state of grace, and to a more perfect faith, and when Christ is to be more completely formed in the soul, a certain pressure precedes it. This was also the case with Jacob; and the Lord employed a variety of means to produce in him this necessity for and craving after a superior communication of grace and blessing. He first gave him the command to return to the land of Canaan, where his father dwelt, and also his brother Esau, and gradually conducted him to the scene of conflict where we have hitherto contemplated him, and where wonderful but glorious things occurred to him. In Mesopotamia he had no reason to trouble himself about his brother's fury, although he had something to suffer from the convetousness of his father-in-law; but now he himself, with all that was dear and valuable to him, was at stake, and he was cast, as it were, to the lions. It was not his own choice; for this would have been fool-hardy, and he would have been unable, in this case, to have made God his confident. It was the Lord's own guidance. To this Jacob appeals in the ninth verse, Thou saidst unto me, Return unto thy country.' The Lord had also promised him, saying, Behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest.' (ch. xxviii. 15.) His own reason and his own will would have been no good guide, nor do they lead any one aright. Hence the promise is, 'I will guide thee with mine eye;' I will lead thee into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto thee.' (Hosea ii. 14.) Hence David prays, 'Let thy good Spirit lead me on a plain path;' and again, Turn from me every false way, and grant me thy statutes.'

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However, Jacob was not enabled to conduct himself under these circumstances, on approaching his brother, in a manner consistent with the promises he had received. By the Lord's wise permission, a dreadful fear of his enraged brother takes possession of his soul, and under its influence he acts, in some respects, too much like a natural man; but in others, in an exemplary manner. The feeling of fear was not only painful in itself, but one might have supposed it could not have seized such a man as Jacob. Doubtless he himself regarded it as something unbecoming, improper, and even absurd, and for which there was no cause, and by giving way to which he might act derogatorily to the faithfulness, power, and promise of the Lord. But these considerations were insufficient to tranquilize him; his reason looked too much at that which was seen, and too little at that which is invisible too much upon Esau, too little upon God; and he could not divest himself of it. And what was the result?-a struggle, and the desire that the Son would make him free. Until he obtained this, he acted with too much human prudence. Hence his humble message to his brother. Hence his submissive and excessive courteousness, in commanding Esau to be always called his Lord, but himself his servant; hence the prudent division of his family and his flocks into two parts, in order to save at least one of them; hence the placing the present intended for him in the first rank, and the instructing all his domestics to address Esau in a highly complimentary manner. He did everything to rid himself of his fear, and yet it is said, 'Jacob was greatly afraid and

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distressed.' And certainly, it was not for him to deliver himself from it; this honor belongs to the Son of God alone. Jacob's anxiety was doubtless rendered still more painful by the reproaches of his enlightened understanding on account of it, which prescribed an entirely different line of conduct to him, and a deportment consistent with the many proofs of Divine favor which he had received, and which were similar to those expressed by David in Psalm xci.: "Though a thousand should fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, yet it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. No evil shall befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling, for he hath given his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways.' How much had Jacob in his favor!-his father's blessing, which God himself had confirmed ; the remarkable vision of the heavenly ladder during his flight; and the glorious promise of the blessing, which should extend itself to all nations through the medium of his posterity.

The many temporal blessings which the Lord had bestowed upon him in such a visible manner, during his residence with Laban; the express command to return, with the promise of protection; the wonderful change produced in Laban, who, notwithstanding his furious rage, was not permitted to speak an unkind word to him; the meeting of a host of protecting angels at Mahanaim; and yet to be the subject of fear-of such great fear-was evidently not right, was a proof that Jacob did not yet possess a perfect faith; that he had

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not apprehended this golden chain of promises as he
ought. There were promises enough, but not sufficient
faith. He that feareth,' says John, 1 Ep. iv. 18, 'is
not made perfect in love.
fect love casteth out fear.'
haste, nor does it flee, through fear. He that can say
with the Psalmist, God is my refuge and strength'-
can also say,Therefore will we not fear, though the
earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried
into the midst of the sea.' But Jacob had not yet at-
tained this standing; we must beware, however, of
supposing that perhaps only a single saint in a century
attains to it, and that it cannot be attained by others
because we ourselves have not yet arrived at it. . For
such thoughts are base, derogatory to God and his
grace, and resting-places for the flesh.

Fear hath torment; but per-
Perfect faith does not make

Jacob was conscious that his faith was not in accordance with the promise. All his prudent measures were unable in the smallest degree to expel his fear, which laughed, like Job's leviathan, at the shaking of the spear. All his endeavors to compose and tranquilize his mind were fruitless, and only increased his fear and disturbance, instead of lessening it. O happy failure of his own, self-potent striving to help and amend himself! Happy is he whose own strength, wisdom, and righteousness is dislocated in the struggle, and who has no other alternative than to cast himself entirely into the arms of Jesus!

Thus it fared with Jacob. His distressing condition outwardly, and his still greater inward distress, which he was unable of himself to remove, compelled him to

have recourse to the Lord by prayer; in which he unfolds the state of his mind, and candidly confesses that he was afraid of his brother Esau. At the same time he intreats a superior communication of grace. Perhaps it was more in the manner of groanings which cannot be uttered, than of clearly experienced and plainly expressed requests-a moaning of the new creaturewhich against its will lay in bondage to vanity-after the glorious liberty of the children of God; a longing after something better, of which he could not himself form any clear conception.

But He who searcheth the heart, well knew what was the mind of the Spirit. He himself had implanted in him this superior hunger after righteousness, and produced this urgency of spirit in him. Even as the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so his soul panted after God. His soul thirsted for God, for the living God, that he might come and appear before God, to see his power and his glory, so as he had seen it in the sanctuary. His heart would have been delighted to have been able to praise the Lord with joyful lips. He sought retirement. He prayed and wept, as Hosea says; he could not properly say what he required; it was not merely fear, but also its peculiar source, of which he wished to be divested. His heart, not yet established in perfect faith, and still unable properly to apprehend God in his promises, travailed, as it were, in the spiritual birth-as the Savior says-by which something new was to be produced in the soul.

But it was only after the Lord had laid hold of him in such a manner, that his travail really commenced.