exceedingly difficult to procure food enough to keep them in life; but in all the land of Egypt there was enough laid up for the supply of its inhabitants.

As soon as the Egyptians began to be in great want of food, having consumed all which they themselves had laid up in their own houses, "they cried to Pharaoh for bread: and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, Go unto Joseph; what he saith to you, do."

CHAPTER XV.

The Egyptians regard Joseph as their Savior.-Jesus Christ a far better Savior.-The Egyptians buy grain of Joseph. --The famine in Canaan.-Jacob sends his sons to Egypt to buy food.

JOSEPH, at this time, must have been regarded as being, to the Egyptians, what the new name given to him by Pharaoh, probably implied. And as they bowed the knee before him in their necessity, and looked to him for the food which they and their families so much needed, and addressed him by the title of Zaphnath-paaneah, they might well feel that he was their Savior.

I do not mean, in the sense in which we call Jesus Christ the Savior of the world; to save men from their sins, and the eternal death of the soul; and to furnish them with divine truth, and the influences of the Holy Spirit, that heavenly food which will nourish the soul, and cause it to live for ever in a better and happier world.

Alas! the poor, ignorant Egyptians, I fear, cared very little about their souls, or to find out how they might be saved, and how heavenly food was to be procured for their nourishment.

The most, if not all, that they were anxious for, was to be saved from the famine which was so dreadful; and when they found that Joseph had the means of saving them from it, they, doubtless, looked up to him as their best friend, their great deliverer, their powerful Savior, their Zaphnath-paaneah.

Here I would make one single inquiry. Are you as willing and as ready to go to Jesus Christ, to be saved from spiritual famine, from the eternal death of the soul; as the Egyptians were to go to Joseph, to be saved from the famine which they endured, and from the death of the mere body? I put the question. You must think about it, and answer it.

Joseph opened all the store-houses in the different cities in which the grain had been safely laid up during the seven years of plenty, and sold it unto

the Egyptians; so that they could feed themselves and their families.

How glad many a poor, and almost starving, little boy and girl must have been, to see their father bringing the grain home, from which their mother could make them some bread!

Think of the abundance, my dear children, which you have, and of the store-house from which it all comes, the overflowing bounty of your Father who is in heaven; and show your gratitude to him by your obedience to his commands.

Not only the Egyptians, but people who lived in other countries where the famine prevailed, came into Egypt to buy grain of Joseph. So that, in this way, his wisdom and industry, under the guidance of God, who taught him the meaning of Pharaoh's dreams, were the means of saving the lives of a great many.

Yes; in the wonderful providence of God, Joseph was soon to be instrumental in saving the lives of his own beloved father and family, and of the very brethren who had treated him so cruelly, and of their families.

For the famine extended to Judea, the country where Jacob lived, and the people there were suffering greatly from it. In the midst of their distress, Jacob heard that grain could be bought in Egypt,

and determined to send thither for a supply. He called his sons together, and asked them why they looked one upon another in so much sadness and despondency, as if nothing could be done for their relief. He told them he had heard that grain could be procured in Egypt, and that they must go thither and buy some, to save himself, and all of them, from the death which must otherwise inevitably overtake them.

It is probable that Jacob and his family, and his sons and their families, all lived, at that time, very near each other, and that they formed, as it were, one great family, of which Jacob was the patriarch, or head. They had one common interest; and suffering together for the want of food, it was necessary to make one great and vigorous effort for their mutual relief.

It was a long journey of several hundred miles to Egypt, and it would be attended with great inconvenience for the sons of Jacob to go such a distance. But there was no other way of procuring food; and all but Benjamin concluded to go.

Benjamin was the younger brother of Joseph, and born, you recollect, just before their mother Rachel died. There were many circumstances, the recollection of which endeared the memory of Rachel to Jacob. He loved her first; and he loved her the

best of all his wives. He had, of course, a great fondness for her children; and as Joseph, as he believed, was dead, he could not bear to have Benjamin leave home, lest some injury might befall him.

It is not surprising at all, that Jacob should feel thus tenderly toward Benjamin, when we consider that he was now far advanced in life, being nearly one hundred and thirty years old. But a few years before, he had buried his father Isaac, in the cave at Machpelah, by the side of Abraham and Sarah. He was himself drawing nigh the close of life, and feeling more sensibly his feebleness, and the need of some one to comfort him, Benjamin had taken the place of Joseph in his affections, and while he mourned over the loss of the son whom he thought the wild beasts had devoured, he pressed his brother more closely to his bosom, and leaned on him as the support and consolation of his declining years.

Do you suppose that the brethren of Joseph, on their way to Egypt, thought that, as the Ishmaelites, to whom they sold him, went to that country, it was possible they might meet him there? It certainly would not be strange if some such thoughts passed through their minds; though they would expect to find him still a slave, or in some very humble station in life. Should they meet with any one, high in power and rank, who might bear even a