appetites. Presently they saw in the distance a company of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing spices down to Egypt. Judah said unto his brethren,

"What profit is it

if we slay our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to these Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for, said he, is he not our brother and our flesh." So then they agreed to sell him, seeing the company drawing nigh, they drew Joseph out of the pit, and sold him for twenty pieces of silver; making him every whit a symbolic type of the Saviour brother, who, in the far future, was sold by his own people for thirty pieces of silver, thus low was our dear Saviour's worth esteemed by the Children of Israel. Poor Rueben, the eldest of the twelve sons of Jacob, being absent during the latter part of their evil discussion, not knowing they had sold Joseph, went to the pit to carry out his intention of rescuing him from his brethren's cruel hands. Therefore, bitter was his grief when he found the pit empty. Rending his clothes he went unto them, saying, "The child is not; and I, whither shall I go?" But they, being hardened, heeded not his cry, nor do they seem to have told him what they had really done with the lad; cruelly letting Rueben suffer from the belief that

the child was killed; whilst they coolly took the coat of many colours and dipped it in the blood of a goat, then sent it to their poor old father, by some messenger or servant: of course too guilty to take it themselves. Jacob mourned many days, and would not be comforted. Whilst Joseph meanwhile was being sold again to one called Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who took him to be overseer over his household, for the Lord his God was watching over him, and the Lord blessed the Egyptian's household for Joseph's sake.

So He does now, dear reader, bless the home of every child of faith. If evil befall it, it shall not prevail, for the Lord is ever by their side, and will in his own good time crush all Satanic power from their midst; but the believer must be patient, and wait, for God alone knows what is the best discipline for each child, and so brings and works things round in His own mysterious way, although we cannot understand it. So that through cloud and sunshine let us trust Him, however trying the ordeal we have to pass through all will be well; for even our brother Joseph, the highly favoured of the Lord, was tempted, in the midst of his bright, peaceful days, to do evil by his master's wife, and through whom he was cast

C

into prison; but still the Lord was with him there, and gave him favour in the keeper's sight, who treated him not as a prisoner; the Lord having opened the keeper's eyes to see in Joseph uprightness and honesty, and so led him to raise him above his fellow prisoners, by placing him in the position of a keeper over all that were in the prison; seeing to none of the things himself, but committed all to Joseph's care. Thus did the Lord bless him and made everything prosper in his hands.

We read, it came to pass after these things, that two of Pharaoh's officers, having offended their lord, were cast into this same prison. One had been the chief butler, the other the chief baker. One morning, Joseph seeing their countenance sad, inquired the reason. They said, we have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter. Mark, dear reader, Joseph's reply: Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dream, and, with the divine aid of God's Holy Spirit, I will try and explain your dream. Then the chief butler told his dream thus: "Behold, a vine was before me, and in the vine were three branches, and it was as though it budded, and her blossoms shot forth, and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes; and Pharaoh's cup was in my

hand, and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand." Joseph said unto him, "This is the interpretation of it: The three branches are three days: yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head, and restore thee unto thy place: and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou wast his butler. But think of me when it shall be well with thee, and show kindness, I pray thee, by making mention of me to Pharaoh, so that I may be removed 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 in this dungeon." Then the chief baker, seeing the interpretation of the butler's dream was good, said, "Behold, in my dream, I had three white baskets on my head, and in the uppermost basket there was all manner of baked meats for Pharaoh, and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head." Joseph said unto him, "The three baskets are three days: Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee." And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast unto all his servants; and as Joseph prophetically interpreted, lifted up

the head of the chief butler, restoring him unto his place again; and he did, as he had dreamed, give the cup into Pharaoh's hand: but the baker, as interpreted, he hanged. Yet two full years Joseph lingered in prison after all this had transpired, in patient hope that the butler would remember him. But, alas! for human selfish ingratitude, in the midst of his restored favours and plenty, he forgot Joseph. Think not, dear reader, the Lord had left poor Joseph. Oh, no; He sustained him to wait patiently, and watch the hand of his heavenly Father from day to day in the varied events which kept transpiring, seeing in the end he was to show forth God's power, and be instrumental in glorifying Him.

At the end of two years Pharaoh himself had a dream; being troubled in spirit about it, he sent for all the magicians of Egypt, and the wise men thereof, and told his dream; but there was none who could interpret them to him. Then, and not till then, did the chief butler remember his faults, and spoke unto Pharaoh of Joseph, and his interpreting his own and the baker's dream when in prison, and how truly all had come to pass. Then Pharaoh sent for Joseph, whom they brought hastily out of the dungeon, so that he had to attend to his outward apparel before he could appear in the pre