alive. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God."

3. He, who loves God, will "humble himself under his mighty hand,” and receive afflictions as the wholesome corrections of a father, who "loveth the son that he chasteneth." Such was the resignation of Joseph. When sold by his brethren as a bond-servant, he conducted himself with such submission to the will of God, that "the Lord was with him, and he was a prosperous man; and found grace in the sight of his master, who saw that the Lord was with him." When imprisoned in return for his fidelity to his master, and in consequence of an injurious accusation, "the Lord was with Joseph," doubtless because he bore his chastening rod with devout submission; " and showed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison; who looked not to any thing that was under his hand, because the Lord was with him; and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper.

4. He, who loves God, will praise him for all his mercies, and will esteem every blessing, which he enjoys, as the gift of God. Such was the gratitude of Joseph. The station of dignity to which he was raised by being made governor of the land of Egypt, did not withdraw his mind from the Author and Giver of all good things:

God, saith he, hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt." In the enjoyment of domestic comfort and delight, his thoughts were not estranged from the heavenly Father of all. As he presented his two sons to Jacob, his earthly parent, they are my sons," said he, “whom God hath given me in this place."

5. He, who loves God," will" keep his commandments"." Such was the obedi. ence of Joseph. "I fear God," was his declaration on one occasion; and his fear operated as it should do; it prevented him from disobeying and displeasing God. Accordingly when he was tempted to defile

1 John v. 2, 3.

his master's bed, what was his answer? "Behold," said he to the unprincipled woman, who would have seduced him from his duty, " my master wotteth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand; there is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" From a sense of duty to his master he was incapable of recompensing the confidence reposed in him with so irreparable and cruel an injury. But his sense of duty to his master was founded on the only perfect security of moral obligation, a sense of his duty to God.

II. "He, who loves God, will love his brother also i." Such was the humane disposition of Joseph; as it will appear from the line of conduct which he observed in his different social relations. We will proceed now therefore to such particulars as

i 1 John iv. 21.

bear upon this part of the subject: and having thus far seen him performing his duty to God, by piety, by faith, by resignation, by gratitude, and by obedience, we will take for a further criterion of his character, the manner in which he did his duty to man.

1. And here our attention must first be directed to the filial affection of Joseph; for little reason should we have for expecting to find his character exemplary in other respects, if he appeared negligent of the first moral law both of nature and of revelation, and guilty of irreverence towards the authors of his being.

The inspired writer of Genesis informs us that "Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age;" not because he was his youngest son, for that he was not, Benjamin being younger than he: but probably because, after a long season of barrenness, he was born of Rachel, the most beloved consort of Jacob; and because, at the period referred to, he was arrived at an age when

he was capable of affording more comfort to the declining years of his father, than could be given by his younger brother Benjamin. And this interpretation appears to be countenanced by the narrative of the Jewish historian Josephus, who assigns as a cause for the partiality shown by Jacob for the first-born of Rachel, that "his father loved him above the rest of his sons, both because of the beauty of his body, and the virtues of his mind, for he excelled the rest in prudence."

But whatever was the cause of Jacob's preference of Joseph, and however that preference may have been distinguished, it was amply repaid by the filial affection and reverence shown him by this favoured son. Notwithstanding he had been separated from his father more than twenty years, and was raised to a station second only in dignity and power to that of Pharaoh king of Egypt, on the arrival of his brethren to buy corn, his first object appears to have been to procure information concerning this beloved and only surviving parent. For this cause" he made himself