But there is another point of view in which we should contemplate the transaction here recorded, and that is, as it affords us that satisfactory proof that the Christian religion is from God, mentioned in the close of the observations on chapters twelve &c., namely, that in these books of Moses, written above 1400 years before the first appearance of the Christian religion, we not only find direct promises which we now perceive to be fulfilled to the very letter through that religion being established in the world, but we also find several facts related; several things said to have been done by God's command, which answer to the main peculiar doctrine of Christianity, just as a sign answers to the thing signified. For instance, we there read that the slaying of innocent animals as an offering of reconciliation, was a part of religious worship favourably accepted by God. Now, that it should ever have entered into the mind of man to suppose that God would be pleased and reconciled by the slaying of his own creatures, made by him to live and multiply and be happy, unless he had commanded it, it is impossible to conceive; but when we compare this with the great Christian doctrine, that mankind is redeemed and saved by a perfectly innocent and holy being undergoing the penalty of death, we find it very easy to conceive that God should have commanded that to be done which, after that great mystery was revealed, might plainly be seen to have been intended for a sign of it, and which, therefore, might show that the death of "the holy one and the just," though accomplished by the malice of evil spirits, and the hands of wicked men, was, nevertheless, only "what his hand and his counsel determined before to be done." But if this is seen in the sacrifices of "bulls and of goats," how much more plainly does it appear by this sacrifice which God commanded as a trial of Abraham's obedience and faith! Here we see a tenderly loving father giving up his "only son," (verse 16,) and the son led as a lamb to the slaughter, himself bearing the wood on which he was to be sacrificed. Compare this with the words of the gospel; "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,' was delivered for our offences "-" and he bearing his cross went

CHAP. XXV.

11 And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac.

20 And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan-aram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.* 29 And Jacob sod pottage; and Esau came from the field, and he was faint:

am faint; therefore was his name called Edom.

31 And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.

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

33 And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.

34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and 30 And Esau said to Jacob, rose up, and went his way: Feed me, I pray thee, with thus Esau despised his birththat same red pottage; for I right.†

forth” to mount Calvary, a part of this very mountain Moriah, where Isaac was offered up, (truly offered, though not slain,) and on which Jerusalem was built-" Behold the lamb of God." Our church can find nothing more suitable for the first lesson in the morning service, on the day when we commemorate the great mystery of our religion, the death of Christ for the sins of the world, than this historical account written more than 1400 years before the name of Jesus Christ was ever heard of.

* Ch. x.-By whom he had two sons, Jacob and Esau, twins, but Esau was the first-born.

+ Although it must be confessed that Jacob's conduct appears very ungenerous towards his brother, in not giving him food when he was in such need of it, without demanding his birthright as the price of it, yet we have reason to believe that God was still more displeased with Esau, for his indifference towards those blessings to which by his birth he was entitled, than with Jacob for taking advantage of that indifference. The birthright which Esau despised, was the right to inherit from his father, Isaac, those blessings and privileges which Isaac inhe

CHAP. XXVI.

4 And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of hea

AND Isaac went unto Abi-ven, and will give unto thy melech king of the Philis-seed all these countries; and in tines unto Gerar. thy seed shall all the nations 2 And the LORD appeared of the earth be blessed; unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of;

3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father;

5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

CHAP. XXVIII.

AND Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.

rited from Abraham; the chief honour of which was this, that as being his father's heir, he might expect to be the son, through whom should come in future times the promised

seed, in whom all the families of earth were to be blessed." Making light, therefore, of his birthright, was in fact making light of the promises of God. While on the other hand, in Jacob's conduct we discover a high regard for God's promises, and an anxiety to inherit them; according, therefore, to the divine decree, "Them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed;" we find from the scripture following, that the great promises which God made to Abraham, were repeated first to Isaac, and then not to Esau but to Jacob; and that branch only of Abraham's posterity, which sprang from Jacob, being the people (or church) of God, therefore Almighty God declared and commanded that his name to all generations should be, "The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Nor has there ever been a people worshipping the true God" in spirit and in truth" from that day to this, except those who were descended from Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, or those of other nations who have embraced their right and true religion.

2 Arise, go to Padan-aram, shalt spread abroad to the west, to the house of Bethuel thy and to the east, and to the mother's father; and take thee north, and to the south: and a wife from thence of the in thee and in thy seed shall daughters of Laban thy mo- all the families of the earth be ⚫ther's brother. blessed.

15 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

CHAP. XXXV.

3 And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people; 4 And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that have spoken to thee of. thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham. 5 And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Padanaram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother.

9 And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padan-aram, and blessed him.

10 And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not he called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel.

11 And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was 11 And God said unto him, set; and he took of the stones I am God Almighty: be fruitof that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.

12 And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

13 And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;

14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou

ful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;

12 And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.

22-26 Now the sons of Jacob were twelve:-Reuben, Jacob's first born, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun: Joseph, and Benjamin: Dan, and Naphtali: Gad, and Asher: these are the sons of Jacob, which were born to him in Padan-aram.

27 ¶ And Jacob came unto him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.

Isaac his father unto Mamre, unto the city of Arbah, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned.

28 And the days of Isaac were an hundred and fourscore years.

29 And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

CHAP. XXXVII.

9 ¶ And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.

10 And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this

AND Jacob dwelt in the land dream that thou hast dreamed? wherein his father was a Shall I and thy mother and stranger, in the land of Ca- thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to

naan.

3 Now Israel loved Joseph the earth? more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age and he made him a coat of many colours.

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

5 ¶ And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren and they hated him yet the more.

6 And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed:

11 And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.

12 And his brethren went to feed their father's flock in Shechem.

13 And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, Here am I.

14 And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks; and bring me 7 For, behold, we were bind-word again. So he sent him ing sheaves in the field, and, out of the vale of Hebron, and lo, my sheaf arose, and also he came to Shechem. stood upright; and, behold, 15 And a certain man your sheaves stood round about, found him, and, behold, he was and made obeisance to my wandering in the field: and the sheaf. man asked him, saying, What 8 And his brethren said to seekest thou?