votions less wearisome, and more appropriate.

Is it not highly desirable, that ordination prayers should possess all the interest, of which they are susceptible? It seems reasonable, that the consecrat ing prayer, as it is understood to constitute the essence of ordination, should embrace a greater variety of topics, than the other prayers. Let then the introductory and concluding devotions be so framed, as not to interfere with the leading solemnities of the occasion.

Let the person, who opens the solemnities, confine his attention to some such subjects, as the following. Let him adore the perfections of that omnipresent Being, who delights "in the assembly of his saints.” Let him acknowledge, that "holiness becometh God's house forever." Let him seriously and feelingly pray, that every thing may be done "decently and in order." Let him supplicate a blessing upon each of the exercises distinctly. If he confine himself to

this range, his devotions may be short and impressive, and they will not interfere with the other

services.

Let the closing prayer consist, as is usual with such prayers in public worship, of a comprehensive summary of the sentiments contained in the discourse, expressed in a devotional form. Thus let the pious gratitude of the audience for the occasion, which assembled them, and for the transactions of the day, be uttered with such brevity, and yet such particularity, as shall interest all, but those, who have no relish for "the beauty of holiness."

By some such arrangement, which propriety itself suggests, our ordination services might be rendered more effectual auxiliaries to the great interests of religion. They might thus be adapted, by the blessing of God, more generally to attract the worldly and to affect the thoughtless, instead of oppressing them with weariness, and filling them with disgust. ECCLESIASTES.

THE history of Joseph is both interesting and instructive. While it displays the envious and cruel character of his brethren, and his own virtue and piety, it illustrates the wisdom of God in overruling the designs of wicked or deluded men, and making them subservient to his own benevolent purposes. The narrative is particularly adapted

to inspire the humble with confidence in the government of God, amidst the perplexities and afflictions of the present state, and especially under such trials as result from the evil dispositions, or the passions and prejudices of fellow beings.

"When Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure

hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him.”

While their pious father was living, they felt in a measure se. cure from the resentment of Joseph. His love and veneration for his father was so fully displayed, that they probably felt satisfied, that he would do nothing to them, which would grieve their aged parent. But judging of Joseph by what they had found in themselves, and had observed in others, they were naturally filled with anxiety for their own safety, as soon as their father was laid in the grave. They knew that they deserved punishment, and they expected their cruelty to their brother would now be avenged or requited.

"And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, thy father did command before he died, say ing, so shall ye say unto Joseph; Forgive, I pray thee, now the tres pass of thy brethren and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now we pray thee, forgive the trespass of thy brethren and the servants of the God of thy father."

Whether indeed Jacob had given such directions to his guil. ty sons, or whether they invented this story to influence the mind of Joseph, is not very certain; but nothing could have been better adapted to excite his compassion.

"And Joseph wept when they spake unto him; and his brethren also went and fell down be fore his face; and they said unto him, we be thy servants." Jo

seph was the governor of Egypt, and the second ruler in the kingdom, and, as they very well knew, he had it in his power to save or to destroy them according to his pleasure; to pass over their transgression, or to revenge the injury they had done to him. The tem per of Joseph was therefore brought to a fair test.

"And Joseph said unto them, fear not; for am I in the place of God? But as for you, ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass as it is this day, to save much people alive. Now therefore fear ye not, I will nourish you and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them."

Behold the man! the man in whom God delights! How dig. nified, and yet how amiable! How pious towards God, and how tender towards his injurious brethren! How opposite to that haughty and revengeful spirit, which is commonly found in wen of exalted rank. "Fear not," said he, to his guilty and anxious brethren-"am I in the place of God?" to pardon your transgressions, or to avenge the wrongs you did unto me. Both pardon and vengeance belong to God.

He did not excuse them from blame: "But as for you, ye thought evil against me:" It is proper that you should be sensible of your sin, and humble yourselves before the forgiving God. He did not however dwell long on their offence, but turned their attention to the benevolent design of Jehovah, and his overruling providence: "God meant it

unto good," to bring to pass, as it is this day, to preserve much people alive.

"God meant it unto good." He meant the good of Joseph. Having appointed him to an eminent station in the world, it was necessary that he should be prepared for it, by a series of sufferings, that he might feel for the afflictions of others, and be disposed to treat with tenderness those who might be subject to his power; and that he might typify the Messiah, who was to come for the salvation of the world.

"God meant it unto good" in respect to the Egyptians and neighboring nations; for he had appointed Joseph to be the instrument of their preservation during a seven years' famine.

"God meant it" also for the "good" of Jacob and his numerous family; nay even of those guilty brethren, who sold Joseph into Egypt to prevent the accomplishment of his prophetic dreams. The very means their envy adopted, were overruled by God to accomplish what they wished to prevent, and at the same time to preserve the whole family from destruction. How affecting this thought must have been to them, when suggested by their brother, at the time they were supplicating his forgiveness. "God meant it unto good," not only to Joseph, to the Egyptians, and neighboring nations, to Jacob and his family, but also to the great family of mankind. By thus sending Joseph into Egypt, God preserved the family from which the Messiah was to come into the world, in whom "all the nations of the earth were

blessed." All the blessings which have been enjoyed by Jews or Gentiles through the Messiah, and all that will be enjoyed to the end of time or to eternity, were implied in the good which "God meant" to bring about by the afflictive event of Joseph's being sold into Egypt.

Moreover, the history of Joseph, being written and transmitted from age to age, and dispersed among the nations, has been a means of instruction and comfort to millions of pious people in times of perplexity and affliction. When they have been oppressed with grief and anxiety on account of distressing events, and have been ready to say, as Jacob once did, "All these things are against me," the result of Joseph's afflictions has occurred to console their minds, and to excite them to confide in Joseph's God.

All the friends of God in their various trials and perplexities, may derive support from the sentiment, "God meant it unto good." They may not be able at all times to discern, how their affictions are to be made subservient to good; but a little reflection will convince them, that Joseph's God still lives and reigns, that his wisdom, power, and goodness are unchangeably the same; that the course of Providence cannot in any case be more dark, mysterious, and perplexing to them, than it was at some periods to Jacob and Joseph, and that what they know not now, they may know hereafter to their joy, as those patriarchs did.

Are we afflicted by pain, sickness, or the loss of friends? Are

we brought into poverty and want? Are we made the subjects of envy or reproach, for following the Lord, or doing our duty in any particular case? In all these and all other trials, we may have this consolation, God means it unto good for good to us, or to others. There may be something in our temper or conduct which needs to be corrected, and which may render our afflictions necessary to our ultimate happiness; or God may have designed the affliction to prepare us for greater usefulness, or for an adimonition to some of our connexions, to our friends, or our elemies. Under all kinds of afffiction it should be the care of the Christian to profit by the chastening of God. He should examine his temper and his life, and inquire what is amiss, what there is to be corrected, that he may be more conformed to the precepts and example of our Savior, and be more extensively useful in the world. Even the most bitter censures and reproaches, or the most unkind treatment, may thus be converted into means of benefit and spiritual improvement.

The history of Joseph is partieularly adapted to the benefit of Christians in regard to the example he gave of a benevolent, forbearing, and forgiving temper, towards his cruel brethren, who

had been guilty of selling him for a slave. A more inhuman piece of conduct has seldom been recorded. Most of the injuries which Christians of the present day receive, one from an other, or from any of their fellow men, are light when compared with the treatment Joseph received from his brethren; and seldom has it been more within the power of any person to revenge a wrong, or to render evil for evil with impunity, than it was in the power of Joseph. But it was his temper to "overcome evil with good." Instead of inflicting what others would have called exemplary vengeance, on those who had abused him, he was all tenderness and compassion towards them. He was disposed to nourish both them and their children, while they were strangers in Egypt. Although this was prior to the Christian dispensation, it may not improperly be termed truly Christian or Christlike conduct; and it is worthy to be imitated by all who bear the Christian name.

How powerful and how benignant would be the influence, if all who name the name of Christ would "Go and do likewise?" Then would they shine as lights in the world, and others, seeing their good works, would be led to glorify their Father who is in heaven.

EVERY thing we can say of the immensity of God may be resolved into this he is every Vol. IV.

where present by his agency and his knowledge.

Let us contemplate God as the

universal Agent. He is the mover of every thing we see in motion. Pause and contemplate the boundless frame of nature. What an arm is that on which hangs the weight of creation! What a power is that which moves the system of the world! These are contemplations which wonderfully exercise the human mind; we try to grasp the subject, and the mind sinks exhausted.

We say that God pervades, adjusts, sustains, and agitates the whole of nature; because it is impossible to assign a reason why he should be excluded from one place rather than another, and because wherever there is motion, there must be a mover, and wherever there is life, that life must be supported. All around us is life and motion uninterruptedly continued. When we take up a body and send it, our strongest effort carries it only to a little distance; it then falls, and is motionless. But those vast balls, which sweep along the field of heaven, have been moving more than 5000 years within the records of human knowledge, and that too with inconceivable velocity. Will you say that this regular and unceasing velocity is the result of the laws of nature? But these motions are effects, and effects suppose power, and power an agent. A law is not an agent, nor can it execute itself. Law without power is a sound, a notion, a nonentity. The phrase, the laws of nature, when applied to the motions of the universe, expresses only the uniformity and regularity, according to which the inexplicable motions are con ducted. To find the power

which impels, we must travel on from cause to cause, but we must arrive at last to the throne of Jehovah, and rest upon the arm of an uncaused being.

In the motions of inanimate matter it is perhaps sufficiently evident, that the agency of God must be continually exerting itself. But it is said, the world is full of life and intelligence, as well as motion; we see creatures who without any other agency appear to move themselves, and appear to move unconscious of any influence from God. should however be remembered, that moral freedom does not imply independence, and that in God, we all live, and move, and have our being.

It

"Thou God seest me," is a doctrine strictly practical, a plain proposition, not to be obscured by explanation or perverted by ingenuity. It is also a truth which we cannot be puzzled to apply. To the good man it is a truth pregnant with consolation. He who can look up to God as a father, and on whom God can look down as upon a son, rejoices that his path and his lying down are compassed with the infinite knowledge of his God. Hence all about him is open and serene. He seems to enjoy the perpetual company of omniscience. him solitude brings no weariness or terror; nor does the business of life so engross or dissipate his thoughts that he cannot recur instantly to the recollection of an omnipresent Being. To him every spot is consecrated ground; for God is there. In the darkness of the night his path is illumined by the presence of

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