SECTION XVII.

Joseph and Pharaoh.

In the account of the first Pharaoh's dealings with Joseph, the Egyptian monarch appears to have acted with the strictest honesty and integrity, and as a reward he was supernaturally apprized of the famine which should come upon his land. When he exclaims concerning Joseph, "can we find such a man as this, a man in whom the spirit of the Lord is ?" Gen. xli. 38, he seems to have been actuated by a spirit of real piety. Hard it would be, indeed, to question the salvability of a monarch who could come to this pious resolution : "forasmuch as God hath showed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art; thou shalt be over my house, and according to thy word shall all my people be ruled, only in the throne will I be greater than thou." v. 39.

There are frequent allusions in Scripture

to the tenderness with which God treated the Heathen nations who beheld his judgments on the Israelites. "In the day that he lifted up his hand to bring them forth of the land of Egypt, he commanded them to cast away the idols of the Egyptians, but they did not. Then I said, I would pour out my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt. But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the Heathen amongst whom they were." Ezek. xx. 5-10. This tenderness towards the Egyptians and other Heathen nations, can be explained only on a desire not to aggravate their sins, and this affords us no slight ground for our general argument. “In whose sight I made myself known unto them (the Heathen), by bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt." ver. 9. "I will be sanctified in you before the Heathen." ver. 41.

SECTION XVIII.

Intermarriages of the Patriarchs with Gentiles.

IN support of the argument for the salvability of Heathen nations, it is of importance to recollect the frequent alliances which the patriarchs formed with Gentile families. Isaac and Jacob married, indeed, their cousins; but Joseph married Asenath the daughter of an Egyptian priest, (Gen. xli. 45.) by whom he had Ephraim and Manasseh: and so far was this Egyptian alliance from interfering with their privileges, that Jacob when dying adopted them amongst the tribe of Israel. "In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and Manasseh." Gen. xlviii. 20. Moses also, as we shall hereafter observe, married the daughter of Jethro, the priest of Midian. Exod. ii. 21. And so far were the patriarchs from shunning an intercourse with the neighbouring nations, that they

seem to have lived on the most friendly terms with them, and to this day, their names are highly venerated in every part of the East.

The inference which hence arises as to the salvability of Heathen nations, is too obvious to require any observation.

Note. On the state of religion amongst the eastern nations in the patriarchal age, see Shuckford, vol. i. 254 273. His general conclusion is, there was a universal agreement about religion in Abraham's time: "Even the Canaanites gave him no kind of disturbance during all the time he sojourned amongst them; and we have no reason to suppose they differed from him in their religion. When he came into the land of the Philistines, he found Abimelech, a good and virtuous king," &c. p. 278. See also Bishop Newton's Posthumous Works, vol. ii. Dissertat. ix. x. Sherlock on Prophecy, Discourse iv. v.

SECTION XIX.

Summary of the foregoing Argument.

FROM the preceding sketch of patriarchal history, it appears, that the original dispersion of mankind after the Flood arose in consequence of an immediate exertion of divine power, and that from this diversity of language, the diversity of manners and customs, of national and religious distinctions necessarily followed. From the dispersion of mankind at Babel, the greater part of our social and national varieties have unquestionably arisen.

It appears, also, that about three hundred years after this event, God was pleased to select Abraham as the trustee of that promise which had been made to Adam on behalf of all his descendants; but that neither Abraham, Isaac or Jacob seem to have drawn any unfavourable conclusions on this account against the rest of mankind. They lived on terms of friendship