the right hand of the Father; to be for ever exempted from sorrow, pain, and death; to be ever with the Lord; and to be invested with the "far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory," which even an apostle could not adequately express: such is the blessedness which will crown a life of evangelical obedience. Well, then, might St. Paul close his sublime discourse on the resurrection of the dead with the impressive exhortation : "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." (1 Cor. xv. 58.) Christians "know" the certainty of their future reward from personal experience and observation, and still more from the promises of God, all of which are in Christ yea and amen.

CHAPTER XI.

PROVIDENTIAL ANSWERS TO PRAYER.

THAT spiritual blessings are the gifts of God, and that they are bestowed by Him in answer to prayer, will be denied by no one who assents to the teaching of Holy Scripture. David prayed for the pardon of his sin, and for a clean heart; and all men must in this respect follow his example, or perish in their guilt, and in the corruption of their nature. St. Paul bowed his knees before the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for himself and for others, that they might be saved. from sin, filled with the fulness of God, and conducted to heaven; and our Saviour uttered a parable to this end, "that men ought always to pray, and not to faint."

According to the Scriptures, temporal good, the gifts of Divine providence, are to be sought and obtained in the same manner, whatever a sceptical philosophy may suggest to the contrary. The Lord Jesus taught His disciples to pray to their heavenly Father for their 'daily bread:" and in the national form of devotion the people are called upon, unitedly as well as individually, to ask of God "the things which are requisite and necessary as well for the body as the soul." On this subject the doctrine of the Bible is both illustrated

and confirmed by examples innumerable, every one of which is full of instruction and encouragement.

The first example of intercessory prayer that we find recorded in Holy Scripture is that of Abraham for Sodom and Gomorrah, the purposed destruction of which was declared by God to the patriarch, who immediately began to plead in behalf of the guilty and doomed cities. He presented no less than seven pleas for their preservation, to every one of which the Almighty condescended to accede. But when it was ascertained that there were not ten righteous persons in those cities, Abraham ceased to ask that they might be spared. Whether he was afraid further to encroach upon the Divine clemency, or whether he desisted because he thought that populous cities thus degenerate ought not to be spared, we know not; but Abraham's plea was accepted as far as it went; and it was not until he had ceased to plead that the threatened punishment was inflicted. "And the Lord went His way, as soon as He had left communing with Abraham; and Abraham returned unto his place." (Gen. xviii. 17-33.)

With some persons it is a maxim that marriages are made in heaven. This cannot, however, be said of every marriage that takes place; for believers are sometimes yoked with unbelievers, in direct opposition to a Divine precept. But wise and holy marriages are approved of God, and sanctioned by His blessing. When Abraham sent his servant to Mesopotamia, to select a wife for his son Isaac, the servant deeply felt the responsibility that rested upon him, and therefore prayed for providential guidance in the delicate affair that was confided to his management. On his arrival at the

appointed place, he halted by the side of a well, and asked of God a sign with respect to "the daughters of the men of the city," who were expected to "come out to draw water." "He said, O Lord God of my master Abraham, I pray Thee, send me good speed this day." "Let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that Thou hast appointed for Thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that Thou hast showed kindness unto my master." He had scarcely uttered this request before Rebekah, the daughter of Abraham's brother, appeared; and without even knowing who the stranger was, and much less knowing anything of his errand and his prayer, she presented the required sign in its complete form. In this manner Rebekah, with the concurrence of her father and of the other members of her family, became the wife of Isaac. Finding his prayer answered, the servant, reporting the happy result of his journey, and of the request he had offered to God, said, "I bowed my head, and worshipped the Lord, and blessed the Lord God of my master Abraham, which had led me in the right way to take my master's brother's daughter unto his son." (Gen. xxiv. 12-14, 48.)

When Jacob returned from Padan-aram, attended by a numerous family, and by flocks and herds in abundance, he was painfully apprehensive of the murderous hostility of his brother Esau, on account of the fraudulent manner in which he had many years before obtained his father's blessing. He therefore sent his servants to inform Esau of his return, charging them to address

him in the most respectful terms, as Jacob's "lord." They came back with all haste, saying that Esau was coming to meet Jacob, attended by four hundred men. On hearing this, Jacob "was greatly afraid and distressed," believing that Esau's intentions were hostile, and that he, his wives, and his children would all be slain, unless God in His providence should mercifully interpose; for he himself had no effectual means of defence. In consternation, therefore, and terror, "Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidst unto me, Return unto Thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee: I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which Thou hast showed unto Thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands. Deliver me, I pray Thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children." (Gen. xxxii. 9-11.)

Having made this affecting appeal to the God of his fathers, Jacob provided a series of handsome presents for his brother, for the purpose of subduing his anger, and of conciliating his favour. He then divided his family into three distinct companies, placing the favourite wife Rachel and her son Joseph last; that, in case the rest should be slain, these might escape, or, at least, be the last to suffer.

Night now came on; "Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a Man with him until the breaking of the day." In this mysterious stranger we recognise the Author of salvation, "the everlasting Son of the

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