which would have turned those tears of sadness into

tears of joy!

What base deceivers! What wicked hypocrites! What ungrateful and cruel children! How is their guilt increasing; and how great must be the displeasure of God against them!

You see in all this your own danger, if you go on indulging sinful thoughts and feelings, and committing sinful actions. Stop and think of this danger. Think especially of one striking thing which marked the progress of Joseph's brethren in guilt. I mean their resort to deception and falsehood.

Remember that those who are guilty of wicked conduct, wish and strive to conceal it. Have you not always found it to be so, when you have said or done any thing which you knew to be wrong?

But those who wish to conceal their evil conduct are strongly tempted to do this by some kind of artifice, or even by a downright falsehood.

You know it is a common saying, that those who steal, will also lie. It is true—and it is equally true, that those who commit wickedness, of whatever kind, will practise deception, and tell a falsehood rather than be detected.

How mean and cowardly, as well as sinful, it is, to be a liar! "Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but they that deal truly are his delight. Liars

shall have their portion in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone."

Fear then to sin. Fear all wicked thoughts, and feelings, and conduct. For these will lead you to deceive, and if, in your opinion, there is great danger of detection-to lie.

There is no security against this, but in loving and obeying God. Have you a heart thus disposed to love and obey him? If you have not-think of the sons of Jacob. Think of their very wicked conduct toward their brother and father. It all proceeded from their evil hearts.

CHAPTER VIII.

Joseph sold to Potiphar.-His history given to us, to show us the providence of God.-Potiphar's great regard for Joseph.-Duties to others to be performed in the fear of God.

It was a long journey of several hundred miles, from Dothan, the place where Joseph was sold to the Ishmaelites, to Egypt, the country to which they carried him.

You had better get some one to show you these places on the map; and also Mesopotamia, from

which Jacob came with his family; and Hebron, where he found his father Isaac, and where he lived; and also Shechem, or Sychar, where the brothers of Joseph were keeping the flocks, when he was sent to inquire after them.

Egypt was a large country in Africa, directly west of the Red Sea. It contained a great many people, and was governed by kings who were called by a name, meaning the same as king, Pharaoh.

These kings were very powerful. They had many soldiers under them, whom they could command to do as they pleased, and this made the people fear and obey them.

They kept some of these soldiers always near them, about their house and person; and they were called the king's guard. They defended the king against any one who might wish to take his life, or do him an injury. Beside this, they were the persons who put to death those whom the king sentenced to die on account of any crime; or, as was sometimes the case, because he feared them, or was angry with them. The king's guard was commanded by a captain or officer, such as you have seen at the head of a company of soldiers; and at the time when Joseph was carried into Egypt the name of this captain of the guard was Potiphar.

He was a rich and powerful man, one of the great

est in the whole country, next to the king. He had a large house, and much land, and many persons under him, to do his work.

It was Potiphar, this captain of the king's guard, to whom the Ishmaelites sold Joseph soon after their arrival in Egypt. We do not know what price they got for him. But it was undoubtedly a good deal more than the twenty pieces of silver which they paid to his brothers. For they bought him to make money of him, just as people do of any thing that they buy to sell again.

Poor Joseph thus to be sold twice as a slave; and now to a strange master, in a strange land; hundreds of miles from home, from his father, and family, and friends!

But there is reason to believe that he put his trust in God, and prayed to him, and looked up unto him for protection and guidance. And God did protect, and guide, and bless Joseph, as you will see. You will see, too, how it was again ordered by the providence of God, that Joseph should be sold to this very captain of the king's guard, in order to bring about the design of God, and the exact fulfillment of Joseph's dreams.

I wish, my dear children, that you would keep continually in mind this over-ruling providence of God, as we go along in the history of Joseph. For

this is one important reason why God has given us this history in the Bible; and when you come to read about the descendants of Jacob, the Israelites; and what a great and powerful nation they became; and how Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, was born among this people, and was one of them, himself a descendant of Abraham, the grandfather of Jacob; you will find more strange and wonderful things, connected with the simple fact of Joseph's being sold in Egypt, than you can now imagine. You will find that God, by his providence-his planning, ordering, and directing all events-is, truly, great in counsel and mighty in work; and you will be ready to exclaim, as Moses did, "Who is like unto thee, O Lord; who is like thee; glorious in holiness; fearful in praises; doing wonders ?"

Joseph had not been long with Potiphar before the latter began to notice that he was a very industrious servant, and that he was faithful and upright in all his conduct. He had some kind of labor to do in the house of his master, who saw that Joseph succeeded exceedingly well in doing it; and that the business in the family which was entrusted to his care was managed with great skill and wisdom. The Bible, in speaking of this, says, "his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand."