the promise to pass in the line of Jacob, his own purpose would have secured that the blessing should have fallen on him, without the use of wicked means. "To do evil that good may come," is a wicked maxim, and there is little doubt that the subsequent trials of Jacob are to be regarded as chastisements for this want of faith and truth. One false step often troubles men throughout after life. Jacob had scarcely accomplished this purpose before Esau came unto Isaac, and asked for his blessing. Isaac was startled and alarmed, "he trembled exceedingly," but recollecting that when he gave his blessing unto Jacob, he was under a consciousness of divine influence, he perceived what was the purpose of God, and he therefore added, "I have blessed him, yea, and he shall be blessed." Esau

wept, and was filled with remorse, as many are when it is too late; but he who despised the birthright was deprived of the blessing.

Esau, when removed from the presence of Isaac, meditated vengeance against Jacob, and Rebecca advised Jacob's removal. Isaac therefore called him, and repeated the blessing, and sent him to Padanaram, directing him especially not to intermarry with the daughters of the land, as Esau had done, but to take a wife from their own family in Aram. Thus, through their folly in attempting to forestall the arrangements of heaven, Rebecca and her favourite son were parted, never to meet again; and Jacob, poor and empty handed, under colour of a visit to his distant relatives, for the purpose of marriage, had to escape for his life from the vengeance of his incensed and vindictive brother.

Jacob's journey was long and solitary. From Beersheba to Padanaram was nearly 400 miles. He set out, doubtless, with a heavy heart, and, in the course of his pilgrimage, pondered the paths of his feet; and, when reflecting on the deception and falsehood he had resorted to that he might obtain the blessing, he must be so sensible of his error as to be greatly humbled before God, and, probably, so much so, as even to doubt whether it would be fulfilled in him. He travelled on, perhaps two days, as the distance was sixty miles, and, when he had arrived at a place near to where Abraham builded his first altar, he lay down in the open air and slept. But,

in the visions of the night, he saw, as it were, heaven opened-angels ascending and descending, as on a ladder, between heaven and earth-and God appeared to him, and said, "I am the Lord God of Abraham, thy father, and the God of Isaac;" and renewed the great promise given to them in him, and assured him, also, of his protection, presence, and blessing. (Gen. xxviii.) This was cheering to Jacob's heart. It implied his pardon; it confirmed him in the possession of what he had highly valued and devoutly desired; and he set up a pillar, and poured oil on the top of it, and said, "How dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and the gate of heaven!" He called the name of the place Bethel, or the house of God, and vowed a vow, and said, "If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God." (Gen. xxviii. 20, 21.)

Fully invested with the great promise, we now perceive the servant of God addressing himself to his journey with renewed vigour. He travels on, day after day, until he arrives at a well, near to Padanaram. He ascertains that Rachel, a daughter of Laban, will come in a short season to water her father's flocks; his heart is filled with delight, and when his name and relationship were known at her father's house, the wanderer was received with every demonstration of affection and joy. But he soon found, that to have only the promise of God, (without worldly substance) was a poor recommendation of him to a worldly-minded man like Laban. Laban had cheerfully sent away his sister, Jacob's mother, when Abraham's servant came for a wife for Isaac, because Isaac had the great wealth of his father Abraham; but, as Jacob had left home without a portion, and, from his love to Rachel, had generously proposed to serve Laban seven years for her, he had the meanness to accept his proposal, and the wickedness to deceive him when the years were ended. Jacob, who had once practised deception, now experienced its effects. He, however, availed himself of the custom of the age, and took Rachel, as he had also received Leah, to wife, and served another seven years; though the sequel of his course shows, that

domestic broils and inconvenience were the result. At the expiration of these fourteen years, Jacob had a family of twelve children, and sought to depart from Laban, who, perceiving how his affairs had prospered in the hands of Jacob, determined, if possible, to detain him, and engaged that a certain portion of the cattle should be his. After this, God so ordered affairs, that, while Laban's wealth was much greater than when Jacob came, a very great substance fell into Jacob's hands; so that he became an object of hatred to the sons of Laban, and their capracious father. While he was meditating his departure, the angel of God appeared to him in a dream, and directed his return to the land of Canaan

Sustained by this command of the God he worshipped, and without consulting Laban at all, Jacob commenced his removal, and that of his family, servants, and cattle, from Mesopotamia; and so excellently were his arrangements made, and so clearly did God superintend and prosper them, that it was not until after three days, that Laban was informed of his departure. Laban set out with an armed force to pursue after Jacob, with the design, apparently, of despoiling him of his substance, if not of injuring his person, but did not overtake him until he had been ten days on his journey. The distance from Aram to Mount Gilead is above 250 miles; so that Jacob and his host travelled twenty-five miles a day, while Laban's party, who pursued him, travelled nearly thirty-seven miles a day for seven days in succession, Laban was prevented from injuring Jacob by a vision of God in his journey. Instead, therefore, of force, Laban merely remonstrated with Jacob for going away secretly, and for stealing his teraphim, or household gods. Jacob, ignorant that Rachel had taken these symbols of incipient idolatry, directed Laban to search; but he did not find them; and then, when both were reconciled, they made a covenant with each other, and appealed for ratification of it to "the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac."

Delivered from all apprehensions as to Laban, the patriarch, for he was now ninety-seven years old, pursued his course, and, as he was approaching to the confines of Canaan, remembering the animosity of Esau, was afraid to come near to his father, or to Esau,

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without a full understanding with his brother. Accordingly, he sent messengers before him, to Mount Seir, to tell him of his coming, to apprize him that he was rich, and did not wish, though the blessing was his, to take his father's substance, and to intimate that he greatly desired to enjoy a cordial reconciliation. The messengers returned, telling him that Esau was coming to meet him with 400 armed men. The distance was considerable, probably 120 miles, and in the journey Esau would have to pass by the residence of Isaac, where it is probable, if he had meditated any evil, the remonstrance of the aged patriarch would have the effect of restraining him. However that may be, Jacob was in the greatest possible alarm. He had had a vision of angels, which in some measure strengthened him; but the prospect of meeting his angry brother with an army made him exceedingly afraid. His conduct in this emergency is worthy of distinct notice. He made the best prudential arrangements he could, that if a part of his flock and family were smitten, the other might escape. He then betook himself to prayer, and said, "O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee; I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast showed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children. And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude." (Gen. xxxii. 9-12.) How appropriate was this prayer! How humble and dependent! After this he prepared to pass the brook Jabbok. He sent first a magnificent present for Esau, consisting of 500 head of cattte, and directed the servants with each drove to say they were a present to Esau. He then attended to the passing of his family, and people, and substance, over the ford, and himself, when this was done, remained alone, wakeful and watching, during the night. Oh, the deep anxieties of his mind! His prayers,

how fervent!

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His sighs, how deep! His recollection of his own folly in deceiving Isaac and offending Esau, how painful! But he sought God, and trusted in him, and was delivered. There appeared to him a man, or a divine person in human form, with whom, as with God, he wrestled, and prevailed; by whom his name was changed to Israel, a prince of God;" from whom he received a blessing, and was greatly encouraged. "He called the name of the place Peniel," or "the face of God;" for he said, "I have seen God, and my life is preserved." Early in the morning, as he proceeded, he perceived Esau coming to him. Jacob approached him with the utmost respect, bowing down to the earth as he advanced, after the manner of the East. Esau, on the other hand, with every appearance of cordial affection, ran to meet his brother, and fell on his neck and kissed him; and they wept together, for affection and joy. How were Jacob's prayers answered! How was Esau's heart softened! So it is, that "when a man's ways please God, he will make his enemies at peace with him!"

After their mutual salutations were over, Esau looked round with astonishment on the immense substance of his brother, his families and his flocks, inquired the meaning of the droves he had met, and when told again, they were for him, he immediately replied, "I have enough!" But, as Jacob urged him, and expressed his delight in the kindness of his brother's manner, and his desire that it might continue, Esau accepted the present, as a pledge of reconciliation. Esau desired his brother to go with him on to Mount Seir, but Jacob excused himself, because of the distance, and the tenderness of his family and of his flocks. Esau wished to leave with him some of his armed servants, probably as a defence; but Jacob, trusting in God, declined also this offer. They therefore parted on the best of terms, and it does not appear that they ever afterwards had any quarrel. Jacob, not deeming it prudent to follow Esau to his land, as proposed, turned aside to Succoth, on the border of Jordan; and, after a little time, crossed over that river, and pitched his tent, and purchased a piece of ground of Hamor, the father of Shechem. There he builded an altar, and called it 'El-elohe-Israel," or God, the God of

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Israel." Thus he established amongst his family the worship of the true God, and bore his testimony to all around, that the God of heaven and earth was his God.

The family of Jacob was now large, and approaching to maturity; but it does not appear that he had much comfort in them; for he had not resided at Shalem more than five or six years, before new troubles came upon him. Dinah, his only daughter, a damsel about seventeen years of age, imprudently vistited among the daughters of the land, and was polluted by Shechem, the son of Hamor, the prince of the Shechemites. He earnestly sought to form a matrimonial alliance with a person of Jacob's great substance. Her brothers, Simeon and Levi, deeply indignant at the dishonour done to their sister, determined on dreadful vengeance. They concealed their anger, and, by a wicked stratagem, disabled the males of the city, and then each young man took his sword and killed them, and spoiled their city, and took their women and children as slaves, and all their substance for a prey! So fierce was their wrath ! So dreadful was their vengeance! Jacob, troubled at this conduct, and alarmed lest the other people of the land should rise against him, rebuked his sons for the evil of their doings; but they, smarting under the dishonour of their sister, justified themselves for their wicked conduct. Guided of God, he therefore determined to remove to Bethel, where he had had a vision of God, when he fled from his father's house. He assembled his family and domestics, now a large company, and directed them to put away all idols, those that had been kept by any of his own family, and those of the strangers with him, that they might all go as the worshipers of God alone. And God went with him, so that, though his journey was one of sixty or seventy miles, through tribes of people who must have heard of the cruelty of his sons, none injured or molested them. At Bethel he built an altar, and God appeared to him, and renewed his promise. Thence, in a short time, he travelled twenty miles on to Ephrath, which was afterwards Bethlehem, where Rachel died, after giving birth to her second son, Benjamin. In this neighbourhood, and at Hebron, near to Isaac, it should seem that Jacob sojourned

during the whole of his future residence in Canaan.

His afflictions were not ended. The habits of some of his sons were irregular, and Joseph, his son by Rachel, and who was deservedly his favourite, complained of their conduct. This excited their indignation, which his own excellent spirit, and his father's partiality, confirmed. The relation of his dreams, which indicated that he was destined to honor in the presence of his brethren, made him an object of their bitter hatred; and, when his unsuspecting father sent him to Shechem, where they were feeding their flocks, that he might inquire after their welfare, they, as soon as they saw him, resolved to destroy him; and profanely said, "We shall see what will become of his dreams." Reuben, however, filled with horror at the crime they intended to perpetrate, advised that they should cast their victim into some pit alive, hoping he might be able to deliver him. They followed his advice; but he had not gone from them long, before a company of Ishmaelites, who were travelling merchants, passed by, when Judah, (ominous name!) suggested that they should sell him unto them. They did so, for twenty pieces of silver; and, to conceal their crime from Jacob, they took Joseph's coat, and dipped it in blood, and told their father, when they returned, that they had found it in that condition! The sight of this coat filled the heart of Jacob with the bitterest grief, and "he mourned for his son many days."

We now digress a moment in relation to Isaac, After losing Rebecca, whose nurse went to Jacob, and died when he was journeying from Shechem, Isaac continued at Mamre, and lived until he was 180 years old. Esau and Israel buried him, and it is probable that Esau took his worldly portion as the first-born, leaving Jacob only the promise and the blessing. It does not appear that there was very great mourning. Isaac was a quiet, good man. He had displayed

the same weakness that had characterized Abraham; but he died in faith, in good old age, and "entered into the rest which remaineth for the people of God." This took place about eight years after Joseph had been sold by his brethren.

Let us now follow the course of the captive, for in him we shall see the preservation of the family was secured. The Ismaelites sold him in Egypt to

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Potiphar, the chief captain of Pharoah, king of Egypt. There "God was with him." He was soon promoted in the house of his new master, and became his chief steward. But a severe trial, arising from the amorous proposals of his mistress, displayed the strength of his virtue and piety, and exposed him to her vilest accusations. These dreadful charges were believed, and he was cast into the king's prison. God and the testimony of a good conscience, were with him there, and the keeper of the prison soon reposed the utmost confidence in him. While he was in prison, two distinguished servants of Pharoah (a name common to the sovereigns of Egypt, as Cæsar was afterwards to those of Rome,) were cast into prison. Joseph, by divine inspiraiton, interpreted their dreams, and requested the one whom he foretold would be restored to favour, to think of him, and mention him to Pharoah, that he might obtain his freedom. He longed for his liberty, and spoke of those who sold him into slavery, and those who bought him, as being robbers, and thus described the true character of this horrid traffic.

Two years rolled over Joseph's head before he was brought out of prison. Pharoah had dreamed dreams which greatly troubled him, and all the wise men, with which Egypt then abounded, could not give him an interpretation of them then the chief butler, who had previously ungratefully neglected his friend, related what had taken place in prison, and Pharoah ordered Joseph into his presence, and propounded to him his dreams; he, confessing that God was the author of his wisdom, told Pharoah that his dreams indicated that the next seven years would be years of plenty, and the subsequent seven, years of famine; and recommended him to gather up carefully a fifth portion or more of the produce of the first seven years, for the subsistence of his people, during the years of dearth. The proposal pleased Pharoah, and he invested Joseph with power to carry his plans into effect. He raised him to be the ruler of all the land of Egypt. Joseph became the saviour of the Egyptians, and during the famine, his praises were resounded throughout the land. Yea, people of all lands came down to Egypt to purchase corn, for the scarcity generally prevailed.

Among others that felt the pressure of the famine, were Jacob and his sons. The old man, in the second year of the famine, when Joseph had, in his estimation, been dead for twenty-two years, having heard that there was corn in Egypt, sent his ten sons that they might purchase food for themselves and his people, that they might not die. Possibly, he had some suspicion of their having been the murderers of Joseph, and therefore he did not send Benjamin, his youngest son, and the only surviving child of Rachael, with them, lest evil should befall him. They came,-were introduced into the presence of Joseph, whom they did not know, but he knew them; they prostrated themselves in his presence, and he affected to treat them as spies. He compelled them to give an account of their family, and they told him of one brother who was not, and another, his own brother, the youngest, who was left at home. He kept them as prisoners three days, and proposed that one of them should go and bring the younger brother.

He then directed that one should remain a surety, and the rest return and take with them corn, and then bring the youngest. They were obliged to submit. While they were before him, as he spoke to them by an interpreter, and they did not know that he understood them, they began to reflect on their past course; their conduct to Joseph came strongly to mind, and they said, "We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear, therefore is this distress come upon us." Joseph could not endure to hear this; though these signs of penitence pleased him. He retired apart to weep. Again he returned, and having bound Simeon, who had perhaps been his fiercest enemy, he sent the rest away, telling his servants to put the purchase-money in the sacks which they had filled with corn. They returned home, and told Jacob all that had befallen them. His heart was grieved; and he said, "me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, Simeon is not, and will ye take Benjamin away? All these things are against me."

The famine however pressed on them, and as necessity has no law, Jacob was induced to permit Benjamin to go down to Egypt, but not until Judah became

surety for him. He sent them, commended by his prayers to God, with double money and various gifts. They came; and the affection of Joseph towards Benjamin, whom he had not seen since he was a mere child, so moved him that he sought where to weep. He made them a feast; and as he determined to try their fidelity to Benjamin, their regard to his father, and thus have proof of their penitence, he had the money restored to their sacks, and had his own cup put in the sack of Benjamin. Unconscious of danger, the eleven set out for Canaan. They had scarcely got out of the city, when Joseph sent after them a messenger, accusing them of ingratitude and theft. They, conscious of innocence, said he should die on whom the cup was found. The search was madeand the cup was found in Benjamin's sack! Astounded at the event, yet knowing their innocence of this crime, trembling for Benjamin and their father, they rent their clothes and returned to the city and fell prostrate before Joseph. Judah spoke for the rest, and related his aged father's grief for the loss of one son, and his extreme affection for Benjamin, and the distress his absence would occasion; and, in the excess of concern for his father, offered himself to be a bondsman that Benjamin might go free. His appeal was resistless. convinced Joseph of the sincerity and affection with which they regarded their father, and he could refrain no longer. He cried, "let all go from my presence;" and his servants and attendants retired. He wept aloud; and he said, "I am Joseph,-doth my father yet live?" The effect was overwhelming: they trembled, -they were entranced,-they answered not a word. "They were troubled at his presence." He spoke kindly-entreated them to regard the Providence that overruled their evil conduct, and had sent him before them to save them alive; and to the delight of Pharoah and his house, who wished to show their grateful regard to Joseph, he proposed that they should bring Jacob and his family into Egypt!-When they returned, and told Jacob that Joseph was alive, 'his heart fainted, for he believed them not." But when he saw the waggons which Joseph had sent to carry them, his spirit revived, and he said "it is enough, Joseph, my son, is yet alive :

It