magical inscriptions and incantations) had been cast into the cup, to increase the sheen of the broken rays

of light. Similar practices still prevail in Egypt.

The charge of treachery and of theft so took the brothers by surprise, that, in their conscious innocence,

they offered to surrender the life of the guilty and the liberty of all the others, if the cup were found with any

of them. But the steward had been otherwise instructed. He was to isolate Benjamin from the rest. With

feigned generosity he now refused their proposal, and declared his purpose only to retain the guilty as

bondsman. The search was made, and the cup found in the sack of Benjamin. Now the first great trial of their

feelings ensued. They were all free to go home to their own wives and children; Benjamin alone was to be a

bondsman. The cup had been found in his sack! Granting that, despite appearances, they knew him to be

innocent, why should they stand by him? At home he had been set before them as the favorite; nay, for fear

of endangering him, their father had well nigh allowed them all, their wives and their children, to perish from

hunger. In Egypt, also, he, the youngest, the son of another mother, had been markedly preferred before

them. They had formerly got rid of one favorite, why hesitate now, when Providence itself seemed to rid

them of another? What need, nay, what business had they to identify themselves with him? Was it not

enough that he had been put before them everywhere; must they now destroy their whole family, and suffer

their little ones to perish for the sake of one who, to say the best, seemed fated to involve them in misery

and ruin? So they might have reasoned. But so they did not reason, nor, indeed, did they reason at all; for in

all matters of duty reasoning is ever dangerous, and only absolute, immediate obedience to what is right, is

safe. "They rent their clothes, and laded every man his ass, and returned to the city."

The first trial was past; the second and final one was to commence. In the presence of Joseph, "they fell

before him on the ground" in mute grief. Judah is now the spokesman, and right well does his advocacy

prefigure the pleading of his great Descendant. Not a word does he utter in extenuation or in plea. This one

thought only is uppermost in his heart: "God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants." Not guilty indeed

on this charge, but guilty before God, who hath avenged their iniquity! How, then, can they leave Benjamin

in his undeserved bondage, when not he, but they have really been the cause of this sorrow? But Joseph, as

formerly his steward, rejects the proposal as unjust, and offers their liberty to all except Benjamin. This gives

to Judah an opening for pleading, in language so tender, graphic, and earnest, that few have been able to

resist its pathos. He recounts the simple story, how the great Egyptian lord had at the first inquired whether

they had father or brother, and how they had told him of their father at home, and of the child of his old age

who was with him, the last remaining pledge of his wedded love, to whom the heart of the old man clave.

Then the vizier had asked the youth to be brought, and they had pleaded that his going would cost the life

of his father. But the famine had compelled them to ask of their father even this sacrifice. And the o ld man

had reminded them of what they knew only too well: how his wife, the only one whom even now he really

considered such, had borne him two sons; one of those had gone out from him, just as it was now proposed

Benjamin should go, and he had not seen him since, and he had said: "Surely he is torn in pieces." And

now, if they took this one also from him, and mischief befell him, his gray hairs would go down with sorrow

to the grave. What the old man apprehended had come to pass, no matter how. But could h e, Judah, witness

the grief and the death of his old father? Was he not specially to blame, since upon his guarantee he had

consented to part with him? Nay, he had been his surety; and he now asked neither pardon nor favor, only

this he entreated, to be allowed to remain as bondsman instead of the lad, and to let him go back with his

brethren. He besought slavery as a boon, for how could he "see the evil" that should "come on his father?"

Truly has Luther said: "What would I not give to be able to pray before the Lord as Judah here interceded

for Benjamin, for it is a perfect model of prayer, nay, of the strong feeling which must underlie all prayer."

And, blessed be God, One has so interceded for us, Who has given Himself as our surety, and become a

bondsman for us. (Psalm 40:6, 7; Philippians 2:6-8) His advocacy has been heard; His substitution accepted;

and His intercession for us is ever continued, and ever prevails. The Lord Jesus Christ is "the Lion of the

tribe of Judah, the Root of David," and "hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals