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SERMON XVI.

THE FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT EXEMPLIFIED IN THE CHARACTER OF JOSEPH.

GEN. xli. 38, 39.

And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such an one as this is, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?

And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art.

AMONG the various excellencies which recommend the books of the Old Testament to our attention, it is not one of the least that they abound in admirable examples of the most exalted virtue. It is true indeed, that several of those examples are occasionally represented as polluted with moral defilement, the consequence of their

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inheriting a nature originally corrupt. But whilst we are herein furnished with a proof of the impartiality and veracity of the writers, the humble and contrite heart is encouraged not to despond under the consciousness of its weakness, provided it be not guilty of" presumptuous sins ;" and the more confident spirit is admonished not to be too secure in its own steadfastness, but to "take heed lest it fall."

In the mean time, notwithstanding these temporary lapses into sin, to which the records of the Jewish church represent the best of men as subject, it may be safely affirmed, that in those records we must search for instances of the purest virtue. And in no other authentic narratives, with the exception of the books of the New Testament alone, shall we discover parallels to the faith of Abraham; the piety of David, and of Daniel; the righteousness of Enoch, and of Noah; the zeal of Elijah; the disinterestedness of Elisha; the integrity of Samuel; the uprightness of Josiah; the religious courage of Caleb and Joshua; the patriotism of Ezra and Nehe

miah; the meekness of Moses; and the resignation of Job.

But among the numerous examples of virtue, with which these holy writings abound, there is no one, perhaps, more worthy of general imitation, no one, which is illustrative of a greater variety of moral excellence, or which is exhibited in more diversified or in more interesting relations, than that of Joseph the son of Jacob. Placed by the Providence of God in situations of peculiar difficulty and hazard ;— exposed to the powerful temptations of the most abject and the most elevated condition ;—at one time persecuted by his brethren and sold by them as a slave into a foreign country; at another become the object of their reverence, while "they bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth;"-at one time deservedly honoured and exalted by his master; at another slanderously accused of a crime which his soul abhorred, and injuriously thrust into the public prison, as a malefactor -now with his "feet hurt in the stocks," and "the iron entering into his

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