The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1913-04-17

=
his Aocks. herds and servants, to the
land of his father Naturally, he felt
timidity respecting Esau, and pray
ed to the Lord upon the subject. re
minding Him of the Promise, in which
he trusted Then he sent word to
Esau that he was coming Next he
prepared a gift Of considerable value
for those tlmes-sheep, goats, eamels.
cattle and asses.
This gift represented long years OF
toll on Jacobs part. These earthly
things, however, Jacob valued as moth.
ing compared with the great Abraham.
ic Covenant He could give this good
ly portion of earthly mammon to pur
chase Esau's good will, although be
was under no obligations to his broth.
er. He had purchased the frstborns
portion, which included the major por.
tion of Isaac's worldly riches Jacob
had left these in Esau's hands. The
latter might suspect that Jacob was
coming to claim his inheritance.
Had Jacob laid no claim to the e,
tate. Esau would have judged him ac-
cording to his own standards, and mis-
trusted that at an opportune moment
jacob would attack him. Thus a feud
would have been established between
the two families This would have
interfered with Jacobs hopes In con
nection with the Covenant
Jacob insisted upon Esau's accept
ance of the present. 1t would stand
as pledge of good faith between
them. Esau would all the more will.
ingly see Jacobs prosperity; for he
realized that he had gotten the better
of his brother, first by getting the pat
rimony. and secondly, by receiving so
rich a present. Evidently Jacobs
course was wise He still had plenty,
and God could give him more His
chief concern would be the AbrahamiC
Promise. the fulfilment Of which lay
beyond the present life.
The Lesson of Generosity.
One lesson which we as Christians
may draw from Jacobs course Is that
of generosity toward the word-thost
who have no interest in Heavenly
promises. AS Jacob was willing tC
set aside all earthly rights and priv
| leges In favor of the Abrahamic Prom
Use. so the Spiritual Heirs should d,
| likewise
As Jacob left his fathers house
leaving all to his brother without con
tention, trusting only to the Heavenly
Promise so must we Spiritual Israel
ties forsake all earthly hopes. to obtain
Joint t-heirship with Christ in the Mes
sianic Kingdom AS Jacob gladly gave
| presents to Esau for the sake of peace
! in carrying out Gods arrangements
| under this Promise, so we as Chris
tians should willingly give to our part
ners In life. our neighbors, friends and
brethren. the larger share of earth's
good things, If thereby we may for.
ward the Lords Cause in connection
with the Abrahamic Promise, in which
we trust.
Mankind have their hearts set upon
earthly good things-they know moth
ing higher. Christians, on the contra.
ry, appreciate Heavenly things, es.
teeming earthly things as unworthy OF
comparison. We, like St. Paul, esteem
all earthly things but loss and dross
that we may win Christ-that we may
win joint-hership with Jesus in the
great blessing of God by becoming
members of the Spiritual Seed of Abra
ham, that we may participate in the
glorious work of blessing all the fami
lies of the earth
Finally, Our Golden Text.
Our Golden Text seems at first not
l1ngAlv raIota1