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condition; obliged to relinquifh all his honours, and to quit the fplendor and gaiety of a court, for a scene of forrow and diftrefs, in a dark and loathfome dungeon. But the firm and honeft mind feels no change of place or condition; is equally happy, becaufe equally good, in affluence or penury, in a palace or a prifon. Jofeph carried with him riches that could not be alienated, a freedom that could not be enthralled, a confcience void of offence. He who has this companion, will always have a ftill nobler and more able friend, even his great Creator, as Jofeph had. The Lord, we read, was Still with him, and fhewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the fight of the keeper of the prifon. The minds of fuch men are feldom foftened into compaffion, or open to the dictates of humanity; their hearts are, for the moft part, from being conftantly ufed to the fight of diftrefs, callous and infenfible: but there is a native beauty in the face of innocence which wins the affection of the most obdurate; and a dignity in virtue, which commands refpect and deference from the most abandoned. Jofeph feemed born to rule and direct wherever he appeared: infomuch that the keeper of the prifon committed to Jofeph's hand, all the prifoners that were in the prifon; and whatfoever they did there, he was the doer of it. The keeper of the prifon 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 profper.

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Jofeph,

Jofeph, however, was ftill a captive, confined to a sphere infinitely beneath his exalted talents, which called for a nobler field to expatiate in and an accident foon happencd, defigned no doubt by the Providence of God, which gave him an opportunity of difplaying that extraordinary knowledge and wifdom, which God had fo liberally beftowed on him. The chief butler and baker of Pharaoh's household had offended their mafter, and were both committed (probably on fufpicion of fraud in their several offices) to the fame prifon where Jofeph lay. These men dreamed each of them a dream.

The caufe, nature and efficacy of dreams, hath ever been, and will always continue to be, matter of fuch doubt and uncertainty, as greatly to puzzle and perplex the underftandings of men. It is fufficient on the prefent occafion to remark, that whilft God did himself gracioufly condefcend to govern his chofen people, he frequently thought fit to reveal his will by this method; and that the interpretation of dreams was one of thofe marks by which his favourite fervants were generally diftinguifhed: of this Jofeph is a fufficient teftimony. To him the unfortunate prifoners applied for an interpretation of their dreams; a tafk which he performed with fo much judgment and penetration, as to leave no doubt that (as he before informed them) it must come of God, the whole being exactly and literally fulfilled; for the

butler,

butler, as Jofeph had foretold, was, in a very few days after, reftored to his place, and the baker punished with that death which he moft probably had deferved.

And here it may not be amifs to obferve, as a remarkable circumftance, that God, in the cafe before us, ordained the fame cause to be productive of two effects directly oppofite. Jofeph's firft dream, concerning his future fuperiority over his brethren, occafioned his flavery in Egypt; and his fecond was the apparent inftrument of all his good fortune and advancement.

over.

There is likewife another occurrence in this narrative which fhould not be paffed When Jofeph interpreted the butler's dream, he defired, that as foon as he should be reinftated in his mafter's favour, he would make mention of him to Pharaoh, and release him out of the prifon. The butler, notwithstanding, when he became great, thought no more of his friend; but, as great men generally do, entirely forgot him. Too exact an image and reprefentation this of the ingratitude of half mankind, who, when exalted to wealth and power, feldom remember the poor and deftitute, even though they had been, like Jofeph, the inftruments of their advancement, and the caufe of all their affluence and profperity.

God thought fit to exercife the patience, and to try the fidelity of his fervant, by detaining Jofeph in the prifon two years longer;

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when

when an accident happened, which, fortunately for Jofeph, refreshed the memory of this ungrateful courtier. Pharaoh, King of Fgypt, dreamed two dreams, which troubled him exceedingly, and applied for an interpretation of them to all the magicians and wife men in the kingdom; but in vain, for none of them could interpret the dreams. Then it was that the butler, who had fo long forgotten Jofeph, began to recollect his obligations to him on a fimilar occafion. He relates to Pharaoh what had happened two years before in the prifon, and mentions the extraordinary fagacity of Jofeph in his interpretation of the two dreams, which were both fo exactly fulfilled.

At length the wifh'd-for period arrived, which was to put an end to the affliction, and break the chains of this illuftrious fufferer. Pharaoh, pleafed, no doubt, at this welcome intelligence, fends immediately for Jofeph out of prifon. And Pharaoh faid unto Jofeph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it: and I have heard Jay of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it. And Jofeph anfwered Pharaoh, Jaying, it is not in me: God fhall give Pharash an anfwer of peace.

Obferve the meekness and humility of the heaven-directed Prophet. He doth not boast of his fkill, or attribute any thing to his own penetration and fagacity. It is not in me, fays he: God fhall give thee an answer. Mo

defty is the infeparable companion of merit; and true knowledge and wifdom are ever attended by lowlinefs and diffidence. Pharaoh, as if from this amiable diftruft of his own skill he had conceived a ftill more favourable opinion of it, relates his dreams, and defires an interpretation of them. Both the dreams and the interpretations which relate to seven years of plenty and feven of famine, are fo well known to every one who reads the Bible, that I need not here repeat them, but proceed to the effects which this circumftance produced, and the alteration which it made in the affairs of Jofeph. The excellent judgment and penetration which he difcovered on this occafion was of the utmost confequence to Pharaoh, as no less indeed than the fafety and profperity of his whole kingdom depended on it. Jofeph had not only foretold that a famine would enfue, but pointed out alfo the means of preventing all the evils naturally attendant on fo dreadful a calamity. In the time of plenty he provided against want, and in the summer of abundance and profperity, laid up against the penury of approaching winter. He would not fuffer the corn, which remained over and above that which was neceffary for present confumption, to be exported to foreign countries, but very wifely and providentially kept it at home.

Jofeph was certainly entitled, for fuch fa. lutary advice, to all the favour and protec

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