Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1873-03-17
2Reliaious department.
LESSON XII.

Verse 10 ent tO1CdTd H0r07l-
which is computed to have been at least
four hundred and fifty miles distant
from Beer-Sheba. The route thi6her
was through a country in many places
desert and savage, and the rest no less
dangerous on account of the hostile tribes
that wandered through it. 1t should
be remembered, moreover, that Jacob at
this time was not young and strong, bnt
II years of age.-B. H.
11.-Ioried here.-It frequently
happens to the present day that travel
ers not reaching city in eastern coun-
tries previously to the shutting of the
gates, are obliged to lodge under the
walls all night. as when once shut they
refuse to open till the next day. This
was probably Jacobs Case.
StOneS.-Here he sleeps upon hard
pillow, exiled from his fathers house,
with deep anxiety, approaching an un-
certain future, and Intentionally avoid
ing intercourse with his fellow men, a
stranger in solitude and without shelter.
DE.
1t seemed a lonely and uninviting
spot, but proved a magnificent temple.
B. H.
Neutrality-suspicious. it was the
vision of common ladder or flight of
steps, or whether, as some suppose, it
was pile of mountain terraces matters
little. The flight of steps hewn in the
rocky sides of the mountain near Tyre,
on the edge of the Mediterranean,is called
the Ladder of Tyre" We traversed
it with trained horses. The idea is of
communication opened with heaven,
which had been cut off by sin.-Ja.
We take the term to mean, instead of
"ladder" in the common acceptation,
a towering elevation, as of several noun
tains cast up and heaped together in one,
with broken, irregular sides, composed
of lodges of rocks serving as steps or
stairs by which it might be assembled to
the top.-B. H. 1t was probably a
type of Christ, in whom both worlds
meet, and in whom the Divine and hui,
man natures are conjoined. The ladder
was set up on the castle and the tor
reached to heaven, for God was manifest
ed in the flesh, and. in him dwelt all the
fullness of the Godhead bodily. Moth
ing could be more expressive emblem
of the incarnation and its effects. Jesus
Christ is the grand connecting medium
between heaven and earth and between
God and man. By him God comes dowl
to man and man ascends through him VI
to God. 1t appears that our Lord ap
plies the vision this way himself &C
Whether the image presented to tn
mental eye of Jacob was common LAD
der" or such mountain pile as has beel
described the design of this vision wa
for encouragement and confidence to tn
lonely fugitive both in his present Gil
cumstances and as to his future pros
pects.-J. f. B.-Our Lord himsel
teaches (John i, 5D that the ladder sig
nifed the son of man, who was nov
afresh promised to be the seed of Jacob
". AZ him by whom alone we 60 t
God, (John xiv, g. who is the way t
heaven, and who has now gone there t
prepare a place for us.-S. 9Th
whole history of the old covenant
nothing else than, on one side, the his
tory of the successive descending of Go
to the incarnation of the seed of jacob
and on the other the successive steps {
progress in Jacob and his seed towar
the preparation to receive the persona
fullness of the Divine nature unto itsel
The vision reaches its goal in the sinl
ing of the personal fullness of God int
the hel pless and weak human nature
the Incarnation Of Christie.
13.-IHe Lord above.-
Heaven and earth have been separate
by sin, but this ladder has re-establishe
the intercourse. 1t is therefore a beal
tiful emblem of that which mediates an
reconciles John i, 5l.) 1t here serv,
to bring Jacob into communication wit
God, and teaches him the emphatic lie
son that he is accepted through m
diator. The Lord stood above it al
Jacob, the object of mercy, beneath
My.-The appearance of the ladde
the angels and the Divine Glory at Il
top of the ladder must have left dee
solemn and awful impression upon J
WV Hililu, dHQ ucuCt Cu0 eACldlndUl'
in the text "How dreadful is this place
&C.
l6.-Kneao not.-He kne
his omnipresence, but he did not expe
special manifestation of the Lord
this place, far from the sanctuaries
his father. He is filled with solen
awe when he finds himself in the hou
of God and at the Gate of Heaven.
My.-If l had known it l would L
have presumed to sleep in so holy plat
"A.
l7.-4.faid- He feels as a sinner
buked and punished at this sacred plac
he trembles and is filled with holy av
but not disheartened. He did not tire