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Daily Bread.

FRIDAY.

"Prepare to meet thy God."-AMOS iv. 12.

Lord, prepare us by thy grace!
Soon we must resign our breath,
And our souls be call'd to pass
Through the iron gate of Death:

Let us now our day improve,

Listen to the Gospel voice;
Seek the things that are above,
Scorn the world's pretended joys.

have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God."-ROM. x. 3.

Man's wisdom is to seek

His strength in God alone;

And even an angel would be weak
Who trusted in his own.

We shall soon be in a world of spirits: not hearing of eternity, but in it; not thinking of a judgmentseat, but trembling before it; not saying, Is there a God? but seeing him; not musing about heaven or hell, but standing on their borders, within a step of their pains or joys, with only a moment between us and an everlasting home. No self-righteous hope can stand in such an hour as this. It may have rooted itself very deeply in the mind; we may have carried it about with us all our life long; it may have stood firm against many a sermon, many a providence; it may have triumphed over the plainest declarations of the Bible, and borne unmoved the shock of death; but take it into eternity-bring it among the realities of that unseen world say where is it? It is goneone moment has turned it into immovable despair.

Let not salvation be your by-work, or your holiday's task only, or a work by the for men think way; that this may be done in three days' space on a feather-bed, when Death and they are fallen in hands together, and that with a word or two they shall make their soul-matters right. O when wil nen learn to be that heavenly wise as to divorce from, and free their souls of, all idol lovers, and make Christ the only, only One, and trim and make ready-Bradley. their lamps while they have time and day! How soon will some few years pass away, and then, when the day is ended, and this life's lease expired, what have men of this world's glory but dreams and thoughts! O happy for evermore that soul who can rightly compare this life with that long lasting life to come, and can balance the weighty glory of the one with the light-golden vanity of the other!Rutherford.

SATURDAY.

"Take up your cross, and follow me."-MATT. xvi. 23.
Who suffer with our Master here,
We shall before his face appear,

And by his side sit down:
To patient faith the prize is sure;
And all that to the end endure

The crois, shall wear the crown.

"I know," says one, "no man hath a velvet cross, but the cross is made of what God will have it; yet I dare not say, Oh, that I had liberty to sell Christ's cross! lest therewith also I should sell joy, comfort, sense of love, patience, and the kind visits of a Bridegroom. I have but small experience of sufferings for Christ; but I find a young heaven, and a little paradise of glorious comforts, and soul-delighting visits of Christ, in suffering for him and his truth. My prison is my palace-my sorrow is full of joy-my losses are rich losses-my pain easy pain-my heavy days are holy days and happy days. I may tell a new tale of Christ to my friends. Grace tried is better than grace, and more than grace. It is glory in its infancy. Who knows the truth of grace without a trial? And how soon would faith freeze without a cross! your cross, therefore, with joy."-Flavel.

SABBATII.

Bear

"Blessed is the man that keepeth the Sabbath."—ISA. lvi. 2.

Great God, this hallowed day of thine

Demands our souls' collected powers;

May we employ in works divine

These solemn and devoted hours;

O may our souls adoring, own

The grace which calls us to thy throne!

In breaking the Sabbath, we sin not only against God, but we do injury to man; for God not only hallowed the Sabbath-day, but he blessed it. It was made for man, and in vain shall we expect to see a world or a nation of happy Sabbath-breakers.

MONDAY.

"They, going about to establish their own righteousness,

TUESDAY.

"Keep thy heart with all diligence."-PROV, iv. 24.
In spite of unbelief and pride,

And self, and Satan's art,
The gates of brass fly open wide,
And Jesus wins the heart.

The rebel soul that once withstood
The Saviour's kindest call,
Rejoices now, by grace subdued,
To serve him with her all.

The heart of man is his worst part before it be regenerated, and the best afterwards; it is the seat of principles, and the fountain of actions. The eye of God is, and the eye of the Christian ought to be, principally fixed upon it.-Flavel.

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THE CHRISTIAN TREASURY.

97

JACOB WRESTLING WITH THE ANGEL.

BY THE REV. ALEXANDER BEITH, STIRLING.

JACOB had been absent from his country and his | various ways commanded him of God-this father's house for twenty years. Consciousness being a sign to them, as Jonah was to the of having injured his brother, and a knowledge Ninevites; so was Jacob in the case before us of Esau's resolution to avenge himself, had instructed of the Lord. The wrestling of this banished him. He was now on his return by man with him, and the circumstances attendthe command of God, but he had no reason to ing it, were a sign to him of God's dealings believe that any change had taken place in his hitherto, in exposing him to such adverse brother's sentiments towards him. When he dispensations as had attended his lot since heard, therefore, that Esau was coming to meet he left his father's house; and of the opporhim "with four hundred men," he was "greatly tunity which, nevertheless, God gave him, afraid and distressed." It was an exigency through pleading with himself, to prevail over which demanded prompt measures-at least he these, to be delivered from deserved evil, and felt so in an extreme degree. Every prepara- to receive the blessing. In Jacob's case the tion and arrangement, accordingly, which wis- instruction certainly was not cast away. He dom and his natural sagacity could suggest was was taught successfully; for we read that he made, to appease his brother's wrath and to dis- "wept and made supplications unto the angel," arm his hostility, the safety of his family and and thus, " as a prince, he had power with God flocks being provided for as he best could in the and prevailed." "I will not let thee go," he circumstances. A munificent present of cattle said, "except thou bless me;" and he was was prepared for Esau, divided into many droves, blessed. and words expressive of deep submission to him were put into the mouths of the respective servants to whose charge they were committed. The people and the flocks, which then constituted his all, were divided into two bands, and separated from each other; his calculation being, that if Esau met with and destroyed the one, the other should escape. His wives and children were placed in shelter, apart from them, to await the issue.

Having done all this," Jacob was left alone." No doubt he sought retirement in his emergency, to renew the supplications to the God of his fathers, in which he had already been engaged; for whatever the wisdom of the dispositions which he had made for the safety of his family, his property, and his life, he knew that in God only his hope of deliverance rested. It was in these circumstances that the striking occurrence took place to which the title of this paper refers. "Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day."

By this the patriarch was taught important truth, without the conviction of which he was not to be permitted to return to his home. This was done in a way not unusual under the dispensation with which he was connected. As the Ninevites were taught, by the miraculous events in the history of the prophet sent to them, truth which the words of Jonah did not express-for in these events he was a sign to them of the forbearance and mercy of God, whilst his message was one purely of denunciation; or, as the inhabitants of Jerusalem were instructed in solemn truth, which otherwise they would not hear, by Ezekiel's cutting off his hair, and disposing of it in the

No. 9.

Two things are to be observed of the patriarch on this occasion-first, His evident persuasion that the deliverance and blessing which he sought might be obtained; and, secondly, His perseverance until he secured it.

His

1. In reflecting on the believing confidence of Jacob in his present circumstances of trial, we naturally inquire on what it could be founded. It certainly could not be on anything in his prospects. These were sufficiently dark. brother's character, his hatred of him, his power, his reported approach with a body of armed followers, his own utterly defenceless condition, cumbered with women and children and all his worldly property, made his hope of safety or escape, to the eye of sense, small indeed. No wonder that, in this view of the matter, he was greatly afraid and distressed." Yet he did hope-he did cherish a persuasion that out of his trouble God should deliver him; of which the proof is his earnest wrestling with him. Whereon, then, did this rest?

It cannot be difficult to answer the question, if we consider the nature of his previous supplication and pleading. There we find distinct allusion to the covenant, in which he knew he himself was included, and also to the promise which God had given him. "O God of my father Abraham," said he, "and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee.-And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude." Looking to his position, as the son of Abraham and Isaac, in whose seed, as in theirs, "all the families of the earth were to be blessed;" and resting, at the same

April 25, 1815.

time, on the assurance of security and blessing specially given to him, he pled for deliverance -wept and made supplication-and thus enjoyed, through faith, a blessed persuasion that the cloud now resting on his prospects should pass, the danger that threatened be averted, and his brother prevented from doing him evil. His faith might be weak, and in that proportion his trouble must have been great. Like Peter walking on the sea, his eye might be attracted by the brooding tempest, and be so hindered from looking steadily to the end; and thus his distress and alarm must have been magnified. But faith, nevertheless, did exist; and whilst he contemplated both the purpose and promise of God, it upheld him in the time of his sore conflict.

God's purposes of grace and mercy are declared to us by his promises. They are known in no other way. But, being thus revealed, both purpose and promise constitute together a sure ground of holy confidence and comfort. If the promises be the leafy shadow in the garden of the Lord, under which his people sit with great delight, his purposes are the roots from which that shadow grows. If the promises be the lights by which we travel through this dark world, the purposes are the oil by which the lamps are supplied, so that they never can go out in darkness. If the promises be the anchor by which our hopes hang in troublous times, the purposes are the soil in which that anchor is securely fixed. If the promises be the river which makes glad the city of our God, the purposes are the inexhaustible fountain which supplies and swells that blessed stream! On the purpose and promise of God Jacob reposed. Therefore he held the angel fast, and would not let him go, hoping against hope, and earnestly waiting for deliverance from the hand of Esau.

Why should there not be humble confidence in pleading with God? Why should we not come boldly to his throne of grace? Surely he hath himself made every provision and preparation for this. He that can be just, and at the sametime the justifier of sinners, can also be just, and lend his ear to their cry. Is there not encouragement, in the whole revelation of mercy through Christ, to lay hold on his strength and to wrestle with him?

mise of entering into his rest-an accepted time opportunity to make our calling and election sure to work out our salvation-in one word, to wrestle with the Angel of the Covenant, and to obtain the blessing of Jacob.

That it is no hopeless thing to wrestle with God we are assured, not only on the ground of the redemption provided in Christ, but also from the character in which God manifests himself to us. It is in that of a tender parent. A "father" he is to his people; and how many hallowed and encouraging associations are there connected with that name! But he is more even than a father. "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?-Yea, they may forget"instances unnatural and horrifying there have been of such a kind, under temptations that ap peared irresistible-" yet will I not forget thee." The love of a "father" it is, nay, of a motherof the tenderest mother. And to which of her offspring? Not to those whom time and age have made independent of her-who now no longer need her watchful care or toilsome industry; but to the most helpless-the babe which perhaps disease or misfortune has made more helpless than even its infancy-to that one of all her family over which her heart yearns; for it clings to her as its life! Ah! yes, that is the bond which attracts her, and entwines all her heart's strings around it. We cannot but cherish those who confide in usthe helpless that make us their stay. Even the dumb animal that flees to you for protection, that lays its head at your feet, and looks to you for kindness, you cannot spurn from you! And can it be hopeless to cast your burden on God? No, verily. They that trust in him he will deliver!

To how many facts can we appeal in proof of this? It was no hopeless thing to pray even for Sodom. In that case, it has often been observed, Abraham ceased to ask ere God ceased to grant; and though the Cities of the Plain were destroyed, the kinsman of the patriarch was saved. It was no hopeless thing to cry to God from the very depths of the sea, even when "the earth with her bars were round about" him that presented his supplication. It was no hopeless thing to ask the sun to "stand still," and the moon to be stayed" in midst of the heavens, until the people of Israel had executed God's vengeance on his enemies. It was no hopeless thing to ask that the grave should give up its captives-that the noisomeness of death should be changed into the beauty of life-that they who had begun to prove that corruption was their father, the worm their mother and sister, should be restored to their place in the family circle, and enjoy its peace and its hospitalities! And what can it be hopeless to ask, if it be but consistent with the will of God? Is anything too hard for him? If you have the promise, you are sure it is connected with the purpose. "Ask and ye shall receive”—not perhaps as you expect

66 In that have we not assurance that such an exercise shall not be in vain? Where sin abounded, grace hath much more abounded. The fire-charged clouds, which gleamed in terror on the world when sin entered, and no Saviour was yet declared, are rolled back -driven far off; their ominous volume reduced to the minutest fleece, as they float in the distant horizon; and a way is thus opened for the God of salvation to come down, to gather from the world many sons and daughters into glory. Those clouds are, indeed, again to return; but it will be to destroy them only who refuse to know God, and to obey the Gospel of his Son. Meantime there is a day of salvation-a pro

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REMINISCENCES OF WHITEFIELD.

and desire, but in a way better than you can ask or think. How precious to be permitted to wrestle with God!

2. But let us mark Jacob's perseverance until he obtained what he sought. This forms a striking feature in his present conduct and position with respect to God. He sought the blessing that he might be safe from Esau; for his brother was, at this time, his trial; and, confiding in the promise of the covenant, it was evidently his resolution not to lose the opportunity vouchsafed him—not to let the angel go until he had secured that on which his heart was set. God, we have seen, taught the patriarch what that opportunity was, by appearing to him in the form of a man that wrestled with him during the whole night. Jacob well knew, that for a wrestler to remit his exertion, even for a moment, might lose him the advantage of all his previous struggle; therefore he maintained his ground. He knew, moreover, that even though cast, if he still held his antagonist, though rolling under him in the dust, he was not vanquished-that even when injured and enfeebled, if he but held fast, his antagonist could not be declared the conqueror; therefore he persisted in the conflict. It lasted long-a whole night; yet Jacob held fast. The man that wrestled with him, "when he saw that he prevailed not against him, touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him;" yet he held him fast. "Let me go," he at length exclaimed, "for the day breaketh;" as if he had said: "All well this during the darkness of the night; while under shelter of that shadow, thy flocks, and herds, and family, were secure from the eye of thy brother; but now comes the day, bringing back its cares and its dangers. Time for thee it is to bethink thee of those cares of those dangers. To wrestle longer is inconsistent with thy duty-is to expose thyself, and all that is thine, to the loss that thou dreadest; let me go, for the day breaketh." "I will not let thee go," said the exhausted, and lamed, but believing object of his address, "except thou bless me." "Come what will of flocks, and herds, and family-let the day not only break, but its full light shine, God has taught what opportunity he gives me; of his strength I have hold, and that is all my salvation and all my desire."

How precious is the truth, that it is God's will we should "pray always, and not faint!" and that what he means by this is set forth in a parable which all may understand. Things will occur, we learn there, in the experience of every one whom he admits to the privilege of communion with him, calculated and intended to try their resolution, the strength of their desire for what they plead, and the stability of their purpose to secure it. God often seems to delay his coming when we cry for him-to refuse our petitions when we present them-to oppose and resist our will in what our hearts

99

are set on-nay, he often seems to answer by "fearful works;" and when we expect blessing, he makes us to "drink of the wine of astonishment." How strange, apparently, the answer to Job's daily prayers for his family!—to Daniel's faithfulness in this exercise when men would have wickedly forbidden it!—to Mary and Martha's simple dependence on Christ, and the message which they sent him!-to the first deeply earnest pleadings of the woman of Canaan! Had he any pleasure in the pain experienced in all these instances? No, verily. But he delighted to see the exercise of the grace that he had himself implanted, and which, in the case of Jacob, found expression in the words: "I will not let thee go, except thou bless me;" and he knew how precious the blessing is made through the previous struggle, when it is at last received.

But behold the end of Jacob's conflict. "What is thy name?" asked he that wrestled with him. "Jacob," was the simple answerthe supplanter-he that deceived his father and defrauded his brother - he whom God had therefore much resisted because of this, and upon whose mind there now rested a heavy load of anxiety and dread, through the conduct that earned him that name. "Thy name," was the reply, "shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel." Thou hast sought a blessing, even deliverance from thy brother. "As a prince, thou hast had power with God and with men," in pleading for it, "and hast prevailed.” In the character of supplanter thou art known no more, and the danger feared and deserved has passed away.

Jacob soon met his brother. "And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him; and they wept." Such was the fruit of his wrestling with the angel. How easily can God disperse the darkest cloud!

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Usually for an hour or two before he entered the pulpit, he claimed retirement; and on a Sabbath-day have Clarke's Bible, Matthew Henry's Commentary, morning more particularly, he was accustomed to and Cruden's Concordance within his reach. His frame at that time was more than ordinarily devotional; I say more than ordinarily, because, though there was a vast vein of pleasantry usually in him, the intervals of conversation evidently appeared to be filled up with private ejaculation connected with praise. His rest was much interrupted, and his thoughts were much engaged with God in the night. He has often said at the close of his very warm address: "This sermon I got when most of you who

now hear me were fast asleep." He made very minute observations, and was much disposed to be conversant with life, from the lowest mechanic to the first characters in the land. He let nothing escape him, but turned all into gold that admitted of improvement; and, in one way or another, the occurrences of the week or the day furnished him with matter for the pulpit. Take a specimen: When an extraordinary trial was going forwards, he would be present; and on observing the formality of the judge putting on his black cap to pronounce sentence, I have known him avail himself of it in the close of a sermon; with his eyes full of tears, and his heart almost too big to admit of speech, dropping into a momentary pause, "I am going now to put on my condemning cap-sinner, I must do it; I must pronounce sentence upon you"-and then, in a tremendous strain of eloquence, recite our Lord's words, "Go, ye cursed," not without a very powerful description of the nature of the curse. It would be only by hearing him, and by beholding his attitude and his tears, that a person could well conceive of the effect; for it was impossible but that solemnity must surround him who, under God, became the means of making all solemn.

He had a most peculiar art of speaking personally to you, in a congregation of four thousand people, when no one would suspect his object. If I instance it in an effect upon the servant of the house, I presume it is not unsuitable. She had been remiss in her duty in the morning of the day. In the evening, before the family retired to rest, I found her under great dejection, the reason of which I did not apprehend; for it did not strike me that, in exemplifying a conduct inconsistent with the Christian's professed fidelity to his blessed Redeemer, he was drawing it from remissness of duty in a living character; but she felt it so sensibly as to be greatly distressed by it, until he relieved her mind by his usually amiable deportment. The next day, being about to leave town, when I shut the coach-door upon him, he said, "Be sure to remember me to Betty; tell her the account is settled, and that I have nothing more against her."

The famous comedian, Shuter, who had a great partiality for Mr Whitefield, showed him friendship, and often attended his ministry. At one period of his popularity he was acting in a drama under the character of Ramble. During the run of the performance he attended service on Sabbath morning at Tottenham Court Chapel, and was seated in the pew exactly opposite to the pulpit; and while Mr Whitefield was giving full sally to his soul, and, in his energetic address, was inviting sinners to the Saviour, he fixed himself full against Shuter, with his eye upon him, adding to what he had previously said: "And thou, poor Ramble, who hast long rambled from him, come you also. O end your rambling by coming to Jesus!" Shuter was exceedingly struck, and coming in to Mr Whitefield, said: "I thought I should have fainted; how could you serve me so?"-It was truly impressive to see him ascend the pulpit. My intimate knowledge of him admits of my acquitting him of the charge of affectation. He always appeared to enter the pulpit with a significance of countenance that indicated he had something of importance which he wanted to divulge, and was anxious for the effect of the communication. His gravity on his descent was the same. He was averse to much singing after preaching, supposing it diverted the savour of the subject. Nothing awkward, nothing careless, appeared about him in the pulpit, nor do I ever recollect his stumbling upon a word. To his ordinary as well as to his public appearance, this observation applies; whether he frowned or smiled, whether he looked grave or placid, it was nature acting in him.

I hardly ever knew him to go through a sermon without weeping, more or less; and his tears were the tears of sincerity. His voice was often interrupted by his affection; and I have heard him say in the pulpit: "You blame me for weeping, but how can I help it, when you will not weep for yourselves, though your immortal souls are upon the verge of destruction, and, for aught you know, you are hearing your last sermon, and may never more have an opportunity to have Christ offered to you?" His freedom in the use of his passions often put my pride to the trial. I could hardly bear such unreserved use of tears, and the scope he gave to his feelings; for sometimes he exceedingly wept, stamped loudly and passionately, and was frequently so overcome, that for a few seconds, you would suspect he never could recover; and when he did, nature required some little time to compose herself.

You may be sure, from what has been said, that when he treated upon the sufferings of our Saviour, it was not without great pathos. He was very ready at that kind of painting, which frequently answered the end of real scenery. As though Gethsemane were within sight, he would say, stretching out his hand: "Look yonder! what is that I see?-it is my agonizing Lord!" And, as though it were no difficult matter to catch the sound of the Saviour praying, he would exclaim: "Hark! hark! do not you hear?" You may suppose that as this occurred frequently, the efficacy of it was destroyed; but no; though we often knew what was coming, it was as new to us as though we had never heard it before.

That beautiful apostrophe used by the Prophet Jeremiah: "O earth, earth, earth, hear the Word of the Lord," was very subservient to him, and never used impertinently.

He abounded with anecdotes, which, though not always recited verbatim, were very just as to the matter of them. One, for instance, I remember, tending to illustrate the efficacy of prayer, though I have not been able to meet with it in the English history-it was the case of the London apprentices before Henry VIII., pleading his pardon of their insurrection. The monarch, moved by their sight and their plea-" Mercy! mercy!"-cried: "Take them away, I cannot bear it." The application you may suppose was, that if an earthly monarch of Henry's description could be so moved, how forcible is the sinner's plea in the ears of Jesus Christ! The case of two Scotchmen, in the convulsion of the State at the time of Charles II., subserved his design; who, unavoidably obliged to pass some of the troops, were conceiving of their danger, and meditating what method was to be adopted to come off safe: one proposed the wearing of a skull-cap; the other, supposing that would imply distrust of the providence of God, was determined to proceed bare-headed. The latter, being first laid hold of, and being interrogated, "Are you for the covenant ?" replied, "Yes;" and being further asked, "What covenant ?" answered, "The covenant of grace;" by which reply, eluding further inquiry, he was let pass. The other, not answering satisfactorily, received a blow with the sabre, which, penetrating through the cap, struck him dead. In the application, Mr Whitefield, warning against vain confidence, cried: "Beware of your skull-caps." But here likewise the description upon paper, wanting the reality as exemplified by him with voice and motion, conveys but a very faint idea.

As though he heard the voice of God ever sounding in his ears the important admonition, "Work while it is called to-day," this was his work in London at one period of his life:-After administering the Lord's supper to several hundred communicants, at half an hour after six in the morning; reading the first and second service in the desk, which he did

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