from the punishment which awaits them, or at least they are never free from the dread of it. Those whom they have injured will try to be revenged; and God himself, who is the God of truth, can by no means approve of what they have done. How much better it is to abstain from all lying and deceit, and to be just and honest in all our ways! Such conduct will give us peace of mind, and procure us the favour both of God and man. We learn also from this story the duty of forgiving our enemies. Though Esau did at first resolve to be revenged, yet afterwards he overlooked all the wrong which his brother had done him, and forgave him in the most generous manner. So too ought we to forgive those who have injured us. Instead of returning blows for blows, or railing for railing, we ought to keep our temper, and be calm and forbearing. We should remember the excellent example of our Saviour, and the words which he spake,

saying, "If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you."

JOSEPH HATED BY HIS BRETHREN. (Gen. xxxvii.)

JACOB had twelve sons, of whom Joseph and Benjamin were the youngest; and he loved Joseph more than all the rest, not only because he was one of the two who had been born to him in his old age, but also because he was a good young man. To shew his kindness for him he made him a coat of many colours; but this was very foolish in Jacob, for it could do Joseph no good to wear finer clothes than his brethren, and it would only lead them to dislike him.

We find that this was actually the case; for, when Joseph's brethren saw that their father loved him more than

he loved them, they hated him, and would not speak kindly to him. They hated him the more on account of some dreams which he dreamed, and which seemed to shew, that he would some time or other be a greater man than any of them; and one day, when his father had sent him to them, as they were tending their sheep in the field at some distance from home, as soon as ever they saw him coming, they determined to kill him.

But Reuben, who was the oldest of them, was very sorry that they should think of doing so wicked a thing as that; so he begged them not to kill him, but only to put him into a pit, or deep hole, where there was no water-intending to come again after they were gone, and take him out, and send him back to his father.

So when Joseph was come up to them, they stripped him of the fine coat of many colours, which his father had given him, and cast him into the pit. And a

short time after, there came to the place where they were a company of Ishmaelites, who were carrying precious spices down to Egypt on the backs of their camels. And Judah, who was sorry for his brother Joseph, and did not like to see him perish, persuaded his brethren that it would be much better to sell him to the Ishmaelites than to leave him to die in the pit. So they sold him to these merchants for twenty pieces of silver; and by them he was carried down into Egypt, and sold again as a slave to Potiphar, an officer of King Pharaoh.

Now Joseph's brethren knew very well that when they went home to their father, he would ask them where Joseph was? And in order to conceal what they had done, they committed another fault, which was nearly as bad. They killed a kid and dipped Joseph's fine coat in the blood, and then, when they went home, they shewed it to their father, pretending that they had found it

in the fields. When Jacob saw the coat, he knew that it was Joseph's, and had no doubt that some wild beast must have devoured him; and he was so much distressed at the loss of his beloved son, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for him many days. And though his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, they could not; and he declared that he would go down into the grave unto his son mourning.

How wicked it was in these young men to treat Joseph in the way they did! Though his father did shew him more favour than he ought to have done, this was no reason why they should think of putting him to death. It is a dreadful thing to entertain such thoughts as these against any person whatever, and most of all against those who have the same father and mother as ourselves. Instead of being envious of our brothers and sis