DISCOURSE LI.

THE CUP IN BENJAMIN'S SACK.

Gen. xliv. 1-17.

VER. 1, 2. As every measure which Joseph had yet taken to lead his brethren to discover who he was, had failed, he must now have recourse to another expedient to detain them. Their sacks are ordered to be filled, and their beasts laden with as much corn as they can carry, their money restored as before, and a silver cup put into the sack's mouth of the youngest. All this is love: but it is love still working in a mysterious way. The object seems to be to detain Benjamin, and to try the rest.

Ver. 3-6. Having stopped over the night, next morning at break of day they are dismissed, and set off for home. After the treatment which they had received, we may suppose they were now all very happy. Simeon is restored, Benjamin is safe, and they are well laden with provision for the family. They would now be ready to anticipate the pleasure of seeing their father, and easing his anxious heart. But lo, another dark cloud presently overspreads their sky. They had scarcely got out of the city before the steward overtakes them, and charges them with the heinous crime of having stolen his lord's cup; a crime which would have been highly offensive at any time, but much more so after the generous treatment which they had received. And to perplex them the more, he intimates as if his lord were a diviner, and must needs be able to find out stolen property! Such we see VOL. V.

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was heathenism, in those early ages; and such heathenism is found even in Christian countries to this day.

Ver. 7-9. At this they are all thunderstruck with surprise; yet, conscious of their innocence, they disown the charge, and express the utmost abhorrence at such a conduct. They appeal also to a fact with which the steward was well acquainted; namely, their having brought again the money which they had found in their sacks. Did this conduct comport with the character of thieves? 'Can it be supposed after this,' say they, that we should steal out of my lord's house either silver or gold? Search us throughout. On whomsoever it be found, let him die, and we will all consent to become slaves!' Such was their confidence that the charge was unfounded; and their invoking so severe a penalty would be a presumptive evidence that it was so.

Ver. 10, 11. The steward, who is well aware of some profound design on the part of his master, though he knew not the whole of it, humours the thing with much address. He accedes to the mode of trial, but softens the penalty, proposing that none but the guilty should suffer, and he nothing more than the loss of his liberty. With this they readily acquiesce; and being stung with reproach, they, with indignant sensations, hastily unlade every man his beast, in order to disprove the charge. How willing is conscious innocence that things should be searched to the bottom; and how confident of an honourable acquittal!

sorrow.

Ver. 12. And now search is made, from the eldest to the youngest. Ten out of eleven are clear, and enjoy the triumph of a good conscience; but lo, in the sack of the youngest the cup is found! Every thing seems contrived to give an edge to their It was when they were leaving Egypt, in high spirits, that they were stopped; and now when they have disproved the charge, except in one instance, lo, that instance fails them! To have their hopes raised within one step of an acquittal, and then to be at once disappointed, was very affecting. Thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down,

But what a confounding event! Could they really think for a moment that Benjamin had been guilty of the mean and wicked action which seems to be proved upon him? I do not suppose

they could. They must remember having found the money in their sack's mouth, when, nevertheless, they knew themselves to be innocent. Nay, and in searching for the cup, though nothing is now said of the money, yet they must have found it there a second time. All this would acquit Benjamin in their account. Yet what can they allege in his favour, without reflecting upon his accusers? The article is found upon him; which is a species of proof that seems to admit of no answer. A deep and dismal silence therefore pervades the company. In very agony they rend their clothes, reload their beasts, and return into the city. As they walk along, their thoughts turn upon another event; an event which had more than once occurred to their remembrance already. It is the Lord! We are murderers; and though we have escaped human detection, yet divine vengeance will not suffer us to live. There, though guilty, we were acquitted: here, though innocent, we shall be condemned!'

Ver. 13-17. Arriving at Joseph's house, where he still was, no doubt expecting their return, Judah and his brethren fall prostrate before him. Judah is particularly mentioned, as having a special interest at stake on account of his suretyship: but neither he nor his brethren can utter a word, but wait in this humble posture to hear what is said to them.

Joseph having carried matters to this height, once more assumes the tone of a great man, highly offended; suggesting withal, that they ought to have known that such a man as he could certainly divine, and that therefore, it would be in vain to think of escaping with his property undetected.

As Judah appeared foremost on their entrance, Joseph's words would probably be directed to him, for an answer. But what answer can be given? The surety and the advocate is here dumb; for he had been a party in guilt; not indeed in the present instance, but in another. He can therefore only exclaim, What shall we say unto my lord? What shall we speak; or how shall

we clear ourselves? GOD HATH FOUND OUT THE INÍQUITY OF HIS SERVANTS! Behold, we are my lord's servants; both we, and he also with whom the cup is found! He did not mean by this to plead guilty to the charge; but neither dare he plead inoocent,

for that would have been accusing the offended party of having ensnared them, and so have made the case still worse; neither was he able to confront the evidence which appeared against his younger brother. What can he say, or do? He can only suggest that it is a mysterious providence, in which it appears to be the design of God to punish them for their FORmer crimes. This answer, which was manifestly dictated by what lay uppermost in all their minds, was at the same time the most delicate and modest manner in which he could possibly have insinuated a denial of the charge. While it implied their innocence in the present instance, it contained no reflection upon others; but an acknowledgment of the divine justice, and a willingness to bear the punishment that might be inflicted upon them, as coming from above. If Joseph had really been the character which he appeared to be, such an answer must have gone far towards disarming him of resentment. How forcible are right words! The simple and genuine utterance of the heart is the most irresitible of all eloquence.

Joseph, in answer, disclaims every thing that might wear the appearance of cruelty. No, he will not make bondmen of them, but merely of him on whom the cup was found. Such is the sentence. They may go about their business; but Benjamin must be detained in slavery. Alas! and is this sentence irrevocable? Better all be detained than him; for it will be the death of his father! What can be said, or done? The surety now becomes the advocate, and that to purpose. Such an intercession as that which follows we shall no where find, unless it be in His whom the Father heareth always. But I shall here close the present discourse, with only a reflection or two on the subject.

1. We see a striking analogy between the conduct of Joseph towards his brother Benjamin, and that of Jesus towards his people. Whom I love, I rebuke and chasten. Benjamin must have thought himself peculiarly unhappy to be one day marked out as a favourite, and the next convicted as a criminal; and yet in neither instance able to account for it. It might teach him however, when the mystery came to be unravelled, not to draw hasty conclusions from uncertain premises; but to wait and see