CHAPTER XV. A PILGRIM'S FOOTPRINTS. "Hast thou not glimpses, in the twilight hour, Of mountains where immortal morn prevails? A murmur, wafted from that glorious shore, Of streams that water banks forever fair, By faith, Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones." HEBREWS 11 : 22. Ir would take too much time to review all the circumstances in the history of Joseph. I assume that most readers are acquainted with that most interesting history, far more beautiful than any romance; for real history is ever much more beautiful than romance. The few points which we shall select for instruction will not be unfamiliar to most. I will draw lessons, rather than quote passages. The first feature that strikes us, in the history of this patriarch, varied and checkered as ever history was, is, that he was rich, of great power, occupying a lofty position, — the very loftiest in the realm of Pharaoh; and yet that he remained, from first to last, triumphantly a Christian. We know how much more easy — if one may make a comparison - it is to be a Christian where there is no pressure of trials, than it is where one is surrounded by a thousand points in if I may use the expression a negative state, ever ready to draw off every Christian principle, feeling and sympathy, from our souls. It is difficult to be great, and yet to remain steadfast. Few are able to hold perfectly balanced a full cup, and few are willing to take or to hold an empty cup. Very few can bear great prosperity; very few like to accept great poverty. Yet, wherever there is Christian faith planted in the heart by the Spirit of God, there is a divine faith that can live in all latitudes, under all circumstances, and prove itself, in poverty and riches, the victory that overcometh the world. We often find, in the history of the church of Christ, instances of men retaining their Christianity uncompromised in the very highest, most seductive and perilous of circumstances. There were Christians in Cæsar's household. We read, too, in the Acts of the Apostles, that there was a Christian chief minister in Candace's Ethiopian court. Vixere fortes ante Agamemnona. There were heroes before Agamemnon, only there was not a Homer to sing them. There have been Christians since the days of the apostles, heroes and martyrs; but there has been no inspired pen to record them; more, perhaps, in high places than we are disposed to admit, and still more in low places than sometimes we dream of. But surely, if it be beautiful, if it be delightful, to see a Christian battling with the waves of poverty, affliction and distress, and unsubdued, often bowed, but never vanquished, it is no less delightful to see those beautiful flowers, Daniel, Joseph and others, amid the rank grass of great prosperity and splendid circumstance. The loyalty that is rendered to the earthly master or sovereign, in such circumstances, becomes still more luminous by being inspired by the loyalty and the love that we owe to our heavenly one; and it will always be found that the most effective subject of an earthly monarch is the most elevated son of our Father who is in heaven. In Joseph we have an instance of the value, the practical effects and permanence, of early Christian education. Joseph was taught, when he was young, the truths of the Gospel,— for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, were Christians, and when he was old he did not forsake them. The Jewish religion if we may so call ancient Christianity-was most explicit on our duties to the young. "Thou shalt teach them to thy children;" that is, the doctrines and words of the Bible; "Thou shalt teach them to thy children, when thou risest up and when thou liest down;" and it is said of Abraham, who lived by faith, "I know," says God, "that he will command his household after him." In fact, Christianity, just in proportion to its purity, has been the patroness of the earliest possible Christian education of the young; and what makes this more remarkable, if we go beyond the Bible, no other religion is found to be so. It is a fact that Christians should know, that, if you go outside the Bible, the education of the very young has always been treated with more or less contempt, or total disregard. For instance, in Athens, they had schools for young men, but they had none for children, and the idea of schools for infants was never dreamed of. In Sparta, they had garrison schools for making first-rate soldiers, but none for anything besides. And in Rome, such a mean idea had the domini rerum the lords of the world— of education, that the lowest of Greek slaves were employed to be the teachers of the children of the patricians and senators of Rome. And during the crusades, when the Roman church was in its culminating glory, even then their schools were miserable huts, or commonly monks' cells, whilst the churches were cathedrals, and the priests were the princes and the kings of the earth. What a testimony, too, is here against that church, thus unfaithful to its primary and noblest func tion! A large school attached to a church is a much greater ornament than a lofty spire, glittering in rising and setting suns. A great number of children, educated through the liberality of a Christian congregation, is a glory it must not be proud of, but it may indeed well be thankful for; for, if there be one blessing that is the demand of the age, — if there be one great blessing and want which needs to be secured in the age, it is the Christian, earliest Christian, not merely teaching, but training of the young; the promise not being, "Teach a child the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it," but, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." We do not teach the vines on the wall to grow up southward or northward, but we train them. We are not merely to tell children what they are to do, and what they are to know, but we are to try to train, develop, regulate, guide them. The Christian teacher is one of the noblest characters; and I have as much respect for a Christian teacher, any day, as I have for the greatest archbishop. The function of that teacher is a precious, a noble, a responsible It is, I admit, a most laborious one, and it is, in our country, although this cannot be said so much now as formerly, a very ill-paid one; but it is a very important one; and better that you should make the furniture of your drawing-room less splendid, than, in order to save some ten or twenty pounds a year, that you should take an inferior governess or teacher into your family. Get the most efficient, practical, finished teaching for your children, and you do more for the next generation than anything you can attempt. The true Christian teacher reminds me of the fresco-painter, applying his colors to the wet plaster, and as often as they fade renewing them, until at last they become fixed and permanent as the very material itself. We have in Joseph an one. instance of early Christian education, showing itself in after consistent life. We learn from the history of Joseph a lesson no less valuable, a man may be a Christian, and yet in the world; that it is not inconsistent with the Christian character to take office, to wield power, or to take up reins, delicate and most responsible, if providentially put in his hand. Joseph was a Christian, and yet we find him the right hand, the prime minister, of Pharaoh. I know that some Christians, personally excellent men, some of whom I have met, commonly called "Plymouth Brethren," say, that it is utterly improper that a man should wear the honors he inherits with his estates, or enter upon any responsibility, such as that of a member of Parliament, a commander in the navy, or officer in the army; that it is perfectly incompatible with Christian principle to take such an office. I do not know where they find this; and, were I addressing such, I would ask them, how it occurs to them that society is to be worked, if every man, the moment he becomes a Christian, is to abandon it? It must also occur to them that Joseph accepted office-responsible office —in the court, not of a Christian king, but of a heathen and idolatrous king. It might, too, be remembered by them that it is the scriptural distinction, to be in the world, but not to be of the world. God has placed us by his provi dence in the world; God has raised us by his grace above the world. His grace and his providence do not come into collision; I remain in the world, where his providence has placed me; I will try to live above the world, as his grace alone can enable me. And do we not praise God when we hear of good men, great men, raised to great power? Are we not thankful, instinctively so,—and there are instincts in the Christian heart better than all logic,—when we hear that great power has been lodged in the hands of Christian principle? And, moreover, let me add, is not this abjuration, |