It appears that Esau set his affections upon the sports of this world-he was a man cut out for a bustling life-but Jacob was adapted for a quiet domestic life. Esau was of an open careless disposition, adventurous and fierce in his pursuits; while Jacob was of a crafty, cunning and selfish turn of mind. Therefore each had his peculiar besetting sin; consequently God did not prefer one before the other, on account of any good quality one possessed more than the other: therefore he hath caused the infirmities of Jacob to be recorded, as well as those of his brother Esau, to show to after generations, that he, without any respect to persons, chooseth some to be vessels to honour, and some to dishonour, 2 Tim. ii. 21.

Now, if we consider the family of Isaac (as it then was) the church of Christ upon earth, which church of Christ, in Eph. vi. 10, is called " the household of faith," we shall then see the need of vessels of dishonour as well as vessels of honour; as, in 2 Tim. ii. 20, the same apostle writes concerning the same house, that it contains vessels, some to honour, and some to dishonour".

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-some

made of gold and silver, some of china, some of glass-which are used for honourable purposes others of wood, iron, or common earthenware, as occasion may require, equally as useful in the common drudgery of the house, as the richer vessels for the luxurious comforts of the family. Just so is it the case with the household of God's church upon earth; he makes the vessels of wrath or dishonour in their place to serve his purpose. as well as the vessels of honour-he does nothing by chance, but all are in his hands, to complete the one grand scheme of human redemption;

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therefore our blessed Lord said, "It must needs be that offences come; but woe be to him by whom the offence cometh." And, when men for years go on trifling with sin, against the warnings of the Holy Spirit, they know not how soon God may give them up to be "vessels of wrath, fitted to destruction," that is, given up to be rods in the hands of God, to chasten his people for backsliding from him, or to persecute them unto death, even as Judas, the "devil," did to Christ, and irrevocably destroy themselves-even as Esau trifled with his birthright until he lost it; but which birthright was only temporal, yet a type of the spiritual, which he sold for "a mess of pottage." What profit," said Esau, shall this birthright do to me?" Thus he set light by his privileges; and thus is it recorded as a warning to others not to despise their gospel privileges, or barter them away for this world's goods; for, as Esau despised his birthright and lost the future blessing, so they who despise the general redemption by Christ, will lose the blessing of regeneration, of which that temporal blessing which Jacob defrauded his brother of, was a type. And, although Jacob in his heart valued the birthright, and the blessing which it led to, yet the means he took to get possession of them cannot, by the word of God, be commended: First, he saw his brother faint for want of food, and would not give him any of his pottage to eat, unless he first made over his birthright to him, and, next, he defrauded him of his blessing by a most daring lie, which was put into his mouth by his mother and smartly did God chastise him for it after, for very soon he was forced to fly from

his father's home, to escape his brother's vengeance, and entered into the service of his uncle Laban, who agreed to give his beautiful daughter Rachel to him for wife, as a remuneration, for whom Jacob was to serve him seven years. But, as he deceived his brother, so his uncle deceived him, by giving his sore-eyed daughter Leah in her stead; after which he demanded seven years further services for Rachel. Thus he served him fourteen years for his two daughters, and six years for the cattle which he possessed after he left his uncle's service; in the whole twenty years.

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which period his wages were changed ten times. Thus did he receive stripe after stripe. But heavier blows were still in reserve for him; as, when he was bereaved of his beloved Joseph; but, notwithstanding all his infirmities, his heart was Godward, who made all his seeming calamities to work together for his gcod, and the accomplishment of his covenant.

his

But his brother Esau, instead of humbling himself before God for his folly, gave himself up to study how he could revenge himself upon brother, and likewise insult and grieve his father, by taking unto himself wives of the daughters of Canaan, which he knew was contrary to the will of his parents. For, notwithstanding he had irrevocably lost the pre-eminent temporal blessing, he ought to have been grateful for the blessing he had got, and humbled under the chastisement he received for despising the birthright, which entitled him to the other. But God, who is infinite in wisdom, ordained him as a type of the world, and Jacob as a type of the church, to show to future ages, that, as those who set their

affections upon the vanities of the world go on from death unto death, so such who set their hearts upon the things of God, notwithstanding all their infirmities, go on from righteousness unto holiness. But, nevertheless, if the children of God have recourse to unlawful means to accomplish their desires, the rod will to a certainty follow"For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth."

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Thus the Almighty acts according to his own wisdom, and, although his ways appear strange, and often unjust to us, yet, no doubt, if we could see the end from the beginning as he sees it, we should with rhapsodies proclaim, that love alone crowns all his wonderous acts; for he is a God of love, and very pitiful"-and if his love be infinite, surely it must transcend the limits of the curse. Therefore it is not for man, by his debased understanding, to decide the eternal destiny of the vessels of dishonour, but leave it to him who has declared, that at the day of judgment" it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for" those who wickedly resisted the clearer light of gospel times; for, if there are to be gradations of punishment in the future state of the wicked, then must their abode of misery be something very different from what is described by those who, from the figurative terms fire and brimstone, conclude hell to be a great gulf of red hot liquid fire and brimstone, in which the lost souls are to be rolling for ever and ever; for, if hell be such a place, then can there be no gradation of torment, because all would be in the same condition.

But the terms fire and brimstone, storm and

tempest, I conjecture to signify the horrible forebodings of wrath to come, and the tormenting pangs of an awakened and guilty consciene, which is called the worm that never dieth." And no doubt the day of judgment will be as widely different from what we conjecture, as the east is from the west; as we may reasonably conclude from the facts, that all the prophecies which have had their fulfilment, were accomplished in a way quite contrary to all human conception.

Therefore let us leave his secret decrees in his hands, keeping in view this truth, that he is a God of love, that his love is infinite, that he dispenseth it with infinite justice, truth, righteousness, and mercy; therefore he must do all things right so shall have the pre-eminence in all things, and "shall be all and in all."

Such will be the full consummation of that blessed covenant to be worked out by Christ Jesus, the "Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.” Isa. ix. 6, 7. And I humbly trust those remarks will induce my readers to seek more earnestly to understand and imbibe the lesson they were designed to teach, rather than to pry into the secret of the Why and the Wherefore one was predestinated to be a vessel of honour, and the other a vessel of dishonour; ever remembering this grand truth, that God will have mercy upon whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth; that is, he will have mercy upon every poor sinner that confesseth and forsaketh his sins; but such as wickedly do despite to his Spirit, and continue on in their