SERMON VI. JACOB IN LIFE AND IN DEATH. BY THE REV. J. W. BURGON, M.A. FELLOW OF ORIEL COLLEGE, AND VICAR OF S. MARY-THEVIRGIN'S, OXFORD. SERMON VI. Ps. XLVI. 4. Blessed is he that hath the GoD of Jacob for his help! I AM much mistaken if we are not better acquainted with Jacob than with any other of the Saints of old. This is not only because he comes before us SO largely in his private and domestic relation, but because the character which there comes to view is so intensely human. Hear him interpreting the sign of his bereavement :-"It is my son's coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt torn in pieces." Whereupon he "rends his clothes, and puts sackcloth upon his loins, and mourns for his son many days; and refuses to be comforted:" and says " For I will go down into the grave unto my son, mourning."-Call to mind that fresh and graceful record of the seven years he served for Rachel, which "seemed to him a few days, for the love he had to her.”—Or again, his decision concerning Benjamin: "My son shall not go down with you for his brother is dead, and he is left alone: if mischief befall him, then shall ye bring down my grey hairs with sorrow to the grave." His affections are ever strong; his sorrow ever excessive; his anticipation of coming evil ever keen; his recollection of past mercies, ever most deep and tender. How does he linger over any sad passage in his own past history! As with reference to the death of Rachel : And as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan, in the way, when yet there was but a little way to come unto Ephrath : and I buried her there, in the way to Ephrath.””. How does he enlarge on any circumstance of blessedness; as when he exclaimed at the sight of Joseph, "Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive." And again, before blessing Joseph's two sons, "I had not thought to see thy face; and lo, GOD hath even shewed me thy seed !"3 Jacob is intensely human, if one may so speak. All his sayings seem to proceed from the same depth of human feeling; and are characterized by the same intensity of human emotion. There is no mistaking 1 Gen. xxxvii. 23, 34, 35: xxix. 20: xlii. 38. 2 Gen. xlviii. 7. 3 Gen. xlvi. 30: xlviii. 11. |