II. IT SATISFIED ALL HIS SPIRITUAL NECESSITIES.

1. It assured him that heaven and earth were not separated by an impassable gulf.

2. It assured him that there was a way of reconciliation between God and man.

3. It assured him that the love of God was above all the darkness of human sin and evil.

4. It imparted to him the blessings of a revelation from God.

III. IT REVEALED THE AWFUL SOLEMNITY OF HUMAN LIFE,

IV. IT RESULTED IN JACOB'S CONVERSION,

1. He erected a memorial of the event.

2. He resolved to make God supreme in all his thoughts and actions.

(T. H. Leale.)

II. LOOK AT THE NATURE of the vision.

1. The angels are interested in the well-being of God's people.

2. Heaven is a place of activity.

3. There is a way of communication open between heaven and earth. This way represents the mediation of Christ.

III. LOOK AT THE PROMISES which on this occasion were made to Jacob.

1. God promised to be with Jacob.

2. God promised His protection and guidance to Jacob.

3. God promised him final deliverance from all trouble.

(A. D. Davidson.)

II. The free circulation along that way of great powers and ministering influences.

III. God, the supreme directing and inspiring force, eminent over all. Lessons:

1. Every man's ladder should stand upon the ground. No man can be a Christian by separating himself from his kind.

2. Along every man's ladder should be seen God's angels.

3. High above all a man's plans and resolves, there must beta living trust in God.

(H. W. Beecher.)

II. Jacob's vision came to him in a dream. But that which had been revealed was a permanent reality, a fact to accompany him through all his after-existence. Now the great question we have to ask ourselves is, "Was this a fact for Jacob the Mesopotamian shepherd, and is it a phantasm for all ages to come? Or was it a truth which Jacob was to learn just as he was to learn the truth of birth, the truth of marriage, the truth of death, that it might be declared to his seed after him; and that they might be acquainted with it as he was, only in a fuller and deeper sense?" If we take the Bible for our guide we must accept the latter conclusion, and not the former. The Son of Man is the ladder between earth and heaven, between the Father above and His children on earth.

(F. D. Maurice, M. A.)

I. It does not follow that God is not, because we cannot discern Him. Little do we dream of the veiled wonders and splendours amid which we move. To Jacob's mental fret and confusion, the wilderness where God brooded was a wilderness and nothing more. But in sleep he grew tranquil and still; he lost himself — the flurried, heated, uneasy self that he had brought with him from Beer-sheba; and while he slept the hitherto unperceived Eternal came out softly, largely, above and around him. We learn from this the secret of the Lord's nearness.

II. No man is ever completely awake; something in him always sleeps. There is a sense in which it may be said with truth that were we less wakeful, more of God and spiritual realities might be unveiled to us. We are always doing — too much so for finest being; are always striving — too much so for highest attaining. Our religion consists too much in solicitude to get; it is continually " The Lord, the Father of mercies," rather than "The Lord, the Father of glory." We require to sleep from ourselves before the heavens can open upon us freely and richly flow around us.

(S. A. Tipple.)

II. THIS LADDER COMES TO SINNERS.

III. GOD IS AT THE TOP, SPEARING KIND WORDS DOWN THE LADDER.

IV. ADVICE TO CLIMBERS:

1. Be sure to get the right ladder; there are plenty of shams.

2. Take firm hold; you will want both hands.

3. Don't look down, or you will be giddy.

4. Don't come down to fetch any one else up. If your friends will not follow you, leave them behind.

(T. Champness.)

II. The intercourse between God and man has been enlarged and made perpetual in Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Son.

III. When Jacob awoke he consecrated a pillar, and vowed to build a sanctuary there and give tithes. We cannot altogether commend the spirit in which he made his vow. He tried to make a good bargain with the Almighty; yet God accepted him. The place was holy to him, because he knew that God was there.

(R. Winterbotham, M. A.)

1. When we are not aware of it.

2. When sin is fresh upon us.

3. When we are in urgent need of Him.

II. GOD IS NEAR MEN TO ENGAGE IN THEIR RELIGIOUS TRAINING.

1. God assured Jacob of His abiding presence with him.

2. Jacob was taught to recognize God in all things.

3. He was taught to feel his entire dependence upon God throughout the journey of life.

III. GOD IS ALWAYS NEAR MEN TO EFFECT THEIR COMPLETE SALVATION. Intercourse has been established between earth and heaven; the whole process of man's salvation is under the superintendence of God.

(D. Rhys Jenkins.)

1. A solemn conviction stealing over Jacob of what life is, a struggle which each man must make in self-dependence.

2. But beside this conviction of what life is, Jacob was impressed in another way at this time. God made a direct communication to his soul. "He lay down to sleep, and he dreamed." We know what dreams are. They are strange combinations of our waking thoughts in fanciful forms, and we may trace in Jacob's previous journey the groundwork of his dream. He looked up all day to heaven as he trudged along, the glorious expanse of an Oriental sky was around him, a quivering trembling mass of blue; but he was alone, and, when the stars came out, melancholy sensations were his, such as youth frequently feels in autumn time. Deep questionings beset him. Time he felt was fleeting. Eternity, what was it? Life, what a mystery! And all this took form in his dream. Thus far all was natural; the supernatural in this dream was the manner in which God impressed it on his heart. Similar dreams we have often had; but the remembrance of them has faded away. Conversion is the impression made by circumstances, and that impression lasting for life; it is God the Spirit's work upon the soul.

3. Jacob felt reconciliation with God. There is a distance between man and God. It is seen in the restlessness of men, in the estrangement which they feel from Him. Well, Jacob felt all this. He had sinned, overreached his brother, deceived his father. Self-convicted he walked all day long; the sky as brass; a solemn silence around him; no opening in the heaven; no sign nor voice from God; his own heart shut up by the sense of sin, unable to rise. Then came the dream in which he felt reconciliation with God. Do not mind the form but the substance. It contains three things:

(1)The ladder signifying heaven and earth joined, the gulf bridged over.

(2)The angels signifying the communication which exists between earth and heaven.

(3)The voice which told him of God's paternal care.

(4)The last impression made on Jacob was that of the awfulness of life.

II. THE RESOLUTIONS WHICH HE MADE.

1. The first of these was a resolution to set up a memorial of the impressions just made upon him. He erected a few stones, and called them Bethel. They were a fixed point to remind him of the past.

2. Jacob determined from this time to take the Lord for his God. He would worship from henceforth not the sun, or the moon, not honour, pleasure, business, but God. With respect to this determination, observe first" that it was done with a kind of selfish feeling; there was a sort of stipulation, that if God would be with him to protect and provide for him, that then he would take Him for his God (ver. 20, 21). And this is too much the way with us; there is mostly a selfishness in our first turning to God. A kind of bargain is struck. If religion makes me happy then I will be religious. God accepted this bargain in Jacob's case; He enriched him with cattle and goods in the land whither he went (Genesis 31:18): "for godliness has the promise of the life that now is." Disinterested religion comes later on. Observe, secondly, what taking God for our God implies. It is not the mere repetition of so many words; for as our Lord has said, "Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of God." To have God for our God is not to prostrate the knee but the heart in adoration before Him. God is truth: to persist in truth at a loss to ourselves, that is to have God for our God. God is purity: resolve to shut up evil books, turn a countenance of offended purity to the insult of licentious conversation; banish thoughts that conjure up wicked imaginations; then you have God for your God. God is love: you are offended; and the world says, resent; God says, forgive. Can you forgive? Can you love your enemy, or one whose creed is different from your own? That is to have God for your God.

(F. W. Robertson, M. A.)

II. NOTICE THE IMPERFECT RECEPTION dream indicates a very low level both of religious knowledge and feeling. Nor is there any reason for taking the words in any but their most natural sense; for it is a mistake to ascribe to him the knowledge of God due to later revelation, or, at this stage of his life, any depth of religious emotion. He is alarmed at the thought that God is near. Probably he had been accustomed to think of God's presence as in some special way associated with his father's encampment, and had not risen to the belief of His omnipresence. There seems no joyous leaping up of his heart at the thought that God is here. Dread, not unmingled with the superstitious fear that he had profaned a holy place by laying himself down in it, is his prevailing feeling, and he pleads ignorance as the excuse for his sacrilege. He does not draw the conclusion from the vision that all the earth is hallowed by a near God, but only that he has unwittingly stumbled on His house; and he does not learn that from every place there is an open door for the loving heart into the calm depths where God is throned, but only that here he stands at the gate of heaven. So he misses the very inner purpose of the vision, and rather shrinks from it than welcomes it. Was that spasm of fear all that passed through his mind that night? Did he sleep again when the glory died out of the heaven? So the story would appear to suggest. But, in any ease, we see here the effect of the sudden blitzing in upon a heart not yet familiar with the Divine Friend, of the conviction that He is really near. Gracious as God's promise was, it did not dissipate the creeping awe at His presence. It is an eloquent testimony of man's consciousness of sin, that whensoever a present God becomes a reality to a man, he trembles. "This place" would not be "dreadful," but blessed, if it were not for the sense of discord between God and me.

(A. Maclaren, D. D.)

1. Jacob was lonely.

2. Jacob was standing on the threshold of independence.

3. Jacob was also in fear.

II. THE ELEMENTS OF WHICH THIS REVELATION CONSISTED.

1. The ladder.

2. The angels.

3. The voice of God.

(F. B. Meyer, B. A.)

1. A solitary man.

2. A guilty man. Sin pierced his hand more than his staff did.

3. An injured man. "A child may have more of his mother than her blessing."

4. A fugitive man. "He had, like a maltreated animal, the fear of man habitually before his eyes." He cringes one moment, and dodges the next; deprecating the blow he invites, expects, and gets.

5. He is a weary man. There he lies. Now look at him. Mark these — the nameless spot, the shelterless couch, the comfortless pillow, the restless slumber.

II. THE LESSON.

1. In this world wicked success is real failure. No security after sin save in repenting of it.

2. In this world God pays in kind, but blesses sovereignly. That is to say, retribution is often like crime, but grace is a surprise.

3. Turning over a new leaf does not always show a fresh page. It does no good to take up a journey from Beer-sheba to Padan-aram when one means to do the same thing right along. God demands a change in the heart, not in the habit; not so much in the record and show of the life as in the life itself.

4. Sometimes unhappiness is our chief felicity. Jacob has one good, valuable characteristic — he cannot sleep soundly when the angels of covenant grace are coming for him. It was a grand thing for this fugitive that he was restless while the ladder of love was unfolding over him.

5. Retribution is lifted only by redemption. God's mercy gave Jacob chance of becoming a new man that night. It would have saved him Penuel and a forty years' wreck had he accepted it. He might have beckoned an ascending angel to his side, and sent by him a prayer up the ladder; and then an angel descending along the shining rounds would have instantly brought him a message of pardon. Surely any man can show some sign of a penitent heart. We can be sorry we do not sorrow.

(C. S. Robinson, D. D.)

II. Jacob is the type MAN of his race. Far from God. Homesick. What man wants is God.

III. Jacob is the type CHRISTIAN of the Church.

1. He was chosen even before he was born.

2. He is now in the thick of the conflict between nature and grace.

3. He will eventually be saved in the kingdom of heaven.

(C. S. Robinson, D. D.)

1. It could not have been exclusively personal to Jacob.

3. Furthermore, the vision is not exhausted in any mere engagement of God's providential care.

3. Hence the vision must be interpreted as belonging to the kingdom of grace.

4. This vision, therefore, is discharged of its full weight of meaning only when we admit it to be a fine, high symbol of Jesus Christ.

II. ITS DOCTRINAL REACH. The plan of redemption comes out in this symbol. Jesus Christ became the medium of grace and restoration. If, now, no mistake has been made in our inquiry thus far, the conclusion we have attained will be fairly corroborated from the disclosures presented of Jesus' person and work.

1. Begin with His Person. Surely no more felicitous image could have been presented. Christ's double nature is well shown. It would have been only a mockery to Jacob to disclose a ladder coming almost to this earth, yet falling short by a round or two, so as to be just out of reach. Then the angels could not have alighted, and no human foot could have risen. Nor would the case have been anywise better if he had been made to see that his ladder reached nearly to heaven, not quite. For then the angels would have had as great need as he, and an uncrossed gulf would have been beyond them in the air.

2. As to the work of Christ, furthermore, we may remark the same exquisite aptness of this figure in Jacob's vision. Examining it closely, we find that it teaches the sovereign assumption, the perfect completion, the evident display, and the free offer, of the plan of grace.

(C. S. Robinson, D. D.)

II. THE NECESSITY OF AN INSTANT AND DETERMINATE DECISION IN OUR DEALING WITH THE OFFERS OF GRACE.

III. HOW ESSENTIAL IT IS FOR EVERY SOUL THUS ADDRESSED BY THE GOSPEL OFFER TO MEASURE ALTERNATIVES.

IV. WHAT FELICITOUS DISPOSAL THIS VISION MAKES OF THE VEXED QUESTION CONCERNING THE CONNECTION BETWEEN FAITH AND WORKS.

V. GROWTH IN GRACE IS ALSO GROWTH IN EXPERIENCE.

VI. RESPONSIBILITY BEGINS THE MOMENT THE FIRST STEP OF DUTY IS DISCLOSED TO AN INTELLIGENT MAN.

VII. PERSONAL ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS OUR SAVIOUR AND SURETY.

(C. S. Robinson, D. D.)

1. It is evident that God Himself was the sum and substance, the centre and glory, of that entire vision. The Almighty was disclosed in presence and purpose, in prediction and promise, as standing up over the ladder of grace for a fallen world.

2. See the effect of this discovery upon Jacob.

(1)The first thing it did was to frighten him.

(2)The next effect seems to have been some sort of sense of guilt. He vaguely feels the need of propitiation.

II. LESSONS. The truest way to produce conviction of sin is to make a disclosure of Divine holiness.

2. The uselessness of mere religious emotion without establishment of principle.

3. God really offers a chance of salvation to every man who will enter upon the new life.

(C. S. Robinson, D. D.)

II. THAT THIS SPECIAL HELP WAS GRANTED TO JACOB IN VIEW OF THE FUTURE. Lessons:

1. The presence of God comes closer than we often think.

2. The earthly may be in unison with the heavenly.

3. Avoid bargain-making with God. Do not say, "I could believe I am saved if only I felt happy!" Say, "He calls me to come; and as He will in no wise cast me out, I must be accepted by Him. What more dare I ask for? " Do not say, "If only I had more time, if I were not so pressed with poverty, if I had but some friend to direct me, I would serve God!" What I You do not need God because you are moneyless, friendless! What! You would walk with God in a calm, but not when a storm was yelling and dashing! Oh, foolish people and unwise! Away with all reserves! God is for us: Christ is with us. Receive what He proffers. Do as far as you know of His will, and leave all consequences with Him, sure that He will secure everlasting blessings.

(D. G. Watt, M. A.)

1. This dream taught Jacob that there is a close connection between this world and the next.

2. It taught him that God rules over all.

3. It taught him the solemnity of life.

II. THE PROMISES MADE TO JACOB.

1. That he should be greatly blessed.

2. That he should be a blessing.

3. That God would watch over him.

III. THE RESOLUTIONS FORMED BY HIM.

1. He resolved to make a memorial of the night vision and the promises.

2. He resolved to accept the Lord as his God.

3. He also resolved to give back to God a tenth.

(W. J. Evans.)

II. THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT IS VEILED AND SILENT IN ITS OPERATION.

III. THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT IS ACCOMPLISHED BY MANY AGENTS.

IV. THE DIVINE PURPOSE IS ACCOMPLISHED AMID MUCH APPARENT CONFUSION.

V. THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT IS CONTINUED WITHOUT INTERRUPTION OR HINDRANCE.

VI. THE GRAND DESIGN OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT IS MORAL AND SAVING.

(W. L. Watkinson.)

II. THE PILGRIM'S VISION. "In Me is thy help." "Lo, I am with you alway."

III. THE PILGRIM'S VOW.

(T. S. Dickson.)

1. The close connection between earth and heaven; between things unseen and things seen.

2. The ministry of heaven to earth; the communication between things unseen and things seen.

3. The assurance of Divine love and care.

II. WHAT THIS VISION AND REVELATION OF GOD TAUGHT JACOB.

1. The universal presence of God.

2. The sacredness of common things.

III. WHAT THIS VISION AND REVELATION LED JACOB TO DO.

1. TO set up a memorial of that night.

2. To consecrate himself to God.

(A. F. Joscelyne, B. A.)

II. IN THE TRUE VISION OF LIFE THERE IS A RECOGNITION OF GOD'S RELATION TO ALL.

1. As the Sovereign of all.

2. As the Friend of man. Two things show this.

(1)Man's continuation as a sinner in such a world as this.

(2)The special means introduced for his moral restoration.

III. IN THE TRUE VISION OF LIFE THERE IS THE RECOGNITION OF A DIVINE PROVIDENCE OVER INDIVIDUALS.

1. This Biblical doctrine agrees with reason.

2. It agrees with consciousness.

IV. IN THE TRUE VISION OF LIFE THERE IS THE RECOGNITION OF THE SOLEMNITY OF OUR EARTHLY POSITION. "How dreadful is this place!"

1. Jacob's discovery introduced a new epoch into his history.

2. Jacob's discovery introduced a memorable epoch in his life.

(Homilist.)

1. Jacob saw angels, and God Himself.

2. He heard the voice of the Infinite.

3. He felt emotions which mere animal existence could not experience.

II. THE AWAKENING OF THIS SPIRITUAL CAPACITY IN MAN.

1. It is sometimes unexpected.

2. It is always Divine.

3. It is ever glorious.

4. It is ever memorable.

(Homilist.)

1. The ambitious schemings of Jacob and his mother to supplant his brother Esau.

2. Jacob is an illustration of a man in whose soul faith struggles with ambition.

II. EMPHASIZE THE REVELATION WHICH THE VISION CONTAINS.

1. God as the God of providence.

2. The intimate union of the seen and unseen.

III. NOTICE ITS EFFECT UPON THE MIND OF HIM TO WHOM IT WAS GIVEN.

1. A sense of the universal presence of God.

2. A sense of awe which possesses the sinning soul at the revelation of God's presence.

3. A sense of penitence at the revelation of God's goodness.

(R. Thomas, M. A.)

1. Heaven is distant from the thoughts of the ungodly.

2. The conceptions of man prove the same thing.

3. The conduct of sinners seems to confirm this statement.

II. THAT THERE IS A SPIRITUAL COMMUNICATION BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH.

1. This confers dignity upon our globe.

2. This imparts honour to man.

3. This communication is of Divine origin.

4. Heavenly communications are not dependent on the outward circumstances of man.

III. THAT THROUGH THIS COMMUNICATION ALONE MAN CAN HAVE A TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.

1. Because the human and divine are united.

2. Because through it a covenant relationship is formed between us and God.

3. It secures to us the protection of God.

4. It provides for the consummation of our highest conceptions of felicity.

IV. THAT TRUE COMMUNION WITH GOD PRODUCES REVERENTIAL FEAR IN THE HEART.

(Homilist.)

1. We think of a spirit —(1) As a self-modifying agent or being.(2) As a religious being.(3) As a reflecting being.(4) As a self-conscious being.

(5)As a self-complete being.

(6)As a personally responsible being.

2. That a world of such beings exists may be argued from —

(1)The structure of the visible universe.

(2)The concurrent impressions of mankind.

(3)Our own individual consciousness.

(4)The Word of God.

II. THIS VISION SUGGESTS THAT MAN IS CONNECTED WITH THE SPIRIT WORLD.

1. He is a member of it.

2. He is amenable to its laws.

3. He is now forming a character that will determine his position in it.

III. THIS VISION SUGGESTS THAT THERE IS ONE MASTER.

(Homilist.)

1. He was solitary.

2. He had a weary body.

3. He had an anxious mind.

4. He was asleep. The Almighty can visit and bless at a time and in a manner which we little expect.

II. THE GRACIOUS VISITATION WHICH JACOB HAD FROM GOD.

1. It was in a dream.

2. It was an encouraging visit.

3. It was a glorious visit.

4. It was a gracious visit.

III. THE EFFECTS PRODUCED ON JACOB'S MIND AND THE LINE OF CONDUCT WHICH HE WAS INDUCED TO PURSUE.

1. He was afraid.

2. He set up a pillar.

3. He changed the name of the place.

4. He entered into a solemn covenant with God.

IV. APPLICATION.

1. In our journey through life we may sometimes be solitary, dejected, and perplexed; but we often have gracious visits from the Lord.

2. The vows of God are upon us, viz., those of baptism and good resolution.

3. Do we offer unto God thanksgiving and pay our vows unto the Most High?

(Benson Bailey.)

1. A ladder

2. Its position.

3. Its base.

4. The top of it.

5. Above it.

6. Upon it.

II. WHAT JACOB HEARD.

1. Jehovah proclaimed Himself the God of his fathers.

2. Jehovah promised him the possession of the country where he then was.

3. He promised him a numerous progeny; and that of him should come the illustrious Messiah, in whom all the families of the earth should be blessed.

4. He promised him His Divine presence and protection.

III. WHAT JACOB FELT.

1. He felt the influence of the Divine presence.

2. He felt a sacred and solemn fear.

3. He felt himself on the precincts of the heavenly world.

IV. WHAT JACOB DID.

1. He expressed his solemn sense of the Divine presence (vers. 16, 17).

2. He erected and consecrated a memorial of the events of that eventful night.

3. He vowed obedience to the Lord.

4. He went on his way in peace and safety.Application:

1. The privileges of piety. Divine manifestations, promises.

2. The duties of piety.

3. The delights of public worship. God's house is indeed the gate of heaven.

4. How glorious a place is heaven!

(J. Burns, D. D.)

II. Enlarging space never goes alone; it brings with it ENLARGING LIFE. Jacob not only beheld heaven: he saw the angels coming down, going up — stirred by an urgent business. It is one thing to talk about the angels: it "is" another to see them.

III. Enlarging. "space brings enlarging life; enlarging life brings AN ENLARGING ALTAR. Jacob said, Surely the Lord is in this place." We cannot enter into Jacob's meaning of that exclamation. He had been reared in the faith that God was to be worshipped in definite and specified localities. There were places at which Jacob would have been surprised if he had not seen manifestations of God. The point is, at the place where he did not expect anything he saw heaven; he saw some form or revelation of God. See how the greater truth dawns upon his opening mind, "Surely the Lord is in this place," and that is the very end of our spiritual education; to find God everywhere; never to open a rose-bud without finding God; never to see the days whitening the eastern sky without seeing the coming of the King's brightness; so feel that every place is praying ground to renounce the idea of partial and official consecration, and stand in a universe every particle of which is blessed and consecrated by the presence of the infinite Creator.

IV. Immediately following these larger conceptions of things, we find a marvellous and instructive instance of THE ABSORBING POWER OF THE RELIGIOUS IDEA. In Jacob's dream there was but one thought. When we see God all other sights are extinguished. This is the beginning of conversion; this is essential to the reality of a new life. For a time the eye must be filled with a heavenly image; for a time the eye must be filled with a celestial message; a complete forgetfulness of everything past, a new seizure and apprehension of the whole solemn future.

(J. Parker, D. D.)

1. The person of the Saviour.

2. The mediatorial work of Christ.

3. Christ as the only way to the Father.

4. The accessibility of Christ to the perishing sinner.

5. The connection of angels with the work and Kingdom of Christ.

6. The heavenly state to which Christ will exalt His people.

(J. Burns, D. D.)

2. There is a ladder between earth and heaven on which angel messengers carry up our prayers to God and bring His answers down. Nay! this is but the hope of our dreams; the reality transcends it; for God is here, and needs neither ladder nor angel to communicate with us or open to us communication with Him: here in our hours of sorest need, of bitterest loneliness, of self-inflicted sorrow, of well-deserved penalty, of more poignant remorse; here as He was in the burning bush to Moses, and in the mysterious visitor to Gideon, and in the still, small voice to Elijah, and in the child wrapped in the swaddling clothes to the stable guests; and still by most of us unseen and to most of us unknown.

3. But when the veil is taken from our faces and we see Him, then the ground becomes consecrated ground, the stable a sacred place, the lowing of the cattle an anthem, Horeb a sanctuary, the land of Midian a holy land, our pile of stones a Bethel.

4. Yea! more than this; not places only but persons are transformed by this vision of the invisible, by this awakening to the truth, Lo, God is here. It here changes Abram, Chaldean worshipper, into Abraham, Friend of God; Jacob, the supplanter, into Israel, Prince of God; Moses, the impetuous murderer of the Egyptian, into the meekest man of sacred history; David, the sensual king, into the sweet singer of spiritual experiences; Jeremiah, the prophet of lamentation, into the hope and courage of Israel; Saul, the persecuting Pharisee, into Paul, the self-sacrificing Apostle; John, the son of thunder, into John the beloved disciple.

5. Finally, the poorest consecration — the gift of ourselves with even Jacob's "if" — is accepted by God as a beginning. Whosoever cometh unto Him He will in no wise cast out.

(Lyman Abbott, D. D.)

II. THE GOODNESS OF GOD.

1. In its suggestive symbol (ver. 12).

2. In its encouraging revelation of the Divine presence (ver. 13).

3. In its encouraging promises (vers. 13-15). Inheritance, guidance, protection, companionship.

III. THE EFFECT UPON JACOB.

1. It awoke him of his sleep.

2. It filled him with an awe-inspiring sense of the Divine presence.

3. It filled him with a spirit of worship.

4. It led him to a reconsecration of himself to God.Lessons:

1. Self-seeking even leads to failure.

2. God will never leave nor forsake His child.

3. Let us beware of a partial consecration.

(D. C. Hughes, M. A.)

1. A living ladder, therefore it is called a ladder of life; a ladder that hath life in it, both intrinsically and objectively.

2. A loving ladder, that will not, cannot easily let go its hold of any such as sincerely come to it, to climb upon it, and do therein take hold of it, and thereby embrace it.

3. It is a lively ladder also that will so lovingly embrace us, and so livelily both take hold and keep hold of us, and not let us go until He has brought us up to the top of the ladder, and from thence into mansions of glory.

4. It is a lovely ladder.

(1)In its nature.

(2)In its posture.The posture and end of its erection is for saving from hell, and sending to heaven.

5. The fifth excellent property is, it is a large ladder; there is room enough both for saints and angels upon this ladder. It is so large, that it enlargeth and stretcheth out itself into all lands, as do the great luminaries of heaven. This ladder is —(1) Extensive, as it is found everywhere, Asia, Africa, or America; whether it be in the city or in the country; whether it be in public, or in private, whether in family worship, or closet retirements; in all those places believers do find this large ladder of love let down to them, and there doth Christ give them his loves (Song of Solomon 7:11, 12). Upon which account the apostle saith, "I will that men pray everywhere," etc. (1 Timothy 2:8), whether in the fields, or in the villages, or in the vineyards, or under the secret places of the stairs (Song of Solomon 2:14). Any place, yea a chimney corner may make a good Oratory upon this ladder, whereon Christ accounteth our voices sweet, and our countenances comely. And this ladder, Christ.(2) It is comprehenensive to all persons; there is room enough upon this ladder for all the saints in all the nations of the world.

6. The sixth excellent property — it is a long and lofty ladder, so long as to reach from earth to heaven.

7. The seventh excellent property of this ladder is, it is a lasting, yea, an everlasting ladder.

(C. Nose.)

II. THE UNITY OF EXISTENCE. We know that we possess both a material and a spiritual nature, but the point at which they come in contact it is impossible to ascertain. You have a definite reply in the text. Heaven above and earth below are connected by one great ladder. They are, therefore, not two, but one. "And, behold, the Lord stood above it." The Lord of heaven is also the Lord of earth; heaven End earth are therefore united into one realm. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland contains different countries; all separate, yet all united; owing allegiance to the same sovereign. The universe is a vast united kingdom, embracing different provinces, different principalities, different powers; but all alike subject to the central government. "And, behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it." The spirit-world is very near to us, we are but one step removed from it, were our eyes opened we should perceive that it stands round about us. Indeed, we are sometimes inclined to believe that material forms are but symbolical representations of spiritual realities, that the things which are seen are but outward manifestations of the things which are not seen. Through its agony and atoning death, the way which sin had shut up has been reopened. God can have mercy upon us, can hold communion with us, can send His angels down to comfort us in our troubles, to strengthen us in our conflicts, and at last to bear our ransomed souls to glory. The unity of existence! It is a wonderful, and yet a solemn fact. All being is but one vast territory, broken up into innumerable separate parts, but all united under one sceptre. Dream not, then, that when you quit this world, you will become the subject of a different government, or become amenable to different laws.

(D. Rowlands, B. A.)

(D. Rowlands, B. A.)

II. CONSIDER WHAT HE HEARD.

1. "I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac." It is well to have a known God, a tried God, a family God, and a father's God; it is well to be able to say, as the Church does in the twenty-second Psalm, "Our fathers trusted in Thee: they trusted, and Thou didst deliver them." It is well for you, when God looks down and sees you walking in the same path that your fathers did who are gone to heaven before you, "followers of those who through faith and patience are now inheriting the promises."

2. "The land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed." God had already given it by promise to Abraham, but at present he had no inheritance, not so much as to set his foot on. But as God had given it to him and his seed by promise, it was as sure as if in actual possession. Yet several hundred years were previously to elapse, and they must suffer much in Egypt, and must wander forty years in the wilderness. But what of this? It was the land of promise; God had given them it, and nothing could hinder their possession of it.

3. "And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south." And so it was. You know in a few years they became an innumerable people, and what millions since have descended from this one patriarch.

4. "And in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed." This refers to the Messiah. To them as concerning the flesh He came, God having raised up His Son, even Jesus, who "delivered us from the wrath to come." In His name we are blessed with all spiritual blessings. This promise has as yet received only a partial accomplishment. Few as yet are blessed with faithful Abraham. But we read of a nation being "born in a day"; that all nations of the earth shall be blessed in Him; that all shall know the Lord from the least even to the greatest.

5. "And, behold, I am with thee." So He is with all His people. His essential presence fills heaven and earth.

6. "And will bring thee again into this land." This would be gladsome tidings to Jacob, for who is he that could not rejoice at such tidings concerning a country where he was born and bred, the residence of his most impressive years?

7. "For I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of." But would He leave him then? Oh no; his anxieties therefore were entirely unnecessary. Thus it is with Christians: they have exceeding great and precious promises, "All yea and amen in Christ Jesus," and all of them must be fulfilled before God leaves His people. Will He leave you then? No, He will never leave you, nor forsake you, to all eternity. As your day is, so shall your strength be while here; hereafter all tears shall be wiped from your eyes.

III. OBSERVE WHAT HE DID.

1. He discovered and acknowledged what he was ignorant of before he went to sleep.

2. He confessed a privilege.

3. He reared a memorial.

4. He vowed a vow.

(W. Jay.)

1. And, that we may understand this more accurately, let us notice his character. According to the chronology of sacred Scripture, Jacob was now more than seventy years of age; so that his character was not then to be formed. He had lived sufficiently long to develop all its reigning tendencies; and though some might be disposed to conclude, from the impropriety of his conduct on this occasion, that he was yet a stranger to God, and to the renewing influence of Divine grace, yet an accurate knowledge of human nature, and an extensive acquaintance with the errors of men of sincere piety, would hardly sanction so harsh a conclusion.

2. His affliction. A short time previously Jacob had no enemy. Behind him were the terrors of murderous revenge, and before him the uninteresting waste of an untried world. To this must be added the sorrows of separation from all that he had learned to love. These things could not but press upon him as he went out from Beer-sheba to Haran; and the distress of his heart would be in a still greater degree aggravated by the consciousness of guilt. He had defrauded his brother — he had deceived his father — he had lied unto God. The peace of conscience which he once enjoyed must have been disturbed. He could not look up with cheerful confidence towards the God of truth. Sin against God has ever had the same character and effects. It drove the angels out of heaven, and our first parents out of paradise.

3. His submission. Not a word of murmuring appears on the record — nothing of the spirit of resistance — no high rebellious contending against the providence of God; but silently he obeys the injunctions of parental authority; and with nothing but his staff, he steals unobtrusively from under his father's roof, and enters alone upon the pilgrimage, which his misconduct had rendered necessary. There would be, however, some comfort even in the spirit of pious submission.

4. His afflicted mind would, in the midst of trial, be in some measure cheered by the expectation which he had been warranted to encourage. He was yet, as a matter of grace, encouraged to look upon himself as one " whom the Lord had blessed"; and it appears, that in the sorrowful hour of his departure from home, his father, fearing lest, in his exile, he should " be swallowed up of overmuch sorrow," gave him even additional encouragement. He confirmed the blessing to him in language still more distinct" God Almighty bless thee, and give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee." We see, then, Jacob fallen and afflicted, but submissive, penitent, and borne up by hope in the promise of God, taking his journey through the wilderness, till the shadows of evening lengthen round him — till the setting sun finds him in a solitary spot, remote from the dwellings of man; where the turf must be his bed-the circle of heaven his canopy — and one of the stones of the place his pillow; and where, if he finds comfort, it must be from a source beyond the range of human calculation. We must not attach to such a scene, in a warm climate, all the desolateness of a houseless wanderer among ourselves; but still, such a combination of circumstances wears the strong character of chastening; and we may write upon it that interesting passage of Holy Writ. "Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth." Jacob strove to hasten an event which he should have looked for in the regular course of God's providence — the result is that he delays it. He aimed at the pre-eminence in his father's house, and, in a few hours he is resting his houseless head upon a stony pillow in the wilderness. Such dispensations are highly calculated for the advancement of the spiritual character. God only can make the storm a fertilizing, rather than a desolating shower.

II. But we come to consider THE CONSOLATION WHICH WAS MERCIFULLY VOUCHSAFED TO JACOB IN HIS SOLITUDE. In the failure of all sources of earthly comfort, God generally appears most especially, for the support of those who trust in Him.

1. The obscure intimation of a gracious reconciliation with God through a mediator.

2. The second lesson inculcated in this vision was the providential protection of God. It was shown to him, that He who through a sufficient mediation was a reconciled God, would also be a father, a protector, a guide. It is scarcely possible to conceive a more kind and encouraging address, to one in the circumstances of Jacob. It is calculated to give a very exalted idea of the mercy of God, who not only blesses beyond what we ask or think; but even when we think not, meets his erring and disconsolate children with the assurances of a love that cannot be averted, and a fatherly protection that will never fail. How blessed are they who have the Lord for their God! In the midst of outward affliction and inward trial, Jacob was crowned with blessings that empire could not command, and that wealth could not buy. Let not then the pilgrim of the cross be discouraged. A rich provision is made for you — a throne of grace is open to you; a willing helper only waits, and scarcely waits, for the petition of faith, that he may give you aid. How deeply is their lot to be regretted who have never sought the Redeemer, the guardian, the guide, the comforter of Jacob! — how much is the mere man of this present world to be pitied!

(E. Craig.)

(J. M. Miller, D. D.)

1. When he dreamed it.

2. What the dream was.

3. What it meant.

II. JACOB'S WAKING THOUGHTS.

1. Humble surprise.

2. Reverential awe.

3. A joyful discovery.

III. JACOB'S VOW.

1. The preparation.

2. The vow itself. Jacob dedicates

(1)himself,

(2)his substance, to God.

(J. Hambleton, M. A.)

(H. W. Beecher)

I. The perfect Manhood of our Lord Jesus Christ. The ladder "was set up on the earth."

II. The eternal Godhead of our Lord Jesus Christ. "The top of it reached to heaven."

III. The mediatorial character of our Lord Jesus Christ, resulting from this union of two natures in one Person. He is here represented as a ladder between earth and heaven.

IV. The communications carried on through the Mediator between earth and heaven. The angels of God were seen "ascending and descending on" the ladder. Prayer, grace, mercy, peace, praise — these are the messages, with which the several angels are charged respectively.

(Dean Goulburn).

II. Having considered the first truth taught by this vision, let us now pass to the second, let us examine the medium which God provides to renew this intercourse, to re-establish this alliance between earth and heaven. We have spoken of a disruption, of a chasm such as no thunder ever rifted, and over this abyss angel thoughts must have often hovered in grief and dismay. And, now, can this breach never be healed? is this yawning gulf for ever impassable? Can no skill construct, no virtue, no prayers, win a path of return for a single soul? Must all hope for man be for ever buried in despair? To these questions human reason could not have given but one answer. Human reason, did I say? Cherub and seraph must have shuddered as they gazed at the rent sin had made; and, recalling a frightful tragedy among the celestial hierarchies, they must have felt that for man all was "lost" — not in danger of being lest — but lost, the soul lost, heaven lost, hope lost, all lost, and lost for ever. But blessed be God, hosannah to His grace; everlasting praises to Him who came "to seek and to save that which was lost," these questions have been answered, and so answered that angels are lost in pondering such mercy. Eternal wisdom and power and love have solved the problem, and solved it by consecrating for us "a new and living way." In the first place, observe that God, not man, is the architect of this ladder. Jacob did nothing — could do nothing — towards its construction. And so, if we "have boldness to enter into the holiest," it is "not by works of righteousness which we have done," but "by the blood of Jesus." Mark, in the next place, the form and position of this ladder; its foot is planted on the earth, and its top reaches to heaven. A third truth taught by this remarkable vision is the freeness of salvation by Jesus. What conditions are here interposed? What fitness? What works? Between God and man there is one mediator, Jesus Christ; but between that mediator and man there is, there can be none.

III. We have thus seen that the ladder on which Jacob gazed was a type of Christ, of the mysterious interference by which heaven and earth are reconciled. It is not, however, only in this district of God's moral dominion that so wonderful an interposition is the subject of intense and adoring interest. On this ladder the patriarch saw an order of beings far superior to man. From top to bottom it swarmed with radiant cherubim and seraphim, "the angels of God ascending and descending." "Ascending and descending"; exulting that this new avenue has been opened; and, at once, in eager bands, pouring down to earth as "ministering spirits to minister to them who are heirs of salvation." "Descending"; coming down to encamp about the righteous, whether they sleep or wake, and deliver them — as it is written, "He shall give His angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways; they shall bear thee up in their hands lest thou dash thy foot against a stone." And "ascending"; now to bear the news of a sinner's repentance and send a tide of rapture and gratulation along the habitations of heaven; and now to escort the soul of some Lazarus — to guard it from the "prince of the power of the air," who watches like a wolf scared from his prey — to guide it on its course, some as strong-winged avant couriers, and some as convoys wafting it up to realms of peace and purity and love, to the bosom of its God.

(R. Fuller.)

1. Homeless.

2. Regretful.

3. Apprehensive.

4. Disappointed.

II. THE WONDROUS VISION.

III. THE WILLING VOW. Rather a response to God than a bargain with Him. Lessons: Note how Jacob, in this journey, may represent three stages in spiritual experience.

1. The penitent; feeling the burden of sin.

2. The believer; rejoicing, with trembling, in God's revelation of mercy.

3. The worshipper; consecrating his whole life to the service of his God and Saviour.

(W. S. Smith, B. D.)

(D. March, D. D.)

The angels of God ascending and descending on it. —

II. The next angel is MORALITY. Even morality in us is not always ascending. It proceeds or recedes. How many times in the world's history all rights have been determined and all moralities squared! To-day nothing is more alarming to most people than the notion that right has been a variable thing with the growing ages. Conscience is the voice of God in the soul of man; but how has that soul of man echoed and contorted the voice! The sense of the right is growing, as it long has grown in the race. Except it is growing in you, as an individual, so that you feel its birth-pangs, and struggle with them, it is not an ascending angel for you. Morality is an angel anywhere — in African jungles, where it keeps a man from killing the members of his household unless they are old or sick, and in the best neighbour you can call to mind, who is too honourable to take an unfair advantage of another. Cicero was moral; and we are told that Brutus was an houourable man. But the stride which morality took from these Roman heroes to Abraham Lincoln is a very marked one, known and read of all men. Thirty years since it was immoral in America not to respect the physical rights of white men. To-day it is immoral not to maintain the rights of men, whatever their colour. After a little it will be accounted simply moral to give woman her rights, the custody of her own child, the control of her own earnings and clothes, the right to express an opinion as to how much she shall be taxed, how much of her property the public may appropriate, the right to as much civil consideration as the ignorant Irishman receives who cracks stone on the road. Some time we shall so enlarge the boundaries of morality that men will be forbidden to enslave the minds of their fellows, that they may appropriate their property through the larceny of their brains. Some time it will be thought as dastardly a deed to slowly unnerve and stamp out men by whiskey as it was to poison them with wines, perfumes, roses, and fans in the soft days of luxurious Rome. Some time a man who simply does so much right as custom exacts, who clamours for the letter, as Shylock for the word of the bond, shall be a byword and a hissing; for the only claim you can lay upon the future springs from your individual advance upon the sense of morality you have inherited.

III. The third angel is INSPIRATION. Of what avail is the evolution of our life below, and the growth of conduct into better and best, if the Holy Spirit does not occasionally hold us as the pledge of eternal possession? For, of course, by inspiration here I mean the filling of your soul and mine with the sweetest assurance. The inspiration which made our sacred volume, which long since scented and winged a poet soul in Persia, so that its orisons flew to our day and clime, which made great India like a sandal-wood chest out of which come to-day poems and teachings, fragrantly preserved, is only as a faded nosegay which your aged mother shows as a souvenir of her young days, only as a pathetic glove which a century since eased a young hand which soon was dust. But to you there may come an exhilaration before which clover-scented mornings are but a passing dream. The descending angel of inspiration is going down now to trouble the waters of ancient Siloam, hovering with a ghost's dead hands over interpretations of Scripture long since palsied through disuse, raising again the widow's son by the gate of Nain. The ascending angel is wreathing with an electric flush the human pillar of integrity; it is steadying man's moral nerve to translate correctly all that observers see in nature and life; it is lifting from the dead past capacities which have lapsed in us, in our forward march, and restoring to man an equable health of body and soul, a confidence in an all-round Providence, which will make us patient and calm, and a power of knowing much which is unseen, as animals know, and even inanimate life, but which is as dropped stitches in our life. The angel of inspiration bids us look up, and calls, "Come"; but, in looking and going upward, we lift the world with us. Believe that inspiration is ahead of you and within. It is a messenger of God. It is the crown of effort and of purity. It does not descend with family heirlooms, mental or moral. It is the gift of God to the individual. There are many angels besides those I have named. Belief is one, if it is allied to inspiration; but let these three lead you — Advancement, Morality, Inspiration. They can open to you abiding joys of which my word is but a feeble hint: —

"Around your lifetime golden ladders rise;

And up and down the skies,

With winged sandals shod,

The angels come and go, the messengers of God."

(A. S. Nickerson.)

II. If we take the vision as designed to instruct the mind of the patriarch as to angelic ministries, we cannot suppose "the ladder planted upon the earth" to be without significance. What, then, may we hence learn? what further light is hence thrown upon the mysterious subject of spiritual agency? Now, the first truth conveyed to us has reference, we think, to the nature of angels. Jacob saw angels ascending and descending, but he saw this descent and ascent accomplished by a ladder. There was an external and independent instrumentality. The language of Scripture does not teach us to regard the angels as purely spiritual creatures. It is probably the peculiar property of God alone to be entirely immaterial. "God," it is emplastically declared, "is a Spirit." He, and none beside Him, is wholly without bodily parts. It is, indeed, said of the Almighty, "He maketh His angels spirits"; but we are not hence to conclude that they have no body at all. When the term spirit is employed to denote the angelic nature, we must take it in a lower sense, to denote their exemption from those gross and earthly bodies which the inhabitants of this world possess. They are not flesh and blood, as we are; nor is their substance like any of those things that fall under our observation. Yet have they a body, subject, it would appear, to the action of time; for in the Book of Daniel the angel Gabriel declares that the command was given him to visit the prophet when he began his supplications; and it is added that, flying swiftly, he came to him and touched him about the hour of the evening sacrifice. Now, it is the proper attribute of a body, as distinguished from a pure spirit, to require time to convey itself from one locality to another. "God is a Spirit," a perfect Spirit, and He is everywhere at once; a body cannot be in more than one spot at a time. The angels, then, we conclude, have bodies, but bodies of a most refined and glorious quality. The bodies of angels, we may conceive, are spiritual bodies; not like ours, sluggish and inactive, incapable of keeping pace with the nimble and rapid movements of the mind, but of a wonderful subtlety, travelling with an inconceivable velocity, possessed of stupendous power. Jacob saw them ascending and descending upon a ladder, spanning the space between heaven and earth. He did not behold them moving about in an instant, everywhere at once; there was the appearance of a material communication, just such as beings with bodies would require. To delineate purely spiritual creatures as ascending and descending upon a ladder would be an absurdity. The introduction of a ladder into the patriarch's dream is an intimation that the angels, though vastly more glorious than men, are yet utterly unlike God in their nature; that they are not, in short, quite free from the burden of matter. And it may be that higher truths still are taught by the erection of that mystic ladder, whose foot was upon the ground, and its top reaching unto heaven. We cannot wholly dissever the text from a remarkable speech of our blessed Lord. "Hereafter," said Christ, "shall ye see the heavens opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." The Redeemer Himself steps forward as the interpreter of Jacob's dream, and represents Himself as fulfilling the type of the ladder which arrested the patriarch's gaze. And it is not hard to understand how this may be. For is it not through Christ, and for His merits, that the communication between man and God was not quite cut off at Adam's fall? Was it not for Christ's sake alone that the Almighty did not utterly excommunicate the race of men, and shut up His compassions from them? Indeed, indeed, if there has been angelic guardianship extended to the saints, if the seraphim and cherubim have busied themselves with this lower world, it has only been because Christ Jesus has vouchsafed to take our nature upon Him. He has been the Way. As none of us can come to the Father save by Him, so neither angel nor archangel can visit us save by Him.

(Bishop Woodford.)

(M. Doris, D. D.)

     4957   night
     5157   head
     5229   bed

Genesis 28:10-15

     8409   decision-making, and providence

Genesis 28:10-17

     1449   signs, purposes

Genesis 28:10-22

     4366   stones

Genesis 28:11-12

     5533   sleep, physical

Genesis 28:11-13

     1670   symbols

February the Fifth Everywhere the Gate of Heaven
"Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not." --GENESIS xxviii. 10-22. That is the first time for many a day that Jacob had named the name of God. In all the dark story of his wicked intrigue the name of God is never mentioned. Jacob wanted to forget God! God would be a disturbing presence! But here he encounters Him in a dream, and in the most unlikely place. "And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place!" Jacob had yet to learn that there is everywhere "a ladder set up on …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

The Presence of God.
"And Jacob awakened out of his sleep and said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not."--GENESIS xxviii. 16. These words indicate the beginning of a new life in the patriarch Jacob. They tell us of the moment when, as it would appear, his soul awoke in him. And they surprise us in some degree, as such awakenings of spiritual capacity often do; for Jacob's recorded antecedents were not exactly such as to lead us to expect the dream and the vision, and the awakening which are described …
John Percival—Sermons at Rugby

Jacob's Waking Exclamation
I would address you this morning upon a topic which may perhaps be as useful to us as to Jacob, if God the Holy Ghost shall but enable me to preach, and you to hear. Oh thou that art everywhere, be speedily now; be thou in this place, and may we know it, and tremble in thy presence. I shall speak on three points; first, the omnipresence of God--the doctrine of it; secondly, a recognition of that omnipresence, or the spirit which is necessary in order to discover the presence of God; and thirdly, …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 7: 1861

Notes on the First Century:
Page 1. Line 1. An empty book is like an infant's soul.' Here Traherne may possibly have had in his mind a passage in Bishop Earle's "Microcosmography." In delineating the character of a child, Earle says: "His soul is yet a white paper unscribbled with observations of the world, wherewith at length it becomes a blurred note-book," Page 14. Line 25. The entrance of his words. This sentence is from Psalm cxix. 130. Page 15. Last line of Med. 21. "Insatiableness." This word in Traherne's time was often …
Thomas Traherne—Centuries of Meditations

Never! Never! Never! Never! Never!
Hence, let us learn, my brethren, the extreme value of searching the Scriptures. There may be a promise in the Word which would exactly fit your case, but you may not know of it, and therefore miss its comfort. You are like prisoners in a dungeon, and there may be one key in the bunch which would unlock the door, and you might be free; but if you will not look for it you may remain a prisoner still, though liberty is near at hand. There may be a potent medicine in the great pharmacopia of Scripture, …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 8: 1863

The Life of Faith.
The fruit of these trials. The conduct of the submissive soul. It results from all that has just been described that, in the path of pure faith, all that takes place spiritually, physically, and temporarily, has the aspect of death. This is not to be wondered at. What else could be expected? It is natural to this state. God has His plans for souls, and under this disguise He carries them out very successfully. Under the name of "disguise" I include ill-success, corporal infirmities, and spiritual …
Jean-Pierre de Caussade—Abandonment to Divine Providence

The Plan for the Coming of Jesus.
God's Darling, Psalms 8:5-8.--the plan for the new man--the Hebrew picture by itself--difference between God's plan and actual events--one purpose through breaking plans--the original plan--a starting point--getting inside. Fastening a Tether inside: the longest way around--the pedigree--the start. First Touches on the Canvas: the first touch, Genesis 3:15.--three groups of prediction--first group: to Abraham, Genesis 12:1-3; to Isaac, Genesis 26:1-5; to Jacob, Genesis 28:10-15; through Jacob, …
S. D. Gordon—Quiet Talks about Jesus

The Prophecy of Obadiah.
We need not enter into details regarding the question as to the time when the prophet wrote. By a thorough argumentation, Caspari has proved, that he occupies his right position in the Canon, and hence belongs to the earliest age of written prophecy, i.e., to the time of Jeroboam II. and Uzziah. As bearing conclusively against those who would assign to him a far later date, viz., the time of the exile, there is not only the indirect testimony borne by the place which this prophecy occupies in …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Letter xxviii (Circa A. D. 1130) to the Abbots Assembled at Soissons
To the Abbots Assembled at Soissons [45] Bernard urges the abbots zealously to perform the duty for which they had met. He recommends to them a great desire of spiritual progress, and begs them not to be delayed in their work if lukewarm and lax persons should perhaps murmur. To the Reverend Abbots met in the name of the Lord in Chapter at Soissons, brother Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, the servant of their Holiness, health and prayer that they may see, establish, and observe the things which are …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

That the Ruler Should be a Near Neighbour to Every one in Compassion, and Exalted Above all in Contemplation.
The ruler should be a near neighbour to every one in sympathy, and exalted above all in contemplation, so that through the bowels of loving-kindness he may transfer the infirmities of others to himself, and by loftiness of speculation transcend even himself in his aspiration after the invisible; lest either in seeking high things he despise the weak things of his neighbours, or in suiting himself to the weak things of his neighbours he relinquish his aspiration after high things. For hence it is …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

Covenanting Performed in Former Ages with Approbation from Above.
That the Lord gave special token of his approbation of the exercise of Covenanting, it belongs to this place to show. His approval of the duty was seen when he unfolded the promises of the Everlasting Covenant to his people, while they endeavoured to perform it; and his approval thereof is continually seen in his fulfilment to them of these promises. The special manifestations of his regard, made to them while attending to the service before him, belonged to one or other, or both, of those exhibitions …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

Tithing
There are few subjects on which the Lord's own people are more astray than on the subject of giving. They profess to take the Bible as their own rule of faith and practice, and yet in the matter of Christian finance, the vast majority have utterly ignored its plain teachings and have tried every substitute the carnal mind could devise; therefore it is no wonder that the majority of Christian enterprises in the world today are handicapped and crippled through the lack of funds. Is our giving to be …
Arthur W. Pink—Tithing

Gen. xxxi. 11
Of no less importance and significance is the passage Gen. xxxi. 11 seq. According to ver. 11, the Angel of God, [Hebrew: mlaK halhiM] appears toJacob in a dream. In ver. 13, the same person calls himself the God of Bethel, with reference to the event recorded in chap. xxviii. 11-22. It cannot be supposed that in chap xxviii. the mediation of a common angel took place, who, however, had not been expressly mentioned; for Jehovah is there contrasted with the angels. In ver. 12, we read: "And behold …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

A Treatise of the Fear of God;
SHOWING WHAT IT IS, AND HOW DISTINGUISHED FROM THAT WHICH IS NOT SO. ALSO, WHENCE IT COMES; WHO HAS IT; WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS; AND WHAT THE PRIVILEGES OF THOSE THAT HAVE IT IN THEIR HEARTS. London: Printed for N. Ponder, at the Peacock in the Poultry, over against the Stocks market: 1679. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom," and "a fountain of life"--the foundation on which all wisdom rests, as well as the source from whence it emanates. Upon a principle …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

The Shaking of the Heavens and the Earth
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Yet this once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land: and I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts. G od shook the earth when He proclaimed His law to Israel from Sinai. The description, though very simple, presents to our thoughts a scene unspeakably majestic, grand and awful. The mountain was in flames at the top, and …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1

Nature of Covenanting.
A covenant is a mutual voluntary compact between two parties on given terms or conditions. It may be made between superiors and inferiors, or between equals. The sentiment that a covenant can be made only between parties respectively independent of one another is inconsistent with the testimony of Scripture. Parties to covenants in a great variety of relative circumstances, are there introduced. There, covenant relations among men are represented as obtaining not merely between nation and nation, …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

Christ the Mediator of the Covenant
'Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant,' &c. Heb 12:24. Jesus Christ is the sum and quintessence of the gospel; the wonder of angels; the joy and triumph of saints. The name of Christ is sweet, it is as music in the ear, honey in the mouth, and a cordial at the heart. I shall waive the context, and only speak of that which concerns our present purpose. Having discoursed of the covenant of grace, I shall speak now of the Mediator of the covenant, and the restorer of lapsed sinners, Jesus the Mediator …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

The First Commandment
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.' Exod 20: 3. Why is the commandment in the second person singular, Thou? Why does not God say, You shall have no other gods? Because the commandment concerns every one, and God would have each one take it as spoken to him by name. Though we are forward to take privileges to ourselves, yet we are apt to shift off duties from ourselves to others; therefore the commandment is in the second person, Thou and Thou, that every one may know that it is spoken to him, …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

The Strait Gate;
OR, GREAT DIFFICULTY OF GOING TO HEAVEN: PLAINLY PROVING, BY THE SCRIPTURES, THAT NOT ONLY THE RUDE AND PROFANE, BUT MANY GREAT PROFESSORS, WILL COME SHORT OF THAT KINGDOM. "Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."--Matthew 7:13, 14 ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. If any uninspired writer has been …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Genesis
The Old Testament opens very impressively. In measured and dignified language it introduces the story of Israel's origin and settlement upon the land of Canaan (Gen.--Josh.) by the story of creation, i.-ii. 4a, and thus suggests, at the very beginning, the far-reaching purpose and the world-wide significance of the people and religion of Israel. The narrative has not travelled far till it becomes apparent that its dominant interests are to be religious and moral; for, after a pictorial sketch of …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament