assertions, that they were true men, ten out of eleven sons, by bringing their younger brother, Benjamin, before him. This proceeding greatly distressed them; and conscience, which had been silent while every thing went on with its accustomed regularity, now brought their faults to their remembrance, and led them to general confession. "We are verily guilty," said they, "concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us, and we would not hear. Therefore is this distress come upon us." Little did they imagine they were in the presence of that injured brother; or that he well understood their language and their allusion, while they believed they were speaking in a tongue unknown in Egypt! How keen are the stings of conscience!

The nine brethren returned, meeting with one inexplicable and ominous circumstance by the way, namely, the discovery of the money of one of them, in the mouth of his sack; and a similar discovery in all the sacks, at the end of their journey. They reported all they had heard and seen to their aged parent, whose heart was still exquisitely sensitive to the bitter trials he was called to sustain. Callous, indeed, must that heart be that can read the last three verses of the forty-second chapter of Genesis unmoved. What a moving picture of distress! There is something tenderly touching in the grief of an aged person, especially if he be a character of worth and piety. His grief uttered no loud complaint. Nature was unable to be vehement. But his look is one that speaks unutterable things, in the expression of its sorrow. His tears flow silently over his aged cheek. His reverend gray locks hardly shade his downcast eye. And as he smites his brow in agony, he exclaims, "Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye

will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me." That man must be dead to every feeling that endears and ennobles humanity, who, with such a scene before his eyes, does not weep with him that weeps.

The supply which the children of Israel had brought out of Egypt was soon exhausted; and they were under the necessity of returning for more. The old patriarch felt acutely at parting with Benjamin; but seeing no alternative, he let him go. An account of their second journey must, however, be reserved for another lecture.

There is one subject which forcibly arrests our attention in reviewing this history; and that is, the nature of those supernatural dreams which Pharaoh and his servants had, as well as Joseph. Without doubt, our dreams are generally nothing more than the wild wanderings of the imagination. They are often occasioned by our bodily or constitutional circumstances. Often they are influenced by impressions made upon us during the preceding day; or even by the dispositions which we ourselves cultivate. It has been observed that the tenour of our involuntary thoughts will always manifest to us the current of our dispositions; that if, for instance, our piety be sincere and ardent, our thoughts, unbidden, will dwell on subjects suitable thereto; and vice versa. But, perhaps, this rule is not strictly applicable to our dreams. Evil thoughts are often suddenly injected into our minds by the enemy of our souls; and why not evil dreams!

If we remember that, at the period of history we have been engaged in considering, the characters of God's original law upon the human heart had been greatly effaced; that the greater part of mankind were idolaters; that even the chosen family had not received

the law of ordinances; much less had "life and immor tality been brought to light by the gospel," we shall not wonder so much that God should convey some intimations of his will by means of a dream; and that he should enable some individuals who "feared God and wrought righteousness," to explain its meaning, and to refer all the glory to God alone. The interpretations of dreams were very important links in that chain of providential occurrences which conducted Joseph to his exalted station, and which brought Israel into Egyptevents which were fraught with the most important consequences. "But we have a more sure word of prophecy, to which we do well to take heed, as to a light that shineth in a dark place."

What an illustration does the history of Joseph, even as far as we have pursued it, afford of the truth of that delightful saying, "All things work together for good to them that love God." This is the case with the undue fondness of a friend, as in that of Israel for Joseph; with the envy and jealousy, the malice and cruelty of men, as in the conduct of Joseph's brethren; the false accusations of the ungodly, and the unmerited severity inflicted in consequence, as was that of Potiphar toward his young and attached servant, through the slander of his wife; the ungrateful forgetfulness of those on whom benefits have been conferred, as when the chief butler "remembered not Joseph, but forgat him." O! how wonderful are the ways of Him who "doeth all things well," and "maketh even the wrath of man to praise him." All these things served, at once, to promote the elevation of Joseph, and to prepare him, in his high, as well as in his low estate, to bring glory to God.

JOSEPH.-PART III.

"And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land, unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence. So Joseph died, being a hundred and ten years old: : and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt," Gen. 1, 24, 25, 26.

It was with a painful reluctance that Jacob consented to let Benjamin, the son of his right hand, go down into Egypt; for his apprehensions of the consequences were very melancholy. The brethren came again unto Joseph, bringing with them the money which had been returned, (as they thought, by accident,) together with a sum for a farther supply; and a present to the governor of the land. "And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them," he ordered them all to be conducted to his own house; a mark of attention which filled them all with fear, remembering that Simeon was still in bonds. Before Joseph came home, at noon, the brethren presented themselves to the steward, and offered him the "double money" they had brought in their hands. Their language and manner equally indicated their agitation and alarm. But he calmed their fears, "and brought Simeon out unto them." When Joseph came, he made inquiries, with an air of feigned indifference, after "the old man," their "father;" asked if Benjamin were their "younger brother," of whom they had spoken to him; and, finding his feelings becoming too powerful for suppression or concealment, he hastily exclaimed, "God be gracious to thee, my son ;"

and then hurried away to his chamber, where he might indulge his emotions unobserved. At dinner he showed every attention, but most particularly to Benjamin.

Once more, however, he resolved to put their patience to the test. He ordered the steward again to return every man's money in his sack; and to put his silver cup also into Benjamin's. This done, they were dismissed. When they had gone but a very little way, they were followed and overtaken by the steward, who charged them with base ingratitude and theft. Conscious of their innocence, they denied the charge; and offered, if any one of them should be found to have been guilty of such a crime, to deliver him up to death. On examination, to the great amazement and horror of all, the cup was found in Benjamin's sack! In the deepest grief and distraction they all returned; and, resigning themselves to their desperate situation, were no sooner introduced into Joseph's presence, than they offered themselves, one and all, to become his bondmen for the punishment of their supposed crime. When he declined to take any of them for bondmen except Benjamin, as being, apparently, the most guilty, the most agonizing apprehensions of the consequences of such a step to their father wrung every heart. His distress compelled Judah to venture to plead with the governor, and made him truly eloquent. His appeal to the heart of the ruler, (see chap. xliv, 18, ad finem,) which he concludes by offering himself as a bondman in lieu of Benjamin, is unrivalled; and the effect on Joseph was irresistible and overpowering. He ordered all the Egyptians present instantly to withdraw. Then "he wept aloud," and "said unto his brethren, I am Joseph !" This avowal brought trouble of another kind upon them; which he soothed with the kindest