of His purposes: for on that head I have dwelt long enough. But look, I pray you, at the two-fold example which the tale of Joseph and his brethren sets before us; whether we make it the chief business of our lives to serve and fear God, or day by day neglect and despise him. I am well aware that, living as we do, under a far better dispensation than that afforded to the Patriarchs of old; animated by hopes higher and brighter than those which they were enabled to cherish; taught, shown, convinced, that we have here no abiding city, but that every thing which befals us in time is but a preparation for eternity;-I am well aware that we being thus favoured, thus blessed, have no right to expect either that the good man will always, in this life, reap the reward of his piety, or the bad man endure the punishment of his crimes. On the contrary, knowing as we do, that all things are permitted to come alike to all, in order that our faith be confirmed by trial, and our

best hopes directed to heaven, it neither does nor ought to surprise us, if here and there we notice the upright man overwhelmed by the tide, on the surface of which his impious neighbour floats bravely. Yet of one thing I am quite sure; that if it were possible for us to read the heart,-if we possessed the power of drawing back the thick curtains which hide that strange thing while it is working, we should see, that not even in this life would the good man, however bowed down and oppressed, be willing to exchange his uprightness and his sorrows, for the bad man's prosperity and his guilt. No, reader, there is something in the consciousness of having no claim upon God's favour; there is something in the conviction that the great Creator is our enemy, for which the possession of all that this world can give will never make amends. And, on the other hand, who can fall down and lay his head totally in the dust, if he be in a condition

،، the Lord is on

to feel as well as to say, my side, what can man do unto me?" Have not you felt this often? Humble your lot in life may have been, though not unhonoured, for all right-minded men honour the soldier who has done his duty; and the portion of this world's goods which has fallen to your share may be small. But if you possess that, which I trust you do possess,-even now, while the sands are wearing away, and the shadow approaching its last score upon the dial,-a conviction that you worship your Creator with your lives and affections, you need not, my brave men, shed one tear over the thought, that no coronet encircles your brow, and that of the pomps and revelries of the great world you are, and have always been, ignorant. Your home is not here, it is in heaven. Strangers and pilgrims you have been upon earth; and often, often, I am afraid, wayward and perverse. But all that is past, and gone now. Be it your business to devote

what remains of life to God's service, and your own hearts will give you a reward such as no other power could bestow. For you will be tranquil and respected while you are in health; your sick bed will be smoothed by a quiet conscience; the grave will have in your eyes no terrors, and beyond it will be your God and your Redeemer.

SERMON XIII.

JACOB'S FAMILY IN EGYPT.

GENESIS xlix. 33.

And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered into his people.

THE two chapters from the Old Testament, which our Church has appointed to be read during the service of to-day, being devoted entirely to a continuation of Joseph's history, I have not thought it right to choose my text from either of them. My motive for thus far deviating from our usual custom is easily explained. Doubtless there is no chapter in the