ning with the first believer, who "by faith have ob tained a good report:" who still look for that coming of the Saviour which it more immediately predicts as the consummation of their and our redemption; and, in anticipation of it, join in heaven to re-echo the prayer of the Church militant in earth, "That it may please Thee, finally to beat down Satan under our feet." May we hasten the event while with renewed fervency we respond "We beseech Thee to hear us, good Lord." [See Appendix A.] LECTURE II. THE PROPHECY OF ENOCH. ST. JUDE, ver. 14, 15. "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.' IT T was stated in the preceding Lecture that a distinguishing feature of the prophecies of the Redemption, from the beginning, is, that they are occupied rather with its results than with the details of its accomplishment; with the glory of the Redeemer rather than with His humiliation and sufferings; and that, with comparatively slight notice of the interval, they hasten to the END and CRISIS, which is their constant theme, as presenting, with the perfection of salvation, the great object of faith and hope to the redeemed. One example of this has been already given in the first promise, which, it was shown, mainly, though not exclusively, points to His coming in power and judgment-that coming which we have learned to distinguish as His second Advent,-and to the final triumph to be then achieved over the enemy of man. But it is not on a single proof that this character of prophecy and of the scriptural expectation of the Church from the beginning should rest. If true, we will naturally look to have it con-firmed by the prophecies that follow; and accordingly it is not a little remarkable that the next prophecy of the Redeemer's coming, the second on record,—is one of the most unequivocal and exclusive in all the Scriptures in its reference to His glorious appearing; so much so that it is not the proof of this that need engage us, but the additional light thrown prospectively on that event. And here, in restoring this prediction of " Enoch, the seventh from Adam," to its place, it is not thought necessary (even did the occasion permit) to discuss the question whether the Apostle quotes from some record extant at the time; or only adopts a generally received tradition; or speaks by direct revelation: as it is sufficient for our present purpose that it is quoted by him, and thus has the same authenticity as the Epistle in which it is preserved. It may be mentioned, however, as an interesting fact, that it is found nearly in the same words in an apocryphal book entitled ".The Book of Enoch," for a translation of which, from an Ethiopic MS. recently discovered, accompanied by an elaborate dissertation on its history, we are indebted to the late learned Archbishop Lawrence; who infers from internal evidence that it was written a short time before the Christian era |