The Project Gutenberg eBook, Men of the Bible; Some Lesser-Known Characters, by George Milligan, J. G. Greenhough, Alfred Rowland, Walter F. Adeney, J. Morgan Gibbon, H. Elvet Lewis, D. Rowlands, and W. J. Townsend

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Title: Men of the Bible; Some Lesser-Known Characters

Author: George Milligan, J. G. Greenhough, Alfred Rowland, Walter F.
Adeney, J. Morgan Gibbon, H. Elvet Lewis, D. Rowlands, and W. J. Townsend

Release Date: October 25, 2004 [eBook #13860]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEN OF THE BIBLE; SOME LESSER-KNOWN CHARACTERS***

E-text prepared by Al Haines

MEN OF THE BIBLE; SOME LESSER-KNOWN CHARACTERS

by

GEORGE MILLIGAN, D.D. J. G. GREENHOUGH, M.A. ALFRED ROWLAND, D.D., LL.B. PRINCIPAL WALTER F. ADENEY, D.D. J. MORGAN GIBBON. H. ELVET LEWIS. PRINCIPAL D. ROWLANDS, B.A. W. J. TOWNSEND, D.D.

1904

CONTENTS

  1. ENOCH
     By W. J. TOWNSEND, D.D.

  2. ELDAD AND MEDAD
     By ALFRED ROWLAND, D.D., LL.B.

  3. BARZILLAI
     By GEORGE MILLIGAN, D.D.

  4. ADONIJAH
     By ALFRED ROWLAND, D.D., LL.B.

  5. HIRAM
     By W. J. TOWNSEND, D.D.

  6. JEROBOAM
     By ALFRED ROWLAND, D.D., LL.B.

  7. ASA
     By ALFRED ROWLAND, D.D., LL.B.

  8. AHAZIAH
     By J. G. GREENHOUGH, M.A.

  9. GEHAZI
     By J. MORGAN GIBBON

 10. HAZAEL
     By J. G. GREENHOUGH, M.A.

 11. MANASSEH
     By J. G. GREENHOUGH, M.A.

 12. AMAZIAH
     By J. G. GREENHOUGH, M.A.

 13. JABEZ
     By J. G. GREENHOUGH, M.A.

 14. SIMEON
     By H. ELVET LEWIS

 15. PONTIUS PILATE
     By Principal WALTER F. ADENEY, D.D.

 16. BARABBAS
     By J. G. GREENHOUGH, M.A.

 17. JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA
     By ALFRED ROWLAND, D.D., LL.B.

 18. PHILIP, THE EVANGELIST
     By GEORGE MILLIGAN, D.D.

 19. ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA
     By GEORGE MILLIGAN, D.D.

 20. DEMAS
     By Principal D. ROWLANDS, B.A.

ENOCH, THE DEATHLESS

BY REV. W. J. TOWNSEND, D.D.

Enoch was the bright particular star of the patriarchal epoch. His record is short, but eloquent. It is crowded into a few words, but every word, when placed under examination, expands indefinitely. Every virtue may be read into them; every eulogium possible to a human character shines from them. He was a devout man, a fearless preacher of righteousness, an intimate friend of God, and the only man of his dispensation who did not see death. He sheds a lustre on the antediluvian age, and he shines still as an example to all generations of steady and lofty piety.

It is difficult to realise the exact environment of the early patriarchs. Human society was then in its making. There were giants in those days, both physically and intellectually. They lived long, and unfolded a vigorous manhood, by which civilisation was developed in every direction. Some of them, also, were tenderly responsive to supernatural influences, and thus rose to a spiritual stature which enables them to bulk largely in sacred history.

The guiding lines of Enoch's biography are clear though few. "He walked with God"; "he pleased God"; "he was translated that he should not see death." These are the pregnant remnants of his history, from which we may construct a character and career of striking eminence.

I.

"He walked with God."

Therefore he knew God. The articles of his creed were not many, but he was fixed on this foundation-truth of all religion. Further than this, he knew God as taking a living interest in His creatures, as one who could be approached by them in prayer and communion, and who was sympathetically responsive to their needs. He somehow knew God, also, as being righteous and holy, and he must have had a rudimentary idea of the Christ, as it unfolded itself in the great promise of a deliverer from evil made to our first parents in Paradise. However scanty in number were the articles of his creed, they were not scanty in results. They produced a great life and a great name. The results were that "he walked with God." Walking is the habitual exercise of a man's life. A man runs sometimes. Under great strain, or the demand of special circumstances, he runs, but finds that exhaustion follows; or if he runs too frequently, total collapse is the inevitable consequence. Two of the most eminent ministers of our times recently died owing to overstrain and over-exertion. But we have some now living who have done signal service for the Church during a ministry of fifty years, and who are still hale and having a green old age. To walk at a steady pace, fulfilling life's responsibilities and the demands of duty, is to fulfil the will of God and serve our generation. This rule refers to man's religious and spiritual life. To walk onward and upward in the highest things is to grow in excellence and grace.

As man is a social being, he must walk with someone in life. Perpetual solitude dries up the springs of existence, and true manhood is shrivelled up. Solitary confinement is the saddest and cruellest punishment that can be inflicted by man on his fellow. The prisoner in the Bastille, when his reason reeled through prolonged silence and loneliness, was saved from mental collapse by the friendship of a rat; and a similar story is told of an English prisoner, who, under similar circumstances, found solace in the company of a pigeon. Man craves for fellowship and friendship. Happiest is he who has the noblest companion. God alone fills the deep craving of the heart for a congenial and helpful presence, and Enoch "walked with God." The words imply regular, unbroken, well-sustained communion with Him. With a sublime and lofty aspiration Enoch had risen above shadows, idols, and pretences, and with simple, manly faith had grasped the unseen substance and reality, the personal God, the Father of us all.

This "walking with God" may be fairly inferred to have been carried out in all the affairs of life. The statement has no exceptions in it. Other saints have their failings and sins recorded with an admirable candour, but we are left to conclude that this was a saint of pure life and character. In tending his flocks and herds, in carrying out the barter of the markets in the early world, in commanding his children and ordering his household, in preaching righteousness and foretelling judgment, the great law of his life was here, "walking with God."