Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

however, though man may act as he plea fes, ye God overrules all things fo as to bring about hi own purposes. God, in this inftance, had plan in view. He had made a promise t Abraham, the grandfather of Jacob, who wa the father of Ifaac, that from him the Saviou fhould come, for that "in his feed all the fami lies of the earth fhould be bleffed." In fulfil ment of this promife, Ifaac and Jacob were born. I fhould here remark, by the way, tha to Jacob the name of Ifrael was given; fo that when the Scriptures fpeak of the Ifraelites, it is the fame thing as if they faid the children of Jacob. Of thefe there were twelve tribes, every one of the fons of Ifrael becoming the father of a whole tribe. Thefe Ifraelites, after a time, were brought out from Egypt, having been very ill treated there by king Pharaoh, and they became a great and famous people; for God wrought many miracles in the midft of them, and gave them the law of the ten commandments, and fet up his worship among them, and feparated them from the rest of the world, which continued in ignorance of God and of the fcrip

tures.

It was from thefe Ifraelites (or Jews, as they were afterwards called,) that the promiled Saviour came. And, bleffed be God, this Saviour is not the Saviour of the Jews only, but he is now preached to us, "upon whom the ends of the world are come." How important then is the ftory of Jofeph in this view. It was a neceffary link in the great chain of Pro

vidence, and this chain reaches from the beginning of the world, even to the end of it. Nor is it with the life of Jofeph only, that the providence of God concerns itself. Your life and mine, and all the various events of it, great and small, from our birth unto our dying hour, are equally under the divine direction. The fame God who fent the Ifhmaelites to the pit's mouth, when Jofeph was fo near being left to perifh there, the fame God who gave Jofeph favor in the fight of Potiphar his mafter, and who afterwards delivered him out of prifon, and made him ruler over all Egypt, appoints alfo to us the bounds of our habitation, and orders our whole lot in life. If then, like Jofeph, we are ferving God, let us not fear to truft him; and though we fhould fall occafionally into straits, as Jofeph did, yet let us hope, when the end of our days fhall come, and when the whole of our ftory fhall be told, that we fhall be able to trace the Lord's goodness and mercy even in the most afflictive circumftances of our lives, as we have now been doing in the cafe of Jofeph.

Nor let us wonder at the vaft confufion and diforder which we fometimes fee in the world in general. Let not our faith fail us, if now and then the wicked fhould feem every where to profper, and the whole company of the righteous fhould come under adverfity. The hiftory of Jofeph fhews, that it is the plan of Providence fometimes to withdraw, in appearance, his protection and favor from his own fervants,

and to put off, to a future feason, the evil day which is coming upon finners. Soon, however, the time will come, when all that has been crooked fhall be made ftraight, and all that has been dark in Providence, fhall be cleared up.

The ftory of Jofeph, as we also observed, is but a small part of fcripture; it fills but a few pages of that large and comprehenfive volume, being connected, however, with events which go before, and with thofe which follow after; and juft fo, methinks, the hiftory of this whole globe of ours is but like a fingle leaf in a great volume, and it cannot be fully understood until the dealings of God with all his various creatures fhall be made known, until the whole book of his providence fhall be opened, and until all thofe events, both paft and future, with which God's government of this world may be connected, fhall be fully revealed. Let us wait, therefore, in the exercise of faith and hope, remembering, as the Apoftle fays, that while we are here below, "We know but in part; but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part fhall be done away. For now we fee through a glafs darkly; but then face to face. Now we know in part; but then fhall we know, even as alfo we are known,"

(83)

THE

EXPLANATION.

OF THE

TEN COMMANDMENTS.

[ocr errors]

PART II.

FIFTH COMMANDMENT.

HONOR thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God fhall give thee."

In the New Teftament, it is written, "Children obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleafing to the Lofd." We there alfo read, that our Saviour himfelf, when he was twelve years old, was fubject to his parents, and in one of the following verfes it is added, that Jefus encreased in wifdom and ftature, and in favor with God and man."

66

There is hardly any fight more pleafing than that of a little child honoring his parents, liftening attentively to all that is faid to him, running quickly to fulfil their wifhes, and being thus fubject" or obedient to them, after the example of Chrift his Savionr. And on the other hand, there are few fights more meloncholy and unpromifing than that of a child who is obfti

nate and difobedient, who does not honor his father, nor give ear to the voice of his mother, but must be spoken to, again and again, and who can hardly be brought, even by stripes, to do the thing which is commanded him.

The ill behaviour of fome children, and ef pecially of very young ones, may be confidered as greatly owing to a fault in their parents; for the fame law which fays "Children obey your parents," implies, that parents ought to teach them obedience. In many places children feem to rule the house; the moft important converfation is interrupted by their unfeasonable noise; every one is to wait their time, and all things are rendered fubject to their humours.

Now this is just the contrary to what it should be. God has ordained, that parents fhall direct, and children fhall obey. He has established in the world, a plan of fubordination, and that perfon who begins life by rebelling against his. parents, in defiance of this Commandment of God, will be too likely to prove a bad fubject, a violent mafter, an ill-tempered husband, a troublesome friend, and an undefirable connection in all the later periods of his life; whereas, a young man or woman, having for a courfe of years fulfilled faithfully and affectionately, and in the fear of God, every filial duty, and efpecially having done it under trying circumftances, has given one of the beft proofs that can be afforded, of a difpofition to attend to all the other obligations of relative life, and deserve to be

« AnteriorContinuar »