Genesis xxxii. 26 (concluded)

‘And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I mil not let thee go, except thou bless me.

ON a recent occasion, we considered the former part of the subject contained in the words of our text. We have still to meditate upon the conduct of Jacob expressed in the words. 1 will not let thee go, except thou bless me.”

This blessing comprises in lt, generally speaking, the appropriation of the salvation purchased by Christ, from its first scarcely perceptible commencement in the individual, to its completion in heaven; from the first inclination of the will towards God and his truth, to the ^aiidmn before the throne of the Lamb; from the us inquiry, * What must I do to be saved V to the being satisfied with Divine felicity as with a stream; in which appropriation there is a commencement, a continuation, and a completion observable.

Jacob expresses a strong and ardent desire for this blessing. He does not however mean its first beginnings; for he had no doubt of the favor of God, of the forgiveness of his sins, and that the renewing of the Divine image had already been commenced in him. He had no doubt of the validity of the blessing received from his father, although not in an entirely correct manner; since not only his father, but God himself, had confirmed it. He had not the smallest hesitation with regard to the Divine sealing of the promise he had received, but appeals to it in the twelfth verse, with all boldness. He did not consider himself as one in whom the Lord had hitherto had no pleasure, but although entirely unworthy of it, as the favored object of his mercy and loving kindness, of which he had received the most visible and affecting proofs.

But still he was not satisfied. He longed to be blessed in a superior, more inward, and profound manner than before. And the Lord himself had excited this desire, this hunger, and this longing within him. The Lord had awakened in him the feeling of necessity for a superior blessing, for a -more substantial impartation of grace. He had inflicted a deep wound upon him, not only outwardly but inwardly also, which rendered him desirous of being healed. He could no longer exist in the manner he had done hitherto, nor be any longer satisfied with his state of grace. He wished for more. From being Jacob, he desired to become Israel. The eagle felt its wings and wished to soar aloft with with them. It was with him as with the grain of wheat in the lap of earth, whose germ bursts the husk, and springs forth. He felt as though what had been said to his grandfather Abraham, had been also said to him: ‘Walk before me, and be thou perfect; for I will make a covenant between me and thee.’ From being a youth he wished to become a man.

When a soul is called from an inferior to a higher state of grace, and to a more perfect faith, and when Christ is to be more completely formed in the soul, a certain pressure precedes .it. This was also the case with Jacob; and the Lord employed a variety of means to produce in him this necessity for and craving after a superior communication of grace and blessing. He first gave him the command to return to the land of Canaan, where his father dwelt, and also his brother Esau, and gradually conducted him to the scene of conflict where we have hitherto contemplated him, and where wonderful but glorious things occurred to him. In Mesopotamia he had no reason to trouble himself about his brother’s fury, although he had something to suffer from the convetousness of his father-in-law; but now he himself, with all that was dear and valuable to him, was at stake, and he was cast, as it were, to the lions. It was not his own choice; for tin’s would have been fool-hardy, and he would have been unable, in this case, to have made God his confident. It was the Lord’s own guidance. To this Jacob appeals in the ninth verse, * Thou saidst unto me, Return unto thy country.’ The Lord had also promised him, saying, * Behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest.’ (ch. xxviii. 15.) His own reason and his own will would have been no good guide, nor do they lead any one aright. Hence the promise is, ‘I will guide thee with mine eye;’ * I will lead thee into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto thee.’ (Hosea ii. 14.) Hence David prays, * Let thy good Spirit lead me on a plain path;’ and again, * Turn from me every false way, and grant me thy statutes.’

However, Jacob was not enabled to conduct himself under these circumstances, on approaching his brother, in a manner consistent with the promises he had received. By the Lord’s wise permission, a dreadful fear of his enraged brother takes possession of his soul, and under its influence he acts, in some respects, too much like a natural man; but in others, in an exemplary manner. The feeling of fear was not only painful in itself, but one might have supposed it could not have seized such a man as Jacob. Doubtless he himself regarded it as something unbecoming, improper, and even absurd, and for which there was no cause, and by giving way to which he might act derogatorily to the faithfulness, power, and promise of the Lord. But these considerations were insufficient to tranquilize him; his reason looked too much at that which was seen, and too little at that which is invisible — too much upon Esau, too little upon God; and he could not divest himself of it. And what was the result? — a struggle, and the desire that the Son would make him free. Until he obtained this, he acted with too much human prudence. Hence his humble message to his brother. Hence his submissive and excessive courteousness, in commanding Esau to be always called his Lord, but himself his servant; hence the prudent division of his family and his flocks into two parts, in order to save at least one of them; hence the placing the present intended for him in the first rank, and the instructing all his domestics to address Esau in a highly complimentary manner. He did everything to rid himself of his fear, and yet it is said, Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed.’ And certainly, it was not for him to deliver himself from it; this honor belongs to the Son of God alone. Jacob’s anxiety was doubtless rendered still more painful by the reproaches of his enlightened understanding on account of it, which prescribed an entirely different line of conduct to him, and a deportment consistent with the many proofs of Divine favor which he had received, and which were similar to those expressed by David in Psalm xci.: * Though a thousand should fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, yet it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. No evil shall befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling, for he hath given his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways.’ How much had Jacob in his favor! — his father’s blessing, which God himself had confirmed; the remarkable vision of the heavenly ladder during his flight; and the glorious promise of the blessing, which should extend itself to all nations through the medium of his posterity.

The many temporal blessings which the Lord had bestowed upon him in such a visible manner, during his residence with Laban; the express command to return, with the promise of protection; the wonderful change produced in Laban, who, notwithstanding his furious rage, was not permitted to speak an unkind word to him; the meeting of a host of protecting angels at Mahanaim; and yet to be the subject of fear — of such great fear — was evidently not right, was a proof that Jacob did not yet possess a perfect faith; that he had not apprehended this golden chain of promises as he ought. There were promises enough, but not sufficient faith. He that feareth,’ says John, 1 Ep. iv. 18, ’ is not made perfect in love. Fear hath torment; but perfect love casteth out fear.’ Perfect faith does not make haste, nor does it flee, through fear. He that can say with the Psalmist, c God is my refuge and strength’ — can also say, ‘Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.’ But Jacob had not yet attained this standing; we must beware, however, of supposing that perhaps only a single saint in a century attains to it, and that it cannot be attained by others because we ourselves have not yet arrived at it.. For such thoughts are base, derogatory to God and his grace, and resting-places for the flesh.

Jacob was conscious that his faith was not in accordance with the promise. All his prudent measures were unable in the smallest degree to expel his fear, which laughed, like Job’s leviathan, at the shaking of the spear. All his endeavors to compose and tranquilize his mind were fruitless, and only increased his fear and disturbance, instead of lessening it. O happy failure of his own, self-potent striving to help and amend himself! Happy is he whose own strength, wisdom, and righteousness is dislocated in the struggle, and who has no other alternative than to cast himself entirely into the arms of Jesus!

Thus it fared with Jacob. His distressing condition outwardly, and his still greater inward distress, which he was unable of himself to remove, compelled him to have wourse to the Lord by prayer; in which he unfolds the state of his mind, and candidly confesses that he was afraid of his brother Esau. At the same time he intreats a superior communication of grace. Perhaps it was more in the manner of groanings which cannot be uttered, than of clearly experienced and plainly expressed requests — a moaning of the new creature — which airain.xt its will lay in bondage to vanity — after the glorious liberty of the children of God; a longing alter something better, of which he could not himself form any clear conception.

But He who searcheth the heart, well knew what was the mind of the Spirit. He himself had implanted in him this superior hunger after righteousness, and produced this urgency of spirit in him. Even as the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so his soul panted after God. His soul thirsted for God, for the living God, that he might come and appear before God, to see his power and his glory, so as he had seen it in the sanctuary. His heart would have been delighted to have been able to praise the Lord with joyful lips. He sought retirement He prayed and wept, as Hosea says; he could not properly say what he required; it was not merely fear, but also its peculiar source, of which he wished to be divested. His heart, not yet established in perfect faith, and still unable properly to apprehend God in his promises, travailed, as it were, in the spiritual birth — as the Savior says — by which something new was to be produced in the soul.

But it was only after the Lord had laid hold of him in such a manner, that his travail really commenced. •8*

The Lord himself struggled with him. His sin and imworthiness was deeply unfolded to him; but at the same time his cleaving to the Lord, and his craving for a blessing, became so urgent that he could not refrain, whatever might be the result. Although in the most wretched plight, and deprived of all strength, he still exclaimed, “I will not let thee go, except thou bless me 1 I cannot possibly let thee go without it; I will and must have a special blessing.”

The Lord was also willing to impart it, and he therefore prepared him for it, by depriving him of every other support, that the Lord himself might be his rod and his staff. He divested him of all strength, that he might find it in the Son of God alone. It was necessary that he should feel the impossibility of expelling fear, notwithstanding the Divine promise which had been given, and likewise that he might seek and expect the changing pf his heart, the pacifying of his soul, and everything else from the Lord alone. He decreased, and Christ increased; he became little and nothing, that the Lord might be great, might be all; thus on his dying-bed he was able to confess and say, ( He hath redeemed me from all evil,’ and not I myself; even as he expressed his whole inward state in the words, ‘O Lord, I wait for thy salvation!’

In a similar manner the Lord has acted towards others, to whom he intended to manifest his glory more folly. Take, for example, the disciples. The Lord had still much to say to them, but they could not then bear it, they were not able to apprehend it. It would have appeared irrational to them; they could not have received it; the Savior therefore, was wisely silent, and had patience, until the Spirit should come and lead them into all truth. But what took place in their souls before this more glorious manifestation of Christ 1 The Lord himself hints at it in John xvi. 21, where he says, ‘A woman, when she is in travail, hath sorrow, because her hour is come; but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. And ye now, therefore, have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.’ And Paul says to the Galatians, * My little children, of whom I travail in birth again, until Christ be formed in you.’ The disciples, in consequence of the sufferings of Jesus, were themselves plunged into profound and unwonted suffering. The entire edifice of their hopes was overthrown, and nothing remained but the foundation which God himself had laid in them. But the other foundation of sinful nature also manifested itself in them, in a manner they could not have believed. They had long indeed regarded themselves as sinners; but at the same time, as far better men than they were now obliged to acknowledge. They were offended at Jesus, who had, nevertheless, pronounced him blessed who should not be offended in him; they were offended at Jesus, although they had regarded it as impossible; and therefore pertinaciously contradicted him, when he told them beforehand, that such would be the case. “That will never happen,” answered they, “we are too much devoted to thee.” But when put to the test, they all forsook him’, and endeavored to keep it a secret that they had ever been his disciples; they were afraid of their Esau-brethen, and apprehensive lest their mother’s children should smite them; nay, they even began to consider their hope, that Jesus would deliver Israel, as groundless, and to suppose that the Jews had succeeded in their devices against him to an extent he had not anticipated.

All this took place in their old man, in their natural heart and understanding. But what was the new man doing meanwhile? It mourned and wept, as Jesus had predicted; it travailed in birth, but there was no strength to bring forth. It would gladly have elevated itself to a higher degree of faith; but both the requisite power and light were wanting for this purpose. They mourned and wept in the distress and anxiety of their hearts, and were like a ship upon the stormy sea, tossed hither and thither by the waves, without an anchor, and without any harbor in sight. There was an end to the cause of Jesus, and to them along with it. A man wrestled with them, to drive them from the spot, and to confuse them with respect to God, to Jesus, to the kingdom of God, to all the promises, and to themselves. The Bridegroom was taken away from them, and the time to fast had arrived. But what followed? A superior manifestation of the glory of Christ; a view which they had not previously possessed; a faith, of which they were before ignorant; a knowledge of the Scriptures, of which they had till then been deficient; a humility and a confidence, a resignation and a wisdom, to which they had before been utter strangers.

‘I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction,’ says the Lord, by the prophet (Isa. xlviii. 10.) He who desires to be raised with Christ, must first be taken captive with him in the garden of Gethsemane; bound round about with grief, so that he cannot move, that he may be absolved before a Divine and human tribunal; be condemned by the law and his conscience, that he may be pronounced righteous; and be crucified and slain, in order that he may live unto God. True felicity does not consist in words, but in the fruits of repentance and faith; in the essential experience both of sin and faith; of self and the living God. Such is also the experience of all those Christians who are predestinated and called to become conformed to the Son of God. After they have passed through the first stage of repentance — after entering through the narrow gate into the kingdom of God — after being joyfully assured of the forgiveness of sins, and believing in Christ and his grace — much is given them to enjoy. The Bridegroom is with the children of the bride chamber; therefore how can they mourn? A beautiful robe is put upon them, and shoes on their feet; a feast is prepared, and singing and dancing are heard. Their assurance of their state of grace is firm; their joy is heartfelt; and they say to others also, ‘Come hither, ye that seek God ;J they feel a power which induces them to use the confident language of Paul, ( In all these things we are more than conquerors, through him that hath loved us;’ a courage which shuns no reproach of the world, no suffering, no death, no devil; a heavenly-mindedness, which feels a disgust at all that is vain; a relish for reading the Scriptures, that induces them to break off many an hour even from sleep; a delight in prayer, so that hours fly like moments, and they leaVe it with regret; a communication of grace, which their mortal tabernacle is scarcely able to endure; a readiness to suffer, which makes them willing to beg their bread, and to give all they have to the poor; a disgust at sin, which borders upon indignation; a facility in every good work, which causes them heartily to recommend the yoke of Christ as easy and his burden as light. O how happy do they then feel! They think they must tell it to every one, that others may also set out in quest of such a felicity; they desire that all should possess it, and even torment the still unconverted members of their households with unceasing persuasions to be converted: just as if it were the work of man; and they exclaim, ‘Ho, all the world, come hither! here ye may see that God is gracious without any merit of your own!’ If experienced Christians put in a word, and tell them that a change will take place with them, they ca*nnot believe it. But how should they fast, as long as the Bridegroom is with them? Rather call unto them, and say, ‘Rejoice, thy King cometh!’ The Lord, by his only-begotten Son, has caused their mountain to stand strong. They say, We shall never be afraid; but when He hides his face they are troubled. This is, as it were, the welcome on entering the kingdom of God. Like the children of Israel, after their departure from Egypt, and their passage through the Red Sea, they come to Elim, with its twelve fountains of water, and its seventy palm trees, and encamp there. But from thence the whole congregation removes into the desert, which leads them to Sinai (Exod. xvi.) The refreshing seasons decline, and often intermit with times of great barrenness. The individual at one time feels great strength, and finds himself at another in the most deplorable impotency. At one time he possesses great courage, and at another the same degree of timidity; at one time he can call Jesus his, and at another not; at one time he

feels himself very able to make a sacred surrender of himself, and at another by no means disposed for it. He at length becomes extremely weary of this continual vicissitude, and inquires if it be impossible for the heart to be established; if only a Paul could say, ‘I know iri whom I have believed,’ and am persuaded and assured; if that faith be unattainable which the Apostle describes as the * substance of tilings hoped for, the evidence of things not seen;’ if we ought not in the present day, according to the rule laid down by the Apostle John, to believe the love which God has towards us in Christ, and experience that fear is not in love, and must be expelled by the latter; and if we may have boldness even in the day of judgment: and then he asks, “Shall I only be unable to attain to it, seeing that with God nothing is impossible, although in myself I am incompetent to any thing that is good, and inclined to all that is evil? Is that state of grace, described by the Apostle, no longer attainable in the present day, in which the individual is free from an evil conscience, and is able to come boldly to a throne of grace; and where he speaks of a rest in God, and a cleaving to the Lord, by means of which we become one Spirit with him?” In short, he is compelled to believe that -there is something higher, more glorious, and blissful in religion, than what he, or even others, have yet experienced; and he feels within him an ardent longing after this substantial and permanent state, although he sees and acknowledges himself unworthy of it; although it rests with the Lord’s free grace whether he be pleased to lead him out of his present straitened and contracted position into greater liberty; and he counts those elect souls particularly happy, who through grace have attained to it; from whence he learns to believe, that the most honor is frequently put upon those members which are thought to be less honorable, and that no one has reason to despair on account of his un worthiness, because the reward is not of works, but of grace.

Those souls, which in an especial manner hunger and thirst after righteousness, and to whom the promise is given that they shall be satisfied, experience a disgust, a certain dissatisfaction with their former standing in godliness; and in all their good exercises, they feel much poverty, and can no longer continue them in their custpmary manner; they see too clearly the self-love and self-righteousness which intermingle themselves in every thing; they detest their own working, although they cannot yet give it up; they also perceive that pleasing feelings do not constitute the essential part of religion. They languish until the Son makes them truly free, till salvation shall come upon Israel out of Zion, and the Lord deliver his captive people. The man here obtains a much deeper insight into the corruption and depravity of his own heart, into that dreadful self-love and self-righteousness which pervades us, into the amazing unbelief in which we are immersed, and is compelled to consider all that proceeds from himself as a mere hindrance. The case is now the same with him as with Jacob, when his hip was out of joint, and when he was thus deprived of all ability to stand and to continue the combat; so that only the choice was left him either to fall helpless into the hands of his infuriated brother, or to cast himself upon the neck of his opponent. Nothing now remains for him but to place his hope and confidence entirely upon the Lord, and to say with Jacob, “I will not let thee go, except thou bless me — bless me with a superior light than has hitherto shone upon me, by which I may duly view thee, my Savior, as elevated upon the cross, with a stedfast peace, which shall keep my heart and mind in Christ Jesus instead of the constant mental disturbance I have hitherto experienced: with a complete faith, which receives out of thy fulness grace upon grace, and abides in thee as the,branch in the vine; which affords an entire and constant assent to the work - of redemption, and perseveres in it, so that I have a sure rnniklence that thou wilt bless me with such a real fellowship and intercourse with thee, as to enable me to pray without ceasing, offer thanks unto thee, and thus glorify thee.”

Such is Jacob’s prayer, 6 1 will not let thee go,’ — a prayer to be used not only in the beginning, but also in the progress of the life of grace. Happy is he who employs it in both cases, and to whom light rises in darkness!

May the Lord bestow his blessing upon us all; begin his work in those souls where it is not yet commenced; and where it is already begun, carry it on until the dawning of the perfect day. May complete knowledge and faith, a perfect cure and perfect love, be, by grace, the lot of all of us! Amen.