like a secret and inviolable person, untouched and uninjured.

Such was the last incident that is recorded in the life of this eminent personage, than whom you will find few more distinguished by an assemblage of illustrious virtues; in the lowest adversity, patient and faithful; in the highest prosperity, beneficent and generous; dutiful and affectionate as a son; kind and forgiving as a brother; accomplished as a statesman; wise and provident as a ruler of the land. In such a character, you behold human nature possessing its highest honours. The sentiments which it inspires tend to ennoble our minds; and to prevent their imbibing the spirit of those hard, interested, and self-seeking men, with whom the world abounds.

If

The striking example of forgiveness which the text displays, ought frequently to occur to our thoughts, amidst the various occasions of provocation and offence which arise in our intercourse with the world. one so worthy and amiable, in the days too of his youth and innocence, suffered such cruel treatment from his brothers, ought we to be surprised if, even from our nearest relations, we meet with injustice or ingratitude? Wrongs and injuries are, more or less, the portion of all. Like death, they are an evil unavoidable. No station is so high, no power so great, no character so unblemished, as to exempt us from them. In the world, ungrateful men, false friends, and violent enemies, abound. Every wise man ought to prepare himself for what he is to encounter in passing through this thorny region. He is not to expect that he can gather grapes from thistles; nor to lose the government of his mind, because, in the midst of evil men, he is not allowed to remain,

As this view of our situation ought

patience, so the alleviating circumstances which reason will suggest, ought to mollify resentment. Think of the various constructions which the actions of men will bear. Consider how different the motives of him who hath given us offence, may have been from those, which, in the heat of passion, we ascribe to him; how apt all men are to be seduced by mistaken views of interest, and how little ground we have to complain, if, upon a supposed interfering of interests, we suffer by others preferring their own to ours. Remember, that no opinions which you form under the power of resentment can be depended upon as just; and that every one loads the intentions of his enemy with imaginary degrees of malice.

But, admitting the injury you have received to be ever so atrocious in its nature, and aggravated in its circumstances; supposing it to be even parallel to that which Joseph suffered; look up, like him, to that divine government under which we are all placed. If forgiveness be a duty which we know God to have required under the most awful sanctious, dare we draw upon ourselves the merited vengeance of that Superior to whose clemency we are obliged daily to fly? When, with hard and unrelenting dispositions towards our brethren, we send up to Heaven prayers for mercy to ourselves, those prayers return like imprecations upon our heads; and our very devotions seal our condemnation.

The most plain and natural sentiments of equity concur with divine authority to enforce the duty which I now recommend. Let him who has never in his life done wrong, be allowed the privilege of remaining inexorable. But let such as are con

scious of frailties and crimes, consider forgiveness as a debt which they owe to others, Common failings are the strongest lesson of mutual forbearance. Were this virtue unknown among men, order and comfort, peace and repose, would be strangers to human life. Injuries retaliated according to the exorbitant measure which passion prescribes, would justify resentment in return. The injured person would become the injurer; and thus wrongs, retaliations, and fresh injuries, would circulate in endless succession, till the world was rendered a field of blood. Of all the passions which invade the human breast, revenge is the most direful. When allowed to reign with full dominion, it is more than sufficient to poison the few pleasures which remain to man in his present state. How much soever a person may suffer from injustice, he is always in hazard of suffering more from the prosecution of revenge. The violence of an enemy cannot inflict what is equal to the torment he creates to himself, by means of the fierce and desperate passions which he allows to rage in his soul.

Those evil spirits who inhabit the regions of misery, are represented as delighting in revenge and cruelty. But all that is great and good in the universe, is on the side of clemency and mercy. The Almighty Ruler of the world, though for ages offended by the unrighteousness, and insulted by the impiety, of men, is long-suffering and slow to anger. His Son, when he appeared in our nature, exhibit ed, both in his life and his death, the most illustrious example of forgiveness which the world ever beheld. If you look into the history of mankind, you will find that, in every age, those who have been respected as worthy, or admired as great, have been distinguished for this virtue. Revenge dwells in little

minds. A noble and magnanimous spirit is always superior to it. It suffers not from the injuries of men those severe shocks which others feel. Collected within itself, it stands unmoved by their impotent assaults; and, with generous pity, rather than with anger, looks down on their unworthy conduct. It has been truly said, that the greatest man on earth can no sooner commit an injury, than a good man can make himself greater, by.forgiving it, Joseph, at the moment when we now contemplate him, had entirely under his power all those unnatural brethren who had been guilty towards him of the most cruel outrage which men could perpetrate. He could have retained them for ever in that Egyptian bondage to which they had once consigned him; and have gratified revenge by every accumulation of disgrace which despotic power enabled him to inflict. Had he acted this part, he might for awhile have been soothed by the pleasures of his high station; but remorse, in the end, would have stung his soul. Cruelty would have rendered him unhappy within himself, as well as odious to others; and his name would have perished among the crowd of those contemptible statesmen whose actions stain the annals of history. Whereas, now, his character stands among the foremost in the ranks of spotless fame. His memory. is blessed to all generations. His example continues to edify the world; and he himself shines in the celestial regions, as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars for ever and ever. Let us now,

II. Consider the sentiment contained in the text, not only as a discovery of cordial forgiveness, but as an expression of devout attention to the conduct of Providence. it was not you that sent me hither, but God. Remark how beautifully piey and humanity are, in this instance,

So now

connected together. As we are told of Cornelius, the good centurion, that his prayers and his alms, his devotion and his good works, came up together in memorial before God; so here we perceive fraternal affection and religious reverence, mingling in one emotion within the patriarch's heart. In a person of low and vulgar mind, the sensations on such an occasion would have been extremely different. Looking back on the past events of his life, he would have ascribed all the adversity which he had suffered to the perverse treatment of his brothers; and all the prosperity which he afterward attained, to his own good conduct and wisdom; and by consequence would have remained imbittered against the instruments of the one, and filled with pride and self-sufficiency on account of the other. But the elevated and noble mind of Joseph rejected such unworthy sentiments. Contemplating the hand of God in all that had befallen him, he effaced the remembrance of those evil deeds which had produced his adversity; and for his prosperity he affected no praise to himself, but ascribed it entirely to the will of Heaven. Let us take notice, that this is not the reflection of a private retired man, whose situation might be supposed to favour such devout meditations it is the reflection of one who was leading a busy and a seducing life, in the midst of a court; the favourite of the greatest monarch who was then known in the world. him you behold, amidst the submission and adulation which was paid to him, preserving the moderation and simplicity of a virtuous mind; and amidst the idolatry and false philosophy of the Egyptians, maintaining the principles of true religion, and giving glory to the God of Israel.

Yet

From this unity of piety with humanity, which is so conspicuous in the sentiments of Joseph, there arises

one very important instruction; that a devout regard to the hand of God in the various events of life, tends to promote good dispositions and affections towards men. It will be found by those who attend to the workings of human nature, that a great proportion of those malignant passions which break out in the intercourse of men, arises from confining their attention wholly to second causes, and overlooking the first cause of all. Hence they are insolent in prosperity, because they discern nothing higher than their own abilities; and in adversity they are peevish and unforgiving, because they have no object on which to fix their view, but the conduct of men who have acted as their enemies. They behold no plan of wisdom or goodness carried on throughout nature, which can allay the discomposure of their mind. As soon as their temper is ruffled, the world appears to them to be a continued scene of disasters and injuries, of confused events, and of unreasonable men. Whereas, to the pious man, the contemplation of the universe exhibits a very different spectacle. In the midst of seeming confusion he traces a principle of order; and by attention to that order, his mind is harmonized and calmed. He beholds a wise and righteous Governor presiding over all the commotions which are raised by the tumult of conflicting passions and interests; guiding, with imperceptible influence, the hand of the violent to beneficent purposes; accomplishing unexpected ends by the most improbable means; obliging the wrath of man to praise him; sometimes humbling the mighty, sometimes exalting the low; often snaring the wicked in the devices which their hands have wrought. Respectful acknowledgment of this divine government, controls the disorders of inferior passions. Reverence for the decrees of Heaven inspires patience

and moderation. Trust in that perfect wisdom and goodness which directs all for the best, diminishes the shock which worldly disasters occasion. The irritation of passion and resentment will always bear proportion to the agitation which we suffer from the changes of fortune. One who connects himself with nothing but second causes, partakes of the violence and irregularity of all the inferior movements belonging to this great machine. He who refers all to God, dwells, if we may speak so, in that higher sphere where motion begins; he is subject to fewer shocks and concussions, and is only carried along by the motion of the

universe.

How can mildness or forgiveness gain place in the temper of that man, who, on occasion of every calamity which he suffers from the ill-usage of others, has no sanctuary within his own breast to which he can make retreat from their vexations; who is possessed of no principle which is of sufficient power to bear down the rising tide of peevish and angry passions? The violence of an enemy, or the ingratitude of a friend, the injustice of one man, and the treachery of another, perpetually dwell and rankle in his thoughts. The part which they have acted in bringing on his distress, is frequently more grating to him than the distress itself. Whereas

he who, in every event, looks up to God, has always in his view a great and elevating object which inspires him with magnanimity. His mind. lies open to every relieving thought, and is inclined to every suggestion of generosity. He is disposed to say with Joseph, it was not you that sent me hither, but God; with David, it is the Lord; let him do what seemeth good in his eyes; and, with a greater personage than either of these, the cup which my Father hath given me to drink, shall I not drink it? Hence arises his superiority to many of the ordinary provocations of the world. For he looks upon the whole of his present life as part of a great plan which is carried on under the direction of Heaven. In this plan he views men as acting their several parts, and contributing to his good or evil. But their parts he considers as subordinate ones; which, though they may justly merit his affection, and may occasionally call forth his resentment, yet afford no proper foundation for violent or malignant passion. looks upon bad men as only the rod with which the Almighty chastens ; like the pestilence, the earthquake, or the storm. In the midst of their injustice and violence he can pity their blindness; and imitate our blessed Lord in praying, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.

He

IN the days of Joram, king of Israel, flourished the prophet Elisha. His character was so eminent, and his fame so widely spread, that Benhadad the king of Syria, though an idolater, sent to consult him concerning the issue of a distemper which threatened his life. The messenger employed on this occasion was Hazael, who appears to have been one of the princes, or chief men, of the Syrian court. Charged with rich gifts from the king, he presents himself before the prophet, and accosts him in terms of the highest respect. During the conference which they held together, Elisha fixed his eye steadfastly on the countenance of Hazael; and discerning, by a prophetic spirit, his future tyranny and cruelty, he could not contain himself from bursting into a flood of tears. When Hazael, in surprise, inquired into the cause of this sudden emotion, the prophet plainly informs him of the crimes and barbarities which he foresaw that hereafter he should commit. The soul of Hazael abhorred, at this time, the thoughts of cruelty. Uncorrupted, as yet, by ambition or greatness, his indignation arose at being thought capable of such savage actions as the prophet had mentioned; and, with much warmth, he replies, But what, is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing? Elisha makes no return but to point out a remarkable change which was

to take place in his condition; The Lord hath shewed me that thou shalt be king over Syria. In course of time, all that had been predicted came to pass. Hazael ascended the throne; and ambition took possession of his heart. He smote the children of Israel in all their coasts. He oppressed them during all the days of king Jehoahaz; (2 Kings xiii. 32.) and from what is left on record of his actions, plainly appears to have proved what the prophet foretold him to be, a man of violence, cruelty, and blood.

In this passage of history, an object is presented which deserves our serious attention. We behold a man who, in one state of life, could not look upon certain crimes without surprise and horror; who knew so little of himself, as to believe it impossible for him ever to be concerned in committing them; that same man, by a change of condition, transformed in all his sentiments, and, as he rose in greatness, rising also in guilt; till at last he completed that whole character of iniquity which he once detested. Hence the following observations naturally arise. I. That to a mind not entirely corrupted, sentiments of abhorrence at guilt are natural. II. That, notwithstanding those sentiments, the mind may be brought under the dominion of the vices which it had most abhorred. III. That this unhappy revolution is frequently owing to a change of men's external