the care of the Rev. S. A. Swaine, TERIAL CHANGES have reached us has been re-opened after renovation. since the preparation of our last - The foundation-stone of a new issue :- The Rev. J. Maden, of school-chapel has been laid in Cann Macclesfield, to Cemetery - road, Hall-road, Leytonstone, Essex. - Sheffield; the Rev. J. J. Irving, of The foundation-stone of a new Swadlincote, Derbyshire,to Maidenschool and mission chapel has been head, Berkshire; the Rev. H. E. laid at Kimberley, Notts. - The Stone, of Arthur - street, King's foundation-stone of a new chapel Cross-road, London, to the Taberhas been laid at Hereford, for the nacle (late Exeter Hall), Notting. ministry of the Rev. T. Williams, ham; the Rev. W. Gillard, of the B.A. -The chapel at Holbeach, Metropolitan Tabernacle College, to Lincolnshire, has been re-opened Appledore, Devon; the Rev. R. after improvement.-The chapel at Hughes, of Countesthorpe, LeicesSunningdale, Berks, has been re-tershire, to Wem, Shropshire; the opened after renovation.-A new Rev. G. Wilson, of Dawley, Shropchapel has been opened at Sand- shire, to High Wycombe, Bucks; hurst, through the exertions of the the Rev. H. Wallace, of the Vetro. Rev. J. E. Cracknell, of York Town. politan Tabernacle College, to St. -A new branch chapel has been Helier's, Jersey; the Rev. J. Jer. opened at Cinderford, Gloucester- mine, of Evenjobb, Radnorshire, to shire, in connection with the church George Town, Tredegar, Monmouth. at Cinderford, of which the Rev. C. shire; the Rev. J. Charter, of Griffiths is the pastor. Brough, to Middleton-in-Teesdale; the Rev. R. Herries, of Consett, The Rev. W. R. Golding has been Durham, to Howard-street, North publicly recognised as the pastor of Shields; the Rev. G. H. Kemp, of the church in Burley-road, Leeds; the Metropolitan Tabernacle Col. the Rev. J. Seager, late of Thrap- lege, to Alford, Lincolnshire; the stone, of the church in St. George's. Rev. W. G. Coote, of Keysoe, Beds, street, Salford; the Rev. M. G. to Burslem, Staffordshire; the Rer. Coker, late of the Manchester Col- J. L. Bennett, of the Metropolitan lege, of the church at Zion chapel, Tabernacle College, to Wood-green, Bramley, Leeds; the Rev. T. London; the Rev. R. P. Javan, of Richards, of the church at Pont- Warksworth, Northumberland, to lottyn, Glamorganshire ; the Rev. / New Basford, Nottingham. The Rev. E. Balmford, of the church at W. Walters has, on account of ill. Minehead, Somerset; the Rev. J. health, retired from the pastorato C. Brown, late of Dundee, of the of the church at Aston-park, Bir. church in Wynne - road, Brixton, mingham ; his new address is ClareLondon; the Rev. J. J. Ellis, of mont, Rhyl, North Wales. The Rev. the church in Philip-street, Bedmin- W. Wood has resigned the pastorate ster, Bristol; the Rev. H. J. Moore, of the church in Infirmary-street, late of Regent's-park College, of the Bradford; the Rev. J. Voice, of the church in Berkeley-road, London, church in New Park-street, Holy. V.W.; the Rev. A. Tovey, of the head; the Rev. W. Ewens, of the church at Bourton, Dorset; the church at tley, Gloucestershire. Rev. W. 1. Davies, of the church at Rushden, Northamptonshire; the WE regret to announce the death Rev. J. G. Raws, of the church at of the Rev. J. Bailey, of Leicester l'lverston, Lancashire. formerly of Orissa), at the age of tifty-seven ; also of the Rev. C. Hill, Ths following reports of MINIS- of Stirling-street, Galashiels. DECEMBER, 1880. STUDIES IN THE LIFE OF JACOB. BY THE REV. T. GRAHAM TARN. GEN. xxviii. 16–22. The vision of the spiritual world and the voice of Divine promise had evidently made a profound impression upon Jacob's mind. The scenes of the night had startled him--aroused in him strong and intense emotions; and when he awoke, his conduct was that of a man acting under some overmastering impulse. He felt a strange, unaccountable sense of God's nearness, such as he had never experienced before. He was far away from the altars of his fathers, from the place where God had specially manifested His presence aforetime; he was expecting no heavenly communication, yet in the desert the glory of God burst upon him, as it afterwards flashed out apon Moses from the burning bush, and he was constrained to exclaim, " Surely the Lord is in this place; and I know it not." God is always near us, but, like Jacob, we are often unconscious of His presence. As we are surrounded by the atmosphere, so are we surrounded by the Divine presence, for He besets us behind and before, and “ in Him, we live and move and have our being." He touches us on every side ; always and everywhere He encircles and enfolds us with gentle pressure. He is in all His works. There is no part of nature and no process of nature where we cannot find Him. He is the very soul, the living energy of all created things. Beneath and behind all material substances, all processes of growth and decay, all the phenomena of the universe, and all the events of human life, is the agency of an everpresent, ever-working God. I know that many fail to see Him, and consequently deny His presence in the great material realm, but that is because they have no spiritual discernment. God is there, but the faculty which discerns Him is wanting. I give those men credit for perfect honesty and sincerity who say that they have examined the husk of nature and can find within it no Divine essence. They do not wilfully lie, though they are griovously mistaken, when they say, “In our belief, there is no trace of God in nature." We do materialists grievous injustice if we cherish the thought that they have entered into a conspiracy to explode all faith in a present God; I take it that they simply and honestly give us the conclusions they have reached. And their conclusions do VOL, XIII. N.S. XII, not at all surprise me. I am not surprised when a man without artistic taste gazes upon a masterpiece of painting, and gives it as bis solemn verdict that there is no beauty in it: or when a man, possessing little or no imagination, reads the loftiest flights of poetic genius, and says, “ These lines are senseless, I cannot understand them; they are meaningless jargon to me:” or when a deaf man, in a hall where one of those soul-inspiring oratories is being rendered, asserts that there are no harmonious sounds thrilling through the air; neither am I surprised when any man in whom the spiritual faculty is dead or dormant fails to see God. It is not by analysis, not by intellect, not by sense-bound investigation that we can find Him, but by reverence and love. Revelations are made to the pure, trustful, loving heart, which the strong active brain alone can never reach nor understand. It is only when the spiritual faculty is quickened by the Holy Spirit that the presence of God is fully attested to us, and we realise how He enraps us in His own immensity. Then we find Him in all places and at all times--not in the house of prayer merely, but in the shady forest, by the sea-shore, on the dusty road, or in the busy stieets-not in our Sabbath hours and our stated times of devotion only, but in our hours of business and the time we devote to recreation. And when we thus discern Him near, how earnest and meaningful our lives shall become, how pure and upright, how full of courage and comfort! We shall perpetually tread on holy ground and live in the very “ suburbs of heaven." The unexpected manifestation of God filled the patriarch with reverential fear-" He was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place !" The revelation was altogether a new experience for him. But the awe which crept over his spirit was not a slavish dread of God, not a frantic terror lest his sins were now about to be visited with punishment, not a fear lest God should smite him, for the promise had already scattered that fear; it was rather that solemn awe which a vision of august majesty and superlative greatness cannot fail to inspire. The fear of Jacob was not the terror of a criminal before his judge, or of a slave before his master; it was the solemn reverence of a creature before the uncreated God, of a child before his heavenly Father. His was not the fear of Adam when he hurried away from the presence of his Maker, and sought to hide himself in the leafy shades of the garden; there was in it no apprehensive dread of vengeance or coming evil. There was no " torment" in Jacob's fear; it did not unman him, it did not make him crouch before God, or flee from Him; it was that holy awé, that godly fear, wbich is spoken of throughout all Scripture as a trait of true piety. The holiest of the sons of men have need to bow down in the presence of God, but that filial fear, so far from weakening or paralysing us, is a positive element of strength. It strips us of all flippancy and frivolity; it forbids formality and hypocrisy ; it makes us circumspect in conduct, desirous not to offend, and careful to please ; and out of it are strangely born our noblest love and keenest joys. To meet God may awaken awe, but it no less inspires joy; the place may be dreadful, but it is no less blessed. Jacob felt that the spot which God had hallowed by His gracious manifestation should not be forgotten, and so he erected there a monumental stone as an aid to memory. He “rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillow and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil on the top of it." So long as memory held her seat he would seek to remember the events of that night, and he was anxious also to remember the place. Many long years might elapse before he could revisit it, and therefore he took steps to secure its identification. Or if, by some unaccountable freak, his memory should prove treacherous and allow the impressions of that night to fade away, then, by the law of association, that upright stone might call back the vagrant recollections. Drawing upon his slender store of oil, he anointed the stone, and thus consecrated it to its memorial use. It is a healthy sign when any man deliberately determines to remember the favours of God. Too often the few days of affliction are remembered, and the many months of health overlooked ; too often the mind dwells upon the sorrows and difficulties and shadows of life, While the joys and successes and sunshine are forgotten; we think more of the one bereavement than of the many dear ones spared to us. We grave our miseries with an iron pen upon the rock for ever ; we write our mercies upon the sand. Life would be vastly happier to all of us if we treasured up the memories of God's goodness and lovingkindness, rather than the sorrows and losses which now and then we have endured. Whatever touches our inward life into greater purity and power, whatever quickens in us love and hope, whatever opens & passage to us through difficulty and danger, whatever subdues our spiritual foes and lays them at our feet, should certainly be remembered. We cannot afford to lose the memory of these things, we must seek to give them distinct and lasting recognition. Jacob did more, however, than resolve to remember God's goodness; he made a solemn dedication of himself to the Lord. "And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, 80 that I come again to my father's house in peace ; then shall the Lord be my God: and this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house : and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.” He had received comprehensive pledges of the friendship and help of God, and now he offers pledges as a token of appreciation and gratitude. He had received “the sublimest promises and encouragements, and vows himself with fresh ardour, as one new-born, to the service of Jahveh.” * We do not read in his words any doubt about the Divine promise, or any disposition to bribe God into the fulfilment of it, though some have placed upon them this inerpretation. He was not attempting to drive a profitable bargain with * Ewald's History of Israel, God, for just then (whatever might be the tendency of his nature) be was in no mood for bargain-driving. The astounding revelation of God's grace bad, for a time at least, exorcised the spirit of crafty selfishness. We must understand his wif" not as implying doubt but acceptance of the promise. We shall gain the true sense of the passage if we use the words "inasmuch as " instead of “if.” “Inasmuch as God will be with me, ... then shall the Lord be my God,” &c. He believed the word of God, and at once appropriated the promise. He eagerly grasped that part of it which had reference to the Divine companionship, and placed it in the forefront; while with a modest uncovetous eye he read the temporal part, limiting his view of it to food and raiment. This is the true spirit with which to enter upon life, seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and leaving the supply of earthly good entirely to His wise discretion and sovereign will. Jacob now entered into solemn covenant relationship with God. " The Lord shall be my God.” God first revealed His grace, then Jacob accepted and responded to it. He grasped the friendly band which God had so graciously extended, returned the loving pressure, and firmly, trastfally said, "My God." He leaned now upon an arm that could never fail him, he reposed in a love which could never change, and his whole nature for the first time found its point of rest. There is no satisfaction, no salvation for any of us, until we can say with Jacob, with the Psalmist of Israel, and with the Apostle of the Gentiles, “ My God." The longing for Him is one of the deepest instincts of the soul—there is in us all a soul-craving wbich nothing less than God can satisfy. The restlessness, the misery of mankind arises partly from the inability of the world to fill the immensity of a human soul. Often men fail to understand their insatiable yearnings ; did they but interpret them aright, their cry would be, “My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God.” And God is waiting to quench that thirst, to satisfy those longings. You have only to appropriate Him by faith, and yield yourself to Him in absolute unreserved surrender, then can you thankfully, joyfully say, "He is mine, and I am his.” Self-consecration to God will inevitably result in a glad sense of oneness with Him; and according to the completeness of your consecration will be your experience of the indwelling fulness of God. It was not enough for Jacob that God should be the God of his fathers. In the promise God had said, “I am the Lord God of A brabam thy father, and the God of Isaac;" in Jacob's response, he said, “ Then shall the Lord be my God.” Jacob might have possessed all the advantages of a pious ancestry, and yet have remained a godless man. Religion is not a bereditary thing, but a personal matter. There can be little doubt but that moral qualities are transmissible from sire to son, and that the influences which play around the early life are extremely formative; but while these influences may predispose tbe soul toward the acceptance of Christ, they do not remove the necessity for personal consecration, nor are they always successful in induc |