ately after the fall, carried on further, and built higher, than it had been before.

VI. The next thing I notice, is the eminently holy life of Enoch, who, we have reason to think, was a saint of greater eminence than any that had been before him; so that in this respect the work of redemption was carried on to a still greater height. With respect to its effect in the visible church in general, we observed above, that it was carried higher in the days of Enos than ever before. Probably Enoch was one of the saints of that harvest; for he lived, all the days that he did live on earth, in the days of Enos. And with respect to the degree to which this work was carried in the soul of a particular person, it was raised to a greater height in Enoch than ever before. His soul, built on Christ, was built up in holiness to a greater height than any preceding him. He was a wonderful instance of Christ's redemption and of the efficacy of his grace.

VII. In Enoch's time, God more expressly revealed the coming of Christ than he had before done. Jude, ver. 14, 15. "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them, of their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." This prophecy does not seem to be confined to any particular coming of Christ; but it has respect in general to Christ's coming in his kingdom. and is fulfilled in a degree in both his first and second coming; and indeed in every remarkable

manifestation Christ has made of himself in the world, for the saving of his people and the destruction of his enemies. It is very parallel in this respect with many other prophecies of the Old Testament; and, in particular, with that great prophecy of Christ's coming in his kingdom, whence the Jews principally took their notion of the kingdom of heaven. Daniel, 7 : 10. “A fiery stream issued, and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened." And ver. 13, 14. "I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." And though it is not unlikely that Enoch might have a more immediate respect in this prophecy, to the approaching destruction of the old world by the flood, which was a remarkable resemblance of Christ's destruction of all his enemies at his second coming, yet it doubtless looked beyond the type to the antitype.

And as this prophecy of Christ's coming is more express than any preceding it; so it is an instance of the increase of that gospel light which began to dawn presently after the fall.

And here, by the way, I would observe, that the increase of gospel light, and the progress of the work of redemption, as it respects the church in

general, from its erection to the end of the world, is very similar to the progress of the same work, and the same light, in a particular soul, from the time of its conversion till perfected and crowned in glory. Sometimes the light shines brighter, and at other times more obscurely; sometimes grace prevails, at other times it seems to languish for a great while together; now corruption prevails, and then grace revives again. But in general grace is growing: from its commencement till perfected in glory, the kingdom of Christ is building up in the soul. So it is with the great work of redemption generally, as it is carried on from its first beginning till it is perfected at the end of the world.

VIII. The next remarkable thing in carrying on this work, was the translation of Enoch into heaven. "And Enoch walked with God, and he was not; for God took him." Gen. 5 24. Moses, in giving an account of the genealogy of those that were of the line of Noah, does not say concerning Enoch, he lived so long and he died, as he does of the rest: but, "he was not, for God took him :" he translated him; in body and soul carried him to heaven without dying, as it is explained, Heb. 11: 5. " By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death." By this wonderful work of God the work of redemption was carried to a greater height, in several respects, than it had been before.

When showing what were the great things God intended in the work of redemption, I mentioned among others, the perfect restoration of the ruins of the fall, with respect to the elect, both in soul and body. This translation of Enoch was the first instance of restoration with respect to the body. There

had been many instances of restoring the soul of man by Christ's redemption, but none of redeeming and actually saving the body, till now. At the end of the world, all the bodies of the saints shall actually be redeemed; those that shall be dead, by a resurrection; and others, that shall then be living, by causing them to undergo a glorious change. A number of the bodies of saints were raised and glorified at the resurrection of Christ; and before that there was an instance of a body glorified in Elijah. But the first instance of all was this of Enoch.

By this the work of redemption was carried on still further; as thereby God afforded a great increase of gospel light to the church, a clearer manifestation of a future state, and of the glorious reward of the saints in heaven. We are told, 2 Tim. 1: 10, "That life and immortality are brought to light by the Gospel." What was said in the Old Testament of a future state, is very obscure, in comparison with the more full, plain, and abundant revelation of it in the New. But yet, even in those early days, the church of God, in this instance, was favored with an evidence of it set before their eyes, in that one of their brethren was actually taken up to heaven without dying; which we have reason to think the church of God knew then, as they afterwards knew Elijah's translation. And as this was a clearer manifestation of a future state than the church had enjoyed before, so it was a pledge or earnest of that future glorification of all the saints which God intended through the redemption of Jesus Christ.

IX. The next thing I observe, was the upholding of the church of God in that family from which Christ was to proceed, during that great and gene

ral defection which preceded the flood. The church of God, in all probability, was small, in comparison with the rest of the world, from the time that mankind began to multiply; or from the time (Gen. 4: 16) "when Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod; which, being interpreted, is the land of banishment. The church seems to have been continued chiefly in the posterity of Seth; for this was the seed that God appointed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. But we cannot reasonably suppose that Seth's posterity were one fiftieth part of the world; for Adam was one hundred and thirty years old when Seth was born. But Cain, who seems to have been the leader of those that were not of the church, was Adam's eldest child, and probably was born soon after the fall, which doubtless was soon after Adam's creation; so that there was time for Cain to have many sons before Seth was born; besides many other children that probably Adam and Eve had before this time, agreeably to God's blessing, "Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth;" and many of these children might have children. The history of Cain before Seth was born, seems to imply that there were great numbers of men on the earth. Gen. 4: 14, 15. "Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth: and from thy face shall I be hid, and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth: and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.

And the Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him." And all who existed when Seth was born, must be supposed to stand in