Some are still of opinion that God does speak to man by dreams. I do not see that there is anything improbable, certainly one does not see that there is anything impossible, in that; and when one knows that in sleep the physical powers are laid prostrate by being steeped, as it were, in stupor, one can conceive that the mind is more unfettered, more disentangled of its physical and material ties and restraints, and is in a state to hold communion more perfectly with the unseen, the heavenly and the eternal. In these, its best states, God may speak to it. And this, perhaps, may explain a great deal of the reputed effects of what is called mesmerism. I can understand that, through that influence, — which is a plain matter of fact, the operator may so lay, or prostrate, or subdue the physical powers, that the inner inhabitant shall be less obstructed and shackled by the material organism around it; and that, so unshackled and unfettered, it may see further, comprehend and better understand, than in ordinary circumstances. Who does not know that he has had brighter thoughts at midnight, in a dream, that in his waking hours? I know that I have composed better speeches and better addresses in dreams than ever I did when I was awake. I know that I have had clear apprehensions of things and thoughts during sleep, which I would like to have committed to paper. And you know the same: it is nothing peculiar.

It does, therefore, seem that the mind is more unfettered, more disentangled from earthly and material restraints in sleep, and that it may then see, and God reveal, divine things more clearly; and there is nothing impossible, nor improbable, in supposing that God holds communion directly with mind, and conveys his truths and his purposes to it, when, where, and how he pleases. The only danger would be, if you were to take your dreams and act upon them, in spite of God's written word. We must never forget that we must bring the dream to the Scripture, not the Scripture to the

dream; and if Scripture condemn what the dream dictates, dismiss the dream, for it is not from God; if Scripture sustain, warrant and authorize what the dream indicates, it is a providential admonition from on high, and you should act upon it accordingly. In these patriarchal days, however, dreams, in the absence of a written revelation, were the usual vehicles of divine instruction; and hence the apostle says, "God, who at sundry times,"- that is, in the patriarchal and antediluvian times, - "and in divers manners," -- dream's was one of them, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son."

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When Joseph came to his brethren, we find that their very first feelings entertained towards him were very different from what he had reason to expect, or what his brethren owed. He thought he was going to brothers: he found that he was approaching fratricides. Their animosity in secret had grown to such a height and strength, that their first impulse was to kill him. "They said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh;" and, therefore, when he came, they were prepared, and ready (at least the majority of them) to kill him. He was sent by his father to serve them, but instead of welcoming, they received him in a way that brothers should not receive a brother. One, however, more tender and feeling than the rest, that is, Reuben, heard it, and he "delivered him out of their hands;" that is, he attempted to do so," and said, Let us not kill him, shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness." And it is evident that he did not mean or wish that he should pine away or die in the pit, but he thought that he should have some unknown and quiet opportunity of taking him out, and restoring him to his father; for we read, in the twenty-ninth verse, that "Reuben returned unto the pit; and behold Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes. And he returned

unto his brethren, and said, The child is not; and I, whither shall I go?" which shows that Reuben meant in the end to deliver Joseph; but he was greatly guilty, for he voted with the majority in getting rid of him for the present. His conduct was criminal, yet his heart was more sensitive than the hearts of his brethren.

"And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stript Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colors," - or of many pieces, - "that was on him; and they took him and cast him into a pit; and the pit was empty, there was no water in it. And they sat down to eat bread; and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and behold a company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead, with their camels, bearing spicery, and balm, and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood? Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites." He thought that would be a better way than killing him. I do not believe this was tenderness on the part of Judah, but that he was anxious to make the most he could by Joseph. He therefore resolved not to kill him, which would be the most cruel, and what he thought was the least profitable way; and, like a genuine merchant or tradesman, over-covetous, he was ready and anxious to make the greatest profit or largest percentage, as well as to get rid of a disturber he hated; and therefore he said, "Sell him to the Ishmaelites;" and they did so, and received twenty pieces of silver, and the Ishmaelites took Joseph into Egypt.

We then read how, when one commits one sin, by a law lasting as the stars, one must commit another to hide it. No man commits only one sin, when he sins at all. It needs additional ones, in order to conceal a previous one, or to render void or arrest the consequences of it. These brethren, having got rid of Joseph, whom they did not murder, but

sold to the Ishmaelite merchants, killed a kid, and dipped Joseph's distinctive coat in its blood, and sent it to their father, and assured him, by the use of the most infamous lie, and with a cruelty that one can find no expression strong enough to embody, that they had found the coat, wishing him to believe, that, in their efforts to rescue Joseph from the fangs of a wild beast, the coat was all they could secure. But it is evident that the very bringing the coat to the patriarch might have raised the aged father's suspicions; because, if the thing were really as they said, there would have been needed no strong corroborative proofs. A person who is conscious that he is speaking truth, does not generally support it by oaths, or strong statements, or elaborate proofs, because the deep consciousness within, that he is uttering truth, makes him feel that such support is not necessary or expected; but when any man uses oaths, as the world does, or even strong asseverations, as, sometimes, we all do too much, it looks as if there was a consciousness of the want of truth, and an anxiety to make up for it by loud asseverations.

The poor patriarch, we read, was deeply distressed almost reduced to despair; for he said he would go down into the grave mourning. But the issue was very different from what he anticipated, as the sequel will show. Man plans: God reigns and rules.

CHAPTER

XXXVIII.

FAMILY HISTORY OF JUDAH-TAMAR DECEIVETH JUDAH.

I EXTRACT, from the very valuable notes of Bush, the following elucidations. In this chapter, which arrests for a little the history of Joseph, Bush says, there is much peculiarly sad and sinful.

"The story of Joseph is interrupted at this point, for the purpose of introducing some particulars in the family history of Judah, which are mainly important as having a bearing on the genealogy of our Lord. The Saviour was to derive his origin from the tribe of Judah, and the Spirit of inspiration sees fit to afford us the means of most exactly authenticating his human extraction, even though some links in the chain were far from being of a reputable character. But we learn from this that Christ derives all his glory from himself, and not from his ancestry, and that his condescension is the more to be admired the lower he descended in the scale of worldly honor, in taking our nature upon him.

"Verse 1. It came to pass at that time.'

That is, not at or about the time of Joseph's being sold into Egypt, but in a larger sense, in the interval between Jacob's return from Mesopotamia, and the events recorded in the foregoing chapter. For it appears, on examining the age of Joseph, as shown in different passages of the history, that he was about thirty-nine years old when Jacob and his family went down into Egypt. And it is stated (Gen. 46: 8-12) that Pharez, the son of Judah, whose birth is mentioned at the end of