protestations of the most genuine friendship. As Jacob went on his way, God , as an evidence of his care and protection, gave him a remarkable vision: the angels of God met him and he called them God 's host and the place he called Mahanaim; i.e. two hosts or bands. Immediately after this signal vision of angels, he is informed of the warlike appearance of his brother Esau, with his four hundred men coming out to meet him. He remembered how he had deceived and defrauded his brother, hence he was gready troubled and distressed. He promptly employed proper means to pacify him; sent him a magnificent present, made the most pro¬ found submission to Esau and then he breaks out in fervent prayer to the God of his fathers: " O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidst unto me, Return to thy country and to thy kindred and I will deal well with thee. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which thou hast showed to thy servant; for with my staff I have passed over this Jordan and I am become two bands. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hands of Esau, for I fear him lest he come and smite me and the mother with the chil¬ dren. And thou saidst I will surely do thee good and make thy seed as the sand of the sea which cannot be numbered for multi¬ tude." How earnesdy he pleads God 's promise and its fulfillment! But he did not content himself with his earnest and humble address at the throne of mercy. He sent his wives, his children and servants over the brook Jabbok for safety and, being left alone, he gave himself to extraordinary prayer: "And there wresded a man with him until the break of day and, when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wresded with him. And he said, let me go for the day breaketh; and he said, I will not let thee go except thou bless me." Let us notice First; What the man who wrestled with Jacob said: "Let me go, for the day breaketh." Now who was it that wresded with Jacob? It was some one in the form of a man, possessing the appearance of a man. All that you are, this being was, and much more; yea, it was God that wresded with Jacob; and he seems to have assumed the form of man for this very purpose — to wresde. That he was God is evident, for Jacob asks a blessing from him, "I will not let thee go except thou bless me." Yea, he expressly calls him God in verse thirtieth- "I have seen God face to face." Thus it seems to have been the Son of God in the form of a man who wresded with Jacob. In Hosea xii:4 it is said of Jacob, "He had power over the 309 Sermon Preached by Rev. William MacGregor , 1821