e character of the most accomplished hucksters and
tricksters of the world. The power capable of the one, under the true
inspiration, without it sank easily to the level of the other. There is
a modern instance remarkably in point. In many respects the Scotch have
succeeded to the character and position which the Jews occupied in
ancient society. In both people there is the same grand spiritual power,
the same prophetic spirit--Edward Irving was more after the fashion of
an old Jewish prophet than any man, except perhaps Savonarola, whom we
have had among us in these modern days--the same intense religious zeal,
the same heroism in fighting and suffering for their faith, mixed up
with the same worldly ambition, the same cautious and canny temper, the
same facility of dispersion, and the same power of getting on and
winning wealth and influence wherever God might cast their lot. Is
there not a manifestation of the same law in the history of the
universal Church? As with Jacob, as in Judaism, so in Christendom, the
leading spiritual magnates, the prominent Churchmen of all ages,
forsaking their true strength, divesting themselves of their true power
as Christ's priests and kings, have sunk to the level of the most
selfish schemers, and have won the reputation of the cleverest and
wiliest statesmen of the world. Churchcraft in all ages has been held to
be a shade more worldly, more subtle, more ruthless, than statecraft.
The old proverb, "the corruption of the best is the worst" partly
accounts for it; but something is due also to the principle whose
workings we trace through Jacob's history, that the power which,
inspired of God, is capable of Godlike activity, when the world or the
devil get hold of it, is capable of all manner of worldly and devilish
work with fell energy and success.

But Jacob's life was purified and elevated as it passed through its
tremendous discipline. The aged pilgrim, having won the title of Prince
of God, stood before Pharaoh clothed with a dignity and power which made
the world's mightiest monarch bend eagerly under the blessing of his
hand. "_The Angel which redeemed me from all evil_," he spake of, when
his eyes were growing dim in death. The history of his life is the
history of that redemption, and this is its rich meaning for us. He
sinned basely and shamefully, he suffered as few have suffered, and
wrestled as few have strength to wrestle for the blessing which purified
and redeemed his