Early piety, exemplified in the life and death of Mr. Nathanael Mather, who ...…

First, It is said, He was not. This points at that Estate which he passed from. You may conceive what he was, in regard of his Condition and Employment here: But now he was not that Sufferer, he was not that Preacher any more.

Secondly, It is said, God took him. This points at that Estate which he passed into. Good took him to Himself, God took him unto all that Light, and Life, and Heaven, which the Angels themselves had before the Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ.

All that we have hitherto been told, seems to be no more than what befalls every godly Man. But no less an Interpreter than the Spirit of God himself, by the Apostle Paul, has illustrated this Text with a more surprising Interpretation of it. Consult Heb. 11. 5. and we have this Paraphrase hereupon: Here it is said, He was not: There 'tis said, He was not Found. It seems that this Famous Prophet suddenly disappeared from the view of the World: All Mankind with Wonder sought, and asked, and looked after Enoch, as they ⟨p. 26⟩did after Elijah at another time; but they could not find him. Why? What was become of him? Here 'tis said, God took him: There 'tis said, God had translated him, that he should not see Death. This was a very marvellous Providence! He had born a zealous Witness for the Worship, and the Truths, and the ways of God, against a wicked World. God would make them see that he owned the Testimony, and the Conversation of this worthy Man. Hence, though Abel was murdered for his Piety, Enoch shall be translated for his: He was immediately fetched, and changed into the Circumstances of the Glorified. Thus he became, as Tertullian says of him, A Candidate of Eternity.