2516. Jesus And His Brethren

No. 2516-43:217. A Sermon Delivered By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington On Lord’s Day Evening, October 4, 1885.

A Sermon Intended For Reading On Lord’s Day, May 9, 1897.

Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all those who stood by him; and he cried, “Cause every man to go out from me.” And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard. And Joseph said to his brethren, “I am Joseph; does my father still live?” And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence. And Joseph said to his brethren, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Now therefore do not be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here: for God sent me before you to preserve life.” {Ge 45:1-5}

 For other sermons on this text:
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 449, “Joseph and His Brethren” 440}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2516, “Jesus and His Brethren” 2517}
   Exposition on Ge 45:1-13 So 1:1-7 3:1-5 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2516, “Jesus and His Brethren” 2517 @@ "Exposition"}
    {See Spurgeon_SermonTexts "Ge 45:4"}
    {See Spurgeon_SermonTexts "Ge 45:5"}

1. I need not say to you, beloved, who are conversant with Scripture, that there is scarcely any personal type in the Old Testament which is more clearly and fully a portrait of our Lord Jesus Christ than the type of Joseph is. You may run the parallel between Joseph and Jesus in very many directions, yet you need never strain the narrative so much as even once. I am not about to attempt that task on the present occasion; but I am going to take this memorable portion of the biography of Joseph, and to show you how, in making himself known to his brothers, he was a type of our Lord revealing himself to us.

2. It seems that, at last, Joseph could bear the suspense no longer. He knew who his brothers were, he knew who was Benjamin, and who was Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, and the rest, and he remembered all the story of their early days together; but, they did not know him. They thought him to be some mysterious potentate, some great ruler of the land of Egypt, — as indeed he was, but they did not know so much about him as he knew about them. Consequently, there was a distance between him and them, and his loving heart-ached to bridge that gulf by revealing himself to them. It is the way of love to desire to make itself known.

3. Now, in a still higher sense, the Lord Jesus Christ knows all about those in this place whom he has redeemed with his precious blood. The Father gave them to him from before the foundation of the world, and he took them into covenant relationship with himself even before the earth existed. Often he has thought of these his beloved ones; his delights have been with the sons of men, and he has looked forward, and foreseen all that would happen to them. Ever since these redeemed and chosen ones have been born into the world, he has watched them so carefully that he has counted the very hairs on their heads. They are so precious to him, as the purchase of his heart’s blood, that they have never taken a single wandering step that his eye has not tracked the mazes of their life. He knows them altogether, — knows their sins, knows their sorrows, knows their ignorance of him, knows how sometimes that ignorance has been wilful, and they have continued in the dark when they might have walked in the light; and now, at this moment, speaking after the manner of men, the heart of Christ aches to reveal himself to some of them, he wants to be known, he thirsts to be known, he can only be loved as he is known, and he pines for love, and so he pines to reveal himself to his loved ones. Indeed, and there are some of them who do know him already in a measure, but their measure is a very little one; it is only like a drop compared with the great deep sea. I have been praying, and am still praying, and I am not alone in the prayer, that this very hour, the Lord Jesus may be pleased to reveal himself to his own blood-bought ones. To all who have been called by his grace already, and to many not yet called to him, may he come in the fulness of his own glorious revelation, and make himself known; for do you not know this, — that the revelation of Christ in the Word will not save you unless Christ is revealed in you and to you personally? Indeed, more than that; the Christ born at Bethlehem will not save you unless that Christ is formed in you the hope of glory, he must himself come to you, and make himself known to you. It will not suffice you to read about his healing the sick, he must touch you with his hand, or you must touch the hem of his garment with your hand; but somehow there must be personal contact between yourself and the Lord Jesus Christ, or else all that he did will avail nothing to you. Let this be our prayer now, — that to each man and woman and child here the Lord may graciously make himself known.

4. I. Notice, first, that THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, LIKE JOSEPH, REVEALS HIMSELF IN PRIVATE FOR THE MOST PART.

5. Joseph cried, “ ‘Cause every man to go out from me.’ And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known to his brothers.” It would not have been seemly for this great ruler to lose all command of himself in the presence of the Egyptians. His heart was carried away with love for his brothers, and the cry that he lifted up was so loud that the people in other parts of the palace could hear that something strange was going on; but he could not bear that they should all stand around, and gaze with curious eyes on their ruler as he unbosomed himself to his brothers. They would not have understood it, they might have misrepresented it; at any rate, he could not bear that the scene of affection which was now to be enacted should be witnessed by strangers, so he cried, “Cause every man to go out from me.”

6. My dear friends, do you really want savingly to see and know the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you never yet beheld him by the eye of faith? Then, permit me to exhort you to be literally much alone, — searching the Scriptures, and much alone in private, secret prayer. That gracious revelation of himself to you as bearing your sins, and putting away your guilt, will nor be likely to come to you until you get a little time in private, where you can quietly meditate on your Lord and his great atoning work. The mischief of this busy London is that we are fretted and worn with incessant occupations; all of us would be much stronger and better if we saw less of the faces of men and more of the face of God. But for a penitent sinner, who desires to behold his pardon written in the smiling countenance of Christ, there must be solitude. You must rise earlier in the morning, and get a half-hour to yourself then, or you must sit up later at night, or you must steal out of bed at the dead of night, or you must even resolve that you will not go to your business until the first business of finding Christ is ended once and for all. I feel persuaded that, with some of you at least, there will be no peace in your heart, and no comforting sight of Christ, until you have gone upstairs, and said, “Here, alone, with every man put out and every wandering thought excluded, I will bow the knee, and cry, and look, and hope, and believe, until I can say, ‘I have seen the Lord; I have looked to him whom I have pierced, and I have seen my sin put away by his death on the tree.’ ”

7. Further, I want you to notice, not only the excellence of solitude in general, but the benefit of a kind of mental solitude. Brethren, if in the house of God, in the midst of the assembly, the Lord Jesus Christ is ever to reveal himself personally to us, it must be in a kind of mental and spiritual solitude. I believe that the preacher will never succeed in winning a soul if he tries to make himself prominent in his own preaching. An old man, who was accustomed to catching trout in a certain stream, was asked by one who had been fishing in vain, “Have you caught any fish today?” “Yes, sir,” he said, “I have a little basketful.” “Oh!” said the other, “I have been fishing all day long, and I have taken none.” “No,” said the man, “but there are three rules about catching trout, which, perhaps you have not observed. The first is, — Get quite out of sight; and the second is, — Get still more out of sight, and the third is, — Get still more out of sight than that; and so you will catch them.” And I believe that it is just so in preaching. If the preacher can get quite out of sight, and still more out of sight, and yet still more out of sight, then he will be the means of bringing souls to Christ. And you, dear friends, will only see him well in any kind of preaching when you try to forget the man. I mean that remark to apply in two ways. Perhaps the preacher is one whom you dearly love, and you expect much from him. Well then, forget him, expect nothing from him, but look away from him to your Lord. Or perhaps the preacher’s voice has no particular charm for you, the man is not very bright in his utterances; well, forget him, and try to see his Master. Forget the preacher for good and for bad, for better and for worse, and get to the Lord himself.

8. There is a story told of Mr. Erskine having preached on one occasion before the communion, and a good woman, a child of God, heard him with such delight, and was so much fed and satisfied, that she left her own pastor, and went some miles on the next Lord’s day to go and hear him again. That morning, he was dreadfully dry and barren, or at least she thought that he was. There was no food for her whatever; and not being a very wise woman, she went in to tell him so. She said, “Oh, Mr. Erskine, I heard you at the communion with such delight; you seemed to take me to the very gates of heaven, and I was fed with the finest of the wheat; so I have come this morning on purpose to hear you, and I confess that I have gotten nothing out of you!” So he said, “My good woman, what did you go for last Sabbath day?” “I went to the communion; sir.” “Yes, you went to the communion; that was to have communion with the Lord?” “Yes,” she said, “I did.” “Well,” said Mr. Erskine, “that is what you went for, and you got it; and the Lord blessed my word to you, and you had communion with him. Now, what did you come here for this morning?” “I came to hear you, sir.” “And you have what you came for, for you have heard me, and found that I am a poor, dry, sapless thing, there is nothing in me.” Think of this story when you are remembering the Lord’s servants, and forgetting their Master himself. I believe that, as you are sitting here, you whose eyes have already been opened by the Spirit of God, if you will only say, “Cause every man to go out from me; shut the door, I have entered into my prayer closet even while in the pew; I am alone now, and I desire to see no man except Jesus only,” you shall see him, for he reveals himself to his people all alone. Oh, that each one here would say, “There is nothing but Christ that I desire to see, there is nothing else I wish to remember, I would think only of my Lord Jesus; may he be pleased to reveal himself to me!”

9. II. The second remark I have to make is this, — when the Lord Jesus Christ reveals himself to any man for the first time, it is usually in the midst of terror, and THAT FIRST REVELATION OFTEN CREATES MUCH SADNESS.

10. When Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and said to them, “I am Joseph,” “they were troubled at his presence.” Judah had made a very plaintive speech when it was threatened that Benjamin should be detained in Egypt, and all the brothers were in deep trouble; so that, when the great ruler said to them, “I am Joseph,” they were not filled with joy by his words, so we read, “His brothers could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence.” He was Joseph, their brother, and he loved every one of them; yet “they were troubled at his presence.” It was the best thing that could have happened to them to be in the presence of him who was sent by God to save their lives with a great deliverance; yet “they were troubled at his presence.”

11. And you and I remember, perhaps, when, under a deep sense of sin and sorrow, we had our first perception of Christ’s salvation, instead of being glad about it, we were “troubled at his presence.” “Why!” we said to ourselves, “this Christ is he whom we have despised, and rejected, and crucified.” There did not seem, at first, much comfort for us in the revelation of Christ. One said, in order to cheer us, “He died for sinners.” “But,” we answered, “surely not for such sinners as we are.” Even the very sound of that blessed word “salvation” grated on our ears, because we thought we should be like the fabled Tantalus, {a} up to our neck in water which we could not drink, or surrounded by fruit which we could not pick. “He may have died for others,” we seem to say, “but scarcely for us.” We “were troubled at his presence.” Even the house of God, to which we continued to go, was a place of terror for us and we cried, like Jacob did at Bethel, “How dreadful is this place!” In the worst sense of that word, it really was “dreadful” to us, full of dread although we believed it to be “none other than the house of God, and the gate of heaven.” We said, “What right have we to be in the house of God? How can we expect to enter heaven even though its gate is so near to us?” We heard that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by, but we sorrowfully exclaimed, “Ah, that is only too true! He will pass by, he will never stop to look at us.” We heard that precious text, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life”; yet we said, “What is it to believe in him? How can we believe in him?” The light seemed to be shining all around us, but our eyes were blind to it; the music of heaven was sounding in all its sweetness, but our ears were closed to its melody; everlasting love was coming near to us, yet our hearts did not open to receive it; and therefore we could not answer Christ, for we “were troubled at his presence.”

12. Dear friends, if any of you are in this sad state, do not therefore be driven away from our Jesus, our greater Joseph; but still stand in his presence, even though you are troubled about it, for that experience, though it is bitter, is a bitter-sweet. There may be trouble in Christ’s presence, but there is a far greater trouble in being driven from his presence, and from the glory of his power. So keep standing just where you are, even though you stand trembling, for eventually, and perhaps this very hour, he will graciously reveal himself to you, and you shall no longer tremble at his presence, but, on the contrary, you shall rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, as you perceive that this Joseph, this Jesus, is your Brother, your Saviour, your Friend, your all in all.

13. III. Now, thirdly, though the first appearance of Jesus, like that of Joseph, may cause sadness, THE FURTHER REVELATION OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST TO HIS BRETHREN, BRINGS THEM THE GREATEST POSSIBLE JOY.

14. If you look at this passage when you are at home, you will perhaps say to yourself, “The second time that Joseph spoke to his brothers, he had not much more to say than he said the first time,” for then he said, “I am Joseph; does my father still live?” And the second time there was as much the same burden in his language: “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.” So, when Christ reveals himself in grace to any poor heart, the revelation, for substance, is much the same as at the first, yet there is a great difference. When, for the first time, I heard the gospel to my soul’s salvation, I thought that I had never really heard the gospel before, and I began to think that the preachers to whom I had listened had not truly preached it. But, on looking back, I am inclined to believe that I had heard the gospel fully preached many hundreds of times before, and that this was the difference, — and that I then heard it as though I did not hear it; and when I did hear it, the message may not have been any more clear in itself than it had been at former times, but the power of the Holy Spirit was present to open my ear, and to guide the message to my heart. Oh dear friend, if you have heard me preach Christ crucified, and you have not yet seen Christ to your soul’s salvation, I pray that you may do so now! I do not suppose that there will be any difference in the sermon, or in the truth proclaimed; the difference will be that, in the one case, it has not reached your heart, and in the other case it will. Oh blessed Master, speak comfortingly to the hearts of sinners, and to the hearts of your people, too! Make the old, old gospel to be new to us by clothing it with a new power within our hearts and consciences, and throughout our lives!

15. Yet, there were some differences in the words which Joseph uttered to his brothers. If you turn again to the narrative, you will see that he began his second speech by saying to them, “Come near to me, please.” There was a longing for nearness to those he loved, and that is the point of my sermon at this time. I want you, who do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but who are, nevertheless, his elect, his redeemed ones, to come near to him now by an act of faith, and trust him with yourselves, your souls, your sins, and everything else. Do not stand back through shame or fear, you chief of sinners, for he says, “Come near to me, please. ‘Come to me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ ” As for you who are his brethren already, come near to him, for to you also he says, “Come near to me, please.” Oh, if our Lord were actually here in bodily presence, — and I can almost picture him in the loveliness and glory of Divine Majesty, — if he were to stand here, and say to us, “Come near to me, please,” we would, with solemn reverence, bow before him, but we would with joyful obedience come near to him, and try to hold him by the feet and worship him. Would not each one of you press forward to come near to him? I am sure that you would; well, that is what you have to do in a spiritual manner. We do not know Christ after the flesh, but we do know him after the Spirit. So, come near to him, dear brethren in Christ; believe in him again as you did at the first, look to him again as if you have never looked before. Worship him as your Lord and your Redeemer, prostrate yourselves before him, and adore him as the Son of God revealed in our midst; come near to him. Then talk to him; tell him all that is in your innermost heart. Unburden to him your cares and your doubts; indeed, and come near to him with your fondest affection, and say to him now, in the silence of your spirit, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Come near to Christ with all your tears of penitence, come near with your alabaster box of gratitude, come near with the kisses of your lips of love, come near with your whole heart’s purest affection, and come now, for that is what he invites you to do. It is a part of his revealing of himself to you that you should endeavour to come near to him. Cry, “Stand back, oh self! Stand back, oh devil! Stand back, all care for the world! Stand back, even care for the church just now! My heart must come near to her Lord, and sit like a dove on his finger, and be satisfied to look with her gentle eyes at the beauties of his countenance.” May God help us to do so, in response to our Lord’s gracious invitation, “Come near to me, please.”

16. Then, as if to help us to come near, our Lord, in this revelation, declares his relationship to us. The speaker in the type says, “I am Joseph your brother”; and the Lord Jesus Christ, though he is Head over all things to his Church, and King and Lord of death and hell, yet says to everyone who believes in him, “I am your Brother; I am your kith and kin; Head of the family, but still of the family; and touched with the feeling of your infirmities, for I was in all points tempted just like you are.” Do not imagine, concerning the Lord Jesus, that there is only an imaginary or sentimental brotherhood between him and you. It is a real brotherhood; there is no such brotherhood under heaven, so complete and true, as what exists between Christ and every blood-washed soul, for it is not a brotherhood according to the flesh, but an everlasting, spiritual brotherhood. An eternal union of the closest and most vital kind is established between Christ and everyone who believes in him.

17. We do not consider it hard do we, to win a brother’s heart? If we have been a little cold towards a brother, his heart soon warms to us again; and as for our Lord, if we have not seen him recently, if any of us have not loved him as we should, if we are saying, “We are troubled at his presence, we hardly dare come to his table,” may he say to us, “Come near to me, please; I am your Brother. Come near, come nearer, nearer still. I am pleased when you are near.” Come with your sin and your lukewarmness; come just as you are, as you came to him at the first; and he will receive you, and will reveal himself to you as he does not do to the world.

18. In addition to revealing his relationship, which was a great motive for inviting his brothers to come near, he also told them a secret. He said, “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.” I think he mentioned that to show them that he must be Joseph their brother, for who else in all the world knew of that shameful action on their part? I do not suppose that the Midianite merchants, who bought Joseph, knew that he was sold by his own brothers; or if they did know, none of them were in Pharaoh’s palace, for they were Ishmaelites, and they had gone their way to trade somewhere else. All who knew of that wicked transaction were Joseph and his brothers, so by this password he lets them know that there was a kind of Freemasonry between them. This was the sign, “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.” It made them blush, I dare say; and it must have made them mourn; but it also made them feel, “Yes, that is our brother; no one but Joseph would know that we sold him into slavery.” And, dear friends, have you never seen your Well-Beloved as he reads your heart? I have known him to read mine from the first thought in it to the last, and I have thanked him as he has read it, for I have said, “Lord, you have read that book right through, and now you know all things, you know that I love you. Alas! I sold you into Egypt; there was a day when I chose Egypt and its pleasures rather than yourself; and there have been days since when I have sold you again into Egypt by treating you with lukewarmness, and giving myself up to other lovers. Yes, Lord, I have sold you to the Ishmaelites by doubting you and suspecting you; and by my sins I have stripped you of your many-coloured garment, and by my own folly I have let you go away from your Father’s house, and from the room of her who bore you. ‘You know all this, my Lord, but I know you, too, because you know me so well.’ ”

19. Then notice that, when Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, he did not say more until he had sweetly put away all their offences against him. They had been troubled because they knew that they had sold him into Egypt, but he said to them, “Now therefore do not be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here.” That was a blessed way of saying, “I freely and fully forgive you.” So Jesus says to his loved ones, who have grieved him by their evil deeds, “Do not be grieved, for, ‘I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions, and, as a cloud, your sins.’ Do not be angry with yourselves, for I will receive you graciously, and love you freely. Do not be angry with yourselves, for your sins, which are many, are all forgiven; go, and sin no more. For my name’s sake, I will defer my anger; therefore, ‘Come now, and let us reason together: though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.’ ” Many of you know the way our Saviour talks; I pray that he may just now make every believer sure that there is not a sin against him in God’s Book of remembrance. May you, dear friends, be clear in your conscience from all dead works! May you have the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, to keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus, and in the clear white light of your Saviour’s glorious presence, may you see the wounds he endured when suffering for your sins! Then you will sing with the disciple whom Jesus loved, “To him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and has made us kings and priests to God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”

20. Last of all, Joseph was not satisfied with revealing himself like this to his brothers, and assuring them of his forgiveness, but he promised them rich supplies for the future. To my mind, this was the next best news to his message of forgiveness. He said to them, in effect, “You have had two years of famine. It is only through me that you have been preserved alive; you have come down to Egypt with your donkeys and your sacks, and you have taken home provender to my father and to your households; but there are still five more years in which there will be no ploughing and no harvest. What will become of you? What little you had in store, is already all consumed. God has sent me here so that, through those five years, I may nourish you. You shall come down, and live in Goshen, on the fat of the land of Egypt, and you shall never have any need, for all the treasures of the land of Egypt are mine, and I will take care of you, you shall never know any lack.” In the same way, beloved, your Lord stands, and says to you, “You will have many more troubles yet.” Some of my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, who are here, will be in heaven before five more years have expired; they have good reason to be very grateful to God. But to some of us who are younger, it may be that God has appointed many a year to remain here; but our Saviour lives.

    He is at the Father’s side,
    The man of love, the Crucified;

and the arrangements of providence are in his hand, and all that providence shall be overruled for us. “No good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly.” You will be in Egypt for a while longer, dear friend, but you will be in the Goshen of Egypt, and the good of all the land is yours. Oh, what a blessing it is to think that we have a Brother who reveals himself to us as the Universal Provider, who will not let us have a need, but will take care that, before our need comes, the supply shall be ready, and we shall have nothing to do but to rejoice in him who cares for us!

21. Do not let that sweet thought take away from your minds what I want to be the centre of all the meditation, namely, that you should come near to your Lord. We never use a crucifix; we should think it sinful to do so. Neither do I want to have an imaginary crucifix, by trying to set Christ before you so that you should picture him mentally; but I want your faith to do much more than imagination can. The Lord Jesus Christ is spiritually here in the midst of us, according to his gracious promise, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age”; and he hears me speaking these words at this moment, I am as sure of it as if I saw that mystical presence with my natural eyes. If I did see him, I know that I should fall at his feet as dead, and the rest of this service would have to be spent in awe-struck silence by everyone who beheld him. But, oh you Son of God and Son of Mary, Jesus Christ our Saviour, we trust you completely and only to save us, and we love you with all our heart, and mind, and soul, and strength; and as we live by you, we pray you to help us to live for you, to live to you, to live like you, and eventually to live with you! We could almost wish that we might now fall down and kiss your dear feet, but you are not here in visible presence; for you have gone up into glory; but you are here spiritually, and we come to you, and say, “Lord, you are ours, and we are yours; we will hold onto you, and will not let you go.”

    Sun of my soul, thou Saviour dear,
    It is not night if thou be near.

Come, stay with me while the evening shadows shall still linger, until death’s dark night comes on, and then, instead of night, let the morning break on my gladdened eyes because it is yourself who has come, the life, the resurrection, and not death at all! Come, beloved, can you not get nearer to your Lord? Can you not speak familiarly with him? Can you not whisper into his ear the story of your love?

    “Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove,”

and help us now to come near to Jesus! Amen and Amen.

{a} Tantalus: Name of a mythical king of Phrygia, son of Zeus and the nymph Pluto, condemned, for revealing the secrets of the gods, to stand in Tartarus up to his chin in water, which constantly receded as he stooped to drink, and with branches of fruit hanging above him which ever fled his grasp; a rock is also said to have hung over him threatening to fall. OED.

Expositions By C. H. Spurgeon {Ge 45:1-13 So 1:1-7 3:1-5}

45:1, 2. Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all those who stood by him: and he cried, “Cause every man to go out from me.” And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he wept aloud:

Emotion long pent up grows violent; and when at last it does burst out, it cannot be restrained: “He wept aloud.”

2, 3. And the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard. And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph; does my father still live?” And his brothers could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence.

What a rush of thoughts must have passed through their minds when they remembered all their unkind behaviour towards him! There is no wonder that “they were troubled at his presence.”

4. And Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.”

He pleads with them, he who was far greater than they — a prince among peasants, — now invites them; and is it not wonderful that the Lord Jesus, our infinitely-greater Brother, at times pleads with us, even as he said to the woman at the well, “Give me a drink?” Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.”

4, 5, And they came near. And he said, “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Now therefore do not be grieved, not angry with yourselves, that you sold me here: for God sent me before you to preserve life.

“You did very wrong, but I say nothing about that, for I want you to notice how God has overruled your action, how your sin has been made to be the means of your preservation and the preservation of many besides: ‘God sent me before you to preserve life.’ ”

6. For these two years the famine has been in the land: and yet there are five years, when there shall neither be earing nor harvest.

There were to be five more dreary years of utter desolation and poverty.

7. And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

How wonderfully those two things meet in practical harmony, — the free will of man and the predestination of God! Man acts just as freely and just as guiltily as if there were no predestination whatever; and God ordains, arranges, supervises, and overrules, just as accurately as if there were no free will in the universe. There are some blind people who only believe one or the other of these two truths; yet they are both true, and the one is as true as the other. I believe that much of the theology which is tinged with free will is true, and I know that the teaching which fully proclaims electing love and sovereign grace is also true; and you may find much of both of these truths in the Scriptures. The fault lies in trying to compress all truth under either of those two articles.

These men were truly guilty for selling their brother, yet God was truly wise in permitting him to be sold. The inference which Joseph draws from their misconduct is, of course, an inference of love. Love may not be always logical, but it is sweetly consoling, as it must have been in this case.

8. So now it was not you who sent me here, but God: and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

See how Joseph traces God’s hand in his whole career.

9. Hurry, and go up to my father, and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, "God has made me lord of all Egypt: come down to me, do not delay"’:

See how love attracts; Joseph must have his brothers near him, now he wants to have his father near also. “Go up to my father, and say to him, ‘Come down to me.’ ” See how great love turns pleader again; he who said to his brothers, “Come near to me,” sends to his father the message, “Come down to me.”

10. And you shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you, and your children, and your children’s children, and your flocks, and your herds, and all that you have:

Our common saying, “Love me, love my dog,” is very true. Love me, love even my flocks and my herds. So the blessing of God extends to all that his chosen people have; not only to their children, but to all that they possess.

11-13. And there I will nourish you; for there are still five years of famine; lest you, and your household, and all that you have, come to poverty. And, behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaks to you. And you shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that you have seen; and you shall hurry and bring my father down here.”

Love is impatient to have the object of its affection brought near.

Now we will read two short portions out of the Song of Solomon, from which you will see how love always craves for nearness to the loved one. The Song of Solomon opens like this: —

1:1-4. The song of songs, which is Solomon’s. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for your love is better than wine. Because of the savour of your good ointments your name is like ointment poured out, therefore the virgins love you. Draw me, we will run after you:

Love is still pleading, you see, but here it is the other side pleading for nearness, the lowly one crying for help to get nearer to the Heavenly Bridegroom: “Draw me, we will run after you.”

4, 5. The king has brought me into his rooms: we will be glad and rejoice in you, we will remember your love more than wine: the upright love you. I am black, but beautiful, oh you daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.

The spouse was black in herself; sunburned through her toil and hard suffering; yet lovely in the sight of her Beloved, and beautiful to look on “as the curtains of Solomon.”

6, 7. Do not look on me, because I am black, because the sun has looked on me: my mother’s children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards, but I have not kept my own vineyard. Tell me, oh you whom my soul loves, where do you feed, —

There is still that same craving for nearness to the Beloved. Since we love Christ, we desire to be with him, we cannot bear his absence: “Tell me, oh you whom my soul loves, where do you feed,” —

7. Where you make your flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one who turns aside by the flocks of your companions?

See, dear friends, how this same seeking after the Beloved comes out in another form in the third chapter of the Song of Solomon.

3:1. By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loves: I sought him, but I did not find him.

Sometimes, the most eager search does not at once obtain its object. For wise reasons, Christ sometimes hides himself from his seeking people.

2-5. I will rise now, and go around the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loves: I sought him, but I did not find him. The watchmen who go around the city found me: to whom I said, “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?” It was only a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loves: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the room of her who conceived me. I charge you, oh you daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, —

“By everything that is timid, and delicate, and pure, and full of love, I charge you, oh you daughters of Jerusalem,” —

5. That you do not stir up, nor awaken my love, until he pleases.

“I have found my Beloved, and I would not lose him again; he has come to me, so I will not grieve him, and drive him away.” That is the one strain of our reading: “Come near to me, please; and when you come near me, still stay by me.”

 {See Spurgeon_Hymnal “The Christian, Privileges, Communion with Jesus, — Condescending Love” 784}
 {See Spurgeon_Hymnal “The Christian, Privileges, Communion with Jesus, — ‘When Wilt Thou Come?’ ” 766}
 {See Spurgeon_Hymnal “The Christian, Privileges, Communion with Jesus, — Longing To Be With Jesus” 806}
 The Sword and the Trowel
 Table of Contents, May, 1897.
 Special Supplement. — Portraits of Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon and Group of Friends at Cutting of the First Sod for New Chapel, Bexhill.
 “The Question Oak” at “Westwood.” Continuation of C. H. Spurgeon’s Impromptu Answers to Students’ Questions. (Illustrated.)
 Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon’s Work-room. “Personal Notes” on a Text. Extracts from Letters. Description of Recent Visit to Bexhill.
 Beulah Baptist Chapel, Bexhill-on-Sea. Account of the Proceedings at the Cutting of the First Sod by Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon.
 “Our Own Men” and their Work. XLI. — Pastor E. A. Carter (with portrait), and the Pioneer Mission. By Pastor C. Ingrem.
 Indian Incidents and Illustrations. By Robert Spurgeon. IX. — Gems of India.
 The Pastor’s Page. By Thomas Spurgeon. A Happy Memory of a Lecture By Rev. Peter Mackenzie (with Portrait.)
 The By-ways and By-gones of Life. By H. T. S. V. — With Birds and Bees.
 A Sermon on Clapham Common, delivered by C. H. Spurgeon, July 10th, 1859, under a tree, beneath which a man had been killed by lightning.
 “Not Weary in Well doing.” By T. G. Owens.
 A New Use for the Koran. By Dr. Churcher.
 Notices of Books.
 Notes. — Sir Robert Phayre and C. H. Spurgeon’s Sermons. Young Christians’ Missionary Union. Pastors’ College Missionary Association. Metropolitan Tabernacle Ladies’ Benevolent Working Society. “John Ploughman” Gospel Temperance Society. College. Colportage. Baptisms at Metropolitan Tabernacle.
 Lists of Contributions.
 Price, 3d.; post free, 4d.
 London: Passmore and Alabaster, Paternoster Buildings; and all Booksellers.

The Christian, Privileges, Communion with Jesus
784 — Condescending Love
1 Oh see how Jesus trust himself
      Unto our childish love,
   As though by his free ways with us
      Our earnestness to prove!
2 His sacred name a common word
      On earth he loves to hear;
   There is no majesty in him
      Which love may not come near.
3 The ligft of love is round his feet,
      His paths are never dim!
   And he comes nigh to us when we
      Dare not come nigh to him.
4 Let us be simple with him, then,
      Not backward, stiff, or cold,
   As though our Bethlehem could be
      What Sina was of old.
               Frederick W. Faber, 1852.

The Christian, Privileges, Communion with Jesus
766 — “When Wilt Thou Come?”
1 When wilt thou come unto me, Lord?
      Oh come, my Lord most dear!
   Come near, come nearer, nearer still,
      I’m blest when thou art near.
2 When wilt thou come unto me, Lord?
      I languish for the sight;
   Ten thousand suns when thou art hid,
      Are shades instead of light.
3 When wilt thou come unto me, Lord?
      Until thou dost appear,
   I count each moment for a day,
      Each minute for a year.
4 There’s no such thing as pleasure here,
      My Jesus is my all;
   As thou dost shine or disappear,
      My pleasures rise or fall.
5 Come, spread thy savour on my frame,
      No sweetness is so sweet;
   Till I get up to sing thy name,
      Where all thy singers meet.
                     Thomas Shepherd, 1692.

The Christian, Privileges, Communion with Jesus
806 — Longing To Be With Jesus
1 My soul amid this stormy world,
      Is like some flutter’d dove:
   And fain would he as swift of wing,
      To flee to him I love.
2 The cords that bound my heart to earth
      Are broken by his hand;
   Before his cross I found myself
      A stranger in the land.
3 That visage marr’d, those sorrows deep,
      The vinegar and gall,
   These were his golden chains of love
      His captive to enthral.
4 My heart is with him on his throne,
      And ill can brook delay;
   Each moment listening for the voice,
   “Rise up, and come away.”
5 With hope deferr’d, oft sick and faint,
      “Why tarries he?” I cry:
   Let not the Saviour chide my haste,
      For then would I reply:
6 “May not an exile, Lord, desire
      His own sweet land to see?
   May not a captive seek release,
      A prisoner to be free?
7 “A child, when far away, may long
      For home and kindred dear;
   And she that waits her absent lord
      May sigh till he appear.
8 “I would, my Lord and Saviour, know,
      That which no measure knows:
   Would search the mystery of thy love,
      The depths of all thy woes.
9 “I fain would strike my harp divine
      Before the Father’s throne,
   There cast my crown of righteousness,
      And sing what grace has done.
10 “Ah, leave me not in this base world,
      A stranger still to roam;
   Come, Lord, and take me to thyself,
      Come, Jesus, quickly come!”
                  Robert C. Chapman, 1837.