guage of our blessed Lord, recorded in St. John's Gospel, i. 51. Our Lord said unto Nathaniel, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man." 1. The Heaven open may signify the clear revelation of God's will in the Gospel. 2. The angels may be understood as signifying the continued intercession of our Lord. 3. The ministers of the word of God are provided by the will of God to point to "the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world."-John i. 29. "God was in Christ (by Christ) reconciling the world to himself, not imputing to them their trespasses." "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you, in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." Cor. II. v. 19-20.

His vow

When the circumstances of Jacob's life are considered, the reverence which he felt for the God of his fathers is a matter of astonishment. binds his posterity to the worship of God, and to the payment of tithes for the support of divine service.

2. Padanaram, Gen. xxix."Jacob went on his journey and came into the land of the people of the East," B.c. 1760. He left Padanaram B.c. 1739.Gen. xxxi. He remained twenty years in the service of his mother's brother, Laban. He departed secretly. Laban overtook Jacob on Mount Gilead. Laban obeyed God's command not to injure Jacob by word or deed. Laban was an idolator. He asked Jacob, "Wherefore hast thou stolen my gods?" Jacob was innocent in this matter. Rachel had stolen her father's gods, and was sitting upon them in her tent. When her father entered, she said, "Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise up before thee: for the custom of women is upon me. 19 Laban searched, but found not the images. Laban and Jacob made a covenant. Stones were collected so as to form a heap. Jacob took a stone and set it up for a pillar. They did eat upon the heap. Laban called the heap Jegar Sahadutha-the heap of witness. Jacob called it Galeed, the heap of witness; and Mizpah, beacon or watch tower; for Laban said, "The Lord watch between me and thee when we are absent one from another." Jacob sware, by the fear of his father Isaac, that he would not pass over the heap and the pillar unto Laban for harm. Jacob offered sacrifice upon the Mount Gilead, and called his brethren to eat bread. They partook of Jacob's hospitality, and tarried all night upon the mount. Laban arose early next morning. Ho kissed his daughters and their children, and returned to his place.

There are two opinions as to the time which Jacob spent in Padanaram. The Bible makes Jacob tell Laban that he had served him twenty years. The Bible dates agree with these words. Learned men are of opinion that Jacob must have passed forty years of his life with Laban. It is acknowledged that there are difficulties in the latter opinion, as well as in the Bible account of the twenty years sojourning of Jacob.

3. Jacob's Wives and Children.-Jacob was treated subtilely by Laban, who put Leah his eldest daughter into Jacob's bed, instead of Rachel, to whom Jacob supposed he had been married. Jacob had served seven years for Rachel, but these years seemed to him but a few days, for the love he had to her. When Jacob arrived at the country of Laban he made inquiry amongst shepherds in the neighbourhood of a well respecting the family which he sought. "While he yet spake with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep: for she kept them." Jacob rolled the stone from the well and watered the flock of Laban, his mother's brother. "And Jacob kissed Rachel: and lifted up his voice and wept." This was love at first sight. Yet it died only when Jacob "yielded up the ghost." Leah was tender eyed. Rachel was beautiful and well-favoured. Leah was the elder. Rachel was the younger. Laban excused his conduct by saying that he was only acting according to the custom of the country, which would not allow the younger daughter to be married before the elder. Jacob agreed to serve another seven years. Thus he was forced to have two wives, and to serve seven years for each. The Lord gave to Leah children. She had four sons. She knew that Jacob hated her. She hoped that he would love her when he saw the children whom God enabled her to give to him. Rachel was barren. She grieved. "Give to me children, or I die," was her sorrowful expression to Jacob. He replied, "Am I God?" He believed that “children and the fruit of the womb are a heritage which cometh from the Lord." Rachel gave to Jacob her handmaid Bilhah, and prevailed on him to lie with Bilhah, that her children might be Rachel's children. Bilhah did bear two sons to Jacob. Leah succeeded in persuading Jacob to take her handmaid Zilpah, that Zilpah's children might be considered the children of Leah. Zilpah did bear two sons to Jacob. Leah afterwards did bear two sons and one daughter to Jacob: so that she was the mother of seven children. Rachel had two sons, whom she bare to Jacob. She died when in her last confinement. "Give to me children, or I die." God did give to her children. Death came with the second. We know not good or evil (for ourselves) by all which is before us. The mothers gave names to their children expressive of their feelings of gratitude to God, and sometimes prophetic of the fortunes of the posterity of the child. Rachel gave a name to her second son when she was dying"Benoni,"-son of my sorrow-to express her own distress. Jacob changed the name to "Benjamin,"— "son of my right hand."

4. Jeremiah xxxi. 15.-"Thus saith the Lord, a voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping: Rachel weeping for her children, refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.”—B.c. 587. These words of Jeremiah refer to the condition of the inhabitants of Jerusalem and its neighbourhood after the invasion by Nebuchadnezzar. This Ramah was in the tribe of Benjamin. Near to this place was Rachel's tomb. The prophet

imagines that the tomb opens of its own accord, that Rachel comes to life, looks out of the tomb, beholds the land in desolation and without inhabitant, and weeps inconsolably for the loss of her descendants"her children." St. Matthew ii. 17-18, quotes the words of Jeremiah in the manner of accommodation to the massacre of the infants by Herod the Great. But Jeremiah's words have no reference to any circumstance, except to the desolation caused by Nebuchadnezzar's invasion. St. Matthew's custom is to quote in this manner of accommodation.

5. The names of Jacob's Wives and Children:-
:-
Jocob had by-(Gen. xxx.)

7. Gad.-"Leah said, a troop cometh." 'She called his name Gad."

No wonder that we have no record of the death and burial of Rebekah. No wonder that we have record of the hardships, the disappointments, and the miseries which never left the path, through life of Jacob-the supplanter. Verily there is a Go who ruleth in the affairs of men.- Gen. xxvii.

7. Joseph was thirty years old when he stood befor Pharaoh. He must have been thirteen years i slavery. He was seventeen years old when his bre thren sold him to the Ishmaelites.

Reuben found mandrakes.—Rachel asked for them Rachel must give up Jacob; otherwise Rachel mus not have Leah's son's mandrakes. What were man drakes? They had flowers and fruits. At the tim when Reuben found them, they had fruit. Old Cat used to ask his favourite question, "Cui bono fuerit: For what good may it be or shall it be? Suppos this question is put with respect to the mandrakes The only answer given by natural historians is, tha they were very useful to women, in this respect that they helped them to conceive, and to bear chil dren.

1. Reuben lost his birth-right. He went to bed to Bilhah, Rachel's maid.

2. Simeon. Simeon and Levi were scattered in

9. Issachar." God hath given to me my hire." (Reuben's Mandrakes.)

10. Zebulon.-"God hath given to me a good dowry." "Now will my husband dwell with me."

5. RACHEL.

11. Joseph." The Lord shall add to me another son."

12. Benjamin.-" Benoni son of my sorrow." "Benjamin-the son of my right hand."-Gen. xxxv. 6. LEAH.

13. Dinah. The only daughter. "God hath judged, and given to me a daughter."-Dan-Dinah. 6. Joseph's Children by Asenath, daughter of Potipherah, priest of On, or Heliopolis, "the city of the sun."

1. Manasseh.- Forgetfulness"-of past sorrows. 2. Ephraim. "Fruitfulness". - in the land of his misery.-Gen. xli. Rebekah counsels Jacob to flee to her brother Laban lest his own twin brother Esau should kill him. Rebekah mourns her sad fate if her favourite Jacob should marry a Hittite one of the daughters of Seth-and lovingly makes known her sorrow to her loving husband whom she had deceived in the matter of Jacob's villany. She prevailed on her husband to allow Jacob to go to Padanaram in search of a wife. She prevailed on Jacob to go to her own family in Padanaram that he might escape the vengeance of his brother Esau, whom he had wronged by such unmanly falsehood.

The

in the holy land after Jacob's return from Padanaram. 8. Mahanaim.-"And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him," and when he saw them, he said, "This is God's host," and he called the name of the place "Mahanaim." God's messengers confirmed the faith of Jacob. He sent messengers to his brother Esau. He commanded them to speak to Esau thus: "Thy servant Jacob saith thus." messengers returned to Jacob, informing him that Esau was coming to meet him, "and four hundred men with him." Jacob feared. Conscience made him tremble. He took care to divide his flocks and herds for their safety. The last might escape, danger threatened. He prayed to the God of all the mercy and truth which had followed him all his life, and of which he confessed that he was unworthy; "For with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two bands."-Gen. xxxii.

if

He lodged there that night. Next day he sent a present to Esau his brother: 1. Two hundred she goats. 2. Twenty he goats. 3. Two hundred ewes. 4. Twenty rams. 5. Thirty milch camels, with their colts. 6. Forty kine and ten bulls. 7. Twenty she asses and ten foals. Jacob ordered the servants to pass on before him; to leave a space between drove and drove, that the servants might be able to answer Esau's questions; and tell him, "these be thy servant Jacob's: it is a present sent unto my Esau: and behold also, he is behind us." Each leader of a drove had the same instructions from Jacob. The scheme succeeded.

lord

Yet Jacob had no confidence in his own skill. He sought the Lord in earnest prayer. Jabbok was the brook over which he caused all his companions to pass. Jabbok is a brook east of the Jordan. It takes its rise in the mountains of Gilead, and falls into the Sea of Tiberias-south.

The

9. "Jacob was left alone."-(Gen. xxxii. 2.)—"There wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day." The man touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh, which was then put out of joint. The man exclaimed, "Let me go, for the day breaketh." Jacob replied, "I will not let thee go, except thou bless me." man said, "What is thy name?" Jacob told him that his name was Jacob. The man changed Jacob's name: "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for, as a prince, hast thou power with God, and with men, and hast prevailed." Jacob asked the name of the man. "Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name?" Jacob's curiosity was rebuked. The man "blessed Jacob there." "Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.' "As Jacob passed over Peniel or Penuel (a town on the Jabbok), the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh. Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew which shrank." Hosea, xii. 2-5.-"The Lord will punish Jacob according to his ways." According to his doings will he recompense him." "He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God." "Yea, he had power with the angel and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us:" (with Jacob; and in Jacob, with Jacob's posterity). (Judah is addressed by Hosea as Jacob.)-"Even the Lord God of hosts: the Lord is his memorial." He is the same God with whom Jacob wrestled and prevailed. "Therefore, turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually."

66

A careful reading of these passages of holy scripture fixes in the mind the doctrine of the deity of our Emanuel-God with us. "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence; and the violent take it by force."Mat. xi. 12. Jacob must not be called any longer Jacob, the supplanter, but Israel-the man who prevails with God, and sees him face to face. Isaiah, ix. 7. Μεγάλης Βουλης Αγγελος. “The angel the great covenant." 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me."- - Rev. iii. 20. Judas, not Iscariot, asked our Lord: "How is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?" "Jesus answered and said unto him, if a man love me he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come in to him, and make our abode with him."-John, xiv. 22-23.

"If we say that we have fellowship with Him, (God) and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not

the truth." "But if we walk in the light as He (God) is in the light, we (believers and God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost) have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."-1st John, i. 6-7.

The

10. The meeting of Jacob and Esau.-The extreme caution of Jacob, arising from consciousness of his dishonesty and falsehood towards Esau, may be seen in the manner in which he arranged his family, and in his own bowing himself to the ground seven times, as he approached his brother Esau. manly generosity of the deceived and supplanted brother may be seen in his running to meet Jacob. He "embraced Jacob; he fell on his neck and kissed him." "They wept." Jacob then caused his family to come near and bow themselves before Esau. Jacob thus made known to Esau the children "whom God

Jacob

had graciously given to thy servant." Esau was unwilling to accept Jacob's present. Jacob prevailed on Esau to accept the cattle as a token that he had found grace in his sight. Esau wished Jacob at once to proceed with him to Seir. Jacob excused himself by saying that the flocks must be driven slowly. He would follow leisurely. Esau returned to Seir. Jacob proceeded to Succoth, (booths or tents) where he built a house and booths for his cattle. came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padanaram, and pitched his tent before the city. Jacob bought a piece of ground of the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for a hundred pieces of money. There he erected an altar, and called it Elelohe, Israel-(God, the God of Israel.) Shechem, Sychem, Sychar, Neapolis, Naplous, names of the town perhaps given in honour of the man. Hamor is called Emmor.-Acts, vii. 16. Jacob's purchase.-John, iv. 5. "And Moses built an altar and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi, (the Lord is my banner): because the Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amelek, from generation to generation.' Exod. xvii. 15-16.

11. Dinah, the daughter of Leah.-Jacob had crossed the Jordan after Esau's departure, and had made his settlement on the territory near to the sea of Tiberias, the centre of the river Jordan; or the middle of the three lakes which formed part of the river, the waters of Merom, the sea of Tiberias, and the Dead Sea. The Jordan is supposed to have its name from two streams which unite in forming the source of the river-the one called the "Jor," the other called the "Dan."

The curiosity of Dinah to visit "the daughters of the land, led her into circumstances which had evil results to the people whom she visited, and to her family, and to herself. Shechem, the son of Hamor, saw her, loved her, lay with her, took her to his house, and entreated his father to obtain this damsel as a wife for him. Jacob heard of his daughter's visit to the Shechemites, and of the love of Shechem for his daughter. He waited, in silence, the return of his sons from the field. They learned the story of their sister's imprudence. They were silent.