tranflated, that he should not fee Death, and was not found, bceaufe God had tranflated him : for before his Tranflation he had this Teftimony, that he pleafed God. Jofephus * fays, that Enoch went unto God; and therefore the Scriptures make no mention of his Death. The Book of Wisdom fays of him, that he pleased God, and was beloved of him: fo that living amongst Sinners he was tranflated. Chap. iv. 10. And that Enoch did not die, but was tranflated from a mortal to an immortal Life, as Philo explains the Word, was the Senfe of the Greek Tranflators of the Son of Syrach, Ecclus. xliv. 14. and of the ancient Jews in general, as well as of the Apostle and of the primitive Chriftians: And the old Pafchal + Chronicle well explains both the Senfe and Defign of the Account of the Tranflation of Enoch. This Enoch is he, against whom the Denunciation of Death had no power; for he was tranflated by God, that he should not fee Death, as the divine Scripture relates: and allo that in him we might be before inform'd, that Death fhall not (finally) prevail over Men, -This Enoch is be who was tranflated to (another)

"Auw X ἀνεχώρησε, πρὸς τὸ θεῖον· ὅθεν ἐδὲ τελευτὴν αυτό αναγεΓράφασι. Antiq. Jud. lib. 1. c. 3. p. 14. Edit. Havercamp.

+ ατός ἐστιν Ενώχ πρὸς ὃν ἔτε ἡ ἀπόφασις τ8 θανάτε ἐκράτησεν· μετελέθη γὰρ ὑπὸ 18 θεν 18 μὴ ἰδεῖν θάνατον, καθὰ τῇ θείᾳ γραφῇ δοκεῖ· ὅπως καὶ διὰ λέτε προμηνυθῆ ἡμῖν, ὡς ὁ κρατήσει ἐπὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὁ θάνατος—τός ἐστιν Ενωχ ὁ μελελεθεὶς εἰς ζωὴν εἰς δεῖγμα τῆς 18 θεν δυνάμεως ταῖς μετὰ ταῦτα γενεαῖς τῆς δυναμένης διατηρῆσαι τὰς θνητες μὴ ἀποθανεῖν, ἀλλὰ ζῶντας τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον ἀλλαγὴν que P. 44. Edit. 4° Rader.

ther) Life, to shew to future Generations that God by his Power was able to preferve Mortals. from dying; and that they who are alive fhould wait to be changed to a better State.

The Word used by Mofes, for God's taking or tranflating Enoch, is the fame which is used in the Book of the Kings, to exprefs the Tranflation of Elijah, 2 Kings ii. 3. And that Moses meant by the Tranflation of Enoch, or his being taken by God, that he was by the Power of God taken away out of this World, without dying, to a State of immortal Happiness with God, is very evident from the Reason given of his Tranfla tion. For it was, because he walked with God, and pleafed him, by the Purity of his Faith and Worship, and an extraordinary Holiness of Life all his Days; and was an Example of Piety and Righteoufnefs in a corrupt and finful Age, when the Wickedness of Man was great in the Earth, and their Thoughts and their Works were evil, Gen. vi. 5. This is a good reafon for the Tranflation of Enoch out of a wicked World to the Happiness of the heavenly State, before he had liv'd out half the Days of his Forefathers. But if by God's taking Enoch was meant, as fome modern Jewish Rabbis foolishly alledged, that God took away his Life by a fud den Death; and fo, that he was cut off before he arriv'd at the Middle of the Age of Man in thofe Days: this could not be thought to be a Token of his having walked with God; and pleafed him; or to be a Reward of Godliness by thofe who did not believe a future State. On

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the contrary, it must have been thought a Mark of the divine Displeasure, and of his not having walked with God, that his Days and the Happinefs of his prefent Life were so much shorter than the Life both of his Forefathers and Defcendants, when Length of Days and earthly Profperity were esteem'd to be Tokens of the divine Favour. It is therefore certain that God's taking of Enoch was a bodily Tranflation of him to a State of Immortality, as the taking of Elijah into Heaven was: and both Examples were defigned to confirm the Jews in the Belief that all the true Worshippers of the God of Ifrael fhould hereafter live with God, as they did in the heavenly Paradife or Canaan ; and be made immortal both in Body and Soul, as they were. And the Hiftory of Enoch's Tranflation was an Evidence of the Redemption of the Body from Death, agreeably to the Promife made to Adam and Eve; and was a divine Atteftation to Men in that and the following Ages, that the Body as well as the Soul fhould exift in a future State; and this was probably the general Belief of Mankind in the most early Ages of the World, and both before and after the Flood.

That the Immortality of the Soul and a Life to come, was the common received Faith in the Days of Mofes, may appear from Balaam's Wish, (Numb. xxiii. 10.) that he might die the Death of the Righteous: that is, that his Soul after Death might be with the Souls of the Righteous, or that righteous People the Jews, whom God had commanded him to blefs.

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If Balaam had not believ'd a future State, fuch a Wifh would have been vain and infignificant and knowing that God had determined to make the Jews a profperous and powerful Nation, he would rather have withed to have enjoyed their Portion in the prefent Life, than that his Death fhould be like theirs. Therefore we may conclude that Balaam, who was a Prophet amongst the Moabites and Midianites, believed that the Righteous after Death were bleffed and happy; and that this Doctrine prevailed amongst his People.

The frequent Appearance of Angels to the Patriarchs before the Law, and their Miniftration at the Delivery of the Law and afterwards, was a fenfible Evidence to the Jews of another invifible State diftinct from the prefent Life. And the Law itself plainly fheweth that the Jews as well as other Nations did believe the Exiftence and Influence of the Souls of the Dead: and therefore it forbids the Ufe of Divination, and confulting with familiar Spirits, and Necromancy, (Deut. xviii. 10, 11.) Which Prohibition evidently fuppofes that the Doctrine of Divination and Necromancy, which confifted in invoking and confulting Dæmons and the Souls of dead Perfons, prevailed amongst the Jews; and which was a principal Part of the Superftition of the Egyptians, and of that of all other Nations and is a plain Demonstration that the Jews believed a future State equally with other Nations. When Elijah raised the Widow of Zarephath's Son, he prayed to God, faying, O B 2 Lord

Lord my God, let this Child's Soul come into bim again and it is added; that the Soul of the Child came into bim again and he revived, 1 Kings xvii. 21, 22. This fhews that the Jews believed that the Soul at Death did not die with the Body; and that it existed in a separate State, from whence by the Power and Will of God it might return to the Body again.

That the Faith of the Hebrew Patriarchs, and thofe alfo who lived before the Flood, had refpect to a future and eternal Life, is proved at large by St. Paul in the eleventh Chapter of his Epiftle to the Hebrews. This he proves from the Nature of divine Faith itself.

Faith (fays the Apostle) is the Substance of Things hoped for, the Evidence of Things not feen; that is, of Things future and invifible. y. 1.

By this Faith Abel offer'd to God a more excellent Sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained Witness that he was righteous, God teftifying [his Acceptance] of his Gifts: and by it he being dead yet fpeaketh, . 4. that is, declareth that God is the Rewarder of those who believe in him, tho' they are dead.

By this Faith Enoch was tranflated, that he fhould not fee Death, and was not found (on Earth) becaufe God hadtranflated him [into Hea ven] for before his Tranflation he had this Teftimony, that he pleafed God, ver. 5. But without Faith (he adds, ver. 6.) it is imposible to please bim: for he that cometh to God must believe that