one whit less a Hebrew than he was. A free man still; with his eyes lifted above the king. With heathen temples and priests all around him; in a land full of mummies. and magicians and sacred animals, Joseph ignored them all.

God hath showed Pharaoh.-GEN. xli. 25.

The thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.-GEN. xli, 32.

-The quiet assurance of faith was imposing to these drifting heathen minds.

Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?-GEN. xli. 38.

-And forthwith Joseph was made second ruler in the kingdom. Not taken off his feet by the suddenness of the change; going straight to work.

Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.-GEN. xli. 46.

-Here, as elsewhere, his head was steady and his heart was true. Why?

For God was with him.

-And was Joseph's life then, after all, as joyous as it might have been? No; but it was richer, nobler. And

did the bright young dreamer ever become in Egypt what he might have been at home? I think not. Joseph seems to me one of the utterly sweet, grave people; a man cut loose from the world, passed out beyond the glamour of time and sense; one for whom life is broken and can never be mended, and yet in whom life is wondrously perfect, rich beyond measure in.work, in opportunities, in the presence of God. There is no 'smell of the fire upon his garments,'-nothing is scorched and marred and useless; but the company of the fourth one' in the furnace has set a mark upon his forehead. will never look the same again.

He

God was with him, and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him wisdom and favour.-ACTS vii. 9, 10.

-Read over the blessing called down by Jacob on the head of him that was separate from his brethren.'—Gen. xlix. 23-26.

-And read Joseph's own words when he had dwelt for ninety-three years in the land of Egypt. Only thirteen of them had been passed in bondage, but he counted himself an exile still.

And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.GEN. 1. 25.

-You see it was no 'getting accustomed' that made Joseph strong to endure his life; it was no forgetting,

no cool heart; it was just the one thing which is called 'needful,'

The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him but his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob.-GEN. xlix. 23, 24.

X.

The Governor's House.

And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him.-GEN. xlii. 8.

A GRAVE man, quick, active, clear-headed; using his powers with full effect, bearing his honours meekly; forgetting nothing, neglecting nothing; meeting every occasion as it came with all the force of his vigorous manhood: such Joseph shows himself. I fancy him gravely reverent to the king, gravely tender at home; riding in 'the second chariot,' and watching the people as they bowed the knee before him with eyes full of the life shadow, rather than of life exultation. I can find no trace of the young dreamer who told his visions with all the fun of their seeming extravagance. The laugh and the song have died out of his life; and 'lord over all Egypt,' Joseph is an exile still.

And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them.

And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them.GEN. xlii. 7, 9.

-It was easy for him to know them: the ten brothers speaking the sweet Hebrew tongue that Joseph had heard in his childhood, and with faces and dress that were full

of his old home.

Joseph had it all by heart. And he

looked down in wondering remembrance as they came,and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth.

And the Lord said unto Moses, Is the Lord's hand waxed short? thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not.-NUM. xi. 23.

They shall not be ashamed that wait for me.-Isa. xlix. 23.

-Joseph had waited,-and behold the end!

At first he made himself strange' unto his brethren'spake roughly unto them;' acting the Egyptian. Studying the men to see if they were the same; considering how to do; getting himself in hand. So through an interpreter he pushed his inquiries, finding out all that he wanted to know. They had forgotten him, that was plain; given him over for dead; and besides, the gold chain was a great disguise. So he played with their fears, threatened them, gave them a gentle taste of captivity; all the while working his plans to get sight of his own young brother, left at home. And as he listened-for 'they knew not that he understood them'- he learned that at last God was dealing with these men, and their sin had found them out.

Joseph heard. And as they accuse themselves and each other, as they go over the ground point by point, slowly the old pain rouses up, the old ache comes back. He sees anew that last time when he set out to do his father's bidding, the farewells, the long walk through the heat, the taunts with which he was received. He hears again the