If my reader will turn for a moment to Matt. xxv. 34-41, he will find another striking and beautiful instance of the same thing. When the king addresses those on his right hand, he says, "Come, ye _blessed of my Father_, inherit the kingdom _prepared for you_ from the foundation of the world." (Verse 34.) But when he addresses those on his left, he says, "Depart from me, ye cursed." He does not say, "cursed of my Father." And, further, he says, "into everlasting fire, prepared," not for _you_, but "for the devil and his angels." (Verse 41.) In a word, then, it is plain that God has "prepared" a kingdom of glory, and "vessels of mercy" to inherit that kingdom; but he has not prepared "everlasting fire" for men, but for the "devil and his angels;" nor has he fitted the "vessels of wrath," but they have fitted themselves. The word of God as clearly establishes "_election_" as it sedulously guards against "_reprobation_." Every one who finds himself in heaven will have to thank God for it; and every one that finds himself in hell will have to thank himself. CHAPTER XXXII. "And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him." Still God's grace follows him, notwithstanding all. "Nothing changeth God's affection." Whom he loves, and how he loves, he loves to the end. His love is like himself, "the same yesterday, to-day, and forever." But how little effect "God's host" had upon Jacob may be seen by his actings as here set before us. "And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother, unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom." He evidently feels uneasy in reference to Esau, and not without reason. He had treated him badly, and his conscience was not at ease; but instead of casting himself unreservedly upon God, he betakes himself to his usual planning again, in order to avert Esau's wrath. He tries to _manage_ Esau, instead of leaning on God. "And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto _my lord_ Esau; _thy servant_ Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now." All this bespeaks a soul very much off its centre in God. "My lord," and "thy servant," is not like the language of a brother, or of one in the conscious dignity of the presence of God; but it was the language of Jacob, and of Jacob, too, with a bad conscience.