1. Wrong has now reached its extremity when we behold Joseph an imprisoned slave-incarcerated for the noblest deed of his life. But even in such a place and under such an imputation he does not give way to despondency, but finds scope for his holy principles, therein presenting the world with a fine proof of the adaptation of godliness to all circumstances and changes. Just as before Joseph's conduct as a slave had approved itself to his master, so now his conduct as a prisoner approves itself to his keeper. He is an epistle of God known and read of all men. Both men discerned that he was a man who truly feared God, and who was specially favoured by Him whom he feared. Joseph's integrity and God-fearingness take a firmer hold on the mind of the keeper of the prison than on that of the captain of the guard. Potiphar trusted his goods, but the jailer his life, his life being at stake for the prisoners' safe-keeping. He “committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. The keeper of the prison looked not to any thing that was under his hand, because the Lord was with him; and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper.”
A case was on trial in a Kentucky court-room. An old man of somewhat shabby appearance had just given important testimony; and the lawyer, whose cause suffered by his statements, strove in every way to confuse and trip him, but in vain. The witness stuck to his story, and did not lose his temper, in spite of the irritating manner in which the cross-examination was conducted. Finally, in the hope of breaking down the credibility of the witness, the lawyer at a venture asked, “Have you ever been in prison?”
“I have,” replied the witness.
“Ah!” exclaimed the attorney, with a triumphant glance at the jury, “I thought as much. May I inquire how long you were there?”
“Two years and three months,” answered the witness, quietly, with a manner that was interpreted by the lawyer as indicating chagrin at an unexpected exposure.
“Indeed,” said the delighted lawyer, feeling his case already won, “that was a heavy sentence. I trust the jury will note the significance of the fact. Now, sir, tell the jury where you were confined.”
“In Andersonville,” replied the old man, drawing himself up proudly.
There was a moment of silence. The jurors looked at each other; and then the court-room rang with cheers which the court officers were powerless to check, and in which some of the jury joined. It is scarcely necessary to add that that lawyer lost his verdict. Joseph's prison experience was as honourable as that.1 [Note: L. A. Banks, The Great Saints of the Bible, 82.]
2. The same preserving power is now in the Egyptian prison as later in the Babylonian furnace. The same power of conviction is more quietly exercised in that prison by Joseph, as afterwards more stirringly by Paul and Silas in the prison of Philippi. Higher likeness still-Joseph is a type of his Lord; for what Christ accomplished in a spiritual and heavenly sense, Joseph does in a moral and terrestrial one-his career in prison being virtually a leading of captivity captive.
Just as a man can often do more by his sorrow than by his anger, so the Cross of Christ has reached many whom the terrors of judgment could never have reached, has brought them home like prodigal sons returning to a Father; has brought them to repentance instead of remorse, and to loving submission instead of despair. The Cross of Christ is indeed the one unapproachable source of all spiritual healing; but yet the Cross, like all else in the economy of God's government, does not stand alone, but has its types and shadows, its copies and counterparts, scattered through God's works; and these, while they are resemblances of its character, are also channels of its power. The saints whom God hath sent, and, as we know, will continue to send, for the edification of His Church, can do their appointed work chiefly by bearing the Cross which Christ once bore; the cross of living purely in a world of sin; of being just and true and loving in a world of iniquity and falsehood and hatred; of suffering, when need requires it, for the sake of truth; of sacrificing all else at the call of duty for the love of God; of caring, beyond all other things, for God's service and God's glory, and kindling, where they can, the same desire in the hearts of others. And even those who know full well that they have no title to be saints, yet, if they will be God's children at all, must expect to bear the same cross; must expect to give up their own will, even when innocent, for Christ's sake; must count on meeting with burdens and trials which do not seem to belong to them; must be ready not to complain, but rather to rejoice that God thus gives them tokens of claiming them for His own.2 [Note: Archbishop Temple.]
