SERMON II. 25 GENESIS XXXIX. 2. The Lord was with Jofeph. N the conclufion of my laft dif- SERM. IN courfe on these words, I brought down the history of Jofeph to that remarkable period wherein the providence of God had raised him to the highest honour and preferments in the court of Pharaoh. He who had fo lately called for pity, was now, by an aftonishing change of fortune, become an object of envy and admiration: he feemed to have baffled, as it were, the power of the II. SERM. waves, and to be landed safely in the harbour of peace and profperity, when II. a violent and unexpected ftorm arose, which drove him once more into the ocean, and almoft overwhelmed him. The attractions of Jofeph's perfon were, it seems, no less striking and fingular than thofe of his mind. That beauty which had already been fo prejudicial to him, and which was probably the cause of Jacob's partial affection, became again the fource of forrow and misfortune. Such is the unhappy lot of human nature, that we are frequently ruined and betray'd even by the perfections of it. Those external accomplishments which are fo fervently wished for, and fo follicitously preferved, but too often prove a dangerous and a destructive pre-eminence, which Jofeph fenfibly and fatally II. experienced; for the wife of Potiphar SERM. no fooner caft her eyes upon, than fhe conceived a violent and shameful paffion for him, which no confiderations of honour, duty, or gratitude, could prevail on her to restrain. This, we must acknowledge, was the strongest test of his integrity, and the fevereft trial of his virtue. Youth and beauty, power and interest, ambition and opportunity, confpired to urge him on to the commiffion of fin; but thofe well-grounded principles which had hitherto directed all his actions, together with that divine grace which affifted him in them, now enabled him to refift, and to overcome, the powerful temptation. He could not bear the thought of injuring, in fo tender a point, the best and most indulgent of mafters. How, fays he to her, can I do this great wickedness, and fin against God? Here let us stop a moment to reflect on the SERM. the conduct of this amiable youth. When II. he was now, as it were, on the very brink of deftruction, he starts back with horror at fight of the precipice before him, fummons the powers of reafon and religion to his aid, and cries out, how can I do this great wickedness, and fin against God? What a noble leffon of inftruction may thefe words afford us! What a fair pattern and ftandard has Jofeph left to pofterity; and how much lefs of fin and forrow would there be in this world, were men to follow fo excellent an example! If, when any dangerous temptation attacked, any darling paffion folicited us, we would but ftop a moment only to repeat this fhort fentence, how can I do this wickedness, and fin against God? what anfwer would our hearts return to this fevere and penetrating queftion? that anfwer, doubtlefs, which Jofeph's did; that to commit the fin, what II. ever it was, would be ingratitude to the SERM. best and most generous of masters, (for fuch God is to us all) who committeth all that he hath to our hands, and keepeth. back nothing from us which we ought to wish for or defire. But the followers of vice are too rapid and precipitate in their pursuit of it, ever to stand still in the journey: they rush on without fear, without reluctance or remorfe. To fuch, however, if they are not paft all reflection, I would point out the confequences of this seasonable deliberation in the good and confcientious Jofeph, who refifted the arts of the feducer, and was in the end amply rewarded for it, by bleffings which, though not immediately bestowed, were carefully reserved for him. Such, indeed, hath been the degeneracy and corruption of mankind in every age, that it is generally dangerous, often |