joined into one the next morning; which, he pretends to allege, was a signification of the strict and solid union which subsisted between God and Jacob. And some later interpreters, though aided by the superior light of the gospel dispensation, have been simple enough to adopt this fable, and to explain it, some, of the ineffable union of the three persons who are the object of our worship; others, of the conjunction of the soul, body, and deity in the person of Jesus Christ.

It appears that Jacob intended simply to record, in such characters as his situation afforded, that night's important transaction. He sets up the stone, or stones, upon which his head had reposed when visited with the visions of the Almighty, in the form of a rustic pillar, and solemnly anoints, and thereby consecrates it, to the honour of God, by the name of Bethel, that is, "the house of God;" and over it, thus dedicated, he afresh and voluntarily enters into solemn covenant with God, obliging himself by a sacred vow, to acknowledge and worship none but him; committing himself with filial confidence to the protection of his gracious providence; trusting the time and manner of his return to the care of infinite wisdom; promising ever to consider this monumental pillar as an altar devoted to the service of God; and binding himself, by an explicit declaration, to devote to pious uses the tenth part of whatever he should through the divine blessing acquire. By the way, the oil wherewith he consecrated his pillar was undoubtedly part of the slender provision made for his journey; and apparently a little bread and oil was all he could possibly carry with him. But of that little he cheerfully spares a portion for the purposes of religion; for the possession of a truly pious soul is small indeed, if it bestow nothing when charity, mercy, or devotion give the call.

With what alacrity does he now prosecute his journey! What a change in his condition produced in one short night! When "the heart is established by grace," difficult things become easy; the valley is exalted, and the hill laid low; the crooked becomes straight, and the rough places plain. Nothing that the sacred historian deemed worth recording, occurred during the remainder of this pilgrimage. Jacob at length arrived "in the land of the people of the east." And now, no doubt, he flatters himself that all his

cob must earn that by long fourteen years servitude, which Abraham's servant was so successful as to accomplish in the pronouncing of almost as many words.

But here we must make another pause, and leave the next sweet scene of Jacob's life, and the sequel of it, to another Lecture. But we must no longer defer, the beginning at least of that parallel which is one object among others, if not the chief, in these exercises.

Jacob was destined of Providence to power and precedency before he was born. Jesus is declared the Son of God, and the heir of all things, by the angel who announced his miraculous conception and birth to his virgin mother. Jacob, the last in order of nature, but first in the election of grace, prefigures him, who, appearing in the end of the world, is nevertheless" the first-born among many brethren." Jacob, hated and persecuted of his brother, is an obvious type of him who was to come, "despised and rejected of men;" crucified and slain by the impious and unnatural hands of those who were his bone and his flesh. Jacob, dismissed with blessings by his father from Beer-sheba, points out to us Jesus leaving heaven's glory, and the bosom of the Father, in compliance with the eternal decree, to become a wanderer in our world; "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." The object of Jacob's journey and of Christ's is one and the same. Jacob, to procure for himself a believing spouse, to become the fruitful mother of an elect offspring; Jesus, to purchase for himself, at the price of his own blood, "the church, which is his body, to espouse it to himself as a chaste bride," united to him in everlasting bands of interest and affection. Jacob, deserted and solitary in the plain of Bethel, is a shadow of Christ forsaken of all in the wilderness of this world, yet not “alone, but his heavenly Father always with him." The vision of the ladder has already spoken for itself. What then remains but to add, Jacob's covenant, consecration, and vow, are so many different representations of Christ's covenant of redemption: his unction by the Spirit to the execution of his high office; and not the tithe, but the whole of his vast and glorious acquisition rendered unto God even the Father: when the kingdom is finally delivered up to "him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, that God may be all in all."

THE great Author of our nature has wisely and wonderfully adapted the various objects which successively solicit our attention and engage our pursuit, to the different periods of our life, the different and successive affections of our heart, the different stations which we have to occupy, and the duties which we are bound to perform. Human life, in so far as nature predominates over it, does not consist of violent and sudden transitions, but of calm, gentle, imperceptible changes: like the gradual progress of the day, from the morning dawn to meridian splendour; and thence gradually back again, to the glimmering twilight of the evening, and the shades of night. We emerge not at once from infancy into manhood; we sink not in a moment from manhood into old age. We grow, and we decline, without perceiving any alteration. Betwixt the giddiness and inconsideration of childhood, and the serious cares and employments of mature age, there is a middle and an important stage of life, which connects the two. And there is a passion happily suited to it, which contains and unites the spirit of both; a passion which blends the vivacity and impetuosity of the boy with the gravity and thoughtfulness of the man: that noble, generous passion, which the great God has implanted in our nature, to attract, unite, and bless mankind; and which, therefore, the pen of inspiration has not disdained, in its own inimitable manner, to describe. It was this passion which speedily compensated to Jacob the loss of his father's house, and the pains of a tedious journey; which sweetened and shortened seven long years of hard and mortifying servitude; but which, at the same time, anticipated both the cares and the delights of future life.

Jacob, cheered and supported by the recollection of his vision at Bethel, and animated with the hope of a happy meeting with his friends and relations at Padan-aram, goes on his way rejoicing; and, guided, protected, and sustained by an indulgent Providence, he arrives in safety. It was that simple, innocent and happy age of the world, when the chief occupations and enjoyments of human nature were seen in the shepherd's life; while, as yet, gold had not settled the price of every other production of the natural world, nor determined the importance of all intellec

tual endowments: while as yet, commerce had not opened her ten thousand channels of luxury, to enervate, corrupt, and destroy mankind. His conversation with the shepherds of Haran* must always afford exquisite delight to those, whose taste, undebauched by the frippery of modern manners, and the affectation of ceremony and compliment, can relish the honest simplicity of nature, and the genuine expression of unaffected, unsophisticated kindness and benevolence. From them he has the pleasure of hearing that his kinsman Laban lived in the neighbourhood, and was in health; and that his daughter Rachel was every moment expected to come to the watering-place, with her father's flock.While they are yet speaking, Rachel, beautiful as the opening spring, and innocent as the lambs she tended, draws nigh with her fleecy charge. With what admirable propriety and skill do the holy scriptures represent the most distinguished, exalted, and amiable female characters, engaged in virtuous, humble, useful employments! Sarah, baking cakes upon the hearth, for the entertainment of her husband's guest; Rebekah, drawing water for the daily use of her brother's family, and the refreshment of the weary traveller; and Rachel feeding her father's sheep. O that ye knew, my fair friends, wherein your true dignity, value, and importance consisted! They consist in being what God from the beginning intended you to be, "an help meet for man;" not the mere instrument of his pleasure, nor the silly idol of his adoration.

Jacob, with the ardour natural to a manly spirit, and the zeal of an affectionate relation, runs up to salute and assist his fair kinswoman. Little offices of civility are the natural expression of a good and honest heart; they often suggest the first sentiments of love, both to those who confer, and to those who receive them; and they keep love alive after it is kindled. The meeting of that day, and Jacob's natural, easy, officious gallantry, in relieving Rachel, on their very first rencounter, of the heaviest part of her pastoral task, inspired, I doubt not, emotions very different from those which the mere force of blood produces; and were, I am sure, recollected by both, with inexpressible satisfaction, many a time afterward. And little do I know of the *Gen. xxix. 1-8.

place of the younger. He who could practice upon a father's blindness, though to obtain a laulable end, is in his turn practised upon by a father, employing the cover of night to accomplish a very unwarrantable purpose. Laban was base, treacherous, and wicked; but Heaven is wise, and holy, and just. Let the man who dares to think of doing evil in the hope that good may come, look at Jacob, and tremble. The shame, vexation, and distress of such a disappointment, are more easily imagined than described. And, what are all the votaries of sinful pleasure preparing for themselves? Treasuring up shame and sorrow, when the delirium of passion is over, and the returning light of reason awakens them to reflection and remorse. They thought it "to be Rachel, but in the morning behold it was Leah." The next day, as may well be supposed, exhibited a scene of no pleasing kind: expostulation, upbraiding, and reproach. Laban, as avarice seldom chooses to avow its real motives, endeavours to justify his treachery and breach of faith, by a pretended regard for the laws and manners of his country, which permitted not the younger to be given in marriage before the first-born. An honest man would have given this information when the bargain was first proposed. It was an insult, not an indemnification, to produce it now. What will not this base passion make a man do? To deceive the unsuspecting and unwary; to oppress the weak; to practise upon the stranger, are among its simpler and more customary operations. Behold it leading a father, to by what name shall I call it?-prostitute his own daughter. If there be a crime blacker than another; if, Satan, there be a purpose thou wouldst accomplish, which modesty shudders to think of, which the hand trembles to perpetrate, from which the conscience in horror recoils; infuse into some dark heart the demon of covetousness, the love of money; place gain in one eye, prostitution and parricide in the other, and the work of hell is done.

Mark how easy and flexible the conscience of a miser is. Let interest blow the gale, from whatever quarter it be, and lo, with the rapidity of thought, the understanding and conscience of the covetous wretch are veered round with it! The man, who last night shuddered at the thought of violating a foolish and absurd fashion of the country is not ashamed, the very next morning, to propose polygamy and incest; and to make his own children the instruments of them. Whence this strange inconsistency? It was for his advantage to adhere to the custom of the country; and to dispense with the laws of God and nature. What does it concern him, that disorder and distress are introduced into his daughter's family, so long as it can any how redound to his private benefit? If an

other man have what may be called a weak side, avarice is quicksighted as the eagle to discern it, and not more penetrating to discover than dexterous to convert it to its own emolument. Unfortunately, Jacob's infirmity was clear as the sun at noon. His unextinguished, unabated passion for Rachel was well known to her rapacious father; who had, with a joy which the worldly mind alone can feel, seen his flocks multiply, and his wealth increase, under Jacob's care. Unsatisfied and insatiable, he builds upon this well-known attachment the project of a farther continuation of Jacob's servitude, with all its accumulation of riches and consequence.

The proposal which avarice made without a blush, love accepted with perhaps too much precipitation. We are not framing an apology for Jacob's conduct, but delivering the features of his character, and the lines of his history, from the sacred record. But this much we may venture to affirm, that Jacob, left to himself, and to the honest workings of a heart inspired by the love of an estimable object, would never have dreamt of a plurality of wives; much less of assuming the sister of his beloved Rachel, to be her rival in his affections. It does not appear, that the solemnization of Jacob's marriage with Rachel, was deferred till the expiration of the second term of seven years. Provided Laban got sufficient security for performance of the agreement, it was indifferent to him when the other got possession of the bride. It is probable, therefore, that he gave way immediately to Jacob's wishes; and the more so, that his business was likely to be executed with greater fidelity and zeal, by a servant and son gratified, indulged, and obliged, than by one soured by disappointment, dissatisfied and irritated by unkindness and deceit. Behold then Jacob, at length, at the summit of his hopes and desires. After much delay, through many difficulties, which have strengthened, not extinguished affection, Rachel is at last his wife.

But alas, human life admits not of perfect bliss! The seeds of jealousy and strife are sown in Jacob's family. The wife who enjoyed the largest share of the husband's affection, is doomed to sterility; the less beloved, is blessed with children. Thus a wise and gracious Providence, by setting one thing against another, preserves the prosperous from pride and insolence, and the wretched from despair. Twenty years did Isaac and Rebekah live in wedlock without a child, though the inheritance and succession of all Abraham's wealth and prospects depended upon it; whereas the family of Jacob, a simple shepherd, earning his subsistence by the sweat of his brow, the servant of another man, is built up and increases apace. The good things of life seem, to the superficial