severance as the example of Jesus Christ doth. It tells me, that if I please my heavenly Father, and am beloved of him, I must expect to be hated and envied by my brethren: that, if I would be exaited, I must be abased: that, if I keep myself pure, I shall be delivered from those who accuse me falsely: and that, if God is with me in my afflictions, I may not only save myself, but be made an instrument of salvation to others; as well strangers, as those of my own family and houshold.

THE QUESTIONS.

Q. What think you of the history of Joseph?

A. There is no finer story.

Q. Which are the most affecting parts of it?

A. The return of his brethren in silence to the city as bondmen, when the cup is found upon Benjamin; and the speech of Judah which moves Joseph to discover himself.

Q. What

Q. What do the brethren of Joseph impute their distress to?

A. To their iniquity in selling their brother.

Q. Who is it that convicts the Jews of their wickedness against Jesus Christ, from the history of Joseph's sufferings and exaltation?

A. St. Stephen, in the seventh chapter of the Acts.

Q In what particulars was Joseph a figure of Jesus Christ?

A. Ia being pure and innocent, aud beloved of his Father..

Q. In what other?

A. In being persecuted and sold by his brethren, and suffering under false accusation with two malefactors.

Q. In what others?

A. In many others. He was exalted among heathens, and became a Saviour to them and to his own family.

Q. Do you find any thing of Christ's death and resurrection here?

A. I see Joseph's coat dipped in blood, as of one that had died a cruel death; I see him cast into a pit, and

there

t

there given up to death; but lifted up again out of it.

Q. What must this mean?

A. The same as when Jonah was swallowed up, and cast out again alive from the wha e's belly.

Q. Is there any sign here that the Jews will be converted at last?

A. It seems from this history, as if they would see and confess their guil tiness, as the brethren of Joseph did, when the hand of the Lord had tried them.

Q. What other. circumstances speak the same thing?

A. St. S ephen observes, that Joseph at the second time of their meeting, became known to his brethren.

Q. What lesson may you learn from the example of Joseph?

A. That, if I am loved of God, I shall be envied by my brethren.

Q. But if you keep yourself pure and innocent, what may you expect?

A. I may hope to be delivered under every false accusation.

Q. What do you learn more?

A. I

A. I learn to forgive, and to do good to those who injure me, as Joseph received his b.ethren, and never upbraided them with their wickedness.

THE TEXTS.

John i. 11. He came to his own, and his own received him not.

Acts vii. 9. The Patriarchs, moved with envy, sol i Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him, and delivered him out of all his afflictions.

51. As your fathers did, so do ye. 52. Which of the prophets, have not your fathers persecuted? And they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One.

XV. THE CHAPTER OF MOSES.

DID not Moses himself forewarn the people, that the Lord would raise up a prophet like unto him? There

fore,

fore, when I see what Moses was, I may thence know what Christ was to be. Se the Apostle St. Paul tells us, that Moses, as the servant of God, was a faithful minister in his house, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken afterwards (Heb. iii. 5.) So that if we look to the ministry of Moses, we shall find it bearing witness to the ministry of Christ; and thence we shall draw the conclusion, that as Moses was sent to deliver the Hebrews, so Jesus Christ came to redeem all mankind. The history of Moses was set before the Jews by St. Stephen in such words, that they could not avoid making the comparison. and drawing the consequence for themselves. His history comprehends the particulars, 1st, of his birth; 2d, his character, as God's minister; 3d, his great work, in delivering the people; and 4th, the reception he met with from his brethren.

When Moses was born, there was an order from a cruel King to kill all the male children; but Moses was miraculously preserved. At the birth of Christ; Herod slew the infants in Bethlehem;

but