author of Ecclesiasticus, chap. xliv. 16. tells us, that Enoch pleased God, and was translated, being an example of repentance to future generations. What God did to Enoch was exemplary, and taught all future generations what they might expect from God, if they walked with him as Enoch did. So that the translation of Enoch to heaven was a seal and confirmation of the doctrine of a life to come, which he had preached to men while he was here on earth.

St. Paul seems plainly to confirm all that bath been said in his Epistle to Titus, chap. i. 2. where he tells us that eternal life was promised by God that cannot lie, πрò xpóvwv aiwvíwr, that is, (not before the foundation of the world, as our translators render itd, for there were then no men to whom such promise might be made, but) before ancient times, as the words will bear, or from the beginning of the world. This promise was made to Adam in paradise; this promise was renewed to mankind presently after the fall; it was believed by Adam and his sons; it was preached, published, yea and exemplified by Enoch. By the faith of this promise, the patriarchs did and suffered great things, as the divine author of the Epistle to the Hebrews excellently reasons, chap. xi. This promise continued in force under the law, and was not made of no effect by it; and this same promise is now most fully revealed, ratified, established, and confirmed to us by the Gospel of Christ.

In a word, the doctrine of a future life and judgment continued inviolate and unquestioned among d [This is a mistake: our translation has " before the world "began."]

the Jews till after their return from the captivity. After which time (exactly how soon, or how long after, seems to me uncertain) there arose the heresy of the Sadducees, who believed neither the immortality of the soul, nor the resurrection of the body, nor the judgment to come. But concerning these Josephus observes, that " though they were generally rich "and great men," (their principles leading them to mind and seek after the riches and honours of this world,)" yet they were very few in number, com"pared to the rest of the Jews." And accordingly we read, that when our blessed Lord had refuted their wicked doctrine out of the Pentateuch, or books of Moses, which they themselves acknowledged, the multitude, as adhering to the old catholic faith, applauded his discourse, Matt. xxii. 33. The same Josephus also tells us, " that when any of "the Sadducees were admitted to offices of public "trust and government, they were forced to dissem"ble their faith, or rather infidelity, and to subscribe "to the received doctrine of the church of the Jews, "because otherwise the people would by no means "have endured them."

I shall only by the way farther add, what divers Hebrew writers of good note have related as a certain and known truth, that several of that impious sect, being gotten into the pontifical office, when they were about to enter the sanctuary, were, like Nadab and Abihu, smitten by the hand of God, a flame of fire issuing forth from between the cherubims, that covered the ark, and destroying them upon the spot. A just and suitable judgment upon

e Antiq. Judaicæ, XVIII. 2.

those profane wretches, who durst approach that type of heaven, whilst in their hearts they derided the antitype, believing no other heaven but what is here on earth, and scoffing at the resurrection and future judgment, without the belief whereof, there can be no serious and hearty worship or service of God.

And thus, I hope, I have sufficiently cleared and confirmed my first observation from the text, that good men, under the Law or Old Testament, looked beyond this present vain and transitory life, and believed and hoped for an everlasting happiness in the life to come.

Now this discourse serves to confirm the truth of the Christian religion, and our belief of it. The great promise of the Gospel is of a happy life hereafter to them that live virtuously here. That this promise is not delusory, no new fiction, or vain suggestion of Christ and his apostles, is sufficiently evident from the suffrage of the church of God before our Saviour's time, and from the beginning. We may say of this promise of a future life, as St. John doth of the evangelical precept of love, that it is a new commandment, and yet no new one, but an old one, delivered from the beginning; 1 John ii. the 7th and following verses. So this promise of a future happiness to the righteous, the chief part of that good tidings which the Gospel brings us, is a new promise, and yet not new, but an old one. New it is in respect of its clearer discovery and fuller confirmation by Christ; and yet not new, because this promise was given from the beginning, and good men in the church of God had always the same: kind of hope that we have. In the church of God,

did I say? Nay, there is no people so barbarous but have had some notion of a life to come, this divine revelation being delivered from the beginning, preserved till the flood, and after the dispersion of the sons of Noah, conveyed by them to the several nations descending from them; though the doctrine (as all things intrusted to mere tradition used to be) was corrupted in the conveyance.

When therefore we Christians deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, out of an hope to be rewarded in a state remaining after this life, we venture in the same bottom that all good men of all nations have done before us. But God be thanked, if this notion had never been heard of in the world before our Saviour's coming, yet he alone hath brought with him such an assurance of it, that there remains no place of doubting to any reasonable and unprejudiced person; even by his own most glorious resurrection and ascension, abundantly attested to us, by the constant sufferings of the many eyewitnesses thereof, upon the account of that very testimony; and by very many unparalleled miracles wrought by them and their successors a long time after them; whereby indeed the whole Gospel of Christ is clearly evidenced. I conclude this with St. Paul's exhortation, 1 Cor. xv. 58. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

And so I pass to the other observation from my text, which I shall despatch in a word or two, and so conclude.

2. That a serious consideration of the vanity and

shortness of this present life, and all the enjoyments thereof, is an effectual means to bring us to God, and to make us fix our hopes on him and things eternal.

For thus it wrought with David here, who after he had considered the vanity of this world in these words, As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. The wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more; he presently directs his thoughts to heaven in the following words, But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him.

If therefore we would have our hearts brought off to God, and the serious pursuit of eternal things, let us daily study the vanity of this world. Study it, did I say? There seems little need of study, or deep search into this matter. This is a thing that thrusts itself upon our thoughts, so that we must think of it, unless we thrust it from us.

This lesson of the world's vanity, divine Providence doth press and inculcate on us, and as it were beat into us. We daily see the vicissitudes of human affairs. We continually hear of the losses, troubles, or calamities of friends or strangers. Yea, ever and anon some cross accident or other befalls ourselves, to let us know, that our happiness lies not here. We are daily accosted with spectacles of mortality, and, as our church expresseth it," in the midst of life "we are in death." Alas! that in the midst of so many remembrancers wherewith Providence hath surrounded us, we should, with the monarch in story, need another monitor to tell us every day, "Re"member that thou art mortal!" And yet this is our