Imatges de pàgina
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the feveral occurrences of this beautiful relation; and as I pafs along, to draw from them fuch inferences and reflections as may poffibly be of fome service to us with regard to our own future conduct.

The hiftory of Joseph may indeed, with the utmost propriety, be called the hiftory of Virtue, of virtue deferted, perfecuted, and oppreffed, ftruggling through a variety of afflictions and temptations, fupported throughout by the interpofition of Divine Providence, at length emerging from darkness and despair to light and life, rifing fuperior to all its calamities, and shining forth in the utmoft fplendor of power, affluence and pro

fperity.

Jofeph, the elect and favourite of God, pre-ordained by the Almighty as a chofen inftrument to fet forth his divine power and goodnefs, was the youngest fon of the patriarch Jacob he is introduced to us by the infpired writer in his early youth when he was but feventeen years old we find him feeding the flock with his brethren. The first circumftance recorded of him is, that the lad was with the fons of Bilhah, and with the fons of Zilpah, his father's wives; and Jo· Jeph brought unto his father their evil report. The feeds of virtue which were fown in his mind began even in this tender age to sprout forth in an abhorrence of vice, riot, and debauchery. He faw fomething in the conduct of his brethren and companions which dif

pleafed

pleafed and difgufted him, which the natural openness of foul, ever attendant on this period of life, ftrongly prompted him to difclofe: and accordingly we find that he brought to his father their evil report; that is to fay, he acquainted Jacob with their ill conduct; the natural confequence of which was to bring on him the hatred and ill-will of his brethren: and thus it ever happens to the good and virtuous; thofe who detect vice and falfehood are fure to be perfecuted and oppreffed by the vicious and the false, who feldom forgive the witneffes of their guilt, or the difcoverers of their hypocrify. But another circumftance confpired also to render Jofeph the unhappy object of envy and obhorrence. Ifrael, we are told, loved Jofeph more than all his children; and the reafon is immediately added, because he was the child of his old age.

We fhall find in the course of the hiftory, that the extraordinary regard and tenderness which Jacob expreffed for his darling Jofeph, inftead of contributing to the happinefs of his child, was the fource of all his mifery; from whence we may obferve, as we pafs along, that providence doth frequently feem (as in the cafe before us) by a kind of interfering juftice, to punifh the unwarrantable partiality of parents in the unequal diftribution of love and affection towards their children; which one would think might convey fome useful reflections to those who come

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after them. How many amongst us every day imitate the folly of Jacob, in loving to excess the children of their old age! How few are happy in feeing that fondness so amply repaid as in the example of Jofeph. So weak and fo fhort-fighted is man, that the very means which he makes ufe of to procure to himself pleasure and fatisfaction, are often the vifible and only cause of all his trouble and calamity. Thus the love of Ifrael for his fon Jofeph, by raifing the jea. loufy of his brethren, involved him in that whole feries of misfortunes which afterwards befel him. The coat of many colours, which we are told his father had made for him, immediately pointed him out as an object of envy. This mark of fuperiority might, however, have paffed unnoticed and unpunished, had not another far more prevailing diftinction alarmed and awakened their animofity. Jofeph dreamed a dream: Behold, faid he to his brethren, we were binding fheafs in the field, and lo, my fheaf arofe and food upright; and behold your heaves flood round about, and made obeifance to my fheaf. There is a remarkable propriety in this dream, which I do not remember to have been obferved, and which yet fufficiently appears in the fequel of the ftory; namely, the vifible allufion which the image carries with it to the dearth of corn in Judea: they were binding fheaves in the field, and their fheaves made obeifance to my fheaf. This dream, we may obferve,

obferve, demanded no extraordinary capacity in the interpretation of it: the meaning of it was extremely obvious, and could not poffibly be mistaken by them, being no less than a plain and pofitive prediction of Jofeph's future fortune, the fuperiority which he was born to enjoy over them, and their total fubmiffion to him; a circumftance which worldly wifdom (a wisdom he was a ftranger to) would doubtlefs have perfuaded him to conceal: he foon, indeed, found reafon to repent his unguarded difclofure of it; for, being fent a little time after by his father on a meffage of love and friendship to his brethren, to see whether it was well with them and with their flocks, they began to fhew their jealoufy and hatred of him. Envy, that worst of human paffions, feized upon them; a paffion fo malignant in its nature, that no ties can bind, no laws reftrain, no confiderations, how powerful foever, soften or controul it. In vain did juftice, honour, and piety, plead for an innocent unoffending brother: they confidered him only in the light of a powerful and dangerous rival, and, as fuch, were refolved to embrace the first opportunity that offered itself to destroy him: and when they faw him afar off, they confpired against him to flay him; and they faid one to another, Behold this dreamer cometh; come now therefore and let us flay him, and caft him into fome pit; and we will fay fome evil beaft hath devoured him, and we shall fee what will come of his dreams. The bitter farcasm at

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the end of this fpeech fufficiently points out to us the cause of this inhuman refolution, which they would probably have executed without the leaft remorfe, but that one of them felt fome compunction of mind, and diffuaded them from it. Reuben, who alone had ftill fome remains of affection for his brother faid unto them, Shed no blood, but caft him into this pit that is in the wilderness: this was, we must acknowledge, a fate scarce milder than that to which he had already been devoted: but Reuben had, it feems, made this propofal with a view of faving Jofeph, and delivering him to his father. With this proposal the reft of these unnatural brethren, (however unwillingly) at last complied; and after ftripping him of that coat which had already given them so much uneafinefs, caft him into the pit. Reuben, probably with a defign to watch his opportunity of affifting his unhappy brother, had retired: when a thought ftruck into the mind of Judah, on feeing the Ifhmaelites coming down from Gilead, that a favourable occafion now prefented itself of making every thing fure with regard to themfelves, and felling Jofeph to the Ifhmaelites. To this they unanimoufly agreed, imagining, no donbt, that by this means they might as effectually prevent the accomplishment of his prediction, as if they had deftroyed him; it being highly improbable that a flave in a foreign country fhould ever, by a reverse of fortune, arrive

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