nature will be entirely regenerated, the life of man will again be prolonged; a death at the age of a hundred years will be considered the death of a youth; the human frame, though not destined to regain immortality, will receive back its pristine strength; for sin and rapine will cease, and a state very similar to the happiness of Paradise will be restored (Isai. lxv.17-25). Another circumstance compels us to renounce the explanation, that, as those early generations were regarded as more pious and more favoured by God, a longer life was attributed to them. We have shown by several instances, that a long life was, in itself, deemed neither a happiness nor a mark of Divine favour. This might have been a common prejudice and mistake among the Hebrews; but the wise author of the Pentateuch did not share it; he endeavoured to correct it by repeated allusions; it is manifestly disregarded in the long life of the wicked Cain, and the short existence of the pious Abel; and the genealogy of this chapter contains a still more striking instance, which removes every doubt. Enoch walked with God; he was, among all the Sethites before Noah, the most virtuous, the most upright man; he was the especial favourite of God; and he was ordained to leave this earth when he had scarcely completed half the number of years allotted to his less meritorious, less beloved kinsmen. We must, therefore, acquit the Bible of those external notions of happiness which have been too long unjustly imputed to it; it is truc, that "the fear of God increases the days" (Prov. x. 27; Exod. xx. 12); but this prolongation is, in fact, desirable only in so far as it is accompanied with "fear of God": it is

true that "the years of the sinner are shortened"; but this brevity of life is a curse only when it is the effect and punishment of wickedness; longevity with crime is a still greater punishment, whilst paucity of years with virtue may be the lot of those upon whom God would bestow His best and choicest rewards. It may also have been a far-spread prejudice, that a sudden death is a sign of Divine anger, and a fearful visitation (Ps. xxxvii. 36); but this error is combated by the sudden disappearance of the pious and God-favoured Enoch. And both doctrines are expressly enjoined in the Book of Wisdom, with immediate reference to the example of Enoch: "The righteous, even if he dies early, is in peace. For a happy old age is not measured by the number of years, but by a spotless life. Because Enoch loved God, He took him away, for he lived among sinners, lest malice should pervert his mind, or falsehood stain his soul" (iv.7-15). The insertion of the history and destiny of Enoch is, therefore, alone sufficient to destroy the supposition, that the Hebrew historian, in stating those high numbers, merely copied the fabulous traditions of other ancient nations, which ascribe to the earlier and happier generations, among other great blessings and privileges, the high boon of a very extended life. And although Josephus, in the passage above quoted, speaks of persons reported to have lived a thousand years; although Hesiod and Diodorus Siculus, Herodotus and Pliny, have made similar statements; although, according to the Lamaic creed, the first men lived 60,000 years; and although the Indian traditions, those most important analogies for Bib

lical antiquities, speak of four epochs, during which the extent of human life gradually sank from 400 to 100 years (see p. 64): the resemblance of the Hebrew narrative to these legends is merely an external one; the fact is partially retained, but the explanation is completely changed; the highest bliss is, with the Hebrew writer, not worldly enjoyment, but a spiritual life in God; the aim of human existence is perfectly different; not the duration, but the holiness of life is of essential import: time thus becomes a mere vessel, indifferent in itself, and deriving its value only from the contents with which it is filled by the conduct of

man.

And thus we naturally arrive at the only possible explanation of the longevity of the patriarchs; we find ourselves again in the same sphere and circle of notions, into which we were brought by the creation of the six days, by the seduction of the serpent, by the forbidden tree, and the loss of Paradise; we have here, also, a common Oriental, or rather ancient tradition, received by the Hebrew writer, as it would, indeed, have been impossible to ignore or to repudiate it, but ennobled and purified by him, and endowed with a new idea, of the highest moral and practical interest.

We trust, therefore, that it will suffice briefly to allude to the former opinions on this question of patriarchal longevity; namely, that the atmosphere was, in the times before the flood, more salubrious (at present, even under every the most favourable circumstance of climate, health, and mode of life, an age above 200 years is declared by physiologists a physical impossibility); or, that every name represents a whole tribe, and the number comprises all its ramifications; or, that the years mean only months; or, that from Adam to Abraham the year had three months, from Abraham to Joseph eight, and from Joseph's time only twelve months; or, that

several generations have been omitted in our list, and that yet the number of years was attributed to the remaining few. These and several other still more hazardous conjectures are mere inventions without any fact or argument to support them; they either suppose a vast corruption of the Hebrew text merely for the sake of proving a pre-conceived theory; or they force upon the words fictitious significations; or they create even greater difficulties than those which they intend to remove; as, for instance, Enoch would have been taken to heaven with his whole family; or, Cainan would have become a father at the age of six, and Enoch of about five years, supposing the years were months.

21-24. The six generations from Seth to Jared are rapidly passed over; they comprise a period of nearly seven hundred years; during this time, the human family grew in numbers and in sin; in the generation of Seth, the name of God was invoked in prayer (iv. 26); but it was forgotten and profaned in the increase of toil; wickedness and violence began to fill the earth; and piety was a stranger in the turbulence of passion. In such an epoch, and among such men, Enoch was born, "the seventh from Adam." His mind was pure; his spirit rose above the turmoil of worldliness; he delighted in calm communion with God; once more the familiar intercourse between God and man, which had existed in the time of Paradise, was restored; the path commenced by Seth was continued by Enoch; the former addressed God by the medium of the word; the latter approached Him by the still more spiritual medium of thought: the highest form of religious life was gained: but, unfortunately, Enoch alone "walked with God"; his contemporaries were sunk in iniquity and depravation; but the measure of their wickedness was not yet complete: three generations more were required to mature their destruction; and

God, in order to rescue Enoch, took him to Himself, delivering him from the contamination of his time at a comparatively early period of his life. Was this early death a punishment? But the piety of Enoch is repeatedly stated. Was it a misfortune? It was this as little, as the full length of Noah's life; both cases were analogous; in the one, the pious man left the wicked generation; in the other, he was, by a catastrophe, freed from it; and in both instances, the deliverance was miraculous and supernatural, by the immediate agency of God. If this is the clear internal meaning of Enoch's history, who can doubt that he was called away from the earth, not to cease his life abruptly, but to continue it in a better sphere, and in still more perfect virtue? We are convinced, that the "taking away" of Enoch is one of the strongest proofs of the belief in a future state prevailing among the Hebrews; without this belief, the history of Enoch is a perfect mystery, a hieroglyph without a clue, a commencement without an end. If, then, pious men could hope to continue a brighter existence after their transitory sojourn upon earth, the books of the Old Testament are not enveloped in the gloomy clouds of despair; they radiate in the beams of hope; and, if a long life on earth was also gratefully accepted as a high, though not the highest, boon, this may have sprung from the just feeling, that man is born to enjoy and to work, to receive much and to give more; and that he does not deserve the blessing of eternal rest before he has toiled to extend the empire of truth and piety (comp.Sap.iv.7—10).

God "took Enoch," as He "took" Elijah (2 Kings ii. 9), or, "he was translated by faith, that he should not see death, and was not found, because God had translated him" (Hebr. xi. 5). The notion seems to be, that Enoch passed from earth to heaven without the intermediate state of decrepitude and dissolution; he suffered no

bodily infirmity; "his eye grew not dim, nor did his natural strength abate," as it is stated with regard to Moses, who also disappeared so that no mortal knew his grave. For the pious Enoch, death lost its pang and its sting; though the descendant of a sinful race, he was delivered from the real punishment which sin inflicted upon the human family; his existence was uninterrupted; he was undying, as man was originally intended to be; for he passed from this life into a future state, both without fear, and without struggle. God took him as a loving father to His eternal home. The history of Enoch has ever been regarded as embodying profound truths; and, we think, there are few so strongly affecting the very root of religious life as those which we have just briefly indicated. And, as the virtuous are thus translated into heaven, the wicked are devoured alive in the gulf of the earth (Num. xvi.). It is known, that the classical writers also mention such translations into heaven; they assign this distinction among others to Hercules, to Ganymede, and to Romulus. But it was awarded to them either for their valour, or for mere physical beauty, which advantages, though valued among the Hebrews, were not considered by them as sublime or godlike; a pious and religious life alone deserved and obtained the crown of immortal glory. In no single feature can the Scriptures conceal their high spiritual character. However, the idea of a translation to heaven is not limited to the old world; it was familiar to the tribes of Central America; the chronicles of Guatemala record four progenitors of mankind who were suddenly raised to heaven; and the documents add, that those first men came to Guatemala from the other side of the sea, from the east. This is, then, apparently, a rather remarkable connection of the primitive traditions of the most different nations. These chronicles also contain a history of the creation,

which, though replete with pagan elements, and disfigured by more than one grossly extravagant notion, is, at least, a thoughtful attempt at solving the mystery of the genesis of the universe.

Later legends have busily adorned and amplified the history of Enoch; an apocryphal book, probably composed about a hundred years before Christ, and from which St. Jude quotes (vers. 14, 15), was ascribed to him, or rather written under his name; this production collected and arranged all the traditions which the lapse of time had accumulated about that extraordinary man; he foresaw, in a prophetic vision, the destruction of the human race by the deluge; he exhorted his son Methuselah, and all his contemporaries, to reform their evil ways; but he penetrated with his prophetic eye into the remotest future; he delineated the ten periods of the world from Adam down to the time of the Messiah; he explored all the mysteries of the earth and of the heavens; angels guided him, and taught his eager spirit every hidden knowledge, which he revealed to mankind to strengthen it in faith and hope; he explored also the secret working of nature, and the marvels of the celestial orbs, and he deduced therefrom new doctrines regarding the wisdom and grandeur of God; after the birth of his eldest son, he passed a retired life in intercourse with the angels, and in meditation on Divine matters; and, while he had before received revelations in dreams or visions only, like other prophets, he was henceforth in immediate connection with the world of spirits, till he was translated to heaven, in order to reappear in the time of the Messiah, leaving behind him a number of writings on subjects of morality and religious truth. Enoch is, therefore, the great teacher; he is the "scribe," or the "scribe of justice"; he pointed out the way of virtue, both by his word, and his writings; he was the inventor of letters, and the protector of all sciences.

But the legends did not stop here; they developed the old traditions more and more; the Book of Jubilees relates, that he was carried into Paradise, where he writes down the judgment of all men, their wickedness, and eternal punishment; and Rabbinical authors give him, not only the rank of the great scribe of God, but they assert that he promulgated during his life many important laws which he had read in the heavenly books, and which were afterwards embodied in the Law of Moses. Even Arabic writers have treated of Enoch's history; Elmacin ascribes to him a code of laws; and Beidhawi speaks of thirty books which God had sent down to him from heaven.

All these traditions are a proof of the reverence with which the person of Enoch was regarded to the latest times; but not less remarkable than his person is the book which bears his name; it is of peculiar importance; it embodies several of the leading ideas of the New Testament in a most distinct manner, and forms a welcome historical link between the other apocryphal works and the writings of the apostles. The book of Enoch insists, with the earnestness of the old prophets, upon the renewal and restoration of the pure Biblical faith; it combats with equal energy against the corruptions of Rabbinical interpretation, and the inroads of Greek philosophy — against superstition and paganism; the author deduces all his truths from no other source but the written holy books, and rejects traditional exaggerations and embellishments; he gives enthusiastic descriptions of the world of angels; he delineates their respective rank and glory; he introduces men into the abode of these pure spirits, and elevates them to their light, and peace, and wisdom; he furnishes the most copious and most detailed descriptions of the future life in such completeness, that no later time has been able to enlarge them; he gives a clear picture of the Sheol, its

different divisions, and the preliminary judgment there held-of the hell (gehenna), where the wicked are doomed to receive their punishment of the place where the fallen angels and contumacious powers of nature are fettered; he describes, in full outlines, the resurrection of the dead, and the Messianic judgment over the dead and the living. But one of the most remarkable features of the book of Enoch is its very elaborate and clear description of the person and the times of the Messiah. It does not only comprise the scattered allusions of the Old Testament in one grand picture of unspeakable bliss, unalloyed virtue, and unlimited knowledge; it represents the Messiah not only as the King, but the Judge of the world, who has the decision over everything on earth and in heaven; for the Messiah is "the Son of man, who possesses justice, since the God of all spirits has elected him, and since he has conquered all by justice in eternity"; but he is also the "Son of God," the Elected One, the Prince of Justice; he is gifted with that wisdom which knows all secret things; the spirit in all its fulness is poured out on him; his glory lasts to all eternity; he shares the throne of God's majesty; kings and princes will worship him, and invoke his mercy; he pre-existed before all time; "before the sun and the signs were made, and the stars of heaven were created, his name was already proclaimed before the Lord of all spirits"; "before the creation of the world he was elected"; and, although still unknown to the children of the world, he is already revealed to the pious by prophecy, and is praised by the angels in heaven. Even the dogma of the Trinity is implied in the book; it is formed by the Lord of the spirits, the Elected, and the Divine power; they partake both of the name and of the omnipotence of God. The doctrine of incarnation alone was reserved for the New Testament,

as the last completion of the Messianic notions. It is, for the present purpose, unnecessary to enter into the component parts of the book, and to enquire into the age when each was written. On these points, there exists a vast difference of opinion, the discussion of which lies entirely beyond the limits of this volume. But thus much we may observe, as an indisputable fact, that the book of Enoch, in its present form, was composed before the canon of the New Testament; and that its chief portions, at least, were written by a Jew of Palestine, in the Hebrew language, more than a hundred years before the birth of Christ. We may add, with regard to the history of this extraordinary book, that, when it appeared, it was evidently received and read with eager interest; that it was soon translated into Greek, and from this language into the Ethiopian dialect; that not only the later apocryphal writings, as, for instance, the Book of the Jubilees, and the "Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs," but most of the Fathers of the Church, down to the time of Augustin and Jerome, used and quoted it; that, however, from this period, it fell into almost entire oblivion, and was, with the exception of a few fragments of the learned monk Syncellus, at the end of the eighth century, and some allusions in Rabbinical writers, totally forgotten; the manuscript which Augustus Mai deposited in the library of the Vatican remained unnoticed; but the celebrated traveller, James Bruce, brought, in 1773, three copies of the Ethiopian version to Europe; and since this time several translations and valuable commentaries have been published. This remarkable apocryphal production, which, if we are not mistaken, will one day be employed as a most important witness in the history of religious dogmas, deserves the most careful study, and it is accessible to the English reader in the editions of