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 the Lord shall be my God.”

Such were young Jacob's impressions, in view of God's goodness and mercy toward him, on that memorable night. And how many young men are there, as well as others who are not young, who are reminded of the wonderful goodness and mercy of God toward them both in early and later periods of their history? It were grateful to requite this loving-kindness. Such mercies and deliverances are not always remembered; yet is it more delightful to remember and requite, than to forget and neglect them.

You were strangers in a strange land, and the God of heaven was your friend. You were fatherless, and he was a Father to you. You were in dangers oft," and he protected you; embarrassed with difficulty and darkness, and he guided you in a plain path. You were oppressed with fear, and sunk in despondency, and he relieved your apprehensions and cheered you on your way. You were poor, and he has given you wealth; low and abject, and his gentleness has made you great.

How fitting the inquiry, "What shall I render to the Lord, for all his benefits toward me?" You remember the time, the place, where his paternal hand was stretched forth to save you from ruin; you can look back on all the way in which he has

led you, and made you what you are. Many a stone would be set up for a pillar, and many a place would be to you a Beth-el, if all the scenes which mark the divine goodness toward you were kept in thankful remembrance. It was a timely resolution of Jacob, "The Lord shall be my God!" Why not make it your own? You will be happy then, even though, like him, you have only a stone for your pillow; you will not be friendless then, even though you have none to care for you but the God of Jacob.

Jacob did not become pious too soon; nor was he the gainer by the sins of his youth. If you trace his history, you will find it full of vexations, disappointment, and calamity; and his sufferings bore a marked analogy to his sins. More than once did it seem that his "gray hairs would be brought down with sorrow to the grave." Esau and Jacob met not often; it was easier to forgive than to forget. Nor do we read of their meeting after the death of their father. The bond was sundered when Isaac died. It is a relief to our minds to read the remark of the sacred historian, " And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him." There they met, and there they parted. Their descendants were never friends; but their own feuds, we may believe, were buried in the old man's grave.

This is an affecting lesson to the young. There is no such thing in the government of God as a

young man letting conscience swing from her moorings, and taking his fill of pleasure, and never feeling the oppressive burden of his former sins. He cannot forget them. If he becomes a pious man, they will haunt his memory; they will creep within the folds of his midnight dreams; they put a weapon into the hands of his great spiritual adversary, and often give a sting to the fiery darts of the devil. None appreciate as they ought to do, the claims and blessings of early piety. A careful inspection of almost every man's history, who does not consecrate to God the dew of his youth, will disclose the fact that he ordinarily bears the marks of his iniquity to his dying day. If you would be freed from the pangs of a guilty conscience, and the apprehensions of God's displeasure; if you would not have your fairest hopes blasted in the bloom; if you would obtain the mastery over yourself, and not be the sport of appetites and passions that destroy both body and soul in hell; if you would enjoy that measure of blessing which God gives you on earth, and besides this, have a treasure so safe that it never can be lost; if you would be prepared for death, and not be afraid to die; early seek the face of the God of Jacob. Commit yourself to the care of Israel's shepherd. Do it soon; do it now. Wait not until this bright morning of human life is overcast; till the sounds of joy

have ceased, and the flowers, which are now opening to its rising sun, lie desolate under the cold wind. Wait not until the snow of time falls on your hoary head, when the long winter's night shuts in, and the stone which you once purposed to set up as God's altar, shall be set up by other hands only to mark your grave.

CHAPTER XXIII.

The First Instance of Wrestling with the Angel of the Covenant.

MANY a long year passed away before Jacob made his arrangements to return to the Holy Land. He could not forget the circumstances of his departure; and his heart still trembled "for fear of his brother Esau."

Esau, in the mean time, had settled in the mountains east of the river Jordan, and had become a rich and powerful prince. The country which he occupied at the time of Jacob's return from Mesopotamia, was originally possessed by the descendants of Seir; a numerous and powerful people as early as the time of Abraham, and whom Esau subdued. It was called Mount Seir, or the mountains of Seir, and formed a province in Arabia, which was subsequently called Edom, or Idumea, and from which the descendants of Esau spread themselves throughout Arabia Petrea, south of Palestine, and between the Dead Sea and the