"He was translated that he should not see death."


That was the crowning evidence and token of the Divine pleasure. Death
is the wages of sin, the harbinger of retribution, the seal of man's
humiliation and defeat. The fear of death is a bondage under which the
race of man lies, save only where Christian faith and hope alleviate
the terror and inspire a superhuman courage before which all fear is
banished. The extraordinary nature of Enoch's piety could not be
demonstrated by any fact so imperative as this, "_He was translated_."

There are three complete men in heaven. Man is threefold in his
nature. He is body, soul, and spirit. He is not complete without his
bodily organisation. The work of faith is not perfect, nor is the work
of sin undone until at the Resurrection trump man shall stand complete
in his threefold being. But of that completeness there are three
specimens in heaven; Enoch from the patriarchal epoch; Elijah from the
Jewish dispensation; and Christ from the Christian. The translation of
Elijah was a marvellously dramatic episode. It was witnessed by Elisha
and the sons of the prophets--and a heavenly equipage, lambent with
supernal glow, carried him in triumph out of sight. But as to Enoch
there was no such scenic display. "_He was not found, for God took
him_." It was a quiet but beautifully fitting end. Moonlight rising
into sunlight, the sweet calm light of a starlit sky becoming flushed
with the auroral tints of a brilliant morning.

Translation means promotion, and also expansion.

It is _promotion_ in honour, in office, in privilege. The bishop is