The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-05-18


yet been able to excel them. The modern stu
dents. so far from exeelling them are only too
glad TO go back to this dawn of worlds history
TO gain their highest models in sculpture and
art. If these elements OF gorgeous civilization
were possessed by the immediate descendants of
the flood, who shall deny that the antedi!uyians
were acquainted with themg Nay, we may
rather believe that the antediluvian period was
furnished with facilities for ministering to the
physical and material conditions Of life that far
surpassed those of any later age. Civilization
was not such complicated and hard grinding
machine rs it is. That portion of the earth
was luxuriant in productiveness; means OF OBJ
tanning livelihood were easy and the popuia-
ton was not oyer-crowded Nature, therefore,
served to make the earthly life of the antedilu-
VANS exceedingly attractive, and this world a
very pleasant to live in. Assocating these
destinations with the fact Of the great longevity
| of the race, there every temptation to re-
| gard this life the all important one to dull
| the edge of any interest in life beyond it, and
| to tempt men to every excess OF bodily indul-
| genee.
Yet Enoch passed through ali this maze of
| fascination, declaring that he was only pilgrim
| and stranger, and amid IS al declared plainly
| that he sought country beyond, inspired by the
conviction that it better country, and worth
| the self denial which walk with God rendered
| necessary When, therefore, brethren, we are
tempted In our eagerness Tor wealth. and honor
| and ease to turn aside from the paths of piety,
let remember that our stay here is very Short
and that it is not given to many of us to realize
even the pleasures of worldly life. And alas how
shall we speak of that infatuation which leads
men to barter their chances of heaven, for the
| mess of earthly pottage which, if obtained, can
only be ours for brief season. and meanwhile
is more or less embittered by the alloy Of labor
care, anxiety and disappointment.
Again, Enoch maintained his walk with God
without the encouraging support of that cloud of
| testimony which We are surrounded with lie
was pioneer in the spiritual life, and we have
| been enabled to look back on the long category
Of heroes who, through faith, have wrought
wonders, braved perils, mastered temptations
and gained the prize. Above all, it is our priv
ilege to look unto Jesus, the grand eXemplar OF
life of faith.
Moreover, it is ours to walk in the clearer
light of the Christian dispensation, a dispense
ton in which the holy spirit is vouensafed to u.s.
In which every avenue of knowledge serves to
confirm the truth of an atoning and risen Christ
and to verify the Christian hope.
We are told that as testimonial of Gods
pleasure in Enoch He translated him that he
should not see death. 1t IS needless to specu-
late upon the way in which this translation was
effected. 1t is enough that we understand that
Enoch was exempted from the law of mortality,
that his body did not become corpse, and that
IN the entity Of his essential humanity he was
| transported from this earth into the immediate
presence of God, where there is fulness of JOY
and pleasures forevermore. Enoch was the first
OF the earthborn who ever entered into the per-
fected condition of immortal bleSsedness. The
scriptures appear to teach that the condition of
the departed saints under the antediluvian and
subsequent dispensations, was incomplete, and
would continue SO until their deiyerance at the
resurrection of the Son of God. The two ex-
captions were each instances OF translation,
Enoch in the Antediluvian age, and Elijah in the
Prophetic age So that Enoch was the pioneer
into the realms of glory, sort of first fruit
of the great harvest Of a redeemed humanity.
All, with what hallelujah shouts must the
angels have welcomed within the heavenly gates
this first arrival of the earthbern, this first
trophy of redemption, this first phase and type
of the glorious destiny to which the redeemed of
Christ were destined to attain.
And doubtless the translation of Enoch was
not without its sensation to the jewellers on
earth Though it was said that he was not
found. we not to suppose that his exodus
was unknown and unnoticed, for then his trans
laton would have been withoutits testamentarv
value Rather. we may believe that he was
taken I'D out of their sight in the presence of
multitude of witnesses PERHAPS it was at time
of one of the gatherings of the people for this,
an occasion of special amusement. 1t may have
been one of their gala days Of riot and excess.
Some spectacular feast day, with its music, its
shows, ks dances, its dramas, its prize fights,
it's races, was in progress, when this man of God
appeared on the scene, proclaming in thunder
tones the judgments Of Gods upon their folly
and their worldliness But, while the smile of
increduty, and the sheer of contempt, and the
jeer of rdcule are forming their responses to
to his appeals, 10! strange scene is transpiring
and al are hnshed into silence The heavens
became luminous with a brightness that ecipseS
the light Of the sun. The music of our angelic
choir breaks on their ears, and the chariot of
fire comes whistling around the sides of the sky,
when 10, the man of God is TRANSPORTED before
Them and slowly rising mid air ascends
toward the clouds. he passes out of sight, and
the spectacle Of the angel host is seen no more.
Dazed for moment, they are awed into silence,
but soon the philosophy of scepticism accounts
for the scene as an illusion or a trick. They
expect as we do, when an aeronaut ascends In a
L., &c H.
tant point, either dead or alive. They make
inquiries, they search for his body but he was
not found, for God had translated him.
Now the question arises, What practical
lessons did this translation of Enoch teach his
antediiuvian contemporaries
l. 1t must have been practical proof to
them that Enoch was especial object of the
Divine favor. At that time early death was
longevity a proof of the favor of the
gods. An early death was looked upon as a
judgment-a punishment. Death was esteemed
as deprivation, and if Enoch had died at a
comparatively early period of his life it would
have served no admonitory purpose. Rather it
would have excited their jeers They would
have exclaimed, why did not the God that |
Enoeh preached and worshiped prolong his lfel
Why permit him to die so young" And so the |
early death of Enoch would have confirmed \
them in their skepticsm and encouraged them |
in their sensuality. They would have argued |
that piety is unfavorable to length of days. and 4
worldlness was help to old age. In short, if 1
they believed in the gods, they would have said |
that the piety of Enech was no recommendation |
to their favor, and If they were atheists they |
would have concluded that religious life was |
contrary to the laws of nature Il
But1ae fact that Enoch was translated, and |
did not see death, served to demonstrate that in |
some way Enoch was favorite with the higher j
power whatever that might be. To that god 4
less sensual age it must have been a sign there |
was something higher than nature, and that |
that something was personal God and that to |
him life such as Enoch led was deemed wor |
thy of special and signal display of His high re-
gard
Again, the translation of Enoch was, to say the |
least, pregnant suggestion of the tact of i'm |
mortality, or life beyond the present. In that |
age the environments We're strongly materialistic
Men lived to a great age. Their intellectual