sions on the party, though this was more frequent before the canon of scripture was closed, than now. God spoke to his people in a dream, in a vision of the night; witness, the subject of our present meditation, a dream of the patriarch Jacob's, when going forth as a poor pilgrim with a staff in his hand, from his father's house, deprived of his mother's company and instruction, persecuted by an elder brother, without attendants or necessaries, only leaning on an invisible power. I need not inform you in how extraordinary a way he got the blessing, which provoked his brother to such a degree, as determined him to be the death of Jacob, as soon as ever his aged father dropp'd: to what a height did this wicked man's envy rise when he said, the days of mourning for my father will soon come, and what then? why, though I have some compassion for the old man, and therefore will not lay violent hands upon my brother while my father is alive, yet I am resolved to kill him before my father is cold in his grave. This is the very spirit of Cain, who talked to his brother, and then slew him this coming to the ears of his mother, she tells the good old patriarch her husband, who loving peace and quietness, takes the good advice of the weaker vessel, and orders Jacob to go to his mother's brother, Laban, and stay a little while out of Esau's sight, (perhaps out of sight out of mind) and by and by probably, said he, thou mayst come to thy father and mother again in peace and safety. Jacob, though sure of the blessing in the end, by his father's confirmation of it, yet prudently makes use of proper means; therefore he obeyed his parents: and wo, wo be to those who think a parent's blessing not worth their asking for! Having had his mother's : blessing, as well as his father's, without saying, I will try it out with my brother, I will let him know that I am not afraid of him, he views it as the call of God, and like an honest, simple pilgrim, went out from Beersheba towards Haran. Was it not a little unkind in his parents not to furnish him with some necessaries and conveniences? When the servant was sent to fetch a wife for Isaac, he had a great deal of attendance, why should not Jacob have it now; his father might have sent him away with great parade : but I am apt to believe this did not suit Jacob's real, pilgrim spirit; he was a plain man, and dwelt in tents, when, perhaps, he might have dwelt under eedar roofs; he chose a pilgrim's life, and prudence directed him to go thus in a private manner, to prevent increasing Esau's envy, and giving the fatal blow. Methinks, I see-the young pilgrim weeping when he took his leave of his father and mother; he went on foot, and they that are acquainted with the geography of the place, say that the first day of his journey he walked not less than forty English miles; what exercise must he have had all that way; no wonder, therefore, that by the time the sun was going down, poor Jacob felt himself very weary, for we are told, ver. 11, that he lighted on a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set. There is ! a particular emphasis to be put upon this term, a certain place; he saw the sun going down, he was a stranger in a strange land. (You that are born in England can have very little idea of it, but persons that travel in the American woods can form a more proper idea, for you may there travel a hundred and a thousand miles, and go through one continued tract of tall green trees, like the tall cedars of Lebanon; and the gentlemen of America, from one end to the other, are of such an hospitable temper, as I have not only been told, but have found among them upwards of thirty years, that they would not let public houses be licensed, that they may have an opportunity of entertaining English friends: may God, of his infinite mercy, grant this union may never be dissolved.) Well, Jacob got to a certain place, and perhaps he saw a good tree that would serve him for a canopy; however, this we are told, he tarried there all night because the sun was set, and he took of the stones of that place and put them for his pillow, and laid down in that place to sleep; hard lodgings for him who was used to lie otherwise at home: I don't hear him say, I wish I was got back to my mother again, I wish I had not set out; but upon the hard ground and hard pillow he lies down; I believe never poor man slept sweeter in his life, for it is certainly sweet sleep when God is near us; he did not know but his brother might follow and kill him while he was asleep, or that the wild beasts might devour him; (in America, when they sleep in the woods, and I expect to have some such sleeping times in them before a twelve-month is over, we are obliged to make a fire to keep the beasts from us: I have often said then, and I hope I shall never forget it, when I rise in the morning, this fire in the woods that keeps the wild beasts from hurting us, is like the fire of God's love that keeps the devil from hurting us :) thus weary and solitary he falls asleep, and sweetly dreams, and behold; I don't remember many passages of scripture. where the word behold is repeated so many times in so short a space as in the passage before us, doubtless, the Lord would have us particularly take notice of it, even us upon whom the ends of the world are come; Behold, a ladder set upon the earth, and the top reached to heaven; and be. hold, the angels of God ascending and descending upon it; and behold, the Lord stood above it; so here are three beholds in a very few lines. Was there any thing very extraordinary in that? perhaps the Deists would say, your patriarch was tired, and dreamed among other things of a ladder; yes, he did, but this dream was of God, and how kind was he to meet him at the end of the first day's journey, to strengthen and animate him to go forward in this lonesome pilgrimage! This ladder is reckoned by some to denote the providence of God: it was let down as it were from heaven, particularly at this time to poor Jacob, that he might know that however he was become a pilgrim, and left his all, all for God's glory, that God would take care for his comfort, and give his angels charge over him to keep him in all his ways, which was denoted by the angels ascending and descending upon the ladder. Some think that particular saints and countries have particular guardian angels, and therefore that the angels that ascended were those that had the particular charge of that place, so far as Jacob had come; that the angels that descended were another set of angels, sent down from heaven to guard him in his future journey; perhaps, this is more a fancy than the word of God, However, I very much like the observation of good Mr. Burket, "Why should we dispute whether every "individual believer has got a particular angel, "when there is not one believer but has got "guards of angels to attend him," which are as great deal better than a great many servants, that prove our plagues, and instead of waiting upon” us make us wait upon them. But, my dear hearers, I don't know one spiritual commentator, but agrees that this ladder was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ; and that as Jacob was now banished from his father's house, and while sleeping upon a hard, cold stone, God. was pleased not only to give him an assurance that. he would be with him in the way, but gave him a blessed sight of Jesus Christ, in whom Jacob. believed. A ladder you know is something by which we climb from one place to another; hence, in condescension to our weak capacities, God ordered a ladder to be let down, to shew us that Christ is the way to heaven: I am the way, the truth, and the life: I am the door, says he; neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name given under heaven whereby we must be saved. The Deists, who own a God but deny his Son, dare go to a God out of Christ; but Jacob is here taught better: how soon does God reveal the gospel unto him; here is a ladder, by which God preaches to us; if you have a mind to climb from earth to heaven, you must get up by the Son of God; no one ever pointed out a proper way to heaven for us but himself. When Adam and Eve fell from God, a flaming sword turned every way to keep them from the tree of life; but Jesus alone is a new and living way, not only to the Holy of Holies below, but into the immediate presence of God; and that we might know that he was a proper Saviour, the top of it reached to 2 |