ings Judah broke out into this most pathetic expostulation: "O my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee,

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speak a word in my lord's ears, and let not thine anger burn against thy servant: for thou art even as Pharaoh ;" (and having power equal to that of the king, I exceedingly tremble before thee.)

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My lord asked his servants, saying, Have ye a father, or a brother? And we said unto my lord, we have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loveth him.

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And thou saidst unto thy servants, Bring him down unto me, that I may set mine

eyes upon him. And we said unto my lord, the lad cannot leave his father; for if he should leave his father, his father would die. And thou saidst unto thy servants, except your youngest brother come down with you, ye shall see my face no more.

"And it came to pass when we came up unto thy servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. And our father said, go again, and buy us a little food. And we said, we cannot go down: if our youngest brother be with us, then will we go down: for we may not see the man's face, except our youngest brother be with us. And thy servant my father said unto us, ye know that my wife bare me two sons: and the one went out from me, and I

said, surely he is torn in pieces; and I saw him not since: and if ye take this also from me, and mischief befall him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.

"Now, therefore, when I come to thy servant my father, and the lad be not with us; seeing that his life is bound up in the lad's life, it shall come to pass when he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will die: and thy servants shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to the grave. For thy servant became surety for the lad unto my father, saying, if I bring him not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father for ever.

"Now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide, instead of the lad, a bondman to my lord; and let the lad go up with his brethren. For how shall I go up to my father and the lad be not with me? lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my father."

CHAPTER XXIII.

Joseph makes himself known to his brethren.-His address to them. His forgiveness of them.-The duty of forgiveness. Has the reader this spirit ?

JUDAH did not plead in vain. While Joseph heard him, the most tender recollections rushed upon his mind his mother, his home, his fatherEphrath, Hebron, Shechem, Dothan-all rose up before him, in quick and melancholy remembrance.

He could not endure the thought of doing any thing to cause such anguish to his aged parent, and, that would bring down his gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.

He listened with breathless attention till Judah had done speaking. His heart was full. His countenance showed it. His voice showed it, while. being no longer able to control his feelings, he ordered all except his brethren to retire.

They did so; and Joseph gave vent to his tears. He wept aloud. He wept so loud that they heard him in the other parts of the house; and in the midst of their astonishment he said to his brethren, I am Joseph. Doth my father yet live?

His brethren were too much overcome to make Joseph.

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