Page:The Story of Joseph and His Brethren.djvu/61

58 is not seen so much in the affection he shews for his elder brethren, as in the seeming forgetfulness and perfect forgiveness of all the hatred and injuries he had experienced at their hands. Revenge is one of the strongest and most unquenchable of human passions, and the law of retaliation is one of the most deeply inscribed on our fallen human nature. On no duty did our blessed Lord lay greater stress, none did he inculcate with more emphasis, than that of forgiveness, and no grace did He more exalt than that of mercy. "Forgive, and it shall be forgiven you," was one of His declarations. "If ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses," was a warning. No character in the Old Testament exhibits this heavenly feeling so perfectly as Joseph. His history seems as if designed by the Lord to show forth great forgiveness of great injuries. Job exhibits extraordinary patience under severe affliction; but his sufferings came apparently from the hand of God, though really through the agency of Satan or evil spirits; while Joseph's came through the hands of men, and especially those