filial piety of Joseph, in presenting himself with his children before the death-bed of his father to receive his parting blessing; in promising to convey him to "the burying-place of his ancestors;" in " falling upon his father's face, and weeping upon him, and kissing him," when he had yielded up the ghost; in “ embalming" the body with princely munificence; and finally in removing it to "the land of Canaan," and depositing it "in the cave of Machpelah," the sepulchre of Abraham and of Isaac.

2. But Joseph, it may be said, had been treated with partial fondness by his father; and the affection, which he thus testified, was only a return for the kindness he had experienced. Let us see then what was his conduct towards his brethren, all of whom had hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him;" whilst some of them had conspired to slay him, and others had actually sold him for a slave.

When he had occasion to notice the cause of his being a bondman in Egypt,

"He

how does he describe it? "Indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews." He intimates that he had been treated with injustice; but he mentions not those who had injured him. When his brethren appeared before him, how does he conduct- himself towards them? made himself strange unto them indeed, and spake roughly unto them:" he adopted a line of conduct, which was necessary perhaps in order to complete the benevolent design, he had in view; and which for a time wore the appearance of severity and harshness: but in adopting even this apparent severity, he laid a temporary restraint on his own humanity and affection; at the same time he committed no act of injustice towards any one of them, and ultimately he conferred the greatest benefits on them all. In this part of his behaviour indeed we perceive his prudence and discretion; which would not suffer him to discover himself unto his brethren, before he should have ascertained the probable consequences of the discovery: and which perhaps judged it expedient to awaken their sleeping consciences to salutary con

trition for their former unnatural cruelty. From such considerations as these he seems to have done violence to his real feelings; what those feelings were, we learn from unequivocal evidence, when in the midst of this assumed strangeness and roughness of demeanour, "he turned himself about from them and wept;" when "he commanded to fill their sacks with corn, and to restore every man's money into his sack, and to give them provision for the way :" when he "could not refrain himself, but wept aloud, so that the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard, while he made himself known unto his brethren;" when he "kissed all his brethren and wept upon them;" when he "gave them a possession in the best of the land;" when he "nourished them and their little ones;" when he "comforted them, and spake kindly unto them."

3. I have only to add that the moral character of Joseph, thus beautifully illustrated by his conduct towards his father, who had treated him with paternal affection, and towards his brothers, who had

persecuted him with unnatural cruelty, maintains its consistency, when surveyed in its relation to the Egyptians, among whom it was exhibited under a great variety of circumstances. To Potiphar he acted the part of a conscientious and faithful servant; and both in the management of his household in general, and in particular on one memorable occasion, wherein his virtue was assailed, proved himself a man of uncorruptible integrity. By "the keeper of the prison" he was invested with an office of trust, which he discharged with care and success. Elevated by Pharaoh to the highest dignity in the state, he gave the most satisfactory evidence of that "wisdom" and " discretion," on the presumption of which he had been advanced; and acquitted himself with distinguished honour in an employment, and during a season, of peculiar difficulty. By his astonishing prudence, he not only preserved a whole nation from the horrors of impending famine, but he availed himself of their temporary distress to confer upon them a

permanent benefit, and provided for their future security and improvement in civilization, by removing them from the country over which they were dispersed "into cities, from one end of the borders of Egypt unto the other." In the mean time he justified the good opinion of his employer by the diligence, wherewith he executed his commission; and by converting the profits of his success, not to his own personal aggrandizement, but to the pro

motion of the interests of Pharaoh. Indeed the influence which he possessed with the sovereign, and the authority which he maintained over the people of Egypt, furnish an undeniable argument for the uncommon merit of Joseph: for it is not reasonable to suppose that any thing under Providence, but merit of a very extraordinary kind, could have conciliated the good-will of a whole people to a man, who inherited no domestic or national claim upon their regard; who had been brought into their country a stranger, an outcast, and a slave; and whose character had been blackened by the imputation of a