CHAPTER VI. A LYING SON. Art thou my very son Esau? And he said I am.-Gen. 27:22. And why not? What else could be expected from such a mother? A mother who would take her son into partnership to deceive and lie to his blind old father; what else could be expected? But it is God pointing out to our startled gaze a picture of the carnal mind and no matter where, or in whom it is found, sooner or later it makes its presence known, and deceit and lying are some of its fruits. "And he went and fetched and brought them to his mother; and his mother made savory meat, such as his father loved. And Rebekah took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house and put them upon Jacob, her younger son; and she put the skin of the kids of the goats upon his hands and upon the smooth of his neck; and she gave the savory meat and the bread, which she What must have been the feelings of Jacob as these arrangements were being made and of his mother, fixing him to go in to deceive his old blind father. Had he had the principle of honesty in his heart, with what contempt he would have looked upon his mother as she proceeded with such a plot. How his very soul would have revolted at such nefarious business. But no, his nature he had received from his mother and it had been handed down from the first pair who fell in the Garden. (I Cor. 15-22.) And it would appear, as time had elapsed, the effect of the awful work on each succeeding generation had grown worse with the dreadful scourge that no man can cure, and that it had been growing worse from then until now, and so would continue to grow worse until Jesus returns. Men do not believe this but we have only to open our Bibles to read it. (See I Tim. 4-1, also I Tim. 3:1-5, also I Tim. 4:3, and I John 2:18.) No one searching for the truth can read the book of Revelation and not see this all through it, but if these lines should be read by one who cannot understand such things in the Scriptures, we would point them to the jails, states prisons, penitentiaries, asylums, and alms-houses, that are rapidly on the increase, to say nothing of the drinking saloons, brothels, gambling dens, and houses of prostitution, all on the increase and if one would count up the divorce proceedings and murders that are being heralded in the papers, to say nothing of the sea of crime that never finds its way to publication, one would stand aghast and at least be compelled to give the matter serious contemplation. A cancer so long as it remains is a cancer, but the longer it remains the larger it grows and the more awful its ravage, and while the mother lays the plans, the son, with a pack of lies on his lips, goes in to carry out those plans. If the reader should think that I am overdrawing the pictures of this woman and her son, listen to the words of him whom Mr. Spurgeon called the Prince of Commentators. "I have not copied the manner of many commentators who have labored to vindicate the character of Jacob and his mother in the transactions here recorded. As I fear God and wish to follow him I dare not bless what he has not blessed nor cursed what He hath not cursed. I consider the whole conduct both of Rebekah and Jacob in some respects deeply criminal, and in all highly exceptional. And the impartial relations of the facts contained in this and the twenty-fifth chapter, gives me the fullest evidence of the truth and authenticity of the sacred original. How impartial is the history that God writes." (Adam Clarke.) "And he came unto his father and said, 'My father' and he said 'here am I; who art thou, my son?' And Jacob said unto his father, 'I am Esau, thy first born.' Lie number one. 'I have done according as thou badest me.' Lie number two. 'Arise I pray thee and eat of my venison that thy soul may bless me.' Lie number three. And Isaac said unto his son, 'How is it that thou has found it so quickly, my son,' and he said 'Because the Lord thy God brought it to me.' 27:18-20.) (Gen. And still a greater sin of dragging down the name of the Lord and making God a party to his damnable actions. "Because the Lord thy God brought it to me." We greatly fear the Jacob is not alone in this offense. How often do we see folks doing things that seem altogether out of place and out or harmony with the Spirit, and when asked about it, why they do so, reply, "The Lord led me to do so," when if the plain truth was known they had not spent five minutes on their knees alone with God in prayer, regarding the matter in question. God had not told them nor led them to do so at all, but they were simply following out their own preconceived notions and desires. How often we hear the words, "The Lord led me to do so and so." Not for one instance do we contend that very often God leads people to do certain things and where He leads His name will be glorified and He will get honor to Himself. But alas! and it is with sorrow we write it, how often the precious Lord is blamed for things that |