impunity. "God is not mocked."

He therefore speaks to Jacob not as heretofore, in words of kindness, but in deeds of chastening. He endea

vours to remind him by the severe memento of family affliction. The ruin of his only daughter, and the iniquitous and disgraceful conduct of two of his sons, are the methods by which the Almighty first knocks at the heart of Jacob. The sleep of prosperity is, however, too secure for this to be effectual. How, then, does the Almighty proceed? Does he punish more severely? does he plant some sharper thorn in the bosom of his forgetful servant? Man would assuredly have acted thus: but how delightful is it to trace, in all the ways, and in all the works of God, the infinite superiority of the Creator to the creature.

My brethren, God has declared that punishment is his "strange work;" a work in which he never engages, until our sins become clamorous for vengeance. In the instance before us, therefore, instead of proceeding to greater extremities, God in justice remembers mercy; having, in justice, punished, He now delights himself, by returning in mercy, to spare, and condescends in person to remind Jacob of his neglected vow: "And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there, and make there an altar unto God, that

appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother." How mild, and how affecting an expostulation! the Almighty reminds Jacob, not so much of the neglect of the servant, as of the mercy of the master. He does not say, build an altar unto the God whom thou hast promised, and hast disappointed, but unto the "God who appeared unto thee, when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother." There must have been something peculiarly touching in the recollection which was awakened by these words: When thou fleddest from an enemy, and that enemy a brother, I appeared for thee; I was thy refuge. Blessed be God, there is then "a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." Where is the heart that could have withstood such an expostulation? Certainly not in the bosom of any real child of God; Jacob was instantly recalled by it to his allegiance and his duty, and proceeded to make preparations for the accomplishment of his vow.

Our review of these must, however, be deferred until the next discourse; but we cannot omit the application which this instance of the Almighty's method of dealing with his servants so strikingly suggests.

There may be some among you standing at the present hour in the sight of God, in a precisely

similar situation to that of Jacob; you also have voluntarily been made the subjects of a most solemn and important vow, which you have, at least in most instances, thoughtfully and premeditatedly acknowledged before God. The terms of that vow are neither ambiguous nor obscure. You have pledged yourself to "renounce the world, the flesh, and the devil," and to "continue Christ's faithful soldier and servant unto your life's end." My brethren, I would most affectionately urge you to the inquiry, How am I fulfilling this vow? Is it continually present to my mind, that 1 am bound by an obligation of such infinite importance? When tempted by my own heart, or by my spiritual enemies, is this the tendency of my reply, "How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" I who have dedicated myself to his holy service by so solemn a covenant. Or, like Jacob, have years of prosperity and happiness rendered you utterly forgetful of your promises? If it be so, we tremble for the consequences. You have seen that God is not mocked: what we have vowed, God will see that we pay, or will in anger and in judgment visit the neglect of it. He has himself said, "Pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldst not vow, than that thou shouldst vow and not pay." If you are a

child of God, He will not suffer this forgetfulness to continue; He will remind you, perhaps, as He reminded Jacob, by some severe domestic calamity -by cutting off some creature idol, or some creature comfort, that though many years may have passed away, and the very tenor of your vow may be almost forgotten by yourself, it is as fresh in the memory of God as if you were now pledging yourself before his mercy-seat: for with Him "a thousand years are but as yesterday." Oh! do not compel the Almighty to have recourse to his "strange work;" in a single moment He can strike a blow, the effects of which would carry you, with a wounded spirit and a broken heart, through a course of lingering wretchedness to a premature grave. And after this, there is more that He can do; "God is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Be warned, then, we earnestly beseech you; remember your vow, your baptismal vow; "Remember from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works;" the sceptre of mercy is still extended; wait not until it be exchanged for the rod of judgment. "Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and so ye perish from the right way, if his wrath be kindled, yea but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him."

LECTURE VI.

GENESIS XXXV. 2.

"Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean and change your garments."

OUR last Lecture concluded with the very striking remonstrance from the Almighty to Jacob, which precedes the words of the text, and was intended to remind him of his forgotten vow, and to urge upon him the accomplishment of his neglected promise. Jacob, as we have seen, had long lived in sad forgetfulness of those peculiar mercies of God, which he had pledged himself to commemorate. He had too long resided in the immediate vicinity of persons who knew not God and deeply had he suffered in his family by this approximation. For he had lived to behold his children guilty of sins, at the bare recital of which, humanity shudders; but Jacob was a man of God; and though on some occasions, certainly deficient in the proper exercise of parental authority so acutely did he feel the guilt of his