him out of Judea; but because he has an opportunity of glorifying God, he must needs go thither again. He knows that it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem; yet, because his hour is come, he goes up before his disciples to the feast. The ignominy of crucifixion is before him; but, because his Father has willed it, he despises the shame. The burden of

divine wrath is heavy to endure; but, because such is the appointment of Heaven, he refuses not to bear it. Yea, even when nature would have cried out-" Father, save me from this hour!" the divine energy that resides in him makes him say with resignation" But for this cause came I unto this hour." Bitter beyond all human understanding as were the ingredients in the cup mingled for him, because God had so foreordained it, he says, with the meekest resignation-" Not my will, but thine be done." Verily, as an apostle says, "though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things that he suffered."

Is it for us, then, to murmur or complain under the the afflictive dispensations of Providence? Is it for us, on whom "commandments not grievous" have been laid, to oppose to the will of the lawgiver objections and surmises, having in them neither strength nor consistency? Rather let us (whether by doing or by suffering) seek to glorify Him whose children we profess to be, and whom, therefore, we are bound to serve.

What seekest thou? Had such a question been proposed to our Lord Jesus, when he went up and down in our apostate world, He, too, might have answered in similar terms, I go to seek my brethren. Such was the errand upon which he came, and such the end which he steadily pursued. Whether he walked

along the sea coasts of Galilee, or resorted to Bethany, or passed through Jericho, or set his face towards Jerusalem, his object was the same. He sought his brethren -the lost sheep of the house of Israel. No bodily fatigue, no external discouragement, could prevail upon him to desist from his labours of love. From one place to another, he went about doing good. He had souls to gather in-rebels to reduce to their allegiance-enemies to reconcile unto God. Who is He that thus goes about with a visage more marred than any man's, and without having where to lay his head? It is Jesus, the Son of God. And wherefore, too, is his face so often wet with weeping, and his eye filled with tears? It is because he "seeks his brethren," and finds them not; he calls, but they do not answer; he stretches out his hand, and they regard not. His feet, too! they are pierced with thorns-his path has been amongst briers. And all this is because his "brethren, after the flesh," have gone from mountain to hill, forsaking their resting-place.

Yes, it is He. You may know him by the raiment which he wears the coat of many colours with which his father has invested him. Never was there any robe like that by which He is distinguished. It was wrought not by human or angelic hands, but in the loom of eternal predestination. Divinity and humanity are there mysteriously united. Very God, yet very man is he. The graces of humility, meekness, piety, love, and resignation are here incomparably blended. This garment his father has given him, that he may be distinguished from all his brethren.

Mark next, however, the reception that Joseph meets with " When they saw him afar off, even before he

came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him. And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now, therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams."

They waited not to see what sort of message Joseph brought-they tarried not to hear whether he had some interesting communication to make unto them from their common father; but when they saw him "afar off," even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him. We shall not insult the moral judgment of our readers by asking, what think you of their spirit? But we would again crave their attention to the still more desperately wicked conduct here historically typified. Who does not know that even thus was the blessed Jesus despitefully used by his brethren after the flesh? Without knowing what the doctrines were which he was to proclaim, Herod sought to murder him in infancy. Notwithstanding that no claims were as yet put forth for him, it was enough to provoke the jealous envy of the tyrant that men had come from the East to worship him as the King of the Jews. But especially did the historical type receive its explanation when the chief priests, the captains, and the elders, came forth against Jesus with swords and with staves. This was indeed of all conspiracies the basest and the most atrocious. Then did the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers took counsel together, against the Lord and his Anointed, saying, Let us break their bands assunder, let us cast away their cords from us. They desired no more to hear the solemn warn

ings which he had so often sounded in their ears, to behold the miracles which bore unqualified testimony to the divinity of his mission, nor to be told of the extension of his fame. Could they but succeed in accomplishing his death, they would, so they flattered themselves, no longer be annoyed either with a painful consciousness of his superiority, or with an acute sense of the rebukes which he administered. Therefore did they thirst after his blood and anticipate his overthrow. Yea, even as Joseph's brethren scornfully cried, Behold this dreamer cometh, so did the persecutors of Jesus insultingly allude to the miracles which in former times he had wrought, saying, He saved others, himself he cannot save. Ah, thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself, and come down from the cross.

Thus were both the type and the antitype insulted. So reasoned the brethren of Joseph, and so reasoned the persecutors of Jesus. Come now, said the former, and let us kill him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams. They imagined (shortsighted mortals!) that thus the promotion of Joseph would be defeated, and all his expectations turned into vanity. So, likewise, the Jews imagined that by putting Jesus to death they would blast for ever his pretensions to the Messiahship. They fondly thought that the hopes of his followers would perish in the grave where he was laid, and that he, having died in ignominy, would be remembered only as a deceiver. But the counsels of heaven were not thus, in either case, to be set aside. The dreams which Joseph dreamed, being divinely given, may not fail to be accomplished, and the claims which Christ asserts, being righteous and

divinely attested, must be completely vindicated. The very wrath of man contributes in both cases to the end which Providence had in view; and the result is to shew that neither man in earth, angel in heaven, nor fiend in hell, can contend against God and prosper.

The heart of every one not dead to the calls of humanity must feel shocked at the subsequent behaviour of these remorseless youths. Reuben, indeed, more merciful than the rest, intercedes in his behalf— the sympathies of nature are not quite annihilated in his bosom. But the majority are bent on their brother's destruction. And so, too, even Pilate would have let Jesus go, but the Jews cried, Away with him, away with him, let him be crucified.

1. We are hence taught, in the first place, that the sufferings of righteous persons form no reasonable objection against the moral government of God.-It has long been asked, Wherefore do the wicked prosper, and why are the innocent oppressed? But, with the sacred records in our hands, we are not left, in solving this question, to wander in the mazes of conjecture. We know that grand and righteous ends are thus advanced; and that, although clouds and darkness may surround the Almighty, justice and judgment are the habitation of his throne. Thus the graces of his own people are brought into manifestation; thus their strength of principle is evidenced; thus the wisdom of his own procedure is vindicated; thus, in one word, does he maintain faith in the earth. From the fiery trial to which his own servants are subjected, he brings them forth as gold purified seven times. When he allows the ungodly to prosper in their