be pronounced over him; however fraudulently intercepted; and it is in these things; - the substance of the Divine gift, not the mode in which it was procured ;- -that the parallel can truly be said to consist, and the prediction be drawn out to its full force which proclaimed, that "the elder"—the Law -"should serve the younger "the Gospel. "God give thee of the dew of Heaven" * — is the language of Isaac, foreshadowing in the person of his son, the blessings and power and might which should arise to the world in Christ from the line of his posterity, "and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine; - Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee;be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee; cursed be every one that curseth thee; and blessed be he that blesseth thee."

There is yet one solitary incident in the story of the two brothers, which as crowning the spiritual assimilation of their lives to the Law and the New Covenant, cannot be passed by in silence. - I allude to their celebrated meeting and reconciliation.

A time will come, as has been intimated, when God shall "open the eyes" of the Jewish nation, and terminate their wanderings, as he did to Ishmael, their sign and symbol, in the wilderness; and they shall drink of the well of Christ, and be satisfied. In other words, the world will again become incorporate in a unity of Faith. A time will arrive, when, in the inspired record of St. John, "The kingdoms of the world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord,

* Gen. xxvii. 28.

ever,

the

and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and when the contentions of the Jew and Christian shall have ceased, and their religious differences have passed away; and they shall meet in one fold and acknowledge one shepherd, even Jesus Christ. In the same spirit -a figure of this greater reconciliation after long estrangement and hatred between Esau and his brother; after long wanderings, strife and rancorous animosity, did they run at length "to meet each other and embrace, and fall on each other's neck, and kiss and mingle their tears together." Their enmity was forgotten; long strife for mastery was for ever hushed; - their hatred buried for ever; and joined in one heart and one soul, they lived together in the land the sons and brothers of one common Father. Both the type and the nation had alike fulfilled their destiny. The Law, the first-born of its Heavenly Framer - had passed through the several stages of its existence. It had possessed within its sanctions the knowledge and the right of Truth, and had given to those who were born within its influence the glorious title of the sons of God. Invested with this "blessing," it had scorned the pretensions of the Gospel, and despised the right, which had been assigned to it, of standing first in the inheritance of the New Covenant in Christ. It had burst forth in rage, strife and persecution against the adherents of the "promised seed" and held in deep abhorrence the proselytes to the Christian Faith. Esau, too - the first-born of his earthly Father had possessed the birth-right; and in virtue of its prerogative became

*Rev. xi. 15.

entitled to the "blessing;" - but despising the one, he lost all control over the bestowal of the other. He had hated, even unto the death, the inheritor of his rights; he had meditated his destruction; and for a long period, alienated and at a distance, had nourished the darkest thoughts of animosity and vengeance. But lo! a period, designed and perfected in the Almighty will, appears; the systems

close in towards each other from a distance; the differences in doctrine, which so long have kept them separate become blended together and reconciled; the religious dissensions are healed; and the servitude of the elder having utterly ceased, the Jew and Christian live spiritually linked together in eternal harmony and love.

Having effected a reconciliation with his brother, Jacob ascends with his household and dependants into the land of Canaan. It is to him, as to his fathers, the land of promise ;-his allotted habitation. His temporal hopes have been realized to satiety. He is opulent above measure. He is the acknowand the father of

leged head of God's chosen race; a numerous offspring, has no desire but to live tranquilly in the land, and behold, in faith, the continuance of the Divine promises in the rapid increase and gathering of his posterity. The future heads of the tribes of Israel, after the manners of those times, dwelt in the tents and under the protection of their father. His name was their host of strength;—and in the reciprocal ties of affection and reverence, as

they enlarged in numbers, they grew in power. But at this period, the lives they led were riotous and dissolute; they felt strong in their possession of the land, and followed out their inclinations, as men above control. The sole exception to this licentiousness, (for Benjamin was a mere child) was found in Joseph, the favoured son of his father Israel. His mind partook of more ennobling qualities;-its purity was offended; he was saddened and shocked at their ingratitude towards God, and their "evil report"* amongst men. He brought an account of their works to Israel; - urged him probably to interpose his authority; and, confessed as the son "loved more than all his children" by his father, became hated and maligned by the whole body of his brethren.

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The excellence however of his nature, though unseen of men, was not unregarded by God. He grew in favor, and was blessed with revelations. On two several occasions, he dreamed that he should reign over" his brethren ;-that is, over the heads of the tribes of Israel. The dreams were symbolical; but the symbol was so clearly manifest, that his brethren saw the drift of them, the moment they were declared by him. "Shalt thou indeed reign over us?"—they exclaim with one voice, "shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet more for his dreams, than for his words." And why?-because they saw in him only their younger brother;-one whose experience was not equal to their own;-one, who at the greatest was as one of themselves; - their equal, but not their superior.

* Gen. xxxvii. 2.

They judged by the outward countenance, and neither saw nor suspected the power he had with God.

But Joseph was not only a good man and virtuous in his generation; neither do we receive his character in the single light of an exemplar of righteousness "written for our admonition." Great in these relations, we discover in his actions the same tokens of divine over-rulement, which we have demonstrated in the lives of the preceding Patriarchs. Again in his person is "the younger" preferred to "the elder;" again is the hatred and virulence of man let loose on the esteemed and the supported of God; again the might of His single arm made manifest, and the dominion of God's chosen firmly established to the utter confusion of his enemies. But together with these qualities, in which his life equalled the figurative portions of those of his predecessors, it possessed others which were defined by a marked superiority. The resemblances are more frequent; they are carried on more uninterruptedly; they extend over a greater surface of time; they are of a more historical character; so that the life of Jesus in many of its transactions, presents a perfect counterpart to that of Joseph; and assures the mind of a preconceived design, by the long and detailed succession of its coincidences. Beautiful and lovely as is his character in its most ordinary acceptation;in its devotion towards God; in its affection towards his kindred; in its unblemished integrity in every relation of life-we strip it of its most glorious attribute, by restricting our ideas to these qualities; for it is by these very virtues that he was enabled, in