by this abject submission; but Joseph felt a different sensation; it grieved him to think that his brethren could entertain so base an idea of his temper and intentions. Their address brought tears into his eyes, and, when they came themselves, and fell on their faces before him, his behaviour to them was conciliatory. "Fear not : for am I in the place of GOD?"

Joseph possessed such reverence for the Almighty, as to induce him to commit all his concerns into his hands. He knew that the retribution of evil belongs to infinite justice, and is a power not to be assumed by man. "Shall I," says he, "take upon me to avenge the injuries which I have sustained, when I have experienced so greatly the power, protection, and goodness of GOD?"

Impressed with this sentiment of benevolence, he endeavoured to calm the fears of his brethren, by making them an assurance of their enjoying his full favour and forgiveness. Not only so, but he did it in terms calculated to heal the festering wounds of a guilty conscience, by endeavouring to lessen the evil which he had sustained, and by turning it into a signal mark of providential kindness to preserve them and their families. "As for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them."

Who can sufficiently admire the mild and tender, the compassionate and pious Joseph! In him are seen all those sweet graces of religion which an apostle calls the fruits of the spirit; love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." Gal. v. 22, 23. He buries all recollection of past injuries in oblivion; he breathes assurances, not merely of forgiveness, but of the ten derest affection; and he turns the minds of his brethren to Jehovah, as the author and director of allthat had happened to him and them.

Joseph lived fifty-four years after this; but the history of that period is compressed by the sacred writer within the narrow compass of a few words. He had brought Egypt to a great state of prosperity; he had happily been the instrument of saving his father's house from destruction; his brethren were settled in the most fertile part of the country; and he lived to see his posterity of the fourth generation in the line of Ephraim, and of the third in that of Manasseh.

Crowned with the blessings of a considerate prince, and a grateful people, he ended his days in peace, at the age of one hundred and ten years. But, gifted with the spirit of prophecy, he left a charge with the Israelites, that when the time should come of their departure from Egypt, they should take his bones and lay them with those of his fathers.

In the history of Joseph we perceive the advantages of early piety and habitual integrity. His life is a beautiful lesson of instruction and encouragement to young persons to resist temptation; to have GOD always before them, to be diligent in their callings, affectionate in their social relations, calm and contented in a low sphere, faithful in offices of trust, and humble and devout in every station of their lives.

But can we contemplate the history of Joseph, and not perceive a striking similitude between his circumstances and those of the Son of God ? Joseph's future exaltation was figured in supernatural visions of the night; and the incarnation, sufferings, and ascension of the Messiah were veiled under the shadowy representations of the law, represented in inystic rites and ceremonies, and foretold by many prophecies and remarkable signs. Joseph was a mark of envy to his brethren, and Jesus came to his own, "who received him not." The brothers of Joseph cast him into a pit, and plotted his death; but they were prevented by the interposition of heaven. Jesus did actually suffer pain and mocking, agony

and death, at the instance and the clamours of his brethren the Jews. Joseph was sold for money by the avaricious advice of Judah-and Judas, the disciple of our Lord, sold his master's innocent blood into the hands of his enemics for thirty pieces of silver. The virtuous patriarch was tempted in the house of Potiphar, by the most dangerous solicitations; but he resisted every allurement, and preserved his purity unsullied, and his integrity unshaken. Jesus endured temptation on the mountain, in the wilderness, and on the pinnacle of the temple; but he came off more than conqueror, foiling the adversary of mankind, and leading him at last into captivity. Joseph, in prison, meek and submissive, diligent and faithful, typified the lowly Redeemer in all the steps of his degradation and suffering. But from a dungeon we have seen the pious youth suddenly elevated to the right hand of a throne, and possessing the government of all Egypt. Jesus, the Lamb of GOD, was "numbered with transgressors," and died as a malefactor; but from the gloomy chambers of the grave he rose triumphant, burst the adamantine chains of death, disarmed the tyrant of his sting, ascended up on high, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of GOD, having all power both in heaven and upon earth.

By Joseph's care and wise contrivance, the surrounding nations, as well as the Egyptians themselves, were preserved in a time of grievous famine.

Our Redeemer is himself the bread of life which came down from heaven; and he gives unto every repenting and believing sinner, food of a Divine nature, the pardon and forgiveness of sins, grace here, and glory hereafter.

JOB.

Supposed to have died Anno Mundi 2512.

AFFLICTION is a school in which, though the discipline is severe, more benefit may be acquired than in those situations which are generally courted by mankind.

Pleasure and prosperity have a tendency to corrupt the heart, and to call forth its evil passions into action; but adversity is calculated to bring us to our senses, to mortify vanity and pride, to make us serious, submissive, and devout.

When we experience the loss of riches, friends, honours, or health, we can scarcely help condemning our want of discernment in placing an undue affection upon perishable objects. If this thought is cherished as it ought to be, and is carried into a train of considerable enquiry, we shall be convinced that this world was not intended to be our portion, and that all its boasted good is inadequate to satisfy the desires of an immortal mind.

The volumes of history are filled with instances of the mutability of fortune; and in the sacred records we are presented with a variety of striking examples, to convince us that crosses and disappointments are wisely directed by Providence for this purpose, that man may learn not to expect happiness in the creature but in the Creator, not on earth but in heaven.

The story of Job is an instructive picture, from the contemplation of which many important truths may be gathered: particularly on the use to be made of the world, the design of affliction, and the temper of mind which afflictions ought to produce.

Concerning the age and country in which this

eminent person lived, there are numerous conjectures. As there are no allusions in this book to the deliverance of the Israelites, nor to any part of the Mosaic ritual, it is probable that Job lived in the patriarchal times, or at least that he died before the departure of the chosen people from the house of bondage.

He is said to have lived" in the land of Uz," or Edom, which country obtained that name from Uz, the son of Dishan, the son of Seir the Horite; and therefore it seems evident that Job was a descendant of Esau; and it has been supposed by some that he was the same with Jobab, the second king of the Edomites. Genesis xxxvi. 33. There are also different opinions as to the author of the Book of Job, but it is generally believed to have been composed by Moses in Midian; and certainly it was well calculated to console the minds of his afflicted brethren in Egypt, and to preserve them from giving way through despondency to idolatry or despair.

There have not been wanting some bold commentators, who have turned this whole history into a parable or allegory; and upon equally good principles they might have allegorized the story of Abraham or Isaac, of Jacob or Joseph. The scriptures mention Job as a real person, not only in the book which bears his name, but in other places, as in the Prophecy of Ezekiel, xiv. 14, and in the Epistle of St. James, v. 11.

It would tend to lessen the importance of the character, to weaken our admiration, and to remove the force of the example of Job, if we were for a single moment to admit that he is but the creature of fancy, merely designed to represent the state of the Jewish people in bondage, or an afflicted good man in a general sense.

To profit as we ought to do by this narrative, we must receive it as a fact, that "he was a man of the