hurried them into various and multiplied crimes.

And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him, and he remembered his dreams that he dreamed of them. But unwilling to declare himself, until he had learned their disposition, he not only speaks roughly to them, but even accuses them of a nefarious design-Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come. Now, at this time, in Egypt, no crime was considered more heinous, and, consequently, such a charge seemed most likely to endanger their liberty and lives, for only a few years had elapsed, since the Egyptians had shaken off a yoke of bondage, and expelled her tyrants into the land of Canaan; the remembrance of which must still have been fresh in their minds, and might cause them still to look to that country with a watchful and suspicious. eye. In vain the accused brethren urge their necessity, and tell their origin-We

are all one man's sons: we are true men, thy servants are no spies. Not heeding their asseveration, again he charges them with a design of war-Nay, but to see the nakedness of the land ye are come-to discover the most defenceless parts, on which to make an effectual attack.

Learning from them, that his brother Benjamin was at home with their father, and anxious to see him, from whom he was torn away in the time of their mutual innocency, and who, as the child of the same mother, was endeared to him above all the rest, Joseph makes his pretended suspicions a plea for having him brought down to Egypt-Hereby ye shall be proved: by the life of Pharoah ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither. And he put them altogether into ward three days. But, remembering that their detention might occasion some anxiety to their father, and distress to their families, he calls for them on the third day, and

having assured them they had nothing to fear from harsh and unjust proceedings, gives them, as a pledge, a declaration of dependance upon Jehovah-for I fear God-a declaration which they considered their best security. He then agrees to accept one of them as a surety for the appearance of their brother Benjamin, and bids them to carry corn for the famine of their houses.

There may seem something ungenial to the heart of Joseph in these proceedings with his brethren, and foreign to his kindly nature. No doubt it was; but to bind up in ointment, a confirmed and inveterate wound, is but a cheat of transient relief. The physician that would save his patient, however painful to himself, must oft-times plunge the cold steel into the quivering flesh, and cut away the gangrene. Was it not foreign, think ye, to the heart of Nathan to reproach his honored king? But there was an occasion, and a few words brought

him on his knees, in the bitterness of repentance, and with the acknowledgment of guilt-I have sinned!* Was it not foreign, think ye, to the heart of the affectionate Paul, to make the Corinthians sorry with his letter? But there was an occasion, and we find it wrought in them repentance unto salvation not to be repented of.

Just such

an occasion was there for the harshness of Joseph towards his brethren; they had not only offended by selling him for a slave, but they had abused their father with hypocrisy and falsehood, and all in open defiance to the indicated will of God; for the whole of which complicated wickedness they might have been but little concerned, and perhaps nothing impressed with the blackness of their guilt, for we hear of no repugnance, no contrition, no repentance. The injured

* 2 Samuel xi. + 2 Cor. vii. 1. and sequentes.

brother, therefore, seizes the present favorable opportunity for convicting them by their own consciences. How well he succeeded we may judge from the language it called forth-And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; THEREFORE, is this distress come upon us. There is a power in conscience, when once she hath been wounded by premeditated sin, which no subtlety can elude, or strength of mind subdue. It is true, she is not always prompt in her misgivings, and her still small voice is often drowned in noise, and revel, and debauch. But there are times, when we may as vainly endeavour to shun the searching eye of Heaven, as to fly from the convictions which she supplieth. Twenty years had now elapsed since they committed the atrocious deed. Conscience all this while