0n Prince Edward Island

CHAPTER XXVII.

SERMON PREACHED BY REV. WILLIAM M’GREGOR IN LoT 16, P. E. 1., A. D. 1821. TEXT GEN. xxxu :26. “I WILL NOT LET THEE co EXCEPT THOU BLESS ME.”

The history of Jacob is beautiful, striking and affecting. It is full of tender and delicate incidents, fitted to arrest the attention and warm the heart; a hidden stream of poetry runs through the whole history. ,There was Jacob who left his father’s house on account of the hatred and persecution of his brother Esau. On his journey he came to a cer- tain place and, overtaken by night, took of the stones of that place for his pillow, and with the heavens for his curtains, he laid himself down to sleep. “So he gives his beloved sleep.” In the dead of night when deep sleep had fallen upon man, God gave to Jacob a wonderful manifestation; he appeared to him in a dream, and in that dream he saw a ladder connecting heaven and earth. When he came to Haran, a stranger, he met Rachel, his cousin, at the well where she had come to water her father’s sheep. Having ascertained who Rachel was, he watered the flock for her, made himself known to her and lifted up his eyes and wept. Laban, his uncle, received him with much seeming affection; agreed with him that he should serve him seven years for his daughter Rachel, but in the

259