break his yoke from off thy neck.'

He was a brave, generous-hearted man, in spite of his faults. He
was to live the free hunter's life which he loved; and we find that
he soon became the head of a wild powerful tribe, and his sons after
him. Dukes of Edom they were called for several generations; but
they never rose to any solid and lasting power; they never became a
great nation, as Jacob's children did. They were just what one
would expect--wild, unruly, violent people. They have long since
perished utterly off the face of the earth.

And what did Jacob get, who so meanly bought the birthright, and
cheated his father out of the blessing? Trouble in the flesh;
vanity and vexation of spirit. He had to flee from his father's
house; never to see his mother again; to wander over the deserts to
kinsmen who cheated him as he had cheated others; to serve Laban for
twenty-one years; to crouch miserably in fear and trembling, as a
petitioner for his life before Esau whom he had wronged, and to be
made more ashamed than ever, by finding that generous Esau had
forgiven and forgotten all. Then to see his daughter brought to
shame, his sons murderers, plotting against their own brother, his
favourite son; to see his grey hairs going down with sorrow to the
grave; to confess to Pharaoh, after one hundred and twenty years of
life, that few and evil had been the days of his pilgrimage.

Then did his faith in God win no reward? Not so. That was his
reward, to be chastened and punished, till his meanness was purged
out of him. He had taken God for his guide; and God did guide him
accordingly; though along a very different path from what he
expected. God accepted his faith, delivered his soul, gave him rest