And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them: and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived:
Ver. 27. When he saw the wagons.] Such assurance have deeds above words, a Nos non eloquitour magna, sed vivimus, said those primitive Christians. And no Christian is an ill-lived man, unless he be a pretender only to that religion, saith Athenagoras, in his apclogy for them. b For as one said of David's words in the ll9th Psalm, that they are verba vivenda non legenda; so is religion to be credited, by the power and practice of it. Christians should lead convincing lives: and, by their piety and patience, muzzle the malevolent, throttle envy itself. I have read c of a woman, who, living in professed doubt of the Godhead, after better illumination and repentance, did often protest that the vicious life of knowing man in that town did conjure up those damnable doubts in her soul. The difference between divinity and other sciences is, that it is not enough to know, but you must do it; as lessons of music must be practised, and a copy not read only, but acted.
The spirit of Jacob their father revived.] How will our spirits exult and triumph when we shall hear the last trump, see the messengers and wagons sent for us! Consider the crowns, sceptres, kingdoms, glories, beauties, angelical entertainments, beatifical visions, sweetest varieties, felicities, eternities, that we are now to be possessed of! Surely, as Aeneas and his company, when they came within view of Italy, after long tossing in the Mediterranean and Aegean seas, joyfully cried out -
“Italiam, Italiam primus conclarnat Achates;
Italiam socii laeto clamore salutant.” - Virg.
And as when Godfrey of Bulloin and his company went to Jerusalem, as soon as they saw the highi turrets they gave a mighty shout, that the earth: rang. So when we shall see the battlements of the New Jerusalem, what acclamations will it ring of!
a Segnius irritant animos demissa per aurem,
Quam quae sunt oculis subiecta fidelibus, &c.
b Oυδεις Cριστιανος πονηρος, ει με υποκρινηται τον λογον .
c Mr Ward's Serm., The Happiness of Paradise.