gained it at last. And no man ever
gained it but what he found the truth of St. Peter's own words--"Who will
harm you, if you be followers of what is good?"

IX. THE STORY OF JOSEPH.

"I fear God." GENESIS xlii. 18.

Did it ever seem remarkable to you, as it has seemed to me, how many
chapters of the Bible are taken up with the history of Joseph--a young
man who, on the most memorable occasion in his life, said "I fear God,"
and had no other argument to use?

Thirteen chapters of the book of Genesis are mainly devoted to the tale
of this one young man. Doubtless his father Jacob's going down into
Egypt, was one of the most important events in the history of the Jews:
we might expect, therefore, to hear much about it. But what need was
there to spend four chapters at least in detailing Joseph's meeting with
his brethren, even to minute accounts of the speeches on both sides?

Those who will may suppose that this is the effect of mere chance. Let
us have no such fancy. If we believe that a Divine Providence watched
over the composition of those old Scriptures; if we believe that they
were meant to teach, not only the Jews but all mankind; if we believe
that they reveal, not merely some special God in whom the Jews believed,
but the true and only God, Maker of heaven and earth; if we believe, with
St. Paul, that every book of the Old Testament is inspired by God, and
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished
unto all good works--if we believe this, I say, it must be worth our
while to look carefully and reverently at a story which takes up so large
a part of the Bible, and expect to find in it something which may help to
make _us_ perfect, and thoroughly furnish _us_ unto all good works.

Now, surely when we look at this history of Joseph, we ought to see at
the first glance that it is not merely a story about a young man, but
about the common human relations--the ties which bind any and every man
to other human beings round him. For is it not a story about a brother
and brothers? about a son and a father, about a master and a servant?
about a husband and a wife? about a subject and a sovereign? and how they
all behaved to each other--some well and some ill--in these relations?

Surely it is so, and surely this is why the story of Joseph has been
always so popular among innocent children and plain