Enoch's translation.
Heb. xi, 5. By faith Enoch vms translated that he should not see death ; aiid ivas not found, because God had translated him : for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
AMONGST those who obtained a good report through faith, Enoch bears a very distinguished place. He was a prophet, and bore testimony against the abominations which obtained around him, with the utmost possible fidelity. His prophecy, indeed, is preserved to us, as it were, by miracle : for neither Moses, nor any other writer of the Old Testament, makes any mention of it ; nor is it referred to by any of the evangelists, or in the Acts of the Apostles : but Jude, who wrote only one short epistle, records it, and thus throws light upon the " faith" which in my text is ascribed to Enoch : he shews that Enoch had a view of Christ as the Judge of quick and dead, and of the judgment itself as passed in perfect accordance with the character and conduct of every individual of mankind ^
Enoch, though the seventh from Adam in descent, is here introduced immediately after Abel ; in order to shew, that, as in Abel the operatio?is of faith were illustrated, so in Enoch might be seen its reward. Indeed, the translation of Enoch took place very soon after the death of Adam ; that so, whilst God's hatred of sin was manifested in the one, his love of holiness might be displayed in the other.
In considering the translation of Enoch, I shall notice it,
I. As a testimony to him —
Enoch doubtless had received many tokens of God's approbation before —
[To Abel's offering God had borne witness, as being more acceptable to him than that of Cain^. And, no doubt, many
3 Jude, ver. 14, 15. ^ ver. 4.
2319.] Enoch's translation. 379
testimonies of Divine approbation had been vouchsafed to Enoch also. Did Enoch "walk with God=?" No doubt, God also walked witii him " as a Friend'^," " manifesting him- self to him as he did not unto the world '^," and " witnessino;
with his spirit that he was a child of God*^' Indeed,
there is no one who " draws nigh to God, but God will also draw nigh to him^," and "hold sweet fellowship with him^," and " lift up upon him the light of his countenance','' and " shed abroad his love in his heart ^" ]
But, in his translation, such a testimony was borne to his character, as carried conviction with it to the minds of others also —
[A man, by inward tokens of God's approbation, " has the witness of it in himselP :" but here was an expression of it, which carried its own evidence along with it to all who were then living upon earth, and has from that moment stamped the character of Enoch as a most distinguished favourite of heaven. No man was ever thus honoured before ; and only one other person even to the present hour. By this translation to heaven, the sentence of God against sin was reversed : for death was disarmed of its power over this holy man ; and he was borne to heaven, both in body and soul, without ever encountering the agonies or terrors of dissolution. What were the circumstances attendant on his removal, we know not; but, as in the case of Elijah, it must have been witnessed by some one of undoubted credibility ; else the effect of it would have been lost : and, from its being said, that " he was not found," it is evident, that, as in Elijah's case also, a search was made for him, lest he should have been transported to some remote place only, instead of being borne, as they were taught to believe, into the very presence of his God"". But the fact itself, whatever its circumstances were, is a standing proof to the whole world, that this holy man had so walked as to please his God.]