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Mother. Certainly; yet it was not the design of the Holy Spirit in giving us a revelation, to detail all the events that might entertain us, in any of the lives which it records; but chiefly to show the universal depravity of man, and the mercy of God in providing a Saviour; and the historical narrative is pretty generally confined to such particulars as tend to elucidate this one grand design. Hence the annals of a thousand years are contained in a very few pages. If a Messiah was to come in due time, it was necessary previously, so to point him out, that he should be acknowledged. Many of the prophecies, therefore, which predicted his advent, delineate such peculiarities of character, as apply to no other person that ever lived. He was to be of the stock of Abraham, and that this descent might admit of irrefragable proof, they were separated from all other people, and governed by a polity that was calculated to keep them pure. They were not allowed, for example, to intermarry with their idolatrous neighbours; and therefore the servant of Abraham was sent to bring a wife for Isaac, from the house of his brethren.

To return to our narrative. In the fortieth year of his age, Isaac was married to Rebekah; and in the sixtieth, his only children, Esau and Jacob, were born (B. C. 1837). The boys grew, and displayed very different dispositions; and a very different destiny awaited them. Esau was active and bold; Jacob, mild and affectionate. Esau, delighting in sports of the field, procured the venison which Isaac loved. Dressing it with his own hands according to the taste of his father, he became his favourite; while Jacob, devoted to the gentler pleasures of domestic life, remained near his mother, and secured her almost exclusive attachment.

Having lived a century and a half, and become blind from age, Isaac thought his days were numbered. Anxious, therefore, to settle the inheritance on his eldest son, he called Esau, and directed him to take his bow, and once more procure the dish that he loved, that he might eat of it, and bless him before he died. This was overheard by Rebekah, who immediately conceived the design of imposing on her husband, and procuring the blessing for her favourite. Accordingly, she directed Jacob to run

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quickly and bring a kid from the flocks, with which she would imitate the venison of Esau so completely that his father would be deceived.

Jacob's conscience disapproved of the fraud. He hesitated. “I shall bring a curse on myself," said he, "instead of a blessing." But his mother silenced his scruples: 66 on me be the curse," said she-" only obey me.'

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Fanny. What else could poor Jacob do when commanded by his mother?

Mother. Parents very seldom desire their children to do what is obviously wrong. If from ignorance or depravity, they so criminally disregard their own duty, they are not entitled to obedience. Perhaps Rebekah remembered, though Isaac had forgotten, the prophecy which had declared before their birth, that the blessing was entailed on the younger; she ought also to have recollected, that He who pronounced it, did not require the unjustifiable arts of his creatures to accomplish his purposes. But Jacob was probably aided by selfishness to yield to the dictate of his mother's affection. Yet we are not unwilling to plead in his behalf, that he was laudably ambitious to succeed to the spiritual inheritance bestowed on his family, and which he knew must be transmitted either through him or his brother. He was encouraged too, by Esau's apparent carelessness of the distinction; for he had before this agreed to relinquish to Jacob for a trifling recompense the privileges of an elder brother, even then desirable, though they were afterwards augmented, when the first-born were required to be particularly devoted to the services of religion. He was persuaded, however, to disguise his person, and present the dish prepared by his fond mother; nor did he hesitate to assure his father that he was "his very son Esau.” "God give thee," said the patriarch," of the dew of heaven and the fatness of earth, and plenty of corn and wine. Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee; be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee; cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee." Scarcely had this imposition been effected, when Esau came in, and presenting his venison, demanded the promised benediction. Astonished at the fraud of which

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he had been made the victim, Isaac lamented that a "Deceiver had come," and to him he had given the superiority! "I have made him thy lord, said he, all his brethren have I given to him for servants, and what shall I do now for thee, my son?" "Hast thou but one blessing?" cried the afflicted Esau, "bless me, even me, also, O my father!" " Thy dwelling," replied his affectionate parent, "shall be the fatness of the earth, and the dew of heaven from above, and by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother."

Catherine. As Esau had evinced his willingness to give up his birth-right, one would not think that he would have been much affected by the injury he received.

Mother. So you would naturally suppose; but we are inconsistent creatures. Though we may seem to disregard a just claim, yet we do not suffer it to be wrested from us with impunity. So it was with Esau; he was highly incensed against Jacob, and even threatened to take away his life, when he should no longer be restrained by respect for their venerable father. The anxious mother,

ever watchful for the honour and safety of her favourite son, was not long ignorant of his danger. She saw that she had brought dissensions into her family, and had even armed the hand of one of her children against the other, by the indulgence of her unjust partiality, and that something must be done to avert the dreaded catastrophe. She immediately called Jacob, and telling him of the terrible menace of Esau, she besought him to flee for his life;— to go to Haran to her brother Laban, and remain under his protection till the anger of Esau should subside, and she should send a messenger to conduct him home. But how should she obtain the consent of his father, whose great age hardly allowed them to hope that he might live to see him return? A plausible pretext was found in the recent marriage of Esau, who had grieved them both, by connecting himself with the abandoned people amongst whom they lived. If Jacob should follow his example, she pathetically exclaimed, "what good shall my life do me!" Persuaded by her complaints, and remembering that he had not himself been permitted to marry a Canaanitish woman, Isaac summoned his younger son, and charged

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him not to take a wife of the people of Canaan; but to go into Syria to the house of Laban, his mother's brother, and ask his daughter in marriage.

This point gained, no time is lost in preparation. Anxious now only for the safety of the youth, for whose advancement she had hazarded so much, and even sullied her own fair reputation, Rebekah provides no sumptuous retinue, like that which attended her own espousals. Not even one servant of his father's numerous household protects the favoured heir-but dejected and alone, he takes the road to Padan Aram! (B. C. 1760.)

Catherine. This did not look like lording it over his brethren. Jacob is obliged to flee from the presence of Esau, and leave him in possession of affluence, who was to be "his servant," according to the prediction of his father!

Mother. You may remember, in the case of Ham, that prophecies belonged rather to a race of people than to the progenitor to whom they may have been spoken. You will see as we advance, that the family of Jacob became indeed illustrious, and all the promises were verified in them. Individuals follow their own imaginations, but all conspire to accomplish the designs of Him who cannot be disappointed! The hope of Jacob might indeed languish under such discouraging circumstances, immediately succeeding to his triumph, but he was soon revived by happier prospects; for when he rested the same night, the unceasing providence of God was represented to him in a vision, by a great ladder, whose foot rested on the ground where he slept, and whose top reached the heavens. Angels continually passed up and down, on errands of mercy to an unworthy world, whilst the voice of "the God of Abraham and of Isaac," assured him of protection, whithersoever he went; and confirmed to him, in their fullest extent, the promises that had been graciously given to them!

Awed by a vision so extraordinary, he beheld the place with reverence! "Surely," said he, "this is the house of God, and I knew it not!" Then rising early in the morning he took some of the stones that had pillowed his head," erected a pillar, and consecrated it and himself to

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JACOB MEETS RACHEL.

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his Almighty Patron. "If God, said he, "will be with me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then shall the Lord be my God."

Charles. How did Jacob consecrate the pillar?

Mother. The text says "he poured oil upon the top of it." Anointing the head with oil was an ancient mode of consecration or investiture to office.

Confiding now in his efficient shield, he cheerfully pursued his journey eastward, till he came to a well near Haran. Springs of water are rare in that country, and wells, only at considerable distances; so that wherever they are found, they are the resting places of the traveller, and the centre of communication for the inhabitants; for there, they all assemble at certain hours to water their cattle. That time had not yet arrived; the stone that covered the well, yet lay on its mouth; but the shepherds were collecting, and Jacob embraced so favourable an opportunity of inquiring for Laban, the son of Nahor. The answer he received, was not less grateful than the water which now refreshed his wearied frame! They knew him, he was well, and the maiden who approached with her sheep to the cistern, was Rachel, his daughter!

Catherine. Now here is a circumstance so apparently trivial as to offer us nothing, yet its coincidence with a custom of the present day is strikingly remarkable. "The stone lay on the well's mouth" is incidentally said, and modern travellers report that in Arabia they cover the wells lest the loose sand which is put in motion by the wind should quite stop them up. They wait till the flocks are all gathered together before they begin to draw water, and when they have finished, the well is immediately closed again.

Mother. Our conversations would be protracted beyond our plan, were we to exhibit every fact illustrative of the authenticity of Scripture history, yet we are sometimes arrested so forcibly, that we cannot easily pass on. Let us now return to our traveller whom we left watch

*This vow of Jacob is to be considered as a grateful acknowledg. ment of his obligation to serve the Lord-not a conditional promise.

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