Gen. 45:8.

Gen. 45:8.

XXXVI

JEHOVAH-JIREH, THE LORD WILL PROVIDE

  Gen. 22:14.

And Abraham called the name of that place, Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.

THE Saints of old took special care to remember the mercies of their God. Hence they scarcely ever received any remarkable deliverance from evil, or communication of good from him, but they erected some memorial of it, and gave either to the place or to the memorial itself, some name, that should transmit to posterity a remembrance of the blessing vouchsafed unto them. Such was “Beth-el,” where Jacob was favoured with a special vision; and “Peniel,” where he wrestled with the angelb; and “Eben-ezer,” the stone erected by Samuel in remembrance of Israel’s victory over the Philistines. Frequently the name of Jehovah himself was annexed to some word expressive of the event commemorated; as, “Jehovah-nissi, meaning, The Lord my banner;” a name given to an altar raised by Moses, to commemorate the total discomfiture of the Amalekites; and “Jehovah-shalom, The Lord send peace;” being the name given to another altar, which Gideon erected in remembrance of a special visit which he had received from the Lord in Ophrah of the Abi-ezritese. The Father of the Faithful set an example in this respect. He had been ordered by God to sacrifice his son Isaac; but in the very act of offering him up, God had arrested his uplifted arm, and directed him to offer in the stead of his son a ram caught in the thicket which was close at hand. This was in fact an accomplishment of what Abraham himself had a little before unwittingly predicted. For, in answer to Isaac’s question. “My father, behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?” he replied, “My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt-offering.” By this answer he merely intended to satisfy his son’s mind for the present, till the time should arrive for making known to him the command which he had received from God; in which command that provision was actually made: but through the miraculous intervention of Divine Providence and the substitution of the ram in Isaac’s place, it had now been literally verified in a way which he himself had never contemplated. And it was in reference to this expression which he had used, that he called the name of the place, “Jehovah-jireh,” which means, “The Lord will provide.”

This circumstance, occurring on Mount Moriah at the very instant when Abraham’s hand was lifted up to slay his son, passed immediately into a, proverb, and has been handed down as a proverb through all successive generations even to this very day: the proverb is, “In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen;” or, as it should rather be translated, “In the mount the Lord shall be seen.” To enter fully into this most instructive proverb, it will be proper to shew,

  I.      What it supposes—

Much important truth lies concealed in it. It supposes,

  1.      That God is the same in all ages—

[It may be thought that this is a truth which no one will controvert. I grant that no one will controvert it in theory: but practically it is denied every day. The God who is revealed in the Scriptures is evidently a God of infinite condescension and grace; as appears in all his mercies to the children of men. He is also a God of inflexible justice and holiness; as appears by the awful judgments he has executed on account of sin. But, if we now hold him forth in either of these points of view, and inculcate the necessity of our regarding him with hopes and fears suited to these perfections, we are considered as either derogating from his Majesty on the one hand, or from his goodness on the other hand. The notion, that “the Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil,” though not openly avowed, is yet the secret persuasion of almost every heart. But if there were any foundation for this Epicurean sentiment, what room could there be for this proverb? But know assuredly, that “He changeth not;” “with Him is no variableness neither shadow of turning;” “He is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.”]

  2.      That the privileges of his people in all ages are the same—

[To imagine this, is thought by many to be the height of presumption. But what privilege had Enoch, or Noah, or Abraham, or Moses, or any other of the children of men, which we have not? No one of them enjoyed any thing which was not contained in the covenant of grace. And what was the great promise in that covenant? Was it not, “I will be their God, and they shall be my people?” Was there any thing that was not comprehended in that? or could any thing whatever be added to it? Yet behold, that covenant is as much in force at this day as it was at any period of the world: and those who lay hold on that covenant are as much entitled to its blessings, as any ever were from the foundation of the world. Were this not so, we should have been injured, rather than benefited, by the coming of Christ. But our interest in it is not only as great as theirs was in the days of old, but, I had almost said, greater: for in the mention of this part of the covenant in the New Testament there is this remarkable difference: in the Old Testament God says, “I will be their God;” but in the New Testament he says, “I will be a God unto them.” This seems to convey a stronger and more determinate idea to the mind. We all know what it is to be a friend or a father to any person: but oh! what is it to be a God unto him? This none but God can tell: but the least it means is this; that, whatever situation a believer may be in, all that infinite wisdom, unbounded love, and almighty power can effect, shall be effected for him. Of the believer therefore now, no less than in former days, it may be said, “All things are yours: whether: Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.”]

  3.      That whatsoever God at any time has done for the most favoured of his saints, may be expected by us now, as far as our necessities call for it—

[Of all the circumstances related in the Old Testament, scarcely any one was so particular and so exclusive as this which we are considering. Who besides him was ever called to sacrifice his own son? Who besides him was ever stopped by a voice from heaven in the execution of such a command, and directed to another offering which God himself had provided? Yet behold, this very event was made the foundation of the proverb before us; and from this, particular and exclusive as it was, all believers are taught to expect, that God will interpose for them in like manner, in the hour of necessity! If then we may expect such an interposition as this, what may we not expect?

But let us take some other events, to which nothing parallel exists. The passage of Israel through the Red Sea; the striking of the rock, in order to supply them with water in the wilderness; and the feeding of them with daily supplies of manna for forty years: can we expect any interpositions like these? Yes: and an express reference is made to these in the Holy Scriptures in order to raise our expectations to the highest, and to assure us that we shall receive from God every thing that our necessities may require. Were “the depths of the sea made a way for the ransomed to pass over?” With similar triumph may all the “redeemed of the Lord hope to return and come to Zion.” What was done in the ancient days, in the generations of old,” is there made the very pattern of what shall be done for all the Lord’s people. A similar assurance is given in reference to the water that issued from the rock; and we are told “not even to remember or consider the former things,” since God will repeat them again and again, doing them “anew,” so that “every body shall know” and observe it: “I will give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen.” As for the manna, you all are taught by our blessed Lord to pray, “Give us day by day our daily bread.” The matter then is plain: for, if such things as these are to be realized in our experience, there is nothing which was ever clone for mortal man, which we are not authorized to expect, as far as our necessities require it. Miracles indeed we are not to expect: but what was formerly done by visible exercises of a miraculous power, shall now, in effect, be done by the invisible agency of God’s providential care. The mode of effecting our deliverance shall be varied; but the deliverance itself shall be secured.]

Now we come to,

  II.      What it affirms—

The proverb is express: “In the mount the Lord shall be seen:” that is,

  1.      He will interpose for his people in the hour of necessity—

[This is its plain import: and to the same effect it is elsewhere promised, “The Lord will judge his people, and repent himself for his servants; when he seeth that their power is gone, and that there is none shut up or left.” If it be asked, ‘In what way will he interpose?’ I answer, ‘This must be left to him: he is not limited to any particular means: he can work by means, or without them, as he seeth fit: the whole creation is at his command: the wind shall divide the sea; and the sea shall stand up as a wall on either hand, when he is pleased to make a way through it for his people: and the waters shall resume their wonted state, when he gives them a commission to overwhelm his enemies: and both the one and the other shall be done at the precise moment of Israel’s necessity. If confederate armies come against his people, his enemies shall defeat their own sanguinary purpose, and be the executioners of God’s vengeance on each other. Is the destruction of a faithful servant menaced and expected by blood-thirsty persecutors? an angel becomes the willing agent of Jehovah for his deliverance. Sometimes he will defeat the enterprises of his enemies by the very means which they use to carry them into effect. This was the case with respect to Joseph, whose exaltation sprang from the very means used by various instruments for his destruction. As for means, we may safely leave them to God. Two things we certainly know; namely, that he will interpose seasonably; and that he will interpose effectually: for he is, and ever will be, a very present help in trouble.’]

  2.      We may confidently trust in Him in seasons of the greatest darkness and distress—

[God may not come to our help at the moment that our impatient minds may desire. On the contrary, he may tarry, till we are ready to cry, like the Church of old, “The Lord hath forsaken us, and our God hath forgotten us.” But he has wise and gracious purposes to answer by such delays. He makes use of them to stir us up to more earnest importunitys; to render us more simple and humble in our dependence upon him; to display more gloriously before our eyes the riches of his power and graceu, and to teach both us and others to wait his time. Sometimes he suffers the enemy so far to prevail as that to all human appearance our case shall be irremediable: whilst yet those very enemies are instruments in his hands to accomplish unwittingly the very ends which they are labouring to defeat; disappointing thus the devices of the crafty, and taking the wise in their own craftiness. The history of Joseph will of necessity occur to every mind in illustration of this pointz; But what does all this say to us? Its language is precisely that of the prophet: “The vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”]

  ADDRESS,

  1.      Those who have never yet been brought into deep waters—

[Do not imagine that because you have hitherto experienced but little trouble, your path shall always be smooth and easy. No: it is a thorny wilderness that you have to pass through, and a troubled ocean that you have to navigate, ere you can reach the desired haven. The mariner when scarcely launched upon the deep does not expect that the breeze shall be alike gentle to the end of his voyage: he prepares for storms, that he may be ready to meet them when they come. In like manner you also will do well to prepare for seasons of adversity and trial. The seaman takes with him his compass, his chart, his quadrant; and makes his daily observations, that he may know where he is, and not be driven from his course. So likewise do you take with you this proverb; which will ever be of use to you in the most trying hour, and enable you to steer your course with safety to the haven of rest.]

  2.      Those who are under any great and heavy calamity—

[The Lord’s people are no more exempt from trouble than others. When most in the path of duty, storms and tempests may overtake you, and menace your very existence: yea, and in the midst of all, your Lord and Saviour may seem regardless of your trouble. But remember, that, embarked as you are with him, you can never perish. In the fittest moment, he will arise and rebuke the storm; and both winds and waves shall obey him. Go forward, as Abraham did, in the path of duty, and leave events to God. Do not be impatient because God does not appear for you so soon as you could wish. Perhaps you have not gone above one day’s journey yet in the path assigned you: if so, you have another and another day yet to go. Possibly you may have been long tried, and are got to the very mount: but you are not yet got to the top of that mount: much less have you bound your Isaac, and lifted up your hand to slay him. If not, the time for the Lord’s interposition is not yet come. See how it was with David. He fled from Saul—The Ziphites came and informed Said of the place where he was hid—Saul blessed them for the intelligence they had brought him: and set out immediately and encompassed with his army the very spot where David was. Alas! David, thy God hath forsaken thee! No: not so: in that critical moment, “a messenger comes to Saul, saying, Haste thee, and come; for the Philistines have invaded the land.” And thus was the snare broken, and the persecuted saint delivered. Thus also shall it be with you. Only stay till the critical moment has arrived, and you shall find the proverb true: “In the mount the Lord shall be found.” “Whatever you may imagine, the Lord is not an inattentive observer of your state. He may suffer you to be cast into the tempestuous ocean, and to be swallowed up by a whale, and yet bring you up again from the very depths of the sea, and advance his own glory the more in proportion to the greatness of your deliverance. Trust then in the Lord, and let your mind be stayed on him.

This is the direction which he himself gives you: “Who is among you that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God.” And if the time for your deliverance seem to be utterly passed, go with the Hebrew youths into the fiery furnace, taking God’s express promise with youf, and say with Job, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.”]

XXXVII

ABRAHAM’S PROMISED SEED

  Gen. 22:18.

In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.

THERE is nothing in man which can merit the divine favour: the promises of God to us are altogether free, resulting wholly from his sovereign grace: yet does God frequently manifest his love towards us in consequence of something done by us. Abraham, it should seem, was an idolater, when God first made himself known to him in his native land: and then did the Almighty promise, that in him should all the families of the earth be blessed. But, in the passage before us, Abraham is recorded to have performed the most extraordinary act of obedience that ever was known from the foundation of the world: and God takes occasion from that to renew his promise, and, for his more abundant consolation, to confirm it with an oath. To ascertain the full import of this glorious prophecy, it will be proper to inquire,

  I.      Who is the seed here spoken of—

It is not to all the natural descendants, or to that part of them that composed the Jewish nation, or even to the spiritual seed of Abraham, that these words refer: they speak of one particular individual, the Lord Jesus Christ.

  1.      To him all the types direct our attention—

[The temple with all its utensils, the priests with, all their habits and services, the sacrifices and oblations of every kind, all shadowed forth his work and offices. The principal events in the Jewish history, together with the great persons engaged in them, their lawgiver, their commanders, judges, kings, and prophets, prefigured him in different points of view, and, as so many lines, meet in him as their common centre. On this account we have reason to think that the prophecy before us relates to him.]

  2.      In him all the prophecies receive their accomplishment—

[However some of the prophecies might be partially fulfilled in Solomon or others, it is certain that all of them together were never accomplished in any one but Jesus. They were intended to designate HIM, that, when he should arrive, there might be no doubt of his being the very person fore-ordained of God to be the Saviour of the world. The minute description of the promised Messiah, together with the marvellous combination of circumstances that marked Jesus as the person foretold, lead us further to believe that the text had particular respect to him.]

  3.      To him exclusively the text is applied by God himself—

[St. Paul tells us that the blessing of Abraham was to come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; and that the words of the text related, not to others, but to Christ aloneb.]

This point being ascertained, let us inquire,

  II.      In what respect all nations are blessed in him—

The full accomplishment of the text will not take place till that glorious period when the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea. Yet, in a limited sense, all nations have experienced the truth of this prophecy already.

  1.      They are reconciled to God through him—

[Christ died not for one nation only; he was a propitiation for the sins of the whole world. Many of all nations have already believed in his name, and rejoiced in his salvation: and in every place they who believe in him shall find acceptance with their God.]

  2.      They are united in one body in him—

[He has broken down the middle wall of partition that divided the Jewish and Gentile world, and, having reconciled both unto God in one body by the cross, he has slain the enmity thereby. All mankind are now brought into one family, and are taught to regard each other as brethren: and in proportion as the religion of Jesus gains the ascendant over our hearts, we are united in love to every member of his mystical body.]

  3.      They are blessed with all spiritual blessings—

[There is not any thing that can conduce to our present or future happiness which Jesus will not bestow on his believing people. Adoption into his family, peace in our consciences, holiness in our hearts, and an eternity of glory in the Father’s presence, are the certain portion of all his faithful followers. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile; all are admitted to the same privileges, and all shall participate the same enjoyments.]

  INFER,

  1.      The antiquity of the Gospel—

[The sum and substance of the Gospel is, that Christ is the only source of all spiritual and eternal blessings. Wherever this truth is strongly urged, men are ready to cry out against it as a new doctrine. But we can trace it, not only to the Reformers of our church, but to the Apostles, yea to Abraham also: for St. Paul declares, that when God spake the words to Abraham, he “preached the Gospel to him” even that very Gospel whereby he and all the nations of the earth must be saved. Let this truth then no longer be reviled as novel, but be received as the one ground of all our hopes.]

  2.      The importance of faith—

[Abraham’s faith in this Gospel was imputed to him for righteousness; and by believing the same divine record we also must be justifiedg. No doctrine whatever is more explicitly declared in Scripture than this. Let us then acknowledge the necessity of faith, and look to the Lord Jesus Christ as that promised seed, through whom alone the blessings of Abraham can flow down upon us.]

  3.      The connexion between faith and works—

[Faith was that principle which produced in Abraham such exemplary obedience: and the same root will bear similar fruits wheresoever it existsi. Indeed the pardon of past sins would be utterly insufficient to make us happy, if it were not accompanied with the renovation of our natures. To this effect St. Peter expounded, as it were, the very words of the text, declaring to the Jews, that conversion from sin was one of the first blessings which the Lord Jesus was sent to bestow. Let us then not consider faith and works as opposed to each other, but as possessing distinct offices, the one to justify our souls, the other to honour God, and to manifest the sincerity of our faith.]

XXXVIII

ABRAHAM PURCHASING A BURYING-PLACE IN CANAAN

  Gen. 23:17, 18.

And the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the care which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the borders round about, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession, in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city.

THERE is something in a holy life which wonderfully conciliates the minds of men. At first indeed, like a strong influx of light, it offends their eyes; and the beholders, unable to bear the effulgence of its beams, turn away from it, or perhaps desire its utter extinction. But when it has shone for a long time before them, and they have had sufficient opportunity to contemplate its worth, they are constrained to acknowledge, that “the righteous is more excellent than his neighbour:” and they begin to venerate the character, whose virtues at first were occasions of offence. We have a striking instance of this in the chapter before us. The children of Heth were not acquainted with Abraham’s principles: but they had seen his exemplary deportment for many years: and when the death of his wife necessitated him to ask a favour at their hands, they were as glad to confer it, as he could possibly be to receive it. The purchase of a burying-place does not indeed appear at first sight to be an incident worthy of notice: but in the present instance there is much that deserves attention. We would make some remarks upon,

  I.      The manner in which the agreement was made—

No records, human or divine, afford us a more admirable pattern for transacting the common business of life than the history before us. All parties seemed to be penetrated with the same spirit: they vied with each other in all that was amiable and praiseworthy. We may notice in particular,

  1.      Their courteousness—

[Abraham, in his address to the chief persons of the city, testified all the respect due to their character, “standing up before them, and bowing to them:” and they, on the other hand, addressed him as “a mighty prince,” whom they were forward and happy to oblige. It were well if, in all our intercourse with mankind, we were careful to maintain a similar deportment. But there are many Christians who seem almost to forget that God has said unto them, “Be courteous.” They are arrogant and assuming towards their superiors; they are haughty and imperious towards their inferiors; they are ready to claim as their right what they ought to ask as a favour; and, if they grant a favour, they confer it in so ungracious a way, as to destroy all sense of obligation in him who receives it. Some allowance indeed must be made for natural disposition, and for defects of education: yet, after all, the Christian ought to be the most polite of men, because he ought to feel in his heart all that others express in their conduct: he should “esteem others better than himself,” and “prefer them in honour before himselfc,” and make himself the servant of all for his Master’s sake. He should have in subjection all that pride and selfishness, that stimulates to contentione; and maintain in exercise that divine philanthropy, which is the foundation and cement of all civilized society. “Whatsoever is lovely and of good report,” he should revolve it in his thoughts, and manifest it in his actionsg.]

  2.      Their equity—

[Gladly would Ephron have given to Abraham both the sepulchre which he desired, and the field in which it was contained: but Abraham entreated that he might be permitted to pay for it a valuable consideration. Accordingly the price was fixed on the one part with perfect equity, and paid, on the other, with perfect cheerfulness. Would to God that all men would adopt this mode of dealing, and buy and sell according to this pattern! Would to God that even professed Christians would copy after this example! How much falsehood, how much imposition, would then be avoided! Solomon has drawn to the life the characters of many, who depreciate every thing which they wish to buy, and then go away boasting of the advantageous bargains they have made; “It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer; and when he is gone his way, he boasteth.” But this is beneath the character of a good man. We should not wish to obtain more, or to pay less, for a thing, than it is worth. We should not advance the price on account of the purchaser’s necessity, or refuse what is right on account of the necessity of the seller: but, whether we buy or sell, should act towards our neighbour as we in a change of circumstances would have him do to us.]

  3.      Their prudence—

[To Abraham especially it was of importance that the purchase should be known and ratified. Had he accepted the sepulchre as a present, or bought it in a private way, his title to it might at some future period have been disputed, and his descendants been deprived of that which he was desirous of securing to them. But all fears of this kind were effectually prevented by the publicity of the transaction. The chief persons of the city were not only witnesses of it, but agents, by whose mediation Ephron was induced to conclude the bargain. Moreover, all who went in or out of the gate of the city, were witnesses; so that, after possession was once taken, no doubt could ever arise respecting the transfer of the property, or the title of Abraham’s descendants to possess it.

How unlike to Abraham are many who call themselves his children! They embark in business, and enter into contracts, without due consideration: they transact their affairs without order, and leave them in confusion: and thus by their indiscreet conduct they involve their names in disgrace, and their families in ruin. Let us learn from him: let us act with caution: let not even affliction itself render us inattentive to the welfare of our posterity: let us conduct ourselves conformably to that sage advice of Solomon, “Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house.” In other words, Let deliberation and foresight so regulate our conduct, that they who succeed us may applaud our wisdom, and reap the benefit of our care.]

If the manner of forming this agreement is profitable, much more shall we find it profitable to consider,

  II.      The ends for which it was made—

There was much more in the mind of Abraham than was known to the people among whom he sojourned. Besides the immediate and ostensible reason of making that purchase, he had others that were no less important. We shall mention them in their order. He bought the field,

  1.      To bury his wife—

[Sarah had lived with him to a good old age. But the dearest relatives, how long soever their union may continue, must part at last. And when the time of separation is come, the most beloved object ceases to please. The soul having taken its flight, the body hastens to putrefaction; and we are as glad to have it removed out of our sight, as ever we were to enjoy communion with it. To give it a decent interment, and drop a tear over it at the grave, is the last office of love which we are able to shew to our clearest friend: and he who lives the longest, has only to perform this painful office the more frequently, till he sees himself, as it were, forsaken by all, and left desolate, unknowing, and unknown. O that we could all bear this in mind! We are born to die: the moment we drew our breath, we had one breath less to draw. Every hour we live, we approach nearer and nearer to our grave. If we continue our course, like the sun, from its rise to the meridian, and from its meridian to the close of day, still every moment shortens our duration; and while we are speaking to you now, we are hastening to the chambers of death. Let husbands and wives, parents and children, and friends who are to each other as their own soul, remember this. Let them sit loose to each other; and let the time that they enjoy the society of their friends, be regarded by them as the interval allotted to prepare for their interment.]

  2.      To express his confidence in the divine promise—

[God had promised to him and to his seed the land wherein he sojourned. But Abraham had continued there above sixty years without gaining in it so much as one foot of land. But was the promise therefore to be doubted? No. It was not possible that that could fail. Abraham was as much assured that the promise should be fulfilled, as if he had seen its actual accomplishment. Under this conviction, he purchased the field as a pledge and earnest of his future inheritance. In the prophecies of Jeremiah we have a similar compact made with precisely the same view. The prophet had foretold the speedy desolation of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, and the restoration of the Jews to their own land after a captivity of seventy years. His uncle’s son, alarmed, as it should seem, by the approach of the Chaldean army, determined to sell his estate; and offered it to Jeremiah first, because the right of redemption belonged to him. By Gods command Jeremiah bought the inheritance; and had the transfer signed and sealed in a public manner; and buried the writings in an earthen vessel; that, being preserved to the expiration of the Babylonish captivity, they might be an evidence of his title to the estate. This was done, not that the prophet, or his heirs, might be enriched by the purchase, but that his conviction of the truth of his own prophecies might be made manifest.]

  3.      That he might perpetuate among his posterity the expectation of the promised land—

[It was to be four hundred years before his seed were to possess the land of Canaan. In that length of time it was probable that the promise itself would be forgotten; and more especially during their Egyptian bondage. But their having a burying-place in Canaan, where their bones were to be laid with the bones of their father Abraham, was the most likely means of keeping alive in every succeeding generation the hope of ultimately possessing the whole land. Accordingly we find, it did produce this very effect: for as Abraham and Sarah were buried in that cave, so Isaac and Rebekah were, and Jacob and Leah, notwithstanding Jacob died in Egypt. And Joseph also, though buried in Egypt, gave commandment, that when the Israelites should depart out of Egypt to possess the land of Canaan, they should carry up his bones with them, and bury them in the sepulchre of his progenitorsp.]

  ADDRESS—

  1.      Let us seek an union that shall never be dissolved—

[All earthly connexions must sooner or later be dissolved: and when once they are broken by death, they are terminated for ever. But an union formed with the Lord Jesus Christ shall never cease. If we are grafted into him as the living vine, we shall never be broken off: if we are made living members of his body, he will suffer nothing to separate us from him. Death, so far from destroying that union, shall confirm it, and bring us into a more intimate enjoyment of it. Let us then seek that union which is effected by faith in the Lord Jesus. If we consider only the present happiness arising from it, it infinitely transcends all other: but if we regard its continuance, the longest and dearest connexions upon earth are not worthy a thought in comparison of it.]

  2.      Let us look forward to the possession of the heavenly Canaan—

[There is “a promise left us of entering into rest,” even into “that rest which remaineth for the people of God.” But we may experience many difficulties and trials in our way thither. Nevertheless “the promise is sure to all the seed:” and “our Forerunner is already entered” into heaven, to take possession of it for us. Nay more, he has given us his “Holy Spirit to he a pledge and earnest of our inheritance.” Let us then be contented to live as pilgrims and sojourners in this world; and make it our chief labour to keep our title to that inheritance clear. Let us he anticipating the time when the promise shall bring forth, and all the seed of Abraham rejoice together in its full accomplishment.]

  3.      Let all our intercourse with men be worthy of our professions and expectations—

[If we have indeed been chosen of God to an eternal inheritance, we should shew a deadness to the things of this world, and an amiableness in the whole of our deportment. It is a shame to be outdone by heathens in any thing. We should excel in courteousness and generosity, in prudence and equity, as well as in heavenly-mindedness and devotion. In short, we should endeavour in all things to “walk worthy of our high calling,” and to “shew forth the virtues, as well as the praises, of him who hath called us to his kingdom and glory.” Such behaviour will go far towards conciliating our enemies. It will “put to silence the ignorance of foolish men;” and “make those ashamed, who falsely accuse our good conversation in Christ:” and, our light shining thus with uniform and engaging splendour, will constrain many to “glorify our Father that is in heaven.”]

XXXIX

MARRIAGE OF ISAAC

  Gen. 24:2–4.

And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh: and I will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell; but thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac.

THE great events which take place in the world, such as the rise and overthrow of kingdoms, are disregarded by God as unworthy of notice; whilst the most trivial things that appertain to his church and people, are recorded with the minutest exactness. The whole chapter from whence our text is taken relates to the marriage of Isaac. We are introduced into the most private scenes, and made acquainted with the whole rise, progress, and consummation of a matter, which might as well, to all appearance, have been narrated in a few words. But nothing is unimportant in God’s eyes, that can illustrate the operations of his grace, or tend to the edification of his church. in discoursing on this part of sacred history we shall notice,

  I.      Its peculiar incidents—

Abraham commissioned his servant to go and seek a wife for his son Isaac—

[That holy man could not endure the thought of his son forming a connexion with the Canaanites, who would be likely to draw him aside from the worship of the true God. He therefore ordered his old and faithful servant, Eliezer, to go to the country where his father’s relations lived, and where, though idolatry obtained in part, Jehovah was still known and worshipped, to bring for his son a wife from thence. As Isaac was forty years of age, it might have seemed more proper for him to go himself: but Abraham had been called out from thence, and would on no account either go back thither himself, or suffer his son to go, lest he should appear weary of his pilgrimage, or countenance his descendants in going back to the world from whence they have been brought forth. On this account, when his servant asked whether, in the event of the woman, whom he should fix upon, being unwilling to accompany him, he should take Isaac thither to see her, Abraham in the most peremptory manner imaginable forbade any such step; and declared his confidence, that while he was thus jealous for the honour of his God, God would overrule the mind of any person who should be selected as a partner for his son. But not contented with charging him in this manner, he imposed an oath upon him, and bound him by the most solemn obligations to execute his commission with fidelity and carec.

How admirable a pattern is this for parents, in reference to the forming of matrimonial connexions for their children! The generality are influenced chiefly by the family and fortune of those with whom they seek to be allied: and even professors of godliness are too often swayed by considerations like these, without adverting sufficiently to the interest of their immortal souls. But surely the religious character of a person ought to operate upon our minds beyond any other consideration whatever. To what purpose has God told us, that the believer can have no communion with an unbeliever, any more than light with darkness, or Christ with Belial? To what purpose has he enjoined us to marry “only in the Lord,” if we are still at liberty to follow our carnal inclinations and our worldly interests, without any regard to our eternal welfare? Let the example of Abraham and of Isaac have its due weight on all, whether parents or children: and let a concern for God’s honour regulate our conduct, as well in choosing connexions for ourselves, as in sanctioning the choice of others.]

The servant executed his commission with fidelity and dispatch—

[Never was there a brighter pattern of a servant than that which this history sets before us. In every step that Abraham’s servant took, he shewed how worthy he was to be intrusted with so important a mission. In his first setting-out he acted with great prudence: for, if he had gone alone without any evidences of his master’s wealth, he could not expect that he should obtain credit for his assertions. Therefore, without any specific directions from his master, he took ten camels richly laden, and, with them, a proper number of attendants; who, while they evinced the opulence of his master, would be witnesses also of his own conduct. His dependence indeed was upon God, and not on any devices of his own: nevertheless he rightly judged that a dependence upon God was not to supersede the exercise of wisdom and discretion.

Having reached the place of his destination, he earnestly implored direction and blessing from God: and in order that he might ascertain the will of God, he entreated that the woman designed for him might of her own accord offer to water all his camels. A better sign he could not well have asked: because such an offer, freely made to a stranger, would indicate a most amiable disposition: it would demonstrate at once the humility, the industry, the affability, the extreme kindness of the female; and would be a pledge, that she who could be so courteous and obliging to a stranger, would certainly conduct herself well in the relation of a wife. Scarcely had he presented his silent ejaculations to God, when Rebekah came, according to the custom of those times, to draw water; and, on being requested to favour him with a draught of water, made the very reply which he had just specified as the sign that was to mark the divine appointment. And no sooner had she made the offer, than she set herself (though it was no inconsiderable labour) to perform it. Amazed at the merciful interposition of his God, he stood wondering, and adoring God for the mercy vouchsafed unto him: nor did he suffer any of the inferior servants to assist her; that, by leaving her to complete the work alone, he might see more clearly the hand of God ordering and overruling the whole matter. When she had finished, he inquired her name and family: and finding that they were his master’s nearest relations, he made her a present of some valuable ornaments; and proposed, if her father could accommodate him, to spend the night at his house. She went home immediately to inform her friends, who came to the well, and invited him to return with them. Having brought him to their house, and shewn him the greatest hospitality, he refused to partake of any refreshment till he had made known to them the design of his coming. He then began to relate the wish of Abraham his master, the oath that he had imposed upon him, the prayer which he himself had silently offered to God, and the miraculous answer he had received to it; informing them at the same time of the opulence of Abraham, and that Isaac, on whose behalf he was come, was to be his sole heir. Immediately they all agreed, that the matter proceeded from the Lord; and they testified their willingness to accede to the proposal. They wished however for a few days’ delay; but the servant, having succeeded in the object of his mission, was impatient to be gone, and to deliver his master from the suspense in which he must of necessity have been kept. And Rebekah declaring her readiness to proceed with him, he took her and her nurse (after having given presents to all her relations, and thereby increased their esteem for his master), and brought her in safety to Isaac; who gladly received her as a present from the Lord, and was thenceforth united to her with the most affectionate regard.

In all this transaction we cannot but admire, on the one hand, the wisdom, the zeal, and the piety of the servant; and, on the other hand, the condescension and goodness of Jehovah. And though we are not warranted by this history to expect precisely the same interposition in our behalf, yet we are warranted to confide in God, and to expect his direction and blessing in all the things which we humbly commit to him.]

As a mere history, this is replete with instruction; but it is still more so, if considered in,

  II.      Its emblematic import—

Fearful as we would be, exceeding fearful, of imposing any sense upon the Holy Scriptures, which God himself has not plainly sanctioned, we will not take upon ourselves absolutely to affirm that the marriage of Isaac was allegorical: but when we consider that some of the most striking parts of Isaac’s history are explained by the inspired writers as emblematical of some mystery; that as the promised seed, born in a preternatural way, he was certainly a type of Christ; and that, as being the heir in opposition to Ishmael, he shadowed forth that spiritual seed who should inherit the promises; when we consider too the marvellous circumstances attending his marriage; we cannot reasonably doubt, but that it was a figure or emblem of some mysterious truth. If this ground of interpretation be admitted, we do not then hesitate to say, what that point is which it was intended to prefigure: it was certainly the marriage of God’s only dear Son to his bride, the church.

  1.      God, like Abraham, sends forth his servants to obtain a bride for his Son—

[The object nearest to the heart of our heavenly Father is to bring souls into connexion with his dear Son. This connexion is often represented under the idea of a marriage. Not to mention the innumerable places in the Old Testament where this image is used, we would only observe, that Jesus Christ is expressly called “the Bridegroom;” that his servants are called “the friends of the bridegroom, who hear his voice, and rejoice” in his prosperity; and that the church is called “the Lamb’s wifeg.” Ministers are sent forth to prevail on persons to unite themselves to him by faith, so as to become one flesh, and one spirit, with him. And when they are successful in any instances, “they espouse their converts to one husband, that they may present them as a chaste virgin to Christ.” To this office they are sworn in the most solemn manner: they are warned, that they shall be called to an account for their discharge of it; that if any through their neglect remain unimpressed with his overtures of mercy, their souls shall be required at the hands of him who neglected them. At the same time they are informed, that if their want of success is not owing to their own negligence, but to the obstinacy of the people to whom they are sent, it shall not be imputed to them; but “they shall receive a recompence according to their own labour,” and “be glorious in God’s eyes though Israel be not gatheredl.”]

  2.      His servants execute their commission in the very way that Abraham’s servant did—

[They look unto God for his direction and blessing; knowing assuredly, that, though “Paul should plant and Apollos water, God alone can give the increase.” They endeavour to render the leadings of his providence subservient to their great end. They watch carefully for any signs which may appear of God’s intention to render their message effectual; and they are forward to set forth the unsearchable riches of Christ, together with his suitableness and sufficiency for his church’s happiness. They declare that He is “appointed heir of all things;” and that out of His fulness all the wants of his people shall be abundantly supplied. They exhibit in their own persons somewhat of that “salvation wherewith he will beautify the meek;” and to every soul that expresses a willingness to be united to him, they are desirous to impart pledges and earnests of his future love. And if in any instance God blesses their endeavours, they labour to accelerate that perfect union which is the consummation of all their wishes. To any thing that would divert their attention or retard their progress, they say, “Hinder me not, seeing the Lord hath prospered my way.”]

  3.      Their labours are crowned with similar success—

[No faithful servant labours altogether in vain. Some doubtless are far more successful than others; but all who endeavour earnestly to “win souls to Christ,” have the happiness of seeing some who obey the call, and cheerfully “forsake all to follow him.” These are to them now their richest recompence; and in the last day will also be “their joy and crown of rejoicing:” for “when the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready,” then shall they also be “called to the marriage supper of the Lamb,” and be eternally blessed in his presence. “These are the true sayings of God.”]

  To make a suitable IMPROVEMENT of this history,

  1.      Let us have respect to God in all our temporal concerns—

[We have seen how simply and entirely God was regarded by all the parties concerned in this affair; by Abraham who gave the commission, by Isaac who acquiesced in it, by the servant who executed it, by Rebekah’s friends who submitted to the proposal as proceeding from God, and by Rebekah herself, who willingly accompanied the servant to his master’s house. Happy would it be if all masters, children, servants, families, were actuated by such a spirit! We need not limit our thoughts to the idea of marriage; for we are told that “in all our ways we should acknowledge God, and that he will direct our paths.” There is not a concern, whether personal or domestic, which we ought not to commit to him. And if all our “works were begun, continued, and ended in him,” we should find that God would “prosper the work of our hands upon us:” “being in his way, he would most assuredly lead us” to a happy and successful issue.]

  2.      Let us execute with fidelity every trust reposed in us—

[It is the privilege both of masters and servants to know, that “they have a Master in heaven;” who accepts at their hands the most common offices of life, provided his authority is acknowledged, his honour consulted, and his will obeyed, in the execution of them. This is God’s own direction to them: “Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; not with eye-service, as men-pleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; with good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men: knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. And, ye masters, do the same things unto them.” Whatever be our particular calling, it is that to which God himself has called us, and which ought to be exercised with a view to him, and as in his immediate sight. O that when we come into the presence of our Lord in the last day, we may be able to give as good an account of ourselves to him, as this servant did to his master Abraham!]

  3.      Let us accept the offers which are sent to us in Jesus’ name—

[The great concern typified in the history before us, is that in which we are this moment engaged. We are the servants of the most high God; and you are the people to whom we are sent. We are ambassadors from him; and we beseech you, in Christ’s stead, to be reconciled to him, and to accept his overtures of love and mercy. We declare to you, that now he will adorn you with a robe of righteousness and the graces of his Spirit, which were but faintly shadowed forth by the raiment and the jewels that were given to Rebekah. You shall be “all glorious within, and your raiment of wrought golds.” O let us not go away ashamed: let us not return and say, that those whom we have solicited, “refuse to come with us.” This is the message which he has sent to every one of you: “Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people and thy father’s house; so shall the King have pleasure in thy beauty.” May God of his mercy incline you to accept his invitation, and make you willing in the day of his power!]

XL

JACOB PREFERRED BEFORE ESAU

  Gen. 25:23.

The elder shall serve the younger.

THE common gifts of Providence are bestowed in such a regular and ordinary way, that the hand of God is scarcely seen or acknowledged in them. They are considered as resulting from a settled order of things, and are placed to the account of an imaginary cause, called Nature. But it pleases God sometimes to mark his dispensations in so plain a manner, that his agency cannot be overlooked. He withheld from Abraham the promised seed, till there was not the most remote hope of a child being born to him of his wife, Sarah, according to the common course of nature; and thus evinced, beyond a possibility of doubt, that the child was a special and miraculous gift from him. In the same manner he kept Isaac also twenty years childless; and then at last condescended to his repeated supplications, and granted him the desire of his heart. On that occasion God further manifested, that, as “children are a fruit and heritage that cometh of the Lord,” so all that relates to them, even to the remotest period of time, is ordered by him. Rebekah, who had been twenty years barren, at last found in herself symptoms of a very extraordinary kind; and being unable to account for them, consulted the Lord. God answered her, that twins were in her womb; that they should be fathers of two distinct nations; that their characters, as also that of their descendants, should be extremely different; that they should contend with each other for the superiority; that the younger should be victorious; and that “the elder should serve the younger.” This was not fulfilled in the children themselves; for Esau was stronger than Jacob; being at the head of a warlike band while Jacob was only a poor shepherd, and having many generations of great and powerful men, while Jacob’s posterity were oppressed with the sorest bondage. But in the time of David the prophecy began to be accomplished (we may indeed consider Jacob’s obtaining of the birthright as a partial fulfilment of it), and in after ages it was fulfilled in its utmost extent; Edom being made a desolation, while the kingdom of Judah was yet strong and flourishing. We must not however imagine that this is all that is contained in the words of our text. This prophecy is referred to by the inspired writers both of the Old and New Testament; and that too in such a way, as to shew that it is of singular importance. The prophet Malachi adduces it in proof of God’s partiality towards the Jewish nation: and St. Paul quotes it, to confirm the idea he has suggested of God’s determination to reject the Jews, who were the elder part of his family; and to receive the Gentiles, who were the youngere. The whole train of the Apostle’s argumentation in that chapter shews, that he had even an ulterior view, which was, to vindicate the sovereignty of God in the disposal of his favours, whether temporal or spiritual; and to make every one sensible that he was altogether indebted to the free grace of God for his hopes of mercy and salvation.

To confirm the words in this view, we may observe,

  I.      That God has a right to dispense his blessings according to his own sovereign will—

God, as the Creator of all things, has an unlimited right over all—

[It was of his own good pleasure that he created the world at all: there was nothing that had any claim upon him to call it into existence. When he had formed the chaos, no part of matter had any claim above the rest: that which was left inert had no reason to complain that it was not endued with vegetative power; nor vegetables, that they were not enriched with animal life; nor animals, that they were not possessed. of reason; nor our first parents, that they were created inferior to angels. Nothing had any claim upon its Maker. He had the same right over all as “the potter has over the clay, to make one vessel to honour, and another to dishonour:” nor could any presume to say, “Why hast thou made me thus?” If this then be true, what claim can man have upon his Maker now? If he had none when innocent, has he acquired any by his fall? Does a loyal subject acquire new rights by rising in rebellion against his prince?]

As the Lord and Governor of all things too, he may dispose of them as he sees fit—

[An earthly monarch does not consider himself accountable to his subjects for disposing of that which is properly, and in all respects, his own. He obliges those who are the objects of his favour, but does no injury to those who participate his bounty only in a less degree. Indeed every individual thinks himself at liberty to bestow or withhold his gifts, according as his inclination or judgment may dictate. And shall we deny to God what we concede to men? Shall we bind Him by a law from which we ourselves are free? If any one were to blame us for using our own discretion in conferring obligations, we should ask without hesitation, “Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?” Shall we then presume to negative that question when put to us by the Governor of the Universe?

Let this idea be well fixed in our minds, that God has a right to bestow his blessing on whom he will; and it will root out that arrogance which is the characteristic of fallen man: it will bring us to the footstool of the Deity, and constrain us to say, “Let him do what seemeth him good:” “I was dumb, because thou didst it.”]

We cannot doubt but that God possesses this right, since it is clear,

  II.      That he actually exercises it—

We may daily see this,

  1.      In the dealings of his providence—

[He consulted not any of his creatures how long a space of time he should occupy in completing the work of creation; or how many orders of creatures he should form. He could as easily have perfected the whole at once, as in six days; or have endued every thing with a rational or angelic nature, as he could diversify their endowments in the marvellous way that he has done. But he acted in all things “according to the counsel of his own will.” When it pleased him to destroy the works of his hands on account of their multiplied iniquities, why did he preserve a wicked Ham, when millions no worse than he were overwhelmed in the mighty waters? But to speak of things that have passed since the deluge—Who has ordered the rise and fall of nations? Who has raised or depressed the families of men? Who has given to individuals their measure of bodily or intellectual strength, or ordered the number of their days on earth? Is not this the Lord? Who is it that gives us fruitful seasons, or causes drought and pestilence and famine to oppress the world? “Is there either good or evil in the city, and the Lord hath not done it?”

If it be thought that these different events are regulated according to the moral state of mankind, and that therefore they exemplify rather the equity than the sovereignty of God; we would ask, What was the foundation of the distinction put between Esau and Jacob, together with their respective families? St. Paul particularly notices, that, when the prophecy in our text was delivered, “they were not yet born, nor had done any species of good or evil;” and that the decree was delivered at that time, in order “that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth.” It is clear therefore and indisputable that “he doeth according to his will in the armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, and that none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?”]

  2.      In the dispensations of his grace—

[In the call of Abraham, and the separation of his seed for a peculiar people; in distinguishing between his immediate sons, Ishmael and Isaac, as also between Isaac’s sons, Esau and Jacob; in giving to their posterity the revelation of his will, while the whole world were left to walk in their own ways; in making yet further distinctions at this present moment, sending the light of his Gospel to a few of the Gentile nations, while all the rest are permitted to sit in darkness and the shadow of death; in all this, I say, has not God clearly shewn, that “he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and that whom he will he hardeneth, or giveth over to the blindness and obduracy of their own hearts?” But, as among Abraham’s seed “all were not Israel who were of Israel,” so it is now in the Christian world: there is a great and visible distinction made between the different hearers of the Gospel: some have “their hearts opened,” like Lydia’s of old, to receive and embrace the truth, or, like Saul, are arrested in their mad career of sin, and made distinguished monuments of grace; whilst thousands around them find “the word, not a savour of life unto life, but of death unto death.” “Who is it that makes these persons to differ?” To whom is it owing that “the deaf hear, the blind see, the lepers are cleansed, the dead are raised?” We answer, It is all of God: “It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.” The favoured objects “are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of Godn ”]

The existence of this right being thus incontrovertibly manifest, we observe,

  III.      That all in whose favour it is exercised, are bound to acknowledge it with most ardent gratitude—

Impious indeed would it be to arrogate the glory to ourselves—

[We have not of ourselves a sufficiency for the smallest thing, even for the forming of a good thought: what folly then is it to suppose that we can create ourselves anew, and renovate our souls after the divine image! This is the work of God alone. If then we have any reason to hope that God has wrought this great work within us, what base ingratitude is it to rob him of his glory! Is it for this end that he has shewn to us such unmerited regard? or is it such an use that we ought to make of his distinguishing mercy? Surely, what he has done, he has done “for the praise of the glory of his own grace:” and if we have been made partakers of his grace, we should strive to the uttermost to answer the ends for which he has bestowed it.]

Those who have been the most highly favoured by God, have always been most forward to acknowledge their obligations to him—

[Ask of St. Paul, To whom he owed his eminent attainments? and he will answer, “By the grace of God I am what I am.” Ask him, To whom all Christians are indebted for every grace they possess? he will answer, “He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is Godq.” Ascend to the highest heavens, and inquire of the saints in glory: you will find them all casting their crowns at their Redeemer’s feet, and singing, “Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and our Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.” To imitate them is both our duty and happiness. Our daily song therefore should be, “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name be the praise:” “Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever.”]

To guard this deep subject against the abuses to which it is liable, and to render it conducive to its proper and legitimate ends, we shall add a word,

  1.      Of caution—

[If, as the Apostle says, “there is a remnant according to the election of grace,” we are ready to suppose that those who are not of that number are not accountable for their sins, and that their final ruin is to be imputed rather to God’s decrees than to their own fault. But this is a perversion of the doctrine. It is a consequence which our proud reason is prone to draw from the decrees of God: but it is a consequence which the inspired volume totally disavows. There is not in the whole sacred writings one single word that fairly admits of such a construction. The glory of man’s salvation is invariably ascribed to the free, the sovereign, the efficacious grace of God: but the condemnation of men is invariably charged upon their own wilful sins and obstinate impenitence. If, because we know not how to reconcile these things, men will controvert and deny them, we shall content ourselves with the answer which St. Paul himself made to all such cavillers and objectors; “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God?” And if neither the truth nor the authority of God will awe them into submission, we can only say with the fore-mentioned apostle, “If any man be ignorant, let him be ignorantt.” As for those, if such are to be found, who acknowledge the sovereignty of God, and take occasion from it to live in sin, we would warn them with all possible earnestness to cease from their fatal delusions. In comparison of such characters, the people who deny the sovereignty of God are innocent. We believe there are many persons in other respects excellent, who, from not being able to separate the idea of absolute reprobation from the doctrine of unconditional election, are led to reject both together: but what excellence can he have, who “turns the very grace of God into licentiousness,” and “continues in sin that grace may abound?” A man that can justify such a procedure, is beyond the reach of argument: we must leave him, as St. Paul does, with that awful warning, “His damnation is just.”]

  2.      Of encouragement—

[To one who feels his utter unworthiness of mercy, we know not any richer source of encouragement than the sovereignty of God. For, if he may dispense his blessings to whomsoever he will, then the very chief of sinners has no need to despair: the person who is most remote from having in himself any ground to expect the birthright, may be made a monument of God’s grace; while the person who by nature seems to have had fairer prospects, may be left, like the rich youth, to perish in his iniquities. The obstacles which appear to stand in the way of his acceptance may even be turned into grounds of hope; because the more unworthy lie feels himself to be, the more he may hope that God will glorify the riches of his grace in shewing mercy towards him. We do not mean that any person should rush into wickedness in order to increase his prospects of salvation; for, abstractedly considered, the more sinful any man is, the greater prospect there is of his perishing for ever: we only mean to say, that, in the view of God’s sovereignty, that which would otherwise have been a ground of despondency, may be turned into a ground of hope. Let the subject then be thus improved: and while some dispute against it, and others abuse it, let us take occasion from it to make our supplication to God, saying with David, “Be merciful unto my sin, for it is great!”]

XLI

THE BIRTHRIGHT TYPICAL OF THE CHRISTIANS PORTION

  Gen. 25:32.

And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?

IT may be considered as a general rule, that no man abstains from any thing which he has purposed to do, for want of some excuse of expedience or necessity to justify it. A melancholy instance of infatuation we have in the history before us; an instance singular indeed as to the immediate act, but common, and almost universal, as to the spirit manifested in it. Esau, having come home from hunting unusually oppressed with fatigue and hunger, set his heart upon his brother’s pottage; and not only agreed to sell his birthright for it, but confirmed with an oath the alienation of that inheritance, to which, by primogeniture, he was entitled. To justify his conduct he offered this vain and false apology, “Behold, I am at the point to die; and what profit shall this birthright do to me?” But the fact is, as the historian informs us, he “despised his birthright.”

Let us then consider,

  I.      Esau’s contempt of his birthright—

There were many important privileges attached to primogeniture among the Jews—

[The first-born was by God’s appointment to have dominion over his brethren, and to enjoy a double portion of his father’s inheritanceb. But besides these civil, there were also some sacred privileges, which he possessed. The Messiah, of whom he was to be a type, and who, in reference to the ordinances of birthright, is called “the first-born among many brethren,” was to spring from his loinsd. Yea, in some sense, the firstborn had a better prospect even of heaven itself, than the rest of his brethren; because the expectation of the Messiah, who was to descend from him, would naturally cause him to look forward to that great event, and to inquire into the office and character which the promised seed should sustain.]

But these privileges Esau despised—

[He accounted them of no more value than a mess of pottage: nor did he speedily repent of his folly and wickedness. If he had seen the evil of his conduct, he would surely have endeavoured to get the agreement cancelled; and if his brother Jacob had refused to reverse it, he should have entreated the mediation of his father, that so he might be reinstated in his natural rights. But we read not of any such endeavours: on the contrary, we are told, “He did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way;” so little did he value, or rather, so utterly did he “despise, his birthright.” On this account is he stigmatized by the Apostle, as a profane person: had he disregarded only temporal benefits, he had been guilty of folly; but his contempt of spiritual blessings argued profaneness.]

Jacob’s conduct indeed in this matter was exceeding base: but Esau’s was inexpressibly vile. Yet will he be found to have many followers, if we examine,

  II.      The analogy between his conduct and our own—

The birthright was typical of the Christian’s portion—

[The true Christian has not indeed any temporal advantages similar to those enjoyed by right of primogeniture: but he is made an heir of God, and a joint-heir with Christ. He has a distinguished interest in the Saviour, and an indisputable title to the inheritance of heaven. And hence they who have attained the full possession of their inheritance are called, “The general assembly and Church of the first-born.”]

But the generality are like Esau, having,

  1.      The same indifference about spiritual blessings—

[Some excuse may be offered for Esau, because he knew not what a Saviour, or what an inheritance, he despised. But we have had the Saviour fully revealed to us; and know what a glorious place the heavenly Canaan is. Yet too many of us think as lightly of Christ and of heaven, as if neither he nor it were worth our attention: yea, we are ready at any time to barter them away for the most trifling gratification: and what is this, but to imitate the profaneness of Esau?]

  2.      The same insatiable thirst after earthly and sensual indulgence—

[Though Esau pretended that he was near to die, it was only an excuse for his profane conduct; for it cannot be conceived, but that, in the house of an opulent man like Isaac, there either was, or might easily be procured, something to satisfy the cravings of nature. But he was bent upon having his brother’s pottage, whatever it might cost. And is it not so with those who yield to uncleanness, intemperance, or any base passion? Do they not sacrifice their health, their reputation, yea, their very souls, for a momentary indulgence? Do they not say, in fact, ‘Give me the indulgence of my lust; I must and will have it, whatever be the consequence: if I cannot have it without the loss of my birthright, be it so; let my hope in Christ be destroyed; let my prospects of heaven be for ever darkened; let my soul perish; welcome hell; welcome damnation; only give me the indulgence which my soul longs after.’ This sounds harsh in words; but is it not realized in the lives and actions of the generality? Yes; as the wild ass, when seeking her mate, defies all endeavours to catch and detain her, so these persist in spite of all the means that may be used to stop their course; no persuasions, no promises, no threatenings, no consequences, temporal or eternal, can divert them from their purpose.]

  3.      The same want of remorse for having sold their birthright for a thing of nought—

[Never did Esau discover any remorse for what he had done: for though, when the birthright was actually given to Jacob, he “cried with an exceeding bitter cry, Bless me, even me also, O my father,” yet he never humbled himself for his iniquity, never prayed to God for mercy, nor endured patiently the consequences of his profaneness: on the contrary, he comforted himself with the thought, that he would murder his brother, as soon as ever his father should be dead. And is it not thus also with the generality? They go on, none saying, What have I done? Instead of confessing and bewailing their guilt and folly, they extenuate to the utmost, or perhaps even presume to justify, their impieties. Instead of crying day and night to God for mercy, they never bow their knee before him, or do it only in a cold and formal manner. And, instead of submitting to the rebukes of Providence, and kissing the rod, they are rather like a wild bull in a net, determining to add sin to sin. Even Judas himself had greater penitence than they. Alas! alas! what a resemblance does almost every one around us bear to this worthless wretch, this monster of profaneness!]

  ADDRESS,

  1.      Those who are still despising their birthright—

[Reflect a moment on your folly and your danger. Place yourselves a moment on a death-bed, and say, ‘I am at the point to die; and what profit do my past lusts and pleasures now do me?’ Will ye then justify yourselves as ye now do, or congratulate yourselves on having so often gratified your vicious inclinations? Suppose on the other hand that ye were dying, like Isaac, in the faith of Christ; would ye then say, What profit shall my birthright do to me? Would it then appear a trifling matter to have an interest in the Saviour, and a title to heaven? Consider further, how probable it is that you may one day, like Esau, seek earnestly the inheritance you have sold, and yet find no place of repentance in your Father’s bosom! We mean not to say that any true penitent will be rejected: but the Apostle intimates, what daily experience proves true, that, as Esau could not obtain a revocation of his father’s word, though he sought it carefully with tears, so we may cry with great bitterness and anguish on account of the loss we have sustained, and yet never so repent as to regain our forfeited inheritance. At all events, if we obtain not a title to heaven while we are here, we may come to the door and knock, like the foolish virgins, and be dismissed with scorn and contempt. Having “sown the wind, we shall reap the whirlwind.” Let us then “seek the Lord while he may be found, and call upon him while he is near.”]

  2.       Those who value their birthright above every thing else—

[Amidst the multitudes who pour contempt on spiritual blessings, there are some who know their value and taste their sweetness. But how often will temptations arise, that divert our attention from these great concerns, and impel us, with almost irresistible energy, to the commission of sin! And how may we do in one moment, what we shall have occasion to bewail to all eternity! Let us then watch and pray that we enter not into temptation: and, however firm we may imagine our title to heaven, let us beware lest our subtle adversary deprive us of it: Let us fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into the heavenly rest, any of us should seem to come short of it.]

XLII

JACOB OBTAINING THE BLESSING

  Gen. 27:35.

And he said, Thy brother came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing.

IT is not within the reach of our limited capacity to conceive how many and how great events depend upon causes apparently unimportant. We can have no doubt but that parents so pious as Isaac and Rebekah, and who excelled all the patriarchs in the conjugal relation, endeavoured to discharge their duty towards their children in a becoming manner. But each of them felt a partiality for one of their children in preference to the other. Esau, the first-born, who was “a cunning huntsman,” and supplied his father with venison, was Isaac’s favourite: Jacob, on the other hand, who was of a more domestic turn, and had from the womb been designated by God himself as the inheritor of the birthright, was the favourite of Rebekah. To this circumstance, as it should seem, we must refer all the most important events of Jacob’s life. Isaac, in his partiality for Esau, had either misconstrued the intimations which God had given him respecting the birthright, or perhaps had forgotten them. He therefore, when he apprehended himself to be near death, told Esau to go out and bring him some venison, and to receive from his hands the blessings of primogeniture. Rebekah, alive to the interests of Jacob, and afraid that her wishes, as well as the counsels of the Deity, would be thwarted, suggested an expedient to Jacob, which, though adopted with reluctance, was conducted with art, and crowned with the desired success. She bade him fetch her two kids, which she dressed so that they might appear like venison. She moreover clothed him in an odoriferous garment belonging to his elder brother, and put the skins of the kids upon his hands and neck, in order that he might as nearly as possible resemble Esau. And then she sent him in to deceive his aged father, and, by personating Esau, to obtain the blessing. Jacob acted his part with more skill and confidence than could have been expected from a person unaccustomed to deceit: he hesitated not to accumulate falsehoods in support of his claim, and even to represent God himself as having interposed to expedite his wishes. His greatest difficulty was to imitate the voice of Esau. Isaac was blind; and therefore no discovery was dreaded from the difference which there must have been in their appearance. The taste of Isaac, as well as his sight, was easily deceived. His ear however was more capable of discernment, and excited strong suspicions, that the person who addressed him was not the person he professed to be, but Jacob in disguise. To satisfy his mind, he determined to call in the evidence of his other senses: and by these, as well as by the firmness of Jacob’s asseverations, he was deceived. He smelt the rich odours of Esau’s garment (which probably was preserved in the family as the distinguishing property of the eldest son), and he felt, as he thought, the roughness of Esau’s hands and neck; and therefore imputing his suspicions to his own infirmities, he proceeded without further hesitation to bestow his benediction, together with all the privileges of the birthright, on this treacherous impostor. When Esau, who had been thus defrauded, came to him, the unhappy father found out the treachery that had been practised upon him, and announced to his bereaved son the melancholy tidings; “Thy brother came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing.”

Much is to be learned from this extraordinary portion of Holy Writ. Let us consider,

  I.      The event referred to—

The circumstances being so universally known, we need not go particularly into them. The fraud practised in order to obtain the birthright is that which more immediately calls for our attention—

  1.      In reference to the end, it was unnecessary—

[It is certainly true, that God had, while Esau and Jacob were yet in the womb, promised the birthright to Jacob the younger son: and no doubt, the birthright was a blessing greatly to be desired. It was also true that Isaac, either through forgetfulness or partiality for his favourite son, was about to bestow the birthright upon Esau. But were there no other means to be used in order to the accomplishment of the divine counsels? Why could they not have reminded Isaac of the promise which God had made, which, as it had been made seventy-six years before, might now well be supposed to have been forgotten by him, especially in his present infirm and dying state? Isaac was a pious man, and would not have dared knowingly and intentionally to thwart the revealed purposes of his God. But supposing, what indeed cannot be reasonably supposed, that this holy man could have so far declined from God as to set himself in deliberate and determined opposition to his will, was not God able to overrule his actions, and to constrain him, as he afterwards did Jacob himself, to cross his hands, and, even against his will, to transfer the blessing to him for whom it was designed? At all events, if they could see no means of preventing the dreaded event, was God unable to effect it? and might not he be safely left with the execution of his own purposes? Was it necessary for them to resort to fraud and lying, in order to prevent his decrees from being superseded and defeated?]

  2.      As means, it was most unjustifiable and base—

[We are perfectly astonished when we see a person of Rebekah’s exemplary character devising such a plot, and a plain man like Jacob executing it in such a determined way; a plot to deceive a holy and aged man, a husband, a parent, in the very hour of his expected decease, and in reference to a point of such importance. We know from the whole of their lives that this was not their ordinary mode of acting: but from the address they shewed throughout the whole of it, we should have thought them the greatest proficients in the arts of dissimulation and fraud. Every difficulty seems to have been foreseen and guarded against with consummate skill: and where Rebekah’s experience had not suggested a precaution, the subtilty of Jacob supplied a ready remedy. Lies, when once begun, were multiplied without fear or shame: and because they were not sufficient, God himself was called in as aiding the deception. It was in vain to think that the circumstance of God’s having made known his will respecting the birthright could sanction any such means as these; or that they were at liberty to do evil in order that good might come. The whole transaction was vile and hateful in the extreme: and, as long as fraud, and lying, and hypocrisy before God, and uncharitableness and undutifulness to man, are odious, so long must this action merit the execration and abhorrence of all mankind.]

But that we may have a more complete view of this event, let us consider,

  II.      The reflections it suggests—

Truly profitable is it to the contemplative mind. Methinks, the most superficial observer cannot but remark from hence,

  1.      How mysterious are the ways by which God accomplishes his own purposes!

[He had determined that Jacob should have the blessing: but who could have thought that he should ever confer it in such a way? Who would have thought that he should employ all this treachery and deceit and falsehood in the bestowment of it? Let not any one however imagine, that the divine conduct is vitiated by overruling thus the wickedness of men; or that Jacob’s conduct was justified by accomplishing thus the purposes of Heaven. Evil ceases not to be evil because God overrules it for good: for, if it did, then would the crucifiers and murderers of the Lord of glory be innocent, because by their instrumentality God accomplished the redemption of the world. But as it was “with wicked hands that the Jews crucified and slew Jesus, notwithstanding he was delivered into their hands by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God,” so were Jacob and Rebekah most criminal, whilst God, who wrought by them, was holy, and just, and good. We must say respecting all the ways of men, of whatever kind they be, they shall eventually “praise God;” and, however contrary to his commands, shall assuredly both accomplish his will and glorify his name.]

  2.      How weak are the best of men when they come into temptation!

[It is not to be supposed that either Jacob or Rebekah would have acted thus on any common occasion: but the importance of the occasion seemed to them to justify the expedients they used. Thus are even good men sometimes betrayed into the commission of evil. They are not aware how much they may be biased by interest or passion. They have an object to attain: that object is in itself desirable and good: how to attain it in a direct way, they know not. Therefore they incline to an indirect way, conceiving that the end will justify the means. It was thus that Peter brought upon him the rebuke of Paul. He doubtless wished to soften the prejudices of his Jewish brethren; and he thought that a little sacrifice of liberty on the part of the Gentiles might well be made for so good an end. Hence he required the Gentiles to make the sacrifice: and so plausible were his reasonings on the occasion, that even Barnabas was drawn away by his dissimulation. What wonder then if even good men be sometimes deceived by the specious reasonings of others, or of their own minds, especially when there is some great interest to serve, and when our tempters are those on whose judgment we rely? Let every man then stand on his guard, and beware how he be drawn by any authority whatever to the commission of evil. It will be of little avail to say, My adviser was my father or my mother: there is a plain path, from which no authority under heaven should induce us to deviate. We must walk always as in the immediate presence of God. We must not for a moment allow ourselves in guile of any kind. Little do we know whither we may be drawn, if once we depart from the path of truth and honesty. Who would have thought that Jacob should have been drawn from dissimulation and falsehood to the most horrid blasphemy, even that of making God himself his confederate in sin; and that Rebekah should go farther still, even to the very braving of the curse and wrath of God? Beware then of evil in its very first approaches. Pray to God. that you may not be led into temptation of any kind. “Cease from man;” and learn not to follow him, any further than he follows Christ. If Satan can assume the form of “an angel of light,” and “his ministers appear as ministers of righteousness,” so may our relations and friends appear. Not that this consideration should induce us to disregard good advice; but it should lead us to try all counsels by the word and testimony of God: for “if men speak not according to the written word, there is no light in them.”]

  3.      How vain is it to hope for happiness in the ways of sin!

[Jacob was successful in his impious device. But what fruit had he of his success? “He sowed the wind, and he reaped the whirlwind.” Soon was he forced to flee from his brother’s wrath: and years of trouble followed his departure from his father’s house. Similar measure too was meted out to him both by Laban and his own children. Say, Jacob, what didst thou not suffer from the thought that thy beloved Joseph was devoured of wild beasts: yet was that only a deception of thine own sons for the purpose of gaining thy favour to themselves. Nearly did they bring thy grey hairs with sorrow to the grave; and thou deservedst it all, for thy treachery to thy father, and thy cruelty to thy brother. And let all know, that the sin which they roll as a sweet morsel under their tongue, shall prove gall in their stomach. Thou didst succeed, Gehazi; and thoughtest thyself exceeding rich when thou hadst deposited thine ill-gotten wealth in the house. But what was thy gain at last? or who envies thee thy newly-acquired wealth? So it will be with all who seek their happiness in the ways of sin. They behold, and covet, the bait: but ere long they shall feel the hook. Jacob for the space of twenty years was still under alarm and terror for the consequences of his deceit. In the first instance he was forced to flee in haste, and to go, unprovided, and unprotected, a journey of four hundred miles; and, when he got there, was doomed to experience evils to which in his father’s house he was an utter stranger. But where will your evils end, if you live and die impenitent and unrenewed? Consider this, Brethren, ere it be too late: and beg of God to keep your feet in the ways of holiness and peace.]

  ADDRESS,

  1.      Those who despise their Birthright—

[Esau had despised his birthright, and sold it for a mess of pottage: and now “he could not recover it, though he sought it carefully with tears.” Nor was it any mitigation of his grief that he had been defrauded of it. So neither will it be any comfort to the sinners of mankind that Satan has beguiled them, or that they have been brought to ruin by the fraudulence of others. Dear brethren, what will it avail you to say, My mother, and my brother, were the instruments of my destruction? the loss is still your own, and must be your own to all eternity. If you duly value your Birthright, God will watch over you, and will preserve both it for you, and you for it — — — But, if you make light of God’s promised blessings, whatever may be the immediate means of your privation, you shall never enjoy them, nor ever so much as taste the banquet which your Lord and Saviour has preparedg.]

  2.      Those who desire the Birthright—

[Seek it in a humble simple dependence upon God. In this both Jacob and Rebekah failed: they could not leave God to accomplish his promises in his own time and way. Hence they resorted to such unworthy expedients. But as Abraham felt assured, that, though the promised seed should be slain and reduced to ashes, the promises should yet be verified in him, so should we expect assuredly the fulfilment of God’s promises to us. Happy had it been for Jacob if he had thus believed: he might have enjoyed the birthright without any of the subsequent afflictions. Let us then guard against an unbelieving and impatient spirit. Let us commit our every concern to God, and expect, that in the mount of difficulty his interposition shall be seen. This is our wisdom and our happiness: for “His counsel shall stand, and he will do all his will,” even though earth and hell should be confederate against him. Let us comply with that important precept, “He that believeth shall not make haste,” and we shall secure beyond the possibility of failure the blessing we seek after: for “he that believeth in God shall not be ashamed or confounded world without end.”]

XLIII

JACOB’S VISION A TYPE OF THE MINISTRATION OF ANGELS TO CHRIST

  Gen. 28:12, 13.

And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set upon the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the Lord stood above it.

NOW that God has given to the world a complete revelation of his mind and will, we are no longer to expect any extraordinary and personal communications with him: but, in former days, he frequently instructed his more favoured servants by dreams and visions. The particular vision recorded in the passage before us is almost universally considered as typical, though few, if any, have given any satisfactory account wherein the type consists. We shall endeavour therefore to put the subject in a just point of view; and for that purpose shall consider,

  I.      The immediate end of the vision—

When so remarkable a revelation is vouchsafed to man, we may conclude that some end, worthy of the divine interposition, is to be answered by it. The intent of the vision here given to Jacob, seems to be,

  1.      To dispel his fears of merited evils—

[Jacob could not but be conscious that he had acted a base and treacherous part: and that therefore he had incurred the divine displeasure, at the same time that he had excited a murderous rancour in the breast of his injured brother. He was now fleeing to avoid the effects of his brother’s wrath, and had but too much reason to dread some righteous judgment from the hand of God. But God, who is altogether sovereign in the distribution of his favours, and frequently bestows them at seasons, when, according to our conceptions, they could be the least expected, appeared to him, with expressions of love and mercy. He assured the unhappy fugitive, that he was reconciled towards him, and would give his angels charge over him to keep him in all his way, to protect him from all danger, and to supply his every want. Thus were all his apprehensions at once removed, and his mind restored to perfect peace.]

  2.      To confirm his hope of promised blessings—

[He had received a promise of the birthright, while yet he lay in his mother’s womb; and doubtless he had expected its accomplishment. But when he saw his father dying, and knew that the rights of primogeniture were about to be confirmed to his elder brother, his faith failed him; and, instead of waiting like David for the throne of Saul, he yielded to the solicitations of his mother, and sought to obtain by craft, what, if he had waited God’s time, he would have received in a fair and honourable way. And now he had good reason to doubt, whether he had not forfeited his interest in God’s promise, and entailed a curse upon himself instead of a blessing. But God, on this occasion, renewed his promise to him, almost in the very terms, in which, but a few hours before, it had been declared by his father; and thus assured to him, not only a numerous seed, and the inheritance of Canaan, but (which was infinitely the dearest right of primogeniture) the descent of Christ from his loins. From henceforth therefore we behold him walking steadfastly in the faith of Abraham, looking forward with joy to the day of Christ, and maintaining a conduct suitable to his profession.]

While the vision was replete with personal benefit to Jacob, it conveyed instruction also to the Church, by,

  II.      Its typical reference—

Instead of supposing, with all writers upon this subject, that the ladder was a type of Christ in his divine and human nature mediating between heaven and earth (which is fanciful, and without any warrant from Scripture), we rather think that the vision itself was the type (if it was indeed a type), and that it prefigured,

  1.      The testimony which angels were to give to Christ—

[Our Lord himself has cast the true light on this passage. In his conversation with Nathanael, he tells the young convert, that he should one day see that realized in him, which had been shadowed forth in Jacob’s vision. Accordingly we find that as, from the first conception of Christ in the womb to that very hour, the angels had deeply interested themselves in every thing that related to him, so they continued on all occasions to wait upon him, to soothe his sorrows, to animate his courage, to fulfil his will, and to bear testimony on his behalf. More than twelve legions of them would have come to his succour if he had desired their aid. Here then is a correspondence between the type and antitype: Jesus was a man of sorrows, and cast out by his brethren, who said, “This is the heir, come let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be oursf.” But God would not leave his beloved Son without witness, or without support; and therefore opened a communication between heaven and earth, that the angels might have continual access to him, whilst “he himself stood, as it were, at the top of the ladder” to direct their operations.]

  2.      The confirmation which his people’s faith was to receive from that testimony—

[The circumstances of Nathanael and his other disciples, to whom this ocular demonstration was to be given, were not unlike to those of Jacob, to whom the vision was vouchsafed. They had believed in Jesus; but their faith was to be sorely tried, so that they should be reduced almost to despair. There was however a seasonable support to be afforded them by the intervention and agency of angels. It was the repeated testimony of angels that first inspired them with hope, and that, afterwards, at the time of Christ’s ascension into heaven, filled them all with a pleasing expectation, that they should one day see him come again in power and great glory. In consequence of their declarations, no less than of the declarations of Christ himself, “they returned to Jerusalem with great joy,” and waited for the promised effusion of the Holy Ghost, “knowing in whom they had believed, and assured, that he would keep that which they had committed to him.” Thus in this respect also did the type receive a suitable accomplishment.]

  For our further IMPROVEMENT of this history, we may observe,

  1.      There is no person so guilty, but God is willing and desirous to shew mercy to him—

[We cannot but admire the extent and freeness of that mercy with which God revealed himself to this guilty fugitive. We have a similar instance in the mercy shewn to Saul, at the very instant he was “breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of Christ.” And, has not the Apostle told us, that he was intended of God to be in this respect a monument of God’s long-suffering, and a pattern to those who should hereafter believe on him?” Let none then despair; but, whatever evils they have brought upon themselves by their iniquities, and whatever reason they may have to dread the wrath, either of God or man, let them call to mind the example before us; and turn unto him, who has promised “that he will in no wise cast them out.”]

  2.      There is no distress so great, but God is able and willing to deliver us from it—

[God has thousands of angels at his command, and has appointed them to “minister unto those who shall be heirs of salvation.” These he orders to “encamp round about his people, and deliver themm.” Let us then suppose ourselves as destitute as Jacob himself, having only the earth for our bed, a stone for our pillow, and no other canopy than the heavens; still, a vision of God, with the ministry of his angels, shall render our situation both comfortable and happy; yea, shall make it appear to us as “the very house of God, the gate of heaven.” And such a confirmation will these “visions of the Almighty” give to our faith and hope, that we shall be fitted for all future trials, and be enabled to testify on God’s behalf, that “he will never leave his people, till he has fulfilled to them his promises in their utmost extent.”]

XLIV

THE MANNER IN WHICH GOD DISPENSES HIS FAVOURS

  Gen. 28:15.

Behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land: for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

THE study of profane history is exceeding profitable, inasmuch as it brings us into an acquaintance with human nature in all its diversified forms, and thereby qualifies us to discharge all our own duties with more wisdom and propriety. But sacred history, besides that it sets before us incomparably brighter examples of virtue, has this peculiar advantage, that it brings God himself to our view, and exhibits him to us in all the dispensations of his providence and grace. The account which is here given us of his intercourse with Jacob, will serve to shew us, in a very striking point of view, in what manner he disperses his favours.

  I.      He bestows them sovereignly—

[Jacob had grievously sinned both against God and man, in personating his brother, in imposing on his father, in blasphemously ascribing to God what was the fruit of his own device, and in fraudulently obtaining his brother’s birthright. Having incensed his injured brother, he was now fleeing, to avoid the effects of his indignation. And in what manner should we suppose that God would meet him, if indeed he should deign to notice such a miscreant? Would he not say to him, as he afterwards did to the fugitive prophet, “What dost thou here, Elijah?” Or rather, instead of noticing him at all, may we not suppose that he would send a lion to destroy him? But behold, for the displaying of the riches of his own grace, he revealed himself to him in a most instructive vision; he confirmed to him all the promises that had been made to Abraham and to Isaac; and even extended beyond all former bounds the manifestations of his favour.

A similar instance we have in the Apostle Paul; whom, at the very instant that he was labouring to extirpate the followers of Christ, God was pleased to stop, not, as might have been expected, with some signal judgment, but with singular expressions of his regard, conferring oil him the highest honours, and communicating to him the richest blessings.

And may not we also admire the sovereignty of God in the exercise of his mercy towards ourselves? Wherefore is it that we are favoured with the light of his Gospel, when so many myriads of our fellow-sinners are left in darkness and the shadow of death? If we have experienced in our souls the efficacy of divine grace, may we not look back with wonder to the period of our conversion, when we were either drinking iniquity with greediness, or proudly establishing our own righteousness in opposition to the righteousness of Christ? Let us deliberately consider our state when God first caused a ray of light to shine into our minds, and implanted his grace in our hearts, and we shall esteem ourselves no less indebted to the electing love of God, than Jacob, or Saul, or any other whom he has ever chosen.]

  II.      He times them seasonably—

[The fugitive patriarch was now in a very desolate and forlorn condition, wearied in body, and distressed in mind. Probably his conscience now smote him, and he was saying with himself, as Joseph’s brethren afterwards did, “I am verily guilty concerning my brother.” How welcome then must the tokens of God’s regard be to him at that season! What a support under his present trials! what an antidote against any future calamities!

Thus it is that God interposes on the behalf of his people, and “repents himself for them, when their strength is gone, and there is none shut up or left.” When the contrite soul is bowed down, under a sense of guilt, and ready to say, There is no hope; then does God speak peace unto it, saying, “Be of good cheer, I am thy salvation.” Just as, in Hagar’s extremity, God sent his angel to point out to her a spring, whereby the life of her child was unexpectedly preserved, so in ten thousand instances he appears for us, when we are ready to despair of help: and though his interpositions on our behalf are less visible than these, yet every one of us has reason to acknowledge the truth of that proverb, “In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.” Let us but review our lives, and call to mind the aids of his Spirit under temptations, trials, difficulties; let us see how marvelously we have been upheld when conflicting with sin and Satan, and we shall confess indeed, that “he is a present, a very present, help in trouble.”]

  III.      He imparts them suitably—

[It is probable that Jacob’s reply to the advice of his mother was now, in his apprehension, about to be verified; and that he expected a curse rather than a blessing. His evil conscience now might well suggest to him such thoughts as these: ‘God has forsaken me, and some great evil will come upon me. I can never hope to return again to my father’s house in peace, or to enjoy the blessing which I have so treacherously pained.’ To remove these apprehensions, God vouchsafed to him exactly such tokens of his regard, as were best calculated to allay his fears. In the vision, God shewed to him both his providential care, and his redeeming love: for doubtless, while he discovered to him the ministry of angels who were commissioned to protect him, he also shewed him that promised Seed, who was in due time to spring from him, and whom at that very instant he typically represented. In the promise, he assured him, that his presence should follow him; that his power should preserve him; that he would bring him back again to that very land; and that not one of all the promises that had been ever made to him, should fail of accomplishment.

In this respect also we may trace the tender mercies of our God towards all his people. His manifestations of himself to them, and his application of promises to their souls, are wonderfully suited to their several necessities. We cannot indeed justify those, who open the sacred records, and expect that the portion of Scripture, on which they cast their eye, shall be a kind of literal direction to them; (a most unwarranted and delusive method of ascertaining the mind of God!) but this we must affirm, that, whatever we want, whether wisdom, or strength, or grace of any kind, it shall be given us, if we ask in faith. And the experience of all the saints attests the truth of that promise, “Ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”]

  IV.      He continues them faithfully—

[God had given promises, not to Abraham only and to Isaac, but to Jacob also, while he was yet in his mother’s womb. But instead of fulfilling them to him after this flagrant instance of misconduct, he might well have said to him, as he did to his unbelieving posterity, “Thou shalt know my breach of promise:” “I said indeed, that thy house and the house of thy father should walk before me for ever: but now it shall be far from me: for them that honour me I will honour; and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.” But he had spoken, and would not go back: for his word’s sake he would not cast off his offending child, or even suffer one jot or tittle of his promises to fail.

Thus to his descendants in future ages did God manifest his fidelity; insomuch that Joshua, after eighty years’ experience, could appeal to the whole nation, saying, “Ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof.”

To us also will he approve himself faithful. “He will not cast off his people, because it hath pleased him to make us his people.” He has said, I will never leave thee, I will never, never forsake theem. “He may indeed hide his face from us for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will he have mercy on us: the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed; but the covenant of my peace,” says he, “shall not be removed: for like as I have sworn that the waters of Noah shall no more cover the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee.”]

  IMPROVEMENT—

  1.      For caution—

[We have seen that Jacob inherited the blessing which he had gained by treachery; and that, where sin had abounded, grace did much more abound. But shall we do evil that good may come; or commit sin that grace may abound? God forbid. We must never expect the blessing of God but in the way of duty.]

  2.      For encouragement—

[If through temptation we have fallen into sin, let us not flee from God, like Adam, but go to him in humble hope that he will magnify his mercy towards the chief of sinners.]

XLV

JACOB’S PILLAR AT BETH-EL

  Gen. 28:16–19.

And Jacob awaked out of his sleep; and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God; and this is the gate of heaven. And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. And he called the name of that place Beth-el: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.

ON whatever side we look, we see abundant evidence that “God’s ways are not as our ways, nor his thoughts as our thoughts.” With us, there are laws of equity prescribed for the regulation of our conduct in the whole of our intercourse with men; and on our strict observance of them the welfare of society depends. But God is not restrained by any such rules in his government of the world: men having no claims whatever upon him, he has a right to dispose of them, and of all that pertains unto them, according to his own sovereign will and pleasure. This right too he exercises in a way, which, though inexplicable to us, is manifest to all. In the conversion of St. Paul we see this in as striking a point of view as it can possibly be placed. St. Paul, even to the very moment of his conversion, was breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of our Lord, having voluntarily enlisted himself in the service of the high-priest to execute against them his cruel decrees. He was, as he himself tells us, “a blasphemer, and injurious, and a persecutor;” nor had so much as one penitential pang, till he was arrested by the grace of God, and favoured with a sight of that very Jesus, whose interests he was labouring to destroy. Somewhat of a similar display of God’s grace may be seen in the history before us. Jacob had been guilty of base deceit in relation to his brother’s birthright. He had even represented God himself as confederate with him in that wicked act, and as facilitating by an extraordinary exercise of divine power the attainment of his object. By this treacherous conduct he had greatly incensed his brother against him, and rendered any longer continuance under his father’s roof unsafe. Rebekah, who had instigated him to this wickedness, recommended him to flee: and, to reconcile Isaac to his departure, proposed that he should go to his uncle Laban, and take a wife from amongst his own relatives, and not connect himself with any of the daughters of Canaan, as his brother Esau had done. This however was a mere pretext: the true reason of his departure was, that he feared the wrath of Esau, and fled to avoid the effects of his merited indignation. Thus circumstanced, it could not fail but that he must at this time be in a state of much disquietude, not only as being driven from his family at the very time that his pious and aged father was supposed to be dying, but as having brought this evil on himself by his own base and treacherous conduct, and as having provoked God to anger, as well as man, by his impiety. Wearied with fatigue of body and anxiety of mind, he laid himself down to rest under the open canopy of heaven, with nothing but the bare ground for his bed, and a stone for his pillow. If it be asked, why he did not go into the adjacent city to seek a more comfortable lodging there; I answer, that it was altogether owing to the state of his mind: and his conduct in this respect was perfectly natural; the pain of a guilty conscience uniformly indisposing men, not only for society, but even for any corporeal indulgence.

Who would have thought that under such circumstances he should so speedily be honoured with one of the most wonderful manifestations of God’s love that ever were vouchsafed to mortal man? Yet on this very night did God draw nigh to him as a reconciled God, and pour into his bosom all the consolations which his soul could desire.

Well might Jacob express surprise at this marvellous display of God’s love and mercy: and I pray God that somewhat of the same holy feelings may be engendered in us, whilst we consider,

  I.      His unexpected discovery, and

  II.      The grateful acknowledgments which it drew from him.

  I.      We notice his unexpected discovery—

There were two things with which Jacob was favoured on this occasion; a vision, and a voice. In the vision, he saw a ladder reaching from earth to heaven, and angels ascending and descending upon it, whilst God himself stood above it to regulate their motions. This imported, that, however destitute Jacob at this time was, there was a God, who ordered every thing both in heaven and earth, and who by means of ministering angels would effect in behalf of his believing people whatsoever their diversified necessities might require. By the voice, he was informed, that all which had been promised to Abraham and to Isaac, respecting the possession of Canaan by their posterity, and the salvation of the world by the promised Seed, should be fulfilled, partially in his own person, and completely in his posterity. Thus did God exhibit himself to him on this occasion as a God of providence and of grace, and, under both characters, as his God for ever and ever. Such a revelation, at such a time, and such a place, a place where the grossest idolatry prevailed to the utter exclusion of the only true God, astonished him beyond measure, and constrained him to exclaim, “Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not” He now saw that God was not confined to any place or country; and that wherever he should reveal himself to man, there was “the house of God, and there the gate of heaven,” through which the vilest sinner in the universe might gain access to him.

To prosecute this subject further in reference to Jacob is unnecessary. It is of more importance to consider its bearing on ourselves. Know ye then, that, though the vision and the voice had a special respect to Jacob, and the circumstances in which he was more immediately interested, they are eminently instructive to us also, and that, not merely as prophecies that have been fulfilled, but as illustrations of the way in which God will yet magnify the riches of his grace towards his believing people.

How wonderful on many occasions have been the dispensations of his providence! Circumstances as much unlocked for as Jacob’s possession of the land of Canaan, have not unfrequently occurred; and, though perhaps small in themselves, have led to results, which have been of the utmost importance through our whole lives. Had we been more observant of the leadings of providence, and marked with more precision the time and the manner in which the different events of our lives have occurred, we should be no less struck with wonder and amazement than Jacob himself. And how extraordinary have been the communications of his grace! Perhaps when we have been surrounded on every side by men immersed in the cares and vanities of this world, ourselves also destitute of all holy principles, and under the guilt of all our past sins, we have been brought to hear the word of God, and to feel its power, yea and to taste its sweetness also, through the manifestations of the Saviour’s love to our souls. Possibly, even the enormity of some particular sin has, as in the case of Onesimus, been the very means which God has made use of for bringing us to repentance, and for converting our souls to him. It may be that, like Zaccheus, we have gone to some place, where we contemplated nothing but the gratification of our curiosity; and have been penetrated beyond all expectation by a voice from heaven, saying, “Come down, Zaccheus; for this day is salvation come to thy soul.” Perhaps some heavy affliction has been made the means of awakening us to a sense of our lost estate; and through a manifestation of Christ to our souls we have found a heaven, where we anticipated nothing but accumulated and augmented sorrow. Yes verily, there are witnesses without number, at this present day, that God still acts in a sovereign way in dispensing blessings to mankind; and that those words are yet verified as much as ever, “I am found of them that sought me not; I am made manifest to them that asked not after me!”

And now let me ask, Whether the effect of such manifestations be not the same as ever? Have we not on such occasions been ready to exclaim, “This is the house of God! this is the gate of heaven?” Yes: it is not in the power of outward circumstances, however calamitous, to counterbalance such joys as these. Even the terrors of a guilty conscience are dissipated in a moment; and peace flows in upon the soul like a river.

The practical effects upon the life which will result from this experience may be seen in,

  II.      The grateful acknowledgments which it drew from Jacob.

“He rose up early in the morning, and took the stone which he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. And he called the name of that place Beth-el; but the name of the city was called Luz at the first.” He determined to erect a memorial of the stupendous mercy that had been vouchsafed to him, and to serve his God in that very place which had been so commended to him by the providence and grace of God. Accordingly he took the stone on which he had reclined his head, and erected it for a pillar, and poured oil upon it, in order to consecrate it to the special service of his God. We have no account of any express command from God that oil should be applied to this purpose by him: but in after-ages it was particularly enjoined to Moses to be used in consecrating the tabernacle, together with all the holy vessels and instruments that were employed in God’s service; as also to be used in all the peace-offerings that were presented to the Lord: “This is the law of the sacrifice of peace-offerings, which he shall offer unto the Lord. If he offer it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour, fried.” Thus not only under the law, but long before the law, we behold the solemn rite of consecration performed by one of God’s most highly-favoured servants; and a place that was common before, rendered holy to the Lord by the administration of this ordinance. And how acceptable to God this service was, may be judged from hence, that, twenty years afterwards, God again appeared to Jacob, and reminded him of this very circumstance, saying, “I am the God of Beth-el, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me.” “Arise, and go up to Beth-el, and dwell there; and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.” And in obedience to this command, we are told, “Jacob came to Luz, that is, Beth-el, and built an altar there, and called the place El-beth-el, because God there appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brotherf.”

Do we not then see in this record how we also should mark the interpositions of God in our behalf? Does it not become us to remember them, and to perpetuate the remembrance of them for the instruction and encouragement of others? Should not the honour of God be dear to us; and, if the place which God has signalized in so remarkable a way, have hitherto been distinguished by the name of Luz (a place of almonds, and of carnal delights), should we not labour to convert it to a Beth-el, and to render it to all future generations a house of God, and, if possible, the very gate of heaven? Let the idea be derided as it may by them that know not God, this is an action worthy of a child of Abraham, a service acceptable and well-pleasing unto God.

In the verses following my text we have the vow of Jacob respecting this place recorded: “This stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house; and of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee.” Thus, whilst he consecrated here an altar to the Lord, he provided for the service of that altar by an actual endowment. What might be his circumstances, or the circumstances of his family, in future life, he knew not: yet he bound himself by this solemn and irrevocable vow. What any ignorant and ungodly man might think of this, it is easy to imagine: but I find not in all the inspired volume one single word that discountenances such a conduct. I find, on the contrary, the whole people of Israel contributing according to their power towards the erection of the tabernacle, and stripping themselves of their ornaments in order to furnish it with vessels for the service of their God—I find David, the man after God’s own heart, even when not permitted to build the temple himself, devoting not less than eighteen millions of money to the preparing of materials for it—I find similar exertions made by others, at a subsequent period, for the rebuilding of the temple—and I find a poor widow, who had but one farthing in the world, commended for casting it into the treasury, to be expended for the Lord. In whatever light then the lovers of this world may view such an appropriation of wealth, I have no hesitation in saying, that it will never be condemned by our God. What if, by means of it, God’s salvation be made known, and his name be glorified? What if many who have immortal souls, now sunk in ignorance and sin, “be turned by means of it from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God?” What if, by the erection of an altar here, there be in this place somewhat effected towards the accomplishment of that promise, “In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord: and it shall be for a sign and for a witness to the Lord in the land of Egypt; for they shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors, and he shall send them A SAVIOUR, and A GREAT ONE, and he shall deliver them?” Should God so honour this place, and so testify his acceptance of the sacrifices that shall here be offered, how will they bless him, who have been born to God in this place! and how will they bless him, who have been his honoured instruments of erecting an altar here, and of consecrating it to his service!

What now remains, but that I endeavour to improve this joyful occasion for the benefit of those who hear me?

Are there any here who are bowed down under a sense of sin? Peradventure, though you may have come hither only to witness a novelty, God has brought you hither to speak peace unto your souls, and to anoint you to the possession of a kingdom, when you have no more contemplated such an event than Saul did, when he was in the pursuit of his father’s asses. Know ye of a truth, that God is in this place, though ye may not be aware of it. Know, that he is a God of love and mercy, as much as ever he was in the days of old. Know that he has still the same right to dispense his blessings to whomsoever he will, even to the very chief of sinners. Know that he has not only the same communication with men as ever through the instrumentality of angels, but that he has access to the souls of men by his Holy Spirit, who is ready to impart unto you all the blessings of grace and glory. Know that the Seed promised to Jacob has come into the world, even the Lord Jesus Christ; and that he has fulfilled all that is necessary for our salvation. He has expiated our guilt by his own blood upon the cross; and has made reconciliation for us with our offended God; so that through Him all manner of sin shall be forgiven unto men, and “all who believe in him shall be justified from all things.” O Beloved, only look unto Him, and whatever were the load of guilt under which you groaned, you should find rest and peace unto your souls: “Where sin had abounded, His grace should much more abound:” and “though your sins were as scarlet, they should be as wool; though they were red like crimson, they should be white as snow.”

It may be that some one may have come hither, who, though not particularly bowed down with a sense of guilt, is oppressed with a weight of personal or domestic troubles. Who can tell? God may have brought such an one hither this day, in order to fill his soul with heavenly consolations. O that, if such an one be here, God may now appear unto him as a reconciled God, and “say unto him, I am thy salvation!” O that by the word now spoken in God’s name, there may this day be “given unto him beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that he may become a tree of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, and that God may be glorified!” You have done well that you have come hither; for it is in the house of prayer that God pours out more abundantly upon men the blessings of grace and peace: “He loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.” Thousands and millions of afflicted souls have found in God’s house such discoveries of his love, and such communications of his grace, as they before had no conception of: and you at this hour, if you will lift up your soul to God in earnest prayer, and cast all your burthens upon him, shall say before you go hence, “This is the house of God: this is the gate of heaven.” Know of a truth, that one ray of the Sun of Righteousness is sufficient to dispel all the gloom and darkness of the most afflicted soul: and, if only you will direct your eyes to Him, however your afflictions may have abounded, your consolations shall much more abound.

I trust there are not wanting here some who can bear testimony to the truth of these things by their own experience; and who, from the discoveries which they have received of the Saviour’s love, “are filled with peace and joy in believing.” To such then will I say, Bless and magnify your God with all the powers of your souls: “let the children of Zion be joyful in their King;” let them “rejoice in the Lord alway;” let them “rejoice in Him with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” At the same time, even whilst they are, as it were, “at the very gate of heaven,” let me particularly caution them against that kind of joy which is tumultuous, and that kind of confidence which borders on presumption. There is a holy fear, which is rather increased than dissipated by heavenly joy; and a solemn awe, that always accompanies the manifestations of God to the soul. Observe the state of Jacob’s mind on this occasion: “He was afraid; and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.” Thus blended in its nature, thus tempered in its exercise, thus chastised in all its actings, should our joy be. It is of great importance that we should all remember this: for there is amongst the professors of religion much joy that is spurious, much confidence that is unhallowed. We may have great enlargement of heart; but we must “fear and be enlarged:” we may possess much joy; but we must “rejoice with trembling.” Even in heaven itself the glorified saints, yea, and the angels too, though they have never sinned, fall upon their faces before the throne, whilst they sing praises to God and to the Lamb. Let such then be your joy, and such your sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving.

But let not all your gratitude evaporate in unsubstantial, though acceptable, emotions. Think with yourselves what you can do for Him, who has done so much for you. Say with yourselves, “What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits?” Think how you may improve your mercies for the good of your fellow-creatures, and the honour of your God. Of Jacob it is said, “He rose up early in the morning, and took the stone and raised it for a pillar.” Let it be thus with you also: lose no time in honouring your God to the utmost of your power. Account all you have, whether of wealth or influence, as given to you for that end. Determine that those who are around you shall have before them the evidences of true piety, and such memorials as shall, if possible, lead them to the knowledge of the true God. Jacob had it not in his power at that time to do all that his heart desired: but he did what he could; and twenty years afterwards, when his means of honouring God were enlarged, he executed all his projects, and performed the vows which he had made. Thus let your desires be expanded to the uttermost; and then fulfil them according to your ability. So shall you have within yourselves an evidence that God is with you of a truth; and having been faithful in a few things, you shall be rulers over many things in the kingdom of your God.

XLVI

JACOB’S VOW

  Gen. 28:20–22.

And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, 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 put on, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God: and this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee.

IT is thought by many, that it is wrong to make any kind of vows. But the propriety of making them depends on the manner in which they are made. If, for instance, we make them in our own strength; or hope that by them we can induce God to do for us what he is otherwise unwilling to perform; or imagine that the services which we stipulate to render unto God will be any compensation to him for the mercies he vouchsafes to us; we are guilty of very great presumption and folly. Vows are not intended to have the force of a bargain or compact, so as to involve the Deity in obligations of any kind; but merely to bind ourselves to the performance of something which was before indifferent, or to impress our minds more strongly with the necessity of executing some acknowledged duty. Of the former kind was Hannah’s vow, that if God would graciously give unto her a man-child, she would dedicate him entirely, and for ever, to his immediate service. Independently of her vow, there was no necessity that she should consecrate him to the service of the tabernacle: but she greatly desired to bear a son; and determined, that if God heard her prayer, she would testify her gratitude to him in that way. Of the latter kind was the vow which Israel made to destroy both the Canaanites and their cities, if God would but deliver them into their hands. God had before enjoined them to do this; and therefore it was their bounden duty to do it: and their vow was only a solemn engagement to execute that command; which however they could not execute, unless he should be pleased to prosper their endeavours. That such vows were not displeasing to God, we are sure; because God himself gave special directions relative to the making of them, and the rites to be observed in carrying them into execution. Even under the New-Testament dispensation we find Aquila vowing a vow in Cenchread; and St. Paul himself uniting with others in the services, which the law prescribed to those who had the vows of Nazariteship upon them.

The first vow of which we read, is that contained in our text: and extremely instructive it is. It shews us,

  I.      Our legitimate desires—

Man, as compounded of soul and body, has wants and necessities that are proper to both: and whatsoever is necessary for them both, he may reasonably and lawfully desire. We may desire,

  1.      The presence and protection of God—

[The Israelites in their journeys from Egypt to the promised land passed through a “great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water:” and such is this world wherein we sojourn. Dangers encompass us all around: and, if left to ourselves, we never can reach in safety the land to which we go. Well therefore may we adopt the language of Moses, when Jehovah threatened to withdraw from Israel his own immediate guardianship, and to commit them to the superintendence of an angel; “If thou go not up with us, carry us not up hence.” “It is not in man that walketh to direct his own steps:” nor will any created aid suffice for him: “his help is, and must be, in God alone.” If God guide us not, we must err; if He uphold us not, we must fall; if He keep us not, we must perish. We may therefore desire God’s presence with us, and so desire it, as never to rest satisfied one moment without it. “As the hart panteth after the waterbrooks,” says David, “so panteth my soul after Thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God.” And, when he had reason to doubt whether God was with him or not, his anguish was extreme: “I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me, while they daily say unto me, Where is thy God?” This was the language of the man after God’s own heart; and it should be the language also of our souls.]

  2.      A competent measure of earthly comforts—

[These also are necessary in this vale of tears. Food we must have to nourish our bodies, and raiment to cover us from the inclemencies of the weather: these therefore we may ask of God: beyond these we should have no desire: “Having food and raiment we should be therewith content.” To wish for more than these is neither wisem, nor lawfull. Nor even for these should we be over-anxious. We should rather, like the fowls of the air, subsist on the providence of God, and leave it to Him to supply our wants in the way and measure that he shall see fit. Yet it is proper that we make it a part of our daily supplications; “Give us this day our daily bread.”]

  3.      The final possession of the promised land—

[Canaan was desired by Jacob not merely as an earthly inheritance, but chiefly as an earnest of that better land which it shadowed forth. None of the patriarchs regarded it as their home: “they dwelt in it as sojourners, and looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” There is for us also “a rest” which that land typifiedq, and to which we should look as the end of all our labours, and the consummation of all our hopess. It is “the inheritance to which we are begotten,” and “the grace which shall surely be brought unto us at the revelation of Jesus Christu.” To be waiting for it with an assured confidence, and an eager desire, is the attainment to which we should continually aspire; yea, we should be “looking for it and hasting to it” with a kind of holy impatience, “groaning within ourselves for it, and travailing as it were in pain,” till the period for our complete possession of it shall arrivez.]

All these things God had previously promised to Jacob: and he could not err, whilst making God’s promises the rule and measure of his desires. The engagement which he entered into, and to which he bound himself in this vow, shews us further,

  II.      Our bounden duties—

Though the particular engagement then made by Jacob is not binding upon us, yet the spirit of it is of universal obligation—

  1.      We must acknowledge God as our God—

[“Other lords have had dominion over us:” but they are all to be cast down as usurpers; and God alone is to be seated on the throne of our hearts. No rival is to be suffered to remain within us: idols, of whatever kind they be, are to be “cast to the moles and to the bats.” We must avouch the Lord to be our only, our rightful, Sovereign, whom we are to love and serve with all our heart, and all our mind, and all our soul, and all our strength. Nor is it sufficient to submit to him merely as a Being whom we are unable to oppose: we must claim him with holy triumph as our God and portion, saying with David, “O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee.” It is remarkable that this very state of mind, which was yet more conspicuous in Jacob in his dying hour, is represented as characterizing the people of God under the Christian dispensation: “It shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him; we will rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”]

  2.      To glorify him as God—

[The two particulars which Jacob mentions, namely, the building of an altar to the Lord on that very spot where God had visited him, and the consecrating to his especial service a tenth of all that God in his providence should give unto him, were optional, till he by this vow had made them his bounden duty. With those particulars we have nothing to do: but there are duties of a similar nature incumbent on us all. We must maintain in our families, and promote to the utmost in the world, the worship of God; and must regard our property as his, and, after we have “laboured with all our might” to serve him with it, must say, “All things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we given thee.” There must be one question ever uppermost in the mind; What can I do for God; and “what can I render to him for all the benefits that he hath done unto me?” Can I call the attention of others to him, so as to make him better known in the world? If I can, it shall be no obstacle to me that I am surrounded with heathens; nor will I be intimidated because I stand almost alone in the world: I will confess him openly before men: I will “follow my Lord and Saviour without the camp, bearing his reproach:” I will “esteem the reproach of Christ greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt:” whether called to forsake all for him, or to give all to him, I will do it with alacrity, assured, that his presence in time, and his glory in eternity, will be an ample recompence for all that I can ever do or suffer for his sake. He has bought me with the inestimable price of his own blood; and therefore, God helping me, I will henceforth “glorify him with my body and my spirit, which are his.”]

  ADDRESS—

  1.      To those who are just entering upon the world—

[Be moderate in your desires after earthly things. You can at present have no conception how little they will contribute to your real happiness. Beyond food and raiment you can have nothing that is worth a thought. Solomon, who possessed more than any other man ever did, has pronounced it all to be vanity; and not vanity only, but vexation of spirit also. And, whilst it is so incapable of adding any thing to your happiness, it subjects you to innumerable temptations, impedes in a very great degree your progress heaven-wardh, and greatly endangers your everlasting welfare. “Love not the world then, nor any thing that is in itk:” but “set your affections altogether on things above.” In your attachment to them there can be no excess. In your desire after God you cannot be too ardent: for “in his presence is life, and his loving-kindness is better than life itself.” Set before you the prize of your high calling, and keep it ever in view: and be assured that, when you have attained it, you will never regret any trials you sustained, or any efforts you put forth, in the pursuit of it. One hour spent in “your Father’s house “will richly repay them all.]

  2.      To those who have been delivered from trouble—

[It is common with persons in the season of deep affliction to make vows unto the Lord, and especially when drawing nigh to the borders of the grave. Now you perhaps in the hour of worldly trouble or of spiritual distress regretted that you had wasted so many precious hours in the pursuit of earthly cares and pleasures, and determined, if God should accomplish for you the wished-for deliverance, you would devote yourselves henceforth entirely to his service. But, when delivered from your sorrows, you have, like metal taken from the furnace, returned to your wonted hardness, and forgotten all the vows which were upon you. Even “Hezekiah rendered not to God according to the benefits conferred upon him,” and by his ingratitude brought on his whole kingdom the heaviest judgments, which would have fallen upon himself also, had he not deeply “humbled himself for the pride of his heart.” Do ye then, Brethren, beware of trifling with Almighty God in matters of such infinite concern: “it were better never to vow, than to vow and not pay.” God forgets not your vows, whether you remember them or not. At the distance of twenty years he reminded Jacob of his vows; and then accepted him in the performance of themn. O beg of him to bring yours also to your remembrance! and then “defer not to pay them,” in a total surrender of yourselves to him, and a willing consecration of all that you possess to his service.]

  3.      To those whom God has prospered—

[In how many is that saying verified, “Jeshurun waxed fit and kicked.” But, Beloved, let it not be so with you. It were better far that you were spoiled of every thing that you possess, and driven an exile into a foreign land, than that you should “forget God who has done so great things for you,” and rest in any portion short of that which God has prepared for them that love him. Who can tell? your prosperity may be only fattening you as sheep for the slaughter: and at the very moment you are saying, “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; eat, drink, and be merry;” God may be saying,” Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee.” Know that every thing which thou hast is a talent to be improved for thy God. Hast thou wealth, or power, or influence of any kind, employ it for the honour of thy God, and for the enlargement and establishment of the Redeemer’s kingdom. Then shalt thou be honoured with the approbation of thy God; even with the sweetest manifestations of his love in this world, and the everlasting enjoyment of his glory in the world to come.]

XLVII

JACOB PLEADING WITH GOD

  Gen. 32:26.

And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.

SOME have thought that the circumstances here recorded were a mere vision; and others a reality: but they seem to have been neither the one nor the other; but a real transaction under a figurative representation. The “wresthng” was not a corporeal trial of strength between two men, but a spiritual exercise of Jacob with his God under the form of an angel or a man. That it was not a mere man who withstood Jacob, is clear, from his being expressly called “God,” and from his taking upon him offices which none but God could perform. And that it was a spiritual, and not a corporeal, exercise on the part of Jacob, is evident, from what the prophet Hosea says respecting it; “By his strength Jacob had power with God; yea, he had power over the Angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him.” Such manifestations of God under the angelic or human form were not uncommon in the earlier parts of the Jewish history: and it is generally thought, that the Lord Jesus Christ was the person who assumed these appearances; and that he did so in order to prepare his people for his actual assumption of our nature at the time appointed of the Father. His appearance to Jacob at this time was for the purpose of comforting him under the distressing apprehensions which he felt on account of his brother Esau, who was “coming with four hundred men” to destroy him. Jacob used the best means he could devise to pacify his brother, and to preserve as many as he could of his family, in case a part of them should be slain. But he was not satisfied with any expedients which he could use. He well knew, that none but God could afford him any effectual succour: he therefore “remained alone” all the night, that he might spread his wants and fears before God, and implore help from him. On this occasion God appeared to him in the shape and form of a man, and apparently withstood him till the break of day. Then the person would have departed from him: but Jacob would not suffer him; but held him fast, as it were, saying, “I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.”

From these words I shall take occasion to shew,

  I.      The constituents of acceptable prayer—

These are beautifully displayed in the prayer of Jacob:

  1.      A renunciation of all dependence on ourselves—

[With this acknowledgment Jacob began his prayer: “O God of my father Abraham, I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which thou hast shewed unto thy servant.” And such is the feeling that must influence our hearts whensoever we attempt to draw nigh to God. If we think ourselves deserving of the divine favour, not one word can we utter with becoming humility; nor have we the smallest prospect of acceptance with God: “The hungry he will fill with good things; but the rich he will send empty away.” It is “he who humbleth himself, and he alone, that shall ever be exalted.” In this respect the returning prodigal is a pattern for us all. He takes nothing but shame to himself, and casts himself wholly on the mercy of his father. O that there were in us also such a heart! for not the Pharisee who commends himself, but the Publican who smites on his breast and cries for mercy, shall obtain the blessings of grace and glory.]

  2.      A simple reliance on the promises of God—

[Jacob puts God in remembrance of the promise which had been made to him twenty years before; “Thou saidst, I will surely do thee good.” And this is the true ground on which alone we can venture to ask any thing of God. He has “given us exceeding great and precious promises,” which he has also “confirmed with an oath, on purpose that we may have consolation” in our soulsh, and be encouraged to spread before him all our wants. Behold how David laid hold of the promises, and pleaded them before God in prayer: “O Lord God, thou hast promised this goodness to thy servant: do as thou hast spoken; do as thou hast said” — — — Again, and again, and again does he in this passage remind God of the promises he had made; and declares, that on them all his prayers, and all his hopes, were founded. In this manner then are we also to come before him; “Put me in remembrance,” says God: “let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.” Are we anxious to obtain the forgiveness of our sins? we should take with us such promises as these; “Whosoever cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out:” “Though your sins be as crimson, they shall be as white as snow.” Do we want deliverance from some grievous temptation? we should remind the Lord, Hast thou not said, “There shall be no temptation without a way to escape, that thou mayest be able to bear it?” So, whatever our want be, we should take a promise suited to it, (for what trial is there that is not provided for amongst the promises of God?) and plead it, and rest upon it, and expect the accomplishment of it to our souls.]

  3.      A determination to persevere till we have obtained the desired blessing—

[This is the particular point mentioned in our text. And it is that without which we never can prevail. Jacob, though lamed by his antagonist, still held him fast. And thus must we do also: we must “pray, and not faint.” A parable was delivered by our blessed Lord for the express purpose of teaching us this invaluable lesson. It should be a settled point in our minds, that “God cannot lie,” and “will not deny himself.” He has said, “Ask, and ye shall have; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” He has not determined any thing indeed with respect to the time or manner of answering our petitions: but answer them he will, in the best manner and the fittest time. He may not grant the particular thing which we ask for, because he may see that the continuance of the trial will answer a more valuable end than the removal of it: but in that case he will give us, as he did to Paul, what is far better”. In the confidence of this we should wait for him. “If the vision tarry, still we must wait for it, assured that it will come at lastn.” And if at any time our soul feel discouraged by the delay, we must chide it, as David did: “Why art thou cast down, O my soul; and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.” In a word, we must hold fast our blessed Lord, though under the greatest discouragementsp, and must say, “I will never let thee go, except thou bless me.”]

Where such prayer is offered up before God, no tongue can tell,

  II.      The blessings it will bring down into the soul—

It will ensure to us,

  1.      The effectual care of God’s providence—

[The danger to which Jacob was exposed was imminent: but his prayer averted it, so that the brother whom he feared as an enemy, was turned into a friend. And what interpositions will not persevering prayer, when offered with humility and faith, obtain? It matters not what situation we are in, if God be our God. We may have seas of difficulty in our way; but they shall open before us: we may be destitute of food; but the clouds shall send us bread, and the rocks gush out with water for our use. Even though we were at the bottom of the sea, from thence should our prayers ascend, and thither should they bring to us effectual help. We read of such things in the days of old: but we are ready to think that no such things are to be expected now. But has God ceased to govern the earth? or is he changed in any respect, having “his hand shortened, that he cannot save, or his ear heavy, that he cannot hear?” What if God do not repeat his former miracles now, has he no other way of accomplishing his will, and of fulfilling his gracious promises? If our hairs are all numbered, and not so much as a sparrow falls to the ground without him, shall it be in vain for us to call upon him? No: he is still “a God that heareth prayer:” and “whatsoever we shall ask of him, believing, he will do:” yea, “we may ask what we will, and it shall be done unto us.”]

  2.      The yet richer blessings of his grace—

[The new name which God gave to Jacob was a standing memorial of God’s love, and a pledge of all that should be necessary for his spiritual welfare. And what will he withhold from us, if we seek him with our whole hearts? Recount all the necessities of your soul: express in words all your wants: and when you have exhausted all the powers of language, stretch out your thoughts to grasp in all the ineffable blessings of his grace; all that the promises of God have engaged; all that the covenant itself contains; and all that an almighty and all-gracious God is able to bestow: and, when you have done this, we will not only assure it all to you, but declare that “he will do for you, not this only, but exceeding abundantly above all that ye can ask or think.” However “wide you open your mouth, he will fill it.” Make what attainments ye will, ye shall still find, that “he giveth more grace.” And, whatever difficulties ye may have to encounter, you shall find “that grace sufficient for you.” Only “continue instant in prayer,” and God will give you, not a new name only (for that also will he give, even a name better than of sons and of daughters,) but a new nature also, like unto his own, that shall progressively transform you into his perfect image “in righteousness and true holiness.u”]

  3.      The full possession of his glory—

[The answer which God gave to Jacob’s prayer is more fully recorded in a subsequent chapter. There, after declaring plainly who he was, “I AM GOD ALMIGHTY,” he promises, “The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed after thee.” This was typical of that better inheritance, to which all the Lord’s Israel are begotten, and for which they are reservedy. And thither shall the prayer of faith carry us: for “God will never leave us, till he has done all for us that he has spoken to us of,” and brought us to “his presence, where there is fulness of joy, and to his right hand, where there are pleasures for evermorea.” Hear the dying thief preferring his petitions; “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom!” And now hear the Saviour’s answer; “To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.” Thus he speaks also to all who seek him in humility and faith. It is curious to observe how often, without any apparent necessity, he repeats this promise to us. After saying, “He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst,” he repeats no less than four times, “I will raise him up at the last day;” and repeatedly also adds, “He shall have everlasting life; he shall not die; he shall live for ever.” And whence is all this but to assure us, that, “Whatsoever we ask in prayer, believing, we shall received;” yea, that he will “give us, not to the half, but to the whole, of his kingdom?”]

  Let me ADD in conclusion,

  1.      A word of inquiry—

[What resemblance do we bear to Jacob in this particular? I ask not whether we have ever spent a whole night in prayer, but whether we have ever wrestled with God at all; and whether, on the contrary, our prayers have not for the most part been cold, formal, hypocritical; and whether we have not by the very mode of offering our prayers rather mocked and insulted God, than presented to him any acceptable sacrifice? Say whether there be not too much reason for that complaint, “There is none that calleth upon Thy name, that stirreth up himself to lay hold of Thee?” Dear Brethren, I know nothing which so strongly marks our departure from God as this. To an earthly friend we can go, and tell our complaints, till we have even wearied him with them; and in the prosecution of earthly things we can put forth all the energy of our minds: but when we go to God in prayer, we are straitened, and have scarcely a word to say; and our thoughts rove to the very ends of the earth. The prophet Hosea well describes this: “They have not cried unto me with their heart. They return, but not to the Most High: they are like a deceitful bow,” which, when it promises to send the arrow to the mark, causes it to fall at our very feet. O let us not fancy that we are of the true Israel, whilst we so little resemble Him whose name we bear, and bear as a memorial of importunity in prayer. The character of the true Israel ever has been, and ever will continue to be, that they are “a people near unto their God.”]

  2.      A word of caution—

[On two points we are very liable to err; first, in relation to the fervour that we exercise in prayer; and next, in relation to the confidence that we maintain. Many, because they are ardent in mind, and fluent in expression, imagine that they are offering to God a spiritual service; when, in fact, their devotion is little else than a bodily exercise. “Whoever has made his observations on the way in which both social and public worship is often performed, will have seen abundant cause for this caution. In like manner, the confidence of many savours far more of bold presumption, than of humble affiance. But let it never be forgotten, that tenderness of spirit is absolutely inseparable from a spiritual frame. When our blessed Lord prayed, it was “with strong crying and tears:” and when Jacob wrestled, “he wept, and made supplication.” This then is the state of mind which we must aspire after. Our fervour must be a humble fervour; and our confidence, a humble confidence. And whilst we look to God to accomplish all things for us, we must at the same time use all proper means for the attainment of them. Jacob, though he relied on God to deliver him from his brother s wrath, did not omit to use all prudent precautions, and the most sagacious efforts for the attainment of that end. So likewise must we “labour for the meat which the Son of man will give usl,” and “keep ourselves in the love of God,” in order to our being “kept by the power of God through faith unto salvationn.”]

  3.      A word of encouragement—

[It is said of Jacob, that “God blessed him there,” even in the very place where he lamed him. Thus shall you also find that your greatest discouragements are only a prelude to your most complete deliverance. To his people of old he said, “Thou shalt go even to Babylon: there shalt thou be delivered: there shall the Lord redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.” Go on, therefore, fully expecting that God will interpose in due season, and that your darkest hours shall be only a prelude to the brighter dayq.]

XLVIII

RECONCILIATION OF ESAU AND JACOB

  Gen. 33:4.

And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept.

SUCH are the dispositions of men in general, that they cannot pass any considerable time without feeling in themselves, and exciting in others, some malignant tempers. The more nearly men come in contact with each other, the more do they disagree. Nations are most inveterate against those who are most in their vicinity. Societies are for the most part distracted by opposing interests. Families are rarely to be found, where the demon of Discord has not raised his throne: yea, even the dearest friends and relatives are too often filled with animosity against each other. Happy would it be, if disagreements were found only among the ungodly: but they not unfrequently enter into the very church of God, and kindle even in good men a most unhallowed fire. Paul and Barnabas were a lamentable instance of human weakness in this respect. But on the present occasion we are called to consider, not a quarrel, but a reconciliation. The quarrel indeed had been rancorous in the extreme; but the reconciliation, as described in the text, was most cordial and most affecting.

We would call your attention to a few observations arising from the circumstances before us—

  I.      The resentments of brethren are usually exceeding deep—

[If a stranger injure us in any respect, the irritation produced by the offence is, for the most part, of very short duration. But if a brother, or a friend, and more especially a person with whom we have been united in the bonds of the Spirit, provoke us to anger, the wound is more severe, and the impression more lasting. In many cases the difficulty of effecting a reconciliation is so great, as almost to preclude a hope of restoring the former amity. One who was thoroughly conversant with human nature, has told us, that “a brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city.” We should be ready to imagine that in proportion as the previous union was close and affectionate, the restoration of that union would be easy; and that the spirits which had suffered a momentary separation, would, like the flesh which has been lacerated, join together again readily, and, as it were, of their own accord. But the reverse of this is true: nor is it difficult to be accounted for. The disappointment of the two parties is greater. From strangers we expect nothing: and if we find rudeness or selfishness or any other evil quality, though we may be offended at it, we are not disappointed. But from friends, and especially religious friends, we expect all that is kind and amiable; and therefore we are the more keenly affected when any thing of a contrary aspect occurs. Moreover the aggravating circumstances are more numerous. Between friends there are a thousand little circumstances taken into the account, which could find no place among strangers, and which. in fact, often operate more forcibly on the mind than the more immediate subject in dispute. Above all, the foundations of their regard are overthrown. Each thinks himself in the right. Each thought highly of the honour, the integrity, the friendship, or perhaps the piety of the other: and behold, each imagines that the other’s conduct towards him has violated all these principles, and given him reason to fear, that he was deceived in his judgment of the other; or at least, that he was not deserving of that high opinion which he had entertained of him.

From some such considerations as these, the alienation of the parties from each other, if not more fierce and violent, is usually more fixed and settled, in proportion to their previous intimacy and connexion.]

But,

  II.      However deep the resentment of any one may be, we may hope by proper means to overcome it—

We cannot have a better pattern in this respect than that which Jacob set before us. The means we should use, are,

  1.      Prayer to God—

[God has access to the hearts of men, and “can turn them whithersoever he will.” The instances wherein he has exerted his influence upon them, to induce them either to relieve his friends, or to punish his enemies, are innumerable. By prayer his aid is obtained. It was by prayer that Jacob prevailed. He had experienced the seasonable and effectual interposition of the Deity when Laban pursued him with such wrath and bitterness: he therefore again applied to the same almighty Friend, and again found him “ready to save.” Prayer, if fervent and believing, shall be as effectual as ever: there is nothing for the obtaining of which it shall not prevail. To this then we should have recourse in the first instance. Nothing should be undertaken without this. We should not neglect other means; but our chief dependence should be placed on this; because nothing but the blessing of God can give success to any means we use.]

  2.      A conciliatory conduct to man—

[Nothing could be more conciliatory, nothing more ingenious, than the device of Jacob, in sending so many presents to his brother, in so many distinct and separate parts, and with the same information so humbly and so continually repeated in his ears. Vehement as Esau’s anger was, it could not withstand all this kindness, humility, and gentleness. The submission of his brother perfectly disarmed him: and “the gift in his bosom pacified his strong wrath.”

Thus we may hope to “overcome evil with good.” As stones are melted by being subjected to the action of intense heat, so are the hardest of men melted by love: it “heaps coals of fire upon their headc,” and turns their rancorous hostilities into self-condemning accusations. We say not indeed that the victory shall be certain and uniform in all cases; for even the Saviour’s meekness did not prevail to assuage the malice of his enemies: but, as a means, we may reasonably expect it to conduce to that end. As a proud, distant, and vindictive carriage serves to confirm the hatred of an adversary, so, on the other hand, a kind, gentle, and submissive deportment has a direct tendency to effect a reconciliation with him.]

Not that a short and transient care will suffice: on the contrary,

  III.      When once a reconciliation is effected, extreme caution is necessary to preserve and maintain it—

A wound that has been lately closed, may easily be rent open again: and friendship that has been dissolved by any means, does not speedily regain its former stability. To cement affection, much attention is required. We must aim at it,

  1.      By mutual kindnesses and endearments—

[Exceeding tender was the interview between the brothers, after their long absence, and alienation from each other. Nor should we deem it beneath us to yield thus to the emotions of love, or to express our regards by salutations and tears. These may possibly be counterfeited by a consummate hypocrite: but, in general, they are the involuntary effusions of a loving heart. And as denoting cordiality, they have the strongest tendency to unite discordant minds, and to efface from the memory all painful recollections.]

  2.      By abstaining from all mention of past grievances—

[The revival of things which have been matters in dispute, generally revive the feelings which the dispute occasioned. And, as few are ever found to acknowledge that the fault or error has been wholly on their own side, recriminations will arise from accusations, and the breach perhaps be made wider than ever. To bury matters in oblivion is the readiest way to the maintenance of peace. In this respect the reconciled brothers acted wisely: explanations would only have led to evil consequences; and therefore they avoided them altogether. And we in similar circumstances shall do well to follow their example.]

  3.      By guarding against that kind or degree of intercourse that may rekindle animosities—

[There are some whose dispositions are so opposite, that they cannot long move in harmony with each other: “not being agreed, they cannot walk comfortably together.” It is thus particularly with those whose spiritual views are different: for, “what communion hath light with darkness, or Christ with Belial?” It was prudent in Jacob to decline the proffered civilities of Esau, when he saw the mutual sacrifices that would be necessary in order to carry them into effect: it was prudent that Esau with his four hundred armed men should prosecute their journey without needless incumbrances and delays; and that Jacob should be left at liberty to consult the comfort of his children, and the benefit of his flocks. Had the two endeavoured to make concessions, and to accommodate themselves to each other, neither would have been happy; and their renewed amity would have been endangered. Thus, where the dispositions and habits are so dissimilar as to bid defiance, as it were, to mutual concessions, the best way to preserve peace is to interfere with each other as little as possible.]

  APPLICATION—

[Are there any who are involved in disputes and quarrels? Follow after peace: and be forbearing and forgiving to others, if ever you would that God should be so to you. Are there any who desire reconciliation with an offended friend? Be willing rather to make, than to exact, submission: and let generosity and kindness be exercised to the uttermost, to soften the resentments which have been harboured against you. And lastly, are there any who have an opportunity of promoting peace? Embrace it gladly, and exert yourselves with impartiality. And instead of widening a breach. by carrying tales, endeavour to heal it by all possible offices of love. Let the quarrels of brethren be regarded as a fire, which it is every one’s duty and desire to extinguish. Thus shall you yourselves have the blessing promised to peace-makers, and be numbered among the children of God.]

XLIX

SLAUGHTER OF THE SHECHEMITES

  Gen. 34:31.

And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot?

THE life of man is continually exposed to trouble; and not unfrequently waves follow waves with little intermission. It was thus in Jacob’s case, who, from the time that he fled from the face of Esau, met with a continued series of difficulties and distresses. Having terminated his hard service under Laban, and miraculously escaped the vindictive assaults both of Laban and of Esau, he seemed to have obtained a respite. But his peace was of very short duration; for his own children, to whom he looked for comfort in his declining years, became to him a source of the most poignant sorrows. It appears indeed, from various circumstances in this short history, that he did not maintain sufficient authority over his own house. Had he taken the direction of matters into his own hands, instead of waiting to consult his young, inexperienced, and headstrong sons, he had prevented those horrible crimes which they perpetrated without fear, and vindicated without remorse.

In considering the petulant answer which they made to his reproofs, we shall be led to notice,

  I.      The provocation they had received—

We apprehend that Leah herself was in part accessory to the evils that befell her daughter—

[Dinah, like other young people, wished to see, and be seen; and on some festive occasion went to visit the daughters of the land of Canaan. She would probably have been displeased, if her mother had imposed restraints upon her. But it was her parent’s duty to consult, not so much her inclination, as her safety: and it was highly blamable in Leah to suffer her daughter, scarcely fifteen years of age, to go into scenes of gaiety and dissipation unprotected and unwatched.

Perhaps by this calamity Leah herself was punished for the prostitution of herself (for what else can it be called?) in compliance with her father’s wishes. Personating her sister Rachel, she had yielded to what might be justly termed, an incestuous commerce: and now she lives to see the humiliation and defilement of her only daughter.]

But, whatever degree of blame attached either to Dinah or her mother, the provocation given by Shechem was doubtless exceeding great—

[To take advantage of a thoughtless unprotected female was exceedingly base: and the distress brought by it upon her whole family was most deplorable. Ah! little do the gay and dissipated think, what sacrifices they require for the gratification of their lusts. Here was the happiness, not of an individual only, but of a whole family, destroyed. That her seducer endeavoured afterwards to repair the injury, is true: and in this he differed from the generality, who, as soon as they have accomplished their vile purposes, have their love turned into indifference or aversion: but the injury was absolutely irreparable; and therefore we do not wonder that it excited a deep resentment in the breasts of her dishonoured relatives.]

But though her brothers were justly indignant at the treatment she had received, they were by no means justified in,

  II.      The manner in which they resented it—

Shechem, though a prince among the Hivites, instantly made application to Dinah’s father to give her to him in marriage. Though he had humbled her, he did not wish to perpetuate her disgrace, but sought, as much as possible, to obliterate it for ever. The terms he proposed were dictated not only by a sense of honour, but by the most tender affection. Happy would it have been if Jacob’s sons had been actuated by principles equally honourable and praiseworthy! But they, alas! intent only on revenge, contrived a plot as wicked and diabolical as ever entered into the heart of man. They formed a design to murder, not only the person who had given them the offence, but all the men of his city together with him. In the execution of their purpose they employed,

  1.      Hypocrisy—

[They pretended to have scruples of conscience about connecting themselves with persons who were uncircumcised. We may admit for a moment, that this did really operate on their minds as an objection to the projected union; and that this objection was sufficient to weigh down every other consideration: still what regard had they for conscience when they could deliberately contrive a plan for murdering the whole city? This was indeed to “strain at a gnat, and to swallow a camel.”]

  2.      Profaneness—

[They knew that both the prince and his people were altogether ignorant of Jehovah, and destitute of the smallest wish to be interested in the Covenant which God had made with Abraham: and yet they proposed that all the males should receive the seal of God’s covenant in circumcision; and that too, not in order to obtain any spiritual benefit, but solely with a view to carnal gratification. What a profanation was this of God’s holy ordinance! and what impiety was there in recommending to them such a method of attaining their ends!]

  3.      Cruelty—

[One would scarcely have conceived that such cruelty could have existed in the human heart. That a spirit of revenge should excite in the minds of these men the thought of murdering the person who was more immediately implicated in the offence, was possible enough: but that it should prompt them to involve a multitude of innocent persons in the same ruin; and at a time when those persons were making very great sacrifices in order to conciliate their favour; and that it should induce them to make use of religion as a cloak for the more easy accomplishment of their execrable purpose; this almost exceeds belief: yet such was their inhuman plot, which too successfully they carried into effect. And though their brethren did not join them in destroying the lives of any, yet they so far participated in the crime, as to take captive the defenceless women, and to seize upon all the cattle and property for a prey.]

There is nothing so iniquitous, but the perpetrators of it will justify it. This appears from,

  III.      Their vindication of their conduct—

In their answer to their father’s reproof we behold nothing but,

  1.      Offended pride—

[They would not have felt any displeasure against Shechem, if he had dealt with any other female, or any number of them, as harlots; but that he should offer such an indignity to “their sister” this was the offence, an offence that could not be expiated by any thing less than the blood of all that were even in the most distant way connected with him. We are surprised and shocked at the relation of this event: and yet is it very similar to what occurs continually before our eyes. Is an injury done, or an affront offered to us? we feel ourselves called upon by a regard for our own honour to seek the life of the offender. Is a slight encroachment made on the rights of a nation? it is deemed a just cause of war; and the lives of thousands are sacrificed in order to avenge it. But Jacob formed a just estimate of his children’s conduct, when he said, “Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel.”]

  2.      Invincible obduracy—

[We might well expect that, after a moment’s reflection, these bloody murderers should relent, and be filled with remorse. But all sense of guilt, yea, and all regard for their own and their father’s safety, seemed to be totally banished from their minds. Instead of regretting that they had acted so treacherous and cruel a part, they vindicate themselves without hesitation, and even tacitly condemn their father, as manifesting less concern for his daughter than they had shewn for their sister. We can scarcely conceive a more awful instance than this of the power of sin to blind the understanding and to harden the heart. But daily experience shews, that, when once the conscience is seared, there is no evil which we will not palliate, no iniquity which we will not justify.]

  INFER,

  1.      How astonishingly may the judgment of men be warped by partiality and self-love!

[These men could see evil in the conduct of Shechem, and yet justify their own; though theirs was beyond all comparison more vile and horrible than his. And is it not thus with us? If the world behold any thing amiss in the conduct of a person professing religion, with what severity will they condemn it, even though they themselves are living in the unrestrained commission of ten thousand sins! And even professors of religion too are apt to be officious in pulling out a mote from their Brother’s eye, while they are inattentive to the beam that is in their own eye. But let us learn rather to exercise forbearance towards the faults of others, and severity towards our own.]

  2.      How certainly will there be a day of future retribution!

[Here we behold a whole city of innocent men put to death, and their murderers going away unpunished. But let us not on this account arraign the dispensations of Providence. In the last day all these apparent inequalities will be rectified. It will then infallibly go well with the righteous, and ill with the wicked. The excuses which men now make, will be of no avail: but every transaction shall appear in its proper colours; and every man receive according to what he has done in the body, whether it be good or evil.]

L

JOSEPH ENVIED BY HIS BRETHREN

  Gen. 37:4.

When his brethren saw that his father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.

WE are not expressly told in Scripture that the events of Joseph’s life were intended to prefigure those which should afterwards be accomplished in the Messiah: but the humiliation and exaltation of each, together with the means whereby both the one and the other were effected, are so much alike, that we can scarcely view them in any other light than as a typical prophecy fulfilled in the Antitype. It is not however our intention to prosecute the history of Joseph in this view: we shall rather notice some of the most striking particulars as tending to elucidate the passions by which mankind in general are actuated, and the changes to which they are exposed. The words of our text describe the dispositions of his brethren towards him; and will lead us to consider,

  I.      The occasions of his brethren’s hatred—

Joseph was pre-eminently marked as the object of his father’s love—

[That his father should love him above all his brethren is not to be wondered at: Joseph was born to him of his beloved Rachel; and in him, Rachel, though dead, might be said to live. He was also imbued with early piety, whilst his brethren were addicted to all manner of evil; insomuch that he himself was forced to report their wickedness to his father, in order that they might be corrected and restrained by his parental authority. It is probable also that he stayed at home to minister to his aged father, whilst they were occupied in their pastoral cares; and that he won the affections of his parent by his dutiful and incessant assiduities.

As a general principle, we highly disapprove of partiality in parents towards their children; though we think it justified, when it is founded on a great and manifest difference in their moral character; inasmuch as it is a parent’s duty to mark his approbation of religion and morals. But in no case ought that partiality to be shewn by such vain distinctions as Jacob adopted. Joseph’s “coat of many colours” was calculated to generate nothing but vanity in the possessor, and envy in those who thought themselves equally entitled to their parent’s favour: and indeed this very distinction proved a source of all the calamities which afterwards befell him.]

God himself also was pleased to point him out as destined to far higher honours—

[God revealed to him in dreams that all his family should one day make obeisance to him. The dreams were doubled, as Pharaoh’s afterwards were, to shew that his exaltation above all his family, and their humblest submission to him, should surely come to pass. These dreams being divulged by Joseph, he became more than ever an object of most inveterate hatred to his brethren. They could not endure that even God himself should exercise his sovereign will towards him. They considered every favour shewn to him (whether by God or man) as an injury done to themselves; and the more he was honoured, the more were they offended at him. They did not consider, that he was not to be blamed for his father’s partiality, nor to be condemned for those destinies which he could neither procure nor prevent. Blinded by envy, they could see nothing in him that was good and commendable, but made every thing which he either said or did, an occasion of blame.]

To set his brethren’s conduct in its true light, we will endeavour to shew,

  II.      The evil of that principle by which they were actuated—

Envy is one of the most hateful passions in the human heart:

  1.      It is most unreasonable in itself—

[It is called forth by the honour or advantages which another enjoys above ourselves. Now if those advantages be merited, why should we grudge the person the possession of them? If they be not acquired by merit, still they are given to him by the unerring providence of God, who “has a right to do what he will with his own. Is our eye then to be evil because he is good?” Besides, the things which we envy a person the possession of, are often snares, which we should rather fear than covet: and, at best, they are only talents, of which he must soon give an awful account to God. If therefore we are sensible how little improvement we have made of the talents already committed to us, we shall see at once how little reason we have to envy others their increased responsibility.]

  2.      It is extremely injurious both to ourselves and others—

[Nothing can be more destructive of a person’s own happiness than to yield to this hateful passion. It causes him to derive pain from those things which ought to afford him pleasure; and to have his enmity augmented by those very qualities which ought rather to conciliate his regard. It is justly declared to be “the rottenness of the bones.” It corrodes our inmost souls, so that we can enjoy no comfort whatever, while we are under its malignant influence. And there is nothing so spiteful, nothing so murderous, which we shall not both devise and execute, when we are subject to its powerd. Behold Cain, when envying Abel the testimonies of God’s approbation: behold Saul, when he heard David celebrated as a greater warrior than himself: how downcast their looks! what wrathful and vindictive purposes did they form! how were they changed into incarnate fiends! Thus it was also with Joseph’s brethren, who could be satisfied with nothing but the utter destruction of the envied object.]

  3.      It renders us as unlike to God as possible—

[See how our God and Saviour acted towards us in our fallen state: instead of rejoicing in our misery, he sought to redeem us from it, and sacrificed his own happiness and glory to re-establish us in the state from which we had fallen. What a contrast to this does the envious person exhibit! He repines at the happiness of others, whilst God is grieved at their misery: he seeks the destruction of others, whilst God labours for their welfare: he breaks through every restraint to effect their ruin, though with the loss of his own soul; whilst God takes upon him all the pains of hell, in order to exalt as to the blessedness of heaven. He is thus hostile to those who have never injured him, whilst God loads with his benefits those who have lived in a constant scene of rebellion against him. What can set the passion of envy in a more hateful light than this?]

  4.      It transforms us into the very image of the devil—

[Satan was once an angel of light, as happy as any that are now before the throne: but he kept not his first estate: he sinned; and thereby brought upon himself the wrath of Almighty God. It pleased God afterwards to form another order of beings, who were designed to fill up, as it were, the seats from which the fallen spirits had been driven. But this envious spirit strove to turn them from their allegiance. He knew well enough that he could not thereby mitigate his own misery: but he could not endure to see others happy, whilst he himself was miserable: yea, he was willing even to augment his own guilt and misery, provided he might destroy the happiness of man. With the same view he afterwards strove to set God against his servant Job, in order that he might deprive that holy man of his integrity and bliss. In this mirror let the envious man behold himself, and he will discern every lineament of his own hateful image. Well did Jesus say of such persons, “Ye are of your father, the devil, and the lusts of your lather ye will do.”]

  By way of IMPROVING the subject, let us INQUIRE,

  1.      Whence it is that persons are so unconscious of this principle within them?

[It is not surely, because they have not this principle in their hearts; for, “Hath the Scripture said in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?” No: all are more or less actuated by it, till it has been conquered by divine grace. But it is confessedly a mean principle, and therefore men are averse to acknowledge its existence in them. It is also a principle easily concealed by specious coverings. Its effects are ascribed to just indignation against sin: and the most eminent virtues of a person are blackened by the most opprobrious names, in order to justify the resentment which it excites in the bosom. Other strong passions, as lust and anger, are more determinate in their actings, and therefore less capable of being hid from our own view; but envy, like avarice, is of so doubtful a character, and admits of so many plausible excuses, that those who are most subject to it are unconscious of its existence and operation within them.]

  2.      How it may be discerned?

[Envy is not excited, except where the advancement or happiness of another appears within our own reach. To discern its workings therefore, we must watch the actings of our mind towards persons whose situation and circumstances nearly accord with our own. The principle is then most strongly operative, when there is a degree of rivalry or competition existing. People do not like to be excelled in that line wherein they themselves affect distinction. The female that courts admiration, the tradesman that values himself upon the superiority of his goods, the scholar that is a candidate for fame, the statesman that is ambitious of honour, must consider how he feels, when he sees himself outstripped in his course; whether he would not be glad to hear that his successful competitor had failed in his expectations; whether his ear is not open to any thing that may reduce his rival to a level with himself; whether, in short, the fine coat and promised elevation of Joseph do not grieve him? Let persons be attentive to the motions of their hearts on such occasions as these, and they will find that this accursed principle is exceeding strong within them; and that they need to watch and pray against it continually, if they would gain the mastery over it in any measure.]

  3.      How it may be subdued?

[Doubtless many things might be prescribed which would conduce to this end. We content ourselves however with specifying only two. First, Let us endeavour to get a knowledge of our own vileness. When we have thoroughly learned that we deserve God’s wrath and indignation, we shall account it a mercy that we are out of hell. We shall not then be grieved at any preference shewn to others. We shall see that we have already far more than we deserve; and we shall be willing that others should enjoy what God has given them, when we see how mercifully he has dealt with us.

Next, Let us get our hearts filled with love to our fellow-creatures. We do not envy those whom we love: the more we love any person, the more we rejoice in his advancement. The Apostle justly says, “Charity envieth not.” Let us beg of God then to implant this better principle in our hearts. Then shall our selfish passions be mortified and subdued; and we shall be made like unto him, whose name is Love.]

LI

THE NEED OF FLEEING FROM SIN WITH ABHORRENCE

  Gen. 39:9.

How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?

THE grace of God is equally necessary for us in every situation of life; in adversity, to support us; and in prosperity, to keep us—We should have been ready indeed to congratulate Joseph on his advancement in the house of Potiphar, as though his trials had been ended: but we see that, if his former path was strewed with thorns, his present station was slippery, and replete with danger—His history is well known, and need not be insisted on: suffice it to say, that when tempted by his mistress, and importuned from day to day to commit sin with her, he resisted her solicitations with unshaken constancy, and rejected her proposals with indignation and abhorrence—The reply, which through the grace of God he was enabled to make, leads us to observe that,

  I.      Sin is no light evil—

The world in general imagine sin to be of very little moment—

[Sin universally prevails, and, except where it greatly interferes with the welfare of society, is countenanced and approved—The customs of the world sanction the practice of it to a certain extent in every one, whether male or female; though the greater latitude of indulgence is allowed to men—The very education that is given both to our sons and daughters, tends only to foster in them pride and vanity, wantonness and sensuality, worldliness and profaneness: let but these dispositions assume the names of ease, elegance, and gaiety, and they instantly lose all their malignant qualities; and, instead of exciting our abhorrence, endear to us the persons by whom they are indulged—Too many indeed will not submit to any restraints, but will even justify the grossest immoralities—They impose upon their excesses some specious appellation; they call drunkenness, conviviality; and whoredom, youthful indiscretion—Thus they commit sin without fear, persist in it without remorse, and even glory in their shame, when, through age and infirmity, they can no longer follow their former courses—]

But, if viewed aright, it will appear a dreadful evil—

[Can that be light or venial which cast myriads of angels from their height of glory into the bottomless abyss of hell?—Is that of trifling importance which in one moment ruined the whole race of man, and subjected them to an everlasting curse?—But if these effects be not sufficient to convince us, let us behold the Saviour in the garden of Gethsemane, or on the hill of Calvary: let us behold the Lord of glory bathed in blood, and expiring under the curse which our sins have merited; and we shall instantly confess with Solomon, that they are “fools, who make a mock of sin”—]

Not however to insist on this general view of sin, we observe that,

  II.      Considered as an offence against God, its enormity is exceeding great—

This is the particular light in which it struck the mind of Joseph—Though the iniquity to which he was tempted, would have been a defiling of his own body, and an irreparable injury to Potiphar his master, yet every other consideration seemed to be swallowed up in that of the offence it would give to God—Sin is levelled more immediately against God himself—It is,

  1.      A defiance of his authority—

[God commands us to keep his law; and enforces his commands with the most awful and encouraging sanctions—But sin says, like Pharaoh, “Who is the Lord, that I should regard him? I know not the Lord, neither will I obey his voice”—And is it a light matter for a servant thus to insult his master, a child his parent, a creature his Creator?—]

  2.      A denial of his justice—

[God threatens that “the wicked shall not be unpunished”—But what does sin reply? It says like them of old, “God will not do good, neither will he do evil”—And shall it be thought a trifling matter to rob the Deity thus of his most essential perfections?—]

  3.      An abuse of his goodness—

[It is altogether owing to the goodness of God that we are even capable of sinning against him—It is from him that we receive the bounties which administer to our excess, and the strength whereby we provoke the eyes of his glory—And can any thing be conceived more vile than to make his goodness to us the very means and occasion of insulting him to his face?—]

  4.      A rejection of his mercy—

[God is continually calling us to accept of mercy through the Son of his love—But sin “tramples under foot the Son of God;” it even “crucifies him afresh, and puts him to an open shame”—It proclaims aloud, that the glory of heaven is not to be compared with the gratification of our lusts; and that it is better to perish by self-indulgence, than to obtain salvation in the exercise of self-denial—What terms then can sufficiently express the enormity of that, which so blinds and infatuates its wretched votaries?—]

It is not possible to behold sin in this light, without acknowledging that,

  III.      We ought to flee from it with indignation and abhorrence—

Instead of tampering with it we should flee from it—

[Sin is of so fascinating a nature that it soon bewitches us, and leads us astray—As “a man cannot take fire into his bosom without being burnt,” so neither can he harbour sin in his heart without being vitiated and corrupted by it—Had Achan fled from the wedge of gold as soon as ever he found a desire after it springing up in his heart; and David turned away his eyes the very instant he saw Bathsheba, how much shame and misery would they have escaped! But the breach, which might easily have been stopped at the first, presently defied the efforts of an accusing conscience; and a flood of iniquity soon carried them away with irresistible impetuosity—Thus also it will be with us; if we parley with the tempter, he will surely overcome us: we must resist sin at the first, if we would oppose it with success—]

Instead of loving it, we should utterly abhor it—

[The grace of God enabled Joseph to reject with abhorrence the offers proposed to him; and to prefer a dungeon with a good conscience before the indulgence of a criminal passion, or the favour of a seducing mistress—Thus should we turn with indignation from the allurements of sin—We should “make a covenant with our eyes,” yea, with our very hearts, that we may close, as much as possible, every avenue of ill—Instead of palliating sin, we should new it in all its aggravations; and especially as an offence against a just and holy, a merciful and gracious, God—Nor should we ever forget, that, though it be “rolled as a sweet morsel under the tongue, it will prove gall in the stomach;” and though it flatter us with its innocence, “it will bite as a serpent, and sting like an adder”—]

  ADDRESS,

  1.      Those who think lightly of sin—

[We well know that the generality of men have much to say in extenuation of their guilt; and, if they had been in the situation of Joseph, would have accounted the greatness of the temptation a sufficient excuse for their compliance with it—But to what purpose shall we palliate our guilt, unless we can prevail on the Judge of quick and dead to view it with our eyes? We may indeed weaken our present convictions, but we shall only secure thereby, and enhance, our eternal condemnation—Let us remember that “fleshly lusts war against the soul;” and that either we must mortify and subdue them, or they will enslave and destroy use: for, even though the whole universe should combine to justify the commission of sin, not one who yields to its solicitations, shall ever pass unpunished—]

  2.      Those who begin to see the evil of it—

[It is an unspeakable mercy to have any view of the malignity of sin—To see how much we have deserved the wrath and indignation of God, is the very first step towards repentance and salvation—Let not any then turn away from this sight too hastily, or think they have discovered the evil of sin in its full extent—This is a lesson we are to be learning all our days; and it is only in proportion as we advance in this humiliating knowledge, that we shall be qualified to receive and enjoy the Saviour—It is necessary indeed that, while we look at sin, we look also at Him who made atonement for it; for otherwise, we shall be led to despair of mercy; but, if we keep our eyes fixed upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and see the infinite extent of his merits, we need never be afraid of entertaining too bitter a remembrance of sin—The more we lothe ourselves for past iniquities, the more shall we be fortified against temptations to commit them in future, and the more will God himself be ready to preserve and bless us—]

  3.      Those who, like Joseph, are enabled to withstand it—

[Blessed be God, there are many living witnesses to prove, that the grace of God is as sufficient at this day, as ever it was, to purify the heart, and to “keep the feet of his saints”—Let those then who are enabled to hold fast their integrity, give glory to him, by whom they are strengthened and upheld—But let them remember, that they are never beyond the reach of temptation, nor ever so likely to fall, as when they are saying, “My mountain stands strong; I shall not be moved”—Let us then continue to watch against the renewed assaults of our great adversary—Never let him find us off our guard, or draw us to a parley with him—Let us suspect him, and he shall not deceive us; let us resist him, and he shall flee from us: and the very assaults that he shall make upon us, shall terminate in our honour and his own confusion—]

LII

INGRATITUDE OF PHARAOH’S BUTLER

  Gen. 40:23.

Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him.

IT was a wise and prudent choice which David made, “Let me fall into the hands of God, and not into the hands of man.” Man, when intent on evil, knows no bounds, except those which are prescribed by his ability to execute his wishes. He is easily incensed, but with difficulty appeased. The ties of blood and relationship are not sufficient to bind persons in amity with each other, when once any ground of discord arises between them. It might have been hoped that in such a family as Jacob’s, love and harmony would prevail: but to such a degree had envy inflamed his whole family against their younger brother, that they conspired against his life, and only adopted the milder alternative of selling him for a slave, through a horror which they felt at the thought of shedding his blood. Nor will the most amiable conduct always ensure regard, or protect a person from the most cruel injuries. The holy, chaste, and conscientious deportment of Joseph should have exalted his character in the eyes of his mistress: but when she failed in her attempts to ensnare his virtue, her passionate desire after him was converted into rage; and she procured the imprisonment of him whom she had just before solicited to be her paramour. During his confinement, he had opportunities of shewing kindness to his fellow-prisoners. To two of them he interpreted their dreams, which proved to be prophetic intimations of their respective fates. Of Pharaoh’s chief butler, whose speedy restoration he foretold, he made a most reasonable request: he told him, that he had been stolen out of the land of the Hebrews; and that there existed no just cause for his imprisonment: and he entreated, that he would make known his case to Pharaoh, and intercede for his deliverance. In making this request, he never once criminated either his brethren who had sold him, or his mistress who had falsely accused him: he cast a veil of love over their faults, and sought for nothing but the liberty of which he had been unjustly deprived. Who would conceive that so reasonable a request, presented to one who had such opportunities of knowing his excellent character, to one too on whom he had conferred such great obligations, should fail? Lord, what is man? how base, how selfish, how ungrateful! Let us fix our attention upon this incident in the history of Joseph, and make some suitable reflections upon it—

We observe then,

  I.      That gratitude is but a feeble principle in the human mind—

[Corrupt and sinful principles are, alas! too strong in the heart of man; but those which are more worthy of cultivation, are weak indeed. To what a degree are men actuated by pride—ambition—covetousness—envy—wrath—revenge!—To what exertions will they not be stimulated by hope or fear! — — — But the motions of gratitude are exceeding faint: in the general, they are scarcely perceptible: and though on some extraordinary occasions, like that of Israel’s deliverance at the Red Sea, the heart may glow with a sense of the mercies vouchsafed unto us, we soon forget them, even as the Israelites did, and return to our former coldness and indifference.]

  II.      That its operations are rather weakened than promoted by prosperity—

[Pharaoh’s butler, when restored to his master’s service, thought no more of the friend whom he had left in prison. This is the general effect of prosperity, which steels the heart against the wants and miseries of others, and indisposes it for the exercise of sympathy and compassion. It is usually found too that the more we abound in temporal blessings, the more unmindful we are of Him who gave them. That is a true description of us all; “Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked.” On the other hand, adversity tends to bring us to consideration: when we have suffered bereavements of any kind, we begin to feel the value of the things we have lost; and to regret, that we were not more thankful for them while they were continued to us. The loss of a part of our blessings often renders us more thankful for those that remain: and it is no uncommon sight to behold a sick person more thankful for an hour’s sleep, or a small intermission of pain, or the services of his attendants, than he ever was for all the ease and sleep that he enjoyed, or the services that were rendered him, in the days of his health. We have a very striking instance of the different effects of prosperity and adversity in the history of Hezekiah. In his sickness he exclaimed, “The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day:” but when restored to health, he forgat his Benefactor, and “rendered not again according to the benefits that had been done unto him.” In this, I say, he is an example of the ingratitude which obtains in the world at large; for we are told, that “God left him to try him, and that he might know all that was in his heart.”]

  III.      That the want of it is hateful in proportion to the obligations conferred upon us—

[We suppose that no man ever read attentively the words of our text without exclaiming (in thought at least, if not in words), What base ingratitude was this! Whether we consider his obligations to Joseph, who had been to him a messenger of such glad tidings, or his obligations to God, who had overruled the heart of Pharaoh to restore him to his place, he surely was bound to render that small service to his fellow-prisoner, and to interpose in behalf of oppressed innocence. And we cannot but feel a detestation of his character on account of his unfeeling and ungrateful conduct. Indeed it is thus that we are invariably affected towards all persons; and more especially those who have received favours at our hands. If we receive an injury or an insult, or are treated with neglect by persons whom we have greatly benefited, we fix immediately on their ingratitude, as the most aggravating circumstance of their guilt: it is that which pains us, and which makes them appear most odious in our eyes. And though this sentiment may be easily carried to excess, yet, if kept within due bounds, it forms a just criterion of the enormity of any offence that is committed against us. It was this which in God’s estimation so greatly aggravated the guilt of the Jewish nation; “They forgat God who had done so great things for them.” And we shall do well to bear it in mind, as the means of awakening in our own minds a just sense of our condition before God: for ingratitude, above all things, subjects us to his displeasureb.]

  This subject may be fitly IMPROVED—

  1.      To fill us with shame and confusion before God—

[If we think of our temporal mercies only, they call for incessant songs of praise and thanksgiving: but what do we owe to God for the gift of his dear Son—and of his Holy Spirit—and of a preached Gospel?—What do we owe to God if he has rendered his word in any measure effectual for the enlightening of our minds, and the quickening of our souls? “What manner of persons then ought we to be?” How should our hearts glow with love, and our mouths be filled with his praise! Let us prosecute these thoughts, and we shall soon blush and be confounded before God, and lie low before him in dust and ashes.]

  2.      To keep us from putting our trust in man—

[Many years had Joseph been confined in prison, and now he thought he should have an advocate at court, who would speedily liberate him from his confinement. But God would not let him owe his deliverance to an arm of flesh: yea, he left him two years longer in prison, that he might learn to put his trust in God only: and then he wrought his deliverance by his own arm. “Till his time was come, the word of the Lord tried him.” At last, God suggested to Pharaoh dreams, which no magicians could expound; and thus brought to the butler’s recollection the oppressed youth who had interpreted his dreams, and who was the only person that could render similar service to the affrighted monarch. Now we also, like Joseph, are but too apt to lean on an arm of flesh, instead of looking simply to the Lord our God: but we shall always find in the issue, that the creature is only a broken reed, which will pierce the hand that leans upon it; and that none but God can render us any effectual assistance. Let us then trust in him only, and with all our heart, and then we shall never be confounded.]

  3.      To make us admire and adore the Lord Jesus—

[That blessed Saviour is not less mindful of us in his exalted state, than he was in the days of his flesh. Yea, though not at all indebted to us, though, on the contrary, he has all possible reason to abandon us for ever, yet is he mindful of us day and night; he makes intercession for us continually at the right hand of God; he considers this as the very end of his exaltation; and he improves every moment in protecting, comforting, and strengthening those who depend upon him. We challenge any one to say, When did the blessed Saviour forget him? We may have been ready to say indeed, “He hath forsaken and forgotten us;” but “He can no more forget us than a woman can forget her sucking child.” Let us then bless his name, and magnify it with thanksgiving. And let us from time to time offer to Him the petition of the dying thief, “Lord, remember me now thou art in thy kingdom:” and not all the glory and felicity of heaven shall divert his attention from us for a single moment.]

LIII

JOSEPH’S ADVANCEMENT

  Gen. 41:41.

And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt.

IN the eventful life of Joseph we are particularly struck with the suddenness and greatness of the changes he experienced. One day he was his father’s favourite; the next he was menaced with death and sold as a slave: one day at the head of Potiphar’s household; the next immured in a prison and laden with fetters of iron. From that state also he was called in a moment by the singular providence of God, and exalted to the government of the first nation upon earth. Of this we are informed in the text; from whence we take occasion to observe,

  I.      That we can be in no state, however desperate, from whence God cannot speedily deliver us—

[The state of Joseph, though considerably ameliorated by the indulgence of the keeper of his prison, was very hopeless. He had been many years in prison; and had no means of redress afforded him. His cause being never fairly tried, his innocence could not be cleared: and there was every reason to apprehend that his confinement would terminate only with his life. The hopes he had entertained from the kind offices of Pharaoh’s butler had completely failed: and God had suffered him to be thus disappointed, in order that, “having the sentence of death in himself, he might not trust in himself, but in God that raiseth the dead.” But when God’s time was come, every difficulty vanished, and his elevation was as great as it was sudden and unexpected.

It would be well if we bore in mind the ability of God to help us. People when brought into great trials by loss of dear friends, by embarrassed circumstances, or by some other calamitous event, are apt to think, that, because they see no way for their escape, their state is hopeless; and, from indulging despair, they are ready to say with Job, “I am weary of life,” and “my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life.” But we should remember that there is “a God with whom nothing is impossible:” though human help may fail us, “his arm is not shortened, that it cannot save, nor is his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:” yea rather he would glorify himself, as he did in rescuing Israel at the Red Sea, if we would call upon him; and our extremity should be the opportunity he would seize for his effectual interpositions: “In the mount, the Lord would be seen.”

We may apply the same observations to those who seem to have cast off all fear of God, and to have sinned beyond a hope of recovery. But while the conversion of Saul, and the deliverance of Peter from prison, stand on record, we shall see that there is nothing too great for God to effect, and nothing too good for him to give, in answer to the prayer of faith.]

  II.      That God is never at a loss for means whereby to effect his gracious purposes—

[He had decreed the elevation of Joseph to the highest dignity in the land of Egypt. To accomplish this, he causes Pharaoh to be disturbed by two significant dreams, which none of his magicians could interpret. The solicitude of Pharaoh to understand the purport of his dreams leads his butler to “confess his fault” in having so long neglected the youth who had, two years before, interpreted his dreams; and to recommend him as the only person capable of satisfying the mind of Pharaoh. Instantly Joseph is sent for (not from a sense of justice to an injured person, but from a desire for the information which he alone could give); and, upon his interpreting the dreams of Pharaoh, and giving suitable advice respecting the steps that should be taken to meet the future distress, he is invested with supreme authority, that he may carry his own plans into execution. Thus God, by suggesting dreams to Pharaoh, and to Joseph the interpretation of them, effects in an hour what, humanly speaking, all the power of Pharaoh could not otherwise have accomplished.

If we were duly observant of the works of Providence, we should see, in many instances relating to ourselves, how wonderfully God has brought to pass the most unlooked-for events. Things the most strange have been made to subserve his gracious purposes, and to accomplish what no human foresight could have effected for us. In relation to the concerns of our souls this may perhaps be more visible than in any temporal matters. The history of God’s people, if it were fully known, would furnish thousands of instances, not less wonderful than that before us, of persons “raised” by the most unexpected and apparently trivial means “from the dust or a dunghill, to be set among princes, and to inherit a throne of glory.” We are far from recommending any one to trust in dreams, or to pay any attention to them whatever: for “in the multitude of dreams are divers vanities.” But we dare not say that God never makes use of dreams to forward his own inscrutable designs: on the contrary, we believe that he has often made a dream about death or judgment the occasion of stirring up a person to seek after salvation; and that he has afterwards answered the prayers, which originated in that apparently trifling and accidental occurrence. At all events, there are a multitude of little circumstances which tend to fix the bounds of our habitation, or to bring us into conversation with this or that person, by whom we are ultimately led to the knowledge of the truth. So that we should commit our every way to God, and look to him to order every thing for us according to the counsel of his own gracious will.]

  III.      We are never in a fairer way for exaltation to happiness than when we are waiting God’s time, and suffering his will—

[We hear nothing respecting Joseph but what strongly impresses us with a belief that he was perfectly resigned to the will of God. It is most probable indeed that he had formed some expectation from an arm of flesh: but two years experience of human ingratitude had taught him that his help must be in God alone. At last, his recompence is bestowed, and ample compensation is given him for all that he endured. With his prison garments, he puts off his sorrows; and, from a state of oppression and ignominy, he is made the Benefactor and the Saviour of a whole nation.

Happy would it be for us if we could leave ourselves in God’s hands, and submit ourselves in all things to his wise disposed! We are persuaded, that our want of submission to Divine Providence is that which so often necessitates God to afflict us; and that if we could more cordially say, “Thy will be done,” we should much sooner and much oftener be favoured with the desire of our own hearts. Have we an husband, a wife, a child in sick and dying circumstances? our rebellious murmurings may provoke God to inflict the threatened stroke, and to take away the idol which we are so averse to part with: whereas, if we were once brought to make a cordial surrender of our will to His, he would in many instances arrest the uplifted arm, and restore our Isaac to our bosom. At all events, he would compensate by spiritual communications whatever we might lose or suffer by a temporal bereavement.]

  We may yet further LEARN from this subject,

  1.      To submit with cheerfulness to all the dispensations of Providence—

[We may, like Joseph, have accumulated and long-continued trials; the end of which we may not be able to foresee. But, as in his instance, and in that of Job, “we have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy,” so we may be sure that our trials shall terminate well; and that however great or long-continued they may be, our future recompence, either in this world or the next, will leave us no reason to complain.]

  2.      To be thankful to God for the Governors whom he has been pleased to set over us—

[It is “by God that kings reign, and princes decree justice.” Sometimes, “for the punishment of a land, children (that is, persons weak and incompetent) are placed over it,” that their infatuated counsels or projects may bring upon it his heavy judgments. We, blessed be God! have been highly favoured in this respect. By his gracious providence, we have for a long series of years had persons exalted to posts of honour, who, like Joseph, have sought the welfare of the nation, and have promoted it by their wise counsels and indefatigable exertions. Let us thankfully acknowledge God in them, and endeavour to shew ourselves worthy of this mercy, by the peaceableness of our demeanour, and the cheerfulness of our submission to them.]

  3.      To be thankful, above all, for our adorable Emmanuel—

[“Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour.” “To Him hath he given a name that is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow.” To Him doth our almighty King direct us, saying to every famished soul, “Go to Jesusc.” In Him there is all fulness treasured up: to Him all the nations of the earth may go for the bread of life: nor shall any of them be sent empty away. They shall receive it too “without money and without price.” O what do we owe to God for raising us up such a Saviour! and what do we owe to Jesus, who has voluntarily undertaken this office, and who submitted to imprisonment in the grave as the appointed step to this glorious elevation! Let us thankfully bow the knee to him; and go to him continually for our daily supplies of grace and peace.]

LIV

THE POWER OF CONSCIENCE

  Gen. 42:21.

And they said one to another, 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.

THE history of Joseph appears rather like a well-concerted fiction than a reality. In it is found all that gives beauty to the finest drama; a perfect unity of design; a richness and variety of incident, involving the plot in obscurity, yet gradually drawing it to its destined end; and the whole issuing happily, to the rewarding of virtue and discouraging of vice. The point to which all tends, is, the fulfilment of Joseph’s dreams in the submission of his whole family to him. And here we find his dreams realized through the very means which were used to counteract their accomplishment. Already had his brethren bowed themselves down with their faces to the earth: but this was only the commencement of their subjection to him: they must be brought far lower yet, and be made to feel the guilt they had contracted by their cruelty towards him. With this view Joseph forbears to reveal himself to them, but deals roughly with them, imprisoning them as spies, and menacing them with death if they do not clear themselves from that charge. They had formerly cast him into a pit, and sold him as a slave; and now they are cast into prison and bound: they once were deaf to his cries and entreaties; and now the governor of Egypt is deaf to theirs. This brings to their remembrance their former conduct; and they trace the hand of an avenging God in their sufferings. Their conscience, which had been so long dormant, now wakes, and performs its office.

This is the incident mentioned in our text: and, confining our attention to it, we shall shew,

  I.      The general office of conscience—

To enter into any philosophical discussion respecting that faculty which we call conscience, would be altogether beside our purpose, and unsuited to the present occasion. It will be sufficient to take the word in its popular sense, as importing that natural faculty whereby we judge both of our actions and the consequences of them. It is given to us by God, to operate as,

  1.      A guide—

[Of itself indeed it cannot guide, but only according to rules which before exist in the mind. It does not so much tell us what is right or wrong, as whether our actions correspond with our apprehensions of right and wrong. But as we are apt to be biased by interest or passion to violate our acknowledged obligations, conscience is intended to act as a guide or monitor, warning us against the commission of evil, and inciting us to the performance of what is good. True it is indeed that it often stimulates to evil under the notion of good: for St. Paul followed its dictates in persecuting the Christians, when “he thought he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus:” and our blessed Lord informs us, that many who would kill his disciples would do it under an idea that they were rendering unto God an acceptable serviceb. The fault of these persons consists not in following the dictates of their conscience, but in not taking care to have their conscience better informed. A thing which is evil in itself cannot be made good by any erroneous conceptions of ours respecting it: but things which are of themselves innocent, become evil, if they be done contrary to the convictions of our own minds: for we ought to be fully persuaded of the propriety of a thing before we do itd; and “whatsoever is not of faith is sin.”]

  2.      A judge—

[Conscience is God’s vicegerent in the soul, and authoritatively pronounces in the soul the judgment which God himself will pass on our actions. It takes cognizance not of our actions only, but of our principles and motives, and brings into its estimate every thing that will form the basis of God’s judgment. Of course, in this, as well as in its suggestions, it may err: for, if it form a wrong judgment of the qualities of our actions, its judgment must be wrong also as to the consequences of them. It may promise us God’s approbation upon grounds that are very erroneous: but when its apprehensions of our duty are themselves just, its award respecting our performance of it is a prelude of God’s final judgment: for St. John says, “If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things:” but “if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God,”]

But, as its operations are by no means uniform, we proceed to mark,

  II.      Its insensibility, when dormant—

Wonderful was its insensibility in the sons of Jacob—

[When they conspired against their brother Joseph, and cast him into the pit, that he might perish with hunger, they regarded not the cries and entreaties of the youth, but proceeded in their murderous career without remorse. But the seasonable appearance of a company of Ishmaelites suggested to them somewhat of an easier method of ridding themselves of him. At the suggestion of Judah, “What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood? Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother, and our flesh;” they acceded to it, and “were content.” In the first instance, after putting him into the pit, “they sat down to eat bread,” evidently without any compunction: but now they were quite “content,” applauding themselves for their humanity, instead of condemning themselves for their injustice and cruelty.

View next their mode of deceiving their aged father. They took Joseph’s coat, and dipped it in the blood of a kid which they killed for the purpose; and brought it to their father, in order that he might conclude, that an evil beast had devoured his son. (How far God might design this as a just retribution for the deceit which Jacob himself had practised towards his aged father, when he, by assuming Esau’s coat, stole away the blessing that belonged to Esau, we stay not to notice: with this the sons of Jacob had nothing to do.) They behold their aged parent overwhelmed with grief, and absolutely inconsolable for the loss of his son: and these detestable hypocrites “rise up to comfort him.” Where is conscience all this time? Has it no voice? Is there not one amongst them all that has any compunctious visitings? not one amongst all the ten? Does no heart relent at the sight of the anguish of an aged and pious parent, sitting from day to day and from month to month “with sackcloth on his loins,” and “going down mourning to the grave?” No; not one of them all, as far as we know, ever “repented, saying, What have I done?” For the space of two and twenty years they all continued in impenitent obduracy; and were not made even at last to feel the guilt they had contracted in selling their brother, till they themselves were brought into somewhat similar circumstances with him, and constrained to read their own crime in their punishment. Such was conscience in them!]

Yet this is in reality what we may see in ourselves and in all around us—

[Behold the profane, who have not God in all their thoughts, and who never utter the name of God but to blaspheme it: they can go on for years and years, and yet never imagine that they have once offended God. Behold the sensual, who revel in all manner of uncleanness: they “wipe their mouth, like the adulteress, and say, I have done no wickedness.” Behold the worldly, who have no cares whatever beyond the things of time and sense: their idolatrous love to the creature raises no doubts or fears in their minds: yea, rather, they bless themselves as wise, prudent, diligent, and think that they have done all that is required of them. Behold the self-righteous, who, from an overweening conceit of their own goodness, will not submit to the righteousness of God: they can make light of all the invitations of the Gospel, and pour contempt upon its gracious overtures, and yet never once suspect themselves to be enemies of Christ. Behold the professors of religion who “confess Christ with their lips but in their works deny him:” they will spend a whole life in such self-deceit, and never entertain a doubt but that he will acknowledge them as his in the day of judgment. And whence is this? Is it not that conscience is asleep? If it performed in any measure its office, could it be thus? Yet thus it is sometimes even with those who are well instructed in religion. The sins of David are well known: yet even he, who at one time was smitten with grief and shame at having cut off the skirt of a man who sought his life, now kills the very man who was daily hazarding his life for him, and feels no remorse: yea, after having seduced the wife of his friend, and then murdered him, he continues at least nine months as obdurate as the most profligate of the human race: to such a degree was his “conscience seared as with a hot iron,” and to such a degree may our “hearts also be hardened through the deceitfulness of sinm.”]

But the text leads us to contemplate more particularly,

  III.      Its power when awake—

God has various ways of awakening a drowsy conscience. Sometimes he does it through some afflictive dispensation, as in the case before us: sometimes through the conversation of a friend: sometimes by the public ministry of the wordo: sometimes by an occurrence arising out of men’s wickedness, or in some way connected with itq. But by whatever means it is called into activity, it will make us hear when it speaks to us.

Some it inspires only with terror—

[Thus it wrought on these: they saw their guilt, and the wrath of God upon them on account of it: “We are verily guilty concerning our brother,” said they, “and behold his blood is required of us.” Thus it wrought also on the unhappy Judas, who, when he saw what he had clone, could no longer endure his very existences. And on how many does it produce no other effect than this! They see how grievously they have offended God: and, not having the grace of repentance given to them, they sink into despondency. Life now becomes a burthen to them: and they choose rather to rush into an unknown state than to endure the stings of an accusing conscience. Hence the suicides that are so frequent in the world. Men live in sin, imagining that no painful consequences shall ever ensue: but at last “their sin finds them out;” and they seek in suicide a refuge from the torments of a guilty mind. But where a sense of guilt does not drive men to this extremity, it makes them tremble, as Felix did; and imbitters to them their whole existence, so that they are utter strangers to peace, according as it is written, “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.”]

On others it operates with a more genial influence—

[Thus it wrought on Manasseh, when he was taken among the thorns. And thus on Peter also, when he “went out, and wept bitterlyu.” V Happy, happy they, on whom it produces such effects as these! They will have no reason to repine at any afflictions that are productive of such a blessing. What if the intermediate trials be severe? we shall have reason to bless God for them to all eternity, if they lead to this endy; and shall have cause to say with David, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted.”]

On all, its testimony is as the voice of God himself—

[It speaks with authority. The stoutest man in the universe cannot endure its reproaches: and the most afflicted man in the universe is made happy by its testimony in his behalf. We should therefore keep it tender, and be ever attentive to its voice. On no occasion should we violate its dictates: for though we may silence its voice for a time, or drown it in vanity and dissipation, it will speak at last, and constrain us to hear all that it has recorded concerning us. And when once it does speak, then we may say concerning it, that “he whom it blesses, is blessed; and he whom it curses, is cursed.”]

  ADVICE—

  1.      Seek to maintain a good conscience before God—

[Let your minds be well instructed in the written word, and your lives be regulated by its dictates. To have always a conscience void of offence towards both God and man is no easy matter: but it is worth the utmost labour and vigilance that you can bestow upon it.]

  2.      Do not however rest too confidently in testimonies of its approbation—

[It will not always speak the same language that it does when blinded by prejudice or passion. At the time of committing this great evil, the sons of Jacob “were content;” and they applauded themselves for their forbearance towards their ill-fated brother. But at a subsequent period, how different were their views of the very same action! So will it be with us. We may now approve and applaud our own conduct: but we must not conclude that we shall therefore always do so. We are now too apt to be partial in our own favour; but at a future period we shall judge righteous judgment, even as God himself will do: and we are no longer certain that our judgment of our own state is correct, than when it manifestly accords with the word of God.]

  3.      Look forward to the future judgment—

[That will certainly be correct: for God knoweth our hearts, and will bring every secret thing into judgment, whether it be good or evil. But oh! how painful will be the review in that day, if then for the first time we are made sensible of our sins! What a bitter reflection will it be, ‘I did so and so; and therefore all this is come upon me: I have procured it all unto myself.’ On the other hand, how delightful will it be to look back, and be able to appeal to God and say, “I have walked before thee with a perfect heart!” True it is, this will afford us no ground for boasting: but, if we walk before God in all good conscience now, we shall have its approving testimony in a dying hour, and the approbation of our God in the day of judgment.]

LV

JACOB’S UNBELIEVING FEARS

  Gen. 42:36.

All these things are against me!

THE best of men are weak when they come into temptation. The trials of Jacob were indeed heavy: and, if we suppose that he had any idea that his sons had been active agents in bereaving him of his beloved Joseph, his grief must have been poignant beyond all expression. Not having been able to bring home to them any proof of such a conspiracy, he seems never to have dropped any hint to them before respecting it; and possibly he did not even now mean to charge it home upon them, but only to say, that he had been bereaved in some measure through them: nevertheless his words seem to betray a lurking suspicion, that they had been accessory to Joseph’s death; “Me ye have bereaved; Joseph is not:” and this might well make him averse to trust Benjamin in their hands. But in the complaint he uttered respecting the ultimate end of his trials, he was manifestly wrong. We say not, that we should have shewn more constancy than he: it is more than probable that none of us in his circumstances would have acted better: but from his language on the occasion we may learn, how we do act in trying circumstances, and how we ought to act.

  I.      How we do act—

“We are born to trouble as the sparks fly upward:” none therefore can hope to escape it; and least of all they, who, like Jacob, have large families. While our trials are light, we can bear them with composure; but if they become heavy and accumulated, we are then apt to indulge,

  1.      Murmuring complaints—

[Whether Jacob meant to reflect on his sons or not, he certainly meant to complain of his afflictions; which was, in fact, to complain of God, who, in his all-wise providence, had appointed them. It was thus with his posterity during their sojourning in the wilderness: they always murmured against Moses, and against God, whenever they were involved in any difficulty or distress; and, when they were discouraged by the report of the spies respecting the land of Canaan and its inhabitants, they even proposed to make a Captain over them, and to return unto Egypt. And how many such “murmurers and complainers” are there amongst ourselves! Some will expressly declare, that they think God deals hardly with them: others content themselves with venting their spleen against the instruments of their calamities: but all, in one way or other, are apt to “charge God foolishly,” as if he were unmerciful, if not unrighteous also, in his dispensations towards them.]

  2.      Desponding fears—

[So filled was Jacob with a sense of his present calamities, that he could not indulge a hope of a favourable issue from them: he thought of nothing but increasing troubles, which should “bring down his grey hairs with sorrow to the grave.” Thus also his descendants, whom we have before alluded to: they had seen bread given them from heaven, and water out of the stony rock; but they doubted whether God were able to provide flesh also for their sustenance: and when they were brought to the very borders of Canaan, they doubted whether it were possible for them ever to conquer the inhabitants, and take their fenced cities. And are not we also ready to say, on some occasions, “Our hope is lost; we are cut off for our parts?” Are we not ready to ask with David, whether his “mercy be not come utterly to an end?” Yes; in temporal things we too often sink under our troubles as absolutely irremediable; and in spiritual matters, we doubt almost the ability, and at all events the willingness, of Christ to save us.]

While we condemn the unbelief of this afflicted patriarch, we acknowledge, in fact,

  II.      How we ought to act—

However dark may be the dispensations of God towards us, we should,

  1.      Wait his time—

[We are not to be impatient because relief does not come at the first moment that we ask for it. There must be a time for the dispensations of God to produce their proper effects upon our hearts. We do not expect that a medical prescription shall effect in one moment all for which it was administered; we expect its operation to be unpleasant; and we are contented to submit to pain for a season, that we may afterwards enjoy the blessings of health. Now we know that our heavenly Physician prescribes with unerring wisdom, and consults our greatest good: whatever time therefore the accomplishment of his designs may occupy, we should wait with patience, assured that the intended benefits shall ultimately be enjoyed. We should give him credit, if we may so speak, for his wisdom and love; and leave him to display them in his own way: “He that believeth, shall not make haste.”]

  2.      Rest on his promises—

[The promises of God to his people, respecting the issue of their trials, are exceeding great and precious. He declares, that we shall have “no temptation without a way to escape;” that “all things shall work together for our good,” and “work out for us a more exceeding weight of glory.” Surely such promises as these should reconcile us to trials, however great. What can we wish for more? And how can we dare to say, “All these things are against me,” when God tells us positively that they are working for us? Did we ever know that one of God’s promises failed? Why then should we doubt the accomplishment of these, when they have already been fulfilled in so many thousand instances? Let it satisfy us, that God has promised; and that “what he has promised, he is able also to perform.”]

  3.      Hope against hope—

[This was Abraham’s conduct under far heavier trials than we have ever experienced. What though we cannot see how God can effect our deliverance? Is HE also at a loss? The darker our state, the more simple should be our affiance. We should say with Job, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.” How was Jacob reproved at last, when he saw the issue of those things which in his haste he had so deplored! Let us remember that there is the same gracious, almighty God at this time; and that “they who trust in Him shall never be confounded.”]

  We may further LEARN from this subject,

  1.      What an excellent grace faith is—

[Faith beholds nothing but paternal love in the heaviest chastisements. Faith “brings meat out of the eater,” and tastes sweetness in the bitterest cup. Faith looks to the end of things, and sees them, in a measure, as God sees them. It is the great and sovereign antidote to troubles of every kind. If Jacob had exercised faith as Abraham did, the trials of which he complained would scarcely have been felt at all. But God is pleased to try us on purpose that we may learn to trust in him. In this world “we are to walk by faith, and not by sight.” Let us therefore cultivate continually this divine principle, which, while it honours God, tends exceedingly to the advancement of our own happiness.]

  2.      How blessed a state heaven will be—

[Here God has wisely and graciously hid futurity from our view. But when we are arrived at the heavenly mansions, we shall see all the merciful designs of God developed, and the wisdom of his dispensations clearly displayed. We shall then see that the trials of which we once complained, were not only salutary, but absolutely necessary for us; and that, if they had been withheld from us, there would have been wanting a link in that chain, by which we were to be brought in safety to heaven. Who will there adopt the language of the text? Who will utter it in reference to any one trial of his life? Who will not rather say, “He hath done all things well?” Let us then look forward to that time, and not pass our judgment on present things, till we see and understand the design of God in them.]

LVI

GOD VIEWED IN JOSEPH’S ADVANCEMENT

  Gen. 45:8.

So now, it was not you that sent me hither, but God.

BY looking through second causes to the first Cause of all, we learn to trace events to an all-wise Being, who “worketh all things after the counsel of his own will,” and whose prerogative it is to bring good out of evil, and order out of confusion. To this view of things we are directed, and in this we are greatly assisted, by the Holy Scriptures; which draw aside the veil of mystery that is on the ways of God, and set before our eyes the most hidden secrets of divine providence. The history before us more especially affords a beautiful illustration of those ways, in which the Governor of the Universe accomplishes his own designs: he suffers, in many instances, such adverse circumstances to occur, as apparently to preclude almost a possibility of their terminating according to his original purpose: yet does he wonderfully interpose in such a manner as to bring them easily, and, as it were, naturally, to their destined issue. If in any thing his intentions could be frustrated, we should have found them fail in reference to the predicted elevation of Joseph above his brethren: yet that event took place at last, and that too through those very means which were used to defeat it: and Joseph, alter the event was actually accomplished, referred the whole dispensation to God, as its primary Author and infallible Director.

To elucidate this subject, we shall shew,

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