The Character and Translation of Enoch 5

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Gentleness and meekness were also conspicuous traits in his character, and yet he was manly as well as saintly, and could be firm when inflexibility was required, and as some would perhaps say, almost to a fault. And what was that larger branch of his Christian character from whence his meekness, gentleness, and simplicity shot forth? His profound humility. With the conscious dignity of an heir of God and a joint heir with Christ, which every believer ought to carry about with him in order to raise his deportment to the elevation of his relationship, he united such a deep sense of unworthiness and imperfection as gave a visible manifestation of unaffected humility to his character, which showed how well he had remembered those words of his Master, "Learn of me, for I am meek and humble in heart."

In his conduct, as a man, there was no Pharisaic spiritual pride, and in his bearing as a minister of religion, no artificial religious demeanor, no official importance, nor jealousy for his pastoral rights. He was a brother among brothers when with other ministers, and claimed no deference from the youngest of them on account of his age.

He did not pass through life without his trials, and if under them he ever evinced the smallest lack of magnanimity or forbearance, let that be set down to the sharpness and unexpectedness of them. It was permitted by God that one dark cloud should rise in the evening of his life and throw its shadows on his closing scenes; but that, if it never passed entirely away, became so attenuated as not materially to obstruct the rays of the sun of prosperity which through so long a course had shone so brightly upon him. He lived, if not to rejoice in the event, yet to acquiesce in it, as that which had happened for the furtherance of the gospel. To the credit of all parties concerned, it must be stated that this division has issued in as much harmony between the two congregations as could be expected in this world of imperfection, a result, which, under God's blessing, is to be traced up to the prudent and peaceable disposition of our venerable friend, and the truly fraternal affection of the two younger ministers. In reference to whom, I would say with something of paternal regard, may the God of love and peace abundantly bless them both, and may the two churches be connected more and more closely in the bonds of Christian love.

But by this time I can imagine I hear his own voice speaking to me in almost reproving tones from the excellent glory, and saying, "Enough, more than enough. If there was anything in me as a man or a Christian worth mentioning or imitating, remind them of your text at my jubilee, and tell them that I now more intelligently and emphatically repeat it than I did then—by the grace of God I was what I was, and what I am; and have a far clearer view and deeper sense of my many faults and failings than I ever had then!"

In ordinary cases the minister who performs the office which I am now discharging, would have to disclose the holy and glorious secrets of the saint's dying chamber, to echo the closing testimony of the departing pastor, and to bring messages of affection and solemn warning from lips that had been vocal for Christ to the verge of life. This is denied to me. Upon those lips from which you would have fondly desired to hear some utterances of a love faithful unto death, the hand of God suddenly affixed the seal of silence. I have nothing to say—but that "Enoch walked with God—and God took him." I must refer you to his holy life for instruction—and to his sudden death for solemn warning. And surely the testimony borne for God, so consistently and so perseveringly, might suffice for all the purposes of ministerial instruction without the closing sermon delivered from the bed of death. And yet do we not all feel a kind of regret, that after such a life as that of our departed friend, we have not been favored with a deathbed scene which would have been in beautiful harmony with all that went before, and served as a graceful finish of his holy career? What would he not have said to us of the love of Christ; of the power, grace, and faithfulness of God? How he would have charged all who approached his bed of sickness and his scene of death—to serve the Lord, and to be earnest in the salvation of their souls. How clear, and emphatic, and solemn, would have been his testimony to those truths which it had been the delight of his life to preach. We do feel a pensive wish (forgive it, O God, if it is sinful), that instead of the sudden extinction of the luminary, and our looking up with astonishment at the heavens from which it had so unexpectedly disappeared, we had been permitted to watch the slowly setting sun, and to have stood in the mild soft radiance, which, on its late summer's evening, it would have thrown over the landscape from which it was retiring in majesty and glory.

And yet how befitting himself was his death. Did he not love his Master's work? Yes—and the Master loved the workman, and so well pleased was he with his workmanship that he kept him at his labors to the last moment of conscious existence. Death found him at his post. He was no deserter to ministerial obligations. He asked for no early discharge. He wanted no dignified leisure, no premature obsolescence. Some, no doubt, hang on upon the church too long, and not only terminate their own usefulness before God ends their lives—but hinder the usefulness of a younger man who might more than fill their place. He might sometimes have sighed for repose as some others do—but he gallantly said to the Captain of his salvation, "I hold my post until discharged by you." And in what work was he employed when he fell? As an aged veteran in the cause of Protestantism, he was buckling on his armor to fight its battles. If, as a believer, he died at the foot of the cross; as a Protestant, he died at the shrine of Luther.

And then the very place of his death was remarkable. How striking that, though a dissenter, he should breathe out his unsectarian, catholic spirit in the house of a clergyman of the Church of England; and that his last converse upon earth should have been with another clergyman of the same communion. Bigots of all denominations, there may be nothing in this to excite your admiration; you have no eye for the beautiful, nor for the lovely—but it will appear something beautiful in the eyes of the sons and daughters of Christian charity. Will not that excellent clergyman feel as if a new sanctity had been given to his dwelling by its having been made the place of ascension to glory for one of God's servants? Will he not feel as if the departed spirit sometimes visited the room to converse with its possessor, and to commune with him on the subject of that love which made them one on earth, and which will unite them in everlasting bonds in heaven.

What remains—but that I express my sympathy, first of all, with that now solitary representative of his family whom your late pastor has left in the midst of you, and who, under the deep sorrow of her desolation, will ever be soothed with the recollection, that it was her lot to be the light of her father's dwelling, and not only the companion—but the comforter, of his old age. May the God of the orphan, and the father of the fatherless be with her. It will be her sorrowful delight never to hear her venerable parent's name repeated—but with affection, respect, and gratitude.

Next I offer my condolence to you, my much esteemed friend and brother now left with the unshared weight of the pastorate of this church. The elder prophet has ascended, and the younger is left alone, exclaiming in surprise, in grief, and in lamentation, "My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof!" and inquiring with a mixture of hope and fear, "Where is the Lord God of Elijah?" May the mantle of your glorified colleague be found by you, and with a double portion of his spirit, may you enter on the undivided labors of the ministry in this place, for which you have been well prepared by the beautiful example of your venerable friend, and the wise counsels which it has been your privilege to receive from him.*

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