BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 89

terday’s gloom. So Jacob set the pillow up for a rude altar,
and, pouring oil on the top of it, called the place Bethel, which
means “The House of God.”

“And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with
me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me_
bread to eat, and raiment to put on, So that I come again
to my father’s house in peace; then shall the Lord be my
God. And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shail be
God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely
give the tenth unto thee.”

Jacob’s vow had much that was beautiful and devout in
it, but it was not altogether what a vow should be. There
was too much of Jacob’s bargaining disposition in it. He would
build an altar “if” God would take care of him, and feed
and clothe him and bring him back in peace. There should
never be an “if” in any vows we make to God. Vows
that are vows in earnest, are hard enough to keep, but
vows that are half bargains are sure to be broken.

Jacob went on his journey and came to Padan-Aram, to
the house of Laban, his uncle. ' And here the history grows
in interest. The boy has become a man, and at almost
every turn of his strange career Jacob suffers from the very
evil that had marred and destroyed the beauty of his young
life. A deceiver when young, the shadow of deceit seems
to have followed him everywhere. In the house of Laban
see how he was made the victim of over-reaching and
deceit. “Be sure your sin will find you out,” is an eternal
truth, and Jacob found it so over and over again to his
sorrow.

The love story in the life of Jacob is very beautifully
told. What happy hours Jacob spent with Rachel in those

far-away times! Busy among his sheep, Jacob thought -the
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