Gen. xlii. 21. And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saiv the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear ; there- fore is this distress come upon us.
54.1 TIIE POWER OF CONSCIENCE. il~7
THE history of Josepli appears rather like a well- concerted fiction than a reality. In it is found all that gives beauty to the finest drama ; a perfect unity of design; a richness and variety of incident, involving the plot in obscurity, yet gradually drawing it to its destined end ; and the whole issuing happily, to the rewarding of virtue and discouraging of vice. The point to which all tends, is, the fulfilment of Joseph's dreams in the submission of his whole family to him. And here we find his dreams realized through the very means which were used to counteract their accomplishment. Already had his brethren bowed themselves down with their faces to the earth: but this was only the commencement of their subjection to him : they must be brought far lower yet, and be made to feel the guilt they had contracted by their cruelty towards him. With this view Joseph forbears to reveal himself to them, but deals roughly with them, imprisoning them as spies, and menacing them with death if they do not clear themselves from that charge. They had formerly cast him into a pit, and sold him as a slave ; and now they are cast into prison and bound : they once were deaf to his cries and entreaties ; and now the governor of Egypt is deaf to theirs. This brings to their remembrance their former con- duct ; and they trace the hand of an avenging God in their sufferings. Their conscience, which had been so long dormant, now wakes, and performs its office.
This is the incident mentioned in our text : and, confining our attention to it, we shall shew,
I. The general office of conscience —
To enter into any philosophical discussion re- specting that faculty which we call conscience, would be altogether beside our purpose, and unsuited to the present occasion. It will be sufficient to take the word in its popular sense, as importing that natural faculty whereby wre judge both of our actions and the consequences of them. It is given to us by God, to operate as,
1. A guide —