con- cernment of believers, which is the second consideration of it, you have in the answer of the scribe, commended by our Saviour, Mark xii. 33 ; as if he should say, in these days, " This is better than all your preaching, all your hearing, all your private meetings, all your confer- ences, all your fastings." Whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices were then the instituted worship of God, appointed by him, and acceptable to him, as are the things which I now repeated. But all these out- ward things may be counterfeited, — hypocrites may perform the out- ward work of them, as they then offered sacrifice ; but walking humbly with God cannot : nor are they, in the best of men, of any value, but as they are parts and fruits of humble walking. If in and under the performance of them there be, as there may be, a proud, uimiortified heart, — not subdued to the law of the Spirit of life,- — not humbled in all things to walk with God ; both they and their performance are abhorred of God. So that, though these things ought to be done, yet our great concernment lies, as to the main, in humble walking : " Only let your conversation be as becometh the gospel."