FEMALE BIOGRAPHY OF SCRIPTURE.

THE WIVES OF JACOB.

No. II.

PROSPERITY and adversity are alike tests of character and means of discipline. The few are exercised by the former: the many by the latter: and most men by that happy admixture of both, which the mercy of God has blended with the course of human affairs, and which is to the soul what the alternate sunbeam and shower are to the natural world-a stimulating and fructifying influence; propelling the blossom, the promise, and the fruit: the blade, the ear, and the full corn in the ear. We see however in the Providence of God, that adversity is more largely used as a means of discipline than prosperity. It is indeed at the first glance painful to see how largely affliction is used as a teacher and correcter of men. It is painful to behold on every side, "the oppressions that are done under the sun, and the tears of the oppressed: "-the vanity and vexation of spirit, the labour and sorrow, to which man is every where condemned.

But we read that the Most High "doth not afflict willingly," therefore we know that this arrangement of Divine Wisdom is not without its blessed and salutary results. The opposite effects which usually

flow from these different states of trial, afford us at least, a partial explanation of the uses of adversity. How many thousands of immortal beings have been trained to virtue, wisdom, and happiness in the school of adversity! How few have escaped unscathed, the fiery ordeal of prosperity! There is, it is true, no invariable rule with regard to the consequences that follow from either of these: if there were, we should perhaps look rather to the rod of correction than to the hand that holds it. The usual effect of prosperity however, is, that it fosters pride and produces hardness of heart, while adversity softens and humbles. But we sometimes behold exactly opposite effects produced:-some characters becoming callous and sullen under adversity, and others gradually softening and ameliorating beneath the influence of prosperity. Of this latter class however, there are not many, formed in nature's finest mould.

We cannot but see in the sorrow all around us, that, in addition to the primeval sin, which "brought death into the world and all our woe," men are every where groaning under the burden of their own individual transgressions; are every where corrected by the rod which their own hands have prepared. But the sorrow which follows from personal transgressions, is not less blessed in its effects than that which comes to us as an heritage; when it also leads to that godly sorrow which worketh repentance unto salvation not to be repented of.

We have but very scanty information afforded us, concerning the unhappy Leah from the period of her marriage; yet there is sufficient to shew that affliction was not without its salutary effects on her mind,

although it brought in its train only the consequences of her own transgressions. By their union with Jacob, both the daughters of Laban were doubtless brought into a better acquaintance with the character of God. The God of Bethel,-He to whom Jacob had vowed to dedicate himself and the tenth of all his substance, was not, we may well believe, a God unsought or unpropitiated in Jacob's household: nor was the story of the peculiar mercies manifested to their race, unknown to Leah or to Rachel. But the doctrine of His Providence and Power, found a different reception in the hearts of the two wives of Jacob. In that of Leah, softened by sorrow, it quickly produced a recognition of Jehovah as of the Supreme Disposer of human affairs, and a thankful sense of his providential mercies: while in that of Rachel, we behold a more tardy developement of such feelings, and that too, not until she had herself suffered under the much-dreaded reproach of her childless state.

Within a very few years from the period of her marriage, Leah became the joyful mother of four sons and it is only from the sorrowful and touching reasons assigned by her for bestowing on each his peculiar name, that we are enabled to guess at all concerning her trials, and the effect which they produced upon her mind. At the birth of Reuben, we find her mingling the joys of maternity with the bitter portion of a despised and slighted wife, and recognizing in her first-born, a heritage and gift from the Lord; who, from heaven had looked down to care for, and pity her obscure and unnoticed sorrows. The birth of the second son in like manner affords us proof, that her trials, whatever they were,

were unmitigated, but it also shews her recognition of another attribute in the character of God; most dear to those who suffer the heavy trial of hard and unkind words. Leah had before ascribed to Jehovab the All-seeing-Eye :-now, her appeal is to the Hearing-Ear. That Ear which hears the impatient answer, the brief scornful reply, flung like a random arrow, careless whether it reach the mark or no, at those who cherish us, but whom we do neither esteem nor cherish. At the birth of Levi, we find her full of hope as to the speedy termination of her domestic trials; and though there is reason to suppose that this hope proved fallacious, yet does her religious character appear to make progress, as may be inferred from the name of her fourth son Judah, which signifies Praise. Hitherto, the natural feelings of an oppressed and wounded spirit, had been mixed up with her recognition of God's Omniscience and Pity and Impartiality; hitherto, in the names given to her children, we hear the plaint of suffering, (patient because God sees and hears), or the hopeful desire of future exemption from sorrow: but the name of Judah tells us, that in the heart of Leah, the sense of God's mercies had swallowed up all recollection of her own afflictions, and that one burst of joyful thanksgiving was the sole utterance of a heart which had meekly bowed before the stroke of trial, till by divine grace, patience had worked experience, and experience hope.

And how meanwhile, had the opportunities of increased light and knowledge availed the "beloved" Rachel? Happy in the unbounded love, and undisguised preference of her husband, and conscious too, of the trials and humiliations of her less favored

sister, her jealous heart could not endure to behold that little solacement of hope and joy, which Leah derived from her infant children. "Rachel," it is said "envied Leah!" How true it is, that, the abundance of earthly good tends to foster a hard and selfish spirit in the hearts of the prosperous. A kingdom will not suffice for inheritance, while there is a plot of ground handy, of which the poor man is possessor flocks and herds will not suffice, while another has one little lamb that lies in his bosom. How long the spirit of envy lay darkling in Rachel's heart, we are not told, but at last it breaks forth in such words as shew her to be ignorant alike of her duty towards God and towards her husband: unmindful of that Providence which Leah in her affliction had learned to adore, and utterly regardless of, and unthankful for, the mercies of her lot in the selfish craving after another coveted possession.

To the bitter confession of Rachel, that envy, like the hidden canker-worm was eating out her life, Jacob replied with a sharp rebuke: reminding her of God's sovereign disposal of events: a truth of which she must have been wilfully ignorant. Perhaps also he may have attempted to soothe her by instancing the case of Sarah, who, though "beautiful and well favored" herself, and possessed of the undivided affection of her husband, had yet to bear the same trial from the Lord. There is some reason for this supposition, in the circumstance which follows-viz. Rachel's proceeding to contract a marriage between Jacob and her handmaid, according to the precedent afforded her by Abraham's connexion with Hagar. But inasmuch as the spirit and temper of Rachel, manifested in this transaction, were infe