Ver. 4- The captain of the guard charged Joseph with them.”— Here Joseph is rising to eminence again, even in the prison.

Ver. 7." Wherefore look ye so sadly to day?”—The inquiry indicates the kindness and sympathy of Joseph's heart. No unkindness: from others engendered asperity in him.

Ver, 8.-" Do not interpretations belong to God?"-Every nation had its interpreters of dreams, its magicians, diviners, and soothsayers.: Egypt and Babylon abounded with such, who adopted the practice as £ profession. Joseph modestly intimates the vanity and falsehood of the practice, and claims such interpretations as belonging to God alone. He acknowledges God in all his ways; and God was as near to him in the gloomy prison as in the splendid palace.

Ver. 11. Took the grapes, and pressed them."- Herodotus, & Grecian historian, said that the vine did not grow in Egypt; but travellers have proved that it did, and the monuments represent the vine as flourishing in their midst. Thus the Scriptures become confirmed by inquiry.

Ver. 15. For indeed I was stolen away," &e.—The language of Joseph was plaintive, but not vindictive. He felt his condition as a stranger, a slave, and a prisoner, yet uttered no complaint against Providence, no malediction against the injustice of man. Here is meekness worthy of our imitation.

Ver. 16.-" I had three white baskets on my head.”—There are sculptures and paintings remaining to this day, amid the ruins of Egypt, showing the confectioner with his basket full of dainties and luxuries on his head.

Ver. 22.-" But he hanged the chief baker: as Joseph had interpreted."-The fulfilment of the dream proves the inspiration of Joseph, and the bloody execution shows the arbitrary power of the sovereign. The king's will was law, and the lives of his subjects were at his disposal. Let us thank God for wise and equitable laws, for civil and religious freedom! In our highly favoured country the monarch has no power to injure the meanest subject of the realm. Thanks to God that our rights are guarded and our privileges effectually secured,

LESSONS XXVII. AND XXVIII-HISTORY OF JOSEPH (continued). Read Genesis xli.

(We must request our readers to divide this lesson into two.)

The dark cloud which, for fourteen years, has hung over innocent and holy Joseph, is about to be dispersed, and he is soon to emerge from the gloomy prison into a scene of unrivalled splendour, as the temporal saviour of nations, the illustrious sage, and the prime minister of the most renowned kingdom of the earth. Egypt was at that time in the very zenith of her glory. The vast temples and palaces of Karnac, of Aboo-Simbel, of Koom-Obos, and the Luxor, which strike the traveller with amazement, then stood erect in all their massive grandeur. The mighty ruins of Thebes, and the extended débris of Memphis, were then the sites of stately mansions and crowded cities; while the statues of Memnon, of Apis, and of Phat, adorned the entrance of gorgeous

buildings, and colossal sphinxes formed long avenues, leading to the renovned edifices where Osiris, and Isis, and Orus were worshipped. Learned priests recorded their wisdom in mystic symbols, and read off their oracles in ambiguous phrase; while cunning magicians held spellbound the court and the people by their incantations, and the trembling multitudes crouched before myriads of ignoble deities. Such was Egypt when Joseph emerged from his prison to become the light of that nation, and when God, by a series of wonderful events, prepared the way for his Church to come to confront idolatry on her own ground, and shake its superstitions by the proclamation of the true God and his covenant of redeening mercy.

Ver. 2.-" Kine coming up out of the river."-The scene is perfectly natura. The river Nile runs through the middle of Egypt, and, during the heats of summer, horned cattle become almost amphibious, standing for hours in the river, and then coming forth from it as if from their native element.

Ver. 5.-"Seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk."-This scene, also, is perfectly natural. Corn flourishes so well in Egypt, that some have regarded it as a plant derived originally from that country. The prolific nature of the corn of Egypt is a characteristic of that which grows in that country. Mr. Jowett tells us that when he was in Egypt he "counted the number of stalks which sprouted from a single grain of seed. The first had seven stalks; the next three; then eighteen ; then fourteen. Each stalk would bear an ear." Such an abundance, however, did not belong to Palestine, and therefore Moses here incidentally describes a degree of fruitfulness which he probably never could have seen in Canaan. Egypt is famed in history as the granary of

nations.

Ver. 6.-"Thin ears and blasted with the east wind."-Here, again, is a fact perfectly natural. The east wind, in all countries, is unfavourable, but the hot blasts that sometimes sweep over the land of Egypt are very detrimental to both animal and vegetable existence. Such a hot wind is called the Simoom, and Bruce, the traveller, mentions it. He ays, "His guide seeing one of those destroying blasts coming, cried out with a loud voice to the company, Fall upon your face, for here is the Simoom!' I saw," says Mr. Bruce, "from the south-east a haze come, in colour like the purple part of the rainbow. It did not occupy twenty yards in breadth, and was about twelve feet high from the ground. It was a kind of blush upon the air, and it moved very rapidly, for I scarce could turn to fall upon the ground, with my face northward, when I felt the heat of its current plainly upon my face. We all lay flat on the ground till the guide told us it was blown over. The meteor was indeed passed, but the light air that still blew was of a heat to threaten suffocation." On another occasion the whole company were made ill by one of these pestilential blasts, so that they had scarcely strength to load their camels. When such a hot wind passes over vegetation it leaves the green herb parched, shrivelled, and literally blasted. See other allusions to the east wind in Ezek. xvii. 10; Hosea xiii. 15; and Jonah iv. 8.

Ver, 9.-"I do remember my faults this day."-For two long years had this ungrateful man neglected his benefactor Joseph, and left him,

though assured of his innocence, to remain all that time in degradation and sorrow. Probably he would not have interposed even now for poor Joseph, had he not felt assured that the Divine gifts of Joseph would contribute to his own advantage. So much for the base requital of ingratitude!

Ver. 14.-" And he shaved himself."-This seems a small matter to notice, for, with our habits, the shaving of ourselves would be just what we should do when called into the presence of our sovereign; but, if carefully considered, this is one of the many passages to be found in which the truth of the Scripture story is attested by a casual and slight allusion to remarkable customs, which a mere inventor would not be likely to introduce at all, or, at any rate, to introduce without explanation. Most Oriental nations have always cherished the beard, and do so to this day. The loss of it is regarded as a disgrace. Such was undoubtedly the feeling of the Hebrews. Now, in this common trait of orientalism the Egyptians did not share. The monuments and paintings generally represent to us the male Egyptians as beardless. Some of the sculptures, indeed, sometimes show a species of rectangular beard-case, attached to the chin by straps or bands, which, passing by the side of the face, were fastened to the cap. It is evidently an artificial appendage, and it has been conjectured that it was used on the monuments to indicate the male character. Certain it is, however, that the great mass of Egyptian men in the sculptures are represented without beards. On the subject of shaving their beards, Wilkinson remarks:-"So particular were they on this point, that to have neglected it was a subject of reproach and ridicule; and whenever they intended to convey the idea of a man of low condition or slovenly person, the artists represented him with a beard." The priests shaved the head as well as the beard; others, who did not the first, wore their hair cropped as close as possible. When the monuments show us heads with abundant and long hair, the individual delineated is wearing a wig, of which Wilkinson furnishes us with drawings. From Rosellini, we learn that this custom of the Egyptians with respect to the hair and beard, was considered by the neighbouring nations, and especially by the Asiatics, as peculiar and characteristic. Hence Joseph-who was not an Egyptian, and who had been several years in prison, where he had permitted his beard to grow would not dare to enter the presence of Pharaoh without shaving; and the particularity with which the writer mentions the circumstance shows that, among Orientals generally, to shave was not a matter of course; and next, that he knew the customs of Egypt rendered the act, on the part of Joseph, indispensable.

and

"I KNOW there is a God,” said a converted Indian chief to a Christian missionary. "I hear him in thunder; I see him in the sunbeam and in the starlight. The air is his breath, and the breath of all. He is the great Father of all. He is a great Spirit, living everywhere, and giving life, and I feel him in my heart. When I die my breath will go back to him."

persing men.

Biography.

OSEPH REPTON, LONGTON. | practise duplicity and cunning, JOSEPI was the son of Mr. John or sacrifice honesty at the shrine of Reptor, a man known and loved selfishness? Who ever knew him may for his labours in pro- unfaithful in the discharge of ing the tidings of salvation to duty? Who ever knew him sacriThe date of Jo- fice his master's interest for ease 'sarth was July 19, 1845; and indolence? Who ever knew that of his death, April 29, 1862. him disobedient and unruly at He was therefore in the seven- home, or to add anxiety and trouble enth year of his age. The influ- to the domestic circle? None! ces brought to bear upon him in In all these things he was a model his earliest days were such as tended to lads. Boys! follow his example. to direct the current of his life in a Girls! follow his example. But we right direction. His parents were would not stop here, nor lead you mintaal in their endeavours to train to rely on these amiable features of up their offspring in the nurture character. Of themselves they are and sdmonition of the Lord; to set highly commendable, but they are before him in all its attraction and not saving. Joseph Repton knew force the excellency of religion. this and felt this, and, acting on his Being thus favourably circum- conviction, he gave his heart unstanced in his education, it is not reservedly to God. He bent at the obe wondered at that the aspira- footstool of mercy; exercised faith tions of his soul were heavenward; in Christ; received the remission his principles, thoughts, and of sins; and became a new creature actions were, humanly speaking, in Jesus, and an heir of heaven. pare. We do not wish to insinuate that his inner life was unstained by Far from this. He was a child wrath, even as others; a sharer our common depravity, and exposed to the same common curse. But sin was studiously restrained, and the evil nature brought into subjection. His leading characterties were modesty, affection, truthess, and fidelity. Who that known him has not seen the fash of embarrassment almost unserve him when made the object of momentary notice, even by the ple act of reading a dictation ercise in school? Who ever thew him sacrifice truthfulness at the shrine of interest, or to screen elf from blame? Who ever ew him stoop to evasion or vocation? Who ever knew him

In the month of February, 1862, when the Rev. J. Stokoe preached in Zion Chapel, Longton, he was enabled to rejoice in forgiveness and in certain hope of glory. On that night darkness and doubt were removed; the testifying Spirit assured him of his acceptance through Christ, and he was filled with a joy that was overflowing. In the fulness of joy he returned home, and took his mother by the arm, and said he had good news to tell her which would cheer her heart. "I have had my soul converted tonight." The mother and child rejoiced together. After this he manifested the liveliest interest in the spiritual welfare of the whole family; urging and encouraging them, one by one, to give earnest heed to the things which make for