St. Tammany farmer., 1905-12-23

| SS~AAAAAo
bringing them nearer to real repent
ance than they had ever known before
What would they not have given
they could have undone the evil whicl
they had wrought, they thought; but il
the days to follow they were to learl
that marvellous truth that God over
rules the affairs of men and that evel
the wrath Of man and the evil whicl
he works may be made to praise Hin
and to work out His purposes in tn,
world.
In accordance with his instruction,
the chief steward at once notified 10
seph of the arrival of company o
men from the east, and the governor
dressed in his robes of state, hastenet
from his home to the great warehouse
where people came to buy grain.
With deferential air, and furtive, un
easy glance they enter the private
audience room, and as they come op
posite to where the governor is seated
they cast themselves down with theil
faces to the ground, and wait for him
!
the first glance at those ten PROSTATE
forms the governor sees them no more
but before his eyes there comes the
vision of the long gone years when as
boy he slept in the wheat field with
his brothers about him. He sees again
as vividly as on that night the sheaves
of his brothers fall down before his
own sheaf, which remains upright,
| and cry escapes his lips as he again
| looks upon the men before him and he
| realizes that God has established their
| identity. His first impulse is to throw
aside his robe and raise his brothers
to their feet and fall upon their necks
and kiss them, but something whis-
pers in his heart: ''Nay, that is not
Gods way. Unless you can win back
the hearts of your brothers through
true repentance, thy kindness will be
to their hurt and thy sorrow" So, re-
straining the yearning of his heart, he
sternly bade them rise and inquired:
Whence come ye?"
From the land of Canaan to buy
food"
May" sharply replied the governor.
I'VE are spies. To see the nakedness
of the land are ye come"
mot SO. my lord" they cried, trem-
bling and again falling down before
him, 1--WE speak truly when we tell thee
that to buy food are thy servants
come. We are IL brethren, the sons
of one man in the land of Canaan;
and behold, the youngest is this day
with our father, and one Is not
Joseph's heart leaped within him as
he heard them speak of himself, whom
they thought dead. They reckoned
him among their number, even though
it brought the conviction of sin to their
hearts, but he must let God probe still
deeper, and so he exclaimed:
"Ye are spies, indeed. Hereby ye
shall be proved: By the life of Phar-
aoh We shall not go forth hence, ex-
cept your youngest brother come
hlther. Send one Of you, and let him
fetch your brother, and ye shall be
kept in prison, that your words may
be proved, whether there be any truth
in you; or else by the life of Pharaoh
surely We are spies"
And Joseph ordered them bound and
cast into prison, where for the space
of three days they were left to the
burden of their own thoughts and
their guilty consciences. Three days
of awful darkness and anguish. Three
days in which God probed deeper and
deeper into their hearts and made
them bitterly repent. And on the third
day Joseph came unto them and said:
"If ye be true men, let one cf your
brethren be bound in the prison, while
the others go and carry corn for the
famine of your houses. But bring
your youngest brother unto me; so
shall your words be verified, and ye
shall not die"
And having thus spoken, the gov
ernor signified that the interview was
at an end by aismissing the inter-
prefer. and waited while they should
choose one Of their number in accord
ance with his word. Then did they
begin to confess to one another their
faults, not knowing that Joseph un-
derstood them, saying:
1--WE are verify guilty concerning our
brother, in that we saw the anguish |
Of his soul, when he Desought US, and |
we would not hear; therefore is this
distress come upon u.s."
Reuben broke the silence which fol- |
owed by the bitter complaint:
tSpake not unto you, saying: DO
aot sin against, the child, and ye
would not hear? Therefore, behold,
also his blood is required of u.s."
"And it was I who persuaded the |
others not to yield to your entreaty,"
Simeon cried. struggling to his feet,
and it is l who will lie bound in
Egypt while ye return home. And
nay God have mercy upon me for my
lin and deliver me-" And as he fin
shed speaking he signified to the gov-
.rnor that he was the one to remain.
md the following day the others with
leavy hearts took their departure.
Then followed days of anxious wait
ng and longing for Joseph, and they
we're no less days of discipline for him
IS for his brothers, for if they must
leeds learn the lesson of true repent
nee, he must come to realize more
ully out of his own experience the in
mite mercy of God ard the certainty
+ Gods purposes. During those days
here came to his heart revelation
rom God of His purposes for the chill
rem of Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob.
md so, when his brethren ct last re-
urned. bringing his own brother Ben