he throne,--the eighteenth as it is supposed, for we are told that a
new king arose who knew not Joseph. He lived to be one hundred and ten
years of age, and when he died his body was embalmed and placed in a
sarcophagus, and ultimately was carried to Canaan and buried with his
fathers, according to the oath or promise he exacted of his brothers.
His last recorded words were a prediction that God would bring the
children of Israel out of Egypt to the land which he sware unto Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. On his deathbed he becomes, like his father, a
prophet. He had foretold his own future elevation when only a youth of
seventeen, though only in the form of a dream, the full purport of which
he did not comprehend; as an old man, about to die, he predicts the
greatest blessing which could happen to his kindred,--their restoration
to the land promised unto Abraham.

Joseph is one of the most interesting characters of the Bible, one of
the most fortunate, and one of the most faultless. He resisted the most
powerful temptations, and there is no recorded act which sullies his
memory. Although most of his life was spent among idolaters, and he
married a pagan woman, he retained his allegiance to the God of his
fathers. He ever felt that he was a stranger in a strange land, although
its supreme governor, and looked to Canaan as the future and beloved
home of his family and race. He regarded his residence in Egypt only as
a means of preserving the lives of his kindred, and himself as an
instrument to benefit both his family and the country which he ruled.
His life was one of extraordinary usefulness. He had great executive
talents, which he exercised for the good of others. Though stern and
even hard in his official duties, he had unquenchable natural
affections. His heart went out to his old father, his brother Benjamin,
and to all his kindred with inexpressible tenderness. He was as free
from guile as he was from false pride. In giving instructions to his
brothers how they should appear before the King, and what they should
say when questioned as to their occupations, he advised the utmost
frankness,--to say that they were shepherds, although the occupation of
a shepherd was an abomination to an Egyptian. He had exceeding tact in
confronting the prejudices of the King and the priesthood. He took no
pains to conceal his birth and lineage in the most aristocratic country
of the world. Considering that he was only second in power an