(probably, from the event, the latter,) he told them another dream of similar import, but of still more extensive application, and in his father's presence; namely, that "the sun, and the moon, and the eleven stars had made obeisance" to him. His father, who conceived of the matter as the idle vagrancy of the youthful imagination, was displeased with him for cultivating such day-dreams as could thus influence his sleeping hours, and rebuked him, saying, "Shall I, and thy mother, and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?" Upon farther reflection, his father was struck with the dream, and pondered what the end of these things might be. Unquestionably they preintimated Joseph's exaltation; but before he could be fitted for this, it was necessary that he should pass through much affliction. It is one thing to have power and riches; another to know how to use them. The acquisition of many things good in themselves would be fatal to many. Seldom, indeed, have we heard of any "wise men after the flesh," any "mighty," or "noble," becoming eminent for piety, who have not first had to pass through the furnace, that the gold might be refined from the dross. Adversity is the school of wisdom. Many pass through it without benefit. A few assiduous scholars come forth as gold from the fire, seven times purified. Adversity shows a man his own weakness. Surrounded with abundance, a man is scarcely sensible how few of his advantages are owing to himself. His estimate of men and things is generally false. Divested of these extrinsic advantages, he stands upon his own feet; and begins a profitable acquaintance with himself and with the world.

Keeping these remarks in mind, we begin the story of Joseph's affliction. His brethren had gone to Shechem

to tend the flock there; and Joseph was sent, by his father, to inquire after their health. They had removed to Dothan; and thither he followed them. As he drew near, they coolly proposed to kill their own brother; to conceal the body, by throwing it into a pit; and to hide their own cruelty and guilt, by reporting that a wild beast had slain him: and then, said they, we shall see what will become of his dreams." Reuben had interest enough with his brethren to prevail upon them not to shed his blood; but not enough to make them change their sentiments. No sooner had Joseph arrived, than they stripped off his coat, and cast him into a pit, with the cruel intention of leaving him to perish. Reuben had designed to extricate him; but before he could accomplish his object, a company of Ishmaelites happened, in his absence, to pass that way; and, at the proposal of Judah, for the sake of gain, his brethren lifted Joseph out of the pit, and sold him for twenty pieces of silver. Scarcely any imaginable conduct could be more cruel than this of Joseph's brethren. They had banished him, apparently for ever, from his family; and had consigned him to the most unhappy condition of life. They made no allowance for his boyish forwardness, his inexperience, and untutored simplicity. On the most trivial grounds, they cherished an envy and jealousy, a malice and revenge, which moved them to the deliberate murder of their own brother, for in their purpose and intention they did commit murder; and to the infliction of the severest mental torture upon their own father, by the vile artifice with which they deceived him into the opinion that an evil beast had devoured his favourite son. It may here be observed that the curse of Jacob's life, from youth to

age, was the system of favouritism which prevailed, first in Isaac's, and then in his own family.

Joseph was carried by these merchants, heedless of his tears and youth, into Egypt; where he was sold to Potiphar, "an officer of Pharaoh, and captain of the guard." By degrees, his diligence and success in his labours attracted his master's notice; and he raised him from the more servile to more reputable employment; so that, at length, he became overseer of Potiphar's house. A peculiar blessing attended all that he did, and he was careful to prove himself worthy of the trust reposed in him. His trial had been blessed to him; and he feared, trusted, and served God: and God blessed the Egyptian, for his sake. Things were in this state when a circumstance occurred which, though highly honourable to Joseph, plunged him into the deepest misfortune. The wife of Potiphar indulged an illicit attachment for him; and shamelessly avowed it to him. In vain did he appeal from her passion to her understanding and conscience, saying, "How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" "She spake to Joseph day by day ;" and, on one occasion, laid hold of him. He, to avoid her importunity, left his garment in her hand and fled. Shame and mortification instantly changed (a transformation by no means uncommon) her lust into deadly hate; and she determined upon a cruel revenge. She charged him with attempting the very crime to which she had tried, in vain, to seduce him; and thus awoke the jealousy and anger of Potiphar against Joseph, so that, without farther inquiry, he cast him into the king's prison. Even there the divine blessing followed him; and he daily won upon the good opinion of the jailer. So high, indeed, did he rise in his esteem that every indulgence,

consistent with the keeper's safety, was allowed him; and he was made a kind of agent, to transact the jailer's business for him. This trust he executed with fidelity and success; for the Lord was with him, and blessed him.

Perpetual imprisonment seemed now to be his destiny; and, though he might weep when the recollection of his father's house came across his mind, it is not improbable that he was, in a great measure, resigned to his fate. And yet how hard was that fate!—a prisoner in a foreign land, precluded from the hope of seeing kindred or friend; shut out from the cheerful face of day; languishing without hope of release; buried alive, while yet the ardour of youth is untamed; loaded with suspicions of the basest crimes; the subject of cruel oppression and malignant revenge; all this must have been very painful to be endured. But it is written," he carrieth the lambs in his bosom;" and who can limit, or measure, the divine support? And deliverance, in a very unexpected way, was at hand. Among the prisoners under Joseph's care were two persons of distinction; namely, the chief butler, and the principal baker of Pharaoh. It is said by one commentator, upon I know not what authority, that they were committed to prison on suspicion of having attempted the king's life. On one occasion Joseph observed in both of them an unusual depression of spirit, which, upon inquiry, he found to proceed from a remarkable dream that each had dreamed; and the purport of which not a little perplexed them. Joseph encouraged them to tell him all the particulars of their dreams, saying, "Do not interpretations belong to God?" -intimating thereby that, perhaps, God might, by him, give an explanation of the visions they had seen.

The chief butler then told him, he had imagined himself in a vineyard; that three luxuriant clusters of grapes were before him; "which," said he, "I took, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup; and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand." On this he awoke to the bitter reality of the contrast between his present and former condition. Joseph immediately gave him such an interpretation of his dream as banished his dejection, assuring him that, in three days, his captivity should cease, and he should be restored to his office and his home. "But," said he, "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 I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews; and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon." The readiness with which Joseph gave this interpretation, the simplicity of the interpretation itself, and the request founded upon it, all together wrought a conviction in the minds of the chief butler and baker of its correctness. The former, doubtless, purposed to use all his influence for the enlargement of his young friend; and the latter hastened to tell his dream, in the hope of an event equally happy. "I also was in my dream," said he, "and behold I had three white baskets on my head; and in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of baked meats for Pharaoh; and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head." "The three baskets," said the youthful prophet, "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." These events occurred exactly as predicted. Within three days the chief butler was