early as when the Israelites first went down into Egypt to sojourn. When Joseph, hitherto a stranger to his perplexed and grieved brethren, at length declares himself, he accompanies the astonishing and overwhelming discovery with some very pertinent and judicious observations upon provi dence, or the government of God in the arrangement and production of human events.

Now, therefore, be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither; for God did send me before you to preserve life.

And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now, it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharach, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt." Here we have a memorable instance of divine agency and interference in a sort of connection with the

Joseph

depraved actions of men. It is directly to the point of substantiating what has been laid down, viz. that the same identical events are, in one point of view, ascribable to God, and, in another, to wicked men. says to his brethren, Te sold me hither, and God sent me hither. Does he mean any other, than that God had brought about the event, and had done it by their means, or had used them as instruments, in making this wonderful provision for mankind and the church? The work is expressly ascribed to God, as its author. He is acknowledged to have

both planned and executed it.

But does this imply, that envy and malice had no hand in it? It implies only, that the counsel of God was benevolent and wise, while it is expressly declared that the evil-minded sons of Israel were moved with cruel jealousy and hatred to the transaction, which issued in so much good. In this affair, two leading and most important ideas are to be noticed; first that Joseph's brethren sold him into Egypt, and secondly, that God sent him there. The same event is here traced to the vindictive malice of men, and to the pure benevolence of Deity. But it is certain, that a primary influence cannot be claimed by both. God must, therefore, be acknowledged as first and supreme, and man as his instrument. To the one we trace the effect, as to the original, and to the other, as the instrumental, cause. Joseph's brethren meant he should go into Egypt as a slave; and God meant the same. Their view was to be revenged on one they hated; God's purpose was to open a way for the preservation of many lives. lives. When God is the supreme agent, and man an active instrument in his hand; it is by no means necessary, that both should act under the same views, and with the same intentions. God is able to promote and carry on a good cause by means of the wicked conduct of the vilest of men, as the above example very fully proves. This will also appear from other examples, to which we may be referred. The captivity of Israel

and Judah by the king of Babylon is uniformly represented as a punishment inflicted. upon them for their sins, and as such it can be no other than the work of God; since it is his sole prerogative to call men to account for their evil doings, and to chastise them. for their ungodly ways. The Judge of all the earth never put this work out of his own hands. He could not do it, without resigning his authority, and ceasing to act in character of moral governor. If the captivity of the church by the Babylonians was, therefore, a punishment for sin, it was inflicted by the hand of God; but is it, on this account, the less a fact, that the king of Babylon did actually lay siege to Samaria and Jerusalem, and overcome them, and carry away their people into other countries under his jurisdiction, and there hold them in a state of captivity for many years? Here again, two things are equally true, the one as the other, viz. that the Babylonians, the enemies of God and his people, made inroads upon the church, prevailed against them, and carried them away out of their own land, and that this event was brought about by the hand of the most High. History states the fact, that Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem, and carried the people to Baby-lon, and the prophet bewails the event as a sore judgment, visited upon them by a justly incensed and angry God. "How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from

W

heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger ?" If this devastation and ruin was brought upon Jerusalem by the arms of the Chaldeans, and was, nevertheless, the Lord's doing, a work of his faithful and righteous providence, does it not bring us to this, that God works by the instrumentality "of the wicked; so that the miseries which they, by their crimes, bring upon their fellow-men, may be attributed to the hand of God? This perfectly agrees with the representation of the prophet Isaiah, concerning the primary and ultimate cause of those calamities upon the Jews, and the distress brought upon them by the Babylonian war. "O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against a hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so ; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few."

Among so many cases, which are full to the present point, and some of which are recorded upon almost every leaf of the bible, I hardly know which to select for the further use of the subject we are now upon; but, for an additional example I shall recur to the afflictions of Job. In them we shall see the double agency of God and man. We shall

see the Lord Jehovah laying a grievous burden upon his servant, for the trial of his patience and constancy, and making use of a variety of creature agents, to carry this object into effect. The influences of Satan, that grand enemy of God and all good men, is concerned, in no small degree." And the Lord saith unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord."

If what follows, in the loss of children and substance, be reckoned the work of the devil; it must be confessed that Satan was not the only creature agent, who took part in it. The Sabeans fell upon the oxen and asses and took them away, and slew the servants with the edge of the sword. The Chaldeans, also, made out three bands and fell upon the camels, carrying them away, and slaying the servants with the edge of the sword. Let it be granted, that these marauders, these robbers and murderers, were instigated and urged on by the devil,and committed their depredations upon the property of Job under the influence of his malice; yet this will not imply,that they were no agents in the affair. If the devil acted a part in this tragedy, so did the Sabeans and Chaldeans likewise. And after all this is observed, the great original, independent cause is still out of view, until we listen to the following words of Job, in which he acknowledges the interference of a divine hand. "Naked came I out of my mother's