him that overcometh will I grant to sit with I conclude all in the words of the beloved disciple, who thus describes a more august vision than ever appeared to Pharaoh: “And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb, as it had been slain: having seven horns, and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto † Rev. ii. 10. *Rev. iii. 21. our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beasts and the elders, and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I, saying, Blessing, honour, glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever."* Rev. v. 6-14. HISTORY OF JOSEPH. LECTURE XXXI. And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is? And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath showed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art: thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it on Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck: and he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had and they cried before him, Bow the knee: and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh; and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.-GENESIS xli. 38-44. Ir it be pleasant to observe, in particular | kind. Now the alternate succession of day instances, the providence of God justifying and night, of fair weather and rain, have not its own procedure, by relieving and vindi- greater beauty and utility in the world of cating oppressed innocence, or by precipi- nature, than the successive shades of advertating prosperous guilt from its lofty seat; sity, and sunbeams of prosperity, which apwhat must be the satisfaction and delight of pear on the face of the moral world. beholding the whole plan of Providence un- Of this unceasing succession or mixture, folded, every mystery in the divine conduct the lot of individuals, the fortune of nations, explained, and all the ways of God to men the state of the globe, perhaps the system of completely vindicated! A very considerable the universe is composed. Nothing is perpart of our present distress arises from hasti-mitted to continue too long: no being is sufness and impatience of spirit. We are for fered to go too far out of his station. The rushing to the end at once; we will not af- balance eternally depends from the hand of ford our Maker and Ruler leisure to open hisa Being possessed of infinite wisdom; and own designs, to illustrate his own meaning. after a few slight vibrations, the scales We would have the work of Heaven per- speedily bring each other into equilibrium formed in our way; we have settled the again. The swelling of a wave, the rolling whole order of things in our own minds; and of the ship, nay the finger of a child, may for all is wrong that ignorance, fretfulness, and a moment derange the compass; but after presumption are pleased to dislike. Cloudy, trembling an instant or two from point to rainy weather is much less agreeable than point, immediately the needle resumes its serenity; yet it requires but a moment's re-steady, stated northern direction. flection to be convinced that eternal sunshine If there be in history a passage, which would be the reverse of a blessing to mar-more than another encourages us patienly and submissively to wait for the end, to follow and submit to the conduct of Providence, it is the story of Joseph the son of Jacob. What man of humanity would have refused to lend his helping hand to rescue the innocent youth from the fury of his unnatural brothers, to pull him up out of the pit, and to restore him to his father again? Who would not gladly have sacrificed a part of his substance to purchase his release from Egyptian servitude? What friend to truth and virtue but would have rejoiced to vindicate his character from the vile aspersions of his infamous mistress, and to save him from undeserved punishment? What heart, alive to the feelings of gratitude, but would have seconded the application of "the chief butler," for his immediate enlargement? But all this would have been precipitate, rash, and absurd. His fond father himself could not have conducted his favourite son to the honours which he attained, by a way so certain, so safe, and so honourable. Whether we regard Joseph himself, or the interests of his father's family, or the welfare of Egypt, or the good of the human race, Providence, when we come to the issue, it is found, has secured, promoted, and succeeded them all, in its own wise and gracious method, infinitely better than they possibly could have been by all the sagacity and foresight of man. By the wonderful steps then which we have seen, behold Joseph exalted to the right hand of Pharaoh, made lord over all Egypt, the lives, the conduct, the liberties, the property of millions entrusted to his care, subjected to his authority. Behold him married to a princess, arrayed in vestures of fine linen, a gold chain about his neck, the royal signet in his hands, riding through the land in the second chariot, while admiring nations bow the knee before him. Behold the dream which boyish vanity, perhaps at first suggested, which fraternal jealousy so keenly reprobated, and so sternly avenged, which a father's wisdom was constrained to check and reprove, and which incredulity, no doubt, would treat as the idle chimera of a disturbed imagination, is verified and brought to pass. When we observe so many of the important events of Joseph's life turning upon the hinge of dreams and their interpretation, we are taught to think respectfully of every method by which God is pleased to communicate the knowledge of his will to mankind. And, when our own dreams, as they sometimes do, either call us to duty, or convince us of sin; when they recal to our memory what is past, or admonish us of what is to come, so that we may profit thereby, we ought to consider them as warnings from Heaven, and the voice of God. But to attend to and seek a meaning in every wandering of a sleeping fancy is silly and childish; and to suffer them of whatever com plexion they be, to influence the conduct of life, so as to induce us to neglect our duty, to vex and disquiet ourselves, or disturb others, is absurd, superstitious, and wicked. There are three particulars in this part of the history of Joseph, which have exercised the learning and ingenuity of critics and commentators. First, whether the Hebrew word, Abrech, translated in our version, "bow the knee," had not better have been rendered, as the word will bear, "tender father?" an appellation descriptive of his office and character; dignity and gentleness united. Secondly, it is inquired, what is the exact import of the name which Pharaoh gave to Joseph upon his promotion? It was customary for eastern princes and nations to distinguish by new titles, persons who had rendered themselves illustrious by superior abilities, or splendid and important actions; as in the case of Daniel and the three other children of the captivity. That which was given to Joseph, according to some, is an Egyptian expression which signifies "Saviour of the world," and this, if just, conveys a high idea of the importance which the king ascribed to Joseph's information and advice. Others contend that it signifies no more than "revealer, or expounder of secrets." This last interpretation has the most numerous, perhaps the most respectable support. The third particular alluded to, involves in it something like a censure of Joseph, as if, hurried away by motives of ambition andpride, he had been eager to form an improper and dangerous matrimonial connexion with an idolatrous woman, nay, the daughter of a man who by profession, as priest of On, or Heliopolis, the city of the Sun, was concerned to support and promote an idolatrous worship. The critics who advance and maintain this opinion, represent Joseph as a mere timeserving sycophant, imbibing in a moment the spirit and manners of a court, and sacrificing principle to conveniency. I confess myself so partial to this amiable and excellent man, that without hesitation I undertake to meet this charge; and would allege in his behalf, that, as the Spirit of God no where reprehends this conduct, which in cases deserving blame is done freely and without reserve, so we ought not, without just cause, and perfect knowledge, to find fault; charity obliging us "to think no evil," where we can think well; to put the best construction on what is doubtful, and to judge of what is not clear and explicit, by that which is. When I see Providence blessing this union by the birth of two sons, raised in process of time to a double rank of dignity and importance in Israel, it is impossible for me to think uncharitably of the union itself, which was the origin of that blessing. What, did Joseph acknowledge God so closely in every thing, even to the very naming of his children, correspondently to the aspects of dictions are accomplished. What seldom the Divine Providence towards him, and can meets, the sovereign and the subject strive we suppose he neglected God in a matter of who shall exalt him most; his domestic feso much higher consequence? Let me rather licity keeps pace with the public prosperity; say, and say it without reserve, that the conscience approves; and God, the great piety, the chastity, the fidelity, the self- God, smiles. If there be a condition of hugovernment of Joseph, in flying from an illi-manity to be desired, to be envied, it was cit commerce with his master's wife, was thus rewarded of Heaven by a virtuous and lasting union with a chaste virgin and a prince's daughter. But we dwell too long on a vindication, which was perhaps altogether unnecessary. To proceed: Joseph has arrived at a station of very high honour, but it is not to him a post of emolument and ease merely; and I rejoice to see the same person who diligently and humanely served the gaoler as a deputy, and who faithfully managed the affairs of Potiphar as a steward, attentively, humbly, industriously conducting the interests of a great king, and a mighty empire, as a minister of state. On which I found an observation frequently made already, I care not how often, that the fear of God is the best security of a man's good behaviour in every situation; and that "he is to be trusted in nothing, who has not a conscience in every thing." this. Shall I stop to express a wonder, that during all this period, with all the power of Pharaoh in his hand, with a heart so tender, and a spirit so dutiful, he should make no attempt to convey to the wretched old man in Canaan, intelligence concerning his preservation and his present condition. But 1 check myself, when I consider that the whole was of the Lord of Hosts, "who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working." It is worth while to observe, how the style of scripture is adapted to experience, and the nature of things. Years of tranquillity and success glide away imperceptibly: but every moment of pain is observed and felt, as it halts along. Accordingly, the history of seven prosperous and abundant years is despatched in a sentence or two; whereas seven years of famine, as they were more sensibly felt in their progress, so they afford more abundant materials to the pen of the histo│rian; and the detail is lengthened out to the Joseph was but thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh, seventeen of which he had passed under the wing of a fond, indul-reader, as the distress was to the unhappy gent parent, and the other thirteen, at that period of life when the heart is most devoted to pleasure, he had lingered away in all the variety of human wretchedness; but in all the dignity of virtue, all the superiority of wisdom, all the delights, pure and sublime, of true piety. And now, at an age when most men are only beginning to reflect and act as reasonable beings, we see him raised, not by accident nor cabal, nor petulence, but by undisputed merit, to a situation, which one part of mankind looks up to with desire, another with awe, and a third with despair. And happy was it for Egypt, that ever this youth, this stranger, this Hebrew was sold for a slave into its bosom, for "God sent him to save much people alive." Egypt gloried that she was not, like other countries, dependent on the clouds of Heaven for the fertility of her soil, and the exuberance of her crops, but, that she derived her rich harvests from the flux and reflux of her own river. But in vain had the Nile arisen to the desired height during the seven successive years of uncommon plenteousness, had not the pathetic foresight of a Joseph taught both prince and people to take advantage of the favour of Providence, and to lay a good foundation for the time to come. Nothing do men so much abuse as plenty; nothing do they so soon and so severely feel as want of bread. These seven prosperous years seem to compensate to Joseph all his former ills. His honour is cleared, his pre sufferers. Little do we think of this in the days of health, and ease, and joy; and therefore little thankful are we to God for our multiplied comforts. To instruct us in their value, he is constrained to put forth his hand, and either to withdraw or mar them; and we awaken, alas too late, to a sense of our obligations to an indulgent Providence! The seven years of famine are now commenced, and the honour of Joseph's sagacity is established, but by a very different proof. When either the promises or the threatenings of the word are fulfilled, we have equally a demonstration of the truth and faithfulness of God: venerable when he blesses, and venerable when he punishes a guilty world. Happy the prince, who, circumstanced, like Pharaoh, can roll the cares and anxieties of government upon a minister of ability and integrity like Joseph. Happy the people, governed by a ruler, who, himself educated in the school of affliction, has learned to succour the distressed. The beginning and progress of scarcity is described in this part of the sacred history with wonderful exactness and energy. It represents men first parting cheerfully with their money for food. By and by they are reduced to part with their lands, their hope, and security, for years to come, in exchange for the subsistence of a day. And, at length, reluctantly and slow, we behold them surrendering liberty itself for the support of life. The neighbouring nations feel, with Egypt, the rod of God's anger; but every neighbouring nation is not blessed with a Joseph, capable of foreseeing the evil, and of applying the remedy. Canaan, in common with others, is visited with the general calamity: and Jacob, who lived there, Jacob, the heir of the promise, is ready to perish with his family for lack of food. But he ill understands the promises, and the power of God, who, under the pressure of any affliction, trusts to a miracle for relief, when honest and lawful means are in his power. 66 After an interval of more than thirteen years, we revisit poor Jacob's melancholy habitation, and find him what he was from the beginning, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." Behold a wound which time could not cure, festering in his bosom. Behold him sinking into the grave under a load which reason could not alleviate, nor religion itself totally remove. His family indeed, greatly increased by a multiplicity of grandchildren; but that great blessing embittered and converted into a curse, by the dreadful pressure of famine. What a dismal condition! Children crying for bread, and none to give them; the wretched parents looking at their perishing offspring, and then at one another in silent astonish ment and despair. Conscience, which had probably slept quietly in better days, would now, no doubt, awaken the bitter memory of guilt long past, and which they had endeavoured to forget. The sight of their own children ready to die of hunger, could not but revive the dreadful recollection of the time, when, in cold blood, they resolved to starve a brother, an innocent brother to death. by the addition of thirteen years; his new name, his dress, language and manners; his high station and his stately demeanour, have effectually disguised their brother from their knowledge; and Providence, determined to bate them not a single iota of the humiliation predicted by the dreams, prostrates their "ten sheaves before the sheaf of Joseph," levels the ten proud spirits at their unknown brother's feet. Want makes men wonderfully submissive and complying: and they who fight against God will sooner or later find themselves dreadfully overmatched. Unknown by them, they stand well known and confessed to him. At sight of them, natural affection resumes its empire in his heart, and the tide which had long forgotten to flow, now rushes impetuously from its source. He beholds ten; but where are the two, more beloved and endeared than all the rest? It is impossible to conceive, much more to describe, the emotions of Joseph's soul on hearing tidings of his father's family: to learn that his dear, his tender parent was still in the land of the living; surviving, so long, misery so dreadful; that his dear brother, his own mother's son, was alive with him also, and in health. The sovereignty of Egypt, I am persuaded, never yielded him satisfaction half so sincere. The singularity of his situation evidently suggested to Joseph the experiment which he now resolved to make of the temper and character of his brothers; and particularly of their disposition in an hour of trial, toward their father and Benjamin. I cannot suppose him for a moment actuated by sentiments of revenge. Had he been under the influence of such a passion, the means of gratification were certainly most amply in his power. In Jacob himself, we behold a moving and But the whole tenor of his conduct shows instructive picture of every child of God, and that he was governed by a very different of that church whereof he was then the living spirit; his severity is altogether affected, the head and representative, "troubled on every better to carry on the design which he had side, yet not distressed; perplexed, but not formed; and the peculiarity of his behaviour in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; towards some of the brothers, is to be ascribcast down, but not destroyed." He heard ed to some peculiar circumstances in the there was corn in Egypt." He had silver history of the family, which the sacred penand gold in abundance. Despondency was man has not thought proper to record. Some only adding to the evil; he therefore rouses rigid critics, however, while they acquit his astonished sons from their lethargy and Joseph of cruelty and revenge, severely acdejection, and proposes a journey into Egypt cuse him of impiety and profanity in swearto buy food. There is no necessity so co-ing, and swearing repeatedly, "by the life of gent as that of eating. It eagerly catches therefore at every prospect of relief, believes things incredible, attempts things impossible. The ten elder sons of Jacob, therefore, set out for the land of Egypt on this errand, and into Egypt they came. On making the necessary inquiries respecting the purchase of corn, they are directed, as all buyers, both natives and foreigners were, to Joseph; without whom "no man lifted up his hand or his foot in all the land." The change produced in a youth of seventeen, Pharaoh," and that to a charge which he well knew not to be founded in fact. It is not our design to undertake a justification of Joseph in every particular. What character can stand throughout the test of a rigid examination? Sacred history exhibits men just as they are, not what they ought in all respects to be. Dark spots are most easily discerned in the whitest garments, and foul blemishes in the fairest reputations. But let no sanctity of character presume to shelter the slightest deviation from the path of God's commandment. No; the smallest sin, if any sin be small, is a degradation and disgrace to the most sanctified and exalted character. While Joseph, the better to conceal himself, talks and acts like a true Egyptian, God employs his affected sternness and severity to awaken the slumbering consciences of his brothers, and to show the sons of Jacob to themselves. Treated as spies, roughly spoken to, their most solemn protestations disregarded, put in prison and bound-their treatment of Joseph in the evil day which put him in their power, rushes upon their memory, in all its guilt and horror, and they mutually upbraid and reproach each other with their barbarity," saying one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us and we would not hear: therefore is this distress come upon us. And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child, and ye would not hear? Therefore, behold, also, his blood is required.”* This mutual and self-accusation excites in the tender heart of Joseph, emotions which he is unable to conceal. Hearing himself mentioned with so much tenderness and regret, by persons once so cruel, and in a language which he had been long unaccustomed to hear, the pretended Egyptian becomes in spite of himself, a real Israelite; his bosom swells, his visage warms, the tear starts to his eye. To prevent a premature discovery, he is constrained to retire and recompose himself. He returns and renews the conversation, and again assuming the lord of Egypt, sets nine at liberty, binds Simeon before their eyes, and commits him to close confinement, as a hostage for their return, together with Benjamin their brother. He then dismisses them loaded with corn for their families, and provision for the way having secretly given orders to his steward, in making up the bags of corn, to deposit each man's money in the mouth of his respective sack. This was not discovered till they were considerably advanced on their journey homeward; when one, undoing his sack to give his ass provender, observed his money in his sack's mouth. Upon their arrival in Canaan, the same thing is found to have happened to them all. Comparing this singularly strange circumstance with the rest of their eventful journey to Egypt, they discern the hand of God in it, and observing such an unaccountable mixture of flattering and of mortifying events, they remain, upon the whole, perplexed and confounded. When the mind is sore, and the conscience seriously alarmed, dispensations of every complexion, both mercy and judgment, are viewed with a fearful eye. When we know we are de*Gen. xlii. 21, 22. serving of punishment, every thing becomes a punishment to us, either felt or feared. And now again, the unhappy father, reckoning his long expected sons, as they arrive, finds their number short by one. "Simeon too is not ;" and the account given of his absence, instead of pouring balm into the wound, is "as vinegar upon nitre." "Joseph is not, and Simeon is not," and Benjamin is demanded. To recover what he has lost, he must risk still more. Simeon is not what he should be, but his kind forgiving father cannot think of giving him up, worthless as he is. To lose a pious, promising child by death, is painful: but the death of a thoughtless, graceless profligate, to a parent of piety and sensibility, is much worse. We see the distressed old man putting off, and still putting off the evil day. He has more than one reason for sparing the corn which had been brought from such a distance, and procured at such a risk. Before a fresh supply can be obtained, and Simeon restored, "the son of his right hand" must be surrendered. Benjamin must be taken away; and the thought of this plants a dagger in his heart. But the famine continues, necessity presses, and a second pilgrimage must be undertaken. The account of it, however, must for the present, be deferred. The history swells upon us, and we shall rather entreat your patient attention to another Lecture on the subject, than hasten over a story so much calculated. at once to please and to instruct. But behold a greater than Joseph is here. Behold Jesus, "for the suffering of death," "highly exalted," distinguished by "a name that is above every name," "that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father."*"All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." The Father himself judgeth no man: but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father which hath sent him." "I am the bread of life that came down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread, which came down from heaven: If any man eat of this bread he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." "He that cometh unto me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me: and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money: come |