repeated to Jacob by GoD himself", and they were also conveyed to him in the blessing which Isaac his father bestowed upon him". It was in the seed of Jacob that all families of the earth were to be blessed o.

ye shall

Jacob "dreamed, and behold a ladder set upon the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven, and behold the angels of GOD ascending and descending on it, and behold the Lord stood above it P." 66 Hereafter," said Jesus, see heaven open, and the angels of GOD ascending and descending upon the Son of man." The ladder, then, which Jacob saw, was a figure of " the Son of man," which is Christ', through whom is established a communication between earth and heaven. Through him we have access to the Father; and in him we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places; for the angels are "ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation"." "This," said Jacob, "is the gate of heaven";" "I," said Jesus, " am the door *;" "I am the way—no man cometh unto the Father but by me."

Jacob is said to have wrestled with a man until the breaking of the day; and this man is elsewhere spoken of as being an angel: "he had power over the angel, and prevailed." "And when he [the angel] saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him; and he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh; and he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me; and he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel *, for as a prince hast thou power with God, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, for I have seen GOD face to face, and my life is preserved. And as he passed over Peniel, the sun rose, and he halted upon his thigh."

Jacob, then, styles the man with whom he wrestled "GOD." Hosea, who speaks of this opponent of Jacob as being an "angeld," styles

him also "the Lord GOD of Hosts." Jacob saw "GOD face to face;" "in the likeness of men," he saw "Gop manifested in the flesh."

This angel, who is styled man and GOD, must have been that angel of the covenant", who was both "with GoD," and "was GOD," and "was made flesh," and is called both "Gop" and man m." Jacob beheld the Word Incarnate.

By appearing unto Jacob "in the likeness of men" (as he had also appeared unto Abraham in the plain of Mamre) Christ confirmed and illustrated the promise which had been made to both these patriarchs. But he condescended to wrestle with Jacob, and he suffered Jacob to contend successfully against Him, who was "Lord GOD of Hosts." By this wonderful act of condescension and self-humiliation, the almighty Founder of the covenant of salvation afforded to the destined father of His chosen people, the strongest figure that could be given of the powerful efficacy of that most mysterious and surprising scheme of salvation, the existence of which Jacob must already have been made acquainted with. Jacob beheld the WORD, humbled and weakened by the assumption of the

feeble nature of man, made weak through the flesh", that man might prevail with GOD*. By permitting Jacob to contend successfully against Him, Christ proved that His appearance in the flesh made man strong; that, by the abasement of the WORD, who was himself Lord GOD of Hosts, man was exalted to the rank of a Prince with GOD. He showed also, the strength with which we are endowed through Him; so that, although in this world, "we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness," yet," in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved usP."

But we read, that before Jacob was blessed by Him with whom he wrestled; before he was named Israel, or a Prince with GOD, his opponent, seeing that He prevailed not against Jacob,

n Rom. viii. 3. Matt. xxvi. 41.

*For Christ was "crucified through weakness';" he was "put to death in the flesh2;" he “humbled himself and became obedient unto death3." His "strength was made perfect in weakness 4."

2 Cor. xiii. 4.

2 1 Peter, iii. 18.

3 Phil. ii. 8.

4 2 Cor. xii. 9.

+ Christ" hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father." Rev. i. 6; v. 10; xx. 6.

"The prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now

worketh in the children of disobedience." Eph. ii. 2.

の

Eph. vi. 12.

P Rom. viii. 37.

"touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with Him." Now, since the contest between the Incarnate WORD and the father of the Israelites, is a figure, this act of the Redeemer of mankind must also be a figure illustrative of some event which was to be accomplished in the person or posterity of Jacob. Jacob, after having wrestled with "GOD in the flesh," was made to halt, and he afterward received the blessing which he sought, and was told, that as a prince he had power with Gov and with men, and had prevailed. The nation which descended from Jacob, and which is called (after the appellation of its common ancestor) Israel, although destined, ultimately, to be blessed, at present halteth. "Israel hath not

obtained that which he seeketh for ";""Christ crucified" is " unto the Jews a stumbling-blocks." Israel hath stumbled at that stumbling-block and rock of offence which is "set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel." But GOD hath said, “ I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; and I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast off a strong nation, and the Lord shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth