"He pleased God."
This is to win the highest prize of life. Not only because God is
highest and noblest of beings, but also because His pleasure
presupposes great moral and spiritual qualities, and unfolds itself in
blessings of untold preciousness both in this life and that which is to
come. The pleasure of the Lord is graduated to the intrinsic beauty or
value possessed by the object which draws it out. It was manifested
when the great creation stood in finished order before Him, and He
pronounced it "only good." But of a higher kind is that pleasure said
to be taken by Him in His only-begotten Son, in His people, and in His
Church. Over these He rejoices with singing, as He rests in His love.
Of such pleasure Enoch was the recipient, and it was bestowed upon him
in a most signal and unique manner. Two especial qualities are
indispensable to those with whom God is pleased. One is
faith--"_Without faith it is impossible to please God_" (Heb. xi. 6).
The other is uprightness--"_I know also, my God, that Thou hast
pleasure in uprightness_" (1 Chron. xxix. 17). The former grace is the
superlative and distinguishing feature of the people of God. It is
indeed the foundation quality on which all others rest, and from which
they spring. It is the broad separating act which marks the difference
between the saint and the sinner. Without it man is in opposition to
God. The Divine displeasure rests upon him, because absence of faith
means want of confidence and want of sympathy. The unbeliever
distrusts God, and has no fellow-feeling with Him or His ways.
There is no more offensive feeling that can be shown by one being
towards another than distrust. It irritates our sensibility; it arrays
in opposition all the resentment of our nature. It is the parent of
gloom, dissatisfaction, pessimism, and rebellion. It writes discontent
on the brow, and bitterness on the heart. It is the fruitful parent of
all ill in human nature. But faith pleases God. It draws the human
and Divine into loving association. It leads the human to look to the
Divine for counsel, to lean upon Him for help, to refer all things to
His decision, to wait on Him for guidance in every step and enterprise
in life. The faith of the patriarchs seems to have been characterised
by entire simplicity and childlikeness. As manifested by Enoch, Noah,
and Abraham, all of whom had the pleasure of the Lord resting on them
in a pre-eminent degree, there was no stumbling or hesitancy. Some of
them had their faith severely tried, but it came forth from the test
victorious, as "gold tried in the fire." Therefore, if the command of
God was hard, faith led to obedience; if the mystery of life was deep,
faith drew them close to the Father; if the sense of sin and guilt was
strong, faith never failed, but led them to look for the promised
Redeemer, and they rejoiced to see His day and were glad.
Faith is said to be difficult to exercise in this day of bustle,
excitement, and pressure. The differences between this day and Enoch's
day are merely accidental and not essential. There were the same
inducements and temptations to evil then as now. There were scoffers
and cavillers then as now. The doubting spirit in our first parents
and in Cain was felt in all; but there was also the strong and manly
faith which resisted the sin of doubt, which looked from the seen to
the unseen, from the temporal to the eternal, from sin and folly to
God, and which established itself firmly on His promise of unchangeable
love. Therefore Enoch "pleased God." Faith presupposes reverence,
love, obedience, and man never pays a higher tribute to another than to
trust him implicitly and for all in all. Such faith God accepts and
delights in. Such faith builds a noble character and a lofty life.