not." his seed is spoiled, and his brethren, and his neighbours, and he is (Jer. xlix. 10.) But, if further evidence still is wanting, it is plain enough where Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage to Jacob. And the Holy Ghost appears to make it plainer there than anywhere else, in order, I believe, that his genealogy and judgments may be traced down to all time; he says, "And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me I pray thee with that same red pottage, for I am faint; therefore was his name called Edom." (Gen. xxv. 30.) The meaning of Edom is red, hence the cause of his being called Edom was his selling his birthright for a mess of red pottage. Now, Jacob and Esau were twins, and before they were born, the Lord said to their mother, "Two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels." (Gen. xxv. 23.) And true enough it was, for one proved to be elected of Jehovah to eternal life, while the other was left to the " calamity of Esau." And this was so ordained before either of them was born, according to Paul: "And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, (for the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth,) it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." (Rom. ix. 10-13.) 66 It is plain, therefore, that the "people of God's curse," here mentioned, on whom the judgments were to fall, were the descendants of rejected Esau, and that this rejection was before Esau was born, "that the purpose of God according to election might stand." And this curse chased all his posterity, down to the days of Malachi; (Mal. i. 2-4;) and will till the last great day of account, when it shall gather together all its vengeance, and burst with one eternal crash the heads of all his race. upon 'And the streams thereof (that is, of Edom) shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brinistone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever; from generation to generation it shall lie waste (of all spiritual cultivation); none (of the saved in the Lord) shall pass through it for ever and ever." (Isa. xxxiv. 10.) And this is to be in the day of the Lord's "vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion." (Isa. xxxiv. 8.) This day and year I believe to mean especially the day of the great assize, which will be his day of vengeance. "The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." (2 Thess. i. 7-9.)This is the " day of the Lord's vengeance," and his way of recompensing Zion (not for merit, but in free grace) for her passive part * Though Edom was doubtless a type and figure of the reprobate, we are not to lose sight of the literal fulfilment of these prophecies, which have been most remarkably accomplished, Edom, according to the testimony of travellers, lying waste and desolate at this very day. in controversy. The apostle follows on to show, "when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe, in that day." (2 Thess. i. 10.) Now, the womb of Rebecca containing "two manner of people," was a type of the womb of time, which contains the whole human race. Jacob was a type of the vessels of mercy," and Esau a type of the "vessels of wrath." Jacob being the youngest, and yet the chosen, was typical of God's choosing the weak things of this world, to confound the things that are mighty. (1 Cor. i. 27.) And Esau being rejected, shows that the first shall be last, and the last first. Jacob's blessing was typical of the spiritual blessings of all the "seed of Jacob." And Esau's blessing shows that his posterity have their portion only "in this life." Jacob represents all the spiritual seed of Abraham, according to these passages: "Cursed is every one that curseth thee, and blessed is every one that blesseth thee;" "So then they that be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham;" As many as are of faith, they are the seed of Abraham." (Gal. iii. 7—9.) Here the seed of Abraham is said to be those who have spiritual faith; and all who have this are "blessed with Abraham. And the blessing which is here mentioned as made to Jacob, is the selfsame blessing that was made to Abraham two generations before, and descended, by covenant-arrangement, through Isaac to Jacob, saying, "I have blessed him, yea, and he shall be blessed." (Gen. xxvii. 33.) Therefore, being blessed with the same blessing as Abraham and all his spiritual children, he stood as a typical character of all the vessels of mercy." 46 66 But especially so as he stood in contrast with Esau: "Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels. And the one people shall be stronger than the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger." Here it is said, that. not only "two manner of people" were in the womb of Rebecca, but also two "nations." Now, although it did literally refer to the Israelites as one and to the Edomites as the other, yet, spiritually, it had a far greater meaning; the "seed of Abraham" promised, had a literal fulfilment, yet it was but a shadow, and Israel literally was but a type of "those that be of faith," (Gal. iii. 16,) who are really and truly the proper seed of Abraham. (Gal. iii. 7.) So, too, with these nations; the one nation, spiritually, was that "holy nation" (1 Peter ii. 9) which the apostle speaks of, and the other comprised all the "nations of the earth," who shall “ see and be confounded" (Mic. vii. 16) in the day of vengeance and the year of recompense for the controversy of Zion. The "people of God's curse were therefore literally the inhabitants of Idumea, who were the descendants of their father Esau, whom the curse of Jehovah did rest on and follow up in all his posterity; so that if Esau (in his posterity) clothe himself in his own righteousness, God says, "I have made him bare;" (Jer. xlix. 10;) if he try to hide his nakedness, God says, "I have uncovered his secret places;" (Jer. xlix. 10;) if he try to conceal himself in any creature performances, God says, He shall not be able to hide himself;" (Jer. 66 xlix. 10;) if he try (as his seed ever do) to "build the desolate places" of the fall of Adam, yet "thus saith the Lord of Hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them the border of wickedness, and the people against whom the Lord hath indignation for ever." (Mal. i. 4.) And this indignation shall one day be vented upon all the figurative descendants of Edom, for "Edom shall be a desolation; evory one that goeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at the plagues thereof;" (Jer. xlix. 17;) "and at that day (the day of the Lord's vengeance) shall the heart of all the mighty men of Edom be as the heart of a woman in her pangs." (Jer. xlix. 22.) No matter how presumptuous worldlings may brave it out now, the day shall come when all the mightiest of them shall be "as the heart of a woman in her pangs." (To be concluded in our next.) SPIRITUAL FRAGMENTS. Those interviews with which Jesus is pleased to favour many of his people in their early days, leave a deep and lasting impression on their minds; an impression which neither age nor infirmity can fully erase. Jacob, after a lapse of many years, and but a short time before his death, when he was blessing Ephraim and Manasseh, the two sons of Joseph, refers to that memorable event, the Bethel visit, and other blessed seasons of deliverance which he had been favoured with by the Angel of the Covenant. Sometimes, under great and painful darkness of soul, the believer is able to maintain the fullest persuasion that what he has known and experienced was by the special teaching of God the Spirit; and still, resting by faith on the eternal veracity of the Promiser, is led to expect the Sun of Righte-· ousness to arise again upon his benighted soul with healing in his wings: "He will return again, he will have compassion upon us," &c.-H. Fowler. Seeking sinner, what abundant encouragement does the word of God afford thee! God is a God of truth: he never said to the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain. When Jesus was in our world, he distinguished himself by his wonderful compassion to the poor and the needy; binding up the broken-hearted; liberating the captives; speaking peace and pardon to the most guilty, and cleansing from sin the most filthy. He came into the world to save sinners-the chief of sinners: and will he not be gracious unto thee, and heal the foul diseases of thy troubled soul? Dost thou complain of the hardness of thy heart, and of thy backwardness to every thing that is good? Hast thou had a little of the light of God's countenance, and it is gone? Hast thou been overtaken by temptation, cast down, and sorely wounded? Canst thou find nothing in the word that will suit thy case; and do the terrors of the Almighty fall upon thee? Thou art the very sinner to whom Immanuel speaks, (Matt. xi. 28,) yes, to you is the word of salvation sent: Christ is exalted as a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins?" THOU ART THE KING OF GLORY, O CHRIST. Beloved Friend in the Lord, and highly favoured of Him who ascended up on high, and hath received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, or I could have no hope of mercy,-He has graciously given you the pen of a ready writer, and heavenly wisdom, willing to speak a word in season to them that are weary, &c. Many thanks I beg your acceptance of for yours of yesterday, as all yours breathe a Christian-like spirit of brotherly kindness and concern about us and our better part, with the anxiety of true, hearty friendship so very rare. But you are rewarded sweetly in your own dear bosom, being favoured with the spirit of grace and supplication promised to the household of David; with enlargement of heart to plead for others, dear to Jesus the Lord alone. Who, knowing all of them and all things, and is very tender and merciful to such as are the most weak and tried in various ways, and whom by his almighty, all-conquering grace and love he makes willing to suffer whatever he appoints in this vale of tears, and in their feeble, mortal bodies; so that Christ Jesus alone and him crucified may be exalted and extolled, that all glory may be given to God and the Lamb, as the only true and living God of all salvation unto the ends of the earth. Amen. Your blessed petitions, dear brother, are a true copy of my own of late, having been highly favoured with nearness and access to the throne of grace; when my soul bowed in holy fear and sweet reverential awe before the sacred and most holy revelation of the adorable Trinity; with liberty to plead "Abba, Father," that my soul might be drawn to Christ, his only begotten Son, and be conformed to his. image; that I might value Jesus more by communing with his blessed Spirit of all grace. When I got a sweet glimpse of his soulcheering face, the beauty of the Lord, then 1 could venture to call him, "My Lord and my God." Seeing and feeling all the adorable perfections of Deity shining in his works and person, my soul exclaimed in ecstacy of wonder and admiration, "Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ.' But he ascended in a cloud; and now I hope and desire to sit at his dear feet, to learn of him my daily, yea hourly,. lesson of living by faith on his infinite fulness and freeness of all grace to the chief of sinners. The envious serpent is still carping and disputing with my helpless soul in self and corruptions, still trying for mastery; but grace must and will have the dominion, glory be to God above, whose sovereign right it is to give and call into exercise this holy troop, that he plants in our hearts for our good and his own glory. We are both tolerable at present in body, though weak and infirm. But I feel my time will not be long here; so weary of sin and self, and every thing under the sun, so filled with snares is this evil world, and Satan with his children so devising and filling with murmurs, that I have been something like Asaph of late, "envious at the prosperity of the ungodly." (Psalm lxxiii.) “Verily (he says). I have cleansed my heart in vain," whilst he was "plagued all day long." So blind and stupid is that awful cursed sin of unbelief. I never felt it horrible before. A God-dishonouring, soul-destroying, hateful bar to all that's good, and as such the devil's darling, by which he seduces the whole world. I must conclude, being weary from fever to-day, the intermittent complaint being still upon me. Ever thine in Jesus, affectionately, July 22nd, 1835. Enclosed in the above letter were these verses: My dearest, my beloved Lord, O grant me this request, The sum of all my soul's desire: To lean upon thy breast. How sweet when, by constraining love, At thy dear feet I'm bless'd, For oft thou bidst me come up high, If left to search creation round, Since I have been indulged, dear Lord, To lean upon thy breast. While myriads seek their whole delight My favour'd soul is blest to lean On thy unchanging breast. 'Tis not the imperial monarch's throne, But all my utmost thoughts would crave AM, LETTERS BY THE LATE MR. LEWIS, OF CHICHESTER. No. III. To my dear Brother in Christ,-I hope you will not think me unmindful in not writing before. I know not how it is, but I feel more reluctant in writing letters than ever; perhaps one reason may be, the deadness, coldness, and insensibility that I am the subject of. I know that bonds and affliction await me go where I will; but as the Psalmist saith, "They that have no changes fear not God." Another reason is, the well is so deep, and I have nothing to draw water with. "When I would do good, evil is present with me; and how to perform that which is good I find not." Well, it must be so I suppose, in order to empty us of self, and strip us of all confidence in the flesh; to lay us low at the Saviour's feet in self-abasement, contrition, and godly sorrow, that Jesus alone may be exalted, extolled, and be lifted very high. It is a mercy that the dear Lord does not leave me in the hour when speaking in his blessed name, that is, not so as to be thrown into a state of confusion and distraction before the people, but does aid and assist me in speaking; although according to my feelings |