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God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, the Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads, and let my name be named on them, and the name of my father Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth."

I. We here remark, in the first place, The testimony which Jacob bears for God. He speaks of God under three particulars.

1. First as the God whom his family had served. God had called Abraham out of the idolatry of the Chaldees, and had made a gracious covenant with him, he had renewed that covenant to Isaac, and had often manifested himself and held communion with them both. These ancestors of Jacob had chosen that God as their God and their portion, had worshipped him, and lived in his fear, and had walked in all his commandments and ordinances. Renouncing all the Gods of the heathen round about them, they had faithfully adhered to the service of Jehovah alone. It would be peculiarly useful to the young men

who stood before him, to have God thus recommended to them. They might be in danger of following the Gods of Egypt and becoming the worshippers of these dumb idols. What a preservative would it be to remember these last words of their venerable grandfather! It could never pass from their thoughts, we might suppose, that his last blessing was given in the name of the God who had so signally selected their family to be his honoured servants, and to whom their ancestors had lived so faithfully. They could never apostatize, one would think, after so solemn a testimony given under such impressive circumstances. It would have the effect of making them adhere to his worship, and of holding fast their paternal faith.

2. He speaks, secondly, of God as having been peculiarly gracious to himself; "The God which fed me all my life long unto this day." This would shew them how he recognized the providence of God in all his ordinary affairs. It was a striking testimony to the constant care by which God provides for those who serve him, and watches over

their concerns.

Jacob had indeed been re

markably provided for. The youths, no doubt, had heard the great outlines of his history from their father, how he had gone to Padanaram to Laban his uncle with nothing but the staff in his hand, and how he had returned with great wealth, and exceeding many flocks and herds. They knew how wonderfully he had come into Egypt, and how providentially he had been supported there; and this holy and grateful acknowledgment of his would have a peculiar tendency to lead their young minds to trust in God. May not we adopt the same words? Have not many of ourselves been provided for in a manner so directly providential, as to fill our hearts with a similar feeling? They have an advantage who live thus on the providence of God. They live more by faith: they see more of his hand they view him in the supply of their food and raiment as well as in the richer mercies of his grace. I can feel how peculiarly this thankful acknowledgment may be made by myself: surely I may speak of God as the God who hath fed me all my life long;

and grateful for the past I may trust for the future.

3. But now, thirdly, he speaks of God in another very peculiar character, “The Angel which redeemed me from all evil." We cannot suppose that Jacob's views of Christ were so clear as our own may be; but no doubt he had such intimations vouchsafed of the Redeemer, as conveyed to him much true and accurate knowledge. It must be of Christ that he speaks here. It is all the same person who is spoken of. The God before whom his fathers had walked, the God who had fed him all his life long, was also the Angel which had redeemed him from all evil. This therefore could be no created Angel. It was the same with whom he had wrestled at Peniel, and of whom he had said, "I have seen God face to face." It could be none but he of whom the prophet Malachi speaks, as the messenger, or Angel, of the covenant, who should come unto his temple, and he is, without any question, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jacob therefore knew, and testified to his son and his grandsons

of the second person of the divine Trinity and his office, when he said, "The Angel which redeemed me from all evil." What an instructive lesson did Jacob here read to his descendants! and what a happy experience was this in which he died! We are not to suppose that he referred merely to the protection vouchsafed him when he first fled from the face of Esau, nor to the divine influence by which his brother's wrath had been turned away, nor to his deliverance from the famine or any other temporal evil. No doubt he had a lively view of the great truths now so clearly revealed by the Gospel, and knew that he had been redeemed from all the evil brought in by his original progenitor Adam, even from sin and all its fatal consequences. Could not he say, think ye, with a view almost as clear as our own, and with a faith as vigorous and strong, in the words of another holy man of old, "I know that my redeemer liveth ?" Had not he, think ye, a happy perception and experience of the redemption which is in Christ Jesus? Did not he look in faith to that great