Belt Valley times., 1926-04-29
Great Personages
of the Bible
By
REV. LEONARD A. BARRETT
Enoch

Lincoln is characterised as a. man OF
unconventional sincerity, a man who
would have died for the truth. In the,
aeld OF literature, Emerson will always
be spoken OF as an. idealist, Robert
Browning as a theist, and Tennyson as
4 delst. In the biography Of the Bible.
Peter is known as the rock apostle.
Paul as a missionary, and John as the
meditative disciple. In the Old Tes-
lament. Moses viii be thought OF pri-
marily as the law, giver. and Joshua
The leader at whose command the sun
vas reported to have stood still. Da-
Eld was the poet, and Solomon the
wise man. The character Of Enoch is
interesting. for the reason that we
know very little about him. Large
portions of history are associated with
he names of other Biblical characters,
out not so OF Enoch. Where he was
porn, who his parents were, what pro-
fession or calling he pursued are un-
known to Us. All we know OF this In
teresting character is told In two SEN
tences: "Enoch walked with God:
and he was not for God took him" Is
the Old Testament statement, and the
following is the New Testament valu-
ntion OF his life: by faith Enoch was
translated that he should not see
death, and was not found, because God
had translated him; for before his
translation he had this testimony, that
he pleased God" These two sentences,
even though a very brief biography,
give us a good deal of information. II
was no easy matter for Eneeh to walk
with God The nation was surrounded
with the pagan practices OF those who
worshiped ldolatrous gods. With an
environment Of this nature II took a
strong conviction of mind and deter
mination of heart to stand firm IN his
belief. In spite of all the aiiurements
OF the surrounding paganism OF his
day, Enoch walked with God. He was,
therefore, a strong man with firm and
nnalterable convictions. He must also
have possessed a character sufficiently
strong and vlrIle to compel him to act
true to those convictions and not pre-
tend to believe one thing and act as
though he secretly believed another.
rhe story is told OF one who while
worshlping in a beautiful temple saw
vision Of the Savior. The worshiper
desired TO remain In the temple and |
continue indefinitely In his expression
OF praise and worship. He remem-
bered. however, thai not very far away /
from the temple beautiful there was
a large number Of people who were
very poor and sorely in need of both
food and shelter. While hesitating
whether to 90 and minister to those
poor people or remain at his wor-
ship In the temple he seemed 70 nave
heard a voice saying to him: Minis
ter TO those IN need. feed the hungry,
clothe the naked. visit those In prison.
He feared to go away from the tenn
pie lest when he returned the vision
OF the Savior would be no longer
there. At last he obeyed the voice
which bade him go. He went like a
good Samaritan and did all he could
10 alleviate the suffering OF those in
need. When he returned to the tenn
pie he was very confident the vision
be had seen would be gone. To his
yreat astonishment he saw the vision
# the Savior even more beautiful
han before. Az he looked at the
vision he remarked: "And you are
TIL here" "Yes." was the reply. "Hadst
hou remained must have gone. be-
.ause thou dldst go have remained"
Enoch was a man who possessed a
leep faith and also a large capacity
or service Otherwise II could never
lave been said Of him that "He
'leased God"
We are also told that he was trans
ated. While we do not know exactly
low this occurred, 1t certainly was a
irect evidence OF Divine favor and In.
icative Of how much God thought OF
i'm.
Did you ever study the epitaphs upon
ombstones7 Some OF them are very
idiculous and some are very serious.
me OF these very ridiculous epitaphs
an be seen In very old cemetery. J
Ipon tombstone is recorded the !
anne of the deceased, the date Of his \
Irth and death, and, according TO the 4
ustom OF many years ago, the cause :
Z his death was also engraved upon
le stone, so that the entire inscription
Fad like this: John Smith born -
led - met his death by having
cen kicked by a mule. Under this
lscription was engraved the words:
Well done thou good and faithful
.rvant.r While some are uninten-
onally very ridiculous, Others are
cry serious and beautiful. But
here can we find the story Of an en-
re life told IN so short and simple
statement. aEnoch walked with
od." Gulzot needed eight volumes Of
10 pages each to write the history OF
rance. Irving found that he needed
70 volumes Of 40 pages each TO write
o biography OF Washington. The
ographIes OF Napoleon and Lincoln
e 20 numerous we cannot even count
EN-. The shortest biography OF
hich we have any record Is the one
out Enoch. The record OF our lives
Ia not likely be written in books Of