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so great an evil be averted, and the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and all abundance and authority, crown and adorn her beloved Jacob? If such be God's ordinance, can he not bring it to pass? Needs he the rash fingerings of human frailty, to help out his great designs? Especially, does he beckon for the dark steppings of deceit and guilt for the unfolding of his glorious plans? The decisive day is come; the day when the soul of the patriarch confers its selectest blessing. Esau is abroad with his bow, in joyous pursuit of the desired repast that is to precede the promised benediction. Meanwhile, dark words and deeds are passing in the house of Isaac. A spirit of darkness is invoked, to waken light and joy. A jewel, rich and beautiful, rises on the sight; and secured it must be, though the serpent shall be roused to seize it where it lies, and sting to the quick the hands that receive it from his fangs. O! where now was the trust of the good Abraham, who would follow no hand but God's, and that, too, though his hand might seem to urge to tragedy and death! Could not the same voice that preserved Isaac from dying on Moriah, deter him now from giving a wrong direction to the blessings of his father Abraham? How rare is faith on the earth! And if, to-day, her slender hand takes hold upon the great arm, no wonder if, to-morrow, that hand be shattered, and nothing remain but tempests, and tossings, and ruin.

Rebecca sins;-and sin, when it is finished,

bringeth forth death. At once, we hear of hatred where love was; and murderous threatenings are whispered along those once peaceful halls ;—and there are dreams of blood-and fears that have torment—and dark anticipations—and sad parting scenes. Upon me be thy curse, my son!" Alas for such an assumption! Who shall bear another's curse? Now trouble comes. That darling son becomes an exile, to save his life. That fond mother must send him from her presence; and whether she ever sees him again, history is silent. We hear of his hailing his father in after years, but thenceforth there is the silence of death as to Rebecca. There is no voice to speak of her again, telling how long she lived, or when or where she died. Jacob, indeed, once lisps her name; but it is when the damps of death are on his brow; and he only speaks of her as-buried!

Yet hope for Rebecca. Respect her sorrows, as she weeps over the sad absence of her beloved child. Doubt not her penitence before her God, and his forgiveness through the promised Seed. Be there smiles for her dying hours; when the Heaven-destined Isaac leaned over her who was the joy of his life, and pointed her away to the rest of the weary. Joy to the mingled dust, where "they buried Isaac and Rebecca." It shall rise again, one day, in forms more beautiful by far than ever roamed amid the groves of Beersheba, or bloomed by the fountains of Haran.

Leah and Rachel.

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LEAH and Rachel were the daughters of Laban, and nieces of Rebecca; and became the wives of her favorite son, Jacob, after he emigrated to Padan-aram. Rachel was the first of her father's family whom Jacob saw after his arrival, and he appears to have been immediately captivated by her beauty. On his introduction to her father, and after the space of a month, he proposed to serve him seven years for the hand of Rachel, and the proposal was accepted. The seven years seemed to Jacob "but a few days, for the love he had to her." At the end of the specified time, however, the elder sister, Leah, was secretly led to his bed instead of Rachel, and seven more years were enjoined by the deceitful and rapacious Laban upon Jacob, in order to the possession of his beloved Rachel.

Thus, in violation of nature's wise and perfect laws, Jacob became at once involved in the perplexing condition of bigamy; and, which might appear one of the most melancholy forms of this unnatural position, two sisters disputed with each other for his affections and smiles. That their common relation to Jacob exerted a highly deleterious influence upon their sisterly relations and affection, we might very safely infer, while the

brief incidents of their history sufficiently corroborate such a suspicion.

What nicely-balanced advantages, and what extra-human goodness and forbearance, must combine to insure, under such circumstances, even ordinary tranquillity in the domestic circle! In the case before us, there appears a certain equalizing and opposition of considerations, which may be regarded as providential. Rachel was the more beautiful; Leah, the more fruitful: the latter advantage, according to the sentiment of the people and times, being fully equivalent to the former. If the charms of Rachel won upon the heart of her husband, the piety of Leah could not fail to command his esteem. If Rachel was beautiful, she was yet forward and grasping; if Leah was plain, she was also retiring and submissive. With all the personal attractions of the younger sister, she was, at times, impatient and imprudent; and, on one occasion, at least, exhibited herself as highly unreasonable and blameworthy. The elder sister, on the other hand, impresses us as evincing a grateful spirit for blessings received, as well as a becoming forbearance at any ungraceful neglect on the part of one from whom she rightly conceived that she deserved a more respectful and affectionate bearing. If there were beauty and favor in the tent of Rachel, there were honor and dignity in that of her sister; and if the former might assure herself of her superior personal power over her husband, the latter might

point to her blooming progeny, and, like the heroic mothers of an after age, exclaim, "These are my ornaments!"

It becomes us, indeed, to speak gently and cautiously of the two wives of Jacob. Place man or woman in a position varying from that designed by the God of nature and of providence, and no marvel if there be derangement and confusion in the result. There are beautiful simples, which, if brought into certain combinations, produce but deformity; and, in human society, there have often existed alliances as unharmonious as they were unphilosophical, and working out results as awkward and unsightly, as the individuals concerned were, in their separate capacity, lovely and hopeful. I have loved to contemplate the daughters of Laban apart from their common relation to the son of Isaac. Before ever they saw the stranger from afar, it is easy to imagine that, as associates, they were lovely and pleasant in their lives. Whether within doors, concerned with their simple domestic duties, or abroad with their father's flocks, amid the rich and sunny pastures of Padan-aram, we think of them only as one in affection as well as in occupation. The voice of sprightly mirth full often echoed through those chestnut groves; and songs, breathed upon delicious voices, and accompanied by the tabret and the harp, were heard hard by where blissful Eden bloomed in its glory. Were they not sisters then? And sisters should they always have

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