son of his old age, of whom he had formed such high hopes, and who had so often comforted him amidst the iniquities of his brethren.

Ah! let us be careful, my brethren, lest any worldly objects should entwine too closely around our hearts. If we have an earthly idol, we prepare sorrow for ourselves; for when God requires a sacrifice, it is the Isaac, the Joseph, for which he generally calls.

About twelve years after this event, Isaac died. Jacob and Esau buried him. Their union on this accasion shows that their friendship continued, and probably it was now confirmed. They poured their tears together over him, whose wisdom and tenderness had so long instructed, guided, and comforted them.

We hear nothing more of Jacob or his family, till the grievous famine which oppressed Canaan and the neighbouring countries. He was obliged twice to send to Egypt for corn, and he encountered many trials which will more naturally be considered in the history of Joseph. Oppressed with them, he unadvisedly exclaimed, "All these things are against me." Had he waited till God had become his own interpreter, he would have found, that all these things were the means of his preservation and future comfort. Ah! my brethren, how often do we here resemble Jacob! When our schemes are thwarted, when one disappointment succeeds to another, we are apt to murmur and repine. Why will we not commit the government to God? Why will we not tranquilly say, "He hath done all things well!" Why will we not be satisfied with that declaration of Jesus, that though "we know not now what he does, we shall know hereafter ?"

But the close of Jacob's day was to be serene. His sun was not to set under a cloud. His children, returning to him, inform him that Joseph is yet alive, and governor of Egypt.

Who can describe the emotions of Jacob? I know nothing that can equal them, except the sentiments of a pious parent, who beholds a child, who had long been "dead in trespasses and sins," quickened and animated with a new life, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Such a parent, pressing his child to his bosom, cries out in accents not less rapturous than those of Jacob: "This my son was dead, but is alive again; he was lost, but is found." Such a parent's raptures are even greater. Jacob knew that Joseph, though now alive, must die; but he who thus "liveth and believeth in" Christ, "shall never die."

Let us accompany Jacob now in his last remove from Canaan to Egypt. Even in an advanced old age, he hesitates not to leave his native land. Encouraged by his Almighty Protector, he prosecutes his journey, and is safely preserved till he again beholds his beloved Joseph. He throws himself upon his neck with an eager embrace, and exclaims, "Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, my son; because thou art still alive."

There is something contradictory in the human passions. We should suppose that death would be most desirable in the depression of grief; yet it is in the height of our joy that we call for it. I recollect that Homer makes Ulysses declare in the midst of his wanderings, that he would die contentedly, if he could only behold the smoke from his native land: and we are told that when a certain Greek, at the Olympic games, saw victorious three of his sons, who

brought their crowns and placed them upon his head, the spectators cried out to him, "Die, die now; you can never die at a happier time." We find the same sentiment in Simeon, who, in embracing his Saviour, exclaims, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, since mine eyes have seen thy salvation." We find the same sentiment in Jacob on this occasion. Yet, strange as this expression at first appears, it is founded on a proper view of human life and human felicity. He who has known the world, knows that we can enjoy but a certain portion of happiness, and that this happiness can continue but a short time; and therefore, when it is re-attained, it is natural to desire to die before it be blasted.

The transports which Jacob felt on this occasion, make us think of the joys of re-union between pious friends and relatives at the last day. Have Have you wept, believers, over the ashes of your children? Dry your tears; if they departed in the Lord, they yet live, and you shall again embrace them. The voice of the archangel shall at last cry unto you, "Arise, thou pious father, thou holy mother, open thine eyes upon those children whom death tore from thine arms; behold them yet alive, although they have been the victims of the grave; behold them surrounded with dignities and honours, infinitely greater than Pharaoh could bestow."

The patriarch, when introduced to the king, was not ashamed of his religion, but in a solemn and devout manner, blessed Pharaoh. To a question proposed to him respecting his age, he replied, "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years; few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the

days of the years of the life of my fathers, in the days of their pilgrimage." This is not the peevish lamentation of disappointment; much less the expression of unthankfulness. Jacob's heart swelled with gratitude to that God who had mingled so many mercies with the bitterness of his cup. But it is the cool and dispassionate language of one who felt the vanity of human life, and who saw little on earth to make him desirous of a longer continuance below.

It is a confession that we shall all, my brethren, be compelled to make. Though there appears an immense interval between you, young persons and advanced old age, yet should you live to pass over this interval, you will look back upon it, and see it contracted to a hand's breadth; you will acknowledge that our days are few. Though you are entering upon your career with all the ardent expectations of youth, and indulging those sweet dreams of fancy which promise you high felicity, yet, when you wake to the sober reality of life, when your fond hopes are crushed, when the visions of imagination fade away, when your heart has been wrung by the unkindness and treachery of the world, when you have been wounded by personal griefs and the afflictions of those who are dear to knowledge that our days are evil. this "picture of earth's happiest state" make us, with Jacob, consider human life as a pilgrimage; and induce us to "seek a better country, that is, a heavenly." Then we shall not have lived in vain. Then, during the eternity which we shall spend with the Redeemer, we shall adore that grace which enabled us to make a proper estimate of the world, and to employ our years for the noblest purposes.

you, you will acHappy for us, if

Jacob remained in Egypt seventeen years. They

constituted the most calm and peaceful period of his life. But the hour of death approaches. He summons before him his beloved Joseph, and shows his firm faith in the promises of God, by causing his son solemnly to engage that his body should be carried to Canaan. He collects around his couch all his children, and prepares to give them his solemn parental and prophetic benediction. What an interesting spectacle! An old man, gray with years and rich in virtues, with a face lighted up to ecstacy by the Spirit that has descended upon him, and with hopes full of immortality, supported by his staff, probably the same one with which he crossed Jordan, and which now was a memorial to him of the various stages of his pilgrimage-this venerable man dying? No; this language is here improper-announcing his departure to his true country, the cessation of his wearisome pilgrimage with composure and with joy.

I regret that the limits of these exercises will not permit me distinctly to explain all the blessings which he pronounced. In the midst of them, he exclaimed, “I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord." Thus he, as well as Abraham, desired to see the day of Christ, and by faith "he saw it, and was glad." Thus, in firm reliance upon the promised Redeemer, and with an assurance of the completion of his grace, he closed his afflicted life at the age of one hundred and forty-seven, and calmly entered into the tomb.

The body of Jacob, embalmed by the command of Joseph, was conducted with funeral pomp to Canaan, and there deposited by the side of his progenitors. His soul mingled with theirs in praising the faithful and covenant-keeping God.

Children of affliction, you have seen in Jacob a