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and like the sacrifice of Isaac, carries down the representation to the close of Christ's existence upon earth.

But releasing the thought from any farther reflection on this first similitude, we accompany the captive in his descent into Egypt.

There is perhaps no land, Palestine alone excepted, which calls forth a more engrossing interest and more touching associations in the mind of the Student of Scripture, than the country of the Egyptians. The land of the captivity;--the nation from whose treasures even Moses drew wisdom;—the country which preeminent in superstition, yet preserved in secret characters, the knowledge of Truth ;-the grand source of the Mythology which reduced the nations of Europe to the grossest and most senseless idolatry; the source also of all that was really valuable in the religious systems of the philosophers :-the mart of arts, wisdom and science to the greatest and most polished states of the ancient world of Heathenism;

I know but one region, which possesses greater claims to our attention and feelings than that of Egypt. In civil relations also, during the earlier æras of the world, until her strength declined, oppressed with its own weight, she stood alike exalted in the earth. Egypt had reached the zenith of her greatness before the historic nations of Europe possessed the shadow of political existence. Her wealth was unbounded; her policy vast; her works gigantic. Until the later ages of the Jewish polity, when the Assyrian and Babylonish Empires first rivalled, and afterwards surpassed her in strength, she was by far the first Gentile Power in the world. Nations were subject, and ministered to her luxury and pride;

and the wild passions of her inhabitants, rather stimulated than checked by the rites of their idolatry, found a licence in their exercise unrestrained, and uncontrollable.

It is from these varied causes, that Egypt, in Scripture language, seems to have been selected as signifying the world; the arm of flesh, as opposed to the arm of God. It is Man against the Deity; and whenever it is named, as connected with the transactions of God's people, the idea intended to be conveyed, is one warring against his counsels and the laws of his moral government. The language of Scripture on this point, from the first bondage of Israel until their final destruction as a nation, is both uniform and consistent. It never varies; and indeed the mutual dependence of the type and the antitype is so wondrously preserved throughout, in all their particulars, that it can only be resolved by the notion of preconceived and determinate design. Egypt, then, is the world; the land of sin, and of the shadow of death; the nurse of human ambition

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and human desire; of those things which tend to man's destruction; - debasing the soul, by alienating it from God; - and Joseph

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brought down into Egypt" in captivity is the figure of Jesus descending into the world in the bondage of human nature, guiltless of offence himself; and for the sin of others subject to man's dominion.

We take this principle as the ground-work of the present interpretation; -the great spiritual truth intended to be conveyed by his actions in that country; not exact in every particular, as we have before remarked-in that possessing thoughts pe

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culiar to himself, and performing actions in accordance with the circumstances in which he was placed ; following out a certain path in life under different laws and customs from those which prevailed in Judea, it would be impossible that the life of Jesus should be the mere transcript of that of Joseph; but still sufficiently exact as a whole, that the affinity may be recognized.

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Scarcely then has Joseph reached Egypt, before he is purchased from the Ishmaelites, and received. into the house of Potiphar; - an officer of rank in the Court of Pharaoh. God is still with him in his humiliation; a comfort and protection to his own heart; and a means of acquiring favor at the hands of the Egyptian. Humble, lowly, and of no reputation; — a slave in Egypt-in the fallen world; — the excellencies of Joseph cannot yet be concealed. "His master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand. And Joseph found grace in his sight; and he served him; and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand. And it came to pass, from the time that he had made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house, and in the field. And he left all that he had in Joseph's hand; and he knew not aught he had save the bread which he did eat." *

Without drawing any special inferences from the abode of Joseph in the house of Potiphar; estima

*Gen. xxxix. 3.

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ting him simply as an inhabitant of Egypt, - one of the fallen world; we take these statements of authority and influence received from God by Joseph, as expressive of the power entrusted to Christ by his Father during his Incarnation on earth. Potiphar was the mere instrument in the hands of Providence, as regarded Joseph's prosperity. The real donor was the Lord, who "made all things to prosper in his hand," and overruled the heart of Pharaoh's officer, that he should show kindness to His favored servant. We find no easy and unstrained counterpart in the life of Jesus to this residence in the house of Potiphar. Neither would we force a parallel between the temptation of Joseph and any spiritual conflicts endured by Christ, although often attempted conceiving it to be a dangerous ground; and also holding it quite sufficient for all purposes analogy, that both should be subject to trials in the world; and both come forth from them in perfect innocence, unyielding and unharmed: - that either should be arraigned falsely, and suffer from the hatred and malignity of their accusers. But in regard to the control which Joseph exercised over the affairs of Potiphar:—the manner in which all things belonging to his lands and household were committed to his guardianship; so that whatever he desired to do in quality of overseer he possessed the full authority to carry into effect; - standing the undisputed governor of the estate of the Egyptian, and yet liable to the malignity of an Egyptian acunintermitting in his exertions for good; and yet condemned and punished by the very persons for whose welfare he was labouring ; —in these

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things, receiving Egypt as the world, and Potiphar a specimen and figure of its inhabitants, perceive the dominion of Christ, in the overseership of Joseph. They approach each other as nearly, under the restrictions we have premised, as events can be expected to do, occurring under such diversity of circumstance, and such distance of time. Christ came into the world, in captivity to human nature; subject to its wants and weaknesses, and open to its temptations. Like Joseph sold by guilt, he was the victim to human sin. But lowly in rank, and of no account in the esteem of men, he was yet the favored of his Father, and all that he performed in virtue of his office "the Lord made it to prosper in his hands." His external condition remained the same; he was still a captive, in the exact sense in which he endued himself with the world's slavery. From the hour of his birth until the sleep of his mortal spirit, he was unemancipated from his bondage. All however that was in the world the Lord had "put into his hand." The religious dominion of the world was placed under the fiat of his will. The earth-Egypt was his possession. He was the sole director and superintendent of its destinies. His spiritual power was unlimited; and from the date of his ministry, from the time of his becoming overseer in Egypt "the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house and in the field."

How admirably was this verified in the administration of Jesus! What could testify the extent of his Power, despised and scorned as he was by the

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