66 ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and will come again, and receive you unto mymilk without money, and without price." "self, that where I am, there ye may be "It hath pleased the Father, that in him should all fulness dwell:"+"and of his fulness have all ye received, and grace for grace." " My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed." "Your fathers found corn in Egypt." Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead, but he that eateth of this bread shall live forever." "Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up the last day." "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else."|| "Blessed are they that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God." 66 Many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven."¶ "In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you; I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I also."* "In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they, and the children of Judah together, going, and weeping: they shall go, and seek the Lord their God. They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord, in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten." "Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me: that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." "Eat, O friends, drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved." "He that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." "These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace: In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." HISTORY OF JOSEPH. LECTURE XXXII. And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him: for they were troubled at his presence. And Joseph saith unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you: and they came near; and he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me hither before you to preserve life. GENESIS xlv. 3—5. THE productions of human power and skill afford but an imperfect and short-lived pleasure. The delight of the artist himself is over long before his work is completed, and the wonder of the spectator lasts only till he is let into the secret, and admitted behind the scenes. It is not so with the works of God. When the mighty fabric of the universe was finished, God surveyed his work with perfect complacency and satisfaction, for "behold it was all very good." And such, to this day, it appears in the eye of every beholder. No frequency of contemplation, no closeness of inspection, no keenness of investigation, or success in discovery, ever bring on weariness or disgust. The eye is eternally delighted with the magnificence and splendour of the azure vault, with the verdure and variety of the fertile earth. The music of the grove never fails to charm the listening ear; the perfume breathed from "the flower, and the shrub, and the tree," never palls upon the sense. The same may, with truth, be said of the word of God. What human composition so exquisite as always to please? What human composition have we patience to turn over a tenth or a twentieth time? The stores of human wisdom are quickly exhausted; the eye speedily reaches forward to the end of created perfection. But though the charm of novelty may have passed away, though memory may have stored itself with the very words, and the heart have felt the impression a thousand and a thousand times, yet the beauty, the force, the excellency, the importance of scripture composition remain in undiminished lustre. That sun in the firmament of grace, which has irradiated, cheered, and blessed ages and generations past, is also our light and our glory, and shall, with unimpaired strength, with unconfined | strangers. The men were not more disliberality, diffuse light, and life, and joy to tressed at the harshness of the treatment the final consummation of all things. which they met with at first, than they are perplexed and confounded at the excessive kindness and hospitality of their present reception; for an ill conscience is ever timid and suspicious. Against the time of Joseph's arrival they make ready their present, and being admitted into his presence, they again prostrate themselves to the earth before him. In vain do men set themselves to counteract the decrees of Heaven. If serious minds be disposed to think thus of scripture in general, all persons of sensibility and taste will, I am persuaded, agree in forming such a judgment of the history of Joseph in particular. The unlettered man and the scholar; the child and the grown man; the ingenious and the simple; the believer and the infidel; Greek and Jew, have in all ages admired, delighted in, and edified by a story, which, clothed with all After the customary salutations, with a the graces of eloquence, exhibits the most mixture of anxiety and hope, he inquires uncommon, surprising, affecting, and import-after the life and welfare of their father, and, ant events; and conveys the purest and sublimest lessons of piety and morality. The famine continued to rage with unrelenting severity in Egypt and the countries adjacent, and dire indeed must have been the pressure of that calamity, which compelled a father, tender and affectionate like Jacob, after losing two sons by a stroke heavier than that of death, to part with his youngest, darling hope, at the risk of never seeing him more. How horrid that plague which can force a fond mother to devour her own child for food! Let this awful reflection in a year of scarcity, and at a season of waste and luxury,* check profusion, awaken our compassion to the poor and wretched, and temper our joy. The old man yields up his Benjamin, as if his own body were dismembering limb by limb. "If it must be so now" "take your brother, and arise, go again unto the man. And God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may send away your other brother, and Benjamin. If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved."+ to his inexpressible satisfaction, learns that he was alive and in health. But the sight of Benjamin awakens too many tender recollections to be resisted, too many fond ideas to be suppressed. The premature loss of their common parent, the partial affection of their kind father, the present anxiety and distress of the venerable man, his own strange eventful history, Benjamin's tender youth, his distance from home, his separation from paternal care and protection, his exposedness to dangers which had almost proved fatal to himself; all, all rush upon his mind at once, and excite emotions too powerful to be concealed. He is obliged to retire in order to throw a veil over those feelings which must have betrayed him; and gives vent to his heart in secret. Having recomposed himself, he returns to the company, and, resuming the Egyptian, commands the entertainment to be served up. Three tables are set out, one for himself apart, as the governor of the country; another for his guests, by themselves: and a third for the Egyptians of his household, or such as might be invited on the occasion. For the Egyptians, either from religious scruples, or political pride and aversion, abhorred a communication with other nations in convivial or sacred entertainments. With double money in their hands, then, with a present consisting of the choicest productions of Canaan, for the Governor of Egypt, and with the heart and soul of their aged father in their custody, they set out on a second pilgrimage to buy food. What is a land producing "balm, honey, spices, myrrh, nuts, and almonds," compared to a land of corn! What worthless things are gold and silver compared to bread. If our own country be less fertile in the wine and oil, the drugs and perfumes, the gems and gold of other regions, it is more abundantly productive of the staff and protection of life-gacity altogether preternatural. Nor would the "finest of the wheat," the oak more firm and durable than cedar, and iron more precious than rubies. And here was presented a fresh source of wonder to the sons of Jacob. By Joseph's direction, they are arranged at table in the exact order of their birth, without inquiry or information. This, in connexion with the account which it behoved them to have heard concerning such an extraordinary person, must have conveyed to them an idea of a sa their surprise be diminished by the distinguished mark of respect shown to their youngest brother; for the mess sent from the governor's table to him, was "five times" the quantity of any of the rest; and it was thus that in ancient times, among eastern nations, superior deference and esteem were expressed. However, the increasing festivity of the banquet gradually dissipated all their terrors. "They drank and were merry." The Hebrew word unquestionably insinuates that they drank to excess. It is natural for men concerning our family. We acquainted you, to rush from one extreme to another, and it that we had a father heavily laden with years, is not improbable that Joseph threw this but still more heavily with misfortunes; a fatemptation in their way, in order to obtain a ther, whose whole life had been one continued more thorough insight into their temper and struggle with adversity. We added, that we character, by observing them attentively, in had a brother peculiarly dear to him, as the a situation when the heart overflows, and children born towards the end of their life, he tongue conceals and disguises nothing, generally are to old men, and who is the only Whatever be in this, he is preparing a trial one remaining of his mother: his brother for them more severe than any which they having come, in early youth, to a most tragihad as yet experienced, and which in some cal end. You commanded us, as the proof of measure compensated the anguish they had our veracity and innocence, to bring that occasioned to their father, when they im- brother unto you, and your command was depressed him with the belief of his son's death. livered with such threatenings, that the terLoaded with civilities, provided with a sup-ror of them accompanied us all the way back ply of corn for their starving families, Simeon restored, Benjamin not detained; they set out on their journey to Canaan, with a merry heart, talking one to another of the strange things which had come to pass. But scarcely are they got clear of the city, when they are pursued and overtaken by Joseph's steward, charging them with theft, and commanding them instantly to return to his master to answer for it. to our country, and embittered the remainder of our journey. We reported every thing minutely to our father, as you directed us. Resolutely and long, he refused to entrust us with the care of that child. Love suggested a thousand causes of apprehension upon his account. He loaded us with the bitterest reproaches for having declared that we had another brother. Subdued by the famine, he at length reluctantly consented; and putting his beloved son, this unhappy youth, into our hands, conjured us by every dear, every awful name, to guard with tenderness his precious life, and as we would not see him expire before our eyes in anguish and despair, to bring him back in safety. He parted with With terror and astonishment, though in the confidence of innocence, they deny the charge, and reason upon the improbability of it. Search is made among their stuff for the goods alleged to be stolen; ten are acquitted with honour, and they are just beginning to exult in the detected falsehood of such a scan-him as with a limb torn from his own body; dalous imputation, when, to their utter confusion, Joseph's cup was found in Benjamin's sack. Overwhelmed with shame and terror, they are again conducted to his presence.The crime is proved. To deny it were vain, to excuse it nugatory and absurd; and to account for it, it is impossible. and in an agony of grief inexpressible, deplored the dreadful necessity which separated him from a son, on whom all the happiness of his life depended. How then can we appear before a father of such delicate sensibility? With what eyes shall we dare to look upon him, unless we carry back with us this Judah, who had been the most urgent with son of his right hand, this staff of his old age, his father to send Benjamin, and had solemn-whom, alas, you have condemned to slavery? ly pledged himself for his safe return, feels The good old man will expire in horrors himself now called forth: and, in a strain of | dreadful to nature, as soon as he shall find the most pathetic eloquence that ever flowed that his son is not with us. Our enemies will from an aching heart, attempts not to extenu-insult over us under these misfortunes, and ate or exculpate, but to raise compassion, and to obtain mercy. The piece is of exquisite beauty and elegance, and, being in every one's hands, may be re-perused at your leisure. The Jewish writers take delight in dwelling upon, and expanding it. Philo, in particular, in his treatise entitled, "Joseph," has given a paraphrase of this speech of Ju-Me he entrusted with the sacred deposit, and dah, which possesses wonderful elegance and propriety of expression, and force of thought. Some of you, perhaps, may not be displeased with having an opportunity of comparing the diffusive laboured eloquence of the paraphrast, with the energetic simplicity of the sacred text. The former puts into Judah's mouth the following address. "When we appeared, sir, before you the first time, we answered without reserve, and according to the strictest truth, all the questions which you were pleased to put to us treat us as the most infamous of parricides. I must appear to the world, and to myself, as the perpetrator of that most horrid of crimes, the murder of a father; for it was I who most urgently pressed my father to yield. I engaged, by the most solemn promises, and the most sacred pledges, to bring the child back. of my hand he will require it. Have pity, I beseech you, on the deplorable condition of an old man, stript of his last comfort, and whose misery will be aggravated by reflecting that he foresaw its approach, and yet wanted resolution to prevent it. If your just indignation must needs have a sacrifice, here I am ready, at the price of my liberty, or of my life, to expiate this young man's guilt, and to purchase his release? Grant this request, not so much for the sake of the youth himself, as of his absent father, who never offended you, but who venerates your person cheering and cherishing his declining years; and esteems your virtues. Suffer us not to a heart melting into sympathy, forgiveness, plead in vain for a shelter under your right and brotherly love, exulting in the joy of hand, to which we flee, as to an holy altar, rendering good for evil; a heart lost in wonconsecrated as a refuge to the miserable.-der and overflowing with gratitude, while it Pity an old man, who, during the whole contemplated the wisdom and goodness of course of a long life, has cultivated arts be- all-ruling Providence, in producing such coming a man of wisdom and probity, and events by means so incomprehensible. who, on account of his amiable qualities, is almost adored by the inhabitants of Syria and Canaan, though he profess a religion, and follow a mode of living totally different from theirs." The feelings of the brothers too, are rather to be conceived than described. Thunderstruck with astonishment, oppressed with shame, stung with remorse, petrified with terror:-no, not terror; the words, the looks, the tears of their relenting brother, assure them in a moment that they have nothing to fear. But, unable to make any reply, they afford the noble minded, and the condescend This address, it must be acknowledged, possesses uncommon grace and tenderness. But it is evident from whence the modern, pretended Jew, has copied his tenderest and most delicate touches. And when the copying Joseph, an opportunity of so far recoverand the original are brought close together, it will be apparent to a discerning eye which is the most finished piece. If Philo has made Judah speak well, it will hardly be disputed that Moses has made him speak better. The words of Judah penetrated the heart of Joseph. The affectionate manner in which his father was mentioned, the unfeigned earnestness expressed to save him from the impending blow; the generosity of his offer to put himself in Benjamin's place, to purchase a parent's comfort and a brother's release, at the price of his own liberty; all this satisfies him, that time, and affliction, and a sense of duty, and the powerful constraint of returning nature, had introduced another and a happier spirit into the family. He finds himself incapable of any longer deferring the plea sure which he should both receive and communicate by making a discovery of himself. The curiosity of his domestics must have been greatly raised by the unaccountable peculiarity of his behaviour to these strangers, but he does not choose to have any spectators of that scene of nature which he was meditating, except those who were to be actors in it. The heart likes not to have its stronger emotions seen of many witnesses. "The heart knoweth its own bitterness, and a stranger intermeddleth not with its joy." He therefore commands every Egyptian out of the apartment, and being left alone with his eleven brothers, whose consternation must have been greatly increased by the orders which they had now heard given, he bursts into an agony of tenderness, and in words inarticulate and indistinct through tears, declares in one breath who he was; and in the next, with accents that pierce the soul, pours out his heart in a tender inquiry after his old kind father. Two short words unfold the whole mystery of this strange conduct. But what language can convey an adequate idea of Joseph's feeling at that moment; the feelings of a heart glowing at the thought of once more beholding his venerable sire, of being pressed to his bosom, of ing himself, as to be able to administer this strongest of all consolation, that their unkindness to himself had been intended, ordered, and overruled of God, to answer the most valuable and important purposes to him, to themselves, to their father's house, and to many nations. "Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you, to preserve life."* In this address of Joseph, I know not which to admire most; his magnanimity in pardoning offences so atrocious, losing sight of the criminals in the brothers; his wonderful skill in adapting the style of his consolatory arguments so exactly to the circumstances of the case; his invincible humility in carrying the spirit and temper of the lowliest condition and relations of humanity, into the loftiest, most envied, and most corruptive station of courtly grandeur; or his pure, fervent, and sublime piety, in considering and acknowledging all that had come to pass, as the design and operation of Heaven. With infinite judgment and propriety, the sacred historian has put no reply whatever, into the mouths of the brothers. There are certain situations which defy description; certain emotions which silence best, which silence only can explain. And such was theirs. Joseph however is not so lost in joy, as to forget that it was far from being perfect till one more became a partaker of it, nor so much swallowed up in the present, as to neglect the future. With gladness of heart would he have flown to Hebron, and been himself the messenger of his own life and prosperity, to the good old man. But the duties of his station forbid. This is one of the taxes which greatness is doomed to pay. It must learn to repress the inclinations and forego the pleasures of the private citizen. Princes live not to themselves but to the public; and the happiness of millions, is a felicity infinitely superior to every sordid, every selfish gratification. He could Gen. xlv. 5. not, must not go to his father: but it was not impossible to remove his father into Egypt. The excellence of his disposition appears in every thing. In characters like his, we do not find duty justling duty out of doors, but every one in its proper place. Passion tempered by prudence; and wisdom animated by passion. To render the projected removal of his venerable parent as easy and comfortable as possible to his advanced age, and increasing infirmities, he proposes for his residence the land of Goshen, which was a province of the lower Egypt, on the east side of the Nile, bordering upon Arabia, and a frontier to Palestine. This province was fit for feeding cattle, the profession which his father and brethren followed; and it was not far from the city where the Egyptian monarchs usually resided, and where Joseph's stated habitation of course was. It is called Zoan in the seventy-eighth Psalm, and Tanais by profane authors. This nearness of situation, Joseph alleged as one motive to induce his father to undertake the journey; and there he engaged to maintain him and all his family, in affluence and comfort. In Pharaoh we have an amiable instance of qualities rarely to be found in the character of princes-attachment and gratitude. He cheerfully confirms all the engagements of his minister, though they extended to the disposing of a whole province of his empire. He outruns the wishes and desire of even filial duty and affection, and strives to repay the kindness of Joseph, whom God had made a father to him, by becoming a shield and protector to his father's house. But what shall we say, what shall we think of Joseph himself? Men suddenly and remarkably elevated, are apt to forget themselves, to forget those from whom they sprung, and the means by which they rose. But behold the prime minister of a mighty empire, the favourite of a great and powerful prince, the lord of Egypt, attending to the conveniency and comfort of an old shepherd, whose person was unknown in the country which he governed, his religion abhorred, and his occupation despised. O nature, nature! How honourable is thy empire, how glorious are thy triumphs!-Joseph is now as eager to hasten the departure of his brethren, as he was before artful to detain them. And at Pharaoh's command, dismisses them with a retinue suitable to the rank and dignity of the man who was next the throne. But it is with pleasure we observe, that the splendour of this retinue was not the silly ostentation of wealth and power, but the display of much better passions, the kindness, the liberality, the gratitude of a good and honest heart. And, is the sun indeed at length going to arise upon Jacob's hoary head? And shall the heart so long dead to joy, yet once more awaken to transport? And shall his eyes at last close in peace? Alas, alas! are we not all dying to the world, before we begin to live to comfort? Is not the drama of life over, before we are well sensible that our part in the scene has commenced? Is it not rather too late in life to purchase a blessing so transitory, by a change so great? What will a man not do to save his family from perishing, and to be joined to such a son as Joseph? It is indeed late in life, before we die to hope; and wisely and well it is ordered, that we should hope to the end. The man who has suffered so much, who has died so often, has not much more either to feel or to fear. This dawning of happiness upon the head of the aged patriarch, is to himself so new, so unlike the common complexion of his lot, opens so many interesting views of Providence-that I trust you will deem with me the prosperous period of Jacob's history deserving of a Lecture by itself. Here then we break off, after having suggested to your minds a few texts of scripture, tending to illustrate and to apply our subject. And "there arose a mighty famine in that land, and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough, and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 1 will arise, and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee; and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father: but when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him."* Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls." "Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive: and let thy widows trust in me."‡ "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.") "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not."|| "For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together: for to do whatsoever thy hand and |