vailed over his hearing, and he blessed Jacob and conferred upon him the authority which belonged to the first born.

Jacob had but just obtained the blessing and departed, when Esau came with the food he had prepared for his father, who was greatly astonished at the deception that had been practiced upon him; but he could not revoke his blessing.This discovery pierced Esau through with grief, and he cried out with an exceeding bitter cry.' And he besought his father-'Bless me, even me also, O my father! So great was his grief, that he lifted up his voice and wept.' And his father conferred a blessing upon him in these words. Behold thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above. And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass, when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt

break his yoke from off thy neck.'Gen. xxvii.

All of Isaac's children, except Jacob, were Gentiles or heathens, strangers to the covenant of promise. Jacob whom God named Israel, was regared as peculiarly the father of the Jewish nation, which was in bondage in Egypt for the space of four hundred years. After this they were forty years in the wilderness, who were hence called, the dragon of the wilderness. When they returned from Egypt, they drove out all the descendants of Jacob's brethren, who were scattered far and wide, and became the founders of the Roman empire, as well as some other nations. When they obtained the dominion over the whole world, subdued the Jews, destroyed their temple, subverted all their institutions, and scattered them among all the nations of the earth, then did Esau break the yoke of Jacob from off his

neck with a vengeance, and in a manner to be remembered forever.

It was this strife between the Romans and the Jews, who are called the dragon, of which John speaks. And there was

war in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.' Rev. xii: 8, 9. Michael and his angels were the Roman army, which empire was raised up by the sword of Esau. They were the Gentiles who lived without God in the world. But the time had come when the Gentiles should be taken into his favor, and the children of the kingdom-those who had enjoyed his special favor, should be cast out into outer darkness, where was weeping and gnashing of teeth by whom is intended the Jews, or old red dragon, stained with the blood of all the righteous men that had

been slain from the foundation of the world.

It was this receiving of the Gentiles into the divine favor, of which it is said, 'I will call them my people, which was not my people, and her beloved, which was not beloved.' 'And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, ye are not my people, there shall they be called the children of the living God.' Thus the Gentiles were received in the place of the Jews, who were the degenerate plants of a strange vine. They are received into the kingdom of Christ, by which is intended the New Jerusalem which came down out of heaven, which is a representation of the gospel kingdom. This was the kingdom out of which the Jews or the fallen part of them, which are intended by the old dragon, were cast, when they rose up against the divine commands. This dragon, be it remem

bered, was bound, which represents the condition of the Jews, bound by the Roman laws.

By the representation, that the dew of heaven fell on Esau, we are to understand that the blessings of Abraham, which are the privileges of the Gospel, came on the Gentiles, which introduced the Gentiles into the kingdom of heaven, which is the gospel kingdom. So the Gentiles became the children of the kingdom, then, by divine command; and turned the dragon, devil, and Satan, which was fallen Israel, out of the kingdom, into outer darkness, where they had wailing and gnashing of teeth. John 'saw an angel come out of heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand; and he laid hold on the old dragon, that serpent, the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years.' This pit was Jerusalem, the angel the Roman Emperor, who by