yet one of those dark and bitter experiences which form such an important item in the sum of life's discipline.

Lying on the hard ground, Jacob presently fell asleep; and it was then that he saw the wonderful vision described in the text. According to the beautiful conjecture of the traveller already mentioned, the stones around him seemed to form themselves into the steps of a gigantic "ladder," or "staircase" rather, whose foot was on the earth, and whose top reached to heaven; and behold the angels of God ascending and descending upon it. And above it stood Jehovah himself. We know not under what form He manifested himself to His servant, we know not what was the precise symbol of His presence; but the words which He spoke have been carefully recorded. They were just such words as the weary, lonely, forlorn one, needed to hear at the time; they were full of comfort, hope, and assurance "I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee

again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of." It was a strange dream; the things which appeared were strange, the words which were heard were strange so strange, that they made a deep impression upon Jacob's mind. The first feeling which possessed him when he awoke was that of shame mingled with awe; he had thought himself forsaken, and could not less than feel ashamed when he understood that the God of his fathers was still his faithful friend; he had thought the place solitary, and could not help trembling, when he discovered that it was full of the Divine presence. "Surely," said

he,

"the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not." "And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." Jacob rose that morning an altered man, with fresh views of life, with new resolutions respecting the future. Upon that hard bed in that houseless region, there had been given him a revelation, which would powerfully influence his future couduct. Henceforth his life would be devoted to God; he would implicitly trust in God's providence, he would shape his course with the full consciousness that God's eye was upon him, that God's protection was round about him, that God's strength was at hand to support him.

Now, my friends, I confess that it is not an easy

matter to lay hold on the lesson which an incident like this has to teach us. The distance of the time, the distance of the country, and above all, the supernatural element mixed up with it, seem to separate it altogether from our common experiences. And yet there can be no doubt that it has a permanent meaning; otherwise it would have been beneath the dignity of divine inspiration to place it on record. To you, then, who are young in years, who are just entering on life's battle, it distinctly declares, that there is a God above who loves you, who watches over you, who longs to be the guide of your youth. Will you take Him as your friend? will you receive Him as your guardian? will you place yourselves under His guidance? This is a solemn question for you to decide. For depend upon it, if God be your friend, you are safe—you are safe for life, you are safe for death, you are safe for eternity. But if you wilfully turn your backs upon Him, then be it known to you, that you are adopting a course which must eventually lead to loss, ruin, misery, and long despair.

But I think the incident has a wider, deeper, and more general meaning still. It teaches a truth which not only the young, but the middle-aged, the old, all in fact are concerned to know. I look upon it as a Divine interpretation of the mystery of existence, a lifting up of the veil which covers the

unseen, an ocular solution of the problem that has ever baffled human wisdom. The first thought which strikes us here is, the duality of existence, for we are told that the ladder was "set on the earth," and that "the top of it reached to heaven," thus indicating the existence of two separate worlds. The second thought which strikes us is, the unity of existence, for though heaven be above and earth below, still a ladder connects them, thus making the apparently separate worlds really one.

I. THE DUALITY OF EXISTENCE.

Let us pause for a moment and contemplate our own existence; for each one of us is a little universe, a miniature representation of the great universe of which we form a part. Now, we carry within ourselves a kind of double consciousness. We feel ourselves to be complex beings. We have a higher nature and a lower nature, a spiritual side and a material side, an immortal element and a mortal element. And now that sin has destroyed the harmony of our being, we are conscious that a constant war, a fierce struggle, is being carried on between these two natures. This is described by Paul as an opposition between the spirit and the flesh, the mind and the members; and he gives us to understand that the opposition never ceases even after conversion. "For I know," saith he, "that

in me—that is, in my flesh-dwelleth no good thing for the will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would, I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do." Again: "I see a law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members." The two natures seem to have separate wants, separate interests, separate longings; hence their disagreement; but in a world like this, the lower nature has so many allies and confederates, that it generally triumphs in the struggle, and has it all its own way.

The

It is this double consciousness that has suggested to heathen nations the existence of another world. Men of thought and reflection among them have discovered in themselves powers that can never be developed in the present life, desires that can never be satisfied by any material objects, and hence they have speculated and discoursed concerning a higher, a nobler, a more permanent state of existence. language and arguments employed by ancient sages in reference to this matter, are most astonishing, and make us wonder whether men who could utter such glorious truths were not half inspired. But the knowledge they imparted to others they themselves must have acquired in the diligent study of their own being; they had questioned their own