Early piety, exemplified in the life and death of Mr. Nathanael Mather, who ...…

Happiness properly lies in the Conjunction of a Thing with such a good as the Appetites and Faculties of that thing are suited unto. Well, Walking with God cannot be without an having of God: God and Man do mutually possess each other in this blessed thing. Now the Soul is in conjunction with such a good as answers all the boundless Cravings of it. The Soul of Man hath placed in it by the Hand of God, a restless raging desire after an Infinite and an Eternal good: Until it find this, it pines, it frets, it is all on a light fire, like the Hart panting after the water-brooks: When it has got this, it is then at ease, and with a wonderful delight it cries out, This is all my Salvation, and all my Desire. Behold then the Happiness of a Walk with God; it hath no less than that vast thing Satisfaction in it. All Men are seeking after satisfaction every day; O but who finds this Pearl of great price? Where is it? The voluptuous Epicure, he thinks with Belshazzar, It is ⟨p. 11⟩to be found in Cups and sensual Relishes: The Covetous Muckworm he thinks with Achan golden Wedges will rive into the bowels of it: The Ambitious Hector he thinks with Haman, An high Chair of state will help a man to reach unto it: And the contemplative Scholar he imagines That it is folded up in the leaves of his Books, which he knows no end of looking into: These are all deceived. In the mean time the Walker with God says, I have found it. Enoch has it. For,

First, A Walk with God brings a Man to the enjoyment of an Infinite good. The Man has God with him now, and one God is enough to supply all our Wants, to relieve all our Woes: It is said in Phil. 4. 19. God shall supply all your Need. When an Immortal Soul has tried all the Objects in the World, it yet gapeth and gaspeth after more, it still cries, Give, Give, after all: But there is enough in one God, enough to feed and fill that Soul, whose Desire is enlarged like Heaven it self. There is Infinite Truth in God, there is Infinite Good in God; he is the God of all Consolation. The Jews have a Fable of their Manna, that whatever a Man had a mind to taste, the Manna still had the taste of that thing: This is to be affirmed of our God; there