THE PATRIARCHS:
Being Meditations
UPON
ENOCH, NOAH, ABRAHAM, ISAAC, JACOB, JOSEPH, JOB;
THE CANTICLES, HEAVEN AND EARTH.
BY
J. G. BELLETT.
New Edition.
A. S. ROUSE,
15 & 16, PATERNOSTER SQUARE, LONDON, E.C.
1895
ENOCH.
It is not so much of Enoch himself that I nowpurpose, in the Lord's grace, I would hope, towrite a little, but rather of the times and the saintsbefore the flood. Whether it be of them or of him,the materials, as we know, are very scanty; but in theway and wisdom of the Spirit of God, they are full ofmeaning and of value.
A peculiar attraction has been commonly felt in theBook of Genesis.
The simplicity of the narratives has to account formuch of this, I doubt not. Human life is in itsinfancy and artlessness. The scenes are domestic,and the habits and manners such as family dutiesand affections were forming. This is a great source ofenjoyment to the mind from this book. Such springsof pleasure are at times tasted in spite of ourselves.We are spoiled very much by the customs of the world,and we suppose that we like them. But still we findourselves naturally at ease in such scenery as thatwhich this lovely book presents to us. The wife of onewealthy lord, who numbered his servants by hundreds,and his flocks by thousands, would knead the cake forthe traveller; and the daughter of another, withoutpractising the language of apology, would be seen bystrangers watering the family herds.
Yet with all this there was the truest