the brethren replied-Thy servant our father is well; and with this acknowledgment they again bowed themselves to the earth, and thereby accomplished that part of the dream which related to their father. Thus, these Thus, these significant visions, which had been the cause of so much jealousy and evasion, were fulfilled-entirely fulfilled. How could it have been otherwise? God had fore shown it, and when did he fail? By the same spirit of inspiration it is declared, that the time shall come when we shall all pay reverence to a greater than Joseph, even to Him whom he was sent to typify; and that we shall all do obeisance before the judgment-seat of Christ, when at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess him God! and little as we may think of it, my brethren, every word shall be one day realized. In vain we may strive-in vain we may contendHeaven and earth shall pass away pass away before H one jot or one tittle of all that the Gospel hath declared shall fail. Blessed the man to whom the Lord in that day imputeth no sin. Blessed the brethren to whom he speaketh not roughly, and in whose spirit there is no guile.* Blessed, thrice blessed and happy, the man on whom, as upon the inoffensive Benjamin, the heart-cheering benediction shall descend-God be gracious unto thee, my son; or, in other words, Come, ye blessed children of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. *Psalm xxxii. 2. LECTURE VI. ACTS VII. 13. And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharoah. Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred. MANIFOLD, indeed, are the scenes and changes of this mortal life; we pass through a rapid succession of events, wich are often sudden, and often unexpected: and there is no permanent estate between the cradle and the grave. This perpetual revolution of circumstances, and this utter uncertainty of all sublunary good, is wisely ordered by that gracious being, who alone truly knoweth what is good for man, to show us the instability and unworthiness of all earthly things, and to teach us rather to set our affections on things above, |