despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."

[Here read from verse 29, to the end of the chapter. Here also may be read chapters xxxviii. xxxix. and xl.]

EXPOSITION LXIV.

GENESIS xli. 1-16.

1. And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river.

2. And, behold, there came up out of the river seven well favoured kine and fatfleshed; and they fed in a meadow.

3. And, behold, seven other kine came up after them out of the river, ill favoured and leanfleshed; and stood by the other kine upon the brink of the river.

4. And the ill favoured and leanfleshed kine did eat up the seven well favoured and fat kine. So Pharaoh awoke.

5. And he slept and dreamed the second time: and, behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, rank and good.

6. And, behold, seven thin ears and blasted with the east wind sprung up after them.

* Heb. xii. 2.

7. And the seven thin ears devoured the seven rank

and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and, behold, it

was a dream.

8. And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof: and Pharaoh told them his dream; but there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh.

9. Then spake the chief butler unto Pharaoh, saying, I do remember my faults this day:

10. 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:

11. And we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he ; we dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his dream.

12. And there was there with us a young man, an Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard; and we told him and he interpreted to us our dreams; to each man according to his dream he did interpret.

13. And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it me he restored unto mine office, and him he

was;

hanged.

"The two full years" spoken of at the beginning of this chapter, occurred between the liberation of Pharaoh's butler and his recollection of

Joseph's services. They formed but a short portion of Joseph's long imprisonment, for we are told that he was only seventeen years of age when he came into Egypt, and that he was thirty years

old when called to stand before Pharaoh. Allowing, therefore, a sufficient period for the events of which we are now about to speak, a large part of these thirteen years of his life must have been spent in an Egyptian prison!

We left Joseph, at the close of the last Exposition, a captive and a slave, in the hands of the Midianitish merchantmen, to whom his brethren had sold him. These men again disposed of him upon reaching Egypt, to Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh's guard. An admirable purchase was it for Potiphar; for such is the blessing that often attends the people of God, that we are expressly told, "The Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake," and again, "The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man."

But the day of prosperity is usually the day of temptation, and so was it with Joseph, who, while at the head of Potiphar's house, was tempted, and strongly tempted, to the committal of a great and heinous sin, no less than that of adultery. His answer to that temptation should be written upon the heart of every sincere Christian: he replied, "How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" How can I do it? I, whom God has so greatly prospered? I, whom, in every station, God has so undeservedly blessed? I, who have from my youth been acquainted with the God of

my fathers? Others may forget their duty to their master, but I must be, indeed, most ungrateful, most base, most degraded, if I could thus fly in the face of every command of my father and my friend. This is pre-eminently the state of mind for the Christian to cultivate. Consider every sin as an offence, not merely against man, but against God; and then think of every sin, as having this in addition to all its other characteristics, that in you it is a sin of deep and crying ingratitude. Others sin against a Creator, a master; you against the best, the kindest, the most affectionate of parents, and of friends. Surely many a questionable gratification will be given up at once, and without a struggle, when thus looked at by the renewed and grateful heart. Many a temptation which now assails us will lose its power, if we always meet it by the recollection of the dear and close relationship subsisting between us and that gracious Being, whom our sin will not only offend, but deeply grieve and afflict.

Joseph's innocence, however, did not avail him in the sight of man; and having been made the victim of a false accusation, he was committed to prison. Here, again, the providence of God cared for and protected him. As it was in the palace, so was it in the dungeon, for we are once more told, "The Lord was with Joseph," so that

the "keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under his hand.”

Doubtless the natural man would say, This was indeed very merciful of God; but surely it would have been still more so, if instead of blessing Joseph for so many years within the walls of a prison, he had delivered him out of them. But so will not the Christian reason. He has found, by his own merciful experience, that God has many blessings far greater than a mere deliverance from trouble: and he can look back to days of sorrow and disappointment, or hours of sickness, or nights of pain, from none of which did God at once deliver him, but in all of which did his gracious Redeemer vouchsafe such manifestations of his presence, and such tokens of his love, and such evidences of his Divine sympathy, that immediate freedom would have been a far less valuable boon, than the continuance of such trials and such consolations. There is also often a great work to be wrought in the mind, for which trouble and affliction are God's appointed means; and no doubt, Joseph's long confinement in prison was as necessary to prepare him to bear with humility and meekness, the fulfilment of his early visions, as his deliverance from that prison was to enable them to come to pass. But now the end of his captivity is at hand, and the king of Egypt