Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

as Eve said, "God has appointed me another seed instead of Abel whom Cain slew." In these words our mother Eve shows her faith in the first promise, that, "her seed should bruise the serpent's head." She looked for the promise through Abel, and not through the wicked Cain; and seeing him slain for his faith, she received Seth in the faith that God through him would fulfil all that she expected through the righteous Abel. Her confidence was not vain: for the only lineage of Messiah on earth, in fact or in form, is found in the line of Seth.

Olympas. What, Henry, did I tell you means the name of Seth?

Henry. "THE APPOINTED."

Olympas. The name itself, then, indicates what was in the mind and expectation of Eve. This was the person appointed to fill up the promise which she had expected through Abel. Repeat, William, the names of the sons of Adam and Eve in this line down to the flood, as given in this chapter.

William. Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Euoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah.

Olympas. What came of the other descendants of these families? For example, had Seth no son but Enos, and Enos no son but Cainan ? &c.

William. It is not only presumable, but certain that they had. But as you told us, the Bible is formed on the plan of giving the history of only one family from Adam to Jesus of Nazareth; and only so much of every other family is given as is necessary to present this one fairly before us.

Olympas. Very true; Cain's family all perished

in the deluge, as did all Seth's offspring save Noah and his family. We have, therefore, only the ancestry of our Lord through ten generations in this chapter. How old, James, was Adam

when Seth was born?

James. One hundred and thirty years. Olympas. How old, Susan, was Adam when he died?

Susan. Nine hundred and thirty.

Olympas. Who of all the antediluvians attained the greatest age?

James. Methuselah lived to be nine hundred and sixty-nine.

Olympas. Tell me, Reuben, in what year of the world did he die?

Reuben. He died in the year 1656, just before the flood.

Olympas. He must then have lived a long time contemporary with Adam, and no doubt often conversed with the father of all mankind. Explain to us, Reuben, how long Methuselah may have conversed with Adam?

Reuben. Seth was born in the year of Adam 130; Enos, in the year 235; Cainan, in the year 325; Mahalaleel, in the year 395; Jared, in the year 460; Enoch, in the year 632; and Methuselah, in the year 687; which sum taken from nine hundred and thirty, the whole age of Adam, leaves two hundred and forty-three years in which they lived and may have conversed together. This may again be shown by subtracting nine hundred and sixty-nine from 1656; that is, the whole life of Methuselah from the whole period before the flood, which leaves 687 for the nativity

of Methuselah two hundred and forty-three years before the death of Adam.

Olympas. So then all the experience of Adam was communicated to Noah and his three sons by one person. For if Noah was five hundred years old at the deluge, and Shem ninety-eight, as we are informed, then the entire history of all time reached Shem, Ham, and Japhet by one person; corroborated, indeed, by innumerable vouchers. For when we say one person, we do not mean one witness; but that one person only was necessary, because he that for two hundred and forty-three years talked with Adam, talked with Noah five hundred years; with Shem, ninetyeight; with Ham, one hundred; and with Japheth, at least one hundred and two years. But he conversed with many others of his own ancestors and descendants besides these, and they with one another; so that the true faith and true history of all time were most carefully and safely kept to the deluge by a few chosen spirits. Who, Susan, was the father of Methuselah?

Susan. Enoch, who was translated.

Olympas. What mean you by translation, James?

James. To be translated is to be carried from one world or place to another. Enoch did not die, but his body was carried up into heaven.

Olympus. Can you, Edward, name any allusion to this subject in the New Testament explanatory of it?

Edward. Paul says to the Hebrews, chap. xi., "By faith Enoch was translated that he might not see death; and was not found, because God

had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony that he pleased God."

Olympas. This translation of Enoch is a truly grand and important event, and must be well understood by you all. He was taken up into heaven, body, soul, and spirit, without sickness or death, as you understand it, Edward?

[ocr errors]

Edward. I suppose he was changed some way before he entered heaven; inasmuch as Paul says, 'Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God neither doth corruption inherit incorruption."-Enoch, then, must have been changed in a moment, as will be all that are alive at the coming of the Lord. "They shall be caught up into the clouds," as Enoch was translated to heaven without the sensation of death.

Olympas. The translation of Enoch is a whole volume in itself. It was a gospel and a revelation of a future and happy life to those who had honesty and capacity to consider it well. It must have been a soul-absorbing and thrilling question, Whither went Enoch? Do you think, Edward, there was any search made for him?

Edward. They certainly made search for him, as it is affirmed that "he was not found." Had they not looked for him, they could not have said this.

Olympas. Do you, Edward, remember a similar search for a Prophet that was lost?

Edward. It is said, I believe, that they searched three days for Elijah after God had taken him up in a whirlwind into heaven.

Olympas. True: and the spirit, or wind, from the Lord "suddenly caught away Phillip" the

Evangelist; but "he was found at Azotus." Enoch was not found, because God had translated him. But you have not told us, Edward, how the translation of Enoch demonstrated a future and a happy life.

Edward. The character that was translated imports future happiness: for if "walking with God" and being "perfect" are the ways of blessedness, surely one pre-eminent in these, snatched away from earth to heaven, fully indicates a state of blessedness consequent upon removal from these coasts of mortality.

Olympas. Be it granted, then I ask at what time did this event transpire-before or after the death of Seth, Abel's substitute?

Edward. Before the death of Seth. Enoch was born in the year of Adam 987, and died in the year of the world 987, fifty-five years before Seth died; for all the days of Seth, born in the year 130, were nine hundred and twelve years.

Olympas. This is the point to which I have been leading your attention. The translation of Enoch happened so early as that all the sons of Adam in our Lord's ancestry had the advantage of it. On the sacred page, so far as the written document goes, the first man that left this world was slain-the second died-the third was translated. Murder, death, and translation follow close in the succession of history, if not in actual fact-in these three good men, Abel, Adam, and Enoch?

Olympas. What, Reuben, was the profession or calling of Enoch?

Reuben. Enoch was a prophet and a saint.

« ZurückWeiter »