tion which the king could poffibly beftow on him. Accordingly we find, that Pharaoh confidered his merit, and rewarded it. And he faid unto Jofeph, Forafmuch as God hath Shewed thee all this, there is none fa difcreet and wife as thou art. Thou shalt be over my house, and only in the throne will I be greater than thou. And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Jofeph's hand, and arrayed him in veflures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck. And he made him to ride in the fecond chariot which he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt.

Behold, then, this favourite of the Almighty, not only releafed from a ftate of ignominy and contempt, but advanced to the highest rank; fecond in honour and dignity to the exalted prince of a noble and extenfive kingdom; the guardian and protector of a whole people. We fhall find, as we advance in the hiftory, that pleasures still greater than any which power and fplendor can beftow were referved for him. In the mean time, from what we have already heard, we have reason to conclude, that the gracious Providence of God worketh every day, and every hour, unfeen perhaps and unacknowledged, for the defence and prefervation of the righteous. Never let the good and virtuous mind fink under the burthen of prefent affliction, for God will always make it the foundation of future happinefs.

pinefs. If, like Jofeph, we resist evil, it will flee from us. If we confide in the Moft High, he will never leave nor forfake us, but will, with the affliction, make a way for us to escape from the gloomy abodes of grief, fhame, and forrow, to the manfions of honour, pleasure, and felicity.

ON THE HISTORY OF JOSEPH.

SERMON III.

GENESIS XXXIX. 2.

The Lord was with Jofeph.

JOSEPH, whom in my two laft difcourfes we have accompanied thro' a variety of diftreffes and temptations, was now, by the gracious providence of God, delivered from all his forrows and misfortunes, and exalted to the highest state of happiness which his ambition could with for or defire; the favou~ rite of a grateful fovereign, the admiration of a powerful, obliged, and united people: his honours and preferments, gained not by the fervile arts of adulation, fraud, or chicanery, but acquired by real merit, and conferred on him with univerfal approbation. Happy was the king that had fuch a minifter, and still happier that nation which had fuch a guide and protector,

Jofeph,

Jofeph, who did not, as minifters too often do, think himself at liberty to facrifice every thing to his own intereft and advantage, was thoroughly fenfible of the weight and importance of the truft repofed in him. He acted like an honeft and upright patriot, faithful to the mafter who employed him, and anxious for the prefervation of the people committed to his care. In the feven years of plenty, when the corn was gathered as the fand of the fea, he laid it up in the ftorchoufes which he prepared for that purpofc. He would not, as I before obferved to you, fuffer it to be exported, as it probably had formerly been, into foreign countries, but kept it at home, well-knowing that when the famine which he had foretold fhould come, there would be a great and preffing demand for it. At the end of the feven years, that dreadful calamity which he had predicted did actually fucceed, and the dearth was in all lands. Then did the Egyptians fully experience the judg ment and prudence of Jofeph, who poured balm into their wounds, and foftened all their calamities. Whilft every nation around them was finking under the misfortune, they were fatisfied with abundance, and in the land of Egypt, fays the fcripture, there was bread. They had not only enough for themselves, but were able alfo to fupply their indigent neigbours. Thus may the wifdom and integrity of one truly great man reftore a finking nation: thus may he even convert misfor

tunes

tunes into bleffings, and render that evil, which threatened ruin and deftruction, productive of benefit and advantage to them. All countries, fays the hiftory, came into Egypt to Jofeph for to buy corn; a circumstance which we fhall fee was of more confequence to Jofeph than every thing which had gone before it. For after all that can be faid in favour of public fplendor, honours, fame, affluence, and every external mark of felicity, true happiness is perhaps only to be found within the narrow circle of private life, and the sweet endearments of domeftic affection.

Raifed as Jofeph was to fo fuperior an eminence, God had in ftore for him a bleffing far preferable to any which he had ever bestowed on him. The fight of his aged father was a nobler fpectacle than the moft gorgeous palace could furnish; and the dinner with which he entertained his brethren, was doubtlefs, to him, a more exquifite feaft than all the dainties which Pharaoh's court could ever have afforded him.

Let us then turn back our eyes on the poor, aged, unhappy Jacob, who had now for the fpace of thirteen years, lamented in anguish and defpair the fuppofed death of his beloved Jofeph; when behold a public calamity arose to increase and embitter private distress. The famine was fore in the land of Canaan: even that land which had flowed with milk and honey, was now poor and deftitute. This, no doubt, greatly afflicted the aged Patri.

arch;

arch; for those who have been used to affluence and profperity, are always the most impatient under penury and forrow; and nothing fo embitters prefent diftress, as this grating remembrance of past felicity. Little, doubtlefs, did Jacob think that fo fevere a judgment would prepare the way for his future happiness.

Very often doth it happen unto us, as it did unto Jacob; we arraign and condemn the providence of God, even at the very time when it is fecretly working for our good. We are told, that as foon as Jacob heard the welcome news that there was, corn in Egypt, he immediately called his fons together, and dispatched them with money to purchase, as foon as poffible, that neceffary and muchwanted commodity, keeping behind only his youngest fon Benjamin, to commune with and comfort him in their absence. They obeyed the orders of their father, and fet out upon the journey.

Jofeph, we must here call to mind, had, with his new dignity, affumed the new name alfo of Zaphnath Paa-nêah; a name given him by Pharoah, and fignificant of his important office, meaning, according to the received interpretation, his prime minifter. To Zaphnath Paa-nêah then, a name utterly unknown to them (and which accounts, amongst other reafons, for their not remembering him) Jacob's fons were directed to apply, as to the only person who could relieve them,

the