haft dreamed? Shall I, and thy Mother, and thy Brethren, indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth."

Poor honeft, fimple old man, he little knew how his own interpretation of the dream was by-and-by to be exactly fulfilled, for fo God had ordained.

"And his Brethren envied him, but his Father obferved the faying."

After this we read, that " Joseph's Brethren went to feed their Father's flock in Shechem, and Jacob fent Jofeph to them, faying, Go, I pray thee, fee whether it be well with thy Brethren, and well with the flocks, and bring me word again. So he fent him; and Jofeph came to Shechem; but it happened, that they and the flocks were gone forward beyond Shechem, even to Dothan. So Jofeph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan. And when they faw him afar off, they faid one to another, Behold, this Dreamer cometh! come now therefore, and let us flay him, and caft him into some pit, and we will fay fome evil beast hath devoured him, and we will fee what will become of his dream."

What a dreadful propofal! what! kill their own brother! if they could agree to do this, I do not wonder at their agreeing alfo to tell a lie, in order to hide their crime; thus not one fin, but two fins were to be committed. But is it poffible that all these eleven Brethren fhould join

putting Jofeph to death? Even among bad

men, fome are apt to be lefs wicked than others: furely therefore, we may hope, that one or other of Jofeph's Brethren will be for ftopping short of the crime of Murder.

It proved, as I think might very naturally be expected, that one of Jofeph's Brethren, named Reuben, though he feems before to have joined in envying Jofeph, was afraid of joining in this moft horrid crime.

When, therefore, "Reuben heard it, he de livered him out of their hands; and faid, shed no blood, but caft him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand on him: this he faid, that he might rid him out of their hands, and deliver him to his Father's houfe. came to pafs, that when Jofeph," who was at a distance while this converfation paffed, was come unto his Brethren, they ftripped Jofeph of his coat, it being his coat of many colours.

And it

What fatisfaction would they feel while they were thus ftripping him! This was the coat which Jofeph's father had given him, becaufe he was a favorite, and which reminded Jofeph's Brethren of his advantage over them. They now thought them felves revenged upon him; and revenge, as they would fay, is fweet. Many a joke, many a bitter and severe expreffion was uttered, no doubt, while they were fripping him; they had got him into their power, and they were refolved to fhew that they were greater than he, instead of his being greater than they, as he pretended,

Now this fort of spirit in them was a moft wicked thing: it was coupled with envy, and malice, and hatred; and was not far from carrying them on to an act of murder. And here let me warn all my young readers against indulging this fame evil temper. Thus, for inftance, if you should hear your Teacher praife your school-fellow who ftands near you, while he fays not a word of praise to you, do not hate and envy your fchool-fellow on this account; or if you should fee your parent give a reward to your brother or fifter, for fuppofed good behaviour, do not be eager to think that you equally deferve a reward, and then hate or envy your brother or fifter for being more favored than yourfelf, for this is to act in the fame fpirit with the Brethren of Jofeph. So alfo if fome other child fhould be dreft as fine again as you are, and even as fine as Jofeph himself, in his coat of many colours, yet do not do as Jofeph's brethren did. Do not feel any ill-will towards your brother, your fifter, or playfellow for this reafon. Do not long to ftrip the fine coat off of him, as Jofeph's brethren ftripped the fine coat off of Jofeph, but endeavor to look upon his fine drefs contentedly, and withoutenvy, and without any defire to take it from him, and to put it on your own backs. This is one of the lef fons that you ought to learn from the prefent ftory, which was not written in the Bible in order to entertain you only, and in order to teach you how to read, but in order to inftruct you in your

duty alfo. This paffion of hatred and envy, if indulged when you are young, may lead to dreadful confequences when you are old. We fhall presently fhew you very plainly how in the cafe of Jofeph's Brethren it led on to lying, and to cruelty, and almoft even to murder.

For," after they had ftripped Jofeph of his coat they took him and cast him into a pit, and the pit was empty, and there was no water in it, And they fat down to eat bread."

How very hardened must these brethren of Jofeph have been! They went to their dinner after they had thrown Jofeph into the pit, just as if nothing had happened. Men who thus give way to their evil paffions, are apt to be very cruel and hard-hearted alfo.

"And behold a company of Ifhmaelites came from Gilead with their camels, bearing spicery, and balm, and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt."

Now a new thought comes across one of Jofeph's brethren, who was named Judah, and who, though more blameable than Reuben, yet feems rather lefs fo than fome of the others.

"And Judah faid unto his brethren, what prois it if we flay our brother and conceal his blood. Come and let us fell him to the Ifhmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our fleth.

O Judah! Judah! if he is your brother and your fleth, why do you not deliver him altogether? you fhould fend him back to his father's

house, as Reuben wished to do; indeed, you fhould never have thrown him into the pit, nor have joined in taking his coat of many colours from him. Nay, I will fay further, you should never even have hated him and envied him, for by having once indulged that wicked hatred and. envy against him in your hearts, you have all of you been led on, from one thing to another, until you hardly know how to ftop. You dare not now fend Jofeph back to his father, left he should tell his father of your having torn from him his coat of many colours, and of your having alfo ill treated him by throwing him into a pit. Hav. ing ill treated him thus far, you are tempted to ill treat him ftill further, left you should be found out. Jofeph, therefore, now muft, at any rate, be got rid of, and not fuffered to get home. To kill him indeed is too bad, and yet if the only choice left you was either to kill him or to fend him home, methinks there are some among you who would not fcruple to kill him outright; for you had already agreed to leave him in the pit, where he would foon have perifhed with hunger: fo that what you had refolved to do was little short of murder, though you may not have chofen to confider it as fuch.

It was owing then to the good providence of God, and not to any good design in his brothers, that Jofeph escaped being put to death. It pleased God, who orders all human events, to bring it to pafs, that the merchants of Median fhould draw near juft at the time when Jofeph's brethren were