may live, and not die, both we, and thou, and also our little ones. I will be surety for him; of my hand shalt thou require him: if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever."

We would have the reader remember, that, vast as was the offer made by Reuben, in that he said to his father with regard to Benjamin, "Slay my two sons if I bring him not to thee," it availed not. It was a great proposal, but not great enough -not personal enough. It had to do with his, but not, in a sense, with Reuben himself. Not so the offer of Judah. He says, “If I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever." It was as emphatic as it could be. Nothing could be more personal, specific, or self-sacrificing. Judah said this under the keen recollection of what he, as one member of a family, had had to endure during the many years' absence of Joseph his brother. He knew full well how that home of his had been desolated because "Joseph was not;" and full well he knew also, that, if by any possibility Benjamin should be lacking, how fearful would be the consequences. He knew, too, how extremely hazardous was the proposal. Simeon was now left in ward, and how could he tell what were the intentions of Joseph-the man who had spoken so roughly unto him and his brethren ? To what motive could he ascribe his intense anxiety for the bringing down of their younger brother? How com

pletely was the whole enshrouded in mystery! All this vastly contributed to the enhancing the pledge he made to his father of again bringing Benjamin with him. In our contemplations of the subject, let us seek, for a moment, to exclude our knowledge of the issue of all these proceedings, and endeavour to reflect upon the scene as it then All dark-all mysterious;—the future—yea, even the morrow-completely hidden. On the one side, the father, broken-hearted as regards Joseph, concerned as respects Simeon, blindly determined about Benjamin: on the other hand, the anxious and secretly-oppressed, conscience-smitten sons: round and about all, a famine threatening the destruction of the whole. How critical these circumstances!

was.

But may they not well lead us from the less to the greater? Had Joseph seen fit so to do, how easily might he have spared both his father and his brethren all this pain. One word from him would have superseded this suspense. Humanly speaking, the course he pursued was hazardous. His father's already chastened heart might have given way under the additional privation of Simeon, and the expectant loss of Benjamin. That state of things of which he testified, "the bringing down his gray hairs with sorrow to the grave," might in very deed have come to pass, and then how intense the disappointment and keen the sorrow `of Joseph. May we not, therefore, see by the line of policy he pursued-prompted, as doubtless he was in all he did, by wisdom from on high-that He

of whom Joseph was but a type intended thus to proclaim to His brethren, in every after age, what was His pleasure in leading them so mysteriously, in testing their principles, trying their faith, and subjecting them to a course of discipline apparently so directly opposed to the dictates of a living interest and a tender solicitude and regard?

CHAPTER XXX.

THE CONDUCT OF JOSEPH GROUND OF ENCOURAGEMENT TO THOSE WHO ARE IN PERPLEXITY, AND WAITING FOR THE MANIFESTATION OF JESUS-THE CHANGE IN JACOB'S RESOLVES-HIS HEART BROUGHT DOWN WITH LABOUR-THE GREAT I SUBDUED-EXAMPLE OF THE BRINGING-DOWN PROCESS-FIGURE-SURRENDER

ACQUIESCENCE-PEACE-APPEAL TO THE READER-ILLUSTRATION OF NON-SUBMISSION UNDER BEREAVING CIRCUMSTANCES-THE PATRIARCH'S ENTIRE SURRENDER DELIVERANCE, IN CONSEQUENCE, AT HAND-JACOB'S IGNORANCE OF WHO THE MAN WAS THE PEOPLE OF GOD'S IGNORANCE OF WHO IT IS THAT IS SO MYSTERIOUSLY BUT YET MERCIFULLY DEALING WITH THEM.

How well may the conduct of Joseph encourage the Lord's people to pause ere they come to too hasty conclusions as to the "Why am I thus ?" In clearer light-under fuller development-when by little and little Jehovah's purposes shall be accomplished, then shall be seen even by those who are now so perplexed and anxious as to who they are or why so led, that every step of the journey, and each incident by the way, has been directed and controlled by wisdom infinite, and love, and grace, and mercy worthy of a God!

"And their father Israel said unto them, If it must be so now, do this; take of the best fruits in

the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds: and take double money in your hand; and the money that was brought again in the mouth of your sacks, carry it again in your hand; peradventure it was an oversight: take also your brother, and arise, go again unto the

Reader, do mark the striking contrast between the verse just quoted, and that with which the previous chapter is closed.

"And he said, My son shall not go down with you."

"Take also your brother, and arise, go unto the man."

See you not here the proof of what we before stated, how in the issue the Lord brings down His people? The great I-the shall and the will of the creature— must give way, sooner or later, before the Lord's loving and gracious, but at the same time determinate, discipline. And the sooner the great I is subdued, the spirit humbled, and the soul led to exclaim, "Not as I will, but as Thou wilt," the sooner will relief be experienced, and peace enjoyed. "In quietness and in confidence shall be their strength."

We remember a case in which the Lord was teaching one of His servants some important lessons in a way extremely mortifying and painful to flesh and blood. After a long-continued series of trial of the most anxious and perplexing character, in which heart and flesh were continually failing, and in re