In what more suitable place could Jacob acknowledge the great kindness of God toward him, and pour out his soul before him, in praise and thanksgiving!

He did this; for we are told that he offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac; unto that God who had promised to bless Isaac, and to give him a very numerous offspring, as was already beginning to be the case in the family of which Jacob was the head.

This promise God was now about to renew to Jacob. For "he spoke to him in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob."

"And he said, Here am I. And he said, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will make of thee a great nation : I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again: and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes;" that is, he shall close thine eyes, as thou art about to die.

This promise of God was afterward abundantly fulfilled. The descendants of Jacob became indeed a great nation, which returned to Canaan; and in this sense Jacob himself may be said to have been brought back again.

And Joseph, too, was permitted to close the eyes of his dying parent; a mark of affection and respect

which Jacob must have anticipated with a tender and melancholy pleasure.

From Beer-sheba they proceeded on their way to Egypt; "and the sons of Jacob carried their father, and their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. And they took their cattle, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob, and all his seed (or descendants) with him," the number of which was sixty-six.

CHAPTER XXVI.

Joseph meets his father in Goshen.-He presents five of his brethren to Pharaoh, who grants them leave to dwell in Goshen.-Joseph presents his father to Pharaoh.-What Jacob says.-Life short.-What is death ?—Is the reader prepared to die?

JOSEPH had sent word to his father that, when he and his family came down to Egypt, they should dwell in that part of it which was called Goshen. It was on the eastern side of Egypt, extending toward the Red Sea and the borders of Canaan.

Judah was sent by Jacob to inform Joseph of his father's approach.

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And Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet his father to Goshen, and presented himself unto him; and he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while."

What must have been the feelings of each, at this moment, to meet once more, after so long a separation! Through how many trials they had passed! What changes had taken place in each! Time had whitened the locks of the father, and sor

and age

row had deepened the furrows in his cheeks, and bowed down his venerable form.

When they last parted, Joseph was a youth of seventeen, going to inquire after his brethren, in the valley of Shechem. He was now arrived to mature manhood, a father, and the governor of Egypt.

Now let me die, said Jacob, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive.

He could say no more. The last fond wish of his heart was gratified, and he was ready to depart in peace as soon as God should see fit to call him hence.

Joseph then told them that he would go and inform Pharaoh of their arrival, and let him know their occupation-that they were shepherds, and that they had brought their flocks and their herds with them. He requested them also to say the same thing to Pharaoh, when he should make inquiry of them, that he might permit them to settle in the land of Goshen. For there they would be in a country, as it were, of their own, and separated from the Egyptians; and this Joseph knew would contribute greatly to their comfort and prosperity. They would not be exposed to the hatred and vexation of a people who, you recollect, we have before had occasion to observe, held the business of a snepherd in great detestation.

After Joseph had given the information to Pharaoh, he took five of his brethren and presented them to the king.

On his inquiring what their occupation was, they replied, "Thy servants are shepherds, both we, and also our fathers."

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They said moreover unto Pharaoh, For to sojourn in the land are we come: for thy servants have no pasture for their flocks, for the famine is sore in the land of Canaan: now therefore, we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen."

The king granted their request, and directed Joseph, if there were any of his brethren who were fitted, by their activity and skill, for the situation, to make them overseers of his cattle.

Joseph also brought in Jacob his father, and presented him to Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

On the king's asking Jacob his age, he replied; "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers, in the days of their pilgrimage."

A pilgrim is a person who has no fixed home, nd who is on a long journey, tarrying a little