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t h a 
 
 STORY OF 
 
 JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN 
 
 IN THREE PARTS 
 
 JBOM THE LONDON EDITION 
 
 NEW. YORK: 
 GENERAL PROT. EPISCOPAL S. S. UNION, 
 
 DANIEL DANA Jr. AGENT. 
 
 Depository 20 John Street 
 
 1646 
 
Stereotyped by Vincent L. Dill, 
 
 Sun Building, N. T. 
 B. "W. Raper, Printer 
 
THE STORY 
 
 OF 
 
 JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN 
 
 PART I. 
 
 HE first part of Joseph's story, 
 though both instructive and en- 
 tertaining to all, is particularly 
 so to children. I propose to tell the story 
 nearly in the words of the Old Testament, 
 but to make now and then a few remarks 
 upon it. 
 
 Joseph was trie son of good old Jacob. 
 Mow Jacob," says the Scripture, " loved 
 
 u 
 
6 THE STORY OF JOSEPH 
 
 Joseph more than all his children, because 
 he was the son of his old age : and he made 
 him a coat of many colours. And when 
 his brethren saw that their father loved him 
 more than all his brethren, they hated him, 
 and could not speak peaceably unto him." 
 
 But was not this hatred of Joseph's 
 brethren against Joseph very wicked ? It 
 is true Jacob might be faulty in showing so 
 much partiality to one son above another, 
 yet this was no excuse for the hatred which 
 was felt by Joseph's brethren. Methinks 
 this hatred, though as yet it is only con- 
 cealed in their breasts, will, by-and-by, 
 break out into some very wicked act or 
 other. But let us go on with the story. 
 
 " And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he 
 told it to his brethren : and they hated him 
 yet the more." 
 
AND HIS BRETHREN. 7 
 
 This is doing worse and worse ! and it 
 shows that when hatred once begins, we 
 know not where it will end. 
 
 " And Joseph said unto them, Hear, I 
 pray you, this dream which I have dream- 
 ed : for behold we were binding sheaves in 
 the field, and my sheaf arose and also stood 
 upright, and behold your sheaves stood 
 round about and made obeisance (or bowed 
 down) to my sheaf." 
 
 Joseph seems to me to have told this 
 dream thus publicly, through his openness 
 of heart and simplicity; it was a dream 
 moreover which God sent, and God caused 
 afterwards the thing signified by it to be 
 fulfilled, as in due time we shall see. 
 
 " And his brethren said to him, Shalt 
 thou indeed reign over us ? and they hated 
 him yet the more for his dream, and now 
 
8 THE STORY OF JOSEPH 
 
 for his words. — And Joseph dreamed yet 
 another dream, and told it his brethren, 
 and said, Behold I have dreamed a dream 
 more ; and behold the sun, and the moon, 
 and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. 
 And he told it to his father, and to his 
 brethren ; and his father rebuked him, and 
 said to him, What is this dream that thou 
 hast dreamed? shall I, and thy mother, 
 and thy brethren, indeed come to bow 
 down ourselves to thee to the earth ? " 
 
 Poor, honest, simple old man, he little 
 knew how his own interpretation of the 
 dream was by-and-by to be exactly fulfill- 
 ed, for so God had ordained. 
 
 " And his brethren envied him, but his 
 father observed the saying." 
 
 After this we read that Joseph's brethren 
 went to feed their father's flock in Shechem, 
 
AND HIS BRETHREN. 9 
 
 and Jacob sent Joseph to them, saying, 
 "Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well 
 with thy brethren, and well with the flocks, 
 and bring me word again. So he sent him, 
 and Joseph came to Shechem ; but it hap- 
 pened that they and the flocks were gone 
 forward beyond Shechem, even to Dothan. 
 So Joseph went after his brethren, and 
 found them in Dothan. And when they 
 saw him afar off, they said one to another, 
 Behold, this dreamer cometh ; come now 
 therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him 
 into some pit, and we will say some evil 
 beast hath devoured him, and we shall see 
 what will become of his dreams." 
 
 What a dreadful proposal ! What ! kill 
 their own brother ! if they could agree to 
 do this, I do not wonder at their agreeing 
 also to tell a lie, in order to hide their 
 
10 THE STORY OP JOSEPH 
 
 crime ; thus not one sin, but two sins were 
 to be committed. But is it possible that 
 all these eleven brethren should join in 
 putting Joseph to death? Even among 
 bad men, some are apt to be less bad than 
 others : surely therefore we may hope, that 
 one or other of Joseph's brethren will be 
 for stopping short of the crime of murder. 
 
 It proved, as I think might very natu- 
 rally be expected, that one of Joseph's 
 brethren, named Reuben, though he seems 
 before to have joined in envying Joseph, 
 was afraid of joining in this most horrid 
 crime. 
 
 When, therefore, " Reuben heard it, he 
 delivered him out of their hands; and 
 said, Shed no blood, but cast him into the 
 pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no 
 hand on him : this he said that he might 
 
AND HIS BRETHREN. 11 
 
 rid him out of their hands, and deliver him 
 to his father's house. And it came to 
 pass, that when Joseph," who was at a 
 distance while this conversation passed, 
 " was come unto his brethren, they stripped 
 Joseph of his coat, it being his coat of 
 many colours." 
 
 What satisfaction would they feel while 
 they were thus stripping him ! This was the 
 coat which Joseph's father had given him, 
 because he was a favourite, and which re- 
 minded Joseph's brethren of his advantage 
 over them. They now thought themselves 
 revenged upon him ; and revenge, as they 
 would say, is sweet. Many a joke, many a 
 bitter and severe expression was uttered, no 
 doubt, while they were stripping him ; they 
 had got him into their power, and they were 
 resolved to show that they were greater 
 
12 THE STORY OF JOSEPH 
 
 than he, instead of his being greater than 
 they, as he pretended. 
 
 Now this sort of spirit in them was a most 
 wicked thing; it was coupled with envy, 
 and malice, and hatred, and was not far 
 from carrying them on to an act of murder. 
 And here let me warn all my young read- 
 ers against indulging this same evil tem- 
 per. Thus, for instance, if you should hear 
 your teacher praise your schoolfellow who 
 stands near you, while he says not a word 
 of praise to you, do not hate and envy your 
 schoolfellow on this account ; or if you see 
 your parent give a reward to your brother 
 or sister for supposed good behaviour, do 
 not be eager to think that you equally de- 
 serve a reward, and then hate or envy your 
 brother or sister for being more favoured 
 than yourself, for this is to act in the same 
 
AND HIS BRETHREN. 13 
 
 spirit with the brethren of Joseph. So also, 
 if some other child should be dressed as 
 fine again as you are, and even as fine as 
 Joseph himself, in his coat of many colours, 
 yet do not do as Joseph's brethren did. Do 
 not feel any ill-will towards your brother? 
 your sister, or play-fellow for this reason. 
 Do not long to strip the fine coat off him, 
 as Joseph's brethren stripped the fine coat 
 off of Joseph ; but endeavour to look upon 
 his fine dress contentedly, and without 
 envy, and without any desire to take it 
 from him, and to put it on your own backs. 
 This is one of the lessons that you ought 
 to learn from the present story, which was 
 not written in the Bible in order to enter- 
 tain you only, and in order to teach you 
 how to read, but in order to instruct you in 
 your duty also. This passion of hatred 
 
14 THE STORY OF JOSEPH 
 
 and envy, if indulged when you are young, 
 may lead to dreadful consequences when 
 you are old. We shall presently show you 
 very plainly how, in the case of Joseph's 
 brethren, it led on to lying and to cruelty, 
 and almost even to murder. 
 
 For " after they had stripped Joseph of 
 his coat, they took him and cast him into a 
 pit, and the pit was empty, and there was 
 no water in it. And they sat down to eat 
 bread." 
 
 How very hardened must these brethren 
 of Joseph have been! they went to their 
 dinner after they had thrown Joseph into 
 the pit, just as if nothing had happened. 
 Men who thus give way to their evil pas- 
 sions, are apt to be very cruel and hard- 
 hearted also. 
 
 * And behold a company of Ishmaelites 
 
AND HIS BRETHREN. 15 
 
 came from Gilead with their camels, bear- 
 ing spicery, and balm, and myrrh, going to 
 carry it down to Egypt" 
 
 Now a new thought comes across one of 
 Joseph's brethren, who was named Judah, 
 and who, though more blameable than 
 Reuben, yet seems rather less so than some 
 of the others. 
 
 " And Judah said unto his brethren, 
 What profit is it if we slay our brother, and 
 conceal his blood ? Come and let us sell 
 him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our 
 hand be upon him, for he is our brother, 
 and our flesh." 
 
 It was owing then to the good providence 
 of God, and not to any good design in his 
 brothers, that Joseph escaped being put to 
 death. It pleased God, who orders all 
 human events, to bring it to pass, that the 
 
16 THE STORY OF JOSEPH 
 
 merchants of Midian should draw near just 
 at the time when Joseph's brethren were in 
 doubt what to do with him. This is what 
 some might consider as chance, and a most 
 lucky chance they might call it. Such 
 kind of chances now and then happen to 
 us all, but in fact they are providences. 
 There is many a narrow escape for our 
 lives experienced by us, which is entirely 
 owing to God's goodness, though at the 
 time we do not so consider it. How many 
 have tumbled down when they have been 
 children, and would have been killed, if 
 some arm had not been stretched out to 
 save them ! How many have fallen sick, 
 and would have died, if, at the critical mo- 
 ment, some particular medicine had not 
 been given them ! And how many have 
 been cast away, and would have been 
 
AND HIS BRETHREN". 17 
 
 drowned in the sea, if the same God who 
 sent the Midianites to the relief of Joseph 
 had not sent some strange and unexpected 
 ship or boat to the place where they were 
 floating. It may here be remarked also, 
 that many matters of importance turn to the 
 smallest points. If these Midianites had 
 not gone by on the very day, and the very 
 hour of the day, on which they did, Joseph 
 (speaking after the manner of men) would 
 probably have suffered death, and not one 
 of those great events in his life, which are 
 soon to be spoken of, could have happened. 
 One of the chief things which I wish my 
 readers to learn from this history of Jo- 
 seph is the doctrine of a particular provi- 
 dence. 
 
 Judah having proposed to sell his brother 
 to the Midianites, instead of killing him, or 
 
18 THE STORY OP JOSEPH 
 
 leaving him in the pit, as had been wick- 
 edly intended, " his brethren were content. 
 Then they drew and lifted up Joseph out 
 of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmael- 
 ites for twenty pieces of silver; and the 
 Ishmaelites brought Joseph into Egypt." 
 Now Egypt was a far country, to which, 
 when Joseph was carried, his brethren con- 
 cluded that they should hear no more of 
 him. 
 
 " And Reuben returned into the pit, and 
 behold Joseph was not in the pit ; and he 
 rent his clothes, and he went to his breth- 
 ren, and said, The child is not to be found, 
 and I, whither shall I go ? " 
 
 Reuben had himself proposed the mea- 
 sure of putting Joseph into the pit, as a 
 contrivance by which he meant to save his 
 life, for he secretly intended to go after* 
 
AND HIS BRETHREN. 19 
 
 wards to the pit, and to deliver him ; but 
 he was too late in executing his purpose. 
 
 " And they took Joseph's coat, and killed 
 a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in 
 the blood ; and they brought the coat of 
 many colours to their father, and said, This 
 have we found, know now whether it be 
 thy son's coat or no." 
 
 What a barefaced lie ! but thus does one 
 sin lead on to another. It is easy to see 
 from this story of Joseph's brethren, that 
 when people resolve upon committing one 
 sin, they are immediately tempted to com- 
 mit another sin, and especially to commit 
 the sin of lying, in order to hide what they 
 have been doing; they are also plunged 
 from this time into a thousand straits 
 and difficulties, and it is by adding sin to 
 sin that they commonly try to get out. 
 
20 THE STORY OF JOSEPH 
 
 Reader, did you never do something wrong, 
 and then find yourself tempted to tell some 
 lie, or to play some artful trick to conceal 
 it? Joseph's brethren killed a kid, and 
 then dipped Joseph's coat in the blood of 
 it, and said to old Jacob, " This have we 
 found." This is the very picture of what 
 wicked children sometimes do. Having 
 some sin to conceal, they invent a fine art- 
 ful tale, which they tell to their masters, 
 and mistresses, or to their good old parents, 
 who too readily believe it, and thus, per- 
 haps, like Joseph's brethren, they come off 
 for the present unpunished. But soon, as 
 in the case of Joseph's brethren, their lie 
 will be found out. For already God knows 
 it. God saw them do the wicked deed, and 
 God now hears them tell the lie by which 
 they hide it. God waits, indeed, to see if 
 
AND HIS BRETHREN. 21 
 
 they will repent, but, by-and-by, perhaps, 
 their sin shall be known to all the world, 
 and shall not go unpunished. God saw 
 from the very first the secret envy rise up 
 in the hearts of the brethren of Joseph. 
 God heard them when they sneered at 
 Joseph, saying, " Behold this dreamer 
 cometh," and when they privately talked 
 together of killing him. God saw them 
 throw him into the pit, and cruelly leave 
 him there. God saw them also when they 
 were selling him to the Midianites. He 
 had his eyes upon them while they were 
 bargaining by the pit's side, and while they 
 were counting over the twenty pieces of 
 silver, which they afterwards put in their 
 pockets. And God's presence also was in 
 the midst of them while they were killing 
 the kid, and dipping Joseph's coat in the 
 
22 THE STORY OF JOSEPH 
 
 blood of it, and while they were saying to 
 themselves, Surely now no one will ever 
 know the thing we have been doing. That 
 story which these foolish men thought 
 would never be known by any body, is 
 now published in the book of Scripture, 
 that you and I, and all the world, may be 
 acquainted with it, and that we may draw 
 the right instruction from it. 
 
 " When poor old Jacob saw the coat, 
 he immediately knew it, and said, it is my 
 son's coat, an evil beast hath devoured 
 him; Joseph is, without doubt, rent in 
 pieces. And Jacob rent his clothes, and 
 put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourn- 
 ed for his son many days. And all his 
 sons and all his daughters rose up to com- 
 fort him." 
 
 What a set of hypocritical comforters 
 
AND HIS BRETHREN. 23 
 
 must these sons have been, and how many 
 fresh lies must they have told when they 
 were talking with their father ! 
 
 " But Jacob refused to be comforted. 
 And he said. For I will go down into the 
 grave unto my son mourning. Thus did 
 his father weep for him." 
 
JOSEPH IN PRISON. 
 
 PART II 
 
 OW little do we know whether 
 the things which befal us will 
 ^®^l|tNP turn out for our happiness or 
 misery? If I was to be made a king to- 
 morrow, I am not sure that it would not 
 prove to my hurt ; and if, on the contrary, 
 I was to be sold to-morrow for a slave, it is 
 far from being clear that it might not be for 
 my good ; for God has all events under his 
 direction ; and he can bring strange things 
 to pass just as he pleases. 
 
JOSEPH IN PRISON. 
 
 25 
 
 Joseph (as we have already told you) was 
 sold by his brethren as a slave to a com- 
 pany of Midianitish merchants. Now the 
 " Midianites brought Joseph down to Egypt, 
 and sold him to Potiphar, who was an offi- 
 cer or captain of the guard to king Pha- 
 raoh." Joseph fell, as it seems, into good 
 hands ; but the Scriptures take care to 
 inform us to what cause this was to be 
 attributed ; for there we read, that " the 
 Lord was with Joseph : " hence it was 
 that " he became a prosperous man ; and 
 he was taken into the house of his master 
 the Egyptian. And his master saw that 
 the Lord was with him, and that the Lord 
 made all that Joseph did to prosper in his 
 hands." 
 
 What a great thing it is to have God's 
 blessing with us in every thing we do ! 
 
26 JOSEPH IN PRISON. 
 
 Some people are always talking of their 
 good or bad luck ; and according to such 
 persons, Joseph was merely a lucky per- 
 son ; he was lucky first, they would say, 
 in getting so good a master, and still more 
 lucky in finding every thing go well to 
 which he set his hand : in fact, however, 
 there is no such a thing as luck, as we 
 have observed before ; and as we shall 
 have occasion, again and again, to observe 
 in telling this story. Let us learn, there- 
 fore, to thank God, and not to thank our 
 stars, or to thank fortune, whenever we 
 succeed in any thing ; for whatever it be, 
 we succeed only because the Lord allows 
 in that thing. 
 
 Joseph by degrees found such favour in 
 his master's sight, "that he was made 
 overseer of the house, and all that Potiphar 
 
JOSEPH IN PRISON. 27 
 
 had was put into his hands." Such was 
 the confidence placed in him, that at last 
 Potiphar seems to have done nothing for 
 himself, but to have left it all to Joseph ; 
 for we read, that " he knew not aught that 
 he had, save the bread that he did eat ; " 
 which is as much as to say, that he knew 
 indeed what food was set before him at his 
 own table, in order that he might eat it ; 
 but as to all the rest of his affairs, he knew 
 nothing about them. 
 
 Now though Potiphar might be wrong 
 in doing so little for himself, yet what an 
 honour was it to Joseph to be thus com- 
 pletely trusted ! I have known sonte com- 
 mon servants, indeed, in my days, who, by 
 being very remarkable for their faithful- 
 ness, have risen first to be upper servants, 
 and then even to be stewards to their mas- 
 
28 JOSEPH IN PRISON. 
 
 ters. Like Joseph, they have set out with 
 doing first one little thing well, and then 
 another, and so they have gone on till they 
 have had very large sums trusted to them, 
 and have got into places of prodigious con- 
 fidence ; and if it were not for the number 
 of servants who pretend to be very trusty 
 when they are not so, the sort of case I am 
 speaking of would probably happen much 
 oftener than it does. 
 
 " And it came to pass," says the Scrip- 
 ture, " from the time that Potiphar had 
 made Joseph overseer in his house, that 
 the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for 
 Joseph's sake ; and the blessing of the Lord 
 was upon all that he had, both in the house 
 and in the field." 
 
 What an encouragement is this to take 
 good people into our family ; for God, per- 
 
JOSEPH IN PRISON. 29 
 
 haps, may bless us for their sakes. Such 
 a good man as Joseph is a blessing 
 wherever he goes. 
 
 But now comes a new scene in the life 
 of Joseph. His prosperity was great; but 
 the greatest prosperity is sometimes sud- 
 denly interrupted. Potiphar had a very 
 wicked wife ; and " she cast her eyes " 
 very criminally on Joseph. Joseph indeed 
 was " a goodly person, and well-favoured ; " 
 and this very goodliness, or beauty of his, 
 proved a misfortune to him. How foolish, 
 then, are those persons (whether young 
 men or young women), who think that to 
 be handsome and well-looking is one of 
 the greatest blessings. It may turn out, 
 perhaps, to be the greatest snare ; it may 
 prove the worst calamity that ever yet befel 
 you, as happened in Joseph's case, 
 
30 JOSEPH IN PRISON. 
 
 It appear's that Potiphar's wife, the wick- 
 ed woman just now mentioned, " spake to 
 Joseph day by day," and tried repeatedly 
 to seduce him ; " but Joseph refused, and 
 said unto his master's wife, Behold, my 
 master observeth not what is with me in 
 the house, and he hath committed all that 
 he hath to my hand. There is none greater 
 in this house than I ; neither hath he kept 
 back any thing from me but thee, because 
 thou art his wife. How then can I do this 
 great wickedness, and sin against God ? " 
 
 Here let us stop, in order to consider one 
 of the most striking parts of the character 
 of Joseph. He is in the strongest manner 
 tempted to sin by a wicked woman: he 
 might also hope for her favour, if he con- 
 sented ; he had to dread her wrath if he 
 refused : every thing united to make the 
 
JOSEPH IN PRISON. 31 
 
 temptation strong : he was invited by her, 
 not once only, but again and again; not 
 publicly, so as to endanger a discovery, but 
 quite secretly. By what means, then, did 
 Joseph resist the temptation 1 He resisted 
 it partly by reflecting how ungenerous a 
 thing towards his master it would be to 
 yield, and partly also by saying to himself, 
 as he also said to the woman, " How can I 
 do this great wickedness, and sin against 
 God?" 
 
 Joseph knew that the eye of God was 
 upon him at all times, and in all places ; 
 and I have no doubt that he had long acted 
 under the influence of this knowledge. 
 What was it that had made him such a 
 faithful steward to his master's goods 1 It 
 was his being aware that God could see 
 the smallest dishonesty in him, and that 
 
32 JOSEPH IN PRISON. 
 
 God's eye was upon him even when his 
 master's back was turned. And what was 
 it that made him now resist another kind 
 of temptation? It was the same principle 
 of regard to Almighty God. This princi- 
 ple seems to have been very powerful in 
 him, and also to have been always at 
 hand. Joseph (I warrant you) was not 
 used to pass days and hours together with- 
 out thinking of God, as some people do. 
 Had this been the case, I question whether 
 he would not have yielded to one or other 
 of his temptations. 
 
 And now let me request my readers to 
 take a hint from Joseph, and to try them- 
 selves in the following manner. Say to 
 yourselves, What am I in secret? What 
 am I when no eye but that of God is upon 
 me ? When on the one hand some fellow- 
 
JOSEPH IN PRISON. 33 
 
 creature invites me to sin, when my own 
 inclinations are on the same side, when a 
 present opportunity offers, when there is 
 also no danger of discovery, so that my re- 
 putation may be safe, and when my worldly 
 interest will not be hurt by the indulgence, 
 but will rather be promoted by it; when, 
 in short, against all these temptations which 
 beset me, there is nothing to oppose but 
 the fear of God in the heart, how do I then 
 act 1 Is the fear of God so strong in me as 
 to gain the victory 1 Am I able with his 
 strength to conquer my temptations, how- 
 ever suited to my age, circumstances, or 
 condition in life, by saying as Joseph did, 
 "How shall I do this great wickedness, 
 and sin against God ? " Then this is the 
 effect of true religion. We are apt, many 
 of us, to complain of the difficulties of reli- 
 
34 JOSEPH IN PRISON. 
 
 giorij and to say, that we have not learning 
 enough to understand it; but surely that 
 fear of God which has been spoken of, is 
 very easy to be understood. I only wish it 
 was easy to be truly felt. Some there are 
 who fancy themselves religious, because 
 they attend at religious places of worship ; 
 because they understand well some reli- 
 gious doctrines ; because they remember 
 to have once experienced certain religious 
 feelings, or because they have now a num- 
 ber of religious phrases always in their 
 mouth. Let such persons also try their 
 religion by the same test. Does it enable 
 you to conquer your sins ? When all things 
 seem to unite on the side of sin, does your 
 religion in any measure enable you to get 
 the victory ? Secret self-denial, secret con- 
 quest over ourselves, secret preference to 
 
JOSEPH IN PRISON. 35 
 
 God above all the world, secret conscious- 
 ness of having been enabled, by God's 
 grace, to overcome our temptations, and 
 of having, like Joseph, stood firm to God 
 and duty, in times of peculiar and repeated 
 trial, these are some of the proofs of true 
 religion ; these are some of the best eviden- 
 ces of our being in a state of grace. I 
 would value these evidences above any 
 comfortable frames and feelings ; and they 
 are more, in my opinion, than a thousand 
 fancies, or impressions, that our salvation is 
 sure. Reader, if you hope to stand undis- 
 mayed before God on the great day of judg- 
 ment, try yourself by this test. "We read 
 but little in scripture of Joseph's religious 
 opinions (not that these are unimportant) ; 
 we read nothing about the particular time 
 and manner of his first becoming religious ; 
 
36 JOSEPH IN PRISON. 
 
 we read not a word about the religious 
 party that he followed, nor the religious 
 name he bore ; but we read that he resisted 
 hard temptations; and that both in his 
 prosperity and in his adversity he was 
 faithful to his God; and we find also, as 
 I shall presently show you, that although 
 his brethren had used him very cruelly, 
 yet he behaved very kindly and charitably 
 towards them, and forgave them freely, 
 and rejoiced over them to do them good. 
 May my religion be like his ; and may the 
 clearer knowledge, which God has given 
 me, both of himself, and of a Saviour, 
 make me the more earnest to do his will, 
 and to walk worthy of that "vocation 
 wherewith I am called." 
 
 But to return to the story. — " And it 
 came to pass about this time, that Joseph 
 
JOSEPH IN PRISON. 37 
 
 went into the house to do his business, and 
 there was none of the men of the house 
 there within. And Potiphar's wife caught 
 him by his garment, and he left his gar- 
 ment in her hand, and fled, and got him 
 out. And it came to pass when she saw 
 that he had left his garment in her hand, 
 and was fled forth, that she called unto the 
 men of her house, and spake unto them, 
 saying, See, he hath brought in an Hebrew 
 unto us to mock us (or to offer an insult to 
 us), and I cried with a loud voice ; and it 
 came to pass, when he heard that I lifted 
 up my voice, and cried, that he left his 
 garment with me, and fled, and got him 
 out. And she laid up his garment by her 
 until his lord came home ; and she spake 
 unto him according to the same words; 
 and it came to pass, when his master heard 
 
38 JOSEPH IN PRISON. 
 
 the words of his wife, that his wrath was 
 kindled. And Joseph's master took him, 
 and put him into the prison, a place where 
 the king's prisoners were bound ; and he 
 was there in prison." 
 
 What a change ! instead of having the 
 command of everything in Potiphar's house, 
 where he was looked up to, and respected, 
 he is shut up in prison among thieves, and 
 other wicked or suspected persons. And 
 why was he thus shut up ? For doing 
 wrong 7 No ! but for doing right. It now 
 and then happens in this world, that a man 
 suffers for fulfilling his duty. It is a mis- 
 take to suppose, that virtue here below is 
 always its own reward. Reader, if you 
 act ever so right, I cannot promise you that 
 in this uncertain world you will always be 
 rewarded for it. Your conduct may chance 
 
JOSEPH IN PRISON. 39 
 
 to be misrepresented, or not sufficiently 
 understood. Some enemy may injure you ; 
 some false and hollow friend or lover, who 
 is become offended, may turn against you. 
 Some one, whose feelings, or whose inter- 
 est you may have wounded through your 
 unbending virtue and integrity, may set 
 himself up as your enemy, and may come 
 and give false evidence against you, and 
 may charge you, possibly, with the very 
 sin to which that person himself has tried 
 in vain to seduce you, and from which, of 
 all the sins in the world, you are happily 
 the most clear. Let us learn from this 
 part of the story of Joseph to look to God 
 for his favour, and not to care so much, as 
 we are apt to do, about our character with 
 our fellow-creatures. It is better to go to 
 prison, like Joseph, for the sake of a good 
 
40 JOSEPH IN PRISON. 
 
 conscience, than to live in sin with Poti- 
 phar's wife in the midst of a palace, even 
 though we should contrive to live in credit 
 also. 
 
 We before remarked, that when Joseph 
 was sold as a slave to Potiphar, and when 
 his affairs seemed at the worst, " yet the 
 Lord was with him, and blessed him, and 
 gave him favour in the sight of Potiphar 
 his master." The same God, who showed 
 favour to him in his former distress, showed 
 him the same favour now ; for when he got 
 into prison, we read again that " the Lord 
 was with Joseph, and showed him mercy, 
 and gave him favour in the sight of the 
 keeper of the prison. And the keeper of 
 the prison committed to Joseph's hand all 
 the prisoners that were in the prison, and 
 whatever they did there he was the doer 
 
JOSEPH IN PRISON. 41 
 
 of it. The keeper of the prison looked not 
 to any thing that was under his hand, be- 
 cause the Lord was with him, and that 
 which he did the Lord made it to prosper. 
 " And it came to pass, after these things, 
 that the butler of the king of Egypt, and 
 his baker, had offended their Lord the king 
 of Egypt, and Pharaoh was wroth against 
 them, and put them into the prison where 
 Joseph was bound ; and the captain of the 
 guards charged Joseph with them; and 
 they dreamed a dream both of them, each 
 on one night; and Joseph came in unto 
 them in the morning, and looked upon 
 them, and behold they were sad ; and he 
 asked them, Wherefore look ye so sadly 
 to-day? and they said unto him, We have 
 dreamed a dream, and there is no interpre- 
 ter of it. And Joseph said unto them, Do 
 
42 JOSEPH IN PRISON. 
 
 not interpretations belong to God? Tell 
 me them, I pray you." 
 
 In ancient times it pleased God occa- 
 sionally to send dreams in order to make 
 known future events ; but let not any one 
 therefore suppose, that by the help of 
 dreams he can dive into futurity now. In 
 the days of Joseph men were in much 
 darkness and ignorance concerning the 
 true God. Jesus Christ had not appear- 
 ed, the New Testament had not been writ- 
 ten, nor as yet even the Old. Signs and 
 wonders were therefore used, in order to 
 prove that the God of Joseph was the true 
 God. But now we no longer need signs 
 and wonders, for the Holy Scriptures 
 plainly declare him unto us; and if any 
 man should now follow his dreams, it is 
 more than probable that in doing so he 
 
JOSEPH IN PRISON. 43 
 
 would be obliged to disregard Scripture, 
 and his own common sense also. It is 
 worthy of remark, indeed, that soon after 
 the law of Moses was given, (which fell 
 far short of the revelation made to us by 
 Jesus Christ,) people were expressly 
 warned to beware, lest by following some 
 dreamer of dreams, they should forsake 
 that God who was now made known unto 
 them ; for it is written, in the 13th chapter 
 of Deuteronomy, " If there arise among 
 you a dreamer of dreams, saying, Let us 
 go after other gods, and serve them, even 
 though the sign or the wonder shall come 
 to pass, yet thou shalt not go after that 
 dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God 
 hereby proveth you, to know whether you 
 love the Lord your God," and will " serve 
 him and cleave to him." 
 
44 JOSEPH IN PRISON. 
 
 But to return to the history of Joseph. 
 God, it seems, having special mercy for 
 him, and having great designs in view, 
 and having first sent two remarkable 
 dreams to Joseph, now sends two other 
 dreams to the chief butler and baker of 
 king Pharaoh, who were in prison with 
 him, and enables him to interpret them. 
 
 " And the chief butler told his dream to 
 Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, 
 behold a vine was before me, and in the 
 vine were three branches, and it was as 
 though it budded, and her blossoms shot 
 forth, and the clusters thereof brought forth 
 ripe grapes ; and Pharaoh's cup was in my 
 hand, and I took the grapes and pressed 
 them into Pharaoh's cup, and gave the cup 
 into Pharaoh's hand. 
 
 " And Joseph said unto him, This is the 
 
JOSEPH IN PRISON. 45 
 
 interpretation of it ; the three branches are 
 three days : yet within three days shall 
 Pharaoh lift up thy head, and restore thee 
 unto thy place; and thou shalt deliver 
 Pharaoh's cup into his hand after the for- 
 mer manner when thou wast butler. But 
 think on me when it shall be well with 
 thee ; and show kindness, I pray thee, 
 unto me, and make mention of me unto 
 Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house. 
 For indeed (added Joseph), I was stolen 
 away out of the land of the Hebrews, and 
 here also I have done nothing that they 
 should put me into this dungeon." 
 
 "Now when the chief baker saw that 
 the interpretation was good, he said unto 
 Joseph, I also was in my dream, and be- 
 hold I had three white baskets on my head, 
 and in the uppermost basket there was of 
 
46 JOSEPH IN PRISON. 
 
 all manner of baked meats for Pharaoh; 
 and the birds did eat them out of the bas- 
 ket on my head. And Joseph answered 
 and said, This is the interpretation thereof; 
 these three baskets are three days; yet 
 within three days shall Pharaoh lift up 
 thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee 
 on a tree, and the birds shall eat thy flesh 
 from off thee." 
 
 " And it came to pass on the third 4ay, 
 which was Pharaoh's birth-day, that he 
 made a feast unto all his servants : and he 
 restored the chief butler unto his butlership 
 again, and he gave the cup into Pharaoh's 
 hand ; but he hanged the chief baker, as 
 Joseph had interpreted to them ; yet did 
 not the chief butler remember Joseph." 
 
JOSEPH DELIVERED OUT OP 
 PRISON 
 
 PART III 
 
 (g^gpteg.QOR unhappy Joseph ! we left 
 yg jpgMp him in prison, where I think 
 ^OT he must have had a very anx- 
 ious time, for who could tell whether it 
 might not he his own turn next to be taken 
 out and hanged, as the chief baker was ; 
 and yet perhaps there might be some ray 
 of hope that he might, like the chief butler, 
 get out and go back to his office. All such 
 hopes, however, soon vanished, for though 
 
48 JOSEPH DELIVERED. 
 
 Pharaoh's birth-day came, "on which he 
 made a feast to all his servants," yet it 
 proved no holiday to Joseph ; and though 
 the chief butler got settled in his chief 
 butlership again, and was giving the cup 
 every day into king Pharaoh's hand, 
 " yet did not the chief butler remember 
 Joseph." 
 
 Two whole years passed without any 
 improvement in this poor prisoner's condi- 
 tion: now, in all this time, it seems very 
 strange that the chief butler should not 
 have contrived to drop a word in his 
 favour; for how wonderfully had Joseph 
 foretold to the chief butler his restoration 
 to office! how affectingly too had he en- 
 treated to be remembered by him when the 
 day of his prosperity should come ! I can- 
 not help here repeating - the parting words 
 
JOSEPH DELIVERED. 49 
 
 of Joseph, for they are very remarkable. 
 " But think of me," said he, " when it shall 
 be well with thee, and show kindness, I 
 pray thee, unto me, and make mention of 
 me to Pharaoh, and bring me out of this 
 house ; for indeed I was stolen away out 
 of the land of the Hebrews, and here also 
 I have done nothing that they should- put 
 me into this dungeon. — Yet did not the 
 chief butler remember Joseph." 
 
 Ah ! how just a picture is this of a great 
 part of mankind ! We are many of us apt, 
 while we are faring well ourselves, to take 
 no thought about those who are poor, and 
 sick, and in prison. It pleases God now 
 and then to let one or other of us rise up 
 in the world ; upon which we go away and 
 forget all our old companions, some of 
 whom, perhaps, most exceedingly need a 
 
50 JOSEPH DELIVERED. 
 
 helping hand from us ; we are grown gay 
 and merry, or busily engaged among our 
 new friends, so that we quite forget our old 
 ones : and then, as to any interest which 
 we have got with the great, we feel so much 
 in awe of those above us, we are so soft, and 
 smooth, and civil, when we are in their 
 presence, and so unwilling to say anything 
 which may possibly give offence, or which 
 may chance to hurt our own interest, that 
 we dare not speak a word in favour even 
 of the most injured character, but we dis- 
 miss him from our thoughts, just as the 
 chief butler dismissed Joreph from his re- 
 membrance. 
 
 " It came to pass, however, at the end of 
 two full years, that king Pharaoh dreamed 
 a dream — and behold there came up out of 
 the river seven well-favoured kine, and fat 
 
JOSEPH DELIVERED. 51 
 
 fleshed, and they fed in a meadow. And 
 behold seven other kine came up after them, 
 ill-favoured and lean fleshed, and did eat 
 up the seven well-favoured and fat kine. 
 And Pharaoh dreamed the second time, 
 and behold seven ears of corn came up 
 upon one stalk strong and good. And 
 seven thin ears sprung up after them. And 
 the seven thin ears devoured the seven 
 strong and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, 
 and behold it was a dream." 
 
 And now what is to be done ? the king 
 himself is troubled with a dream. " And 
 it came to pass," says the Scripture, " that 
 in the morning the king's spirit was trou- 
 bled; and he sent and called for all the 
 magicians in Egypt, and all the wise men 
 thereof, and Pharaoh told them his dreams ; 
 but there was none that could interpret 
 
52 JOSEPH DELIVERED. 
 
 them to Pharaoh." And no wonder, for it 
 was the purpose of God to confound by this 
 dream all the magicians of Egypt, in order 
 that the king might be driven to ask an 
 interpretation of it from Joseph. 
 
 " And then came the chief butler and 
 spake unto Pharaoh, saying, I do remember 
 my faults this day ; for Pharaoh was wroth 
 with his servants, and put me in ward in 
 the captain of the guard's house, both me 
 and the chief baker ; and we dreamed a 
 dream in one night, I and he. And there 
 was there with us a young Hebrew, servant 
 of the captain of the guard, and we told 
 him, and he interpreted to us our dreams. 
 And it came to pass as he interpreted, so it 
 was : me he restored unto mine office, and 
 him he hanged." 
 
 What joyful intelligence was this to 
 
JOSEPH DELIVERED. 53 
 
 Pharaoh ! Methinks I see his countenance 
 brighten up at once upon it. 
 
 " Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, 
 and they brought him hastily out of the 
 dungeon. And he shaved himself and 
 changed his raiment, and came in unto 
 Pharaoh." 
 
 When this great eastern king commands, 
 not a moment is to be lost in obeying him. 
 For two long years had Joseph been made 
 to wait in prison for his deliverance, but 
 Pharaoh would hardly wait two minutes 
 before Joseph, whose appearance had be- 
 come quite forlorn and wretched, must be 
 brought before him shaved and dressed, 
 and fit for the royal presence. 
 
 " And immediately Pharaoh said unto 
 Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there 
 is none that can interpret it, and I have 
 
54 JOSEPH DELIVERED. 
 
 heard say of thee, that thou canst under- 
 stand a dream, to interpret it." 
 
 Pharaoh seems not yet to have under- 
 stood by whose help it was that Joseph was 
 enabled to interpret dreams. Joseph had 
 no more skill in these matters than any 
 other man ; but he was the servant of God, 
 and it pleased God, for his own purposes, 
 to give to Joseph, by miracle, the power 
 of interpreting the dreams of Pharaoh. 
 Accordingly Joseph answers Pharaoh by 
 saying, " It is not in me ; God shall give 
 to Pharaoh an answer of peace." Thus 
 Joseph takes none of the glory to himself, 
 as a proud person would have been glad to 
 do, but he gives it all to God, to whom 
 alone it was due. Pharaoh then, in a 
 Tery exact manner, relates his two dreams 
 to Joseph. 
 
JOSEPH DELIVERED. f 55 
 
 " And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, the 
 dream is one ; " that is to say, the two 
 dreams signify one and the same thing, 
 and " God hath showed Pharaoh, by means 
 of them, what he is about to do. The 
 seven good kine are seven years, and so 
 also the seven good ears of corn are seven 
 years, the dream is one. And the seven 
 thin and ill-favoured kine that came up 
 after them are seven years, and the seven 
 empty ears of corn are also seven years, 
 and these last also signify seven years of 
 famine. This, therefore, is the thing which 
 God is about to do ; behold, there come 
 seven years of great plenty throughout all 
 the land of Egypt, and there shall arise 
 after them seven years of famine. Now, 
 therefore," continued Joseph, " let Pharaoh 
 look out a man discreet and wise, and set 
 
56 JOSEPH DELIVERED. 
 
 him over the land of Egypt, and let him 
 appoint officers, and let them gather to- 
 gether the food of the good years, and lay 
 it up in the cities, and it shall be for store 
 against the seven years of famine, in order 
 that the land may not perish. And the 
 thing which Joseph said seemed good in 
 the eyes of Pharaoh and of his servants ; 
 and Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can 
 we find any one equal to this Joseph, a 
 man in whom the Spirit of God is ? And 
 Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as 
 God hath showed thee all this, thou shalt 
 therefore 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. And Pharaoh took off the ring from 
 his hand, and put it on Joseph's hand, and 
 arrayed him in vestments of fine linen, and 
 
JOSEPH DELIVERED. 57 
 
 put a gold chain about his neck, and made 
 him to ride in the second chariot that he 
 had, and they cried before him, Bow the 
 knee ! and he made him ruler over all the 
 land of Egypt. And Pharaoh said unto 
 Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee 
 shall no man lift up his hand or foot in 
 the land of Egypt." 
 
 How wonderful was this exaltation of 
 Joseph ! He is now greater than ever he 
 was. He had before been the first man in 
 the house of Pharaoh's chief captain, but 
 he is now the first man in the house of 
 Pharaoh himself: he is greater than Poti- 
 phar, his own former master ; he is the 
 first person next to Pharaoh in all the 
 kingdom of Egypt. 
 
 But let me not forget to admire the good 
 providence of God in all this. It was God 
 
58 JOSEPH DELIVERED. 
 
 that raised him from being a slave to be the 
 chief servant of Potiphar, and it was God 
 that lifted him up from being a prisoner, to 
 be ruler of all Egypt. " For it is the Lord, 
 (as the Psalmist says,) that maketh rich, 
 and maketh poor, that lifteth up and cast- 
 eth down. He taketh the simple out of the 
 dust, and lifteth the poor out of the mire, 
 that he may set him with the princes, even 
 with the princes of the people." It is true 
 he sometimes afflicts even his most favour- 
 ed people : " he brings down," as it is said, 
 " their heart through heaviness, they fall 
 down, and there is none to help them :" he 
 also " suffers them to be evil entreated 
 through tyrants." But at length " he 
 brings them out of darkness, and out of the 
 shadow of death, and breaks their bonds in 
 sunder." " He leads them by a way which 
 
JOSEPH DELIVERED. 59 
 
 they know not, he makes darkness light 
 before them, and crooked things straight ; " 
 and thus, " though heaviness may endure 
 for a night, yet joy cometh in the morning." 
 " O praise the Lord, then, ye servants 
 of his ! O praise the name of the Lord ! 
 Blessed be the name of the Lord, from this 
 time forth for evermore : for he preserveth 
 the way of his saints, and hath been ever 
 mindful of his covenant." He saved Noah 
 from the waters of the flood, he brought 
 forth righteous Lot out of Sodom, he pre- 
 served Shadrach and his companions in the 
 fiery furnace, and Daniel in the lion's den. 
 He " delivered David his servant from the 
 peril of the sword." " He showed also his 
 ways unto Moses, and his works unto the 
 children of Israel." It was " He also that 
 caused a dearth in the land of Egypt, and 
 
60 JOSEPH DELIVERED. 
 
 destroyed the provision of bread. But he 
 sent a man before, even Joseph, who was 
 sold for a servant, whose feet they hurt in 
 the stocks ; the iron entered into his soul — 
 until the time came that his cause was 
 heard. Then the king sent and delivered 
 him; the prince of the people let him go 
 free ; he made him lord also of his house, 
 and ruler of all his substance." 
 
 But let not any of my readers suppose, 
 that Joseph is now to be admired merely 
 for his greatness, and that the ring on his 
 finger, and the fine vestment on his back, 
 and the grand chariot in which he rode, 
 were the chief things he was pleased with. 
 Joseph was a great man undoubtedly, but 
 he was as good as he was great ; and, in- 
 deed, what is all earthly greatness unless 
 goodness is joined with it? It is a great 
 
JOSEPH DELIVERED. 61 
 
 sin, in my opinion, to wish to be a prime 
 minister or a king, for the mere honour of 
 it, and I would rather be a poor labourer, 
 that is of some use in the world, than be 
 the greatest monarch in Europe, unless I 
 could do some special service by my great- 
 ness. Joseph proceeds directly to make 
 himself very useful in his new station : 
 " for he immediately went out from the 
 presence of Pharaoh, and travelled through- 
 out the land ; and in the seven plenteous 
 years the earth brought forth by handfuls, 
 and he gathered up all the food of the 
 seven years, and the food of the field which 
 was round about every city laid he up in 
 the same ; and he gathered corn as the 
 sand of the sea very much, until he left 
 numbering. And after the seven years of 
 plenteousness were ended, then the seven 
 
62 JOSEPH DELIVERED. 
 
 years of dearth began to come, according 
 as Joseph said. And the people of Egypt 
 cried unto Pharaoh for bread ; and Pharaoh 
 said unto them, Go unto Joseph ; and 
 Joseph opened the store-houses, and sold 
 unto the Egyptians." 
 
 I am afraid that my readers have by this 
 time almost forgotten Jacob, the father of 
 Joseph, and his eleven sons who were living 
 with him in the land of Canaan, at some 
 distance from Egypt. The famine of the 
 last seven years was such as to be severely 
 felt even in their country. " Then Jacob 
 said unto his sons, whose countenances 
 were all cast down on the occasion, Why 
 do ye look one upon another? behold I 
 have heard that there is corn in Egypt. 
 Get you down thither, and buy for us from 
 thence, that we may live and not die. 
 
JOSEPH DELIVERED. 63 
 
 And Joseph's ten brethren went down ac- 
 cordingly to Egypt." But Benjamin, being 
 now the father's favourite, was not suffered 
 to go with them, for Jacob said, " Perad- 
 venture some mischief will befal him." 
 
 " And when the sons of Jacob arrived, 
 Joseph was the governor of the land, and 
 he it was that sold to all the people. And 
 Joseph's brethren came and bowed them- 
 selves down before him, with their faces 
 towards the earth." 
 
 Oh ! what a change of scene ! These 
 are the men who, the last time they saw 
 Joseph, had said of him, " Behold this 
 dreamer cometh." They had then put him 
 into the pit, and had sold him for a slave, 
 because he had foretold that these his 
 brethren, and his parents (who were sig- 
 nified by the sun, moon, and stars,) should 
 
64 JOSEPH DELIVERED. 
 
 one day bow down before him. How won- 
 derfully does God accomplish his own pur- 
 poses ! The very means which we take to 
 defeat them are sometimes made use of by 
 God, in order to bring them about. Joseph's 
 brethren thought that by selling him for a 
 slave, they should prevent their ever hav- 
 ing to bow down before him ; and yet by 
 this act of theirs that very prophecy was 
 brought to pass. 
 
 Let no one then presume to think that 
 he can direct events in his own way ; or, 
 that he can, either by art or power, prevail 
 against God ; for "the counsel of the Lord, 
 it shall stand, and he will bring it to pass/' 
 
 " The Lord taketh the wise in his own 
 craftiness ; " "he ordereth all things in 
 heaven above, and in the earth beneath." 
 " Go to now, ye that say, To-day or to- 
 
JOSEPH DELIVERED. 65 
 
 morrow we will go into such a city, and 
 continue there a year, and buy and sell, 
 and get gain : wnereas ye know not what 
 shall be on the morrow ; for that ye ought 
 to say, If the Lord will, we shall live and 
 do this or that." 
 
 Joseph's brethren, while they were bow- 
 ing down, did not know Joseph, for he 
 made himself strange unto them, and spake 
 roughly, saying, — " Ye are spies ! to see 
 the nakedness of the land you are come." 
 And they said, " Nay, my Lord, but to 
 buy food are we come. We are twelve 
 brethren from the land of Canaan, and 
 behold the youngest is this day with our 
 father, and one is not." And Joseph said 
 again, " Ye are spies ! " and then added he, 
 " but hereby shall ye be proved, whether 
 there be truth in you. One of you shall 
 
66 JOSEPH DELIVERED. 
 
 go and fetch his brother, while the rest 
 shall be kept in prison. And he kept them 
 all in ward three days." Joseph, however, 
 after this, lets them all depart, one only 
 excepted : and he gives them corn in their 
 bags to carry home, bidding them all to 
 come again, and redeem the brother they 
 had left behind, by bringing the next time 
 their youngest brother Benjamin. Now all 
 this seems to have been done by Joseph, 
 for the purpose of collecting every one of 
 his brethren round him before he would 
 discover himself to them ; and perhaps he 
 was led to practise rather too much art, by 
 his anxiety to see them gathered together. 
 
 Then said Joseph's brethren one to an- 
 other, "We are verily guilty concerning 
 our brother, in that we saw the anguish of 
 his soul, when he besought us, and we 
 
JOSEPH DELIVERED. 67 
 
 would not hear ; therefore, behold, also his 
 blooa is required of us." 
 
 Oh ! how dreadful is a guilty conscience ! 
 It will cause our sins to haunt us years 
 after they have been committed. Now, 
 have none of my readers ever felt the like 
 kind of terror in consequence of their hav- 
 ing done something amiss ? After the com- 
 mission of a crime, did you never fancy, 
 that every one you met observed you ; and 
 that every common accident was a judg- 
 ment of God upon you ? and if any trou- 
 ble happened to befal you a long time after- 
 wards, have you not been apt immediately 
 to imagine, that it had some connection 
 with your former guilt? Sin does not 
 always leave this sting behind it, for some 
 people are quite hardened by their crimes ; 
 nevertheless it often does. If the sin be 
 
68 JOSEPH DELIVERED. 
 
 great and dreadful, if it be something par- 
 ticular and extraordinary, like the selling 
 of a brother, or the thought of putting him 
 to death> then, though years should pass 
 away quietly, yet it is probable that con- 
 science will awake, and cry out against us 
 at last. In the present case, it appears to 
 me, that Joseph's brethren had no clear 
 ground to suppose that the trouble they 
 dreaded was caused by their having for- 
 merly sold their brother Joseph. It was 
 not clear that any trouble whatever was 
 about to happen to them ; and even if 
 some trouble should happen to them, their 
 having once sold their brother might not be 
 the cause ; but guilt is fearful. A man that 
 has some undiscovered crime within him, 
 is apt to feel unreasonable frights and fears ; 
 his imagination becomes disturbed ; he 
 
JOSEPH DELIVERED. 69 
 
 grows suspicious beyond all reason ; he 
 sees an enemy perhaps, as Joseph's breth- 
 ren did, in his best friend ; and the very 
 things that are for him, if they happen to 
 go awkwardly for a day or two, are thought 
 to be most dreadfully against him. In short, 
 a person whose conscience has become har- 
 dended with some great sin, has often no 
 comfort in his life, until he has fairly con- 
 fessed it, and repented of it. 
 
 No sooner had Joseph's brethren express- 
 ed their fright, than Reuben lifts up his 
 voice, and observes to them, how " he had 
 entreated them not to hurt their brother, 
 and they would not hear. Therefore, also," 
 says he, " is his blood required of us." 
 Here again we may discern a picture of 
 what often happens among those who have 
 been partners in iniquity. When the time 
 
70 JOSEPH DELIVERED. 
 
 of trouble comes, then those who have had 
 less hand in the guilt, begin to reproach 
 the others for having been principals in 
 the business. Like Reuben, they begin to 
 justify themselves, and say : " Did not I 
 tell you at the time to take care what you 
 did? but you would not mind me, and 
 therefore now you have brought down all 
 this trouble on yourselves and not on your- 
 selves only, but on me also." Nothing 
 is more common than for those who are 
 all, more or less, joined in the same crime, 
 to fall out and reproach one another for 
 it afterwards. 
 
 Joseph overheard all this conversation 
 among his brethren, and he turned himself 
 about from them, and wept, and turned to 
 them again, and communed (or had con- 
 versation by means of an interpreter) with 
 
JOSEPH DELIVERED. 71 
 
 them, and took from them Simeon, and 
 bound him before their eyes. Joseph then 
 commanded that their sacks should be laden 
 with corn, and that every man's money 
 should be restored into his sack, which 
 being done, they departed ; and as one of 
 them opened his sack to give his ass food 
 at the inn, he espied his money ; for, behold, 
 it was in the sack's mouth. And when he 
 told it his brethren, all their hearts failed 
 them ; and they said one to another, " What 
 is this that God hath done unto us ! " Here 
 again their disposition to take fright seems 
 to have shown itself. I suppose they now 
 thought that some judgment of God would 
 fall upon them in their way home, on ac- 
 count of the same sin of selling Joseph. 
 
 And they came unto Jacob their father, 
 and told them all that had befallen them, 
 
72 JOSEPH DELIVERED. 
 
 saying : " The man who is lord of the land 
 spake roughly to us, and took us for spies : 
 and we said unto him, We are true men ; 
 we are no spies ; we be twelve brethren." 
 Methinks it would be some relief to Joseph's 
 brethren to tell their father how harshly 
 they had been spoken to, and how unjustly 
 they had been suspected when they were in 
 Egypt ; for whenever a man has some great 
 and real sin on his mind, he is glad to turn 
 to any thing right or innocent in his con- 
 duct, in which, nevertheless, he has been 
 accused of sinning. Jacob's sons had used 
 their father ill in selling Joseph, but they 
 themselves might say they had been used 
 ill on the old man's account, when they 
 went to buy corn for him in Egypt. It 
 would be a comfort, therefore, to talk to 
 him of what they had suffered for his sake^ 
 
JOSEPH DELIVERED. 73 
 
 since it would seem to make amends in 
 some measure for the ill which they were 
 conscious of having done him. 
 
 Let us beware, however, of disguising 
 our guilt, by dwelling on some smaller 
 point, in which it may be true that we are 
 innocent. To do so is one of the common 
 shifts of wicked men ; and there are none 
 so wicked, as not to have some part of their 
 conduct on which they can dwell with 
 pleasure and self-complacency. 
 
 But when Joseph's brethren proceeded to 
 explain to their father, how the lord of the 
 country had commanded them to bring to 
 him their brother Benjamin, and how he 
 had detained Simeon as a pledge or hostage 
 on his account ; then Jacob, in the bitter- 
 ness of his heart, exclaimed, " Me have ye 
 bereaved of my children ; Joseph is not. 
 
74 JOSEPH DELIVERED. 
 
 and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benja- 
 min away; all these things are against 
 me." But Reuben now came up, and de- 
 clared, that if Benjamin might but go with 
 them, he would pledge the lives of his own 
 two infant children that Benjamin should 
 be brought back in safety. "And Jacob 
 said, My son shall not go down with you, 
 for his brother Joseph is already dead ; and 
 if mischief befal Benjamin also by the way, 
 then shall ye bring my grey hairs with 
 sorrow to the grave.' 7 
 
 Ah ! how little did Jacob know of the 
 real nature of those events which were 
 befalling him ! The very things which he 
 said were against him, in fact, were making 
 for him, for they led the way to the re- 
 covery of his son Joseph, who had been 
 lost, and also to Jacob's removal, with all 
 
JOSEPH DELIVERED. 75 
 
 his family, into the plentiful land of Egypt. 
 I do not wonder, indeed, that this poor old 
 man, bowed down as he was now with age 
 and infirmity, and deprived, as he had been, 
 first of one dear son, and then of another, 
 should be unwilling to let his present fa- 
 vourite Benjamin be carried off into Egypt* 
 And yet what could he do ? The famine 
 now again grew very sore in the land, and 
 at last when all the corn from Egypt was 
 eaten up, even Jacob himself is represented 
 as asking his sons to go again and buy a 
 little food. 
 
 " Then Judah spake unto him, saying, 
 The man did solemnly protest unto us, Ye 
 shall not see my face except your brother 
 Benjamin be with you. — Unless, therefore, 
 thou send him, we will not go down to 
 Egypt." Then Jacob said unto his sons, 
 
76 JOSEPH DELIVERED. 
 
 " Why did ye tell the man that you had a 
 brother ? " And they answered, " The man 
 did examine us closely about our kindred, 
 and therefore we told him ; for how should 
 we know that he would bid us fetch our 
 brother to him ? " Then Judah said very 
 earnestly, " I pray you send the lad, that 
 we may not all die, we and our little ones, 
 and I will be surety for him." And Jacob 
 said, " If it must be so, do then as you 
 desire. But take ye the best fruits in the 
 land, balm, and honey, and spices, and 
 myrrh, and nuts, and almonds : and take 
 double money in your hands, and the money 
 that you brought back in your sacks' mouths 
 carry again ; peradventure it was an over- 
 sight. Take also your brother with you, 
 and God Almighty give you mercy before 
 the man, that he may send away your 
 
JOSEPH DELIVERED. 77 
 
 other brother, and let Benjamin return also. 
 If I must be bereaved of my children, there 
 is no help for it, I must be bereaved." 
 
 Thus did the sons of Jacob depart, all of 
 them trembling with anxiety and fear, and 
 using many precautions to avoid giving 
 offence to the great person to whom they 
 were going. 
 
 Now this, I may observe, is a picture of 
 what sometimes happens to us. God is 
 perhaps preparing to favour us with some 
 great blessing, just as he was now about to 
 favour the family of Jacob ; but before he 
 gives us possession of the blessing, he leads 
 us through some dark and dreary path, and 
 we fancy a great evil is coming upon us. 
 When, therefore, God is opening the way 
 to these new mercies, we hang baek, and 
 say with good old Jacob, " All these things 
 
78 JOSEPH DELIVERED. 
 
 are against me." But, though loth to move 
 forward, yet what can we do ? Some peril 
 greater than that we had been dreading 
 awaits us, if we make more delay. With 
 a heavy heart, with a complaining tongue, 
 and with weeping eyes, we set forward in 
 this path, which is, in fact, nevertheless, the 
 path to our chief happiness. Thus do we 
 often quarrel with our blessings. And this, 
 I take it, is a common case ; for what are 
 all our complaints, but complaints against 
 Providence ; and do we not often murmur, 
 even at those very dealings of Providence 
 which afterwards prove the most remark- 
 able for our good? 
 
 Reader, look back to your past life ; con- 
 sider those seasons in it, when you have 
 been forced, by necessity, on some unplea- 
 sant business, or when you have been hin- 
 
JOSEPH DELIVERED. 79 
 
 dered in your pursuit of some favourite 
 plan, or contradicted in your opinions or 
 your wishes. Now and then, perhaps, your 
 situation in life has seemed quite melan- 
 choly and desperate ; misery has appeared 
 to threaten you on every side, and you 
 have had only a sad choice of evils, just 
 like these sons of Jacob, who thought they 
 had only to choose between a famine at 
 home, and ill usage in Egypt. And yet, 
 has it not afterwards proved, that God 
 was blessing you by means of those very 
 things, which were thought at the time so . 
 terrible ? 
 
 There are many persons, I am per- 
 suaded, who have even had their souls 
 saved much in the same way in which the 
 family of Jacob had their lives preserved. 
 They have hung back and struggled hard 
 
80 JOSEPH DELIVERED. 
 
 for a while against those very things which 
 have opened the way to their eternal sal- 
 vation ; they have been brought from a 
 life of sin and misery unwillingly, as 
 Jacob's sons were forced to leave Canaan, 
 and sent into the fruitful land of Egypt. 
 For strange as it may sound, how unwill- 
 ing are men to have their souls saved ! 
 how unwilling, at least, to take those 
 means which are absolutely necessary for 
 it ! How many servants, as well as ap- 
 prentices and others, are there, who can 
 hardly be persuaded to attend at public 
 worship, or at least, to give their mind to 
 it when they are there ; and yet, is not 
 this one of the means of salvation ? They 
 must be forced to church by the authority 
 of their masters, or by some necessity, 
 almost as urgent as that which drove the 
 
JOSEPH DELIVERED. 81 
 
 sons of Jacob from Canaan into Egypt ! 
 Again, how many children are there, who, 
 though invited freely to a Sunday School, 
 nevertheless hang back from going thither, 
 as much as ever the sons of Jacob hung 
 back from going into Egypt. Perhaps, 
 too, their parents have at the same time 
 been as unwilling to part with them, 
 through some false fondness or other, as 
 ever Jacob was to part with his son Ben- 
 jamin, though it proved afterwards to be 
 the making of that whole family. 
 
 But let us return to the story. Joseph's 
 brethren set off from Canaan under a great 
 fright, as I have already told you, and 
 they took double money in their hand, and 
 they carried Benjamin with them, and 
 having come down to Egypt, they stood 
 before Joseph. Now when Joseph saw 
 
82 JOSEPH DELIVERED. 
 
 them, and observed that Benjamin also 
 was with them, he ordered a great dinner 
 to be made ready, and he asked them to 
 come to it. And Joseph's brethren were 
 afraid, on account of the money which 
 they had carried off in their sacks, and 
 they got near to Joseph's steward, and 
 said unto him, " O Sir, we came down 
 hither before to buy food, and it came to 
 pass that when we got to the inn in our 
 way home, we found every man's money 
 in his sack's mouth, and therefore we have 
 brought it back to you. We cannot tell 
 who put it there, and we have now brought 
 other money also, in order to buy food. — 
 And the steward said, Peace be to you, I 
 had your money ; and he brought Simeon 
 out to them." 
 
 " And when Joseph came home, they 
 
JOSEPH DELIVERED. 83 
 
 drew near, and offered him the present 
 which they had brought, and bowed them- 
 selves to the earth before him. And Joseph 
 asked them of their welfare, and said, Is 
 your father well, the old man of whom 
 you spake ; is he yet alive ? And they 
 answered, Thy servant our father is in 
 good health, he is yet alive ; and they 
 bowed down their heads again to the 
 ground. And Joseph lifted up his eyes 
 and saw his brother Benjamin, and said, 
 Is this your younger brother, of whom you , 
 spake to me ? and then turning to the lad, 
 
 God (said he) be gracious unto thee. 
 
 Joseph now was much moved, for his 
 bowels did yearn over his brother, and he 
 sought where to weep, and he entered into 
 his chamber and wept there." 
 
 Religion does not deprive men (as some 
 
84 JOSEPH DELIVERED. 
 
 have imagined) of their natural affections 
 and feelings, for Joseph was a religious 
 man, and yet how did he overflow with 
 kindness towards his brethren ! It is also 
 remarked in the New Testament, of one 
 greater than Joseph, I mean of our Saviour 
 on the occasion of the death of Lazarus, 
 that " Jesus wept." Religion regulates, no 
 doubt, all the natural feelings of men; 
 but it does not destroy them. 
 
 Presently afterwards, the meat was set 
 ,on table, and Benjamin 5 s mess was five 
 times as great as any other, and they ate 
 and drank together, and were cheerful. 
 
 " Now when the dinner was over, Joseph, 
 who was still unknown to his brethren, 
 commanded that all their sacks should be 
 filled with corn, and that every one's money 
 should again be put into his sack, and 
 
JOSEPH DELIVERED. 85 
 
 moreover, that a silver cup, being Joseph's 
 own cup, should, together with the money, 
 be put into the sack of Benjamin ; and 
 when the morning was come they all went 
 away. And before they were got far from 
 the city, Joseph sent his steward after 
 them, who charged them with having sto- 
 len Joseph's cup out of the house. And 
 they immediately denied the charge, and 
 said vehemently, With whomsoever of us 
 it is found, we will agree that he shall die, 
 and that we will all of us be your slaves 
 (or bondmen): and a search being made, 
 behold the cup was found in Benjamin's 
 sack. — Then they rent their clothes for 
 grief, and laded every man his ass, and 
 returned to the city. And Joseph said 
 unto them, What deed is this that ye have 
 done? And Judah (the same who had 
 
86 JOSEPH DELIVERED. 
 
 promised Jacob that he would be surety 
 for Benjamin) replied, What shall we say 
 unto my lord? God hath found out the 
 iniquity of thy servants : behold, we will 
 now be bondmen to my lord. And Joseph 
 said, Not so : but he in whose hand the 
 cup is found, (namely Benjamin,) he shall 
 be my slave or servant. But as for you, 
 get you all away to your father in peace." 
 What a situation had these sons of Jacob 
 got into now ! Could any thing be more 
 melancholy and distressful? " O Jacob, 
 Jacob," they would say, " how shall we 
 ever see thy face in peace, if we bring not 
 back Benjamin with us ? Well do we re- 
 member the words which did break forth 
 from thee at parting with us: Joseph is 
 not, and Simeon is not, and now ye will 
 take Benjamin from me." 
 
JOSEPH DELIVERED. 87 
 
 There is one reflection to which I beg 
 to call the minds of my readers in this 
 place. Jacob's sons are now accused un- 
 justly ; they are brought into trouble through 
 no fault of theirs : whereas formerly, they 
 had committed a great sin ; I mean that 
 of selling their brother Joseph ; and had 
 suffered no particular inconveniences from 
 it. — They had not suffered when they did 
 wrong, and yet now they suffer for doing 
 right : for they certainly, as I should think, 
 did right in going down to buy corn for 
 themselves and their aged father, and even 
 in bringing Benjamin with them, under all 
 the circumstances of the case. Let us for 
 a moment stop here, and put ourselves in 
 the place of these sons of Jacob. They 
 might now, methinks, be tempted to say, 
 " Surely there is no righteous Governor 
 
88 JOSEPH DELIVERED. 
 
 of the world ; for when we do right, we 
 only suffer for it : and when we did wrong, 
 we all escape unpunished. We will not 
 believe therefore in a Providence : all things 
 happen alike to all ; this world is governed 
 by chance : nay, and the chance is often 
 in favor even of the wicked." To all such 
 profane reasoning, if I had seen Joseph's 
 brethren at this moment of time, I would 
 have answered, " Stop a little I beseech 
 you ; do not decide so hastily, for, remem- 
 ber, your story is but half over. By-and- 
 by, perhaps, your innocence in the present 
 matter will be cleared up, and, for aught 
 you know, your former sin, though long 
 since committed, may come to be found 
 out." 
 
 Let us apply this remark to ourselves. 
 We often seem to profit for a while by some 
 
JOSEPH DELIVERED. 89 
 
 bad thing that we have done, or at least 
 we suffer no present punishment. Our 
 fraud, our lying, or our act of violence, 
 succeeds for a certain time ; and perhaps, 
 presently afterwards, we chance to get 
 into trouble by doing something, which, on 
 the whole, really seems to have been our 
 duty. Do you never feel tempted to dis- 
 believe in Providence on such an occa- 
 sion 1 If you are, I would say to you, as 
 I just now observed that I would have 
 said to Joseph's brethren, " Wait a while, 
 I beseech you. Remember, your story is 
 but half over; do not decide till you ob- 
 serve the issue. See whether in the end 
 you will not be sorry for every bad thing 
 you have ever done, and glad of every 
 thing which, through God's grace, you 
 have been enabled to do aright ; and even 
 
90 JOSEPH DELIVERED. 
 
 though this should not he the case now, it 
 certainly will on the day of judgment." 
 
 JOSEPH DISCOVERS HIMSELF TO HIS 
 BRETHREN. 
 
 When Joseph had made this proposal 
 of keeping Benjamin as his slave or ser- 
 vant, and of sending the other sons of 
 Jacob home in peace to their father, Judah 
 came forward, and related all that had 
 passed in the old man's house when they 
 were bringing Benjamin away. " My 
 father said to us," observed Judah, " Be- 
 hold I have had two sons, and the one 
 went from me," meaning Joseph, " who is 
 torn in pieces: and if ye take this also 
 away, and mischief befal him, ye shall 
 bring down my grey hairs with sorrow 
 
JOSEPH DELIVERED. 91 
 
 to the grave. Now, therefore," says Judah, 
 " let me abide instead of the lad, as a bond- 
 man to my lord, and let the lad go up with 
 his brethren. For how shall I go up to 
 my father, seeing that his life is bound up 
 in the lad's life? and it shall come to pass, 
 when he seeth that the lad is not with us, 
 that he will die." 
 
 " Then Joseph could not refrain him- 
 self before all them that stood by him, 
 and he bade every stranger to go out. 
 Then Joseph made himself known to his 
 brethren : and Joseph wept aloud, so that 
 the Egyptians in the house overheard him. 
 And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am 
 Joseph. Doth my father yet live? and 
 his brethren could not answer him, for 
 they were troubled at his presence." 
 
 No wonder that Joseph's brethren were 
 
92 JOSEPH DELIVERED. 
 
 troubled at this speech. O ! how bitter a 
 thing is sin. It causes trouble at those 
 moments which ought to be given up to 
 joy. It spreads a gloom over our happiest 
 hours ; and while those who are not loaded 
 with the same guilt are giving way to the 
 most delightful feelings, dt makes the man 
 who is burdened in his conscience to feel 
 a double pang ; to feel a pang, I mean, 
 both on account of the sin itself, and also 
 on account of his regret at being unable 
 to join in the general joy that is going 
 forward. 
 
 Joseph, nevertheless, comforts his breth- 
 ren. 
 
 " Now therefore," says he, " be not 
 grieved nor angry with yourselves, for God 
 did send me before you to preserve all our 
 lives ; so now it was not you that sent me 
 
JOSEPH DELIVERED. 
 
 93 
 
 hither, but God." How freely does Joseph 
 appear, by this speech, to forgive his breth- 
 ren ! Here is no malice, no hatred, no 
 spirit of revenge, no word even of reproof 
 for all the evil they had endeavoured to do 
 him ; but the injured person is himself the 
 comforter of those who had tried to injure 
 him. Here, perhaps, some one may be 
 ready to say, " True, Joseph did right to 
 forgive his brethren, for we are all bound 
 to forgive them that trespass against us ; 
 methinks, however, he might as well have 
 said something to them of their sin, for the 
 sake of their own good." I answer, that 
 there is a time for all things, and that this 
 was not the time for Joseph to administer 
 reproof. His brethren were likely, just 
 now, to be cast down through overmuch 
 sorrow, and the thing they needed, at this 
 
94 JOSEPH DELIVERED. 
 
 moment, was therefore comfort rather than 
 reproof. People who take all occasions to 
 reprove, without regard to time, or place, or 
 circumstances, though they may say they 
 mean only to do good by it, are apt to be 
 harsh people. They are only indulging 
 their own spirit; and though they may 
 persuade themselves that they are of a 
 forgiving temper at bottom, in fact are not 
 so much so as they think. 
 
 But I would observe, further, that this 
 extreme kindness of Joseph would, in my 
 opinion, tend to affect the hearts of his 
 brethren more than the severest reproof. 
 " What (they would now say to them- 
 selves), have we sold for a slave a brother 
 so kind, so generous, so excellent as this ? 
 How little did we know of him when we 
 took upon us to sell him? How rashly 
 
JOSEPH DELIVERED. 95 
 
 did we judge concerning his true charac- 
 ter, and concerning his intention in those 
 words which gave us so much offence ! 
 He was a better man than we, though we 
 all talked so much against him, and even 
 thought him hardly fit to live." I would 
 here beg all my readers to take care how 
 they speak evil of persons without due 
 knowledge of their character. Especially 
 I would advise you to beware of judging 
 any one on account of his having said or 
 done something which happens to wound 
 your own pride, or to give pain merely to 
 yourself. He may be a good man on the 
 whole, even though he should have erred 
 in this particular : and you may err more 
 by the revenge you take for what he has 
 said that is offensive to you, than he has 
 done by saying it. Take heed, then, lest 
 
96 JOSEPH DELIVERED. 
 
 some day or other should come when the 
 very person whom you are set against 
 shall have his character cleared before all 
 the world, in spite of every thing you have 
 said against him. Take heed, lest you 
 should be proved to have been the greater 
 sinner of the two on that day when you 
 shall each of you appear before God, and 
 all his holy angels. O that we could all 
 learn something of this kind, and affec- 
 tionate, and forbearing temper of Joseph! 
 He was as remarkable for it as he was for 
 conquering those secret temptations with 
 which he had formerly been assailed. 
 
 Joseph having discovered himself to his 
 brethren, is now impatient that they should 
 go to his father : — " Haste ye," says he, 
 " and go up to my father, and say unto 
 him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath 
 
JOSEPH DELIVERED. 97 
 
 made me lord of all Egypt. Come down, 
 tarry not, and thou shalt dwell in the land 
 of Goshen ; and thou shalt be near unto 
 me, thou and thy children, and thy chil- 
 dren's children, and thy flocks, and thy 
 herds, and all that thou hast, and there 
 will I nourish thee, for there are yet five 
 years of famine to come. And Joseph fell 
 on his brother Benjamin's neck and wept ; 
 and Benjamin wept on his neck. More- 
 over, he kissed all his brethren, and wept 
 upon them, and after that his brethren 
 talked with him. And the fame thereof 
 was heard in Pharaoh's house ; and it 
 pleased Pharaoh and his servants. And 
 Pharaoh said, Bring your father and your 
 household : take waggons out of the land 
 of Egypt for your little ones, and for your 
 wives, and bring your father, and come. 
 
98 JOSEPH DELIVERED. 
 
 And they did so. And Joseph gave to 
 each of them changes of raiment ; and he 
 sent to his father ten asses laden with the 
 good things of Egypt, and ten more asses 
 laden with corn and bread and meat, for 
 his father by the way." 
 
 Accordingly Jacob having been invited 
 by his sons, and having also been encour- 
 aged by God in a dream, arrived in Egypt ; 
 and all the souls that went with him, be- 
 sides his sons' wives, were sixty and six. 
 
 " And Joseph made ready his chariot, 
 and went to meet his father, and fell on 
 his neck, and wept a long time. And 
 Jacob said, Now let me die, since I have 
 seen thy face, that thou art yet alive. 
 And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, 
 and set him before Pharaoh. And Pha- 
 raoh said unto Jacob, How old art thou? 
 
JOSEPH DELIVERED. 99 
 
 and Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days 
 of the years of my pilgrimage are an hun- 
 dred and thirty years ; few and evil have 
 the days of the years of my life been. And 
 Jacob blessed Pharaoh. And Jacob lived 
 in the land of Egypt seventeen years, and 
 he died." 
 
 " Now when Joseph's brethren saw that 
 their father was dead, they said, Joseph 
 will peradventure hate us, and will requite 
 us for all the evil that we did unto him. 
 And they sent a message to Joseph, say- 
 ing, that their father, before he died, com- 
 manded them to request of Joseph, that he 
 would forgive their trespasses against him. 
 And Joseph wept to think that they should 
 speak thus unto him. And Joseph said, 
 Fear not. As for you, indeed, ye thought 
 evil against me: but God meant it for 
 
100 JOSEPH DELIVERED. 
 
 good. New, therefore, I will nourish you 
 and your little ones. And he comforted 
 them, and spake kindly unto them. And 
 Joseph lived an hundred and ten years. 
 And he said to his brethren, God will 
 surely visit you, and bring you out of this 
 land into the land which he promised to 
 Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. And 
 Joseph died." 
 
 Thus ends the history of Joseph. I have 
 already observed, that one of the chief 
 things to be learned from it is, the doc- 
 trine of a particular providence. " It was 
 not you (as Joseph said very justly to his 
 brethren) that sent me into Egypt ; but it 
 was God ; " that is, it was not you only. 
 Men, indeed, were the instruments, and 
 men are accountable to God for every part 
 of their own conduct, just as much as if 
 
JOSEPH DELIVERED. 101 
 
 there was no providence in the case. Still, 
 however, though man may act as he 
 pleases, yet God overrules all things, so 
 as to bring about his own purposes. God, 
 in this instance, had a plan in view. He 
 had made a promise to Abraham, the 
 grandfather of Jacob, who was the father 
 of Isaac, that from him the Saviour 
 should come, for that " in his seed all 
 the families of the earth should be bless- 
 ed." In fulfilment of this promise, Isaac 
 and Jacob were born. I should here re- 
 mark by the way, that to Jacob the name 
 of Israel was given; so that when the 
 Scriptures speak of the Israelites, it is the 
 same thing as if they said the children of 
 Jacob. Of these there were twelve tribes, 
 every one of the sons of Israel becoming 
 the father of a whole tribe. These Israel- 
 
102 JOSEPH DELIVERED. 
 
 ites, after a time, were brought out from 
 Egypt, having been very ill treated there 
 by king Pharaoh, and they became a great 
 and famous people ; for God wrought many 
 miracles in the midst of them, and gave 
 them the law of the Ten Commandments, 
 and set up his worship among them, and 
 separated them from the rest of the world, 
 which continued in ignorance of God and 
 of the Scriptures. It was from these Israel- 
 ites (or Jews, as they were afterwards call- 
 ed) that the promised Saviour came. And, 
 blessed be God, this Saviour is not the 
 Saviour of the Jews only, but he is now 
 preached to us, " upon whom the ends of 
 the world are come." How important then 
 is the story of Joseph in this view ! it was 
 a necessary link in the great chain of pro- 
 vidence, and this chain reaches from the 
 
JOSEPH DELIVERED. 103 
 
 beginning of the world even to the end 
 of it. Nor is it with the life of Joseph 
 only, that the providence of God concerns 
 itself. Your life and mine, and all the 
 various events of it, great and small, from 
 our birth unto our dying hour, are equally 
 under the Divine direction. The same 
 God who sent the Ishmaelites to the pit's 
 mouth, when Joseph was so near being 
 left to perish there, the same God who 
 gave Joseph favour in the sight of Poti- 
 phar, his master, and who afterwards de- 
 livered him out of prison, and made him 
 ruler over all Egypt, appoints also to us 
 the bounds of our habitation, and orders 
 our whole lot in life. If, then, like Joseph, 
 we are serving God, let us not fear to trust 
 him ; and though we should fall occasion- 
 ally into straits, as Joseph did, yet let us 
 
104 JOSEPH DELIVERED. 
 
 hope, when the end of our days shall 
 come, and when the whole of our story- 
 shall be told, that we shall be able to trace 
 the Lord's goodness and mercy even in 
 the most afflictive circumstances of our 
 lives, as we have now been doing in the 
 case of Joseph. 
 
 Nor let us wonder at the vast confusion 
 and disorder which we sometimes see in 
 the world in general. Let not our faith 
 fail us, if now and then the wicked should 
 seem every where to prosper, and the 
 whole company of the righteous should 
 come under adversity. The history of 
 Joseph shows, that it is the plan of Pro- 
 vidence sometimes to withdraw, in appear- 
 ance, his protection and favour from his 
 own servants, and to put off, to a future 
 season, the evil day which is coming upon 
 
JOSEPH DELIVERED. 105 
 
 sinners. Soon, however the time will come, 
 when all that has been crooked shall be 
 made straight, and all that has been dark 
 in providence shall be cleared up. 
 
 The story of Joseph, as we also observed, 
 is but a small part of Scripture ; it fills but 
 a few pages of that large and comprehen- 
 sive volume, being connected, however, 
 with events which go before, and with 
 those which follow after; and just so, 
 methinks, the history of this whole globe 
 of ours is but like a single leaf in a great 
 volume, and jt cannot be fully understood 
 until the dealings of God with all his vari- 
 ous creatures shall be made known, until 
 the whole book of his providence shall be 
 opened, and until all those events, both 
 past and future, with which God's gov- 
 ernment of this world may be connected, 
 
106 JOSEPH DELIVERED. 
 
 shall be fully revealed. Let us wait, there- 
 fore, in the exercise of faith and hope, re- 
 membering, as the Apostle says, that while 
 we are below, " We know but in part ; 
 but when that which is perfect is come, 
 then that which is in part shall be done 
 away. — For now we see through a glass 
 darkly; but then face to face. Now we 
 know in part, but then shall we know, 
 even as also we are known." 
 
*