III. Let us now consider the benediction itself. It is to be viewed as a prayer. And he does not pray that Pharaoh might favour them, or that they might occupy the highest stations in his court; he was convinced that no creature could bless them. This is the sole prerogative of God, and he implores him to exercise it in their behalf; that he would endow them with the graces of his spirit as their best distinction, enrich them with his favour as their best portion, and shield them by his protection as their best defence; that they might be a credit to their father and a blessing to their people; that their life might be long and useful, and that they might, at death, be received into everlasting glory.

It was his prayer, too, that his name might be named on them, that name Israel, which was given to him on account of his devotedness to prayer, and his success in it. This was an expression of his wish that they might be distinguished by the spirit of prayer and by the answer of prayer. This wish was not dictated by vanity, but by the desire which he felt that they might be influenced by the designation which they bore to the culture of enlightened and zealous devotion. His heart sighed at the thought that the world around him was wholly given to idolatry, and it was his earnest desire that such might be the habitual piety maintained by his offspring from age to age, as to attach to them this character,"This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob."

The court of Egypt had many pompous titles, but none of them in true glory could be compared with

this one. That land presents many indications of the vanity of human glory. The pyramids remain, but their object and the names of their builders are lost in oblivion. The inward thought of worldly men is, that their houses shall continue to all generations, and they call their lands by their own names; nevertheless, man being in honour abideth not, but the name of Israel remains on the Jewish people and institutions to this day.

He prayed, too, that the name of Abraham and of Isaac might be named on them; that is, that they might have a place in the covenant made with them, might inherit their privileges, and walk in their steps; that the circumcision which marked their descent from Abraham might be to them a seal of the righteousness of faith; that they might be as noted for their homage to the true God as they were; that, wherever they abode, they might, like them, dwell under the shadow of the Almighty; and that they might have an eternal inheritance in that better country which they regarded as their home, and of whose blessedness they found only an earnest and an emblem in Canaan.

And the prayer is closed by the expression of his wish, that they might grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth, that their line might be continued, and that their posterity might flourish, and that, by the religious worship which they maintained amidst the idolatries around them, they might be as a light shining on a dark place. Happy as they now were, he anticipated for them a territory and a power of their own, in which the vine brought from Egypt

should fill the land of Canaan, cover the hills with its shadow, and send out its boughs to the sea.

But this benediction is to be viewed also as a prediction. The mind of the patriarch was at this moment under supernatural influence, and he was enabled to declare the lot of his descendants with mi nuteness and precision. These were not the dreams of fancy, the flatteries of presumption, the reveries of dotage, or the oracles of imposture, but the revelations of him who seeth the end from the beginning. Jacob was now acting under a higher impulse than that of imagination, or hope, or mere sagacity; he was speaking under divine inspiration, and, accordingly, Paul numbers this benediction among the brightest triumphs of faith." By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.* Distant as was the period, and unlikely to human view as the accomplishment of the prediction was, he beheld them settled in Canaan, a peculiar, a prosperous, and a happy people. It is a very striking fact, that these two tribes increased more than any of the rest. Even in the times of Moses the number of them was 85,200 men fit for war, and their situation was in the middle of the land of Canaan.

It is a very beautiful circumstance, that this benediction of his sons is called blessing Joseph. Their honour and happiness would be his. A parent's chief felicity is in the blessedness of his children. mother that came to Christ in behalf of her afflicted

The

*Heb. xi. 21.

daughter, thus addressed him," Have mercy on me, for my daughter is grievously vexed." Such is the power of that sympathy which interests parents in all that befalls children, that their hearts are wrung at every pang they feel, and they experience emotions of delight at every indication that they are happy. Joseph's happiness in his brethren had arisen not from them, but from his own generous conduct to them; and it was Jacob's wish, that his happiness in his own family might compensate him for all that he had suffered from them, and that he might be as happy as a father as he had been dutiful as a son. Such was the benediction of this patriarch; as a prayer, it was dictated by the Spirit of grace and supplication, and as a prediction, it was a declaration of his purpose, whose counsel shall stand. It is pregnant with all that prosperity desired by worldly men, and with those spiritual mercies which are the chief good of the heirs. of salvation.

There were, doubtless, many things peculiar to Jacob in this benediction arising from the special promises made to him, and the inspiration of the Almighty under which he spoke; but it shows that aged persons should implore the Divine blessing on the relatives whom they are about to leave. It is surely proper that they should ask from God in their behalf that measure of worldly good things which will secure them from the temptations of poverty on the one hand, and the corrupting influence of luxury on the other; that God may give them the heritage of them

Matt. xv. 22.

that fear him; that the evil principles, which, working within them, have occasioned them so many anxieties and alarms, may be subdued; that they may be guided through the snares which vice and treachery may form for them; that, by the comforts of religion, they may be supported under the temptations common to man; that the worship of the Most High may never be put away from their dwelling, but may be maintained with increasing zeal, and solemnity, and advantage; that they may glorify God more amply than they have done; that they may leave an example of Christian excellence as an inheritance to their children; and that they may sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of our Father.

Providence hath given many proofs of the influence of the last blessing of the pious. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much at all times; but there are some things which give it peculiar efficacy at his death. It is a prayer in which his heart is deeply interested, in which faith and love strongly work, which is characterized by more than common importunity, and the fulfilment of which réflects peculiar lustre on the Divine compassion, and on the close of a well-spent life.

It has often been fulfilled in the spiritual and eternal felicity of the young; and when this is not the case, it procures them exemption from many miseries in the present state, and obtains for them many comforts. It brings down upon these olive-plants that dew from the Lord which suffers not their beauty to decay, or their labour to fail. Often has the provi