the seven years of famine were ended, he received notice of his father's approach; " and he made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel his father, at Goshen, and he presented himself unto him; and he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while."

In the retirement at Goshen, the patriarch heard from the lips of his beloved son the entire narrative of his adventures, his sufferings, and his promotion. You imagine the old man, at every pause and turn in the narrative, giving vent to his long-smothered feelings of paternal fondness. You hear him praise alternately the fortitude, the forbearance, the magnanimity, the condescension of his heart. You see his embarrassed intercession with Joseph for his guilty brothers—until Joseph stops him by the assurance of their pardon. And you see them united in fervent adoration of the God of Abraham, to whom entirely they ascribe their preservation and their blessings.

It is a natural wish of men to close their lives at the accomplishment of some great and interesting event. "And Israel said unto Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive." So the aged Simeon felt, when he took the infant Jesus in his arms, and blessed God for the sight, "saying, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel." And so that Savior himself exclaimed (with Divine satisfaction)," It is finished, and bowed his head and died." But the patriarch was spared for many years to see the prosperity of his family. He found, indeed, that Joseph his son was yet alive;" and he realized more than he anticicipated when he resolved, "I will go and see him before I die ;" for he lived to bless the sons of Joseph.

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Let us now draw from this subject some lessons of practical wisdom. And,

First: In this piece of ancient family history, parents may see the importance to themselves and their families of giving their children pious instruction at the earliest period in which they can receive it.

1. You know not how early, nor by what means any one of your children may be separated from you for a long term of years, or even for life. But if your child goes out imbued with the fear of the Lord, a pious child, he will be sustained in sufferings and temptations; he will walk safely in the most slippery paths, because the unseen hand of the Lord will conduct him; and all his wanderings will terminate in heaven at last. Yours will be the happiness of having given birth to an heir of eternal glory. Had Jacob died in utter ignorance of the history of his lost son, he would still have met him, after a few years, in a world where the power and glory of a governor of Egypt would be as nothing. Hannah, a poor but pious mother in Israel, did more for her son, than Philip of Macedonia did for his.

2. The pious son who is removed from your family at a tender age, and for a long time has no interest in your affairs, may prove to be the main pillar of your house, when there is no other person to prevent its fall. "Riches take to themselves wings." Prospects that seem quite too fair for disappointment, fade and change in a day. And in the strange revolutions of human events, your old age and all the hopes of your house may lean on one, whom you had long relinquished the hope of seeing on earth. The whole family of Jacob, who afterward became a great and happy nation, found a preserver in such a son. But had that son been any thing less than the pious, prudent, energetic, and selfcommanding man he was, he could not have saved his family and

nation.

3. It may be, that the piety of one such child shall become in following years the means of reformation and conversion to many others in your family, who had abused pious instructions in their early years, and fallen into ways of vice and wickedness. In the brief narrative of Joseph's intercourse with his guilty brothers, you find him taking a course exactly suited to convince them of their sins; and it had the effect he intended: you then find him treating them generously and kindly through all their remaining years; encouraging them by a view of the providence whieh overruled their wickedness for the good of them all; and after the death of their father, when they feared that he would punish them, and they sent a messenger to tell him how his father had spoken of the same matter in their behalf before his death, he wept; he was grieved that they should think him capable of such weakness and cruelty, after all the kindness he had shown them. There is reason to suppose that he was a spiritual benefactor to very many of his father's descendants.

4. The consolation you may find in such a son, at the period of old age, will be a rich and appropriate reward of your prayerful diligence in his early religious education. The sympathizing friends of an aged man must become fewer every year, unless he finds them in the family of his own descendants. He is not sure to find them there, unless they are pious. But if he has the honor to be their spiritual father, they are his by a tie, that no change of time or infirmity of age can sever. The picture of pious children sustaining a very infirm, but eminently pious parent, is fit to adorn that mansion where infirmity shall never enter.

In every view of their family's happiness, and their own, then, let parents be encouraged to pursue without weariness the pious education of their children. "In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thy hand;" for although they may be prematurely severed from your domestic circle, or yourself removed from the world, while yet the seeds of truth have scarcely sent up one well-defined leaf from their young minds, yet remember the promise," He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless return again with joy, bringing his sheaves with him."

Secondly: Let the youthful members of this audience learn the great value of genuine piety. Joseph is one of the most perfect characters delineated in the Old Testament. And no doubt the Inspirer of the sacred Scriptures intended to hold up this example to the imitation of countless millions. It is the more happy example, on account of the adversity he sustained, and the prosperity to which he rose, and also because he was immersed in public affairs, which some have imagined incompatible with a holy life.

We have seen in this example, at every step, that his early piety was his preservation. He was thrown into the most dangerous and trying situations that can be conceived; but his wisdom remained with him in them all. He passed through adversity and prosperity, as gold passes through the fire, only to be purified by the trial. He gained the confi dence and friendship of all who could be gained by condescension, obedience, industry, and integrity. He rose against a host of obstacles, and his whole course proves that "godliness is profitable for the life that now is."

Enlightened piety is a safeguard against those errors and follies, by which the young (especially in large towns) are very often defeated in their plans of prosperity and happiness. The heart that has been honestly and fervently engaged in religious meditation and prayer in the morning, will be in the fear of the Lord all the day; and the fear of the Lord is a regulator of the passions, and a sure foundation of practical wisdom. Diligence in business will harmonize with a fervent spirit of enlightened piety. Patience and perseverance will not forsake an enlightened candidate for eternal happiness. Extravagant gratifications will not beguile him from the path of strict integrity. But he will grow in favor with men, while he evidently enjoys the favor of God.

The great value of early established piety to our youth may be seen by a little attention to the evils suffered from the want of it, or from its decay in those who once enjoyed it.

It is very painful to know, what we cannot avoid knowing, of the decay of piety in many of the youth of this great metropolis, especially in those youth who were hopeful Christians before they entered the city; and this pain is in some cases aggravated, when we observe the reasons why they neglect to make themselves known as Christians here. They throw down their armor to amuse themselves with the enemy, just when they are entering the most dangerous conflict, and are liable to be pierced by the first arrow that flies. They mingle with the unshielded company of youth, and all hasten " as a bird to the snare."

None of them intend to be snared and ruined. They all have a laudable plan of enterprise and prosperity. But they know not the strength of their enemies, or their own weakness; they know not the unnumbered ills they are bringing on themselves. A gloomy scene now passes before my recollection. Ah! it is a picture of the youthful suffering and ruin I have witnessed in the last six years, which might have been avoided if the piety of Joseph had preoccupied the hearts of the victims. And oh! what bitter grief and lamentation have they sent

back to the once peaceful dwellings from which they came out! How unlike the meeting of Jacob and Joseph have been their interviews with their parents! How incurable the sorrow they have occasioned to their families, who might have leaned on them for support! How sharp the thorns they have planted in the pillow of a pious father or mother! But all these earthly ills have their limit; while there is a bed of everlasting sorrow, spread for them that despise the counsel of wisdom and the day of God's merciful visitation!

Lastly; Let this subject persuade those who still enjoy the pious instruction and counsel of parents, to improve them with the utmost diligence. "Keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother: bind them continually upon thy heart; for they shall be an ornament of grace to thy head, and chains about thy neck. When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life." Happy, thrice happy the youth that findeth wisdom, while he is yet sheltered by the parental roof; for "the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies; and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honor. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold on her; and happy is every one that retaineth her." Begin your morning with fervent prayer over all the affairs of the day, and "the Lord shall be your shade on your right-hand;" call yourself to a faithful review at evening, and lie down with grateful acknowledgment, and “the angel of the Lord shall encamp around you and keep you." To whatever city or country your path may lead, there seek out and know the men that fear the Lord; there make the acquaintance and friendship of the ministers of God; there let your Christian character be known and maintained. And should the mysterious providence of God lead you to heathen lands, to the courts or the dungeons of heathen princes, there let it appear by all your deportment that 66 you serve the God of heaven," and love the Savior of the world: there, when you are tempted to sin, remember the history of Joseph; and let wisdom remain with you: and though you return not to bless the old age of pious parents, you shall meet them at length in the New Jerusalem on high. In that city there shall be no sin, ‚——no more curse, but the throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him, and they shall

REIGN FOR EVER AND EVER.

SERMON CXLIV.

BY REV. WILLIAM NEVINS,

BALTIMORE.

THE SOLEMN QUESTION ANSWERED.

JEREMIAH viii. 6.- What have I done?

THE person now addressed, is supposed to ask,

"What have I done ?"—and it is designed to answer his question. Let no one refuse to consider the answer, on the ground that he knows already what he has done better than any one can tell him. It may appear, on examination, that you have yet much to learn in regard to what you have done. Nor let any one deny me a hearing on the plea, that it matters not what he has done. It matters much you are a moral and accountable agent, answerable for your conduct to God. There is a rule by which it should be regulated. God is the author of that rule; and he is the avenger of its violations. There is a conduct which is pleasing to him, and a conduct which is displeasing: and whether he be pleased or displeased, whether he smile or frown, is certainly of some consequence.

The inquiry relates not merely to overt acts: what you have done, embraces what you have said, thought, and felt, as well as what you have acted; and for all you are equally accountable. "The law is spir itual-the commandment is exceeding broad-God will bring every work into judgment with every secret thing-all a man's ways are right in his own eyes, but the Lord pondereth the heart-the Lord weigheth the spirit."

This language, "What have I done?" sometimes bespeaks a mind utterly devoid of conviction. It asks in a spirit of self-justification, what evil the person has done. At other times it expresses the keenest sensibility to sin. A person having done something, the evil nature of which he did not at the time fully apprehend, and the sad consequences of which he did not foresee, when afterward he comes to perceive the evil and mischief of it, exclaims, in mingled alarm and grief, "What have I done !"

I shall consider it as the language of simple inquiry; as the serious interrogation of a person willing to know what he has done. And God grant that while I am answering the interrogation," What have I done?” may become the heart-felt exclamation of each impenitent hearer. You ask what you have done. I will tell you; extenuating, nor on the other exaggerating.

it

neither on the one hand