of the earth, shall awake, and arise, and be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and to be for ever with him. They shall not be found in the ruins of a burning world, because God shall have translated them to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for them. This is but the completion of that great work begun in them by the Spirit of God in this life, renewing and transforming their souls by hearty repentance, lively faith, and fervent charity; by prayer, and fasting, and almsdeeds; by holy mourning, and pious meditation; by reading, hearing, and communicating, thus training them up by the means of grace to the hope of glory; delivering them, as the apostle phrases it, from the power of darkness, and translating them into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins". Blessed and holy is he who hath part in this first translation from sin to righteousness, the sure pledge and earnest of 'the second from dust to glory. Thus have we the Christian life, and the glorious reward that is to crown it, set before us in those few, but significant words ENOCH WALKED WITH GOD, AND WAS TRANSLATED. m Col. ii. 14. 138 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE LIFE OF NOAH. 1. His Name. No sooner was there a son born to Lamech, but he gave him the name of Noah, a word involving in it the ideas of rest and consolation, at the same time assigning the reason in a prophecy relating to himThis same shall comfort us concerning our work, and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath curseda. The great object of the wishes and hopes of the faithful in the ancient church ever was the removal of that curse brought by sin upon the earth, the destruction and dissolution of which it effected in the days of Noah. He was ordained to be the restorer of mankind, the head and father of the new world, when it should arise out of the ruins of the old. And this seems to have been the accomplishment of Lamech's prediction, viz. the removal of that dreadful effect of the curse upon the a Gen. v. 29. ground, and the restoration of the human race, but more especially of the holy line, from whence was to spring, in the fulness of time, the desire of all nations, and the hope of all the ends of the earth'. Vain, without him, were all merely human comforts and comforters, because they could not reach to the saving of the soul. This great salvation, exclusive of which every other was but a temporary reprieve, the date of which must expire, and the original sentence take place, they could only prefigure and shadow forth, until the seed should come, to whom the promise was made, and in whom alone it could be fulfilled. Of the blessed Jesus may it be said emphatically, and in every sense of the words ;-This same shall comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands. And thus he declares himself the accomplisher of this and all other the like prophecies, to as many as would receive and acknowledge him, and follow his directions-Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you, and give you rest: rest from sin, by forgiving it; rest from sorrow, by the joy consequent thereupon; rest from toil and trouble, by a holy and happy death: Blessed, saith the Spirit, from henceforth are the dead which die in the Lord; for they rest from their labours: their bodies repose in peace, and their souls are entered into that rest which remaineth for the people of God. However the curse might be partially and for a time removed by the subsiding of the b Hag. ii. 7. c Ps. lxv. 5. d Gal. iii. 19. Heb. iv. 9. e Matt. xi. 28. flood, it shall not be finally taken off, until the overflowings of ungodliness are chased away for ever, and the new heavens and new earth arise, Phænixlike, from the ashes of the old. There righteousness shall establish her everlasting throne; and as there will be no more sin, so St. John assures us, there will be no more curse. Whatever, therefore, be our lot in this world, however hard the curse, with its consequences, may for the present bear upon us, let us be of good courage, continually saying within our. selves of Jesus, what Lamech said of Noah-This same shall comfort us. 2. The Times in which he lived. In order to form a right judgement of the character of Noah, it is necessary to take a view of the times in which he lived, virtue never appearing to so great advantage, as when seen in company with the diffi. culties it has to combat. These, in the case before us, were as many and as great as the wickedness of man could make them, which was now at its utmost degree of exaltation, and called for that dreadful manifestation of divine vengeance, the universal deluge. When men multiplied upon the earth, sins multiplied in proportion. A multitude soon grows ungovernable, licentious, and luxurious. 3. Sensuality of the Antediluvians. It is remarkable that our Lord, speaking of this generation, chiefly insists upon their carnality or world h Rev. xxii. 3. ly-mindedness, as the door at which all other abominations entered. In the days of Noah, says he, they were eating and drinking, marrying and given in marriage1; thereby intimating to us, that when we see a people wholly immersed in the cares of the world and the pleasures of sense, regardless of that heavenly country to which they are travelling, it is a sure sign of approaching destruction. So was it in the days of Noah; so was it in the days of Lot; and so shall it be in the days of the Son of Man. How certainly then may we know that it is the last time, and that the judge standeth before the door! Let every reader of this examine the state of his own heart in this particular, and take heed lest at any time it be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day, the day either of particular or general judgement, come upon him unawares. 4. Inter-marriages of Believers with Infidels. Another thing which contributed not a little to disseminate corruption through the antediluvian world, and to hasten its destruction, was the practice of inter-marrying, which obtained between the believing race of Seth, called in Scripture, the sons of God, and the infidel progeny of Cain, styled the daughters of men. The sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair; so their mother saw the forbidden fruit, that it also was fair. Both saw, and both fell by seeing. The eyes are the windows, at which, when |