self, who, in connexion with two remarkable dreams which Pharaoh had had, led to the chief butler's exclaiming, "I do remember my faults this day :" when he directly detailed what had occurred two years previously, and so impressed Pharaoh with the facts as to induce him to send immediately to the prisoner, who, in due time, having interpreted the king's dreams, was raised to a post only second in importance to that of the crown itself.

Thus we see the completeness and the perfection of Jehovah's working; that, whilst he takes His own time, and adopts His own course, He does, at length, produce an effect worthy His wisdom, power, love, and faithfulness. Man may be in haste, and misjudge Him, whilst He works and waits, but the issue invariably has been, and shall be, that which shall at once be glorifying to God, and unspeakably satisfactory to His people. Infinitely better pleased are they with God's way than they would have been with their own. What would Joseph have been, how little qualified for his after-position, if he had not had, first, to encounter the enmity of his brethren, and next his service in Potiphar's, and in the prisonhouse? Each and every circumstance afforded him an insight into character, so requisite for coming events, and proved the most wholesome training and discipline. But for this, he would have been altogether unfitted for what he was both to be and to do. How gracious, therefore, was the Lord unto him; and who knows, reader-yea, there is every reason to suppose that such is the case-that the

self-same Lord is working by your trials and your afflictions with the same merciful and gracious object in view. He is guiding-He is guarding; and, be assured, that if your heart is Zion-ward and Christward, whatever may be the special path by which the Lord is leading you, or whatever that course of training and discipline to which you are called, the result shall be God's glory, and your own unbounded satisfaction.

There is a further lesson or two we would not overlook with respect to Joseph's imprisonment, and liberation, and advancement. First, it was dreams which were instrumentally the source of his distress; it was dreams which were the special means of deliverance and advancement. Secondly, observe his jealousy for Jehovah's honour. He had aforetime interpreted both the chief butler's and the chief baker's dream; but, when called to interpret the king's, he would not take the credit of the interpretation to himself, but honestly avowed, "It is not in me; God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.” Then it was afterwards seen that God was mindful of His word: "Him that honoureth me I will honour, whilst he that despiseth me shall be lightly esteemed."

CHAPTER XXVIII.

REPETITION OF TRIAL AN ABSOLUTE NECESSITY-THE HUMBLING OF THE HEART NO VERY SUMMARY PROCESS-JACOB'S PROPOSAL TO HIS SONS TO GO IN QUEST OF CORN-THE RESERVE OF BENJAMIN, TYPICAL OF OUR VARIOUS HEART-RESERVES-CREATURE IDOLATRY-NO GOING TO JOSEPH WITHOUT THE YOUNGER BROTHER, SO NO GOING ΤΟ THE THRONE OF GRACE WITHOUT CHRIST JESUS SPEAKING ROUGHLY, AS DID JOSEPH, YET LOVING HIS BRETHREN NEVERTHELESS -JOSEPH WANTED NOT THEIR MONEY BUT THEIR PERSONS, SO CHRIST WANTS NOT OUR WORKS, BUT OURSELVES.

It is by no short and simple process the self-will and rebellion of the human heart is controlled. As we have already stated, it requires a repetition of trials and a succession of sorrows to "bring down the heart with labour." The humbling of the heart, and the bringing its corruptions to the surface, in order to show both the need and the nature of divine grace, in its rich and glorious operations, must be accomplished by naught less than divine power.

Reduced to the very brink of ruin, by means of that famine which Joseph, under God, had foreshown should for a long time prevail, the venerable patriarch proposes to his sons to go down into Egypt to buy corn, for he had heard that it was to be ob

tained there. But, though the ten brethren went down into Egypt for that purpose, Benjamin, the younger, was not permitted to go, "lest, peradventure," said his father, "mischief should befal him." Here again was partiality-here a reserve-which bespoke but too plainly, that, notwithstanding all the significancy and severity of his teachings, Jacob was not yet cured of his idolatry. His heart was not absolutely and entirely the Lord's.

Who

Who of us but what must fall under the self-same condemnation? Who can say he is exempt from this creature-choice and creature-carefulness? of us, if deprived of one and another object of love and interest, but what seeks with additional tenacity to secure more effectually those who remain? And does not the consciousness of this arouse and becomingly, too-an anxiety lest in the thus laying too great stress upon the creature, such affection shall be checked by either the marring or the removal of the object? Well did one say, "Beware of the little idols in white frocks ;" and well might it be added, Beware of the idols of more matured age and more developed disposition, appearance, and principles. How ready is Satan to ply the human heart with temptations adapted to every capacity, condition, and circumstance, and how does he change his tactics in order to meet times and temperaments!

"Joseph was the governor over the land," when his brethren went down into Egypt, to buy corn. "And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not

him. And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come. And they said unto him, Nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come. We are all one man's sons; we are true men, thy servants are no spies. And he said unto them, Nay, but to see the nakedness of the land ye are come. And they said, Thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not."

What a blank was here! what a cloud of guilt must have settled down upon the conscience at this juncture! How must that which had been accumulating month after month and year after year, during which these brethren had sought to conceal from their father the actual state of things, have swelled as it were into an almost insupportable burden and weight of anguish, at this moment of peril, when they knew not but, before such an authority, they should be called to surrender their lives as spies. "One is not." What relief might have been given -what hope imparted of his lost one being still in the land of the living-had facts been communicated to the patriarch. How hardening is the nature of sin, and how is one act of disobedience and transgression sought to be covered by another! and thus does sin increase in weight and magnitude. How callous must these brethren have been, in that they could witness their father's anguish and remain silent as to Joseph's not having been slain by wild beasts!