be appropriately applied to Enoch under this head of the discourse. Describing the character of a tribe under the name of its founder, it is said of him," he walked with me in peace and equity." Here is a beautiful connexion, you perceive, between pardon and righteousness. He walked with God, not only in "peace," but in "equity;"-not only on the footing of friendship, as pardoned and reconciled; but on the footing of obedience, as one who felt the obligation to imitate and resemble him. And thus it was with Enoch. He "walked in all the commandments of God blameless;" he aimed at exhibiting in his habits and his history, so far as infirmity permitted, the reality of that "idea" of excellence, which his intellect had acquired, by imbibing the conceptions of God on character and duty.

4. A fourth and last idea included in the figure, is that of progressive attainment and continued perseverance. The phraseology refers not merely to activity, but to activity that leads onwards. Enoch, like all the other patriarchs, was a pilgrim and a stranger; - he was seeking another and a more congenial country; he had a journey to perform before. he could behold or enter it;-and in that journey he made perpetual advances, by the constant putting forth of his own personal exertion.

And he was not "weary in well-doing;"- the way might at times appear long, or monotonous, or painful, or perplexed, — but he persevered, because it was the only way in which he could be favoured with a Divine associate. In frequent and affectionate intercourse with superior excellence we catch something of its spirit, and naturally learn to resemble what we love; and thus, in walking with God, Enoch received such impressions of purity, and was so strongly attracted towards infinite perfection, as to be led onward from attainment to attainment, and from glory to glory. Every day, as it closed upon his character, saw it in some respect improved,saw some folly repressed, - some temptation resisted, -some virtue increased in its effulgence, some new idea added to his knowledge, or some quickened impulse given to his piety. The character of Enoch, like that of every other man, arose from first elements and infantile excellence, and had to proceed through all the degrees of progressive advancement, before it arrived at its "perfect strength." But then it never stood still. He did not dissipate, in a gust of passion, what he had just gained by painful acquisitions; he did not laboriously form his plans, and then become careless and slothful, as if they could realize themselves; - he did not neglect one part of

character, from exclusive devotion to another;but, fixing a high aim, and exercising universal solicitude, he proceeded in his course "like the light of the morning, which shines more and more unto the perfect day."

Such, my brethren, is a rapid sketch of the character and life of this great and distinguished man. Such as we have described, were the elements and the expressions of his devotion and his virtue;-such the qualities, which Jehovah honoured with signal approbation. God beheld, as it were, his own image, impressed upon one of the minds which he had made, but standing almost alone in the midst of a

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perverse and crooked generation;" he put forth the hand which had adorned his servant with the "beauties of holiness," and, in one moment, removed such pre-eminent perfection from the earth;-removed it to a higher and holier world, to meet with kindred excellence and to mingle with congenial society.

SERMON IV.

THE FAITH OF ENOCH.

HEB. XI. 5, 6.

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. But without faith it is impossible to please him.

PROCEEDING With the train of observation which we prescribed to ourselves in the preceding discourse, we propose, as our first object in this, to show how faith was illustrated and displayed in the life of Enoch.

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Enoch, before his translation, had this testimony, that he pleased God;" "but without faith it is impossible to please him;" therefore, all that constituted the excellence of Enoch, was the result of this principle. In his “walking with God," he exemplified the New Testament representation, "we walk by faith and not

by sight." To be satisfied of this satisfied that "faith" formed the source of his activity and zeal, it may be proper to refer to the apostle's definition of it, as already described, and to apply it, in one or other of its senses, to each of the virtues attributed to the patriarch.

"Faith is the perfect persuasion of things not seen, and the confident expectation of things hoped for." "It is the repose of the intellect, and the repose of the affections." All the statements of scripture, concerning the future or the past, all its doctrines, respecting the Object of worship and the method of mercy,—are facts— "things not seen"-the admission of which, on the authority of God, originates what we term the repose of the intellect. That is to say, the human understanding, either searching into subjects which it cannot comprehend, or oppressed by inquiries and doubts which it cannot satisfy, takes the statements of God just as it finds them, and emerges from ignorance and anxiety to knowledge and rest. Then, the same authority that has said that such things are, is seen also to have promised that certain other things shall be faithfulness becomes now associated with wisdom; God is not only believed "to be," but to be "a rewarder of them that diligently seek him;" his moral character inspires perfect dependence; the agitations of fear subside; a