and to act at once, when there is no time for weighing motives and balancing arguments, when life and death hang upon the decision of a moment. To such a crisis had Joseph come when he spoke the words, Shall I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?' The belief of a living, present God was then all in all to him. And at such a season it is all in all to every man, into whatever age he is born. Let no one indeed who is exposed to a fierce and sudden temptation, refuse any help that is afforded him by the lowest, most grovelling considerations. If the fear of punishment, the shame of detection, the loss of credit, suggest itself to him as an argument for resistance, let him welcome it, or any external impediment to crime, as an angel from heaven. No doubt the subtle suggestion, if thou hast no truer reason than this for being righteous, thou hadst better sin,' has caused the fall of thousands. No one bears more clearly the image and superscription of the tempter. But though this is true, let us all beware of trusting to any one of these motives, or fancying that it will stand us in any stead. In some foreign land, where the traditions of childhood and home are no longer about you, where the laws of society are looser, where opinions you have held tenaciously are discredited, then be sure that nothing will avail but the belief of a present Helper and Deliverer, of One who cares more for us than we care for ourselves, who may bring us into prison, but who will not suffer any who trust in Him and not in themselves, to fall from Him.

M. S.

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Thus far then we have not found that we shall gain much by casting, as the phrase is, the theocratic element out of our lives, or, to speak plain English, by ceasing to believe in a living God who guides us and rules us. Alas, brethren, we have been casting away this belief more and more. In our talk about religious feelings and religious systems-in our philosophical cant about theocratic elements and abysses and eternities,—this practical faith has vanished more and more from us. And therefore I believe we are in the greatest danger of dreamers, and diviners, and magicians, arising among us to practise impostures, probably under the name of science. We are in danger of falling into hopeless mazes of speculation, seeming ever to advance, really returning to the point from which we set out. Finally, we are in danger, when any great trial of our moral strength comes, of sinking ignominiously, because we have nothing better to rely upon than calculations of consequences, or religious terrors, or a sense of honor; all which the gusts of passion may scatter to the winds. And lastly, I believe we are unable, through this unbelief, to realize that coherency and harmony in our lives which we trace in the life of the young Hebrew, amidst all the changes of his fortune. His days were linked each to each in natural piety.' The wishes of his infancy foreshadowed the events of his manhood. Every step of his discipline was a step in the formation of his character. It was so because he referred all dreams, instincts, events,

to God; because he did not think about his own character, or how he was to bring his dreams to pass; but left himself and his history in God's hands. It will be so with us in the midst of all our complications if they drive us to the same course, if they lead us to think that because the path is too tangled for us to find it, we must trust Him to guide our steps. It will not be so if we undertake to build up a character or make a scheme of life for ourselves, or if we choose any of the flickering lights of human systems, or of human teachers, to follow. The sparks which we have kindled, or which they have kindled, will not lead us through the darkness. We shall cry to one and to another, 'Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out.' And this because we have not gone to Him who is ready not to sell but to give, that we might get oil for ourselves; who is as willing to take the government and education of us, as He was to guide the Hebrew boy and the lord of Egypt.

But I must not forget, that while the dream of Joseph belonged specially to his own personal history, the dreams of Pharaoh were of a nation's abundance and famine. I do not wish to pass by the suggestion, that Joseph's interpretations and prophecy, and all the arrangements which are said to have been consequent upon them, were only the effect of ordinary sagacity and foresight, such as a politician in our day may exercise without any dream or interpretation or prophecy at all. I have said already, that both this view of the his

tory, and that which we have just been considering, have, as it seems to me, a real worth. That worth consists in the witness which they bear against the inclination of divines to separate the narrative of Scripture, and the actors in it, from common life and experience; to represent them as exceptions, and not as rules; and so to outrage the conscience of Christendom, which has always received the Bible as a book of laws and examples for human beings. If any statements, even those which infringe most upon the divine authority of Scripture, warn us of this evil method into which we have unquestionably fallen, and set us upon asking how we may return to an older and more honest one, I cannot but bless God for them, and think that he has permitted them for the instruction of His church. That the way which the modern school takes to avoid an error is not the right one, I have argued, in the former instance, from our individual experience; that the way which it takes in this case is not the right one, I could argue as confidently from our national experience. The cry was, if we could but quite expel the theocratic element from the first, how clear and free our lives would be!' But the steps we have taken in this direction did not seem to have made them at all freer and clearer; did not hold out any promise of their becoming so. 'If we could but get the theocratic element out of politics,' it is said, 'what insight and foresight our statesmen would possess ; how ready they would be for all emergencies; how little they would be embarrassed by any antiquarian

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maxims!' Do you find that we are making progress towards this consummation? Do you find that as the idea of God having any concern in the politics of the world has been more and more banished from our minds, our politics have become more consistent, more harmonious, more hopeful? Do you find that the trammels of old party-maxims can be cast off, or that if they are cast off, the freedom is a safe one? Do you find that there is no weary repetition of old phrases; no weary recapitulation of old experiments; no tendency to disappointment and despair even in the youngest, in whom hope is wont to be most alive? May it not be possible, brethren, that in this case, as in the other, we have sought to fill up the chasm which separates Scripture from the daily life of mankind, in the method which is just the reverse of the true one? Instead of talking about Joseph's political sagacity and foresight-for which he certainly gave himself no credit-might it not be better if we talked less of our own; if we enquired whence these qualities must come, suppose they be worth anything? And might not that consideration lead us to think, as Joseph thought, that man is made in the image of God; that God exercises providence, and that the creature who bears his image is intended to exercise providence; that the past, present, and future, are open to Him; that therefore, in a measure, according to the circumstances and exigencies in which He places him, He would have his creature study and interpret the past, the present, the future? May it not