through Christ, God himself manifest in examples and lessons of instruction worthy of the Divinity; but we must look back and see those men with no advantages of books, and without teachings except what they received in the infrequent, direct communications from heaven. These communications scarcely glanced at doctrines or at information, but were more in the manner of calls to action and of promises adapted to encourage and sustain these exceptional men in adherence to God, while the whole world around them was given to idolatry. Little these individuals knew, little could they know, of doctrines to inform, or principle to guide, or even of reasons to give for their acts, further than that God had spoken and called them to act. Such were the circumstances of the men whom we are here considering; and in forming our judgment of them, it should have reference to their position and their opportunities for information. Indeed, if we compare our obedience in connection with our means for knowledge, with their obedience. in connection with their means for knowledge, we shall perhaps wonder that they did so well.

We turn now to look at this solitary traveller as he journeys on, full of thought; for his life had been one adapted to cultivate much thinking and deep and sober feelings. We imagine his thoughts; now eddying around his angry, sternly-resolved brother; now by the bedside of his blind, sad father; now resting on his mother with a gush of precious remembrances; and now striding far off before him and trying to make out something of his future at Haran. His mind amid all this, also, felt darkly around for God; darkly, for how could he know? or how see clearly? or how form any other than confused notions of God? With his apprehensions so dim, as respected doctrine or duty, or even the sure lines of rectitude, or true principle for action, he was however wishing to look to God, and willing to be led. What other leader had he now? He was alone in the world.

Thus he journeyed on, passing Hebron and by Moriah; in the evening he came to Bethel, the high ground noted already in this book as the place where Abraham had twice encamped, and where he and Lot had separated. Here Jacob paused for the night,-probably his second night from home, as Bethel is distant from Beersheba about fifty-five miles. Preparations for a night's rest are still easily made in that country; the girdle of cloth or leather unclasped, and rolled together and laid on some stones, and the simlah, an oblong piece of cloth for a covering, being all that is deemed necessary as a preparation; the earth offering itself as a sufficiently soft couch. So Jacob, after his light supper, laid down for needed rest.

We have just been trying to follow his thoughts, and have seen the solitary man feeling his loneliness in the world, and querying about God. And as he was lying on that hill-top, in the deep silence of night, with the stars looking down upon him and seeming to have such abundant companionship among themselves, he might indeed feel lonely, and he might ask whether he was seen of God? or would have help from God?

He slept soon, and there was a dream that might well be considered an answer to such thoughts. It was adapted to his simple apprehension; for there was a raised ladder before him that reached to heaven, and on it angels were passing to and fro between the heaven and the earth. And then, as he looked, "Behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac; the land wherein thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed. And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth; and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south; and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And 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."

He waked from his dream and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not." He gazed about him. There were again around him the dim forms of earthly objects, and above him the dark vault of night; the ladder was gone, and the angels were no longer seen, nor God heard; but he felt now that the space around him was peopled with spirits, and that God was looking on him kindly, and was also not far off. So now, in that deep stillness, an awe came upon him, compelling from him the utterance, "How holy' is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." When the earliest morning light came he rose, and placing on end the stone which had been his pillow, he poured oil on it according to a custom by which they dedicated such spots to divine worship, and offered inducement to the Being thus invoked to make his especial residence there. He called the place Bethel, (Beth, a house, and El, God), and we hear him then in a vow, which many a one since, when going on uncertain enterprises, has been ready to repeat, "If God will be with me, and will keep me in the 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."

We observe him now with deeply increased interest, as he goes forward on his journey; for we feel that there is an especial Presence with him more distinctly marked, and a more conspicuous interest in him by the angels; he was not solitary, though his human eyes did not any longer see those watchful forms. Yet he was only a man, and a weak, and

1 The Hebrew word means fearful, worthy of reverence, holy.

as we have seen, an erring, man; but he was wishing to serve God, and the Deity through that wish was accepting him and was keeping him for great and wonderful purposes.

His course thence was, doubtless, along the way by which Abraham had come from Haran to Shechem; that is, by Damascus, then through the sandy region to the rich plains by the Euphrates, and across that stream to the forks of its tributary, the Belik, which brought him to the neighborhood of his relatives. He saw, on arriving there, some flocks lying by a well, waiting to be watered, and on inquiring of their keepers to what place they belonged, they replied to Haran. He asked,

"Know ye Laban, the son of Nahor?"

"We know him."

"Is he well?"

"He is well, and behold, Rachel, his daughter, cometh with the sheep."

"Lo, it is yet high day, neither is it time that the cattle should be gathered together; water ye the sheep and go and feed them," he said, for he would have preferred that the first meeting between his cousin and himself should have been without so many spectators. They replied, according to the rule for watering in that country, where all must be entitled to a proper share,

"We cannot until all the flocks be gathered together and till they roll the stone from the well's mouth; then we water the sheep."

Rachel, the keeper of her father's flocks, was seen approaching. She was very beautiful. Jacob gazed, and his eyes drank in the beauty of her face, the gracefulness of her movements, the lively but modest expression of her countenance, the elegance, as it appeared to him, of her form. He seems to have been in love at the first sight. Nor was she less struck by his ready gallantry; for he hurried to the well, rolled the stone from its mouth, and watered her sheep.

Then he kissed her, and "lifted up his voice and wept." It was such a blessed termination to his journey!-this beautiful girl, and this meeting her where she needed help, and where he had such a favorable opportunity of introducing himself by a kindness which she could not but receive. We may believe too that it was very pleasantly received. He told her then who he was and his relationship to her; and she hurried off to communicate the intelligence to her father. His uncle on the introduction was also pleased with the young man, who we may believe was of good personal appearance; for he came from a handsome stock, certainly at least on his mother's and grandmother's side.

Jacob was soon made to feel at home in the family; and at the end of a month's hospitality, his uncle Laban proposed to hire him, and asked him what wages he would require. There could be only one answer to the question :he asked for Rachel. She had a sister Leah, but Rachel had been his first love, and she was also the more beautiful of the two. It was customary then, as it still is, in those countries, to pay for a wife; and the suitor in this case, a refugee from home, where he had escaped, probably by stealth, from Esau, had nothing to give but labor. The father of the girl, a hard, selfish man, saw the strength of the suitor's affection, and imposed severe terms-a service of seven years, at the end of which time Rachel, Laban said, should be his. Jacob agreed to it, and took charge of the sheep. We are told, however, that the seven years "seemed unto him but a few days, for the love that he bore to her." Doubtless Rachel was not willing to give up her former employment, and often went out to assist him in the care of the flocks. The flocks, too, increased very greatly under Jacob's care, and would soon need additional help. The employment, though requiring care, was not severe, and allowed plenty of leisure. The beautiful plains sprinkled, most of the year, with a rich carpet of flowers; the resources