that you may overcome such a temper, it will lead you, when provoked, to give a still more violent blow in greater anger. And have you thought to what all this may lead? Will it make you shudder when I tell you that it has led to murder; that it may lead you to be a murderer?

So your envious feelings, if not repented of and overcome, may lead you, as you will see in the case of Joseph's brethren, to do some very wicked and dreadful thing.

Have you repented of such feelings? Do you now truly repent of them, and beseech God to give you the Holy Spirit, that you may entirely overcome them? If you have not yet done this, I entreat you to delay to do it no longer.

CHAPTER IV.

Joseph's dreams. His brethren go to Shechem.--Description of this place.-Joseph sent to inquire after his brethren.

WHILE Joseph was treated with so much hatred by his brethren, he was led by a dream, which God produced in his mind as he was asleep, to expect

some future great change in his condition, that would place him very high above them.

He dreamed that they were all together in the field, binding up the sheaves of grain which had been reaped. All at once, the sheaf which Joseph had bound stood upright of itself, and the sheaves which his brethren had bound stood round about it and bowed down before it.

He told this dream to his brethren, and their hatred toward him was greatly increased by it. They asked him in a very reproachful way, what he meant by telling them such a dream. They said

to him, Shalt thou, indeed, reign over us? Shall we bow down before thee, and obey thee, as our ruler or king? How great is thy folly and pride, a merc youth as thou art, and our younger brother too, to expect that such a dream will ever come to pass !

But it was not long before Joseph had another dream, still more remarkable than this.

He dreamed that the sun, and the moon, and the eleven stars were all around him, and bowed down before him.

He told this dream to his father, and to his brethren; and they supposed that if it meant to foretell any thing, it was, that not only his brethren, whom the eleven stars represented, but also his father and mother, whom the sun and moon represented, should yet bow down before him, and obey him as their ruler or king.

Jacob, seeing that Joseph was in danger of growing proud by having such dreams, or perhaps not inclined fully to believe them as foretelling what would really happen, rebuked him: "What is this dream that thou hast dreamed ?" said he. Shall I, and thy mother, and thy brethren, indeed, come to bow down ourselves to thee, to the earth ?"

Still, he could not help considering it a very remarkable dream, especially as it was so much like the first one which Joseph had; and he did not forget it.

This dream had the same effect upon the brethren of Joseph as the former one. They envied and hated him the more. They, no doubt, wished for an opportunity to do him some great injury. For envy and hatred cannot remain inactive. They are like a flame which is smothered for a little while, and then bursts out with double violence. We shall see that such was the effect of the evil passions which burned within the breasts of the brothers of Joseph.

Not long after this they were sent by their father to feed his flock in Shechem.

This place was between sixty and seventy miles north of Hebron; so that it was a considerable distance to drive the large flocks of sheep and goats which Jacob owned. But it was necessary to do this, and to go from place to place, in order to find sufficient pastures for them.

In the valley of Shechem they could find an abundance. It was 66 a field which the Lord had blessed."

Modern travellers speak of this part of Palestine as among the most pleasant and fertile.

The city, now called Napolose, as it is approached from the neighboring hills, appears embosomed in delightful and fragrant bowers, half hid by rich gardens, and by groves of tall trees, all around the beautiful valley in which it stands.

On the right and left are the mountains of Gerizim

and Ebal, whose lofty, craggy, and barren heights are strikingly contrasted with the rich valley beneath, and with the extensive olive grounds that are spread over its surface.

Near this place, called, in the time of our Savior, Sychar, was Jacob's Well, where, you recollect, Christ conversed with the Woman of Samaria; and here, too, Joseph himself was buried, as we shall see at the close of his strange and eventful life.

To this delightful spot Jacob had sent his sons to find feed for his numerous and increasing flocks. Being so far from home, it was not long before their kind father began to feel anxious about them, and directed Joseph to go and see if it was "well with them, and with the flocks, and bring him word again."

It was a long journey for such a young man to take alone, and on foot. In addition to this, he must have feared not a little, on account of the treatment which he might receive from his brethren. But his father directed him to go, and this was enough for a dutiful son. He cheerfully obeyed; and leaving his home, in the pleasant vale of Hebron, set out for Shechem, to find his brothers, and to see if they were well.

He little knew what was before him; through what wondrous scenes he was soon to pass; and