Here, then, is a beautiful example for you to imitate. Though Joseph had not had the advantage of Jesus Christ's instructions, to teach him the duty of forgiving his enemies, yet how readily and how generously did he forgive his brethren, though they had treated him so ill! Much more then ought you, who are Christians, to forgive those who injure you. When you are offended by your young companions, you sometimes say, that you will have your revenge some time or other. But why should you have your revenge? To revenge yourselves can do you no good: on the contrary, it will make both you and other persons unhappy, and will be displeasing to Almighty God. Try, then, to forget the injuries and affronts which you sustain; banish all malice and anger from your hearts; strive, as much as you can, to live at peace with all men; let your temper be merciful and forgiving, and then you may expect forgiveness yourselves from your Father who is in heaven.

Again, this story teaches you the duty of behaving well to your parents. Joseph, after he had been some years in Egypt, was much raised in the world: Pharaoh, we are told, took his own ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck, and he made him ride in the second chariot which he

had; and they cried before him, 'Bow the knee,' and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt. Yet all this power and grandeur did not make him forget his aged father, nor the duty which he owed to him. Long before he chose to make himself known to his brethren, he could not help asking them, 'Is your father well?—the old man, of whom ye spake, is he yet alive?' And when he did at length discover himself, the first words which broke from his lips were, 'Doth my father yet live?' The message also which he sent to him is, every word of it, full of the tenderest affections: Come down unto me; tarry not; and thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen; and thou shalt be near unto me, and there will I nourish thee.' And when Israel arrived, Joseph' fell on his neck, and wept a good while,' and he kindly provided for him, and kept him in Egypt till he died.

This should teach you, in whatever circumtance you are, never to neglect your aged parents. Even if you are poor, you ought rather to go without some of the comforts of life yourselves, than see them want; for, if they had not supplied your wants, you never would have lived to be as old as you are. And if you happen to be raised to a it will then be still more your parents comfortable. If God give you abundance, your father and mother, if they

higher station in life,

your duty to make

should be living, are surely the very first persons who ought to share it with you. Could you indeed bear to see them pining in want, while you yourselves had more than you needed? Would it not be the first wish of your hearts to do all that you could for those who had done so much for you, at a time when you could do nothing for yourselves? Consider how helpless you were when you were first born-and what trouble your father and mother must have had with you-and how patient they must have been to bear with all your crossness and ill-humor-and how hard they must have worked to get your bread. O! consider all this, I entreat you, and never forget it, though you should be removed, as Joseph was, far away from your friends, and become the possessors of power and riches.

This leads me to observe, in the last place,that, as Joseph never forgot his father,so did he never forget his God, that great and good God, whom his father had taught him to fear and to worship. When he was in danger of being tempted to do wrong, it was the fear of God which kept him back: 'How,' said he, 'shall I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? When Pharaoh asked him to interpret his dream for him, as he had heard that he understood how to interpret dreams, he answered, 'It is not in me; God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.'

Gen. xli, 16. So too, in the names which he gave to his children-one of them signifying, causing to forget, the other, fruitful—he recorded the goodness of God, who had 'caused him to forget all his toil,' and 'to be fruitful in the land of his affliction.' Gen. xli, 51, 52. And, as I have already mentioned to you, he told his brethren that, although they had 'meant it for evil against him' in selling him into Egypt, yet God 'meant it for good---to bring to pass as it is this day, to save much people alive.'

O, my dear children! I hope that you will always remember God, as Joseph did. Wherever you are, whether here or in some distant land, recollect that your Creator is always present; he is never far from any one of you; he sees whatever you do, and will punish or reward you, according to your deserts. Let this thought keep you from sinning and excite you to do well. Recollect, too, that whatever you possess comes from God; it is he who gives you friends, and situations and the means of gaining a livelihood. Whatever riches you may at any time acquire, it is to him that you will owe them; and whatever afflictions may await you, they are ordained by him, and he knows, without doubt, what will be best for you. Submit yourselves, therefore, to him, with willing and obedient hearts. Put up your prayers to him, to thank him for all his good

ness, and to entreat his blessing upon you; trust in his wisdom, and never suffer yourselves to complain of what he appoints. If you thus fear and honor God, he will be with you, and make you prosper: though he may not give you such great prosperity as he did to Joseph, yet you will certainly be much happier in this world than they who forget him, and in the world to come you will be far happier than you can believe or think.

ADDRESS VII.

THE FAVOR OF GOD BETTER THAN THE
FAVOR OF MAN.

My dear Children,

That God, to whom you offer up your prayers, is a great and powerful God. In his hands are the earth, and every thing that it contains. All creatures are his servants, and there is nothing which he cannot do. He is also a wise and a good God. He knows all things, and he made all things so as to be useful for their several purposes. He watches over you for your good; and nothing that is really to their advantage will he withhold from those who do their best to obey him, and who ask it with a proper and an humble spirit.

And is it not worth your while, let me ask you, to try to please so great and so good a Being as this? Would you not like to possess