44^ f CHEAT REPOSITORY, SUNDAY READING. JOSEPH and his BRETHREN , PART IV. Sold by J, MARSHALL, (Printer f .o the Cheap Repository for Mora! and Religion! Tracts) No. 17. Queen -Street. Cheapfide, and No. 4, Aide- raary Church Yard, and R. WHITE, Piccadilly, London,, £v S.' HAZARD, at Bath: J, ELDER, at. Edinburgh, an4 by all Bookfellers, New ("men, and Hawkers 111 Town an,c} Country. Great Allowance will be made to Shopkeepers and Hawkery PRICE ONE PENNY, Or 4s, 6d. per iqo. — 2s f 6d, for 50. — is, 6d, for g$ ? A cheaper Edition for Hawkers? £ Entered at Stationers Hall, ] JOSEPH, &c. ci A LL thefe things are againft me, " faid good JLjL old Jacob, when he was told of what had happened to his fons in Egypt; for we may remem- ber that they had been obliged by Jofeph to leave their brother Simeon behind them, and had even been required to bring Benjamin alfo : On hear- ing this, old Jacob cried out, " Jofeph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take away Benjamin: all thefe things are againft me." Ah! how little did Jacob know of the real na- ture of thofe events which were befalling him ! The very things which he laid were againft him, in fact were making for him, for they led the way to the recovery of his fon Jofeph, who had been loft, and alfo to Jacob's removal, with all his family, into the plentiful land of Egypt. I do not wonder, indeed, that this poor old man, bowed down as he bow was with age and infirmity, and deprived, as he had been, firft of one dear fon, and then of another, mould be unwilling to let his prefent fa- vorite Benjamin be carried off' into Egypt. — And yet, what could he do? The famine now again grew very fore in the land, and at laft, wfcen all the corn from Egypt was eaten up, even Jacob ( 3 ) himfelf is reprefentetf as afking his fons to go again and buy a little food. " Then Judah fpake unto him, faying, The man did folemnly proteft unto us, ye {hall not fee my face, except your brother Benjamin be with you.— Unlefs therefore thou fend him, we will not go down to Egypt." Then Jacob faid unto his fons, <• Why did ye tell the man that you had a brother?" And they anfwered, "The man did examine us clofely about our kindred, and therefore we told him, for how mould we know that he would bid us fetch our brother to him?" Then Judah faid very earneftly, « I pray you fend the lad, that we may not all die, we and our little ones', and I will be furety for him." And Jacob faid, "If it muft be fo, do then as you defire. But take ye the beft fruir a hi the land, balm, and honey, and fpices, and myrrh, and nuts, and almonds; and take double money in your hands, and the money that you brought back in your fack's mouths carry again; peradventure it was an overfight. Take alfo' your brother with you, and God Almighty give you mercv- before the man, that he may fend away your other brother, and let Benjamin return alfo.— If I muft be bereaved of my children, there is no help for it, I muft be bereaved." Thus did the fons of Jacob depart, all of them trembling with anxiety and fear, and ufing many precautions to avoid giving offence to the -great perlon to whom they we're going, Now this, X may obferve, is' a pi dure of what fometimes happens to us. Cod is perhaps pre- paring to favour us with feme great blejS'ng, juft as he was now about to favor the familv of Jacob; but before be gives us pofleflion of the'bleffing, h? 4& . , , - ■■ ( 4 ) leads us through fome dark and dreary path, and we fancy a great evil is coming upon us. When therefore God is opening the way to thefe new mercies, we hang back, and fay with good old Ja- cob, "All thefe things are againft me.' But though loth to move forward, yet what can we do? Some peril greater than that we had been dreading awaits us if we make more delay. With a heavy heart, with a complaining tongue, and with weeping eyes, we fet forward in this path, which is in fact, neverthelefs, the path to our chief happi- nefs. Thus do we often quarrel with our bleffings. And this I take it is a common cafe; for what are all our complains but complaints againft Providence, and do we not often murmur even at thofe very dealings of Providence which afterwards prove the moft remarkably for our good ? Reader, look back to your paft life: confider thofe feafons in it when you have been forced by neceffity on fome unpleafant bufinefs, or when you have been hindered in your purfuit of fome favo- rite plan, or contradicted in your opinions or your wifhes. Now and then perhaps your fituation in life has feemed quite melancholy and defperate; mifery has appeared to threaten you on every fide, and you have had only a fad choice of evils juft like thefe fons of Jacob, who thought they had only to chufe between a famine at home, and the dread of more ill ufage in Egypt. And yet has it not afterwards proved, that God was bleffing you by means of thofe verv things which were thought at the time fo terrible ? There are many per fons, I am perfuaded, who have even had their fouls laved much in the fame way in which this family of Jacob had their lives preferved. They have hung back and ftruggled hard for a while againft thofe very things which have opened the way to their eternal falvation : they have been dragged from a life of fin and mifery as unwillingly as ever Jacob's fons were dragged from Canaan and brought into the fruitful land of Egypt. For how unwilling are men to have their fouls faved! how unwilling at leaft to take thofe means which are absolutely ncceffary for it! How many fervants, as well as apprentices, and others are there who can hardly be perluaded to attend at public worfhip, or at leaft to give their minds to it when they are there; and yet is not this one of the means of falvation ? They mud bt forced to church by the authority of their mafters, or by fume neceffity almoft as urgent as that which drove the fons of Jacob from Canaan into Egypt! Again, how many children are there, who, though invited freely to a Sunday School, neverthelefs hang back from "going thither as much as ever the fons of Jacob hung back from going into Egypt. Perhaps too their parents have at the fame time been as unwilling to part with them through fome falfe fondnefs or other, as ever old Jacob was to part with his fon Benja- min, though it proved afterwards to be the making of that whole family. But let us return to the ftory. Jofeph's Brethren Fet off from Canaan under a great fright, as I have already told you, and they took double money in their hand, and they carried Benjamin with them, and having come down to Egypt, they flood before Jofepru Now when Jofeph faw them and ob- served that Benjamin alfo was with them, he or- dered a great darmcr to be made ready, and he ( 6 ) atked them to come to it. And Jofeph's Brethren were afraid, on account of the money which they had carried off in their facks, and they got near to Jofeph's fte ward, and faid to him, « O ! Sir,- we came down hither before to buy food, and it came to pafs, that when we got to the inn on our way home* we found every man's money in his fack's mouth, and therefore we have brought it back to you. We cannot tell who put it 'there, and we have now brought other money alfo, in order to buy food.— And the fteward faid, Peace be to you, I had your money, and he brought Simeon out to them/' And when Jofeph came home, they drew near and offered him the prefent which they brought, and bowed themfelves to the earth before him. And Jofeph afked them of their welfare, and faid, " Is your father well, the old man of whom you fpake: is he yet alive? And they anfwered, Thy fervant our father is. in good health, he is yet alive; and they bowed down their heads again to the ground. And Jofeph lifted up his eyes and faw his brother Benjamin, and faid, Is this your younger brother, of whom you fpake to me? and then turning to the lad. " God (faid he) be gracious unto thee." Jofeph now was much moved, for his bowels did yearn over his. brother, and he fought where to weep, and he entered into his chamber and wept there." Religion does not deprive men, fas fame have imagined) of their natural affection and feeling, for Jofeph was a religious man, and yet how did he overflow with kindnefs towards his Brethren. It is alfo remarked in the New Teftament of one greater than Jofeph, J mean of our Saviour, on. the occafion of v 4S4 the death of Larzarus, that " Jefus wept." Reli- gion regulates, no doubt, all the natural feelings of men; but it does not deftroy thGm. Prefently afterwards the meat was fet on table, and Benjamin's mefs was five times as great as any other, and they eat and drank together, and were. cheerful. Now when the dinner was over^ Jofeph, who Was ft 111 unknown to his Brethren, commanded that all their lacks fhould be filled with corn, and that every ones money mould again be put into his fack, and moreover, that a filver cup, being Jofeph's own cup, fhould, together with the money, be put into the fack of Benjamin; and when the morning was come they all went away. And before they were got far from the city, Jofeph fent his fteward after ^iem, who charged them with having ftolen Jo- feph'« cup out of the houfe. And they immedi- ately denied the charge, and-faid vehemently, With whomfoever of us it is found, we will agree that he fhall die, and that we will all of us be your {laves (or bondmen,) and a fearch being made, be- hold the cup was found in Benjamin's fack. — Then they rent their clothes for grief, and laded every man his afs, and returned to the city. And Jofeph faid unto them, What deed is this that }*e have done? And Judah, (the fame who had promifed Jacob that he would be furety for Benjamin) re- plied, What fhall wt fay unto my Lord ; God hath found out the iniquity of thy fervants ; Behold, we will now be bondmen to my Lord. And Jofeph faid, not fo. — But he in whofe hand the cup is found, (namely Benjamin) he fhall be my flave or fervant. But as for you, get you all away u your Wv\\er in peace. 5 * \* hat a fitiiation had thefe fons of Jacob got into tlow ! Could any thing be more melancholy and dif- irefsful! "O Jacob! Jacob !" they would fay> 44 how Siali we ever fee thy face in peace, if we bring not back Benjamin with us. Well do w£ remember the words which did break forth from thee at patt- ing with Us, 4 Jofeph is not* and Simeon is not, knd now ye will take Benjamin from me." There is one refle&ion to which I beg to call the rninds of my readers in this place. Jacob's fons are now accilfed unjuflly; they are brought into trouble through no fault of theirs : whereas, for- merly they had committed a great fin, I mean that of felling their brother Jofeph, and had fuffered no particular inconveniences from it, — They had not fullered when they did wrong, and yet now they fuffer for doing right; for they certainly, as I fhouid think* did right in going down to buy corn for themfelves and their aged father, and even in bringing Benjamin with them, under all the cir- cumRances of the cafe. Let us for a moment flop here and put ourfelves in the place of thefe fons of Jacob. ' They might now methinks be tempted to fay, 44 Surely there is no righteous governor of the ♦world, for when we do right we only fuffer for it* and when we did wrong we all efcaped unpunifh- ed. Wewill not believe therefore in a Providence i all things happen alike to all; this world is go- verned by chance; nay, and the chance is often in favor even of the wicked." To all fueh profane; reafoning, if I had feen Jofeprfs Brethren at this mo- ment of time, I would have anfwered, 44 Stop a lit- tle, I befeecli you; do not decide fo haftily* fof remember your ftory is but half over. By-and-by rhaps your innocence in the prefent matter will (9 ) be cleared up, and for aught you know your former fin, though long fmce committed, may come to b£ found out." Let us apply this remark toourfelves. We often feem to profit for a while by fome bad thing that we have done, or at lead we fulFer no pre fen t pu- nifhment. Odr fraud, our lying, or our aft of vio- lence, fucceeds for a certain time; and perhaps prefently afterwards we chance to get into trouble by. doing fomething, which, on the whole, really feems to have been our duty. Do you never feel tempted to .difbelieve in Providence on fuch occa- sions ? If you are, I would fay to you, as.I ju^ft now obfcrved that I would have faid to Jofeph s Brethren, Wait a while I befeech you. Remember your (lory is but half over. Do not decide till you obferve the iffue. See whether in the end you will not be forry for every bad thing you have ever done, and glad of every thing which, through Gods grace, you have been enabled to do aright, and even though this fhould not be the cafe now, it certainly will on the day of judgment. jfofeph himfelf to his Brethren. . When Jofeph h e d made this propofal of keeping Senjamin as his fiat' e or fervant, and of fending the other fons of Jacob home in peace to their father^ Judah came forward, and related all that had pal- led in the old manV 1 houfe when they were bring- ing Benjamin away. e " My father faid to us," ob* ierved Judah. " Behold I have had two fons and the one went from me," meaning Jofeph, " who is torn in pieces, and if ye take this alio away, and mifchief befal him* ye lhall bring down my grey I ( 10 ) j hairs with forrow to the grave. "