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means; by suborning men to bear false witness against him. What complicated guilt and folly! Let us, my brethren, cultivate a sincere love of truth, as one of the best and noblest qualities of the mind. It will save us from a thousand dishonourable and criminal artifices, to which the advocates of error must have recourse, in order to support a bad cause.

1. Then said the high-priest, Are these things so?

Is the charge of having spoken blasphemous or wicked words against Moses and against God, true? offering Stephen an opportunity of defending himself.

2. And he said, Brethren and Fathers, (some of the council were much his seniors,) hearken!

Stephen makes an indirect reply to the charge of blasphemy, by reciting briefly a considerable portion of the Old Testament history, hereby showing, that he believed in the same God and the same revelations with themselves, and could not, therefore, be guilty of the crime of which he was accused. He reminds them, also, of several instances in which they had rejected or ill treated divine messengers, intending hereby to warn them of the danger which they were in of being guilty of the same crime, in the present instance, by rejecting the Messiah.

The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran.

This place is called Haran in the book of Genesis, and lay in the country between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, which was, on that account, called Mesopotamia.

3. And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall show thee.

The object of this extraordinary command was to preserve him from idolatry, with which all his kindred were infected, and which it would have been impossible for the patriarch to resist, if he had remained among them. It is probable that the Canaanites, at this time, were not so much corrupted in this respect as the Chaldeans; for we read of Melchizedek, king of Salem, who was priest of the most high God, and who blessed Abraham; and likewise of some other persons who seemed to have retained the knowledge of the true God. In this country it was foreseen that Abraham would meet with fewer temptations to idolatry, and be better able to preserve his integrity.

4. Then came he out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when

his father was dead, he, i. e. God, removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell.

5. And he gave him no inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on; yet he promised that he would give it him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.

These circumstances are mentioned to illustrate the strength of the patriarch's faith. He believed that God would bestow the land of Canaan upon his posterity, although he had not ground enough to set his foot upon, and although he had no child, nor, according to the common course of nature, had the prospect of any. Abraham had, indeed, one small portion of land, the field of Macphelah, which he bought for a burying-place; yet, as it was purchashed by himself, and not given him by God, it is not noticed here.

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6. And God spake on this wise, "in this manner," that his seed should sojourn in a strange land, and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years.

The children of Israel were not four hundred years in bondage; for the whole period of their residence in Egypt was not more than two hundred and fifteen years. But that period must be applied to the first part of the paragraph, as well as the last, that is, to the whole time of their sojourning in a strange land, in Canaan as well as in Egypt, and then it will include the whole period from the birth of Isaac to the time of their deliverance, which makes four hundred years. Paul, Galatians iii. 17, reckons four hundred and thirty years from the covenant made with Abraham to the time of the giving the law; but his reckoning includes the time which elapsed before the birth of Isaac, which was between twenty and thirty years.

7. And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, "will I punish," said God; and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place, in Canaan, or Palestine.

8. And he gave him the covenant of circumcision, or, circumcision as the ratifying act of the covenant. And so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs.

9. And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him,

10. And delivered him out of all his afflictions,

and gave him favour and wisdom, i. e. first wisdom and then favour, in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt and all

his house.

11. And there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction; and our fathers found no sustenance:

12. But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first;

13. And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren, and Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh.

14. Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.

This number does not correspond with that which is mentioned in Gen. xlvi. 27, where seventy only are enumerated; and commentators have been much perplexed to reconcile the two places. But the truth is, that Stephen has followed the Greek translation of the Old Testament, which has added Manasseh and Ephraim, and their children to the list, who were indeed descendants of Jacob, but did not go with him into Egypt, being already in that country. Which of these numbers is the right, it is of little consequence to determine, except to those who maintain the inspiration of Stephen, and, at the same time, the inspiration of the history of Genesis. The reason of mentioning the number that came down with Jacob into Egypt, was to show the great increase of the children of Israel, who, in little more than two hundred years, grew from seventy persons into a great nation.

15. So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he and our fathers;

16. And were carried over into Sychem, "Shechem," and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money, of the sons of Emmor, the father of Sychem.

This purchase was made by Jacob, and not by Abraham, Gen. xxxiii. 19. One name has, therefore, been substituted for another; but whether this mistake arose from a slight failure of the memory in Stephen, or in Luke, or, which is as likely, from the error of a transcriber, it is of little consequence to determine.

REFLECTIONS.

THE portion of Scripture which we have been reading, although it requires little explanation, is not without instruction.

1. The conduct of Abraham, in believing the divine declarations, affords an excellent example for the imitation of Christians. Although the blessing promised, was of the most extraordinary nature; although the event was distant; although there was no apparent probability of its ever being fulfilled; this patriarch relies with implicit confidence upon the power and faithfulness of God. In doing so, he was not actuated by a spirit of extravagant presumption, but followed the soundest principles of reason and piety; and the event fully justified his conduct. If we act in the same manner, in regard to other promises which yet remain to be fulfilled, we shall do honour to ourselves, and to the great Being in whom we believe. We are assured of an inheritance in a better country, and are now required to live and act in expectation of that event. The object of our hope is unseen and distant, and we must shortly be laid in a place, from which, according to present appearances, it is not likely that we shall ever return. But let us

not on this account abandon our hopes. Other persons have believed promises of God equally improbable, which have been fully accomplished, and there is nothing which can prevent the execution of this, by a Being of almighty power and infinite wisdom.

2. Nothing could be more base and criminal than the conduct of the patriarchs towards Joseph. Such a want of common humanity, to say nothing of brotherly affection, we could hardly have expected in any belivers in the God of Israel; much less in such a family as that of Jacob. But the conduct of Joseph, in forgiving entirely this great injury, when it was fully in his power to retaliate; in acknowledging as his brethren those who had forfeited all title io the privileges of that relation, when he himself was so highly exalted above them; in preserving them and their children alive, in a time of famine, is an instance of virtue and greatness of mind which demands our highest admiration and praise. This circumstance alone, had we known nothing more of his history, would have been sufficinat to immortalize his memory. How tender and affecting his language to them, when they come, full of fear and apprehension, to implore his forgiveness!" But as for you,' says he, "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!" You see that he views the hand of God as well as the enmity of his brethren, in his sufferings, and offers them consolation which they could not offer themselves. How truly noble is this conduct! Joseph enjoyed far greater pleasure and satisfaction of mind in

this behaviour, than the amplest revenge could have afforded; and so will every one who imitates his example.

3. The history of this patriarch may teach us that exalted virtue is not universally prosperous. The excellent character of Joseph could not secure him from the envy and ill treatment of his brethren. Indeed the virtue which he possessed seems to have been one principal ground of the dislike which they entertained against him. Let not good men, therefore, of the present day, be surprised or discouraged if they experience treatment to which their predecessors and superiors were exposed, and from which one, who was greater than Joseph was not exempted: especially when they recollect, what indeed they may learn at the same time, that virtue, however oppressed and injured for a season, will triumph in the end, and that it is generally the surest, if not the easiest, path to human favour and prosperity. With the prospect of such a termination to their journey, they may well endure a few hardships by the way.

17. BUT when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the promise of release from Egypt, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,

18. Till another king arose which knew not Joseph.

19. The same dealt subtly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end that they might not live.

20. In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months.

21. And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son.

22. And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds.

That Egypt was anciently the seat of learning, and that the Egyptians were the inventors of several branches of science, is generally allowed by historians; and particularly that they first discovered the principles of that system of the universe which afterward rendered the name of Copernicus illustrious. What degree of knowledge they possessed in the time of Moses, we do not certainly know; but whatever it might be, it is probable, independently of the authority of Stephen, that the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter was acquainted with it. To what particular facts Stephen refers, when he says that Moses became mighty in

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